Former England batter won title with Perth Scorchers in 2016-17

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2021Ian Bell was a Big Bash champion with Perth Scorchers in 2016-17 but returns to the league five seasons later hoping to inspire Hobart Hurricanes to the title.Bell retired from professional cricket at the end of the English domestic season in 2020 and has moved into coaching: he worked with England Under-19s as a batting coach across the 2019-20 winter and was part of Birmingham Phoenix’s coaching staff during their run to the inaugural men’s Hundred final this summer.He has now been appointed as one of two assistant coaches at the Hurricanes ahead of their BBL season opener on December 8 against Sydney Sixers, the defending champions, and has arrived in Australia following a stint with Chennai Braves in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.”I’m so excited to be joining up with the Hurricanes and working alongside Adam Griffith,” Bell said. “The Big Bash is without doubt one of the best competitions in world cricket, and having previously taken part as a player, I can’t wait to get stuck in as a coach.”Bell captained Warwickshire in their T20 guise as the Birmingham Bears during the 2016 Blast, during which Matthew Wade, the Hurricanes’ captain, was one of their overseas players, while two of the Hurricanes’ three international recruits – Jordan Thompson and Harry Brook – are compatriots.”I already know a great deal about the team having either played with them before or having admired them from afar, and I’m certain we have got some serious talent in there,” Bell said. “I was fortunate enough to win the BBL as a player and I would love nothing more than to be a small cog in a winning team but this time as a coach.”

England quick marks BBL debut with four wickets inside the first three overs of Thunder’s defence of 196

AAP19-Dec-2021
Saqib Mahmood made BBL history before Brisbane Heat’s tail saved some face as Sydney Thunder won by 53 runs at the Gabba.On debut for Thunder, English quick Mahmood became the first man in the BBL and only the 10th person in T20 cricket anywhere in the world to take four wickets inside the first three overs of an innings.Mahmood couldn’t believe his luck when Jimmy Peirson clipped one to deep fine leg, giving him 4 for 9 from just 11 balls after his first delivery was sent to the boundary by Chris Lynn.Lynn, Ben Duckett and Sam Heazlett all fell though, with the chase of the Thunder’s 7 for 196 looking all but over.A horror run-out added to Heat’s misery, the hosts sinking to 5 for 15 inside the first three overs, before bowlers Xavier Bartlett and Mark Steketee combined for a BBL record 79-run eighth wicket stand.That pair’s partnership came too late for Heat to even salvage the Bash Boost point, Steketee eventually falling just as a miracle comeback victory was being entertained.Sam Billings (64 off 27) had earlier powered the Thunder’s innings, the English wicketkeeper hitting five sixes and five fours as he swept both spinners and pacemen over the rope. His innings came after Alex Hales and Jason Sangha had set the tone, leaving Heat a huge chase if they were to win a second straight game.It could have been an even steeper task if not for Mitchell Swepson bowling Sangha around his legs. Bartlett also took two wickets but went for 45 from his four overs, while Steketee also grabbed two wickets on his return from national duties where he was briefly called up to bolster the squad after Pat Cummins’ Covid close contact drama.Thunder held back the in-form Alex Ross until the final over despite him coming off three unbeaten knocks, his last a whirlwind 77 off 49.Ross thought he’d found a boundary, but his lap sweep was well caught by wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson. He had deflected the ball past his off stump towards fine leg, but Peirson reacted incredibly well to pouch the catch in his left hand.Tom Cooper entered the game as the Heat’s X-factor sub, in for Tom Abell after he jammed his hip while attempting an outfield catch in the second over.

Tours by SA, Australia, Netherlands and India women will now be confined to a small list of venues

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2022New Zealand Cricket has announced a revised home international schedule for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, with its venue list streamlined in order to mitigate the risk of disruption by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.South Africa’s upcoming visit for two men’s Tests, as a result, will be confined to Christchurch – originally they were scheduled to play one Test there and one in Wellington.All three men’s T20Is against Australia will now be played in Napier, and Netherland’s visit for a men’s white-ball tour will be split between Mount Maunganui (one-off T20I and one ODI) and Hamilton (two ODIs).India women, meanwhile, will play their entire white-ball series (one T20I and five ODIs) in Queenstown.”These risk mitigations are based on avoiding known Covid-19 hotspots, and include limiting air travel, limiting accommodation transfers and, essentially, operating in safer environments,” said NZC chief executive David White.”We know the more domestic flights we have, and the more movement there is between hotels, the greater the chance of a match or even a series being put at risk.”Wellington is set to be hardest hit by the streamlining of venues. Apart from the second Test against South Africa, it was also set to host two of the T20Is against Australia.”It’s a real blow for those in our cricket family who have missed out on hosting events through no fault of their own.”However, the current environment demands we take every possible measure to, 1) ensure people are safe and well, and 2) deliver a summer of international cricket with the least possible disruption.”Fans who have purchased tickets at venues that will no longer host games are entitled to a full refund.

Numbers suggest pace will play an important part but Andrew McDonald is ready to adapt

Andrew McGlashan23-Feb-20221:10

Marnus Labuschagne explains how Steven Smith helped with his spin mat

Usman Khawaja is set to retain the opening spot in Australia’s Test XI on return to the country of his birth, but there is the prospect of some flexible thinking for the other selections against Pakistan.Australia’s senior team has not toured the country since 1998, and there have only been five Tests staged in Pakistan since the game returned in 2019, so data is limited while there are no warm-up matches ahead of the series. There is a reasonable chance that the balance of Australia’s Test side remains the same as in the recent Ashes, with three quicks and a spinner alongside Cameron Green – pace has averaged 29.61 and spin 39.41 in those five matches since 2019 – but interim head coach Andrew McDonald is confident the squad will have the ability to adapt.”We are taking some educated guesses based upon what we’ve seen in recent times,” he said. “Looking at the PSL, looking at the squares…it’s at the back end of their season. Our preparation takes on a greater range and probably less specific than what we’d do if we knew exactly what we were getting.Related

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• Andrew McDonald: Coaching recruitment 'won't become a distraction' on Pakistan tour

“We are covering all bases, from turning wickets to wickets with grass on – they have a sensational pace attack, so we’ll be tested with that – there’s many ways that they can play it and they are in control of their own conditions. We feel as though the squad is balanced with enough options for whatever the case may be.”One of the options that could come into play is Green playing as a third pace bowler if a second frontline spinner is selected, with his performances against England – he claimed 13 wickets at 15.76 – giving confidence that he could take on the role both from a wicket-taking and workload capacity.McDonald also mentioned the presence of Mitchell Marsh in the squad as another way Australia could give themselves extra pace resources should additional spin be selected.”If it did go that way, Cameron Green would bowl a lot more overs in the first innings than potentially what he normally would, but over the course of a game, the spinners would probably pick up a lot more of the work in the second innings. So it would probably level out to be similar loads,” McDonald said. “We are cautious it’s a long-term journey for Cameron, but what he’s been able to deliver has been second to none so far, so we are excited about the fact that he could do that role. Then you’ve got other options in terms of Mitch Marsh, [could] play two allrounders, so we’ve got great flexibility.”Cameron Green gives Australia options in balancing their side•Getty Images

One position that is unlikely to be debated ahead of the first Test is the presence of Khawaja as David Warner’s opening partner. He took the job for the final Test against England in Hobart after his twin hundreds in Sydney made an irresistible case for him to be retained.That led to the dropping of Marcus Harris just two matches after he had made the highest score of the Melbourne Test with 76. Harris will head to Pakistan with runs under his belt after making 55, 5 and 91 in the Sheffield Shield alongside an unbeaten 102 in the Marsh Cup.Harris and Marsh will likely be the spare batters on the tour should injury or Covid strike any of the incumbents, and McDonald believed Harris would be able to take on a variety of positions.”Usman you would say is a fair chance to start in the first Test match after what he did during this summer,” McDonald said. “But we’ve got some options, some competition for spots, and that’s always healthy.”We know what [Harris] can do. Can he fit into the middle order if something were to go awry there? That’s a potential as well. If he was to be called upon, or he were to start, through whatever reason, we feel as though you could do a job. No doubt about that.”

Multan Sultans’ 163 proved too much for Lahore Qalandars, who lost by 28 runs

Danyal Rasool23-Feb-2022Lahore Qalandars might have beaten them in the group stages, but Multan Sultans showed why they won the other nine, squeezing out a gritty 28-run win over the home side to book their place in their second successive final. An unbeaten 42-ball 65 from Rilee Rossouw on a pitch that proved especially tricky to bat on helped the Sultans post 163, which in hindsight was a better total than it appeared at the time. The bowlers picked up the mantle from thereon, a disciplined showing as a unit withstanding an onslaught from Fakhar Zaman that threatened to throw the Sultans at the mercy of Friday’s eliminator. Once the in-form opener was trapped in front by David Willey for 63 off 45, the Qalandars middle and lower order crumbled, and the relentless defending champions closed the game out with comfort.After the Qalandars won the toss and opted to field, Mohammad Rizwan carried his bat, though failed to find his rhythm all innings in a scratchy – albeit unbeaten – 51-ball 53. It might be the surface, but the Qalandars were especially parsimonious, with Hafeez allowing just 16 runs in his four overs, while Shaheen Afridi and Samit Patel kept things tight up top. The dangerous Shan Masood was trapped in front off Hafeez’s first ball, and the surface, combined with a nervy abundance of caution from the defending champions saw them restrained for much of the innings.The Sultans had been dealt a huge blow after Tim David was ruled out with a positive Covid test, and Aamer Azmat was promoted to No. 3 after the early dismissal. His intentions were clear straight away, taking a couple of boundaries off Shaheen Afridi’s second over, taking control while Rizwan took his time to bed in. By the time he fell, looking to take on Samit Patel and finding himself out of his crease, he’d struck a crisp 22-ball 33, and the Sultans had a platform.With Khushdil Shah and Johnson Charles waiting in the dugout, there was perhaps a case for Rizwan throwing caution to the wind, but the decisive moves were made by Rossouw down the other end. Even the South African didn’t quite find his timing early on, managing 28 off his first 22, but pushed through the gears in the final six overs. A key 18th-over onslaught against Haris Rauf, where Rossouw smashed a four and six, brought up a 33-ball half-century, and that the Sultans plundered 83 off the last eight overs was almost solely down to the left-hander.For the last two games on the trot, Qalandars had fallen short chasing what seemed like low totals, and they began extremely cautiously once more. Unlike those occasions, however, Fakhar didn’t give his wicket away early, though on a pitch where bowlers were hard to get away, the rising asking rate remained a perennial concern. Asif Afridi cleaned Abdullah Shafique up and Kamran Ghulam felt chancing his luck on a risky single. Khushdil, who has been a revelation with the ball this season, then trapped Mohammad Hafeez for a three-ball duck the following over. By the halfway stage, the Qalandars had shuffled along to 59 for 3, with the asking rate already in double digits.Fakhar’s presence at the crease provided the most realistic source of hope to a near-capacity crowd at the Gaddafi Stadium, and in the 12th over against the wily old Imran Tahir, the left-hander made his move. Three successive sixes – the third a monstrous strike into the second tier – suddenly reminded the Sultans the game wasn’t over, and from under a run-a-ball, Fakhar was all of a sudden bringing up a 37-ball 50.But Sultans’ varied slew of bowlers know what it takes to chip away, and chip away they did. Shahnawaz Dahani, who’s purple patch last year has been replaced by occasional patches of form this time, struck Harry Brook in front of the stumps and removed the man who’s scored one of this season’s three PSL hundreds. But it was Willey who truly put the nail in the home side’s coffin when he trapped Fakhar lbw. It was one of two key wickets in a three-over spell from the Englishman, and finally broke Qalandars’ back.What followed was a blur of Sultans’ dominance as Shaheen Afridi’s side collapsed in on themselves. They would lose six wickets for 26 runs as the lower order offered no resistance, with Dahani, who finished with three wickets, the pick of the bunch. Lahore may get another bite at the cherry, but the home side are now one game away from watching their dream of an elusive PSL title go up in smoke once again. The embers, this time, were lit by the irrepressible defending champions, who remain on fire, with every side clueless as to how to put it out.

England’s all-time leading wicket-taker says he has had no feedback after being controversially omitted for Caribbean

Matt Roller11-Apr-2022James Anderson says he has “stopped trying to make sense” of his omission from England’s Test squad for their series defeat against West Indies and that he remains unclear “what the reset thing actually means” after minimal contact from the ECB.Anderson, along with his long-term team-mate and close friend Stuart Broad, was left out of the squad that travelled to the Caribbean last month and has kept a low profile since, only addressing his non-selection briefly in appearances on his podcast and in a BBC radio show.Discussing his England future in-depth for the first time since being left out, Anderson said that he had not heard anything from Joe Root, Paul Collingwood or Andrew Strauss since the squad left the UK in February and said that he still failed to understand the decision.Related

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“Absolutely not,” Anderson said. “I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it and just put it to one side. It was completely out of my control. I’ve got to focus on what I can control and that is bowling as well as I possibly can.”It feels a bit strange at the minute. I’m still centrally contracted but I’ve not had too much feedback from them because a lot is up in the air in terms of director of cricket and head coach. I have just been working with Glen [Chapple, Lancashire’s head coach] and Sam [Byrne, physio] here, just trying to figure out what the best way forward is.”For the last few years, I have been thinking about that [life after cricket] anyway; it is just natural to think about that when you get to a certain age,” he added. “People keep asking you the question of how long you are going to go on for. I don’t think that has changed much really.”My focus has always been, if I can still perform and my body is up to the challenge then I will keep doing that. I’ll have to take it season-by-season. If the England call doesn’t come, I will still play here this season. I have never looked too far ahead in my career. It’s always game-by-game and series-by-series and season-by-season.”Anderson’s situation is complicated by the fact he is employed by the ECB as a centrally-contracted player, rather than by Lancashire, but he said that there had been no meaningful contact with any decision-makers since his omission.”I’ve spoken to the head physio,” he said. “There’s nobody in those positions permanently so I’m presuming that is why I’ve not heard anything. As I said, when those positions are filled, we’ll see.” Asked if he hoped the new managing director would speak to him once in post, he replied: “That would be nice.””They [England] just need a really good coach,” he added. “It’s not about me [but] the team needs a coach in place ASAP. It’s not that far until the start of the international summer so I think the sooner the better.”It’s been a difficult time for everyone. After an Ashes defeat, everything comes under scrutiny. There’s lots going on – people losing their jobs and stuff. I would have loved a sit-down, face-to-face, but obviously that’s not always possible in these situations. I would have loved more than a five-minute phone call, but again, that’s not always possible in these situations. It is what it is.”Strauss, the interim managing director and one-third of the selection panel that picked the squad along with Collingwood and James Taylor, has launched a high-performance review into red-ball cricket following England’s recent winless run and has spoken in general terms about launching a “red-ball reset” which will transform the Test team’s fortunes.That phrase, coined by Root after Australia thrashed England at the MCG to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Ashes, has been used throughout the winter but remains nebulous to Anderson.”I still don’t really know what that means, really,” he said. “I think after an Ashes defeat there is always a lot of focus on Test cricket. It is always the way but to be honest our Test form has been poor for two years.”So it’s not a sudden Ashes defeat and it’s ‘we have to do something about it’. It has been a tough few years for us as a Test team. I think it is a natural thing that everything comes under scrutiny. I’m not too sure what the reset thing actually means.”Root has publicly insisted that Anderson and Broad have a route back into the England set-up, starting with early-season wickets in the County Championship, but suggested that his side had “definitely made big improvements” in their attitude in the Caribbean after their defeat in Grenada.The implication was that Anderson and Broad had been disruptive members of the dressing room, with both bowlers writing newspaper columns after England’s Ashes defeat in Adelaide refuting Root’s suggestions that they had bowled too short with the new ball.”I don’t know. I didn’t hear that,” Anderson said, asked about Root’s comments. “I’m not sure. If that’s the case then… I dunno. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the summer.Anderson said he had not heard from Joe Root since being dropped for the Caribbean tour•AFP/Getty Images

“Not really,” he added when asked if he thought he was difficult to captain. “It depends… in terms of what? I’ve done what I did for quite a long period of time, I feel like I know what I’m doing. I don’t think I’m extremely stubborn. I will take advice and feedback from people. You’d have to ask Joe what he means by that.”Anderson has not been made available for Lancashire’s first Championship fixture against Kent on Thursday but expects to play four of their six games before England’s first Test of the summer, against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.He is revered at his county – Chapple described him as “the best bowler in the country, end of” on Monday – and does not expect any awkwardness with Saqib Mahmood, who made his Test debut in the Caribbean in Anderson’s absence.”He is my team-mate so I want him to do well,” Anderson said of Mahmood. “I will help him out. I’m not going to two-foot him if we play football. It’s not between me and Saqib for an England place. I don’t see it that way; we are different bowlers.”I feel good. I had a bit of time off and then got back into training. I’ve been in the gym quite a lot. My bowling has been limited outside so I am just trying to build that up as much as I can ahead of the start of the season.”That first Test is in our minds. Being centrally contracted, that is how we should be thinking. It is trying to find a balance of playing enough but not being overworked before that first Test. If I think of how I build up to a Test series, I want to be in as good form as possible going into that series.”The best way of doing that is performing for Lancashire, trying to win games of cricket. That’s been my mindset forever really: performing as well as I possibly can here and hopefully those performances will lead to a call-up and if not then at least we will get off to a good start to the season.”

Super Giants survive sloppy fielding effort after Rahul, Hooda fifties lifted them to 195

Sreshth Shah01-May-20222:13

What’s Mohsin Khan getting right? Ben Cutting explains

Half-centuries from KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda, followed up by a special spell from Mohsin Khan sealed a tight six-run win for Lucknow Super Giants over Delhi Capitals on Sunday. For Super Giants, the result appeared in doubt when their dropped catches and sloppy fielding gave Rishabh Pant’s men extra chances and bonus runs, but left-arm quick Mohsin’s dismissals of Pant, Rovman Powell and Shardul Thakur in his last two overs appeared to end the contest.

Shaw fined for code-of-conduct breach

Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw has been fined 25% of his match fee for breaching the IPL’s code of conduct during Sunday’s afternoon match against Lucknow Super Giants.
Shaw admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.2 of the code, and accepted the sanction imposed by the match referee. Article 2.2 relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a match.”

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav did rally at the death with an unbroken partnership of 41 in 3.2 overs, but Marcus Stoinis successfully defended 20 in the final over, conceding 14, to seal the win.It was the second time that the team winning the toss and batting first in this tournament was victorious. Rahul (77) and Hooda (52) struck a partnership of 95 in 61 balls after Super Giants opted to bat first, and it was a decision that paid off since they made early use of a surface that did not offer big bounce but stayed slow and low as the game progressed. Despite the lack of a big flurry at the death with wickets in hand, they still finished on 195 for 3.It was a target that needed runs from Prithvi Shaw and David Warner in the second innings, and after both openers fell early, Capitals were always behind in the game. Despite Mitchell Marsh’s 20-ball 37, Pant’s 30-ball 44, Powell’s 21-ball 35 and Axar’s late burst of 42 not out in 24 balls, it was not enough. After nine games, Capitals now have more losses than wins, while Super Giants moved to second on the points table.Rahul, Hooda impressPant started with five different bowlers in the first five overs, but Quinton de Kock was unfazed for the most of it, racing away to 23 in 11 balls, especially brutal on Chetan Sakariya. However, Thakur had him caught at point in the fifth over, bringing Hooda in to bat alongside a sedate Rahul.Hooda started aggressively, hitting four of his first five boundaries through the covers off Axar and Kuldeep. Rahul, meanwhile, got to 27 in 24 balls, before hammering Kuldeep and the seamers in the next 11 balls to reach his fifty in 35 deliveries. Hooda, too, raced to a 32-ball fifty in the 14th over. Even though Hooda moved around in his crease, his shots weren’t audacious; he hit six fours and just the lone six.Rahul charged along after his fifty. With Hooda falling to Thakur soon after his half-century, Rahul hit two more sixes off the seamers. But he wasn’t getting much support from the other end, with Marcus Stoinis, the No. 4, struggling to find fluency. Rahul fell in the 19th over as the third Thakur wicket, and a final-over six from Stoinis took Super Giants into the 190s.A chaotic start to the chaseWarner and Shaw both fell early to the seamers, mis-timing a length and short ball respectively. Shaw was the first to go in the second over, top-edging a pull off the tall Dushmantha Chameera while Warner mis-hit a pull off Mohsin to midwicket.That brought in Marsh and Pant early, and instead of looking to rebuild, they counterattacked. Krunal Pandya’s fourth over went for three fours and a six off Pant’s bat, and the fifth from Jason Holder went for two sixes and a four. To end the powerplay, Chameera was hit for two fours and a six. Together, the duo had struck 53 runs between overs four to six to finish on 66 for 2 after the powerplay.And then came the ghost wicket. Marsh, on 37, and looking imperious against both spin and pace, tried to punch a skiddy K Gowtham delivery, only to miss it. The umpire gave him out caught behind, and Marsh walked back. However, replays showed that there was no spike when the ball passed the bat, and there was no way to pinpoint what caused the sound in real time. The dismissal came against the run of play, and Capitals were 73 for 3 after 7.1 overs.Mohsin Khan celebrates the wicket of Shardul Thakur•BCCI

Mohsin does the damageWith Pant around, and Powell having already produced a match-winning innings from the middle order, it was still game on after Lalit Yadav fell for 3.The Super Giants fielders – including the captain Rahul – dropped regulation catches and slipped up in the field, and Pant and Powell made the most of the unforced errors to build another partnership. Gowtham, playing in the XI instead of Avesh Khan due to more left-handers in the Capitals line-up, was punished by Powell for 6, 6, 4 as ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster gave Capitals a 24% chance of a win with six overs to go and 61 needed.But Mohsin returned, and set Pant up with four length deliveries, including cutters, up front. He then went full and had Pant failing to flick from around his pads, and saw his stumps flattened on 44. Axar and Powell then found a couple of boundaries to keep the required run rate to around 12, but Mohsin’s final over provided the body blow. A length ball angling across was dragged by Powell to Krunal Pandya at deep midwicket. A few balls later, Shardul slog swept Mohsin to the same fielder, and it looked like the game was in the bag. But Kuldeep and Axar eked out 15 off the penultimate over from Chameera to take it to the final over.Rahul turned to Stoinis – who hadn’t bowled all day – for the 20th, and he started poorly, conceding a six off Kuldeep’s bat. But Stoinis returned with four tidy balls to take the equation out of reach. With 12 needed off one ball, Axar hit a six that was mere consolation for a side that fell one boundary-shot short.

Only 3.3 overs possible in Bengaluru after South Africa opted to bowl

Firdose Moonda19-Jun-2022No result The deciding day of this series started with the teams locked at 2-2, and 2-2 it remained after rain had the final say. Persistent drizzle in Bengaluru delayed the start of the fifth match by 47 minutes, and initially reduced the contest to 19 overs a side, but only 3.3 overs were bowled. Despite the Chinnaswamy’s stellar drainage system, the rain did not abate long enough for mop-up operations to begin for even a five-over shootout.South Africa may be the more disappointed of the two sides after Lungi Ngidi, playing in just his second T20I in almost a year, removed India’s openers in successive overs. Ngidi spent the whole of IPL 2022 on the bench but used the time to hone his craft and has developed a particularly good slower ball. He used it to remove Ishan Kishan, who was through his drive by the time the delivery arrived. It was full on offstump and took it out with Kishan perhaps still contemplating the 141kph ball that had been called wide just before. In his next over, Ngidi stuck to the offcutter. Ruturaj Gaikwad advanced down the track and tried to clear the inner ring but hit the ball off the toe-end of his bat, to Dwaine Pretorius at mid-on. Only one more ball was bowled when the rain returned and the players left the field.The capacity crowd chanted “RCB” as they waited but not even the chant of their IPL franchise could bring their adopted home-town hero Dinesh Karthik to the crease. Karthik had scored his first T20I half-century in Rajkot and was keen to play in front of the Bengaluru crowd.Doubtless so was Keshav Maharaj, who was captaining for the fourth time in his 13-match T20I career, after Temba Bavuma was ruled out of the match with an elbow injury. South Africa made three changes to the XI that lost two days’ ago, one forced by Bavuma’s absence.Reeza Hendricks was brought in to open the batting, Kagiso Rabada recovered from a groin niggle to return to the attack in place of Marco Jansen and South Africa included Tristan Stubbs as an extra batter while dispensing with the second specialist spinner, Tabraiz Shamsi. Stubbs has yet to bat in international cricket after making his debut in the series opener in Delhi, where South Africa won the game without requiring him.India played the same XI throughout the series, lost every toss and had to defend in all five matches. After losing the first two, they hit their stride and won the next two. If they had been victorious in this match, they would have become the first team to win a bilateral T20I series from 2-0 down. Instead, it’s South Africa, who have held on to a record. They have never lost a T20I series in India, and have not lost a white-ball series in the country since 2010.

Derbyshire coach says it’s “unacceptable” for the Blast to be given “so much disrespect”

David Hopps08-Jul-2022Mickey Arthur has condemned the failure to ring fence the Vitality Blast knockout stages and give them their own place in the cricket calendar as a decision that shows “disrespect” to the county game.Arthur, one of the most respected international coaches of the past 20 years, has guided Derbyshire to the Blast quarter-finals in his first season coaching at county level.He is mystified by the fact that the knockout stages of England’s long-running professional T20 tournament are drained by England call-ups at a time when its appeal should be at its highest and feels it shows scant regard for the overwhelming majority of professional cricketers.Related

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Arthur said: “Surrey played Yorkshire this week with only a few international cricketers because there is an England series on at the same time. For me, that is unacceptable.”The absence of England players – they are engaged in a T20I series against India this week – might be viewed as a potential opportunity for Derbyshire who are one of the more unsung counties without any players currently in the England senior squads.If they beat Somerset on Saturday night, their future opponents could conceivably have to face further withdrawals because of England’s primary claims in a series against India that by then has moved on to a 50-over series, with the third ODI due to be played the day after Finals Day.But Arthur has no interest in main chancing. His concern is the message that not giving the Blast a dominant week in England’s cricket calendar gives to the county professionals.”100%, the Blast knockout stages should be ring-fenced,” he said. “For our players, it is the showpiece of the summer. Take the Hundred out of the argument for a moment. For the Blast to be given so much disrespect is not great for the counties. I am quite strong on that view.”Chris Jordan, Surrey’s captain, missed their quarter-final defeat on Wednesday•Associated Press

England’s willingness to release players has been described as “fluid” with “fairness” to both counties involved in a tie regarded as the main criteria.That meant when Ollie Pope played for Surrey in Wednesday’s quarter-final, only 24 hours after the rescheduled fifth Test against India, but Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow opted for rest ahead of the ODI series, that England’s white-ball set-up agreed to release Yorkshire’s captain, David Willey.Willey’s call-up was so late that he realised he was short of county kit and travelled from the Ageas Bowl to the Kia Oval in a shirt bearing the name of his Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook.Eight players missed Yorkshire’s dramatic victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval: Dawid Malan, Root, Brook and Bairstow for Yorkshire; Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jason Roy and Reece Topley for Surrey.Unless there is a late release of players, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson and Richard Gleeson are expected to be missing for Lancashire’s quarter-final against Essex Eagles on Friday, though Phil Salt is expected to be made available.Late decisions could also be a feature of Finals Day on July 16 because it must compete with international demands. England face India at Lord’s on Thursday and again at Old Trafford on Sunday and a new white-ball team of Buttler, the captain, and coach Matthew Mott are likely to be resistant to all but the most token flexibility in releasing players.It would be understandable if a former international coach of such repute – Arthur has variously taken charge of South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – responded with horror towards the lack of preparation time on the county circuit. Arthur’s natural response is to make light of the rigours of a non-stop schedule although he is not blind to the difficulties it creates.”I’ve really enjoyed it because I could be on a cricket ground every day of my life, but it challenges everyone without a doubt,” he said. “I’ve often sat with the coaching staff and when we’ve been talking and planning, particularly with the strength and conditioning guys a lot, is ‘how are you feeling?’ And he says ‘I’m slightly tired’. Imagine then how the players are feeling? It’s been a very, very taxing programme.”I don’t know what’s going to happen if we get some rain in Taunton on Saturday because we start a four-day game in Durham on Monday morning. So that kind of highlights the fixture schedule. But, you know, we’ve just had to get on with it. And the one thing we’ve been very strong on within our dressing room is that we can never use that as excuse.”

Offspinner also talks about importance of getting rid of tailenders quickly in Test cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Jun-2022The long spells in which ball after ball lands on the same spot. Flighting it up, keeping it on a string, putting work on the ball, over after over. In Australia, maybe, but on South Asian tracks, it’s about mixing it up a little, says Nathan Lyon. Here, it’s about “bowling ugly”.Lyon claimed 5 for 90 on day one, accounting for Sri Lanka’s best batters in Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews, before dismissing Niroshan Dickwella – their highest scorer of the innings – and two lower-order batters.”I have fallen in love with the shape of the offbreak bowling in Australia,” Lyon said. “But coming to the sub-continent that phrase of ‘bowling ugly’ is something that I say to myself to make sure I am using my different variations and bowling at the right speed.”It’s about me asking different questions by different variations. Whereas in Australia I will probably stick to my strength which is my stock ball and trust in that. When you come over here you have about three or four different variations that you are able to trust and know you’re going to get some assistance off the wickets.”His first ball of the day had taken off from a length to spin past a defensive shot. And he seemed dangerous throughout all his spells.”Look at my first ball today, that was on the quicker side of things, and you saw how much that turned and bounced. Every bowler is different, but if you are able to go up and down the gears I think that’s only going to help you as a spin bowler in these conditions.”Related

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Lyon was instrumental in Australia taking the last four Sri Lanka wickets for 19 runs, dismissing Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, and Lasith Embuldeniya through that period. When Dickwella and Mendis had been batting together through the course of their 54-run stand, a total of around 250 did not seem outlandish for Sri Lanka. However, they ended up 212 all out, which Lyon felt was a “massive” difference in these conditions.”We always talk of the importance of trying to knock over the tails as quick as we can and you look at the way Dickwella played, he played an incredible innings, he put the pressure right back on us as bowlers. I was really proud the way we came back after tea and stuck to our plans and we were able to get the late rewards and knock them over.”Thanks to this five-wicket haul, Lyon has now moved past Richard Hadlee on the all-time wicket-takers’ list, having taken 432 to Hadlee’s 431. He now sits 12th on that list, just behind Herath, who has just one more wicket than him.”The top end of the wicket-takers’ list – there’s some amazing names there,” Lyon said. “To overtake a few guys, and to join a few guys on whatever number that may be, is something I’m very proud of, there’s no doubt about that.”For me it’s always been about what I can do to help the Australian team. The numbers are something im proud of, but will look at in more depth at the end of my career. But that’s a long way off.”