The Ashes hopefuls shared eight wickets between them as Victoria rolled the hosts to all but guarantee a home final at Junction Oval

Daniel Brettig14-Mar-2019Ashes hopefuls Peter Siddle and James Pattinson shared eight wickets between them as Victoria rolled New South Wales to all but guarantee a home Sheffield Shield final at Junction Oval after a low scoring affair in Sydney ended comfortably inside three days.Set 166 for victory, the Blues never recovered from the early strikes by Siddle and Pattinson with the new ball, as the latter plucked 5 for 25 on his return to the Victorian team from injury, while Siddle finished with six victims for the match.Pattinson’s speed and swerve were particularly striking, while Siddle’s reliability and experience made him the ideal counterpoint. Uncertain injury returns for Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have left the national selectors thinking more broadly in terms of their Ashes options, with Harry Conway’s swing and bounce also a feature of the match.The hosts slipped as low as 9 for 54 in their pursuit of the target before the captain Peter Nevill and the last man Steve O’Keefe added a last gasp 48 to briefly give the visitors something to worry about. However Scott Boland teased out O’Keefe to finish the match, and leave the Victorians a game clear of the rest on the Shield table, pending the outcome of Western Australia’s match against Tasmania in Hobart.

Archer claims two wickets, Morgan scores half-century as England win by seven wickets in Cardiff

The Report by Valkerie Baynes05-May-2019
Jofra Archer took another step towards making himself at home in the England line-up while captain Eoin Morgan steered his side in typically cool fashion to a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in their T20I in Cardiff.Having made his long-awaited ODI debut against Ireland on Friday, Archer was playing his first T20I and did not disappoint, claiming 2 for 29 off his four overs to be the pick of the England bowlers as well as completing a sharp run-out as the hosts restricted No. 1-ranked Pakistan to 173 for 6.Morgan scored an unbeaten half-century and was well supported by Joe Root and a neat cameo from Joe Denly in taking England past the target with four balls to spare.Ben Duckett also made his T20I debut, opening alongside James Vince, the pair added to the England squad in the wake of Alex Hales’ axing. Duckett got his chance after Dawid Malan injured his groin while batting against Ireland but, after a bright start, he was dismissed for just 9, smacking Shaheen Afridi to Imad Wasim at mid-off.Vince looked nonplussed when he was given out, caught behind off Imad, having added a fluent 36 off 27 balls. He called for a review and, while Ultra Edge showed a small amount of noise, it was nigh on impossible to determine whether it came from the bat brushing the ball or the ground and the decision was upheld.With England 66 for 2, Root and Morgan found some scintillating white-ball touch, having managed scores of just 7 and 0 respectively against Ireland. By the time Root was caught behind for 47 off 42 balls, trying to ramp Hasan Ali, England were neck-and-neck with Pakistan, needing 43 off 27.Morgan held course and shared a 44-run partnership off 24 balls with Denly, to guide his side home, having scored 57 off 29 balls. With England needing five runs off the last five deliveries, Morgan smashed a six to seal the resultEarlier, after Pakistan chose to bat, Tom Curran struck in his first over, dismissing Fakhar Zaman to a superb one-handed catch from Morgan, who leapt high at cover to pluck the ball from the air.David Willey avoided what could have been a serious mishap on the next ball when he put his foot through the cover of an underground storage box as he was running in to bowl. Fortunately he was not hurt and a replacement cover was found.Archer entered the attack in the fifth over with devastating effect, a sharp bouncer catching debutant Imam-ul-Haq by surprise and hitting the glove on the way through to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, also winning his first cap in T20Is.After a shaky start in which Pakistan fell to 31 for 2, Babar Azam and Haris Sohail provided just what their side needed, combining for a 103-run partnership to put a par score within sight.Archer had other ideas, however, accounting for both in a pivotal over. Having reached his half-century off 36 balls, Haris lofted Archer high towards deep midwicket where Willey was waiting to take a comfortable catch.Two balls later, Archer gathered off his own bowling to run out Babar. Having hit the ball on to his pad from where it dribbled into the on side, Babar called for a run only to see Archer deviate from his follow-through, collect the ball and turn to throw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end with the batsman trying in vain to make his ground.With England having taken the momentum back, Chris Jordan pounced. Jordan juggled what would have been a wonderful caught-and-bowled off Imad that popped out of his hand as he leapt high, but he turned and gathered off the ground to find Asif Ali backing up well out of his crease and hit the stumps directly.Jordan’s last over was a mixed bag containing the wicket of Faheem Ashraf, out to a regulation catch by Denly at deep cover but going for 16 runs as Pakistan closed on a better total than their start had indicated.

Forty-one miles, and a world away, from the World Cup, the battle for promotion proceeds at a leisurely pace

Paul Edwards at Arundel14-Jun-2019
Chris Jordan runs in from the Castle End and bowls to Benny Howell. The good-length ball is on off stump and Howell plays it safely to cover where Harry Finch trots in to field. Gentle applause comes from the supporters gathered on the bank by the sightscreen. This game against Gloucestershire will be drawn but the start of every day at Arundel deserves its own gentle accolade. Two swallows harry each other above the sycamores and elms.Forty-one miles away at the Rose Bowl, the fall of West Indian wickets is greeted with roars of acclaim but roaring has never been Arundel’s style. On the second Friday in June England accommodates both the heaving stadia of the World Cup and the pastoral glory of West Sussex.There is a sudden shower at ten to twelve and for a few moments this peerless ground is gauzed by rain. Before midday, though, sunlight is sweeping back over the outfield and the players have returned. At half-past twelve Howell is leg before to what looked like Will Beer’s top-spinner and on the stroke of lunch Ollie Robinson scatters Jack Taylor’s off and middle stumps with the new ball. These are not negligible successes. Sussex and Gloucestershire are both pressing for bonus points in a Second Division the shape of which few predicted in April.For example, it does not matter only to Swansea’s Balconeers when play gets under way 211 miles away in the match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire at St Helen’s. And from the top of that hill-top pavilion spectators see Benny Godleman eventually fall lbw to Lukas Carey for 227. But fourth-placed Derbyshire bat on in the hope of embarrassing second-placed GlamorganAt the Rose Bowl, Jofra Archer is on a hat-trick. At Arundel, Archer’s county colleagues try to prevent Gareth Roderick reaching his first century of the season but the Gloucestershire batsman drives Abi Sakande sweetly through mid-off and gives a little skip of delight. It is his first hundred since he made 102 against Essex at Cheltenham in 2016. He receives a warm round of applause from spectators who have spent their winters waiting for afternoons like this. The ground relaxes into the fresh sunlight of watercolour; it is the best weather of this cloud-benighted week.In Swansea, Derbyshire call a halt on 598 for 5 but Glamorgan’s batsmen stand firm.Their Gloucestershire counterparts are more ambitious and score 162 runs in the afternoon session on a very flat pitch. “Too benign” the Sussex coach, Jason Gillespie, will call Arundel’s wicket and there is great justice in his remark. Roderick makes 158 before he does well to reach one from Robinson and is caught behind by Ben Brown. At the other end Ryan Higgins clumps Beer and Luke Wells over midwicket for sixes. All these strokes are duly applauded and some Gloucestershire supporters wonder if their side might be one of the three to win promotion this year. Leaders Lancashire are probably stronger favourites to win the title than they were a couple of months ago but when this day’s play began the next eight sides were covered by 23 points.The cricket after tea is played for duty and in a light-hearted atmosphere rarely possible in the English season. Spectators remain in faithful attendance on the bank. They care that England are beating West Indies but this is the cricket they prefer to watch. Gloucestershire’s 400 comes up and Higgins reaches his second century of the season with a cover drive off Laurie Evans. By the end of the game he will have made a career-best 119 not out. Robinson bowls off-spin and Wells bowls seam up. With all possible points decided and the result of the game certain, the players gently mock each other’s efforts. Danny Briggs keeps to the very occasional slow left-arm of Brown. No one mentions spin.At Swansea Glamorgan lose only a couple of wickets and Derbyshire use eight bowlers, two fewer than Sussex employ at Arundel. England complete victory over West Indies but people say some of the gloss may have been taken off the win by a couple of injuries. Sussex and Gloucestershire’s players shake hands at 4.50pm, which is the earliest time the draw can be agreed. All but one of the Championship matches this week have ended in rain-wrecked draws and there is therefore some irony in the bright sunlight which blesses this Friday evening at Arundel. Some spectators are reluctant to leave and sit near the famous gap in the trees, taking in the Arun valley or the Cathedral. The Norfolk flag flutters in the brisk wind.

New Zealand were kept to 238 by a brilliant new-ball burst and they were then taken out of the game by a glorious partnership from two next-gen players

The Report by Shashank Kishore26-Jun-2019
As it happenedIt is incredible how Pakistan find ways of roaring back from hopeless situations. They were written off only a week earlier, languishing at ninth position with a solitary win in five games. They were yet to crack a chase – both above 330 – in two attempts this World Cup. Then when it seemed as if they would finally restrict an opponent to below 300 – New Zealand were 83 for 5 in the 27th over – Colin de Grandhomme (64) and James Neesham (97 not out) put together the side’s best sixth-wicket stand in World Cup history to haul them back.Then chasing 238, against two fast bowlers upfront – one who wickedly swings the ball and another who is often at their throat at 150 clicks – they lost Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq. The experienced Mohammad Hafeez played and missed, beaten on the inside and outside. Then, he was hit on the helmet by Lockie Ferguson. Who really gave them a chance?Yet, amid the chaos, they found some calm in Babar Azam, who sealed victory with an unbeaten tenth ODI century, a pristine 101 that had a capacity crowd, a majority of it Pakistan fans, crooning with ‘oohs and aahs’. In Haris Sohail, he found an invaluable ally, the pair conjuring an 126-run fourth-wicket stand to see Pakistan home with five balls to spare. Haris’ contribution a noteworthy 68 that built on the 89 against South Africa at Lord’s. Pakistan are now within two wins of a possible semi-final berth that will have their fans talking of the eerie similarities between 1992 and 2019 for at least another week.ALSO READ: Sharda Ugra on Babar Azam, who beats himself up just to get betterFor large parts of their chase, it was as if they were battling to save a game on a fifth-day surface. Hafeez had a leg gully for the short ball, deep square for the hook or pull, three slips for his open-faced pokes. This was serious pressure, and yet from time-to-time, as if to ask what the fuss was all about, he played delightful pull shots and oozed lazy Rohit Sharma-like elegance in gliding the ball behind point.Babar showed patience early on, and exhibited enough class to keep putting the bad ball away. When he was attacked with short balls, he was happy to let go of both his ego and ignore them. The pair set out to rebuild the chase, least perturbed with the asking rate, focusing on milking runs and ensuring they wouldn’t lose too many wickets going into the last 20 overs, where teams believe they can chase down 150 if it comes to that. Here they only needed 110.Even as this strategy played out, New Zealand kept looking to pick up wickets. Invariably, this strategy brings with it the risk of leaking runs. As Mitchell Santner came on, there was grip and square turn. Suddenly, the two batsmen, tailor-made for such surfaces, struggled and New Zealand may have just begun to wonder if they had erred by not picking Ish Sodhi, the legspinner. This was evident when Kane Williamson brought himself on, but he struck gold immediately as Hafeez had a brain fade moment and holed out to deep midwicket.Shaheen Afridi celebrates after the dismissal of Ross Taylor•Getty Images

It broke a 66-run stand that allowed Pakistan to get back on track after the two early strikes threatened to blow the lid off their chase. Fortunately for them, Babar wasn’t going to give it away. At the other end, Haris attacked spin and pace alike, muscling Santner first and later the returning Boult for sixes even as Williamson tried his last roll of the dice. This partnership proved to be the ice to Shaheen Afridi’s fire earlier in the day, when he ripped the heart out of New Zealand’s batting in a searing spell after being introduced first change in the fifth over.Shaheen’s first spell read a magical 4-2-8-2, in which he accounted for the huge scalps of Colin Munro and Ross Taylor. The Taylor wicket in particular was as much because of Sarfaraz as it was Shaheen’s angle and late movement.Sarfaraz deserved credit for two reasons. One for being ultra-aggressive and looking to continuously make inroads, unlike in the past where has been happy to sit back and let the game drift. Two for leading the way with the catching at a time when they are trying to stave off the dubious distinction of being the poorest catching team at the tournament. The Taylor catch was right out of the top drawer, diving full-length to his right and taking it one-handed just as it was about to hit the turf.Only a week ago, he was unfairly shamed, not just by a stray fan but also by a former cricketer who knows a thing-or-two to of playing in World Cups. Sarfaraz admitted this took a toll on him and his young family. Yet under pressure, this wasn’t a bad way of shutting up the haters. In another intangible contribution no scorecard would ever reveal, he kept Shaheen on for a fifth over and he reaped the rewards with a third wicket when he had Tom Latham nicking behind.Jimmy Neesham smashes a six as he leads the counter-attack•Getty Images

This ripper of a spell from Shaheen came on the back of Mohammad Amir’s early strike of Martin Guptill, as he chopped on trying to drive with minimal feet movement. In walked Williamson and he looked in control, knowing where the off stump was, and relying on the delicate dabs behind the wicket. If it was pitched up, he was happy to leave, frustrating the bowlers and then suddenly when they erred, he picked them off. Runs didn’t exactly flow, but he rebuilt the innings slowly to make 41 off 68, when he was done in by Shadab Khan’s mastery – drift, turn and bounce – to have him nicking behind in trying to jab at the ball. It was precisely at this moment you wondered if New Zealand erred by not picking Sodhi.With half the side back, Sarfaraz slightly allowed the game to drift by introducing Imad Wasim’s left-arm darts, when he really could’ve punted with Amir, who had only bowled four overs in his first spell. And by the time Amir returned, Neesham was well-set. De Grandhomme is a serial six-hitter for New Zealand – but here, he needed to hang in and take the game deep. And that is exactly what he did, until the 40th over, before taking off.Neesham continued take calculated risks, never giving the impression that he was blindly swinging. After overcoming burst of genuine pace, they second-guessed the bowlers, waited for the slower balls, used the depth of the crease and whacked it downtown or square of the wicket. De Grandhomme’s knock of 64 ended in the 48th over when an adventurous second to third man resulted in his run-out. Neesham batted right through, muscling the last ball for six to finish 97. This didn’t bring with it the promise of victory, but the position New Zealand found themselves in was heaps better than the 166 they threatened to crash out at one stage (their score in that famous 1992 World Cup group clash). Yet, it came in second-best to Babar’s masterclass that continued to give this tournament another wild twirl as it approaches the semi-final stage.

Hameed has passed 50 twice in 33 innings over the past two Championship seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2019Haseeb Hameed has been released by Lancashire, less than three years after making two fifties in six innings for England in India as a 19-year-old.Hameed made 31 and 82 on his Test debut in Rajkot in 2016, and immediately looked like the long-awaited replacement to Andrew Strauss at the top of the England order. He added an unbeaten 59 with a broken finger at Mohali, but his form fell away dramatically in county cricket. He averaged 26.10 in the 2017 season, and just 9.44 last year.An impressive 117 in an early season Championship game at Lord’s this year – having also scored 218 against Loughborough MCCU – looked as though it was the start of a return to form, but Hameed has only managed 341 runs overall, passing 50 just once since that innings.At the end of the 2018 season, Lancashire director of cricket Paul Allott said that Hameed’s struggles with the bat were a “complete and utter mystery”.”Haseeb Hameed is a dilemma for us – we gave him more opportunity, probably, than he deserved,” Allott said. “Far too many games, probably, but having said that I’ve not seen a more talented young opening batsman in my 40-odd years in the game.”The way he played here for us two years ago and then went to India and opened the batting for England – he was everybody’s choice as the next Alastair Cook basically. Where his form and function have gone and disappeared to is a complete and utter mystery to us.”The main theories behind his loss of form are that he lost his judgement outside off stump after being picked to play 50-over cricket, and that his father – who has been his main batting coach despite limited experience – has not necessarily been a positive influence on his game.At the start of the 2019 season, Allott told that Hameed was “hanging on by his fingertips” at the club.”He’s got six months left on a contract, and he’s not scored a run for two years,” he said. “Not only is he a million miles away from England, he’s hanging on by his fingertips at Lancashire.”A Lancashire statement read: “The club met with Haseeb on Friday and explained its decision, and the 22-year-old is now free to discuss opportunities with other counties. The club would like to thank Haseeb for all of his commitment and efforts since he made his first-class debut in the 2015 season, having come through the Academy.”

He was one of the first black Zimbabweans to make his name in cricket, initially as a player and subsequently in administration

Liam Brickhill22-Aug-2019Former Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka died on Thursday at the age of 65.Chingoka was one of the first black Zimbabweans to make his name in cricket, initially as a player and subsequently in administration. As a seamer and a useful lower-order batsman in his youth, Chingoka captained the South African XI that played in the Gillette Cup knockout competition in 1975-76 and 1976-77, counting Barry Richards among his dismissals.While his playing career never took off as expected, Chingoka became an increasingly important figure in cricket administration after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, and was appointed vice-president of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union in 1990. Two years later, Chingoka took over from David Ellman-Brown as president, overseeing the most successful period of Zimbabwe cricket in the 1990s, and holding the position for many years.ICC paid tribute to Chingoka’s achievements, drawing attention to his contribution to the game not only in Zimbabwe but “across Africa”. As well as holding the positions of ZCU president, and later chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, Chingoka was a member of the ICC board.”The death of Mr Chingoka is sad news for the cricket world,” ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said. “He was widely acknowledged as an important leader in cricket in Zimbabwe and was a respected member of the ICC Board. It was with great sadness that we learnt of his death. On behalf of the ICC, I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”Chingoka’s time in charge was not without its difficulties, however, and his tenure increasingly mirrored the decline of Zimbabwe as a whole, with an exodus of talent, the collapse of established structures and allegations of mismanagement. He stepped down as chairman of ZC in July 2014 following a string of controversies regarding the board’s financial state and players’ salaries, but remained available as a consultant to the ZC leadership.”Though Peter had retired from the active administration of cricket, he still remained a vital cog and a repository of cricket knowledge in the country which could be called upon to give wise counsel at any time,” a statement by Zimbabwe’s Sports and Recreation Commission said. “The void that Peter has left will undoubtedly be very difficult to fill.”Expressing his grief at Chingoka’s passing, Tavengwa Mukuhlani, the ZC chief, called it a massive loss to the nation and the global cricket family. “Mr Chingoka was a wonderful and very modest man who was well-respected and admired for his immense contribution to cricket,” Mukuhlani said. “His dedication to the game of cricket is well-documented and he was well regarded internationally as an administrator.”The global cricket family is certainly honoured and fortunate to have benefitted from his visionary leadership and hard work. He will forever live on in our memories and in what all of us have become because of him.”On behalf of the ZC board, management, players and staff, I would like to pass our heartfelt condolences to Mr Chingoka’s loving wife, Shirley, the rest of his family, friends as well as the entire nation and the global cricket family on the loss of the great man. You are all in our thoughts and we pray that you find strength and courage to get through this difficult time.”

Karun Nair makes comeback following impressive run of scores in Duleep Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-2019Wriddhiman Saha, Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav will slot back in with the India A squad following their tour of the Caribbean with the senior national side, with Saha named captain for the second four-day fixture against South Africa A in Mysuru.Shubman Gill will lead in the first four-dayer, starting on September 10 in Wayanad. The game will also feature the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ammolpreet Singh, K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem and Mohammed Siraj, all of whom were part of the India A squad that toured the West Indies last month.Vijay Shankar, who was ruled out of the ongoing one-day series because of a thumb injury, has also been included subject to clearance from the medical team. Gaikwad, who will feature in the first four-dayer, was part of only the limited-overs squad in the West Indies and is currently part of the India A one-day team playing South Africa A in Thiruvananthapuram.The selection committee picked two different squads as a number of India A regulars like Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran are expected to be involved in the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru starting on September 4.Ishan Kishan, who is currently part of the India A one-day team, will rejoin India Red for that Duleep Trophy final, while Rahul Chahar will be replaced by Mayank Markande in the India Green side. Kishan’s inclusion in this game is perhaps a sign of the selectors being satisfied with his white-ball credentials and looking to give him more exposure in the red-ball format.Meanwhile, Karun Nair was rewarded for his Duleep Trophy form with a return to the India A fold for the first time since November last year. Nair made scores of 99, 166 not out and 90 in his first two first-class outings this season. Nair is on a comeback trail of sorts after being left out of the India Test squad midway through the England tour last year.With South Africa due to travel to India for a full tour later in the year, the four-dayers are seen as a shadow tour for a number of their Test aspirants like Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy and Anrich Nortje.India A squad for 1st four-dayer: Shubman Gill (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Anmolpreet Singh, Ricky Bhui, Ankeet Bawne, KS Bharat (wk), K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Vijay ShankarIndia A squad for 2nd four-dayer: Priyank Panchal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Anmolpreet Singh, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (Capt, wk), K Gowtham, Kuldeep Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan

Lara also urges the West Indies board to focus more on developing players for Test cricket

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai17-Oct-2019Former West Indies captain and batting great Brian Lara believes appointing Kieron Pollard as the ODI and T20I captain is “a step in the right direction,” but he has urged Cricket West Indies to focus more on developing players for Test cricket.”He’s got some good experience,” Lara said of Pollard, who last played an ODI over three years ago, at the launch of a T20 tournament for retired players in Mumbai. “I also believe that a captain is as good as his team and the people who really support him. And I believe that he will get the support, that’s half of your job done.ALSO READ – Hayden Walsh Jr, Brandon King break into West Indies’ ODI, T20I squads“Practically, he has played cricket all around the world, he will understand what needs to be done. So it’s not a bad decision. If he’s committed to West Indies cricket for a long period of time, it’s a step in the right sort of direction and let’s see how it goes.”In Tests, the eighth-ranked West Indies recently lost 2-0 to India at home. They started the year in emphatic fashion by beating England 2-1 in Tests at home but against India in August, they were able to bowl out the visitors only twice in four innings and could not cross 250 even once in as many attempts.Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes and Sachin Tendulkar at an event to promote the Road Safety World Series T20 cricket league•AFP

“We came off about six months ago a win against England in the West Indies which was very promising,” Lara said. “So you expected the team to maybe follow on after that. But there was a lot of one-day cricket and different things happening over the last five-six months with almost the same players. So the attrition level is something the West Indies cricket board and the management will have to see if they can solve that because some of the cricketers are understanding the shorter version of the game but the longer version they’re missing some key elements.”I think first we’ve got to get back to playing good and competitive first-class cricket in the Caribbean where the guys spend time in the middle as batsmen, bowlers bowl long spells and see if we can work from there.”But I still believe that the talent on show for West Indies is very good and promising. Maybe the entire batting line-up is in their 20s, you just want to know that if they’re playing at the highest level that they are capable of performing well. I think learning the game at the international stage is not where you want to go.”West Indies’ next assignment is a full tour against Afghanistan in India where they will play three T20Is, three ODIs and a one-off-Test over a period of three weeks. A short gap after that they will feature in another three T20Is and three ODIs against India in India. Lara emphasised on the importance of adapting to conditions on their tour of India, where spin usually plays a vital role.”To be successful anywhere in the world you have to adapt very quickly,” he said. “If you’re playing in Australia, India, South Africa, West Indies…they’re all different conditions. First and foremost, everyone that plays international cricket has a certain level of skill and talent to play the game. How you approach with your mental strength is key, adaptation of the environment you’re in is key. Learning all these important things to be successful…to be a step ahead, not having any excuses. I think those things are key to making sure that you’re successful playing anywhere in the world.West Indies have been a much harder opposition to beat in the shortest format, ever since they won the T20 World Cup back in 2012. They are currently ranked ninth in the format but could pose a different challenge for oppositions in the format, banking on some of the CPL stars who have broken into the team recently. The next T20 World Cup is still over a year away and Lara said handling the talent coming through from T20s will be key for defending champions West Indies in the coming months.”It’s still quite a long way,” Lara said of the T20 World Cup to be played in Australia in October-November 2020. “Whatever tournament the West Indies are going to, they’ll never be favourites at this point in time…even when we won the two tournaments in the past. What we do have is the shorter version of the game. A lot of young players that are coming into the team, [Shimron] Hetmyer, [Nicholas] Pooran, they are very very good in the T20 version, in the limited-overs version of the game.”The talent is there, and I’ve always said in the past that the West Indies have some of the best talents in the world coming through. What we do with that talent, how we harness that talent is the most important part. I reckon that the next eight-ten months before the World Cup there will be a lot of planning. You may even see some new faces coming through. If you listen to any other teams in the world or captains, they’re very wary of the West Indies. They never ever take us for granted, which is a good thing. So hopefully we will make a good showing coming to the World Cup.”

Colin de Grandhomme leads the way with 55 as hosts defend 180

The Report by Matt Roller05-Nov-2019New Zealand pulled off a remarkable heist to defend 180 in the third T20I at Nelson, as England lost 5 for 10 in 18 balls after needing 42 off 5.2 overs with eight wickets in hand to lose by 14 runs.After setting a score that looked something like par, primarily thanks to the impetus provided by Colin de Grandhomme’s 35-ball 55 in the middle overs, New Zealand’s bowlers proved expensive on a small ground, as Dawid Malan and James Vince accelerated through the middle overs to put England in pole position.But after Eoin Morgan dragged the final ball of Mitchell Santner’s spell to deep midwicket, England only managed to hit one boundary in the final five overs of the innings to throw away a winning position and go 2-1 down in the five-match series.Colin de Grandhomme connects with a pull•Getty Images

If you were set the task of putting together a game that summed up the international careers of two of England’s fringe batsmen, this was it.Malan and Vince both stood to reap the benefits of a tour that represented a low-stakes opportunity to press their respective claims for England’s T20 World Cup squad, and both have put themselves in positions to close games off with substantial scores. In Christchurch, Vince smeared a half-tracker down long-on’s throat on 59; at the Cake Tin, Malan was set on 39 when he mistimed one straight to long-off.And the nearly-men narrative continued here. On 55, Malan whacked a shin-high full toss from Ish Sodhi straight to cow corner with England cruising, before Vince picked out mid-off in the circle on 49 needing to take control of the lower-middle order to see England home after a middle-over wobble.”Myself, Vincey and Sam Billings have been around the squad for four years waiting for these opportunities and they’re few and far between,” reflected Malan after the game at Wellington. “That’s why I’m a bit disappointed today: if I’d batted for three or four more overs I could have put us in a position to win this game.”And with two games to go in this series it feels like none of those men has really pushed their case. Malan, who could well be rotated out for the final two games of the series, was visibly frustrated after his dismissal. His T20I record is superb, with five fifties in eight innings, but given England’s backlog of options at the top of the order, he may well find himself squeezed out by the time the World Cup comes around.England had started their chase with a bang: Tom Banton was never likely to die wondering on his international debut, and so it proved. His mentor Marcus Trescothick has encouraged him to play straight early in his innings, and he creamed the third ball his faced through the covers for four off Tim Southee as if to hand in his homework.With that formality out the way, he bludgeoned Lockie Ferguson – with his pace up at 92mph – over midwicket for six over midwicket and then deftly nudged him for four through third man, but an attempted ramp off Blair Tickner proved his undoing, as he was bowled for 18.England were undeterred, and accelerated well just as the field spread. Malan was put down on 15, as Southee shelled a tough caught-and-bowled chance, but capitalised on Sodhi’s wayward start to move through the gears before crunching Jimmy Neesham for six over midwicket and following that with a supreme cover-drive.But after dinking Santner for four two balls after bringing up his fifty, he slapped Sodhi straight down the throat of Guptill at cow corner.Vince punished some loose balls from Santner and Tickner, but after Morgan fell and Billings was run out by a sharp piece of work from Colin Munro, he picked out mid-off. Ferguson accounted for Lewis Gregory and Sam Curran in the space of an over, and with an uncharacteristically long tail, England were bust despite a lusty blow over midwicket from Tom Curran as Southee closed out the final over.After Southee won his first toss of the series, Martin Guptill’s 17-ball cameo kickstarted things for New Zealand. He hit three fours off the Curran brothers in the first two overs, before punishing Saqib Mahmood’s wayward start by firing boundaries off his first three balls.But after suffering a harrowing afternoon at the Cake Tin on Sunday, Pat Brown bounced back and showed his poise under pressure to remove Guptill. After an 80mph bouncer that sat up and was swatted away over square leg for four, Brown followed that up with a knuckleball that Guptill failed to read, and skewed up to extra cover where Tom Curran held a good catch running back.Munro’s scratchy series continued as he failed to pick a slower ball, but de Grandhomme – in the No. 4 role he has made his own in the last 12 months – ensured that New Zealand avoided a middle-overs lull by carving Mahmood’s second over for 15.Matt Parkinson struck with his fifth ball on debut, bowling the reverse-slog-sweeping Tim Seifert through his legs, but was surprisingly only afforded two overs on a dry pitch. De Grandhomme picked two Brown slower balls to keep the innings moving in the 13th, while consecutive no-balls from Gregory and a six from the free hit saw New Zealand reached 133 for 3 with six to go, leaving them well set for a push towards 200.But Tom Curran’s change-up accounted for de Grandhomme, who thrashed one straight down Banton’s throat at long-on, and none of Ross Taylor, Jimmy Neesham and Santner ever really got set as England’s youngsters displayed their full range of variations to concede only 47 from the final 36 balls.Mahmood was again expensive, leaking eight boundaries as his four overs went for 49, but the Currans were both impressive – both have improved their standing in England’s long queue of seam-bowling options on this tour. While England’s fielding was much better – Morgan was critical of their sloppiness after they put down five chances in Wellington – they bowled eight wides and two no-balls, which might well have proved the difference.

Batsman’s captaincy and run-scoring in the spotlight as hosts seek to close rankings gap with India

The Preview by Matt Roller27-Nov-2019

Big picture

If it wasn’t already clear that New Zealand are the closest challengers to India’s current dominance of Test cricket, then their comprehensive victory at Bay Oval last week came close to confirming it.While there are no Test Championship points at stake in this series, New Zealand do, at least, have the chance to close the gap on the runaway leaders of the ICC’s rankings with a win at Seddon Park, and assert themselves as the side best equipped to beat them in a one-off final in two years’ time.That status will only be confirmed with a competitive showing on their tour of Australia next month, but the Hamilton Test this week provides an opportunity for them to demonstrate a quality not always associated with a country so sparsely populated: depth.New Zealand coped perfectly well without Trent Boult on the final day of the first Test, but the news that he has been joined on the treatment table by prolific allrounder Colin de Grandhomme leaves them two key bowlers down.The likelihood is that Daryl Mitchell – the seam-bowling allrounder – will make his Test debut in a straight swap for de Grandhomme, but it seems that New Zealand are not willing to let Lockie Ferguson off the leash just yet. Instead, Matt Henry – whose bowling average in the high-40s does little service to his control and pace – is set to come in for Boult; some English fans will remember his devastating spell as Kent’s overseas player in 2018, which saw him take 75 Division Two wickets at 15.48 apiece.

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For England, the past week could hardly have gone worse. It quickly became clear as BJ Watling and Mitchell Santner ground them into the dirt while scoring at just over two runs per over that their hotly-anticipated new blueprint for Test cricket was little more than an attempt to play more like New Zealand, by batting long and bowling dry, and as Stuart Broad admitted on the final morning, the first-innings effort of 353 all out was anywhere up to 150 runs short of a good score on a flat pitch.Indeed, much of the post-match analysis has focused on Joe Root’s captaincy, and perhaps with good reason. No Englishman has captained as many overseas Tests as Root’s 14 with a worse win/loss ratio, and his ability to get the most out of Jofra Archer’s talents in particular has been up for debate ever since the fast bowler’s debut at Lord’s. The rest of the squad and the management have both publicly stood by their man, though Ashley Giles illustrated the hollow nature of that in his press conference this week. “I’m not quite sure what anyone is expecting me to say,” Giles said. “‘We’ll see how we go’? That’s not a great vote of confidence in a captain.”Add into the mix the sad news that Chris Silverwood will return home after the second day of the Hamilton Test due to a family bereavement, and the racist abuse suffered by Archer on the final day at Bay Oval – not to mention an injury scare to Jos Buttler* – and it is clear that any attempt to start afresh has been wracked with difficulty.The best way to remove the spotlight from Root before next month’s tour of South Africa would be to win convincingly and end England’s miserable record overseas under his leadership. But given they are winless in their last 16 games in Australasia – their last victory in this part of the world was the Sydney Test in 2011 – that is easier said than done.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand WWLWW
England LWLWD

In the spotlight

Joe Root needs runs, and desperately. His batting average as captain has dipped below 40. He has slipped out of the top 10 of the ICC’s batting rankings for the first time since 2014. Since the start of the English home summer in July, he has scored just 371 runs in 14 innings, averaging 26.50, with almost as many ducks (three) as half-centuries (four). Root insists that his batting has “just clicked” in training, and that a return to form is “round the corner”; England will be desperate for him to demonstrate that those are not empty words.It scarcely takes one wicketless spell for a section of New Zealand fans to start questioning the purpose of Tim Southee, whose tight control over line, angle and seam position makes him the precision engineer to Lockie Ferguson’s boy racer. But his three wickets on the second morning were not far short of decisive in keeping England to 353 in their first innings, and his record at home in the past five summers – 84 wickets at 24.59 – is a fair reflection of his supreme ability in familiar conditions.

Team news

Mitchell is set to make his debut as the swing-bowling allrounder, while Henry is likely to edge out Ferguson and replace the injured Boult. The rest of the side is unlikely to change, though Jeet Raval’s spot might come under pressure ahead of the Australia tour with another unconvincing display.New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham, 2 Jeet Raval, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Neil Wagner.The likelihood of England going into the Test unchanged took a hit on Thursday*, with news of Buttler suffering a back spasm while in the gym. If he is ruled out, that would mean Ollie Pope taking the gloves for only the sixth time in a first-class match. Zak Crawley would probably come in as batting cover, although England were pondering the use of Chris Woakes as another allrounder; Woakes could come into contention anyway, with Jack Leach’s place far from certain after taking 2 for 153 in Mount Maunganui.England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Joe Denly, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Zak Crawley, 7 Ollie Pope (wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Chris Woakes/Jack Leach, 11 Stuart Broad.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch was very green on Tuesday – it looked as you’d expect a surface to look three days out, rather than two – but is likely to be cut. It has been hot in Hamilton, and the groundstaff have watered the pitch heavily. Seddon Park is one of the lower-scoring grounds in New Zealand, where the ball swings a bit more due to the humidity, and it is a typical ‘look up, not down’ surface.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won five and drawn one of their last six Tests at Seddon Park.
• Ross Taylor has made five of his 18 Test hundreds at Hamilton, and is 92 runs away from scoring 1000 at the venue.
• In his 12 first-class games at the ground, Daryl Mitchell averages 39.33 with the bat, and 23.60 with the ball.
• Dom Sibley’s strength off his pads is offset by a weakness outside his off stump. On his debut last week, he scored five runs from the 87 balls that arrived outside off, and was dismissed twice.
• England have lost five of their six internationals in Hamilton across formats, with their only victory a two-run win in a T20I in February 2018.

Quotes

“It’s fantastic opportunity for Daryl if he’s selected. I think he has the capability to do what Colin has [done] in recent times. We’re lucky we have Daryl to come in.”

New Zealand bowling coach Shane Jurgensen hopes Daryl Mitchell can fill Colin de Grandhomme’s big shoes“When they were 600 declared, we knew our first innings wasn’t quite good enough.”
Ben Stokes took longer than most to realise England were in trouble*0900 GMT – This story was updated with news of Buttler’s injury