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Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes England need to play five bowlers if they are to win an Ashes series in Australia for the first time since Mike Gatting’s side did it over 20 years ago

Cricinfo staff25-May-2010Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes England need to play five bowlers if they are to win an Ashes series in Australia for the first time since Mike Gatting’s side did it over 20 years ago. However, Vaughan feels the current England set-up, led by coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss, will choose to play an extra-batsman instead.”The debate all summer will be about England’s formation,” Vaughan told AFP. “Will it be six batters and four bowlers, or five and five? I firmly believe they are going to need five bowlers in Australia but I think this management group and Strauss will go with six and four.”They will say they win as many games with four (bowlers) as they do with five. I guess the question I will say is ‘well how many real top teams do we beat with four?'”Vaughan opted for a five-man attack during England’s thrilling home win over Australia in 2005. That line-up was led by a rampant Steve Harmison, and included Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles. He also pointed out that England used five bowlers in their two Ashes Test victories in 2009.”We beat Australia last year with Freddie (Flintoff) in the team twice, at Lord’s and the Oval, and with five bowlers. I think we need five bowlers. I think Tim Bresnan is a good enough batter to bat at seven, with Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad at eight and nine. But I think they will go in with six (batsmen).”Vaughan, while praising Swann, expressed concern that Australia could target England’s player of the year if he was part of a four-man attack. “He’s had a wonderful year but I just worry that if Swanny doesn’t get it right and the opposition do attack him a little bit more, three seamers on days one and two looks very, very light,” he said. “Maybe they’ll get some overs out of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood but they are not going to do much damage. We’ll wait and see. But from what I’ve seen of Andy Flower, I think they’ll go with six batters.”Vaughan went on to applaud England’s victory in the World Twenty20 final, the team’s first win in an ICC tournament, calling it an “amazing achievement”. But he insisted it still didn’t compare to the Ashes. “It’s not as important as the Ashes, don’t get me wrong. The Ashes is the pinnacle but, as an achievement, it’s right up there.”

Uma Chetry is the only member of India’s Asia Cup side to have been dropped

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-20248:27

Is this India’s best chance to win the World Cup?

India have named a familiar-looking squad for the women’s T20 World Cup 2024 retaining the bulk of the side that qualified for the final of the women’s T20 Asia Cup in July this year.Fourteen of the 15 players in the World Cup squad were also part of the Asia Cup side, with only Uma Chetry missing out. India have instead picked Yastika Bhatia, but her inclusion is subject to fitness, and so is Shreyanka Patil’s, after she suffered a fractured finger in her left hand during an Asia Cup game against Pakistan.Bhatia, the wicketkeeper-batter, was Mumbai Indians’ third-highest run-scorer in WPL 2024 with 204 runs in in eight outings. She played the first T20I against Bangladesh in Sylhet in April but has been out of action since. She is currently recuperating at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for an injury in her left knee.Tanuja Kanwar, who replaced Patil in the India squad for the Asia Cup, has not been included, but has been named among the travelling reserves. Along with Kanwar, Chetry, also a wicketkeeper-batter, and fast bowler Saima Thakor have been named in the reserves. Batter Raghvi Bist and legspinner Priya Mishra, who were both part of the India A squad that travelled to Australia recently, have been named non-travelling reserves.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Harmanpreet Kaur will continue leading the side, with Smriti Mandhana the vice-captain. Along with the two, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are expected to form the spine of the batting. Renuka Singh will lead the fast-bowling unit alongside Pooja Vastrakar. Deepti, Radha Yadav and Patil are the main spinners.India are placed in Group A at the World Cup along with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and are targeting their first women’s T20 World Cup title.The tournament was originally set to be played in Bangladesh, but was shifted to the UAE last week in the aftermath of the countrywide anti-government agitations in Bangladesh, with a number of countries issuing travel advisories to their citizens against travelling to the country..The tournament gets underway on October 3 in Sharjah with the final slotted for October 20 in Dubai. India begin their campaign against New Zealand in Dubai on October 4 in an evening game and will play Pakistan on October 6 at the same venue.

India squad for Women’s T20 World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia* (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajeevan Sajana

The opener’s 140 helped Australia A extend their lead to 304

AAP10-Apr-2023Matt Renshaw piled on another century in New Zealand to keep up in the hotly contested race for an Ashes berth.The Australia A opener scored 140 against New Zealand A in Lincoln on the third day as the visitors reached 297 for 5 in their second innings before bad light stopped play.First-innings century-maker Aaron Hardie (33) was run-out, while Tim Ward made 63 in a 136-run stand with Renshaw.Ward, who had passed 50 in both innings of the first game as well, relished his time in the middle with Renshaw.”Love it; the three times we’ve batted together we’ve had partnerships over a hundred,” he said. “I really like batting with him. He keeps it really simple and is a cool head out there.”Ward admitted his call-up was a surprise after a lean run to finish the Sheffield Shield season.”But I’m happy my hard work has got me here and selectors have shown a bit of faith,” he said. “I’ve developed a bit of clarity around my game; where I wanted to score, defend and leave.”Late call-up Jordan Buckingham was the destroyer on Saturday with a six-for, and Renshaw took 2 for 32 as the hosts were bowled out for 246.Australia A lead by 304 ahead of Tuesday’s final day of the two-game series. The hosts won from a similar position in the series opener.Renshaw missed out in the first innings of this match but has otherwise dominated, scoring 112 and then 78 off just 72 in the first game of a tour designed to replicate the conditions Australia will encounter during the Ashes in England in June and July.And Renshaw has needed every run, as contenders queue up to replace David Warner at the top of the order should he retire or not be selected to face England.Marcus Harris, awarded an Australian central contract ahead of Renshaw, has begun his County Championship campaign with a half-century and century for Gloucestershire. Cameron Bancroft, meanwhile, scored 44 and 0 for Somerset.Renshaw was recalled to Australia’s Test squad for the recent tour to India to bat in the middle order, but he did himself no favours with scores of 0, 2 and 2.

Former India head coach suggests not announcing a vice-captain beforehand, but picking someone who can ‘fit into the XI’ on the day

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2022Former India head coach Ravi Shastri does not see any reason to panic after the team’s twin losses in South Africa. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing Legends Cricket League in Oman, Shastri said given India’s strong performances over the past few years, “how can the standard go down suddenly?”Shastri took over as commissioner of the Legends League Cricket, a T20 league that features former players, following his stint as India head coach. He said he did not follow the series in South Africa, but he was confident the team would bounce back. “If you lose one series, you people start criticising… You can’t win every game, there will be wins and losses,” he said. “How can the standard go down suddenly? For five years, you have been number one side in the world.”Related

• Are the India of 2021 better than the India of 2018?

• India 'one of the great teams in the history of cricket' – Shastri

• Shastri signs off as India coach an 'emotional, but very proud man'

• Kohli the captain, Kohli the spectacle

Shastri’s time with the Indian team spanned from 2014 to 2021, with a break of a year in between from mid-2016 to mid-2017, when Anil Kumble was the coach. Under Shastri, India became the first Asian team to win a Test series against Australia in Australia, doing it in 2018-19 and then repeating the feat in 2020-21. They also made the final of the inaugural World Test Championship, and were leading in a series in England in 2021 before it was stalled by fears of Covid-19. After taking over from Kumble in 2017, Shastri’s term was extended in 2019 till the end of the T20 World Cup 2021. Shastri, 59, would have not been eligible to serve another term as coach though due to age restrictions on the role.Rahul Dravid has since taken over from Shastri, but there has also been churn on the captaincy front with Virat Kohli giving up the T20 and Test captaincy a couple of months apart, and being stripped of job in ODIs in between. Shastri, who worked closely with Kohli all through his tenure, said his decision to quit as Test captain should not be questioned.”It’s his choice. You have to respect his decision. There is a time for everything. A lot of big players in the past have left captaincy when they felt they wanted to focus on their batting or on their cricket.”Whether it’s (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Sunil) Gavaskar or (MS) Dhoni. And, it’s Virat Kohli now.”Shastri said Kohli’s highly successful stint should not be judged on him not having led India to a global title in any format. “Many big players have not won a World Cup. That’s alright. (Sourav) Ganguly, (Rahul) Dravid, (Anil) Kumble also have not won. So can we label them as bad players?”You can’t generalise. You go and play. How many World Cup winning captains do we have. Sachin Tendulkar had to play six World Cups before winning it.”At the end of the day, you are judged by how you play, are you an ambassador of the game? Do you play the game with integrity, and do you play for a long period of time? That’s how you judge players at the end of it all.”Speaking to Sports Tak, Shastri also suggested that India would do better not to name an official vice-captain, but pick one of the playing XI to do the job ahead of each game. Rohit Sharma, who is widely believed to be next is line to take up the captaincy in Test cricket, is currently India’s vice-captain, following a long stint in the role by the out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane.’Many people say that he plays how he wants, but that’s not true. He always has the team’s interest in mind.’ – Ravi Shastri on Rishabh Pant•Getty Images

Asked who should be the next vice-captain if Rohit is promoted to the captaincy, Shastri said: “That will have to be seen. Rahul Dravid will have to see who’s the right candidate. Because that player needs to be a certainty in the team, that’s very important.”I often think the vice-captaincy is made into too big an issue by people. Sometimes I think, ‘Why do you even need to announce one (a vice-captain)?’ Go to the ground and see, among those who fit into the XI, who is the most experienced and who can captain, make him the vice-captain.”If you announce beforehand, then what happens if the player can’t fit into the team? Then there will be a problem, because ‘How can we drop the vice-captain?’ Is there a rule in any coaching manual that you can’t drop a vice-captain? Of course you can drop them. So if you have some doubts like that, don’t announce the vice-captain at all. Say we’ll go there and decide.”While Shastri didn’t get drawn into who should or shouldn’t be the vice-captain, he did say that Rishabh Pant’s reading of the game made him a potential future leader.”Rishabh is a tremendous young player. I say it openly, when I was a coach I was very fond of him,” Shastri said. “And he listens too. Many people say that he plays how he wants, but that’s not true. He always has the team’s interest in mind. And I’ve always seen that he reads the game well. You should always keep in mind his leadership qualities for the future.”

Sunrisers had to beat the top three teams in the IPL to qualify for the playoffs this season. And they did

Alagappan Muthu03-Nov-20204:20

Agarkar: Sunrisers Hyderabad have been tactically very good

Sunrisers Hyderabad 151 for 0 (Warner 85*, Saha 58*) beat Mumbai Indians 149 for 8 (Pollard 41, Sandeep 3-34) by 10 wicketsThe Sunrisers Hyderabad had to beat the top three teams in the IPL to qualify for the playoffs this season. And they did. With style.Sandeep Sharma was a menace in the powerplay. He finished with 3 for 34. Mumbai recovered in the middle overs but Shahbaz Nadeem broke them again. He finished with 4-0-19-2.Kieron Pollard’s intervention gave them 149 on the board, but having rested Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, the bowling did not have enough firepower to pick up even a single wicket. David Warner made his highest score of the season – 85 not out off 58 balls – and Wriddhiman Saha provided his value as a hitter up the order as the Sunrisers waltzed into the playoffs. Their win also meant the Kolkata Knight Riders, who had the same points (14) as the Sunrisers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the end of the league stage, lost out on a playoff spot because of their inferior net run rate.The unheralded. Part ISandeep is a medium pacer. Batsmen don’t fear that lot. In fact, they often taunt them by batting outside the crease. You can’t hurt me, but I’m going to hurt you.Even under this pressure, the 27-year-old has been a steadfast performer. He dismissed Rohit Sharma for 4 and battled back from a pasting by Quinton de Kock to knock over his stumps.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Early wickets like that can stall a T20 innings, but Suryakumar Yadav wouldn’t let it happen to his team. With sublime clarity of thought – especially against Rashid Khan – he helped Mumbai back to a position of strength. They were 78 for 2 after 10 overs.The unheralded. Part IIEven with Hardik Pandya, Bumrah and Boult rested, this Mumbai line-up had proven it had enough game-changers to be a threat. They had a launch pad. And the Sunrisers had to tear it down all over again. This time they used spin.Nadeem is an extremely diligent cricketer. He needs to be because he is often asked to take on terrible responsibilities. The Sunrisers often match him up against big hitters like AB de Villiers and Shane Watson. This is a man who bowls left-arm orthodox. And he still outsmarts players of that pedigree. He did it here too, getting Yadav stumped for 36 off 29, and three balls later having Krunal Pandya caught off a miscue for a duck.Mumbai were now 81 for 4 in the 12th over. Then they lurched to 115 for 6 in the 17th over. But Kieron Pollard decided enough was enough and unleashed himself, hitting 41 off 25 balls and lifting the total up to 149.The unheralded Part IIISaha is a powerplay supernova. He loves batting with the field up. And this year, against the Delhi Capitals, he showed that he has developed his game enough to remain a threat even when those five men retreat to the boundary.With Mumbai refusing to give Warner any room at the start of his innings, it was the wicketkeeper who kicked the Sunrisers into gear with a Test quality straight-bat shot over mid-off for six. It was all timing and grace.Soon enough the Sunrisers captain joined in on the fun and by the time the powerplay was over (56 for 0), his team was looking at a required rate of a little over six to win one of their most important games this season.After that it was just a matter of time.

Opener’s dashing 137 from 106 balls leaves Sussex in position from which dictate final-day terms

Jon Culley at Wantage Road22-May-2019Sussex supporters know by now not to spend too long away from their seats when Phil Salt is going about his business; whatever the young batsman does with a bat in his hands, it tends to happen quickly.His scores coming into this game were informative. Among his 13 innings this season were seven dismissals in single figures. But there was also a 137 off 106 balls that included six sixes in a 50-over game against Kent. To that can now be added the 122 in 104 balls with which he swung this match in the favour of Sussex, decisively they will hope.He is an explosive, all-or-nothing kind of player, not unusually for someone of 22 years old in the modern game. Some coaches and captains might find him infuriating. Sussex are in no hurry to see him change and quite happy to give him his head even against the new ball in the Championship.”He might have a crazy dismissal one day then win you a game on his own the next, so as captains and coaches we have to let him play his own game,” the Sussex skipper, Ben Brown, said following Salt’s call-up to England’s T20 squad earlier this month.Until then, Salt had not been selected in an England squad of any kind, not even at Under-19 level, which is slightly odd given the meticulous work that goes into the ECB’s talent identification processes, supposedly to ensure that the progress of no qualified player goes unmonitored, and that anyone with obvious talent is exposed to some kind of international cricket as soon as possible.Salt made 355 runs in the Vitality Blast last season, which is clearly his most effective arena, but he has such a good eye that if can survive the first dozen overs or so against the red ball he can produce an innings such as this one, which had echoes of the 148 he made at Hove last August to open a pathway to victory against Derbyshire.He got away with a fair few indiscretions in this one, picking up an early boundary with a slice over the slip cordon before an inside edge off Brett Hutton just before he reached fifty came within a whisker of his off stump.When the ball came out of the meat of the bat, though, it invariably went a long way. Jamie Overton, Nathan Buck and Luke Procter took it in turns to suffer, and when stand-in captain Adam Rossington turned to Rob Keogh, Salt went after his offspin from the off, smiting him through cover and over his head for back-to-back fours before hauling the next delivery over deep midwicket for six. That one cleared the bank of seats and sailed out of the ground, coming to rest in someone’s back garden, presumably.The only bowler he wasn’t able to get away to much gain was Hutton, in the game as an unprecedented second concussion substitute after Luke Wood was unfit to resume following the helmet strike he suffered against Chris Jordan on the second evening.Salt made the unfortunate Keogh watch the ball disappear into the distance a couple more times before it all came to a predictable end just before tea when another vigorous swing of the bat against Overton sent the ball directly upwards. As he began to run, he knew even before the ball started to drop that he may as well head straight for the pavilion.”At the end of the day, if you strip it back, it is just a ball coming down at you and you have to hit it,” he said.”Obviously, in four-day cricket you have to show the bowlers more respect but I don’t see much of change in the way I approach the game in different formats, apart from that mental switch.”Sussex had not been nearly as far ahead as they had hoped when Northamptonshire’s first innings ended, largely because of Buck, who had only once before passed fifty in 122 first-class innings but showed that he actually possesses a decent repertoire of strokes, particularly square of the wicket.His partnership with Procter, most of it against the second new ball, added 70 for the ninth wicket, taking Northamptonshire past the follow-on score and on to claim a third batting point. Ben Sanderson’s late support enabled Procter even to stay around long enough to claim a fourth.It left Sussex still 54 in front, but with a need to score quickly to manoeuvre themselves into a position from which they might dictate the way the contest played out. Salt completed that part of the plan, and half-centuries in the final session from Brown and Stiann Van Zyl have given them a big enough advantage to declare overnight, or at least early in the final day, although taking 10 wickets on this pitch will be a test.

Prime Doleshwar staved off a late resurgence from Agrani Bank to squeeze through to a three-wicket win as well

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2018Nahidul Islam’s unbeaten 73 took Prime Bank Cricket Club to a comfortable five-wicket win over Shinepukur Cricket Club in Mirpur.Nahid struck six fours and a six in his 78-ball knock that also included 74-run fifth wicket stand with Yusuf Pathan. The chase was finished off with a 51-run unbroken sixth wicket stand with Delwar Hossain.Earlier batting first, Shinepukur were bowled out for 251 in 49.5 overs. Shoriful Islam and Monir Hossain took three wickets each.At the BKSP-3 ground, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club beat Agrani Bank by three wickets to remain second on the points table. Batting first, Agrani Bank were restricted to 203 for 7 in 50 overs courtesy Sharifullah and Zohaib Khan’s tally of three wickets each. Shamsul Islam top scored for Agrani with 64.In reply, Doleshwar reached the target in 46.2 overs, with useful contributions from Farhad Hossain (49), Marshall Ayub (42) and Zohaib (41) lower down the order.

The ICC has announced the annual award for the leading woman cricketer will be named after the former England captain Rachael Heyhoe-Flint

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2017The ICC has announced the annual award for the leading woman cricketer will be named after the former England captain Rachael Heyhoe-Flint who died in January aged 77.Heyhoe-Flint played 22 Tests and 23 ODIs for England and was the first woman to be inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame.She was integral to the launch of the first Women’s World Cup in 1973 – two years ahead of the men’s event – in which she captained England to victory.The announcement came on the day the 2017 Women’s World Cup, which will be staged in England, was launched with confirmation of the fixtures.

Chandika Hathurusingha and Dav Whatmore, the head coaches of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, have said that the four-match T20 series between the two sides will give them a chance to try out new combinations

Mohammad Isam in Khulna13-Jan-2016Chandika Hathurusingha and Dav Whatmore, the head coaches of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, have said that the four-match T20 series between the two sides will give them a chance to try out new combinations.With the Asia Cup T20 looming and a World T20 to follow, Bangladesh are keen to identify a settled combination. Zimbabwe, after losing four successive limited-overs series against Afghanistan, will also look to build for the World T20.”We are looking to win because we are playing international cricket but still we want to get our best combination,” Hathurusingha said. “At the same time give the players comfort in their roles, to understand their roles. So that’s the main focus. In terms of combinations, we will try to do different ones. We still want to win but we will experiment in terms of combinations.”With Zimbabwe looking to play many more T20s after Bangladesh and before the World T20, Whatmore said that the returning trio of Vusi Sibanda, Brian Vitori, and Sean Williams will get a chance to play.”We have come here to win. We are also mindful that we have another 10 games before the World T20,” Whatmore said. “There will be a portion of looking at different combinations.”They [Sibanda, Vitori and Williams] will get a chance. Sean is certainly in our best team. The other two boys have got a chance to impress. They will be given their opportunity. No one has come in here just to carry the drinks. So they will all play.”Neither team has a good record in T20 internationals, a discrepancy that needs correction. Bangladesh had lost their last T20, against Zimbabwe in November from a winning position.Bangladesh’s last T20 win against a top side was against Pakistan in April last year. Hathurusingha said that he wanted his players to understand their roles, especially on the batting front.The return of Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar will ease Bangladesh’s concerns about building a settled combination. Shakib had gone on paternity leave and missed the last two T20s against Zimbabwe while Sarkar missed both the ODIs and T20s because of a side strain.”We have a settled line-up in ODI cricket but in T20s I don’t think we have our combination or gameplan understood,” Hathurusingha said. “It is the biggest challenge, especially in batting. So batsmen have to understand and be comfortable in their roles. Shakib and Soumya are world-class players so they are both in the team.”Whatmore, on other hand, conceded that Zimbabwe had not fielded their best team for quite a while. “Our bowling attack has been a bit inexperienced without [Tinashe] Panyangara,” he said. “We haven’t been able to keep a settled team. We have had a close look at it. Our best team hasn’t been on the pitch in quite a while. We are still looking at other objectives to achieve in this four-match series.”Keeping in view the World T20 and conditions in India, Whatmore also called for flexibility. “I am not sure Indian wickets are going to take too much spin. What I have seen in the IPL are good batting wickets,” Whatmore said. “Some of the matches are also under lights so the dew factor will also come into it. I think teams need to be prepared for either medium-pace quick combinations and also have the ability to use spin bowlers without damaging their batting. I think you need to be flexible.”

England won by 247 runs in almost exactly 10 sessions to wrap up a 2-0 series victory and largely vindicate their approach

The Report by George Dobell28-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Swann completed his first ten-wicket haul in England to secure an emphatic victory•Getty Images

Alastair Cook could have been forgiven for scratching his head with confusion when he woke on Tuesday morning. With his team 1-0 up and sure of a series win, he might have expected some plaudits and praise. Instead, despite having come close to a three-day Test win against an opposition that had the better of the Test series in New Zealand only weeks ago, he found his tactics criticised and condemned.Nothing illustrates how far this England team have come since New Zealand beat them in England in 1999 to sentence them to bottom place in the Test rankings. Success is not just expected from England now, it is demanded, and with style.In the end, England won by 247 runs in almost exactly 10 sessions to wrap up a 2-0 series victory and largely vindicate their approach. Graeme Swann claimed 10 for 132 to emulate Derek Underwood, the last spinner to take ten wickets in a Test at Headingley back in 1972.Only 11 overs were possible on the fifth morning in between the forecast rain. When play did start after a 45-minute hiatus, it did not take England long to remove the only remaining specialist batsman. For the fourth time in the series, Stuart Broad dismissed the New Zealand captain, this time clinging on to a sharp caught-and-bowled chance as Brendon McCullum mistimed a drive off the bottom of the bat. The dismissal meant McCullum scored only 31 runs in the series.But the wicket came at a cost to England as Broad appeared to cut his knee diving for the catch – blood was visible through his trousers – and left the pitch for treatment shortly afterwards.England might have had Tim Southee on 26, as he edged one from Swann that did not turn, but Jonathan Trott, at slip, could not hold on to the chance in his left hand. To rub salt in the wound, Southee slog-swept the next ball for six.It was far from the only aggressive stroke he played. Despite a man waiting for the stroke on the midwicket boundary, Southee pulled Steven Finn’s first ball for six and drove Broad for a thumping straight four. Doug Bracewell also pulled Finn for a six in an eighth-wicket stand of 56 in only 41 balls.Swann made the second breakthrough with another delivery that slid on with the arm and again took the edge of Southee’s bat. This time Trott clung on to another tricky chance by his left boot. It made Swann the first spinner to claim a five-wicket haul in a Test at Headingley since John Emburey did so in the Ashes of 1985.But just five more deliveries were possible before the rain – for a while spitting – grew harder and the umpires led the players from the pitch for an early lunch. After a long delay, play resumed at 3pm. Just eight balls later Bracewell was given out to an inside edge but it was overruled using DRS, with replays showing the ball had deflected off the pad, not the bat. But, in Swann’s next over, he had the same batsman smartly caught by Ian Bell at silly point off bat and pad. It gave Swann a ten-wicket haul for the third time in Test cricket and his first in England.Neil Wagner and Trent Boult resisted for another eight scoreless overs but the return of James Anderson brought immediate rewards. With his third delivery, he drew Boult into a push that took the outside edge and carried to Matt Prior. It gave Anderson his 307th Test wicket to take him level with Fred Trueman’s tally. Now only Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis have more than Anderson for England.The results means England go into the Ashes with four wins in their last eight Tests and unbeaten in that period. But they can take more than victory from this game. The re-emergence of Finn as a bowler of pace and hostility and proof that Swann has rediscovered his best form following elbow surgery means England go into the Ashes with a balanced, settled attack capable of troubling most line-ups on most surfaces.There are one or two issues with the batting – the survival of Nick Compton at the top of the order will remain a debating point – but, with Kevin Pietersen back in the nets and Joe Root emerging as a fine player, England can feel pretty well prepared for the Ashes.Their tactics in this match were questionable, however. Had they enforced the follow-on or declared their second innings earlier – even a lunch-time declaration on day four would have given them a vital extra half-hour – they might have secured victory without gambling on a break in the clouds. As it was, they endured a nervous day watching it drizzle and hoping to squeeze in any more play. Ultimately they required about 90 minutes play on the final day, into which they squeezed 22 overs.Perhaps England betrayed some of their anxiety on the final morning. Andy Flower, the England coach, could be seen having an animated conversation with the groundsman minutes after the rain stopped. It would be unwise to try speculate in too much detail as to Flower’s intentions, but it seems safe to assume he was making the point that, if the rain was only to relent for short periods, England needed play to resume as soon as possible. As tends to be the case, Flower got his way despite a counter-argument from his New Zealand counterpart, Mike Hesson.In different circumstances, criticism might instead have been directed at Yorkshire rather than England. On most Test grounds in the UK, the floodlights could have been utilised for play to continue on the fourth day, but there are no floodlights at Headingley. It is also worth noting that, in a summer where every other Test will be all but a sell-out – even the Lord’s Test against New Zealand – this match has been played, at times, in front of vast banks of empty seats. For all the rich history and fine atmosphere, the future of Test cricket in Yorkshire remains precarious.