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A strong BBL helped earn a recall having learnt from a tough start to international cricket

Alex Malcolm16-Feb-2021Ben McDermott believes he returns to Australia’s T20 side a different player after a 16-month absence but he knows his move to the top of the order for the Hobart Hurricanes will hinder his chances to find a permanent place in Australia’s line-up.McDermott played 12 T20Is for Australia in 2018-19 but battled in a difficult middle-order role as Australia struggled to settle on a winning combination in the first two years of Justin Langer’s coaching tenure.He made just 98 runs from 10 innings at a strike-rate of 93.33 and suffered the ignominy of being run out in three of his first four innings.”That was probably through a role that I don’t do for the Hurricanes anymore, which is bat in the middle,” McDermott said. “Batting up the top of the order now, I’ve sort of forced my way back in there with an amount of runs. But that comes with the challenge of batting at the top order at this level, which is pretty stacked obviously with Finch, Wade, Philippe, and all these guys, Stoinis, so it’s a tough spot to crack.”Related

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He has forced his way back into the squad for the five-match T20 tour of New Zealand on the back of an excellent season for the Hurricanes where he made 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike-rate of 139.58, featuring scores of 96, 91, and 89 not out in chases.He spent the entire season batting in the top three and even opened in six games while Matthew Wade was absent. Australia captain Aaron Finch has already declared that he, Wade, and Josh Philippe will make up the top three at the start of the tour, with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis set to start at No. 4 and No. 5. McDermott understands where he sits in the pecking order.”I doubt that my opportunity will be in the top order,” McDermott said. “I’m sure if I do get into a role it will be through an injury to those top three guys. Obviously, Philippe has been the Player of the Tournament for the Big Bash and Finchy has got an outstanding international record and Wadey has come off, the last time he played a T20I he got 80-odd against India. So I’m pretty sure they’ll be the top three. But if I do get an opportunity it will probably be through the middle. It’s a very strong batting line-up still. A lot of big names to jump.”Stand-in coach Andrew McDonald has flagged that Australia will use this tour to try and find some permanent answers in the middle order, which has been somewhat of a revolving door even when Australia has been at full strength. McDermott said he had learned some valuable lessons from his first 10 international innings in the difficult role and had been making improvements with Tasmania and Hurricanes batting coach Jeff Vaughan.”Being able to strike boundaries and being able to strike at a decent strike-rate from ball one. I think that was key for success and I wasn’t able to do that all. I’m sort of someone that needs a few balls to get going. It’s something that I’m working on is being able to hit a boundary early on and get myself going.”We just went through being able to start your innings at 100 percent and we talk a lot about looking for four first and your last option is hitting a one. I probably got into a little bit of a mindset early on in my innings that I was just looking for a one or a two and then missing out on boundary options early.”McDermott also has one eye on the available spots in Australia’s Test middle order. He made an excellent start to the Sheffield Shield season for Tasmania before scoring a century against India for Australia A. His form prompted Shane Warne to say that McDermott should be Australia’s next Test match No. 5 but he knows he needs to add to his two first-class centuries before that can become a reality.”That’s the pinnacle of cricket for me, playing Test cricket,” McDermott said. “It was nice to hear Warney say those nice words about me but that’s out of my control, what happens at the next level selection-wise. I’m sure that big hundreds are going to be key for that next step. So hopefully I can do that. I’ve only got two first-class hundreds at the moment. So hopefully I can finish off the back of the Shield season strongly and put my name up there again.”

South African players likely to miss start of season for white-ball series vs Pakistan

Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Sundararaman16-Feb-2021England’s leading multi-format cricketers, including Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler, could be forced to miss the two-Test series against New Zealand in June, due to a clash with the knock-out phases of this year’s IPL.The trio, all of whom play for Rajasthan Royals, are the most prominent IPL players in England’s Test set-up, although Chris Woakes (Delhi Capitals), Sam Curran (Chennai Super Kings) and Jonny Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad) could also be affected if their respective franchises reach the final four of the competition.Mark Wood is another potential absentee, if he gets picked up in Thursday’s IPL player auction, as is Moeen Ali, who was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the end of last season, and whose absence from the final two Tests of the ongoing India tour is due, in part, to the prospect of two further months away from home if he is signed by another franchise.Currently, the IPL has yet to announce either the dates for this year’s tournament, or the venue, but it is likely to be held in India, starting around April 10 through to the first week of June.That would have implications for England’s build-up to their two-Test series against New Zealand, which is scheduled between June 2-14 and is not a part of the World Test Championship, having been added to the ECB’s summer schedule in mitigation for their likely absence from the WTC final, which is scheduled for June 18-22.Related

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On Tuesday, the IPL sent out an email to the franchises, seen by ESPNcricinfo, listing out the availability of players from top countries. Along with those from Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland, England players were also listed to be fully available for the IPL, but with a caveat.”In the event of ECB Selectors wishing to select a player for the 1st Test v New Zealand whose franchise has made it through to the knockout stages of the Tournament, but who is not featuring in the starting XI, the relevant franchise is requested to release such player early so that they can participate in the Test Match,” the IPL email read.The ECB has adopted a more flexible attitude to the IPL in recent years, with the tournament’s high intensity and quality being credited as significant factors in England’s recent rise in white-ball standards, culminating in their World Cup victory in 2019.To date, no ECB centrally-contracted player has missed a Test match to take part in the IPL, despite frequent clashes with the English summer schedule in the early years of the tournament.However, the ECB’s rest-and-rotation policy for the ongoing tours of Sri Lanka and India has been designed to factor in the prospect of IPL involvement for their key players, particularly with the T20 World Cup due to be staged in India at the end of the year.Stokes and Archer both missed England’s two Tests in Sri Lanka in January, while Bairstow, Curran and Wood have been on leave in the UK during the Chennai leg of the India tour.South African players’ availability unclearSome of South Africa’s IPL players could also be impacted by the white-ball series against Pakistan at home in April. With the series scheduled between April 2-16, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, Delhi Capitals’ prominent pace partnership, are among those who are set to miss the opening few weeks of the tournament, along with Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians) and Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings).Cricket South Africa is yet to confirm the window that South African players will be available for in the IPL. But that would not have an impact on the likes of allrounder Chris Morris, who is likely to be one of the players to ignite a bidding war once again. Morris was one of the most expensive buys at the 2020 auction, after being bought by the Royal Challengers for INR 10 crore ($1.4 million USD approximately), but does not hold a central contract with the national team.Lesser availability could impact Shakib, MustafizurThere are no such issues concerning Australia and New Zealand players. Cricket Australia has confirmed that it will issue No-Objection Certificates to all its players from April 1 for the entire IPL, including for those that would otherwise be playing in the Sheffield Shield, while New Zealand Cricket has also made its players available for the entire tournament.Players from South Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, however, will not be fully available. While Sri Lanka Cricket are yet to confirm dates, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has said that “any players selected will be unavailable from May 19 or will leave before if any other series is scheduled during IPL window.”That could impact the prospects of the Bangladesh duo, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman, who are understood to have attracted interest from a few franchises in the lead-up to the auction.

Cummins, Warner and Smith to feature in Marsh Cup fixture ahead of IPL departure

Andrew McGlashan29-Mar-2021It would not be this cricket season without Covid-19 making a late reappearance. After the WNCL final was briefly caught up in the fallout of the new community outbreak in Brisbane, the last rounds of the Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield, with finals berths up for grabs, will now try and avoid the ramifications.So far the impact has been mitigated with Queensland flying to Sydney ahead of schedule on Monday before Greater Brisbane went into a three-day snap lockdown to try and get on top of the cluster after four new cases were confirmed on Monday.The New South Wales government has said that anyone arriving from Brisbane will need to abide by the same lockdown conditions. However the Queensland squad, which faces New South Wales in the Marsh Cup on Wednesday and then the Sheffield Shield from Saturday, will be able to train and play in a similar scenario to the one that enabled Victoria to travel to Sydney during that state’s February lockdown.The winner of the Marsh Cup game at North Sydney Oval will earn hosting rights for the final on April 11 although ESPNcricinfo understands that if Queensland win there will not be an immediate decision on the venue while the impact of Covid situation is monitored.On Friday, the Queensland WNCL squad had to undergo late-night Covid tests when the first case of community transmission was announced in Brisbane. They all came back negative in time for the final on Saturday.South Australia, who play Victoria in Melbourne in their final matches of the season, may be affected by the situation having recently completed a stay in Brisbane with the Victoria government having now declared the city a “red zone”. It is understood that all the teams who have recently been in Queensland have undergone regular testing.Qualification and hosting rights for the Sheffield Shield final are also up for grabs in the final round matches which start on Saturday with a three-horse race between Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia – the latter who face Tasmania in Perth.Both Queensland and New South Wales have been able to make significant inclusions in their squads: Steven Smith will play the one-day game for the Blues, having recovered from an elbow injury, while legspinner Mitchell Swepson is available for Queensland in the Shield.It will be Smith’s first match since mid-February and his last of the season – he will jump on a plane to India the next day along with the rest of the IPL-bound Australia players.Pat Cummins, the New South Wales one-day captain, is among those names along with David Warner, Moises Henriques, Josh Hazlewood and Daniel Sams who has been recalled in place of the injured Sean Abbott.”The way we look at it is it’s always a bonus when we have the Aussie guys back in the group but the fact they are going [to the IPL] means we may get the chance to give other guys the opportunity to step up,” New South Wales coach Phil Jaques said.”First port of call though is to make the final and to do that we need to try and win on Wednesday. Then we can prepare for a final which will be an exciting opportunity.”Swepson, meanwhile, has recovered from the stress fracture of the C6 vertebrae in his neck which has sidelined him since the end of the BBL and had been expected to keep him out for the season.In the first part of the Sheffield Shield he took 23 wickets in three matches including three five-wicket hauls. He was then recalled to the Australia side for the T20I series against India, was part of the Test bubble without playing and was included for the postponed South Africa tour shortly before his injury was confirmed.Queensland Marsh Cup squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy StanlakeQueensland Sheffield Shield squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Bryce Street, Mitchell SweepsNew South Wales Marsh Cup squad Pat Cummins (capt), Oliver Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Matthew Gilkes, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England batter’s 90 lifts Kent from 63 for 3 before Yorkshire strike back

Paul Edwards06-May-2021
Zak Crawley’s batting recalls a more leisured age. One can imagine Neville Cardus rhapsodising his finest drives as ‘noble’ and ‘patrician’ or RC Robertson-Glasgow musing whether a cricketer possessed of such natural grace should have someone on hand, a valet of some sort, to run between the wickets for him. Such impressions are both true and unfair: true because Crawley’s strokeplay invites them, and unfair because the Kent and England batter is a modern professional cricketer whose innings of 90 on the first day of this match contained as much technique as art. But, of course, it is the art that lingers in the mind…One’s other reflections are probably even less suited to our obsessively egalitarian times. For 23-year-old Crawley is an old-school batter and a typical product of Tonbridge, his old school. To mention that early cricketing education neither venerates nor excoriates privilege. It merely suggests that the certainty and poise with which he cover-drove Duanne Olivier or forced Ben Coad through the off side recalled another Old Tonbridgian, Colin Cowdrey. Crawley is plainly a very different batter from Cowdrey – he is assuredly a different shape – yet his best strokes offer spectators similar joys and one recalled Ed Smith, the former national selector, saying that until he played at Lord’s the best wicket on which he had batted was The Head at Tonbridge.Of course no school can inculcate professional discipline and nous; that is the county coaches’ job and Crawley’s mentors at Kent will no doubt have been as irritated as the batter himself when he followed a Kodak square cut off Steve Patterson with the hesitant push at his next ball that merely miscued a thick-edged catch to Joe Root, at short cover. That wicket ended his 79-run stand with Jack Leaning and it was also the prelude to the further wastefulness that spoiled what had promised to be a particularly good day for Kent after they had been asked to bat first and had been lowered to 65 to 3.Related

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And even if some of Crawley’s strokes recalled golden eras and good chaps, his reaction to his dismissal reveals only an ambitious young man, one who is still making his way in a hard world. “I have high standards for myself, and I’ve definitely been below those so far this year,” he said. “I feel like I played well, but I was angry when I got out. I didn’t even want a hundred. I wanted a lot more than that.”Leaning was joined by Ollie Robinson with whom he put on another 63 runs, thus taking the visitors to 206 for 4. However, having shepherded Kent’s innings to within two overs the new ball the former Yorkshire batter attempted a wild drive at a wide ball from Harry Brook. Adam Lyth duly took his third catch of the day and Leaning departed for 47, comfortably his best score in seven innings since the first match of the season against Northamptonshire. Given these travails and his pair against Yorkshire at Canterbury, his application was impressive – it had taken him 29 balls to get off the mark – and that only made the manner and timing of his dismissal all the more disappointing.Yorkshire’s bowlers were to receive a further gift when Robinson, having stroked an attractive 38 off 71 balls, clipped Coad’s new ball straight to Jordan Thompson at midwicket, and Darren Stevens’ edge behind off the same bowler in the next over meant Kent ended the day on 224 for 7. This was hardly the harrying Patterson had envisaged when he won the toss but better than he might have feared when Crawley and Leaning were batting well.The day went deceptively well for Yorkshire, whose players are developing the knack of having the best of sessions and games even when their cricket does not appear startling. Both the skipper and the highly-regarded Thompson had bowled tightly on a wicket where the ball rarely misbehaved but it was Coad whose figures of 3 for 45 look the best of the day.Patterson had been able to keep two or three slips in place throughout the sessions and they had stood with their hands in their pockets, hoping the ball would come to them while fearing it might do so at finger-breaking velocity. Three times in the morning session it did so and on each occasion the fielders made no mistake.Indeed, the signs had looked grim for Kent when Daniel Bell-Drummond edged Coad’s sixth ball of the match to Brook, and even more so when both Jordan Cox and Joe Denly nicked catches to Lyth at slip. Although Cox could have got further forward and Denly was playing too far from his body, one could have concluded that Kent had been reduced to 65 for 3 without batting very badly. Cox’s four fours of Duanne Olivier had promised more and Crawley’s gunshot straight drive off Coad in the seventh over was the shot of the morning, if not the day. And yes, it is such art that lingers in the mind.

Jamaica seamer was part of a training camp in St Lucia, ahead of the home season

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2021Jamaica seamer Marquino Mindley, who had been picked in West Indies’ 30-man squad for the high-performance training camp in St Lucia, ahead of the home Test series against South Africa, has tested positive for Covid-19. The 26-year old, who is currently asymptomatic, will isolate himself in his hotel room under the supervision of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) medical team until he returns back-to-back negative results.All the other members of the camp, including the coaches, were re-tested and returned negative tests, with training being called off for the weekend. The three-week long camp had gotten underway on May 16 in a bio-secure environment and will now resume on May 24, with the players set to train in smaller groups at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia.”CWI continues to work with all the regional governments and CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) to encourage and assist all squad members to get vaccinated, the board said in a statement. “To date, 43 members of West Indies Men’s playing and coaching staff have received vaccination doses.”Related

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Mindley, who made his first-class debut in 2014, has played 35 games matches so far, taking 84 wickets to add to scoring 394 runs. More recently in the 2019-20 first-class season, he was the highest wicket-taker for Jamaica, with 24 strikes in six games at an average of 22.66.West Indies’ bumper home season will kick off with the first Test against South Africa at the Daren Sammy Stadium from June 10.

Existing majority owner Emerging Media increase their stake from 51% to 65%

Reuters24-Jun-2021Private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, which has interests in the parent company of Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox, has picked up a 15 percent stake in Rajasthan Royals for an undisclosed amount.The Royals, winners of the inaugural IPL in 2008, are majority owned by London-based venture capitalist Manoj Badale’s investment firm Emerging Media.Emerging Media and RedBird, which is founded by former Goldman Sachs Partner Gerry Cardinale, announced the stake acquisition in a joint statement on Thursday, but did not disclose financial details of the transaction.”The IPL is a dynamic league with a global audience and forward thinking mindset regarding fan and player engagement,” Cardinale said in the statement.A source close to the deal placed an enterprise value of the franchise at between USD 250 million to USD 300 million.Badale said the Redbird deal was an illustration of how popular the IPL had become.”Such an investment is testament to the global standing of the IPL and India as an attractive investment destination,” Badale said.The television and digital rights for the tournament went for INR 163.48 billion (approx USD 2.2 billion) to STAR Sports for a five-year period from 2018-2022.The eight-team IPL normally takes place during April and May, although the Covid-19 pandemic has forced an alteration in schedules for IPL 2020 and IPL 2021.It also hit the IPL’s finances, and according to financial consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, the IPL’s brand value shrunk by 3.6 percent to USD 6.19 billion last year because of the pandemic.The Royals brand value dipped by over 8 percent in 2020, to INR 2.49 billion.Emerging Media also said in the statement it had separately increased its stake in the franchise, going from 51 percent to 65 percent.RedBird also recently picked up a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, who own English soccer team Liverpool, and baseball’s Red Sox, the XFL, and they are also the majority owner of French football team Toulouse.

Opener could have represented West Indies thanks to Barbados upbringing

George Dobell11-Jul-2021West Indies supporters have probably become accustomed to losing players to England. Jofra Archer was a key part of England’s World Cup side, after all, while Chris Jordan has been an integral member of the T20 team for several years.But Phil Salt, too, could have represented West Indies. Although he was born in Wales, Salt’s family moved to Barbados when he was 10. He subsequently represented the Barbados Under-15 side and was rumoured to be close to selection for the Under-19s before committing his future to Sussex.Related

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So as Salt’s thrashed a maiden ODI half-century in Saturday’s low-scoring victory over Pakistan, a few in Barbados could have been forgiven for some regrets over another that got away.”Yes, I was available for selection for the Barbados Under-19 team,” Salt said. “I qualified through citizenship. I’d lived there for X amount of years which made me eligible. I played Under-15 but never any further.”I was born in North Wales but my dad was a property developer out there [in the Caribbean]. I spent six years there and then came over to the UK to go to boarding school. I was at school in Surrey and was sort of on the fringes of Surrey. But Sussex saw me play and gave me an opportunity.”I didn’t get selected [for Barbados Under-19s]. But even if it I was selected, I was going to stay in England and keep playing second team cricket for Sussex. I thought there was a lot more longevity [of career in England] and I saw a pathway, right from the very start with Sussex, to build myself into the cricketer that wanted to be.”Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Salt’s innings at Lord’s was his selflessness. England had lost Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley for ducks and Salt was playing just his second ODI. But rather than playing defensively and attempting to eke out a score, he maintained the policy of aggression which has typified England’s white-ball cricket under Eoin Morgan.”You know, coming in, you have to try and play that role as best you can,” he said. “You look at the way that England played in the last few years with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow up at the top. That is what they do and that’s why they’re getting England into such good positions in the game.”There was a moment where I did question what to do next: whether to consolidate or take the game on and try and give us the impetus back. Right from the very start, coming into the England set-up, it is something that Morgan has always been crystal clear on: we take the game on; we take the positive option. So that decision was fairly easy to take from the words that I heard in previous times being in an England cap.”It’s the blueprint of what has been so successful in 50-overs cricket. It’s pretty simple: my job is to get the boys off to a flier. It doesn’t mean it’s all big shots: a good ball is still a good ball and you have to play it with respect. But if you get any width or any length I am definitely looking to jump all over that.”While Salt credited the strength of county cricket for this England success, he also believes that increased experience of franchise cricket has been important. Having played in, among others, the BBL, the CPL and the PSL, he feels the experience of playing under pressure and in front of large crowds has also contributed to English players adapting to the standards required in international cricket.”This success speaks volumes for the strength of county cricket,” he said. “I think for a lot of the lads as well, franchise opportunities overseas help. Not just playing up in the highest standard of cricket that you do see in franchise cricket, but also the sort of big occasions with bigger, noisier crowds. Playing that higher level of cricket overseas and also learning to sort of play in those high pressure environments, stands you in good stead and, and I think that’s what the majority of the lads in the squad have done.”With Bairstow and Roy almost certain to return to the team when available, Salt is aware that future opportunities could be scarce.”I’d love to play for England for as long as I possibly can,” he said. “Obviously, we’re the best side in the world. So, it’s a tough one to break into. I’ve not got any sort of route into the side planned out in my head.”But at the moment, for these three games, it’s about taking every opportunity that I can with both hands. And that’s as simple as it gets really. I’m not going to be looking too far ahead.”

“It goes back even to our regional cricket as well. I think as a whole we need to do better,” he added.

Andrew McGlashan27-Jul-2021West Indies captain Kieron Pollard took a fierce swipe at the pitches produced for the one-day series against Australia in Barbados, calling them “absolutely ridiculous.”While acknowledging that his team did not bat well in making 152 all out in the decider – which followed their 123 all out in the first match – he said that the fact that batting was difficult for both sides was a sign that the surfaces weren’t good enough.In the third ODI, Australia knocked off their target with 19 overs to spare to take the series. Australia also made comfortably the highest team total of the series with 252 for 9 in the first match. The pitch for the first match was used once, with the second two matches on the same surface.”Coming here to Barbados, I think both teams struggled on the pitch and I think that’s unacceptable for international cricket,” Pollard said at the presentation. “We’re not going to make excuses. We accept that we batted badly but I don’t think the scores that we have gotten in this three-match series, for two top international teams, I think that’s very embarrassing for us as a people. Coming from St Lucia to this, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”When asked to elaborate on the conditions, he said: “It was plain for the world to see. If I continue going on about it, it’s going to be headlines, ‘Pollard this, Pollard that.’ That’s fine with me. But the reality is, we as players sometimes we get the brunt of the accusations and all the bad stuff. But give guys the opportunity to come and play on some good cricketing wickets.”It goes back even to our regional cricket as well. I think as a whole we need to do better, and we as individuals need to do better as well. So we’re not going to cast blame. We’re going to accept responsibility as well. But I think as a holistic approach and holistic view to move forward.”‘West Indies did not score 200 in the ODI series against Australia•CWI

Unsurprisingly, the victors were able to reflect on the challenge in a more sanguine way. Mitchell Starc, adjudged the Player of the Series, praised how Australia’s batters adapted after slumping to 45 for 6 in the second match.”I feel like this wicket we played on in the last two games has probably been ready to go 10 days,” Starc said. “We knew it was going to take turn, obviously Ash Agar comes into the team for this game. It was difficult for both teams, I thought with the bat, but certainly I think our batting group took some learnings from the last game where we probably struggled quite a bit against spin.”So to learn a bit from that and transition into this game, that partnership especially at the end there with Matt Wade and Ashton Agar, and with Alex Carey and Wadey in the middle, was fantastic.”Player-of-the-Match Agar, who took 2 for 31 before an unbeaten 19 in his first match of the series, claimed his first wicket with a delivery that disturbed the surface to Shai Hope. West Indies’ shot selection was also questionable in a situation where 200 could have made it a contest.”It’s pretty favorable conditions for a spinner,” Agar said at the presentation. “You just had to get your length right. As long as you were hitting the stumps for the right-hander and pitching the ball to a left-hander, where it’s spinning in and hitting the stumps to bring all modes of dismissal into play, that’s all you can do and you let the pitch go to work.”Really difficult conditions, really interesting style of cricket that was played. You don’t get many pitches like that and I hope we end up seeing a lot more like that in the future.”

Tamim revealed another X-ray showed a fracture of the thumb still remained

Mohammad Isam14-Nov-2021A thumb injury has ruled Tamim Iqbal out of Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against Pakistan starting later this month. An X-ray report on Sunday revealed that he had a fracture on his left thumb, which he had earlier injured during an Everest Premier League match in Kathmandu last month.Tamim completed rehabilitation work on the thumb in the last four weeks, even starting to bat against fast bowling recently at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. He was planning to appear for Chattogram Division in the National Cricket League in the fifth round that began today. But the continued swelling and pain prompted a second look, which showed that a fracture remained.”The fracture had almost healed but my thumb remained swollen,” Tamim said. “So we wanted to have another X-ray, which revealed that there was a fracture. Probably there were two, but it didn’t come out in the first scan. The finger has gone back into the split. I can’t move it. The whole process has to start again.”Tamim last played for Bangladesh in the ODI series against Zimbabwe in July before a knee injury kept him out of Bangladesh’s build-up for the T20 World Cup. He eventually skipped the tournament to give the other openers a fair chance.Bangladesh will play three T20Is against Pakistan in Dhaka starting this Friday, before the two-match Test series beginning in Chattogram on November 26. The second Test in Dhaka is from December 4. This is Bangladesh’s first series in the World Test Championship’s second cycle.Tamim will now prepare himself for Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand where they will play two Tests in January. Bangladesh’s next ODIs, where Tamim is the captain, are against Afghanistan in February next year.

Travis Head returns to the middle order while the attack is still to be confirmed although signs were promising for Scott Boland

Alex Malcolm13-Jan-2022Marcus Harris has been dropped for the final Ashes Test in Hobart with Usman Khawaja to open alongside David Warner and Travis Head returning to the middle order.Australia’s bowling attack is still to be finalised with captain Pat Cummins confirming Scott Boland would need to pass a fitness test on his rib injury to play in Hobart. The signs were promising with a team spokesperson confirming Boland came through training with “no issues” but would face a final assessment in the morning. Jhye Richardson will likely come into the side if Boland does not come up. Mitchell Starc is set to play after pulling up well having played all four Tests so far.Khawaja had made an irresistible case to be retained in the side for the fifth Test after twin centuries in Sydney. Head was guaranteed to return after missing the SCG Test due to Covid-19 and the selectors made the tough decision to leave Harris out.Related

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“I think he knew was it was coming,” Cummins said on Thursday. “The message to Harry is we think he is going really well. It’s really tough on him. It’s not too often someone comes in and hits two hundreds in the same game. But I thought Marcus has been really good I think he’s been growing with each game he was a huge part in how we won that MCG Test with a crucial innings.”So he’s certainly part of the future. We’ll keep investing in him. I think he’s been going really well.”It is the third time Harris has been dropped in his 14-Test career. The selectors were determined to give him a run at the top of the order and he has played in Australia’s last five Test matches after coming in for the final match against India last summer. But he has passed 50 just three times in 26 Test innings and only once in his last five matches, albeit a match-winning 76 in the third Test at the MCG.It has been a tough series for openers on both sides due to the bowler-friendly surfaces and Harris has reached 20 in four consecutive innings but only has one half-century to show for it. His overall Test average of 25.29 left him vulnerable to the selectors’ axe. However, Cummins stressed Harris would not be cast aside as a Test player.Marcus Harris has lost his place in the side for the fifth Test•Getty Images

“No, absolutely not,” Cummins said. “I think Uzzy and Davey have really earned that spot to open the batting but the reality is they’re both 35 years old. So whilst that doesn’t mean anything in the short, short term there will be a day where we need to find some other openers. Marcus is still absolutely got a huge future with us. He’ll be around the squad. I think there might even be an Australia A tour go overseas in the off-season. Of course, there’s heaps of Shield cricket and county cricket as well so for sure this is probably more a case of someone demanding a spot as opposed to Marcus losing his spot.”Khawaja averages 96.80 and has made two centuries in seven Test innings as an opener, including 145 in a pink-ball Test against South Africa in Adelaide in 2016. He averages 39.30 opening in first-class cricket across 36 innings with four centuries, although three have come on the subcontinent. But he hasn’t batted higher than No. 4 in his last 22 first-class innings, during which time he has compiled six first-class hundreds and has averaged 65.94.”Really confident with Uzzy opening,” Cummins said. “He’s a class player. He can bat anywhere in the order. Even at the start of the summer when he was part of the squad, from the selectors’ point of view and being his captain I felt like he could bat anywhere from one to six so he’ll slot straight into one, everyone else stays where they are. Trav Head really owned that No. 5 spots the first few games.”Meanwhile, Boland needed to show he had overcome his rib concern with Cummins stating that the selectors would wait until after the final training session to confirm his fitness. He needed pain-killing injections to get through the SCG Test after his heavy fall on his ribs in the first innings but he still bowled beautifully picking up seven wickets.”We think he should be right,” Cummins said. “I don’t think he’ll be getting injections down here. I think he’ll just have a bowl and judge if he feels a bit better than he did a few days ago. He bowled 30-40 overs after he did the injury which gives us a lot of confidence he can get through it. Just speaking to him he says it’s an injury that he’s confident doesn’t get worse with heaps of bowling. It’s just a lot of pain. So hopefully he can manage that. He said he’ll have a bowl. He’s played enough. He’ll be honest.”Boland does have a good pink-ball record in first-class cricket averaging 22.64 overall but he has a poor record at Bellerive Oval in both pink and red-ball games averaging 64.Richardson took seven wickets in his one and only Sheffield Shield red-ball match at Bellerive earlier this season and took five wickets in the fourth innings of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide but missed the MCG and SCG Tests due to shin soreness.