All posts by h716a5.icu

They bounced back impressively from the England drubbing, helped by reverting to their initial balance of team

Andrew McGlashan08-Nov-20212:26

Warner: ‘We’re hitting the right momentum at this stage of the tournament’

A week ago, Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign could have come off the rails. Hammered by England, progression was taken out of their hands even with wins in the final two group matches. However, by the time they walked off against West Indies – via a guard of honour for Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle – it would have taken a massive reversal for them not to make it.The England game was a strange one. Not so much from the result itself – England were favourites going in and could have won under a variety of scenarios – but the thinking leading into it which led to Australia changing the balance of the side, from four specialist bowlers, that had won the opening two matches against South Africa and Sri Lanka.Mitchell Marsh was left out in favour of Ashton Agar, the argument being based around the good match-up of left-arm spin to England’s top order, but even if there were some numbers to back it up, it felt like a change for the sake of change. Almost inevitably having left out a batter, Australia were put in on a pitch that offered movement and were 21 for 4. Game over.The good thing for Australia was after that match they had a decent break of four days. It helped take the sting out of the result. The response felt less reactionary. The players got away from the game for a couple of days – a factor not to be underestimated while there is still a level of biosecurity restriction in place – before preparing to take on Bangladesh.Related

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They reverted to the seven-four balance of the side with Marsh returning. It’s tough on Agar who has been excellent over the last two years, but the deeper batting order allows more freedom. Out of their control, but a helpful factor, was they came up against two teams who were eliminated from the competition. It showed in the performances of Bangladesh and West Indies, although the latter needed a strong response when Gayle and Evin Lewis threatened in the powerplay.The four specialist bowlers are Australia’s strength while the trade-off in playing the extra batter should be enough to compensate for a fifth bowler in a combination made up of Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. It didn’t become a factor against Bangladesh (although Maxwell nabbed the handy wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim in his first over) but Marsh, bowling for the first time in the tournament, played a very important role against West Indies as he was able to scuttle through three overs for just 16 runs – a win against West Indies any day. It meant that while the three quicks went for 109 runs in their 12 overs – Mitchell Starc’s figures being dented by his last two deliveries going for sixes – the value of Josh Hazlewood’s four wickets were not lost.Josh Hazlewood has played a key role in Australia’s attack•ICC via GettyAnd then there is Adam Zampa. He has been Australia’s Player of the Tournament so far. Eleven wickets at 9.90 and an economy of 5.73, the joint-leading wicket-taker of the Supers 12s. He may have mopped up a weak middle and lower order against Bangladesh where he bagged a five-wicket haul, but against South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies he has expertly kept a lid on the scoring rate.The way Australia then rattled off the run chase ticked a couple more boxes. David Warner played as well as he has since before the groin injury he suffered last season and Marsh continued his run-glut against West Indies to give an indication he hadn’t been left uncertain by his demotion a few days earlier. The only issue is that the convincing nature of the batting in their last two matches has left the middle order without a hit since the struggles against England. Maxwell’s last two innings read 0*(0). But you can’t have it both ways. Australia had to produce two near-perfect games to make the semi-finals and they achieved that. A misstep and they were likely on a flight home after the group stage and facing a significant fallout.Which brings us to the semi-final against Pakistan. A rematch of the famous game in St Lucia 11 years ago when Mike Hussey did the almost-impossible to secure victory. What is a pass mark for Australia in this tournament? Reaching the knockouts was a bare minimum, albeit they could have been in South Africa’s shoes and going out with four wins, although that benchmark does highlight Australia’s overall lean record in this event. They haven’t made the final since that Hussey-inspired day.It was difficult to judge them leading into the tournament because of the host of absent players, but the dramatic week in Adelaide quarantine where Justin Langer’s position got to the brink left the feeling a lot was on the line in the UAE. A return to that fraught atmosphere has now probably been avoided, but questions around Australia’s T20 cricket will likely persist if this is as far as they go. They saved their tournament in a week. Now the challenge is to make it their best ever.

Surrey captain adamant that indignity of Brisbane first-baller is behind him ahead of 2022 summer

Andrew Miller02-Apr-2022You get the impression from talking to Rory Burns that he’s not a big fan of communication. He speaks rather as he bats, with a palpable nervous energy as he weighs up the threat of each incoming question, before an under-stated response that can, with the right timing, be thoroughly emphatic all the same.Since the retirement of Alastair Cook in 2018, no England opener has played more times, scored more runs, nor averaged higher than Burns’ mark of 30.32 over a sustained run in the role. And yet, twice in as many winters, Burns has fronted up for Surrey’s pre-season media day cast in the role of the outsider.In 2021, he had lost his place on a tough tour of India, ground down by the Covid bubble lifestyle after missing the Sri Lanka tour for the birth of his daughter Cora; and now here he is in 2022 as well, back to square one once more after becoming the unwitting poster-boy of another calamitous Ashes campaign.”Did I visualise getting a first baller? No I didn’t,” Burns says, when asked – not for the last time, you suspect – to rewind to that gruesome first morning in Brisbane, as he toppled across his crease to Mitchell Starc’s full-length swinger, and was bowled round his legs by the very first ball of the series.It is already a moment immortalised in Ashes legend – alongside Nasser Hussain’s infamous bowl-first call in 2002-03 and Steve Harmison’s wide four years later. And while Andrew Strauss’s own first-over duck in 2010-11 stands as lasting proof that one early setback need not define a tour, it’s hard to argue that England’s 2021-22 challenge ever recovered its poise from that moment.Only a tenth-wicket stand in Sydney stood between Australia and their third 5-0 whitewash in five home campaigns, and Burns himself certainly didn’t recover. After a top score of 34 in the second innings at Adelaide, he was dropped for the Sydney and Melbourne Tests, before a belated return to the front line after Haseeb Hameed’s own failings had become too pronounced to ignore. Two more insubstantial scores ensued in Hobart – 0 and 26 – and that was it for Burns’ winter, as he was axed for the subsequent tour of the Caribbean with Durham’s Alex Lees handed the role of nuggetty senior pro.Burns was bowled round his legs by the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes•Getty Images”It’s obviously not my decision,” Burns says. “It’s out of my hands so I had to deal with what I’d been dealt. What can I do now? What Jimmy [Anderson] said resonated with me the other day. I’m still looking to improve, still looking to get better. I think that I can. I’ll go again and try to score runs.”In such sliding-doors circumstances, it’s easy to imagine how Burns could have spent his every waking moment since Brisbane chastising himself for his error, and wishing he could have his time over again. But though he admits the immediate aftermath was tricky – particularly given how his quirky technique lent itself to high-level dissection in the Australian media – he’s adamant that the indignities are behind him and he’s ready to go again.”I’ve kind of put it to bed, to be honest,” he says. “It takes a little bit of time, a little bit of reflection. Taking stock of your thoughts and feelings as it goes along. With Covid and bubbles in recent times it’s been quite intense, and the Ashes was probably the most intense process we’ve been through. It’s quite a big hype train that everyone maybe gets a little too involved in at times. It can be difficult.”But I’ve got a little one at home, I’ve got my wife. They give me perspective,” he adds. “They were with me throughout the Ashes. It was nice to get away at times. I always like getting away from cricket. I had some good time off when I came home, lots of family time. I reassessed my game and tried to work on various things from a technical aspect, just little tweaks I could make to then go again.”However, if Burns’ first-baller was the start (and finish) of the Ashes proper, then a full appraisal of England’s awful tour needs also to take in the hugely restrictive circumstances of their series build-up. As if the strictures of lockdown life weren’t complicated enough, the ceaseless rain in Queensland ensured that the whole team went into that first Test with perhaps the least satisfactory preparation in Ashes history, just one day of middle practice possible in their scheduled warm-up fixture.”The odds weren’t in our favour, were they? It was always going to be an uphill battle with that prep that we did get. The run-in was suboptimal. Getting used to conditions was suboptimal. That led to its starting the series on the back foot.”It led also, Burns admits, to a fatal lack of alignment at the crease for when the big Brisbane moment came. “To be honest, in the limited practices we did have I was feeling pretty good,” he says. “Certainly technically, looking back on it, it probably crept in slightly. Preferably if that had been flagged marginally earlier that could have helped. It wasn’t.Burns was a Championship-winning captain with Surrey in 2018•Getty Images”Like I say, I’ve put it to bed, put some tweaks in. You trust in the people you trust and go again. It was tough, it proved to be tough. But I’ve rationalised it by talking to people I trust, and then getting back on the wagon.”Getting back into the England team, however, might yet prove to be a tougher challenge. Despite the encouragement of Gareth Batty, Surrey’s new head coach, who insists Burns is still the “best opener in the country”, the fall-out of the Ashes loss seems to have focussed as heavily on the dressing-room atmosphere as on the proficiency of those within it.And in that respect, the implication – encouraged by Joe Root’s and Paul Collingwood’s repeated emphasis on the renewed positive energy during the Caribbean tour – is that the mood within the squad has been improved by the removal of certain senior individuals who perhaps did not give back enough when the going got tough in Australia.”I don’t think so. That would be unfair,” Burns insists. “The talk is more on the fresh faces in the squad and they had a chance to put their own stamp on it. It would be unfair to say that.”Nevertheless, were it not for his axing, Burns might otherwise be a strong contender to take over as captain from the beleaguered Root. At the age of 31, he’s the right age for higher honours, and as Surrey’s captain in their Championship-winning season in 2018, he’s one of the very few England players of recent vintage with genuine experience of leadership outside of the international game.”I think I have to get back in the side first,” Burns says. “I’m not sure you pick your captain from outside the best XI in the country. Quite frankly Rooty is the man in position and he’s obviously doing very well with the bat and it hasn’t compromised his ability to bat. So I’ll let you draw on that what you want to draw on. I think you pick your captain from your best XI.”Related

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Burns’ immediate focus is on the start of Surrey’s season. First up is a trip to Edgbaston on April 7, before back-to-back home games against Hampshire and Somerset – meaning three consecutive fixtures on some of the truer surfaces on the county circuit, and potentially the chance to build up a body of work that gets his name firmly back into the frame before New Zealand’s arrival for the Test summer in June.”I don’t want to give too much away because there are county attacks looming around the corner,” he says. “But I just think, for me, those first 20 balls, [I will] tighten up fractionally. And then, as I’ve proved, once I get into an innings I generally go quite alright. So for me, [I have to] look at my starts, get in and build.”It won’t be the same [as Australia] here in April in the County Championship when things tend to be greener and slower. It’s all about adapting. That’s batting in a nutshell. Wherever you go, whichever attack you face, you have to adapt to what’s in front of you. It will be no different come next week.”Rarely has the county season begun under quite such a level of scrutiny, however, with England’s winless winter highlighting the growing gulf between the standards on England’s domestic circuit and the levels required at the very top. And it wasn’t only Burns who struggled with the step-up in Australia – his Surrey team-mate, Ollie Pope, was similarly exposed, even though his current average at the Kia Oval, 99.94, implies he could not be doing more to meet the standards to which he has been exposed.”I’m not really drawing mine and Ollie’s name into that,” Burns said. “The potential failings of county cricket are quite obvious. [In Test cricket] you face attacks of Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, Lyon. You don’t get too many attacks that come at you like that, day in and day out, where half a mistake is exaggerated to a definite mistake. And potentially the system doesn’t fit that with the volume of cricket we now play across four formats. You’re basically struggling to get what you need in six months to produce your best teams for England.”Despite Burns’ gruff insistence that he’s ready to go again, Batty is conscious that his captain is potentially more wounded by his experiences this winter that he is willing to let on.”I don’t worry about him putting the best case across, but I worry about who might select the [England] team,” Batty says. “But that is not our concern. He’s our leader. He is our captain. He has done a wonderful job over a period of time. Now we need to give him a bit back.”He needs us to take care of him for a moment, because it is difficult. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you get left out by England and come back. So we need to make his life easier, show that we’ve got him – because we definitely do – and hopefully create an environment for him and for the rest of the boys where he can thrive, and shoot for the stars.”And for the time being, all Burns can do to rebuild that bruised reputation is to get stuck in with Surrey, and feed off the optimism that tends to accompany the early weeks of a new season.”Look around the dressing room and I feel like I’ve got about 10 years older,” he says. “I probably have because I’ve been around here so long. There are a lot of young guys, a lot of learning there. That is for us as senior players to take on, share the knowledge around the room and pass it on.”

All three have proven to be more than competent openers, but with only two slots available, who will make way for the T20 World Cup?

Danyal Rasool02-Feb-2022October 24, 2021. (For many, that date already needs no further context to be instantly recognisable.) India had set Pakistan 152 for victory in the sides’ first game of the T20 World Cup. It was a strong recovery from the middle order after Shaheen Shah Afridi had blown the openers away, but nonetheless, a below-par target. Out strode Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, two immoveable forces of nature who have cemented themselves as the first truly undisputed Pakistani opening partnership since Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail broke up.In 17.5 unforgettable overs, they picked apart the Indian bowlers, keeping up the scoring rate without appearing to take any risks. In a performance for the ages, Pakistan cantered to the target, without losing a single wicket. Who in their right mind would ever question these openers? Where were all those baying for Fakhar Zaman to open now?Two weeks and four days later, Pakistan are in the semi-finals, unbeaten and vying against Australia for a spot in the final. Pakistan are batting first this time, and Babar and Rizwan strike up another significant partnership. They produce 71, but this time, the fluency of the India game appears to be missing. The 71 comes in 9.5 overs, and Babar himself holes out to long-on after a scratchy 39 off 34 balls at a strike rate of 114.70. Rizwan, as everyone knows, had found himself in hospital the night before, but soldiers through on a muggy evening to 67 off 52 at a strike rate of 128.84. Fakhar ends up facing just 32 deliveries, finishing unbeaten on 55 to power Pakistan to 176. Strike rate? 171.87.It seems par, perhaps even slightly above, but there’s only so much damage that can be undone in just half a T20 innings. Pakistan appear to be sealing Australia’s fate with regular wickets, but unlike Pakistan, they keep attacking. By the halfway mark, they’ve managed 89 and the platform is set for one famous lower-order partnership to knock Pakistan out. What were Pakistan thinking, coasting along at just over seven in the first ten?The question of how to fit three into two at the top of the T20I order is a thorny one for Pakistan. But as Fakhar’s form with the Lahore Qalandars this season – and Babar’s own struggles with Karachi Kings – attest, it’s one that may acquire greater urgency as they head into this year’s T20 World Cup. For all the records that Babar and Rizwan have broken over the last year, the concerns about the way those partnerships are paced have never really gone away. And while worrying about ironing over what appears a mild crease seems like a luxurious problem, the profligacy of not utilising a bludgeoner like Fakhar doesn’t always appear sustainable.Irresistible as Babar looks creaming drives through tightly packed fields in the powerplay, he lags behind Fakhar in that phase. In all T20s since January 2020, Fakhar scored 7.64 runs per six powerplay balls, nearly a full run per over ahead of Babar’s 6.68. (Rizwan, incidentally, is well ahead of both at 8.44). Limit that to T20Is, and the difference between Fakhar and Babar is starker: Fakhar hits 7.80 runs per powerplay over, with Babar straggling well behind at 6.55. Rizwan is bang in the middle of both at 7.15.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe case for Fakhar opening isn’t just made through the comparison with Babar, but also around the most efficient way to use the left-hander. Fakhar’s strike rate drops to just 123.02 when he bats at number three in T20Is, well below the 136.24 as opener. And while it’s fair to say Fakhar the Lahore Qalandars opener is much more consistent than Fakhar the Pakistan opener (his average with Lahore is nearly 12 runs higher than his T20I average), the strike rates are fairly similar – 139.04 and 136.24 respectively. In all T20s since Jan 2017, for all openers who’ve scored at least 1000 runs, Fakhar has the second highest SR [139.55] for a Pakistani opener – behind only Kamran Akmal.In that case, you’d expect the solution to be fairly straightforward: ditch Babar as opener, and link Rizwan with Fakhar for Pakistan. But you’d be forgiven if bits of your brain feel these numbers don’t quite tell the full story. For one, it’s because some numbers suggest there isn’t a huge difference between Babar and Fakhar as opener at all. Babar’s career strike rate as T20I opener, after all, is 132.61, which is not a world off Fakhar’s 136.24, and he averages almost twice as much.The reliability that Babar’s partnership with Rizwan has provided Pakistan means they can guarantee a solid platform pretty much every game. The costs of breaking that up, and effectively overhauling the innings construction method, should not be taken lightly because, plainly put, Fakhar cannot hope to match the pair’s consistency.Run that India game in your head again. As a Pakistan supporter, would you really want anyone besides Babar and Rizwan opening in that particular chase? Had Pakistan rolled the dice with Fakhar and he’d fallen for under 25 – as he has in 28 of his last 36 T20I knocks – the swing of momentum, coupled with the weight of history, could well have made that a much cagier chase.And it isn’t just below-par totals they’re prolific at chasing. Hark back to the 3rd T20I in Centurion, where South Africa amassed 203. The scoring rate required of Babar and Rizwan was well above their average T20I strike rates, but set a target, both rose to the challenge. Babar smashed 122 off 59, and Rizwan an unbeaten 73 off 47 as Pakistan ran the runs down with two overs to spare. It didn’t seem to matter then that Fakhar needed to face only two balls that innings.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut again, that’s not an excuse to stick with the status quo. Think of the T20I just two days before that Centurion epic, when in Johannesburg, an off-colour Babar limped his way to a run-a-ball 50 as Pakistan crawled to 140, which South Africa chased in 14 overs. Indeed, across the three T20Is that series either side of that hundred, Babar managed just 88 in 87 balls. Cast your mind back to that semi-final against Australia again, where Babar’s strike rate was the lowest for any batter who faced more than ten balls. Reflect on his three innings for Karachi Kings this season, when, batting first, he’s managed a collective 96 runs at a strike rate of just 105.49 with his side failing to put enough runs on the board each time.The common theme across most of those Babar innings is that Pakistan batted first. And while Babar has proved the master of the chase, it’s not at all clear he’s the best judge of a good first-innings total. Since January 2020 in all games for Pakistan or Karachi Kings, Babar’s strike rate batting first is 122.32. In a chase, that jumps to 134.49. The average, too, swells from 36.65 to 63.75.For all the extremities to which sides have gone to wring out every little advantage in a T20 game, none has yet adopted specialist openers depending on whether a total is being set or chased. But the key dynamics of the way Babar and Fakhar’s games work would appear to suggest one obvious solution: move Fakhar up to open when Pakistan bat first while sticking with the present combination in pursuit of a score.

The Canterbury wicketkeeper-batter has ground it out for close to a decade in domestic cricket and believes he’s finally ready for his Test cap

Deivarayan Muthu27-May-20223:33

“I loved wicketkeeping and I had quite good hands, but it became pretty clear that in the modern day you need to be able to bat as well”

Nine years after he made his debut for Northern Districts, Canterbury wicketkeeper-batter Cam Fletcher has been called up as part of the New Zealand squad to England, his second Test call-up after the South Africa tour earlier this year, but this time he’s hoping for his maiden Test cap.Fletcher was raised in Auckland and went to Kelson Boys’ High School, one of the top rugby schools in New Zealand, but then moved to Northern Districts and then to Canterbury to build a cricketing career. After grinding it out in domestic cricket for almost a decade, he’s now also on the radar of New Zealand’s white-ball sides.Fletcher, now 29, made his first-class debut for Northern Districts in 2013, but only had a peripheral role, with BJ Watling being the frontline keeper there. Gary Stead, the then-Canterbury coach, invited him to shift south to Canterbury the next season, which turned out to be a career-defining move for Fletcher. Eight years later, he now finds himself in the New Zealand side, once again coached by Stead.Related

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“It is [coming full circle]. I’ve talked about it a couple of times recently [with Stead],” Fletcher tells ESPNcricinfo. “It’s quite funny (). When I first moved down to Canterbury, Gary didn’t really know me that well and he hadn’t seen me play much. I had only played a handful of first-class games at that point, but he gave me that opportunity and that’s something I’m extremely grateful for.”Someone like Gary now understands quite well what I do, but also I had to work to get on his good side. For him to be able to tap me on the shoulder and be like ‘this is your opportunity’, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”It has been an eventful few weeks for Fletcher on the personal front as well. He married his partner Isabelle in April, at the end of New Zealand’s domestic home summer.”It was a long summer back home in New Zealand and there was plenty that happened. By the back end of the season I knew that I was getting up to the wedding and I was pretty excited for that,” Fletcher recalls. “And all of a sudden this [tour of England] came up as well and I was like: ‘Man! It’s pretty incredible'”Getting married to my wife was probably the best day of my life, and then to be able to experience something that I always wanted to do [be part of the New Zealand side] is incredible really.”Fletcher had scored 364 runs in 12 innings at an average of 40.44 in the Plunket Shield and was the fourth highest run scorer in the 2021-22 Super Smash. Although Canterbury lost to Northern Districts in the final, Fletcher’s middle-order power-hitting in the tournament – he struck a chart-topping 23 sixes – was impossible to ignore.Fletcher on his Test call-up: “All the preparation isn’t just the last week, it’s the last ten years of your career”•Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesWhen he started out, Fletcher was primarily a wicketkeeper who could bat a bit, but he has now transformed himself into a dynamic batter who does the tough job of finishing an innings. He puts his recent success down to his improved fitness and gym work. He was so passionate about his fitness he even did a stint as strength and conditioning co-coach at North Harbour Cricket in Auckland.”When I was younger I tried to bowl a bit, tried to bat a bit, but not that well,” Fletcher says. “I loved wicketkeeping and it became the thing that was unique – only one person could become the keeper. I had quite good hands and that really worked for me. I really enjoyed being in the game, being able to move around, and take catches and stumpings.”As I got more opportunities to play, it became pretty clear that in the modern day you need to be able to bat as well. It took me a long time really to figure out the kind of player I wanted to be and the skills that were required, especially in first-class cricket.”[Gym] helped me with that mental side of my game but also the confidence – I felt that if I was able to be fast and strong, I would be confident in taking that out to the middle. Whether at training or at the game, I could hit boundaries or clear the rope. It’s a great feeling when you do that, especially when the field is on the boundary and you know if you get this off the middle, it’s going over. I think gym helped me with that from a mental point of view as well as the physical side.”New Zealand already have Devon Conway, Tim Seifert and Finn Allen in their white-ball keepers’ mix, but Fletcher hopes to break into the team in a T20 World Cup year.”At the moment, I’m pretty grateful to be here [in England] and to be playing, but, it’s definitely a goal of mine to keep pushing for that [T20] kind of cricket,” Fletcher says. “I’ve really enjoyed T20 cricket in the last few years, my kind of role in the middle order – try to hit the ball as hard as I can, see if I can finish games, or help the team in some way. I feel that when the time is right, I can bat anywhere in the order, but I’ve enjoyed batting in that middle-order position for Canterbury in the last few years. If opportunities are there, you always want to take them.”Apart from Stead, current Canterbury head coach Peter Fulton has had a big influence on Fletcher’s game and Canterbury’s overall. Under Fulton, Canterbury won the Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy in 2020-21 and then finished runners-up in Plunket Shield and Super Smash next season. Having also played alongside Fulton in his early years, Fletcher was all praise for his tactical sharpness.Fletcher and Gary Stead at Canterbury in 2016-17: “Gary now understands me quite well in what I do, but also I had to work to get on his good side”•Getty Images”He seems like quite an intimidating guy at the start – big, tall guy – but he’s quite traditional with the way he does things. I’m a keeper and a bit chirpy. Having him at first slip, I’ve looked at a lot of him over the years – how to keep my game and not overcomplicate things too much. I definitely did that during some points of my career, but over the last two seasons especially, since Fulton has come back in as head coach, he has definitely simplified Canterbury’s cricket.”He’s big on the tactical side of things – game-awareness and game plans – but he’s also allowed players time to focus on things outside of cricket. There’s an expectation when you come back into the environment, cricket is No. 1, but when you leave training and the game, that’s your time. He’s been massive for my game, definitely, in the last couple of years.”Over in England, Fletcher could come up against Ben Stokes, his one-time team-mate at Canterbury and now England’s new captain. Fletcher played six white-ball games alongside Stokes in 2017, when the allrounder had originally arrived to visit family.”He’s world-class, and for us first-class cricketers at that point, it was awesome to have his presence around,” Fletcher says of Stokes. “He was extremely gifted and was quite firm when he needed to be. There were a couple of games where we didn’t perform well and he had a few words, saying we should’ve done better, and it was quite cool to hear that.”Fletcher is also looking forward to reuniting with his mates at Sandwich Town, a club he represented in the Kent Premier League in 2019. He was lined up for a return to the club in 2020 before the pandemic intervened. Fletcher reckons that the spell with Sandwich Town helped him rekindle his enthusiasm for cricket and maintain a healthy work-life balance.”I’d finished my university and with my wife, I went to experience English club cricket and also travel a bit,” Fletcher recalls. “It took time for me [to adapt] – the wickets were a lot lower and the Dukes ball did a bit. Over the course of the season, you’re always learning, though you’re not playing as much cricket as you’re used to [in New Zealand].Fletcher and Canterbury team-mate Blake Coburn (left) caught the 2019 Ashes Edgbaston Test after Marnus Labuschagne passed them tickets for it•Cam Fletcher”I enjoyed the cricket for what it was. It’s a game and it’s not just [about] performance in those environments; people want to come together and enjoy playing cricket after working all week. I used to be quite serious and performance-driven, so it was a nice opportunity to push it to the side and have a lot of fun. It helped me move forward in my game as well.”At Sandwich Town, Fletcher caught up with Marnus Labuschagne, who had turned out for the club in the northern summer of 2014. Labuschagne even gave Fletcher tickets to the 2019 Edgbaston Test.”The atmosphere was incredible,” Fletcher said of his first experience of watching the Ashes live. “You kind of visualise yourself out in the middle one day… the thought of being out there [at international level] and experiencing it is hard to explain.”Marnus played a number of years before I did for Sandwich Town. He developed big friendships at the club, something that I did as well. He has a great network of people – it’s actually a family kind of environment at Sandwich. He even came back for a friend’s wedding during that period. I got to meet him and have a few chats with him. That’s how he ended up passing tickets for the Edgbaston Test.”Ian Smith, the former New Zealand keeper and now commentator, recently reminded Fletcher of Smith’s own debut, when they spoke on the podcast, and urged Fletcher to be ready. The incumbent Warren Lees hurt his hamstring during warm-ups, ahead of the Gabba Test in 1980 and Smith had 40 minutes’ notice to prepare for his Test debut. Fletcher says he’s well prepared if he gets the job at some point on tour.”I’ve played for a long time, and it [playing for New Zealand] is something I want to do. All the preparation isn’t just the last week, it’s the last ten years of your career. The ups and downs and the not-so-good days give you the best chance to go out there and contribute for your team. I hope the opportunity comes at some point and if it’s on this tour, I want to go out there and give it everything. There’s no guarantee for performance, but I will put everything out there for the team.”

Batting coach Justin Sammons is working on adjusting his squad’s weight transfer into the ball and alignment at the crease

Firdose Moonda22-Dec-2022Weight transfer into the ball and alignment at the crease are the two key technical areas South Africa’s batters are focusing on as they seek to end a stretch of six successive sub-200 totals in Test cricket.The squad traveled to Melbourne from Brisbane on Thursday. They trained together on what would have been the fifth day of the Gabba Test and have two more full net sessions scheduled before the Boxing Day match. As discussed in our examination of the batting here at least three of South Africa’s top six – Sarel Erwee, Rassie van der Dussen and Kyle Verreynne – do not appear to be moving well in the middle.Related

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Erwee has been caught behind the stumps nine times in his 15 innings, often while driving loosely. Verreynne has been dismissed eight times in his last 11 innings playing away from the body with minimal footwork. Van der Dussen, too, has not been getting forward properly, a mistake that has led to his wicket five times in his last nine innings. South Africa’s batting coach Justin Sammons did not want to discuss them individually but gave ESPNcricinfo some broad-based observations of the things he has been working on.”Generally speaking, when a batter gets out on the drive it can be due to his weight transfer and not being able to stay on top of the ball or control his contact point. It can also often be caused by an error in judgment: playing the drive to a ball that is not quite there in length or line especially when there is lateral movement on offer,” he said.Asked whether the issue is technical or mental, Sammons said both. “Footwork is obviously important, alignment and weight transfer are the key. The front shoulder dipping or rotating and head moving ideally leads the movement and moving forward allows you to create a stable base from which weight can be transferred. Weight transfer can either be aided or made more difficult by the batter’s position at point of delivery or their mindset – whether they are decisive or not.”Rassie van der Dussen has been dismissed five times in his last nine innings failing to get forward•Associated PressThe one player in South Africa’s line-up who has looked positive at the crease is vice-captain Temba Bavuma. Not only was he their top-scorer at the Gabba but he spent more than three-and-a-half hours batting across two innings, absorbing the pressure and even transferring a little back onto the bowlers.”Temba has been playing really well over the last few years in the Test arena. He understands what approach and tempo is going to give him, and importantly the team, the best chance for success,” Sammons said.While Bavuma is known for starting his innings slowly – it took him nine balls to get a run in the first innings and 15 in the second – Sammons believes he has shown the kind of enterprise the rest can learn from as well as providing South Africa with someone to bat around. “His approach has been positive; he is looking to score and put the bowlers under pressure within his strengths. It showed, on a difficult pitch at the Gabba, where he displayed a sense of calm and awareness of scoring opportunities whether in attack or defence,” Sammons said. “He was proactive in many subtle ways which I believe is important.”Bavuma’s form is particularly good news for South Africa as it comes off the back of a torrid T20 World Cup, where he struggled for runs, and an elbow injury that kept him out of South Africa’s tour to England in the winter. South Africa also have two reserve batters – Theunis de Bruyn and Heinrich Klaasen – in the squad and may consider adding one of them, at the expense of a quick for the second Test.