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Clarke backs Howard … and Warne

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Michael Clarke performed a feat of rare diplomacy on the eve of his side’s ODI series against the West Indies as he managed to balance his friendship with Shane Warne, and his fealty to Cricket Australia’s high performance chief Pat Howard

Daniel Brettig31-Jan-2013Australia’s captain Michael Clarke performed a feat of rare diplomacy on the eve of his side’s ODI series against the West Indies as he simultaneously managed to balance his friendship with Shane Warne, and his fealty to Cricket Australia’s high performance chief Pat Howard.Of those who have reacted to Warne’s parallel universe for Australian cricket in the past 24 hours, Clarke’s response was the one caught in the most invidious position. He is both a part of the selection panel that advocates concepts Warne cannot stomach, and also an eager sponge for all the cricket knowledge the former Test leg spinner and his own mentor Ian Chappell can provide.Caught between Warne and Howard, Clarke trod a narrow path down the middle, stating the former was entitled to his opinion and would be listened to by those in power, but also reiterating his belief that the latter was doing a strong job in the face of much criticism from those unwilling to watch the high-end of the game be managed by a former rugby international.”Warnie and I are great friends and we always will be,” Clarke said in Perth. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, and he’s certainly earned the right to voice his opinion on Australian cricket. I speak to Warnie often about things I can do personally to improve my game. Not only has he been a great friend, but he’s a mentor to me as well.”Pat Howard has been doing a fantastic job. A lot of people will take a lot of notice of what Warnie has to say. But people have jobs and are trying to do that job to the best of their ability. And that’s all we can do. I’m a part of that as well. The people who make the decisions on who gets employed, they’ll definitely take notice. They’ll read what Warnie had to say. And I’m sure they’ll do whatever they have to do.”Among other targets of Warne’s push for change in the Australian game, the national selector John Inverarity declined to comment, other than to say he was happy he lived in a country granted a free press and unfettered expression of ideas. Warne had suggested Inverarity be replaced by his fellow selector and friend Rod Marsh.The national coach Mickey Arthur, who Warne argued should be replaced by the former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, was less diplomatic in his assessment: taking issue with Warne’s clear preference for the simpler ways of the past – namely the 1970s when his mentor Chappell led a team of self-reliant and contrasting characters.”He’s living in a dream world to be honest,” Arthur told 6PR Radio in Perth. “It’s just not possible [to always pick your best team] with the amount of time the players have at their disposal. He’s living in a dream world and clearly he’s not up with the times.”We don’t sit there and rotate players and think, ‘he is going to play here and he is going to play here and there’. What we do, is we manage our players. So it’s about player management. If there is a player who is not 100 percent fit, we don’t take the risk with him. We want guys that are going out on the field 100 percent fine and ready to go all of the time.”Peter Siddle, Warne’s fellow Victorian and one of the players referred to as part of a strong core of the current Test team, offered the following view: “That’s just Warnie being Warnie. Warnie has done that when he played. He just likes the limelight.”

Karthik disappointed with pitch for Ranji final

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Dinesh Karthik, the lone centurion for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy final, has blamed the Chepauk pitch for spoiling his team’s chances of winning the title

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Jan-2012Dinesh Karthik, the lone centurion for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy final, has blamed the Chepauk pitch for spoiling his team’s chances of winning the title. The pitch became the focal point of the debate after Rajasthan amassed 621 runs across the first three days, taking advantage of a surface that was devoid of any bounce or pace. Though the game was drawn, Rajasthan took the title on first-innings points.The Rajasthan opening pair of Vineet Saxena and Aakash Chopra remained unconquered on a tedious first day when only 221 runs were scored.”To some extent, yes,” Karthik said, when asked if he would blame the pitch for Tamil Nadu finishing as runners-up. “Because after playing eight quality games you come up for the final only to realise it is going to be so toss-based. Any game for that matter should not be toss-based. There should be a pitch for both batsmen and bowlers. That is the key to sport, a contest.” Karthik’s previous century in a Ranji final came when Tamil Nadu played Mumbai at the same venue in the 2003-04 season.Incidentally the pitch for the final was the same surface Tamil Nadu had played Madhya Pradesh (group game) and Maharashtra (quarter-finals). In both those games, Tamil Nadu managed to bowl out the opposition at least once, but in the final they were made to toil fruitlessly. The fears of a weary pitch were realised completely: if the lack of pace on the dry pitch kept the fast bowlers parched, the spinners were hurt by the lack of bounce.Describing the pitch, Karthik said it was initially slow to start on day one and the cracks started getting wider over the subsequent days. “It is a little annoying to bat on (after day 3) you cannot play freely. If you are a positive player, there are not many shots you can play because you are not going to get value for your shots. That is why the run rate remained consistent at 2 to 2.2 types.”On the penultimate day, the pitch had become extremely slow. Still, Karthik’s century was the best innings in terms of strokeplay. It did not come easy, Karthik stressed. “It was far more difficult to bat than on what it was at the start of the match. The wicket was slow throughout the game but it became slower from the third day and the odd ball was keeping low and the cracks were opening.”Karthik failed to understand why such an important match could not be hosted on a better pitch, which would have retained the balance between bat and ball. He even cited the examples of venues like Mumbai and Baroda being fit to host the domestic season’s most important match. “I am disappointed at the fact that we cannot play on a wicket like a Wankhede or Baroda (Moti Bagh) wickets which are conducive to both batting and bowling. The scoreline would have been much more different.”However, Karthik credited the Rajasthan bowlers for maintaining accurate lines and the batsmen for their admirable patience. Tamil Nadu suffered a setback as soon as they started their innings after the new ball pair of Rituraj Singh and Pankaj Singh sent back their top order by bowling fast and keeping the length full. Being in the field for the first eight sessions had affected the hosts’ batsmen mentally and physically.”It is very easy for me to say that the Rajasthan bowlers bowled well and they definitely did that. But there is no doubting the fact they had a cushion of 620 runs,” Karthik said. “And they bowled to their strengths, bowling in straight lines consistently.”At the same time the, Karthik did not blame his own bowlers for failing to stall the opposition. “Our bowlers did a fantastic job throughout the season but this was the game where the Rajasthan batsmen applied themselves and the wicket was very good to bat on (on the first two days) and they did not make any mistake at all.”Karthik appreciated Saxena’s relaxed demeanour throughout his marathon knock of 257, spread across 907 minutes. “It is very difficult to concentrate for such long periods of time without making a mistake and that was fantastic. Nor did he play a false stroke.”Comparatively, Tamil Nadu were hurt by the lack of partnerships: if Rajasthan had one double-century and two century partnerships, the highest for the hosts was the 76-run alliance between Karthik and R Prasanna for the fourth wicket. “To put it simply, there were about fifteen sessions in the game and they won all fifteen whether it be batting and bowling. Their lowest partnership must have been close to a hundred. We could not even get one hundred partnership and they had a double-hundred partnership. That is how good they were.”Despite failing to win the title once again, Karthik said there was no need for any drastic measures. In fact, he said the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association had supported the players by retaining the group across the last few years. If anything, he said Tamil Nadu should be proud. “In all honesty, to finish No.2 is nothing to be ashamed about. It was a proud achievement the way we have played our cricket. It was the only game in the entire Ranji Trophy we had lost and it says a lot about this team.”Karthik said the bowling attack, led by L Balaji was a big improvement over the previous years. However, he picked one area of improvement. “I would love to see a pool of spinners to choose from. At the moment I see four spinners – two left-armers and two off spinners – (so) I would like see a leg spinner who can come and help us.”

Cook and Bell build commanding lead

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England are well placed to earn their first series victory in Australia for 24 years having already retained the Ashes after a day of dominant batting at the SCG as they built a lead of 208

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan at the SCG05-Jan-2011

ScorecardIan Bell played wonderfully for his first hundred against Australia but it was tinged with controversy•Getty Images

England are well placed to earn their first series victory in Australia for 24 years, having already retained the Ashes, after a day of dominant batting at the SCG as they built a lead of 208. The record-breaking Alastair Cook led the way with 189, his third hundred of the series, and Ian Bell scored his first century against Australia with an elegant, albeit controversial, 115.Cook and Bell added 154 for the sixth wicket in the match-defining partnership and England’s command was cemented when Matt Prior joined to add 107 for the seventh with Bell. It was another chastening day for Australia, who couldn’t stem the flow of runs, and for Michael Clarke who now really knows the challenge ahead if he is the long-term captain.As he did at Brisbane, Cook went through a host of records and by the time he fell had 766 series runs, leaving him second behind Wally Hammond’s 905 in the 1928-29 Ashes for England batsmen. Incredibly, in an era when there are few tour matches, he also passed 1000 first-class runs for the trip and has now also spent longer at the crease in a series than any other England player.For Bell this was the innings he’d been waiting his career to play, converting his pristine form into that cherished hundred. He has never played better than on this trip and again he oozed class. His cover drives continually bisected the field with timing to beat the deep sweepers but it wasn’t an innings without controversy. On 67 he was given caught behind off an inside edge only for the decision to be overturned on review, even though there didn’t appear to be conclusive evidence, and Snicko later proved Bell had edged the ball.He was also dropped on 84, a firmly-struck return catch to Steve Smith, but was rarely troubled and reached his hundred with a back-foot push through the covers. While Bell didn’t sweat much in the 90s, Cook had a nervous wait on 99 when he flicked a delivery from Michael Beer towards short leg where Phil Hughes claimed the catch and the Australians began celebrating. Cook, though, stood his ground and TV replays showed the ball clearly bounced and Hughes was unsure before joining in late with the appeal.

Smart Stats

  • Alastair Cook’s aggregate of 766 runs is the second highest by an England batsman in an Ashes series. The highest is Wally Hammond’s 905 runs in 1928-29.

  • Cook’s century was his third of the series, making it the 23rd occasion that a batsman has scored three or more hundreds in an Ashes series. The previous occasion that an England batsman achieved this was when Michael Vaughan scored three centuries in 2002-03.

  • The 154 run stand between Cook and Ian Bell is the fifth highest for the sixth wicket for a visiting team in Australia.

  • England have passed 400 in four of the five Tests so far, which is the second time that a visiting team has achieved the feat. The last time England scored more than 400 on at least four occasions in a Test series in Australia was in 1928-29.

  • Bell scored his first Ashes century in his 18th Test. He has now scored 11 half-centuries and one century at an average of 32.36.

It was the second time Beer had been denied Cook’s wicket after yesterday’s no-ball and in the spinner’s next over, Cook worked a single into the leg side to reach his hundred. He’d had a few other tricky moments, when he edged Shane Watson short of second slip on 87 then after passing his hundred nearly chipped Beer to midwicket, but it was a commanding display as he worked his way through the record books once again.England really put their foot on Australia’s throat when the second new ball was taken shortly before lunch as Cook and Bell both took advantage of the extra hardness. Clarke couldn’t find a combination that worked as he made seven bowling changes in 14 overs. Ben Hilfenhaus’s first over back went for eight then Bell played two perfect straight drives off Peter Siddle having taken time to play himself in. Bell knew this was the chance to make his good form count when it could make a real difference.He had so much time to play against the quicks and toyed with Beer’s length as he waited for anything short. Cook was also positive against the left-armer despite having a few more issues from the footmarks and drove impressively through the covers. Bell reached his fifty by using his feet against Smith – finally given a bowl in the 101st over – and launching him straight down the ground. By tea even Mike Hussey was having a bowl.Cook looked set to join Hammond as the only England batsman with two double hundreds in a series but finally edged a drive to Hussey in the gully. However, his dismissal barely hampered England’s progress as Prior played the perfect role to build England’s lead at a swift pace. He lofted Smith for six and peppered the off side in a 54-ball half-century and, after passing his hundred, Bell joined in with ever more expressive strokeplay until edging Mitchell Johnson to slip.The only sour note on England’s day was another failure for Paul Collingwood who can only dream of the form shown by Cook and Bell. He found the middle of his bat largely elusive during a 41-ball stay and Johnson’s first delivery of the day had reared to take the glove but looped fine of short leg. Collingwood wanted to be positive, which brought his downfall when he advanced at Beer and miscued his lofted drive towards mid-on where Hilfenhaus took a back-peddling catch.It was a huge moment of relief for Beer who gave the umpire a quick look, just to make sure, and this time was able to celebrate his first Test wicket. At that point the match was fascinatingly poised but it was the last time Australia had any grip on proceedings. Now they face a mighty task to escape with a draw.

Missed opportunities and bouncers

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Cricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second day of the second Test between Bangladesh and India in Mirpur

Sriram Veera in Mirpur25-Jan-2010Twice shy
Rahul Dravid’s innings ended in trouble with a bruised jaw, but he had his share of luck during the knock. The first one came when he was on 9; he backed up too far and Gautam Gambhir’s straight drive went very close to the lunging bowler Shafiul Islam and hit the stumps. Dravid was short of the crease but the question was whether the bowler got a touch. Shafiul was confident that he had but the replays didn’t offer conclusive evidence. Dravid survived. The next one came when Dravid was on 28; a wonderful bouncer from Rubel Hossain had him fending awkwardly low and to the right of the wide slip where Junaid Siddique took a superb catch but it was a no-ball. Unaware of his lifeline, Dravid walked away and had almost reached square-leg when he got the news. There was no visible emotion; he just turned and headed back to the crease.Short stories
Does this even qualify for trivia? When was the last time both Indian openers were done in by bouncers? Virender Sehwag could not get away from a Shahadat Hossain bouncer which came in to cramp him and Gambhir was taken out by an accurate bouncer from Shafiul, operating from round the stumps. The sparse crowd loved both dismissals.And one that wasn’t

Dravid got a ton but it wasn’t all happy news for his fans though, as he fractured his jaw after being hit by another sharp bouncer from Shahadat which forced him to leave the field. He ducked into a short one, in the second over of the second new ball, but it didn’t climb as high as he thought it would. It thudded into the ear-guard, as he yanked his face away at the last minute and after a chat with the physio, Dravid walked off the field.More luck

Sachin Tendulkar had his share of luck as well, being dropped on 27 and again on 53, Raqibul Hossain playing Santa both times. The second was a difficult chance; Tendulkar didn’t connect well with his upper-cut and Raqibul moved to his left at gully and dived but couldn’t get his palms under the ball. The first was a sitter, though. Tendulkar hit an uppish square-drive off Rubel but Raqibul, at gully, floored it. Raqibul sank to the ground, Mahmudullah held his head, the rest looked shocked and the crowd gasped.

Anderson, Shakib headline 549-player SA20 auction list

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The list also includes Nepal’s Airee, while Short and Hatzoglou are the only two players from Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-2025Former England fast bowler James Anderson is among the 549 players who are set to go under the hammer in the SA20 2025-26 auction on September 9.The 43-year-old Anderson is among 96 players from England in the auction pool. These also include Moeen Ali, Alex Hales and Tom Abell, the Player of the Match in the final of SA20 2024. Anderson made a return to T20 cricket after nearly 11 years when he played for Lancashire in the T20 Blast, followed by three of Manchester Originals’ eight matches in the Hundred.Allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman are among 15 players from Bangladesh in the auction pool.Related

  • Markram heads to the auction

  • SA20 not threatened by BBL, says Smith

  • Cape Town to host SA20 final

  • Pretoria Capitals name Ganguly head coach

D’Arcy Short and Peter Hatzoglou are the only two Australians in the auction list with the BBL set to overlap with the SA20. There are 28 West Indies players and 24 Sri Lanka players in the auction, while Dipendra Singh Airee is the only Nepal player in the pruned auction pool.Aiden Markram, who decided against getting retained by Sunrisers Eastern Cape, headlines the 308 players from South Africa in the list, which also includes fellow T20 World Cup 2024 runners-up Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Gerald Coetzee among others.A total of 241 overseas players will go under the hammer for a maximum of 25 available slots, while 308 South Africans will vie for the remaining 59 spots. Pretoria Capitals head into the auction with the largest purse of R32.5 million (USD 1.86 million approx.). They have 13 slots to fill, five of them overseas. MI Cape Town have the smallest purse with R11.5 million (USD 0.65 million approx.) and 12 slots, including four overseas, to fill. Each of the six teams also have to select a minimum of two Under-23 players in their 19-member squads.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();

IPL 2024 – List of unavailable players and replacements

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A list of injured and unavailable players and their replacements for IPL 2024

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2024 • Updated on 11-May-2024

Gujarat Titans

Mohammed Shami – The 2023 season’s top wicket-taker was ruled out of IPL 2024 because of the ankle injury he suffered during the 2023 ODI World Cup. Shami recently underwent surgery in London. Fast bowler Sandeep Warrier is his replacement.Matthew Wade – The Australia wicketkeeper will miss the Titans’ first game on March 25 and could miss the second (March 27) as well after deciding to play the Sheffield Shield final for Tasmania from March 21 to 25.Robin Minz – The uncapped wicketkeeper-batter had a bike accident in Ranchi and has been ruled out of IPL 2024. Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter BR Sharath has been signed as his replacement.On May 11, Gurnoor Brar replaced left-arm seamer Sushant Mishra. Gurnoor, who had played one match for Punjab Kings in IPL 2023, was signed for his reserve price of INR 20 lakhs.

Lucknow Super Giants

Mark Wood – The ECB pulled Wood out of the IPL to manage his workload ahead of the T20 World Cup and England’s home summer. West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph was named his replacement.David Willey – The England fast bowler will miss the start of the IPL due to personal reasons. However, it is understood that he could yet travel to India at some stage in the tournament.

Rajasthan Royals

Prasidh Krishna – The India fast bowler was ruled out for a second successive IPL season after undergoing surgery on his quadriceps tendon in February. He had picked up the injury during the Ranji Trophy. No replacement has been named.Adam Zampa – The Australia legspinner has withdrawn from IPL 2024 for personal reasons. They have signed Tanush Kotian, Mumbai’s spin-bowling allrounder who was the player of the tournament in this year’s Ranji Trophy, as his replacement.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Jason Roy – The England opener withdrew from IPL 2024 for personal reasons. England’s Phil Salt, currently World No. 2 in the T20I rankings, replaced him in the KKR squad.Gus Atkinson – The England fast bowler pulled out of his maiden IPL season with the ECB opting to manage his workload. Dushmantha Chameera, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, was named Atkinson’s replacement.

Chennai Super Kings

Devon Conway – The New Zealand batter had surgery for a thumb injury recently and is expected to be out for eight weeks. CSK have not named a replacement.

Delhi Capitals

Harry Brook – The England batter has withdrawn from IPL 2024 because his grandmother died in February and he wants to be with his family as they grieve. The Capitals have not yet named a replacement for him.Lungi Ngidi – The South Africa fast bowler has been ruled out of IPL 2024 as he is still recovering from a lower back injury he suffered at the SA20. Capitals have signed Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk as his replacement.

Mumbai Indians

Dilshan Madushanka – The Sri Lanka left-arm seamer has suffered a hamstring tear in his left leg in Bangladesh. With him ruled out, Mumbai have named Kwena Maphaka, the left-arm seamer from South Africa, as his replacement. Maphaka was Player of the Tournament at the 2024 U-19 World Cup.Jason Behrendorff – The Australian left-arm seamer broke his leg in a freak accident while training in Perth. English left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood has been brought in as his replacement.Vishnu Vinod, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter, has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2024 after sustaining an injury to his forearm. Mumbai Indians have signed up Saurashtra wicketkeeper-batter Harvik Desai as a replacement.Harvik, 24, has a century in all three formats of the game and was a member of the India U-19 team that won the World Cup in 2018.

Six-hitters anonymous: England and Australia still searching for the spark

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To the winner, a chance to keep a route to the semi-finals in their own hands. To the loser, the mounting prospect of early elimination

Andrew Miller27-Oct-20227:28

Where should Ben Stokes bat for England?

Big picture

Five days on from one of the most captivating tussles ever witnessed at the Grand Old G, another of international cricket’s most storied rivalries takes to its oldest stage for a contest laced with a different flavour of existential jeopardy. Whereas India versus Pakistan was a clash of geopolitical magnitude, in both hype and denouement, England versus Australia offers a more fundamental sporting showdown.To the winner, the prospect of a tournament lifeline, a chance to keep a route to the semi-finals in their own hands. To the loser, the mounting prospect of an early elimination: an ignominious fate for the holders of each of the ICC’s two World Cup trophies. Even allowing for the threat of further rain-related twists, two spluttering campaigns require some urgent ignition if they are to recover the ground so far lost – in Australia’s case to a crushingly one-sided loss in their opening match against New Zealand, and in England’s, an oddly meek surrender in the showers against Ireland at this same venue.Related

  • Finch acing verbal volleys but needs his bat to do the talking

  • Zampa's return could be the silver lining Australia need

  • Wade tests positive for Covid-19, could still play against England

  • Buttler laments 'really disappointing day' for England

For their part, Australia will hope that that ignition has already happened. At the moment of Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal in the 13th over of their 158-run chase against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, they were a side without direction, as their NRR began to drift towards double figures with Aaron Finch stuck and stodgy in what he later admitted was an “unusual” knock of 31 not out from 42 balls. But then up popped Marcus Stoinis with a devastatingly straightforward bout of range-hitting – and by the time he’d blazed an Australia-record 17-ball fifty, all those doubts had been dispatched to the stands.Stoinis struck six sixes in his 18-ball stay against Sri Lanka – more than all his team-mates combined had produced in either of Australia’s first two matches of the tournament, but moreover, three times as many as England have produced in total against Group 1’s supposed lesser lights, Afghanistan and Ireland. Alex Hales lumped Fazalhaq Farooqi over long-on in Perth, Moeen Ali tonked Gareth Delany in the same direction at Melbourne, three balls before the rain sealed England’s fate against the Irish … and that, so far, has been that.It’s a baffling moment for Jos Buttler’s team to come over all gun-shy, especially given the free-spirited mayhem that they seemed to be unleashing in their warm-up week on these shores. Australia themselves encountered the full weight of England’s power-hitting in conceding 208 for 6 in Perth at the start of the month, while Liam Livingstone’s six – clean out of the Gabba in their practice match against Pakistan – was widely perceived as a statement of intent from a deep and formidable batting line-up that has not been renowned for dying wondering in recent years.Moeen Ali has hit one of only two sixes from England in this campaign•Getty Images

But what we have here instead is an unexpectedly cagey state of affairs. To a greater or lesser degree, both England’s and Australia’s batting has struggled for that fluid faith in its constituent parts that epitomised their recent glory days. Buttler’s rare first-over dismissal against Ireland can probably be written off as an aberration, but with his sidekick Hales so far failing to repay the faith in his recall, and Ben Stokes at No. 4 a very high-profile work-in-progress, the uncertainty has been contagious.Dawid Malan has reverted to his old anchor-man habits, with 53 runs from 67 balls to date, and though Moeen did his utmost to tilt the DLS calculations in England’s favour as the rain closed in against Ireland, the inflexibility of England’s batting order was revealing. Eoin Morgan, you sense, would not have shied away from promoting his heavy artillery in a bid to get ahead of the rate in tough conditions, even if it had meant risking being all out for 80 in the process. Buttler’s subsequent statement that ‘England should let it hurt’ was perhaps a tacit admission that their campaign has not yet found the right levels of emotional investment.Nowithstanding Stoinis’s exploits, Australia aren’t exactly in their happy place either. But for rain in Canberra, England would have thumped them 3-0 in the recent T20I series – their consecutive eight-run wins were more comprehensive than the final margins suggested – while their camp has been dogged by the spectre of Covid-19 in recent days, with Adam Zampa missing the Sri Lanka match and Matthew Wade now under the weather too.An early exit for the defending champions on home soil wouldn’t be unprecedented for Australia – the same happened in 50-over cricket when they hosted the 1992 World Cup – but it would be deeply galling all the same. Their survival may require a knock-out blow against their oldest foes, and vice versa. But for the victor, who knows what a fillip to their spluttering campaign such a scalp would be.Marcus Stoinis, playing at his Western Australia homeground, was the star of the show in the last game•Getty Images

Form guide

Australia WLLLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)

England LWWWW

In the spotlight

Five matches (and a warm-up knockabout) into his T20I comeback, and there’s still no real clarity on where Ben Stokes‘ short-form game is at. A haul of 41 runs at 10.25 from 42 balls speaks of a player still trying to get his eye back in, which – in the context of this must-win game – isn’t the ideal tempo for your pivotal No .4. And yet, Stokes’ many strings are manifesting themselves in other ways in the tournament so far – most notably in his unexpected but very effective role as a new-ball option. A haul of 3 for 27 in 6.2 overs is mitigated by the fact that the first (and seventh) overs are the most favourable for bowling, given that batters tend to take a moment to gauge the conditions before going hell for leather. Nevertheless, he’s extracted some prodigious swing in that period, and brought his force of personality to bear in a manner that has so far been absent from his batting. At some stage, you sense his all-round game will click back into place again, but can England afford to wait for inspiration to strike?Much of the same could be said for Australia’s own No. 4, Glenn Maxwell. Patience has been worn thin in recent weeks, in which Maxwell has ground his gears in a bid for some traction but to little avail. And yet, in consecutive games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, he’s just about threatened to poke his head out the other side. Scores of 28 from 20 and 23 from 12 are hardly proof of his renewed threat. But in each game he scored as many boundaries (four) as he had managed in nine completed innings since June, and against Sri Lanka in particular, he provided the spark that Australia’s chase desperately needed ahead of Stoinis’s rampant finish. Like Stokes, his value extends beyond the runs he offers too. The timely wicket of Dasun Shanaka in his only over on Wednesday was a key factor in cramping Sri Lanka’s ambitions.

Team news

Hindsight suggests that England might have preferred to rest their trump card, Mark Wood, for the Ireland match, given the 48-hour turnaround between these two games, and the fact that another thrillingly high-octane display could not deliver the victory his team craved. The indications from head coach, Matthew Mott, however, are that England will field an unchanged XI – meaning Chris Woakes will get another outing in his return from long-term injury, and Hales will be trusted once again at the top of the order despite Phil Salt’s claims to a starting berth.England (probable): 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales / Phil Salt, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Harry Brook, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood.Mark Wood has been England’s trump card with the ball•Albert Perez/ICC/Getty Images

Zampa’s recovery from Covid means he’s likely to slot into the side in place of Ashton Agar, as Australia’s solitary change from their Sri Lanka line-up. Wade is set to keep his place behind the stumps in spite of his own Covid diagnosis.Australia (probable): 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

The MCG’s surface proved zippy in the damp on Wednesday, and overall is a far cry from the range of stodgy drop-in pitches that had given cricket there a bad name in recent years. Either way, the decisive factor is threatening once again to come from overhead. More grim weather is in store, and this may be another case of shower-dodging and DLS bargaining.

Stats and trivia

  • England and Australia have met on three previous occasions at the T20 World Cup. Australia won their first encounter, in crushing fashion at Cape Town in the inaugural tournament in 2007, but have been seen off in each of the next two – in the final of the 2010 event in Barbados, and in Dubai 12 months ago, where a Buttler special sealed victory with 50 balls to spare.
  • Adil Rashid remains in the running to become England’s first man to 100 T20I wickets, but his returns this winter have been noticeably sparse. Since claiming four wickets in his first three matches against Pakistan in Karachi, he’s added just two more in eight outings, at a leaky economy rate of 8.58.
  • Sam Curran, by contrast, has been England’s golden arm in the same period. Since the start of the Pakistan tour, he’s claimed 19 wickets at 14.36 in ten matches, and in the process has more than doubled his previous T20I wickets haul of 16 at 32.00 in 21 games.

Quotes

“I don’t feel any more pressure than I ever have. The only pressure is the expectation you put on yourself.”
“If you needed a game to get up for – a must-win game – England and Australia at the MCG is certainly one of those.”

Andy Balbirnie – 'If Ireland don't qualify for the World Cup, we've got no excuses'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

“I think everyone knows there is a big gulf in the teams. But we do have match-winners,” he says about facing South Africa

Matt Roller09-Jul-2021Andy Balbirnie has said there will be “no excuses” if his Ireland team fail to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, after a slow start to the Super League campaign which will determine whether or not they have to play in a separate qualifying tournament.India qualify for the tournament automatically as hosts, and seven other highest-ranked teams in the Super League will join them, but the bottom five teams will be required to take part in a qualifying event, with only the top two reaching the 10-team World Cup.Related

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Ireland pulled off an upset by beating England in their third Super League game last summer, but have struggled for consistency since then, losing 3-0 to Afghanistan in the UAE and 2-1 against Netherlands last month, putting a major dent in their chances of automatic qualification.”It gives us two chances to qualify for a World Cup,” Balbirnie said, two days before the start of a three-match Super League series against South Africa. “If you don’t qualify, you’ve got no excuses. I understand it’s a bit tricky for the teams who float in and around the No. 6, 7, 8 mark in the rankings, but you’ve got to give everyone a fair opportunity.”That’s what we were crying out for when they reduced the World Cup [to 10 teams] – we wanted a good opportunity to qualify for it. We’ve got that now, and that’s what we’re really trying to do, one way or another. If it’s through the Super League, great. If it’s not, we’ll go wherever the qualifying tournament is held and try and get through there. If we don’t at the end of it, well, we only have ourselves to blame.”Their five defeats this year mean that Ireland face an uphill battle to qualify, not least having lost their most recent series 2-1 against the only associate member in the competition, the Netherlands. While Ireland were not happy with the quality of pitches provided in Utrecht – “pretty poor” was Balbirnie’s description – their failure to provide enough support to Paul Stirling, the leading run-scorer in ODI cricket worldwide this year, cost them.”I don’t think we adapted as quickly as we should have,” Balbirnie said. “A few days after, having to do our quarantine [meant] a lot of time to reflect. What we can take forward is that we now have an opportunity to play one of the top teams in the world on our home soil. That’s the beauty of this league – you get an opportunity to rectify the mistakes made in the previous [series].”A lot of people on the outside will look at this and say there’s only one team winning this series, and that’s fair enough because it’s a really impressive South Africa side. I don’t have to keep harping on about how good a team they are – I think everyone knows there is a big gulf in the teams.”But we do have match-winners in our team. We showed that last year when we played England. We maybe haven’t got the results we’d want recently, but whenever we’re put in front of a really tough challenge, we tend to come out with something. The guys are going to go out and express themselves and hopefully can come out with a good result.”I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to win the series willy-nilly – we’re going to have to play really good cricket and potentially catch them on an off-day – but that’s the beauty of this format. You have these opportunities to put yourself on a platform against the world’s best. You could say [it’s] David and Goliath, but I suppose David beat Goliath in the end.”There is an intriguing subplot in this series, with Curtis Campher – the allrounder who is returning from an ankle injury – playing against the country of his birth for the first time. Campher played for South Africa’s age-group teams up until Under-19 level, but decided to use the Irish passport he holds through his grandmother to commit to the national team in early 2020, making his debut against England last summer. Eight games into his ODI career, he is averaging 50.83 with the bat and 30.62 with the ball.”Our medical team have done a great job with him to get him back on the park this early after an operation, and naturally he’s very excited to play against South Africa, having spent the majority of his life there,” Balbirnie said. “Everyone is obviously aware of where he’s come from and his quick turnaround to play for Ireland last year. It’ll be a really proud day for him and his family. He’s gone a different route than most of us, but he’s one of us now and is a really important player for us [so] I’m really excited to see how he goes against his old country.”William Porterfield, the veteran batter and Balbirnie’s predecessor, will open the batting alongside Stirling on the back of an anchoring hundred in the Inter-Provincial 50-over competition last month. He has been in and out of the side and has not made an ODI fifty since May 2019, but following Kevin O’Brien’s recent retirement from the format, he will be expected to bring some experienced to a relatively young side.

Aaron Finch hails David Warner, Steven Smith after pair star with bat on Newlands return

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Australia captain hopes to give more opportunities to middle order despite poor returns in South Africa series

Matt Roller26-Feb-2020Aaron Finch has hailed the importance of David Warner and Steven Smith to Australia’s T20I side, after the pair starred in a dominant batting performance in the third and deciding game of the South Africa series in their first game at Newlands since the ball-tampering scandal of March 2018.Warner put on 120 in an explosive 11.3-over opening stand alongside Finch, his captain, to set the game up for Australia. The pair put on 75 in the powerplay, Australia’s joint third-highest six-over score in T20I history, and allowed only seven dot balls in that phase, the lowest ever.And Finch praised both his improving touch game and his meticulous planning, suggesting that his attention to detail is “as good as anyone I’ve played with”.”In this format of the game and probably one-day cricket as well,” Finch said, “Davey’s been so consistent for such a long time.”I think if you look at his IPL record where he’s played the majority of his T20 cricket, it’s been super consistent and he’s someone that once he gets in and once he’s in good form, he’s so hard to bowl to because he accesses both sides of the ground, he’s got touch, he’s got power, so as soon as you’ve got guys like that, they can be so hard to stop.”From his younger days playing T20, when it was all just brute force, I think the way that he goes about thinking through his innings, planning his innings pre-game, but also adapting – it’s extraordinary.”And to sit down and chat with him about plans, how we’re going to go about it at the top of the order – which very rarely works the way that you want it to work – his attention to detail in his planning is unbelievable and as good as anyone I’ve played with.”Smith, meanwhile, was demoted from his usual No. 3 position down to No. 5, with Australia keen to give opportunities to their middle-order batsmen and to maintain left-hand/right-hand partnerships due to the strong cross-wind that blew across Newlands.David Warner and Aaron Finch put on a brisk century partnership•Associated Press

But even in an unfamiliar role – this was Smith’s first innings at No. 5 in T20Is, meaning he has now played in every position from No. 3 to No. 9 in the format – he found a way to stamp his mark on the game, taking 20 runs from Anrich Nortje’s final over to finish unbeaten on 30 from 15 balls.”[He’s] a little bit different [to Warner] in regards to being a middle-order player, No. 3, 4, 5 throughout his career,” Finch said. “You’re always faced with different challenges. So to have that ability to come in and strike at 200 when the game requires it, or come in at 2 for 10 and navigate through a tricky six or seven overs but still score, the ability to do that has been extraordinary.”I think what’s changed for him slightly in his game is he’s probably got a bit more power – maybe he’s always had the power, but a little bit more freedom to play his shots, and I think that’s been a huge difference to his game.”Teams used to think that they could just squeeze him, he wouldn’t hurt you too much at the back end, but to develop all the shots that he’s got now, he’s a super-important player to us, and he’s bloody impressive to watch.”While the top order and his bowling attack were impressive throughout the three-match series, Finch could be forgiven for having concerns over Australia’s faltering middle order. The No. 4-6 positions have been the most vulnerable across their recent run of T20Is, with dominant top-order performances against Pakistan and Sri Lanka at home allowing scant opportunities, and the weakness was again exposed during this series.Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade and Alex Carey managed only 121 runs between them in nine innings over the three games, but Finch suggested he was keen to give them further opportunities ahead of the T20 World Cup, even with Glenn Maxwell set to return from injury.”Our middle order is all really flexible, and they’ve had a lot of time to get their heads around being flexible as a group,” Finch said. “We’re always really reluctant to change a winning formula. Obviously with Maxi recovering from injury at the moment, that’s probably one of those spots there.”But regardless of who’s available and who’s not, the guys who continually do the job for the side will keep getting opportunities, and we’ve made no secret about that. The winning formula is generally a pretty good one, you don’t want to mess with that too much.”The more games that that middle order in particular can play together – they haven’t played a huge amount of T20 cricket together. I know Wadey and Smithy have played a fair bit of Test cricket together and one-day cricket over the years, but T20, the game’s changing all the time.”So the more they can get with Alex and Ashton Agar at seven as well, the more that they can keep playing is really important. You just start to understand each other’s game a little bit more, you start to recognise patterns with people’s play and the way that they’re thinking. That’s a really important part of going forward and winning a tournament.”

#BBL08 chatter: The bat-flip #fail

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Keep up to date with all the news from on and off the field during the Big Bash

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2018“Roofs” or “Flats”? Um, how about neither?
December 26
When Matthew Hayden flipped a bat for the first time at the start of this year’s BBL, there were legitimate questions on social media and on our ball-by-ball coverage, about the physics of it all: “Won’t it always land on the flat surface?”, “what if it lands on neither side and instead stands up?”.If you were one of those skeptics, pleased to let you know that it’s taken just nine games for your wish to come true. After Colin Ingram called “roofs” for the Strikers, Ashton Turner’s bat-flip landed on the edge, with the bat standing up perpendicularly. Turner cheekily turned it towards the flat side, before winning the repeat flip. All’s well that ends well, then.
Christmas Day bash
December 23The prospect of a Big Bash match on Christmas Day appears to be drawing near with Sydney Thunder general manager Lee Germon suggesting it could happen as early as next year.While the view of Cricket Australia sets a slightly longer timeframe, it is sounding increasingly likely that there will be cricket on Christmas Day in the near future. Germon has a theory that it would be easier to attract a sizeable crowd on December 25, rather than the current arrangement of Christmas Eve matches which can be a tougher sell with families wanting to get home although the games can be a TV ratings winner.”I think Christmas Day is where it’s heading, and in some ways part of me thinks Christmas Day would be even better than Christmas Eve,” Germon told the Sydney Morning Herald. “On Christmas Eve parents want to get home and get the kids home because Santa is coming. On Christmas Day you can spend the day with family and then look to do something that night. It’s definitely worth a go, and we’re willing to give it a go.”Pattinson’s wedding clash
December 21James Pattinson will miss Brisbane Heat’s match against Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday night due to being best man at a close friend’s wedding.Pattinson made his Heat debut against the Strikers, bowling with good pace, and was also involved in a controversial run out when he was allowed to continue batting after the Strikers withdrew their appeal following what appeared a clear error from the third umpire.”James let us know immediately that there was a clash and we were comfortable with him fulfilling his personal commitment,” said Heat general manager Andrew McShea.The Hurricanes will also be missing a fast bowling after Tymal Mills, the England and Sussex left-armer, injured his hamstring during a warm-up match.Hayden flips special bat to usher in “roofs” and “flats” era
December 19The Big Bash is breaking new ground by doing away with the coin toss and opting for a backyard-cricket-style “bat toss”. Matthew Hayden got things going at the Gabba, Adelaide Strikers’ captain Colin Ingram called “roofs” and won the first roll-out of the all-new toss. Naturally, there were questions on the physics of the act, about how an uneven object like a cricket bat would always roll on the flat side. The answer to those questions, of course, is that the BBL is using a specially-designed bat with similar surfaces on both sides, labelled “roofs” and “flats”. And as street cricketers the world over would attest to, the odds aren’t that skewed anyway.
Lynn on fire
December 19Chris Lynn will be using a specially designed bat this year – shorter than normal with a thinner handle – as he tries to regularly clear the boundary. And if you hear the phrase “Lynn is on fire tonight”; well his bat literally was a few days ago as part of a promo shoot for the tournament. An image posted by one of the Heat’s media team showed the bat, which won’t be one Lynn uses in the middle.Jofra’s new skill?
December 18Jofra Archer was one of the stars of last year’s tournament and he’s back with Hobart Hurricanes. The change in ECB regulations now means he will be eligible for an England call-up next year and there was question as to whether he would cut short his BBL stint to bring that date forward. For now, though, he’s in Australia and all set for the tournament. But not sure we’ll see this in the middle…Paris faces spell on sidelines
December 17Perth Scorchers left-arm quick Joel Paris is to set to miss up to a month of the BBL after suffering a back injury. However, the Scorchers can still boast an enviable fast bowling attack with Andrew Tye, Nathan Coulter-Nile, David Willey and Jason Behrendorff among the best in T20 cricketALSO READ: Big Bash squads: how the teams stack up and who to watch out for
Bancroft’s smile getting ‘broader and broader
December 16Cameron Bancroft is tipped to make his return to professional cricket the day after his ban finishes when Perth Scorchers face Hobart Hurricances at Launceston on December 30.Speaking during the Perth Test, WACA chief executive Christina Matthews spoke about Bancroft’s frame of mind as he completes his community service.”As each day in December passes he’s smiling broader and broader,” Matthews said. “And he’s started doing a few more public appearances, so he was a guest at a breakfast this morning and he’s happy to talk openly about it because he’s learnt so much himself. He’s probably had an easier road than the other two because he’s been very set and we’ve been very set in how to go about it. So he hasn’t chased other tournaments around the world. He’s worked with the squad and to be fair he’s had a contract so he’s had obligations as well.”Boost for Scorchers, Strikers and Renegades
December 16Mitchell Marsh, Peter Siddle and Chris Tremain who have been part of Australia’s Test squad for the first two matches against India, have been made available for the opening fixtures of the BBL. Siddle will therefore be able to take part in the opening match of the tournament when Adelaide Strikers take on Brisbane Heat at the Gabba.Marsh and Tremain will then go head-to-head when Perth Scorchers take on Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium. Although a vastly different format, Marsh is hoping that success in the BBL will help push his case for a Test return although he may already be closing in on a comeback after the struggles of Peter Handscomb.

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