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ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2016Pakistan were soon two down as Sharjeel Khan could do nothing about a beauty from Mark Wood•Getty ImagesThe ball nipped from outside leg to pluck out off stump•Getty ImagesAnd it was three down in the blink of an eye when Chris Woakes removed Azhar Ali•Getty ImagesBabar Azam responded with some confident strokes…•Getty Images… as he and Sarfraz Ahmed repaired the damage with a 64-run stand•AFPLiam Plunkett broke the fourth-wicket partnership by removing Azam•Getty ImagesShoaib Malik hit Pakistan’s first six of the series when he charged at Moeen Ali•Getty ImagesSarfraz reached his second fifty of the series to hold Pakistan together•AFPMark Wood returned for a second spell and nabbed Malik’s wicket•Getty ImagesSarfraz was ecstatic on completing the first Pakistan ODI hundred at Lord’s•AFPImad Wasim picked up the pace after a slow start to make a 57-ball fifty•AFPGetty ImagesThe umpires had to step in when Plunkett and Imad had a brief altercation•Getty ImagesMohammad Amir struck a big blow by bowling Jason Roy for a duck•Getty ImagesAlex Hales’ struggles continued when he missed a sweep and was bowled•Getty ImagesEoin Morgan fought for fluency in another hard-worked innings•Getty Images… while Root led the chase with his second fifty of the series•Getty ImagesRoot and Morgan added 112 for the third wicket•Getty ImagesBen Stokes danced down the wicket and hit a straight six during a lively stay•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali ensured a couple of late wickets didn’t cause any drama for England•Getty Images

The 18-year-old Victoria batsman is big on work-life balance. He’s also likely to break into the big leagues soon

Adam Collins26-Dec-2016In her excellent book , Angela Duckworth asserts that natural gifts alone can become a distraction, counting for very little in the long run. “As much as talent counts, effort counts twice,” she concludes from a comprehensive behavioural study.Fortunately for Australian cricket, Will Pucovski appears to have arrived on the scene with both, along with a strong dash of self-awareness. All the prerequisites are present for the 18-year-old ton machine to become a very big deal on the senior stage, and soon.Pucovski spoke to ESPNcricinfo in the week following the most significant fortnight of his sporting life so far. In the national championships he made four centuries on the bounce for Victoria’s Under-19s. Upon arriving home, he clocked his maiden first grade century for the Melbourne Cricket Club. Next stop: the SCG for a Big Bash League curtain raiser, where he will lead a “Gilchrist XII” showcasing Generation Next on December 27.From the relative anonymity of age-group cricket Pucovski now fields questions underpinned by a tone of inevitability that he will go on to earn the highest honours available. National Talent Manager and Australian selector Greg Chappell has hinted as much in his own lavish praise of a player he and his colleagues have had their eye on for a long time.Pucovski is already media-trained to the back teeth, ready with modest responses about the importance of his team winning when he makes runs, or who he had on the wall as a kid (Ricky Ponting, if you were wondering). Chest out, eyes forward, hands behind his back. He may be new to this but he knows the drill.Sitting across the table in a more intimate setting, less than a couple of Ponting pull shots from the MCG pitch that he dreams to dominate for state and country, what’s most striking is Pucovski’s maturity – the kind that most aren’t quite so blessed with in a lifetime.

“I am looking at it more from an appreciative point of view, where I am just lucky to play a game that I love. If I am good enough, I will make it. If I’m not, I won’t”

This has been directly aided by having plenty of time to sit and think over the last couple of formative years – the result of what Pucovski describes as a “bit of a head injury”, when his skull slammed onto the knee of another player at football training. It was more serious than that; a severe concussion kept him not only out of sport but out of school for six months, restricted to rest on the couch. He was a sick boy.The symptoms lingered when he went back to cricket that summer. As if foretold, it happened again: struck in the head by a bouncer. Next, he ran into a door at home. At this point Cricket Victoria stepped in and said he should take the rest of the season off.But it still wasn’t over. As recently as a couple of months ago he was hit once more in a freak training accident, a flying ball from an adjoining net collecting his now-battered skull. He only just got back to playing before the aforementioned carnival, where finally he did the smashing again: of the run-scorer’s record that had lasted nearly a quarter of a century.”Mentally I got through it pretty well,” Pucovski reflects of the ordeal. Encouragingly from a batting standpoint, he says that the blows haven’t affected him to the extent that he is unduly worried about his safety at the crease. Sports psychologists he worked with in this period doubtless have much to be thanked for there.Of course, he had every right to be angry. Most would. Between times he debuted for Victoria’s 2nd XI a week after his 17th birthday, making 45 in a side captained by David Hussey, and also including James Pattinson and Travis Dean.But when taken to England with the Australian U-19s, severe headaches kept him off the field more than on it. Impatience can breed ill-discipline, but Pucovski was determined not to let an injured head cascade into a loss of nerve.The tour of England last year was a disappointing one for Pucovski, who struggled with concussion-related headaches and made only ten runs in four matches•Getty Images”I was always looking at it from the perspective that there are people worse off than me,” he explains. “I know it could have been a lot worse, and I was always confident that I would get back to full fitness.”It’s this clear-headed thinking that defines Pucovski and informs other facets of his life now that the injury is – touch wood – behind him.For one, he hasn’t let his privileged position as someone who can do what he can with the bat diminish his thirst to learn. The son of two senior teachers, he worked hard at school and won a place at Monash University to study Arts. “It is pretty hard to make it as a professional cricketer,” he says with more of that self-awareness. “So it’s important to have a back-up.”In keeping with the education theme, Pucovski works part-time at a local school mentoring a child with ADHD. “It is pretty rewarding when the kid is improving, and it does give you a bit of a kick because you’ve contributed in a way to making his life better,” he says with a smile.All this is refreshing in a sporting landscape too often dominated by lads behaving badly. Which isn’t to say Pucovski doesn’t go out with his mates for a night out just like any other (he does) and that he doesn’t like a beer (he does that too). But don’t expect to see him on the front page running amok. He’s pledged to never smoke and never do drugs. You believe him.”One thing I have prided myself on is trying to stay level-headed and make sure I am not getting into the wrong things,” he goes on. “I don’t really see myself going down that path where I would be seen as that guy who does go off the rails.”

“He’s got power when he needs it, but he can hit the ball with enough speed to get it through the field, which is something that’s made him stand out”Greg Chappell on Pucovski

Pucovski speaks of balance in life, saying time spent away from cricket is just as important to success as hours logged in the nets: that when cricket isn’t his whole world, he plays better.Coupling two outside interests – journalism and soccer – he has taken to sports opinion website the Roar to pen articles about his beloved Manchester United. From the sample on there, this much is for sure: he’ll never need a ghostwriter. Passion for the world game started with his father, who came to Australia from Serbia as a boy, with roots in the former Czechoslovakia.In Chappell’s assessment, Pucovski is a classical player, equally free in scoring on both sides of the wicket. “He’s got power when he needs it, but he can hit the ball with enough speed to get it through the field, which is something that’s made him stand out,” the former Australian captain said. “It’s a hallmark of his game; he hardly hits the ball in the air.”Assessing his own game, Pucovski freely admits that he doesn’t have the inventive streak of Glenn Maxwell, describing himself as a prodder rather than a plunderer. Graham Manou, previously an Australian Test wicketkeeper and now CA’s Pathways Manager, is a bit more generous, saying that you can already “see elements” of Ponting in Pucovski’s strokeplay.So what if this happens? If he emerges into a household name in the coming years? “How do I describe it? Surreal,” Pucovski replies. He has seen the rapid rise of friend Sam Harper into a senior position for Victoria behind the stumps and understands the opportunity is there for him as well.Exciting as that narrative is, he is equally mindful of the risks that come with name recognition and fame. Of everyone wanting their pound of flesh. But he doesn’t want to let “external things” change who he is: “a good citizen at the same time as trying to make it in cricket”. With a disposition like this, it’s little wonder he keeps getting made captain of sides.It’s unconventional, but this young man knows that his sobering early injuries are a “significant part” of his story. As a cricketer and as a human being. And maybe the true making of him on both counts.”I know that there is a lot more important things to ponder rather than worry about little things,” he says. “I am looking at it more from an appreciative point of view, where I am just lucky to play a game that I love. If I am good enough, I will make it. If I’m not, I won’t.”If only they all arrived like this.

Australia don’t seem to know yet how to best use the allrounder in Test cricket, and he has not made the best use of his few chances either. The team and the man will hope that changes in India

Brydon Coverdale15-Jan-20173:32

Brettig: Maxwell picked for ability to attack spin

At the start of this summer, Glenn Maxwell couldn’t even find a place in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield side. When he did, he found himself frustrated at batting below wicketkeeper and captain Matthew Wade in the order. Then he found himself recalled to Australia’s ODI squad for the Chappell-Hadlee Series, but sat out of every game. Now, to cap off a rollercoaster few months, he finds himself in a Test squad to tour India.It is a remarkable scenario, for only six weeks ago Maxwell had expressed disappointment that he had not been in the mix for the Adelaide Test against South Africa, when Australia’s selectors drastically revamped the Test side. Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, was blunt in his public response to Maxwell: “Are you going to pick a bloke that hasn’t made a hundred for two years?”And yet that is precisely what Australia have now done by including Maxwell in their 16-man touring party, for he has not played another first-class match since Lehmann made those comments. And while it is true that Maxwell has not made a Sheffield Shield century since February 2014, he made a first-class hundred more recently than two years ago – for Yorkshire in August 2015.Maxwell’s inclusion in the Test squad is based not on recent Sheffield Shield form – he has 129 runs at 25.80 and only a single wicket from three games this summer – but on knowledge of what he can do. Australia’s XI in India will almost certainly feature an allrounder and if a spinning allrounder is desired, then Maxwell is the man most likely to get the job.”Glenn is very experienced in Indian conditions,” Trevor Hohns, the interim chairman of selectors said on Sunday. “He’s generally regarded as a good player of spin bowling. He’s a good fielder, and his offspin could be handy. If conditions prevail, we have the option of playing him as the allrounder and having the extra spinning option available to us.”All three of Maxwell’s Test appearances so far have come in Asia, but never have Australia been entirely sure of how to use him. On debut in Hyderabad in 2013, he batted at No. 8 and was used as a second spinner. In Delhi on the same tour he batted at No. 7 in one innings and opened the next, and became the first Australian in more than 80 years to open the batting and bowling in the same Test.

“You can get caught up in results a lot as a cricketer and that can drive your mood. I tried to take that out of it and found I was just going out there and enjoying it”Glenn Maxwell on playing club cricket in Melbourne

His third Test came against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi the following year, but again Australia seemed unsure of how to get the best out of Maxwell. He replaced Alex Doolan at No. 3 (pushed to No. 4 in one innings due to a nightwatchman situation) and made a breezy 37 in the first innings and 4 in the second, but appeared unsuited to digging in for a long stay. His 16 overs in the match did not bring a wicket.At the time, Lehmann said Maxwell had been chosen because of his “x-factor”, and perhaps it is no coincidence that in mathematics “x” is used to represent the unknown. Maxwell’s ability is obvious – he averages nearly 40 in first-class cricket, smashed an unbeaten 145 in a T20 against Sri Lanka in September, and is Australia’s reigning ODI Cricketer of the Year – but translating that talent to Test cricket is the challenge.”I’m really looking forward to hopefully getting an opportunity, and, if it does come, grabbing hold of it with two hands,” Maxwell said. “I had a really good opportunity in Abu Dhabi to really nail down a spot. I probably let some good opportunities slip. It was a good wicket that first innings, I got myself a start and that was where it ended. I was hoping for a long time that wouldn’t be my last Test, I’m just so happy to be back in this fold.”I thought if I could play to the best of my ability I might get another opportunity. Unfortunately the scheduling doesn’t help a lot over the summer where you’re playing one-dayers, T20s, the Big Bash and the Shield season’s either side of that. If you’re in the one-day squad, which is a great reward, you’re probably missing a fair bit of Sheffield Shield cricket as well.The last time he was with the Test team in India, Glenn Maxwell opened both the batting and the bowling•BCCI”It’s a double-edged sword where you’re not really getting as much Sheffield Shield cricket as the guys coming through and putting pressure on you. You have to find ways to play as much red-ball cricket as you can. I’ve been trying to do that by getting over to England, playing second XI cricket, club cricket – whatever I need to do to make sure I’m playing good red-ball cricket.”Maxwell has played only 11 of a possible 26 Shield games for Victoria since his most recent Test match, largely through national limited-overs duty. However, being left out when available for the first round of this summer’s Shield campaign was a blow, although he said spending time playing club cricket for Fitzroy-Doncaster in Melbourne this season had helped him regain perspective.”You can get caught up in results a lot as a cricketer and that can drive your mood a lot of the time,” Maxwell said. “I tried to take that out of it and found I was just going out there and enjoying it. The time I spent back at Fitzroy-Doncaster was perfect timing. I got to spend some time with my mates, play relaxed park cricket and the results didn’t really matter that much.”It was obviously trying to get a win for my team, but to be out there and just take the pressure off myself, relax and enjoy the game of cricket, which is why we play, because we love it… To reignite that love by playing park cricket was perfect timing. Since then I’ve been trying to look at it more positively and not worry about results as much.”And after being fined by Australia’s team leadership group last month for his comments about batting below Wade in Victoria’s line-up, where would Maxwell like to bat if picked in the Test side?”I don’t care. Anywhere, 1 to 11.”

Pick which players you think Sunrisers Hyderabad should keep, if they are given a limited choice ahead of next year’s reshuffle

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2017Next year, the IPL will see another reshuffle, with most players going back into the auction. Teams may be allowed to retain a few players – a maximum of four retained players were allowed in 2011 and five in 2014. If Sunrisers Hyderabad can keep some of their players, who should they use their quota on? Swipe right for the players you think should stay and left for those who should go back into the auction.

The legspinner talks about the time he spent out of the New Zealand side, and the insights he gained from Anil Kumble

Shashank Kishore in Vijayawada25-Sep-2017In 2012, as a young legspinner straight out of playing the Under-19 World Cup for New Zealand, Ish Sodhi vowed to make his senior debut at the 2019 World Cup. But a year later, he had already made his Test debut.Today, at 24, with 14 Tests and 30 limited-overs games, including a World T20 campaign, under his belt, Sodhi is an experienced international, not only in the number of matches he has played but also in the maturity he has gained from his time in and out of the New Zealand team.Sodhi is now back playing for the A team in India, where four years ago he impressed the selectors with his ability to bowl long spells even though he took only two wickets in two four-day games. He took a five-for in his first innings back, against India A in Vijayawada, a spell that has eased his constant worries about being an effective wicket-taker.Next month New Zealand will tour India for a limited-overs series. Nine players have been named in the squad, including 25-year-old left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, but six other slots will be filled by those currently touring the country with the A team. Sodhi will be aiming for a recall after missing the Champions Trophy in June.However, at the start of last year, he was full of self-doubt. His action “seemed off”. His confidence was low. “I was falling over, my body alignment didn’t seem right and I was bowling too short,” he tells ESPNcricinfo.”I wanted to be able to spin the ball and be accurate. For a while, I didn’t feel comfortable doing both. I wasn’t in control of my bowling. There was a long run of games where I didn’t feel like I was training enough or bowling enough. Maybe I was focusing on things that didn’t matter. I felt like I had to work on my action and understand it. I’ve gone away, done quite a bit of work. That has, in turn, made me a lot more confident.”Sodhi says it was the years he spent believing he wasn’t an attacking option for the team that led to him feeling under-confident.

“I’m 24. For the next ten years, if I keep getting frustrated at not being selected, I’m not going to be a happy cricketer. If I keep trying to get better, when I get my chance, I’d be a lot more in control and better suited to deal with it”

First it was the battle of trying to be the second spinner behind Daniel Vettori. And after Vettori retired, Sodhi had to stave off competition from Santner, Jeetan Patel and Todd Astle for the lead spinner’s slot. When opportunities came, he was largely summoned to hold one end up.”I had to not just deal with it but find ways to become effective when chances came up,” he says.”In the last year, I’ve worked really hard on understanding my action and to see how I can be at my wicket-taking best irrespective of situations. Prior to that, for a year or so, I found myself bowling really, really fast. It didn’t quite work. Instead of worrying about what the batsman is doing, I’ve focused on what I can do from the top of my mark till my release point. A five-wicket haul here in India is pleasing and reassuring that the methods I’ve adopted have started to bear fruit.”The turning point, he says, came on the Test tour of India last year. Sodhi was dropped after just one Test, but was able to learn how he could be valuable to the team.”You look at R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowl. The way they bowl is fantastic, but in trying to emulate their methods, I realised I was losing out on the strengths that got me into the team.”It’s not about bowling like them but being at your best and competitive the way you are back home. For a while, I got into thinking, ‘These guys are successful at doing this. I have to also do it’. But you really have do just do what you’re good at.”Not wanting to sit out and brood over being dropped, he sought out Anil Kumble, his childhood hero and India’s coach at the time.”He [Kumble] talked about changes of pace, lengths, stuff you wouldn’t think of in New Zealand because on green wickets you’re just doing holding roles,” Sodhi says.”He spoke of being competitive and finding ways to explore your own strengths in different conditions and in different scenarios. He spoke of his experiences and how he overcame challenges. It would have been great to have more time with him, but he was the coach of the opposition, so I didn’t want to pester him too much, but he was extremely helpful.”The chat with Kumble also gave Sodhi a perspective on selection. He only played two T20Is and two ODIs in a packed 2016-2017 home season for New Zealand, but stopped worrying about the opportunities he was not getting.Ish Sodhi took career-best T20 figures of 6 for 11 in the Big Bash this season•Cricket Australia/Getty Images”You want to play as many as you can. I was worried about playing all the time and getting selected that I forgot I needed to improve on my skill. This is one area I got good at. It didn’t bother me anymore after the winter tours.”It made the frustration a lot easier to deal with. I’m 24. For the next ten years, if I keep getting frustrated at not being selected, I’m not going to be a happy cricketer. If I keep trying to get better, when I get my chance, I’d be a lot more in control and better suited to deal with it.”Sodhi used the time to play in the Big Bash League, taking nine wickets in three games, including a career-best 6 for 11, for Adelaide Strikers.”That was a big realisation that I can get results by being an attacking and aggressive spin-bowling option.”Conversations with Brad Hodge, his franchise captain, helped ease his apprehensions further.”What I got out of him was learning to play with a lot of freedom. He got till about 42-43, so that’s experience: 20 years of cricketing and life experience. I was tapping his brain as much as I could. It was about enjoying playing free cricket. I guess that’s a common trend when you talk to the greats of the game, the ones who are successful these days. The more you play, in New Zealand we don’t play much cricket as compared to say India, UK or Australia. Whether that’s an excuse, I don’t know.”Sodhi is pragmatic about the options limited-overs cricket offers and the financial rewards it brings, but says the satisfaction of winning sessions and eventually Tests is what he wishes to derive out of his career.”It’s hard to not deny how white-ball cricket is taking importance these days, commercially and financially. But the pinnacle is still Tests. Once you win a T20, you come off excited and happy. Then you move on to the next game. But when you play and win a Test, you sit there on day five and enjoy a rewarding feeling. That is what drives me and will do so for the next ten years or so.”Sodhi looks back at his four-year journey of ups and downs with pride. The lessons “he wouldn’t trade for anything” and the experiences of witnessing different cultures that come with touring have been eye-opening.”It’s been amazing, having played in different countries and having played against my childhood heroes – Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, Shiv Chanderpaul, Younis Khan – I grew up admiring them. Now I’ve bowled to all of them too.”I kept telling friends that I want to debut in the 2019 World Cup. It’s 2017 now and I’ve played a fair bit of international cricket already. In four years, I’ll have a far better understanding and my eight-year journey may look different. Wickets may not always come, but if I become a better version of myself from the previous day, there can be no bigger personal satisfaction.”

A dramatic Super Over and remarkable consistency from big names such as Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney headlined an action-packed week in the WBBL, which heads into its final stretch

Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon11-Jan-2018Final balls, and how to manage themAs much as spectators love it, no cricketer ever really wants the game to go to the last ball. When it does happen, the key is composure. Which is not always as easy to come by as you might hope. Three last-gasp finishes within the last 14 WBBL matches demonstrated exactly how to handle, and how to fumble, the closing moment.When Sydney Sixers needed three runs from one ball in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, Melbourne Renegades thought the win was banked after Sarah Aley squirted a single straight to backward square leg. The throw was returned, the Renegades keeper Emma Inglis threw the ball up in celebration… and while that celebration ball rolled away, Aley darted back from the non-striker’s end for a second run to tie the game.

> INSANE! It doesn't get much crazier than this!

Incredibly intelligent cricket from Sarah Aley on the final ball of our innings forces a SUPER OVER against @RenegadesWBBL! #smashemsixers pic.twitter.com/WG5ofYAMWF

— Sydney Sixers WBBL (@SixersWBBL) January 3, 2018

The Renegades captain Amy Satterthwaite, who had bowled the delivery, was the only Melbournian alive to the threat, as her team-mates were distracted by premature embraces. But she couldn’t get there in time, and as much as she and Inglis argued that the ball was dead, the umpires ruled that the wicketkeeper had not done anything to close the passage of play – like remove the bails – before discarding the ball. Luckily Inglis was spared some embarrassment when the Renegades won the resulting Super Over.Melbourne Stars captain Kristen Beams rivalled this in terms of Things You Don’t Want To Do From The Last Ball, when she bowled a no-ball for height. It didn’t affect the equation too much, given three runs to win will most often still require a boundary, but it meant that Adelaide Striker Tabatha Saville now couldn’t be dismissed as she was facing a free-hit. Saville duly pumped the extra delivery over backward point for four.It was the Sydney Thunder that held their nerve from the last ball, against Perth at Lilac Hill. Again the equation was three to win, two for a Super Over. But while non-striker Mikayla Hinkley was up and back in a flash, the Thunder were clinical in running out striker Mathilda Carmichael as she threatened to complete the second. With veteran New Zealand keeper Rachael Priest behind the sticks, no one forgot to take the bails off there.Cream rises to the topThe best in the business tend to demonstrate their superiority over the long term. So it has transpired in the WBBL, after Ellyse Perry knocked off 45, 64 and 37 to move to the top of this season’s run-scoring list, while Beth Mooney jumped to third with a brilliant match-winning run of 86, 82, and 62 on either side of New Year’s Eve, all three of those innings unbeaten.That pair was joined by Alex Blackwell in the last few days in having made 1000 WBBL runs across all three seasons. Elyse Villani got there earlier this season, while Meg Lanning, of course, did it a year ahead of everybody else. The big five, unsurprisingly, is populated by some of the biggest names.Also a note for Lizelle Lee, who has set a new season record with 14 sixes. The big-hitting South African opener still has six regular season games remaining with the Stars, plus finals if they make it. Bring your tin hats.Ellyse Perry waltzed to an unbeaten 91 off 49 deliveries•Getty ImagesA ringing going for Australia’s favourite legspinnerIt feels like yesterday we were watching teenager Amanda-Jade Wellington for the first time on television, earning the wicket of none other than Charlotte Edwards, England’s greatest-ever player, with a perfect legbreak.It was New Year’s Eve in 2015, the WBBL was in its infancy, but in that moment we found our first young gem. Adam Gilchrist, commentating the BBL on television that night having watched the earlier game, saw it too and couldn’t stop talking about it.Two weeks later – still 18-years-old – she bowled Meg Lanning, the best player in the world, for a duck. Positively Warne-like. That moment, her ascent to national colours was ordained. When it came around last summer, she took a wicket with her first ball.Last week she was announced as the Australian Cricket Media Association’s Emerging Player of the Year, granted during the New Years’ Test Match at the annual ACMA dinner.Meanwhile, Wellington is doing her thing in the WBBL, where it all began. She has the joint third-most wickets – 10 victims at under 19. A joy to watch. Congratulations.What’s next in 2018With six games left for each team, every moment now matters. In an important development, the final stretch begins with the WBBL hitting new venues in the north of Australia for the first time.But it’s in Australia’s biggest city where the feature game of the round will be played: the nationally televised Sydney Smash between the Thunder and Sixers at the SCG. Better still, the rivals currently sit first and second place on the ladder. A legitimate blockbuster.The Heat and Stars begin their double-header on Friday in the Queensland coastal city of Mackay, some 1000 kilometres north of the state capital. After winning four in a row, the Heat have the chance to consolidate a top-four spot against the patchy Melbourne outfit.To Alice Springs in Australia’s Red Centre will the Strikers and Scorchers travel for their mid-table stoush. No team battles more with consistency than the Strikers, and the Scorchers are outside the four despite a list as good as any. Either team could not only shore up their own spot, but see off a competitor.Less competitive on paper are the clashes in Hobart between the hapless Hurricanes and the Renegades. It’s great timing for the Renegades, who can leap back into the final four – and improve their net run rate – with two wins over a Tasmanian team that has not yet troubled anybody.

News from around the circuit, including the successful clean up operation at New Road and a Lancashire fanzine editor gone rogue

Paul Bolton24-Apr-2018The ECB has increased its funding for equipment and support for county medical staff to improve the care for players and umpires who suffer serious on-field injuries.Last season Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher was badly concussed after he was struck on the crown of the head by a fierce return drive from Warwickshire’s Sam Hain during a T20 match, an injury that forced Fletcher to miss the second half of season.Although Fletcher received prompt attention from physiotherapists and doctors at Edgbaston, the same level of medical care would not have been available had he suffered the injury in a County Championship or second team match, as no doctor or paramedic team would have been in attendance.The ECB’s emergency care committee have responded by requiring counties to have two advanced life support physiotherapists present at every county first team and second team match and have provided additional funding to cover the costs.Each physiotherapist has been provided with a resuscitation bag and every county’s medical plan was assessed by a life support practitioner and an accident and emergency consultant during a series of pre-season meetings.”One area of risk we identified is that Second XI matches are often played at grounds in relatively remote locations, without the normal medical facilities, and they can be difficult for ambulances to find,” Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, said.****Cricket’s lawmakers have given their tacit approval to the ECB’s plans for a 100-ball franchise competition even though the proposal to introduce ten-ball overs would contravene Law 17, which stipulates that an over should consist of only six balls.MCC, which will host one of the eight new franchises at Lord’s, has said it does not have the authority to prevent the ECB introducing variations to the Laws.”We have been consulted about the variation to Law 17 and have advised ECB that, if they wish to introduce the ten-ball over, they would need to create a Playing Regulation to make it possible,” Guy Lavender, MCC chief executive, said.”We have yet to engage in a proper discussion as a club in regard to the new 100-ball format though we know there will be a range of differing views. We are supportive of changes to the game which attract a new audience to cricket and we want Lord’s to be at the forefront of the new competition.”Whilst MCC owns and writes the Laws of Cricket, it is not within the club’s remit to say that a governing body, or any other official entity, is not allowed to play a specific variation.”****Ian Lomax, the editor of Lancashire’s new fanzine remains banned from Old Trafford but not from grounds the Red Rose county are visiting.Lomax, who has crossed swords with county officials in the past through his involvement in the Lancashire Action Group (LAG), was at Chelmsford over the weekend where he took advantage of the publicity his ban has generated to increase sales.”I sold quite a few copies down there, including three to Essex committee members,” Lomax said.Lancashire have declined to elaborate on the reasons for Lomax’s exclusion, which were described as behaviour “not consistent with our core values” in the letter sent to him by club secretary Lee Morgan on April 12.Timothy St Ather, another member of the LAG, has had his Lancashire life membership revoked for what describes as “disrespecting club administrators and attempting to sell Test Match tickets against the rules”.****Worcestershire’s first home County Championship match of the season against Nottinghamshire will go ahead as planned at New Road on Friday thanks to a clean-up operation involving a team of volunteers including supporters and staff led by new chief executive Matt Rawnsley, who donned the Marigolds.The square and most of the outfield were submerged under several feet of floodwater for four days when the rivers Severn and Teme broke their banks less than three weeks ago.Worcestershire had made contingency plans to switch the match to Worcester Royal Grammar School’s Flagge Meadow ground but the recent warm spell plus the use of industrial blowers on the square have helped to dry the New Road playing area.****Somerset’s Overton twins, Craig and Jamie, have become the best-insured players in England – and possibly the world – having taken out a top-up policy that would bring them close to a £1 million pay out if their careers were ended by a one-off injury or illness.The standard insurance cover provided by the ECB and PCA provides a maximum pay-out of £320,000 but the Overtons, concerned the sum would be inadequate to cover their potential future earnings, have taken out their own permanent total disablement policies with insurance brokers Kerry London.”With the earning power players now have from playing in T20 competitions around the world I think that we are going to see more players taking out these top-up policies to protect their income,” Jason Ratcliffe, the Overtons’ agent, said.****Mohammad Amir is not the only Pakistan pace bowler who has encountered difficulties in gaining entry to the UK.Mohammad Asif has been forced to withdraw from his contract with Ashcombe Park in the North Staffordshire/South Cheshire League after his application for a visa was turned down because of his involvement in spot fixing during the 2010 Lord’s Test. Asif, Amir and then Pakistan captain Salman Butt were all jailed after they were caught in the newspaper sting.”Asif applied for a visa but was told that because of his conviction he could not be granted one for ten years,” Asif’s agent Danny Arshad said.Last month, Asif was refused entry to the UAE, where he was due to play in a T20 tournament, because he had incomplete entry papers.Asif’s place as Ashcombe Park’s professional has been taken by Northamptonshire seamer Nathan Buck.****Amar Virdi celebrates a wicket•Getty ImagesTwo members of last season’s England Under-19s side caught the eye in the second round of County Championship matches.Offspinner Amar Virdi took a career-best 4 for 79 in only his fourth Championship match to help Surrey beat Hampshire at The Oval.Henry Brookes, selected by Warwickshire as a seamer, clobbered 70 from No. 10 in only his third Championship innings and took three wickets in the match to help set up an innings win over Northamptonshire.Brookes, who was forced to withdraw from England’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand because of a stress fracture of the back, shared a ninth-wicket stand of 117 with Tim Ambrose, Warwickshire’s highest for the wicket surpassing a record that had stood for 99 years.

England played out 443 dots against a relentless India attack on day one at The Oval

S Rajesh07-Sep-2018443 – Dot balls played by England over the entire day. They managed only 18 fours off the bat. In all, they had 97 scoring shots in 90 overs.1.77 – England’s run rate in the second session: they scored 55 runs in 31 overs. Out of 186 deliveries in the session, they played out 160 dots, and took 14 singles and six twos.ESPNcricinfo Ltd74.9 – Control percentage for England’s batsmen against India’s fast bowlers over the entire day. It was least in the afternoon session, when Mohammed Shami bowled an inspired spell of 9-4-14-0, beating the bat on numerous occasions. Among the three India seamers, England struggled against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who ironically went wicketless in the day. Against Shami, England’s control percentage was only 72; against Bumrah it was 71.4, and against Ishant Sharma, their control percentage was 81.1.61.1 – England’s control percentage against Shami, during his outstanding spell in the afternoon session. Out of 54 balls, England’s batsmen were not in control of 21, of which Moeen Ali was at the receiving end 16 times.2.20 – England’s run rate. Among all the instances when they have played 80 or more overs in a home Test since the start of 2001, only twice have they gone at a slower scoring rate.43 – Instances of Moeen edging or getting beaten through his innings; of those, 18 each came against Shami and Bumrah.2 – England batsmen who have passed fifty three times in their first and last Test put together. Alastair Cook, who scored 60 and 104 not out on Test debut against India in Nagpur in 2006, made 71 in the first innings of his final Test today. The only other England batsman to achieve this was George Gunn, who scored 119 and 74 on Test debut in 1907, and 85 and 47 in his final Test in 1930.25 – Byes conceded by Rishabh Pant in the England innings so far, which is fifth in the all-time list of byes conceded in a Test innings by India.

Cricket Australia is focused on Tests and T20 cricket, and the marginalisation of the 50-over game shows in the national team’s results

Daniel Brettig25-Jun-20181:41

Australia’s new ODI low

A common complaint among politicians, business leaders and sporting administrators is that they tend to be assessed not by the long-term implications of their decisions, but instead by the issues of the week. For Australian cricket, the issue of this week is a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of England’s effervescent ODI side, leaving the team led by Tim Paine and Justin Langer in considerable disarray a year out from the 2019 World Cup.Looking at the series in isolation is a sobering experience, termed by none other than the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland as “an ouch moment” in terms of the team’s recent performance in 50-over matches. But no one has been more closely associated with playing the long game than Sutherland, who this month confirmed his forthcoming resignation after no fewer than 17 years as the most influential decision-maker in the Australian game.To understand why Australia’s ODI performance is in free-fall – a trend that began well before the Newlands ball-tampering scandal deprived the selectors of Steven Smith and David Warner and injuries ruled out Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – it is critical to take the longer view. Seven years longer than this week’s 5-0 result, to be precise. At this time in 2011, an independent panel led by Don Argus, the former chairman of multinational mining company BHP, and featuring Mark Taylor, Allan Border and Steve Waugh was in the midst of interviews for a team performance review that followed the loss of the 2010-11 Ashes on home soil by shuddering margins.ESPNcricinfo LtdOne of the clear recommendations of the subsequent review was the prioritisation of Test cricket above all else, and by extension that every effort be made to preserve a robust 10-round Sheffield Shield competition with a final to decide the winner. As a consequence, the Test team’s resourcing and preparation has been the major priority of the team performance manager Pat Howard, appointed shortly after the review, and the team’s results over the long-term have largely backed up this prioritisation.While Australia have endured ongoing problems against the moving ball, whether seaming, swinging or spinning, since 2011, the Test team has been the world’s most successful over that time, returning 41 victories, 27 defeats and 13 draws. South Africa (36 wins) are next best, followed by India (35) and England (31). Tellingly, Australia have successfully avoided the result that heralded the Argus review in the first place – a loss of the Ashes at home. Only South Africa, twice, have managed to beat Australia at home in a Test series. These results have, by and large, had the effect of allowing CA to improve its financial standing while also ushering in the Big Bash League.But the collateral damage of this focus on Test matches has been the squeezing of 50-over cricket, particularly at the domestic level over the past five years, and soon in the international arena also. When the Argus review was being drafted, Australia were still the world’s No. 1 ranked ODI team, but this seemed rather superfluous given the outcry that followed the loss of a home Ashes series. Pressure was to come too from the scheduling of the BBL in the prime months of summer, as part of a wider strategic priority to grow the game’s audience.These two factors, plus the growing influence of sports science in dictating the schedules of fast bowlers in particular, led to the abandonment of the domestic limited-overs competition format that had been commonplace from 2000 to 2011: a double round-robin tournament intermingled with the Shield season, meaning states had regular exposure to 50-over cricket over the summer and played a minimum of 10 games. Two of Australia’s three consecutive World Cup wins from 1999 to 2007 took place during this period.As the review stated: “Note that the panel is also generally less concerned about reductions in the volume and/or timing of the [domestic limited-overs] Cup, given the greater importance of Test Cricket and the opportunity to develop 50-over players via Australia A and the 100+ ODIs played between World Cups.”So as of the start of the 2013-14 season, and in line with one of the Argus review recommendations, the tournament was drastically cut back into a pre-season carnival with each state playing six games apiece, largely on club grounds well away from the major Test and ODI venues. That number was to increase in subsequent seasons, but only by the inclusion of a developmental Cricket Australia XI, featuring players not deemed good enough or mature enough to represent their states. Reduction in quantity was followed by dilution in quality. While the Shield was deemed important enough to be played in two separate blocks so as to maintain its traditional number of matches, the 50-over format was not.Ashton Agar left a ball he wished he hadn’t•Getty ImagesOf course, the effects of this decision were not to be seen in the short term. An ODI team still stocked with senior players who learned their trade during the 10-game round-robin format was still around to form the core of the 2015 World Cup winning team, which was able to take advantage of that experience but also familiar Australian conditions. This was a fitting capstone to the ODI careers of Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, all extremely well-versed in the art of the 50-over game even before the advent of the IPL shifted players’ individual priorities towards Twenty20.What has followed, though, is a gradual depreciation of the skills and performances of the ODI team. While Australia’s ODI record post-Argus is serviceable (won 76, lost 57, tied 1 to rank third or fourth in the world), it dips from 2013 onwards (won 51, lost 36, fifth overall) and then slides alarmingly after the 2015 World Cup (won 27, lost 30, fifth in the world on wins, seventh on win percentage).One of the many outcomes of this trend is to make performances in the limited-overs competition more or less irrelevant on the international stage. As coach of the tournament winners Western Australia, Justin Langer probably thought his stocks were stronger than they are. Instead, he has been given a stark reminder that winning displays on early season pitches and club venues bear little resemblance to the standards required on flat tracks in mid-summer against England.Here, most pivotally, is the contrast that speaks volumes. Upon their unceremonious bundling out of the 2015 World Cup, the ECB made 50-over cricket as much of a priority as CA have done for Tests, with a strong eye on hosting the ODI global tournament in 2019. Not only was Trevor Bayliss appointed largely on the strength of his record as a coach in shorter formats, but the county competition was first pushed to the very margins of the English season, and then reduced in competition length.Domestic 50-over cricket is played closer to peak summer than first-class cricket, in a reversal of CA’s decision. England have duly declined as a Test-match force, never looking like threatening Australia in last year’s Ashes series, but they’ve risen rapidly as an ODI nation, with a fearless brand of the game that denotes both the influence of T20 and the supreme confidence of one player in another. Put simply, Eoin Morgan’s team play like a team of specialists, Paine’s like a collection of part-timers – because they are.

Morgan’s team play like a team of specialists, Paine’s like a collection of part-timers – because they are

“There was a lot of guys who were extremely tired at the end of the Ashes,” Paine said. “England had a massive changeover of players after the Tests and we went in with very much the same cattle and guys were pretty tired. We didn’t play well in that series either.”Before that, there was a series in India and they’re never easy to win for anyone, particularly over there. But this organisation and a number of people in it have peaked at the right time, a number of times. I think we’re going to build slowly to try and do that again.”The latest jape in the Australian limited-overs tournament is to have every team qualifying for the finals, a brainstorm resulting from the desire to not reduce the number of matches while removing the CA XI from the fixtures. As the governing body’s operations chief Peter Roach has said, in every balancing act there will be winners, losers and differences of opinion.”Definitely. It is a real balancing act to balance up the needs of all parts of the business,” Roach said. “Test cricket being a priority, we’ve prioritised the Shield landscape and we’ve maintained having a strong six-team Shield competition of 10 rounds and a final is the best way to produce good quality players for Australia. We still aim to win the World Cup, that’s a high priority for us and having this competition where it is, we believe, is the best way for this year.Tim Paine hangs his head after his dismissal•Getty Images”Does everyone believe that around the country? Clearly not and we wouldn’t expect them to, but all of our discussions and strategies are in place to lead towards this being the best outcome for us. That includes international cricket, Big Bash League, Australia A tours, they all form part of the picture of best preparing players for Australia, and best promoting our sport to the people of Australia.”There is no indication that the priority imbalance between Tests and ODIs is about to change, in fact quite the contrary. It spoke volumes that in CA’s most recent A$ 1.18 billion broadcast rights deal, ODIs played at home were banished behind a paywall for the first time in their history, as the free-to-air Seven network was only interested in Tests and the BBL. And there has been another strategic complication in the form of the ICC events schedule, which has Australia hosting the men’s and women’s World T20 tournaments in 2020. Having never won the tournament since its 2007 inception, CA is eager to play more of the format to make a strong showing at home. Over the next four years, the number of T20Is played by Australia will jump from to 45, from 24 from 2015 to 2019, while ODIs slip from 58 matches to 47.Sutherland, meanwhile, is into his last 12 months as chief executive, meaning that by the time the inaugural ODI league starts in 2020, affording a 2023 World Cup place to the world’s top seven ranked sides, the issue of improving 50-over performance will be someone else’s problem. Context and meaning have long been a goal of Sutherland’s in his years dividing time between CA headquarters and the ICC’s quarterly meetings. But it would be a reflection of CA’s wider strategic direction should the team with more World Cups than anyone find themselves failing to automatically qualify for 2023.

How bad have India’s top three been in the fourth innings this year? Even worse than you think

Bharath Seervi18-Dec-20186- Unsuccessful chases for India in away Tests this year, on the tours of South Africa, England and Australia. The target was less than 300 in five of the six chases, and India were bowled out in less than 70 overs on each of those five occasions. India have averaged 19.86 runs per wicket in chases this year, and only Bangladesh and West Indies have done worse.ESPNcricinfo Ltd16.27- Average of India’s top three in chases this year. Of the 18 innings the top three have played in chases, only one – KL Rahul’s 149 at The Oval – has passed 20. If we leave out that innings, the average drops to 2.58. Rahul has scored only 17 runs across his four other chases. M Vijay has averaged 12, Shikhar Dhawan 11.75 and Cheteshwar Pujara 6.40. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have averaged 26.50 and 30 respectively.50- Runs added by India’s top three in this Test. In comparison, Australia’s top three made 242 runs including three fifties. India’s tailenders, Nos. 8 to 11, added just 11 runs across both innings while Australia’s put up 71 runs. Though India’s middle order got more runs than Australia’s, the top-three and tail-end contributions made a big difference for the home side. The 11 runs added by India’s last four batsmen in this Test is their second-lowest ever.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6- Number of Tests without a win for Australia, between the victory at Durban and this one. Australia lost the last three Tests of the series in South Africa, lost one and drew one in UAE and then lost to India in Adelaide. This was also Tim Paine’s first Test win as captain.8/126- The match figures of Nathan Lyon, the lone frontline spinner in either team. India opted to play an all-pace attack, and their part-time spinners – Hanuma Vihari and M Vijay (one over) – only took two wickets. Lyon averaged 13.25 and India spinners 47.00. The fast bowlers from both sides had near-identical averages – 25.00 for Australia and 25.16 for India, but Lyon’s wickets made the difference.

Spin v pace in the Test

Team Pacers wkts Pacers ave Spinners wkts Spinners aveIndia 18 25.00 2 47.00Australia 12 25.16 8 13.2525- Fourth-innings wickets for Nathan Lyon against India – the most by any bowler. With his three-wicket haul in the fourth innings, he went past James Anderson’s tally of 22. Lyon’s strike rate in the fourth innings against India is 40.6, his best against any side, and his average of 24.96 is only bettered by his 23.00 against West Indies. Each of Lyon’s top four fourth-innings figures have come against India. Against other teams, he has picked up only 33 wickets in 25 fourth innings, striking at 83.6 balls per wicket. Lyon has picked up only five wickets in five innings against the other two subcontinent sides – Pakistan and Sri Lanka – he has bowled against in the fourth innings.

Nathan Lyon in fourth innings – India v rest

Opposition Inns Wkts Ave SR 4-wkt haulsIndia 11 25 24.96 40.6 3All other teams 25 33 39.29 83.6 0