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It took until the last half-hour but Sussex finally broke Surrey’s resistance and completed a ten-wicket victory at Horsham

Sahil Dutta at Horsham09-Jun-2012ScorecardJames Anyon bowled Rory Hamilton-Brown late in the day to leave Sussex 22 to win•Getty Images

Sussex broke through belated Surrey resistance to seal a 10-wicket victory in the dying overs at Horsham. Though the result looked close in the end, with the Rory Hamilton-Brown finding support from the Surrey tail to take the game to the final half hour, the difference through the match was actually much larger.Surrey had been behind since surrendering their first innings on the opening day. Nonetheless, coming into the day on a benign surface with nine wickets in hand they stood a chance of seeing out a draw. Instead they slumped to 198 for 8 and at that stage looked like subsiding ingloriously. Yet Hamilton-Brown scrapped through 21 overs with John Lewis and Jade Dernbach to set nerves jangling among the home supporters.With the overs ticking by, tension, absent through the whole day, built alarmingly but Anyon burst through Hamilton-Brown’s defences to uproot off stump. A 160-ball 47 was a testimony to defiance from the Surrey captain, but he may wonder if greater intent might just have proved a better route to safety. Sussex needed 22 from the final six overs of the day, and the festival crowd, suitably lathered up after a day in the sun, cheered them all the way home.For a batting team normally on the reckless side of positive, Surrey were strangely subdued throughout. Hamilton-Brown’s bravado, that might have inspired a maverick counter-attack, was instead exchanged for a melancholic grit. Early on especially, he pushed and prodded and allowed Panesar to settle into a fine spell. A different approach may have delivered a different result.It was Panesar’s best match of the summer. He looked sprightly last evening, after his giddy fun with the bat, and settled into a rhythm straight-away today. He would have wanted more than three wickets and but applied the tourniquet, with 21 maidens from 32 overs, from which Sussex built their breakthroughs.Until the finale, Surrey never quite got to grips with the day. Mark Ramprakash began grimly, playing and missing his way to 9 from 70 balls, but having found some fluency – adding a further 28 in a hurry – he was pinned in front missing a sweep off Panesar. It was, though, Ramprakash’s highest score of the season and after using five different opening combinations in their previous eight games, Surrey will hope this one can remain for a while more.Zander de Bruyn survived two chances but could not cash in, instead becoming the second player to be trapped lbw sweeping Panesar. Tom Maynard missed the previous day’s fielding after being involved in a car accident. He looked forlorn today, suffering his way through 35 balls for 5. He and Hamilton-Brown, who normally form one of the most exciting batting pairs in the Championship, could only muster 16 between them in the best part of 13 overs. Eventually Chris Nash ended Maynard’s misery. Nash has been a golden partnership breaker for Sussex and his entrance into the attack was greeted by an increasingly cheerful home crowd. By his sixth delivery, Nash proved the locals’ faith correct by nailing Maynard in front.Farce followed when Hamilton-Brown was too late sending Gareth Batty back for a single towards mid-on, leaving Batty well short. Murali Kartik made it to tea before missing a gloriously rose-tinted swish and losing his off stump to the deserving Anyon. The victory chants were warming up in the crowd by then, but Sussex ran into tougher defence. After a 13 over stand, it took Nash, again, to remove Lewis, caught behind before, another tantalising wait later, Anyon finished the innings.Defeat left Surrey still chasing a second win having lost three and drawn three since beating Sussex in the opening match of the season. That wait will now go for much longer since the Twenty20 season has arrived but Surrey may well welcome it. The second half of the Championship summer is when they found their form last year and drier pitches may suit their batting line-up more.Sussex needed respite after successive defeats. As coach Mark Robinson admitted, they are remain a slightly callow team. “I think sometimes they lack a bit of self confidence but there is room in this team to grow. I think there is a lot more to come from us.” Victory will provide some of that assurance. When the second half of the season arrives, the scrap to avoid relegation will be compelling. Thanks to their win here, though, Sussex have probably avoided the pit.

Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis have been given the all clear by South Africa’s medical staff ahead of the team’s two-day tour match against Derbyshire

Firdose Moonda in Derby09-Aug-2012Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis have been given the all clear by South Africa’s medical staff ahead of the team’s two-day tour match against Derbyshire, which starts on Friday.Both will be available for selection for the game after overcoming a knee ligament injury and lower back spasms respectively. Opening batsmen Alviro Petersen is unlikely to play as he still requires a few days to recover from a grade one hamstring strain which he picked up in the Headingley Test. Albie Morkel, the allrounder, is only partially fit and will play solely as a batsman.Mohammed Moosajee, the South African team manager, said: “Graeme has fully recovered from the minor ligament sprain to his left knee and we also have positive feedback from Jacques, who has responded well to treatment following the acute back spasms that he suffered during the Test,”Kallis has had an increasing number problems with his back in recent years, something put down to the burden on his body after 17 years of playing international cricket. He responded to treatment in a short space of time though, which Smith said was a sign of his resilience and the way he is managed by the support staff.Kallis’ back seized up on the third afternoon of the match and he was immobile for the entire fourth day. After extensive physiotherapy he returned on the final day and batted and bowled with no sign of discomfort.”Alviro is progressing well with rehab after the grade one hamstring strain he sustained at Headingley but he is unlikely to feature in the tour match against Derbyshire,” Moosajee said. “He will be focusing on his rehabilitation with the aim of making sure he is fully fit for the final Test at Lord’s.”Petersen also missed the first warm-up on tour, against Somerset in Taunton, after he hurt a joint in his foot whole out jogging. His absence from the team will open the door for Faf du Plessis, who was included in the squad before the second Test, to play his first match in whites for a South Africa team.Du Plessis was brought in as cover for Morkel who hurt his left ankle but has made good progress. “Albie’s has responded well to the cortisone injection he received last week,” Moosajee said. “Our physiotherapist, Brandon Jackson, will work on getting him to full bowling fitness during the coming week.”

This is the first time players attached to Sri Lanka squads have tested positive for Covid-19

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Jan-2021Seam bowler Binura Fernando and seam-bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne have tested positive for Covid-19 after having begun training as part of a 22-member limited-overs squad ahead of next month’s tour of the West Indies.Both players have since been removed from the training group and asked to quarantine. *The remainder of the squad have also now been asked to isolate, because the players who returned positive results were involved in an all-in fitness test. The support staff involved have been instructed to isolate as well.According to an SLC release, the squad began training on January 18, and underwent a PCR Test on January 20, the results of which showed Fernando and Karunaratne to be positive for the virus. The players will have another PCR Test on January 26, following several days of isolation. If everyone (apart from the players who have tested positive) returns a negative PCR Test, the squad will return to training in three isolated groups.Sri Lanka will travel to the West Indies towards the end of February for two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.This is the first time players attached to Sri Lanka squads have tested positive for Covid-19. In 2020, SLC had run residential training camps through the middle of the year, and had also staged the Lanka Premier League without any major Covid-19 scares (two players had tested positive on arrival, but were quarantined immediately).These two players testing positive for Covid-19 does not have any effect on the biosecure bubble for the ongoing Test series involving England.*Aspects of this story have changed since new information has come to light.

Shakib Al Hasan voiced his frustration at Bangladesh’s early exit from the World T20s saying that the team should have taken the match against Pakistan to last five overs

Mohammad Isam27-Sep-2012Shakib Al Hasan voiced his frustration at Bangladesh’s early exit from the World T20s saying that the team should have taken the match against Pakistan to last five overs from “where it could [have gone] either way. But it seemed we were never in the game.” Shakib also added the team’s failure to do “elementary” things was annoying.Pakistan reached the target of 176 runs with eight balls to spare. A few overs earlier, in the 16th, they completed the progress to the Super-Eights when they crossed the 139-run mark that gave them a better net run-rate than Bangladesh.He explained how, while fielding, the basics went missing; the lack of commitment too peeved Shakib. “I didn’t like the way we lost. We should have been lively after scoring 175, saved around fifteen runs while fielding. I’m talking about elementary things like standing 10 yards inside the boundary on the larger side of the ground. This is just a matter of common sense,” he told Bangla daily in Kandy.”These things annoy me because neither the captain nor I can tell this every ball. Then the fielder doesn’t put in the dive as the ball nears the boundary line. The dive may not work but at least the action inspires another fielder. The others will run beside the ball, without diving, seeing this,”.”This is what I expected from the team when I was the captain and even now when I’m not the captain. I think I will expect these things all the time. If we had done everything properly and lost, I wouldn’t have felt so bad. I would have thought, ‘they are a better team on paper and on the field and as a result we lost’. The disappointment would have been two out of 10, now it is six.”Shakib’s criticism of the level of commitment is significant and though he has landed in hot water in the past for giving a forthright point of view, this time it is quiet justified. Bangladesh have now failed to qualify to the second stage in all of their last four appearances in global events starting from the 2009 World Twenty20s. They had a long build-up to this campaign but it amounted to nothing after they were struck down by Brendon McCullum’s second Twenty20 international century in their first group game before giving it away to Pakistan.Their point of inspiration should have been the way Shakib bounced back after a poor day against New Zealand. His 54-ball knock put him on top of individual scores made by a Bangladeshi in T20Is, beating Nazimuddin’s 81.”I don’t normally plan anything when I go out to bat in a T20 game. After the first game against New Zealand, I realised that if I bat naturally I can have a 110-120 strike rate. I didn’t have to force things. So against Pakistan when I had gathered enough confidence, I started playing my shots,” he said, adding that he only thought of going for the hundred in the final over of the Bangladesh innings.
“From a personal point of view, I had a good day. But the disappointment was to see the game being given away.”

Matthew Wade has a week to contemplate his receipt of a baggy green cap after the national selectors guaranteed his place as Australia’s wicketkeeper for the first Test against the West Indies in Bridgetown

Daniel Brettig in Barbados01-Apr-2012Matthew Wade has a week to contemplate his receipt of a baggy green cap after the national selectors guaranteed his place as Australia’s wicketkeeper for the first Test against West Indies in Bridgetown.In naming the team for a three-day fixture against a West Indies Board XI at the Three Ws Oval from Monday, the national selector John Inverarity rested Wade, David Warner and Michael Hussey – all three tagged for major roles against the hosts in the three Tests to follow. Peter Nevill will take the gloves in the tour match and thus walk his first steps in the national team uniform, but short of a bad training accident it will be Wade who dons the gloves at Kensington Oval from Saturday in the absence of Brad Haddin.Though he was always the next man in line once Haddin was forced home by personal reasons to be with his family in Sydney, Wade’s displays in the limited-overs matches have oscillated between the capable and the awkward. However he will gain confidence from the knowledge that his Test place is now certain.The match offers the returning captain Michael Clarke and numerous others a chance to get acquainted with Caribbean cricket. Ed Cowan, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris and Michael Beer will all play their first active part in the tour, Beer allowed to bowl though nominal 12th man for what has been deemed a first-class engagement.There is a buoyant mood around Barbados about the prospects of Darren Sammy’s team following tied ODI and Twenty20 series, in which Australia’s cricketers were confounded by opponents who demonstrated far more resilience than may have been anticipated. While three Tests promise to offer a much more complete examination of a team, the Australians have grown rather more guarded about the battles to be fought across the next month in Bridgetown, Port of Spain and Roseau.Ponting, who first toured the West Indies in 1995 and has witnessed both memorable victories and stunning defeats in the region, said the team had spoken frankly of the task ahead following the undulating path followed during the limited-overs leg of the tour.”[It is] hard to make judgements on them after just one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket,” Ponting said. “The thing that always tests out countries without great depth is Test match cricket. The Kiwis are probably a really good example of that, In Twenty20 and one-day cricket they’re always very competitive but once the longer version of the game comes around they find it hard to win games.”You’ve got to give the Windies credit for what they did in the one-dayers and T20s here, but I guess by the end of the Test matches we’ll have a better idea of where they’re at. We spoke yesterday about how competitive they’ll be and we have to be prepared for that.”We’re definitely not taking them for granted or taking them lightly. I guess that’s a big part of my job in the next few days, to make sure we don’t get too carried away with things and preparing as we would for one of the powerhouse nations in world cricket.”Led by the wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, the WICB President’s XI is dotted with players of Test match ambition and potential, alongside a few experienced heads including Fidel Edwards, Devon Smith and Baugh himself. Johnson Charles and Kieran Powell have the chance to follow up on their appearances in the limited-overs matches, Powell in particular wanting to make a better impression in creams.”I am very much looking forward to the game,” Powell said, having also shrugged off illness since he was dropped from the ODI team following three slim scores. “It is a wonderful opportunity not only for me, but the other players on the team to go out there and do well.”I have done some technical work with the coaches to help overcome some of the errors I have made, but I was sick over the last week, and did not train too much. I think things have been coming together nicely over the last few days and I believe I am in a much better place now.”WICB President’s XI squad Carlton Baugh (capt, wk), Ryan Austin, Nkrumah Bonner, Johnson Charles, Kyle Corbin, Fidel Edwards, Jason Holder, Delorn Johnson, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas.Australians Ed Cowan, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Peter Forrest, Peter Nevill (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon, Michael Beer (12th man but can bowl).Edited by Brydon Coverdale

Scotland claimed a comfortable 18-run win over Nottinghamshire on the Duckworth/Lewis method in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B clash in Edinburgh

07-May-2012
ScorecardScotland claimed a comfortable 18-run win over Nottinghamshire on the Duckworth/Lewis method in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B clash in Edinburgh.Nottinghamshire were put into bat and posted 219 for 7 at the Grange, with captain and wicketkeeper Chris Read top-scoring with 59 and Josh Davey and Majid Haq taking two wickets apiece.The Saltires, seeking to respond from yesterday’s rain-affected loss to Surrey, this time came out in credit after the weather forced a revision of the target.The visitors made a circumspect start before losing wickets in successive overs. Alex Hales was bowled for 18 by Matthew Parker in the sixth over and Riki Wessels followed in the seventh for one, caught by Calum MacLeod off the bowling of Evans, to leave Nottinghamshire 25 for 2.Samit Patel joined Michael Lumb to restore some stability, but in the 14th over the opener perished, caught behind off the bowling of Richie Berrington for 26. James Taylor and Patel took the visitors into three figures before Patel was out for 36 from 43 balls, caught by MacLeod to become Haq’s first victim.Read and Taylor set about the Scottish attack and built a useful partnership which came to an end when the latter attempted to up the ante further. Again MacLeod was the catcher off Haq’s bowling, Taylor departing in the 32nd over having made 34 runs off 56 balls.Steven Mullaney then provided able support to Read, who fell four overs from the end, caught by Ryan Flannigan off the bowling of Davey. Davey claimed his second wicket in his next over as Paul Franks fell, MacLeod again claiming the catch.The visitors survived the remaining nine balls unscathed, but their total soon looked short as MacLeod and Davey made a fast start, powering along to 73 without loss after 15 overs.MacLeod reached a 57-ball half-century, with six fours and a six, before the partnership reached three figures in the 21st over. They had advanced to 108 from 23 before rain halted play, 18 runs ahead of the D/L par, with MacLeod on 58 and Davey 44.Patel and Mullaney were economical among a struggling bowling attack which proved unable to make any inroads into the hosts’ line-up.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews suggested his side needed to stray from their traditional Test match strategy at home to give themselves the best chance of beating Bangladesh in the second Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo15-Mar-2013Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews suggested his side needed to stray from their traditional Test match strategy at home to give themselves the best chance of beating Bangladesh in the second Test starting tomorrow at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.Sri Lanka have depended on their spin bowling in home Tests in the past and have generally played on pitches conducive to turn early in the match. But a strong batting performance from Bangladesh in the first Test, during which they played the hosts’ two frontline spinners with ease, and a Premadasa pitch likely to favour seam bowlers has made Mathews rethink his options.In the last 17 home Tests, Sri Lanka have played only twice with fewer than two frontline slow bowlers in the side.”We have to take 20 wickets to win a Test match and have to think how we are going to take those 20 wickets,” Mathews said. “We have to go with a plan. When teams like Australia, England and New Zealand come to Sri Lanka, we get a lot of pitches that help spin bowlers, but I think Bangladesh play spin bowling well. We have to take stock of that situation.”Mathews said the pitch in Galle did not offer any assistance to bowlers, as batsmen amassed 1613 runs in the Test, but expected the pitch for the second Test to be better for the fast bowlers, stressing that the bowlers needed to be positive. The track has a thin layer of grass on the eve of the match and has also been better for fast bowlers since it was re-laid in 2010.”It looks a very good sporting wicket – a seamer-friendly wicket. When you play against Bangladesh, you need to try and be as positive as you can,” he said. “There is a possibility of an additional seamer coming in, but we haven’t finalised our XI yet.Mathews said Sri Lanka had worked on building a battery of reliable bowlers, and would not look to make drastic changes to the attack, despite its ineffectiveness during the first Test.
“We haven’t changed our bowling department in the recent past,” he said. “When it comes Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga and Rangana Herath, they have always been there in the Test matches. It’s not a case of us cutting and chopping. Herath will be our number one spinner and, if we opt for three seamers, Ajantha Mendis will probably sit out.””We can’t play one less batsman, because everyone is pretty set in their position. We have tried a couple of young batters and they have lived up to our expectations. We’ll play four genuine bowlers.”Mathews stressed there was no additional pressure on the side after Bangladesh drew the first Test, having lost on all the previous occasions they had played Sri Lanka in Tests.
“There’s not really any added pressure. As I said before the first Test, Bangladesh have played some really good cricket in the recent past. They are a dangerous side and we can’t underestimate them.”

Left-arm spinner played a key role in county’s 2015 T20 Blast triumph

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2020Stephen Parry has left Lancashire after 16 years at the county, and will take up a coaching position at the Thunder, the Manchester-based women’s regional hub, over the winter.Parry, the left-arm spinner, is Lancashire’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket, and won seven England white-ball caps between 2014 and 2015 after years of consistent performances in the county game. Most notably, he finished joint-top of the wicket charts in the 2015 T20 Blast alongside team-mate James Faulkner, with the pair leading Lancashire to their only T20 title.His opportunities in the County Championship were limited by the presence of two other left-arm spinners – Gary Keedy and Simon Kerrigan – in the first team, though he did play 13 games in the 2017 season, taking 25 wickets.After signing a one-year extension with the club ahead of the 2020 season, Parry was awarded a testimonial year in recognition of his service. While that was blighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the club has agreed to extend it into next summer instead.ALSO READ: County ins and outs, 2020-21Parry made only one first-team appearance in the shortened 2020 summer, taking 1 for 17 in four overs against Derbyshire in the Vitality Blast. He has not officially retired from playing, and will play as a professional for Lowerhouse CC in the Lancashire Leagues next season.”It has been an honour to represent this great club for such a long period of time,” Parry said. “I am truly grateful to everybody at Emirates Old Trafford for their support since I very first walked through the doors. I started representing Lancashire at U-10 level so to graduate through the academy and play for the red rose for 16 years has been a dream come true.”I feel extremely lucky to have not only represented my boyhood to county but to have also tested myself on the international stage, which would not have been possible without the platform given to me by Lancashire. I am sad to be leaving behind a great dressing room – many who are now friends for life – and I wish nothing but the best for the Club as they move forward with an exciting, young squad.”Paul Allott, Lancashire’s director of cricket, said: “His work ethic and love for the club consistently shone through and he has been part of some huge moments, none more so than the 2015 Blast win.”In recent seasons, Stephen has seen first XI opportunities limited. However, he took on a senior role in the club’s Second XI passing on his invaluable experience to our next generation of up and coming players. I know how much he’s looking forward to getting involved in a coaching capacity with Thunder and we all agreed that it was important to support him with his extended testimonial year.”

Ed Cowan wants to force Shane Watson down the Australian batting order on his return to the Test team by making himself indispensable at the top

Daniel Brettig20-Jan-2012Ed Cowan wants to force Shane Watson down the Australian batting order on his return to the Test team by making himself indispensable at the top.Appointed vice-captain to Michael Clarke in April last year, Watson has missed every Test match of the home summer due to hamstring and calf problems.Before his injury Watson, 30, had been Australia’s senior opening batsman, but the promotion of Cowan and David Warner has opened an avenue for him to be shuffled down the order into a position more favourable to an allrounder. Cowan, 29, said he wanted to dissuade any lingering thoughts of Watson resuming at the top with a hefty score in the fourth Test against India at Adelaide Oval.”He (Watson) is probably the best player in the country so they certainly do have to fit him in,” Cowan said in Sydney. “It’s no different to any other team, when guys are coming back you’ve got to hold your place in the team through weight of runs.”How I see my job is to make it so difficult for the selectors that Shane Watson has to bat somewhere else in the batting order. That’s simply done by me going out and making runs and the rest takes care of itself. If they’re having a discussion ‘should Shane Watson be opening the batting’, then I’m not doing my job.”Successful as he has been as an opening batsman and change bowler since his Test match recall in 2009, Watson may still be capable of more. A tendency to be dismissed between 50 and 100 means he has never been able to make the truly match-shaping scores expected of the best openers, while he has admitted to struggling with the mental demands of walking off the park a bowler and zipping straight back out after the change of innings as a batsman.Moved out of the top three, Watson would have more time to re-train his sights. Such a demotion would also sharpen the focus on Watson’s bowling, a skill he has wrestled with jettisoning entirely at times during a career more speckled with injury than anyone would have liked.Cowan’s focus is entirely devoted to blunting the new ball then prospering aftewards, and he has already formed a partnership of ideal contrasts with the combative and aggressive Warner. However Cowan admitted that his scores so far had not yet made him safe in his position, as the selectors cast an eye ahead towards Test matches in the West Indies in April.”Two fifties in three games … that’s okay, that’s a pass, but it’s not brilliant,” Cowan said. “The only disappointing thing for me is to have two 50s rather than two 100s. I pride myself on being able to score the big score once I’m set so that’s been a disappointing aspect but I am trying to rectify that this week.”That’s why there’s excitement for this Test as well, to really cement that spot and make that a really difficult conversation for the tour of the West Indies.”There was an admission from Cowan that he had perhaps diverted his focus from the narrow objective of the next ball when he had advanced to 68 in Melbourne and 74 in Perth. Thoughts of a century had clouded his thinking, leading to his dismissal in each case.”I have probably thought about it too much once I am in,” he said. “There was that moment in Perth where I looked up and thought ‘I am flying again this morning, if I keep going like this I will be 100 by lunch’ and all of a sudden I was sitting on my bum back in the change room.”The key to those big scores [in the lead-up to his Test debut] has been to continue with my rhythms and mental routines and maybe not look at the scoreboard too much.”Australia’s players flew into Adelaide from home ports on Friday afternoon, reconvening for the chance to inflict a second 4-0 drubbing on India in as many away series for the world’s No. 2-ranked Test team. Cowan said he detected no trace of relaxation among the hosts despite the series being won conclusively in Perth.”It’s exciting that we’re on the verge of something special as a team,” he said. “Four-nil would be an absolute drubbing of the second best team in the world.”

Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja got the nod, Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh just missed out, but there was also plenty of discussion about the veteran Michael Klinger in Australia’s selection meeting ahead of the first Test against New Zealand

Brydon Coverdale30-Oct-20151:03

‘Just happy to be playing again’ – Khawaja

Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja got the nod, Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh just missed out, but there was also plenty of discussion about the veteran Michael Klinger in Australia’s selection meeting ahead of the first Test against New Zealand. At 35, Klinger seemed unlikely to be seriously considered for the start of a rebuilding process after a number of post-Ashes retirements.However, his double-century for Western Australia in the first round of Sheffield Shield matches was timely as the younger contenders around the country failed to have an impact in the last innings before the squad was chosen. It was Klinger’s 14th century across all formats in the past year, and head coach and selector Darren Lehmann said his name had been part of the discussion.”We spoke about him quite a lot, to be perfectly honest,” Lehmann said on SEN radio in Melbourne on Friday. “He was very, very close. It’s a tough one isn’t it. His experience is there. He’s 35, we’ve already got Adam Voges who is 36. Do we want to go down that path?”Age is not too much of an issue, but when we’re looking at players over a period of time – he averages 38 in first-class cricket, Khawaja averages 40 for example and he’s seven or eight years younger. Sometimes you just have to go with a gut feel. It’s a tough call sometimes. But we certainly looked at him.”National selector Rod Marsh was blunt when asked about Klinger, declaring that although he had been discussed, his long-term performance had not been such that he warranted jumping ahead of the younger men.”Of course we’ve looked at Michael Klinger,” Marsh said. “He’s got to keep making runs. “Have you looked at Michael Klinger’s batting average in first-class cricket? It’s not as good as the other boys. Part of our selection policy is if you’ve got two blokes that are absolutely equal you go for the younger bloke, and I think that’s very fair.”If one bloke is noticeably better and is more likely to influence the outcome of a game, then you pick the old bloke. But if they’re not noticeably better and they’re not likely to influence the outcome of a game, then you must always go with your youth. That’s our policy, and whether you agree with it or not, it’s irrelevant.”Although Klinger’s long-term figures might appear slightly underwhelming, he has enjoyed a productive period in his thirties. In the past two years he has averaged 45.95 in first-class cricket, with 11 centuries, but even if Burns and Khawaja fail to grasp their chances against New Zealand it would appear more likely that younger men such as Bancroft would be the next contenders.Michael Klinger’s recent double-century for Western Australia was his 14th century across formats in the past year•Getty Images

Bancroft had been part of the squad named for the abandoned tour of Bangladesh, and would likely have opened with Burns had that trip gone ahead, with David Warner out of action due to a fractured thumb. Burns debuted in Test cricket at No. 6 but now has the opportunity to become Warner’s new opening partner, having thrived as an opener for Queensland – he averages 46.58 as a first-class opener for the Bulls.”I guess my last two years for Queensland has been as an opening batter and I feel really comfortable and confident in that role,” Burns said. “I’ve had some consistent success there, so it is very easy to just slide in and I guess the fact that the first game is at the Gabba, my home ground, makes it a little bit easier as well. So, it is a challenge that I’m really looking forward to; I’m excited about the prospect of opening the batting for Australia”Burns averages 40.86 at the Gabba, which is also the adopted home ground of the now Queensland captain Khawaja. It has been an especially productive venue for Khawaja, who averages 67.46 from nine first-class matches there, and now has a chance to play his first home Test in nearly four years.Khawaja’s return to the side is all the more impressive given that last December he suffered a serious knee injury that put him out of action until the middle of this year. He said there were times during his lay-off that he wondered if his career might have been over, but now he has the chance to build the solid Test career that he has promised since his debut in 2011.”It’s massive, I’m just happy to be playing cricket again,” Khawaja said. “I was thinking about it this morning and at one point I thought – with the knee injury my career might have been over. And then obviously I did a ton of work to get back. I’m just happy to be playing cricket again, it’s a lot of fun. So yes it’s a big bonus I think.”