New Zealand should get into the final four even with a loss to England, but that would make them the only team without a win against the other semi-finalists

Sambit Bal at Chester-le-Street02-Jul-2019Only one team win the match tomorrow, and that’s not New Zealand. But losing to England would mean that the World Cup’s perennial bridesmaids go to the semi-finals – and they will, barring a freakish turn of results – as the only team without a win against any of their co-passengers. The draw and the weather – rain washed out their match against India – ensured a smoother early ride for them but, having nearly booked their final-four berth, they have hit the kind of bumps which can be, even at the best of times, confidence jarring.The phrase ‘being in charge of your own fate’ has been used often in the back end of this tournament, which opened with one unanticipated result. And New Zealand can, by beating England, finish in the top three and take fate out of the equation. In their minds, then, they need this win as much as England do.Momentum – it’s a word Ross Taylor used several times on the eve of the match – is what New Zealand need to regain ahead of the semi-final, having lost a fair bit of it the last two weeks through back-to-back losses against Pakistan and Australia. Both losses exposed frailties that had been apparent though the early weeks but were papered over by their big strengths: the bowling, and Kane Williamson. And Taylor, to an extent.Only Williamson features among the top ten run-scorers in the tournament, but even he has slipped down the order with two successive failures. And Taylor, who started promisingly, now stands at No. 24. No New Zealand batsman apart from Williamson has scored a hundred, and Williamson and Taylor have been involved in a rescue act almost every time, with the openers having gone in the first ten overs.Martin Guptill, expected at least to be the third best batsman in the team, has scored fewer runs in the whole tournament than he scored in one innings in the last World Cup, and half of those runs came in one match; and the gamble on Colin Munro didn’t ever take off, requiring them to bring in Henry Nicholls. Consequently, the combined batting average of their openers is better than only Afghanistan and, at 24.25, a fair distance from the leading teams, Australia (68), India (67.76) and England (51.80).Taylor acknowledged Guptill’s challenge. “He was the leading run-scorer in the last World Cup and he had gone into that last World Cup not scoring any runs. His confidence is down. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and he certainly needs that. It is a very important position at the top of the order and getting Guppy firing is a key part to our team… if he can do that tomorrow, it certainly sets the tone for our batting unit and our power down the order with (Jimmy) Neesham and (Colin) de Grandhomme and, hopefully, not having them to do as much work as they have probably had to do in that last couple of matches.”Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor congratulate each other as they both notch up fifties•Getty Images

With four starts and only two half-centuries, Taylor himself knows that he needs a bit of luck too. “I have felt good throughout the whole tournament,” he said, “A couple of strangles down the leg-side and a couple of good balls, that is the nature of the beast.”But he would have happy memories of his last encounter with England, when he helped New Zealand to 339 with 181 off 147 balls, an innings made even more extraordinary for the fact that half of it was played on one leg after he injured himself diving to make a second run. “That was a long time ago,” Taylor said when reminded of that innings.Questions were also asked about New Zealand’s brand of cricket and Williamson’s captaincy. Brendon McCullum, who led New Zealand’s last World Cup campaign with the spirit of a matador, has himself raised those questions in his current role as a television pundit.”Obviously, Brendon was the extreme, and Kane has his own unique style as well,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, you have to be true to yourself and be authentic and, more often than not, you get the right result.”I think Kane is a fantastic world-class batsman and a world-class captain. You don’t have to look far, till the last of couple of games there were some pundits out there saying he was a great captain. We lose a couple of games and he is a bad captain. He is still a great captain, leads from the front and the team respects him and I love playing under him. I’d love as a team to take a little bit of pressure off him and score some runs and not let him do everything.”This isn’t a virtual quarter-final for New Zealand as it is for England. But there is a lot more at stake than might appear. This is their final opportunity to find their ‘A’ game in a tournament that has brought them more wins than any other team bar Australia and India, but not the ones that really count. And, once through, they will match Australia with eight semi-final appearances.To go beyond that – and they know this – they will have to play better than they have done so far.”Hopefully we are not too far away to playing the brand of cricket we know we can play,” Taylor said, “because we definitely haven’t played to our potential so far and hopefully that is not too far away.”He meant tomorrow.

Australian great avoids usual whitewash prediction, but remains confident the strength of their seamers gives them an edge

Andrew Miller29-Jul-2019It is a measure of what a close Ashes series we have in prospect that even Glenn McGrath has chosen to “sit on the fence” instead of offering up his traditional “5-0 to Australia” prediction.However, McGrath believes that the key to the series is held by James Anderson, the man who recently overhauled his all-time record for Test wickets by a fast bowler, as Australia bid to win the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001.Anderson, like McGrath, continues to operate at the peak of his powers long after his contemporaries have begun to succumb to the ravages of time. Though he turns 37 on Tuesday, he is still the ICC’s No.2-ranked fast bowler in Test cricket with 575 wickets to his name, and he is much the same age as McGrath himself was when he spearheaded Australia’s 5-0 Ashes win in his farewell series in 2006-07.”To be 37-plus, and to have played 148 Test matches, it’s absolutely incredible,” McGrath told ESPNcricinfo. “To think that he’s put his body through that much pain and stress, and everything that goes into being a fast bowler, and he’s still going out there and going the business.”When that ball’s swinging, in English conditions with the Dukes ball, there’s no-one better. So yeah, if Australia can get on top of Jimmy, that’s going to be a big decider in this Test series. But if Jimmy comes out, bowls well and knocks the Australians over, it’s going to be another tough series for them.”Adapting to the Dukes ball will be a major factor in Australia’s campaign, not only for the batsman facing Anderson and Co, but their own coterie of fast bowlers who look, on paper, as strong an outfit as has toured England in many a series. England know full well about Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, but James Pattinson’s form is particularly noteworthy in the lead-up to Edgbaston, as shown by his success on a lively practice wicket at the Ageas Bowl last week.”It’s going to be an amazing series,” said McGrath. “I think this Australian bowling attack is looking as good as it’s been for a long time. To have James Pattinson back and what he offers … he’s been bowling incredibly well, but it’s just that attitude and ‘white-line fever’, I guess you’d call it. As soon as he crosses the line, he’s very dangerous.”To have that wealth of fast bowlers, that’s tough for the selectors, and it’s going to be interesting to see which way they go for that first Test match. But it’s a good thing to have.”It’s an especially tantalising proposition given the insecurities in England’s batting order at present. In an extraordinary Test against Ireland at Lord’s last week, England were bowled out for 85 in the first innings and lost 7 for 77 in the second, and McGrath admitted that the Australians would be itching to reopen a few wounds.James Anderson and Joe Root inspect the ball•Getty Images

“They’ll be keen to get a look at that top order as soon as possible,” he said, “but they’ll still have to bowl in the right areas. I think that’s very important. If they bowl badly, and let those guys get settled and get a little bit of confidence, the series is over. But if they can bowl well at those guys, get on top of them, and get Joe Root in at 3 for 30 rather than 3 for 300, it makes a massive difference, and it’s a massive match-up for the series.”When it comes to bowling the right length in England, no-one exemplifies it better than McGrath, who hoovered up 87 wickets at 19.34 in his three tours from 1997 to 2005, including a remarkable 33 at 11.50 at Lord’s, the venue for the second Test. But even he had to learn the hard way, after a chastening first outing in England at Edgbaston in 1997.”I remember that ’97 series very well,” he said. “It was my first tour of England, and in that first Test match, we probably bowled more of an Australian length. England dominated – they won that Test by nine wickets – and the day after, Geoff Marsh, the coach of the time, got us out for like two hours straight, off a long run in the middle of Edgbaston.”It was all about bowling the right length, getting it up there a little bit fuller. And that had a massive impact. And when we came to Lord’s, we adapted and adjusted our length, and the rest is history. So yeah, you need that time to adjust. The great players adjust and adapt a lot quicker, and that’s the difference between a good and a great player.”With that in mind, Australia ought to be as well acquainted with the conditions as possible. Not only have the majority of the squad been over in England competing at the World Cup, several others have been involved in the Australia A tour that has been running concurrently. Plus, several players with points to prove, including Pattinson and the returning Cameron Bancroft, have been honing their skills in county cricket.However, McGrath isn’t quite as bullish about his fellow countrymen’s prospects as he might once have been.”I’m always confident that the Aussies are going to do well, but I’ve probably made a rod for my own back with my predictions in the past,” he said. “I’m going to sit on the fence for this one, and just see what happens in this first Test. If Australia can come in and dominate – or not so much dominate, but if they can win that first Test – then you’ll be hearing 5-0 again. But I’m going to reserve my prediction until after the first game.”In the meantime, McGrath has got a trip back to a familiar ground to look forward to, where a familiar incident is bound to be replayed ad nauseum in the build-up to the Ashes opener – that moment, on the morning of the 2005 Edgbaston Test, when he trod on a stray cricket ball to turn the tide of the series.”It’s not my fondest memory,” he said. “But every time I go back to Edgbaston, the groundsman and the locals remind me exactly which patch of grass it happened on, and they’ve always told me they going to put a little plaque there just to commemorate it.”But that 2005 series was an incredible series, even that match at Edgbaston went right down to the wire. Hopefully we’ll see another series that matches that one.”Glenn McGrath is working with online trading broker ThinkMarkets to encourage more young people to get into sport through the Think2020initiative. For more information please visit www.thinkmarkets.com.

Australia fast bowler returns to the Sixers where he played three seasons after helping Melbourne Stars to the final in 2018

Alex Malcolm31-Aug-2019Sydney Sixers have signed fast bowler Jackson Bird for a second stint at the BBL club after helping the Melbourne Stars to the final last season.Bird, 32, who has played nine Tests for Australia and was part of Australia A’s tour of England this winter, has alternated between the Stars and Sixers across all nine seasons of the BBL.He was with the Stars in the first four seasons of the BBL before joining the Sixers in BBL 05. He is originally from Sydney but plays his first-class cricket in Tasmania. He played three seasons with the Sixers but was starved of opportunities in BBL 07 playing just one game and was coaxed back to the Stars last year. He had an excellent season in Melbourne despite only playing nine games. He took seven wickets at economy rate of just 6.70 including two key wickets in the thrilling final.But with the Stars signing Australia ODI and T20 fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, the Sixers saw the opportunity to bolster their fast bowling stocks ahead of a season where the schedule will be far more compacted and the fast bowlers may need to be rested and rotated.”With this season’s tightened schedule, quick turnarounds and multiple flights across the country, the depth and durability of your attack will surely be tested,” Sixers coach Greg Shipperd said. “So the addition of a player like Jackson is timely and welcomed.””Jackson continues to be one of Australia’s very best and respected all form bowlers and we know he will play an integral role in our chase for a title.”Jackson’s skill with the new ball and experience will complement our emerging young pace attack in a format that demands flexible and multiple role playing.”Bird said he was keen to head back to Sydney and contribute more meaningfully than he did in his previous three seasons there.”I am really excited about coming back to the Sixers,” Bird said. “I’ve had three years at the Sixers in the past and didn’t play well so I want to come back and really contribute. Getting back with the guys I have played with before and returning to the SCG is awesome and I am grateful for the opportunity.”The Sixers made it to the semi-final last season only to be beaten in a nail-biter by the eventual champions Melbourne Renegades.

Test captain wants to keep playing all formats but acknowledges challenge from next generation

George Dobell22-Oct-2019Joe Root has admitted he will have to be at the top of his game if he is to win a place in England’s side at next year’s T20 World Cup.Root, England’s Test captain, accepts he could be “swept away and eaten up” by the emergence of younger players such as Tom Banton, but insisted he remains as keen as ever to play in all three formats of the international game.With Root and other senior members of the England sides rested for the T20I series in New Zealand, Banton is among a number of young players who will have a chance to stake a claim for a prolonged run in the side. The T20 World Cup takes place in Australia next October and November.ALSO READ: Bairstow targets T20Is as first step to Test comeback“For me to get in to the T20I side, it will mean that I have to keep getting better,” Root said. “If someone like Tom Banton comes in and sets the world alight, I’ve got to try force him out in the limited opportunities I get to play.”If that happens, it raises the standard of English cricket in that format. That’s the food chain that cricket is sometimes. You have to be at the top of it otherwise you get swept away and eaten up.”Root’s T20I record is respectable. He made an unbeaten 90 in his first T20I innings, against Australia in 2013 – it remains his highest score in the format – and an impressive 54, top-scoring for England in the 2016 World T20 final. But he has reached 10 only twice in his most recent six T20I innings and, despite a healthy-looking average of 35.72 in the format (of England players to have enjoyed 20 innings in the format, only Kevin Pietersen’s average is higher), a strike rate of 126.30 places him only 14th on the list of England players to have featured in 20 matches.He has also struggled for opportunities to work on his game in the format. While he did have an unremarkable spell at the last edition of the Big Bash, scoring 99 runs in seven innings with a best of 26 and an average of 14.14, he has generally either not been picked up by T20 franchise leagues or not been available to appear in them due to his schedule. He remains confident, however, that should he win a sustained opportunity to play T20 cricket, he can adapt to its demands.”I obviously scored runs in the 2016 final and I’ve always felt that when I have had a block of that format, to really get stuck into it, I’ve generally done pretty well,” he said. “I felt that was the case with the last T20 World Cup. It took me a couple of warm-up games over a two-week period beforehand to really get back into it.”But then once the tournament started, I found my way in, and felt like it was very similar to the one-day team where I knew how everyone else was going to play. Then you dovetail around them.”I’ve got good experiences to call upon. I know what it’s like to have to perform in those scenarios.”Pat Cummins bowled Joe Root for 57•Getty Images

There will be those who suggest Root should accept he is not cut out for the T20 format and decide instead to concentrate on the other formats of the game. His Test average has fallen to 47.91, after all, and as captain to 40.81. A case could be made to suggest he had plenty on his plate without worrying about improving his T20 batting – not to mention grappling with a new format in the form of the Hundred.But, while he acknowledged the importance of his Test form, Root was adamant that playing all formats will improve him as a batsman.”I know how important it is that Test cricket is my main focus,” he said. “But as long as the other formats aren’t a distraction or taking away from what I can give to the Test team then I’ll always look to improve my game and put myself in as many situations and scenarios which I think will long-term help me as a player.”To that end, he has already started to prepare for the Test team’s tour of New Zealand admitting he felt there were some technical issues to address by the time the Ashes series ended.”I want to start the winter off with a bang,” he said. “I want to set a marker early in terms of going out to New Zealand and making big scores. I really want to try to lead from the front.”I felt sometimes [in the summer] I was getting a little bit too off side of the ball and then as though I was trying to fight that. So if I can find something which feels very rhythmical, that’s a big part of how I bat well. Also if I am better aligned, I can access everywhere a lot easier.”Four years ago is the last time I had a break as long as this and that was because I broke my thumb. So to have a block and a chance to spend some time working at certain technical things without the pressure of a game around the corner is invaluable really.”

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns says Bancroft is the type of player the Australian Test team want despite slim returns in Shield cricket so far this summer

Daniel Brettig14-Nov-2019″Probably highly unlikely, I would have thought. But if you’re not winning, you’re learning, aren’t you? I learned a lot today, had a lot of positive little wins out there with my batting. I walk away and keep being positive, keep looking to improve. That’s all you can do.”Cameron Bancroft had next to no expectation of a Test recall following his battling 49 for Australia A in Perth on Tuesday night, and he had very little reason to.He was dropped after two Ashes Tests on the basis that he had serious technical issues to confront, largely to do with the lbw target he was offering bowlers by falling over his front pad and shuffling across the crease.Three months later, having been called up at the last minute to be the No. 6 in the Australia A batting lineup in Perth after Nic Maddinson withdrew, Bancroft gave plenty of evidence against the Pakistan pacemen that he was still fighting this tendency.ALSO READ: Burns, Head and Bancroft named in Australia squadBut it was the fact that Bancroft was fighting at all that gave him a chance to be recalled by the selectors Trevor Hohns and Justin Langer, both of whom regard the 26-year-old as being of the kind of character they want in the team. In response to a question about whether Bancroft would have been chosen without the last-minute chance in Perth, Hohns was terse: “Difficult and hypothetical question, he has been chosen.”Alongside the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and, in the limited-overs setup, Alex Carey, Bancroft represents a kind of Roundhead figure deemed durable, disciplined and determined enough for the international arena and its many challenges. After dropping him in England, Hohns went to great lengths to talk of Bancroft as the type of cricketer desired by the national team, needing only to make the runs to back that up.”At that stage, we considered that he just wasn’t batting very well and I’m not speaking out of school here because we told him,” Hohns said in September. “Prior to that he was obviously playing very well and he’s the hard-nosed, hard worker that we want in this team and he also knows that as well. I have no doubt that Cameron has quite a good future for us. It’s in his court, of course, he’s got to put some runs on the board, but he’s the type of player the Australian cricket team want.””Some runs on the board” is the area where it is questionable whether Bancroft has met the standard supposedly required. In eight first-class innings since he lost his Test place, Bancroft’s top score is the 49 he made this week. He has fared somewhat better in domestic limited-overs games, compiling three half-centuries in six innings, but in a realm where sustained testing of that front pad weakness is less likely to occur. Combined, a tally of 379 runs at 31.58 does anything but scream “pick me”.Nevertheless, after they were confronted with a combination of three players pulling themselves out of the reckoning due to mental health issues, injury to Kurtis Patterson and a surfeit of low or mediocre returns for other batsmen in contention, from Marcus Harris to Usman Khawaja, Hohns and Langer returned to the simple fact they like the cut of Bancroft’s jib. Not since Laurie Sawle and Bob Simpson nursed Steve Waugh through four years of Test cricket without a century has Langer’s phrase “character over covers drives” looked more pertinent.Usman Khawaja lost his Test spot during the Ashes•Getty Images

It is also worth noting that in terms of his England returns, Bancroft did markedly better than either David Warner, who he opened with in the first two Tests, or Harris who replaced him for the final three. Innings of eight, seven, 13 and 16 do not sound like much, but over that time Bancroft soaked up 162 balls in four innings. Harris lasted just 121 in the final three Tests and Warner 184 over all five. Had Bancroft not been beaten by a Jack Leach shooter on the final day at Lord’s, he may well have been the one to help Labuschagne carry the Australians to safety, and thus hung on for Headingley.”We thought we needed a spare batsman in the squad, number one, secondly we know he can cover up the top of the order and also in the middle order as we’ve seen in the recent Australia A game but he’s also played in the middle order for Western Australia in one-day cricket,” Hohns said. “He’s an ideal person to have in our squad. He’s got the ingredients of being a very good Test match player. He’s a hard worker. He was left out of course in England after a couple of Test matches.”But he’s had the bit between his teeth, he’s worked very, very hard on his game and the improvement in his game is quite noticeable. We’re trying of course as well to keep a core group of players together in particular those that performed so well in the Ashes series in England. He has the ingredients to be a very good Test player, he just has to put the performance on the board when he’s given that opportunity.”Everything else about him is the sort of thing that Justin Langer and the selection panel want from a player.”Head, too, has been looked upon kindly in a character level, though he did also work his way into some strong batting touch with an admirable century against a strong New South Wales attack for South Australia in the preceding Sheffield Shield round. “Travis has immense experience as a young leader for his state,” Hohns said. “So he’s certainly back in the mix, a to play and we also like the way he goes about his business when he’s around the team and the leadership skills he has to offer.”There will, of course, be plenty of players with the right to look askance at this. None more so than Joe Burns and Khawaja, despite their contrasting fortunes on selection day. Burns has, repeatedly, shown himself to be a more than capable Test batsman, most recently against Sri Lanka in Canberra when his steadying century allowed Tim Paine’s team to recover from the loss of three early wickets and go on to a vast win.And Khawaja possesses a Test record in Australia the envy of every other contemporary Australian player save for Warner and Steven Smith. But neither have enjoyed the sorts of opportunities afforded to Bancroft, leaving questions to linger about what the selectors perceive to be different. Burns, ostensibly chosen as Warner’s latest opening partner, will need to watch for whether the selectors choose a different tack again and switch in Bancroft at the top once the team enters into camp.As for Khawaja, his omission from the opening Test of the summer for the first time since 2014 may just about signal that his chances as an Australian cricketer are at an end. But as Bancroft now knows, a lot can happen in the space of a week: it just did.

The home team chased 148 inside 15 overs and bossed the final from start to finish

Firdose Moonda in Paarl16-Dec-2019Paarl Rocks were crowned champions of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) after a convincing eight-wicket win over Tshwane Spartans in front of a sell-out crowd at Boland Park. The home team chased 148 inside 15 overs and bossed the final from start to finish. Though the result was never in doubt, it was the Rocks’ first victory over the Spartans in five matches across both editions of the tournament to date. Here’s how the new MSL winners earned their prize.Home-town hero Henry Davids, who hails from Pneil – a town 20 minutes away from Paarl – set up the Rocks’ victory with the fastest fifty of this MSL, off just 22 balls. Davids’ array of strokes included a cracking cover drive in the first over off Imran Manack, four fours off Morne Morkel’s opening over where he was majestic on the pull and a trio of sixes, over midwicket, cover and backward square leg to knock the wind out of the Spartans’ sails as early as the end of the Powerplay. The Rocks were 72 for 0 after six overs, with no sign of stopping. Davids also featured in the highest first-wicket stand for the Rocks’ in this tournament of 78 runs, with Cameron Delport.Test-ready Dwaine Pretorius A fracture to his right hand three weeks ago did not stop Dwaine Pretorius from having his best day of 2019. Not only did he recover from the injury in time to play in the final, but he made a telling contribution to the Rocks’ victory. Pretorius was sent in at No.3, ahead of his captain Faf du Plessis, and he made the most of his promotion. He sent Dean Elgar over cover for six, and then dispatched David Wiese for back-to-back maximums, over long-on and deep midwicket. Pretorius finished with 43 runs off 21 balls and took the Rocks to the brink of victory. He wasn’t there at the end but still had a day to remember, after also being named as one of six uncapped players in South Africa’s Test squad to play England.Don’t drop AB South Africa’s greatest entertainer, AB de Villiers, was in early after Tony de Zorzi was bowled by an Isuru Udana slower ball in the third over and showed his intent almost as soon as he had the opportunity. Though Elgar kept most of the strike until the sixth over, de Villiers hit Ferisco Adams for back-to-back leg-side fours off his first two balls to remind the Rocks of the damage he could do. But de Villiers’ innings could have ended two overs’ later when lobbed a simple return catch to Tabraiz Shamsi off his second ball. Shamsi spilled the chance and de Villiers, then on 21, went on to add another 30 runs to his total, including a boundary over Shamsi’s head. Shamsi redeemed himself somewhat when he had Elgar caught at cover the ball after the dropped catch and later had Heinrich Klaasen caught at long-on to finish with figures of 2 for 29. Remember the name – Kerwin Mungroo Little-known Kerwin Mungroo has not made a splash on the wicket charts or the economy rates before this match but his presence, at a little under two metres tall, always suggested something special was coming. In the final, the man from Pietermaritzburg made a name for himself on the other side of the country – Paarl – with a composed performance that kept the Spartans’ to a chaseable total. Mungroo opened the bowling and created pressure with two overs that cost only nine runs. De Zorzi was dismissed in the middle of his first spell. He returned in the 16th over and kept the brakes on a Spartans side whose run-rate had stagnated at just over seven to the over and then bowled the last over, that started with the wicket of Wiese and ended with the run-out of Pite van Biljon to finish with 1 for 21 from his four overs.

Talks have taken place with the former team-mates now in charge but de Villiers said ‘there’s a lot that needs to happen’

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2020AB de Villiers has confirmed he is considering “throwing his name in the hat” for an international comeback at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year following constructive talks with the new leadership in South Africa.Late last year captain Faf du Plessis revealed conversations had already begun about whether de Villiers could return following his retirement in May 2018. Now de Villiers has said “hopefully I’ll be involved as well pretty soon” having been encouraged by the appointment of former team-mates Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith as coach and director of cricket following major upheaval in Cricket South Africa.”There’s a lot that needs to happen before that becomes reality, I would love to,” de Villers told reporters after making his BBL debut for the Brisbane Heat on Tuesday. “I’ve been talking to Bouch, Graeme Smith and Faf back home. We are all keen to make it happen, it’s a long way away still and plenty can happen – there’s the IPL coming, I’ve still got to be in form at that time. I’m thinking of throwing my name in the hat and hoping everything will work out.”It’s not a guarantee, I don’t want to disappoint myself or other people, so for now I’m just going to try and keep a low profile, play the best possible cricket I can and we’ll see what happens towards the end of the year.”ALSO READ: de Villiers feeling ‘some of the best form of my career’South Africa’s assistant coach Enoch Nkwe was open to the possibility of de Villiers joining the dressing room. “I am not 100% sure but AB’s commitment to South African cricket especially in MSL, we keep seeing him fully committed to these type of leagues which still shows that if we are to need some sort of experience like that, we could actually call him up and I am sure that he would be someone who would love to do it for South Africa.”Nkwe, however, added that de Villiers wouldn’t just walk back into the team and that he may need to play some matches leading up to the T20 World Cup. “I’m sure that if he shows interest he will be involved in some of the series that we will be playing. We will wait and see if he interested or not. It’s always good to have some sort of experience and I am sure from personal life experience in the last year or two that he has gained outside of playing international cricket, that will be immense for the environment. And also for South African cricket but let’s wait and see once those decisions have been made.”De Villiers had attempted to engineer a return for last year’s World Cup but the selectors decided he had made his pitch too late and it risked disruption to the side. South Africa ended up having a torrid World Cup where they never threatened to make the semi-finals.The fact that three former team-mates are now at the helm of the men’s team appears to have paved the way for far more positive discussions.”It doesn’t mean everything is going to be sunshine and roses but it’s definitely a lot easier and feels comfortable, the language that’s being used and the feel everyone has at the moment in South Africa about the cricket,” de Villiers said. “They are my friends, I played 10-plus years with them, so we’ve been through a lot and great to have them involved again. Hopefully I’ll be involved as well pretty soon.”Last month, du Plessis said: “People want AB to play and I am no different. Those conversations have been happening for two or three months already: what does it look like, how does it look over the next year, and that’s where it starts.”

Sam Harper’s half-century goes in vain as defending champions overcome Australia’s fight

Sreshth Shah in Potchefstroom28-Jan-2020In their chase of 234, Australia received a punch to the gut right at the start, when their in-form opener Jake Fraser-McGurk was run-out for a diamond duck. After that India’s right-arm quick Kartik Tyagi delivered three blows in his first two overs to put Australia down for the count which they couldn’t ever recover from, eventually losing to the defending champions by 74 runs at the first quarter-final in Potchefstroom. India’s win sets them up for a semi-final clash against the winners of the quarter-final between Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Australia can now, at best, finish fifth in the tournament.Tyagi, consistently clocking speeds in upwards of 135kph, was given the responsibility of beginning India’s defense. His first delivery was driven by Sam Fanning to mid-off, but he took off for a single while Fraser-McGurk was watching the ball and as a result was run-out without facing a ball. By the end of the over, Australia’s misery had compounded thrice over, with their captain Mackenzie Harvey lbw to a full delivery – although it pitched outside leg stump – and Lachlan Hearne bowled for a first-ball duck to Tyagi’s yorker.Tyagi’s second over was equally menacing albeit only half as rewarding, with the Australia batsmen playing and missing before No. 5 Oliver Davies edged a drive into the hands of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the slips. From 14 for 4, it was going to be a mammoth effort for Australia to win the game, especially after Tyagi struck again in his second spell, dismissing Patrick Rowe in the 21st over as his fourth scalp, to reduce the batting side to 68 for 5.But Australia were not willing to give up just yet. Fanning and No. 7 Liam Scott – who wasn’t in the XI but was batting as a concussion substitute following Corey Kelly’s injury while fielding – put on 81 for the sixth wicket. The partnership made India nervous, with India captain Priyam Garg shouting “body language, guys” to keep his team-mates zoned into the game. Fanning held up one end while Scott played more freely, but soon after the latter hit a six over midwicket, he was out caught-behind by legspinner Ravi Bishnoi in the 41st over. The score of 149 for 6, however, soon became 155 for 9 following a team hat-trick.Sam Fanning cuts•ICC via Getty

In the 42th over, Fanning was dismissed by an Akash Singh short ball for 75. The next ball Australia were eight down as Tanveer Sangha’s attempted jab-and-run didn’t pay off. Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel picked the stray ball and aimed at the stumps with an underarm throw, effecting his fourth dismissal of the day, running Connor Sully out. Singh then cranked up the pace to No. 10 Todd Murphy to bowl him for a duck. It wasn’t long before Australia folded for 159, igniting celebrations from the handful of India fans who were present at the ground.In the first innings, India – asked to bat – had begun steadily but lost three wickets in the space of 21 runs to be reduced from 35 for 0 to 54 for 3 inside 16 overs. Seamers Kelly and Sully dismissed opener Divyaansh Saxena and Garg cheaply, while offspinner Murphy removed the No. 3 Tilak Verma.A brief recovery from India followed. Opener Jaiswal, scoring his third fifty in four World Cup games, combined in a 48-run fourth-wicket with Siddhesh Veer, but he was bowled by Sangha’s legspin just after the team crossed 100 in the 26th over. Murphy then deceived wicketkeeper-batsman Jurel with a loopy delivery that took his outside edge to take his second wicket, and when Veer’s attempted pull was top-edged to third man, India were at 144 for 6 with 12 overs to go.At that stage, it looked like India wouldn’t last the full 50 overs with Australia’s bowlers having exposed the lower order, but allrounder Atharva Ankolekar got together with Bishnoi to drag India past 200. Bishnoi, who made 30 in 31 balls, was eventually run-out in the 48th over with India searching for quick runs, but Ankolekar provided a flourishing finish for India, reaching his half-century with a six in the last over.Ankolekar and Bishnoi ran their twos hard and found the occasional boundaries. Their 61-run stand for the seventh wicket came in 59 deliveries and raised India’s run-rate significantly. In their last two overs, Ankolekar and the last two batsmen scored 24 runs and India finished on 233 for 9. India had wrested the momentum from Australia by the end of the innings and after Tyagi’s three wickets in the first two overs of the chase, they always remained ahead in the game.

Pair puts on unbroken 209-run stand for the sixth wicket to give New Zealand A a big lead

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2020At 176 for 5, having lost three wickets for five runs, it looked like New Zealand A were throwing away their chance to build a lead over India A. But Mark Chapman and Dane Cleaver would not have it. The pair put on an unbroken 209-run stand – the highest first-class sixth-wicket partnership ever at the Hagley Oval – to carry the hosts to a comfortable 169-run lead by end of day two.New Zealand had started the day strongly, the overnight duo of Will Young and Ajaz Patel putting on 66 in the morning before being separated. Young was the first to go, caught behind off Sandeep Warrier after completing a fifty. Glenn Phillips fell soon after, pinned lbw by the left-arm spin of Shahbaz Nadeem. Patel, having done more than his job as nightwatchman, became Warrier’s second wicket and New Zealand were on shaky ground, going to lunch on 183 for 5, still trailing by 33 runs.India would enjoy no more success on the day. Chapman and Cleaver batted out the two final sessions, Cleaver getting to a fifth first-class hundred and Chapman going to stumps in sight of his second. Essentially, Chapman was picking up where he left off against India A in the preceding one-dayers: he had rescued New Zealand A from a top-order slide with an unbeaten 110 in the series-deciding third one-dayer.India A did not recover from his blows in that game, and they have quite a bit of work ahead of them if they are to do so this time around.

England have beaten Sri Lanka twice in the series but will be wary of the shocks Ranatunga’s men have inflicted recently

The Retropreview by Andrew Miller09-Apr-2020

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It’s taken England longer than most countries to wake up to the fact that Sri Lanka aren’t just here to make up the numbers any more – but you get the impression that the penny might finally be dropping. For twice in the space of the last three years, Arjuna Ranatunga’s men have delivered upon England defeats so seismic, it’s hard to imagine a day far enough in the future for the aftershocks to have stop reverberating.First came Faisalabad, in the quarter-final of the last World Cup, when Mike Atherton’s archaic, outdated England team were denuded by the soon-to-be World Champions in a crushingly one-sided encounter – one in which Sanath Jayasuriya’s 82 from 44 balls shredded a run-chase of 236 inside the first 25 overs.And as if that performance – or the entirety of Sri Lanka’s joyous, adventurous, cavorting run to the 1996 title – wasn’t enough of a wake-up call, then we had the events at The Oval in August last summer. Another almighty mismatch, but this time on England’s home soil, and in the format that they claim to hold most dear.Ever since England deigned to make a stop-over in Ceylon (as most of the entourage doubtless still called it) for their maiden Test in 1982, the Sri Lankans have got wearyingly used to being granted a solitary Test match at the fag-end of the English season – in 1984, 1988 and 1991 – or as an adjunct to a tour of India, as was the case for their famous maiden win in Colombo in 1993.But The Oval was something else entirely, as an England team that was daring to feel good about itself – having just seen off South Africa to win their first five-Test series for more than a decade – ran slap-bang into that man Jayasuriya again, with a contemptuously brisk double-century, and most of all, Muttiah Muralitharan, a player who you can be sure will be right in the thick of things once again in Adelaide tomorrow.Not that he would seek to be the centre of attention on this occasion, mind you. Though he rightly lapped up the plaudits for his 16 match-winning wickets last summer, including 9 for 65 in the second innings as England hurtled towards a ten-wicket humiliation, his reception in Australia has been less than cordial to date, including cries of “no-ball” from the Sydney crowd during Sri Lanka’s defeat against Australia last week.Muralitharan is doubtless getting weary at justifying an unconventionally jerky action, caused by a deformed elbow that he is unable to straighten fully and exacerbated by an extraordinarily supple wrist that imparts remarkable degrees of spin. But it is an action that has been cleared by an ICC Committee chaired by Sir Clyde Walcott and featuring such luminaries as Michael Holding and Kapil Dev, and that ought really to be the final word on the matter.And yet…the identity of the two umpires for tomorrow’s clash might suggest otherwise. For at Brisbane three years ago, in an otherwise nondescript clash against West Indies, umpires Ross Emerson and Tony McQuillan were once again on duty for a match in which Muralitharan was no-balled five times in his first two overs – one at each umpire’s end – even as his coach Dav Whatmore was taking up residence at square leg with a video camera to get his own evidence for the furore that was sure to follow.Will these two men dare to rattle the cage for a second time? There’s certainly a nervous expectation around Adelaide, one that mirrors the clear nervous energy that’s been in and around the Sri Lanka squad throughout their trip. Without putting too fine a point on it, they’ve been spoiling for a fight, as evidenced by Upul Chandana’s collision with Neil Fairbrother in Brisbane earlier this month, a set-to that required umpire Parker to step in. Moreover, they’ve been led with that habitual Napoleonic strut from their father figure Ranatunga, a man who wound Australia up no end in Hobart yesterday by calling for a runner for an apparent muscle strain, then cruising over the line with an unbeaten 45 to end his side’s eight-match losing streak.England, it hardly needs to be said, would be happy just to keep their heads down and focus on the strong vein of form that they’ve located since the latter stages of the Ashes. Without quite transforming their grim fortunes from the first half of their tour, they’ve battled their way to four ODI wins out of five and a healthy lead at the top of the C&U table.With Australia in some flux at present, amid Steve Waugh’s recurring hamstring issues and Ricky Ponting’s suspension for a bar brawl in Sydney, another win here would give them an opportunity to fine-tune ahead of the finals, and moreover ahead of the World Cup in May, their first on home soil in 16 years, which – after the disaster in 1996 – is just beginning to look like a challenge they’ll be ready to meet head on.But in the meantime, Alec Stewart’s men have got to focus on the present, and on a team that they are all too used to overlooking. It promises to get feisty, one way or another.

Form guide

England WWLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLLL

In the spotlight

As a man who turns 32 in May, it’s surely too late for Graeme Hick to become the player we all thought he might be when he was earmarked as England’s Great White Hope in the mid-to-late 1980s. But after the traumas of his first seven years in England colours, there’s a sense at the moment of a player who is finding a new comfort in his own skin, particularly in one-day cricket – the form of the game where his physical stature can offset some of the technical limitations that Test-match bowlers have been able to expose over the years. He crashed a career-best 108 to see off Australia in Sydney last week, and followed that up with a frill-free 66 not out to rout Sri Lanka in Melbourne. And given that so much about Hick’s game seems to stem from confidence, England’s management would do well to bottle his current mindset, and ensure it is in plentiful supply come May.All the focus will be on Muralitharan tomorrow, but Sri Lanka’s matchwinners are numerous and multi-faceted. Not least the batsman that England know and fear perhaps more than any other in recent times. As England found to their cost in both of those famous defeats above, Sanath Jayasuriya’s popeye-like forearms love nothing better than to carve an unsuspecting seamer high and hard over point for six, and though the surprise element may have dimmed since his starring role in the 1996 triumph, the shock and awe that he can bring to his game when he’s in the mood remains unrivalled. So far in this series, he’s been somewhat hit-and-miss. One boundary-laden half-century, and a total of five runs from his other three innings. But you can’t be sure he won’t stop swinging in a hurry, and if he connects tomorrow, expect fireworks.

Team news

Perhaps with their home World Cup in mind, England have arrived in Australia with bits and pieces galore – the likes of Vince Wells, Mark Alleyne, Mark Ealham and the Hollioake brothers all equally capable of probing seam and swing and a lusty swing from the hip. The temptation may be to rope in an extra specialist in either department, with Dean Headley the obvious candidate in the bowling stakes and John Crawley on hand to shore up the batting. Ashley Giles could provide a second spin option to augment Robert Croft’s offies, although Adelaide’s short square boundaries might guard against that.England (possible): 1 Alec Stewart (capt & wk), 2 Nick Knight, 3 Graeme Hick, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Neil Fairbrother, 6 Adam Hollioake, 7 Vince Wells, 8 Mark Ealham, 9 Robert Croft, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Alan MullallyIt would be most out of character for Ranatunga to pull Muralitharan out of the firing line, in spite of the potential for controversy. Instead Sri Lanka are expected to keep faith with the XI who ended their eight-match losing streak in Hobart this week. Marvan Atapattu and Romesh Kaluwitharana, with 82 and 54 respectively, provided the backbone of their run-chase, before Ranatunga brought the match home. Nuwan Zoysa, their promising young seamer, seems set to miss the rest of the tour with a stress fractureSri Lanka (possible): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu, 4 Hashan Tillakaratne, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Arjuna Ranatunga (capt), 7 Roshan Mahanama, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Upul Chandana, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Pramodya Wickramasinghe

Pitch and conditions

It’s anticipated to be hard, hot and dry at the Adelaide Oval tomorrow. Temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius, and a fast and flat surface in prospect. The pitch has some cracks, and a few patches of live grass but overall it promises to be a Les Burdett special. True, and full of runs.

Stats and milestones

• Roshan Mahanama needs another 52 runs to reach 5,000 in ODIs
• Chaminda Vaas is set to play in his 100th ODI, and Darren Gough in his 50th
• Sanath Jayasuriya needs one more wicket to reach 150 in ODIs, but his team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan could yet get there first, he’s on 146

Quotes

“It was brilliant playing in front of such a huge crowd, but a few people threatened to ruin it and I had to think of the safety of the players. When the beer bottle came on it had gone too far but we won’t be taking the matter any further. Shane kept the golf balls but we got hold of the beer bottle so we can claim the refund.”
Alec Stewart reacts to crowd trouble during England’s match against Australia at Melbourne, where Shane Warne donned Steve Waugh’s helmet to help calm the situation. RetroLive