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Australia international Trent Copeland tore through Worcestershire’s batting to put Northamptonshire on the brink of victory after two days

06-Jun-2013
ScorecardTrent Copeland put his team on track for another victory•Getty Images

Australia international Trent Copeland tore through Worcestershire’s batting to put Northamptonshire on the brink of victory after two days.Northamptonshire were bowled out for 314 during the afternoon, giving the Division Two leaders a first innings lead of 118, with Steven Crook hammering 85 off as many balls including three huge sixes. Copeland, who is playing his last match before returning home, then took three wickets for 26 as Worcestershire subsided to 97 for 6 at the close, still 21 runs behind.The hosts began the day on 100 for 4, 96 runs behind their opponents, with Rob Keogh resuming on 26 and Andrew Hall beginning his innings. But Hall was only able to make 10 before Gareth Andrew took a good low catch at third slip to give Alan Richardson his fourth wicket in the seventh over of the day.Keogh was to move on to 44 but was denied a maiden half-century in first-class cricket when he edged Andrew to Moeen Ali at first slip to leave the hosts on 134 for 6.Crook was then given a massive let-off on 6 when he launched Andrew into the air only for Aneesh Kapil to drop a straightforward catch at deep square leg. He was to make Kapil pay for that blunder by blasting a half-century off just 52 balls as he and James Middlebrook added 96 between them for the seventh wicket.The partnership was eventually broken when Middlebrook was sharply caught and bowled by Ali to depart for 39 in the third over after lunch. Crook finally perished when his middle stump was taken out by Chris Russell before Copeland smashed the same bowler to Jack Shantry at mid-on after clattering 31.Russell then ended the hosts’ innings by trapping wicketkeeper David Murphy lbw for 4, leaving David Willey unbeaten on 15 at the other end.Worcestershire lost their captain Daryl Mitchell for just 8 in the penultimate over before tea when he left Crook’s delivery only to see his off stump sent spinning. Matthew Pardoe was then dismissed for 24 when he nudged Willey to Murphy before Copeland pinned Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera lbw for 4.Copeland then repeated the trick on Alexei Kervezee and Kapil was caught leg before by Willey before wicketkeeper Michael Johnson became yet another lbw victim to Copeland. Ali and Andrew then survived the final 10 overs and will resume tomorrow on 29 and 16 respectively with their side surely doomed.

Yorkshire forfeited their first innings – and any batting bonus points – to set up a final-day run chase against Gloucestershire

Alex Winter at Bristol11-May-2012
ScorecardTim Bresnan shows his frustration after conceding overthrows but he finished with five wickets before a contrived finish was set up in Bristol•Getty Images

A game that was snoozing along to a tame draw suddenly turned around at 3pm when a plan hatched by the two captains was put into action. Yorkshire handed Gloucestershire two batting points by allowing them 52 runs in 19 balls. They declared, Yorkshire forfeited their first innings, and Gloucestershire batted again for 27.1 painful overs after tea, scoring 48. The public address mocked their progress as they declared again, leaving Yorkshire 400 to win in 110 overs.Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s new head coach, has stated on two previous occasions that he will go all out for victory. His side left Essex an achievable fourth-innings target at Headingley in the second match of the season and again here he has been very generous to the opposition.”It’s risk versus reward,” Gillespie said. “The chance to take 16 points to me is an easy decision. I think you have to risk a loss to go for a win. If you play safe cricket first you’ll never win enough games to go up. And I think it’s good for our players to try and play when there’s a bit of pressure on; it’s a test of character. You have to trust your players to do the job and it’s a good for them. We’ll certainly be going for the runs.”The pitch is good, Gloucestershire were 290 for 4 before their collapse of 5 for 9 brought about the contrived situation. “The feedback from the batsman is that there’s a little bit in it but if you stay patient and disciplined, batting gets a little bit easier,” was the expected description of conditions from Gillespie. “We’re confident if we get through the difficult periods we can put a bit of pressure back on Gloucestershire.”That is certainly possible. Their attack is inexperienced and Alex Gidman denied them the chance to bowl in similar circumstances against Kent at Canterbury. He declared on the fourth morning with a lead of 350; the game petered out.Gloucestershire will be nervous here because to concede 370 runs on the final day would be a cricketing disaster. But Bristol is not Adelaide and Yorkshire will have to play exceptionally well against the new ball to even set up a chance to overhaul this target.They have scored heavily in the fourth innings in recent times. In 2006 they made 433 losing to Warwickshire; a year earlier they twice scored above 400 to beat Leicestershire. On both occasions Anthony McGrath made runs at the top of the order. He lingers here at No. 6, poised to provide another knock in another famous victory? Not many are betting on that result. Not even Dr Pangloss-Gillespie. He isn’t a gambler he says.Part of the deal was that Gloucestershire would get a little dart on the third evening. They got 15 overs, one more than scheduled, and removed Joe Sayers – Will Gidman grazing his outside edge. They could have had Adam Lyth too if Alex Gidman had claimed a low chance at first slip.There were other nervy moments against Will Gidman and Ian Saxelby, who produced decent carry. But it was comfortable batting against Ed Young. How a quality spinner would change Yorkshire’s outlook. Young isn’t that. He sent down two overs of easily-defendable darts.It was the opposite of darts that helped set up the declaration. The loopiest bowling achievable allowed Saxelby and Graeme McCarter, on debut, to merrily thrash Gloucestershire to four batting points when three was looking unlikely after the collapse brought about by Steven Patterson. He removed Richard Coughtrie for a 15-ball duck and Ed Young next ball, both caught at slip, before adding Will Gidman to his 4 for 77.It was a turnaround after the serene progress earlier. Kane Williamson stroked a ball in his gentle manner through the covers to make it three centuries in three first-class matches. He edged Tim Bresnan behind, who then went on to warm up for the first Test by having Ian Cockbain caught at third slip; Alex Gidman caught behind; and bowling Hamish Marshall with a full ball that he dug out but rolled back onto his stumps. Bresnan’s two spells of six and seven overs brought 2 for 11 and 2 for 12.

After an absence of nearly 15 seasons from top-flight first class cricket, one of Pakistan’s most famous domestic teams, United Bank Limited (UBL), is set to make a return in next season’s Quaid-e-Azam (QEA) trophy

Osman Samiuddin20-Apr-2011
Rashid Latif and Waqar Younis were among the stars who helped UBL shine in late 80s and early 90s•Martyn Harrison/AFP

After an absence of nearly 15 seasons from top-flight first class cricket, one of Pakistan’s most famous domestic teams, United Bank Limited (UBL), is set to make a return in next season’s Quaid-e-Azam (QEA) trophy.On Tuesday, UBL won the PCB’s Patron’s Trophy Grade II final, beating Pak Medicam on first-innings lead in a rain-interrupted final at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. That win meant the side has now qualified to play in the QEA trophy division II next season. It will be the team’s first appearance in top-flight cricket since January 1997, when, in their last match as a first-class side, they defeated another domestic powerhouse and long-term rival Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in the final of the Patron’s Trophy to win it for the first and only time in their history.UBL joined the first-class circuit in 1975, a decade in which a number of banks entered the first-class scene, offering players employment and an opportunity to play premier first-class level domestic cricket. The move was part of the BCCP’s restructuring of Pakistan’s domestic cricket, to involve departments such as banks and airlines in the domestic structure. UBL arrived on the circuit after a merger with the now-defunct Commerce Bank, which had been on the first-class scene since 1973.From thereon, they proceeded to become one of the scene’s giants, winning the QEA four times, the Pentangular thrice, and the Patron’s Trophy once, in addition to several limited-overs titles. More importantly perhaps, they produced – or nurtured – a procession to talent that served Pakistan well over the years. Sadiq Mohammad, Haroon Rasheed, Sikander Bakht, Ashraf Ali, Ehteshamuddin, Mansoor Akhtar, Tauseef Ahmed, Mudassar Nazar, Basit Ali, Saeed Anwar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Salim Jaffer, Rashid Latif, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis and Azhar Mahmood, among others, all played for UBL at one point or another in the bank’s time.The privatisation of the bank and a subsequent change in management in 1997 brought an end to the bank’s sports department, at a time when a number of other banks and organisations also pulled out for financial reasons. But their ground, the UBL Sports Complex, was kept on as a first-class ground in Karachi as was the academy. The former Test batsman Mansoor Akhtar, who now heads the bank’s sports department, continued to push the management, however, to invest in sports again.”I was involved with the UBL sports complex after the sports department shut down and the academy as well, and kept pushing for sports to re-start,” Akhtar told ESPNcricinfo. Five seasons ago, the bank’s management agreed and UBL returned to the second tier of domestic cricket, Grade II. This season, with a young side made up mostly of its own academy products, they have won the Grade II title and finally returned.”We have eight players in our side from our academy and they have been exceptional this season,” Akhtar said. “Guys like Sharjeel Khan [the young, left-handed opener who hit two centuries in the final] and Saad Sukhail [another left-handed top order batsman who came to the UBL academy when he was 10] have done really well for us and will be big prospects over the coming years.”The bowling is led by former Test fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed, who also captained the side this season, and includes one-time tearaway quick Mohammad Irshad and Rumman Raees Khan, a left-arm fast bowler Akhtar is particularly excited about. Though Akhtar is keen to keep the bulk of the side and a number of players, such as former U19 talent and Karachi regular Ali Asad, have sufficient first-class experience for regional sides, in any case.But he realises a few big-name acquisitions may have to be made if UBL are to be competitive next season. “We will speak to the management about getting some big names because Grade II to Grade I is a big leap. But we have done it now and it’s amazing. We’re hoping that soon we can put UBL back on the path to those glory days that we are so proud of.”

The Indian national selectors meet in New Delhi on Monday to pick the team for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, with the knowledge that they have had little gains from the tri-series in Zimbabwe

Cricinfo staff06-Jun-2010The Indian national selectors meet in New Delhi on Monday to pick the team for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, with the knowledge that they have had little gains from the tri-series in Zimbabwe. The only man to push the nine players who were rested is Rohit Sharma, who scored back-to-back centuries in Zimbabwe. The other big question will be the bowlers: none of the bowlers who represented India in Zimbabwe were first-choice.The selectors will also be hoping for a return to fitness for Virender Sehwag among others. If Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are fit and willing to go, the final two places in the starting XI will be contested between Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli and Rohit. India could take all eight batsmen to Sri Lanka, but that would mean sacrificing one of the allrounders’. Yusuf Pathan is anyway pretty close to the end of the rope. The choice then could be between an extra batsman and R Ashwin, who impressed with bat and ball in the only chance he got in Zimbabwe.The selectors will hope Praveen Kumar is fit after a side injury forced him out of the World Twenty20. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra should come back, leaving an interesting choice for the back-up seamer. Ishant Sharma could get the nod again. Harbhajan Singh will definitely walk back in, and Pragyan Ojha should pip Amit Mishra for the second spinner’s slot after an impressive showing in Zimbabwe.There were two unconfirmed reports late on Sunday evening that Tendulkar might pull out and that Yuvraj and Nehra might be left out as disciplinary action. Those, however, could not be confirmed with BCCI sources.Squad from: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma

West Australian is club’s fourth overseas seamer competing for two spots

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-2024Kent have signed Charlie Stobo, a Sheffield Shield-winning seamer with Western Australia, as overseas fast-bowling cover for Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett and Beyers Swanepoel.Stobo, 29, has taken 55 first-class wickets at 24.98 and has signed a deal from May 20 until September 16 that covers all formats of the game. The ECB changed its regulations last year to allow counties to register up to four overseas players simultaneously, with two permitted in the playing XI in each of the County Championship, Metro Bank Cup and Vitality Blast.While Stobo is uncapped at international level and yet to make his T20 debut, ESPNcricinfo understands that he qualifies to play professionally in the UK thanks to an ancestry visa.Kent were blind-sided shortly before the start of the season when Cricket Australia changed the conditions of Bartlett’s No-Objection Certificate, blocking him from featuring in the Championship. They have since made two signings to help them cover for his absence, with South African seamer Swanepoel due to join the squad ahead of their Championship match away at Lancashire on Friday.Related

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Agar, who was rested for Kent’s defeat against Surrey due to a niggle, is available until the end of July and Bartlett is still due to play the first eight group games in the Blast. Swanepoel is expected to be available across formats until the end of the season in late September.”We’ve been keeping a track on Charlie for a while now and we’re very pleased that we’ve been able to get him on board for a substantial part of our season,” Simon Cook, Kent’s director of cricket, said.”We’ve identified that he has the attributes that will be successful at Canterbury and will add to our squad depth and give us the ability to rotate players, especially bowlers, to better manage their workloads and get the optimum out of everybody.”Stobo said he was excited to join his compatriots at Kent. “I’m looking forward to linking up with a few lads that I know already, join a bit of an Aussie takeover with Wes Agar already there and Xavier Bartlett set to join soon, and being a part of a squad with a lot of talent. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to play for Kent, which is an exciting new challenge for me.”Kent said in a statement that both Stobo and Swanepoel will be available for their Metro Bank Cup campaign, which starts in late July.

Assistant coach Ahmadzai says 2-1 T20I triumph will “give our cricket a new spirit”

Umar Farooq28-Mar-2023Afghanistan are toasting a first ever T20I series win over Pakistan, with their assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai describing the achievement as one that could “give our cricket a new spirit”.Ahmadzai has been with the team for two years now. He was on the sidelines watching as Afghanistan went 2-0 up, their bowlers reducing Pakistan to 92 for 9 in the first T20I and 130 for 6 in the second. They were unable to complete the series sweep as a young Pakistan team found new heroes of their own but the mood in the camp is still understandably upbeat.”Beating a higher ranked team is big for the country,” Ahmadzai told ESPNcricinfo. “I can’t explain the significance of this victory in words because it carries a lot of emotions. This is going to give our cricket a new spirit and give us a belief that we can do it and we did it. It became history and we are going to take this trophy back to Kabul giving our people much-needed joy.”Outside of their exploits against Zimbabwe and Ireland, this was only their third T20I series win over an ICC Full Member. The other two came in 2018 against Bangladesh and 2019 against West Indies.The three matches, which took place over the last week, were not part of the Future Tours Programme. It was arranged to fill the gap in the calendar after Australia withdrew from playing against Afghanistan.Until now, Pakistan and Afghanistan mostly faced off against each other in ICC events, with Pakistan winning a vast majority of the matches. But this time they came into the series resting several first-choice players – including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi – and Afghanistan took advantage.”It is special to win against a top nation,” Ahmadzai said, “And Pakistan fielded a strong side with a lot of PSL performers who have been scoring big runs and taking wickets. So it’s exciting to beat a top cricket nation. It’s not like we never came close to beating Pakistan before. There were some close games in the past in which Pakistan won but it’s good to pull a series.Pakistan came into the series resting several of their first-choice players•Afghanistan Cricket Board

“This is not just a win for Afghanistan cricket but for cricket as a game because this victory is going to inspire many youngsters who will start picking up the game in Afghanistan. Our people back home were skeptical, and taunted us, doubting our ability if we are ever going to beat a bigger team like Pakistan, India, Australia, and England. There were fans who don’t understand the process but just want to win and want to take pride in it and now everyone is happy. It’s like a festival now. Cricket has been a major source of happiness, people love cricket and this series win brought a lot of smiles. The game is already growing in the country and such wins change the dynamic at the grassroots.”The conditions in Sharjah also offered Afghanistan and their spinners a little bit more than the pitches that were used in the PSL and Ahmadzai praised his players for making full use of it. “We knew that Pakistan team coming from scoring so many runs in PSL and they could go all with the same pattern hitting uppish,” he said. “They are very talented cricketers but we knew the pressure of international cricket is going to test them. So we had to exploit the conditions and the rhythm they were enjoying playing in Pakistan. We have world-class spinners and we had to use our new ball smartly.”We didn’t have much time to prepare for the series but we knew this series was an opportunity to learn and execute what we know. We took full advantage of the conditions and restricted them to 90 and 130 odd runs. There are a lot of takeaways from the series, especially in our fast bowling department, we know we need to get more control in death bowling. We have stroke makers in our batting line-up but we have made them learn to take the innings deep when you have a bigger target in front of them. We have world-class spinners and they delivered up to the expectations.”Contests between Afghanistan and Pakistan are quite intense with incidents of both fans and players squaring off against each other. When asked about this, Ahmadzai said, “we have produced the finest [T20] cricketer for the game [Rashid Khan] and I often hear odd things about our nation that we don’t understand the game and don’t have the temperament for high-class cricket which is totally wrong.”We have role models in form of Rashid Khan who is the greatest ambassador of the game. There was an isolated incident of aggression in the field which has given a false impression. We respect the game and showing passion on the ground is a natural act and very much part of the game. We play the game according to the rules and regulations defined by ICC. What happens in the crowd is out of our control, we can’t control how people think and respond and it’s the role of security and stadium authorities to manage.”But what I can tell you is that we are a peace-loving country and play the game in the right spirit. There is a little rivalry going on with Pakistan and that’s healthy for the game.”Ahmadzai cited a passage of play in this series where Mohammad Nabi was seen glaring at Imad Wasim after picking up the wicket of Faheem Ashraf. “There was an incident that, to the outsider might seem like an example of the usually tense atmosphere in these games, but actually showcases Nabi’s smarts. Viewers might remember when he dismissed Faheem in the first T20, he turned around and apparently stared at Imad Wasim at the non-strikers. In fact, they had been discussing how much the ball was breaking on the pitch and when he took the wicket, he turned to show Imad, a team-mate at Karachi Kings, how much control he has over his bowling to have landed it exactly right.”Afghanistan next assignment is a full tour of Bangladesh in June, where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

Pair recruited by former team-mate Darren Gough, who recently took over as the club’s managing director

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2022Steve Harmison and Ryan Sidebottom, the former England fast bowlers, have joined Yorkshire’s coaching staff on an interim basis.Recruited by former team-mate Darren Gough, who recently took over as managing director in the wake of the club’s racism scandal, the pair will support Tim Boon, the former England assistant coach who will lead training during pre-season preparations.Fielding specialist Cookie Patel, Thunder head coach Paul Shaw, former Durham and Sussex wicketkeeper-batter Martin Speight and Northern Diamonds performance coach Richard Waite will provide additional coaching support.”I am delighted that we have been able to secure interim support of the highest quality, all of whom have many years of experience between them, and our players will hugely benefit from their vast knowledge and expertise,” Gough said.Related

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A Yorkshire club statement added that “all the individuals offering support are not applicants for any of the permanent coaching vacancies currently being recruited”. The application deadline for the head coach role has now closed with the club set to review applications in the coming days.Yorkshire appointed Gough last month, filling the role vacated by Martyn Moxon, one of 16 members of the back-room staff axed following the allegations of institutional racism made against the club by Azeem Rafiq. Gough’s initial appointment is set to run to the end of the 2022 season, overseeing strategy, planning, recruitment and development.It is Harmison’s first foray into coaching with a county side since he retired as a player in 2013, having managed Ashington football club and worked in the media, including on BT Sport’s Ashes coverage and with Gough on talkSPORT radio. He spent a brief stint on loan at Yorkshire from Durham during his playing days.Ryan Sidebottom has experience as a bowling coach•PA Images via Getty Images

Sidebottom ended his playing career at Yorkshire, where he won three County Championship titles. He retired in 2017 and spent a year as a bowling coach with Surrey.Boon was part of Duncan Fletcher’s staff when England won the 2005 Ashes and also coached Leicestershire before becoming an an ECB cricket liaison officer and match referee.

Test captain not out of the running as England start on blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India

Alan Gardner03-Sep-2020Eoin Morgan has welcomed the chance to field something close to a first-choice T20I team in the forthcoming series against Australia, but made it clear that Joe Root is not out of the running as England start putting together their blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India.During previous white-ball assignments against Ireland and Pakistan, Morgan has had to do without several players due to their involvement in the Test bio-secure environment. But with Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood returning to the squad, England are almost at “full strength” – missing only Jason Roy, through injury, and Ben Stokes, who has travelled to New Zealand to be with his unwell father.”For the first time this summer we are seeing the majority of our best team on the park and that’s great,” Morgan said. “Bar injury and absent players, which is only a couple, we are at full strength. That is a nice place to be. We don’t have to pick our best XI every series that we play because we can’t put all our eggs in one basket, because we need 16 or 17 players in the lead up to a World Cup, all vying for selection in the best 15. We found in the lead in to the 50-overs World Cup that was the best position to be in.”ALSO READ: Wood keen to make impression against ‘biggest rivals’ AustraliaWhile Morgan has been comfortable with giving opportunities to fringe players, he warned last week it would be important to get “our strongest team on the park as often as we can” in order to focus on role definition ahead of the 2021 World Cup.On Root’s case to be considered part of that group, Morgan indicated that England thought there would be more value in the Test captain getting some T20 cricket under his belt with Yorkshire, to better enable him to press his case among a clutch of top-order batting candidates.”Yes, we have had that conversation with Joe and he certainly does have a future. The conversation was surrounding Joe not getting in the best XI at the moment. We didn’t want to carry him round and him not play any cricket. Joe wants to play T20 cricket and put his best case forwards particularly when he doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to go back to Yorks and play T20 cricket. We felt it was a really good opportunity for him to do that.”While Root played a vital role as an accumulator at No. 3 in the side that reached the 2016 World T20 final, his position has been squeezed by England’s preference for using Buttler at the top of the order, as well as the stellar T20I record built up by Dawid Malan and the emergence of Tom Banton.Morgan confirmed that Buttler would open alongside Jonny Bairstow against Australia on Friday, saying that along with Roy they counted as “three of our greatest-ever white-ball players”. England remain keen to give Buttler as many balls per innings in which to wreak destruction as possible, although Morgan hinted he could still be redeployed to the finisher role he fulfils in ODI cricket.”Like I have said before, we will continue with this until we feel that it’s not working,” Morgan said. “We feel that Jason, Jonny and Jos are three of our greatest-ever white-ball players. They are unbelievable strikers of the ball. They’re batsmen who you do not want to bowl against. If one of the three of them gets going past the first six overs of the Powerplay, and into those middle overs, it puts us in a really strong position for the last 14.”We always pose the question of how do we get the best out of all of our players. When you talk about those three guys specifically, it’s more obvious with Jonny and Jason batting at the top of the order. Trying to get the best out of Jos, at the moment we feel the more balls he faces, the more influence he can have on the game. If we find things down the line haven’t exactly worked out we can always fall back on Jos in the middle order.”England’s wealth of options at the top has also masked, to a degree, their uncertainty around Nos. 5 and 6, where a number of candidates – from Sam Billings, to Joe Denly and Sam Curran – have been tried over the last couple of years, without staking a strong claim.”One of the challenges we do have down the line is trying to find a middle-to-lower-order batter that can come in and play in an aggressive manner from ball one,” Morgan said. “Very difficult to predict who that might be because very few do that at county level – they either bat in the top four or open. At the moment we do have an abundance of talented players who open the batting or bat at three.”Moeen Ali responded to a move up the order to No. 5 with his highest T20I score since 2015 in Tuesday’s defeat to Pakistan. Ali afterwards admitted to “coasting” at times recently, but credited his captain for showing faith in him; Morgan said that he was hopeful Ali had now rediscovered his motivation.”I have spoken to him a little bit about that,” Morgan said. “Sometimes in your career, if there is no direct goal or direct drive in what you are trying to do, your mind is not challenged, your body is not challenged. It’s always important to have that. It might be a team goal that motivates you, it might be an individual goal for different guys. It’s really important to have that.”Morgan was also pleased to have Archer back to play his first limited-overs international since bowling the Super Over in last year’s World Cup final, although he warned against overburdening the pace bowler with expectations after weeks of discussion about his role in the Test side.”It’s great to have him back. He’s one of our match-winners and to have another one in your team is great – he’s a huge asset. I just think we need to manage the level of expectation of what he produces throughout the series. Obviously, he has played a lot during the summer and he is very excited about playing in this series but we saw at Old Trafford in the first game [against Pakistan] guys took a little bit of time to get into their rhythm. So, the level of expectation naturally will be high but within reason.”

Andrew McGlashan in Brisbane06-May-2019The Australians, including Steven Smith and David Warner for the first time in more than a year, had to scramble for a one-wicket victory against a New Zealand XI including just five of the World Cup squad after suffering a batting collapse on the first of three practice matches at Allan Border Field.Having earlier restricted the New Zealanders to 215 they stumbled from 2 for 122 to 9 for 205 leaving the final pair of Jason Behrendorff and Adam Zampa to edge them across the line as darkness fell and save the blushes of a middle order that produced some poor shot selection.For all the excitement at the end, the result of this match won’t be hugely significant in the bigger picture but it was the latest milestone in the comeback story of Warner and Smith, pulling on the Australian colours for the first time since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. They are likely to face more hostile crowds over the next few months than the 1000-plus of friendly local support that gathered on a public holiday. “Welcome back, Smithy” came a lone voice as the Australians took the field in the morning and both were greeted by warm applause as they walked to the crease. In England, however, things are expected to be a bit different.One of the more intriguing aspects of the day was a small message in how Warner was used: it doesn’t matter how good your form is, you may have to take on a new position in the team as he was slotted in at No. 3 despite only once in 104 ODI innings having not opened.As it was, Warner arrived at the crease in the first over of the chase when Usman Khawaja was bowled by Matt Henry playing an expansive drive and, after an iffy start where he was dropped at gully before scoring, cantered his way to 39 off 43. Smith, who earlier took a terrific one-handed diving catch that will have given the troublesome elbow a good test, got himself settled before falling for 22 and the innings stuttered.Marcus Stoinis was caught behind from a loose drive, Shaun Marsh slashed to gully and Alex Carey nicked a wild shot to leave it to the bowlers. Nathan Coulter-Nile tried to muscle the Australians over the line but was lbw to Todd Astle with 11 still needed.David Warner takes the field•Getty Images

In the weeks leading up to Warner and Smith returning, Australia strung together eight consecutive ODI wins. One of the key parts of that was the success Khawaja and Aaron Finch had together at the top of the order. What the top order looks like at the World Cup remains one of the questions Australia need to answer. In all likelihood various combinations will be used during the three matches against New Zealand, and the odds still favour Warner opening come the tournament, but the fact he didn’t get first crack was a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.Warner didn’t quite middle everything from the off, perhaps still adjusting to the change in conditions from the IPL to Brisbane. He almost spooned his first ball close to backward point then nearly offered a return catch to Henry, who should have had him in his next over when Daryl Mitchell spilled a chance at gully, but was soon dispatching deliveries to the boundary. He took a particularly liking to anything Doug Bracewell dropped short before trying something a little too inventive off Astle and top edged a reverse sweep.Smith had been given a tough net session by the Australian quicks yesterday but looked reasonably assured in the middle, one straight in particular standing out, until he was caught behind off Henry as Australia’s collapse was set in motion.The player who was a shining light for the men’s team during a difficult home summer, Pat Cummins, had got the day off to a lively start when he struck twice in the opening over to send back George Worker and Henry Nicholls.From there, the New Zealanders recovered impressively through a third-wicket stand of 137 between Will Young and Tom Blundell. Young, recently handed a central contract, is the next in line behind the incumbent batsmen while Blundell earned the final spot in the World Cup squad when he was preferred ahead of Tim Seifert as back-up wicketkeeper.After laying a foundation following the early losses both started to expand their strokeplay; Blundell launched Behrendorff into the grandstand over deep square and Young later peppered the same area. However, when Young clubbed Coulter-Nile to deep midwicket and Blundell fell four overs later and the innings went into a nosedive as the New Zealanders lost 8 for 78.Cummins, Behrendorff and Coulter-Nile each finished with three wickets while Adam Zampa nipped out Mitchell with a stumping. Kane Richardson, who is one of the standby pacemen for the World Cup along with Josh Hazlewood, and would be in line for a call-up if Jhye Richardson doesn’t recover from his dislocated shoulder, went wicketless and will hope for another chance in the next two matches. Australia will hope to bat better.

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.