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With a nonchalant flick to midwicket that could not help but evoke the Pietersen flamingo, Jason Roy secured Surrey a three-wicket win

Tim Wigmore at Beckenham27-May-2015
ScorecardJason Roy flicks to leg in a manner reminiscent of Kevin Pietersen during his match-winning 60 not out•Getty Images

Twenty20 cricket has allowed Jason Roy to short-circuit the traditional route to international cricket. Anointed Kevin Pietersen’s heir, most vocally by Pietersen himself, Roy’s belligerent hitting has become a definitive feature of the Friday night T20 thrills at The Oval.Five years ago, Roy announced himself with a startling T20 century at Beckenham. On his return to the ground, he proved once again that he demands a bigger stage for his talent than T20 alone. With a nonchalant flick to midwicket that could not help but evoke the Pietersen flamingo, Roy secured Surrey a three-wicket win.

Pietersen set for Surrey return

Kevin Pietersen has declared on Twitter that he will return to play in Surrey’s next Championship match, starting on Sunday. After Surrey wrapped up victory over Kent, Pietersen responded to a question from another Twitter user, saying: “I’m playing on Sunday v Lancs at the Oval…”
Surrey have not officially confirmed his availability but Alec Stewart, the director of cricket, had previously expressed the hope that Pietersen would play in Championship games against Lancashire and Leicestershire before flying out to the Caribbean Premier League.
Pietersen has not played since making 355 not out against Leicestershire at The Oval, which coincided with England’s new director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, telling him he would not be considered for selection. He subsequently pulled out of a spell in the IPL with calf and Achilles injuries.

It was the latest in the growing body of evidence to suggest that Roy, still only 24, has quietly developed into a formidable first-class cricketer. It is only two years since his first-class season comprised 49 runs at 8.16 apiece, and copious frustration in second-team cricket. His record since – 1449 runs at 51.75 – shows a man finding first-class fulfillment.The transformation has been driven not by diverging from his T20 ebullience, but staying truer to it. So when Gary Wilson was the seventh Surrey batsman dismissed with 19 runs still needed, Roy’s response was to reverse sweep his next delivery. The next was bludgeoned through the covers for four to bring up a 41-ball half-century.How Surrey needed it. Remarkably, no other Surrey batsman reached 50 in the match. While the wicket was on the slow side, there was nothing devilish about the pitch at Beckenham, enjoying its first Championship game for six years. Gareth Batty put it best when he said that both sides had been guilty of “less than strong” dismissals. Wilson and Steven Davies both fell to loose drives on the final day, though Davies had fused his usual panache with grit in a critical 54-run partnership with Roy for the sixth wicket.Kent could certainly reflect on some shoddy dismissals of their own but their final-day bowling performance, even in sumptuous weather that provided the best batting conditions of the match, was brimming with tenacity and verve. They seemed to benefit from the combination of Rob Key’s nous and Sam Northeast’s vitality. While Key remains the club captain, he has relinquished matchday duties to Northeast in the last month. The two fielded at mid-off and mid-on, plotting after nearly every ball. And they almost had an unlikely heist to celebrate.As is par for the course against Surrey, Darren Stevens began the day immaculately with his wicket-to-wicket seam bowling. A pair of early scalps – Rory Burns, whose backfoot defensive could only roll on to the stumps; and nightwatchman Matt Dunn, who skied tamely to mid-on – took his career tally against them to 35 wickets. No other county has been more generous to him.Matt Coles, faster, more muscular and more aggressive, has very different qualities. The delivery to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara, lbw to a yorker and seeming a little beaten by extra pace, highlighted his talent. When Ivan Thomas claimed Dominic Sibley, flashing to slip, Surrey were 108 for 5 and fearing a repeat of their final-day capitulation against Kent last year.With the pitch displaying signs of low turn, and Zafar Ansari and Batty sharing seven wickets the previous day, Kent turned expectantly to Adam Riley, who had been touted for an England call-up last year. But he bowled too short, too often, offering neither great wicket-taking threat nor control.So it fell to Coles to try and engineer a victory. A ferocious late burst accounted for Wilson, and Roy survived a fierce lbw shout with ten runs still needed. But a couple of balls later Roy flayed Coles through mid-on, flicking the ball as if playing a topspin forehand. If he was flashy at first, Roy had played the game’s decisive innings – and given Kent good reason to fear a repeat of that T20 century when the two sides meet on Friday night in the shortest format.

A thrilling chase and a cruel missed chance saw India seal a Twenty20 series sweep over Australia at the SCG, as the more settled side was victorious once again

The Report by Daniel Brettig at the SCG31-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA thrilling chase and a cruel missed chance saw India seal a Twenty20 series sweep over Australia at the SCG, as the more settled side was victorious once again.Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli laid the groundwork for India’s pursuit before Suresh Raina was able to finish things off with the help of Yuvraj Singh, who looked out of touch before finding his timing at precisely the right moment as the pair took 19 off Andrew Tye’s final over of the innings to finish off the win. Victory also lifted India to No.1 in the ICC T20 rankings; they were eighth before the series began.Raina was fortunate to be there, having escaped a stumping chance second ball. The bowler Cameron Boyce was Australia’s outstanding performer on the night, but he was let down by the glove work of Cameron Bancroft, a speculative choice as wicketkeeper for this match in the absence of Matthew Wade.The error typified Australia’s muddled approach to this series, just a month out from the World T20 in India. However they did have the consolation of an outstanding century by the stand-in captain Shane Watson, who showed why he should be indispensable to the team’s campaign on the same day his former team-mate Michael Clarke announced he intended to return to cricket after a five-month break.India’s bowling was not particularly strong this night, but their batting strength was demonstrated by Rohit, Kohli and Raina. Vitally, Raina and Yuvraj did not lose their heads under the pressure of the chase – a strong lesson for the Australians given their panicky displays in Adelaide and Melbourne.In pursuit of 198, India needed a fast start, something Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit were more than capable of providing. Dhawan only lasted nine balls, but in that time clumped 26 runs and made a mess of Shaun Tait. Rohit was a little more circumspect, but helped keep the score ticking over well ahead of the required rate.Australia were able to pull things back somewhat through the middle overs thanks largely to the bowling of Watson and the legspinner Boyce, who gave the ball teasing flight and loaded it with spin to beat Rohit, Kohli and Raina in the air. Boyce gained two wickets for his effort but should have had a third, when Bancroft missed the stumping chance that a more seasoned keeper might have completed.After Kohli’s exit to Boyce’s penultimate ball for another sparkling contribution of 50, Raina and Yuvraj Singh pottered around for a time. As MS Dhoni had done during the 50-over match on this ground a little over a week ago, they allowed the equation to stretch out while finding their bearings, and Tye was left to defend 17 from the final over.As though rousing from a deep sleep, Yuvraj pounced on Tye’s first two balls, flicking over backward square leg to the fence then pounding a six into the heaving crowd at midwicket. That rather simplified the equation for India, and a pair of hustled twos by Raina were followed by an exultant last ball boundary that completed India’s clean sweep.Watson had won the toss on a warm evening and walked out to bat with his Thunder opening partner Usman Khawaja. In the form of his life, Khawaja strolled to 14 from five balls before edging a good one from Ashish Nehra and being dismissed for less than 50 for the first time since last October.That was something of a shock for the crowd and the Australians, but Watson was soon finding his range with powerful shots struck through and over MS Dhoni’s fields. He was given a helping hand by a pair of no-balls from Jaspreet Bumrah in the fourth over, the second from the free-hit he gave up by bowling the first – both were crunched to the cover boundary by Watson.Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell could not endure in Watson’s company, but Travis Head provided common sense support to his captain, who grew in fluency and confidence with every over. A few weeks ago Watson had played similarly well on this ground for the Sydney Thunder against the Sydney Sixers, and this time Watson went on from his typical resting place between 50 and 90 to a maiden T20 international century.The milestone brought an expansive celebration by Watson on the ground of his adopted home state for several reasons. Not only was it a rare international century for him and a moment to assure his presence in the team for the World T20 in India, the innings was also doubtless a timely one a few days before the IPL auction.Watson would follow up with some tidy bowling, but as captain he could do little about some of the less illustrious work of others, as India romped home. They will go into the World T20 full of confidence; Australia meanwhile do not look sure where to go.

Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma half-centuries kept Mumbai in the game, but a poor spell against the spinners made them fall well short in the end

Shashank Kishore02-Apr-2022Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin exhibited their mastery at a pivotal moment in the game to ensure Rajasthan Royals successfully defended a strong total, set up by Jos Buttler’s 68-ball century. This meant a second straight win for Royals and a second straight setback for Mumbai Indians, known to be slow starters.This was one Mumbai would be particularly disappointed with because they were in control of the chase going into the last six overs, after Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma hit half-centuries to leave them needing 65 off 36 with seven wickets in the shed. After that, though, they lost three wickets for two runs over the next seven balls against spin as the chase derailed.Kieron Pollard kept hopes alive by biffing a few blows at the close, but an excellent penultimate over from Prasidh Krishna that went for just ten – no boundary was conceded – left Mumbai needing 29 off the final over. Mumbai just found one more boundary as Pollard kept finding the fielders, before the match ended with Buttler fittingly taking a catch to remove him as Mumbai fell short by 23 runs.The Ashwin-Chahal strangle
It’s unlikely the two would have been given four overs between them in the last ten overs had this been a night game. The absence of dew meant Sanju Samson could play around with his spinners and hold them back, and he did so superbly by bowling Chahal with the long boundary to the leg side, forcing batters to hit him against the turn.First, Chahal had Tim David lbw with a slider that fizzed through the deck in the 16th over. Off the next ball, he had Daniel Sams with a fine cocktail of dip and drift. Sams heaved it to the leg side and was caught smartly by a back-pedalling Buttler from midwicket. Chahal nearly had a hat-trick; it wasn’t to be because M Ashwin was put down by wrong-footed Karun Nair at slip. But, by then, the pendulum had swung the Royals’ way.Only an over earlier, the 15th, R Ashwin had dismissed Tilak Varma for a 33-ball 61 a delivery after the 19-year-old had reverse-swept him for a six. Ashwin responded by slowing it down significantly and beating the batter in flight as the stumps were knocked back to elicit a roar and a send-off.1:40

Did Chahal make the big difference in the end?

The Kishan-Varma partnership
Mumbai lost Rohit Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh early, but Kishan and Varma ensured they kept up with the steep asking rate by playing sensibly, especially at the start of their stand. They showed the maturity in knowing they had the games to accelerate later, thereby giving them an opportunity to set up shop.From time to time, Varma picked the boundaries, and along the way also exhibited some languid stroke-making ability. The one off Navdeep Saini, which he punched on the up to clear long-off, was a stunner.At the other end, Kishan was at his industrious best. Running hard, using his feet to spin, bringing out calculated hits without being reckless, and in the process, raising a half-century before Varma got there. The pair went on to add 81 off just 54 balls to set Mumbai up before they unravelled quite uncharacteristically.Buttler fantastic, Buttler tactful
Much before the Royals spinners left their mark, Buttler provided a treat to the 15,000 fans who had turned up on a hot afternoon at the DY Patil Stadium. He was caught by a Jasprit Bumrah toe-crusher early on, but soon found his bearings when he launched into Basil Thampi for three sixes and two fours in the bowler’s only over, inside the powerplay.Where Bumrah and Tymal Mills hit hard lengths, Thampi went full and was clobbered, as Buttler cleared his front leg and made merry. This forced Rohit to dig deep into his bowling reserves early in the game, and having Pollard cover up the remainder of the overs through the innings.Buttler was impressive against spin, too. At one point, with deep point set for the reverse, he outfoxed Mumbai by backing away outside leg to loft M Ashwin repeatedly over cover. Then, when deep point was moved to sweeper cover, he brought out the reverse hits.Jasprit Bumrah was exceptional, returning 3 for 17•BCCI

He found some solid company in Samson, who got himself in quickly to make 30 before falling to Pollard. Shimron Hetmyer provided some late fireworks, laying into Pollard in his final over to disturb perfectly acceptable bowling figures until then: 3-0-20-1 ended up being 4-0-46-1.Bumrah’s comeback
A week after a nightmarish start to his season, where his figures read 3.2-0-43-0, Bumrah bounced back in style, as his second spell late in the innings prevented a late Royals surge. The three best overs for the Royals batters had totalled 73 runs. Bumrah’s four went for just 17, and brought the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hetmyer and Buttler.Those of Hetmyer and Buttler in the death overs brought Mumbai right back in the game, as the Royals looked set to soar past 200, but finished with 194. At the break, Buttler said he wasn’t sure if it was a good score or not because of the short boundary on one side, but their spinners used the long boundaries to perfection to close out an impressive win.

Since being dropped from the Indian Test side after a poor run, the opener has stormed back to form

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-20212:27

Rahul: Centurion hundred ‘took a lot of guts’

KL Rahul has learned to enjoy the defensive side of batting all over again. Having been dropped from the Test team after a lean run through 2018 and 2019 – he averaged 22.23 over 15 Tests in that period, mostly played away from home – Rahul has made a strong comeback this year, scoring 461 runs in five Tests at an average of 46.10, including centuries at Lord’s and Centurion that set up memorable India wins. He has credited a change in mindset for this transformation, specifically being able to enjoy leaving the ball outside off stump, an aspect of his game that has undergone a significant upgrade.”It’s something that I’m enjoying doing a lot, to be honest, and that’s the key to Test cricket – you need to enjoy leaving balls outside the off stump,” Rahul said after India wrapped up a 113-run win in Centurion. “I know we play a lot of one-day and T20 cricket and smashing the ball all over the park is exciting and it’s thrilling at the same time, but when you come to Test cricket you’ve got to learn to be disciplined and learn to play the waiting game and try and enjoy that sometimes.Related

• Shami, Bumrah help India go 1-0 up with first win in Centurion

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• Leave it to KL: How Rahul constructed a classic Test innings

“The mistakes happen when you get bored of doing the same things, but for me I’ve tried to enjoy leaving balls outside off stump, enjoy playing the defensive shots, enjoy tiring the bowlers out at times. That is what is expected out of me as an opening batter for the team.”This year, since I’ve started playing Test matches again, since England, I’ve started enjoying doing those things, and yeah, had a good knock here this game, I’ll have to go back again to Wanderers and try and do the same thing all over again, which is exciting to me.”Rahul now has hundreds in each of the six countries he has played Test cricket in – Australia, England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. He rates the one at Centurion among his very best.”I think right up there, in terms of the conditions and the wicket and how challenging it was,” he said. “I think this innings will be right up there for me because it took a lot of guts and a lot of determination and discipline to get this century and get my team to a winning position, so yeah, it’s right up there.”KL Rahul poses with the Player-of-the-Match trophy•AFP/Getty Images

Rahul’s revival has come in a year of triumph for India as a Test team. They began it with a defiant draw in Sydney followed by a barnstorming win with a second-string attack in Brisbane, and they’ve followed it up with Test wins at Lord’s, The Oval and now Centurion, as well as home-series wins over England and New Zealand.”Look, I think it’s a super-super special year for Team India and the kind of achievements we’ve gotten in this year has been truly special and I think it will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket history, especially Test cricket,” Rahul said. “The victories that you just mentioned have taken us a lot of hard work and a lot of discipline and we’ve worked really hard as a team for the last few years, and we’re slowly starting to see results and we’re very happy.”India’s pace attack has been key to the away victories, including at Centurion where Mohammed Shami bagged match figures of 8 for 107. Rahul said he found facing Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the nets an even more daunting prospect than facing Test-match attacks in the middle.”Playing them in the nets is a lot more difficult, especially for me or a lot of batters who don’t enjoy [batting in the nets] that much,” he said. “These people put fear in us. They absolutely do not treat us as team-mates when we’re facing them in the nets, they’re very very competitive people and very very competitive athletes and players, so yes, we’ve very lucky to have such quality in our bowling line-up. And 2-3 others are sitting out as well, who have proven themselves and who are terrific fast bowlers, Ishant [Sharma] and Umesh [Yadav]. We have great bench strength as well.”The Centurion pitch – as predicted by many including Rahul himself in the lead-up to the Test match – was slow to start with before it quickened up significantly to enhance the threat of its up-and-down bounce. With this in mind, Rahul said India had won an important toss.”I think it was a really crucial toss for us to win, especially after we saw how the pitch started playing on day three and day four,” he said. “Yeah, I think winning the toss was really really crucial and it was very crucial for us to put a decent total up on board in the first innings, because we knew that the cracks would open up and it would get harder as the game progressed to score runs, so our aim was to get around 350-360 and give our bowlers a chance to go out there and do what they do, so really happy that we could do that.”

Chamari Athapaththu breaks into top ten after showing strong form in the Commonwealth Games Qualifiers

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2022Meg Lanning and Tahlia McGrath have moved up in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings among batters after guiding Australia to a 1-0 series victory in the T20I leg of the ongoing Ashes series. Lanning, the Australia captain, displaced Smriti Mandhana from third place, while McGrath vaulted up 29 places to 28th.In the first T20I in Adelaide, McGrath followed up figures of 3 for 26 with an unbeaten 91 off 49 balls, including 13 fours and a six. Lanning also fired with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls as Australia hunted down 170 with nine wickets and three overs to spare. The second and third T20Is ended in no-results following lashing rain in Adelaide.

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Shafali Verma regained the top spot on the table, leapfrogging Beth Mooney, who was sidelined from the Ashes games after undergoing surgery for a fractured jaw. Verma (726) now has a two-point lead over Mooney.Among allrounders, Ellyse Perry dropped out of the top ten in the list that continues to be led by New Zealand’s Sophie Devine.Meanwhile, Chamari Athapaththu advanced six places to break into the top ten. She made scores of 24, 86, 57, 30, 48 in Kuala Lumpur as Sri Lanka assured themselves of an opportunity to compete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games to be played in Birmingham this July-August.

Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of all cricket for up to eight weeks by the knee injury which has been troubling him during the New Zealand tour

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland20-Mar-2013Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of all cricket for up to eight weeks by the knee injury which has been troubling him during the New Zealand tour. He will miss the deciding Test in Auckland, which starts on Friday, as well as the IPL with a view to him being fit for the Champions Trophy and the Ashes.The estimated recovery time makes Pietersen doubtful for the return series against New Zealand, beginning on May 16 at Lord’s. He first felt the problem, which could be caused by cartilage damage, during the warm-up match in Queenstown, although it only really came to light when he was absent for a session of the Dunedin Test. England were fielding at the time and it was played down as nothing serious. He made 0 and 12 in the first Test, and although he responded with 73 in Dunedin, he was never fluent but remained on the field.”Pietersen experienced knee pain while fielding in preparation for the four-day game in Queenstown earlier this month, ahead of the Test series,” the ECB said in a statement. “This has failed to resolve satisfactorily.”Recent scans confirm an injury to the right knee with bone bruising and possible cartilage damage to the kneecap. The 32-year-old will return to the UK for further investigations and specialist review.”The injury is likely to require ongoing assessments and a likely six-eight week period of rest and rehabilitation. Pietersen has therefore been withdrawn from all cricket including the Indian Premier League.”The fact Pietersen has not been kept on in New Zealand with the series at stake shows that time is already of the essence to get him ready for the main events of the English season. In 2009 he was forced out mid-way through the Ashes series with a career-threatening Achilles injury.Pietersen’s withdrawal will mean a likely recall to the middle order for Jonny Bairstow, the Yorkshire batsman who has not played since the Twenty20 series earlier in the tour. His previous Test was against India, in Mumbai, when he stood in for Ian Bell who went home for the birth of his child.It won’t be the first time Bairstow has replaced Pietersen in a Test line-up. He came in for the deciding match against South Africa, at Lord’s, last year following Pietersen’s dropping after the text-message controversy. Baristow responded with scores of 95 and 54. In five Tests he has scored 196 runs at 32.66.England will now be sweating on the fitness of two key players over the next two months. Graeme Swann is currently in the early stages of his recovery from elbow surgery after he was ruled out of the New Zealand tour on the morning of the first Test.

South Africa pacer Marchant de Lange has been withdrawn from the South Africa A team after scans revealed that he has suffered a rib injury

Firdose Moonda02-Aug-2013Pacer Marchant de Lange has been withdrawn from the South Africa A team after scans revealed that he had suffered a rib injury during the second unofficial Test against Australia A last week*. South Africa A are currently participating a tri-series against India A and Australia A.The injury surfaced during South Africa A’s second innings in the unofficial Test, forcing de Lange to leave the field after he had bowled just one over. In a press release issued by Cricket South Africa, Dr Shuaib Manjra, chairman of the CSA’s medical committee, said: “We hope to have Marchant playing again within a few weeks.” The board also clarified that the withdrawal was a precautionary measure taken in light of the stress fracture of the back that de Lange suffered a few months ago.De Lange, who touches 150 kph, had impressed on debut against Sri Lanka in 2011 with figures of 7 for 81 in one innings, but has since been plagued by injury problems.He had only just returned to the fold after being sidelined for 14 months, when he pulled out of South Africa’s tour of England last June. His rehabilitation, originally planned for December, was pushed back to February as he had to change his bowling action to prevent a recurrence of injury.This latest setback is likely to hamper De Lange’s chances of staging a comeback to the national side, as South Africa have already beefed up their bowling stocks with the likes of Kyle Abbott and Chris Morris in their preparation for the 2015 World Cup.*11.10GMT, August 6, 2013: This news story has been updated after details of Marchant de Lange’s injury were made available

It has taken Chris Wright a while to find his feet in professional cricket. But he’s clicked at Edgbaston. He took his best figures for the county as they steamrollered Durham on the final day

Alex Winter at Edgbaston20-Apr-2013
ScorecardChris Wright’s best figures for for Warwickshire will encourage the belief that a Test cap is not beyond him•Getty Images

It has taken Chris Wright a while to find his feet in professional cricket. He was overlooked by three counties and even went to Sri Lanka to get a game. But he has clicked at Edgbaston. He took his best figures for the county as they steamrollered Durham on the final day.Warwickshire got their title defence up and running by demolishing Durham with 46 overs to spare on the final day. Wright, having taken the one wicket to fall before the close on Friday, followed up with a morning spell of 3 for 10 and finished with 6 for 31 – his best performance for the county.Hampshire, Middlesex and Essex all got a good look at Wright and will wonder why the skills that increasingly encourage talk that he is an England bowler-in-waiting never previously surfaced.He nearly did not get his chance at Warwickshire either. Graeme Welch had to lobby Ashley Giles extensively to get him to take Wright on loan during 2011 but Giles was grateful for Welch’s insight.Wright’s bowling inspired Warwickshire to glory almost immediately. His first three appearances included two five-wicket hauls and 22 wickets at 24.31 nearly won the Championship in 2011. 62 scalps at 24.06 last year saw Warwickshire romp away with the pennant. Only poor weather prevented their coronation earlier than the penultimate match of last season.It is hard to make a case against them winning consecutive titles. The bowling attack is unmatched and the batting has enough runs in it, particularly the lower order, to allow the unrelenting foursome of Wright, Keith Barker, Rikki Clarke and Chris Woakes, plus the spin of Jeetan Patel, to win matches.Warwickshire underlined that, given a full match, they will outlast most teams. Durham competed very well for two-and-a-half days but eventually fell away like a tired jet skier, falling to their heaviest runs defeat against Warwickshire. Phil Mustard’s 28 in 140 minutes was as stubborn as they got until he was last out, carving Chris Woakes to point. Paul Collingwood clung on for an hour for 5.The result in no way reflects the situation on the third morning where Durham got on top. That moment and their defeat of Somerset in the opening round will be give confidence that they will survive comfortably. But their batting is not good enough to finish any higher than mid-table. In 16 innings this season the first four Durham batsmen have scored 99 runs and mustered only three double-figure scores between them.Their top three is especially vulnerable. Mark Stoneman and Will Smith are both experienced players with average-to-poor returns. Smith is on an especially poor run. His last 13 innings in the Championship have yielded 74 runs. He was picked this season only on the strength of a century against Durham MCCU in the first match of the year.Twenty-year-old Keaton Jennings is also in that top three. All of them fell to Barker in the first innings and all were claimed by Wright in the second innings. They were not the first and won’t be the last to succumb to highly accurate seam bowling that swung a little.It swung more as the match went on and the wind calmed. Wright said both teams struggled in the strong gusts of the first two days. But the Durham attack – most notably Ben Stokes – found some reverse-swing on the third afternoon and that was a precursor to Warwickshire finding some deadly movement on day four.”The fact that we were moving it both ways made it a lot harder for them,” Wright said in sympathy for the Durham batsman who were rolled for their lowest total against Warwickshire. “Moving the ball around in the air is something this team has been particularly good at.”Wright enjoyed a winter in India working with England bowling coach Kevin Shine. He developed a delivery that shapes away from the left-hander – a skill that has been extremely beneficial for James Anderson – that was evident in the first dismissal of the day. Stoneman followed a back of a length ball that left him slightly and edged behind.But new deliveries or not, Wright felt the full force of flat Australian wickets after Christmas with just four wickets at 49.00 as England went winless on the seven-match List A tour. It was a chastening experience but Wright is used to some low points in his career.”More than anything it was good to be exposed to the conditions, the flatter wickets, and to be involved in the England set up,” Wright said. “But you did need to keep your chin up.”

The 1994 tour to Pakistan was the last time a full series was not available to viewers in Australia

Andrew McGlashan03-Aug-2021For the first time since 1994 a tour by the Australia men’s team will not broadcast into Australia after a last-minute deal failed to materialise for the rights to the T20I series in Bangladesh.It had been hoped that in the absence of a traditional television deal the series would be streamed on YouTube but there was no live coverage into Australia.Australia’s injured captain Aaron Finch, who is currently in hotel quarantine in Melbourne having left the tour with a knee injury, was among those caught out by the lack of coverage during the first T20I.While the occasional one-off limited-overs match has not been seen in Australia over the last few years, it is not since the 1994 tour of Pakistan that an entire series won’t have been shown.