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The Australia players admit they were concerned for Carey’s well-being in the aftermath of the incident

Andrew McGlashan19-May-2024Pat Cummins’ key role in the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s which ignited last year’s Ashes series has been revealed while team-mates have admitted they were concerned for Alex Carey’s well-being in the aftermath.The incident, on the fourth day of the second Test, is a major theme in season three of , the documentary series following the Australia men’s team, which premiers on Prime Video on May 24. The Bairstow stumping and the fallout has been well documented, but Cummins’ central role in its execution has now been made clear.”Cam Green was bowling and bowled a bouncer and he [Bairstow] ducked underneath it and then just walked out of his crease,” Cummins says. “So I just said to Kez [Carey] the ball before, I said ‘Kez, just have a throw’.”Related

• Cummins hopeful Test team will stay together in push for more glory

• MCC bans one member, suspends two others over Long Room fracas

• Bairstow reignites Ashes stumping row

• Taufel: Which part of the Spirit of Cricket did Australia breach?

• Head claims Bairstow tried to dismiss him in a similar manner

Carey was on target with the throw and Bairstow was given out by the TV umpire which sparked one of the biggest controversies in recent Ashes history. The Australians were abused by MCC members in the Long Room as they came off the field for lunch with players from both sides then coming face to face in the dining area.”Walking back into the Long Room, it was like we’d ripped the soul of out them … absolutely, yeah, people stepped over the line,” Cummins recalls in one of the interviews which intersperses footage from inside the dressing room.Usman Khawaja says: “One of them [the members] … [was] spraying me. I was like ‘nup, you can’t be saying that stuff’. He said ‘oh, I can say whatever I effing want’, like a sense of entitlement almost.”Marnus Labuschagne adds: “One of them was foaming at the mouth. A bloke hit Bull [David Warner] when he went up the stairs.”Ben Stokes’ 155 gave England hope but Australia prevailed in the end•Getty Images

Reflecting on the moment in the dressing room, Carey quips: “Someone told me to throw it…not sure who it was.”Mitchell Marsh, meanwhile, recalls the dining room scene: “I was sitting there like a school kid who shouldn’t be laughing…eating my soup, then I look up at Jonny and Jonny is staring over at us and I’m like [mimics trying not to spit out his soup].”Cummins was adamant at the time that there was no issue with the dismissal amid calls he should have rescinded the appeal and in the documentary he remains so. “Just clear-cut, it was out,” he says.Australia almost had the game wrestled away from them by a fired-up Ben Stokes who made a spectacular 155 but survived his onslaught to secure a 43-run win which put them 2-0 up following the heart-stopping Edgbaston victory and on the brink of winning an Ashes in England for the first time since 2001.Following the Bairstow stumping, Carey endured significant abuse from crowds and on social media, the latter so much so that Australia’s cybersecurity police became involved.The documentary shows Carey and his wife Eloise discussing the days and weeks after the incident. “It got a little nasty there for a while,” Carey says. “That’s probably the thing that shocked me the most, the abuse, people going after you…personal, family, all that sort of stuff.”Carey’s form fell away after Lord’s and he lost his place in the ODI side early in the World Cup, which does not feature in the documentary. During an uncertain home summer against West Indies and Pakistan, questions were starting to be raised about his position, but he silenced all the talk with a match-winning unbeaten 98 against New Zealand in Christchurch.”I could sense he wasn’t quite right mentally and I can understand it,” Steven Smith says. “I was worried about him and his well-being.””Everyone projected on Kez and didn’t project on anyone else. It was all on Kez,” Khawaja says. “Looking back on it, I just feel so bad for him what he went through at the time and what his family would have gone through being there at the time. It would have been so hard.”The Headingley Test was dubbed the grudge match by the Evening Standard•In Pictures via Getty Images

Ashes turns on Headingley collapse

Having reached the brink of Ashes success, Australia let the opportunity slip away over the next three Tests although two days of rain at Old Trafford gave them the draw that ensured the urn was retained to go alongside their World Test Championship title, having beaten India at The Oval, which begins the three-part series.At Headingley, the joy of Marsh’s comeback century soon fades amid Australia’s second-innings collapse. Labuschagne admits his slog sweep against Moeen Ali which began the slide was a crucial moment.”That moment there is probably one, like, you had it,” he says, “You literally had it.”Australia’s stunned reaction to England’s barnstorming Old Trafford display, which the documentary shows exposed differing opinions within the dressing room over their response, is clear as they attempt to regroup for one final push at The Oval.”Sometimes you can’t create something out of nothing,” Cummins says, “but it’s not nice when you are sitting there saying ‘yeah, we were totally outplayed there’.”

The Oval ball change

In the final Test, having been left a demanding target of 384, hopes were raised to the point of them feeling favourites as Khawaja and Warner put on a century opening stand. Then Khawaja got hit on the helmet by a Mark Wood bouncer and the umpires felt the need to change the ball. The one chosen appeared much harder and shinier, and even in a brief period on the fourth day before rain arrived it did much more. The Australians were not impressed.”It’s almost like a brand new ball they’ve given them,” Khawaja says. “I was worried.”Pat Cummins oversaw Australia’s retention of the urn despite defeat at The Oval•Getty Images

Smith says: “This ball’s just from another planet, it’s like it had a mind of its own…think we could all see clearly from the cameras off the ground that the ball looked entirely different.”In dressing-room footage, Smith is shown laughing at TV pictures. “They are not even close,” he says.There is, though, an acknowledgement Australia could still have found a way. “It halted our momentum when the ball changed,” Mitchell Starc says, “and we weren’t good enough or quick enough to adapt to that.”England took three quick wickets before Smith and Travis Head put on 95 to bring the target within sight, only for Moeen, Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad, who was playing his final Test, to run through the innings.An overriding theme through the documentary is how Australia feel they are the better team. “We shouldn’t lose one game,” Labuschagne says early in the first episode, although Smith acknowledges their overseas record is not as strong.”What England are trying to do is force the opposition to panic. Put all our egos aside, if we get them to play our brand of cricket they’re not good enough to compete against us,” says Nathan Lyon, whose series-ending calf injury is another key theme, ahead of the first Test.By the end, the sense is of a missed opportunity, particularly for the players unlikely to get another chance to tour. “Disappointing is the word for me,” Smith says. “Feel like there’s unfinished business I suppose for this group.”Cummins adds: “I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved but the competitor in me is still like, urgh, we left a little bit out there.”Regardless, though, Khawaja was confident the series would go down in folklore. “I reckon there will be kids in the future talking about [the] 2023 Ashes because it had absolutely everything. At the end of the day, I have no doubt cricket was the winner.”

Pakistan have the opportunity to secure the world number one T20I ranking with victory in the decider against New Zealand

Preview by Danyal Rasool27-Jan-2018

Big Picture

Let’s begin with the facts: New Zealand have outplayed Pakistan along the length and breadth of the country. They have batted, bowled and fielded better, with the results bearing that out. Six of the seven games played have seen New Zealand emerge comfortably on top, while Pakistan trumped them on an off day in Auckland in a result that, in the context of this tour, could only be called an upset.But move on to the PR spin Pakistan will want to put on this tour, and you could paint a very different picture. Pakistan are one win away from returning to New Zealand having won one of the two series, and thus being able to claim parity. One game away from beating the world’s best T20 side in their own backyard, and wrenching that accolade from them and claiming it for themselves. They could claim to have taken on arguably the world’s most modern side in their approach to limited-overs cricket, and a victory for Pakistan would prove, in their eyes, that Sarfraz Ahmed’s men aren’t so far off from matching those heights either. They are three hours, and 40 overs, away from this.All of that rests on this game. Defeat for New Zealand will put a dampener on what has been a magnificent home season for them, one that’s well on its way to being considered one of their best ever. It will draw away momentum before the all-important visit of England, who have spent the last fortnight burnishing their limited-overs credentials with an impressive series win in Australia. It will undo a lot of their good work against a side that, for six games, frankly didn’t offer New Zealand the kind of competitive cricket they would have liked before England’s visit. Relinquishing their top spot in T20I cricket to that sort of team may almost be considered ignominious.For all those reasons, a lot more rests on this third T20I at Mount Maunganui than most bilateral T20Is have to shoulder. Victory for New Zealand, and the narrative of the tour is preserved. Defeat, and Pakistan begin to write a script of their own.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWL

Pakistan WLWWW

In the spotlight

Kane Williamson was sold at the IPL auction for a cool $635,000, but his T20 numbers of late haven’t quite dignified a man of his stature. He has managed just 97 runs in his last seven innings, never once crossing 30, and only once exceeding a strike rate of 135. He’s not a typical T20 player, but his reputation has been enhanced by his ability to adapt to both conditions and format, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who snapped him up, clearly still have faith in the New Zealand captain. His dismissal for a golden duck in the second T20I put Pakistan in firm control of the match, when a big innings from him was desperately needed. He was in form during the ODI series but if he wants to display his skills in the shortest format in a high-pressure encounter, Mount Maunganui has set the stage for him.Ish Sodhi may be ranked the world’s best T20I bowler – although that didn’t help him on the opening day of the IPL auction – but it feels inevitable that Shadab Khan will be ranked there someday. He’s already mixing it with the best and holding his own, and the final T20I gives him an excellent platform to showcase that again. He has blown a little hot and cold on this tour, following up a superb performance with an indifferent one. Consistency is arguably a legspinner’s biggest challenge, but Shadab has the confidence and ability to rise to it. Pakistan will consider tomorrow’s decider a fantastic place to start building towards it.

Team news

Ross Taylor and Tom Blundell – who scored a hundred on Test debut against the West Indies – have been called up for the final game. Colin Munro misses out with a slight hamstring strain, while Glenn Phillips has been released back to his domestic side, Auckland, where Mike Hesson wanted the wicketkeeper to “evolve” his game. Tim Southee, who was rested for the second game, returns.New Zealand (possible): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Bruce, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Colin de Grandhomme, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ben Wheeler/Anaru Kitchen, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ish SodhiPakistan are likely to go with the same eleven that produced their best performance of the tour at Eden Park. That may mean Sarfraz persists with batting at No. 4, given the success of the strategy in Auckland.Pakistan (probable): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 5 Faheem Ashraf, 6 Haris Sohail, 7 Umar Amin, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Rumman Raees, 11 Mohammad Amir

Pitch and conditions

Rain is not expected to be a factor in Mount Maunganui, a surface which takes a bit more spin than the average New Zealand ground. That may prompt both sides to go with two spinners, though a batting friendly deck is expected.

Stats and trivia

• In four T20I series between these two sides, New Zealand have won two, and Pakistan one, with one drawn. If Pakistan win, it will be their first T20I series win in New Zealand
• New Zealand have never lost a T20I at Mount Maunganui. In five previous matches, they have won four, with the game against West Indies earlier this season washed out

Quotes

“The boys have played well there and the crowd’s always good as well. Hopefully they turn out and we can put on a good performance for them”

Zafar Gohar in runs and wickets as Gloucestershire continue to put up stiff resistance

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2024Tom Alsop’s 84 and an unbeaten 75 from Cheteshwar Pujara formed the backbone of Sussex’s solid response to Gloucestershire’s 417 on an attritional day at Hove.Sussex reached stumps at the 1st Central County Ground on 267 for 5 – trailing by 150 – after Gloucestershire enjoyed some late success when left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar took two wickets in two balls four overs before the close.A slow pitch has neutered the seamers with very little movement on offer and only slow turn for the spinners, while batters on both teams found it difficult to increase the scoring rate even when they got themselves established.Alsop became the fifth player to pass fifty without going on to a century when he failed to keep down a short ball from 6ft 6in seamer Dom Goodman, who had earlier removed Tom Clark after the Sussex opener fought his way to 53 off 124 balls.Removing Pujara, who looked in ominously good touch, with the second new ball in the morning could be key to Gloucestershire’s hopes of a decent first-innings lead.The placid nature of the pitch had been highlighted by the ease with which Gloucestershire’s last two wickets added 109 in 22 overs at the start of the day, led by Gohar who made his 11th first-class half-century.He added 56 with Zaman Akhter for the ninth wicket and their only alarm came when a mix-up over a single into the leg side left both stranded in mid-pitch but Pujara’s wild throw enabled them to make their ground. Gohar mixed careful defence with some aggressive off-side strokes as he plundered the short boundary for the majority of his seven fours.After Ollie Robinson, who went wicketless, had been unable to break through it was left-arm spinner James Coles who broke the stand with his fifth ball when a quicker, full-length delivery bowled Gohar for 60. Offspinner Jack Carson took a smart return catch above his head to remove Ajeet Dale and claim his third wicket but not until Gloucestershire claimed a fourth batting point.Dale then bowled a terrific opening spell down the slope and got his reward when Tom Haines, who had scored centuries in his first two games of the season, was squared up and well caught in the gully by Miles Hammond.Dale had a feisty individual battle with Clark after lunch as the left-hander fought hard to find some form after scoring 12 in the season’s opener against Northants and then enduring a first-ball duck at Leicester last week.Clark still put away anything loose and appeared to have done the hard yards when he reached a 115-ball fifty, which also included a six off offspinner Ollie Price. But when Goodman returned in the 37th over Clark poked at a ball he could have ignored, having added 108 with Alsop.Alsop was more fluent to reach fifty off 100 balls and bat finally began to get on top after tea as he and Pujara added 85 in 22 overs. It was a surprise, then, when Alsop misjudged a pull and Tom Price ran in from long leg to take a diving catch and give the persevering Goodman his second wicket.Dale returned to hit James Coles on the right hand and the helmet during another wholehearted burst but Coles added 52 with Pujara and had just hit left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar out of the ground when he was caught looking to clear the short square-leg boundary. Gohar pinned Carson on the back leg with his next ball but John Simpson survived the hat-trick.

Sunrisers Hyderabad coach will attend the IPL auction in Jeddah during the first Test, despite being Australia’s bowling coach

Alex Malcolm18-Nov-2024Australia’s bowling coach Daniel Vettori will leave the team during the first Test against India in Perth to attend the IPL auction in Saudi Arabia as Sunrisers Hyderabad coach.The Test starts on November 22 at Perth’s Optus Stadium while the IPL auction will take place in Jeddah over two days on November 24-25, which has caused some conflict for three IPL coaches – Vettori, Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer, who are in Perth to either coach or commentate.Vettori is one of the rare coaches in world cricket that holds a permanent assistant role with an international team while also being the full-time head coach of an IPL franchise and the full-time head coach of a Hundred side in Birmingham Phoenix.Vettori has been Australia’s bowling coach for all three formats since 2022 working under long-time friend Andrew McDonald. He is highly-valued by Cricket Australia to the point where they have allowed him to pursue franchise coaching roles around his commitments with the men’s team.”We are very supportive of Dan’s role as Head Coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad,” an Australia team spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “Dan will complete final preparation for the first Test before attending the IPL auction. He will then be with team for the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.”The prioritisation of the IPL auction over a Test match, as well as the scheduling of the auction in Saudi Arabia during an Australia-India Test, is a sign of the times. Ponting and Langer, who are employed as commentators with Australian broadcaster Channel Seven, are also set to miss part of the Test to attend the auction as head coaches of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants.Vettori has missed certain series in recent years due to his franchise commitments with replacement coaches seconded to work with Australia. However, this will be the first time he will leave midway through a Test to attend the IPL auction, having been able to fulfil his duties with Australia this time last year against Pakistan before flying to India for the auction in between matches.CA is also advertising for a new full-time national pace bowling coach who will be able to fill-in for Vettori in the future on tours that he misses.Vettori was on deck with Australia’s squad at their first day of training at the WACA ground on Monday, working closely with the bowling unit while also throwing left-arm orthodox deliveries to the batters in preparation for facing Ravindra Jadeja in the Perth Test.Australia had two consultants working with their main coaching team on Monday in former Australia batter Michael Hussey and former Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Somerset allrounder Jim Allenby, who is permanently based in Perth. Both men worked with Australia’s team ahead of the first Test against Pakistan last summer and will be with the team all week in the lead in to the Test match.Australia’s fielding coach Andre Borovec is currently in charge of the T20I side that is playing the three-match series against Pakistan which concludes in Hobart on Monday night. Both he and Josh Inglis, the stand-in T20 captain, will fly from Hobart to Perth tomorrow to join the Test squad.CA’s national development coach Lachlan Stevens, who coached Australia A against India A and coaches Australia’s Under 19s, will fly into Perth to as additional support for the team when Vettori departs.

Kuldeep Yadav bowled a match-winning spell for DC in Lucknow earlier this season

Himanshu Agrawal13-May-20242:00

‘Axar can be used at No. 3 or 4’ – Jaffer suggests DC can rejig batting order

Match details

Delhi Capitals (6th place) vs Lucknow Super Giants (7th place)
Delhi, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)

Big picture: LSG, DC or neither?

Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants are in a tough spot ahead of their game on Tuesday. DC need to win big, and then hope an improbable sequence of other results falls in their favour to have a shot at finishing in the top four. It’s unlikely to happen, and their last league game is a chance to finish a disappointing campaign on a high at home.LSG have a better chance than DC of making the playoffs, but the huge defeats in their previous two games have severely damaged their net run rate and their prospects. They need a win in Delhi, and another in Mumbai to get to 16 points, and then hope Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t make it to 16 as well because both those teams have far superior net run rates. Fourteen points will not be enough for LSG.The challenge for LSG in Delhi is two fold. They are the second slowest batting side this season, scoring at 8.35 runs per over, so their batters will have to level up at the venue with the highest run rate (11.06) this season. LSG’s bowlers have also taken the fewest wickets in IPL 2024 – 57 in 12 innings, which is less than six per game on average – and they might have to do better than that to rein in Jake Fraser-Mcgurk and co.

Form guide

Delhi Capitals LWLWW
Lucknow Super Giants LLWLW

Previous meeting

Kuldeep Yadav took 3 for 20 in Lucknow, dismissing KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran, as LSG were restricted to 167 for 7. The IPL then had its first sighting of Fraser-McGurk, who top-scored with 55 off 35 balls in DC’s six-wicket victory.Kuldeep Yadav bowled a match-winning spell in Lucknow earlier this season•BCCI

Team news and Impact Player strategy

Delhi Capitals
Rishabh Pant is available for selection after he was suspended for DC’s previous game against RCB for a third slow over-rate offence. He is likely to replace Kumar Kushagra in the XI. DC had started with three foreign players against RCB, with David Warner coming in as Impact Player for the chase. He is likely to start if they bat first against LSG.Probable XII: , 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Abishek Porel, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Shai Hope, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Rasikh Salam, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mukesh Kumar, 11 Ishant Sharma, Lucknow Super Giants
LSG didn’t use an Impact Player in their previous game against SRH because they managed to stop the collapse when batting first, before getting blown away in 9.4 overs in the chase. While chasing in the two matches before that, they brought in Arshin Kulkarni to open and subbed out Mayank Yadav and Yash Thakur respectively. Mohsin Khan is fit again after hitting his head on the turf against KKR and missing the next game against SRH and he could come in for Yudhvir SinghProbable XII: 1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), , 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Ashton Turner, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Mohsin Khan, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Naveen-ul-Haq,

In the spotlight: Fraser-McGurk and Rahul

Jake Fraser-McGurk has 330 runs this season, 296 of which have come in boundaries. His boundary percentage of 89.7 is the highest among batters with at least 300 runs in any T20 series across the world. He’s hit 33 boundaries in his first ten balls across eight innings, giving him the highest first-ten-ball strike rate (228) among batters with at least seven innings in an IPL season. And with a cut-off of 75 runs each against fast bowlers and spinners, he’s the only batter to strike at 200-plus against both type of bowlers in any IPL season. Fraser-McGurk has made a sensational entrance in the IPL, and he will want to end the season in style too.KL Rahul could do with some of that McGurk magic. He’s LSG’s top-scorer this season with 460 runs but his average of 38.33 is his lowest in a full season since 2015, and his strike rate of 136 pales in comparison to the pyrotechnics from several other openers in IPL 2024. The lingering image of Rahul after the drubbing against SRH five days ago was the talking to he received from LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka. Rahul led LSG to the playoffs in their first two IPL seasons, but will have to turn his form around to give them the best chance of finishing in the top four once again.

Stats that matter

• DC have beaten LSG only once in four matches so far, but that win was the most recent fixture earlier this season.
• Pant has a strike rate of 184 against the left-arm spin of Krunal Pandya (70 runs off 38 balls) with three dismissals in ten innings. His T20 record isn’t as good against the legspinner Ravi Bishnoi: 54 runs off 47 balls with two dismissals in six innings.
• Axar Patel could be an effective option against Rahul and Stoinis. Rahul has only 30 runs off 39 balls against Axar with two dismissals, while Stoinis’ record is worse: 22 off 38 balls with two dismissals as well. However, DC will want to keep Axar away from Pooran, who scores at a strike rate of 330.76 (43 off 13 balls) with no dismissals against him.

Pitch and conditions

In the four matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium so far, the team batting first has won after scoring 266 for 7, 224 for 4, 257 for 4 and 221 for 8, while the chasing team has responded with 199, 220 for 8, 247 for 9 and 201 for 8. It’s a high-scoring venue with short straight boundaries and shorter square boundaries. The forecast is for a warm evening with temperatures in the mid 30C range.

Quotes

“We would have liked to have been just a bit more consistent. But in saying that, we just need to deal with the fact of where we are now… If we, as a team, want to win the IPL, [we] probably need to win five in a row, which RCB have just done. So that’s proof that for us; it’s absolutely possible. But that’s just the big picture. We need to get over the line tomorrow before we can have any other aspirations.”

The BCCI has tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17

Shashank Kishore and Nagraj Gollapudi12-Jan-2024The BCCI has shortlisted Bengaluru and Delhi as venues to host the 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL). The BCCI has also tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17 for the second season of the tournament.ESPNcricinfo has learned the first part of WPL 2024 will be played in Bengaluru while Delhi will host the second leg, including the knockouts. Splitting the five-team tournament, comprising 22 matches, across two venues will allow pitches at both venues to stay fresh for the 2024 IPL which is set to begin from March 22.The inaugural WPL was launched in 2023 and was played only in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. BCCI secretary Jay Shah had recently said the BCCI would want to host the second season of the WPL also in one state to offset the logistical challenges of conducting the tournament across venues within a small window.However, the BCCI decided that two venues was the better option. But with just one big venue in Bengaluru (M Chinnaswamy Stadium) and Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium), there will be matches over 10 consecutive days at each ground. So far neither the IPL nor the WPL has had consecutive matches at the same venue for more than two days.Mumbai Indians are the defending champions, having beaten Delhi Capitals in the final of the inaugural season last year.

The England batter had been taken at gold in the draft earlier this month

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Sep-2023England batter Danni Wyatt has withdrawn from the WBBL, where she was set to play for Perth Scorchers, due to fatigue.Wyatt was a gold pick by Scorchers in the draft earlier this month after they had retained Sophie Devine at platinum. She was recently rested from England’s ODI series against Sri Lanka.Scorchers then signed Amy Jones via the direct nomination route to complete their trio of overseas but will now have to find a replacement for Wyatt.Related

• Danni Wyatt: 'When I'm playing at my best, it's seeing ball, hitting ball. Pretty cool'

• Lanning 'disappointed' and 'frustrated' at Sciver-Brunt's likely WBBL signing

• Kapp goes pick one to Thunder in WBBL draft as Scorchers retain Devine

• Amy Jones completes Perth Scorchers' overseas signings

• Megan Schutt: 'I didn't have the skill or work ethic, I just happened to be able to swing a ball'

“We’re rapt to be able to have someone of Danni’s quality in orange,” Scorchers head coach Becky Grundy had said after the draft. “She’s shown in international cricket her ability to float up and down the order so there’s flexibility there.”Scorchers had set out with the aim to stock their top order during the draft with a belief their local players, alongside Devine, could carrying the bowling.The schedule in the women’s game continues to be increasingly busy with recent examples of players starting to pick and choose their tournaments. Smriti Mandhana and Nat Sciver-Brunt did not put their names into the WBBL draft.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo recently, Australia pace bowler Megan Schutt said more players were starting to have conversations about how much cricket they play.”Our schedule as a whole is pretty intimidating to be honest,” Schutt said. “But just having the choice is probably the ultimate opportunity in itself. There’s so many leagues now that if someone does want to do the T20 circuit, that’s bloody awesome.”If they have the body and desire to keep doing that then that’s cool. But it’s definitely daunting and something we’ve discussed with our coaches about how we are going to manage ourselves.”Meanwhile, Brisbane Heat have signed England legspinner Sarah Glenn as cover for New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr who will miss the start of the WBBL. Heat knew that Kerr would be unavailable early in the tournament but were always going to take her as their platinum pick.

Northants overcame a top-order wobble to build on their 127-run lead on first innings

ECB Reporters Network09-Jul-2019Rob Keogh ensured Northamptonshire will enter the final day against Lancashire with a chance to press for victory at Wantage Road. Keogh made 74 from a tricky position to help Northants close day three on 210 for 6 in their second innings with a lead of 341.Keogh’s half-century, just his second of the season, was a vital innings after Northants slumped to 14 for 3 as they looked to build on a first-innings lead of 127. But Keogh, after a typically jittery start, settled well to flick and drive with good purpose.He struck seven boundaries in passing fifty in 97 balls and was helping his side make serene progress after tea before being run out, called through for a single by Adam Rossington that Keogh was hesitant to accept after nudging Stephen Parry to the right of short-midwicket. Haseeb Hameed dived to his right to field, throw at the non-striker’s end and Parry had the bails off before Keogh’s dive arrived.The dismissal stalled Northants, who with Keogh and Rossington had added 54 in 8.3 overs. Rossington was intent on scoring quickly and pulled Richard Gleeson over deep square for six in reaching 33 from 30 balls before losing his off stump to a beauty from Parry that gripped past his outside edge.Luke Procter and Brett Hutton made far more sedate progress to the close but swelled the lead with the help of a seven – Hutton’s edge to third man for three followed four overthrows.It left Northants pondering an overnight declaration – which would give them use of a second new ball if needed late on the final day.Initially, Lancashire mounted a fightback after lunch taking three wickets at the start of the Northants second innings inside five overs. Graham Onions and Gleeson tore in with the new ball. Onions swung one into the left-handed Ricardo Vasconcelos and nipped one back to the right-handed Richard Levi to win to lbws before Temba Bavuma drove Gleeson to point.Lancashire sensed a way back into the game but with Saqib Mahmood not taking the field, the change bowling posed a significantly less threat and Keogh set out making a smart recovery with Rob Newton, sharing a calming stand of 96 for the fourth wicket before Newton fell for 48 after tea, edging a cut at Gleeson to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas.Aside from the wobble, it was a fine day for Northamptonshire who, after a frustrating first hour, dismantled the Lancashire lower order, taking 5 for 25 with the second new ball. Alex Davies and Steven Croft extended their fifth-wicket partnership to 135 and Davies went past his previous first-class best of 140 but, to the final ball of the 80th over, miscued a pull against Keogh’s offspin and was held at short midwicket by Temba Bavuma for 147.An end was opened and Northants sensed an opportunity with a new ball in their hands. Steven Croft quickly fell, pinned lbw on the back foot by Ben Sanderson for a season’s best 78 before Hutton took the middle and off stumps of Parry out of the ground.Hutton struck again, having Mahmood caught at first slip for just 1 before Sanderson nipped one back to take an inside edge from Onions who made just 4. Gleeson then drove Hutton to provide Rossington with a second catch of the morning to hand Northants a 127-run lead and control of the match.

Australia looks set to welcome back Travis Head from injury while the Netherlands need some runs from their top-order

Alex Malcolm24-Oct-20232:12

Would Netherlands rather beat India or Australia at the World Cup? We asked Scott Edwards

Big picture: The shared history of Australia and Netherlands

There has long been a connection between Netherlands and Australian cricket. It is perhaps not quite as strong as South Africa’s connection to the current Dutch team. But their captain Scott Edwards is an Australian citizen, having grown up in Melbourne and played second XI cricket for Victoria. He has introduced a Netherlands team song that is a shameless rebrand of the song of his favourite Australian Football League club Richmond. From Edwards to former Dutch coach Ryan Campbell, to Tom Cooper, Timm van der Gugten, Michael Swart and Dirk Nannes, among others, plenty of Australian domestic players have had an impact on Netherlands cricket.But there will be no love lost in Delhi on Wednesday. Netherlands are gunning for another big scalp, having already taken down South Africa and potentially missed an opportunity against Sri Lanka. Australia are looking to continue their momentum. They will not be taking the Netherlands lightly, but they would love a statement win having been tested at times against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.For all the links between to the two nations as far as players and coaches are concerned, Australia and Netherlands have only met twice in ODI cricket. Both matches were at World Cups, in 2003 and 2007, and Australia were ruthless, claiming big wins while tinkering with their line-up. In fact, nobody could beat them in either of those tournaments.These two sides did meet in a rain-affected warm-up game in Thiruvananthapuram prior to this World Cup. Mitchell Starc claimed a hat-trick in a game Australia did not take seriously at all. Steven Smith and Josh Inglis opened the batting with Alex Carey at three and Mitchell Marsh did not bat but instead opened the bowling while Marnus Labuschagne also bowled four overs and picked up the wicket of Edwards.Australia won’t take this game as lightly with coach Andrew McDonald confirming on Monday that they would not be resting any of their players. They know the Dutch will be well planned and the dual spin threat of Aryan Dutt in the powerplay against possibly two left-handed openers in David Warner and Travis Head if he is passed fit, plus Roelof van der Merwe against Australia’s vulnerable middle-order could certainly cause problems. Netherlands’ biggest challenge will be getting top-order runs. But Australia’s new-ball bowlers have not taken a powerplay wicket in the last three games, and Delhi has been an excellent batting strip.

Form guide

Australia WWLLW (last five ODIs, most recent first)Netherlands LWLLL1:48

Does Smith have a weakness against the ball coming in?

In the spotlight: Smith and O’Dowd

Steven Smith was considered vital to Australia’s chances in this World Cup given his experience in India and his prowess against spin. But Australia’s long-time No. 3, who is set to play his 150th ODI against Netherlands, is battling for form in ODI cricket this year and now may well find himself pushed to No.4 with the return of Head. Smith is averaging just 23.22 in ODIs this year from nine innings, including three ducks, and striking at just 81.64. His move to No. 4 may not help his search to find some form. He has only batted there once since the 2019 World Cup and that was against Pakistan in the last match, having slid one spot due to the promotion of Glenn Maxwell because of the game situation. He has batted No. 3 in his previous 29 ODI innings. He averages just 34.31 across 24 career innings at No. 4 compared to 52.60 at No. 3. His strike-rate is slightly higher at No. 4, but nonetheless, it is not his favoured spot.In a World Cup where the openers have dominated across the board to this point, Netherlands’ top two have simply not got going. Max O’Dowd has really struggled, making just 55 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of just 57.89. He has battled to get off strike facing 72 dot balls out of 95 in total, with 38 of his 55 runs coming in boundaries and just 11 singles. He did not play any List A cricket between the World Cup qualifiers in July and the World Cup itself, with his only match practice coming in Netherlands club cricket, some of which was played on artificial pitches. It is a huge ask to jump from that to facing some of the incredible new ball pairings he has so far this tournament and the task only gets tougher against Starc and Josh Hazlewood on Wednesday. But the Netherlands need some runs from their openers if they are to put pressure on Australia.

Team news: Will Head play?

Head arrived in Delhi on Saturday having been at home in Adelaide for Australia’s first four matches of the tournament, nursing his broken hand. He was optimistic he could play on Wednesday after a net session on Saturday. He faced bowlers for the first time on Monday and got through the session. If he plays he is set to open alongside Warner which will break up the in-form Warner-Marsh pairing. Labuschagne would be the likely batter to make way.Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Adam ZampaTravis Head is back with the Australia squad•Getty Images

The Netherlands look set to stick with the same combination that beat South Africa and tested Sri Lanka.Netherlands (probable): 1 Vikramjit Singh, 2 Max O’Dowd, 3 Colin Ackermann, 4 Bas de Leede, 5 Teja Nidamanuru, 6 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 7 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 8 Roelof van der Merwe, 9 Logan van Beek, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren

Pitch and conditions: Another sweltering day

The three games in Delhi thus far in this World Cup have produced two very different results, although the common thread is that the side batting first has won easily. South Africa piled up 428 against Sri Lanka and won although Sri Lanka made 326 in reply. India galloped to their 273-run against Afghanistan, who then defended 286 easily against England on the back of a masterful bowling performance by their spinners. It will be warm in Delhi and the air quality will be poor.

Stats and trivia: Starc on the prowl

• Starc (55) needs two wickets to go past Lasith Malinga (56) to third all-time on the ODI World Cup wicket-takers list. Glenn McGrath leads with 71 and Muttiah Muralidaran is second with 68.
• Australia are the only team to have gone wicketless three times in the first powerplay in this World Cup.
• Only Bangladesh (38.90%) have had a higher percentage of runs scored by Nos. 5,6 and 7 in this World Cup than the Netherlands (35.82%)

The opener got there in 215 balls and put on a double-century stand with Rohit Sharma

Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Jul-2023Yashasvi Jaiswal has become the 17th India batter to score a century on Test debut, and the first to do so outside Asia in more than 21 years. The 21-year-old reached the milestone on the second afternoon of the Dominica Test, bringing it up with a standing sweep for a single off the part-time bowling of fellow debutant Alick Athanaze.Jaiswal opened the batting alongside captain Rohit Sharma, with Shubman Gill moving down to the No. 3 spot vacated by Cheteshwar Pujara’s axing. When he reached his hundred, off 215 balls, India were 205 for no loss after they had bowled West Indies out for 150 on day one.”It was an emotional moment for me,” Jaiswal said after the day’s play. “I enjoyed it quite a bit. I am still batting so I will try to play for as long as possible. This is just the start of my career, so now it will be about how focused and disciplined I can be going forward.”My effort [on the third day] will just be on how I can give a good start to the team. I will just focus on my process and trust on what I have practiced. I just have to go and keep playing.”Jaiswal has shown a remarkable appetite for runs in every format he has played. When he was called up for this West Indies tour as part of an India side picked with an eye on the future, he had scored 1845 first-class runs at an average of 80.21, with nine hundreds in just 26 innings. His List A career of 32 games already includes a double-hundred. And he was the fifth highest run-getter in IPL 2023, with his 625 runs coming at a strike rate of 163.61. Jaiswal has now brought that appetite to Test cricket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I thinks it’s about how I prepare mentally,” Jaiswal said when asked about his preparations. “Of course, fitness is very important. I try to follow my diet and discipline and try to stay in good shape. And I practice the way I need to prepare. I keep trying to bat according to possible scenarios and how I can do well on the team. The effort is to just try and play match-winning knocks.”I spoke to Rohit quite a bit while batting. He kept telling me how we can play on this wicket and where the runs can come from. And even before the game, the way he told me ‘you have to do it, you are the only person’, I kept thinking about that and how I can get my runs.”West Indies tested both openers even as they struggled to separate them, on a slow pitch that offered the spinners both turn and bounce. Right through his innings, Jaiswal was happy to show the patience he required to earn his run-scoring opportunities. He took 16 balls to get off the mark on the first evening, and began the second morning by shouldering arms five times in a row to Jason Holder. By the time he reached his hundred, he had left or defended 56 of the 104 balls he faced from West Indies’ fast bowlers.At the same time, he was also prepared to exploit gaps in the field with unorthodox shots. He got off the mark in Test cricket with an uppercut for four, and he reverse-swept Jomel Warrican against the turn for a boundary in the last over of day one.When required to, Jaiswal was able to shift a gear down and see out difficult periods. Having hit seven fours while scoring his first 51 runs off 104 balls, he hit no boundaries and scored just 19 runs off his next 80 balls, a period during which spinners Rahkeem Cornwall and Jomel Warrican beat both openers multiple times with sharp turn.Having got through that testing spell, though, and with Cornwall off the field with a chest infection, Jaiswal opened up after lunch: he rushed from 70 to 100 in just 31 balls, hitting four fours in that period including a dancing, inside-out drive off Warrican.Of the 16 previous India batters to score centuries on Test debut, only two – Shikhar Dhawan in 2013 and Prithvi Shaw in 2018 – opened the batting. And only five scored their debut hundreds outside Asia, with Virender Sehwag the last to do so, in Bloemfontein back in November 2001.Jaiswal’s innings also extended a proud run for players representing his Ranji Trophy team: the last four Test-debut centurions for India have all been Mumbai batters, with Rohit, Shaw and Shreyas Iyer the three before Jaiswal.