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The fast bowler and his Canterbury team-mate Mitch Hay could make their Test debuts in the second Test against West Indies

Deivarayan Muthu06-Dec-20251:57

Latham: Can’t fault the effort when we were a couple of bowlers down

Uncapped fast bowler Michael Rae has been called up to New Zealand’s Test squad for the second match against West Indies in Wellington. Rae, 30, earned his maiden New Zealand call-up after Matt Henry (calf) and Nathan Smith (side) suffered injuries during the first Test in Christchurch.Both Henry and Smith are doubtful for the second Test, especially considering the quick turnaround between the first two games. The Wellington Test will begin on December 10, four days after the end of the Christchurch Test. Injuries to Henry and Smith reduced New Zealand’s attack to two frontline seamers and left them shouldering a heavy workload.Rae and Blair Tickner, who was the reserve fast bowler in Christchurch, could be in contention for the XI in Wellington.Rae started the second round of the Plunket Shield for Canterbury and took 3 for 65 in the first innings against Central Districts in Napier before he sat out of the second innings. Fraser Sheat replaced Rae in the second innings as the latter prepares for a potential Test debut.Related

• Henry, Santner, Nathan Smith ruled out of rest of West Indies Test series

• Blundell, Smith, Henry sustain injuries in Christchurch; Jamieson returns to Plunket Shield

At 6 feet 6 inches, Rae could give New Zealand’s attack a point of difference and replicate shifts that his Canterbury team-mate Kyle Jamieson put in for New Zealand in Test cricket. Like Jamieson, Rae is also capable of bowling fuller lengths and swinging the new ball.Along with Jamieson, Henry Shipley and Zak Foulkes, Rae has been part of a tall, funky Canterbury attack.”It’s got to be one of the tallest bowling attacks in the world,” Paul Wiseman, current Black Caps talent manager and former spinner, told ESPNcricinfo last year. “Jamieson at 6’8” and then you also have Michael Rae, who is probably 6’6”, and then the others are about 6’5”. Henners [Matt Henry] is shorter, but he’s a genius. I don’t know if we can get all those guys on the park at the same time but it will be a real test for any batter, I think. They are an exciting group and it would be great to see all of them fit in at the same time.”Rae, with his retro headband, has been a regular in domestic cricket in recent years. He has played 69 first-class matches so far, taking 205 wickets at an average of 33.06, including three five-wicket hauls.He also has some first-class exposure outside of New Zealand, having played five games for Warwickshire in county cricket, claiming 14 wickets at an average of 30.28. Gavin Larsen, the current New Zealand selection manager, has tracked Rae’s progress closely both at New Zealand domestic cricket and Warwickshire. When he was with Otago, he had also worked with current New Zealand coach Rob Walter.Michael Rae, in action, with his retro headband on•Getty Images

New Zealand’s team management will also carefully monitor the progress of Jamieson, who returned to the Plunket Shield for the ongoing round, and tearaway Ben Sears, who is currently playing white-ball club cricket in Melbourne. Sears, who is also prone to injuries, will not be rushed back to red-ball cricket.”I’d say he’s doubtful [for red-ball cricket] given he is going through more of a white-ball stepping stone over in club cricket in Melbourne,” New Zealand bowling coach Jacob Oram said on Friday. “Just to get him some cricket on grass, good facilities, and a good training environment around him, which he’s got over there with a contact we had internally here. Speaking to Ben the other day, I know that he’s feeling really good about his bowling but the Test series will be a bridge too far for sure.”With Tom Blundell sidelined from the Wellington Test, with a hamstring injury, Mitch Hay is poised to make his debut and take over the gloves from captain Tom Latham, who kept wicket across both innings in Christchurch in addition to scoring 145 in New Zealand’s second innings.”It’s been a long shift. I don’t think I’ve done that many amount of overs behind the stumps before,” Latham said on Saturday. “Usually 50 [overs] is about my cap, but obviously not ideal losing Tommy either, but giving to the group as much as you can in a role that I’m used to keeping. So from a familiarity point of view it was fine, just the duration was a little bit more than I’m used to.”In Blundell’s absence, Daryl Mitchell stepped in as a substitute and put in a long fielding shift in the slips though he hadn’t fully recovered from a groin injury. Mitchell Santner, too, was not available for selection in Christchurch because of his own groin injury.

Lauren Bell and Sarah Glenn made way for Filer and Wyatt in washout

Valkerie Baynes26-May-2024An incessant afternoon of rain at Taunton meant that just 41 balls were possible in the second Women’s ODI between England and Pakistan. The contest was officially called off after a final check from the umpires at 3pm, after more than three hours of delayed inspections.In the time that was possible, Pakistan – who named an unchanged team and opted to bat first after winning the toss – progressed to 29 for 0, with Sadaf Shamas unbeaten on 18 from 28 balls, and Sidra Ameen on 7 from 13.Both players had a let-off in the short time that was possible. Ameen was dropped on 1 by Sophie Ecclestone at first slip, as Lauren Filer – back in the side in place of Lauren Bell – found the edge with a quick delivery in her second over, before Shamas survived a tough chance to Danni Wyatt at point on 12, again off Filer.Wyatt, who missed the first ODI through illness, was the only other change to the side that won that match by 37 runs, as she returned to the middle-order in place of the legspinner Sarah Glenn.Sophia Dunkley, who was left out of both England’s T20I and ODI squads for Pakistan’s visit amid a lean run of form with the bat, was called up to the squad ahead of this second match after scoring a century, a fifty and an unbeaten 48 for South East Stars in the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.She was named at No. 12 for Sunday’s match in Taunton, but could compete for a berth for what will now be a series decider, in Chelmsford on Wednesday.Pakistan: Sidra Ameen, Sadaf Shamas, Muneeba Ali, Ayesha Zafar, Nida Dar (capt), Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Najiha Alvi (wk), Umm-e-Hani, Diana Baig, Nashra SandhuEngland: Maia Bouchier, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight (capt), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Danni Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer

The allrounder is unlikely to be available to bowl, however, as Australia ponder team balance

Andrew McGlashan04-Feb-2023Australia allrounder Cameron Green has shown encouraging signs in his recovery from a broken finger as he makes a late bid to be fit for the opening Test against India in Nagpur, although it remains highly unlikely that he will be able to bowl.Green got the all-clear to resume training shortly before leaving for the tour and has now begun batting and bowling with a hard ball in the nets. The concern for the management will still be the build-up of his workloads after a month out of action, but before leaving Sydney head coach Andrew McDonald indicated he would be considered as a specialist batter.Related

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• Australia aware of reverse-swing threat amid spin talk

• 'Last time we got served a green top' – Smith defends abandoning tour game in India

• India vs Australia this century: one classic after the other

“He’s made some significant steps forward in the last couple of days, probably to my surprise, so there’s still an outside chance that everything going well he might be on the team sheet,” McDonald told reporters in Alur on Saturday. “I wouldn’t say he was in discomfort with his bowling, one of the deliveries jarred the bottom of the bat and that can create discomfort for anyone but there’s a little bit of awareness around that finger.”However, with Green still only a very slim chance of being an option with the ball in the first Test, which begins on February 9, it continues to raise the question as to how Australia will balance their side. Against South Africa at the SCG last month, Ashton Agar was recalled to partner Nathan Lyon and while there has been the assumption two frontline spinners will play in Nagpur, captain Pat Cummins was well aware of the potent force Australia’s quicks can be even while they are missing the injured Mitchell Starc.”I wouldn’t say it [two spinners] is a given, it’s very conditions dependent so particularly this first Test, once we get to Nagpur we’ll see,” Cummins said. “I think sometimes talking about a couple of spinners you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions. Even some of the SCG wickets, there hasn’t been a lot in them for quick bowlers but the quick bowlers have found a way.”We’ve got plenty of bowling options here – fingerspin, wristspin, left-arm, Starcy when he comes back – so we’ll obviously pick the bowlers we think can take 20 wickets, how we are going to split that up we aren’t 100% sure yet.”If Australia do go with two frontline spinners, Cummins was open to the uncapped offspinner Todd Murphy partnering Lyon, although Australia also have Travis Head’s bowling to call on. Legspinner Mitchell Swepson is the other option in the squad.”It’s a chance. That’s something we’ll have to balance up if we want to go with two spinners,” he said. “Do we want variation, or just two offspinners? So there’s no reason why we can’t go that way. Travis Head is in the side as well and bowls really good offspin. We’ve got plenty of variety to choose from.”On the batting front, McDonald believes that David Warner will be motivated to overturn a mediocre record in India despite speaking of his fatigue after a busy home summer shortly before departing for the trip.”He’s really looking forward to the challenge of India and it’s been well documented that he hasn’t had the series that he would’ve liked here, and it’s always challenging,” McDonald said. “But the way that he’s applying himself in his downtime to really landing on a method to take on the Indian spinners, also the quicks, and to have a successful tour…I think you’ll see him fully invigorated, fully invested and fully recharged for the challenge ahead.”Australia will have another full training session in Bengaluru on Sunday before traveling to Nagpur on Monday.

The four T20Is that were part of the original schedule will be “rescheduled for a more opportune time,” a CSA release said

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2021Paarl and Cape Town will host the three-match ODI series between South Africa and India in January 2022. The first two games will be played at Boland Park on January 19 and January 21 followed by the series finale at Newlands on January 23. However, the three-match series will not be part of the Men’s World Cup Super League and will instead be played as a bilateral series.As reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier this week, Newlands will also host the third Test that will run from January 11 to January 15. The tour will kick off with the Boxing Day Test at Centurion, with Johannesburg slated to stage the second Test from January 3 to January 7 as part of a rejigged tour.The four T20Is that were also part of the original schedule will be “rescheduled for a more opportune time in the new year,” a CSA release said.Related

• Kohli backs Rahane, but hints at 'discussions' ahead of South Africa tour

• India to tour SA for three Tests, three ODIs

• SA vs Netherlands: New Covid-19 variant forces postponement

There had been doubts around the tour because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 discovered in South Africa, which has coincided with a surge in cases and hospitalisations, especially in the Gauteng province where India are scheduled to play the first two Tests.Netherlands had recently cut short their tour of three ODIs and flown home since many countries, especially within the European Union, had imposed travel restrictions on southern Africa.CSA had also postponed three games of round four of Division 2 four-day matches after some players tested positive. The one-day matches due to take place on December 16 were also pushed back to 2022.The India A squad that is touring South Africa, however, has stayed back in the country for three four-day games in Bloemfontein. The third game got underway on Monday.When exactly the BCCI and CSA agree to play the four T20Is remains to be seen as another T20 World Cup is approaching in 2022, and both teams already have packed schedules for 2022.

England and West Indies prepare to resume a pace-dominated rivalry as Test cricket returns

The Preview by Andrew Miller09-Jul-2020

Big picture

And so it re-begins. Test Cricket, the Awakening. Live from the locked-down environs of the Ageas Bowl, in a sterile world of fist-bump greetings and exam-room-style mealtimes. Where the players go through their daily routines with the detached immersion of astronauts in the International Space Station, and where Mark Wood belts out Jerusalem from the top of the pavilion like nobody’s watching. Because nobody is. Apart from a handful of support staff, media representatives, hotel-workers, security personnel … and a global cricket-starved audience of millions, for whom this through-the-keyhole experience marks the beginning of the end of the most extraordinary hiatus in most people’s living memory.Test cricket is back, though perhaps not quite as we have known it. It was 115 days ago in Colombo that England abandoned their final warm-up game against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI and legged it for the airport to beat the closure of the world’s borders. One day earlier, Barbados – the island that provides nine of the 15 players in West Indies’ senior squad – completed their rout of Guyana in the regional Championship, bowling the hosts out for 55 and 94 in consecutive innings at Providence, with Kemar Roach, their man of the moment, claiming nine in the match.And then, overnight, it all went quiet, as a world of YouTube nostalgia and disembodied Zoom punditry emerged from the wreckage of the world game’s plans, as boards licked their wounds and counted their costs – most notably the ECB, who stood to lose an estimated £380 million if the entire summer of 2020, their year of new endeavours, was written off without a ball being bowled. And who could have imagined such a debasement of opportunity this time last year, when the 2019 World Cup was just a week away from that unsurpassable moment of crescendo, and when Ian Botham’s heroics in 1981 were still the only Ashes Test truly synonymous with Headingley?And in light of all that, the ECB deserve, and have received, huge credit for getting this show on the road. In creating and sustaining a series of bio-secure environments – at the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford in the first instance, and more recently at Derby and Worcester where Pakistan’s preparations for the August Tests are taking shape – they’ve provided a “blueprint” as Phil Simmons, West Indies’ coach put it on Monday, for how other boards might hope to get their own schedules back up and running in the teeth of a pandemic. Not least Australia, whose own season suddenly seems in renewed jeopardy as Melbourne goes back into lockdown.But the greatest kudos to date belongs to West Indies, an intrepid squad of tourists who suppressed whatever anxieties they might have had, and agreed to leave the relatively Covid-free islands of the Caribbean to embark on a two-month stint in one of the most prominently afflicted countries on earth. Touring life can be solitary and isolating at the best of times, let alone the worst of them, when you are a prisoner in your hotel room at night, and beholden to the rhythms of the gym and the nets by day. While no criticism can be attached to the three players who chose not to come, the true wonder is that more were not tempted to sit this out too.And yet the squad has displayed focus and resolve in their preparations to date – they’ve brushed off the distractions that followed the sad death of Simmons’ father-in-law and the cruel criticism of his attendance of the funeral, and quietly embraced the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement, a cause that both sides will acknowledge with both a logo on their shirt collars and a gesture before the match, but one that, by its very nature, courses through the proud history of Caribbean cricket and surely will not prove to be anything other than an inspiration.Alzarri Joseph, Chemar Holder and Kemar Roach, three of the pace options for West Indies•Getty Images for ECB

In terms of their actual preparations, West Indies’ batting may have been a concern in two intra-squad warm-up games, but the same sweaty-toothed bowling attack that shredded England in Barbados and Antigua in early 2019 has been firing from the get-go. They are the holders of the Wisden Trophy, and they’ve got enough proud memories of both that series and of their miraculous run-chase at Headingley in 2017 to know that they’ll enter this contest with a puncher’s chance. Particularly against an England side shorn of their captain, Joe Root, through paternity leave, and therefore set to field one of their least experienced top sixes in more than 40 years.ALSO READ: ‘Do it your way’ – Root’s message to StokesThat’s not to say that England’s batting is notably weak – somewhat to the contrary, in fact. Their last significant cricket came in South Africa in December and January, where Ollie Pope and the newly sylph-like Dom Sibley produced break-out performances, and where Zak Crawley confirmed his own rich promise in a series of unflappable displays after Rory Burns had damaged his ankle playing football.With Root to return at Old Trafford, and Essex’s next big thing Dan Lawrence waiting in the wings, there’s a sudden competition for places that could scarcely have seemed credible in the latter months of Trevor Bayliss’s white-ball-focussed reign, when the desire not to upset the tempos of England’s unfettered World Cup wallopers seemed to override all other considerations. And on that note, it was revealing how this band of players chose not to make a game of last week’s intra-squad match – a chase of 98 off 96 balls in the final session might well have been on, especially with Ben Stokes still in the middle, but given what Roach did to England’s positive intent in Barbados last year, it probably wouldn’t have been the ideal mindset to cultivate.Whatever occurs in the coming days, however, this match will constitute a journey into the unknown, even if more aspects of the daily tussle will be familiar than you might assume at first glance. After all, it’s not as though playing in front of empty stadiums will be a complete novelty for the grand old format – anyone who’s ever watched a five-day game in Dubai, for instance, will know that sterile environments were a factor in cricket long before they became a requisite.But the fixed-camera images that were beamed out of the Ageas Bowl last week during England’s three-day warm-up gave us a clue as to what to expect. In particular, the prevalence of headbands among England’s fast bowlers will be a reminder of the new obligations in play for this series – sweat, not saliva, will be the connoisseur’s choice for ball-shining. And no matter how many flashing boundary hoardings, and fully operational replay screens, and booming PA announcements the organisers choose to bring to the show, the other-worldliness this week will be tangible, even if the players on display will not.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)England WWWLD
West Indies WLLLWBen Stokes trains in front of a banner covering the empty stands•Getty Images

In the spotlight

This time last year, Ben Stokes was gearing up for the biggest month of his career (on the field at least, given how close he must have felt to losing everything when West Indies were last in England for a bilateral series). His extraordinary displays, first in the World Cup final against New Zealand, and then in partnership with Jack Leach at Headingley, propelled him to a rare echelon among England cricketers, a status that was confirmed when he was named as the runaway winner of BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Like the rest of us, he could hardly have predicted how 2020 would pan out. But he can’t have imagined either that he’d end up leading England in their first home Test of the season. There’s no doubt he commands huge respect in what is temporarily his dressing-room – Sibley named him as a key inspiration for his renewed fitness drive during lockdown – and as a pure batsman he is among the finest in contemporary Test cricket. There’s no reason why he cannot thrive in the short term in the role, just as Andrew Flintoff did in India in 2006, when he led from the front with the bat in particular. Whether he ought to be a candidate for the honours longer-term, the jury will remain out. But he won’t be short of support on the field, even if the void in the stands deprives him of some of the adrenalin on which he so clearly thrives.His old class-mate Carlos may be the Brathwaite whose name is truly remembered for his feats in the World T20 final, but Kraigg Brathwaite is the potential kingpin of a batting line that craves some solidity in what will surely be a bowler-dominated series. His form has rather fallen off a cliff since those twin scores of 134 and 95 underpinned that famous win in Leeds three years ago, and he was a subdued presence in the home series last year. But natural-born nuggets are a rare breed in modern Test cricket, and if he can reprise the form that has earned him eight centuries in 59 Tests to date, he’ll go a long way towards giving his quicks a chance to get stuck in. A top score of 84 in the intra-squad fixtures suggests that he’s had enough time in the middle to get his game in a good working order.

Team news

England’s 13-man squad has locked in its batting at least. In the absence of Root, and with Stokes stepping up as captain, Joe Denly holds his place at No. 3 – he constitutes a senior statesman in an otherwise callow line-up – with Zak Crawley pencilled in at No. 4 ahead of Lawrence, whose time will surely come before long. As for the balance of the bowling, Stokes admitted it was a “head-scratcher”, albeit a good problem to have. The balance, as ever, hinges on the enduring excellence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, a pair for which England have been making succession plans for almost as long as their partnership has endured. The temptation to pitch Jofra Archer and Mark Wood together in Tests for the first time will be overwhelming, and the likelihood is that Broad – and Chris Woakes – will be the men to miss out.England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Joe Denly, 4 Zak Crawley, 5 Ben Stokes (capt), 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Dom Bess, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Stuart Broad/Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson.Jason Holder says he will leave his final XI to the “last minute”, presumably with the possibility of the spinner Rahkeem Cornwall stepping into a pace-dominated line-up. The batting will hinge on Holder’s own presence, muted though it was in the warm-ups, as well as the experience of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope, the central figures in that epic 2017 win. Roston Chase, who also claimed eight wickets with his spin in the Barbados win, will compete with Jermaine Blackwood in the middle order. After an injury scare, Shane Dowrich is expected to hold off Joshua Da Silva as wicketkeeper, despite the latter’s assured century in the warm-ups.West Indies (probable): 1 John Campbell, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Shai Hope, 5 Roston Chase/Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Shane Dowrich (wk), 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Rahkeem Cornwall, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel.

Pitch and conditions

Whisper it, but the weather for the coming week is not the scorching heatwave that most of the country had been basking during the locked-down part of the summer. Regular showers could punctuate the contest, and a further unknown will lie in the make-up of the Ageas Bowl wicket. While it might ordinarily be a groundsman’s dream to have an entire summer to nurture your turf without any pesky cricketers digging their studs into it, for Simon Lee, newly appointed by Hampshire after 18 years at Taunton, he might conceivably have preferred a few county games to get fully acquainted with his loam. The deck for England’s warm-up was undoubtedly on the slow side. A bit more carry for the main event would doubtless please the quicks on both teams.

Stats and trivia

• The Ageas Bowl will be hosting its fourth Test match since its debut staging in 2011, and its first against West Indies. Previous opponents have been Sri Lanka and India (twice).
• After going past 100 Test wickets in West Indies’ last home Test, against India in Jamaica last summer, Jason Holder needs 102 runs to reach 2000 in Test cricket – a feat that only Sir Garfield Sobers and Carl Hooper have previously achieved for West Indies.
• Ben Stokes, standing in for Joe Root, will become the 81st man to captain England in Test cricket.
• An England victory would be their 50th in Tests against West Indies in 158 Tests. West Indies have won 57 of their previous contests, with 51 draws.
• Kemar Roach needs seven more wickets to become the first West Indian fast bowler since Curtly Ambrose to reach 200 in Tests.
• If Broad is omitted from the final XI, it will bring to an end a run of 51 consecutive home Test appearances, dating back to the Edgbaston Test against West Indies in 2012. Ironically both he and Anderson were rested for that match, a dead rubber.

Quotes

“I haven’t had much advice but there’s been a lot of opinions flying around. But the best message I’ve received was when I got my photos done yesterday in my blazer. Rooty left a message on my hanger, saying ‘do it your way’.”

Ben Stokes takes up the captain’s mantel with some sound advice from his absent team-mate“Ben’s always being talked up and quite rightly so, he’s a really good cricketer, but the rankings say I’m the No.1-ranked allrounder, so I maybe don’t get as much credit as I probably deserve. Who knows?”
Jason Holder has a quiet word about his understated abilities

He has been signed as cover for Shaun Marsh who is expected to be part of the World Cup squad but that is not yet certain

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Apr-2019Marnus Labuschagne has become the latest Australian to take up a county deal having signed for Glamorgan for the first half of the English season.Labuschagne will act as cover for Shaun Marsh although it is not yet certain whether Marsh will be part of the World Cup squad with the Australia selectors needing to make some tough decisions with the availability of David Warner and Steven Smith.Labuschagne made his Test debut against Pakistan in the UAE and was then recalled for the final match against India in Sydney where he was surprisingly given the No. 3 role. He moved down to No. 4 against Sri Lanka where he made his maiden Test fifty in Brisbane before a double failure in Canberra and he will be sweating on his place in the Ashes squad.”I’ve always wanted to play county cricket and test myself in different conditions and a new environment, so I’m delighted to sign for Glamorgan,” Labuschagne said. “I understand it was a difficult season last year for the club, but hopefully I can hit the ground running and put in some good performances to get us off to a winning start.””I’ve heard great things about the club from a few of the players I already know and I’m really looking forward to teaming up with my new teammates, including Charlie [Hemphrey], who I’ve played with at Queensland over the last few seasons. It would be wonderful to make a genuine difference to the club both on and off the field.”Glamorgan’s director of cricket, Mark Wallace, said: “We’ve made it a priority to bring in overseas cover for Shaun Marsh, and to get a player of Marnus’ quality for the first half of the season is a great boost to the squad.”He’s a young, talented, driven cricketer who has shown his quality in both domestic and international cricket and is exactly the type of character we want in the dressing room. He’s also a multi-dimensional player who can bat at the top of the order, take important wickets with his leg-spin and lead in the field.”

The PCB has moved the ICC Dispute Resolution Committee with India unable to honour their commitments of paying Pakistan

Sidharth Monga11-Dec-2017The FTP that came up for discussion and was agreed in principle at the BCCI’s special general meeting on Monday included no bilateral matches with Pakistan, but it is set to be challenged by the PCB. The Pakistan board has reiterated it will not sign on the new schedules unless there is some agreement for their team to play India. The PCB has moved the ICC Dispute Resolution Committee with India unable to honour their commitments of paying Pakistan.The BCCI stance remains the same: there can be no cricket with Pakistan outside the ICC events unless there is government clearance. Asked about the Pakistan situation, the BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said: “It is something which…it is a question which is embedded not in the matrix of cricket alone. That is publicly recognised. Unless you put together all factors that determine an event, it is futile attempting to answer that question.”Nor has the PCB budged. “The PCB has also informed the ICC that it has initiated a dispute resolution process against the BCCI under the ICC Dispute Resolution Committee Terms of Reference,” a PCB release said. “Further to that the PCB’s claim is based on an existing agreement with the BCCI which contemplates that India will tour Pakistan in December 2019, August 2020 and Nov-Dec 2022 and Pakistan will tour India in Nov-Dec 2021.”The PCB insisted that its agreeing to the new FTP depended entirely on the outcomes of the dispute resolution proceedings. “Under the prevailing circumstances, it is PCB’s position that if the Dispute Resolution Committee decides the dispute in PCB’s favour then any FTP will need to be adjusted to reflect the decision,” the PCB said. “Any agreement of the PCB to any new FTP structure will therefore be without prejudice to its existing claims against BCCI and will be subject to the outcome of the ICC dispute resolution process.”Our position is that PCB’s agreement to the revised structures for international cricket is subject to the condition that PCB has a valid agreement to play bilateral matches with India and India vs Pakistan matches would be included in the FTP.”On a day the BCCI reported more than half of India’s matches will be played against Australia, England and South Africa in the next FTP cycle (between the World Cups of 2019 and 2023), primarily because it is what broadcasters demand, it was hard to miss that India v Pakistan was a contest the broadcasters would have lapped up. Choudhary did not negate the commercial value of a series against Pakistan, but said that was an issue that could be discussed only if it was possible for India to play Pakistan.When asked if indeed it was by some miracle possible to play Pakistan in this FTP cycle, Choudhary said the BCCI will be only too glad to find a place in the schedule. “If we could manoeuvre our calendar after having made space for a proposed tour of Pakistan [in the current FTP], I am sure depending on the new situation, new ways will be found,” he said.Before all that, India might have an immediate problem at hand. India is supposed to host the Asia Cup later this year, but Pakistan’s participation in that remains a stumbling block. There will be an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting on December 18, but Choudhry wasn’t very hopeful of being able to host Pakistan.

Alastair Cook admitted England have “a lot to work on” as they approach their five-Test tour of India

George Dobell in Mirpur30-Oct-2016
Alastair Cook admitted England have “a lot to work on” as they approach their five-Test tour of India.England slipped to a 108-run defeat in Mirpur on Sunday – their first loss to Bangladesh in Test cricket – after the morning saw them drop a host of chances and the evening saw them lose 10 wickets in a session.It left Cook bemoaning England’s “inexperience” in such conditions and accepting that England “haven’t got world-class spinners”.He also warned that the team had to “stay strong” and “stay together” in the coming weeks to ensure they were no long-term damaging effects of such a chastening defeat to the No. 9-ranked Test team. England leave for a five-Test series against the world No.1 team, India – a tour for which Cook rated England as “pretty heavy underdogs” – later this week.”We showed our inexperience in these conditions,” a shell-shocked Cook said. “A lot of these guys have not played many Test matches and when that ball got rolling we found it very hard to stop.”You lose a couple of wickets, then men come round the bat and the crowd get into it. Being able to deal with it and get through it is crucial. You know it doesn’t last forever, but that half an hour is crucial and we just weren’t good enough. We have to learn fast. There’s a lot of talent in this team and the experience on this trip will only help us if we take the right things out of it. There’s a lot to work on.”England lost all ten of their wickets for 64 runs in the final session, but Cook accepted his side had also erred in the field. They put down several chances of varying difficulty while the spinners struggled to maintain control.”I thought 240 would have been a really good chase,” Cook said. “They got 30 too many. We had four or five, not easy chances, but chances you need to take and I started the rot with one at leg slip. You need to take them, especially in low-scoring games.”We didn’t bowl great. And yes, their spinners did out-bowl our spinners. We’re not hiding behind the fact that we haven’t got world-class spinners.”It doesn’t mean our spinners are bad bowlers. We’ve got guys who can bowl some really good balls and spells. But we can’t quite control well enough at the moment. We don’t hold our length and line well enough. We bowl jaffas, but we’re easy to knock off strike and we don’t build the kind of pressure we’d like.”Amid the acceptance of his own team’s faults, however, Cook was keen to praise a much-improved Bangladesh side.”It’s very easy sitting back and saying ‘it’s just Bangladesh’ but in these conditions, on spinning wickets, their bowlers are good,” Cook said. “I know the guy who got 19 wickets – Mehedi Hasan Miraz – isn’t experienced, but he’s a very good bowler and he’s experienced in these conditions.”Conditions have been very tough, but I have no complaints about it: that’s what Test cricket is about. Bangladesh thoroughly deserved their win. They’ve obviously taken big strides. They’ll find it hard on bouncy wickets, but in these conditions they’ve a good side.”Despite the defeat, England look likely to stick with the same balance of the side that they utilised here. While one or two of the personnel will change – Gary Ballance, who averaged 6 in the series, looks especially vulnerable, while Stuart Broad is certain to return in place of Steven Finn – Cook remains keen on an attack featuring three seamers and three spinners.”I like three and three,” he said. “We know we have our strength in seam bowling and reverse-swing. We take more wickets with that than with our spinners.”We go to India as pretty heavy underdogs, there’s no doubt about it. But sometimes English people like being underdogs.”England are due to arrive in Mumbai on Wednesday – though they may try to arrange an earlier flight – and had planned to give the players a few days off with no training planned before Saturday. With Saqlain Mushtaq joining up with the squad for a brief stint as spin consultant in Mumbai, it may be that those training plans are reconsidered.Certainly it seems likely that a few players will ask for one-on-one sessions with Saqlain, but plans to allocate any of those players who have yet to enjoy much game-time on this trip to a club side around Mumbai have been all but abandoned. They fly to Rajkot on Sunday.

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group A matches on October 24, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2015
ScorecardAditya Sarwate picked up 6 for 64 on first-class debut•PTI

Vidarbha, currently scraping the bottom of the group, were in line to register their first outright win this season after debutant left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate (6 for 64) and offspinner Akshay Wakhare (4 for 37) bundled Assam out for 160 in the second innings in Nagpur to set up a chase of 213. As many as five Assam batsmen got into double figures, but Swarupam Purkayastha’s 35 ended up the highest score to round off a disappointing performance.Wasim Jaffer, who has just one fifty from six innings this season, was unbeaten on 43, while Faiz Fazal made 38 to take Vidarbha to stumps on 88 without loss. Given they still have the experience of Ganesh Satish and S Badrinath, the captain, Vidarbha will fancy their chances of polishing off the 125 runs they need to move into the top half of the group standings.
ScorecardVital contributions from Haryana’s top seven in the second innings ensured they were in with a chance to break Karnataka’s 33-match unbeaten streak in Mysore. Robin Uthappa and KL Rahul saw off six tense overs to take the hosts to 9 for 0 at stumps, but are still well adrift of their target of 373 going into the final day.After pocketing a 110-run lead, Haryana declared their second innings on 262 for 9, with Nitin Saini top-scoring with 52. Virender Sehwag, who walked in to bat at No. 7, set pulses racing with a 36-ball 40 to follow his swashbuckling 136 in the first innings to add some lower order impetus. After going wicketless in 16 overs in the first innings, legspinner Shreyas Gopal was rewarded for his persistence as he finished with figures of 4 for 53, while Vinay Kumar, the captain, and David Mathias had two scalps apiece.
ScorecardBengal took the first-innings lead over Delhi at Feroz Shah Kotla, but a lot of attention was deflected towards a reported on-field altercation between Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary, the two captains.Delhi, who resumed on 100 for 3, were bowled out for 249, with Milind Kumar top-scoring with 77. Delhi’s only semblance of resistance came when Milind and Nitish Rana, who made 43, shared a 67-run fourth-wicket stand.Pragyan Ojha, who moved to Bengal in order to play in the top drawer of the Ranji Trophy, enhanced his credentials. He finished with figures of 4 for 77 off 27 overs. Ashok Dinda, the pace spearhead, had three scalps. Bengal, who would have hoped to drive the game forward in their second dig, lost their top three with just 29 on the board. Manoj Tiwary was unbeaten on 21, with their lead standing at 155 with one day to play.Rajasthan v Maharashtra – Maharashtra take lead with Tripathi ton

A preview of Pune Warriors in IPL 2013

The Preview by Amol Karhadkar03-Apr-2013

Big picture

Angelo Mathews will be Pune Warriors’ third captain in three years•AFP

Sunrisers may be the newest entrants to the IPL (family) but it would be Warriors who would be seen in a new avatar. Since their bottom-placed finish last year, a lot of water has flown under the bridge. When it came to running the team, it was a one-man army last year, with Sourav Ganguly acting as a captain-mentor.Come 2013, and Ganguly is nowhere in the picture. Instead, it’s Allan Donald who has been elevated from a bowling coach to the head coach. And for the third time during their third year in IPL, Warriors have appointed a new captain at the start of the season. Beyond the captain and the navigator of the ship lie the real changes. There are more than a dozen changes to the squad that represented Warriors last year.Those who attended Donald’s half-hour interaction with the press would realise that their homework has been near- perfect. Warriors made far too many changes to their line-up last year. As a result, only one player – Robin Uthappa – featured in each of their 16 games, while a whopping 23 players got at least a game. As a result, the team combination was far from settled throughout the season.This time around, though, Donald and Co have decided to downsize the squad for every game from 33 to 16, if not 15. And the thrust during the build-up hasn’t just been on adding match-winning overseas cricketers. As a result, domestic stars like Abhishek Nayar, Ishwar Pandey, T Suman and Parvez Rasool, who became the first player from Jammu & Kashmir to have been signed by an IPL franchise after impressive domestic season, have indeed made Warriors a formidable outfit at least on paper.The coming weeks will tell us whether the line-up that looks as impressive as any other on paper delivers the goods on the field.

Key Players

He was the captain and the marquee player during their inaugural season and was forced to watch Warriors from the sidelines during IPL 2012. Warriors will be looking forward to Yuvraj Singh marking his return to IPL in style. Despite being the star of India’s triumphant world titles in both the shorter versions of the game, Yuvraj hasn’t really lived up to his potential in the IPL so far. Warriors would be hoping that the next two months help Yuvraj change that.Once it was decided that Yuvraj won’t be considered for captaincy and Michael Clarke pulled out due to the recurrence of his back injury, Angelo Mathews emerged as the leading candidate to skipper the side. Mathews is already a vital cog in terms of the balance of the team, and his elevation has increased the responsibility on him further. Mathews would be hoping to draw all the experience he has gained from leading Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs recently.

Big names in

The signing of Ross Taylor from Delhi Daredevils can help Warriors fill the gap of the floater they missed all through the last season. Taylor will be desperate to feel at home with what will be his fourth IPL team. And if the track for their home games is as slow and low as it was during the last year, Ajantha Mendis can be a handful with his not-so-mysterious-anymore spin bowling. Mind you, Mendis may be a familiar proposition for regulars at the international stage, but he can be destructive against the domestic batsmen.

Big names out

Michael Clarke’s unavailability for the entire duration of the tournament is a big blow for Warriors. Though Clarke isn’t exactly renowned for his Twenty20 skills, he is widely regarded as one of the most enterprising captains in the world cricket. It is his leadership ability that Warriors will sorely miss.

Availability

Ross Taylor is likely to miss the latter half of the tournament due to New Zealand’s tour to England. And Tamim Iqbal, who injured himself during an ODI in Sri Lanka last week, is unlikely to be available for at least the first half of the tournament due to Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe.