Mitchell Marsh could be in line to play the third Ashes Test in Perth, and says that he is in a good place now after being dropped from the Australian squad

Daniel Brettig07-Dec-2017In the aftermath of two announcements about allrounders returning to the playing set-ups of Australia and England, it was difficult to conclude who had made the more unlikely return – Ben Stokes, or Mitchell Marsh.While the former’s absence has been more high-profile, Marsh’s time away from the national team was a confluence of both physical infirmity and underperformance, such that other players, namely his Western Australian team-mate Marcus Stoinis, had seemingly slipped ahead of the Warriors captain in the selectors’ order of preference. But a return to the bowling crease after a shoulder surgery, in addition to a healthy run of domestic scores, has flipped things once more.In assessing options for what is likely to be a hot week in Perth on a baked dry WACA Ground pitch, Trevor Hohns’ panel elected to go back to the same player who had been among the quintet culled at the end of a fifth consecutive Test match loss in Hobart a little more than a year ago. Marsh is now in line to replace the struggling Peter Handscomb and, if so, would slot into the same No. 6 position where he has so far averaged a measly 21.74 from 21 matches.”I probably didn’t think it was going to happen this soon, but in saying that I feel like I’m in really good form at the moment, and it’s nice to be back playing as an allrounder,” Marsh said in Melbourne. “I’m no guarantee to play in Perth, it’ll depend on how the bowlers pull up; they’ve got eight days off now. Hopefully they pull up well but we’ll have to wait and see.”It had been Marsh’s bowling that kept him in the frame for Australia despite the aforementioned struggles as a batsman, related largely to confusion. Marsh was caught between a method based upon bludgeoning the ball with rare power, and a more considered approach that did not allow for the reality that his defensive technique could not effectively counter quality bowling for long periods. Questions remain about whether Marsh can do that job, particularly given how he was sorted out swiftly in two innings by Josh Hazlewood at Hurstville Oval earlier in the season, but he is certainly a more confident man now.”That was a great learning experience for me, I certainly lost a bit of confidence,” Marsh said of his difficulties in the Test side. “But that’s all a part of playing cricket at the highest level, you go through troughs and right now I’m feeling really confident in my game and scoring runs for WA.”From my experiences last year I wasn’t performing at my best, and in the game of cricket you can get pretty down on yourself and I’ve just come to realise it’s a game. I’m here to play, to do my best for the team and as long as I prepare well and do everything I can I know I’ll be able to do a job for Australia.”I’ve had eight or nine months to change a few things with my batting and I think that’s working. Probably more [change] on the mental side, being able to deal with the pressures of batting for long periods of time is something I really wanted to work on and I feel like my game is in a really good place right now.”A good place, as well, to bat alongside his brother Shaun, who has provided a major contribution to Australia’s Ashes cause so far with a useful innings in Brisbane than a pivotal one in Adelaide.”It’s always special playing for Australia with Shaun,” Mitchell Marsh said. “Playing together in the last Ashes Test match at the WACA would be pretty special as well, and with the position we’re in it’s a great opportunity to hopefully come in to the side and perform for the team. One thing I learned from Shaun is he’s solely focused on his own game now. When you play for Australia there are a lot of distractions outside the inner sanctum but he’s just really concentrating hard now and it’s great to see.”By his own admission, Marsh is not in a space where he can bowl vast numbers of overs, meaning he will be looking for a combination of economy and impact with the ball if selected. “As an allrounder in the Australian team, [and] with our bowling attack, I’m not going to be bowling 30-40 overs a game,” he said. “But I’ve worked hard over the past eight months to get my body in good position, so I’m now playing again as an allrounder, so that’s really exciting.”[Ashes selection] wasn’t in my thinking behind, it was more the game scenario against Queensland, but I’ve felt ready for a while. The shoulder took a lot longer than I thought it was going to take, as an athlete you always want to get back as soon as you can, it took a while, but now it’s feeling great.”There was empathy too, for Handscomb, currently in the sort of trough Marsh experienced a little more than a year ago. “We’ve got a great relationship, Petey’s a great bloke, still averaging 50 in Test match cricket, so in these situations you are always going to come under scrutiny if you don’t get runs, but he’s a very good player,” Marsh said. “I’m sure if he gets another opportunity in the next Test match, he’ll make runs.”I certainly have been there. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is the distractions outside, the media and the scrutiny, that’s what happens when you play for Australia but it’s all about making sure you focus on what you want and need to do to play well, and that’s all that matters. There’s always pressure for spots when you’re playing for Australia, there’ only 11 spots to fill. I’m feeling really confident in my game at the moment so it’s a great feeling.”

If Jonny Bairstow plays purely as a batsman in the fourth Test it may pave the way for England to restructure their batting line-up

George Dobell22-Aug-2018It seems hard to imagine now but, not so long ago, England used to be chastised if they won Tests too slowly.During the summer of 2013, in particular, they attracted criticism for the manner in which they won the Ashes – a 3-0 victory, no less – and a 247-run win over New Zealand at Headingley. Their game, it was said, lacked aggression, style and entertainment value.Well, it sure has all those now. You can barely take your eye off England when batting – they have lost 10 wickets in a session three times in two years – as they react to almost every challenge by trying to hit their way to safety. Ollie Pope, inexperienced and batting out of position, can probably be forgiven his second innings dismissal – ugly though it was – but Joe Root’s back foot force was unworthy of such an experienced player.So, as the team management use Thursday morning to pick a squad for the fourth Test, you wonder what they would give for a Geoff Boycott or Chris Tavare now. Players who would happily bat all day for 90. Players who could leave well, defend well and relished batting time.Instead, as they look around the counties, they find a surplus of middle-order strokemakers. There’s James Vince, who scored (another) century in the latest round of Championship matches, Moeen Ali, who did the same, and Joe Clarke, who is sixth in the Division One run table and has scored those runs at a strike-rate of 66.76. Not so long ago, that was considered respectable in ODI cricket.But England don’t need another middle-order strokemaker. They need a blocker. They need someone to dare to be dull. They need the batsman Alastair Cook used to be.County cricket doesn’t produce many blockers any more. There simply isn’t any money in it. So a batsman like Jaik Mickleburgh, who scores centuries for fun in Minor Counties cricket, can’t win a second chance in the first-class game because he is seen as a one-format player. Andrew Umeed, who made the second-slowest century (in terms of minutes) in Championship history last summer against an attack including James Anderson, hasn’t been picked for a first-class game this year. Nick Compton has fallen out of favour to such an extent that it appears his career is over.It is an absurd situation that sees Pope, who bats at No. 6 for Surrey, asked to bat No. 4 for England. Especially with such a fragile top-order above him. Pope had never come into bat before the 23rd over of a first-class innings before he made his Test debut. Now, in the three Test innings he has had, he has come to the crease in the nine over, the 12th over and the 13th over. It is unfair to expect a 20-year-old to cover for the flaws of those above him. Unfair and potentially damaging.It could be that England have stumbled upon a partial solution. If, as expected, Jonny Bairstow is unable to keep wicket in Southampton due to his fractured finger, it is likely he will relinquish the gloves (not literally; they can afford a pair each) to Jos Buttler but retain his place in the side as a specialist batsman. He could then be pushed up to No. 4 and told to curb his natural aggression just a little. Pope would be able to slip down at least one place as a consequence and if Ben Stokes – who looked as if he had the best technique in the side at Trent Bridge – was also pushed up a place, Pope could revert to No. 6.Moeen Ali’s all-round show•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s not a perfect solution. Bairstow has spent most of his career at Yorkshire batting at No. 5 and, with a propensity to push at the ball, remains better suited to a middle-order position. If anyone doubts how much easier batting can become, it’s worth noting that, in the first, third and fourth innings of the Trent Bridge Test combined, only one wicket fell between the 31st and 70th overs for a combined total of 387 runs.But the suspicion remains that Bairstow has not quite maximised his potential with the bat. He currently has a Test career average of 38.55, after all, and in the 25 innings he has played in the last year, he has reached 50 only four times. This summer he averages 31.75. The requirement to tighten his game and take more responsibility with the bat might just be the making of him.It would help England’s middle-order, too, if their top-order performed better. It seems there is little chance of Cook being jettisoned at this stage, but Keaton Jennings is at risk. Jennings is only four Tests into his recall but, having appeared unreliable in the field – he dropped two relatively straightforward chances at Trent Bridge – his frailties outside off stump have also been exposed by an India attack that is brilliant against left-handers.His return of 123 runs in six innings gives him an average, since his return to the side, of just 20.50 and suggests he has been unable to improve the technical deficiencies that resulted in him being dropped a year ago. His career average – 23.16 from 10 Tests – is bolstered by that century on debut which saw him dropped before he was scored. Had it been taken, he would be averaging 16.94 in his Test career.His recall looked hasty at the time. Following the decision to drop him last August, he went 20 first-class innings without reaching a half-century. He then made two centuries in successive innings – one of them a fine effort against a decent Nottinghamshire attack; the other on a very flat pitch against Somerset – and was immediately recalled. In retrospect, that looks premature.But it’s his catching that’s the real worry. It hints at a scrambled mind and brittle confidence. And with Rory Burns continuing to score heavily – he has 104 more runs than the second-highest scorer in Division One this season – there is a viable alternative in decent form.There are other options. Daryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire opener, is the third-highest run-scorer in Division One and a more than decent slip fielder. He is experienced, phlegmatic and right-handed. He would let nobody down. But it seems unlikely the selectors will look much beyond those involved in the Lions set-up. They might be reluctant to look to a 34-year-old, too.Rory Burns plays the cut•Getty ImagesCould Ian Bell be an option at No. 3? He could. He is 36 now but batting beautifully. It might be remembered, though, that Bell averaged 38.00 at No. 3 and 48.25 at No. 5 in Test cricket. He doesn’t really answer the question England are asking right now.It’s not impossible there could be a new look to the spin attack, though. Jack Leach might have been considered the man in possession at the start of the summer but was unavailable for the Pakistan series due to injury and the start of this India series as it was believed he required more bowling to recover his rhythm. Having claimed 8 for 85 in Somerset’s victory over Essex it seems safe to assume he has now done so.Moeen is pushing hard, too. As well as the runs he is scoring – in the last week, he has followed a 51-ball century in the Blast with a Championship double-hundred against Yorkshire – he has also taken five-fors in his last two Championship matches. He was already in the squad and might be considered either as a replacement for Bairstow, if required, or a second spinner. It seems most unlikely the experiment of using him as an opener will be revisited.But Adil Rashid – with seven wickets in the series at 26.71 – has done little wrong. So unless England feel they require cover for Cook (who may need to depart on paternity leave at some stage) or Bairstow (finger) the only tough decision may centre on whether Jennings should make way for Burns.

The Bangladesh women vice-captain hoped that their first win over India in international cricket would give them confidence against other top-ranked teams

Annesha Ghosh06-Jun-2018″The dream has always been to come close to beating a team like India. That we’ve beaten them is a reality.”These words from Bangladesh women’s T20I vice-captain Rumana Ahmed best encapsulates the team’s sentiments. Rumana followed figures of 3 for 21 and a run-out with an unbeaten 42 off 34 balls to lead Bangladesh to their first win over India in international cricket. Bangladesh handed India their first defeat in the Asia Cup a day after upsetting Pakistan.”When we arrived at the team hotel, the Pakistan players congratulated us in the lobby,” Rumana told ESPNcricinfo from Kuala Lumpur. “We beat them the other day, and today they were congratulating us for beating India.”For Rumana, this was “easily the most memorable day” in her career, and “perhaps in Bangladesh women’s history.” Understandably so as she starred with the bat, ball and in the field and was part of Bangladesh’s highest stand in T20Is with Fargana Hoque.”It hurts when you have to wait for your chances because you’re the ninth-ranked team,” Rumana said.”Teams like India, Pakistan – they’re in the top eight and play [ICC Women’s Championship] matches all around the year. It’s like you’re made to feel you’re not good enough, but I hope this goes some way towards changing that perception.”Rumana’s individual brilliance aside, Bangladesh’s tactical acumen and their discipline in the field would give them confidence against top-ranked teams.”If you see Harmanpreet [Kaur]’s records, she’s scored 60-70 against us every other game,” Rumana said. “I remember telling a journalist the other day that I’ve not played against too many sensible female cricketers like Harman. Most of our bowlers struggle against her because it’s difficult to contend with the power in her arms or the way she pierces the gaps. But we made sure we kept rotating our bowlers despite the terrible heat and humidity.”Having hit six fours, Harmanpreet was on course for a half-century, but a legbreak from Rumana at the end of the 16th over had the India captain miscuing a sweep to short square leg and triggered a late collapse: from 120 for 3 India went to 134 for 7. Foxing Harmanpreet: check. Fulfilling dream: check.Rumana then dismissed Deepti Sharma and Anuja Patil, but she picked out Anuja’s return catch as the best she’s taken.”During the A-team matches, I took note of her ability to play all round the wicket. So, as a wristspinner, my target was to make her play straight. I pitched up as much as possible, and there it was: she hit one straight back.”The success of chase, Rumana said, was down to the foundation laid by opener Shamima Sultana’s 33 off 23 balls. The pressure then got to Hoque and her when the asking rate jumped to nine, but they found a way keep in touch with it.”That was probably the only time I started second-guessing myself, and thought it might be a little too much for us,” Rumana told.”But when the equation came down to, 32 off 24, Fargana and I told each other that we got this. Let’s just keep calm and get this done. Just like we did the other day.”Looking back on the margin of the wins over Pakistan and India – by seven wickets each – Rumana acknowledged the contribution of former head coach David Capel, whose last assignment with the team was the South Africa tour in May. Bangladesh were blanked 5-0 and 3-0 in the ODIs and T20Is respectively, after which former India wicketkeeper Anju Jain replaced Capel.”I think 60-70 % credit of these two wins goes to him,” Rumana said. “Many of the strategies I used while bowling today were based on David’s theories. In the past 18 months, he taught us to envisage a day like today, to believe we can beat big teams. Wherever he is now, I hope he’s proud of what we achieved today.”Rumana welcomed Jain’s commitment to “giving the team time get used to her approach” and also credited the efforts of the other two Indian backroom staff assistant coach Devika Palshikar and physio Anuja Dalvi Pandit.”After the game, we asked her [Jain] jokingly about us beating India on her first assignment,” Rumana said. “Obviously, she laughed a little.””Yes, my familiarity with the Indian team helped, but the win was more about them [the Bangladesh players] executing our plans well, and us getting to chase despite losing the toss on a superb batting track,” Jain said in response.”The nature of T20 cricket is unpredictable, and we want to make it to the final. Whatever is to come, I know for a fact this team is not going to be complacent. With a victory like this, their self-belief has shot up and so will their hunger to win..”

Suffering from stomach cramps, the India captain gave the first standalone Women’s World T20 what it needed in its very first match

Melinda Farrell in Guyana10-Nov-2018It was a pleasant summer Saturday evening at North Sydney Oval and a decent crowd had filtered in to watch the Sydney Thunder host the Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash League. In its second season, the tournament was fast gaining traction.Set 148 for victory, the Thunder had lost their first two wickets for 60 runs. Making her debut in the WBBL – the first Indian to play in an overseas T20 league – Harmanpreet Kaur walked to the crease. Only serious fans of women’s cricket in Australia knew who she was. The WBBL was raising the profile of female players but Harmanpreet wasn’t even the most famous Indian player – Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami were surely more recognisable.Still, It was Harmanpreet walking out to the middle and taking guard. And it was Harmanpreet who produced the shot that stunned the world. With impeccable timing and strength that belied her slender frame, she gracefully met a Gemma Triscari ball on one knee and launched a lofted drive over the deep extra cover boundary. Triscari burst into incredulous laughter. Commentators flew into raptures. Anyone who followed women’s cricket was agog. Sure, sixes were becoming more common in the women’s game, but were more often the result of a slog sweep in region of deep midwicket. Women just didn’t hit sixes like that.Harmanpreet scored an unbeaten 28-ball 47. It wasn’t quite enough. The Thunder fell short by six runs. The Stars’ Emma Inglis won the Player-of-the-Match award. None of those things are particularly memorable. But those who saw that shot don’t forget it.

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In the sweltering Georgetown heat, Lea Tahuhu was bowling fast. Really fast. She had sent both of India’s openers back to the dugout: Taniya Bhatia beaten by pace and seam, deflecting the ball off her pads onto the stumps and Smriti Mandhana flat-batting a pull that looked sure to be six but was snaffled brilliantly by Hayley Jenson at the midwicket boundary. New Zealand were jubilant, even more so when Dayalan Hemalatha was caught off after making a brief but sparky debut.India wobbling at 40 for 3. That was as good as it got for New Zealand.Harmanpreet Kaur eyes the leg side•International Cricket Council

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Harmanpreet has many hashtagable nicknames: the #Harmonster, the #Harmanator #HarmanpreetPhwoar #KaurBlimey. All convey in their own way the open-mouthed joy that comes with watching her at her unfettered best. Some call her Harman for short, but her team-mates call her Harry. Perhaps it should be preceded by ‘Dirty’; it would be fitting if she muttered to hapless bowlers, “You’ve gotta ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” before firing balls at targets in the stands.But here in Georgetown her pistols were holstered by nerves early on. They weren’t helped by the fact that she hadn’t quite felt right on the morning before the match. The first 13 balls she faced netted just five runs. On the 14th, she jettisoned the jitters and charged down the pitch to Jess Watkin, belting the ball into the stand beyond midwicket. On the last delivery of the over she attacked again, but didn’t quite middle it. Not that it mattered; another six, this time over long-off.After running two in the following over, Harmanpreet turned and dropped to the ground. As she lay on her back holding her mid-riff while the physio ran on to the ground and Jemimah Rodrigues looked on with concern, the concerned muttering flittered around the stadium. Harmanpreet didn’t train the day before the match and there was talk of possible back problems.But the not-quite-right feeling had developed into stomach cramps which could hardly be helped by the hot and sticky humidity. Harmanpreet realised that running twos was not helping, so she did what only the best and most confident players can do. She told Rodrigues to give her the strike whenever possible and she would make sure she didn’t have to run between the wickets so often.What followed was a monstrous display of timing and power hitting. There were delicate dabs, too, and canny finesse as she carved through the New Zealand field with all the accuracy of a teppanyaki chef dicing tuna.New Zealand had chosen a bowling attack they thought suited a Providence pitch that was expected to be low and slow, but actually offered decent pace and bounce. Harmanpreet treated both pace and spin with disdain. According to Cricviz, she averaged a lazy 9.75 runs per over against pace and a crushing 13.20 against spin.Helping her was the fact that Rodrigues was holding up her end of the bargain by finding the boundary regularly and saving her captain’s legs or, rather, stomach. When her fine innings ended on a 45-ball 59 with a stumping, Harmanpreet had the ball on a string. The slog-sweeps, the pulls and, of course, those rockets over extra cover where women were never supposed to be so strong. It was an innings that called to mind her demolishing of Australia – a breathtaking unbeaten 171 that propelled India into the World Cup final last year.When she brought up her century in the final over she barely celebrated, a quick hug of Veda Krishnamurthy, a briefly raised bat to the dressing room and the crowd, many of them schoolchildren who will undoubtedly remember this day.And two balls later it was over, an edge behind leaving her total to stand at 103 off 51 balls. The New Zealand players, knowing they had an Everest to climb, offered up applause as Harmanpreet walked off, greeted by a standing ovation from her team-mates.This is the first standalone Women’s World T20. The tournament needed a marquee moment and it got one in the opening game, thanks to pistol-packing Harry.As the other Harry might say: “Did she fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.”

Marcus Harris took guard first up in Perth, for the first time in first-class cricket. Selflessness and teamwork on display, and it did the trick for his side

Daniel Brettig in Perth14-Dec-20181:51

‘Harris looks like a long-term player for Australia’ – Martyn

Amid all the unknowns awaiting both sides in the inaugural Test match at the cavernous Perth Stadium, Marcus Harris stared down one of a most personal batting nature when he took guard to face the opening over of the first morning.In a first-class career as an opening batsman that has spanned 70 matches, Harris had never faced the first ball of a match, habitually taking up his post at the non-striker’s end until a run was scored or the second over began. But with Aaron Finch – a relative top-order novice – as his partner and Ishant Sharma having twice created early troubles for the right-hander, Harris chose to part with seven years of habit to place himself as the primary bulwark against the new ball.As a decision and a gesture it spoke of selflessness and teamwork, reflecting that in the strange new world of Australian cricket after Newlands, it was possible to have a 26-year-old in Harris taking a leadership role in relation to a 32-year-old in Finch, while also facing a challenge he had never met before himself. Whether to do with Harris’ left-handedness, Ishant’s residual soreness from his Adelaide exertions, or the combination of a glaring sun and a fresh pitch, the move worked grandly: the over passed without batting incident, and both Harris and Finch went on from there to form a 112-run stand that should only grow in importance as the match goes on.Unquestionably, India’s pacemen did not start well, varying lines and lengths far too much despite the assistance available in the pitch, and allowing Harris and Finch to cruise to 45 without loss in the first hour. By the time they improved their radars after drinks, Harris and Finch were established, and even while finding batting increasingly difficult, they were able to survive well into the second session. As the Australian bowling coach David Saker put it:”You’re wanting to hit the top of the stumps as many times as you can, so you’ve just got to try to find a fuller length,” he told Seven. “If you’re bringing batsmen forward on any wicket you’re always a chance and that’s the one thing India haven’t done this morning is bring us forward as much as they did in Adelaide and probably haven’t been as consistent.”You could also say the batting has been better so it’s put a bit of pressure on the opposition, but you’re just trying to bring the batsman forward as much as you can. If they’re playing off the back foot they’ve got time to leave the ball, the ball’s generally going over the stumps so it needs a batsman error to get out. If we’re to get the wickets then you need to bring them forward probably everywhere in the world.”And even though the balance of the Australian batting order squandered starts – four of them, Harris included, were out playing variations of the cut shot – their strong start and collective contributions allowed Tim Paine and Pat Cummins to contemplate taking the hosts to 350 and beyond on the second morning. It had all started with Harris and Finch resolving to switch around their opening formula in the first Test, as Finch dropped down from No. 1 to No. 2. Harris’ sure-footed start, blooming into an innings speckled with 10 elegant boundaries warmly received by a crowd of 20,641, provided ample evidence the right call had been made.ALSO READ: Marcus Harris in Perth: the return of the prodigal son”Sometimes you’ve got to change it up, don’t you! I asked him if he wanted to take it in his first Test and he said no, I said ‘well now you’ve played one Test you can have it’,” Finch joked. “There was none of that chat, with Ishant first up he was happy to take the first ball.”I think what everyone’s seen from him so far, not a lot fazes him, he’s a pretty chilled out character, who just goes with the flow and that’s the way he’s always been. He’s a great guy, but I think the tightness of his technique, covers his off stump, looks to hit down the ground and for such a short guy that can be quite unique at times. He’s definitely got all the shots, but I think the way he adapts his game and his game plan depending on the wicket, depending on the attack, I think that’ll hold him in great stead.”As team-mates for state as well as country, Finch and Harris have been able to establish a rapport even though, prior to Adelaide, they had never opened together. “When you have a good relationship with somebody that stuff takes care of itself,” Finch said. “Whether it’s been over the last few years with Victoria, whether you’re having a beer at the bar and you’re chatting about cricket or whether you’re out training and talking technique or strategy or different movement patterns – it’s all just building up a relationship and we have got along really well for a few years now.”Batting out in the middle is always good fun with him, he keeps it pretty simple pretty relaxed, we just keep reminding each other to focus on what our game plan is and what our strengths are.”How valuable the Harris-Finch union will be shall become clearer as the game evolves, with so little known about a venue that has hosted only one previous first-class match, between Western Australia and New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield earlier this summer. But that small sample size alone provided reason for Australian optimism: their stumps tally of 6 for 277 is already the highest innings tally at the venue, besting the Blues’ ultimately match-winning 261.And as Harris himself recalled in the lead-up to this match, the evenness of an undermanned Australia and a seasoned India, cancelling out the conditional advantages usually able to help the hosts win comfortably, means that every player must find ways to contribute as much as possible. “I think it got down to 30 runs,” he had said of the Adelaide loss. “I know when I looked at it as a batter I thought ‘I wish I could’ve got 60 or 70’, so we got pretty close.”In taking the first ball and then going on to the score he had wished for himself in Adelaide, Harris possibly took a giant leap towards a long and fruitful Test career.

A change of captain brought a change of fortunes for the Lions, while the Cobras secured a nervy four-wicket win over the Knights

Liam Brickhill04-Oct-2018Results summaryThe Lions have both a new coach and a new captain this season, and the change in personnel has brought immediate success as they opened their season with a nine-wicket win over Warriors in Port Elizabeth.In 2017-18, the Gauteng-based Lions had finished the four-day tournament at the bottom of the table, with just a single win. But in the off season Temba Bavuma took over the captaincy from Stephen Cook, and in May, Enoch Nkwe signed a three-year coaching contract, with Geoffrey Toyana moving into the position of High Performance manager.Freed from the captaincy, Cook was instrumental to their opening win over the Warriors, his 188 giving them a first-innings lead of 125 after the rain had washed out much of the second day’s play. Medium pacer Malusi Siboto’s 5 for 54 kept the Warriors to just 182 in the second dig, and Lions completed an easy 58-run chase.The Knights also have a new captain in Pite van Biljon, who replaced Theunis de Bruyn at the helm after the latter returned to the Titans. On his first day in charge, Van Biljon started strongly with a century against Cape Cobras at Newlands.Cobras rode on Pieter Malan’s 129 to take a big first-innings lead, and though van Biljon added a second-innings fifty and Grant Mokoena added a ton of his own, the Cobras were left chasing just 194 to win. They stumbled along the way, but fifties from Zubayr Hamza and Kyle Verreynne – as well as the broad bat of Rory Kleinveldt – secured a nervy four-wicket win.In Centurion, the Titans and the Dolphins played out a tense draw. Keshav Maharaj’s 4 for 71 brought some excitement to the final afternoon as he battled against Chris Morris, who threatened to take the game away with 46 before getting caught in the deep.Alfred Mothoa’s 5 for 55 had kept Dolphins to 269 after they had decided to bat first, and Farhaan Behardian then top-scored with 68 to give the Titans a slim first-innings lead of 39. The Dolphins’ middle order was a little more firm second time around, and fifties from Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Calvin Savage gave the Titans a target of 277. They raced to 124 for 1, but then collapsed to 140 for 5 before Morris’ hitting once again gave them hope. But once he fell aiming for a third six, the tailenders shut the shop down to cling on for a draw, stumps being called with Titans on 244 for 8.On the national radarMorris got through 30 overs in the match in Centurion, chipping in with five wickets and scores of 30 and 46. It’s the sort of sustained, injury-free performance that he is hoping will not escape the attention of South Africa coach Ottis Gibson, who spoke recently about his desire for Morris to prove he could consistently stay “on the park” for his franchise.Chris Morris tries to clean the soiled spikes undernearth his shoes•BCCILike Morris, Bavuma is not part of South Africa’s immediate ODI plans but remains part of their thinking as they build towards the World Cup next year. Bavuma is also more of a fixture in South Africa’s Test squad, and though he contributed just 35 runs to the Lions’ win, four-day success with his franchise can only help to cement his position in the national side.Maharaj got closer to South Africa’s ODI squad against Zimbabwe than either of the above, being named in the original group before he was excused from national duty to captain the Dolphins in their opening match of the competition. But like Bavuma, it’s in whites that he generally features for South Africa.Elsewhere, Gihahn Cloete and Dane Paterson – both named in South Africa’s T20I squad – are showing reassuring form in the longer format. Cloete, who had an excellent 2017-18, opened his season with 81 against Lions, while Paterson nipped out the top three in Knights’ first innings, chipped in with 41 down the order, and then added 4 for 68 to help set up the Cobras’ victory.Top performersThe first round saw five hundreds and two five-wicket hauls (not to mention five four-fors), but the standout must be Cook’s ton on a fresh, early-season pitch. His 188 was, remarkably, his 45th first-class hundred.Special mention should also go to the pitches being played on. Last season’s Sunfoil series went 12 successive games without a result, such was the blandness of the tracks, and the pitches used in the first two ODIs against Zimbabwe in Kimberley and, in particular, Bloemfontein have brought fresh scrutiny upon South Africa’s groundsmen.But if the first round results are anything to go by, the early-season surfaces everywhere else are behaving a little better, with two results and, generally, a good battle between bat and ball.

Four years after a pummeling at the hands of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, the offspinner returns to the UAE as a smarter bowler who has learned to tailor his style to Asian pitches

Daniel Brettig24-Sep-2018Nathan Lyon’s previous visit to the UAE for Test matches was a horror show. In two Tests in late 2014 he was outright bullied by Pakistan – swept with impunity by Younis Khan in Dubai, thumped out of sight by Misbah-ul-Haq in Abu Dhabi – and finished the series with the following set of numbers: three wickets at 140.66, at a cost of 3.83 runs per over.While Lyon would go home to be the match-winner of the memorable Adelaide Test against India, the ugliness of his domination by Pakistan would be an early step on his long road to learning how to bowl fruitfully in Asian conditions. The term he coined in concert with his mentor John Davison was “bowl ugly”, a conscious abandonment of the topspinning, flight-and-drop method he favoured in Australia to embrace the flatter, tighter, “trap them on the crease and hit the stumps” ways of spinners raised in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.Four years later, Lyon has returned to the UAE as Australia’s undisputed No. 1 spin bowler, and also the most experienced member of a touring team shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner by the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. While the coach Justin Langer, captain Tim Paine and selection chairman Trevor Hohns must find a way to cope without the two men who topped Australia’s Test aggregates and averages in 2014, Lyon at least knows what he must do, in concert with Jon Holland and the pacemen.”I think I’m a better cricketer and a better person to be honest,” Lyon said in Dubai. “The amount of cricket we play, you keep learning, and if you’re not learning that’s where you start getting in a little bit of trouble. But I’ve definitely learned a lot from past experiences in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, even going back to Dubai here. So I feel like I’m in such a better place, very happy with the way I bowled today, very confident the way they’re coming out, and that’s in my terms the ugly style.”For me, this is my term, it’s about bowling ugly over here, going away from what I’ve fallen in love with, the offspinning ball, spinning up the back of the ball with that nice shape. We have to find a way to hit the stumps, and that may be bowling square or round-arm or whatever it may be. It’s having those conversations and we’ve got a brilliant lead-up here before the first Test match. The four-day game here in a few days is going to be a great time for us to experiment, and also to see the way they’re going to play us.”I know four years ago they really tried to attack me last time they were here, so I’m expecting pretty much the same type of batting. They’ve got different guys rather than Younis and Misbah, but they’ve still got a very talented batting line-up, some superstars in there already, so it’s going to be a great challenge. They’re going to bring the game to us, and that’s going to be an exciting part.”

“It’s about bowling ugly over here, going away from what I’ve fallen in love with, the offspinning ball, spinning up the back of the ball with that nice shape. We have to find a way to hit the stumps, and that may be bowling square or round-arm or whatever it may be.”Nathan Lyon

Recognition of the callowness of the squad, save for Lyon, Mitchell Starc and the recalled Peter Siddle, arrived in the first few days of acclimatisation after the Australians landed in Dubai. Lyon and Starc sat together and pondered their roles as bowling leaders, before broadening the commission to help ensure every bowler – whether Holland, Michael Neser or even the youthful Brendan Doggett – is up to the task, whether it is to attack, defend or somewhere in between.”I know Starcy and I spoke a bit about that sitting in I think it was his room the other night, but it’s just about providing good examples and leading the way as we try to do each and every game,” Lyon said. “The big thing over here is we’re going to have to bowl well in partnerships. The fast bowlers are not just here to make up the overs, they’re here to attack and defend in whatever the roles may be at the right times.”There’s not just one certain person who has to stand up here, it’s the whole bowling unit. It’s going to be a great challenge, and if we can bowl well in partnerships and really put the Pakistan batting lineup under pressure and make sure they’re being asked questions of their defence, that’s going to be the biggest thing.”I’m a big fan of Jon Holland. He’s done extremely well in the Shield back home over the last few years, he’s a very talented bowler, he spins up the back of the ball, which I love. It’s my absolute mantra, especially bowling spin, so to see him doing that out here, we’re good mates as well, so our communication and bowling out in the middle today was brilliant. Hopefully we can really build that relationship here and really take that out into the middle. That’ll be a massive key for us.”While Lyon spoke of being open to playing three spin bowlers, the selectors have rather shown their hand by leaving Ashton Agar at home to play extra domestic limited-overs matches before he joins the Test squad this week. Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and the seam-bowling allrounder Mitchell Marsh will be the extra balance components for the touring team. Additionally, Lyon noted the fact that in 2014, it was not so much the breadth of spin as the flatness of the pitches that helped Pakistan wear the Australians down.”If it’s going to be a Pune [in India in 2017] wicket, why wouldn’t you play three spinners,” Lyon said. “But going off the last tour here, they were pretty flat, they were hard work, and with the two guys in my eyes vying for batting five or six, Marnus and Travis Head, and they both offer us a spin component as well, I think we’re going to have a minimum of three spinners in the side no matter what anyway, and whether they want to go with three frontline spinners is totally up to Cracker [Trevor Hohns], JL and Tim Paine, what type of way they play their cricket.”Out here it was pretty flat, Abu Dhabi was pretty flat last time and looked to spin later in the game, but if you look four years ago we got beaten on the inside of the bat, so we actually got out when the ball was going straight on, so good luck to the selectors…”

On the eve of the final on Saturday, there were two sets of a pair of players engaged in animated conversation in the nets sessions in Nagpur

Saurabh Somani in Nagpur02-Feb-2019On the eve of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 final on Saturday, there were two sets of a pair of players engaged in animated conversation when both Vidarbha and Saurashtra were having their nets sessions at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.Saurashtra’s Cheteshwar Pujara had walked up to Vidarbha’s Wasim Jaffer, and both men talked fairly long and earnestly, but with smiles all through. Perhaps about how much each one should levy property tax on the other for spending inordinate amounts of time in the middle.A little while later, Vidarbha’s Umesh Yadav and Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat were in a similar tête-à-tête, maybe discussing the rival merits of the joy of moving one away from the batsman after slanting the ball in, versus having him hopping on the back foot, and poking limply.Whatever the content of the conversation, from Sunday onwards the bowlers will be trying their best to get the opposing batsman out. And how those two contests pan out could be the key moments in each team’s innings.Cheteshwar Pujara v Umesh YadavPujara and Umesh have faced each other just once in the Ranji Trophy before, in February 2016 in a quarter-final. While Saurashtra won that game in Vizianagaram by an innings and 85 runs, Umesh had Pujara caught behind for 47 on the way to a five-wicket haul.Theirs is the clash that will headline this contest. Pujara is coming on the back of 131* in the fourth innings in the semi-final, in a tough chase against Karnataka who kept coming hard at him throughout. That knock came after he had hit 67* in the previous fourth-innings chase, in the quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh. And those two matches, of course, have followed after a historic, Man-of-the-Series batathon against Australia.Pujara’s might be among the most-prized wicket in world cricket right now, given how bowlers are being driven to despair trying to dislodge him. He played one match for Saurashtra in November before leaving for Australia and later rejoining the team for the knockouts. Umesh hadn’t played any match for Vidarbha earlier this season, but he too joined the team upon returning from Australia.BCCIUmesh played only one Test in Australia, but showed absolutely no rust after coming back. He went one better than Pujara, getting the Man-of-the-Match awards in the quarter-final and the semi-final. On a track without much life in it, he took nine wickets against Uttarakhand. When there was juice in the pitch, against Kerala, he blew the team away with 12 wickets in the match.Rajneesh Gurbani, Umesh’s team-mate at Vidarbha, had lit up their title run last season by getting those awards in the quarter-final, semi-final and final. Umesh is on track to replicate that feat.If Umesh hasn’t yet bowled to a batsman of the calibre of Pujara in the knockout stages, Pujara hasn’t had to face any bowler as devastating either. One of them has 21 wickets in two games at a bowling average of 9.14. The other has 254 runs at that same stage at a batting average of 127. Individual contests within matches can sometimes be more about hype than effect, but without losing sight of the fact that it’s still a team game, there is an underlying ‘this-is-it’ feeling about whoever triumphs when Umesh’s irresistible force meet’s Pujara’s immovable object.Wasim Jaffer v Jaydev UnadkatPTI While Pujara and Umesh are the natural cynosures when Saurashtra bat and Vidarbha bowl, an equally important battle will take place when the teams switch roles.The paeans to Jaffer being an ageless wonder have been repeated too often, but that’s only because he keeps living up to them. He’s not only been his team’s primary batsman – again – but also scored 1,000 runs this season – again. Sure, teams didn’t have as many matches in a season in the early decades of the Ranji Trophy that they do now. And true enough, the best batsmen in the country don’t play full seasons of the competition because they are playing for India. But it’s still remarkable that Jaffer is the only one to make more than 1,000 runs in a season twice in 85 years that the Ranji Trophy has existed. It began in 1934-35 and neither World War II nor domestic crises have stopped it from being held since then.In all that time, no one has amassed more runs or centuries than Jaffer, and he’s not done yet.As for Unadkat, he’s not only the first Saurashtra seamer to get 200 wickets in Ranji Trophy, he’s also eyeing history by become the first Saurashtra captain to lift the trophy. Unadkat’s 35 wickets this season at an average of 16.74, the best for Saurashtra among bowlers who have bowled at least five overs. In the semi-final against Karnataka, he showed how versatile he can be, switching from over the wicket to round and back, bringing the ball in and taking it away, and coming out on top against a top order that had Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Manish Pandey. It was merely an extension of what he’s been doing for Saurashtra all along. Having played just under 40% of his Ranji Trophy matches at home, where the pitches are famously either flat or turners, Unadkat has still got a bowling average of 23.42.Unadkat has bowled to Jaffer in seven matches, five times against Mumbai and twice against Vidarbha. He had never dismissed Jaffer until the last time the two met, in this season’s league game just before the knockouts.The second contest of the match might not have the ‘main event’ status as the first, but it could be just as crucial in deciding the eventual outcome.

Tim Southee has had a tough struggle in ODIs since the highs of the 2015 World Cup. It’s swing he is known for, it’s the swing that has been missing and it’s the swing New Zealand hope he can regain soon

Alagappan Muthu30-Jan-2019Tim Southee is on the sidelines because he has been bowling straight lines.Technically, it appears he is out of the New Zealand XI because they are trying to get a look at as many players as possible before the World Cup begins in May. And while it makes sense that an experienced player makes way – the team knows what to expect from him and he can be trusted to raise his game come the big day – the fact that Southee had to do so while the series against India was alive was odd.After all, that meant New Zealand were happy to face one of the best ODI teams on the planet without one of their premier quicks. Except he has been averaging 45.29 over the last four years.Simon Doull, a former fast bowler himself, and one of the sharpest commentators going around, called it even before Southee’s name was missing from the second ODI against India, pointing out that he has not been able to swing the white ball as well as he used to. And there is data to back that up. According to Cricviz, Southee, who swung the ball 1.12 degrees through the 2015 World Cup, has seen that figure fall to 0.83 degrees of movement since.It’s a shortcoming that is affecting several bowlers in limited-overs cricket. Mitchell Starc, who was monumentally vicious four years ago, is now struggling to make any kind of ball – white, red, pink, rolled-up socks – swing. But he has pace. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who once couldn’t get through a wicketless first spell if he tried, is paying a steep 40 runs per wicket in the first 10 overs. But Bhuvneshwar has fashioned himself into a world-class menace in the death overs, alongside Jasprit Bumrah. Everyone – even the very best ODI bowlers – has had to find new ways to be threatening, with swing – both conventional and reverse – fading out of the game.Of course, Southee doesn’t lack for variations. There’s that deceptive bouncer; it may not have scary pace but it has a nasty habit of coming at your nose. Cross-seamers, which he’s rather fond of, since they have the potential to stop on the pitch or bounce awkwardly. The wide-of-the-crease delivery. The offcutters. The legrollers. But it is swing that he’s known for, that the batsmen are wary of. Swing that makes a batsman slow to move his feet, that scrambles his mind. Swing that led Sir Richard Hadlee to label him and Boult as New Zealand’s best-ever new-ball combo. Without it, he’s a bit like Superman without super speed. The bad guys know if they take care and keep their distance they should be able to get away with it.ESPNcricinfo LtdAnd the stats bear that out. Southee has picked up only 48 wickets in 44 innings since that fairytale run to the MCG. By comparison, Boult has 93 in 49, including an unmatched 36 during the first 10 overs of an ODI.It is not prudent to compare the returns of a left-arm seamer, whose angle alone is often enough to trouble an opponent, with a right-armer. But it does illustrate the point that the old faithful firm is not as it once was. To their credit, New Zealand identified the problem and, as has been the case in the past – whether as recently as the tour of the UAE or their unbeaten run into the semi-final of the 2016 World T20 – sentiment was kept aside and a senior player was left out. The team management placed its trust in the express pace of Lockie Ferguson, the wristspin of Ish Sodhi and the allrounders Doug Bracewell and Mitchell Santner. India beat them anyway.”3-0 is a tough pill to swallow,” Ross Taylor said on Tuesday. “We just weren’t able to capitalise when we were in a semi-dominant position. With bat and ball, we haven’t been able to penetrate.”There was a time when a batsman could cover all three stumps and Southee would still find a way right through him. It was the defining feature of the last instance when he took five or more wickets in ODIs, sealed when Chris Woakes was beaten by an outswinger and he knew he should just walk off to the dressing room and not even dare looking back. It was the most visceral kind of magic and for New Zealand, it’d be great if Southee can do it all over again. Preferably sometime soon.

The camaraderie, Bangladesh’s breaking of the chasing duck, the Rohit factor and other talking points at the halfway mark

Dustin Silgardo17-Jun-2019Hot – Good vibes
It looks like getting all the captains to sit together on a couch before the tournament, like they were in a sitcom, has had the desired effect. There hasn’t been one demerit point handed out for an incident between players so far. David Warner has signed autographs for net bowlers and opposition fans, Jimmy Neesham donated Kane Williamson’s gloves to a lucky fan, Chris Gayle threw his support to both India and Pakistan ahead of their big clash, and Virat Kohli has been in such a friendly mood that he not only asked fans not to boo Steve Smith but also smiled away through his contest with Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz. He also walked when he didn’t nick it.ESPNcricinfo LtdNot – Zing bails
They haven’t fallen off on five occasions when the stumps have been hit and once when a Mitchell Starc delivery clipped them direct. Hot – Choosing to review
There have been 14 successful reviews out of 39 taken so far. Eight of them were decided by the umpire’s call. That makes it 17 lost reviews, some of those have been taken rather late in the innings. We’ll leave you to decide whether the teams are getting better at using the DRS or the umpires have been making more errors.Not – Choosing to field
Teams that have won the toss and bowled first currently have a 7-9 record this World Cup. Captains have been influenced by overcast conditions, but early wickets have been hard to come by – the average opening partnership has been 51.97 runs, more than in any previous World Cup. Also, chasing big scores has proved much more difficult at the World Cup than it has been in England recently – there has been just one score of more than 250 chased successfully, courtesy Shakib Al Hasan’s epic.ESPNcricinfo LtdHot – Short, fast and high
Jofra Archer and Pat Cummins have both breached the 150kph mark this World Cup. Both have three wickets with bouncers. West Indies too have used chin music to good effect, taking 10 wickets with bouncers.Not – Short, friendly and hittable
Get the short ball wrong and they’ve been tonked. Overall, short ones from pacers have gone at more than eight an over. Hasan Ali has bowled 22 short balls for 46 runs, Nathan Coulter-Nile 36 for 70, and Mohammad Saifuddin 16 for 52.Hot – Old-fashioned batting
This was supposed to be the World Cup of power hitting. Instead, the best three batsmen have been guys who rely more on timing than strength. Rohit Sharma, Joe Root and Shakib Al Hasan each have two centuries, and they’ve managed to strike at close to 100, or higher in Shakib’s case, while playing mostly conventional cricket shots.Not – Old-fashioned fielding
Hey, Bangladesh and Pakistan, if you wait for the ball to come to you when you’re fielding on the ropes, modern batsmen will run two. Pakistan are leading the table for missed chances while Bangladesh have had 21 misfields in four games.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Hot – Part-time offspin
Glenn Maxwell has been more economical than Adam Zampa, Kedar Jadhav has got away with five overs at an economy-rate of just six, Chris Gayle went at just 4.40 against England when the innings run-rate was 6.42, and Joe Root has got as many wickets as Adil Rashid.Not – Part-time internationals
Gayle, who played just 15 ODIs between 2016 and 2019, has averaged 26.75 so far and got a 13-ball duck in a big game against Bangladesh. Andre Russell, who had played just two ODIs between the 2015 World Cup and his selection in the squad for this one, has a highest score of 21 and has been seriously injudicious in deciding when to attack.Against Australia, with Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile to come, he tried to mow Mitchell Starc over midwicket. Against England, with 14 overs left and just five wickets in hand, he tried an aerial pull off the quick Mark Wood. And twice he’s had to leave the field before finishing his quota of overs due to his bad knees flaring up.Hot – Slow and steady top orders
Four times teams have gone at 5.30 an over or less in the first Powerplay and ended up with 320 plus.Not – Crumbling middle orders
Of all the runs scored in this tournament, Nos 1 to 3 have got 54.27%. They have averaged 44.67, while batsmen from four to seven have averaged 26.39. Time and again, middle orders have made a mess of the starts the top three have provided. Sri Lanka’s has given up positions of 144 for 1 and 153 for 1 to end up with 201 and 247.Pakistan had a 4 for 24 middle-order collapse against Australia and then topped it with a 4 for 12 collapse against India. South Africa’s middle order has had collapses too – 4 for 38 against England and then 3 for 12 versus India – while Bangladesh’s crumbled around Shakib Al Hasan against England.