All posts by n8rngtd.top

The left-arm fast bowler, who was suffering from a toe injury, has featured in each of the three ODIs on tour

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2018Mustafizur Rahman will stay on with the Bangladesh squad for the three T20Is starting July 31 in St Kitts. Abul Hasan, who had replaced the left-arm fast bowler for the series against Afghanistan in June, has been left out.Hasan was Mustafizur’s replacement after the left-arm fast bowler missed the series because of a toe injury he sustained during the IPL. Mustafizur’s workload and injury management soon came into focus once it emerged that he had informed the team management of the injury only after the practice games prior to that series.Meanwhile, the tour is also over for Anamul Haque, Nazmul Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza, who retired from T20Is last year. While Anamul made just 33 runs in the three ODIs, Nazmul didn’t feature in either a single international on tour.The series opener will be followed by two T20Is at Lauderhill in Florida, which has hosted a number of West Indies internationals and Caribbean Premier League matches in recent times.Bangladesh’s T20I squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque

ECB Reporters Network11-Sep-2018
ScorecardBen Slater and Kraigg Brathwaite combined to give Nottinghamshire a slender advantage by stumps on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship meeting with Essex at Trent Bridge.Batting for a second time, 56 runs adrift, the home county’s opening pair reproduced last week’s heroics with a century stand to help Notts towards 116 for one by the close, a lead of 60.A week ago, in the drawn Yorkshire fixture, Brathwaite and Slater compiled stands of 182 and 91 on their home debuts.They were parted in the first over on the opening day of this match but rediscovered their mojo to blunt the Essex attack for more than two hours.
Slater, who scored 109 against the White Rose, made 54 before being dismissed just before the close. Brathwaite remains undefeated on 47.Earlier, the visitors were bowled out for 233 before tea, with captain Steven Mullaney taking four for 68, his best figures of the season.Resuming after lunch, from 133 for five, after rain had wiped out the entire morning session, the reigning county champions lost Jamie Porter in the first over of the day, lbw to Luke Fletcher.The same bowler then had Adam Wheater spilled twice in the slip cordon but the batsman couldn’t make the most of his good fortune by then nicking Mullaney behind for 14.Ryan ten Doeschate took his side to within three of the Notts’ first innings score before falling lbw to Mullaney for 32.Emulating Nottinghamshire’s tail-wagging exploits of the opening day, Essex’s last couple of wickets helped themselves to some unexpected but welcome runs.Simon Harmer received good support from both Matt Coles and Matt Quinn as the last two wickets added a further 59.Luke Wood eventually finished things off, trapping Coles lbw for nine, before inducing Harmer to chop on for a well-constructed 48, leaving Quinn unbeaten on one after 33 minutes at the crease.Slater had an early scare when he nicked Porter at the start of Nottinghamshire’s second innings but Dan Lawrence, at third slip, could only parry the ball away at full stretch.Chances from then on were few and far between as the deficit was wiped out without too much inconvenience.Slater’s 50 was reached from 83 balls faced but he failed to see out the day after being struck on the pads by Coles.Fletcher, in as Nottinghamshire’s nightwatchman, was spilled by Murali Vijay in the final over of the day but Brathwaite, who has registered half-centuries in each of his first two outings for Notts, will resume on the third morning within three runs of extending that sequence.

West Indies scoring 300 plus in the first two ODIs might have prompted India to recall their best quicks for the remainder of the series, according to their coach Stuart Law

Varun Shetty in Pune26-Oct-20181:40

Being written off fires us up – Stuart Law

West Indies scoring more than 300 in the first two ODIs might have prompted India to recall rested fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the remainder of the series, according to West Indies coach Stuart Law. West Indies lost the first ODI by a big margin despite making 322, and tied the second by matching India’s 321.”Yeah I’d like to think so,” Law said on the eve of the third ODI in Pune. “That’s probably the reason why they’ve called back their two most experienced one-day bowlers. We came here understanding that it was going to be tough, but to our credit we haven’t shied away from it. We’ve understood it, we’ve asked questions and had numerous honest discussions about how to improve and how to tackle the Indian team. And it’s a credit to our players to manufacture change in the bowling line-up after two games.”So yeah, hopefully we are getting the Indians to ask questions to themselves. They’re giving us plenty of questions to ask ourselves, but at this stage we’re coming up with pretty good answers. I know it’s a tight series, we have still gotta win to level it tomorrow, so we understand the enormity of it and we’re not backing down.”West Indies have shown remarkable resistance against India’s bowling combinations so far, particularly the middle order that has had to tackle three kinds of spinners. But at no point have they been under pressure to rebuild an innings, which could be a challenge as India’s more experienced fast bowlers take the new ball in Pune. Law doesn’t believe the batting approach will be too different on Saturday, particularly for Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope, their best batsmen on tour so far.”I don’t think the pressure goes away no matter who you play against,” Law said. “I’ve listened to commentary, I’ve listened to numerous talk shows, talking about the match-up between West Indies and India – and not too many people have given us a chance of competing in this series. But that’s fuel to our boys’ fire. They like being written out of the contest, and it gives an opportunity to go out and play good cricket.Law wasn’t allowed in the dressing room for the first two ODIs because of a two-match ban he had picked up during the second Test in Hyderabad and, as such, the third ODI is a return for him. The coach downplayed the suggestion that this absence was a factor in West Indies failing to win the second ODI.”I have missed being part of the dressing room. Not sure if most boys have missed me. And looking back, now in Pune [with the sights], maybe I should have held back a bit and got banned here!” Law joked. “Nah, Vizag and Guwahati were great but I would rather be at the dressing room. You get a different perspective on TV, which I have managed to talk into in the training.”But to get back into the dressing room…the dressing room is running by itself. The players have played enough cricket and understand how and what’s needed to be done. It’s on us, as coaches, to facilitate what the players need to do to produce the best out in the field. I don’t need to say much. I don’t think the dynamics in the dressing room will change.”His absence could also have been offset by the presence of Marlon Samuels who, Law said, had given a “different role” on this tour – one that is more inclined towards mentorship. As a batsman, Samuels has also been tasked with tackling spin, but he hasn’t batted more than 10 balls in the series.”You can write him off at your own peril. He’s one of those players who stands up on big occasions,” Law said. “Every game we play from hereon is a final, and we all know what Marlon can do in the finals.”I’ve given him a different role on this tour. He is basically here to help the young kids. We have a very inexperienced squad. He needs to help those young guys learn very quickly on the field and he’s doing a great job. He has got a bigger role now, other than just playing cricket and scoring runs. I think he started looking really good the other night. Kuldeep – he’s having a little trouble reading him. He’ll take time but Marlon is a good player of spin. He looks like he has improved from the first game to the second.”

Taylor notched up his fifth Test hundred and Moor made a career-best 83, but Taijul Islam’s third consecutive five-wicket haul left Zimbabwe 19 runs short of the follow-on target

The Report by Liam Brickhill13-Nov-2018AFP

Zimbabwe made a firm riposte with the bat before Bangladesh’s spinners seized the initiative on the third day in Dhaka. Brendan Taylor reached his fifth Test hundred to alongside a career-best 83 from Peter Moor and a fifty from Brian Chari at the top of the innings. But Taijul Islam’s third consecutive five-wicket haul meant that Zimbabwe were bowled out for 304, 19 runs short of the follow-on target, just before the scheduled close.Zimbabwe had managed to stay afloat for much of the day, but Ariful Haque’s medium pace snapped a 139-run stand for the sixth wicket between Taylor and Moor late in the afternoon. Mehidy Hasan then took two wickets in three balls, before Taijul wrapped up the innings with his fifth wicket.The late strikes took some of the gloss off what had been a gritty effort from Zimbabwe. Coming together at 131 for 5, Taylor and Moor had plenty to do, but they showed the temperament to be firm in defence and pick the right ball to hit in a stand that defied Bangladesh’s attack for almost 36 overs. After settling in, Taylor had started brightly against the spinners, showing inventiveness in his sweeps, nonchalance in his lofted strokes, and an exquisite timing in his drives against pace and spin alike.He brought up a 107-ball fifty in the 68th over of the innings, while Moor showed the sort of form that was crucial to Zimbabwe’s success in the first Test. Moor lofted Mehidy over extra cover to bring up his own fifty in the 80th over, and also enjoyed a little luck, chipping a slower ball from Mustafizur Rahman to cover only for substitute fielder Nazmul Islam to spill the difficult chance when he had scored 75. Taylor was also dropped on 94 by Mushfiqur Rahim as Bangladesh’s intensity slipped a little after a long day in the field.Looking for a partnership breaker as Zimbabwe continued to tick along confidently against the second new ball, Mahmudullah turned to Ariful, who found prodigious inswing to trap Moor in front for 83 just before drinks. At the other end, Taylor lifted Taijul inside out over extra cover to go to 99 and then smeared him across the line to midwicket to bring up his first Test hundred away from home.While he couldn’t get past Taylor with the ball, Taijul played a vital part in his eventual dismissal for 110, pulling off a spectacular catch at deep square leg as Taylor played one sweep too many at Mehidy. That opened the door for Bangladesh, and Brandon Mavuta edged the second ball he faced from Mehidy to Ariful at slip as Zimbabwe stumbled to 290 for 8.Kyle Jarvis survived a couple of close calls, with two tough chances being put down at short leg as Zimbabwe edged closer to the follow-on target, but Bangladesh ensured that the decision over who gets to bat next in this Test would remain theirs when Taijul had Regis Chakabva well caught in the same position with a handful of overs remaining in the day, with Tendai Chatara unable to bat due to the muscle tear he picked up in the field. The home side may well make Zimbabwe wait until tomorrow morning to find out whether they will enforce the follow on.Taijul enjoyed a productive outing in the field, removing nightwatchman Donald Tiripano via an outside edge to Mehidy at slip in the 11th over of the day. He also accounted for Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, both bowled exposing their stumps in defence, but he was frustrated by some obdurate batting, first by Chari and Taylor, and then by Taylor and Moor.Chari endured a thorough working over by Khaled Ahmed, twice being struck on the grille with enough severity to knock the protective neck guard off the back of his helmet and raise a swollen bump on his left cheek. Chari went on the attack in response to the barrage, collecting three lofted boundaries in a single over from Taijul to go to fifty in the 19th over of the day.His dismissal to a delivery from Mehidy that popped up off the pad and grazed the glove to be caught by Mominul Haque at short leg, followed by Taijul’s strikes to get rid of Williams and Raza, tilted the balance back in Bangladesh’s favour. On a see-sawing day, Taylor and Moor’s rearguard held the home side at bay for some time, but at stumps Bangladesh were firmly in charge.

India’s captain said he might have played four quicks in the Perth Test even if R Ashwin had been fit

Sidharth Monga in Perth18-Dec-20184:09

‘We were totally convinced about this combination’ – Kohli

India might have gone into the Perth Test without a spinner even if R Ashwin had been fit, their captain Virat Kohli has said.Ashwin was ruled out of the game with a side strain, and India, rather than replacing him with Ravindra Jadeja, the other spinner in their 13-man squad for the Test, went ahead with a four-man pace attack. Australia stuck with their 3-1 combination and their spinner Nathan Lyon won the Man-of-the-Match award for his eight wickets.These events were somewhat similar to those of the Adelaide Test on the 2014-15 tour – Kohli’s first Test as captain – when India had played the rookie legspinner Karn Sharma, who leaked runs with little success, and Lyon had taken 12 wickets.India’s selection came in for sharp criticism, but Kohli defended it, saying the pitch had played exactly how the team management had expected it to.”Yes, we could have considered that (playing four quicks),” Kohli said, when asked if Ashwin would have played had he been fit. “If you see, the rough didn’t have much assistance. It was just the pace on the ball that Lyon bowled that he got the wickets that he got.”We as a team didn’t want to think that we definitely wanted to consider a spinning option on this pitch, especially having a look at the pitch on day one and how we thought it would play on the first three days, and exactly played out that way. We thought a fast bowler is going to be more productive and more helpful for us as a team.”The choice of the fourth fast bowler was also contentious, with Umesh Yadav getting a go ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is usually considered an automatic pick on well-grassed pitches. Kohli said Bhuvneshwar lost out because he had not played much four-day cricket of late.”Bhuvi hasn’t played a lot of four-day cricket recently, and Umesh took 10 wickets in his last Test (against West Indies in Hyderabad), and was in good bowling rhythm. So that was the reason behind picking Umesh over Bhuvi.”Bhuvneshwar’s last first-class match was in Johannesburg, nearly 11 months ago. In England, he aggravated a lower-back injury during the ODI series, and was ruled out of the Test series in the same country, where conditions are considered to be ideal for him to bowl in. He was then rested for the home Tests against West Indies.Umesh Yadav gets to his run up•Associated Press

One of the reasons Bhuvneshwar was missed was his batting. Even in Johannesburg, on a pitch that just escaped being labelled dangerous, he scored 30 and 33 out of India’s totals of 187 and 247. India have often spoken of lower-order runs as one of the major contributing factors to their Test success, and this was the case just last week in Adelaide, where Ashwin scored 25 in a crucial 62-run stand for the seventh wicket. In Perth, India’s Nos. 8 to 11 only contributed 11 runs between them across both innings.”You obviously have two situations that you can think of,” Kohli said. “When you pick another fast bowler, obviously Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja have more ability with the bat, we all know that. It’s a very tricky decision to make, what kind of a bowling option you want to go with or you want to think that that guy can contribute with the bat as well.”So eventually you come to one decision, and we back that decision and went ahead with it. Whether it comes off or not, that’s a different thing, but we were totally convinced in the team that that was our best combination to go with, and the batsmen have to take responsibility. There are lots of variables that can happen during the course of a cricket match but before that, you need to have clarity as to what you want to do. And as a side, we were totally clear that this was the combination we wanted to go with.”The preferred option, Umesh, ended the match with figures of 2 for 139 from 37 overs and consolidated his reputation as a bowler much better suited to Indian conditions where he has reverse-swing to work with. Umesh’s economy rate of 3.75 had two knock-on effects: the part-time spinners bowled 29 overs, and the other three quicks had to keep coming back for spells when they may not have been at their freshest.Kohli was, however, happy with the fast bowlers’ performance overall.”Especially yesterday, the first session, giving away only 56-odd runs without getting a wicket,” Kohli said, when asked if he was satisfied with the control he had on the game, in the absence of a spinner. “I think it was outstanding bowling, and obviously [Mohammed] Shami did what he did in the next session with the ball (he took six wickets in the second innings), which was again wonderful to see. So, yeah. I think they executed their plans to 95% of what we expected.”I think you definitely can be happy with that. In the past when we have played four quicks, we definitely haven’t been as consistent as we were in this game. So, I think they were pretty accurate, pretty consistent, and as I said we were pretty convinced about going in with four fast bowlers looking at the conditions. I think they did pretty well.”

The Pakistan captain drew parallel with the catch that dismissed Virat Kohli in Perth, even as the coach Mickey Arthur got one demerit point for ‘showing dissent’

Danyal Rasool in Centurion28-Dec-2018Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed steadfastly maintained Azhar Ali had taken a “clear catch” to dismiss Dean Elgar in the opening hour of the third day. With South Africa wobbling at 16 for 1 in a chase of 149, having lost Aiden Markram early and dropped Hashim Amla on a morning when Pakistan’s pacers were in full control, Shaheen Afridi drew the outside edge of Dean Elgar in the ninth over. Azhar Ali dived to his right for the catch from first slip, and the soft signal from the on-field umpires was out. Elgar, himself, was prepared to walk, but third umpire Joel Wilson decided he had conclusive evidence to overturn the call.Sarfraz believed his side had been hard done by, drawing a parallel from the second Australia-India Test in Perth, where Virat Kohli was caught at second slip and the third umpire’s decision stayed with the soft signal (out) because of lack of conclusive evidence to overturn it.”I think he took a clear catch. If you talk about the other match, if you see the Kohli catch, you see a similar catch given. If the on-field decision is out, I think it should have stayed that way. The umpire said the third umpire had a clearer view of it, so they gave it not-out, but if you compare situations, I think this was a clean catch.”The rub of the green going the hosts’ way with that decision effectively sealed Pakistan’s fate. Sarfraz’s side could create no further clear-cut chances for the rest of the session, with the Elgar-Amla partnership adding another 103 runs to the score. When Elgar was finally dismissed, he had scored 50 – he was on 4 when the disputed catch was taken – and South Africa needed just 30 further runs to win.It was a decision that so enraged Mickey Arthur he stormed into Wilson’s office to remonstrate with him in breach of the ICC regulations. Later, an ICC statement said Arthur had received an official warning and fined one demerit point after accepting his guilt in the affair.”Arthur was found to have violated Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to ‘showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match’,” the ICC statement read. “After the match, the Pakistan coach admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee David Boon. As such, there was no need for a formal hearing.”The series now moves to Cape Town for the second of the three Tests, starting on January 3.

Having had their bowling stocks severely depleted over the past two weeks, Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake hopes the conditions allow batsmen to take some of the pressure off the bowlers

Melinda Farrell in Canberra30-Jan-2019Having had their bowling stocks severely depleted over the past two weeks, Sri Lanka are hoping for a batting-friendly pitch in Canberra. Or at least bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake is.The visitors had arrived in Australia with their five best fast bowlers in the squad. However, three quicks have now been sent home in quick succession – Nuwan Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara with injured hamstrings, and Dushmantha Chameera with a fracture in his ankle. Replacements have arrived, in the form of left-armer Vishwa Fernando and bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne. But as developing bowlers, neither is capable of reaching the speeds of Chameera and Kumara, while, perhaps they are as-yet unable to match the seam movement Pradeep can generate either.With Chameera and Kumara both having picked up their injuries at the Gabba, Ratnayake is left hoping conditions allow the batsmen to take some of the pressure off the bowlers.”As we started we know that our bowling has got weaker because two of our main bowlers have gone out,” Ratnayake said. “Canberra has a reputation of being a good batting wicket. We hope it will be a good batting wicket too. We have told the bowlers that if we bowl in the better areas that would be the better way to move forward.”Disappointing to lose two of our better quicks. But Suranga Lakmal is in good shape. Lahiru bowled quick. But if you really analyse it, it was not the pace that got the wickets. [Mitchell] Starc bowled quick and he didn’t get wickets. Lahiru bowled quick but it was Suranga who took the wickets for us like it was [Pat] Cummins for them and not Starc. Good execution and out-thinking the batsman is what is required.”In light of Sri Lanka’s plight, Ratnayake expressed bemusement when asked about recent criticism of Starc’s form.”If the Aussies don’t want Mitch Starc we’ll have him,” Ratnayake joked. “We don’t mind having him. It’s just that Mitchell has not been not getting wickets but he has been hitting 148 and 149. But he has not been getting wickets. Not been bowling the best I have known him but you don’t know when his day going to be.”Sri Lanka go into the second Test amid growing off-field disruptions. Their coach, Chandika Hathurasingha, was removed from his role as selector-on-tour after the loss in Brisbane. Avishka Gunawaradena, the Sri Lanka A coach, has been named as their stand-in batting coach until the newly-appointed Jon Lewis (who has left the tour because of family issues) returns. This was Lewis’ first Test series with the Sri Lanka team, having replaced Thilan Samaraweera, whose assignment with the national team was cut short after the New Zealand tour.”Two batting coaches have gone now. It is not easy,” said Ratnayake. “When the chips are down, the challenges get stronger and we hope as a group that we will be strong. Before we embarked on this we knew that it was going to be tough three tours for us. Three super Test series. It is tough for any team to go to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.”It is challenging and we wanted to take up that challenge. We said what if we can win one of the Tests here that was our ambition and motive. The toughness has to be there. These challenges are good for the boys to a certain extent to get the best out of them. There’s a saying that you are at the strongest when you are down.”

The story emerged from a book due to be published to mark the 40th anniversary of the meeting between Packer and Bradman to end WSC

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2019Kerry Packer made a personal attempt to have the chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns rush Michael Hussey into the Australian team for the pivotal final Test of the 2005 Ashes series at The Oval in place of Damien Martyn, a new book has revealed.For decades, legends have swirled around the contention that Packer’s place in Australian cricket was so powerful as to have him capable of choosing players for the national team himself, but this is the first such instance publicly revealed by one of the many administrators who worked with him.In , to be released this week to mark 40 years since Packer personally met with Don Bradman in Adelaide on February 13, 1979 to end the World Series split, the former Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman conveyed the story of a phone call he received from Packer in the lead-up to the Oval Test. The head of the Nine Network and longtime influencer of cricket was adamant that the key to Australia winning the match and so retaining the Ashes was to call up Hussey from county cricket, after he had impressed against England in the ODI series before the Tests.Hussey was indeed on a plane out of the UK at the time, joining the tour’s reserve wicketkeeper Brad Haddin for an Australia A tour of Pakistan where the first match started on September 11 – three days after the Oval Test commenced on September 8. But the story underlines the enormous influence that Packer carried in the game, able to push Merriman, Sutherland and Hohns to the brink of changing the team for one of the most critical matches in the game’s history.A minutes silence in memory of Kerry Packer on December 27, 2005•AFP

When informed of the revelation, Hussey was taken aback. “I didn’t know that story, so that blows me away really,” Hussey told ESPNcricinfo. “I do remember thinking at the time, there was a bit of speculation in the press, and I remember thinking to myself ‘oh gosh’. It was obviously one of the greatest series of all time, it had come right down to the wire for the last Test match, I didn’t want to be seen as the big saviour to try to help Australia win the series so I was actually quite petrified to be picked to be honest.”As for the previous engagement with Australia A in Pakistan, Hussey admitted he was on some level relieved to be getting away from the hype and pressure of that Ashes series. “In a small way I was a little bit relieved…I thought they were thinking about leaving Matthew Hayden out and I was going to open the batting,” he said. “He’s someone I looked up to throughout my whole career and rated very highly, as a great of Australian cricket.”I don’t rate greats easily, so I didn’t feel comfortable about replacing someone like Matthew Hayden that I admired so much and rated so highly. When it all didn’t happen, I was probably a little bit relieved, as much as you do want to play for Australia, that would’ve been a tricky start.”It was just such a massive series, there was so much hype and so much pressure, it would’ve been a pretty daunting start to my Test career … I had a more low-key start against the West Indies, and I didn’t handle my emotions well at all in that Test match [in Brisbane], so I don’t know how I would’ve handled my emotions playing against England in the final Test of that 2005 Ashes series.”The year of the Oval Test was also Packer’s last, as he negotiated a final broadcast deal with CA and then died on Boxing Day, an event that went on to inspire Hussey to one of his greatest innings, a century as part of a 107-run tenth-wicket rearguard with Glenn McGrath on the 27th, after Packer’s death at 68 had been announced and observed by a minutes silence before play.”I think back with a lot of fondness at the day I scored a hundred at the MCG with Glenn McGrath, the day after Kerry Packer died,” Hussey said. “We had a minute’s silence out on the ground, we had the black armbands, and I was desperate to get a really good score that day in memory of him. I didn’t know at the time that he was trying to push for me, but I had a lot of respect for him, for what he did for the players.”I was part of the players association, the ACA, for a long time as well and the people around the ACA always talk about Kerry Packer and how he was the one guy who changed things for the players and got the players thinking they just needed to be treated fairly and things like that. So I always had enormous respect for what he did around the game but also for what he did for the players.”

The head coach has admitted the World Cup selection was “really tough” as room was made for David Warner and Steven Smith

Andrew McGlashan16-Apr-20194:22

Tait: Handscomb was always going to miss out

Australia’s head coach Justin Langer has acknowledged how tough it was on Peter Handscomb to miss out on a spot in the World Cup squad, but said that it was impossible to ignore “all-time great”Steven Smith.It was the clearest indication of where the final call on Australia’s 15-man squad came, with the team’s recent upsurge in one-day form having created a logjam for batting positions. With Smith and David Warner both eligible to return following their bans, two of the players who featured on the successful India and Pakistan series had to be cut and the axe fell on Handscomb and Ashton Turner.The latter is less of a surprise after he didn’t get a game against Pakistan – despite his thrilling 84 off 43 balls in Australia’s record run chase in Mohali – but Handscomb had been a steady presence in the middle order since his recall, averaging 43.54 across 13 matches including a maiden hundred in that same Mohali match.ALSO READ: The winners and losers from Australia’s big dayHe also brought a second string with his wicketkeeping, which could have provided back-up for Alex Carey, but in the end the selectors couldn’t squeeze him in with Smith penciled in to be the middle-order accumulator, likely to bat at No. 4 behind Warner, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja in a yet-to-be-decided order.Shaun Marsh could have been the other batsman with a few questions hanging over him, but he scored four centuries in eight matches – albeit all in losing causes – during the period Smith and Warner were absent, although he could now be shunted into the reserve spot.”Selection is always hard, there’s no doubt about that. It’s the toughest part of the job. It has been for as long as I’ve been coaching but certainly last Tuesday was really tough,” Langer told radio. “Pete is terribly stiff to miss out. He’s all class. I spoke to him yesterday. He’s literally all class. He’s another ripper.”I can give you all the clichés, I can try to find some good reasons. But the truth is I can’t tell you how close he was to being selected. He had a brilliant time of it. He played exactly the role that we talked about for the back end of the ODI summer and in India and the UAE. He did a great job. He’s super fit and a terrific young bloke. He gets on and does his job. But we just felt that Steve Smith would play that same role and Steve Smith is one of the all-time greats of Australian cricket.”Smith and Warner will join the World Cup squad for a pre-tournament camp in Brisbane early next month, which includes three non-international matches against a second-string New Zealand XI. They will be followed by two warm-up matches in England, one of which is against the hosts, before their campaign starts against Afghanistan on June 1.”I said 12 months ago it would be great for those guys (Smith and Warner) to come back into the team and they’ve got to work hard to get back into the team,” Langer said. “We’re at that point now where the team is flying, the team is going really strongly, and like always they’ll be part of it. They’re both great players and they’ll fit nicely back into the team, no doubt about that.”It was a strong process over the last nine or ten months particularly, just to keep an eye on how the boys were going. They went through a lot of life education I guess themselves because of what had happened.”There remain a couple of injury concerns hanging over the World Cup 15, with Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson having been selected subject to fitness after their pectoral and shoulder injuries receptively.Starc appears on track with his recovery and Langer was “confident” that Richardson would be fine having not needed surgery after the dislocation he suffered in the UAE. Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns confirmed on Monday that Josh Hazlewood, whose back injury and lack of cricket ruled him out of the initial squad, and Kane Richardson were the first-choice reserve quicks if required.

The New Zealand veteran said she saw potential for at least four teams, and possibly six, in the Women’s T20 challenge

Annesha Ghosh18-May-2019Suzie Bates, New Zealand’s most capped female cricketer, does not have a Test appearance to her name. Five years ago, she felt “a bit cheated” at not having had the opportunity to play in the longest format, a run of luck that has not changed 13 years on from her international debut. Nearly a decade-and-a-half since New Zealand women last played a Test, the 31-year-old former national captain underscored that the onus rests on the boards of the top eight nations, rather than the ICC, to host “at least one annual Test”.”There’s a real opportunity for the boards, away from the ICC, to encourage at least one annual Test match between certain countries,” Bates told ESPNcricinfo, putting her weight behind the multi-format women’s Ashes as a template for other nations to follow.”The series structure of England versus Australia is brilliant. If we had, say, a tour of India and we decided we have three ODIs, three T20Is and one Test match, that would be one of the best experiences for our group. I believe there is a real opportunity for the top eight nations to host a Test match a year. I was speaking to Smriti [Mandhana, the 22-year-old India opener, during the Women’s T20 Challenge] the other night. She has played two Test matches; I haven’t played any (laughs). She couldn’t believe that.”The two Tests Mandhana featured in are the only ones India have played in the longest format in the last decade. In fact, outside of Australia and England, India are the only team alongside South Africa (one match) to have played women’s Tests at all since 2008, with only one Test (England v Australia) taking place since August 2015.Bates’ views on the need for national boards, other than only Australia and England, to back Test cricket for their women’s players come a little over a month after Australia captain Meg Lanning called on “big fish” India to “get involved” in promoting women’s Tests.Beyond her standing as a stalwart of the women’s game, the New Zealander’s stance on women’s Tests assume greater significance when viewed in light of her position as the only woman on the current MCC World Cricket Committee, an independent panel of former and current players and umpires, that can propose changes to the sport’s laws. Bates also offered another suggestion to get more countries involved in women’s Tests.”One other thing I thought about, and with my role at the MCC… I see a potential in the opportunity for some of the best cricketers to play Tests, outside of bilateral series if they do at all turn into a reality, is when England and Australia play their Ashes series,” said Bates, who was appointed to the committee in 2017.”They could pick a Rest of the World side to play a Test match each against England and Australia in the build-up to their Ashes. That’s another way to see what the standard is like, besides providing them [England and Australia] with another match because they only play one match as well.”That’s something I’ve sort of thought of randomly, and it might be a good way to give a push to women’s Tests. It’s a something I’ve thought of as a selfish thing because I’d love to play a Test, and if the Ashes are the only Test series you’re going to hold, I’d love to play an Ashes. How cool would that be, even though I am neither from Australia nor England?”Bates admitted that T20s are the best bet to grow women’s cricket, but if commercial viability is the only hurdle on the path of hosting more women’s Tests, boards could chose to cut costs by not broadcasting the game(s).”The Test match doesn’t need to be televised,” said Bates. “We don’t need to televise everything if that’s a reason for not holding Tests, and if you want to promote only the Twenty 20 format as much as you can. Do they go along the commercial side with no broadcast? Perhaps yes.”I do understand why Twenty20 cricket has become the main push for women’s cricket. And, look, without it we wouldn’t have been at the [Women’s] Big Bash [League], KSL [Kia Super League], or the Women’s T20 Challenge. I get why the boards want more T20 cricket for women because commercially… the television factor, the entertainment, so understandably that’s going to come first now, and I’m supportive of that.”Only last week, Bates was part of the first multi-team Women’s T20 Challenge, as one of the 12 overseas participants. The Player of the Match in the one-off exhibition that took place in 2018, under the same tournament banner, Bates underlined that the road-map for the Indian domestic tournament should take into consideration a few key factors going forward.”I’m an advocate for progression,” Bates said. “I do believe that by having last year’s exhibition game slightly bigger, longer this year, you get a peek into the problems, you get to talk to the people close to the women’s game about what’s right.”I think for me the No. 1 thing is the real clear window, so that we don’t miss the likes of the South Africa and Pakistan and Australians, so there’s plenty of information for the boards over a period of time and you are able to get the best of the best from around the world. It will lift the standard.”Where does Bates stand on the teams’ structure for next year’s edition?”The number of teams is a contentious issue,” Bates replied. “I don’t know the depth of Indian (domestic) cricket, but even three teams like this year had really good players on the sidelines. So I’d definitely root for four, but I see potential for six.”Once you put them out there, the next tier of players have something to look up to. They may be miles away from the Indian side right now, but if they see here are six teams training hard for a women’s IPL, playing in a women’s IPL, they will want to be a part of it. Initially there may be a gap, but in the following one or two years, it just naturally builds as we’ve seen in the Big Bash.”