Spinner has been overlooked in one-day cricket, but is timing his run to the World Cup well

Deivarayan Muthu in Ranchi07-Mar-2019In 2015, Nathan Lyon was left out of Australia’s World Cup squad in favour of left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty. Overall, he has played a mere 18 ODIs since his debut in the format in 2012. The other spinners who were part of that game – Doherty himself and Rangana Herath – have both retired from cricket, but Lyon’s ODI career is only beginning to take shape in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.Both on this tour in India and then in the UAE, Australia might break away from the old tradition at times and play two frontline spinners in Lyon and legspinner Adam Zampa – they did in the second ODI in Nagpur. This means Lyon could be in for the most sustained period of ODI cricket in his career. He’s among the best spinners – if not the best – in Test cricket already, but have seasons in the wilderness in white-ball cricket got to him?”No, not really, I’m really enjoying playing white-ball cricket and being back in coloured clothing for Australia,” Lyon said on the eve of the third ODI against India in Ranchi. “For me, it’s about enjoying the challenge and try to get better in the shorter format. I’m always about learning every time I go out to bowl. There is added pressure, I guess, but none I’m putting on myself. I’m just looking forward to doing my best for the Australian cricket team.”Australia tested India in the first two ODIs, but they couldn’t quite close those matches out. Marcus Stoinis, in particular, was visibly broken after tripping at the final hurdle in Nagpur. Despite Australia finishing at the wrong end of the results, Lyon stressed that all was well within the management and backed his side to turn the tables on India.”It was disappointing to lose and not get across the line against India in their home conditions,” he said. “They have some superstars. They have a legend like MS Dhoni still running around and controlling the back-end of the innings through the tempo. Then, there is Virat Kohli, who in my eyes is one of the greatest players to play in my era.”They are a superstar unit and we are young side that is learning. We are getting better and looking forward to the challenges. There is a lot of belief in our team and this series isn’t over yet. We believe we can still win the series. It’s going to be a challenge up against one of the best sides in the world in their backyard, but it’s exciting and we are looking forward to it.”Lyon’s USP is his ability to generate extra bounce and overspin, but the skiddier pitches in India have somewhat neutered his threat. However, he believes that his variations in pace will still hold him in good stead.”I still believe bounce is a massive weapon,” he said. “Having the ability to change up variations, pace and mindset, depending on who I’m bowling to… Personally, I’m trying to read the game; what’s going to happen in the game, and control that moment. Bounce is still an important factor for me, if I can hit the stickers on the bat and hopefully those catches will go to the hand and not into the stands. It’s a good challenge and it’s something I’m excited about.”The wristspinners are dictating terms in limited-overs cricket – Zampa has been Australia’s first-choice pick in recent times – but Lyon believes that a fingerspinner will round out the attack nicely. He had bowled constricting lines and lengths in Nagpur and came away with 1 for 42 in his ten overs.”Obviously, the wristspinners are a valuable part to any side, and I’m working on a couple of different variations to keep up with the game,” he said. “The game is moving so fast, and it’s a great opportunity for everyone to learn. But it’s pretty important to have the balance of a couple of good spinners in your side. You look at India, Kuldeep Yadav’s skills are unbelievable and [Ravindra] Jadeja has been quite impressive as well. I think it’s important for any international side to have a couple of decent spinners going into the World Cup.”S Sriram, the former India spinner and Australia’s spin consultant, has been a prominent figure in the visitors’ training sessions, often feeding the sweep shot for Stoinis or instructing Lyon and Zampa to attack the stumps.”Obviously, he [Sriram] knows these conditions inside-out and has passed on some great knowledge about the Indian batsmen and how they go about their business,” Lyon said. “So, to have inside knowledge like Sri has been absolutely exceptional for the batters as well as bowlers – whether fast bowling or spin bowling.”Personally, I’ve enjoyed talking with him about variations and whether you defend or attack a batsman. He has been great personally for my mindset.”Lyon insisted “Australia have been training the house down” on this tour. They now need to put their preparations to good use if they are to save the series in Ranchi.

An NZC review recommended the coaching and support staff reapply for their positions but Tiffen has decided to stand aside

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2019Haidee Tiffen has decided not to reapply for the head coach role of the New Zealand women’s team after opting to stand down from the recent tour of Australia following an NZC review into the team’s performance.Tiffen had said she was not in the right frame of mind to coach the team in the one-day series in Australia, after the review concluded that the support staff should reapply for their positions.She was, however, encouraged to seek a renewal of her contract by NZC, but she has decided it’s time to move on and may explore opportunities in other sports.”I believe in collaboration, hard work, respect, and team first, and I have enjoyed developing a learning environment where players are supported and encouraged to take responsibility to be better every day,” Tiffen said.David White, the NZC chief executive, said: “Haidee’s made a decision and we understand and respect that. She is a talented and committed coach who leaves NZC with her head held high, and knowing she has a healthy future in the game.”Women’s international cricket has been making some rapid gains of late and Haidee has worked tirelessly in what has been an increasingly competitive high-performance environment. We wish her well and thank her for the integrity and passion she has brought to the role.”The review into team performance was instigated after New Zealand failed to get out of the group stage of last year’s World T20. They then lost the one-day series against India at home but won the T20I series that followed before getting whitewashed 3-0 by Australia in the Rose Bowl series.The new coach will have the challenge of preparing the team for 2020 T20 World Cup, which will be staged in Australia next February and March.

The two openers put on 365, the biggest partnership for the first wicket in ODI history

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy05-May-20191:35

All the records Campbell and Hope broke

185 (O’Brien 68, Nurse 4-51, Gabriel 3-44) by 196 runsBetween those two moments, separated by two days, Ireland bowled 62.1 overs, conceded 463 runs, and failed to take a single wicket.The bulk of those 463 runs – 365 of them – came on Sunday, as John Campbell and Shai Hope put on the biggest opening partnership in ODI history. They came within seven runs of the biggest ODI partnership for any wicket – a record held by another West Indies pair, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels. They came within 17 balls of becoming the first opening pair to bat through the entire first innings of an ODI. They did, however, become the second pair of openers – after Brendon McCullum and James Marshall – to both score 150 in an ODI innings.It left Ireland an improbable 382 to chase, and they didn’t get remotely close. Kemar Roach and Sheldon Cottrell reduced them to 21 for 3, and there was no recovering from there, even if there were a couple of bright partnerships involving Kevin O’Brien, who made 68, first with Andy Balbirnie and then with Gary Wilson. Playing his 100th ODI, Balbirnie had to retire hurt on 28, when a nasty bouncer from Shannon Gabriel hit him on the helmet; he returned later but only added one run to his score.West Indies’ bowlers presented a much bigger wicket threat than Ireland’s had, Gabriel’s raw pace offering the starkest point of difference; he pinged O’Brien’s helmet too, apart from bagging three wickets. There were also four for the offspinner Ashley Nurse, including one off a dipping offbreak that spun through the gate to have Barry McCarthy stumped. With the last six wickets adding just 32, Ireland’s innings only lasted 34.4 overs.Ireland’s assortment of medium-fast seam and honest fingerspin must be the least threatening bowling arsenal of all the Full Member teams at the moment, and Campbell and Hope took it apart in an utterly controlled and clinical manner. Watching this, it was hard to believe that these two teams had both been in the same ODI boat, fighting to make the World Cup grade, the last time they met.John Campbell and Shai Hope put on the biggest opening stand in all ODI cricket•Sportsfile via Getty Images

Plenty has happened since then, and much of it has been encouraging for West Indies, to the extent that they will be counted among the most dangerous line-ups at the World Cup that they so nearly didn’t qualify for. Today’s partnership didn’t even come from their first-choice opening pair. Campbell, who clattered six sixes in a 137-ball 179, isn’t in the preliminary World Cup squad, and Hope, who stroked a cultured 170 off 152, doesn’t usually open the batting.Both, though, were too good for Ireland’s modest attack. They were watchful early on, but once they had seen off the initial new-ball nibble – Tim Murtagh and Mark Adair went past the edge on a fair few occasions, with Campbell in particular taking time to get his feet moving – they pretty much did as they pleased.Only 42 came off the first 11 overs, at which point Ireland made their second bowling change, bringing on McCarthy, their fourth seamer. McCarthy’s first ball was a stomach-high full-toss, which Campbell flat-batted over the long-off boundary. His third ball drifted onto Hope’s legs, and he tucked it away to fine leg for four. The next ball was a wide half-volley, and Hope unfurled an extra-cover drive. Four more. Eighteen came off that over, and from there on the runs flowed unchecked.Shai Hope defends off the back foot•Sportsfile via Getty Images

Hope drove the seamers eye-catchingly through the covers, often opening his bat face to beat short extra diving to his left, and down the ground, and used the shuffle across the crease adroitly to pick up leg-side singles and twos off all lines and lengths. Campbell was the likelier of the pair to hit over the top, and he also showed a fondness for the lap-sweep off the seamers, picking up three fours with this shot.After scoring only 37 in the first ten overs, West Indies scored 68, 80, and 74 in their next three ten-over blocks. Then came the long-promised carnage: in the last 44 balls of their partnership, Hope and Campbell clattered 106 runs. Both batsmen began clearing their front leg and flat-batting the ball where they pleased. Adair went for 21 in the 41st over, George Dockrell for 16 in the 42nd, Josh Little for 16 in the 45th, Adair for 18 in the 46th, and Murtagh for 17 in the 47th.By this time both batsmen were past 160 and the world-record partnership for any wicket beckoned. But trying to fetch a rising ball from outside off stump, Campbell sent a rare top-edge ballooning high in the sky. It took an age coming down, but a tumbling William Porterfield eventually got under it at mid-off. It was Ireland’s first ODI wicket in 374 balls. Like the old cliche about buses, the next wicket came in the same over, Hope picking out the fielder at deep square leg.Almost miraculously, only 16 came off the last three overs, and West Indies fell short of their highest ODI total – achieved just over two months ago – by eight runs. With the World Cup less than a month away, it’s not a bad time to make your two biggest ODI totals in the space of three matches.

The pace bowler has not recovered from a dislocated shoulder in time for the tournament with Kane Richardson taking his place

Andrew McGlashan08-May-2019Jhye Richardson has made peace with the bitter disappointment of being ruled out of the World Cup due to the dislocated shoulder he suffered against Pakistan in the UAE and now has his sights set on returning for the Ashes tour later in the year.Jhye picked up the injury diving on the boundary during the second ODI in Sharjah and though he avoided needing surgery, the time has run out on him to be ready for the World Cup. Since Australia went into camp in Brisbane, it has looked unlikely he would recover having not yet resumed bowling although right up the moment of being ruled out he remained positive about the prognosis.His next target is to be able available to join the Australia A tour of England which runs concurrent to the latter part of the World Cup and the build-up to the Ashes in a bid to make the Test squad for the series which starts on August 1. Kane Richardson has been called up to Australia’s 15-man World Cup squad in his place.”If I’m going to be brutally honest, it hasn’t been that easy to accept,” Jhye said before leaving Australia’s camp in Brisbane to return to Perth. “World Cups don’t come around every day, so it’s been tough. I’ve got the right people around me. The guys are fantastic, they’ve been really supportive every step of the way. I’ve done everything I can, it just wasn’t meant to be and I’m at peace with it.”It helps a lot to know there is something just as big around the corner and to have that to aim for it puts a lot of clarity in my mind. I’ll do everything I can to get up for firstly the Australia A tour and then the Ashes.His World Cup absence is a blow for Australia with him having made an impressive return to the Australia one-day side during the home summer. In his young ODI career, he has taken 24 wickets in 12 matches so far at an average of 26.33.”This is obviously very disappointing news for the team and for Jhye, who has been exceptional throughout his rehabilitation process,” David Beakley, Australia’s physiotherapist, said. “After his most recent assessment and attempting to bowl in the nets, it was clear that Jhye was not progressing as fast as required and therefore, in consultation with selectors, we made the decision to withdraw him from the squad.”Jhye added: “I honestly thought I could get up and I was determined to do everything I could. It was always going to be touch and go, we knew that from the day I did it. I was optimistic all the way through even though bowling wasn’t going the way I would have liked. I still thought I had a chance. Even though people around me were telling me it wasn’t going as well as they would have liked, I was trying to keep positive.”He also insisted he would have no doubts about throwing himself around the outfield again in the future even if it risked another injury. “That’s the way I want to play my cricket. I want to be able to put my body on the line, that’s what it means to me, and if I get injured doing so then so be it. I can accept that. If I’m trying to save runs for the team and do everything I can then that’s the way I want to go about it and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”For his namesake, Kane, the World Cup call-up completes a notable one-day comeback having drifted out of the reckoning until a prolific BBL – where he was the leading wicket-taker – earned him another chance, firstly for the India tour, which he was then ruled out of with injury, and then the Pakistan series in the UAE where he played two matches.He was wicketless in the opening match against the New Zealand XI in Brisbane but was named for the second match.He has been called up ahead of Josh Hazlewood who was the other quick confirmed as a reserve when the squad was named last month. Hazlewood has been out of action since the final Test against India in early January but was bowling off a full run and at a good pace in the nets on Wednesday.Sean Abbott and Michael Neser, who are both part of the Australia A squad, were included in the Australian XII for the second practice match at Allan Border Field, while Mitchell Starc got his first outing since the final Test against Sri Lanka when he suffered a pectoral injury.

Underdogs need to overcome internal issues if they are to carry the fight to an England team who are now hitting their stride

The Preview by Andrew Miller17-Jun-20193:50

Hussey: How Afghanistan play Archer and Wood will be key

Big picture

Now here’s a contest that England would once have feared. A surely-can’t-lose clash with an aggressive band of ball-striking badmashs, backed up by some of the best and most varied spin bowlers in the world game.Sides of a bygone England era might have taken a fatalistic approach to such a line-up, and found a way to be cowed by expectation. But not, you suspect, this current team. Even with the prospect of two major absentees from their first-choice batting line-up – Jason Roy has been ruled out with a hamstring tear and Eoin Morgan is still recovering from a back spasm – there’s little chance of any let-up from a side that seems now to be hitting its stride in the tournament, following that early stumble against Pakistan.Besides, there’s something about Afghanistan that just doesn’t feel right just now. Their rise through world cricket’s ranks has been a joy to behold, and the heart that they showed in winning the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe last year – despite losing each of their first three games – is proof that this group of battlers can never be entirely written off.But in four World Cup matches to date, they simply haven’t been at the races. Their campaign has been a litany of incremental controversies, from the sacking of the captain, Asghar Afghan, on the eve of the tournament, to the eviction of their opener Mohammad Shahzad for an injury that he claims did not exist, to the dropping against South Africa of their one in-form batsman, Najibullah Zadran. None of them constitutes a shocking scandal in its own right, but the net effect is destabilisation and demoralisation. Just when the players need to be trusted to strut the same stuff that has got them to the World Cup in the first place, they are finding themselves dragged down by in-fighting and incompetence.Afghanistan’s natural exuberance seems to have been drained in recent outings as well. Case in point, their dispiriting display against South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday. Faced with a team in every bit as much strife as their own, they traded a dogged start with the bat for a shambolic finish, losing their last nine wickets for 69 in 19 overs despite having given the impression – through the number of times they shouldered arms to South Africa’s seamers – that seeing out 50 overs was the most important aspect of their day’s work.England have encountered one team of this ilk in the tournament already, of course. Quite apart from sharing a border, Afghanistan and Pakistan share an ability to turn it on (or off) from one day to the next. If a batsman of the destructive qualities of Hazratullah Zazai can get stuck for any period of time, then a spinner of Rashid Khan’s world-beating quality could find himself with enough runs to do a number on another highly fancied side.But the odds do seem stacked against them on this occasion. England’s depth with bat and ball (even in the midst of their injury woes) is designed to mitigate against flurries of opposition aggression, and they will surely believe that this will be the victory that puts them on the brink of a place in the semi-finals. Afghanistan still have the potential to claim a major scalp before their own campaign ends, but it would be one of the greatest World Cup shocks of all time if this England team, at this moment in time, were the side to succumb.

Form guide

Afghanistan LLLLW (Last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: WWLWW

in the spotlight

Is there something amiss with Adil Rashid – Morgan is adamant he’s fine (see below) – or does he simply need an extra injection of confidence to get his game back to the levels that England so desperately want? Despite talk of a shoulder injury that might have tempted the management to give him a break, he has played in every game of the campaign to date, with Moeen Ali the spinner to miss out in each of the last two games. Rashid’s returns have been poor without being appalling – two wickets at 101.50 and an economy of 6.15 – but crucially, he’s not been offering the all-round wicket threat that Morgan in particular so values as a captain. Perhaps a flurry of cheap scalps will help him to rip that googly with renewed intent. Assuming his shoulder doesn’t fall off in the process, of course.At this somewhat critical stage of their World Cup journey, it’s time for the experienced heads in the Afghanistan squad to take control – and few have more experience, and crucially, current form, than the wily allrounder Mohammad Nabi. With bat and ball, he’s been an example of what could still be possible for this team – his three-wicket over against Sri Lanka ought to have set up a shot at victory in Cardiff last week, and while his batting in the main event hasn’t yet caught fire, he was one of the few to take the fight to England in their warm-up at The Oval last month, with three big sixes in his 44.Hazratullah Zazai and Noor Ali Zadran run between the wickets•Getty Images

Team news

After his unexpected absence against South Africa, Najibullah seems sure to slot back into Afghanistan’s middle order … though who knows what the management is thinking at present. Asghar Afghan didn’t exactly justify his recall with a five-ball duck against South Africa, and may be the man to make way once again. The prospect of spin may bring Mujeeb Ur Rahman back into the reckoning.Afghanistan: (possible) 1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Noor Ali Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 5 Gulbadin Naib (capt), 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Hamid HassanRoy’s absence has been confirmed after his hamstring tear against West Indies – he will miss the Sri Lanka match as well, with James Vince set to slot straight in at the top of the order. Morgan’s fitness was also under a cloud after he suffered a back spasm, but he was moving freely in the nets on the eve of the game and may yet feature. Liam Plunkett missed training with a stomach complaint but is not thought to be a serious concern.England (possible) 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 James Vince, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Mark Wood.

Pitch and conditions

After the same strip served up 336 runs for India against Pakistan on Sunday, the straw colour of the surface augurs well for further big hitting, and the hint of footmarks augurs the return of two spinners to England’s attack. Judging by what he’d seen on Sunday, Morgan anticipated good carry for the quicks, allied to a bit of turn. The weather promises an overcast start and the potential for showers in the afternoon, and the eve of the game featured steady rain as well. Another bowl-first day would seem to be in prospect.

Strategy punt

• Afghanistan’s spin-heavy attack offers another opportunity for England’s batsmen to reaffirm their new-found credentials as masters of white-ball slow bowling. From 2011 until the end of the 2015 World Cup, England averaged 30.2 against spin while facing Asian opponents in ODIs. Since then, that figure has rocketed to 54.4. Consequently, their win percentage against Asian teams has rocketed in the same period. From 40.8% between 2011 and 2015, that figure is now a much healthier 70.5%.
• One of Afghanistan’s established strategies in recent times has been to unleash the offspin of Mohammad Nabi against the left-handers in the opposition ranks. However, England’s senior left-handers – Morgan and Ben Stokes – have largely negated such tactics with their prowess against the ball turning away from them. Both Stokes and Morgan average above 60 against offspinners in ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, and have done so with a strike-rate over 90 against that bowling type.

Stats and trivia

• England won their only previous ODI encounter with Afghanistan, a rain-affected nine-wicket win in Sydney at the 2015 World Cup.
• With England having already been eliminated from the World Cup following their defeat against Bangladesh in Adelaide, that fixture marked the final ODI appearance of a number of England stalwarts – Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, James Tredwell and James Anderson.
• This contest provides a match-up between the two most prolific ODI bowlers since the 2015 World Cup … and they are both legspinners called Rashid. England’s Adil tops the charts with 131 from 87 games, but Afghanistan’s Khan (128 at 15.86) has an average that is almost half that of his counterpart.

Quotes

“Adil has probably been at his best in the last two games. He’s been unlucky. He’s had two dropped catches. I think that might have been the turning of how his figures look, but actually how it’s coming out of the hand is very impressive. The shoulder’s fine. Thank you.”
“Not only for us it’s difficult, every team is struggling here. But specifically for us, like we played the last four games, we face four different kind of conditions. But we are trying to learn from them, and we shall be in good form now.”

Gulbadin Naib, Afghanistan’s captain, on the challenge of playing in English conditions and weather.

Neil Dexter’s half-century the mainstay for visitors after they won the toss at Cheltenham

ECB Reporters Network15-Jul-2019
Matt Taylor and Ethan Bamber led the way with three wickets apiece as Gloucestershire bowled out Leicestershire for 252 on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship match at Cheltenham.Left-arm seamer Taylor returned 3 for 39 from 18 overs and debutant Bamber 3 for 53 from 22.3 overs after the visitors had won the toss and elected to take first use of what looked likely to be a good batting wicket. Neil Dexter and Paul Horton top scored for Leicestershire, who were reined in by more miserly bowling from Ryan Higgins in sunny conditions at the College Ground.The opening day of the annual festival began with new loan recruit Bamber taking a wicket with only his second ball for Gloucestershire as Hassan Azad was caught behind down the leg side by wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick in the second over.Signed to replace Josh Shaw following his recall by Yorkshire, the 20-year-old Middlesex seamer went on to beat the bat on several occasions in sending down 23 overs.It was soon looking a decent pitch as Horton and Dexter added 73 for the second wicket under sunny skies before Horton fell lbw to Taylor, having faced 60 balls and hit 8 fours.Dexter was unbeaten on 29 at lunch, which was taken at 92 for 2. That became 124 for 3 in the afternoon session when Colin Ackermann, on 21, miscued an attempted pull shot off Taylor and skied to Graeme van Buuuren at mid-wicket.Taylor’s six-over post-lunch spell from the Chapel End included three maidens and saw him concede only three runs. Harry Dearden and Ben Mike, the latter playing in place of Mark Cosgrove, who suffered a blow on the head batting in the nets before the game, could make only 7 apiece before being bowled by Higgins and Benny Howell respectively.When Dexter’s patient 178-ball knock ended with an edge to second slip off Sayers, Leicestershire were 151 for 6 and in danger of not collecting a batting point. But either side of tea, Callum Parkinson and young wicketkeeper Harry Swindells added 46 in solid fashion before Parkinson, on 19, became a third victim for Taylor, lbw looking to play a full delivery through the leg side.The second new ball was taken at 199 for 7 by which time Chris Wright had joined Swindells and quickly began to assert with some meaty boundaries.Swindells produced one of the shots of the day to square drive Higgins through the covers for four, but departed leg-before to the next delivery for a well-made 32 on only his third first-class appearance, with the score on 226.Wright also played well for his 30 before being bowled by Bamber with less than three overs remaining in the day’s play. Last man Mohammad Abbas then secured a second batting point for Leicestershire by clipping Higgins off his toes for two before being caught in the slips off Bamber to end play.Gloucestershire were without young batsman Ben Charlesworth because of a hand injury and selected left-arm spinner Tom Smith for his first Championship appearance of the season, believing the pitch will turn as the match progresses.

‘Time’s a healer,’ says the senior New Zealand batsman of the World Cup final result

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2019One month on from that incredible World Cup final and all the agony it sparked in them, New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka in a Test match in Galle. The encounter is the sole focus now, senior batsman Ross Taylor has said, especially since it marks the start of their run in an “exciting” new competition: the World Test Championship (WTC).”I’m excited,” Taylor said, according to . “The Test Championship is a new concept. Names and numbers on your backs, but Tests need something different and I believe this can give it a bit of a kick-start and liven it up.”What about the World Cup final then? “Time’s a bit of a healer, and we’ve got new personnel who didn’t play in the final,” Taylor said.The Galle Test is one of two New Zealand play against Sri Lanka, with 60 WTC points on offer each. Sri Lanka at home is often a challenging proposition, but New Zealand are the No. 2-ranked team in Test cricket, behind only India in the rankings, and are coming off five consecutive series victories in the longest format. Besides, they have the P Sara Oval Test of 2012 to guide them along.ALSO READ: All you need to know about the 2019-21 World Test Championship“Going over to Sri Lanka and playing Test cricket… it’s a pretty hard place to play, but we’ve had success in the past,” Taylor said. “Obviously spin is going to play a bit part. We’ve picked four spinners [legspinner Todd Astle, offspinner William Somerville, and left-armers Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner] but the team is a very settled line-up. And don’t underestimate how pace plays a part.”We won there in 2012, and it was pace that did the majority of the damage. We’ve just got to assess the conditions once we get over there.”At the P Sara Oval in 2012, New Zealand won by 167 runs, with their first-choice pace duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee claiming 15 of the 19 Sri Lanka wickets to fall to bowlers in the game. Taylor was Player of the Match, though, for his first-innings 142 and second-innings 74.This time, Taylor and New Zealand will have a new batting coach working with them. Former Test opener Peter Fulton is set for his first series in the role. “[Playing spin in Sri Lanka] is something we’ve been preparing a lot for,” Taylor said. “And Peter Fulton, we’re looking forward to working with him and picking his brains and getting some new ideas.”

Knight had injured her lower back during the opening overs of the first ODI of the series in Coolidge

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2019The CWI interim selection panel has replaced the injured Kycia Knight with Britney Cooper for the third and final ODI of the series against Australia, on Wednesday in Antigua.Knight had injured her lower back during the opening overs of the first ODI of the series in Coolidge, where Australia thrashed West Indies by 178 runs. Knight did not bat in the West Indies chase as a result, and did not feature in the second game. After “examining the scans” done on her, the CWI medical panel ruled Knight of the third ODI.Cooper joined the team in Antigua on Monday in preparation for the final game even as West Indies trail the series 0-2.Cooper last played an ODI in June in England but her single-digit scores in the series led to her omission from the original ODI squad against Australia. In six international innings this year – two ODIs and four T20Is – she has scored only 57 runs so far with a high score of 20.West Indies are also without their regular vice-captain Hayley Matthews, who had been withdrawn from the series just hours before the start of the opening ODI, due to disciplinary issues. The exact nature of her breach of the code of conduct is not known yet.

The opener added an unbroken 70-run stand with Watling to reduce the deficit to 48 at stumps on day three

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu24-Aug-2019
A compact century from Tom Latham and a more adventurous one from Dhananjaya de Silva headlined an absorbing day of cricket at Colombo’s P Sara Oval. De Silva’s 109 off 148 balls – 77 of them came today, off 86 balls, in the company of the tail – carried Sri Lanka to 244 and seemingly a position of strength, but Latham did well to stand up to their spin barrage even as the track showed signs of breaking up. The left-hander forged a crucial, unbroken 70-run stand with BJ Watling and trimmed the deficit to 48 at stumps on day three.This was Latham’s tenth Test hundred; only John Wright (12) has more among New Zealand Test openers. Watling, meanwhile, surpassed his former captain Brendon McCullum to become the leading run-getter among New Zealand Test wicketkeepers.Both Kane Williamson (20) and Ross Taylor (23) nicked off cheaply, but Latham saw off the new ball and later deployed a proactive approach against spin. His strengths – a still head, decisive footwork and intense focus – were on bright display against Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya and de Silva. He was also particularly strong off the back foot, cutting and pulling with purpose, but when the ball was full enough for the sweep, he nailed it into the leg-side gaps. As many as 81 of his 111 runs came on the leg side.It was only fitting that Latham raised his half-century with a hard, flat sweep to the square-leg boundary. He then reached his hundred with a full-blooded pull to the midwicket boundary against Dilruwan’s offbreaks.At the other end, Watling struggled against the ripping turn and bounce on offer but, as ever, his composure kept him on the wicket, unbeaten on 25.Lahiru Kumara celebrates a wicket•Associated Press

Sri Lanka ended the day with their own wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella having to give up the gloves to substitute Dinesh Chandimal after hurting a fingernail. Dimuth Karunaratne, the captain and often a key player in second innings of Test matches, also left the field with a thigh problem. Things were so different in the morning.De Silva was centre stage then, scoring 109 of the 151 runs that Sri Lanka made while he was out in the middle. There were sumptuous drives through cover, lofts straight over fast bowler’s heads and equally importantly those nicked singles that helped him keep strike and frustrate New Zealand. The innings was not without luck though. He was on 9 when Trent Boult missed a sitter of a caught-and-bowled chance and even when he was on 99, he very nearly inside-edged Tim Southee onto his stumps.But those moments faded away in light of the way he collared Ajaz Patel and struck three successive fours off the left-arm spinner, the pick of them an inside-out shot over extra-cover. It provided a throwback to his first runs in Test cricket: a similarly regal inside-out loft off Steve O’Keefe in Pallekele in 2016.Ajaz, however, found success at the other end when he pinned the other overnight batsman Dilruwan with an arm ball that skidded off the pitch. Southee then went around the wicket and softened Suranga Lakmal with a short-ball attack, which resulted in the batsman taking his eyes off and fending one behind to Watling. In his next over, Southee removed Embuldeniya to come within one scalp of joining Boult in reaching 250 Test wickets in the same game.De Silva, of course, persevered, even if the earlier moments of carefree abandon had given way to nerves as he approached his century with only the No. 11 at the other end. But a slash over backward point finally gave him what he wanted and he celebrated it by blowing kisses to the crowd. It was shaping up to be a very good day for Sri Lanka but now the Test match is back in the balance and the neutral fan should be bubbling with excitement.

A ninth-wicket partnership of 109 runs may have staved off an innings defeat for South Africa

The Report by Firdose Moonda12-Oct-20199:19

Agarkar: Will be surprised if India don’t enforce follow-on

Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander, the lead spinner and senior seamer of the South Africa team, were picked to do a job with the ball. But the pair frustrated India with the bat with a ninth-wicket partnership of 109 runs, South Africa’s third-highest in the series, and might have done enough to stave off an innings defeat.

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Virat Kohli will able to sleep on whether he wants to put South Africa, 326 runs behind, in again, but he will have plenty to consider. His bowlers were in the field for 105.4 overs and South Africa’s lower-order showed they are capable of making India work for their wickets. Kohli may also be wary of batting last on a surface that is taking turn, even if there is only an outside chance that India will need to chase a target. Either way, they sit in prime position to seal the series in the remaining two days and have asserted their dominance over a South African side whose quality remains in question.South Africa’s top-order batsmen were beaten at their own game as India’s seamers reduced them to 53 for 5. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami maintained a slightly fuller length and bowled to attacking fields, whereas South Africa’s bowlers had erred on the side of too short and too wide, and the difference brought wickets. Nightwatchman Anrich Nortje was dismissed in the third over, caught at fourth slip, and Theunis de Bruyn, who looked confident on the front foot for much of his 30 runs, ended up stuck in his crease, uncertain whether to move forward or back to an Umesh delivery and was caught behind.Mohammed Shami takes flight•BCCI

That brought South Africa’s most accomplished pair, captain Faf du Plessis and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, together. They posted 75 runs, with du Plessis increasingly authoritative on the cover drive, but the resistance was broken when de Kock was bowled by an R Ashwin delivery that also tested his footwork. South Africa scored 100 runs in the morning session but the loss of three wickets and all but one of their top-six batsmen saw them staring down the barrel of being asked to follow-on for the first time since 2008. It seemed certain that they would be asked to bat again as Kohli saved his quicks and kept his spinners on for 38 overs, but South Africa’s tail had other ideas.Philander, who was coming off a pair in the first Test, faced 22 balls before he scored his first run, an indication that he was settling in for a long stay. With du Plessis having brought up his second half-century of the series and looking comfortable on the sweep as well, South Africa showed some fight, but Ashwin made a timely breakthrough when he found du Plessis’ outside edge with a delivery that went straight on. At 162 for 8, South Africa’s resistance seemed up but Maharaj and Philander stonewalled so well against a ball that was softening that they forced Kohli to bring back his seamers.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Maharaj’s effort was particularly impressive because he did it nursing an injury. He went down while fielding on the first day and was taken for scans on his right shoulder. They proved inconclusive so he returned for a second set of scans on Saturday and was cleared to bat, and make jaws drop. The team management certainly sat back and marvelled as he scored a career-best 72 off only 132 balls. It is, however, still unclear if Maharaj can bowl as the Test match drags on.The only chance of the entire partnership came when Maharaj, on 44, offered a return catch to Ashwin, but the offspinner could not hold on in his follow-through. Maharaj went on to a maiden Test fifty and his partnership with Philander leapfrogged the 91 runs put on by Dane Piedt and Senuran Muthusamy for the ninth-wicket in Visakhapatnam. They also faced the second-highest number of balls by any ninth- or tenth-wicket pair in India – 259.South Africa’s ninth wicket is only 30 runs off being their most productive pairing in this series. Under different circumstances, that would be something to celebrate. Now, though, it will only leave their top order wondering why they have not be able to put similar pressure on India when it mattered more instead of when the fight is already up. They will have a second innings to answer that question, and it may come as early as tomorrow.India bowled South Africa out in the dying stages of the day’s play, first removing Maharaj, who was caught at leg slip, and then trapping Kagiso Rabada lbw. Ashwin claimed both wickets. That leaves India with two full days, either to add to their total and then attempt to bowl South Africa out again or to try to take ten more wickets straight away. Given how porous South Africa’s batting has looked, either will be regarded as a safe option, putting India within touching distance of a series win.