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R Ashwin has hit back at the criticism of the pitch in Mohali, which South Africa batsman Dean Elgar had described as “not a very good cricket wicket” after 12 wickets had fallen on the first day

Sidharth Monga in Mohali06-Nov-20151:44

‘The mistakes I’ve made got me here’ – Ashwin

R Ashwin has hit back at the criticism of the pitch in Mohali, which South Africa batsman Dean Elgar had described as “not a very good cricket wicket” after 12 wickets had fallen on the first day. Ten more fell on the second day, but batsmen did show batting was possible on the pitch, which has offered a lot of sideways turn but not alarming bounce. Sunil Gavaskar had said in his pitch report that he “had never seen before” such a day-one pitch in Mohali.”I think it’s very important to bowl good pace on this wicket,” Ashwin said after his five-wicket haul gave India the lead after they had squandered the toss advantage by getting bowled out for 201. “I have not seen any batsman defending and get out apart from the one that happened to [M] Vijay, where he thrust forward, defended and got out.” Cheteshwar Pujara, too, got out defending in the first innings, but the larger point was taken.None of Ashwin’s five wickets came because of alarming misbehaviour from the pitch. Stiaan van Zyl offered no shot to a topsinner, which Ashwin got to come back in to the left-hand batsman. Dean Elgar slog-swept and was beaten in the air by the dip. Ditto Hashim Amla, who looked to charge at him. Dane Vilas got out sweeping, and Imran Tahir is a tailender. “To bowl [on this pitch] it’s all about how it’s coming out of your hand,” Ashwin said. “For me it’s coming out really well. So I don’t think I require much turn from any pitch at this point of time.”Ashwin went on to compare the perceived reaction to green tops when India are touring outside Asia. “Honestly I think it’s the batting that makes the wicket look what it is,” Ashwin said. “I don’t know if any Indian journalist knows the name of the curator in Johannesburg or Port Elizabeth, but we seem to get a hang of Daljit Singh [the curator in Mohali] very quickly. None of us go to South Africa and say the wicket is green, this much grass is less green at the bottom. I don’t hear any such statements, but unfortunately here the first day some of my good friends came and said the wicket is a little drier and stuff. We have played way too long in Mohali to know how the wicket works.”Ashwin’s words were keeping in line with Virat Kohli’s emotions in the lead-up to the Test. “When someone comes to play here, there is a lot of focus on the pitch,” Kohli said. “It is unfair to say that it spins a lot or that it is slow. When we go abroad, I don’t think there is a single article about the pitch. We go there and take up the challenge. The other teams also have to take up the challenge.”It was not clear whose criticism Ashwin and Kohli were responding to, but it was true that day one did not feature great batting. The three Indian specialist batsmen that fell to spin on the first day did so because they did not reach the pitch of the ball, not because the ball kicked at them. However, there was sideways turn available on the first morning itself, and balls did keep low.It is not accurate, though, that Indian players do not complain about perceived green tracks away from home. After India lost 4-0 in Australia, Gautam Gambhir and Kohli were two of the players to complain about the “green tops” while Australia scored heavily in every match. It was duly reported too.

The visitors had a wobble in the morning but ended up comfortable winners

AAP19-Oct-2022Caleb Jewell inspired Tasmania to a seven-wicket victory in their Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia at Adelaide Oval.Tasmania started the final day at 0 for 104 in their pursuit of 235, but the loss of Tim Ward, Jake Doran and Ben McDermott during the morning session on Wednesday saw the visitors slip to 3 for 164.Jewell kept his cool to guide Tasmania over the line, with Jordan Silk there in support.Related

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Ward fell on the sixth ball of day four when he edged Wes Agar behind. Jake Carder took an excellent diving catch while running with the flight of the ball to remove Doran, and McDermott fell a short time before lunch.Jewell dug in to ensure there would be no late wobbles, with the 25-year-old notching his century in fine style by pulling Agar for six.Veteran paceman Peter Siddle was crucial in Tasmania’s victory, returning the excellent figures of 4 for 51 and 4 for 45.Tasmania’s win marked a huge turn around from their season-opening flop, when they lost to Queensland by an innings and 172 runs.

Jayananda Warnaweera, the Galle Cricket Stadium curator, has resigned from Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee with immediate effect, SLC has announced

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Oct-2015Jayananda Warnaweera, the Galle Cricket Stadium curator, has resigned from Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee with immediate effect, SLC has announced. Warnaweera handed over a letter of resignation to interim committee chairman Sidath Wettimuny on Friday.”In the letter he said he said he was resigning for personal reasons,” Wettimuny said. Warnaweera remains the Galle stadium curator and the Southern Province Cricket Association secretary.Warnaweera had also been an executive committee member in the previous SLC board, headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa. For that reason, his appointment in March to the current interim committee prompted minor criticism, while then-sports minister Navin Dissanayake postured the new board as a clean break from controversial past administrations.With the interim committee likely to have been dissolved, and fresh board elections held by the end of January, the committee is unlikely to appoint a replacement for Warnaweera.

“I understand the need to try and play in slightly inclement weather to try and get a result. But we overstepped that mark in this game.”

Danyal Rasool24-Oct-20222:47

Houghton: ‘I don’t think we should have bowled even one ball’

Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton was fiercely critical of the decision to carry on with his side’s game against South Africa even as the rain in Hobart grew heavier, saying he didn’t believe the “conditions were right to play”, and that Zimbabwe “shouldn’t have bowled a ball”.Related

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• As it happened – South Africa vs Zimbabwe in Hobart

Rain halted Monday’s game in Hobart on multiple occasions, before it was finally called off with South Africa on the verge of victory. South Africa needed a further 13 runs to win with all ten wickets in hand and 24 balls to go, but the innings hadn’t yet reached the five-over mark, the mandatory cut-off for a game to produce a result. During the chase, Zimbabwe’s bowlers and fielders complained several times about the wet outfield as the rain grew steadily heavier. Even when fast bowler Richard Ngarava slipped and had to be taken off injured, the umpires kept the players on.It was a decision that left Houghton furious. “He’s lying in the changing room with a bunch of ice strapped to his ankle,” Houghton said. “Obviously we’re not too happy about the fact he’s not in a great space for bowling at the moment. We’ll have to assess it in the next day or so.”I thought the rain had got so heavy it was ridiculous. Most of the evening or nighttime, it was misty. But it got to the stage where we could actually hear it thumping on the rooftop in the dugout. To me, that’s no longer drizzle; that’s time to get off the field. The field was wet when we started and when South Africa fielded. They were difficult conditions for both sides but it just got more and more wet as we bowled. When your keeper’s sliding trying to move down the leg side standing up to the spinners, it’s too wet. I don’t think the conditions were right to carry on playing.”Richard Ngarava had to leave the field after taking a tumble•AFP/Getty Images

ESPNcricinfo understands the entire Zimbabwe unit were unhappy at what they considered were dangerous conditions, and believed higher-profile teams wouldn’t have been put in that position. While Houghton declined to comment publicly on whether he thought the umpires would have made the same decision if the roles had been reversed, he was emphatic in his disagreement with the call.”I understand the need to try and get these games on for the public and for TV.” he said. “I understand the need to try and play in slightly inclement weather to try and get a result. But we overstepped that mark in this game. The umpires are the guys making those decisions in the middle and they seemed to think it was fit to play. I disagree with them. But there’s not much I can do off the field.”After Ngarava’s injury, Zimbabwe turned to spin rather than risk their premier pace bowlers, with Sikandar Raza bowling the third over. But when Sean Williams was handed the ball for the fourth over, Houghton revealed Williams thought enough was enough.”Craig [Ervine, Zimbabwe’s captain] and Raza had had a word with the umpires and asked “what do you constitute as rain because we’re getting quite wet here?” Eventually Sean Williams said just as he was about to start bowling he didn’t think he could bowl. It was too wet. And then they brought us off.”South Africa coach Mark Boucher, meanwhile, suggested that the situation of the game may have played a part in Zimbabwe’s reluctance to carry on. “If Zimbabwe were in our position they would have wanted to carry on playing,” he said. “We bowled with a ball that was quite wet as well. We were in a very good position. You walk away from this game thinking we were hard done by. We are not there to make the calls, that’s what officials do and officials made the call and we’ve got to live with their decisions.”The abandonment leaves South Africa and Zimbabwe with one point each, putting South Africa under early pressure in a group where, on paper, they’re expected to compete for two available semi-finals slots with India and Pakistan. On a frigid night in Hobart, there was plenty of heat from both coaches as an incensed Zimbabwe fumed at an injury to a key fast bowler while South Africa seethed at a win that, not for the first time at a World Cup, was denied to them by rain.

England battle hard on second day but flaws in attack come home to roost

Andrew Miller25-Mar-2022West Indies 232 for 8 (da Silva 54*, Roach 25*) lead England 204 (Mahmood 49, Leach 41*, Seales 3-40) by 28 runsSome 13,000km lie between Lahore and St George’s, and a similar distance would appear to lie between the teams that have been taking part in their respective Test-series deciders. If Pat Cummins’ Australians have just demonstrated, in their hard-fought series victory over Pakistan, that a side blessed with great bowlers can transcend any conditions, then England and West Indies would appear to be hostages to a less palatable truth.On the face of it, the decisive third Test in Grenada could scarcely be more intricately poised. By the close of the second day’s play, West Indies’ lower order had chiselled out a precious lead of 28, and every extra run looks set to be vital on a two-paced surface that promises awkward times ahead in even the most nominal of fourth-innings chases.And yet, the evidence of the first two innings has been revealing. Two flawed teams, battling their own insecurities with bat and ball alike, with each facet of their play winning out at alternate moments, with the implacable obstinacy of a pushmepullyou.On the first day, England collapsed in seaming conditions to 114 for 9, before their tenth-wicket pair cashed in on the softer old ball to ease to a serene 90-run stand. And on the second, West Indies staged a near-replica of their own – a collapse of seven for 78, either side of lunch, as Chris Woakes dragged his length back and with it, fleetingly, his reputation in overseas conditions, then a late-evening revival with Joshua Da Silva’s diligent 54 not out to the fore, as West Indies’ eighth and ninth wickets racked up 104 series-tilting runs.And by the close, England were huffing and puffing as if they were back in Antigua or Barbados – including with the second new ball, which came and went in six anodyne overs with as little malice as the first. And in the contest’s final analysis, the combined analysis of 72 for 0 that West Indies have been able to pick off while those balls have been at their hardest may yet prove to be pivotal. For whatever else England may have achieved in the name of their red-ball reset, finding an answer to their toothlessness up top is not one of them.That said, the most successful of England’s bowlers in the innings to date is that man Woakes, although his current analysis of 20-6-48-3 – already among his best in 20 overseas Tests – tells only a fraction of his story. Prior to this series, West Indies’ openers, Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell hadn’t made a half-century stand on home soil since England’s last visit to the Caribbean in 2019 – and they’ve never yet made a century stand in 35 attempts, the most by a top-order pair in Test history.They have, however, now racked up three fifty stands in as many Tests this series, including this latest effort – a disarmingly serene alliance of 50 that, in following directly on from Jack Leach’s and Saqib Mahmood’s casual progress on the first evening, appeared to confirm that the spice of the first morning had long since been and gone.Chris Woakes had Jason Holder caught for a duck•Getty Images

But just as had been the case with their guileless first innings in Antigua, Woakes and Craig Overton were culpable in floating the ball up too full and wide for a cracked surface that demanded the ball be driven into the deck to extract the uneven bounce, and both men were all too easily thwarted as England’s first-innings 204 was made to look grossly inadequate.But then Ben Stokes, inevitably, showed the way with a back-of-a-length shin-botherer to dislodge Brathwaite for his lowest score of the series, and one over later, Campbell got in a tangle to a fearsome visor-smasher from Overton. He carried on after a mandatory concussion test, but the success of that length was an indication of the threat that awaited if England were willing to test the facilities.Sure enough, Mahmood was the next to drag his own length back to pin Shamarh Brooks in front of leg stump, and then, six balls later and in the penultimate over of the session, Overton’s aggression into Campbell’s body paid dividends, as he scuffed an attempted pull down the leg side, and was sent on his way after a review.It was a sign of lengths to come, and straight after lunch, it was Woakes’ turn to drag it back, in more ways than one. Just when it seemed that his unquestioned good-eggery was finally going to run out of caveats in overseas conditions, he came hurtling in for his second spell with spirit and threat renewed.His first breakthrough came via a startling change-up in pace, as he fired in a cross-seam bouncer to the obdurate Nkrumah Bonner, who flapped with his gloves as the ball skidded through lower than anticipated, and Ben Foakes scooped the deflection to confirm West Indies’ panic at 82 for 4.Three balls later, and it was all hands to the pump for a floundering batting line-up. Woakes fired in another short ball to the imposing Jason Holder, whose response was his third unworthy shot in as many innings – a spiralling top-edged pull to Jonny Bairstow at square leg, and in the space of a single over, Woakes had doubled his series wickets tally, and halved his average, from 88.50 and climbing to the mid-40s.Suddenly his tail was up and his luck had turned. Two overs later, Jermaine Blackwood – who had already survived a rare drop on 14 by Foakes off Mahmood – hacked a flashy cut past the diving Overton at gully for four, only to fall to his very next ball, as Woakes fired in the fuller length, and extracted an umpire’s call lbw with the batter pinned in front of leg stump.But Kyle Mayers, in the earliest sign that England’s threat was transient, took it upon himself to inject some impetus into a stalled innings. First he bludgeoned Woakes out of the attack with a pre-meditated pull for six over midwicket, then he twice climbed into Overton with unconventional hacks in front of square for boundaries before deflecting Jack Leach to third man after his belated introduction for the 43rd over.Related

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Once again, it was Stokes – discomforted, not for the first time, by his long-standing knee injury – who rejoined the attack to end Mayers’ threatening stay on 28. There was perhaps a hint of reverse swing at play as he bent a full ball into middle stump, and Mahmood at mid-on swallowed a comfortable chip.But from 128 for 7, Da Silva and Alzarri Joseph guided their side to tea before setting themselves to chip off the remaining deficit of 70. At first Joseph was the more proactive of the partners, including another mashed six off Woakes, whose short ball was suddenly lacking its previous zip – and as England’s desperation for a breakthrough became more apparent, so too did their use of their remaining reviews, all of them burned in hope rather than expectation.In the end, it was pilot error that downed Joseph to end a key stand of 49, as he charged once more at Overton – a forgiveable tactic with the new ball looming – and under-edged to the tumbling Foakes for 28. But Roach, West Indies’ senior pro, was in no mood to give his innings away so tamely. He held his own to the close as Da Silva brought up a gutsy fifty from 143 balls in the fading light. It was the first of the match, and it’s not done yet.

Now for South Africa, who have no time for England’s gap-year levels of rediscovery, writes Vithushan Ehantharajah

Vithushan Ehantharajah16-Aug-2022″It’s the last time I will ever write on a whiteboard, because I needed to ask how to spell ‘environment’.”Who’d have thought we would see the day when Ben Stokes is at the front of the class, pen in hand, not writing lines on a board. Instead, here he was on Sunday in the home dressing room at Lord’s, giving his teammates a refresher of the values outlined and abided by during the first four Tests of the summer. Values created in his own image that led to four bombastic wins against New Zealand and India and re-instigated a nation’s love for Test cricket.”I don’t think it was a necessity,” said the men’s Test captain on the meeting, almost regressing to the cool kid who didn’t want to be seen as the square. “It was a case of getting everyone back together and going over, in smaller detail what we spoke about before we played that first game against New Zealand.”When we get together as a group we have our environment, our way of playing and getting that message across to everyone that we are back in this dressing room with our way of playing and thinking about the game.”All present were aware of how important this session was. The 43 days between the last day of the India Test and the first day of the South Africa series at Lord’s on Wednesday have felt twice as long. But even packed to the brim with the demoralisation of limited overs series against India and the Proteas and the distraction of the men’s Hundred has been an anticipation of getting back to the five-day stuff. And in the 10 minutes that Stokes spent up there in front of the whiteboard, the mood in the room was of a group of players and staff glad to be back in each other’s company and well aware of how they will continue to extol the virtues established at the start of the international summer.Related

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In a different era, certainly under a different captain, this might have been a long, more numbers-orientated exercise. It is wrong to assume this is a group who aren’t bothered by data, especially when coming up against a Proteas side with plenty of new faces. But this is a squad that has, ultimately, been brought out of their shell by focusing on their personalities and strengths rather than their statistics and weaknesses. Where there might have previously been a check on the robustness of the algorithms, now there is a top-up of the good vibes.Importantly, though – the best way to test the robustness of “good vibes” is by exposing it to bad ones. Finally, after a relatively docile three Tests against New Zealand, and a one-off anomaly against India comes three against a South Africa side who simply have no time for England’s gap-year levels of rediscovery of self and purpose.Ben Stokes lines up with his side for a team photo ahead of Wednesday’s first Test against South Africa•Getty Images

Despite messages from the hierarchy within the South Africa camp not to be drawn into discussing the dreaded “B-word”, players and coaches have been coerced into addressing it in their various media commitments over the last month. Captain Dean Elgar, fiery quick Anrich Nortje and grizzled coach Mark Boucher have all had their say – they’re not fans – with Boucher taking the lighthearted route, pre-empting questions in Monday’s press conference by saying anyone who mentions it needs to do a shot of tequila. And thus, he got off lightly, with only two questions relating to the buzzword. Elgar’s presser on the eve of the first Test brought a few more. By now the Proteas have sipped right down to the scorpion.There is a lot to praise of the mood around this England side, particularly how it has been maintained during this Test hiatus. A format that was once a grind now feels like a laugh, even for a 40-year-old like James Anderson who has seen it all but still feels a unique urge in his 20th home summer: “It feels like we can carry on doing special things in the future. So you want to be around that as much as possible.”Since playing his last competitive match on July 19 – his ODI swansong – Stokes has kept a few plates spinning. Beyond resting to ensure his body – specifically left knee – was primed for the rigours of three Tests in four weeks, there have been regular check-ins with those under his watch or others wanting to be. There have been encouraging messages for performances – both in private and over Twitter – as well as checking in on the likes of Zak Crawley who left the first portion of the Test season with a few more doubts than the rest. Even those currently injured who have yet to play in this revamped team, such as Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, have had a check-in from their captain.Even without the captaincy, Stokes would probably have done all those things as the senior man. But there is clearly a growing sense of acknowledgement from him that he is the key part of all this. He has quietly become one of the most powerful voices in English cricket and appreciates the clout he now wields.Zak Crawley gets another opportunity at the top of the order•Getty Images

During a County Championship match between Durham and Middlesex at Chester-le-Street at the end of July, Stokes mentioned that Mark Ramprakash, former England batting coach, now a consultant at Middlesex, picked Stokes’ brain for the benefit of those under his care. “He (Ramprakash) was asking me what he needs to tell his players about what we want to see from players to get noticed,” revealed Stokes.Head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key did as much last week with the Lions, along with assistant coach Paul Collingwood who assumed the main coaching role. A debrief at the start of the week of their tour match with South Africa, along with conversations throughout, inspired an innings-and-56-run victory that suggests the next crop are all in.”[It’s about] not just keeping everything in our dressing-room here, because at the moment if lads want to get into this England team it’s unfair for us not to deliver the message to those guys who are representing Lions.”If you’re leaving lads unsure about what’s expected of them to get into the team, that’s unfair on players because we have a certain type of way of playing and everyone trying to push for this England team needs to know that.”A wider buy-in is essential if this mindset is to last – there’s a reason the most “successful” cults have the most followers. And from Stokes’ sermons alone, he can gauge there is “more excitement than normal” because players now won’t get a “slap on the wrist for playing a stupid shot”. It is the exact kind of rhetoric that is music to the ears of batters up and down the country.All told, it is not for South Africa to believe. But it will be wrong to totally dismiss their annoyance as refusing to address what England are doing.So much of what the hosts have concocted is built on forgetting their doubts, moving away from conservatism and ignoring risk. Ultimately, disregarding the three aspects of this format of the game that have made some legends and destroyed countless others.Over the last month, South Africa have been quietly pinpointing ways to make England acknowledge them once more. And perhaps one of the key weapons at their disposal is that, for all the love from the home fans, there remains a typical British cynicism that is never too far from the surface. They saw that first-hand during the limited-overs series. Victory in the T20s and a 1-1 stalemate in ODIs led to questions over Jos Buttler’s captaincy and a sudden apathy towards a charismatic white-ball team. A Test side that came into this summer with one win in 17 has shakier foundations and much less credit in the bank.”What I will say is they’ve had more time to prepare than New Zealand or India have, because they’ve seen what we’ve done in four games,” said Stokes, when asked if South Africa carry any fear. “They might have more ideas as to how to stop Rooty (Joe Root) or Jonny (Bairstow) when they get going.”This is a rivalry that has always had plenty of niggle to accompany the hard-fought cricket. And on the eve of what should be another cracker to add to its long history, as both Stokes and Elgar speak of only being concerned about what they themselves are doing, it is amusing to think of this as a battle to see which is the least bothered by the other. With all the talking done, we’ll finally get our answer.

Half-centuries from visiting batsmen Hamish Rutherford and Chesney Hughes coupled with an unbeaten 73 by Wayne Madsen ensured that Derbyshire edged into the ascendancy by the midpoint of their match against Kent

ECB Reporters Network27-Jun-2016
ScorecardChesney Hughes rediscovered his early season good form•Getty Images

Half-centuries from visiting batsmen Hamish Rutherford and Chesney Hughes coupled with an unbeaten 73 by Wayne Madsen ensured that Derbyshire edged into the ascendancy by the midpoint of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Kent. In response to Kent’s 379 all out, Derbyshire reached stumps on 291 for 3 and will go into the third day in Canterbury trailing by 88 runs.On a second-day pitch that appears to have lost some of its initial pace and carry, Derbyshire’s top order dug in for steady, if unspectacular, run-making against a Kent attack hit by three injuries and shorn of its spearhead, Matt Coles, who had been declared “unavailable for selection”.Having failed to take a wicket in the 17 overs through to lunch, the hosts at least winkled out two Derbyshire batsmen in the mid-session but still missed the cutting edge of their attack leader Coles. The 26-year-old had allegedly missed the game due to “personal reasons” but his absence only served to spark rumours aplenty among the Kent membership.In the absence of Coles, Kent turned to six bowlers but only the wily Mitch Claydon and James Tredwell enjoyed any success. Visiting skipper Billy Godleman nicked off to Claydon, as Tom Latham, diving almost behind the keeper Sam Billings, took a superb slip catch to make it 75 for 1. Then, after facing 120 balls for his 65, Hamish Rutherford holed out to Alex Blake at long-off to give Tredwell his first scalp of the match.Having cut the Kent lead to 211 by the tea interval, Derbyshire ploughed on during the evening session as left-hander Chesney Hughes posted a 91-ball 50 with seven fours. He combined with Madsen to add 112 in 28.5 overs for the third wicket until Hughes, on 83 from 139 balls, top edged an attempted slog-sweep to send a steepling return catch to Tredwell.In the next over Madsen reached his half-century milestone from 101 balls and with four fours as dour post-tea events out in the middle vied for attention with the first half of Italy’s Euro 2016 tie with Spain, which was being shown on the TVs around ground.At the start of the day Kent captain Sam Northeast was dismissed nine short of a maiden double-hundred as Kent posted 379 all out. Northeast improved upon his career best but, on 191, he was caught at long-on when attempting to clear the ropes against Hughes’ left-arm spin. He batted for over six hours, faced 266 balls and hit 22 fours.Kent also lost Tredwell and Claydon in the opening hour as the hosts missed out on a fifth batting bonus point by 21 runs.

Lost somewhat in the hubbub about Chris Rogers’ failed tour group venture was a most intriguing Australian team selection for the Kent tour match in the medieval city of Canterbury.

Daniel Brettig24-Jun-2015Lost somewhat in the hubbub about Chris Rogers’ failed tour group venture was a most intriguing Australian team selection for the Kent tour match in the medieval city of Canterbury.What the coach Darren Lehmann and the selection chairman Rod Marsh have cooked up is what amounts to a series of duels between specialist incumbents and their shadow men, while a quartet of missing players can feel rather more secure about their places in the team for the first Test in Cardiff next month.David Warner, Adam Voges, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are all sitting this one out, leaving room for others to scrap for their places.Starting off at the top, Rogers will be opening alongside Shaun Marsh, the man who replaced him in the Caribbean after a bout of concussion. That Warner is being rested from the fixture means either his place is secure for Cardiff or that a better glimpse of Marsh is being sought, thus meaning Rogers will need to make runs to regain his berth.In the middle of the batting order, Shane Watson is set to come in at No. 5, one place ahead of his current Test spot and also one ahead of Mitchell Marsh, the young allrounder with aspirations to replace the older man as Australia’s utility player. Watson’s form has been spotty at best in recent times, and his two innings in the West Indies were sharply contrasting in terms of approach, veering from the brazen to the benign, without success.Both Watson and Marsh deliver seam-up bowling of a fast-medium pace that has a chance of succeeding in England, so it is by their batting that they can be separated. Marsh played well in the first innings of a practice match on the Isle of Wight after arriving early to England, and Watson will be in search of a score to keep himself narrowly ahead in the queue.Most selection talk entering into this trip has centred on how Australia can possibly squeeze all four of Hazlewood, Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris into the Test XI. By resting the former duo in Canterbury, Lehmann and Marsh have allowed Johnson and Harris to re-unite with Peter Siddle as the trio who bowled so unstintingly in the 5-0 defeat of England down under in 2013-14.Siddle is now very much the understudy, but Harris and Johnson both have a little to prove this week to ensure they are in the team for the first Test. Hazlewood and Starc are rising up fast, and each demonstrated his appetite for destruction during the West Indies Tests. Johnson was a little less threatening then, though the captain Michael Clarke thought he could see a senior man working through the gears in time for the major assignment in England.”I am focused on how he is bowling right now and what I have seen today is a real positive for us – he is bowling with good pace,” Clarke said. “I thought he used the West Indies tour really well to get his rhythm back, and he spent a lot of time working on things while he was out there. That’s the skill of Mitchell now. If something doesn’t feel quite right, he can actually fix it in a game.”By his own admission, Harris bowled patchily on the Isle of Wight, but was looking far more dangerous during the team’s day-long training sessions at Merchant Taylors’ School in north-west greater London. More than anything, Harris needs overs under his belt to find the rhythm and confidence he needs to be at his best, having been somewhat underdone when he played a muted role during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home.Lastly, the selectors have granted Fawad Ahmed the chance to operate as the lone spinner this week, as Lyon cools his heels. While Lyon remains well ahead of Fawad in the order of preference, Australian fascination with wrist spin – and English aversion to it – will allow the former asylum seeker to turn the head of Lehmann, Marsh and Clarke with an eye-catching display. It’s up for grabs now.Australians: Michael Clarke (capt), Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Fawad Ahmed.

The T20 World Cup champions were humbled in Dhaka

Mohammad Isam12-Mar-2023The optimistic Bangladesh fan would have predicted exactly the opposite of what happened in this England tour. Shakib Al Hasan’s men won the T20I series, convincingly in the second game in Dhaka, after conceding the ODI series 1-2 last week. Bangladesh are usually at their best when they play ODI cricket, but who could tell after this tour?Mehidy Hasan Miraz had a great all-round hand in this win. He first took 4-12 in his four overs, an economically effective spell that sparked England’s second collapse in the innings. He put the exclamation point in when, promoted to No 5, he knocked a couple of sixes in a 16-ball 20.Najmul Hossain Shanto ensured Bangladesh didn’t have too much of a wobble in the end, remaining unbeaten on 46 off 47 balls. Taskin Ahmed hit the winning runs with two fours in the penultimate over, as they ran off in delight.This was Bangladesh’s first bilateral T20I series against England, and having emerged winners, they ticked off another little stat. A first series victory (min of three matches played) after two-and-a-half years. It also ended England’s long run of success in this format, having won the T20 World Cup, and bilateral series against Australia and Pakistan last year.

England’s strong start slips into collapse

The last thing England wanted with limited batting options was a collapse but that’s exactly what happened to them in the middle overs. They raced to 50 for 1 in seven overs when Shakib removed Phil Salt, who continued his get-set-get-out theme on this tour. Salt struck one back at Shakib, a delivery that he should have smashed through either side of the pitch with ease, and it became the catalyst for an England collapse.Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed four wickets in his four overs•AFP/Getty Images

The impressive Hasan Mahmud broke through Jos Buttler in the next over, a turning point for the home side. Buttler made a quickfire 67 in the first game, and was expected to be a major threat. But he was undone by a yorker length delivery that swerved back into his stumps prompting Hasan to leap in delight. Hasan had given up just five runs in two overs in the death in the first game, rapidly growing in reputation as a white-ball bowler. Then it was Mehidy’s turn to shine, as Moeen Ali hit one down deep midwicket’s throat in the next over. England were 57 for 4, having lost three wickets in the space of 16 balls.

Mehidy sparks second England collapse

Sam Curran and Ben Duckett added 34 runs for the fifth wicket, before Mehidy’s triple-strike sent the visitors into free fall. Litton stumped Curran and Chris Woakes in the space of three balls. Both tricky deliveries but handled smoothly by the gloveman. As soon as England reached three-figures, Mehidy landed his maiden four-wicket haul when Chris Jordan hit one to deep midwicket. England slipped from 91 for 4 to 100 for 7 in 17 balls.The remaining three wickets fell in the last over. Duckett, the only one who looked remotely close to giving England a good finish, was caught superbly by Shanto, before Rehan Ahmed and Jofra Archer were run out off the last two balls of the innings.

Shanto calms nerves

Bangladesh didn’t have the smoothest chase. Curran removed Litton for yet another soft dismissal, caught at deep square leg, the only deep fielder on the leg-side at the time. Rony Talukdar couldn’t quite get Archer away, falling for 9 in the sixth over. Legspinner Rehan then took his first T20I wicket, when Towhid Hridoy, playing his second T20I, toe-ended the ball to Woakes at point. It was a rank half-tracker from Rehan, but he’d nonetheless take the wicket.Shanto held his own at the other end, adding 41 runs in 5.2 overs with Mehidy. But Bangladesh slipped again, this time losing Mehidy, Shakib and Afif Hossain in the space of two overs. Shakib threw away his wicket, while Archer blew away Afif’s off bail, which landed at fine leg. Shanto and Taskin scored the remaining 15 runs, with the former providing the calming influence in that final partnership.

Rugby World Cup winning captain Francois Pienaar hopes he can contribute with insights into high performance as a member of the four-person committee tasked with reviewing South Africa’s national cricket teams

Firdose Moonda20-Apr-2016Understanding the core of a winning culture could be chief on the agenda for the four-person committee tasked with reviewing South Africa’s national cricket teams. Francois Pienaar, the 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning captain who is on the panel, explained that although the scope of the review has yet to be defined, he hopes to bring his knowledge of high performance to the process.”We are designing the scope on April 28 and then that goes to the [CSA] board and the board will then sign off on it and we will start on our work. For now we are deciding where the key focus areas will be and how we divvy up the roles,” Pienaar told journalists at the launch of the Cape Town marathon, an event for which he is one of the ambassadors.”I have been involved in high-performance teams and it’s not about which sport, it’s about the processes in place. There are four or five things you need to get right – and one of them is a bit of luck – to win. If you do four or five things really well, you will have a really good chance of winning.”According to Pienaar, who maintained a 100% record alongside coach Kitch Christie and with the Transvaal team in the 1993 Super Rugby competition, one of those things is ensuring that success is transferred from domestic to international level.”Let’s go back in rugby. Every World Cup that has been won since 1987, the core of that winning national team came from the club side that dominated. So that side knew how to win. Like in 1995, the core of our team was from the Lions,” he said.South African cricket faces an immediate problem in that regard because none of the six franchises can claim to be truly dominant. In addition to that, very few internationals turn out regularly for their franchise teams. To combat that, cricket may want to pay particular attention to the processes Pienaar described, which can create a winning culture even if the individuals involved change.”CEOs and coaches and captains come and go but you have to understand the culture of high-performance teams and you can’t tinker with that. As soon as you start tinkering with that, then you stand the risk of not remaining a high-performance team. That process is for me the most exciting thing and looking at how you put processes in place to ensure you will always be knocking on the door of a trophy, or a series or a championship,” he said.Apart from being involved in successful South African teams, Pienaar was also a player-coach at Saracens in England, whom he helped to their first ever cup win and where he created a structure he is “very proud of”, which has ensured they “are still a high-performance team”. Does he think he will be able to do the same for South African cricket?”It’s for me to bring a different approach and a different view and for us as a panel to recommend certain things. It’s not that we are the fount of knowledge. Definitely not,” he said.Pienaar hopes the panel’s recommendations will be made public on completion.