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Andrew Strauss said the most important aspect of England’s win was that they emerged from a difficult period with important lessons learned

Andrew McGlashan in Colombo07-Apr-2012For the first time at a post-match presentation this year Andrew Strauss wore a broad grin as England ended a run of four straight Test defeats with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory. It was enough for them to retain the No. 1 ranking, but for Strauss the most important aspect was to have seen his side emerge from a difficult period with important lessons learned.Having fallen apart against spin in the preceding four matches England’s top-order finally offered the team’s outstanding bowling attack support for their efforts. Strauss is confident that the batsmen have made significant strides in playing in subcontinental conditions, which they will encounter again at the end of the year in India.”We’ve been seeing in the nets for a while the guys have been forced to re-look at their games,” he said. “It’s easy to say we’re experienced cricketers and we should have known it earlier but I do think to a certain extent DRS has changed things and we’ve had to look at our techniques, and I think we’ve come through that. Everyone looks better now than they did at the start of the winter.”It’s always a shame when you’ve got to be handed a few defeats to make sure you really do look at it. We’re excited. India’s still a long way off, but we’ve got some good lessons we can put in the bank. Now we’ve got to get back to England and remember how to play swing and seam bowling.”Graeme Swann was the matchwinner over the last couple of days as he secured career-best match figures of 10 for 181, his second ten-wicket haul in Tests, to follow Kevin Pietersen’s scintillating 151 as he threw off the shackles.”I thought James Anderson wasn’t really rewarded for his bowling, he bowled outstandingly well,” Strauss said. “Graeme Swann showed his value to the side once again, creating trouble all the way through. And Kevin in particular took the game away from the opposition in the way only he can. It’s always pretty demoralising for the opposition to see KP in full flight. It was an outstanding innings and it gave us the impetus and momentum we needed to win the game.”I think we were all under a bit pressure coming into this game to make sure we showed we’d learned some of the lessons from our defeats over the last four Test matches. It looked like an easy victory but we knew that out in the middle it was very, very hard to prise out wickets and at times it was hard to score runs as well. I saw a steely determination on everyone’s part to make sure we finished the winter on a high and it was fantastic to be able to do that.”The lowest moment of England’s recent run came in the second-innings run chase against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi as they crumbled to 72 chasing 145. When Strauss fell in the first over of this pursuit, bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck, it may have opened old wounds but England powered their way to the target.”They’re horrible chases because everyone expects you to win, it’s almost like trying to sink a three-foot putt – you know it should go in but it doesn’t always,” he said. “We were determined to make sure we didn’t make the same mistakes as we did in Abu Dhabi; determined to be a bit more proactive about things and Cooky and KP today did that exceptionally well.”Like his counterpart Mahela Jayawardene, Strauss acknowledged the importance of Swann’s double-wicket over in the dying moments of the fourth day that gave England a much more favourable chance to wrapping up the victory. “The guys were knackered,” he said. “It was a long day and they raised the intensity and the tempo over those ten overs. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve but on that occasion we did.”Strauss, though, was not getting carried by a single success and a shared series. There remain issues against good spin bowling – Rangana Herath took 19 wickets in the two matches – and the first-innings total of 460 was the only time the batting order clicked in either the UAE or Sri Lanka.”I don’t think any of us are the finished article, you never are in cricket,” he said. “Questions are asked, you find an answer and another question is asked. It’s been a hard tour, conditions are tough, we’re very pleased and proud to have got something out of this series but we move on as you always do in international cricket.”Edited by Alan Gardner

South Africa will ensure they have adequate reserves to call during their tour of England by basing their A squad in Ireland during part of the trip

Firdose Moonda28-May-2012South Africa will ensure they have adequate reserves to call during their tour of England by basing their A squad in Ireland during part of the trip. It is a strategy that mirrors England’s 2010-11 Ashes-winning tactics when their performance squad spent time in Brisbane and Perth, a visit which overlapped with the first two Tests of the series.South Africa A will play two four-day matches, two fifty-over fixtures and four twenty-over games against the Ireland national side. Their stay in the country will run concurrently with the third Test against England at Lord’s and the first four ODIs.”This is something we are going to do on a more regular basis, where we can,” Vincent Barnes, High Performance Coach, who is in charge of the A side told ESPNcricinfo. “It means if the guys are needed to play for the senior side, they will be right there, instead of having to come in from the cold. Some of the players who are part of the ODI squad but not the Test squad will be able to play in that series.”Players such as Faf du Plessis, Marchant de Lange and Justin Ontong, who are all considered close to the Test squad and part of the limited-overs plans, are likely to feature in the series. “It’s all about what Gary [Kirsten] feels he may need and everything is being geared to make sure players are ready for international cricket,” Barnes said.”We will also look to do the same thing next year, when the national side tours Sri Lanka, we will send a shadow side. It’s especially important to send an A side when the away tours take place during our off season.”South Africa A have a busy schedule in the next few months. They will play Sri Lanka A in two four-day matches in Durban starting on June 30, before travelling to Zimbabwe to play in a one-day tri-series, featuring Sri Lanka A and the hosts.

A lethal spell of swing bowling from Mitchell Starc led the Sydney Sixers to a 17-run win in a rain-affected game over cross-town rivals Sydney Thunder at Stadium Australia

Andrew Fuss08-Jan-201216 overs
ScorecardA lethal spell of swing bowling from Mitchell Starc led the Sydney Sixers to a 17-run win in a rain-affected game over cross-town rivals Sydney Thunder at Stadium Australia.Starc, who has been added to the Australian Test squad for Perth next week against India, showed why he’s rated so highly, by destroying the Thunder’s top order, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick on his way to 3 for 17.Brett Lee bowled brilliantly in tandem with Starc, the veteran quick claiming the vital wicket of Chris Gayle for a duck.With five overs required to constitute a match, the early stages of the Thunder’s chase was always going to be vital and the par score was well above the 4 for 29 they finished on when the match was called off.Earlier, Fidel Edwards used the moist conditions to his advantage, swinging and seaming his way through a dangerous four-over spell to start the match. The Sixers middle order then collapsed, losing 4 for 6 in the space of just two overs, including a rare diamond duck to Dominic Thornely.Ben Rohrer led a lower order fightback, smashing four boundaries and a six before the allrounder Sean Abbott claimed him for 38 (off 24 balls). Edwards was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 1 for 21 off his four overs while fellow West Indian Gayle was miserly, conceding just 18 runs off his three overs.The Sixers move into the top four with a key away clash against the Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday to determine their finals’ fate. The Thunders host Perth Scorchers on Wednesday in a must-win game if they are to make the finals.

Jim Troughton has said that the pain of being pipped to the Championship last year is providing the drive behind his side’s impressive start to 2012

Jon Culley at The Oval26-May-2012

ScorecardJim Troughton, the Warwickshire captain, has said that the pain of being pipped to the Championship last year is providing the drive behind his side’s impressive start to the 2012 campaign, which continued with a five-wicket victory over Surrey that took only 32 minutes of the final morning to wrap up.Tim Ambrose finished unbeaten on 89 with his partner Rikki Clarke 40 not out as Warwickshire completed their recovery from 37 for 4 to win comfortably after Surrey failed to find the early wickets they needed.”After getting so close but not winning last year I think the pain has been in everyone’s mind through the winter and we have used that memory to make sure that when we have got into good positions in games we have nailed it,” Troughton said.”We have not necessarily had things all our own way in the games so far and we have fought back from difficult periods as well as being ruthless when we have been on top. I think that is the key in four-day cricket. To win tight games creates that belief that you can win from anywhere. Gareth Batty bowled very well and, after we were 30-odd for 4, Surrey and their supporters probably thought it would be done and dusted in three days.Troughton applauded his seam bowlers for filling the gaps created by early-season injuries to Chris Woakes and Boyd Rankin and said his batsman are dismantling the notion that without Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott, or overseas assistance from the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mohammad Yousuf, both of whom contributed to their success last year, they are lightweights.”Chanderpaul and Yousuf were a big factor last year but we have a batting line-up that is maturing with the likes of Porterfield and Varun Chopra and there is experience in the mix and someone has always put their hand up at crucial times,” he said. “The only one not to do that has been me.”Referring to his own current lean streak, which has seen him score only 50 runs in nine Championship innings so far with a second-innings duck in this match, Troughton said he did not doubt his form would return.”Guys like Bell and Trott have told me that as long as you don’t start chasing your tail, as long as you keep doing the things that have brought you runs in the past, you will turn it round. I’m lucky that the boys have picked up the slack but as long as I remain positive and keep working in the nets I’m sure that a big performance when the guys need me will come out.”As much as Ambrose and Porterfield were the match-winners with the bat, Jeetan Patel’s 6 for 95 was a significant influence on the outcome as Surrey, who had been under par in the first innings, improved in the second but still were restricted to 245 on a good batting surface.Patel was outshone as an individual by his fellow offspinner, Gareth Batty, who finished with 10 wickets in a match for only the second time in his career but admitted he would have swapped his figures for a win.”The stats say I had a good match but while I want to do my job for the team I would have taken none for 300 if we had taken 20-odd points from the match,” he said.”The game was made difficult on day one for us when we played poorly in all facets. When you come back well to get back in the game but lose it on the final day it is easy to identify where we fell down.””If we had opened with four maidens and maybe taken a wicket we would have had one end open and it could have been very exciting but once they got one or two away the challenge was always going to be easier for them.”Three fours from Clarke, a former Surrey allrounder, of course, in the same Stuart Meaker over tipped the balance decisively Warwickshire’s way, probably denying Ambrose the opportunity for a century into the bargain.

Eight of the best teams will battle from March 4 to April 3 to decide the champion

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2020Hosts New Zealand will kick off the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup on March 4 against one of the qualifying sides in Tauranga, as eight of the best teams in women’s cricket will battle over 31 matches in 31 days across six cities.Defending champions England will start their campaign with a high-profile meeting against Australia on March 5 in Hamilton. And 2017 runners-up India will hope to go one better as they, too, start off by facing the qualifying side on March 6.While New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and India have qualified, three qualifying sides will come from a tournament to take place in Sri Lanka between June 26 and July 10, 2021. As to the format of the World Cup itself, all eight teams will play against each other once and the top four will go through to the semi-finals.Wellington will host the first semi-final on March 30 and Christchurch will host the second semi-final and the final on March 31 and April 3. All three games will have a reserve day. Auckland and Dunedin are the remaining two of the six venues which were retained from the original schedule of 2021.Auckland will also host the massive double-header weekend with India taking on Australia on March 19, and New Zealand facing England the following day. An ICC release confirmed all matches will be broadcast live to a “huge global audience”.The Hagley Oval has only recently been upgraded with floodlights and New Zealand veteran Amy Satterthwaite is eager to see how her home ground will look come game time.”To play in a World Cup at our own stomping ground here in Christchurch, under lights, would be a real career highlight,” she said. “It was hard to watch the T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup from the sidelines back in March (after giving birth in January) so seeing the match schedule all locked in for the ODI World Cup here in 2022 gives both myself and the rest of the team a target to strive for as we prepare over the next 16 months.”In addition to being called champions, the team that wins it all will walk away with a prize money of NZD 5.5 million (US $3.9 million approx.). India have come close to clinching those honours and Mithali Raj is keen to go again.”India has been doing very well at ICC tournaments in the past three or four years, whether you talk about the (ODI) World Cup or the recently concluded T20 World Cup,” she said. “And if we manage to win the tournament in 2022, it will be a massive inspiration for the next generation of girls, as the 50-over format, is considered the pinnacle for any cricketer.”The World Cup had to be postponed from its original date in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will be one of two bumper women’s cricket events in 2022 alongside the Commonwealth Games in England.

2022 Women’s ODI World Cup schedule

New Zealand vs Qualifier, March 4, Tauranga
Australia vs England, March 5, Hamilton
Qualifier vs South Africa, March 5, Dunedin
Qualifier vs India, March 6, Tauranga
New Zealand vs Qualifier, March 7, Dunedin
Australia vs Qualifier, March 8, Tauranga
Qualifier vs England, March 9. Dunedin
New Zealand vs India, March 10, Hamilton
Qualifier vs South Africa, March 11, Tauranga
Qualifier vs India, March 12, Hamilton
New Zealand vs Australia, March 13, Wellington
South Africa vs England, March 14, Tauranga
Qualifier vs Qualifier, March 14, Hamilton
Australia vs Qualifier, March 15, Wellington
England vs India, March 16, Tauranga
New Zealand vs South Africa, March 17, Hamilton
Qualifier vs Qualifier, March 18, Tauranga
India vs Australia, March 19, Auckland
New Zealand vs England, March 20, Auckland
Qualifier vs Qualifier, March 21, Hamilton
India vs Qualifier, March 22, Hamilton
South Africa vs Australia, March 22, Wellington
South Africa vs Qualifier, March 24, Wellington
England vs Qualifier, March 24, Christchurch
Qualifier vs Australia, March 25, Wellington
New Zealand vs Qualifier, March 26, Christchurch
India vs South Africa, March 27, Christchurch
England vs Qualifier, March 27, Wellington
1st semi-final, March 30, Wellington
2nd semi-final, March 31, Christchurch
Final, April 3, Christchurch

The New Zealand captain is nursing an elbow niggle, but is confident it will “settle” before their T20Is against Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Feb-2021Kane Williamson has said he is “chuffed” at New Zealand making the World Test Championship (WTC) final, and believes that their position is reflective of the team’s “hard work through the summer”. The New Zealand captain is currently nursing an elbow niggle, but he is confident it will “settle” well before their T20I series against Australia at home from February 22.New Zealand became the first team to qualify for the inaugural WTC final, following the postponement of Australia’s tour of South Africa. On their way to securing their place, New Zealand swept two two-match series at home, against West Indies and Pakistan, and were aided by points dropped by Australia in a home defeat to India in addition to slow over-rate penalties. The postponement of South Africa-Australia means New Zealand will definitely finish at least second on the points table.”It’s really exciting and really chuffed for all the guys,” Williamson said on Thursday. “It acknowledges a lot of hard work through the summer.”Obviously Covid changed the qualifying a little bit but it meant a number of teams were in the hunt. Coming into our summer it was going ‘right, if we win these four Tests, that gives us an opportunity to be there [in the final]’. We did manage to do that and play some good cricket along the way and it’s really exciting to get the nod. The Test guys will be really excited at that prospect.”Speaking of his injury, he said he will not be part of the upcoming domestic T20 Super Smash round, starting tomorrow, as a precaution.”It’s just an inflammation in a tendon in my elbow, but it’s just precautionary, so unfortunately I won’t be playing this next round. I’m hoping that will just take a week to settle, like I say, a precaution, have been advised that the wisest move would be to take that week and hopefully not worry about it.”Williamson and his team-mates face a lengthy stint away from home this year, starting with the IPL (if scheduled as expected during the regular April-May window), followed by a Test tour to England, the WTC final, then the T20 World Cup and a Test series in India, before the New Zealand home summer. He’s not planning too far ahead though, since, he said, the pandemic made that near impossible.”Loose sums, it could be nine months or so, maybe more [away from home]. It is a challenge and we haven’t planned it out exactly and I don’t think you can. You can try and throw in a few contingencies to see how it might all unfold.”

The captain’s burst in the powerplay anchored a six-wicket win against Gemcon Khulna, while Gazi Group Chattogram thrashed Beximco Dhaka

Mohammad Isam26-Nov-2020
Minister Group Rajshahi made it two wins out of two with their six-wicket win over Gemcon Khulna. Their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto’s burst in the powerplay, which saw him hitting his first half-century of the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, clinched the game for Rajshahi.Shanto struck three sixes and six fours in his 34-ball 55, as he added 47 runs for the second wicket with Rony Talukdar, who struck a six and three fours in his 26. Shanto fell in the 11th over, lbw to legspinner Rishad Hossain, but Mohammad Ashraful and Fazle Mahmud took them towards the target, before Nurul Hasan got them home with 2.4 overs to spare.Rishad took two wickets while Al-Amin Hossain, who bowled just two overs, and Shahidul Islam took one wicket each.Khulna made 146 for 6 after a late boost of runs from Ariful Haque, the hero of their opening-day win over Fortune Barishal. Ariful slammed two sixes in the penultimate over, in which young pace bowler Mukidul Islam went for 17 runs after bowling three wide balls at the start of the over. Ariful and Shahidul Islam added 42 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket, which spruced up Khulna’s innings that was mostly lackluster.Opener Imrul Kayes was the first to go, caught at short fine-leg after mistiming a sweep off Mahedi Hasan. Shakib Al Hasan, too, got caught playing across the line against Mukidul, at deep square-leg in the fifth over.The Khulna innings unravelled further when Anamul Haque, having made 26 with three fours and a six, was run out in the eighth over. Jahurul Islam and captain Mahmudullah fell in the next two overs respectively, as they slipped to 51 for five in the tenth over. Young left-hander Shamim Hossain revived the innings somewhat, with a 25-ball 35 that had three fours and two sixes. He fell to Ebadot Hossain’s bouncer shortly after hitting his second six, leaving Ariful to play out the last 4.5 overs with the tail.
Gazi Group Chattogram blew Beximco Dhaka away by nine wickets, after bowling them out for a paltry 88. Chattogram reached the target in 10.5 overs, making it one of the biggest wins in Mirpur in terms of balls remaining. Chattogram’s big win will worry the rest of the field in a tournament where the five teams have very little room to make changes to their rosters.Chattogram’s decision to bowl first was vindicated when left-arm quick Shoriful Islam had his Under-19 teammate Tanzid Hasan in the second over, caught at slip with a fine away-going delivery.It followed an infuriating period for Sabbir Rahman, who struggled for nine balls before skying Shoriful in the covers for a duck. But Dhaka had worse luck when their captain Mushfiqur Rahim, uncharacteristically, gave Soumya an easy grab at slip after his attempted reverse-sweep, off the first ball he faced, went awry.Mohammad Naim and Akbar Ali provided a brief respite with their 44-run fourth wicket stand but Mosaddek Hossain bowled both of them in the space of three deliveries. Chattogram hardly gave them an inch afterwards, bowling them out for 88 in 16.2 overs.
Apart from Shoriful and Mosaddek’s miserly figures, Mustafizur Rahman and Taijul Islam also took two wickets each while Nahidul Islam, who took the prized wicket of Mushfiqur, and Soumya Sarkar got one each.
Soumya and Liton played a range of attractive strokes, including lofted straight drives and punches through cover. They reached 51 in the Powerplay, before taking them to 79, when Liton got out for 34. Soumya remained unbeaten on 44 off 29 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.

A sense of frustration pervaded the England camp on Friday as they reflected on the one that got away. England feel they should have won the first T20I of the three-match series against Pakistan in the UAE, rather than stumble to an eight-run defeat

George Dobell in Dubai24-Feb-2012A sense of frustration pervaded the England camp on Friday as they reflected on the one that got away. England feel they should have won the first T20I of the three-match series against Pakistan in the UAE, rather than stumble to an eight-run defeat.With five overs remaining, England required just 35 runs and had seven wickets in hand. In T20 terms, that is a stroll.Yet, from the moment that Ravi Bopara was the victim of a fine Umar Gul yorker, England’s chase ground to a halt. They failed to hit a boundary after the 15th over – the over before Bopara’s dismissal – and scored just 17 runs from the 24 balls that encompassed overs 16 to 19. It was not quite a Devon Loch-style capitulation, but it was not far short.It would be easy to blame England’s inexperienced middle order for the defeat, but not entirely fair. Instead, the credit should go to a Pakistan bowling attack that performed masterfully. Gul utilised reverse swing to deliver a barrage of penetrating yorkers, while the three spinners – Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez – teased and tormented the England batsmen. Some balls turned, some skidded on: with the bowlers’ control and changes of pace, batting was desperately difficult.There will be questions, inevitably, about the decision to play two inexperienced men in the middle order. While Jos Buttler and, particularly, Jonny Bairstow were excellent in the field, it is asking a great deal of them to adapt to these conditions and this bowling quickly enough to win international games. It is a problem that Ian Bell could tell them all about.Buttler, perhaps, was a little unfortunate: he connected sweetly with his “Buttler paddle” (patent pending) but was deceived by a decent slower delivery and, as a consequence guided the ball to a fielder. Bairstow, despite his wonderfully swift running between the wickets, looked uncomfortable with the bat. For all his sound and fury, he rarely made a proper connection and failed to find the boundary. Both are young men, however, and will require patience if they are to fulfil their undoubted ability.Graeme Swann, at least, enjoyed a good game with the ball. He claimed three for 13 from four overs, his best T20 figures, though he did take some of the gloss of that performance by dropping a catch – Asad Shafiq on nine – and struggling with the bat – he scored two from seven deliveries. While he accepted England should have won the game, he remained confident they could bounce back in the final two matches to take the series.”The mood is a little bit downbeat,” Swann said on Friday. “They have world-class bowlers at the death and we didn’t cope with that as well as we should have done. Having said that, we got ourselves in a winning position and, nine times out of ten, we would expect to cross the line. It was disappointing not to do that. We’ve got two games left in the series to make amends.”Gul bowled very well, but in some of the one-dayers we really got after him. T20 is one of those games: it proved that way for me last night. I got three wickets for hardly any runs. On another day it could have been 0-40 or 0-50. So we certainly won’t panic. We know we can get after Umar Gul. He bowled exceptionally well last night but I’m sure, in the next couple of games, our batsmen will step up to the plate and do that.”It’s no surprise that spinners do well in T20. In Dubai especially, where there are fairly big boundaries and it’s not easy for the batsmen to get after you. There’s always a chance of catches in the deep.”Of course we can bounce back. We’ve just beaten these guys 4-0 in the ODI series. So confidence is still sky high. Had KP stayed in for three or four more overs, we would have won in ten overs, the way he was going. He’s looking in ominous form at the top of the order. The bowlers are bowling well and the fielders are taking catches: I don’t see any reason why we can’t win the next two.”Swann also suggested that, far from blaming the young players for failing to finish off the game, the onus was on those batsmen who had become established at the crease. He also expressed his disappointment that England do not play more T20Is before September’s World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. By the time this series finishes, England will have just four more T20Is before the tournament.”Maybe there was a little inexperience,” he said. “But we always talk about the guys who get in going on to finish the game. That’s the same in any format. It’s always easier for the guys who are in. We’ve a couple of guys who are in very good form and they got 30s last night where, on another day, they could easily have been match-winning 60s or 70s. I’m sure that’ll happen next time.”You never have that many games building up to World Twenty20s. It was the same when we won in the West Indies. No-one really knew what our strongest team was until we were on the plane on the way over. It’s a shame there are so few games leading up to the World Twenty20, so we really do have to make every one count.”Despite their disappointment with the result, England enjoyed the lively atmosphere created by a good-sized crowd. They were, though, a little surprised by the regular contributions of one persistent female spectator who, armed with a microphone and the PA system, made it abundantly clear that she was open to a marriage proposal from Stuart Broad.”Broady is a single man and a good-looking man,” Swann said. “He’s England captain. Why wouldn’t she want to marry him? But, having heard her voice screeching through our ears all night, I’m not sure he’ll be too keen to accept her offer.”Sadly there was no such good humour once spectators attempted to leave the ground. The stadium’s remote location – some miles outside Dubai and surrounded by desert and unfinished buildings – means the only option for public transport is taxis, but taxi drivers are reluctant to venture so far outside their normal areas of business. As a result many spectators were obliged to wait up to four hours to get away, with some resorting to walking across the desert or attempting to flag cars down on the main road. It was a chaotic – and potentially dangerous – end to a memorable day and an incident that raises questions about the suitability of Dubai as a venue for international cricket.Edited by Alan Gardner

A ready reckoner of all the players who have suffered injuries so far in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2020

Mumbai Indians

Nathan Coulter-Nile
What is the injury?
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma stated at the toss during the IPL 2020 opener against Chennai Super Kings that the Australian fast-bowling allrounder had a “few niggles”. It has since emerged that he has a side strain.How does it impact the team?
Trent Boult and James Pattinson have been doing the job alongside Jasprit Bumrah, but along with what he can do with the ball, Coulter-Nile is a useful batsman down the order. Mumbai would want his momentum-changing cameos with the bat, to go with this formidable new-ball bowling skills, in their line-up.When is he likely to return?
Word is that Coulter-Nile will have to sit out Mumbai’s first few matches at least.Chris Morris bowls at the RCB nets•Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Chris Morris
What is the injury?
Mike Hesson, the director of cricket operations, said in a franchise social media video that Morris had missed the opening game against Sunrisers Hyderabad because he had “picked up a slight side strain a few days ago”.What is the impact on the team?
Morris is a multi-faceted cricketer, and vastly experienced in the shortest format, and key to Royal Challengers’ team balance as a lower-middle order batsman and someone who can bowl at any stage of a T20 innings. As Hesson said, “He would have played a huge role through the middle and also at the death (with the ball), and obviously his batting would have had a huge impact as well.”When is he likely to return?
Nothing confirmed, but Hesson is hoping Morris will be available for selection within a game or two.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kane Williamson
What is the injury?
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner said Williamson had a quadriceps injury. It is understood Williamson pulled a muscle while training.What is the impact on the team?
In their opening match of the tournament, against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, Sunrisers were forced to play two young Indian batsmen in Abhishek Sharma and Priyam Garg. Williamson usually floats in the top order, and his absence left the middle order thin.When is he likely to return?
The team management has not provided any updates yet, but Williamson’s injury is understood to not be serious.Mitchell Marsh
Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the tournament after twisting his right ankle in his very first over in his team’s first match while attempting to stop the ball in his follow through. He has been replaced by Jason Holder.Ishant Sharma sweats it out in the nets•Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals