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Pollard to captain MI squad that also features David and Brevis

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2023MI New York have announced a star-studded bowling group for the upcoming MLC 2023 competition with Rashid Khan, Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada all part of the squad. They have also signed up Nicholas Pooran, Tim David, Dewald Brevis and Jason Behrendorff for the three-week tournament in Dallas. To round off their overseas contingent, Kieron Pollard is the captain while David Wiese is the other allrounder.This will be the second team under the MI franchise for Rashid and Rabada, having previously represented MI Cape Town in the SA20. Pooran and Boult will also extend their relationship with the MI group, having previously played for MI Emirates in the ILT20 event in the UAE. For David and Brevis, this will be the third MI franchise (apart from the IPL and SA20).Former South Africa international Robin Peterson has been named head coach while former Mumbai Indians seamer Lasith Malinga will be bowling coach. J Arunkumar and James Pamment will be the batting and fielding coaches respectively.Related

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“It is an extraordinary line-up of youth, experience, and power,” Akash Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians, said in a statement. “Further, we have exciting talent in the form of Tim David and Brevis, while Jason Behrendorff and David Wiese are proven performers. Combined with the exceptional skills of our local US players, we are confident that MI New York will raise the bar of competition in the cricket ecosystem of the US.”At a draft held in March, the New York franchise had selected current USA captain Monank Patel and former USA captain Steven Taylor. Also drafted in – among others – were allrounder Nosthush Kenjige, wicketkeeper Shayan Jahangir and fast bowler Kyle Phillip.The six-team MLC begins on July 13. On Tuesday, the LA Knight Riders announced Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy and Lockie Ferguson as their marquee overseas players for the competition.

Cricket West Indies also approved a new committee to work towards achieving equality for women’s players

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2023West Indies women will now fly business class for long-haul international flights and stay in single rooms for international games, bringing them level with the travel policy for the men’s teams, according to Cricket West Indies (CWI).These decisions were made at the first CWI board of directors meeting following the election of new president Kishore Shallow in March.”The women’s game in international cricket continues to evolve, and CWI must keep apace and, where possible, lead,” Shallow said. “Introducing these policies and adding a second female to the board as an independent director are monumental strides in the right direction.”CWI also approved a new committee – the Women’s Cricket Transformation Committee – to work towards achieving equality for women’s players.”The committee’s remit will include but not be limited to recommending strategies geared towards increasing the interest and participation of women and girls in the sport, as well as proposing cricket competitions, events, and pathways that foster competitive women’s and girls’ cricket,” CWI said in a statement.”We welcome this move by CWI in the quest to achieve greater equality within our work environment among our cricketers,” Wavell Hinds, the president and CEO of the West Indies Players Association, said. “We look forward to achieving similar goals in our ongoing negotiations on the renewal of our MOU for another four-year period.”West Indies women play Ireland in June and July, followed by a tour of Australia in October, where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is.

Oval Invincibles captain excited by new format and opportunities for young players to learn

Matt Roller21-Jul-2021Sam Billings has challenged Jason Roy and Will Jacks to emulate Brendon McCullum’s famous 158 not out on the opening night of the IPL when they open the batting for Oval Invincibles together in the first men’s fixture of the Hundred on Thursday night.McCullum’s innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore set the tone for the tournament’s success as he hit 10 fours and 13 sixes to launch it into mainstream attention back in 2008, and Billings – who will captain the Invincibles against Manchester Originals – said that the occasion would provide Roy and Jacks, their likely opening partnership, with an opportunity to do the same for the Hundred.”I would definitely like to be the guy but I think we’ve got quite a few guys in the dressing room who will want to be that main man,” Billings said. “We’ve seen what Jason can obviously in the T20Is [against Pakistan]. He’s done it for a long time and he does enjoy being the main guy. As an opening batter, like McCullum, he provides the fireworks.”Will Jacks has been in the form of his life for Surrey. It could really be that launchpad for him: first men’s game, showcased at The Oval. It’ll be really exciting to see what he can do and catapult himself to another level. That’s what we’ll see throughout the tournament, these young guys, against the best players in the world. Anyone can make a name for themselves, and how good is that?”Billings’ own preparation for the tournament has hardly been ideal – he was one of the England limited-overs players to test positive for Covid-19 after the third ODI against Sri Lanka, sending the whole squad into self-isolation – but the time he has spent away from the game has given him the opportunity to make some plans for the Invincibles’ campaign.He caught up with Tom Moody, the Invincibles’ head coach and Sri Lanka’s director of cricket, during the international series at the start of the month, and the pair have been in regular contact for a number of weeks to discuss tactics and selection – as well as finding a last-minute replacement for Sandeep Lamichhane, in the form of Tabraiz Shamsi.
“Over the next couple of days it’ll be interesting to get the thoughts of the other guys and how the team view the new format,” he said. “We’re the first men’s game to give it a go and the teams that will progress are the ones that will learn quickly. It’s still cricket, isn’t it? The fundamentals of the game don’t change.”It’s incredibly exciting because we’ve had to wait for so long, really. We were talking in the changing room just now and saying it’s a really cool new environment. It’s a franchise competition essentially, where you have a real mix of people you don’t normally play with and normally play against. Guys like Sunil Narine. Colin Ingram… it’s been brilliant.Related

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“Especially for guys who haven’t necessarily had that exposure around the world in those competitions, it’s going to be so good for them and everyone will learn so much. I’ve benefited from being in those environments hugely over the last few years. Someone like Jordan Cox, an exciting talent I’ve spent a lot of time with at Kent, he could really fly on the back of being around this experience.”The best thing about it is the whole competition is being launched by the women’s game – that’s on Wednesday and we’ll all be tuning into that. There are definitely things we can pick up from that, certain tactical decisions that will or won’t work. It’s an advantage to have a sneak preview – it can only be a good thing for us. We are one team, two squads, but one team. Being aligned with the women’s game is huge for the sport and what we want to do moving forward.”Billings also suggested that the Invincibles might have picked up the bargain signing of the whole competition: Saqib Mahmood, who was snapped up for £60,000 in February’s re-draft after failing to agree personal terms with Manchester Originals. Mahmood starred in England’s ODI series win against Pakistan last week, and Billings expects him to continue his form in the Hundred.”Saq and I did a Lions trip together to Dubai about three years ago against Pakistan A,” Billings said. “[Mohammad] Rizwan was playing and Saqi was the best bowler. He bowls with genuine heat, very very skilful and it’s great to see him showcasing what he can do. It’s just been a matter of opportunity and having a run of games.”Everyone knows international cricket is really tough, particularly when you’re playing sporadic games, so for him to get a run of games and dominate the way he has is great. He’s mentioned the PSL and how he’s benefited from playing as an overseas player and how it’s helped his development. Why can’t a lot of our young guys over here benefit in the same way?”

In a low scorer on a black-soil pitch, RCB reduced the hosts to 38 for 5 and then 66 for 7 with Rahul injured

Hemant Brar01-May-20232:33

Moody: Lucknow suffocated their own strength

In the previous meeting between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants, 425 runs were scored in 40 overs on the batting paradise at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. On Monday night, LSG served a black-soil pitch on their home ground where the ball gripped and held into the surface. The result: 234 runs in 39.5 overs with RCB coming out on top by 18 runs.After Faf du Plessis opted to bat, he and Virat Kohli set the platform by adding 62 in nine overs. But the innings never really came out of the first gear. Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Amit Mishra and K Gowtham combined to bowl 13 overs of spin and picked up 5 for 73 between them. Naveen-ul-Haq, too, reaped the rewards of bowling his cutters into the pitch and picked up three wickets at the death to restrict RCB to a modest 126 for 9.Related

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In response, LSG had a nightmarish start. They were 38 for 5 after seven overs, and when Marcus Stoinis and Gowtham too fell in back-to-back overs, they were soon 77 for 8. LSG’s only hope at that point was KL Rahul. He had hobbled off the field after hurting his right leg in the second over of the game. But by the time he came out at No. 11, LSG needed 24 off eight balls.It was clear Rahul was not going to run between the wickets. He played three dots, one of which was a free hit, and then saw Mishra trying and failing to score the required 23 in the final over. A post-match altercation between Kohli and LSG’s mentor Gautam Gambhir, though, took the shine off RCB’s win.

RCB’s slow start

After RCB scored only 20 runs in the first three overs, du Plessis and Kohli tried to break the shackles. In the fourth over, du Plessis hit Naveen for a straight six and Kohli followed it with a four. However, Krunal and Bishnoi conceded only ten in the next two, and RCB finished the powerplay on 42 for no loss.

Bishnoi gets Kohli and Maxwell

Du Plessis and Kohli had put on 62 when Kohli decided to skip down the track against Bishnoi but reached nowhere near the ball. it also turned it to be a googly and beat him on the inside edge for Nicholas Pooran to effect an easy stumping.No. 3 Anuj Rawat managed only 9 before being dismissed by Gowtham. That brought Glenn Maxwell, arguably RCB’s best batter against spin, in the middle. On his fifth ball, he tried to reverse-sweep a Bishnoi legbreak only to get hit on the thigh and be given out lbw.In the 15th over, Mishra had Suyash Prabhudessai caught at long-off, courtesy an excellent diving catch by Gowtham, to leave RCB 90 for 4.2:24

Moody unhappy with the pitch in Lucknow

Rain but no runs

After a brief spell of rain that halted play for around 25 minutes, Dinesh Karthik resumed by hitting Naveen over midwicket for four. In the next over, the 17th, he pulled a half-tracker from Mishra for a six and du Plessis also tried to take Mishra on but ended up miscuing his attempt. Krunal ran to his right from point and completed the tumbling catch near extra cover.RCB were relying on Karthik for some late blows but Yash Thakur dashed their hopes. In the 19th over, Wanindu Hasaranga hit one back towards Thakur who fielded the ball and nailed the direct hit at the non-striker’s end to find Karthik well short after he had taken off a long way.

RCB bounce back

Mohammed Siraj has been lethal with the new ball this season, and he once again struck early, having Kyle Mayers caught at mid-on with the second ball of the chase. After two overs, LSG were 2 for 1.Krunal hit Siraj for three successive fours in the third to move the needle, but LSG lost four wickets in the next four overs. Krunal was the first to go, chipping Maxwell to long-off. From the other end, Josh Hazlewood removed Ayush Badoni, who had come in as Impact Player for Thakur and opened the innings.Wanindu Hasaranga dealt a blow with his first ball, drawing Deepak Hooda out of the crease with a googly and having him stumped. Pooran started with a first-ball six but when he tried to go for another big hit against Karn Sharma, he holed out to deep square leg.

LSG slip further

LSG still looked to attack their way to the target. Gowtham hit Karn for a six and four, and followed it with another six off Hasaranga. That reduced the equation to 64 needed from the last ten overs. But when Stoinis tried to go big against Karn, he sliced it to long-off. In the next over, Gowtham too perished, his casual running while returning for a second run leading to him being run-out.

Rahul leaves it too late

LSG needed 49 in the last five overs with two wickets in hand. Mishra and Naveen were in the middle; Rahul was still padded up in the dugout. The required rate kept ballooning, and when Rahul finally walked in, it was too late because he couldn’t run and Mishra couldn’t get the boundaries.

“It’s only really a problem if the left-handers think, ‘oh, hell. We’ve got to face Ashwin and he could get me out,'”

Shashank Kishore07-Feb-20234:42

How do Australia counter the Ashwin threat?

Ian Chappell, the former Australia captain, believes India will begin the Border-Gavaskar series as favorites, but that doesn’t mean Pat Cummins’ team should be written off.Australia are touring India for a Test series for the first time in six years. That series in 2016-17 ended 2-1 in India’s favour despite Steven Smith’s brilliant second-innings century on a Pune turner set up a series-opening 333-run win for Australia.For the record, Australia last won a Test series in India in 2004. Incidentally, they sealed that series win at Nagpur, where the two teams will begin the 2023 series on Thursday. That surface at the old VCA ground was a green-tinged deck that assisted pace and bounce, where the pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz picked up 16 of the 20 wickets.Related

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It’s likely this one at Jamtha, where the new stadium is located, will turn.”I don’t know whether it’s their best chance or not, but they’ve got a chance of winning because they’re a good cricket team,” Chappell told ESPNcricinfo’s India vs Australia Curtain Raiser show. “Unfortunately, they will be missing two very good bowlers (Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood) in the first Test. But as I said earlier, there are only two teams playing and you must have a chance of winning. And they’re both playing on the same pitch.”I was told by Richie Benaud, who was a very wise person and a very good cricketer and commentator, when I was 19, and he said, ‘Ian, this is a simple game. The simpler you keep it, the better off you will be’, and I think that’s the way you have to approach India. Okay, that’s not to say it’s going to be easy, but it’s also not impossible.”Yes, Australia have a chance. Is it their best chance? I don’t know. What’s more, I don’t care. If you win the series, nobody is going to worry about when was the last time Australia won in India. Let’s worry about Pat Cummins’ team. I would have India have starting as favourites, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think Australia can win.”Australia could have five left-handed batters in their top seven if Matt Renshaw makes the XI•Getty Images

‘Rubbish to worry if a guy is a left-hander or right-hander’Chappell also wasn’t in favour of weighing up batting options based on whether they were right-handed or left-handed. It’s entirely possible Australia may have five left-handers in the top seven should they pick Matt Renshaw ahead of Peter Handscomb in the middle order. The others are David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey.”Well, again, I think it’s a load of rubbish to worry about whether the guy is left-hander or right-hander,” he said. “I see Ashwin’s record. If you think you can play, you have got to think you can play Ashwin or whoever plays. I think Renshaw will be delighted to get picked. If that means a lot of left-handers, and if Ashwin has a record of getting left-handers out, okay that’s a problem.”But it’s only really a problem if the left-handers think, ‘oh, hell. We’ve got to face Ashwin and he could get me out.’ If they think Handscomb is the player in the middle order because he plays spin well, then pick him, that’s fine, but pick guys because you think they can bat or pick guys you think they can bowl, and not because he can get few runs down the orders. I’m not picking bowlers because they can bat a little bit, am picking them because they can pick wickets.”

Veteran seamer describes “incredible” Stokes as “someone you want to play for”

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2022James Anderson described England’s dramatic, 74-run win over Pakistan on the final day in Rawalpindi as “one of the best” victories of his career.Anderson has won 79 Test matches, the most of any England player, but said that this victory – with minutes to spare on the fifth evening – was among the best due to the placid nature of the pitch, which required bowlers on both sides to “dig deep”.”It’s probably one of the best wins I’ve been involved in, if not the best,” Anderson told . “On a pitch like that, to play the way we did, to score the runs at the rate we did, we gave ourselves a chance of getting a result and I think we deserved to put ourselves in that position at the end of the game.”Today, it was an unbelievable effort from everyone. We tried so hard to get the ball reversing and doing something, going off the straight, and we created enough chances to get the win. It was hard, but we knew it was going to be difficult.”With Ben [Stokes] and Brendon [McCullum], their mantra is that we’ve got to take wickets and look to take wickets all the time. Even though they [Pakistan] got 500-plus in the first innings, we still felt with that lead that we had, the way we scored, we could set ourselves something to defend.”Coming into today, we knew it was going to be hard because it’s still a good wicket but we managed to get the ball reversing which was absolutely huge. Getting the ball moving through the air makes a massive difference, and we executed our skills brilliantly.”Related

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Anderson returned second-innings figures of 4 for 36 in 24 overs, including the key wickets of Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan, but praised Stokes and Ollie Robinson for their burst with the new ball on the fourth evening.”The one thing that stood out for me was the way that Ollie and Ben bowled with the new ball after not having much rest,” he said. “They came out with that short-ball theory and it got us a couple of wickets early.”That set things going and gave us a lot of confidence coming into today. We knew that it was going to be a big push and we dug deep today; we had to dig deep to try and get anything from that wicket.”Anderson described Stokes, the eighth captain he has played under, as an “incredible” leader. “He’s someone you want to play for,” he said. “He gives you so much confidence heading out there and the way he just knows what he wants to do.”He thinks about it a lot: the fields that he sets and the way that he just tells you what to do, basically, is great for us. It’s exciting, trying different things as well: exciting fields, different fields, thinking outside the box which you’ve got to do on pitches like this.”There are only three days between the first and second Tests of the series – the second starts in Multan on Friday – and Anderson admitted with a smile that he would feel sore on Tuesday after getting through 46 overs in the match at the age of 40.”It’s nice to have the win but I don’t think tomorrow will feel great for me,” he said. “It was a long five days. Quick turnaround, but that’s the nature of Test cricket. You know coming into a series that you’ve got back-to-back games and have to recover well and then come back in three days’ time and do it all over again.”

Sri Lanka take chase down to final over as England middle order unravels after fast start

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-Nov-2022England are through to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, knocking Australia out in the process, thanks to a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka.It was an anxiety-riddled chase in the final match in Group 1, despite a target of 142 looking well within reach after openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales posted 75 for the first wicket inside eight overs. But a series of unforced errors saw six wickets fall in the space of 65 deliveries, for the addition of just 54. The trio of Wanindu Hasaranga, Dhananjaya de Silva and Lahiru Kumara split those dismissals evenly between them and for a moment an upset looked well and truly on the cards.But Ben Stokes – as ever – saw England over the line with 42 from 36 that only contained two fours but constantly worked the scoreboard and Sri Lanka’s outfielders before Chris Woakes’ cut for four confirmed victory with two balls left. Stokes came in at No. 3 after Dawid Malan injured his groin fielding and showed typical poise under immense pressure.It was a far closer than it should have been, England having fought back strongly to limit Sri Lanka to a modest total after opener Pathum Nissanka (67 off 45) got them off to a flyer. For Australia, now officially done as defending champions, they will wonder what might have been having relinquished the opportunity to surpass England’s net run rate with their own modest win over Afghanistan on Friday.But for Nissanka’s blitz, which had Sri Lanka 65 for 1 after seven overs, there was little around him as England’s collective attack served up cutters and slower deliveries that were responding well to a worn surface at the SCG. Adil Rashid’s 1 for 16 from his four overs led the retort, though Mark Wood collected the more eye-catching figures of 3 for 26, two of them coming in the 20th over, which also featured a run out, as Sri Lanka crept to 141 for 8 – the lowest total posted first at this ground in the competition. England also became the first to win at the SCG when chasing.Buttler’s charges now head to Adelaide for their semi-final. They will play whoever finishes first in Group 2, which culminates on Sunday.Stokes. Again
Make no mistake, there was always going to be a space for Stokes, even if the pre-tournament conversations over whether he is in England’s best T20 team were merited. In many ways, it is his bowling that has been as close to a revelation as you can get for a multifaceted cricketer admired the world over, and yet again he opened up, finishing with 1 for 24 from three overs. Batting, however, was where the real question remained and it took until England were in the doldrums in Sydney to truly appreciate how valuable he is.Yes, his best spot is as an opener, but the way he gauged the conditions around him – both the tangible challenge of the pitch and intangible stress of having to be the saviour once more – was a reminder of his unparalleled worth to England. He only hit two fours, picking up the majority of his runs with his feet, as that problematic left knee worked more overtime. He is still yet to register a fifty in T20Is, and this score was only the third time he has passed 40 in 35 innings, not that he or his team-mates will care.If Malan’s injury is as feared, a batting replacement will have to be drafted in, and there is no guarantee Stokes will reprise his first-drop role in the semi-final. Whatever position he comes in at, there can be no doubt England’s best XI is one with him in it.Rashid dulls with class
Four games played, 16 overs bowled and, finally, a wicket. It has been a peculiar tournament for Rashid, one which has seen the legspinner operate as a dampener rather than a disruptor. Even though the former is a role of immense value in this format, the fear was the shoulder injury that has limited his usual zip off the pitch was cutting into his incisiveness. Of course, the reality may be closer to the fact batters are more watchful against him, willing to play his overs out before making hay at the other end.Here, he wedded both sides: stopping Sri Lanka in their tracks – he did not concede a boundary in his four overs – and dismissing Nissanka. Had he failed at either task, things would have ended very differently. As it happens, he now has 90 T20I wickets – the joint most for an Englishman, level with Chris Jordan.Change of pace
In a tournament where those topping the speed gun have stolen the headlines, here was a fixture that rewarded shifting down a few gears. The spinners were always likely to shine on this used pitch, but the quicks got in on the act with variations of their own. England’s attack sussed this halfway through and by the halfway stage, pace-off deliveries were going at 4.87 runs per over, while pace-on checked in at 8.46. The most notable element of this in the second innings came in the 18th over, when Sri Lanka’s own speedster Lahiru Kumara bowled six balls – almost entirely reserved and into the pitch – that yielded just two runs and the wicket of Sam Curran, leaving England needing over a run a ball for the last two overs.

India opener Smriti Mandhana’s prolific run of form in 2018 earned her a career-best fourth position on the ICC rankings for batsmen while compatriot Deepti Sharma climbed to No. 3 on the allrounders’ charts

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Apr-2018India opener Smriti Mandhana’s prolific run of form in 2018 – she averaged a stellar 90.50 in the recently concluded ODI series against England – hoisted her to a career-high fourth position on the ICC Women’s ODI rankings for batsmen.This is first time Mandhana, 21, has broken into the top five and she did it by moving up 10 places. Her team-mate Deepti Sharma climbed to No. 3 among allrounders, trailing Australia’s Ellyse Perry and West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor.In nine innings this year, Mandhana has amassed 531 runs, including five half-centuries, at an average of 66.37, nearly double that of her career average of 37.53. During India’s most recent 50-over assignment, which they clinched 2-1, she smashed 86, 42 and 53*. She struck 14 fours and five sixes – most by any player on either side – all of which earned her the Player-of-the-Series honours.Deepti also took giant strides along both the batting and bowling charts, climbing eight spots to 16th and ten spots to 14th respectively. She made 104 runs in three ODIs against England – second-highest for the series – and now sits on a career-best 560 points.Meanwhile, England offspinner Danielle Hazell, who picked up six wickets and dismissed India captain Mithali Raj cheaply twice in the series, rose to No. 12 on the bowling charts, with a career-best 553 ranking points. Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone rose 51 places to the 45th spot on the back of a match haul of 4 for 14 last Monday.Perry retained the top spot among both batsmen and allrounders, while compatriot Jess Jonassen leads the bowling charts.

The Australia captain has batted in the middle order in the last three matches with Cameron Green at the top

AAP10-Oct-2022Aaron Finch has confirmed he will return to the top of the order for Wednesday’s clash with England as Australia’s T20 World Cup preparations ramp up.Finch has spent almost his entire T20I career as opener, but he raised eyebrows by batting either at first drop or at No. 4 over the past three matches.The move has given Cameron Green more opportunities at opener despite the 23-year-old not being in Australia’s 15-man World Cup squad.Finch made scores of 58 and 15 in the 2-0 series win over the West Indies, and was run out for 12 while batting at No. 4 in Sunday’s eight-run loss to England.Related

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The 35-year-old will return to his customary opening spot for games two and three against England in Canberra.”I’ll go back to the top next game, which was always the plan,” Finch said. “It was just about giving Greeny more opportunity at the top and trying things…in case he had to be called into the [World Cup] squad.”Green enjoyed remarkable success as opener during the 2-1 series loss in India. But his return to Australia has been less fruitful, with Green posting scores of 14, 1, and 1 as opener in his past three innings.Despite that, Green appears set to be first cab off the rank if Australia need a late injury replacement for their World Cup title defence.England captain Jos Buttler said even he was surprised when Finch didn’t open at Optus Stadium.”It’s a good question for them,” Buttler said. “He’s opened a lot in T20 cricket and done that really well. But he’s obviously got a plan.”England posted 208 for 6 with Australia finishing at 200 for 9 despite the heroics of David Warner (73 off 44 balls) at the top of the order.Allrounder Marcus Stoinis made 35 off 15 deliveries despite being struck on the heel while running a quick single early in his innings. Stoinis looked proppy while running after that, but he said the blow wouldn’t affect his World Cup preparations.”It’s actually alright, it just stung for a little bit,” said Stoinis, who only just returned from a side strainAustralia rested Steve Smith, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell for the series opener against England.Ashton Agar (side strain) was also overlooked while he builds back to full fitness, but he could be available for the next game. It means Australia could welcome back up to seven players for game two, creating a huge selection squeeze.

Kent could only manage 137, but that was made to look a significant total as Northamptonshire’s batting was blown away

ECB Reporters Network04-Sep-2018
ScorecardKent pace bowler Matt Henry bagged 6 for 31 to leave Northamptonshire reeling on 71 for 8 when bad light and rain ended prematurely an action-packed opening day of Specsavers County Championship action.On a thrilling day when 18 wickets fell, Henry – the New Zealand Test paceman – took his season’s red-ball wicket tally to 56 as the Division 2 promotion hopefuls recovered from a poor batting display to leave the visitors punch drunk and still 66 runs in arrears by the time the umpires stopped the contest and took the sides off for bad light just before 5pm.Northamptonshire, who started their first innings response at 2.42pm, struggled to cope with the guile of Darren Stevens and the pace of Henry, the Championship’s leading wicket-taker.Henry, who went into the game with 50 scalps to his name at an average of 15.84, forced Ben Curran to play on to leg stump and then plucked out the middle and off stumps of Ricardo Vasconcelos after rushing one through the South African left-hander’s gate.Stevens snared Luke Proctor leg before with an in-swinger, Henry re-arranged Alex Wakely’s poles with a yorker and then Richard Levi scooped a rearing delivery from Henry to square leg to send the visitors in at tea on 31 for 5.Three overs after tea, Saif Zaib feathered an attempted leg-glance against Stevens through to the keeper then, three balls later, Henry sent Nathan Buck’s off stump cartwheeling to secure his fifth five-wicket return of the summer.Northamptonshire limped past their lowest ever score against Kent – 39 all out at Wantage Road in 1907 – but with their score on 44 Adam Rossington’s top edged pull against Henry skied to long leg.Henry gave way after 12-overs as did Stevens, with 2 for 26, allowing Brett Hutton and Richard Gleeson to add a precious 27 before the players went off for bad light.Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent’s top-order were soon in trouble against the new ball and under leaden skies and had lost both openers within five overs.Zak Crawley, fending down the line of off stump, feathered a Hutton away-swinger through to the keeper, then, seven balls later, Sean Dickson went back and across his stumps to miss an off-cutter from Ben Sanderson and depart leg before.Experienced third-wicket partners Joe Denly and Heino Kuhn took advantage of the short St Lawrence boundaries to keep the board ticking over at a decent rate and raise the home 50 after 15 overs. But, with his score on 16, Kuhn played around a full, in-swinger from Buck to also go lbw.Having batted 76 minutes for his 14, Denly’s late decision to withdraw the bat outside off stump against Gleeson proved fatal as the ball glanced off the bat face and through to the keeper.Batting under floodlights after lunch, Kent’s position quickly became gloomier as they lost their last six wickets for 46 runs inside 18 overs.Sam Billings nicked off against Gleeson, Stevens prodded at Sanderson to become the third leg before victim and, having scratched around for 98 minutes for 23, Daniel Bell-Drummond edged behind.Sanderson ran one in off the seam to peg back Grant Stewart’s off stump, then Buck polished the job off with two wickets in as many balls. Henry heaved across the line to lose off stump then Ivan Thomas was caught on the crease and palpably leg before as Kent succumbed inside 47 overs with Gleeson, Sanderson and Buck claiming three wickets apiece.Gleeson suggested the pitch was nothing out of the ordinary.”To bowl them out for 137 you think ‘great start’ but they bowled tremendously in helpful conditions,” he said. “It’s not really brightened up all day, it’s stayed overcast and the wicket has been doing a little bit throughout.”When we turned up we felt the wicket looked quite flat and that we were in for a long toil, but it doesn’t look that way from the scoreboard. The pitch has done a little bit, but nothing out of the ordinary. They were just very tough overhead conditions all day.”