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While recovering from his side strain, the allrounder put in extra work on his batting with Ricky Ponting

Melinda Farrell21-Jun-2019Marcus Stoinis feared his World Cup was over when he suffered the side strain which kept him out of Australia’s team for two matches. Stoinis returned to the side and took two wickets in the 48-run win against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge and also contributed an unbeaten 17 with the bat.Australia flew Mitchell Marsh, who was already heading to England for an Australia A tour, over early as cover while Stoinis’ fitness was assessed and he admitted he feared the worst when he felt the pain in his side while bowling in Australia’s group match against India.”Your mind goes there,” said Stoinis. “But I think once everything sort of settled you knew it was going to be alright. My initial thought when I did it in the second over was ‘oh no, I’m out of the World Cup’.”The last couple of weeks have been so exciting and a bit of a roller coaster. I was a bit down in the dumps after I hurt myself. And again now I’m back in the team and able to do my thing.”ALSO READ: New David Warner, same old wheelhouseHis absence forced changes to Australia’s batting and bowling line-ups against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which threatened to upset the balance of the side, although they were successful in the two matches he sat out. But Stoinis said, while the initial prognosis was unclear, he had to recover sufficiently by the game against Bangladesh to stay in the squad.”We didn’t put a time on it. The support staff did a really good job with that and not over reacting. At least going into this game, this was the deadline. I spent a bit of time with [David Beakley], the physio, and the doc. We were just doing some exercises on the side. A lot of icing at night. There’s not much you can do outside of ice and get on the [resistance band] to get the muscle moving, really.”Stoinis added he was generally able to bowl at full pace against Bangladesh and was confident he could get through his allocated overs.”It’s different bowling in the nets and once the adrenaline gets going in the game. It’s different bowling four overs compared to eight or 10. We weren’t real sure but I was always confident.”Before he was back bowling at training, Stoinis continued to work on his batting in the nets and had a lengthy one-on-one session with Ricky Ponting feeding a bowling machine the day before his return to the side.”If I could have one person in the world if I could have picked them when I was young to be coaching me in my batting, it would have been Ricky Ponting,” he said. “He is an absolute legend, he’s got a lot of knowledge about the game, so we have just been speaking about where he thinks I can go to the next level with my batting and that sort of thing. It’s more just an open discussion, raising points, problem solving as we go. Coming up with different ideas.”Australia now head to London to prepare for their match against England at Lord’s on Tuesday and Stoinis is keen to test his bowling mettle against England’s formidable middle order.”Yeah, it’s going to be a good challenge. Hopefully I can nail some yorkers and bowl some good slower balls because we’ll have to come up with some plans.”Stoinis pointed to Australia’s recent ODI record stretching back to their tours of India and Pakistan as reasons for confidence against England and insisted Australia’s record against them in recent years – they have won just four out of sixteen since the last World Cup and have been defeated in their past six encounters – counted for little in this tournament.”Everyone has been working towards this for a long time,” said Stoinis. “We’ve got two of the best players in the world who have come back into our side. We’re doing things at the right time.”

Thrilling 13-run victory breaks Worcestershire’s hearts as County Championship showcases its true glories

Paul Edwards24-Jul-2019
They will be waltzing in Montpellier Gardens tonight. Even the public reading of will have to be postponed. There may even be a knees-up at the Bowls Club and raucous chanting in the Pittville Pump Room. Until the 2019 Cheltenham Festival this classiest of English towns was, with the exception of its racecourse, not comfortable with mayhem Then Gareth Roderick’s six took care of Leicestershire last week and this evening David Payne’s bouncer to Adam Finch, Worcestershire’s last man, was deflected via edge or glove to second slip where the substitute fielder, George Hankins, scooped up the catch.Gloucestershire had won by 13 runs. At once Payne set off a manic lap of honour in which he was pursued by team-mates including James Bracey, the substitute wicketkeeper, who had taken four fine catches during the day. Also sprinting like a madman escaping the asylum was Ryan Higgins whose four wickets had brought his total in the match to seven in addition to his 112 runs. And there was Ethan Bamber, who was loaned to Gloucestershire for the festival and, given his thespian connections, knows a fine stage when he sees it. Two weeks repertory in Cheltenham probably suited him fine. Bamber’s dismissal of Ben Cox, caught by Higgins at mid-on for 42, began a collapse which saw Worcestershire lose their last six wickets for 61 runs and finish three good hits short of their target, which was 246.But Payne and his mates were not alone. On the balcony of this great old pavilion, the coaches hugged and down below in the stands and bars supporters who really should have known better did little dances of delight. No doubt their health insurance will cover any mishaps. One player, though, remained motionless on his haunches for some time. Joe Leach, the Worcestershire captain, knows this result all but ends his team’s chances of promotion. So there was stillness and movement. There was silence and noise. And to think that nine hours earlier the biggest event taking place on the College Ground was the watering of the hanging baskets.Ah yes, the early morning. Let us rewind to the time before Gloucestershire had collected the 23 points which takes them up to joint-second in Division Two with Glamorgan. In the first 45 minutes of the day’s play Gloucestershire’s last two wickets had added a further 35 runs in 12 overs, five of which were sent down by the legspinner, Brett D’Oliveira in preference to Leach, his team’s best bowler. Who, one asked, would Bamber have preferred to face? The decision seemed barely explicable at the time, and those runs, which seemed important then, were to look absolutely priceless seven or so hours later.Anyway, Worcestershire needed 246 and one of the most vital innings in their season had the worst possible start when Daryl Mitchell nicked David Payne’s first ball to Bracey. But Chris Dent, whose captaincy was masterly on this final day, had to rotate his attack carefully because Matt Taylor’s side strain prevented him bowling. Perhaps realising this, Riki Wessels carried the attack to Gloucestershire, driving both new-ball bowlers for fours and clouting Payne over long on for six with a shot borrowed from short-form cricket. When Higgins came on, Wessels moved into overdrive, taking 17 runs off his first two overs and forcing Dent to bowl Tom Smith from the Chapel End just before lunch. A calming over, we thought – perhaps Dent did, too – but Wessels’ attempt to cut the left-arm spinner’s third delivery only nicked the ball to Bracey. Having made 42 off 44 balls Wessels ambled off to have lunch, perhaps reflecting, unduly harshly, that he had brought his downfall on himself.The afternoon’s cricket contrived to be both tense and, in its way, rather tranquil. Higgins returned to his usual tight-fisted ways, conceding eight runs in seven overs and claiming the wickets of Ed Barnard and Ross Whiteley. That left Worcestershire on 100 for 4 but further decline was resisted by the gentle class of Ferguson and the obduracy of Cox during the twenty overs until tea. Ferguson cut both spinners and seamers alike when possible and reached his fifty after three hours’ concentration a few balls before the break.Ferguson, you see, does not do flash. Even in T20 cricket his shots have a trace of orthodox classicism about them. So imagine, if you will, the gentle grace with which he batted this afternoon at Cheltenham and the concern it aroused among home supporters sitting under the giant red and white gazebos which Gloucestershire had considerately erected for supporters seeking to avoid the heat. A silence settled on the ground and remained there for many overs. This was one of those days when the detailed plans of the coaches are bound tightly to the simple hopes of supporters.Worcestershire took tea on 146 for 4 and one imagines that a few in the crowd enjoyed patum peperium. Cox and Ferguson added a further 36 runs after the resumption only for Bamber to make the breakthrough. Three overs later, Benny Howell took the vital wicket of Ferguson when a rather tired cut-cum-force off the back foot edged a catch to Bracey. Ten minutes later, D’Oliveira had gone too, caught by Hankins at slip off the underappreciated Howell. Worcestershire were 198 for 7. Can it be, asked the spectators, and tried to keep a tight grip on their wits.Leach and Wayne Parnell added 31 runs and the balance of the game shifted. Worcestershire supporters, whose presence so enriched this game, began to nurture their own hopes. Then Higgins trimmed Parnell’s off bail and knocked back Dillon Pennington’s middle stump, all in the space of three balls. Finch came in and three overs later Payne rain in to bowl to him. Half an hour later there was a curious spike in sales of sal volatile in the Cheltenham chemists’ shops.Glamorgan and Gloucestershire now lead a group of six counties covered by 20 points. They will effectively be fighting over two promotion places when the Championship returns next month. Any readers with a clear idea of which of these fine teams will win promotion in September are encouraged to write in.But none of that bothered Dent’s players as they went over to the marquee and drank a well-earned beer or two. They returned over the outfield they have adorned so nobly this fortnight and must now prepare for T20 games. But they will remember the matches against Leicestershire and Worcestershire for as long as they play cricket. Indeed, days like this are why they play the game.And there was even a reminder that Cheltenham College is, after all, a school when a page torn from an exercise book drifted onto the pavilion balcony. It read as follows: “Senior School Punishment Ledger: Note to Graves (C) Upper Sixth: Write out 200 times: The County Championship is the greatest glory in English domestic cricket. We do not need The Hundred.”The paper blew away before anybody could grab it. But maybe everyone had seen enough.

In an ominous note to whoever they meet in the semi-finals, Mitchell Starc believes there is more to come from Australia as they aim to peak in knockouts

Andrew Miller at Lord's29-Jun-2019If Mitchell Starc’s performances are a barometer of Australia’s World Cup prospects, then you might as well hand them the trophy here and now.With his second five-wicket haul of the tournament – and his fourth of four or more – Starc marched past the 22 wickets in eight games with which he sealed his Player of the Tournament title in the 2015 campaign, and has moved to within three of overhauling the all-time record for a World Cup campaign, the 26 that Glenn McGrath claimed in another of Australia’s five World Cup wins, in the Caribbean in 2007.And yet Starc remains unmoved by the prospect of individual milestones. Asked what it would mean to overhaul the great McGrath, he replied: “Not much if we don’t win the World Cup.” With every passing performance, the odds on that turn of events lengthen.For New Zealand, there was a bleak inevitability to Starc’s interventions at Lord’s. His first spell may have been wicketless but it came against a pair of openers whose only instinct was survival – and seeing as he chipped in with a 96mph thunderbolt in his third over, it seemed from the sidelines to be a prudent course of action.WATCH on Hotstar (India only): Starc dazzles with a five-for But with his team-mates keeping up those restrictive methods, Starc was able to return with a vengeance for his latter spells. Recalled for the 26th over, just as New Zealand had started to realise that discretion means little without a touch of valour, he struck with his fourth ball to dislodge the main man, Kane Williamson.Ten overs later, he repeated the trick – this time sinking Tom Latham at midwicket – and with four overs still up his sleeve, there was now no reason not to keep him going in search of a clean kill. By attacking the stumps with lethal pace and late swing as a bonus, he once again displayed a method that, so far, only India’s star-studded batting has managed to counter.”[Attacking the stumps] is part of my game-plan,” said Starc. “Again, it was a worn wicket today, so we were all fortunate that Finchie won the toss and we got to bat first. I believe they bowled well at the start. But I guess we keep learning from the opposition when we do bowl second, and I guess that fuller length and that straighter line for me, attacking those stumps, it is pretty much part of my game-plan.”I think as a bowling unit today, we were fantastic to keep such a good side to under 160. So it was a great performance by everyone.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The simplicity of Australia’s methods with the ball make their earlier struggles to find serviceable back-ups to Starc and Pat Cummins something of a mystery. But with Jason Behrendorff adding another oppressive left-arm option to their ranks, and with Nathan Lyon’s Test-honed killer instincts delivering another inch-perfect spell on a worn surface, there was never any real opportunity for New Zealand to free their arms and catch up with an escalating rate.Starc, however, does not yet believe they have stumbled upon the magic formula for guaranteed success.”I think the fantastic thing about our 15 guys is we’ve got guys that can open the bowling. We have got several guys that make up good combinations. We’ve had all 15 part take part so far in the tournament. Guys are ready to go if called upon. The guys that were picked today did another fantastic job, [but] I don’t think we’ve quite played the perfect game, if you like.WATCH on Hotstar (US only): Full highlights“We’re finding ways to scrap and to restrict teams, and we keep improving every game. But I think the turning point was probably that Indian game where we had a good chat as a bowling group and a batting group and we’ve just continued to improve as a whole group of players from that game, so it’s been fantastic.”Until the start of the World Cup, Starc had been an onlooker as Australia set about their quiet resurgence of white-ball fortunes. He missed the 3-2 series win in India with a pectoral muscle strain, and was still on the road to recovery when they went on to beat Pakistan 5-0 in the UAE in March. But having returned to Australia’s set-up he has recognised a side that had renewed belief.WATCH on Hotstar (India only): New Zealand’s innings“From all reports, it’s been a fantastic feel around the group in the UAE and India,” he said, “and to play some fantastic cricket heading into that April break, was probably the momentum that the group was after heading into this tournament.”So I think our chances are as good as any other team. We’ve always spoken about peaking towards the back end of the tournament, and we’re still searching for that perfect performance. We’re not quite there yet. We’re showing glimpses of what we are capable of with the ball and with the bat and in the field, but we have still got room to improve, and that’s exciting for this group.”And if we can do that – well, we’ve got to play our best game in the semi now and hopefully better that in the final – and that’s what tournament play is all about.”

Second season of league to be held in 2020 after ACB terminates agreement with Snixer Sports

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2019The second season of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has been postponed to 2020 after the league’s commercial partner failed to pay the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) rights money. The ACB has terminated the agreement, also citing concerns about the integrity of people associated with Snixer Sports, the partners. The tournament had been scheduled for October this year.”The failure by Snixer Sports to pay the complete rights fees of the first edition as per the fees and payment schedule of the agreement, and concerns about risks for integrity of the league posed by people connected to Snixer Sports are the reasons for termination that form material breaches of the agreement,” the ACB said in a statement.The allegation around the integrity of the people involved is especially pertinent, given the talk swirling around the league in its first season. Mohammad Shahzad reported an approach and it was one of the leagues the ICC’s ACU was keeping an especially close eye on: there were, it is understood, a number of other approaches made that were reported by players to the anti-corruption body.The ACB has written to the Attorney General’s Office of the Government of Afghanistan to “fully investigate the administrative allegations of corruption in the league” and that it remained committed to “ensuring transparency in all its affairs and is accountable to all stakeholders.”Following the signing of the tournament’s MoU in January last year, the first edition of the league was held between October 5 and 21 in Sharjah, UAE and featured a host of international names. Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russell, Brendon McCullum and Rashid Khan were picked as icon players by the five franchises, representing Paktia, Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar.A tender for commercial rights to the second season of the league will be issued in due course.The league is the second T20 league to run into problems in as many months. In August, the inaugural season of the Euro T20 Slam was cancelled, only two weeks prior to its scheduled start. The Euro T20 Slam organisers, led by Gurmeet Singh’s Bombay Sports Limited and Woods Entertainment, the same group in charge of the Global T20 Canada, had run into increasing financial difficulties. The Global T20 Canada, too, faced issues, with player protests over unpaid wages.

Rabada picks all three wickets to fall as India strengthen base with Kohli, Pujara chipping in with half-centuries

The Report by Sidharth Monga10-Oct-20199:23

Agarkar: Agarwal showed how to capitalise on start

Day 1, stumps Mayank Agarwal came back to the site of his first-class resurgence to score a second successive Test hundred that sent India into a position of strength once again. Cheteshwar Pujara supported him with his second successive half-century, and Virat Kohli loomed large with an unbeaten 63 of his own.South Africa will be disappointed they took just the three wickets on surface that didn’t completely eliminate their fast bowlers. It was a pitch on which Kagiso Rabada managed to take three wickets with a mode of attack straight out of South Africa: bowling in a channel outside off, getting outside edges that carried.

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Remember the wry smile of resignation when Faf du Plessis lost the toss in Visakhapatnam? This time Virat Kohli smiled in slight embarrassment after he had won yet another toss. This time du Plessis wasn’t as deflated because there was some moisture in the surface from the rains in the lead-up to the Test. Pune is also a pitch known for its bounce, so South Africa had something to work with.Associated Press

Agarwal went through that tough period, not without some fortune but nothing that might count as undue luck for an opening batsman. He and Pujara added 138 for the second wicket after the early fall of Rohit Sharma before Kohli took over with a winters’ afternoon stroll of a half-century.The first hour was full of frustration for South Africa with edges eluding fielders, mistimed hooks falling short of fielders, an umpire’s call going Agarwal’s way on an lbw shout, and quite a few plays and misses. India were in control of fewer than 75% of the deliveries they faced in the first 15 overs. A touring side can’t ask for more help in away conditions in this age of cricket. And yet, they had only Rohit’s wicket – off a length ball that held its line – to show.Apart from some ordinary luck, South Africa’s lengths were either too full or too short. A ball after debutant Anrich Nortje, playing ahead of the extra spinner, clocked him on the head, Agarwal was good enough to cover-drive a full ball for four. As Nortje went fuller searching for assistance, Agarwal drove him for three fours in another over.Pujara didn’t even provide South Africa a look-in despite taking 13 balls to get off the mark. He kept skipping down to spin, and kept finding the gaps. His stumbling block in the last Test was his failure to cover the seam movement away from him in both the innings. So it was natural South Africa attacked his stumps trying to take the ball away. It wasn’t clear if his front foot strode further but he did seem to cover the movement better. A delivery that looked like an action replay – again from Vernon Philnader – of his second-innings lbw was comfortable worked away for a single to leg.Agarwal’s bursts of scoring continued as the lone specialist spinner Keshav Maharaj kept providing India the loose balls. Two fours off Maharaj in the 28th over took him into the 40s, another square cut brought up a fifty. This was during a period that he had to face a short-ball barrage from Nortje, which momentarily brought the run rate under three but couldn’t cause further damage.It was instructive that Rabada was now able to achieve the rarest of feats: get Pujara out nicking after he had brought up a fifty on a home pitch. Not only did the pitch have the movement to allow him to do so, it also had the bounce to make sure it carried to Faf du Plessis at slip.And yet, South Africa failed to capitalise on yet another dismissal. Agarwal and Kohli were kept honest but Agarwal broke the shackles with two sixes in one over off Maharaj. The second of those took him into the 90s, and in the next over he got a thick outside edge, fine of the only catcher behind the wicket, a gully.Pune is the ground where he was on the verge of being dropped from the Ranji side, but he scored a triple given that extra chance. That was the beginning of his 1000-runs month, which sent him to Australia, after which he has made the opening slot his own.Rabada again drew an outside edge with a 61-over-old ball, which tells you what a missed opportunity it was for South Africa. In India, where the home side has been beaten only once in the last seven years, you don’t get many windows once you lose the toss. That is just the sheer quality of their Test team. Here they had that window, but sometimes they lacked the quality and sometimes it was the depth.Kohli cashed in on a lack of depth. Maharaj seemed to be in his best rhythm when Kohli just walked out. He turned a couple past his outside edge. Nortje bowled a seriously quick spell. Kohli began watchfully, respecting Nortje’s pace and playing Maharaj watchfully. He was fortunate that an attempted pull brushed the glove and flew wide of Quinton de Kock. Ajinkya Rahane at the other end seemed less comfortable. So, in fading light, Kohli batted with utmost care. Until South Africa went to Dean Elgar and Senuram Muthusamy as they waited for the second new ball.You wouldn’t even have noticed but after scoring 27 off the first 73 balls he faced, Kohli plundered 26 in the next 19 balls without one shot in anger. Then he has back to respecting the second new ball when the umpires called the play off early because of bad light.

Opener carries his bat to keep floundering innings afloat before yorker barrage derails Hong Kong in thriller

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Dubai30-Oct-2019Oman 134 for 7 (Jatinder 67*, Rana 2-26) beat Hong Kong 122 for 9 (McKechnie 44, Bilal 4-23, Fayyaz 2-17, Khawar 2-23) by 12 runs
It felt like déjà vu. Just as they had 24 hours earlier against Namibia, the Oman batting order was in the midst of imploding spectacularly with a series of self-inflicted wounds. But after being involved in a pair of run outs, Jatinder Singh held his nerve to carry his bat through the Oman innings, including adding 50 off the last three overs with Naseem Khushi, to give his side a fighting chance. Bilal Khan’s yorker spree then left Hong Kong’s chase in tatters at 18 for 5 before he came back with one more late wicket to secure a dramatic 12-run win for Oman and their second straight trip to the men’s T20 World Cup. It also ended Hong Kong’s bid to reach the opening round in Australia for the third successive time.Jatinder’s topsy-turvy innings began in ugly fashion. After he lost his opening partner Khawar Ali in the third over driving away from his body for an edge behind to 17-year-old medium pacer Nasrulla Rana, Jatinder sold out Aqib Ilyas, changing his mind on a single to mid-off in the fourth. Nizakat Khan pounced with a direct hit to beat Aqib’s dive back. One over later, captain Zeeshan Maqsood was stuck halfway down the wicket miscommunicating with Jatinder on a run to cover and Kinchit Shah fielded to turn and fire another direct hit at the non-striker’s end.Three more wickets fell in consecutive overs opposite Jatinder in the seventh through the ninth to put him under heavy pressure. Mohammad Nadeem skied a slog off Aizaz Khan to backward point, Suraj Kumar edged a quicker ball from Ehsan Khan’s offspin to the keeper and Mehran Khan copped a rough lbw decision from legspinner Mohammad Ghazanfar when replays showed an inside edge on to his pad.But from 42 for 6 after nine overs, Jatinder and Aamir Kaleem ground their way through the next eight overs to stretch the innings out and keep Hong Kong’s spinners at bay. Jatinder finally felt comfortable enough to expand his repertoire in the 15th, switch-hitting Ghazanfar over the off side for a boundary before playing the shot again successfully for four more off Ehsan in the 16th. By the time the stand ended – when Kaleem mistimed a scoop to short fine-leg – the pair had doubled Oman’s score.Kaleem’s innings might look ugly on the scorecard, making just 17 off 30 balls, but he soaked up enough time to free up the big-hitting Naseem Khushi to go full throttle at the death. Playing as a specialist bat at No. 9 in a team packed with allrounders, Khushi whacked 26 off his last eight balls. He got off the mark second ball bashing Rana over square leg for six, and then drove him over extra cover for four.ALSO READ: Munsey sweeps UAE away to clinch berth for ScotlandAt the opposite end, Jatinder switch-hit Kyle Christie for six to bring up a 41-ball fifty, then continued to switch-hit throughout the final three overs for three more boundaries. One more six off the final ball by Khushi took Oman to 134 for 7 in a furious half-century stand to end the innings.Bilal Khan accepts the Man of the Match award after his 4 for 30•Peter Della Penna

Oman’s bowling unit took the momentum given to them by Jatinder and Khushi into the start of the chase behind Bilal’s blistering burst. Much of Hong Kong’s hopes hinged on batting star Nizakat but Bilal wiped him out second ball with a full inswinger that defeated his drive to knock back off stump. Oman caught a break in the second over when Kinchit flicked Fayyaz Butt off his pads straight to short fine leg for the second wicket.But there was nothing lucky about Bilal’s sustained barrage in the third over. An inswinging yorker cleaned up Aizaz Khan for 5 before another inswinging yorker pinged Waqas Barkat in line with leg stump to make it 13 for 4. Fayyaz then bounced out Simandeep Singh, caught by Bilal at short fine leg to make it 18 for 5.Captain Maqsood elected to keep one over back from Bilal and Hong Kong seized on the opening to rebuild their innings. Scott McKechnie and Haroon Arshad added 52 for the sixth wicket and, at the halfway stage, Hong Kong looked solid at 62 for 5, needing a very manageable 73 off the last 10 overs.Khawar’s all-round skills came to the fore to disrupt Hong Kong’s valiant fightback, clipping the outside edge of Haroon playing away from his body for a catch to wicketkeeper Kumar in the 12th. Ehsan tried to guide Khawar to third man but picked out a delivery that was far too full and tight to the stumps, resulting in a drag on for 9 in the 14th to make it 82 for 7. McKechnie’s vigil finally ended for 44 in the 17th through another yorker, this time from Nadeem’s medium pace, to trap him in front.Bilal’s fourth victim, third clean bowled, was Rana by – you guessed it – a yorker to wrap up one of the finest fast-bowling spells of the tournament. Bilal effectively clinched the match as the last pair was left needing 24 off the last nine. They could only manage 11 as Oman outlasted their Asian rivals in Dubai’s first televised thriller of the tournament. Oman now take on Scotland in the fifth-place match at ICC Academy on Thursday for seeding purposes in Australia.

Ankit Rajpoot part of the Gowtham trade, heads to Rajasthan Royals, while Dhawal Kulkarni moves to Mumbai

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Nov-2019Kings XI Punjab have traded fast bowler Ankit Rajpoot for Rajasthan Royals allrounder K Gowtham, even as the IPL trading window, which closes on Thursday, is winding down.In another trade, Delhi Capitals released New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult to defending champions Mumbai Indians. An IPL statement called the Boult deal a “trade”, but Mumbai did not release any player in exchange. ESPNcricinfo understands the New Zealand fast bowler was bought by Mumbai as part of an all-cash deal. It could not be confirmed whether Mumbai paid any extra money over the hammer price of INR 2.2 crore, which Capitals had shelled out for Boult in the 2018 auction.Mumbai also drafted in Dhawal Kulkarni, for whom it’s a homecoming having played for the Mumbai domestic side all his life, from the Royals.ESPNcricinfo also understands that Mumbai released West Indies batsman Evin Lewis, who was bought by the franchise in the 2018 auction for INR 3.8 crore. Lewis played just three matches last IPL after picking a hamstring injury during the tournament. He regained fitness, but had to be on the bench after the success of South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, who was Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma’s opening partner.It is believed that at least three franchises, including Mumbai, were in the race to get Boult. Mumbai will be Boult’s fourth IPL team, having had stints earlier at Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Capitals. Boult might welcome the move, considering he played just five matches for the Capitals, who found it hard to fit him into the bowling combinations.Mumbai were on the lookout to find a replacement for Australian left-arm fast bowler Jason Behrendorff, who has been laid low by an injury which is likely to keep him out for several months. With Lasith Malinga not a certainty to play every match, Mumbai needed an experienced seamer who had pace, as well as the guile to bowl with the new ball and at the death.Mumbai’s owner Aakash Ambani said Boult satisfied these criteria, and Boult’s acquisition was an important one because he would add to the home advantage that Mumbai’s fast men have created over the years. “Mumbai Indians have always taken pride in having a good pace attack,” Ambani said in a media release. “Year-on-year our bowlers have won us many games, a classic example being last year’s final. We are delighted to have Trent Boult as part of the MI family. I am sure his experience across formats, especially in limited overs, will add value to our campaign.”Gowtham had been bought by the Royals at the 2018 auction for INR 6.2 crore while Rajpoot went for INR 3 crore to Kings XI. Boult was bought by the Capitals for INR 2.2 crore, and Kulkarni was bought for INR 75 lakh by the Royals. Gowtham, who is 31, has been a regular part of India A teams and was the third-highest wicket-taker on the A tour of the Caribbean in July-August. However, the Karnataka allrounder had a woeful IPL last season: in seven matches he scored just 18 runs and picked up a solitary wicket.

Pakistan had another day to forget with the ball as they managed just a single wicket

The Report by Danyal Rasool29-Nov-2019Even by the miserable standards of the past quarter century, this was a wretched day for Pakistan down under. Centuries from the resurgent David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, a man who’s batsmanship has scaled heights he never appeared equipped for, had almost certainly already batted Pakistan out of the game on a rain-curtailed opening day.Unbroken on 294, it was the highest partnership in day-night Tests, setting a record Australia will look to extend on the second afternoon when the pair return to pile more misery on their dispirited visitors. By the end of the day, Australia had amassed 1 for 302 at over four runs per over, and Pakistan were already down to the part-time spin of Iftikhar Ahmed and Azhar Ali to protect an ineffectual three-man pace attack.Warner’s was the performance of the day, the memories of that torrid Ashes summer well and truly distant now. Pakistan, for a change, decided to come around the wicket to him with the new ball at last, and in Mohammad Abbas, they had someone with the ability to make sure the ball held its line outside the left-hander’s off stump. He looked sharp for the first three overs, but Warner’s intensity was unmatched, and once he had timed his first couple of drives either side of the wicket, he appeared as if carrying on from his 154 in Brisbane.Marnus Labuschagne embraces with David Warner after his hundred•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

And yet, the mood music around the start of play was completely different to Brisbane, where Pakistan had never looked like taking 20 wickets. Under overcast skies, Tim Paine chose, rather bravely, to have a bat, with the start delayed by rain. The clouds hovered above as Shaheen Afridi – Pakistan’s best bowler by a stretch – troubled Joe Burns outside off stump, needing just nine balls to draw the edge and take the wicket.It seemed a hazy dream by the end of the day, but Labuschagne, who faced 205 deliveries by the end of the day, was a whisker away from making his way back after just one. A huge appeal ensued after his first ball whizzed past his bat, a wooden sound audible as they crossed paths. Pakistan, wisely, chose not to review; the bat had hit the ground.With two batsmen in form and the pink ball giving up swing somewhat earlier than Pakistan would have hoped, the partnership began to flow. It wasn’t helped by Pakistan’s ordinariness with the ball. Even Abbas wasn’t able to target the stumps which is when he’s at his best; his entire 18-over workload saw just two deliveries projected to disturb the timber. Muhammad Musa was quick but much too predictable with his length, far too eager to bang the ball in short. It allowed Warner to carve him through the offside repeatedly, and if Plan B had been discussed in the changing rooms beforehand, that’s where it stayed.Labuschagne averaged 34 in first-class cricket before he made his Test debut but, of late, he’s batted like a Steven Smith clone – not surprising given the amount of time he has spent with him. Surviving an initial Afridi spell fraught with danger was as much a test of maturity as batting skill; for the first couple of hours he was out there, runs were hard to come by. He would battle, refusing to give his wicket away by forcing the issue, biding his time until he found his touch. His first 96 deliveries yielded just 37 runs but by the end his strike rate was up to 62.Rain tore out a large chunk of the middle session, but once the pair settled after the break, it looked like carelessness would be the only thing that would break the partnership. The pressure began to lift, the field began to spread, the bowlers began to tire, and Ahmed and Azhar began to warm up. The pair brought up their half-centuries, then their hundreds. Warner would ease to 150 with consecutive boundaries off Yasir Shah, who had as horrific a time as he did last time Pakistan toured, going at 6.21. Afridi was the only bowler who threatened on occasions every time he was brought back on, but it never really appeared enough to draw another wicket.Pakistan’s thoughts, meanwhile, may already have turned to the heavens, and whether they can unleash enough rain to prevent them heading back from Australia on the back of a fifth consecutive clean sweep.

‘X-factor’ quick could hardly have done more in training to show he’s ready to return from injury as Jofra Archer remains in doubt

George Dobell in Port Elizabeth13-Jan-2020Mark Wood would appear to have given himself an excellent chance of playing in the third Test with a blistering bowling performance in the nets on Monday.Wood, who has not played a match since the World Cup final on July 14, bowled with outstanding pace as he attempted to prove his fitness for selection. Required to demonstrate that he could back up Sunday’s equally impressive display for a second successive day, Wood bowled a long, hostile spell without any obvious difficulty. He could hardly have done more to convince the England team management of his readiness to return.His performance came in contrast to that of Jofra Archer. Also required to bowl at full speed as he recovers from an elbow injury, Archer looked considerably slower than Wood in the nets. As a result, Archer looks unlikely to be considered ready for selection in the third Test starting on Thursday.ALSO READ: Harris backs Maharaj to rise to the occasion if Port Elizabeth spinsAhead of the session, it appeared England may opt for Chris Woakes to replace James Anderson in the side. For while the team management are understandably keen to include a bowler of Wood or Archer’s pace, they are even more keen not to recall them too quickly and risk further lay-offs. They seem particularly cautious over the recall of Wood, who has not played a first-class game since February, when he bowled England to victory over West Indies in St Lucia.Woakes remains very much in contention. A final decision will not be made until Wednesday, or perhaps even Thursday morning. The squad are not due to train on Tuesday – they have been given a rest day – and will have a light session ahead of the Test on Wednesday at which it will be clear if Wood has suffered any reaction to his recent exertions. Archer now looks the least likely of the three to play.With the Port Elizabeth pitch expected to be fairly slow and dry, England are keen to include a point-of-difference bowler within their line-up. And as Wood showed in St Lucia – or at various times during the World Cup, when he delivered the fastest ball of the tournament – he can generate the sort of pace that can unlock even international quality batting line-ups on decent batting surfaces. Woakes, for all his all-round qualities, cannot necessarily do the same thing.Selecting a man with no recent match action is not ideal. The England management had attempted to find some sort of competitive game for Wood to play over the last week or two, but nothing appropriate was available. Certainly unleashing Wood in Monday’s form on club batsmen may have proved unwise.”I’ve got no qualms he could come in this week and be successful because of what he’s done in the past and what he can draw upon,” Paul Collingwood, one of England’s assistance coaches, said. “He’s got the skills to go out there and make an impact.”Here at Port Elizabeth it’s generally a slower pitch so sometimes having that kind of X-factor bowler would be great. We have enough bowlers in and around the county circuit who can bowl at 82 to 85 mph and try to nip it around. You want the likes of Wood and Archer to give you that X-factor.”Ideally we would have loved Woody to go out and get some competitive games in. We had a look around but it’s not as easy as it sounds. So we’ve tried to replicate the amount of hours on his feet with running and walking. All you can do is get the overs under their belt and make sure they can come back for second and third spells and get the miles in the legs.”England also received encouraging news in a swift return from sickness for Joe Root. The England captain missed training on Sunday due to illness, but took a full part on Monday. The team management insist his absence on Sunday was mainly precautionary with a view to preventing further contamination.While a first look at the pitch on Monday may have seduced England into thinking they could field an all-seam attack, they seem intent of retaining Dom Bess, who made a favourable impression in Cape Town. The last Test on the ground, in January, lasted three days with Sri Lankan off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva claiming five wickets in the match.”If you look at the data, spin tends to play a bit more of a part here than the other grounds,” Collingwood said. “But we’ll gauge it. There’s no point looking today. These pitches change so quickly over 24 hours. We’ll have a good look on Wednesday and see which combination is best to take 20 wickets.”On the evidence of the last two days, it’s hard to leave Wood out of that combination.

Knight took England’s early World Cup campaign by the scruff of the neck after an early fright against Thailand with a maiden T20I hundred

The Report by Andrew McGlashan26-Feb-2020Heather Knight took England’s early World Cup campaign by the scruff of the neck after an early fright against Thailand with a maiden T20I hundred – becoming the first woman to score centuries across all three formats – as her team secured an emphatic 98-run victory which gave them a handy net run-rate boost.The early thoughts of what could transpire at Manuka Oval, when England lost their openers in the first two overs, turned to something a touch more prosaic as Knight and Nat Sciver added an unbeaten 169 for third wicket, England’s highest stand in T20Is, followed by a professional performance in the field.At 7 for 2 after 10 balls, England were far from comfortable coming off the back of their opening defeat to South Africa, but by the end of the powerplay had settled and were rarely challenged after that. Legspinner Suleeporn Laomi bowled her for four overs for a very creditable 26 but Thailand, who pride themselves on their fielding, will have been disappointed by some the lapses.Shining KnightKnight has spent the last few days defending England’s tactics and batting order; whatever they decide to do, there is little doubt that she is key to the make-up of the side. Her form was impressive in the tri-series with back-to-back career-best scores on this ground and this time she raced to just the fourth century in T20 World Cups, plundering some increasingly wayward bowling from Thailand in excellent batting conditions. Knight was on 97 at the start of the last over and briefly lost the strike but carved a brace through backward point to reach three figures off 63 balls then marked the milestone by clubbing her fourth six over long-on. Knight and Sciver, with her second fifty in two matches, added 102 in the last 10 overs and, if they had really pushed, they may have earned a few more.The early scareThe second ball of the match Amy Jones advanced down the pitch to a yorker from Nattaya Boochatham and a brilliant piece of work from keeper Nannapat Koncharoenkai pulled off the stumping. If that was an early test of England’s nerve, it was multiplied in the next over when Danni Wyatt drove her first ball to point where Wongpaka Liengprasert held a terrific catch. Thailand were joyous. Was something extraordinary unfolding? In the end, there wasn’t, but it was another little moment in this tournament that will linger in memories. Meanwhile, England’s opening pair has not fired yet in Australia – across the tri-series that preceded the World Cup and the first two matches of the tournament their best stand is 26. With two openers batting lower down the order – Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield – it is an issue for England to ponder for two vital matches to come.England and Thailand players greet each other at the end of the match•Getty Images

Chantam’s drivesAnya Shrubsole struck with her fourth ball but there was no surge of inroads for England with the new ball. Power is something Thailand need to develop, but there are some solid techniques in the top order. Nattakan Chantam is one who has a promising game to work with and she unfurled a few very pleasing strokes, a square drive off Shurbsole and a cover drive off Sciver among the best. It was clear from the off that Thailand were purely focused on batting out the innings, which is understandable, although their development could also be helped by pushing their own boundaries.Wyatt’s rare bowlThe day before this match, while defending England’s decision to play Winfield as a No. 8 batter who doesn’t bowl, Knight said it was because they felt another bowler would be wasted. She also cited herself and Wyatt as other options with the ball. Knight is a regular bowler in T20Is, but that certainly isn’t the case for Wyatt whose bowling duties have shrunk as her batting has grown in recent years. When she was brought on for the 12th over it was just the sixth time since 2015 in T20Is that she had bowled. It was her only over of the day as England’s frontline bowlers gained some success in the latter part of the innings in a situation where they needed to create their own intensity.