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James Anderson and Chris Woakes could also come into playing XI

George Dobell19-Jan-2021England look set to rotate their seam attack as they seek to win a fifth successive away Test and a sixth in a row in Sri Lanka.While England’s seamers performed admirably in the first Test, the team management are keen to ensure none of them are overworked ahead of the Test series in India as well as providing experience and opportunity to those who might not have played for several months. If England win the second Test, it will be the first time they have won five away Tests in succession since just before World War One.To that end, England are considering replacing Stuart Broad with James Anderson, Mark Wood with Olly Stone and Sam Curran with Chris Woakes. Both frontline spinners, Dom Bess and Jack Leach, are set to keep their places with Moeen Ali forced to wait a little longer for a recall.For Stone, in particular, it means a great opportunity. He hasn’t made it through an entire first-class game without suffering an injury since his only Test to date, a three-day win against Ireland in July 2019. Indeed, he has only played four first-class games since the end of the 2018 season having first suffered a stress fracture of the lower back in the Caribbean at the start of 2019 and a recurrence shortly after the Ireland Test.Related

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• England lean towards three-seamer, two-spinner strategy

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He also only played one first-class match in 2017 after sustaining a serious injury to his cruciate ligament that ended his 2016 season the previous June.There is not much doubting his quality when he is fit, though. He generates sharp pace, gains natural shape away from the bat and has a bouncer to hurry the best. Certainly Chris Silverwood, the England head coach, appears excited by him.”Looking at we’ve got in front of us, we’ve got a lot of Tests in India as well and it’s highly likely there will be rotation and rests with the seamers,” Silverwood said.”What we’ve seen from Olly is that he hits the deck hard and bowls at pace. He is getting better and better in the areas he is bowling and the understanding of what he’s trying to do and the plans he is putting in place.”At some point we probably do need to get him into the attack if we can. He’s got to earn his way there, which he is doing. He’s working hard and doing everything we ask of him. It would be great to get some Test experience in him at some point.”I am excited about him. If you look, we’ve Wood, Stone and Jofra Archer who can also hit 90-plus mph. I think it’s great to have that in your armoury.”I’m not overly worried that he’s picked up a few injuries. Having been a fast bowler I know you do get injured. That’s why we need so many of them. I think as he gets older his body will harden to what he’s doing the more he does it. People mature into what they are doing.”Silverwood has ruled out an imminent return to action for Moeen, though. Moeen tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in Sri Lanka and subsequently reported feeling mild symptoms of the virus. While he now appears to be fine, the protocols put in place for such cases demand a cautious approach.”It’s unlikely that he will be available for this Test purely because of the protocols we have to follow for somebody recovering from Covid,” Silverwood said. “It’s unfortunate but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be available for this Test.”But Chris Woakes should be available for selection for this Test, all being well. He’ll be throwing his hat in the ring, I’m sure.”England posted their sixth 400-plus score in 12 Tests•SLC

While it’s clear sterner tests await for England, Silverwood did suggest it was no coincidence that his side had now won four overseas Tests in succession. In particular, it vindicates the gameplan he introduced when he was appointed coach ahead of the New Zealand tour at the end of 2019. At the heart of that is ensuring they score big totals in their first innings.England have now posted first-innings scores of at least 400 in six of the 12 Tests they have played since Hamilton. To that can be added a second-innings of 391 for 8 declared in Cape Town and 369 against West Indies in the first innings at Old Trafford. Ahead of that Hamilton Test, England had not managed to score 400 in their 13 previous Tests.”It’s not rocket science,” Silverwood said. “It’s exactly what I stated when I first came into the job really: big first-innings runs, put the opposition under pressure and skilful bowling.”One of the things that we have done with the bat is we’ve scored 400 on many occasions: I think we’ve gone beyond 400 six times in 12 innings. I think that was the stat. With the ball, we’ve been relentless.”It’s really not rocket science. It’s just becoming really, really good at doing the basics well and implementing the plans that we put in place that we said we were going to do at the start of the New Zealand tour in 2019, when the journey began.”And does India’s success in Australia – and the increasing pressure on Tim Paine as captain – encourage him that England can regain the Ashes within the next 12 months?”It’s nothing to do with me, Tim Paine’s captaincy,” Silverwood said. “But it’s always nice to see people in opposition teams under pressure, really. It shows that, if you do the basics well and get stuck in, we can beat them.”Meanwhile, several of those players rested for the Sri Lanka tour fly to India from London on Friday. Among them are Archer, Ben Stokes and Rory Burns. They will be accompanied by Jonathan Trott, who is a batting consultant on the Test section of the tour, and Bruce French, who returns on a short-term wicketkeeping consultancy a few weeks after his departure from the ECB was announced.

Allrounder will fly out along with white-ball players ahead of next month’s T20I series

Andrew Miller18-Feb-2021Sam Curran has been ruled out of the remainder of England’s Test series in India due to the logistical difficulties of travelling solo during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead he will now rejoin the squad on February 26, midway through the third Test, along with the rest of England’s white-ball players ahead of the five T20I series in March.Curran played in both of England’s Tests against Sri Lanka last month, claiming three wickets at 38.00 in the 2-0 series win. However, instead of then flying on to Chennai for the first Two Tests against India, he returned home alongside his fellow multi-format players, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood, for a pre-arranged break from the team’s biosecure bubble.Bairstow and Wood have now returned to training following their quarantine period, and expect to be available for selection when the third Test gets underway in Ahmedabad next week. Curran, however, was granted an extended break, given that he had been in locked-down environments since the start of the England Test summer in July, including his stint with Chennai Super Kings at the IPL.Related

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According to the ECB, the original plan had been for Curran to fly to Ahmedabad in time to make himself available for the fourth Test, starting on March 4.But, with no direct flights available from the UK, and the cost of a charter flight being prohibitive for a solo passenger, Curran would have been required to make a stop-over en route – a situation that could have made social distancing problematic, especially in the event of issues arising during his transit period.Furthermore, had any fellow passenger on a commercial flight tested positive on arrival in India, Curran would have run the risk of being placed in isolation before he had the opportunity to join up with the rest of the England squad.”On the basis of the above, and to give Sam the best chance of minimising his risk of exposure to the virus, it was decided to delay his return so that he could travel on the charter flight with the white-ball squad members due to fly on 26 February,” an ECB spokesman said.The journey that Curran’s team-mates endured in rejoining the England Test squad may have been a factor in the decision to postpone his trip. Speaking to the media on Thursday, Bairstow related how he, Wood and other members of the ECB back-room staff had had to take a seven-and-a-half-hour bus journey from Bangalore to Chennai, and navigate the difficulties of social distancing, even before the rigours of their six-day quarantine period.”The journey [home] was fine, we just flew into Heathrow,” Bairstow said. “The journey back out was four hours down to Heathrow where we nearly broke down, which was interesting. Then we had the flight out to Bangalore. We arrived there, had our tests and had to wait in the airport for our results to be negative.”Then we had a seven-and-a-half-hour bus journey across India to Chennai. We weren’t allowed to stop on that journey either, which was interesting. I’ll let you have your own thoughts about how that trip was.”We went to our bedrooms, where unfortunately there wasn’t any fresh air which naturally made the quarantine period tough. We go through that, all the tests came back negative, and rejoined the group a couple of days ago.”It’s tricky with the logistics, the quarantine periods. It’s especially very tricky when you’re on a plane with other people. You’ve been quarantined at home effectively, because you don’t want to contract the virus for your loved ones within your family, but also you don’t want to contract the virus because then then you can’t board a plane to come out to rejoin the tour.”But then you’re on a plane with people you’ve never met, and then you get to the airport and are greeted by a lot of loving Indian supporters and fans. It can be tricky trying to make sure you’re doing everything you can in your remit to make sure you don’t get the virus, but then there’s things you can’t help, like other people and the spaces they get into.”You’re then quarantined in your rooms hoping you haven’t caught anything on the journey over because you’d be in the room for another 14 days. Yes, it is quite mentally taxing.”

Says Pant’s hundred ‘best counterattacking innings I’ve seen’ and pays rich tribute to curators

Varun Shetty06-Mar-20213:22

What made Axar Patel so effective?

India head coach Ravi Shastri was at his expressive best after India completed a 3-1 series win against England, saying his team had been like “zombies” during the first Test and needed a “kick in the backside” to overturn the 0-1 deficit. Shastri also said the 3-1 scoreline didn’t necessarily reflect how close the series had actually been.”I think the first Test in Chennai would have been different if we had a few more days off,” Shastri in an interview with broadcaster . “It’s no excuse; England outplayed us there. The boys were like zombies. They were tired, and the fact that there was no crowds didn’t help. Because everything was flat. So was the performance. But then a kick on the backside to re-ignite the pride in the system can make a lot of difference. And it showed in the last three Tests.”Related

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• The gloriously disrespectful Rishabh Pant

India had lost the first Test in Chennai by 227 runs, labouring as the side that bowled first on a flat surface where England put up 578 after batting more than two days. Their win in the second Test by 317 runs – also in Chennai – began a running narrative in the media about the quality of pitch that lasted for the rest of the series. The theme of those discussions, in general, was various players from the Indian team either playing down the topic or taking stern stands as R Ashwin did after the third Test. Shastri took a subtle turn in that direction as well at the end of the fourth Test, using a prompt about his not holding back with the team to bring the pitch – and the curator – into the conversation.”Why should I hold back? I attribute [this] to the groundsman, since you don’t want me to hold back. I think Ashish Bhowmick [BCCI’s chief curator] is an outstanding groundsman,” Shastri said. “He knows his job, he’s learnt the hard way. He’s worked with Daljit Singh who was a master curator. And who will complain about tracks like this? I mean it’s fantastic entertainment, both teams are in the game. The result 3-1 doesn’t suggest how close the series was. It’s like our series in England when we lost 4-1, we had our opportunities. England had their opportunities here. Had they grabbed those opportunities, the result could have been different. But we seized on the opportunities that came our way and drove home the advantage. But the scoreline really doesn’t suggest how close the series was.””We seized on the opportunities that came our way and drove home the advantage.” – Ravi Shastri•BCCI

The 3-1 scoreline confirmed India’s spot as finalists in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, and Shastri said it was a result of two-and-a-half years’ efforts, and a further six to set things up before that. India deserved to be in the final after putting 520 points on the board, he said, and was effusive in his praise of the younger players he has had to mentor.”It’s a great feeling. [Mentorship] is something that you’ve done all your life and it is particularly satisfying in this role when you see youngsters coming through the ranks and performing in situations that are real tough,” he said. “Yesterday what Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar pulled off was unreal. Because the pressure was back on us: we were trailing by 50 [59], still had to get runs on the board. And from there to get 360 [365] was an outstanding achievement. Full tribute to them. I think they’ll learn a lot from this. And this whole team. I think they’ve worked hard. This is not something that’s come overnight.”If you look at this Indian side over the last eight Test matches, they’ve been in every situation. They’ve been on top, they’ve driven home the advantage. They’ve been in the dumps, they’ve responded after that. They’ve been in a corner and they fought from there. Not just in Australia, even here. That, for me, makes it special. This side refuses to give up. We were the irrepressibles in Australia. We are irrepressibles here, too.”“Pant’s hundred best counterattacking innings I’ve seen”
Rishabh Pant’s first home hundred drew praise from across the world, including from Adam Gilchrist on Twitter on Friday. The 23-year-old’s recent surge to become India’s first-choice wicketkeeper, alongside what now look like career-defining knocks, came after the team had gone hard on him, Shastri said.”Simply magnificent. Because we go hard on him. Nothing comes easy. He was told in no uncertain terms, he’s got to respect the game a little more. He’s got to lose a bit of weight, he’s got to work hard on his keeping. We know the talent he has; he’s a genuine match winner. And he’s responded. He’s worked like hell over the last three or four months. And the results are showing.”I mean yesterday’s innings is probably the best Test counterattacking innings I’ve seen in India by an Indian batsman. Especially at No. 6 where it’s not easy. When the ball is turning, the wicket is spicy. From there to respond in the fashion he did – with two separate innings. For me it was fearless all the way. And more fearless in the first half of his innings, because he played against the grain. He played against his nature. That’s also a challenge. Every time when you come out, you know this guy’s going to play shots but then to go against the grain, build a partnership with Rohit, and then turn it on after 50 – where all hell broke loose – he got a magnificent hundred. And that confidence rubbed on Washington Sundar. Let’s not take [away] anything from Washy as well. But since the question is on Rishabh – I think, simply magnificent. His keeping was outstanding.”

He is likely to be out of action for a few months, with surgery scheduled on his left shoulder

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Mar-2021In a setback to both the player and the Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer is set to miss the entire IPL 2021. ESPNcricinfo understands that Iyer, who is the Capitals captain, will undergo surgery to his left shoulder, which he partially dislocated on Monday while fielding during first ODI of the England series.It is understood that Iyer is likely to be out of cricket for at least a few months, thus erasing any hopes the Capitals had of him returning during the second half of IPL 2021, which will be played in India between April 9 and May 30.On Thursday, the BCCI had only confirmed Iyer had been ruled out of the ongoing three-match ODI series against England without releasing any details on the injury, as well as the surgery. It also wished Iyer “speedy recovery” as response to a tweet by the Indian batsman, who said he would be “back soon.” Iyer picked the injury during the early part of the England’s chase in the first ODI. Posted at extra cover, Iyer fell awkwardly on his left shoulder while successfully intercepting a drive from Johnny Bairstow in the eighth over of the England innings. Immediately, Iyer was seen grimacing and rolling on the turf while holding his left shoulder. After brief medical attention, Iyer was rushed out for scans, which revealed he had “sublaxtion” (partially dislocated) in his shoulder.It was the third time since IPL 2020 that Iyer had hurt the left shoulder, having also hurt it during the ODI series in Australia.Indications that Iyer’s injury this time was serious, came via a tweet posted early on Thursday by Parth Jindal, the Capitals’ co-owner. Jindal said he was “devastated and gutted”, and wished Iyer “quick recovery” as India “needs you in the T20 World Cup.” Iyer had been appointed captain of the Delhi Daredevils, as they were called then, during IPL 2018. The team had won only one of their first six matches that year, which made Gautam Gambhir, then the captain, step down. Iyer, who was then 23 years old, was identified as his successor, three years after the franchise had bought him as an uncapped player.Iyer had pipped local boy Rishabh Pant to the leadership position. He soon built a close rapport with the Capitals’ head coach Ricky Ponting, as the team’s fortunes turned around with playoff qualifications in the last two seasons. In 2019, the Capitals lost in the Eliminator, and in IPL 2020, they reached the final, losing to Mumbai Indians. Iyer was the fourth-highest run-getter in IPL 2020.

Silverwood, Root, James Taylor among onlookers… too literally in England captain’s case

Alan Gardner22-Apr-2021Sussex 118 for 3 (Haines 71*) trail Yorkshire 150 (Lyth 42, Garton 3-25) by 32 runsAs attractive as a day at the seaside sounds, you’ve always got to have your wits about you – be it to guard against sunburn, or the waves rolling in at an inopportune moment. Yorkshire arrived at Hove bristling with intent after victory over Kent last week, but were promptly scuttled by a vigorous Sussex bowling effort – the home side swooping like seagulls on a stray bag of chips in the wake of George Garton’s three-wicket burst.Adam Lyth, in fine recent form, made 42 but no one else reached 20 on the way to 150 all out, and Sussex were capably marshalled by Tom Haines, another opener in good fettle, in their reply. Two late wickets for Duanne Olivier, greeted by the South African with a full-throated roar, briefly disturbed Sussex’s tranquillity, but they were well placed to stretch their stroll along the front into a first-innings lead.Chris Silverwood, the England head coach whose role now encompasses selection, was on hand to see his former county make an assured start – a chat with Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s head coach, up in the South Stand perhaps touching on the early-season form that has brought Lyth more than 400 runs from five innings so far. But they had shipped five wickets by the time Silverwood took his leave at lunch, and were all out by mid-afternoon, as Sussex took a grip.Hove is one of the most popular destinations on the county circuit, a charming old ground snugly tucked in among the terraces a few hundred yards from the sea; deckchairs usually get a mention, even if they’re yet to be removed from storage. And despite the absence of supporters, the 1st Central County Ground felt like the bustling place to be, as various players and personnel with connections to the national team went about their business.Of greatest interest was Jofra Archer, who would have doubtless drawn a crowd to the nets at the Cromwell Road end of the ground as he went about his rehabilitation following hand surgery. Archer batted and bowled during the morning session, before undergoing some fitness work on the outfield at lunch, mirrored shades flashing enigmatically in the April sun.Archer is due to head to the IPL, where his team, Rajasthan Royals, are currently struggling after losing three of their opening four games, and talk that he could be allowed to test his fitness in Sussex’s next Championship fixture was probably nothing more than local wishful thinking. England are expected to release further details on his planed return to action in the coming days.As well as Silverwood, England’s elite pace bowling coach, Jon Lewis, was back at his former county to work with Archer, while Tymal Mills appeared to jog around the outfield. James Taylor, now billed as England’s head scout, was also on hand. Whether Taylor came with a view to seeing the Championship’s most-prolific run-scorer (Lyth) or its leading wicket-taker, Ollie Robinson, he will have been able to file a favourable report on the Sussex left-armer Garton.Related

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Joe Root, too, got a look at Garton out in the middle – although not much of one, as he was pinned in front of leg stump by a full inswinger for just 5. Left-arm quicks have a certain cachet, particularly when they are on the rapid side, and Garton has been on England’s radar for a while, having been called into the 2017-18 Ashes squad as cover despite having played only nine first-class games.Almost four years on and this was still only his 20th appearance. But Garton made a mark in last year’s Bob Willis Trophy with a maiden five-for against the eventual champions, Essex – a haul which included the wickets of Alastair Cook and Dan Lawrence – and seems to have worked on finding a better balance between pace and control. If the wicket of Lyth, chipping lackadaisically to midwicket, was a touch fortunate, the obliteration of Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s stumps was evidence of his venom. Later in the innings, Jordan Thompson was given the hurry-up via a blow to his lid.Garton said he wasn’t aware of the presence of Silverwood and Taylor during the morning, but he did admit to being pleased at pipping Robinson to the wicket of Root. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a good feeling, he’s one that everyone wants,” Garton said. “Before the day Ollie said he wanted to get him both innings, so I got one up on him there.”Garton also took a good diving catch at second slip to remove Gary Ballance, and will be looking to impress his all-round credentials when required with the bat, having fallen three runs short of a maiden first-class hundred last week.With Lyth having won his initial duel with Robinson, the Yorkshire opener looked well placed to extend his run of 50-plus scores. His dismissal, after a 60-run opening stand with Kohler-Cadmore, precipitated a disastrous slump for the visitors, as they lost all ten wickets for addition of a further 90. The sense of waste on a firm, bouncy deck was compounded by Sussex marching to three figures on the back of Haines’ unbeaten 71.Ballance, playing for the first time since 2019 after personal issues sidelined him last summer, was Yorkshire’s second top-scorer, as a young Sussex attack shared the wickets around. Sean Hunt, who looks like he could do a job on the wing for Harlequins, struck twice having switched to running in downhill, while the spinners, Delray Rawlins and Jack Carson, found some turn from the Sea End and plucked out three of the middle order, before Robinson returned to finish things with two in four balls.This is a young Sussex side, in fact, with only two men – the captain, Ben Brown, and former South Africa international Stiaan van Zyl – aged over 30, and seven of them 23 or younger. Haines, a diminutive left-hander among the latter group, was applauded to his first home fifty of the summer by those watching from the Palmeira Avenue flats and will return looking to convert it to a second hundred, following a career-best 155 at Old Trafford.At one stage, it seemed Yorkshire’s troubles would extend to a serious injury to Dom Bess, after the England spinner left the field holding his right arm, but he was able to return and bowled 13 overs during the evening session – though his wait for a first wicket of the season goes on.

Derbyshire slip to opening-day defeat as Livingstone marries judgement to his talent

Paul Edwards09-Jun-2021
A few white-tailed sea eagles were reintroduced to the Isle of Wight recently and a similarly admirable project has resulted in the globally endangered large blue butterfly successfully breeding on Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire. We should not expect too much of these initiatives, though; your chances of having glimpsed either of these natural wonders over the last few years are still slight. But until today such prospects were far greater than the likelihood of your having seen Joseph Charles Buttler playing cricket for Lancashire.Buttler () last turned out in his county’s scarlet plumage for their Vitality Blast semi-final against Worcestershire on September 15, 2018 yet the view that he is a Lancashire cricketer in name only will be countered this week and next when he plays six T20 matches for the Lightning. The venues are far away from Somerset, his , but at least they will allow Buttler to reconnect for a week or so with domestic cricket.To judge from the reaction when Buttler came out to bat at Emirates Old Trafford this afternoon he will be made very welcome. The cheer that greeted his arrival was exceeded in volume only a few times this afternoon and one of those occasions saluted the searing straight-drive played by Liam Livingstone that ended the game in Lancashire’s favour by six wickets with three balls to spare.Related

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In truth the home side’s pursuit of 169 had always seemed a little more comfortable than that, although their run chase would have been a little hairier had Livingstone been caught at deep midwicket on 55 when Leus du Plooy collided with the substitute fielder Mattie McKiernan when both were sprinting like students on a promise to get under a catch.Neither was seriously injured but Derbyshire’s chances suffered grievous hurt. Livingstone went on to make 94 not out off 58 balls and batted with a perfect sense of his responsibilities. This was mixed with the fine strokeplay that saw him belt ten fours and snot a couple of big sixes, and on a day when nearly 4,000 supporters applauded one world-class cricketer in Buttler it was also a reminder that Livingstone, while a great talent, is also, as yet, an unfulfilled one; a player who, when he marries judgement to talent, could be a first-choice pick for England, even in the five-day format. It is up to him.As for Buttler, he had a very respectable afternoon, conceding no byes in Derbyshire’s 168 for 7 and then making 30 off 28 balls before he reverse-swept Luis Reece straight to Fynn Hudson-Prentice at short third man. But the England wicketkeeper was only one of three Lancashire batters to share fifty-plus partnerships with Livingstone. Finn Allen marked his Lancashire debut by making 29 off 13 balls and putting on 53 with his new opening partner. And then when Buttler was gone Dane Vilas joined Barrow’s finest and saw his side all but home in a stand of 54 in 5.4 overs.Derbyshire also made a substantial contribution to a game in which both sides’ fielding was not yet attuned to the pace of the short-form game. The visitors’ best player was Reece, who was also born in Taunton, quirkily enough, just over a month before Jos’ mum brought her son out to bat for the first time.Jos Buttler played his first Lancashire game since September 2018•Barry Mitchell/Lancashire Cricket

Indeed, the first half of Derbyshire’s innings was dominated by Reece, who made 59 against the county he last represented in 2016. As is almost the norm in such innings, there were three sixes, the most unorthodox of them an outrageous switch-hit off Tom Hartley. Reece took heaviest toll of Richard Gleeson, whose only over in his return to first-team cricket after nine months out with a stress fracture cost 21 runs. Gleeson might observe drily that he had dealt with the fracture; now all he had was the stress.After Reece had been given out leg before when attempting to reverse-sweep Danny Lamb, Derbyshire’s momentum was maintained by du Plooy, who made 34, and Alex Hughes, who contributed 28 to their 52-run fourth wicket partnership before both batters holed out to successive balls from Matt Parkinson in the 18th over. That left the legspinner with 3 for 28, his team’s most impressive figures, although in truth both Danny Lamb and Livingstone performed as competently, both conceding fewer runs and bowling at tricky points in the innings.Though Derbyshire’s total was competitive it came at a heavy cost. When diving to complete a single Wayne Madsen injured his hamstring, a fact of which he only became aware when he attempted to get up and promptly fell over again. The sight of the Derbyshire batter being helped from the field does not bode well for his side’s prospects in this year’s Blast and it may also have more local consequences in this city; Madsen has been signed up to play for the Manchester Originals in the Hundred.

Says the win gives South Africa “massive confidence not only moving into the next Test but moving into the next few years”

Firdose Moonda12-Jun-2021Kagiso Rabada likened his emotions after his first five-for in Test cricket since March 2018 to the feeling a batsman has when he scores a hundred after a lean patch. However, he maintained that not much had changed about his bowling in the last three years.”You measure the highest accolades in cricket by scoring hundreds and taking five-fors and ten-fors,” Rabada said after the first Test in St Lucia. “It’s something you always strive to do. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened for me in recent years but I’m glad that’s happened today. The only thing you can judge yourself on is being consistent in your preparation. It’s like scoring a hundred. Who wouldn’t be happy with scoring a hundred? I am really glad with the performance I put in.”Rabada’s 5 for 34 saw South Africa wrap up an innings win over West Indies in less than two-and-a-half days; a victory built on a strong first-innings showing with the ball when they dismissed West Indies for 97. The architect of that performance was Rabada’s new-ball partner Lungi Ngidi, who took 5 for 19 to record his second five-for in Test cricket and first since debut in January 2018, and Rabada indicated he saw Ngidi’s success coming in the nets.

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“Lungi bowled extremely well, right from the training camp that we held in Centurion [before travelling to the West Indies],” Rabada said. “He had the ball on a string. He was bowling really good lines and lengths. His wrist was in a good position and he just seemed extremely determined. We are looking for that same intensity as a team through the coming years.”Though it would seem premature for South Africa to look at this as a stepping stone to the future after just one Test win – only their fourth under Mark Boucher and first away from home since 2017 – after their slide to No. 7 in the Test rankings, they have to start somewhere. Rabada sees this result as a possible turning point for the team under new captain Dean Elgar, who turned 34 during this Test.”We’re a young team and we are rebuilding,” he said. “Even our most experienced players are young, like myself and Quinny [de Kock]. Dean is our most experienced but for me, at 26, to be one of the most experienced paints a picture of how young we are as a team. It’s going to give us massive confidence not only moving into the next Test match but moving into the next few years. We can’t take anything for granted but just take all the positives that we’ve done in this Test match and keep building on those. This win has given us a lot of confidence.”Bowling brilliantly after losing the toss, West Indies’ abject batting and Quinton de Kock’s hundred were the main reasons for South Africa’s win but Rabada also put it down to being able to identify and act in key moments better than they have done before.”In the previous games we played, myself included, we were lacking at important times of the game and somehow just let the game slip away. We were good in batches, but at times we could get quite sloppy. In this Test match, we just kept our foot on the throttle and we identified those moments where we felt in the past we slacked off. We know it’s not going to get any easier, it’s about consistency.”Having been part of some of South Africa’s highest highs such as beating Australia home and away and their lowest lows, like losing to Sri Lanka home and away, Rabada hopes things will stabilise and results will keep improving. “We’ve got so much potential in our team. In this Test match it came out. We’re hoping for more of the same. It has happened in the past and we are hoping for more of the same in the future.”

Lancashire conspire to fall short of victory despite opener’s 88

Paul Edwards20-Jun-2021An afternoon on which Lancashire had sought to raise awareness of men’s health concluded in a fashion that will have done nothing for the blood pressure or heart rates of most of the 4500 spectators at Emirates Old Trafford.”So much, so mundane,” might come the weary reply from people reading about this tie. This is T20, after all, a format where last-over finishes are almost and in which winning a match with three balls to spare equates to coasting home. Perhaps so, but when Lancashire needed eight off the final two deliveries of the game, a fair proportion of the crowd will have been wondering how they had contrived to balls up their pursuit of 173, especially so given that openers Keaton Jennings and Finn Allen had put on 118 in less than 13 overs before Allen skied Samit Patel to Joe Clarke at long-off and departed for 60.Bowling the final over was Luke Fletcher, a man whose loyalties are simple and deep; he would be among the crowd supporting Notts if he did not play for them. Fletcher conceded four runs off the first four balls of that final over but his fifth was a knee-high full toss that Jennings whacked gratefully into the crowd in the temporary stand Lancashire have built for bigger occasions than this. With all three results now possible yet none of them an odds-on favourite, Jennings squeezed the next ball into the covers where the Notts skipper Steven Mullaney ran round to field. One run was easy but a second was an impossibility unless Mullaney fainted or Tom Moores failed to collect the ball.Jennings nearly collided with the bowler as he turned for the second run. That is never a wise move – Fletcher was built by the same firm that did the Eiger – but he was far short of his ground when Moores broke the stumps. Suddenly there was that sense of anti-climax that a tie in these affairs always brings. Both sets of players and supporters were vaguely relieved but both knew the disappointment that failing to win a game always fosters when victory has been close.Lancashire’s unhappiness was probably the greater. Both sides agreed that Notts’ 172 was better than par on a used pitch but Jennings and Allen, the former batting with particular brio, had seemed to have the job under control. Only 44 runs were needed off the last five overs and 27 off the last three with plenty of wickets in hand. But Notts have been here before – this is their second tie in six games in this year’s Blast – and they hung on. Patel was the best bowler on either side and he conceded only 18 runs from his four overs. Jake Ball also bowled well at the death and Lancashire have now won only one of their last 11 T20 games against Notts.”It was absolutely gutting to get so close and get to the point where you should win it,” said Jennings, who made 88 off 61 balls. “You want to get your team over the line and then you don’t win it and you only walk away with one point. It was a really good game of cricket and great to be a part of but bitterly disappointing when you don’t walk away with all the points.”Such a reaction is understandable but some wise money was on the visitors after they had posted 172 in the first half of the game. No one dominated their innings as Allen and Jennings were to do for Lancashire but after Alex Hales had made 33, a 17-ball effort than included five successive fours off Steven Croft, Moores held the innings together by making 48 before he was one of three wickets to fall in the final over bowled by Danny Lamb, who returned career-best figures of 3 for 23. Lancashire dropped four catches but Tom Hartley held on to his two chances and also took 2 for 25, thus offering further evidence of a talent that is in danger of being confined to the short form. This would be a desperate waste.Lancashire’s use of only five frontline bowlers meant they went into the game without the safety net of the sixth part-time trundler or twister that most teams need in these contests. Thus there was no option available to Dane Vilas when Matt Parkinson was collared and returned figures of 1 for 45, the legspinner’s worst figures in the Blast. A couple of hours later, though visiting supporters were applauding a slow bowler, whose England days are long past. But no one doubts that Patel is a genuine allrounder; the word has been made flesh and now it dwells amongst us.

Zak Crawley’s 64 not enough to lift London Spirit to defendable total at Edgbaston

Alan Gardner23-Jul-2021Birmingham Phoenix 148 for 7 (Moeen 40) beat London Spirit 144 for 6 (Crawley 64) by three wicketsBirmingham Phoenix rose to the occasion to crown the first Hundred double-header with a win for the home side in front of Edgbaston’s packed stands. Having limited London Spirit to 144 for 6, despite Zak Crawley hitting the first half-century of the men’s tournament, Phoenix’s chase was set up by a measured 40 off 30 from their captain, Moeen Ali, before the unheralded Warwickshire batter Chris Benjamin fired them across the line with three balls to spare.Moeen had opted to chase, in the hope of getting a look at the surface (and the format) and planning accordingly. His strike bowler, Adam Milne, set the tone by conceding just three scoring shots from his first 10 balls, on the way to an impressive 2 for 18 and although Crawley held the innings together with 64 off 40, Spirit looked a little light.The Phoenix chase made a stuttering start, with both openers gone inside the Powerplay and the in-form Liam Livingstone falling for 19 off 15, having hit one monstrous six into the second tier of the pavilion. Moeen’s dismissal looked set to swing things Spirit’s direction, only for Benjamin – the 22-year-old who only made his T20 debut for Birmingham Bears on this ground a week ago – to produce a dazzling and decisive cameo.With 23 needed from 13, Benjamin audaciously reverse-scooped Blake Cullen for six, then casually swatted another over the ropes at deep backward square to bring the requirement down to 11 from the final ten. Benny Howell also struck two vital sixes to ease home nerves, with Benjamin unbeaten on 24 from 15 when Milne came out to hit the winning boundary.Crawley brawling
Crawley’s first ball in the Hundred was a 90mph delivery from Milne that he gamely attempted to thrash through the covers, only to be beaten by some seam movement. He played and missed at his second and finally got off strike from his fourth, before finding his range against Tom Helm in the second five, smashing the first of Spirit’s six sixes off his legs.With Josh Inglis, who had been dropped off his first ball from Milne, falling to the New Zealander in his second set, and Dan Lawrence striking Helm over the rope at deep extra cover before skying to backward point, it was left to Crawley to give his side some momentum during the Powerplay, collecting three consecutive fours off Helm and Howell to leave Spirit on 41 for 2.While the Londoners struggled to put together partnerships – their highest was 38 from 28 balls between Crawley and Ravi Bopara – their Kent opener was the constant, batting right through to the 99th delivery of the innings. He said afterwards that he found the spinners easier to score against, despite taking Helm for 18 from six deliveries before finally miscuing a slower ball to deep midwicket. He swept effectively against Imran Tahir’s legspin, bringing up his fifty with slogged six, and ensured that Spirit would have something to bowl at despite no one else passing 25.Milne and boom!
New Zealand quick Milne was only signed by Kent in June for the Vitality Blast as a replacement for Mohammad Amir – playing in this match for London Spirit – because of a clash with the rearranged Pakistan Super League. Milne was then drafted in by Phoenix earlier this month because of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s withdrawal due to international commitments.Milne may not be quite such a box office name (he’s an unassuming Kiwi, after all), but he has all the tools to put his name in lights during the Hundred. His 90mph-plus spell with the new ball saw just six runs come off the bat across two sets of five, and he later returned to deliver 10 consecutively between 81 and 90, showcasing his stamina as well as some canny changes of pace. He capped the display by foxing Bopara with a back-of-the-hand slower ball and then holding on to a brilliant reflex catch one-handed in his follow through.Not only was he the only bowler in the match to go at less than a run a ball, Milne conceded just two boundaries as well as having two straightforward catches dropped off his bowling. He already looks a canny signing.Moeen going, Benjamin pops up
At the halfway stage of the Phoenix chase, the home side were 74 for 3, with Moeen just beginning to find his range. Roelof van der Merwe, a left-arm spinner turning the ball into Moeen’s arc, was brought on for the 11th set of five, and promptly watched his as first delivery was crashed over long-on for six – leaving Phoenix needing 65 from 49.But Mohammad Nabi applied the brakes by conceding only six runs between 61 and 70, as well as removing Daniel Bell-Drummond, and when Moeen was brilliantly removed by van der Merwe via a running, sprawling catch from Bopara at long-off, the Phoenix requirement began to creep north once again. At the three-quarter stage of the innings, Birmingham needed 43 from 25, and it required timely blows from Howell off Chris Wood and van der Merwe to keep the target within range.It might still have got away from them, had it not been for Benjamin, who only signed a rookie contract with Warwickshire a few weeks ago, and was then called into the Phoenix set-up as an injury replacement for Adam Hose. Going into this match, he didn’t even feature in their squad on the official Hundred website – though you suspect most of those in the 12,137-strong crowd will now know who he is.Timing issues
Both of the opening matches in this format at The Oval went over the official two-and-a-half hour running time – though not by so much as the attract the interest of the umpires. But with the speed of games considered a major selling point, expect much talk over the coming weeks about how close teams are to missing the cut-off time, by which point they are expected to have started bowling the final set of five balls.In the women’s match at Edgbaston, the home side were forced to have one fewer fielder outside the ring from the 94th ball because they were behind the rate (not that deep fielders were really the issue with five needed). The same happened to London Spirit in the men’s game, as Eoin Morgan tried to manage his resources – although by the time the penalty was imposed, Phoenix needed one to win and Morgan had all his men in anyway. In large part, Spirit’s issues came down to the six wides and a no-ball delivered by Amir, whose second set of five actually encompassed nine deliveries. Another thing for us all to get our heads around.

Captain Mahmudullah distances himself from decision, says “best to ask team management”

Mohammad Isam18-Nov-2021Only a day after being left out of the Bangladesh squad for the Pakistan T20Is, Mushfiqur Rahim has disputed the claim that he has been rested.Mushfiqur said he didn’t “need rest” and told the team management he was available, but they took a collective decision to drop him.”To be honest I haven’t reached the stage when I have to tell someone that I need rest,” Mushfiqur told on Wednesday. “I am definitely available. Why won’t I be? I obviously had a disappointing World Cup. I needed an opportunity to bounce back.Related

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“I was asked if I was available, to which I said of course I am available. But I was told that the selection committee, team management, head coach and team director took a collective decision to drop me.”Two days ago, Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector, had insisted that Mushfiqur was “rested” because they needed him fresh for the two Tests against Pakistan after the three T20Is starting on Friday.”We have four back-to-back Test matches against Pakistan and New Zealand,” Minhajul had said. “He is a key player. He is one of our best players. Tamim Iqbal is already injured. He is in doubt for the Test series. We want our best player to give his best during the Test series, so after consulting extensively with the team management, we have decided to rest him. It is only for the Pakistan series. He will be available later.”The issue took over captain Mahmudullah’s pre-match press conference on Thursday in Dhaka. Mahmdullah distanced himself from the decision, and said that the team management (of which he is a part, as captain) should be asked the question.”I think it’s best to ask the team management,” he said. “I wasn’t part of the decision.”I don’t know what Mushfiq has said. I can only comment after I have seen what he has said.”It is completely the team management’s decision. I don’t want to talk about it. All I can say is that we will miss Mushfiq.”Mahmdullah himself has been under the spotlight since the World Cup in the UAE where they lost all their five games in the Super 12s stage and had started their campaign with a six-run loss to Scotland. He was criticised for his captaincy and also for his unbeaten 31 off 24 in the chase against West Indies; Bangladesh needed 53 runs off 39 balls when he came out to bat but fell short by three runs.Mahmudullah was, however, Bangladesh’s second-highest scorer in the tournament with 169 runs in eight matches at 28.16, with a strike rate of 120.71. Mushfiqur managed 144 in the eight games, at 20.57, with a strike rate of 113.38 – including a half-century against Sri Lanka.Ahead of Friday’s match, though, Mahmudullah said he was looking ahead instead of thinking about the World Cup.”If we keep talking about what has happened, it might create a negative effect,” he said. “I am really focused on the T20 match [coming up], how I can contribute as an individual player, and make sure everyone else contributes too.”We are taking everything positively. Definitely, Pakistan is a major T20 side, which makes it a challenge for us.”