Matthew Mott says England will be “clear with everybody on their roles” as they plan for Australia

Matt Roller03-Oct-2022Ben Stokes will be carded to bat at No. 4 in England’s T20 World Cup team after white-ball captain Jos Buttler insisted that he is wasted down the order as a finisher.Stokes was rested from England’s tour to Pakistan after a busy summer captaining the Test team and has not played a T20 international since March 2021 but left for Australia on Sunday and is seen as a key part of the full-strength side, despite an underwhelming record across his short-form career.He has only batted above No. 5 three times in his T20I career, most recently in 2016, but had success opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 and will effectively be a straight swap for Ben Duckett at No. 4 in England’s World Cup plans.Related

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“One of the things that’s been said for a while is that he hasn’t had a clear role,” Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball head coach, said. “And Jos in particular is clear that he’s a top-four player. Those conditions in Australia will suit the way he plays. You always have a bit of flexibility with the batting but he will be expected to be higher in the innings.”I got a couple of texts [from Stokes] on Sunday. He was jumping on that flight ready to go. We’ve deliberately left him alone. He’s had a busy summer. There’s a lot of time before that first World Cup game and when we get to Australia, we’ll be really clear with everybody on what the expectations are with their roles.”As good as this tour has been, there’s new faces coming in and some leaving as well. So like we try and do for every tour, we’ll make sure the starting XI are really clear on what we expect from them and what role we want them to play.”Stokes is likely to be joined in the middle order by Harry Brook, who Mott said “couldn’t have done any more” to seal a spot in the World Cup team after a dominant performance at No. 5 during their 4-3 series win in Pakistan.Brook capped a breakthrough series in international cricket with 46 not out off 29 balls in Sunday’s decider in Lahore, making him England’s highest run-scorer on the tour with an aggregate of 237 across six innings while striking at 163.01. He was also named Player of the Series.”He’d have to go pretty close, I think,” Mott said. “It depends on what balance we go with – whether we go with an extra batter or an extra allrounder – but he couldn’t have done any more to push his case in this series.”To me, batting at No. 5 is about as hard as it gets. You don’t often get it your way: you’re either under pressure with early wickets or you’re having to throw your wicket away at the end. Whatever the situation was, he always looked like he had a plan. That came out quite clearly and for a young player to be so clear in such a tricky role showed a lot.”Brook spent much of the English summer as the Test team’s spare batter, with his playing schedule disrupted as a result. “Brooky has been starved of cricket for a bit,” Mott added. “He’s watched a lot from the sidelines and he just sees the opportunity. He looked right at home in that pivotal role at No. 5, which is quite difficult normally.”Buttler is due to return in England’s three-match series against Australia, which starts in Perth on Sunday, after a lay-off with a calf strain kept him on the sidelines throughout the Pakistan tour, while Liam Livingstone is making good progress after an ankle injury and is inked into England’s middle order.With Dawid Malan reaffirming his status as England’s first-choice No. 3 in the decider in Lahore on Sunday night, the main question around their batting line-up concerns the identity of Buttler’s opening partner. Alex Hales’ experience in Australia means he is the favourite, but Phil Salt’s form in Lahore means the debate remains live.”That’s the big question,” Mott said. “I don’t think that’s resolved, which is probably not a bad thing. We’ve got four games before that first World Cup game [including a warm-up against Pakistan in Brisbane] so there’s still plenty of time. Hales did really well at the start [of the tour] but Salt really took his opportunities… he showed all the signs we’re looking for. There’s a lot of options there, which is a good headache to have.”England managed players’ returns from injury carefully, with Chris Woakes and Mark Wood playing two games each after missing the whole home summer. Wood was initially due to play the decider in Lahore, but he was one of several England players to suffer some illness last week and the management decided against risking him.”We probably talked him out of playing, to be honest,” Mott said. “He always wants to play but we didn’t want to take that risk. We’re pretty happy with what he got through. He’s one of those bowlers, the X-factor bowler. A bit like Jos, he could maybe have played the back end of the series but those two guys are hard to replace so we’re trying to box a bit smarter and not take the risk on what is going to be a long campaign.”

All the matches will be played in East London before the teams go to the World Cup, starting eight days after the tri-series final

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2022South Africa will host India and West Indies in East London for a triangular T20I series in January-February next year in the build-up to the women’s T20 World Cup 2023, which will be held in South Africa soon after, in February.

Schedule

Jan 19: South Africa vs India
Jan 21: South Africa vs West Indies
Jan 23: India vs West Indies
Jan 25: South Africa vs West Indies
Jan 28: South Africa vs India
Jan 30: India vs West Indies
Feb 2: Final

The three teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage, before the top two teams play the final on February 2, after which there will be a short gap before the World Cup kicks off on February 10. The World Cup will run till February 26, with the matches played in Cape Town, Gqeberha and Paarl.”These two sides [India and West Indies] are up there with the most talented and entertaining nations in women’s T20 cricket, having featured in two of the last four finals, with the West Indies lifting the trophy in 2016,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket, said in a statement. “This will give the Momentum Proteas a highly competitive build-up to the ultimate prize of the T20 World Cup.”At the World Cup, South Africa have been placed in Group A alongside favourites Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India and West Indies are in Group B with England, Ireland and Pakistan.Australia have won five of the seven editions of the World Cup so far, with England and West Indies winning once each. South Africa have never reached the title round, while India got to the final for the first time in the previous edition, in 2020 in Australia, where Australia beat them by 85 runs at the MCG.

How the first Future Tours Programme for women aims to get ahead of burgeoning T20 circuit

Firdose Moonda10-Jan-2023The ICC hopes they will be able to co-ordinate a women’s international cricket calendar with fewer clashes with franchise leagues than they have done in the men’s game by getting ahead of the T20 circuit thanks to their already published Future Tours Programme.Last year, the ICC unveiled its first women’s FTP, months before the Women’s PSL and IPL were confirmed, and the game’s global governing body is confident of keeping a handle on the growth of the women’s game so both international and league cricket can take place side-by-side.”The balance between the women’s international fixtures and the domestic leagues is something we are going to have a better chance at co-ordinating than the way the men’s calendar has developed over the last decade or so,” Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s CEO said at a round-table discussion with media on Tuesday.”We are starting to see a fairly regular schedule of cricket for the top female players around the world and the release of the first FTP for women’s international cricket was a big stepping stone for trying to get ahead of that and trying to avoid clashes wherever possible with some of those leagues. It is something we are monitoring on a regular basis and hopefully as we update the FTP, it’s something we will continue to do to stay ahead of.”Related

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• Shafali Verma to lead India at Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup, Richa Ghosh also picked

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A key difference between the men’s and women’s game, which Allardice believes will work in the women’s calendar’s favour, is the scarcity of Test matches. “The one difference is that there isn’t the same chunks of time taken up with Test series in the women’s calendar and that gives a little bit more freedom to avoid those clashes,” he said.The women’s FTP only has seven Tests scheduled for the 2022-25 period, which leaves plenty of time for white-ball formats.Already, several women’s teams are playing T20 cricket in preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup, set to be followed by the inaugural editions of the Women’s IPL and PSL. The WIPL is of particular interest, with applications for teams already out, and the player auction set for January 26. Just as the men’s IPL provided big-money and development opportunities for Indian and foreign players, the ICC sees the WIPL as a tournament that can do the same.”It will be tremendous for Indian cricket but also for overseas players who participate in the tournament,” Snehal Pradhan, the ICC’s new Women’s Cricket Manager, said. “We have seen in the India-Australia series, not only did we have great crowds, we also had a great standard of cricket which has been a good advertisement for whatever might come next. The opportunity for so many more players to become professional and become close to professionalism will boost the depth and the quality in not just India but all over the world.”Growing the women’s game globally is also top of mind for the ICC, and one of the key reasons they opted to host a women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup (which starts on Saturday) and to extend the field to 16 teams, six more than the senior tournament. Unlike the men’s game, where only 10 teams play Test cricket and of those, there is a clear hierarchy of who plays more often and who the top-tier nations are, the ICC intends for the women’s game to develop more equally than men’s, although Australia are already clear frontrunners.Allardice pointed to the two newcomers at the U19 T20 World Cup – Indonesia, who won their first warm-up game against Zimbabwe, and Rwanda – as success stories, while Pradhan mentioned Brazil and Thailand’s awarding of female national contracts as another example of how the game has spread.”The fact that there are more playing opportunities at the global level is one of the key things that will advance the game outside of the top countries,” Pradhan said. “We’ve seen this in the last three or four years – countries like Thailand and Brazil have offered full-time contracts to their women’s teams ahead of men’s teams because they recognise there are opportunities for those teams to get to major world tournaments. It’s worth noting that it’s a very important strategic decision to make this (U19 T20 World Cup) tournament a 16-team event and therefore more opportunities at the global level.”Allardice confirmed that the senior women’s T20 World Cup will move from 10 teams to 12 in 2026 and that the U19 tournament could see more than 16 teams in future, with it becoming a key step in the development of the game. “The establishment of the Under-19 World Cup is going to help in terms of providing a pathway for players in some of the countries that perhaps haven’t been leading the development of the women’s game. That’s one of the reasons why the Under-19 T20 World Cup is such a strategically important decision for cricket,” he said.

The three teams have combined to play just 23 Tests since 2017

Tristan Lavalette17-Feb-2023As they trudged off the Queens Sports Club after suffering a second successive Test thrashing, Zimbabwe were left disappointed at being comprehensively outplayed by West Indies.Defeat in this recently-concluded two-match series, however, was almost inconsequential for a nation emerging from an 18-month hiatus from Test cricket. Before hosting West Indies this month, Zimbabwe played only 14 Tests from 2017-22: in part because ongoing financial strife forced them to, and also because enticing bigger Full Members while not being part of the nine-team World Test Championship (WTC) has proven something of an impossible sell for them.Ireland and Afghanistan, who became Full Members by gaining Test status in 2017, are also not part of the WTC, and similarly have barely played Test cricket; Ireland have had only three Tests since, while Afghanistan just six. But when the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the period 2023-27 was released last August, these three teams were allocated significantly more Tests: Afghanistan (21), Zimbabwe (20) and Ireland (12).Related

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Until that announcement, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan had combined to play just 23 Tests since 2017; none of them played another for the rest of 2022 as well. So while the Test numbers were a positive, the problem was that precious few in the new FTP were scheduled against the cash cows of India, England and Australia. Zimbabwe, notably, were allocated 109 matches across formats, with not a single one – even in the shorter formats – being against cricket’s three biggest draw cards.During ICC meetings in Melbourne last November, while he contemplated running for ICC chair, Zimbabwe Cricket boss Tavengwa Mukuhlani used his leverage to push for a working group focused at looking into current and future FTP bilateral planning arrangements. Mukuhlani, along with ECB’s Martin Darlow and New Zealand Cricket’s Martin Snedden, will be comprising that group, which is expected to be ratified at next month’s ICC board meetings. They haven’t met formally, although they had discussions on the sidelines in Melbourne.The working group is open for Full Members to address concerns heightened amid international cricket’s shrinking calendar as T20 leagues sprout worldwide. It is expected to have a particular focus on the three countries not part of the WTC too, even as the abolition of the ODI World Cup Super League has also raised an alarm for smaller nations over future ODI fixtures.”We believe Zimbabwe is a Test nation. We can’t just let that slip simply because nations don’t want to play us,” Mukuhlani told ESPNcricinfo. “We have something to preserve and defend. We want to play Tests. We know it will cost us money, but we can’t put a value on playing Test cricket.”Zimbabwe have not played any of the so-called Big Three teams in Test cricket since September 2005, when they had hosted India for two Tests. Last year, they ended a 19-year drought of touring Australia other than for a World Cup, for a series which was part of the Super League, and where they famously won the third ODI, although their push for a one-off Test was rebuffed by CA.This year’s match remains Ireland’s only Test against England, India or Australia through to 2027•Getty Images

Mukuhlani said discussions were ongoing over Zimbabwe hosting India for a white-ball series later in the year after the countries played a three-match ODI series last August in Harare. But their relationship with England has long proved thorny due to strained political ties during the latter years of the reign of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe.The two countries have not played each other bilaterally since 2004 – and not at all since September 2007, when they had met in the inaugural ICC World T20 – although Zimbabwe’s political situation is different since Mugabe was ousted from power in 2017.Both the ZC and ECB have confirmed that there are no longer political issues preventing the countries from playing each other; but such a bilateral arrangement still remains stalled for the foreseeable future.”England for us is big money – the second biggest behind India,” Mukuhlani said. “We want England to tour us. It’s a conversation we’ve had for many years. There is great willingness from the ECB, and there have been signs in recent times. But nothing tangible has ever happened on their end. But we know they – like other countries – are struggling to find gaps in the schedule.”Mukuhlani said he would advocate through the working group for countries touring South Africa to make a stopover in Zimbabwe; even as England last month were in South Africa for a three-match ODI series, but won’t be returning there until 2026-27. He also planned to propose annual triangular or quadrangular white-ball series during April-May for countries with limited or no players competing in the IPL, such as Zimbabwe and Pakistan.”I’ve been trying to raise these issues for a long time, so hopefully now there is a proper platform to air them,” Mukuhlani said of the working group.Afghanistan are set to end a two-year Test wait with a series in Bangladesh mid-year•Abu Dhabi Cricket

Unlike Zimbabwe, Ireland play England imminently with a one-off Test scheduled in June at Lord’s. Cricket Ireland administrators had hoped it would become an annual fixture in the English summer, but this year’s match remains Ireland’s only Test against England, India or Australia through to 2027. Before that fixture, they will be breaking a four-year drought in the format when they meet Bangladesh in a one-off Test in Dhaka in April.”Our players are keen [to play Tests], but we have to be realistic,” Ireland’s ICC board director Ross McCollum said.Ireland’s only home Test was their debut in the format against Pakistan in 2018 which cost around a million Euros; and they aren’t scheduled to host a Test until the middle of next year against Zimbabwe.”With the budget we have, it is much easier to play away,” McCollum said. “Our annual turnover is around 10-12 million [Euros], so it’s a sizeable chunk out of that to host Tests. Ideally we want to play Test cricket. But only a few countries are financially able to play Test cricket and can put bums on seats.”While they strive for more Test opportunities, these smaller nations realise that an expanded WTC remains unlikely.”I think [WTC] is important because it creates context,” McCollum said. “Ideally it would have been expanded to 12 members, and I would have liked to have seen two leagues with promotion and relegation. But some countries didn’t want it because they might have fallen into relegation, and 12 teams in one division is too hard because of the crammed calendar.”Afghanistan, meanwhile, are set to end a two-year Test wait with a series in Bangladesh scheduled for mid-year. Their FTP is marked by a historic tour of Australia in 2026, which includes a one-off Test, but relations between the two countries are currently frayed. CA recently pulled out of an ODI series against Afghanistan set for March due to the Taliban’s ban on university education for girls.It was met with fierce condemnation from the Afghanistan Cricket Board and their players, including Rashid Khan, who threatened to boycott the BBL. But amid the politicking, Afghanistan’s future is murky beyond the playing field, as the sport’s administrators grapple with the apparent erosion of women’s cricket development since the Taliban seized control. The Afghanistan issue is set to be debated at the ICC meetings next month.

The second ODI is at the same venue on Saturday

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2023South Africa v West Indies
Match abandonedThe first ODI between South Africa and West Indies in East London was washed out without a toss. The venue, that was set to host its first men’s international game since the pandemic, witnessed intermittent rain through the day.Play was eventually called off at 4.35pm local, almost four hours after the original start time of 12.30pm. There was rain when the teams entered the stadium, and even though there were a few brief dry spells, there wasn’t enough time to dry the outfield before rain returned.The two teams meet again at the same venue on Saturday, for which the weather forecast appears promising. The third and final ODI of the series will be in Potchefstroom next Tuesday.

Fit-again allrounder sets sights on the Ashes but his immediate focus is the ODI series in India

Andrew McGlashan16-Mar-2023Mitchell Marsh did not realise how much he was being hampered by his ankle injury until he made the decision to have surgery and is now feeling rejuvenated as he sets out with twin ambitions for the months ahead.Most immediately is the ODI series against India, a stepping stone to the World Cup later this year, but before that he hopes to find a place in Australia’s Test squad for the Ashes.Marsh underwent surgery after the T20 World Cup and ODI series against England during which he had carried the ankle problem that he initially picked up against Zimbabwe. He was out of action for three months, missing the entire BBL, but made an immediate impact on his return for Western Australia with a Sheffield Shield century and a fifty in the Marsh Cup final.He still won’t be available to bowl in the three matches against India, instead eyeing a return with the ball during the IPL with Delhi Capitals.Marsh has not played Test cricket since a one-off return against England at The Oval in 2019 where he claimed his first five-wicket haul. He was then ruled out of contention for the next series, back home against Pakistan, after he broke his hand punching a dressing room wall at the WACA during a Sheffield Shield match.Related

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The following season Cameron Green emerged into the Test side and has cemented the allrounder role at No. 6, although in recent months there could have been an opening for Marsh if he hadn’t been sidelined. It’s unlikely that he and Green will play in the same side, but he wants to be in position to take an opportunity if it arises.”I feel I’ve really developed as a person and feel like every single year I’ve got better as a cricketer,” he told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the opening ODI in Mumbai. “I’m full of confidence at the moment that my best can match it with anyone. I’m hopeful to get another opportunity in red-ball cricket but if it doesn’t happen I’ll keep plugging away and be happy to represent Australia in whatever team I can.”At 31 years of the age, we’ve seen a lot of guys who have hit their peak around that age. Hopefully that’s the case for me.”Mitchell Marsh made an unbeaten 108 for WA in the Sheffield Shield earlier this month•Getty Images

He admitted to a hint of ‘what if’ when Green was absent for three Tests against South Africa and India with a broken finger but knew he’d had no choice but to get his ankle fixed.”It’s natural to feel that way at times, but in the same sentence if I’d kept going with my ankle I probably wouldn’t have got through and it would have been more detrimental to the team,” he said. “I never want to put my own personal goals ahead of anything that comes with team.”I’ve said that getting in the Ashes squad is a real goal of mine. I’m hopeful that’s the case, but I also understand that might not be. It was certainly part of the reason I got the surgery done.”Marsh, who played a key role in Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup victory after his promotion to No. 3, made the best of his enforced break and when he was able to train again worked extensively on his batting with coaches Scott Meuleman and Beau Casson.”You never really know when you come back how it will pan out but was pretty confident in myself,” he said. “Generally speaking through my career I’ve been best when fresh. Getting a chance to have a break from the rollercoaster ride that international cricket is, I used the time as wisely as I possibly could.”Ultimately, however, an opportunity to add to his 32 Test caps could well be out of his hands as Green continues to make huge strides in Test cricket. Having claimed a maiden five-wicket at the MCG in the game he suffered the broken finger he scored a maiden Test century in Ahmedabad last week.”The trajectory of his career is only going up,” Marsh said. “He’s got a level head on him, he loves learning. He’s got all the attributes to be a great cricketer and he’s sort of got through that period now of all the hype around him.”Now we are starting to see him just perform. He’s gaining a lot of respect around world cricket, not just as a young player but as an established international cricketer. Now he has that belief in himself he will be able to keep pushing the boundaries. And they are big boundaries for him so anything is possible.”

India and Mumbai batter is in the middle of a slump after an unbelievable year in 2022

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-20233:10

What’s gone wrong for Suryakumar Yadav?

In 2022, Suryakumar Yadav was redefining the concept of risk in cricket. Playing behind the wicket as much as he did in front of it, taking balls from well outside off for boundaries to square leg and midwicket, he was expanding on what was possible on the field and he was able to do it for a fairly long time. In 12 months, and 31 T20Is, he amassed 1164 runs at an average of 46.56 and strike rate of 187.43. Very few in the modern era have been that successful while being that destructive.It prompted India to look at Suryakumar as a gamechanger in other formats as well. They gave him a Test debut against Australia in Nagpur on a spin-friendly pitch where it looked like, at least before the game, batting long didn’t really look likely. So they chose to keep Shubman Gill – a player equally gifted but more in the traditional mould – out of the side in favour of Suryakumar and his ability to play high-impact innings in a very short space of time.But things didn’t happen that way. Suryakumar fell into a slump, scoring 8 (Test), 0, 0, 0 (ODIs), 15 and now 1 (IPL) in the defeat against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede stadium.Former Australia allrounder and vastly experienced T20 coach Tom Moody, on ESPNcricinfo Time:Out, found it hard to explain why a batter who not so long ago looked impossible to stop now looks like its impossible for him to score.”It’s very hard to dissect,” he said, “But I think what we’re learning is that he is human. For a period of time there, we were sort of not really coming to terms with what he’s actually doing to the game; he was nearly untouchable. But I think now we’re seeing the polar opposite. Sport does a vicious cycle of exposing the human element of our vulnerability. You can call it form or luck or whatever you like.Suryakumar Yadav has scores of 8 (Test), 0, 0, 0 (ODIs), 15 and now 1 (IPL)•Mumbai Indians

“He’s probably doing exactly the same thing as he’s done the last 12 months but he’s just not getting the rub of the green. The thing is that then can turn into a situation where he starts questioning his form, questioning whether he’s doing the right things, he might start to change his technique or batting stances or all sorts of things, the way he is preparing which is what he shouldn’t be doing. That’s why a lot of people say cricket, particularly batting, is 80% mental and 20% skill.”Moody’s partner on the show, the former Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait believed these highs and lows happen to batters who are unorthodox.”If you look at someone like Glenn Maxwell,” he said, “Through his career, he’s had that sort of times as well where he’s had unbelievable purple patches and maybe a slump. Obviously he’s going to be highly criticised. Because of the way he plays as well, Surya, he’s got all those shots, and you can say he’s sometimes reckless.”Obviously he’s an unbelievable player but you wouldn’t say he’s an organised player when he comes to the crease. Someone like a Virat Kohli, right, he’s an organised player. That’s his game. Surya can change things around innings to innings. But because he’s so flash and so great to watch and entertaining, maybe the recklessness can fall the other way.”The other thing that comes in as well, maybe the hype and the great run he’s had maybe he’s come down a couple of rungs. Hopefully he can get back up there. He’s like Maxwell. The way he thinks about the game is a little bit different and so the fall can be a little bit harder for those sort of players.”Despite his recent struggles, there are still people like three-time world champion Ricky Ponting who are backing Suryakumar to come good again.”Everyone around the world knows what Surya can do in white-ball cricket. They [India] should stick with him, I feel,” he told the ICC Review. “Because he is I think the kind of player that can win you a World Cup. He might be a little bit inconsistent but he’s the sort of guy who in big moments can win you something,”

Jonny Bairstow a bystander as Glamorgan seize control at Headingley

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-May-2023If you are going to send a message to your national selectors from the other side of the world, doing so when they are awake can be tough, particularly with 11am starts. Sometimes, though, a player nails their small window.By 12.28pm on Friday at Headingley, Michael Neser did just that with typical precision, completing a maiden hat-trick in first-class cricket. It was early enough to have decent cut-through back home in Australia. Early enough, even with the ten-hour difference, that perhaps an everyman like Australia chief selector George Bailey would have been aimlessly scrolling social media before bed when it dropped into the feeds. He might have still been taking it all in some 15 minutes later when Neser removed Jordan Thompson to claim career-best figures of 7 for 32.The Queensland seamer became only 11th Glamorgan cricketer to take a hat-trick, the ninth to do so in the County Championship and the first since Robert Croft in 2010. And the great thing for a player keen to make as much noise as possible right now is the racket such historical feats tend to make.Related

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Timing is everything, and few will appreciate that more than Neser, the 33-year-old alternate to a pace attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. The misfortune of vying for a starting spot among three modern-great quicks manifested itself in a 17-man squad list for the World Test Championship and first two Ashes Tests that did not bear his name.A spell of this ilk with 2023’s Dukes at one of the Ashes venues won’t hurt, and the speed of the exploits was as vital for trending across hemispheres as the match itself. Yorkshire’s last five wickets fell for just 16 runs inside 21 deliveries, with Glamorgan closing day two with a lead of 196 and eight second innings wickets remaining. Even with just 29.3 overs of play on day two, progress has been swift.Dawid Malan was the first of the hat-trick, building into his work before Neser trapped him on the crease from around the wicket. George Hill’s leave was understandable given the original line of the delivery was fifth stump before seaming in to clip the very top of off. The best of the three deliveries confirmed the hat-trick: swinging in absurdly late, gathering pace off the pitch to strike off stump once more – this time hard enough to crack the middle-and-off bail.In real time, you wondered why Dom Bess offered no shot considering Hill’s dismissal the ball before. And yet watching the replay – over and over and over again – you can understand why. Even given the end result, you wouldn’t leave the house if you lived your life worrying about deliveries that far wide.”Pretty stiff ball to face straight up,” Neser said, sympathies with Bess. Having tried to move the ball away from the right-handers, Neser decided to go the other way and found more than he was bargaining for. “Fortunately enough it worked,” he said, in a typically subdued manner.He was more engaging on his Test snub, which Bailey explained isn’t a snub. Given Neser is not part of the first-choice attack, it made sense to keep him playing competitive red-ball cricket instead of travelling around as a glorified net bowler, as Neser was during the 2019 series. The experience of that tour makes this decision a little more palatable, though the annoyance of having to wait a little longer to add to his two Test caps still has not worn off. Frightening from an English perspective, considering his talents and this performance after a winter of 40 Sheffield Shield wickets at 16.67 during Queensland’s 2022-23 campaign.”It’s disappointing not to be part of that squad, but I’ve got to look at the positives,” Neser said. “I’m playing cricket here, and if I do get called up I’ll get ready to go. Having matches under my belt is far more important than bowling overs in the nets and not playing any games. From a squad point of view, it’s probably best I’m playing games and being ready to go if the opportunity arises.”I know personally I like to be playing constantly. Having matches under the belt is probably the most important thing. You can be bowling fit doing that in the nets, but it doesn’t emulate what you do in the game. I feel like I’m in a good place physically and mentally, so we’ll wait and see.”All of this is music to Glamorgan’s ears, particularly with Marnus Labuschagne leaving in two rounds’ time. Replacing his runs will be hard enough, and he is currently in the process of following up 65 out of 245 in the first innings with what the visitors hope will be another vital contribution in the second.Michael Neser has two Test caps to his name•Getty Images

Wickets, though, are the real premium, underlining Neser’s value. His record stands at 72 dismissals at an average of 21.65 midway through his 17th match for the county, and it is no coincidence Glamorgan have only lost two of the previous 16.Even with the weather, a Glamorgan victory – a first of the season – seems the likeliest result. However, the presence of Jonny Bairstow gives a lowly Yorkshire team a sense of danger. Bairstow watched the Neser-induced carnage from the other end, and you could sense a growing sense of responsibility. A shame, then that he brought about the end of the innings: an attempt at keeping strike for the next over led to the run-out of a hobbling Ben Coad. Yorkshire were 106 all out, Bairstow unbeaten – and unsatisfied – on 20.”He looked like he was in good nick, too,” Neser said of Bairstow, who is two days into a competitive return from nine months out. Having kept for 71.5 overs on day one, Bairstow originally tried to hold his batting exclusively for day two, burning through Mickey Edwards and Matty Fisher as nightwatchers before reluctantly batting out the final two overs of the day.An innings of 34 balls can only tell you so much, but his timing is up to speed. We probably knew that from the 97 and 57 struck against Nottinghamshire 2nd XI last week, but a tuck off his hip through square leg, and a straight drive inside mid-off were good signs. He and Malan ticked along nicely, suggesting something substantial from the international duo. But their partnership ended on 31, and such was the flurry of dismissals at the other end that by the time Bairstow regained any meaningful strike, boundary riders were in place. A swipe of Timm van der Gugten to midwicket felt like the start of a retaliation that was quickly shelved by Kiran Carlson’s work at cover, swooping and taking out two stumps with a direct hit.”We’ll see how we go in the second innings,” Neser said regarding Bairstow, though it was unsure if he meant Bairstow’s or Glamorgan’s. Perhaps both. After all, the part Bairstow played in last summer’s chases for England against New Zealand (twice) and India will have Neser and his team-mates on edge in the final innings. Not to mention that Leicestershire chased down a target of 389 on this ground a month ago.Smatterings of rains before the eventual day-closing downpour at 4.30pm were negotiated well by openers David Lloyd and Andrew Salter. The former skewed a thick outside edge to backward point before the latter felt stitched up by an lbw decision granted to Thompson.The absence of Coad, hurt on day one, dulls the incisiveness of this Yorkshire attack, meaning Glamorgan should dictate the final throes of this match even with another poor forecast for Saturday. Whether 2022 Bairstow or a spell such as Neser’s, they require something special to turn this around.

England Lions keeper-batter will replace Dan Lawrence in middle order at new club

Matt Roller28-Jul-2023Kent are “disappointed” that Jordan Cox, the wicketkeeper-batter who toured Pakistan with England’s T20I squad last year, has turned down the offer of a contract extension in order to join Essex.Cox informed the club on Monday of his desire to leave at the end of this season and has signed a three-year deal with Essex where he is seen as a long-term replacement for Dan Lawrence, who is leaving for Surrey.Cox went to school in Essex – at Felsted, 10 miles north of Chelmsford – where he worked closely with Jason Gallian. Gallian became chair of Essex’s cricket committee earlier this year and the pair have maintained a good relationship.Cox’s departure is a major blow for Kent, the county where he has played since the age of 10. He played a significant role in the club’s Blast win two years ago, scoring 58 not out in the final before setting up a remarkable relay catch during Somerset’s run chase with sensational athleticism on the boundary rope.Related

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“We’re disappointed that Jordan has decided to move on from Kent next year,” Paul Downton, Kent’s director of cricket, said in a terse club statement. “He has made a name for himself as a Kent cricketer and has been extremely well supported by the club.”Downton, who is leaving his role at the end of the season, added: “That said, we would like to thank Jordan for his contributions to Kent Cricket and wish him well with his cricket in the future.”He is the second keeper-batter academy graduate to leave Kent in the last 12 months, after Ollie Robinson joined Durham at the end of last year. Robinson has thrived since moving north, scoring three Championship hundreds this season and finishing the Blast as Durham’s top run-scorer.There has been a logjam of wicketkeeper-batters at the county, with club captain Sam Billings generally taking the gloves when he has been available – though Cox had kept wicket in Kent’s last six Championship games with Billings taking a break from first-class cricket after a lean run of form.Billings tweeted on Friday night that he was “disappointed” to see Cox leave the club, but added: “As a club I don’t think we could have supported his journey any more & at times prioritised his development over others.He added: “Opportunities for young players now are endless. Good advice & support networks are paramount to navigate through a career especially in the early (most important) stages of development.”Essex have used three different wicketkeepers this year – Adam Rossington, Michael Pepper and Will Buttleman – but none has scored heavily in the Championship. Cox has not been given any guarantees around keeping wicket, but is likely to have opportunities with the gloves at some stage.Cox said it was “a real honour” to sign for Essex•Getty Images

Anthony McGrath, their head coach, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to secure the signing of Jordan, who is a young, hungry cricketer looking to impress in all formats.”He will add real depth and quality to our batting line-up, as well as strengthening our wicket-keeping ranks too, and we are all very much looking forward to working with him.”Cox said it was “a real honour” to sign for Essex, adding: “The team is full of talent, they are going places, and I can only see the group getting better over the coming seasons. I’m excited to join them and contribute to what I hope will be a successful future.”I’d like to thank everyone at Kent for everything they have done for me to get me where I am today. I’ll miss my team-mates, coaches and the staff at Kent but I feel that now is the time for me to move on.”The club will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always look back on my time here fondly. I will continue to give my all for Kent during the rest of my time here.”

Jadeja and Ashwin also scored fifties to take India past 400

Deivarayan Muthu21-Jul-20231:17

Dasgupta: Kohli wants to prove certain things to himself

Virat Kohli made his first away Test century in almost five years, and Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin helped themselves to half-centuries, as India piled up 438 in Port-of-Spain. In reply, West Indies started slowly but solidly, with captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul responsible for the hosts’ first half-century partnership in the series. But Jadeja struck 20 minutes before stumps to have Chanderpaul carving a catch to Ashwin. Brathwaite and debutant Kirk McKenzie, who is playing only his tenth first-class game, then safely negotiated a tricky passage of play, with West Indies still 352 runs behind.Earlier, Kohli looked like converting his hundred into a big one until Alzarri Joseph’s athletic intervention ran him out for 121. Jadeja looked set for a hundred of his own, but Kemar Roach removed him for 61. Both overnight batters fell in a space of six overs, but Ashwin marshalled the tail and pushed India towards 450.Related

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The Queen’s Park Oval pitch – and the outfield – had slowed down even further on day two but that didn’t prevent Kohli from pinging the boundary with his punchy drives. One of those drives, which was crunched behind point off Shannon Gabriel, brought Kohli his 76th hundred in his 500th international match. Three balls later, Jadeja reached his fifty and celebrated it with his signature sword dance.Another Kohli drive, this time off Jason Holder in the 92nd over, was among the contenders for the shot of the match. When Holder served up a half-volley on the stumps, Kohli had originally shaped to flick it away through midwicket, but he ended up half-flicking and half-driving it past mid-off with great authority. There was another drive that he drilled so straight that it knocked out the middle stump at the non-striker’s end.R Ashwin plays a ramp shot on his way to a half-century•AFP/Getty Images

Jadeja was more circumspect, but he combined well with Kohli to steal singles and doubles from right under the noses of the West Indian fielders. However, the 159-run fifth-wicket stand ended when an uncharacteristic moment of hesitation between the wickets resulted in Kohli getting run out. Joseph swooped on the ball from square leg and capitalised on the chance. Soon after, Roach dangled out a wide ball and had Jadeja edging a drive behind.Jadeja was originally given not out by the on-field umpire, but West Indies overturned the decision on review. The replay that came up, however, for the TV umpire was of a different ball. During the tea analysis show, the broadcast commentators clarified that the correct decision was made despite the “glitch”.Kishan, who had spent 19 balls on zero on Test debut in Dominica, started with more attacking intent in Port-of-Spain, advancing at left-arm fingerspinner Jomel Warrican and flaying the ball past him for four. After lunch, Kishan got a life when McKenzie dropped him after mistiming his jump at short midwicket. That error cost West Indies only four runs as Holder had Kishan wafting behind the very next ball for 25.Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul added 71 for the first wicket•AFP/Getty Images

After Ashwin had bedded in with back-to-back drives off Gabriel, West Indies’ quicks peppered him with short balls. But Ashwin used the bounce to his advantage and created scoring opportunities. When Roach kept banging it short – but not short enough – outside off, Ashwin leant back and ramped him over slip for a pair of fours. He then brought up his fifty with a slapped four off a similar short ball from Roach. With No. 11 Mukesh Kumar for company, Ashwin backed away and tried to rustle up more boundaries, but Roach knocked him over with his slower variation. Roach and Warrican finished with three wickets each before West Indies’ openers settled in.Chanderpaul, in particular, had to grind for his runs in the early exchanges. He took 58 balls to score his first boundary and move into double figures. When Ashwin erred down the leg side, Chanderpaul put him away with the sweep. He then countered Mohammed Siraj’s bouncers with the hook.Both Chanderpaul and Brathwaite were happy to leave anything wide of off stump on a track that didn’t offer much assistance to seamers or spinners. Brathwaite had glanced Siraj and whipped Jadeja for fours but wasn’t as assured against Ashwin who got one to drift past his outside edge from over the wicket.It was Jadeja who produced the breakthrough in the 35th over. After bowling 36 balls on the trot to Brathwaite, Jadeja had a crack at Chanderpaul and with his second ball to the left-hander, he drew a thick edge that looped to backward point. McKenzie announced himself in Test cricket with a six down the ground off Ashwin and then caressed Jadeja through extra cover for four to help West Indies end the day in a confident manner.