Nathan Coulter-Nile is out of Australia’s Ashes calculations, after an early stage aggravation of a previous stress fracture of the back

Daniel Brettig10-Nov-2017Josh Hazlewood looks to be in the form of his life before the Ashes, which is just as well, because Australia’s pace-bowling stocks are starting to look far thinner than the national selectors, coaches and medical staff would prefer them to be.Cricket Australia confirmed on Friday that Nathan Coulter-Nile had suffered a recurrence of back trouble, specifically a “hot spot” on a previous stress fracture. That injury takes him out of Ashes calculations, and means Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are more or less shorn of any high-speed back-up should injury intervene during the five Tests against England.Having been withdrawn from the most recent Sheffield Shield round out of fears his recuperating back could not yet cope with the rigours of successive first-class games, Coulter-Nile dismissed Alastair Cook in England’s opening tour fixture in Perth, but then complained of acute soreness afterwards. Cue another round of rest, rehabilitation and speculation about his long-form future.”Nathan experienced some pain in his back following the two-day tour match against England last week,” Alex Kountouris, CA’s head of sports science, said. “Subsequent scans have revealed an early stage aggravation of his old stress fracture. Whilst this is a setback, the good news is that it has been picked up early so we are only considering a short break from bowling while we monitor him. We expect he will have further scans over the next month which will determine when he can return to bowling.”Four years ago, it was Coulter-Nile and Doug Bollinger who served as reserve spearheads in the event of injuries to one of Ryan Harris or Mitchell Johnson, meaning they were involved in Australia’s celebrations of a 5-0 sweep but did not actually take the field. This time around, Jackson Bird is now the fourth bowler in line and the South Australian Chadd Sayers is likely the fifth, particularly for the pink-ball Test match in Adelaide.But the lack of too many other high-speed options around the country – Jhye Richardson reportedly hit 148kph for Western Australia against New South Wales in the recent Shield game but is not considered close to Test selection, while Bollinger is yet to play for first-class cricket NSW this summer – means the selectors and medical staff must think carefully about their resources.For one thing, Cummins must now be seen not only as a third fast man but also the back-up “enforcer” should Starc succumb to injury. That may mean reconsideration of how many Test matches he can be risked in this summer, having already stated he is unsure whether or not his body will be able to cope with the rigours of five in a row.More positive for the Ashes hosts is the fact that Hazlewood returned to first-class ranks in supreme rhythm at Hurstville Oval, twice dismantling the techniques of Hilton Cartwright, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh before Starc blasted out the WA tail. While he felt for Coulter-Nile, Hazlewood was pleasantly surprised with his own progress, meaning he readily agreed to head into training camp with Starc and Cummins without needing to play a second Shield match”Felt the rhythm pretty early on,” Hazlewood said in Sydney. “Things went pretty well the whole game. From ball one I was pretty surprised with how well the ball was coming out, how good the run-up felt, how good everything in general. I’m pretty happy with where it’s at now so I don’t think there’s a need to play another game. I’m ready to go now and we obviously talk with the coaches and selectors and physios and whatnot, everyone is on the same page and ready to go.”You always feel for a fellow fast bowler, especially his run the last couple of years. I feel a bit sorry for Nath, but he’s done a lot of hard work to get back from different things and I’m sure he’ll put tin the hard work again and come back from this one.”Observers at NSW training on Friday were treated to the sight of Starc steaming in at Steven Smith, at one point sitting the Australian captain on his backside with a swift bouncer. “It’s always good fun and they’re two world-class players so it always keeps you on your toes and makes sure you get everything out of the session,” Hazlewood said. “There’s no real going through the motions when you’re bowling at those two guys.”That’s what they’re always like. They’re always into each other and Patty and I just do our thing. It’s pretty easy to fire Starcy up, so Smithy takes it on.”

Joe Root’s conversion rate of fifties into hundreds remains in the spotlight after his early dismissal on the final day in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-20171:02

Swann: The batting monkey is growing on Root’s back

Graeme Swann believes it would have been better for English cricket if Joe Root had not been handed the England captaincy and instead allowed to focus on being purely a batsman.Root continued his problem of not converting half-centuries into three-figures when he fell for 67 early on the final day in Adelaide – having played brilliantly to see out the fourth evening under lights – to all but end England’s hopes of chasing down 354 to level the Ashes series.In the second innings of the first Test, he was lbw the ball after reaching his half-century when England were trying to form a lead to challenge Australia in what ultimately became a 10-wicket defeat.”It’s a monkey on his back and it will continue to grow with so many fifties not being hundreds,” Swann told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m still convinced it’s because he’s had the captaincy put on him. I wish they hadn’t, I wish he didn’t have the burden and could just be our best-ever batsman but that decision has been made and this tour will be tough on him because that pressure will build and build.”Since becoming captain, Root has passed fifty in nine of his 16 innings but has converted just two into centuries – 190 at Lord’s in his first knock as captain and 136 against West Indies at Edgbaston.However, his poor conversion rate – which is significantly lower than the likes of Steven Smith, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli – has not just become an issue with the leadership. At the end of 2014, Root had five centuries and eight fifties but since then has made 27 fifties and only eight centuries.”In big series your senior players have to step up and lead from the front,” Root said after the defeat in Adelaide. “I tried to do that on the fourth evening. Unfortunately, I could not carry that on and that is really disappointing. I’ve been concerned about not converting my fifties into hundreds for a long time now. It hurts me personally a lot.”However, Root is not the only batsman England need more from. In four innings during this series their top score is James Vince’s 83 and there have been just five half-centuries. Australia, meanwhile, have had two match-defining centuries by Smith and Shaun Marsh.”The top six just aren’t churning out the scores you need to win Test cricket,” Swann said. “Vince got a brilliant 80 in Brisbane but since then hasn’t performed, Mark Stoneman is looking good but not converting the starts and the big guns Cook and Root just aren’t scoring hundreds. There are problems. The scoreboard has to read 400-450 if you want to win here.”Further down the middle order there are vulnerabilities as well with Moeen Ali’s promotion to No. 6 to replace the absent Ben Stokes yet to bring significant returns. Moeen has also struggled for impact with the ball, comfortably being outbowled by Nathan Lyon, but it is so far a small blip in a very successful year for Moeen and Swann wants him to believe in his own ability.”One person I wouldn’t drop despite very ordinary performances is Moeen Ali. You need to still play a spinner at Perth and it would be a very big call to bring in Mason Crane at probably the least spin-friendly ground in world cricket. But Moeen has to start believing in himself as a bowler. If he’s injured he has a week to get over that and he has to bat with conviction and flair. When he’s on fire he’s a dangerous prospect but at the moment he’s 50% Moeen.”

Baroda captain Deepak Hooda’s 34-ball 57 helped his team chase down a target of 179 against Maharashtra while Aditya Garhwal’s 51* set up Rajasthan’s six-wicket win over Vidarbha

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2018Baroda captain Deepak Hooda’s 34-ball 57 helped his team chase down a target of 179 with five wickets in hand against Maharashtra in Rajkot. Hooda’s second half-century in the tournament was instrumental in Baroda winning their fourth consecutive game and remain undefeated in the competition.Earlier, Maharashtra put up a strong batting performance after electing to bat first. A 79-run alliance between Ruturaj Gaikwad, who smashed a 37-ball 52, and captain Rahul Tripathi (30 off 24 balls) propelled Maharashtra to a total of 178 for 6 in 20 overs. Baroda seamer Atit Sheth finished with figures of 3 for 21. In reply, Baroda recovered quickly from the loss of three early wickets thanks to Hooda and handy contributions from Vishnu Solanki (42* off 21) and Swapnil Singh, who retired hurt after a 26-ball 36. Seamer Domnic Muthuswami picked up three wickets for Maharashtra.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A disciplined bowling effort followed by Aditya Garhwal’s unbeaten half-century set up Rajasthan‘s six-wicket win over Vidarbha in Raipur. This was their fourth win in as many games even as Vidarbha lost their first game of the tournament.After opting to bat, Vidarbha started reasonably well but lost their way in the middle to slump from 70 for 2 to 127 for 7 before their innings eventually petered out to 131 for 8. Rajasthan seamers Aniket Choudhary, Deepak Chahar (2 for 25) and Khaleel Ahmed (2 for 19) picked up five wickets among them. Rajasthan’s chase was fairly straightforward as they cruised to their target with two overs to spare.

County executives assured there will be no more compensation payments to Test-hosting counties until the issue has been discussed further

George Dobell08-Mar-2018ECB chairman Colin Graves has sought to ease the concerns of anxious county executives by assuring them there will be no more compensation payments to Test-hosting counties until the issue has been discussed further.In a chief executives’ meeting on Thursday, Graves insisted that plans for such payments had only been at draft stage and would have to have been ratified by the board before implementation. As a result of concerns raised by the counties – and most notably by the resignation from the board of Andy Nash – those plans will now be reviewed.While the mood among the counties does appear to be somewhat appeased – there is no serious talk of a vote of no confidence – there are still some awkward questions to answer. At least one club would appear to have already received a payment from the ECB, while at least two more have budgeted for it.Meanwhile, those counties concerned that the suggested compensation payments might signal a change in the long-term policy of the ECB were further alarmed by the news that the new County Partnership Agreements (the successor to Memorandums of Understanding) are likely to be bespoke to each club. While the aim of that is largely to reflect the differing needs of clubs in different parts of the country, it might also be interpreted as providing potential for a further divide between Test-hosting clubs and the rest. In the past, the ECB’s funds have been largely split on an equitable basis (with some room for performance-related bonus payments) among the counties.It has also been revealed that, at some stage in the last couple of years, Sport England expressed some concern over Graves’ position of chairman of the ECB’s new nominations committee.While the ECB has made much of the fact that its board will shortly be mostly made up of independent members, the nominations committee effectively has the opportunity to vet every prospective applicant. All other board members with affiliations to counties – the likes of Richard Thompson, the Surrey chairman, or Peter Wright, the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board chairman – are obliged to step down in May when they will be replaced by independent board members. Giles Clarke, the ECB president, is also expected to step down in May. Alan Leighton is expected, at some stage, to take over as chairman of the nominations committee.Furthermore, it has emerged that in March 2016 the ECB provided an assurance that Graves would abstain from “any vote or decision which could be deemed a conflict of duty… as is his statutory duty”.Although Graves, who was previously chairman of Yorkshire, did excuse himself from the room when the recent allocation of major matches was validated by the board, questions remain as to whether he did so on other occasions; notably when the decision to strip Durham of their Test status was approved. Graves no longer has any direct financial link to Yorkshire, though family trusts set up by him but run independently are owed £20m by the club.

South Australia were reduced to 4 for 82 in their 466-run chase on the third day at the Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Feb-2018
ScorecardQueensland is on the verge of going a game clear on top of the Sheffield Shield table after the Bulls quicks dismantled South Australia’s top order in the Redbacks unlikely pursuit of 466 for victory.Redbacks openers Jake Weatherald and John Dalton made a solid start moving to 51 without loss before the home side suffered another collapse similar to the first innings. They lost 3 for 6 in four overs with Luke Feldman, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser all claiming a wicket each.Doggett also picked up Jake Lehmann late in the day to send a dagger through the heart of the Redbacks line-up.Earlier, the Bulls got contributions all through their order to give the Redbacks a huge fourth innings total to chase. Marnus Labuschagne top scored with 62 while skipper Jimmy Peirson made 51 not out. Michael Neser and Mitchell Swepson made valuable contributions to extend the chase to 466.

David Munden, photographer and former county batsman, has died at the age of 60 after a battle with Parkinson’s Disease

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2018David Munden, the renowned cricket photographer and former county batsman, has died at the age of 60 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.Munden, who was a fixture on England cricket tours in the 1980s and 1990s, had been on Leicestershire’s books from 1975 until 1981 when, as captain of their second XI, he signed off with a century in his final appearance against Worcestershire at Grace Road.He was a contemporary of David Gower’s at the club, with whom he also represented England Under 19s on their tour of the Caribbean in 1976.”His passion for cricket was evident in the way he took to photographing the game once he realised he would not go on to enjoy a senior county career,” said Mark Baldwin, the chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club.”He was a highly popular and much-respected colleague in and around press boxes at home and abroad. Cruelly, David’s illness eventually forced him to retire from his photographic work and he fought against the debilitations of Parkinson’s for many years.”In 2015, Leicestershire held a fundraising testimonial for Munden at Grace Road, where his father Victor and uncles Donald and Paul had also represented the club.The news of Munden’s death comes in the wake of the loss of Dave Callaghan, the BBC Yorkshire broadcaster, and Neil Bell, the BBC South East sports reporter.”In different ways and across different mediums the three of them contributed much to the promotion and presentation of cricket to a wide audience,” added Baldwin, “and they will be remembered with huge affection. What they shared, meanwhile, was a deep love of cricket and respect for the game.”

If you watched video footage of this match a dozen times you would struggle to understand what on earth was going on

Dan Norcross at Chelmsford04-May-20181:46

BIzarre day at Chelmsford as bowlers dominate

ScorecardThere’s a scene in Where Eagles Dare in which Richard Burton with solid support from Clint Eastwood reveals the identity of the Nazi double agent contained within a notebook. The notebook, perplexingly, is empty. The agent is both revealed within its covers and yet simultaneously not there. Shroedinger’s double-agent if you will. Burton delivers every line with mesmeric and gravelly perfection, but after watching that film at least a dozen times, I defy anyone to make sense of what the hell is going on.For Burton and Eastwood read Sam Cook and Peter Siddle. Given the opportunity to bowl first on a brownish pitch under cloudless skies after Yorkshire elected for and won the toss, they delivered their lines and lengths with irreproachable professionalism and no little flair, but Yorkshire’s batsmen were in no mood to match them.To call the Yorkshire innings a procession would be to do a grave disservice to processions in modest churches up and down the land. It more resembled an unseemly stampede to the bar by smokers in a pub garden on hearing the bell for last orders. The upshot was their lowest first-class score since 1973.Cook made the initial breakthrough in his first over when Harry Brook poked hesitantly at a ball just outside his off stump and guided the ball into Harmer’s enormous mitts at second slip, but this merely brought Che Pujara to the wicket. Yorkshire had also “strengthened” their batting with the inclusion of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, granted leave by the ECB to get some much needed middle practice before the Test series against Pakistan begins in three weeks time, so the visitors boasted five recent and current front line international batsmen in their top six.None presented a problem for Cook. In his second over he induced a thin edge from Lyth through to the evergreen Foster which brought forth Joe Root, shuffling and sidewinding into the middle for his first innings since April 1st. A bumper crowd got to see the familiar guard, the couple of paces to square-leg, the look round the field and one firm push at a ball beautifully landed on an off-stump line that travelled gently into the gleeful hands of his former captain Alastair Cook at first slip.Then 9 for 3 swiftly became 11 for 4 when Pujara was trapped lbw by Jamie Porter. Pujara was less than gruntled at the decision, but he wouldn’t be the last man to be undone by moderately low bounce from the Hayes Close End.Cook was not yet done with wrecking England’s Test match preparations. Next to go was Bairstow, bowled by the ball of the day; a beauty that held its line and thudded into off-stump. By the time he had Bresnan trapped in front it truly was a Wonderful Life for Cook as he registered his third five wicket haul in just his sixth championship appearance.Joe Root returns to the pavilion after a first-baller•Getty Images

His 5 for 28 was notable for great control. He was willing to pitch the ball up and make the most of what movement there was off a helpful but far from capricious pitch, was supported by superb close fielding and was aided by a truly abysmal display by Yorkshire with the bat.By the time Siddle had wrapped up the tail with a spell of 4 for 7 in 22 balls, Yorkshire had been obliterated in just 18.4 overs before lunch for 50, coincidentally exactly the same length of time it took for Australia to be famously dismissed at Trent Bridge in 2015.Sages shook their heads in bewilderment but resembled teenage headbangers by the time Alastair Cook wafted a catch to Bairstow – the second England captain to make a duck in a couple of hours – and Tom Westley played a shot uglier than a Communist-era Bucharest tower block, hurling an injudicious bat at an away swinger from Brooks and dragging back on to his middle stump to depart first ball.The opening session had yielded 61 runs for the loss of 12 wickets. By this stage, four of England’s regular top seven last summer had been dismissed for seven runs between them.The afternoon session produced no let-up in the mayhem. Ben Coad and Tim Bresnan, showing due deference to the eternal verities of line of length but at no great pace, made the ball do “just enough”, and Bresnan in particular exploited the tendency of the ball to keep slightly (but really only slightly) lower from the Hayes Close End and was rewarded with a couple of lbws for his troubles.Dan Lawrence tried the novel tactic (up to this point) of going hell for leather and for a while looked to have cracked the code with a 77 ball 48, up to that point by far the most authoritative, if still somehow skittish innings of the day. But aside from a late flurry from Simon Harmer (36) who briefly cover drove with the elegance of Wally Hammond, left the ball with the acuity of Steve Smith and marshalled what was left of the tail better than Angelo Mathews, Essex’s innings offered little more sense of permanence than the Mayfly effort that had preceded it.Three wickets apiece for Bresnan, Coad and Brooks had done the damage and tea was taken with Essex bowled out and in possession of a more than handy 92 run lead.Record books were dusted down. When was the last time a match was completed in one day (1960 Kent v Worcestershire since you ask)? Might Essex be in a position to take claim the extra half hour? Would this day ever end?Yorkshire decided to counter attack themselves. Bairstow replaced Brook at the top of the order and went after the new ball. His 44-ball 50 was full of familiar punch drives and lofted shots over the infield. Siddle managed to get the ball changed, immediately bowled Bairstow and had Lyth nibbling to second slip. At 96 for 2, Yorkshire were just in front but a late flurry of wickets would send them back to square one.Enter Brook. The press box in Chelmsford was full of the great and the good, all come to watch Root, Cook, Bairstow, Pujara, maybe Ballance and Lawrence. Instead it was the 19-year-old Brook who provided the innings of the day. Entirely untroubled, possessed of a sound technique and keen to rotate the strike, his was the only performance that will have excited the selectors.Marshalling Yorkshire, in tandem with Pujara to 161 for 2 at the close, and a more than useful lead of 65, he has the opportunity tomorrow truly to overshadow his more illustrious colleagues. Root, however, may yet have a say in that.The pitch did ease as the day went on. Wise locals will tell you that it’s hardest to bat on day one, but I defy anyone to watch today’s play 12 times and explain to me what the hell was going on.

Ireland batsman defies injury to set up emphatic victory at Hove

ECB Reporters Network25-May-2018
ScorecardPaul Stirling defied a thigh injury which forced him to bat with a runner to score his second century in less than a week as Middlesex beat Sussex by 74 runs at Hove in the Royal London One-Day Cup.The 27-year-old Irishman suffered the injury shortly after reaching 50 and Nathan Sowter ran for him for the remainder of his innings.
Stirling went on to make 116 from 129 balls to add to his 125 against Kent earlier in the competition and help Middlesex post 288 for 4 from their 50 overs.Sussex were never really in contention with only David Wiese, who made his second successive half-century, mastering an accurate attack in which skipper Steven Finn took 3 for 29 and left-arm spinner Ravi Patel 4 for 58. They were bowled out for 214 from 43.5 overs.Stirling and Nick Gubbins put on 198 for the first wicket, Middlesex’s second-highest partnership against Sussex in List A cricket, after they were put in.On a slow pitch Sussex bowled with decent control and Middlesex were never able to score at more than six runs an over. But Stirling and Gubbins found the gaps and punished anything loose as they passed Middlesex’s previous first-wicket best against Sussex, 160 by Owais Shah and Justin Langer in 1999.Stirling played within himself but still struck nine fours and two sixes in his 14th List A hundred which he brought up shortly before Gubbins, whose 86 came off 94 balls with two sixes and nine fours, was leg before to Danny Briggs’ quicker ball.The slow left-armer also picked up Stirling when he holed out to deep mid-wicket while England captain Eoin Morgan was caught in the covers off Ollie Robinson for 23.John Simpson was dropped three times in his unbeaten 22 and Wiese picked up the other wicket in the penultimate over when Hilton Cartwright (27) top-edged to extra cover.Sussex’s reply ran into early problems when Finn removed openers Phil Salt, deputising for the injured Luke Wright, and Luke Wells in an excellent new ball spell of 2 for 14 from five overs. Finn later returned to bowl Danny Briggs (2).Salt played on in the fourth over for five and Wells (13) was held at point in his next over before Finn’s replacement Patel struck in successive overs. Harry Finch (16) was superbly caught at full stretch on the long-off boundary by substitute James Harris and Ben Brown (24) bowled playing to leg.It was a profitable day for Patel. He had Michael Burgess (37 off 24 balls) and Robinson (17), from the last ball of his spell, both caught at deep mid-wicket while leg-spinner Sowter skidded one through Laurie Evans’ (34) defences after Evans had added 51 for the sixth wicket with Wiese, as Middlesex maintained their knack of taking wickets when they needed them.Sussex’s race was run when Wiese was ninth out for 57 off 51 balls, bowled by another delivery from Sowter, who finished with 3 for 43, that skidded on.

The opener, who is banned for life from captaining any side in Australian cricket, will lead Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada, with Dwayne Bravo out injured

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2018David Warner, who has been banned for life from holding any leadership position in Australian cricket, is set to captain his team in the Global T20 Canada.Warner will lead the Winnipeg Hawks with Dwayne Bravo, the designated captain, pulling out of the rest of the tournament. Winnipeg coach Waqar Younis was confident Warner would be the right choice, having seen the opener lead in the IPL.”I’m sure he’s going to be a good leader when it comes to captaincy,” Waqar told . “(Warner) is a leader. He’s a team man. I’ve seen him in IPL and I’ve seen him as a leader. He’s up there, he’s upfront and he likes to give whatever his knowledge is, he’s always there.”Warner led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title in 2016, and in 12 matches as the Australia captain (three ODIs and nine T20Is) has lost only one game, a rain-affected T20I against India in October 2017.Imad Wasim, the Pakistan allrounder, will replace Bravo in the team.The tournament in Canada is the first one that Warner and Steven Smith have taken part in since the fallout of the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket in South Africa earlier this year. Both are serving one-year bans from international and Australian domestic cricket. Warner has played three games for Winnipeg so far, with meagre returns of 1, 4 and 1, and will have at least two more matches in the league phase. With two wins, Winnipeg are currently on top of the points table, ahead of West Indies B and Vancouver Knights on net run-rate.At the start of the competition, Warner had said he was looking to get the rhythm of the game back, and that he would be open to advising his junior team-mates about the game. “For me it’s about getting back into the rhythm of cricket again, making sure I’m putting my best foot forward for this tournament, making sure that I’m putting 100% in all the time, giving advice to the guys who don’t get the opportunity to play on the big stage as well, and just to compete.”

Batsman turns from scapegoat to saviour in the space of 72 hours, as England bounce back from Old Trafford defeat

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2018Alex Hales turned from scapegoat to saviour in the space of 72 hours, as England bounced back from an ignominious batting collapse at Old Trafford to square the T20I series with a hard-fought five-wicket victory at Cardiff.And no-one fought harder than Hales himself, as he clubbed England over the line with 58 not out from 41 balls to atone for his momentum-squandering knock of 8 from 18 in the opening match of the series.”It’s right up there,” Hales said after the match. “The game at Manchester was a very, very bad day at the office personally and as a team, we didn’t quite get going. But today was brilliant, to bounce back in a must-win game shows a lot of character as a team.”One of the keys to England’s success was the negation of Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wristspinner whose wiles had bamboozled their batsmen to the tune of five wickets at Old Trafford. After intensive work against their spin-bowling machine, Merlyn, England came up with a plan to combat his angles, much of which involved staying deeper in the crease.”I’d never faced him before and I didn’t know much about him,” said Hales. “Maybe I just went out in Manchester without a plan and couldn’t get going. I watched a bit more footage, worked with Merlyn and looked to play a bit more off the back foot and waited for him to float one up hit a bit straighter, rather than cross bat like my dismissal the other night. It’s about having a bit more of a plan and more composure.”We picked him the other night, but I don’t think we played him very well,” he added. “You can see it out of his hand which way it’s spinning, but the other night we were maybe a bit rusty and had never played against him. Now we have had good look, had a good plan and it’s important to take that into Sunday and keep on top of him.”Asked if England’s success against Kuldeep had dealt him a psychological blow, Hales responded: “I think so. I guess it would do, yeah. It’s good for us to have that momentum heading into a must-win game on Sunday. Everyone collectively had a poor day on Sunday, but we bounced back well and it was brilliant today. Particularly Adil [Rashid], I think the Indians were looking to line him up to that short boundary so to go for under 30 was amazing.”Despite his personal success, Hales is under no illusions that his place in England’s starting XI remains vulnerable, especially with Ben Stokes nearing full fitness and potentially pressing for inclusion in the series decider at Bristol.”I’m doing all I can to score runs and keep putting pressure on the guys who know they’re playing,” he said. “We will have to see what happens. If it’s me that’s left out, you look at the guys who are playing ahead of me and what can you do? It’s up to me to keep training hard, being positive and have a decent mindset. It’s funny how quickly things can change.”It’s what Jonny [Bairstow] did for three years. Every time he got a chance he delivered, and has now made four hundreds in six games. I maybe find myself in that position now and have to see what I can do.”One of the strengths of England’s current white-ball set-up is the adaptability of their line-up, with batsmen moving up and down the order according to the match situation. Hales himself came in at No.4 at Cardiff, having been at 3 at Old Trafford, but he admitted that learning new roles was part of the challenge of playing in this team.”The batting line-up is that strong, you look how well Jos [Buttler] is playing, he’s batting on a different planet. Just to be part of this batting line-up, anywhere in the order is a great effort. Wherever I find myself I have to adapt and keep learning, and that was a different role tonight, it was like me and Jos swapped roles. I have to keep learning going forward if that’s the role I’ll play.”Whatever happens to Hales in the course of the next few games, he believes he has the wherewithal to cope with being left out of the side, which is something that he was forced to learn at a young age in county cricket.”When I was young, 22 or 23, I was dropped from the Notts team and was sent on loan,” he said. “Being on a downer is something I have had to deal with in my career so it’s nothing new to me, so when I face those moments, as I did the other night, I had a poor night, I know how to deal with it and bounce back and know that can happen in cricket. It’s a funny game.”