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Andrew Strauss took a leaf out of Dale Steyn’s batting textbook, and launched England’s innings in the same aggressive manner with which South Africa’s No. 10 had closed that of his own team

The Bulletin by Andrew Miller27-Dec-2009Close England 103 for 1 (Trott 17*, Cook 31*) trail South Africa 343 (Kallis 75, Smith 75) by 240 runs

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDale Steyn climbed into England’s bowlers, but Andrew Strauss hit back in style•Getty Images

Andrew Strauss took a leaf out of Dale Steyn’s batting textbook, and launched England’s innings with a 49-ball half-century – his fastest in Tests – as the second Test at Durban produced yet more dramatic momentum shifts on an eventful second day. By the time bad light brought another early end to proceedings, England had recovered from the indignity of watching South Africa’s last pair, Steyn and Makhaya Ntini, add 58 carefree runs to their eventual total of 343, and reached the close in a promising position on 103 for 1.Strauss, however, was that one England wicket to fall, bowled for 54 in the fifth over after tea by the one man to have troubled him consistently throughout this tour, Morne Morkel. Strauss had already enjoyed one massive slice of good fortune when the third umpire, Steve Davis, overturned an lbw appeal in Morkel’s first over of the same session, despite inconclusive evidence of an inside-edge onto the pads, but second time around no replays were needed. Morkel’s height, pace and off-stump accuracy combined to blast through Strauss’s defences, and bring to an end the brightest of a series of cameos that lit up an otherwise piecemeal day’s cricket.Strauss has been in the form of his life in the past 12 months, and such was his dominance in the early part of his innings that his opening partner, Alastair Cook, was feeding on scraps at the other end, with 8 from 36 balls at the interval. Strauss crashed nine fours in his innings, including four in eight balls against a toiling Ntini, whose medium-paced offerings fed all three of Strauss’s strengths – the pull, the cut and the drive. Steyn, bubbly after his 58-ball 47, provided some hairy moments with late swing from a tight new-ball line, and Morkel also found Strauss’s edge with a lifter on off stump, but Jacques Kallis’s rusty swingers were no match for a man in Strauss’s mood, as he was drilled for two fours in consecutive balls.Strauss’s surge of intent eventually rubbed off on Cook, whose confidence began to grow before the close as he produced a succession of cathartic pulls and slog-sweeps to move to 31 not out, his best start of the series, while Jonathan Trott overcame a hostile welcome from crowd and opponents alike to reach stumps unbeaten on 17. The combined effect was to leave England handily placed after a tough day in the field, in which they were made to toil for their breakthroughs in conditions that ought to have favoured their seam attack.South Africa had resumed their innings on 175 for 5, still shaken following the loss of three wickets in the space of five overs in a dramatic mini-session on the first evening, and when James Anderson launched an extended two-and-a-half hour session with a series of sharp inswingers in muggy conditions, England were hopeful of a swift denouement.Instead they were thwarted by a succession of counterattacks, starting with Mark Boucher who was South Africa’s principal source of momentum for the first hour of the day. Resuming on 1 not out, he clipped the first ball of the day, from Anderson, through midwicket for four, and the leg-side remained his principal scoring area throughout an aggressive 50-ball stay.In total, Boucher scored 38 of South Africa’s first fifty runs of the day, including a premeditated slog-sweep to knock Graeme Swann off his length as he entered the attack midway through the first hour. But it was eventually Swann who ended his cameo via a referred lbw, as England finally extracted some good news from the review system, after squandering all four of their attempts during last week’s Centurion Test.Boucher’s departure, however, was the cue for de Villiers to step out of the shadows and take up the cudgels for his team. With sweet timing, especially off the back foot, he rode his luck to the occasional delivery that reared outside off, but cashed in on the regular occasions that England lost their length. He eventually fell for an even 50, caught behind off the second ball of Stuart Broad’s new spell, having just completed his half-century from 96 balls.Swann then set about whittling through the tail. Paul Harris attempted a sweep and was adjudged lbw for 2, a decision that was upheld on review despite protestations that the ball had brushed glove before it hit the pads, and though Morkel struck some lusty blows in a useful 23, he was extracted in the first over after tea, pinned lbw from the sixth ball of a Swann over in which every delivery had looked likely to end his stay.That, however, was the end of Swann’s fun for the day. With his eyes on his second five-wicket haul of the series, he was instead repelled by a staggeringly composed onslaught from Steyn, who farmed the strike to keep Ntini as far from the firing line as possible, while cashing in with three fours and three sixes, each in consecutive Swann overs as he opened his shoulders to clear the ropes at long-off and long-on.England’s bowlers lost their direction in the course of his onslaught, with several deliveries speared into the pads and away for four byes, but the pick of Steyn’s shots was a stand-and-deliver back-foot cover-drive off Anderson that would have made de Villiers proud. But with his second Test fifty there for the taking, Anderson straightened his line and grazed a lifter off his outside edge, to give his team some welcome relief, and set the stage for Strauss’s spirited, if shortlived, response.

The sixth edition will run from November 27 to December 23, with SLC keen to prepare batting-friendly pitches ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup

Madushka Balasuriya01-Aug-2025The Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2025 will be held from November 27 to December 23. Now in its sixth edition, the tournament will take place across three venues – Colombo, Kandy and Dambulla.This will be the fourth time in six years that the LPL is scheduled for the November-December window rather than its preferred July-August slot. The last two seasons took place during July and August, however this year, with the 2026 T20 World Cup set to begin in February, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) felt the later window better suited their needs.”The idea to conduct the LPL during this time frame is aimed at aligning the tournament with the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2026,” LPL tournament director Samantha Dodanwela said.ESPNcricinfo also learnt that talks are underway to incorporate a sixth team into the tournament. The first five editions saw five teams representing Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Dambulla and Jaffna compete.”Potential owners for a sixth team are currently being vetted,” Dodanwela confirmed.The inclusion of a sixth team has long been discussed, though SLC’s cautious approach to introducing new ownership might be understandable. The LPL has struggled with long-term franchise ownership over the years.Earlier this year, Jaffna Kings – formerly the longest-standing franchise, having joined in the tournament’s second edition – and Colombo Strikers were terminated by SLC for “failure to uphold contractual obligations.” As a result, the LPL currently has no franchise owners with a history stretching back beyond 2024. New owners for both the Jaffna and Colombo teams are yet to be announced.Dodanwela also elaborated on SLC’s desire to curate more batting-friendly surfaces, with a view to better prepare players for the kind of wickets they are likely to play on during the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.”We were quite happy with the wickets during the last edition, particularly in Dambulla and Kandy,” Dodanwela noted. “We saw lots of high scores and even some centuries during that portion of the tournament. It was only in Colombo where batting was a little harder.”Backing up Dodanwela’s assessment is the fact that the pitches at the R Premadasa Stadium are currently in the process of being relaid. Several national players, such as Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva, also recently voiced the need for more batting-friendly surfaces.

Spinner channels white-ball experience after chastening welcome in first innings

Vithushan Ehantharajah29-Jan-20244:10

Carl Crowe: Hartley is used to bowling the tough overs

Few players can have experienced as many of Test cricket’s highs and lows as Tom Hartley did on debut across the four days of the first Test at Hyderabad.Hartley’s first delivery in Test cricket was carted by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal over long-on for six. His 308th and most recent spun past an on-rushing Mohammed Siraj for a ninth wicket in the match. That rounded off his epic second-innings figures of 7 for 62, the first seven-for by an England debutant spinner since Jim Laker in 1948, and sealed a famous England win by 28 runs.”He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last!” Hartley joked, as he recalled the manner in which Jaiswal had dispatched his maiden delivery.”As a spinner, people are going to come after you,” he added. “I’m fine with it if people want to come after me. I sort of have to go into a different mind-set. You look back at the ball and you think it wasn’t a bad ball. If that’s the way they want to play, you’ve just got to play with it.”It is a refreshingly phlegmatic take, no doubt helped by the fact that that chastening first ball, first day and first innings of 2 for 131 are now academic. But it is also a hardwired perspective the 24-year-old has forged from white-ball cricket.Still a relative newbie in the first-class game – this was his 21st appearance – Hartley has 82 T20 matches under his belt. All have come for either Lancashire or Manchester Originals.1:45

Harmison: Hartley showed character and resilience

His job, like most slow bowlers in the shorter formats, is to be defensive, which does not lend itself to an effective attacking role with the red ball. But it also does involve bowling up top, where the best, most destructive batters reside, and often when the odds are stacked against you.Of the overs (and sets) he’s sent down, 25.8 percent – or one in each allocation of four – have come in the Powerplay. Though opening in this Test was a red-ball novelty, he had done it many times before in limited-overs formats, most notably sending down the first ball of the inaugural men’s Hundred back in 2021. He is the competition’s third-highest wicket taker.”He bowls the tough overs for us all the time,” Carl Crowe, spin coach at Lancashire and Originals, told ESPNcricinfo. “Often to a short leg-side boundary (at Emirates Old Trafford), at the best batters – and never once questions it.”That mentality has aligned with an appetite for progression with his red-ball skills.Crowe, who came across Hartley before he had made a first-team appearance, worked on tightening up his seam position which is now as clean as it has ever been. Though he only took 19 County Championship wickets at 44.84 during the 2023 season, he impressed ECB coaches on England Lions tours either side of the summer enough to take a punt on him here.It did not take long for Hartley’s new England team-mates to see why he had been selected. He gave batters a torrid time on raked, saw-dusted practice pitches in Abu Dhabi during their pre-tour training camp. Balls were spinning, gripping or burrowing on broadly similar lengths, not too dissimilar to the surface he had before him on Sunday.Related

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Even during the Test, Hartley took on board and actioned advice. Following that nervous start, assistant coach Jeetan Patel recommended he adjust the speed of his run-up.”When you’re playing for the first time you just run up that bit quick,” Hartley said. “And you think, well, just slow things down, let your action do the work. When I run in quick, I just tend to lose my action a bit. I just slowed it down and kept it simple, and it seemed to work.”The result was a more fluid, more controlled and more incisive spell in what was only the seventh time he had bowled in the fourth innings of a match. Unsurprisingly for someone with only one previous five-wicket haul, he had never felt in such a groove before. Certainly not in a match.”Only in the nets,” he said. “It’s the only time that it really rags like that, in the nets. But it was fantastic, it’s such a nice feeling that every ball you’re going to put down is going to turn quite a lot.”You can just keep it so simple, pitch every ball on the stumps and if it skids on, perfect, and if it doesn’t, if it rags one-foot, even better. It’s just unbelievable.”The novelty of Ben Stokes’ captaincy was also something to get used to. Like many, Hartley has been transfixed by England since Stokes and Brendon McCullum got together at the start of the 2022 summer. Now he is living the dream himself, and will eventually get the hang of the constant shifts in the field.”I’ve watched a bit, and they’ve done some rogue things,” he said. “That’s just the way they are, and after being in this Test match, I’m all aboard. Even before, I was happy with it, I was all in anyway. They’re just such a great combo and they bring so much confidence and life to this team.”When you’re bowling, you look round and think ‘there was a fielder there last ball and now he’s gone somewhere else’. But you just put that out of your mind. You just concentrate on the bowling and he’ll do the fielding for you.”With different surfaces and a different India set-up to come, starting in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Hartley will have more learning and more adapting to do. But having negotiated the first bump, he is bullish about what lies ahead.”Coming out here, I was just looking to get a game or a couple of games. I might have a big role, but I’m more than ready for that. I want more of it.”

Selectors have picked an Australia A team but are looking to give a range of players opportunities across two games against West Indies and South Africa ahead of India tour

Alex Malcolm09-Nov-2022Finger spinners Ashton Agar and Todd Murphy have been named in the Prime Minister’s XI squad to play West Indies in Canberra as national selectors look to give a range of spinners Australia A opportunities ahead of next year’s tour of India.The PM XI’s match is a four-day day-night first-class fixture starting on November 23 and is being used by the touring team as a warm-up for the two-Test series which begins in Perth on November 30.Australia’s selection panel is treating the game like an Australia A fixture, selecting a very strong squad that will be led by Test understudy wicketkeeper Josh Inglis and features Test squad member Marcus Harris and fringe Test seamer Michael Neser who played in the Ashes last year.Legspinner Mitchell Swepson was a notable absentee from the squad just 24 hours after being left out of the Test squad, having played in Australia’s last four Tests in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Jhye Richardson was also a notable omission given he took five wickets in Australia’s last pink ball Test in Adelaide last year.It is the first of effectively two Australia A fixtures that will be played this summer with another against South Africa in December. ESPNcricinfo understands that a range of players will be used across the two matches with the bowlers likely to be rotated. Both Swepson and Richardson could yet play for Australia A against South Africa in December. Swepson will also have a four-day red-ball Sheffield Shield fixture to play in for Queensland against South Australia at Adelaide Oval while the PM’s XI match is going on in Canberra, where he is likely to do a lot more bowling.Related

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Jon Holland is the other spinner who has not been named in the PM’s XI squad having been drafted into both the Australia A Test squad in Sri Lanka midyear but he is currently recovering from injury. He too remains on the selectors’ radar.But it is instructive that both Agar and Murphy have been named given Australia’s Test team will tour India next year for four Tests in February and March.Swepson took 10 wickets at 45.80 and struck at 89.20 in his four recent Test appearances as the second spinner alongside Nathan Lyon. He did bowl better than those figures suggested at times, particularly in Sri Lanka, but his wrist spin was less effective at times than finger spin in those conditions.Agar was a chance to play in the most recent Test series in Sri Lanka until he suffered a significant side strain. Agar has not played Test cricket since 2017 and hasn’t played first-class cricket since April 2021 due to his commitments with Australia’s limited-overs sides. He has a middling first-class record overall averaging 41.28 and striking at 80.7. In the four Test matches he has played he has one less wicket than Swepson, averaging 45.55 and strikes at 97.1 but does have a slightly better economy rate.India’s success with finger spinners Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Axar Patel in home conditions has been noted by Australia. Left-arm orthodox Steve O’Keefe took 12 wickets in Australia’s last Test win in India in 2017 while New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel took 14 wickets including 10 in an innings in a Test in Mumbai in December last year.Chair of selectors George Bailey suggest on Wednesday, ahead of the PM’s XI squad announcement, that there could be some different names being looked at for the India tour compared to the squad picked for the home Tests against West Indies and South Africa.”I would envisage the tour to India may have some different names to it than what the tour does over the [Australian] summer, just because of the conditions,” Bailey said. “They are every chance to be very different. Because it’s an away tour you take a slightly bigger squad anyway. Plus it’s at the back of a [home] summer and there’s a reasonable amount of cricket that would have been played by then.”Glenn Maxwell hasn’t played first-class cricket since 2019•Getty Images

Glenn Maxwell could well come into contention for the India tour and may get the chance to play some first-class cricket in December for the first time since 2019. Maxwell will be available for Victoria’s last Sheffield Shield match before the BBL break against New South Wales on December 1 and possibly the Australia A game against South Africa ahead of the first Test in Brisbane on December 17, although Melbourne Stars’ first BBL match falls on December 13 which could create a scheduling conflict one way or the other.Peter Handscomb is also firmly back in the Test mix for the tour of India as he is in some of the best form of his career having scored runs consistently on a range of different surfaces around Australia over the last 18 months.”Pete remains absolutely on our radar,” Bailey said. “He was selected on the Australia A tour to Sri Lanka in the winter, [but missed it due to] having a baby at the same time. He’s started the season fantastically and finished the last Shield year fantastically.”Both he and Matt Renshaw have been named in the PM’s XI side and both played on Australia’s last tour of India in 2017. Renshaw is one of three specialist openers named in the PM’s XI alongside Harris and South Australia’s Henry Hunt. All three played in the same Australia A side in Sri Lanka midyear.Prime Minister’s XI squad vs West Indies: Josh Inglis (capt), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Harris, Henry Hunt, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee

Fast bowler still pushing the speed gun as careful management extends injury-free spell

Alan Gardner28-Jun-2021Mark Wood has had something of a reputation as a glass man during his six-year international career, such has been his fragility and susceptibility to injury – so it might be surprising to learn that, in the current era of rest and rotation, he is the England seamer with the most appearances to his name since the start of 2021.Even more so after Wood endured his frustrations with selection last year, playing just one Test during the summer and then being overlooked during the T20Is in South Africa. But since then, he has proved himself a man for all formats, featuring 12 times across Test, ODI and T20I cricket. Only Sam Curran, who classes as an allrounder, has played more games (13) and only James Anderson, a Test specialist, has bowled more overs (174.2 to Wood’s 155.5).Wood’s run includes playing back-to-back Tests in Sri Lanka and featuring in four T20Is out of five in India. He started the home summer with England by playing consecutive Tests against New Zealand at Lord’s and Edgbaston and featured in the opening two T20Is against Sri Lanka before being rested for the third. Throughout that time, not only has he remained fit, he has regularly posted speeds in the region of 93mph/150kph.Speaking ahead of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, which begins at Wood’s home ground of Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, he said that “good communication” with the England management and a more mature approach to dealing with the aches and pains of fast bowling was behind his increased durability.”Yeah, I feel good, I’ve strung a few games together, kept my pace up during the Tests and then into the T20s. I’ve backed up a lot of games now, the most since 2020-21 among the squad. If can contribute to winning games, that’s what it’s all about. That’s the bowler I want to be, if I’m taking wickets I want to take important wickets – that’s the key.Mark Wood cranks it up in the nets•Getty Images

“I just played back-to-back [Tests] versus New Zealand, played back-to-back in Sri Lanka. So to people who have doubted that, I have come a long way with the physical side of things. My routine, the strength coach, nutrition, bowling coach … I’m older and more mature now to say when my body isn’t quite feeling right, not just pushing through to play another game. Good communication has led us down this path where I have played back-to-back Test matches, back-to-back T20 – I was rested for the last one, not injured. If I can keep that going I’ll be happy.”Given there is a danger that Wood’s cutting edge might be blunted by overwork, three ODIs against Sri Lanka right on the outer orbit of the 2023 World Cup cycle might have represented a timely opportunity for a rest. Among England’s three out-and-out quick bowlers, he is currently the last man standing, with Jofra Archer in rehab after his latest round of elbow surgery and Olly Stone ruled out for the summer by a back stress fracture.But Wood, who has dealt with numerous injury setbacks including three major ankle operations, is keen to remain in harness – not least because of the pride he has at representing his country back in the north-east. “I have to contain myself a bit around the lads or they will take the Mickey out of me but I love coming back,” he said. With four wins and five defeats in the World Cup Super League so far, England could also do with the points.”I’ve missed so much cricket that playing any format for me is really special. As bowlers we’re rested and rotated to be fresh. But in this format we have to make sure we’re winning games, otherwise when it comes to that World Cup we could be in a tough group. Any game for England is important, I’m thankful that I’m involved in this squad. At the end of your career you don’t look at the games you were rested for, you look at the games you played.”I’m sure the other two lads will be back,” he said of England’s injured quicks. “I’ve been through a few problems myself and it’s never nice. I really feel for Stoney because during the [Edgbaston Test], he mentioned to me that his back was a little bit stiff and I didn’t think it was anything worse than just stiffness. To see he’s got a stress fracture again is really sad for him. Jofra has had his surgery and is coming back and I’m sure, the kind of guy he is, the determination he’s got – and he is a naturally fit guy anyway – he will be back with a bang.”Related

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There’s no doubt that Wood remains a glass-half-full kind of cricketer, and he was upbeat about the challenge of taking on Sri Lanka, despite the tourists’ insipid displays while going down 3-0 in the T20Is, and the fact they have lost the services of three senior players over a breach of Covid-19 protocols.”I have been surprised [by the T20I performances], they have some top players,” Wood said. “When I was growing up, they had some of the greatest names in the game. Maybe it is a side that is transitional a bit but they still have some very good players. They beat us in the World Cup recently in 2019. We were heavy favourites for that game and we lost so we can’t drop the ball here.”We pride ourselves on our performance so as long as we are doing our things right, keeping our intensity high, that’s what it’s all about.”

“Performances haven’t been there as I would’ve liked, but I’m not too disheartened. I know my ability.”

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Apr-2020Jason Holder has admitted that it was “tough” for him to “transition” back to being a player in the ODI side after Cricket West Indies replaced him with Kieron Pollard as the white-ball captain last September. Although Holder remains the Test captain, his performances in ODI cricket post the 2019 World Cup have weakened, which he said also had to do with him batting lower down the order where he didn’t have enough time to settle before making an impact.”To be quite honest, it has been tough transitioning back just as a player,” Holder told the Cricket Collective podcast on TalkSPORT last week. “In hindsight, it has been tough trying to understand how to get back in as just a player.”CWI had stated that one of the reasons behind Pollard’s appointment as the white-ball captain was to improve West Indies’ performances in limited-overs cricket, especially in ODIs where West Indies had finished ninth in the ten-team World Cup last year. But Holder was caught unawares by the timing of CWI’s decision.Holder was just getting ready to lead the Barbados Tridents in the 2019 CPL when he was told of the news. “Yeah, it was an interesting time for me. I had found out earlier in the tournament that we have moved as one-day international captain. For me, it was just trying to win it [the CPL].”Holder succeded, as the Tridents won the CPL with the captain finishing as the joint-third highest wicket-taker in the tournament.However, Holder was failing to create a similar impact with the ball for West Indies. Since the World Cup, Holder has picked up just seven wickets in ten innings at an average of 69.85 and a strike rate of 75.4. Since Pollard became the captain, Holder has picked up six wickets in eight ODIs at 66.16 with a strike rate of 75. These numbers pale in comparison to his career stats: overall, he has 136 wickets from 111 innings at an average of 36.38 and a strike rate of 39.3.”Performances obviously haven’t been there as I would’ve probably liked, but I’m not too disheartened,” Holder said. “I don’t beat myself up. I don’t get too worried because I know my ability. I know what I can produce. I just know that an innings is around the corner, a bowling effort is around the corner.”Phil Simmons and Jason Holder won the CPL together with Barbados Tridents•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Holder pointed out that the responsibility of leading West Indies in both Tests and ODIs, playing constant cricket across the three formats and also playing his maiden county season, for Northants, had taken a toll both physically and mentally. Holder had played 62 matches in 2019, the second-most by a West Indies player across all formats including first-class cricket, List-A and T20s.”I felt I needed the break after the India series [in December] particularly, just to refresh,” Holder said. “I had played every single series in the entire year, I played county cricket as well, and my batteries needed a little bit of a recharge. Obviously, I needed some time to go and think about how I wanted to go forward as a player and try to work out again how just to be a player as opposed to being the captain.”A cause for concern for Pollard and West Indies coach Phil Simmons was Holder’s lean form with the bat: he has scored just of 50 runs from six ODI innings after being dropped as captain. Holder has come in at No. 7 in five of those innings in contrast to his last 15 knocks as captain, when he had batted at No. 6 or higher 13 times.Holder admitted he was still adapting to batting in the lower order, which was proving to be a challenge. “Certain situations haven’t really gone my way in terms of having an extended time to bat in one-day cricket, which I feel personally has contributed to me not having that [big] score. I’m a batsman who needs a little bit of a time to get in and then flourish. And I haven’t had many opportunities to get a solid knock. There hasn’t been much Test cricket going on as well too, which helps me a lot in terms of spending time at the crease.”Holder said that he was helping Pollard wherever he could because “for me, the winner has to be the West Indies cricket regardless of who is captaining or who the administrators are.”Holder said he was in “good spirits” and things would once again “fall back” in their place for him soon. “But, again, I’m not too disheartened. I’ve done a lot of thinking, I’ve done a few technical sessions trying to work through a few things that I wanted to correct. I’m in really good spirits. I know the performances will come and I’m just being as patient as I possibly can before that happens.”I don’t think it’s long before you see me getting back to my normal self. I’m very, very confident. I don’t think it’s a question of my ability. I know my ability. It’s just performing and producing. As I said the structure and dynamics have changed and based on how things have gone, it is little to no time going in to bat. So I just have got to find ways to cope and produce in the short stints of batting at the international stage. I will work it out. I am confident it will all fall back into place.”

Wicketkeeper injured after being struck during dismissal on first day in Antigua

George Dobell in Antigua01-Feb-2019England are hopeful that Ben Foakes will be fit to bat in the second innings, after an x-ray on his right hand revealed bruising but no fracture.Foakes, the England keeper, was hit on the hand while being dismissed by Shannon Gabriel on the first day in Antigua, as he attempted a hook that deflected onto the stumps off his glove and hip.He was subsequently unable to keep wicket when West Indies started their reply. Ahead of play on day two, the England camp announced he would not be keeping in at least the first session, either. Jonny Bairstow has taken the gloves in his place.While England are well-placed for reserve keepers – Bairstow had developed into a more than competent keeper before injury gave Foakes an opportunity at the start of the Test series in Sri Lanka – England will be relieved that Foakes’ injury is not more serious. He put on 85 for the seventh wicket with Moeen Ali on day one – easily the highest partnership of the innings – and topped the batting averages in the Test series in Sri Lanka.His break from the action may, however, have knock-on effects for the final Test of the series. With England struggling to balance their side despite the presence of several all-rounders, Foakes’ absence may provide Bairstow a chance to restake his claim to the wicketkeeper’s role. He has made no secret of his desire to reclaim the gloves and, in Barbados at least, England could have done with playing an extra seamer.

Jack Leach and Dom Bess claimed seven of the eight Lancashire wickets to fall as Somerset closed in on a victory that would take them out of the bottom two

Paul Edwards at Taunton14-Sep-20171:31

County Championship Round-up: Essex on the brink of glory

When, in due time, one receives that peremptory invitation to attend the Clogpoppers’ Ball, it will be a comfort to recall this day’s cricket at Taunton.Lancastrians will select their side’s resilience and the fifties made by Haseeb Hameed and Liam Livingstone as the most pleasing features of affairs; Somerset followers in the Marcus Trescothick Stand might bemoan the opposition’s scoring rate but salute their own spinners’ persistence and accuracy in taking them to the brink of their second successive victory.And so they should, m’dear. A glorious day ended with Jack Leach and Dom Bess bowling in tandem, just as they had done for most of three sessions. The pair bowled 85 overs to take seven wickets for 164 runs. They wore down Lancashire’s batsmen and at some stage around lunchtime on Friday they should receive their due reward with the sight of a Division One table showing Somerset out of the relegation positions. Lancashire’s chances of the title are with cricket’s undertakers but the survival hopes of Tom Abell’s team live and breathe.Yet there was even more to the day than food for partisans or points for tables. There was a richness to the cricket, an intensity of competition which was only augmented by September’s elegiac sunlight and the possibility that showers might halt our sport. The game unfolded on one of early autumn’s more blustery days when clouds raced across an unsettled sky and barged each other out of the way like shoppers at the January sales. Sunlight and shade flitted over the Blackdowns like skittish girls and there were rumours of heavy rain in Wales. Trains raced through the distant station and the man was a fool who wished himself aboard one of them.The first hour of the day belonged to Lancashire and in particular to their openers, Alex Davies and Hameed. Both batsmen played cautiously, their memories of the second day’s rapid collapse fresh in their minds. Davies was busier and bustled about the crease, as if reminding the bowlers that he knew what their little game was. But he was also the first to be dismissed when he attempted to drive Leach through wide mid-on but only gave a sharp return catch to the bowler off a thickish leading edge. He departed one short of his fifty, smacking his bat and doubtless offering a rich Darwen curse or two.Hameed was as watchful as ever, as if determined to reinforce his critics’ astringent judgements that he “pokes about” too much. Then, as classy players always will, he confounded that view by taking three boundaries off successive Bess overs: a late cut and drives through the covers off front and back foot. In the innocence-light of early morning the wind had tossed the field maples and alders in Vivary Park yet the breeze hardly ruffled Hameed, who on occasions has the air of a man who would rehearse letting the ball go even as the jaws of Armageddon snapped around him. A square drive off Craig Overton’s half-volley left him undefeated on 31 when an early lunch was taken, itself prompted by the morning’s second brief shower.For the first hour of the afternoon session Lancashire’s progress was untroubled. The pitch lost much of the life it had offered Leach and Bess on the previous afternoon and for the first time since lunch on the first day Somerset’s cricket lost a little of its fiery purpose. Hameed cut Tim Groenewald backward of square for four and reached his half-century off 151 balls with a cover-drive for two off Leach. That made it the quickest of his three first-class fifties this year, although rapidity is becoming a relative concept when applied to Hameed.But just when Bolton’s “Great Wall” seemed set on constructing his first century in over a year, Leach dismissed him for 62 when Hameed drove a catch straight to Abell at short cover. Some thought the ball had stopped but Somerset supporters were not about to concern themselves with the “filthily technical” as Mr Pickwick might have put it. What mattered was that Hameed was gone and the joy on Gimblett’s Hill was unbounded, although it may not compare with the euphoria in that sacred area once occupied by the Sydney Hill should Hameed be dismissed at the SCG in a few months’ time.More joy lay in wait for the locals. Steven Croft was leg before on the front foot for 5 when sweeping at Bess and the offspinner then took the even more valuable wicket of Shiv Chanderpaul who broke the habit of a career by letting the ball pass between bat and pad. At tea Lancashire were 175 for 4 and Somerset’s players enjoyed their fruit salad in the knowledge that a new ball was available.Overton made the best use of that ball when he had Dane Vilas caught behind for 14 and that dismissal heralded a fine session for Somerset as they finally broke Lancashire’s batsmen on the twin wheels of the spin and flight. The crucial wicket of Livingstone was taken by Leach, who had the mystified batsman caught behind when wicketkeeper Steve Davies and the close fielders were appealing to Billy Taylor for a stumping. But those dozy folk inclined to stereotype cricketers and place them in the convenient pigeonholes should note that Livingstone had batted two minutes longer for his 62 than Hameed had for his 57. Their scoring rates were almost the same. Livingstone is a very serious cricketer and it is fascinating to ponder what lies ahead for him.Barring one of cricket’s most improbable recoveries, Lancashire’s fate was decided in the last half hour when Ryan McLaren and Stephen Parry fell to close catches off Leach and Bess. That Lancashire had lost seven wickets for 94 runs hardly reflected their stubbornness or their determination to compete until the very end. The mood was buoyant at the County Ground in the evening as the locals savoured a probable victory. But no one should be too downcast if they were at Taunton, for they had seen the county game at something like its very best and the cricketers on their green fields of praise.

The BCCI has convened a special general meeting on August 5 in Mumbai to discuss the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations approved by the Supreme Court

Arun Venugopal26-Jul-2016The BCCI has convened a special general meeting on August 5 in Mumbai to discuss the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations approved by the Supreme Court. Officials from the BCCI and multiple state associations told ESPNcricinfo they had received formal communication from the board on Tuesday evening, but were reluctant to speculate on the next course of action.It is understood that the board’s legal committee, which will likely meet before the SGM, will offer some clarity to the BCCI and its member units. “The legal committee has to meet first. The legal heads are making different points that we have to discuss,” a senior BCCI official said. “All of a sudden they can’t say anything without going through the whole thing. We cannot take a unilateral decision.”While the BCCI’s top brass is scheduled to meet the Lodha committee in Delhi on August 9, it is learnt that the board, disillusioned by the recent developments, is not in any hurry to go through with the meeting. “The date is not fixed yet,” the board official said. “Before that we are going to make sure that whatever we want to discuss we should discuss it among ourselves first and only then take it forward. We cannot just directly go [to a meeting].”The Mumbai Cricket Association recently announced its decision to accept the recommendations totally, with its president Sharad Pawar agreeing to voluntarily step down within six months in accordance with the verdict. The BCCI official expressed concern over entirely new teams possibly taking over state associations, and conceded that the mood in the BCCI was downbeat.”Everybody is going through the same problem. In some associations, all the people will have to be replaced,” he said. “They cannot function – either they are 70 and above or they [are disqualified because of the] cooling period [rule]. The entire team will comprise new people. I don’t know how we are going to function.”The Supreme Court, on July 18, had accepted the majority of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations covering wide-ranging aspects of Indian cricket at the central and state level. It has given the BCCI between four and six months to implement the recommendations and appointed RM Lodha, the former chief justice of India who was the architect of the report, to oversee the transition.

A new-look New Zealand side will have the Maori word “Aotearoa” emblazoned on their jerseys when they take on a Zimbabwe outfit struggling to translate performances into results

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy01-Aug-2015

Match facts

Sunday, August 2, 2015, Harare
Start time 09.00 local (07.00 GMT)Zimbabwe’s impressive performances in 2015 have not always translated into the right results•Associated Press

Big Picture

After a break of just over a month, New Zealand are back. They will return in a new-look avatar, in two ways. On Sunday, in the first ODI against Zimbabwe, the word Aotearoa – the Maori word for New Zealand – will be emblazoned on their jerseys. They will be without a number of familiar faces, as Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee have been rested, and Trent Boult and Corey Anderson are nursing injuries.Their absences will offer chances for some well-known, but not entirely established names – such as James Neesham and Adam Milne – and some newer faces – such as Ben Wheeler and George Worker – to try and earn longer-term places in the side. They can expect to be tested by a sluggish Harare surface and a Zimbabwe side that has looked impressive in recent months without having the results to show for it.Last year, Zimbabwe were at a serious low following a winless tour of Bangladesh. This year, despite looking an entirely transformed side at various points, they have won only one of 11 ODIs. They have found themselves in promising situations against quality opposition – from South Africa at the World Cup to India during the recent ODI series at home – only to let them slip away time and again.Of all the factors that have contributed to this phenomenon, their death bowling has their biggest headache. In their last three ODIs, they bowled first each time and restricted India to scoring less than five runs an over in the first 40 overs. In the last 10 overs, they conceded 90, 77 and 106. Zimbabwe will have to show real, measurable improvement in this aspect of their game if they are to come away with any wins from this series.

Form guide

Zimbabwe: LLLLL
New Zealand: LLWWL

Players to watch

Chamu Chibhabha has been in superlative form of late, having scored 295 runs in his last five ODIs – against Pakistan and India – at an average of 73.75. He has provided Zimbabwe stability at the top of the order, and they will hope he continues giving them that against a New Zealand attack high on pace.Having sat out the World Cup and an enthralling ODI series against England, James Neesham is back in the New Zealand squad, and he will want to impose his all-round skills on Zimbabwe and make it hard for the selectors to leave him out even when all the senior players return. He has form going into this match, having struck a 29-ball 54 against North West in a warm-up T20 match in Pretoria.

Team news

A string of impressive domestic performances have earned the offspinner John Nyumbu a recall, and he could be vying with Prosper Utseya for a place in the Zimbabwe attack.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Sean Williams, 4 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Regis Chakabva, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Utseya/John Nyumbu, 10 Tinashe Panyangara, 11 Neville MadzivaThe composition of New Zealand’s bowling attack could depend on conditions at the Harare Sports Club. They have two possible ways of including a second spinner in their side – either pick the batting allrounder George Worker, who bowls left-arm spin, or the legspinner Ish Sodhi. Neither has made his ODI debut yet.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 James Neesham/George Worker, 7 Luke Ronchi, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9
Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Adam Milne/Ish Sodhi

Stats and trivia

• In 2015, New Zealand have a 16-6 win-loss record in ODIs, which is better than all teams except Australia (11-1). Zimbabwe have a 1-10 record, which is the worst among all teams which have played at least ten matches this year.
• New Zealand’s run-rate in the last 10 overs in ODIs in 2015 is 9.40, next only to South Africa (11.57) and West Indies (10.01). Zimbabwe’s economy rate in the last 10 in 2015 is 10.18, which is worse than all teams except UAE (10.28).

Quotes

“Most of [our recent] games, we’ve been pretty competitive without having those last few ounces of effort to cross the line. That’s been good to a point, but we have to find a way to translate a few more of those efforts into victories.”
“To take on India the way [Zimbabwe] did was an extremely good effort, in conditions that India are probably quite suited to. We’re certainly expecting a tough challenge.”