The last time a team came back from 0-2 to win the Ashes, Sir Don Bradman was at the forefront of that charge. Can England’s batsmen strike similar form on a ground where they haven’t had much success?

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale13-Dec-20172:33

‘We’re so close to getting it right’ – Root

Big Picture

Big picture? You want the big picture? Well, here’s a picture so big it makes Rembrandt’s look like a postage stamp. After 135 years of Ashes campaigns, the series tally is currently locked at 32-32. England dominated in the 19th century, but to be fair Australia wasn’t even a country at that point. Once the 20th century and Australian federation arrived, the ledger evened up. Eventually. But it did happen in the 20th century. By 1997, Australia had finally caught up with England and the series tally was 27-27. One of sport’s oldest trophies had at length become one of the most closely contested. And over the next five days in Perth, Australia have the chance to make it 33-32.And speaking of Ashes history, after this match the WACA will be exactly that: Ashes history. A new multi-sport stadium has been built in Perth and will be opened with an ODI next month, and in future the WACA’s only hope of international matches will be when lesser-drawing nations tour Australia. England probably won’t complain. While the WACA has been one of Australia’s worst home venues in recent years – they have won only four of their past nine Tests there – it has never been a good ground for England. In 13 Ashes Tests at the WACA, England have managed only one win – in 1978 during the World Series Cricket schism. It is possible that both teams will be happy to move across the Swan River to the new stadium.But for now, the WACA it is, and the urn is on the line. England must at least salvage a draw to have any hope of retaining the Ashes. Only once in Ashes history has a team come back from 2-0 down to win a series, and that required Australia’s captain Don Bradman to pile up scores of 270, 212 and 169 in the remaining three Tests in 1936-37. Who will be England’s Bradman? No England player has scored a century yet in this series. Bradman also did not have to deal with the scrutiny caused by off-field issues, the likes of which have plagued England’s campaign. Only one thing is certain: if Joe Root wins the toss, he won’t send Australia in.For Steven Smith, this Test is a chance to complete a remarkable cycle. It was at the WACA against England four years ago that Smith spontaneously added a preliminary movement to his batting technique, and his results have been astounding. Prior to that change, Smith had made 825 Test runs at 33.00 including one century. Since the change he has scored 4732 Test runs at 70.62, including 20 centuries. And now, returning to the WACA for an Ashes Test for the first time since then, Smith may find himself captaining Australia to an Ashes series win.

Form guide

Australia WWWLL (last five matches, most recent first)
England LLWLWGetty Images

In the spotlight

Like his brother Shaun, Mitchell Marsh has started his Test career with a few ins and outs, though he also enjoyed a lengthier stretch in the team during 2015 and 2016. Now, Mitchell Marsh looks likely to be recalled as Australia seek an extra bowling option on a WACA pitch that might be good for batting. Marsh played the first two Tests in India this year before being sent home with a shoulder injury, and although he has only returned to bowling for the past two Sheffield Shield matches, his efforts have impressed Australia’s selectors enough to have him return to the squad, and probably to the XI.On Test debut in Adelaide, Craig Overton took the most wickets in Australia’s first innings, top-scored in England’s first innings, and took an excellent catch running and diving from the outfield in Australia’s second innings. It was a highly encouraging all-round effort from Overton, who earned not only a blue cap at Adelaide Oval but also a blue badge of sorts, in the form of a nasty bruise on his ribcage caused by a Pat Cummins short ball. But the delivery that he will remember best surely will be his first Test wicket, that of Steven Smith, bowled by a ball that nipped in a touch but more importantly had Smith caught in two minds due to its perfect length. Joe Root will be hoping Overton can provide further such magic in Perth.

Team news

Australia will not name their XI until the morning of the match, but if the pitch looks remotely flat, it is expected that Mitchell Marsh will replace Peter Handscomb to provide a fifth bowling option.Australia (probable): 1 Cameron Bancroft, 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Tim Paine (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.England have named an unchanged XI but Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow have swapped places in the order,England 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Mark Stoneman, 3 James Vince, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Dawid Malan, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Craig Overton, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James AndersonAFP

Pitch and conditions

Will it be the WACA pitch of old? Pace and bounce? These questions have preceded every Perth Test in recent years, and the answer varies from summer to summer. Some years there are hints of the old WACA, other years it is one of the country’s most docile surfaces. Western Australia coach Justin Langer says the past few Sheffield Shield games at the WACA have been played on flat pitches, but curator Matt Page is confident the surface will be quicker than last year. The forecast for Perth is hot, though with a chance of rain on days four and five.

Stats and trivia

• Alastair Cook will become the eighth player in history to appear in 150 Tests
• Stuart Broad is seven wickets away from becoming the second England player (James Anderson is the other) to take 400 in Tests
• Australia have won only one of their past four Tests at the WACA – but it was against England, in 2013-14

Quotes

“It’s probably not as hard as I would have liked it to be a day out, but 24 hours can change a wicket.”
“I want to be concentrating on making sure we get things right on the field. That’s my job as captain. I’m trying to develop a team that over a long period can achieve success and do special things.”

Steven Smith moved serenely towards a 21st Test hundred as Australia continued the fightback started by taking England’s last six wickets for 35 runs

The Report by Brydon Coverdale15-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFour years ago this week, Steven Smith spontaneously changed his technique while batting against England at the WACA, adding a preliminary movement in an innings that became his second Test century. Back at the same ground, against the same opposition, but now as Australia’s captain and the best batsman in the world, Smith looked impenetrable as he sauntered towards what could become his 22nd Test hundred and dragged his team back into the contest on day two in Perth.England had started the morning in a powerful position at 4 for 305, and an England Ashes record fifth-wicket partnership of 237 between Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow built the perfect platform for a hefty total. Along the way, Bairstow raised his first Test century in 18 months, but when their stand was broken the England lower order collapsed quickly on a WACA pitch offering some of the old pace and bounce, and their last six wickets fell for 35.England were all out for 403 – still an imposing score, but not one that posed an insurmountable object for the Australians. And despite some fine bowling from Craig Overton, who picked off both of Australia’s openers after they made starts, Smith ensured that his side finished the day in a satisfactory position at 3 for 203, trailing by 200 with seven wickets in hand. By the close, Smith was on 92 and Shaun Marsh had 7, having come to the crease after Usman Khawaja was lbw to Chris Woakes for 50.Khawaja had scratched his way to his half-century from 122 deliveries, but his next ball was angled in from Woakes and struck Khawaja on the back leg. Given out on field, Khawaja reviewed the decision: there was more rocking and rolling in the third umpire’s room than at an Elvis concert as Aleem Dar tried to ascertain whether a Snicko spike was ball on bat, but in the end Khawaja was sent on his way. Marsh might have followed him in the closing overs, only for a chance off Moeen Ali, rebounding from the boot of short leg, to somehow evade both Mark Stoneman and Bairstow.Khawaja’s fifty had come about half as quickly as Smith’s, which was fitting for Smith looked about twice as good. There were some cracks in the pitch that provided the occasional spot of uneven bounce, but if it wasn’t a road, Smith enjoyed driving on it all the same, punishing England’s fast bowlers when they overpitched. He also latched on to short deliveries when he could, and dealt prolifically in boundaries on his way to a 58-ball half-century.Steven Smith punches with a high elbow•Getty Images

England were not helped by the absence of Overton for a period during the final session, as he appeared to struggle with a problem in his rib/chest region. He had clearly been England’s most dangerous bowler during the early stages of Australia’s innings, drawing an edge behind from David Warner on 22 from a ball that angled in and straightened, and then trapping Cameron Bancroft lbw for 25 with a delivery angled in from wide of the crease.Overton might have added Khawaja to his wicket tally if he could have held on to a very difficult diving return chance early in the batsman’s innings, and Khawaja had another life on 28 when his edge off Woakes was missed by Joe Root at slip. Khawaja went on to compile a 124-run stand with Smith, but it was barely half as big as the partnership between Malan and Bairstow that set up England’s innings.They broke the 79-year-old England Ashes record for a fifth-wicket partnership, which had been held by Denis Compton and Eddie Paynter, who put on 206 at Trent Bridge in 1938, and along the way Bairstow brought up his hundred from his 185th delivery with a single to fine leg. Fittingly, given the drama that followed the Brisbane Test, he celebrated his first Test hundred since the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka in June 2016 with an understated headbutt to his own helmetThe 237-run partnership finally ended when Malan was brilliantly caught by substitute fieldsman Peter Handscomb off the bowling of Nathan Lyon for 140. Malan failed to get to the pitch of the ball and in trying to hit Lyon over the top, succeeded only in spooning an edge up into the off side, where Handscomb ran briskly from backward point and took the catch while diving forward at full stretch, the kind of effort that Australia needed to turn their game around.Moeen lasted only two deliveries before the extra bounce from Pat Cummins troubled him and the ball lobbed off his glove to Smith at slip. Another fine catch, this time from Cummins at long leg, ended Woakes’ innings on 8 off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood, before Mitchell Starc curled one in to rattle the stumps of Bairstow, who was bowled for 119.A short delivery from Hazlewood accounted for Overton, who on 2 managed only to fend the ball to Bancroft at short leg, and Starc wrapped up the innings by having Stuart Broad caught at short leg awkwardly swinging at a bouncer. Starc had finished with four wickets and Hazlewood three, and Australia’s quick despatching of England’s tail had kept them in the match. By stumps, England knew they had to find a way through Smith in order to keep their own Ashes campaign alive.

New Zealand will arrive for their first T20 in Australia since 2009 looking to put one over on an inexperienced home line-up

The Preview by Alan Gardner02-Feb-2018

Big Picture

The first T20 tri-series between Full Members ought to be a significant moment, a possible sign of how to give greater relevance to the international format outside of World T20s. The fact that the first match during the Australia leg has to be shoehorned in between the semi-final and final of the Big Bash League shows just how unforgiving the schedules have become.David Warner knows that better than most, as he prepares to lead Australia in four T20s against New Zealand and England, with the possibility of a final in Auckland on February 21 – the day before Australia’s tour game begins in Benoni ahead of their four-Test series against South Africa. While Steven Smith has been given time off, Warner is charged with reinvigorating Australian fortunes in T20, where they currently find themselves ranked No. 7 in the world.To that end, the selectors have channelled the success of the BBL, plucking out some of the competition’s leading performers: D’Arcy Short is the most eye-catching, alongside IPL millionaire Andrew Tye, raw quick Billy Stanlake, up-and-coming wicketkeeper Alex Carey and uncapped Ben Dwarshuis. With experienced hitters such as Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn and Marcus Stoinis to pack the middle order, Australia will hope to settle on the nucleus of a side to build for the future, which includes a World T20 on home soil in two years’ time.Crossing the ditch for a rare visit (their first in T20 since 2009) is a New Zealand team in supreme form, ranked No. 2 in T20I. Until being beaten twice by Pakistan – to whom they lost their No. 1 ranking – New Zealand had sauntered through their home summer, winning every game bar a washed-out T20 against West Indies. In pursuit of a first win on Australian soil since the 2011 Hobart Test, Kane Williamson and his men won’t mind arriving under cover of the BBL before slipping back across the Tasman for the rest of the tournament.Colin Munro attempts a switch hit•Getty Images

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WLWLL
New Zealand LLWWW

In the spotlight

D’Arcy Short lit up the BBL, his tournament-leading 504 runs at a strike rate of 147.80 helping Hobart Hurricanes into the knockout stages (and, perhaps, inspiring them to reach Sunday’s final in his absence). Paradoxically, his expected international debut is likely to be a more low-key event, but the presence of an indigenous player in Australia’s XI carries important symbolism. And he can hit it, too.January was a pretty good month for Mitchell Santner. Picked up at the IPL auction for the first time, he overtook his team-mate Ish Sodhi as the No. 1-ranked T20 bowler and also successfully unveiled his carrom ball – the “Santner Claw” – during the ODIs against Pakistan. One of the younger faces in a dynamic, experienced New Zealand side, his tidy left-arm spin should go well at the SCG.

Team news

Aaron Finch has been ruled out of the opening match, due to the hamstring strain he suffered in the ODI series against England; Warner suggested either Short or Lynn will open alongside him. Travis Head will dash to Sydney from Adelaide and then back for the BBL final, while an inexperienced pace attack is likely to be led by Andrew Tye.Australia (possible): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 D’Arcy Short, 3 Travis Head, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Chris Lynn, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 Andrew Tye, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Adam Zampa/Billy StanlakeNew Zealand will hope to have Colin Munro fit, after a hamstring tweak kept him out of their defeat in the third T20 against Pakistan. Sydney’s friendliness to spin could see Anaru Kitchen included ahead of Seth Rance to back up Santner and Sodhi.New Zealand (possible): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Colin de Grandhomme, 6 Anaru Kitchen, 7 Tom Blundell (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ish Sodhi

Pitch and conditions

The surface for the ODI last month was slightly two-paced, although that didn’t stop England from scoring 300 thanks to Jos Buttler’s late assault. The last T20 international played at the SCG was also run-filled, as India chased down 198 off the last ball. There is a forecast for rain on Saturday but it could well pass through before the evening start time.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have only beaten Australia once in six T20 encounters – although that was in their last meeting, during the 2016 World T20.
• Australia’s pace-bowling options of Tye, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake and Ben Dwarshuis have 11 T20 caps between them.
• Colin Munro is three runs short of becoming the fifth New Zealander to 1000 in T20s; last month, he became the only man to score three T20 international hundreds.

Quotes

“We’ve probably said it for the last 12-24 months about improving our overall assessment of how we play this format, sometimes we either fall in a heap with our batting or we don’t start well with the ball.”
“We can’t take anyone lightly because anyone can have their day and rip through a batting line-up.”

After 12 months of poor ODI results, the Australia coach has conceded the team will need a fresh, more aggressive approach to be able to contend for World Cup 2019 in England

Daniel Brettig12-Feb-2018Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has conceded the national team will need a fresh, more aggressive approach to be able to contend for next year’s 50-over World Cup in England, following 12 months of poor results for the ODI set-up.As the Twenty20 team shows the benefits of fresh bodies and minds in the current triangular series, Lehmann said discussions about the ODI squad were advancing quickly with little more than 20 games left between now and the global tournament in 2019. Australia’s next 50-over assignment will be in England in mid-year, and Lehmann indicated he wanted to see the national selection panel nail down a squad to keep together from that point until the global tournament begins.

Warner given brief respite from T20s

Two nights in your own bed may not sound like much, but Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann is hopeful a “mini-break” for David Warner will rouse the stand-in Twenty20 captain from a run of low scores for both the pointy end of the triangular series and the Test tour of South Africa to follow it.
“We’re going to let him go home after the Allan Border Medal for a couple of days and just arrive the day before the game,” Lehmann said of Warner, who will stay in Sydney for two days before flying to New Zealand on Thursday ahead of Friday’s next match. “Give him a couple days at home really. It’s always a challenge when you’ve got the schedule as it is, but David’s really keen to play as captain, so we’ll give him a couple days off and get him to New Zealand just before the game and he can play.
“You’ve got your leaders in Steven [Smith] and David and you need one of them to captain, so that’s the reason behind it from the selection panel, making sure we’ve got constant messaging through our leaders and David’s been great in this series. Steven’s had his break, David will get a little mini-break, and Steven’s got to do the tour game while we’re playing the [T20] final.
“You can only do so much work. He’s been working so hard it’s almost like give him a couple days away from the game. Ricky Ponting’s been doing some really good work with him. So we expect him to come out of that rut pretty quickly.”

In an admission that the Australian team had fallen behind in terms of batting tempo, Lehmann said that the likely flat pitches and small grounds for the World Cup in England would necessitate a greater level of aggression with the bat, not unlike that used by Eoin Morgan’s team over the past two years. This is a significant shift from Lehmann’s declaration, following Australia’s elimination from the Champions Trophy, also in England last year, that “when they win a World Cup, we can take the way they play”.”The results are more about execution for us. We had to chop and change a lot of the side depending on what’s happening with the Test arena and going from Test to non-Test and obviously Tests are a focus for us,” Lehmann said. “So we haven’t been able to have a settled one day side. I’d like to see us play with a settled side over six months and see what the result is then, see how we play.”[Team approach] will change in the fact you’ve got to be more aggressive in England because of the wickets, but then it can be overcast and swing, so you’ve got to have both ways covered for England as we’ve seen, you can play a certain way but you’ve got to be able to change, depending on what the pitch is and the conditions above.”He also indicated that the physical and mental toll of the preceding Ashes series had underlined how carefully Lehmann, the captain Steven Smith and the selectors would have to be about managing resources over the next 18 months, amid the competing priorities of Tests, the run-in to the 50-over World Cup and also efforts to raise Australia’s international Twenty20 standing ahead of hosting the World T20 in 2020 – after Lehmann’s tenure as coach is set to end in late 2019.”They were pretty tired by the end of it,” Lehmann said of the Test players who backed up the ODI matches. “We certainly didn’t win the crunch moments in that one-day series, we had opportunities in every game and in the past our one day format we’ve scored those extra 30-40 runs and taken earlier wickets. We didn’t do that, guys were a little bit tired and down I suppose, excited by the result of the Ashes, but didn’t perform as well as we’d like in the one-day format. So that’s another area we’ve got to look at and how we go about it.”[The improved T20 performance] gives you food for thought after a long, tough Test series… fresh guys coming in. That’s been exciting for us as a coaching group, the way they’ve gone about it has been pretty special so far. It gives you a lot of thought moving forward and that’s a great thing.”We’ll sit down at the end of the South African series [to review], but we’ve always got to look forward. World Cup’s coming along pretty quickly, I think there’s about 22 games to go before we play our first game. So we’ll have to settle on a group of players, we think we’ve got a really good group, it’s just where we fit in, how we look, the style of play. We know what England’s going to produce in terms of pitches, they’re going to be pretty good, so it’s going to be a pretty high-scoring World Cup, so we’ll have to look at that.”To that end, the power hitting of Chris Lynn looms as a key part of Australia’s plans, more than likely batting at No. 3. Lehmann said he wanted to see Lynn, who rejected a Queensland state contract last year to concentrate on T20 tournaments, play in all forms for his state, particularly once his lengthy rehabilitation from shoulder surgery returns the joint to full strength and health.”You’d love to, yeah,” Lehmann said when asked whether he wanted to see Lynn play the domestic 50-over tournament this year. “It just gets down to fitness with Chris at the moment. His shoulder is getting better, and we hope he plays as much cricket as he can in all formats. He’s exciting as we’ve seen, he missed out in the second game, but first game he came out and took the game on.”This game on Saturday, he took the game on and took it away from England, so he’s an exciting talent. He’s getting there, within three or four months I think he’ll be back with his shoulder and more confident with what he’s doing .It’s getting better each and every day, it’s just a time factor with this shoulder.”Another player who has resumed his central place in Australia’s limited-overs plans is Glenn Maxwell, after a summer in which he has been the centre of much discussion about his role and relationships with Lehmann and Smith in particular. “He’s finished games off for us and won us games, and that’s what we’ve been asking for and he’s delivered on the big stage for us, it’s been excellent the way he’s gone about it,” Lehmann said of Maxwell’s T20 displays.”His preparation has been excellent and the way he has actually played, put more responsibility [on him] batting at No. 4 in the T20s and he’s been exceptional. It seems like he’s taken the knocks really well and come back and proved his point. Now we just want him to continue that and be really consistent, and I’m sure he will be.”Lehmann also indicated that the move of Aaron Finch down the T20 batting order to leave D’Arcy Short as an opener would likely continue, given the older man’s strong recent IPL record in the middle order and the large number of opening batsmen in the team. “His record in the IPL batting Nos. 4 and 5 is unbelievable so we wanted to shape up and see how that looks like,” he said. “D’Arcy’s been very good for us at the top, so I think we’ll continue with that, in the short-term anyway.”Looking overall at the home summer, Lehmann said that the ODI series had been the only disappointment in between a comprehensive Ashes series win and positive steps forward for the T20 squad, which will depart Australia for New Zealand on Tuesday in the same week the bulk of the Test squad will travel to South Africa for next month’s four-Test assignment.”It was an unbelievable summer. Record crowds, record viewership,” Lehmann said. “You’ve got to win the Ashes at home, that’s the biggest thing for us. One-dayers were a little disappointing as we know, T20s have been exciting, but overall you’d be pretty happy with the summer I would’ve thought. I know the fans have enjoyed BBL, the one-dayers, the whole lot. From our point of view, it’s been exciting times and exciting cricket.”

Moeen Ali says he never expected to play 50 Tests and the achievement might help him put an unrewarding Ashes tour behind him

Andrew McGlashan18-Mar-2018Moeen Ali probably had the worst Ashes of any England player. His batting average sank and his bowling average soared. But he isn’t one to dwell on disappointments for too long, especially as he prepares for the significant milestone of his 50th Test.He has only missed one Test since his debut in 2014 – against West Indies, in Antigua in 2015, when he had an abdominal injury – and at his best helped make England’s lower order among the most feared in the world while manfully carrying the role of lead spinner (except for that odd period last year when the tag was given to Liam Dawson) even though it has never been his specialist discipline.”I never ever thought I was going to play that many games,” Moeen said. “When I got 25 I thought 50 seemed like a long way. It’s been great to be part of the set-up and hopefully this week will be an amazing feeling for myself.”The fact he never got out of the starting blocks in the Ashes means he needs to recapture the form that made him such a match-changing force against South Africa last year when he was Man of the Series. He was set back in Australia by a side strain which limited his preparation then suffered a cut spinning finger due to the hard Kookaburra seam which never really healed. The end result was a bowling return of five wickets at 115.To make matters worse, his batting slumped against his opposite number Nathan Lyon who removed him seven times in nine innings.Since then he has regained bowling confidence in the one-day format, playing an important role in the series wins against Australia and New Zealand, but trying to get through ten overs as economically as possible is a very different challenge to teasing out batsmen in a Test match with the pink or red ball”I think the Ashes was quite tough for me and the one-dayers came at a good time and I feel like my confidence is slowly getting back,” he said.Nathan Lyon had the measure of Moeen Ali in the Ashes•Getty Images

“Obviously you lose your confidence from such a bad tour as a team, not just as an individual. I’m sure there’s quite a lot of the guys want to put that right…but in terms of confidence you play so much cricket now that you’ve got to get back on that horse and try your best and almost forget about the bad days if you can.”The finger is not causing Moeen a problem anymore – he supplemented his one-day workload with more than 40 overs on England’s two bowling days in Hamilton – although does now have a sore shoulder which he picked up in the second ODI at Mount Maunganui. It is causing him a few problems throwing but his bowling is unaffected.Quite where his batting sits after the Ashes problems is a little harder to deduce given his limited opportunities to build an innings in the ODIs. It is also not yet entirely clear where he will be in the order for Auckland. If Ben Stokes is available as a fully-fledged allrounder, Moeen could be back down to No. 8 with Chris Woakes at No. 9, but if Stokes’ workload has to be restricted he will likely bat No. 5 which would to allow an extra bowler and Moeen would slot in at No. 7.”I hope he’s bowling. The balance of the team is pretty much sorted when he’s in,” Moeen said of Stokes. “Knowing we’ve got a much stronger side when he’s playing, it gives everyone else a good lift, and obviously him being at slip for me, he’s very good in that position. And he’s great to have just to talk to about bowling. When I’m bowling he gives me quite a lot of advice. I’m sure he’s ready to go and ready to perform and give back to the team, which I’m sure he wants to do for what happened earlier.”Stokes will be put through his paces in Auckland on Monday, his first serious bowl since the one-day series and having an injection in his back last week. He was moving freely with the bat during his 27 in Hamilton and then returned for extra centre-wicket practice after the match had finished. For different reasons, this series is a fresh start for two of England’s allrounders.

The first man to score 10,000 runs in the Plunket Shield has called time on his playing days

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2018Michael Papps, the first man to score 10,000 runs in the Plunket Shield, has called time on his playing days. The 38-year old retires having played 20 seasons of domestic cricket, representing Canterbury and later Wellington.Papps was part of eight Tests and six ODIs for New Zealand and is a much loved figure in the country and he saluted the people on his way out. “The personal and collective triumphs, the runs scored, the days in the dirt, and the games won and lost are all memories I will take away, but most of all it will be the people, the teams I’ve played for, both here and overseas, and the great friends I have made that I will cherish the most.”Papps’ crowning moment was in the season gone by, when he became the oldest triple-centurion since World War II, and the first ever for Wellington, when he made an unbeaten 316 against Auckland in October. Speaking about the effort to reporters, he said, “I was just hoping to get off the mark and anything else was a bonus.”Papps began his career with Canterbury in the 1998-99 season, scoring 6,663 runs for them, including 19 centuries. He moved to Wellington in 2011-12 and also captained them, adding a further 4837 runs to his tally and smashing 13 more centuries. In List A cricket, he played 166 matches and struck 5810 to go with 12 hundreds and 32 fifties.”I would like to thank the Canterbury Cricket Association for teaching me the game and giving me the best grounding a young cricketer could possibly receive, and to Cricket Wellington for enabling me to expand my horizons and providing me with a new challenge,” Papps said.New Zealand Cricket CEO David White praised Papps’ contribution to the game, saying, “to make over 12,000 first-class runs over 20 seasons, Michael’s contribution to cricket has been immense. I want to congratulate him for a brilliant career and on behalf of NZC wish him all the best for the future.”

Sussex and Gloucestershire made up for lost time as 22 wickets went down on the second day at Hove

ECB Reporters Network28-Apr-2018
ScorecardSussex and Gloucestershire made up for lost time when their Specsavers County Championship Division Two match resumed at Hove on Saturday. Just 21 overs had been bowled on the opening day, when no wickets fell, but 22 went down on the second day and Sussex, 51 for 2 in their second innings, led by 13.Having begun the day on 86 for 0, Sussex were bowled out for 145, losing all 10 wickets for 59 runs in 26 overs before lunch, with Ryan Higgins taking a career-best 5 for 21. Luke Wright, who was dropped twice, was Sussex’s top scorer in the session with 13.There was some encouragement from a lively pitch, and the overcast conditions suited the bowlers too. But a number of batsmen also perished by their own careless hands.Luke Wells had added just two runs to his overnight 25 when he was caught behind playing forward to Higgins. In the same bowler’s next over Phil Salt, 54 not out overnight, skied to long leg.The wickets continued to tumble: Stiaan van Zyl was caught in the gully off Higgins, Harry Finch was caught behind off Daniel Worrall and captain Ben Brown was lbw to Worrall for a second ball duck, leaving Sussex 105 for 5.Mark Burgess and Ollie Robinson, rashly, were caught in the slips from successive deliveries with the score on at 116, both off Higgins, and it was 117 for 8 when David Wiese lost his leg stump to Matt Taylor. Briggs and Wright had a final fling but Gloucestershire still had time to face one over before lunch.Sussex broke through with the score on 27, when Chris Dent dragged on a delivery from Robinson, losing his middle stump.A vigorous innings from Benny Howell, who had hit star Sussex signing Ishant Sharma for three fours in four balls, came to an end when he was lbw to one that moved into him from Wiese. Ishant was taken out of the attack after his first three overs cost 32 but Robinson struck again when he bowled James Bracey for 15.It was 102 for 4 when Robinson took his third wicket, having Gareth Roderick lbw for 23 as the batsman shuffled forward.At tea Gloucestershire were still well placed, but Jack Taylor, hooking as he took his eye off the ball, was caught at long leg – 107 for 5. Gloucestershire were not even sure of gaining a first-innings lead when Craig Miles was eighth out at 144. But some firm blows from Kieran Noema-Barnett (31) gave his side an advantage worth 38. Wiese and Robinson shared nine wickets between them.When Sussex batted again, in the best conditions of the day, Salt had his middle stump plucked out by Higgins for a second-ball duck. Wells was then bowled by Noema-Barnett for 22 with the last ball of the day.

England’s batting once again malfunctioned in tough seaming conditions, and against a quality Pakistan attack

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando24-May-20184:36

#PoliteEnquiries: Pakistan brilliant or England poor?

Pakistan 50 for 1 trail England 184 (Cook 70, Abbas 4-23, Hasan 4-51) by 134 runs

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGreen pitch underfoot, grey skies overhead, Joe Root chose to bat first and then… oh dear… a collapse. Pakistan’s four-man seam operation seized on the helpful conditions, bowling relentlessly full lengths, darting the ball in each direction, and ultimately sending the hosts plunging to 184 all out, just after tea.It was one of those rare days in which Pakistan may be described as clinical. They held their catches, including two outstanding takes by Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Amir. They made good DRS calls, overturning one lbw decision. Even when England threatened to recover, Alastair Cook and Jonny Bairstow putting on a 57-run stand at one stage, the seamers continued to attack and the pressure they imposed never dissipated.England’s effort on the first day of their Test summer, meanwhile, was riddled with error. Root’s decision to bat first appears foolhardy, for a start. As does the loose drive that cost him his wicket. The bottom half of the batting order offered too little resistance, the last six wickets falling for 35 runs. Late in the day, they also grassed a chance behind the wicket, Ben Stokes reaching across from third slip to attempt a catch that would have been much more comfortably taken by second slip.There were several outstanding spells from Pakistan’s quicks, but three dismissals in particular stand out. Mohammad Abbas had set Pakistan’s day off in sublime swinging fashion, and it was his dismissal of Mark Stoneman that began England’s slide. Having harassed Stoneman outside off stump for nine scoreless deliveries, Abbas pitched one straighter, and whipped it back at the batsman. Stoneman was in such a poor position to play that ball, the gap between his bat and pad wasn’t really a gate – more a wide-open hangar door.Hasan Ali claimed the big wicket of Joe Root for 4•Getty Images

After lunch, Faheem Ashraf – who had bowled a fine spell in support of Hasan Ali earlier – removed Jonny Bairstow with a ball that seamed up the slope. Angling the delivery into Bairstow, Ashraf moved it away off the pitch, beating the batsman’s prod, but not missing the the top of off stump. Mohammad Amir’s ball to get Cook, though, was perhaps the best of the day, the ball again angling into the batsman but jiving into the top of off stump, the ball having also curved before it pitched. It ended England’s best innings of the day by far. Cook’s 70 off 148 balls not only protected his team from total ignominy, it was also a satisfying innings on a personal level. His previous five scores were 14, 2, 2, 5 and 10.From there, England unraveled quickly. Ben Stokes was trapped in front by Abbas, the umpire having initially ruled not out before DRS intervened. Jos Buttler’s post-IPL season began poorly, when he flashed at a Hasan delivery, and managed only to send the ball quickly to second slip, where Shafiq made a sharp overhead grab. No one in the tail managed double figures – the last three wickets falling inside six balls. Each of Pakistan’s quicks had played their part, but fittingly, it was Abbas who came away with the best figures, taking 4 for 23 off 14 overs. Hasan also took four.Pakistan were cagey in response, Azhar Ali especially reticent as he laboured to 18 off 72 balls. But in moving to 50 by stumps, they had calmed some nerves – even by the evening session this pitch looked very green and the weather had not cleared. England’s quicks beat the bat regularly, but only one could claim a breakthrough. Stuart Broad trapped Imam-ul-Haq in front for 4 in the sixth over, DRS again required to overturn the decision. They could have had Pakistan two-down had that catch off Haris Sohail been held, but even if he had fallen, this was still emphatically Pakistan’s day.

The Bangladesh ODI captain was thought to be an unlikely starter for the series owing to the poor health of his wife

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jul-2018Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza will travel to the West Indies late on Monday, for the ODI series that begins on July 22. Mashrafe didn’t fly out with the rest of the ODI specialists earlier this week in order to be by the side of his wife, who had been ill for the last four weeks. However, an improvement in her health – she has returned home from hospital – has resulted in a change of plans.Bangladesh have a lone warm-up one-day game scheduled on July 19 in Kingston. The first ODI of the three-match series will take place in Providence on July 22, before their tour concludes with a T20I series in the first week of August. Bangladesh have already lost the Test series, where they were swept 2-0.

With Ed Smith and the selectors currently pondering England’s squad to play India in the first Test, we take a look at who could be in contention

Alan Gardner25-Jul-20180:33

Gale plays down chance of red-ball return for Rashid

Top order
Alastair Cook confirmed his readiness for consecutive Test No. 155 by scoring 180 for the Lions against India A last week, and he is likely to be joined at the top of the order by Jennings, who batted once for 29 on his return at Headingley, but has been in productive form this season for Lancashire, with three Championship hundreds. That would mean no room for Surrey’s Rory Burns, currently the leading run-scorer in the country, unless the selectors wanted to shuffle Joe Root back down to No. 4. What seems more likely is Dawid Malan retaining his place at four, having scored twin fifties for the Lions – Burns, who captained the team, made 5 and 38 – above England’s multi-faceted lower-middle order engine room. Malan’s Middlesex team-mate Nick Gubbins, who made 73 against India A, might be a contender as the summer wears on.Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings run between the wickets•AFP

Allrounders
Injury kept Ben Stokes out of England’s last Test, and he will miss the second match of the India series due to his impending court appearance, but he is a default pick at No. 6 and proved his bowling is in good order by taking 8 for 118 in Durham’s Championship match this week. If England stick with the blueprint used against Pakistan, Stokes will have Jonny Bairstow above him and Jos Buttler below. While it might make sense to give the gloves to the man lower down, Bairstow has been bullish about his ability to keep and bat at No. 5, while Buttler seemed to thrive on the freedom of coming in lower down, and has so far managed to maintain the purple patch of form that caught Smith’s eye during the IPL. Sam Curran, the debutant who came in for Stokes against Pakistan, could also be included with an eye towards Lord’s.Seam
Although the senior new-ball pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been managing injuries over the last few weeks, both seemed to come through Championship games – for Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, respectively – without any issues. The same can’t be said for Mark Wood, who bowled only six overs at Cheltenham before complaining of pain in his heel; he went for a scan on Tuesday, with Durham coach Jon Lewis saying “it could be something and nothing”, but England may not want to risk him. Chris Woakes, the third seamer at Headingley, subsequently missed six weeks with a thigh problem and only managed match figures of 2 for 139 for Warwickshire over the past few days at Lord’s, but a record of 46 wickets at 23.76 in home Tests stands in his favour. Other candidates might include Jake Ball, who played his last Test during the winter’s Ashes; Essex’s Jamie Porter, the leading wicket-taker in the Championship last season; Somerset’s Overton twins, with the oft-injured Jamie showcasing some impressive pace in their ongoing match at New Road; and even Matt Fisher, Yorkshire’s former England U-19 who was part of the Lions team that thrashed India A by 253 runs.Positive spin: Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid impressed in the opening match against Australia•Getty Images

Spin
If Smith wants to roll the dice, then this is perhaps the most likely department for a gamble. Talk swirled last week about a possible recall for Adil Rashid – after he left Virat Kohli goggling at a sharp-turning legbreak during the third ODI – but he has not played a first-class game since September, and Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale said on Tuesday there had been no signs of Rashid pushing for a comeback. Bess impressed with his all-round ability against Pakistan, but was left out this week by Somerset in favour of Jack Leach, whose broken thumb initially gave Bess a shot with England. Left-armer Leach might offer a more probing line of attack against India’s battery of right-hand batsmen, and if England want an offspin option as well, that could open up a way back for Moeen Ali. Dropped for Leach in New Zealand, Moeen seems to have rediscovered his bowling confidence with England’s white-ball teams, and this week claimed 8 for 170 against Somerset – including his first Championship five-for since 2013. India, against whom he took 19 wickets at 23.00 in 2014, would surely be wary of a repeat.