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Along with 90s from Shan Masood and Ben Cox, Foxes dominate Kent attack

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay16-Sep-2025Kent 17 for 0 trail Leicestershire 459 for 7 dec (Patel 114, Cox 93, Masood 90, Hill 54) by 442 runsA fine century from Rishi Patel, along with 90s from Shan Masood and Ben Cox, saw Leicestershire secure maximum batting bonus points and left them the verge of securing the Division Two title as they dominated a callow Kent attack after being put into bat at the UptonSteel County Ground.Beginning the match 25 points clear of second-placed Glamorgan, the Foxes could not have hoped for a better second day of this Rothesay County Championship match after the first was entirely lost to the weather.It made for a chastening first-class debut for 19-year-old all-rounder Corey Flintoff – one of a remarkable five teenagers in the Kent side – who, with father Andrew watching, bowled 15 wicket-less overs for 91 runs, though he did take a catch.Kent openers Harry Finch and Ben Dawkins survived a difficult nine overs before the light closed in.After the loss of the entire first day to the strong winds that made handling the covers too dangerous to undertake, it was a relief to see the ground ready for play from the start.Flintoff, the second son of former England allrounder Andrew to be embarking on a career as a professional cricketer, following in the footsteps of brother Rocky, took his place in what must surely have been the youngest slip cordon ever formed in county cricket, all three slips and gully being in their teens.They were in the game early, when Jaydn Denly at second slip dropped a straightforward chance given by Sol Budinger off the bowling of Joey Evison. To make matters worse, Denly left the field with illness soon afterwards, while Evison’s feelings will not have improved when Budinger casually swung an in-swinger over the midwicket boundary for six. The Kent allrounder had his revenge soon afterwards however, when Budinger again edged to second slip and this time Flintoff held on.Patel, however, looked in good touch from the start. The 27-year-old has struggled for consistency this season after missing the early weeks with a thumb injury, but has recently shown signs of finding the form which saw him called into an England Lions training camp, and he took full toll on the regular loose deliveries from the visiting attack.There were plenty of testing balls too, and George Garrett produced a beauty to square up and bowl Ian Holland, but a score of 151 for 2 off 30 overs at lunch told its own story. Having hit ten boundaries in going to his half-century, Patel hit another ten in going to three figures, his second Championship century of the season, shortly after lunch.Kent were already looking down the barrel, but Patel played too soon at an Ekansh Singh delivery and got a leading edge that looped to mid-on, a maiden first-class wicket for the 19-year-old, and Lewis Hill, having registered his seventh half-century of the season, slashed a wide short ball from Michael Cohen straight to point.When Steve Eskinazi, who never settled, went leg before to Evison, Leicestershire were in danger of wasting their flying start, but the elegant Masood was calmness personified, and he found lively support from Cox. Together they added 161 for the sixth wicket and both seemed certain to reach three figures, but Garrett, bowling with the new ball, pushed one across Masood to find an edge which carried to slip before Grant Stewart took a fine leaping catch at mid-on to dismiss Cox off the bowling of Evison.

Williams scored more than half of Zimbabwe’s first-innings total but the visitors still took a 167-run lead and ended day two 216 ahead

Himanshu Agrawal29-Jun-2025Since 2020, Zimbabwe have had ten individual hundreds in Tests. Sean Williams alone has scored five of those. One of those centuries came against South Africa in Bulawayo on Sunday, and formed the centerpiece of Zimbabwe’s innings.South Africa declared their first innings on their overnight score of 418 for 9, and in reply, Zimbabwe were struggling at 23 for 2. Williams walked in at No. 4, and Zimbabwe’s woes were further compounded when Brian Bennett walked back due to a delayed concussion. Bennett was struck on the helmet by a Kwena Maphaka short-of-a-length delivery and while he faced three more balls, he decided he couldn’t continue any further and walked off.Related

• Bennett walks off with concussion, Masvaure named replacement

From thereon, it was almost all about Williams. He found a little help from captain Craig Ervine, with the duo adding 91 runs. They got together with Zimbabwe 390 runs behind, and with Maphaka and debutant Codi Yusuf in good rhythm. Yusuf had Takudzwanashe Kaitano caught at backward short leg off his fifth ball in Tests, and Nick Welch edging behind to the wicketkeeper in his third over.Both of South Africa’s new-ball bowlers were extracting plenty of bounce and carry. South Africa may have opted to bowl on the second morning in anticipation of exactly that after they saw Zimbabwe’s quicks getting a lot of help from the surface in the first session on Saturday.Despite the early wickets and assistance for the seamers, Williams counterattacked. He got two early boundaries off Maphaka: one an outside edge flying past gully, and another a short-arm pull to deep-backward square leg. While Maphaka was taken for runs, Yusuf was much tighter: his in-between lengths drew the batters forward, and his line around the off stump checked the flow of runs.Zimbabwe however, ended the morning session without any further damage. Wiaan Mulder and Corbin Bosch replaced the new-ball bowlers, and continued to test the batters with accurate lines and lengths. Ervine was especially cautious, managing just nine runs off his first 44 balls. But he dispatched his second boundary when he cut hard at a short and wide delivery from Bosch in the 19th over, and that seemed to have injected some momentum into Zimbabwe’s innings.Sean Williams and Craig Ervine steadied Zimbabwe with a 91-run stand•Zimbabwe Cricket

Both Ervine and Williams found success by punching or slashing the ball behind – and in front of – square on the off side. Zimbabwe were chipping away with that partnership before Keshav Maharaj made things happen. He beat Williams after tossing one up at him in the 24th over, and could have had him stumped on 40 had Kyle Verreynne not fumbled on the first attempt.After lunch, with the ball turning into him, Williams decided to use the sweep against Maharaj. One of those attempts saw the ball pop up off his forearm, and just behind the slip fielder. Finally, it was Maharaj who broke through. Ervine skipped down the pitch to Maharaj, who floated one full and wide of off. Ervine, on 36, missed, and this time Verreynne flicked the bails off in time.Thereafter, it was all about the remaining batters playing a supporting role for Williams. Wessly Madhevere confidently swung Maharaj for six over long-on early in his innings, with the South Africa captain being attacked by Williams as well. Williams faced 52 balls from the left-arm spinner and scored 43 runs – a strike rate of 82.69 – including five boundaries.Twice Williams advanced down the pitch to convert potential length deliveries into full tosses, and heaved them away to the deep-midwicket boundary. Mulder trapped Madhevere for 15 in the 43rd over, but Williams remained firm. Four overs later, Williams got to his sixth Test hundred – the joint second-highest by a Zimbabwe batter – but next ball, saw Prince Masvaure, the concussion substitute for Bennett, edge Mulder behind.Wiaan Mulder finished with figures of 4 for 50•Zimbabwe Cricket

Mulder got his third when he had Tafadzwa Tsiga balloon a leading edge to point in the 49th over. Yusuf bagged his third wicket soon after when Wellington Masakadza got a faint tickle behind to Verreynne. At that stage, Zimbabwe were 217 for 7, still two runs short of avoiding the follow-on. But Williams comfortably got them past that mark in the company of Vincent Masekesa, who blocked and dabbed much to South Africa’s frustration.Williams’ stay ended at 137 when Maharaj had him stumped for Verreynne’s fifth dismissal of the innings. Masekesa, Blessing Muzarabani and Tanaka Chivanga added only two more runs from that point, as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 251, leaving South Africa 167 runs ahead in the first innings.Despite falling behind by a huge margin, Zimbabwe hit back early. Chivanga had Matthew Breetzke edging to gully for 1 in the second over, but Tony de Zorzi and Mulder kept South Africa on track. They survived the evening despite some help for the Zimbabwe seamers, and took the score to 49 and the lead to 216 without any further damage.

For the first time in the tournament, DRS will be used for all matches from the Super Sixes stage onwards

Firdose Moonda23-May-2023West Indies and Sri Lanka have been drawn in separate groups for the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifier, which will take place in Zimbabwe between June 18 and July 9. The ten-team event is made up of two groups of five, with hosts Zimbabwe, West Indies, Netherlands, Nepal and USA making up Group A, and Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland, Oman and UAE in Group B.After initially only confirming the presence of third umpires to monitor run-outs, the ICC has announced that DRS will be in use from the Super Sixes phase of the competition.In the first round of the competition, each side will play the other teams in their group once. The top three from each group will then progress to the Super Sixes stage, where they will only play the sides they did not meet in the group stage. The points won in the group stage against the other qualifiers will carry over to Super Sixes. The two teams with the most points at the end of the Super Sixes stage will compete in the final, though the outcome of that contest is of no immediate consequence, since both finalists will qualify for the World Cup, to be held in India in October and November this year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The two finalists will join hosts India, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, defending champions England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa, who qualified automatically through the World Cup Super League.The five bottom-placed teams from the Super League – West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Netherlands – along with the top-three teams from the World Cup League 2 – Nepal, Oman and Scotland – and two teams from a qualifier playoff – USA and UAE – will compete in the qualifier.Hosts Zimbabwe will take on Nepal while West Indies will face USA on the opening day at Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club respectively.The competition consists of 34 matches and will be played across four venues in Zimbabwe: Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club in Harare, and Queen’s Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club in Bulawayo.This is the second time the World Cup qualifier is being played in Zimbabwe, after they also hosted the 2018 edition of the tournament. There, with some fixtures affected by rain, Zimbabwe and Scotland narrowly missed out on qualification to the 2019 World Cup while West Indies and Afghanistan progressed to the tournament. West Indies will now make a second successive appearance at the qualifying tournament, while Sri Lanka appear for the first time. Zimbabwe, Ireland, UAE, Netherlands, Scotland and Nepal also feature for the second time.

Legspinner handed chance for game-time as stand-in for injured Matt Kuhnemann

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Apr-2023Matt Parkinson will feature for Durham against Derbyshire in the LV= County Championship on Thursday, after joining the club from Lancashire on a two-week loan.Legspinner Parkinson, 26, has featured in just one of Lancashire’s three Championship fixtures to date, taking 5 for 120 in the second innings against Surrey, and comes into the Durham line-up as a replacement for the injured Australia spinner, Matt Kuhnemann.The extra game-time is opportune for Parkinson, who was surplus to international requirements this winter and was also overlooked in last month’s Hundred draft. He has featured 12 times for England across formats, including a solitary Test appearance against New Zealand at Lord’s last summer, when he was called up as a concussion substitute for Jack Leach.”Following conversations between Matt and the club’s coaching staff, it was agreed that game time in the County Championship would be preferable,” Mark Chilton, Lancashire director of cricket performance, said.”Earlier this week, an opportunity arose for Matt to join Durham on loan and the deal has been agreed between both counties and the player.”This is a great opportunity for him to get some more overs under his belt in a more competitive environment. We are looking forward to seeing how he performs and to welcoming him back into the squad.”Kuhnemann had himself replaced fellow Australian Todd Murphy at Durham, but was unable to take the field on the final day of their drawn match against Durham after suffering a back problem, and will continue to be assessed by the club’s medical staff.Parkinson’s two-week stint covers a solitary Championship game. Durham are one of ten teams in action this week, with Lancashire sitting out the round prior to their match against Nottinghamshire starting at Trent Bridge on May 4, for which he will now be ineligible.

Michael Lewis pushed Victoria to their first win in Hobart in 25 years despite strong resistance from Michael Bevan

Cricinfo staff01-Sep-2005Victoria 162 & 9 for 432 dec beat Tasmania 101 & 366 (Bevan 167*, Wright 111, Lewis 6-84) by 127 runs

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Michael Lewis pushed Victoria to their first win at Hobart in 25 years despite strong resistance from Michael Bevan in the Pura Cup match at Bellerive Oval.
Bevan was unbeaten on 167, his first century for his new state, when Lewis picked up the No. 11 Brett Geeves to claim his sixth wicket.Lewis also broke the 215-run partnership, a Tasmanian record for the seventh wicket, between Bevan and Damien Wright, who reached his maiden first-class century after being 99 overnight. The pair joined at 6 for 46, adding respectablity to the second innings, but could not prevent Victoria registering their first six points of the summer.Victoria, the defending champions, last beat Tasmania at Hobart at the TCA ground in 1980-81. “It was a great win and created another bit of history,” the captain Cameron White said. “We are pretty relieved to be in the position we are in now.”

Aaron Finch also pitched in with a half-century, helping Australia progress to 6 for 277 at stumps on day one

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu14-Dec-20181:44

Laxman: Bumrah is leading the pace attack in a short span of time

Contrasting half-centuries from local boy Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch and Travis Head helped Australia overcome a mini-collapse of 4 for 36 and made India feel the heat – both literally and figuratively – on a 39-degree day at the new Perth Stadium. Despite the late dismissals of Shaun Marsh (45) and Head (58) on a pitch where one ball exploded and the next rolled at shin height, Australia progressed to 6 for 277 at stumps on day one.After India went into a Test without a frontline spinner for only the third time in their history, Harris and Finch, perhaps, made them rue the decision by putting on a 112-run opening stand. Although part-time offspinner Hanuma Vihari plucked out Harris and Marsh, India’s attack lacked the control a fit R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja could have provided. Their absence also ramped up the workload on Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, who had just sealed the Adelaide Test for India on Tuesday. Ishant even left the field in the post-tea session because of an abdominal strain before returning and stretching his body at the edge of the boundary.The scorecard will tell you Ishant conceded only 35 runs in 16 overs, but he had struggled for rhythm with the new ball. His lengths weren’t full enough and his lines didn’t quite threaten the stumps either. That umpire Kumar Dharmasena pulled him up for a front-foot no-ball, when he had a fair margin of his foot behind the crease, perhaps, rattled him.Finch, meanwhile, was rattled by a bevy of inswingers, including Shami’s first ball, which drew an lbw appeal. Despite Finch getting pinged above the knee-roll, India chanced a review and lost it, with ball-tracking confirming that it would have bounced over the stumps.Harris, though, at the other end was simply unflappable. He needed 16 balls to get off the mark, but once he bed in with a variety of strokes, he looked the part. He got cracking with a triptych of drives: back-to-back hits down the ground off Ishant and then one through the covers off Umesh Yadav. He was just as unflustered when Shami sent down a shooter that crept under his defensive bat and bounced twice before Rishabh Pant collected it in the 28th over. The next ball was scythed through cover-point and Harris continued to be severe on anything that was remotely full and wide outside off.1:53

Kartik: Finch needed this innings to resurrect his Test career

He raised his maiden Test fifty with a neat clip through midwicket and elicited warm applause from his coach Justin Langer, who has a stand named after him at this venue, and his father Kim Harris, who was in the grandstand. He could have been dismissed on 60 had KL Rahul latched onto a difficult catch at second slip off Shami.Finch scored a less fluent fifty before Bumrah pinned him with a perfectly pitched inswinger. Bumrah then got on a roll with the old ball and had bouncers snarling at Khawaja’s throat from around the wicket. Khawaja wore blows on his body, stabbed and fended his way to 1 off 25 balls against Bumrah. Something had to give, and that something was Khawaja throwing his hands at a short, wide ball from Umesh and nicking off for an utterly painstaking 5 off 38 balls. Three overs later, this place flew like the curator had promised. A back-of-a-length offbreak from Vihari took off like a NASA rocket and had Harris fending a catch behind to Pant for 70 off 141 balls.Three for 134 then became 4 for 148 when Peter Handscomb slashed Ishant to second slip, where Virat Kohli who had replaced Rahul pulled off a blinding one-handed catch.India’s seamers tested Head and Marsh with extra bounce after the pitch seemed to have quickened up in the final session. They somehow weathered the burst and settled down, adding 84 for the fifth wicket. However, three overs before the second new ball was due, Marsh chased a wide offbreak from Vihari and sent a thick outside edge flying to Ajinkya Rahane for a chest-high grab at first slip.Head pressed on to follow his first-innings 72 in Adelaide with an equally vital fifty here. However, he threw his wicket away when he went after a wide ball from Ishant and carved it to third man in the 83rd over. Tim Paine and Pat Cummins ushered Australia to stumps without any further damage and left India with a teasing thought: what might have been on a pitch where the ball is turning sharply for even a part-time spinner.

In the thrilling relegation play-off match which had all the emotion of a contest for survival, Brothers Union hit a six off the final ball to beat Agrani Bank in Savar

The Report by Mohammad Isam04-Apr-2018Nazmus Sadat’s scooped four off Rishi Dhawan’s final ball of the match earned his team a spot in the Dhaka Premier League for next season. In the thrilling relegation play-off match in BKSP which had all the emotion of a contest for survival, Brothers Union defeated Agrani Bank by four wickets.Needing nine runs off the final over, Sadat took a single off the first ball before Debabrata Das fell next ball. He had made 73 off 62 balls with six fours and three sixes, one of four fifties that propelled Brothers Union to 335 for 6.After Das’ dismissal, Sadat took a two and a single off the next two balls, before getting the strike back for the last ball with four runs needed to keep his club afloat. His audacious shot sunk Agrani Bank who had only earned promotion to the DPL this year. They now join Kalabagan Krira Chakra as the two clubs demoted to the Dhaka First Division Cricket League in the 2018-19 season.Brothers Union’s win also put to shade Soumya Sarkar’s blazing 154 off 127 balls that contained 11 sixes and nine fours, his first century in any competitive match in nearly three years. Soumya and Dhawan added 171 runs for the fifth wicket, which took Agrani Bank to 307-5 from a precarious 136 for four.Dhawan made an unbeaten 65-ball 80 that had nine fours and a six, but he saw helplessly as Agrani Bank’s last five wickets fell in the last 18 balls, adding just eight runs. In all the big-hitting carnage, Sohrawordi Shuvo and Shakhawat Hossain took three wickets each.The Brothers Union openers Mizanur Rahman and Junaid Siddique added 121 runs in just 13.4 overs before Mizanur fell for 62. He struck nine fours and two sixes in his 45-ball knock. Junaid, who top scored with 83, then added 77 runs for the second wicket with Myshukur Rahman. Junaid hit eight fours and two sixes but even after he fell in the 29th over, Myshukur and Das continued the onslaught. They added 88 runs for the third wicket with Myshukur making 82 off 95 balls with five fours and a six.The three partnerships took Brothers Union to within 49 runs of Agrani Bank’s 334, which they toppled thanks to Sadat’s cool thinking in the last over.The thrilling encounter sets up the DPL’s finale nicely, as Abahani Limited and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club have all to play for in the final day of matches in Mirpur and BKSP.

Uncapped India players were big gainers in the IPL auction 2016. Here are Deepak Hooda, Karun Nair, M Ashwin and Ishan Kishan’s reactions

Arun Venugopal and Vishal Dikshit06-Feb-2016Deepak Hooda, Sunrisers Hyderabad, INR 4.2 crore
I didn’t follow it closely. When one of my relatives told me [that I was picked] I went blank for a while. I instantly hugged all my friends who were with me. I knew it would be a good auction for me. I was confident of being picked up, but didn’t expect this price. My mom told me I had to focus more and work even harder. I felt that, ‘people trust me so much, I need to live up to it.'[Playing the Mushtaq Ali Trophy before the IPL auction] was a good thing. But pressure [there was a lot of pressure] because I knew what had happened to Rajasthan Royals, and I needed to keep performing to attract a new team. Given my IPL experience, there is also naturally more expected of me when I play for Baroda. But automatically [everything panned out well].I think the Ranji Trophy last season was very important to me. Also, winning the best allrounder award in domestic one-dayers last season. Munaf treats me like his younger brother and he taught me what life is about really, its ups and downs. Rahul , Monty [Desai] and others in the IPL were hugely helpful because I would keep asking them a lot of questions on getting better.Karun Nair, Delhi Daredevils, INR 4 crore
Obviously, my heart is still pounding. Many people have been mocking me [about how] I was going to go for this much [money] or that much. When people keep telling you, it sort of gets to your head, so I stopped thinking about it. I didn’t expect so much. I was only hoping to get what I got at Rajasthan Royals last year [INR 75 lakh]. That was the bare minimum I expected.M Ashwin, Rising Pune Super Giants, INR 4.5 crore
I expected to be picked but not this price. I got picked by a team that I didn’t go for trials [Ashwin had auditioned for three teams – Kings XI Punjab, Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore]. I was really nervous because my name came at the end and the purse was getting diminished. I sat in the same place with my dad from the morning [out of superstition]. I got excited even when I was bid for at the base price. I was happy at that time that some team had opted for me. I was not too keen on the money, but just wanted to play for an IPL franchise and gain experience.My wife, who was at her cousin’s place, was in tears when she heard the news. [The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy] before the IPL is a very big boost. It’s a great opportunity to come into the limelight. I saw it as a life-changing, life-altering tournament.Krunal Pandya, Mumbai Indians, INR 2 croreI am a left-arm spinner and he [Krunal’s brother, Hardik Pandya] is a seamer, but we are both hard-hitting batsmen. Both of us have played together from childhood, be it at More sir’s club or for Baroda. We had a dream to play at a competitive level together; that like Pathan brothers even the Pandya brothers should do well. For our parents, [it was the icing on the cake].Rahul Sanghvi sir and Kiran More sir [Mumbai Indians’ scouts] and Pravin Amre sir [Delhi Daredevils] would call me regularly to get updates about my progress [after a shoulder surgery last year]. That two big franchises were following my growth motivated me to get fit quickly.We struggled a lot financially. My father was the sole breadwinner but after he had three heart attacks there was no source of income. [our troubles didn’t end before Hardik made it to the IPL]. My father’s health improved after watching Hardik succeed.I always enjoyed Hardik’s success and he enjoyed mine. I told him on a lighter note that [I am a costlier player than you], and he responded: [get lost, I play for India].Ishan Kishan, Gujarat Lions, INR 35 lakh
I found out only after the match. But I’m not thinking much about it because it’s a kind of distraction and the mind gets diverted so just concentrating on the World Cup right now.[An IPL contract at this age] means a lot to a player, it gives a lot of happiness. You get confidence from it that you have to prove yourself in the World Cup so that people think that you’ve been picked for the right reasons.[On India Under-19s team-mate Rishabh Pant being bought by Daredevils for INR 1.9 crore] It’s a World Cup going on and semi-final is coming up so we are not seeing it individually that who got what in IPL. A lot of careers are yet to be made so we are trying to do our best in the World Cup.

It was the irascible Jarrod Kimber who spoke for much of the cricket world in his brief verdict on the brutal finish of the Dominica Test match. “Australia’s tail,” he tweeted, “is the second best Test team around after South Africa.”

Daniel Brettig in Roseau08-Jun-2015It was the irascible Jarrod Kimber who spoke for much of the cricket world in his brief verdict on the brutal finish of the Dominica Test match. “Australia’s tail,” he tweeted, “is the second best Test team around after South Africa.”Such ribbing of Australia’s batsmen has been going on inside the dressing room as well, and with good reason: the regularity of the lower order bailing out the top is one of the few longest running themes of the team, beginning even before the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn signalled the end of the golden age in 2007.At Windsor Park, Australia’s final four wickets piled up enough runs to leave West Indies in a parlous position, and the last one alone added 97 through an inspired union between Adam Voges and Josh Hazlewood. Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon also played their part, proving themselves more adept than their full-time batting colleagues at adapting to the prevailing conditions.Johnson, who was once spoken of as a potential allrounder but is now content to be the most destructive No. 8 batsman in the game, offered a warm grin when asked to expand on the performances of the Australian tail during his time in the team. It cannot be forgotten that Johnson’s stand with Brad Haddin on day one of the 2013-14 Ashes gave him enough of a platform to terrorise England with the ball.”There is a little bit of ribbing going on, not too much,” Johnson said. “We take pride in what we do down the bottom order there. Myself personally I like to score runs when I can and I know Mitchy Starc likes to and Josh did an outstanding job. To have that big partnership down the bottom was outstanding. We do pride ourselves on that and we’ve done that very well over the last few years where other teams haven’t quite being able to do it.”There has been a little bit of ribbing going on but we’ve got a big Test match coming up and I’m sure they [the batsmen] will be out there to put on some big partnerships and some hundreds so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”There is less reason to worry when the reasons for Australian lower-order success are examined. Chief among them is the fact that many of Australia’s bowlers possess techniques and methods far more correct than they used to be, and at times more aesthetically pleasing than those of the batsmen above.Johnson, Hazlewood and particularly the injured James Pattinson play with the clean lines and simplicity of top six players, while Nathan Lyon gets his eyes over the ball with fierce commitment and both Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris offer the sorts of robust, thumping techniques that can have fielders scurrying if they can survive their first few balls.By contrast, the relative struggles of Fawad Ahmed to be a batting concern of any merit have arguably played against his inclusion – if you want to bowl for Australia these days, you’d better be able to bat at least a little. Hazlewood’s growing confidence as an international cricketer is reflected in his batting as well as his bowling, while Starc can expect to offer more with the bat than he did in Dominica.”Josh is still really new to the game and still very fresh but he’s been able to go out there and play his game and do what he has done for New South Wales, and I guess do what he did as a junior,” Johnson said. “He’s got that height, he’s got a great pace about him, he can step it up when he needs to I think with his pace. But I think think what he does for our team he brings a great balance.”And Mitch Starc, I think there’s been a lot of talk about how good his one-day performances and Twenty20 performances have been, to be able to come into this Test match on a slow wicket a turning wicket and to be able to bowl the way he did, cleaned up the tail for us which was really exciting for me. But those two guys have been outstanding.”We’ve got a lot of fast bowlers in the Australian team that have been performing for a while and it is really hard being a fast bowler in Australia right now because we do have the stocks there, and you know, it is really exciting for Australian cricket.”And if the success of the bowlers must continue to be built upon runs of their own making, then at least they will be used to the pressure.

England Lions continued their unbeaten run to win the A team tri-series in Worcester, beating India A by five wickets in a big chase

Cricinfo staff08-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Andrew Gale top scored with 90 in England Lions’ title win•Getty Images

England Lions continued their unbeaten run to win the tri-series in Worcester, beating India A by five wickets in a big chase. There were five half-centurions in a high-scoring encounter, but the two that stood out were Andrew Gale, who top scored with 90, and Darren Stevens, who smashed 68 off 53 balls to help seal victory with eight balls to spare.England’s decision to field seemed to backfire when openers Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan delivered an attacking start by adding 68 in under ten overs. However, from there on, England, led by left-arm spinner Stephen Parry’s three-for on his Lions debut, kept India in check with timely breakthroughs, ensuring no partnership went past the 50-mark.Cheteshwar Pujara, who finished as the tournament’s highest run-getter, anchored the Indian innings with a knock of 87 off 89 balls, containing just six boundaries (four fours and two sixes). With some assistance from the lower order, he helped India post a competitive 278, but his bowlers failed in their defence.England lost captain Alastair Cook, returning after missing three games to a back problem, in the second over but recovered well. Opener Steven Davies struck 55, and added 76 for the second wicket with Gale. While India’s batsmen struggled to build partnerships, England showed no such difficulty.Gale received excellent support from Ravi Bopara in a stand of 68, followed by 71 more with Stevens, whose innings was laced with nine fours and a six. Gale fell in the 42nd over, but Stevens kept England ahead of the required rate and when he was dismissed with the score on 260 the rest just had to hold their nerve. James Taylor did just that in his unbeaten 19 and completed the formalities in the penultimate over.”This has been a really worthwhile series,” Cook said. “The most pleasing things is that every player has contributed at some stage over the series and helped us win. It’s a good opportunity particularly for the younger players to test themselves in this sort of tournament and to see how they measure up against touring sides.”