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“He is a diamond. All we’ve done is to cut and polish him a little,” says Surrey’s interim assistant coach Azhar Mahmood

Osman Samiuddin23-Jun-2022Jamie Overton has been a long, long time coming. Having impressed at U-19 level a decade ago, and been first called up to an England squad in 2013, and despite being a near-permanent presence on England’s radar, he only makes his England debut today, at Headingley.The pace has always kept them interested but, this season, a confluence of events has finally thrust him into the limelight proper. England are missing, through injury, nearly an entire XI of fast bowlers, but Overton’s performances this season for Surrey mean he would’ve been beeping brightly on that radar in any case.Related

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He has been the standout English fast bowler on the circuit; his strike rate of 38.3 is bettered only by his twin brother Craig (min. five matches), but it is – again, still – the pace that has people cooing. He’s picked up a decent haul of wickets, but there’s been as much excitement about the hustle and threat of his bouncers. In some dispatches he’s said to have been 10mph quicker than any other bowler around him.It is in stark contrast to the desperate struggle of last season, in which Overton picked up six wickets at 75 in eight games. The inconsistency has been a theme but, this season, under the watchful eye of Azhar Mahmood, there are signs that may be changing.Mahmood has quietly built up an impressive coaching career, with international experience with Pakistan burnished by stints in the Pakistan Super League – most recently as head coach at Islamabad United. As an interim assistant coach at Surrey, he has taken on Overton as a personal project and early results, after a little technical tweaking, have been spectacular.”The first thing we did with him was to reduce his run-up,” Mahmood says. “We reduced it from 24 yards or so that it was before to around 18 now. He was losing momentum when he was running in for those last strides to the popping crease, where you actually have to build that momentum up.”Because of that loss in momentum, Mahmood explains, he wasn’t following through towards his target properly. “When you drive your hip through in the action, you transfer weight and bring your hip forward, for the follow-through. He was stopping a little but if you watch now, he gets closer to the batsman. He is taller at the crease now.”Mahmood is meticulous when it comes to thinking through bowling actions, though he’s careful to not tinker too much. His phone is a video treasure trove of bowlers and bowling actions from his work around the world; little tips that he’s given them, minor tweaks he’s made, hours he’s spent just watching and logging.He identified Overton’s run-up as a prime cause for the inconsistency in his release and action, which would result in him often straying down legside. But pre-season work brought some immediate results. After shortening the run-up, Mahmood asked Overton to note how many balls he bowls down the legside. Overton bowled to Hashim Amla in the nets one day for half an hour and Mahmood remembers only two balls that Amla could play through the legside. Amla was impressed and wondered whether Overton could sustain that consistency.Mahmood identified Overton’s run-up as a prime cause for the inconsistency in his release and action, which would result in him often straying down legside•Getty Images

“Now you can see, it’s half a season gone and he’s been sustaining it,” Mahmood said. “Because of his pace that inconsistency can creep in. At that pace, a good day can be a great day, but a bad day a very poor one. If you’re slightly off line at that pace, you go for runs. Jamie’s getting that consistency now. He’s still a work in progress. That will keep going. But this season I think people have seen the best of him.”Mahmood remembers, in particular, Overton’s first game this season. Having been rested for tactical reasons for Surrey’s season-opener, Overton blew away Hampshire with an eight-wicket haul at The Oval. The performance had all the classic really fast-bowling dismissals: an outswinger that hit the stumps, bouncers from round the wicket, yorkers and then, a sustained short-pitched attack in the second innings. The speed gun, Mahmood says, clocked him at 92mph at one point.The one wicket he recalls, though, is from the Somerset game: Matt Renshaw bowled from over the wicket, leaving a full ball that swung in late and quick. ” [blew away his sticks],” Mahmood says.Mahmood has been almost as excited by Overton’s batting this season, not least in a game against Kent where he watched in awe as Overton hit a 92-ball 93. He sees a bit of himself in the batting: Mahmood hit three Test hundreds, all against strong South African attacks, two in South Africa and from seven and eight in the order. He averaged nearly 32 in first-class cricket.”I spoke to him about his batting,” he says. “I said you remind me of myself, you have exactly the role I used to have. To help build an innings lower down in the order. I said to him this is the role. With that batting this guy can be one of the best allrounders in the world.”I really haven’t done that much with him. Jamie Overton is special. He is a diamond. All we’ve done is to cut and polish him a little.”

“We can see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives”

Sidharth Monga16-Feb-20214:33

R Ashwin: ‘It was an outbursting of emotion when I reached the hundred’

After delivering a dream performance in front of his home crowd, R Ashwin has asked for more positivity, understanding and pride from the cricket community in India. Ashwin’s eight-wicket haul and century led India to a series-levelling win in Chennai where the crowd made him “feel like a hero”, cheering every move of his on the ground.However, one of the other heroes of India’s incredible success in Australia and here, Rishabh Pant, was not long ago made to feel like a villain in Indian grounds when the crowds chanted MS Dhoni’s name whenever he made a mistake. Ashwin compared the opinion around Pant to the one around a young Australia cricketer when asked what he made of Pant’s wicketkeeping.Related

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“I didn’t think I would say this but I am coming out and saying it,” Ashwin said. “But because you are asking me this question, I couldn’t think of anything else. About two months ago we had a cricketer called Cameron Green who made his debut for Australia. Even before he made his debut, everybody said he was the next big thing. And as he was playing, I think he got one fifty in the entire series. I don’t think he got a wicket through the series. But how much he was built up and how much confidence he was given back in Australia made me reflect and think about how we as a community treat our cricketers when they come through, the young ones. It gave me a massive perspective.”Rishabh Pant is an excellent cricketer. There are many more excellent excellent cricketers who are there in the squad and outside of the team scheme as well. They are all excellent cricketers. We believe they are excellent. That is why they end up playing for the country. And when they play for the country, it is almost as if we are searching for what is wrong with them.”Rishabh Pant was always going to be a good cricketer, he was always going to improve. Only if we back them in such a way that they can improve, they will improve faster. But if you are going to find those loopholes and faults, cricketers are going to take that much longer. It is more of a mindset issue for us. As a community we should be able to embrace how good a cricketer is. We can [choose to] see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives. If we see a lot more positives, we will see a lot more champion cricketers.”‘When people come out with such opinions, we should respect them but we should be able to magnanimously deflect them’ – R Ashwin’s response to people railing against a turning pitch•BCCI

That is not too different with what happened with Ashwin the batsman when he went through a lean phase and started to lose his place in the side in away Tests because of his batting. The turnaround began with the tour of Australia, blossomed with his match-saving effort in Sydney, and the cherry on the cake was the hundred in front of his home crowd.”The last hundred I scored was in the West Indies in 2016,” Ashwin said. “Literally five years ago. A lot of people were frustrated that I have the batting ability but I am not able to contribute. The problem is, in India there are so many opinions and they all lean towards advising you. Nobody pauses to think how the cricketer thinks. And what help is needed. The way I needed some help, I also needed some reassurance, which I got from this batting coach [Vikram Rathour]. During the Covid-19 lockdown I practised a lot at home. Hitting balls against the wall, sweeping, footwork, everything. All put together, it was an outbursting of emotion when I reached the hundred.”Ashwin asked for a similar positive outlook towards the spinning pitches. The one for the second Test in Chennai received criticism from former players – mostly outside India but a few Indian names too – for being too loaded in favour of spin too early into the match.”Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Ashwin said. “Whoever is giving their opinion are well within their rights. It is us who are reading into it and seeing if it is working or not. As a cricketing fraternity or a country, the way we deal with such accusations needs to get better. We must hold our pride in saying how we are playing good cricket. Test matches are won over a period of time. You play a lot of overs.”When people give their opinions, I am completely fine with how they have opinions. We will also have our opinions reserved when we tour. We don’t complain or crib, we just get on with it. I have never seen any of our greats, be it our coach Ravi Shastri or Sunil Gavaskar. They have been on lots of tours. I have never seen them talking about pitches having a lot of grass. It is more of a mentality. When people come out with such opinions, we should respect them but we should be able to magnanimously deflect them.”

Unhelpful surface sees England made to wait for declaration as Glenn Phillips makes ton

George Dobell in Whangarei15-Nov-2019If England had any doubts about the magnitude of the task facing them over the next few weeks, they will have been dispelled by a tough day in the field in Whangarei.Unable to coax movement from the ball or life from the surface, they were instead obliged to wait for the declaration from a New Zealand A batting line-up containing three men with Test experience. Glenn Phillips, a 22-year-old batsman with more than a hint of Steve Smith about him, recorded the fourth century of his first-class career and England conceded 3.59 runs an over.The loss of Rory Burns, who cut a long-hop to point moments before the close, rounded off the challenge. The appearance of Jack Leach as nightwatchman seemed an oddly negative response. The purpose of such games is, after all, to put players under pressure in order to prepare for challenges to come.Afterwards, Darren Gough – England’s short-term bowling consultant – was full of empathy for his charges. He had his share of such days, after all. But, among the words of support and respect, there was a reminder that the best, as he put it, “find a way” to succeed in such conditions.ALSO READ: Curran set for Test berth ahead of Woakes“The way I look at it,” Gough said, “is that New Zealand’s bowlers, Trent Boult and Tim Southee, bowl at 85mph and they somehow find a way to take wickets on New Zealand pitches. The ball has to swing here, because they are swing bowlers and they have good records. You have to find a way.”Ben Stokes suggested that the pitch was “seriously flat” and that it had provided a useful challenge. “[It was] a bit surprising,” he told Test Match Special, “but that’s a great test for us as a bowling group to be exposed to. It was a great opportunity for us to try a few different things; set different fields, bowl to different plans that we normally wouldn’t.”As ever with such warm-up games, it probably pays not to read too much into the statistics. Many of this England side are now pretty experienced and will not be striving for peak performance in such circumstances. It’s all about being ready for next week.But it was, Jofra Archer aside, hard to see where England were going to find the weapons to damage New Zealand. On these surfaces, with this ball, Kane Williamson looks a desperately tough proposition.Archer’s third spell was probably the day’s highlight from an England perspective. Generating sharp pace from a docile wicket and an old ball, he unsettled the batsmen with some well-directed short-balls. Phillips took one blow to the forearm and was thrown off his feet as he jerked his head out of the way of another. Earlier Hamish Rutherford had been struck on the side of the head by an Archer bouncer, but looked in excellent touch before departing in somewhat unfortunate fashion as he feathered an edge down the leg side.England’s problem, though, is that their opposition know Archer cannot bowl forever. And with no Mark Wood or Olly Stone in reserve, it is hard to build the required intensity from an attack that lacks the pace to sustain Archer’s threat. Stokes could, perhaps, fulfil the role of fast-bowling foil to Archer – he certainly bowled fast enough on slow surfaces in Sri Lanka – but in this game, understandably, was probably holding back just a little.While Stuart Broad struck early, neither he or Sam Curran carried much threat for the rest of the day. Curran came back pretty well after a disappointing first spell but he could face a tough series if he is unable to coax any swing from these balls. Stokes, while expensive, took two quick wickets after deceiving Tim Seifert with what appeared to be a slower ball and then saw Jimmy Neesham play-on as he attempted a forcing stroke. Leach conceded three fours in five deliveries at one stage but only conceded one more in his 26 overs. Again, there is nothing in these conditions for Leach but if he can restrict the scoring rate to 2.15 an over as he did here, he can feel he has done a decent job for his team.One thing is certain: if England are to win here for the first time since 2008, they will have to hold their catches. On the first day of this match, Dom Sibley, at second slip, put down a relatively simple stomach-height offered by Phillips on 27 off Stokes. These things happen, of course, but they are starting to happen just a little more often than can be ignored. Tom Blundell was reprieved on 60, too, when it caught behind off what turned out to be a no-ball, though he was very well caught at midwicket next ball.Joe Root suffered an injury scare in England’s warm-up•Getty Images

There was also an injury scare. Joe Root was forced off the field for a while after landing heavily when diving to prevent a boundary at long-on. He was subsequently diagnosed with a jarred hip, but returned to field well before stumps. It is not anticipated there will be lasting consequences.In the longer-term, Gough felt Saqib Mahmood could be the sort of bowler who could make inroads in such conditions. With his pace, his somewhat slingy action and a willingness to pitch the ball full, he would appear to have the ingredients to reverse this kookaburra ball as Gough once did. “He’s different to the others,” Gough said. “He’s another option when the pitch is flat. We’re working on reverse. He has the natural talent to do it and he’s desperate to be better at it. He’s keen to learn.”Some may point to Curran’s figures and suggest Chris Woakes was unfortunate to miss out here. And it is true that Woakes, with his extra pace, can at least force batsmen on to the back foot a little more readily. He also feels his recently-acquired ability to bowl the wobble seam gives him a new weapon in such conditions. But it’s not as if he has not had chances in such circumstances and it may well be wishful thinking to suggest he would have provided any more of a cutting edge. As Gough said later, while recognising Woakes’ skills, “whether he has to do something different to the past away from home, it will be interesting to see if he gets an opportunity and realises that.” The slightly depressing truth is, after years of playing county cricket on seaming wickets and with a Dukes ball, there are very few England bowlers who will flourish in these conditions.”I’ve not seen a swinging ball in the two weeks I’ve been here,” Gough said, though he did admit he had managed to swing it in the nets. “At about 70 mph. And that’s a big difference. If it swings, it will be for the first eight or nine overs.”Whatever happens on this tour, the influence of Gough has been perceived as a success. The combination of a fresh voice and his vast experience have provided new ideas to experienced bowlers who have probably heard rather a lot of the familiar, somewhat homogenised ECB voices. Gough, positive but prepared to offer some home truths where necessary, has encouraged new ideas. It seems unlikely he will be lured into anything like a full-time role – he enjoys his radio job too much for that – but conversations about future consultancy spells with England’s bowlers are ongoing.

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.

Kyle Hope and Sunil Ambris have earned call-ups to West Indies’ one-day international squad for the final three ODIs of their ongoing home series against India

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2017Kyle Hope and Sunil Ambris have earned call-ups to West Indies’ one-day international squad* for the final three ODIs of their ongoing home series against India. The duo came in at the expense of Jonathan Carter and Kieran Powell in Cricket West Indies’ 13-man squad named on Tuesday.

West Indies squad

Jason Holder (capt), Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell, Kesrick Williams

Hope, the 28-year old top-order batsman and brother of incumbent national wicketkeeper Shai, captains Trinidad & Tobago in domestic cricket, while Ambris, a 24-year old wicketkeeper-batsman, plays for Windward Islands. Both players are uncapped at the international level.Hope opened the batting for West Indies A on the one-day leg of their tour of Sri Lanka last year, and turned in good performances with a century and an 81 in three matches. He was also one of the stars of T&T’s campaign in the WICB Professional Cricket League Regional 4 Day Tournament (PCL) in 2016-17, finishing second only to Yannic Cariah on the tournament run charts.Ambris was the seventh-best run-scorer in that tournament with 608 runs at 43.42. That included a double-century against Leeward Islands, when he cracked a 256-ball 231, with the help of 27 fours and five sixes, to set up Windward Islands’ seven-wicket win.”Sunil Ambris and Kyle Hope are two very promising young batsmen who have been selected on the basis of strong performances in our competitions,” Courtney Browne, Cricket West Indies’ chairman of selectors, said. “Kyle opened on our last A team one-day tour to Sri Lanka and had some very good performances. In addition, he also had a good showing opening the batting for the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force franchise in this year’s PCL competition.”Sunil did well in our Regional Super50 One-Day tournament and also had a good showing in this year’s PCL first-class tournament for Windward Islands Volcanoes, and therefore will fit within our middle order. They will be up against a good Indian team and they have an opportunity to show their skills and contribute to a stronger team performance.”The third ODI takes place on Friday in Antigua, which will also host the fourth game, before the teams head to Kingston for the fifth and final match and a one-off T20 International. India lead the one-day series 1-0, having picked up a 105-run win in Port of Spain after the first match ended in a washout.*15.40 GMT The story has been updated to reflect Kesrick Williams’ presence in the squad, per a WICB media release pointing out a correction in the squad they had sent out.

A bun fight could be brewing over Dale Steyn’s national versus club duties as reports linking him to Glamorgan continue to swirl

Firdose Moonda17-May-2016A bun fight could be brewing over Dale Steyn’s national-versus-club duties as reports linking him to Glamorgan continue to swirl. Steyn may turn out for the county in part of their NatWest T20 Blast campaign, which coincides with South Africa’s participation in an ODI triangular tournament in the Caribbean.Steyn was left out of the squad for the tri-series after the selectors decided he needed rest ahead of the August Tests against New Zealand. However, Steyn may not be putting his feet up at all, and CSA may have been forced to provide Steyn with a no-objection certificate (NOC), which goes against their selectors’ wishes because the fast bowler is understood to want both game time and pounds.Although neither Glamorgan nor Steyn’s agent Dave Rundle confirmed Steyn was joining the county, Steyn’s former provincial and international team-mate Jacques Rudolph, captain of Glamorgan, confirmed there were ongoing talks. Rudolph was quoted by BBC Sport Wales as saying there was a “good possibility” of Steyn playing for Glamorgan, and that they were waiting on ” a visa issue” to confirm his availability. Steyn himself at hinted at the stint last week, when he asked about good fishing spots in Glamorgan on Twitter.
The T20 blast runs over three months from May 20 – the final is on August 20 – with Glamorgan’s first game to be played on May 26. South Africa’s tri-series in the West Indies begins on June 3 and concludes on June 26 but the next time Steyn will be needed for the country is on August 19, when a two-Test series against New Zealand begins. Steyn is also due to play for Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League, which starts on June 30. That means he could play seven games for Glamorgan between May 26 and June 24, and three CPL games before his next international assignment, which will more than double the game time he has had this year; so far in 2016, Steyn has played just seven matches, two T20 warm-up matches, four internationals and one at the IPL.He had spent the bulk of the South African summer injured, after sustaining a groin problem during the first Test against India in Mohali in November and then picking up a shoulder injury during the Boxing Day Test at home against England. Steyn recovered in time to play the T20s against Australia and then at the World T20, where he only featured in two of South Africa’s four games.Despite Steyn’s seemingly waning presence in limited-overs cricket, convener of selectors Linda Zondi said Steyn was “not out of the ODI picture” and could still feature in the September series against Australia, but the priority was to preserve him for Test cricket. For that reason the selectors did not want Steyn in action in June, but the possible deal with Glamorgan will change that and there is little CSA can do to stop it.CSA could force Steyn to rest by refusing him an NOC, a document required by all South African players regardless of whether they are nationally contracted or not to participate in other countries’ competitions. However if an NOC is refused, the South African Cricketers’ Association would scrutinise the reasons for the refusal. Steyn’s non-selection for the West Indies tri-series could work against CSA’s wanting to control that period of his time, though they have made it clear that they want Steyn to rest.This situation could open the door for discussions over the content of national contracts, which could increasingly see players advocate for more free-enterprise. CSA reserves the right to issue disclaimers with their NOCs – for example that a player cannot play more than a certain number of matches during the time he is at an overseas club – and prioritise international cricket over foreign domestic leagues. The weak Rand, which sits at 22.49 to the pound at Tuesday’s exchange rate, has been cited as the main reason for South Africans opting for stints overseas. But there has also been a suggestion that the increased focus on transformation has left many players uncertain over their futures and caused them to seek career security elsewhere.

Umesh Yadav’s first-over double-strike loosened the bolts, before Kolkata Knight Riders’ spinners took charge and the wheels truly came off Sunrisers Hyderabad’s chase

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando04-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:05

O’Brien: Chasing was the wrong call for SRH

Umesh Yadav’s first-over double-strike loosened the bolts, before Kolkata Knight Riders’ spinners took charge and the wheels truly came off Sunrisers Hyderabad’s chase. Pursuing 168 on a dry Eden Gardens deck, the visitors were 6 for 2, then later slipped to 69 for 6 in the 12th over, as the big shots continued to prove unfruitful, and their running between wickets faltered. They would finish 35 runs adrift, at 132 for 9.Brad Hogg and Piyush Chawla were both menacing and miserly through the middle overs, picking 3 for 33 from eight overs between them to lock up the match despite Moises Henriques’ battling 41 from 33, which was the top score in the match.Perhaps Sunrisers captain David Warner’s first mistake of the evening had been to bowl first on what appeared to be a spin-friendly deck to his counterpart, Gautam Gambhir. After his side had conceded 167 for 7, Warner made another error to see his off stump pegged back by the third legal delivery he faced. Having pulled Yadav for four previous ball, Warner played around a seaming length ball. Three balls later, Naman Ojha made the same mistake, the stump, this time, coming all the way out of the ground.Shikhar Dhawan and Henriques attempted to bash the chase into gear, but at spin’s early introduction, they became more cautious. Dhawan was out when he smoked a Brad Hogg half-tracker straight to square leg, but despite that bad ball, Hogg was instrumental in keeping the opposition pinned to their bad start. Yusuf Pathan leaked 19 runs in his solitary over, conceding two sixes and a four to Henriques, but the bowlers around him were economical enough to prevent a Sunrisers surge.Eoin Morgan’s slow start got worse when, after a moment’s hesitation, he failed to beat Gambir’s throw to the non-striker’s end, and was out for 5 off 11. The boundaries had dried up after that Pathan over, and another double-strike in the 12th over, went a long way to sealing the result.Hanuma Vihari ran past a Chawla slider fourth ball, before Bipul Sharma was run out attempting an ambitious second at the end of the over. That left the visitors needing 99 from 48 balls with four wickets in hand, and with Chawla, Yadav and Hogg all continuing to bowl tightly, the required-rate quickly climbed to unmanageable levels. In all, no boundaries were hit for eight overs in a stretch.Knight Riders’ own innings had been somewhat disjointed, with four batsmen hitting thirties, as Sunrisers’ slower bowlers also prospered. Robin Uthappa and Gambhir had put on 57 together before Gambhir holed out to deep midwicket off Karn Sharma’s bowling. Manish Pandey looked the most promising out of the top-order batsmen, finding two big sixes down the ground, before he ran himself out for 33 in the 14th over. Pathan struck four fours in a 19-ball 30 that finished the innings. Karn ended with 2 for 29, the best figures for Sunrisers.

Pat Cummins will not make a cameo appearance in New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield match against Queensland and Brad Haddin has also been ruled out of the match due to a thumb injury

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2012Pat Cummins will not make a cameo appearance in New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield match against Queensland and faces a cloudy immediate future as his sore back is examined further.Initial scans on Cummins’ back proved inconclusive, and he is now scheduled to visit Melbourne tomorrow for further consultation with medical experts after he returned home from the Champions League Twenty20 with the niggle.There had been a chance of him slotting in to the New South Wales side for the last day of their Shield match, which starts on Friday, as a replacement for one of the state’s Test players, but his injury has taken that possibility off the table. Cummins, 19, has not played a first-class match since his Test debut last November and his chances of being involved in Australia’s Test summer will hinge on the outcome of his examinations.Brad Haddin will also be on the sidelines for this week’s match after it was decided that his thumb injury, picked up during the Champions League in South Africa, had not fully recovered. A specialist diagnosed residual swelling and infection but it was expected Haddin would be available for the next round of Shield and Ryobi Cup matches.Peter Nevill will take the gloves against Queensland and David Dawson has also been included in the squad. The Blues also confirmed that Steven Smith and Moises Henriques, who are part of the Australia A match against South Africa due to finish in Sydney on Sunday, would fly to Brisbane after that game and would be available as replacements for the final day of the Shield game.Sean Abbott will also be on standby for replacement duties, as will the nominated 12th man. New South Wales could lose Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, David Warner and Mitchell Starc on the final day of the game as they may be required to join the national squad in preparation for the first Test.

On a sluggish track built to suck all skill out of cricket, Moises Henqirues found plenty of it to help New South Wales first to an improbable tie and then a win through the Super Over

The Report by Sidharth Monga28-Sep-2011
Super Over
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outHis four-over spell of 2 for 27 was only the start of Moises Henriques’ contribution to New South Wales’ win•Associated Press

On a sluggish track built to suck all skill out of cricket, Moises Henriques found plenty of it to help New South Wales first to an improbable tie and then a win through the Super Over. For the second match in a row, Trinidad & Tobago lost the script after having defended spiritedly for most of the match. Henriques manoeuvred the field – something that was arguably easier than it should have been – in the last over to help NSW get the 16 runs they needed for the tie, and then played around with the same bowler, Ravi Rampaul, some more to score 18 in the Super Over. Lendl Simmons hit a six and a four in the chase, but with four required off the last ball, drilled Steve O’Keefe straight down long-off’s throat.The tournament is fast resembling different actors acting out the same play with a little improvisation here and there, but to their credit the actors today made it very dramatic. The story for most of the Hyderabad and Chennai games has been: sizzle at the start, struggle with the slowness and lowness in the middle and scramble in the end. Both the teams sizzled to begin with (T&T score 40 in first 5.3, NSW 43 in the first six), both struggled once the ball became soft (T&T managed 21 in the next 5.3 overs, going six overs without a boundary; NSW’s next six overs brought 30, and they didn’t score a boundary for 8.5 overs). It was the scramble that would decide that match, and T&T’s 61 off the last six matched NSW’s 50 off their last five to produce the third tie in Champions League history.Like all sluggish tracks do, this one in Chennai too took a lot skill out of the equation for about 39 overs. The bowlers couldn’t bowl wicket-taking deliveries, but they could stifle the batsmen by bowling slow, stump to stump, and short of a length. The batsmen found it incredibly hard to time the ball. Simmons and Warner didn’t face those problems at the top, although Warner did play out a maiden from Samuel Badree. Simmons hit through the line, and Warner punished width as they got their respective sides to good starts.O’Keefe’s non-spinning delivery in the seventh over started the first-innings turnaround, dismissing Adrian Barath. Sunil Narine’s flicked legbreak induced the top edge from Shane Watson in the seventh over of the chase. Mud-wrestling followed in both innings as frustrated batsmen played intemperate shots to lose their wickets. Henriques got Simmons and Darren Bravo, Sherwin Ganga accounted for Warner and Daniel Smith. T&T: 69 for 3 after 11.5, NSW: 72 for 3 after 11.5.T&T’s scramble began in the 15th over when Steven Smith offered them two long hops, which were hit for fours by Denesh Ramdin. In the same over, Billy Bowden, the third umpire, reprieved Darren Ganga, who went onto add a further 11 off 7. The real game-breaking scramble came through a two-over association between Ravi Rampaul and Kevin Cooper, which brought them 25 runs. It wasn’t all skill: two of their boundaries came through pulls through long-on and long-off. Rampaul finished with an unbeaten 15 off 7.Rampaul wasn’t done with the scramble, though. He would bowl two out of NSW’s last three overs, with 36 to defend. He began with a no-ball, a call he contested heatedly. The replays showed his front foot well in, and no replays of the back foot was available. Be that as it may Rampaul came back with a smashing yorker on the free-hit, and followed it up with Simon Katich’s wicket in the same over.With 16 to defend, Rampaul began the last over with his trusted practice of going round the stumps and bowling yorkers on off and outside off. Henriques wreaked havoc with his head by walking across and flicking the first two past short fine leg. These were two incredible shots: they were not length balls but near yorkers, and he whipped them late in order to miss the fielder. He could only manage a single off the third ball, but trusted Pat Cummins enough to take a couple off the fourth.Selected earlier today for the Australian national side to tour South Africa, Cummins made room, got a length ball, and somehow squeezed it between mid-on and midwicket for four. Cruelly it came down to two required off the last ball. Would T&T still offer the tie on the platter? They bowled the last ball with just four fielders inside the circle, but one of them- midwicket – wasn’t quite at the edge of the circle. Cummins found that man, and we were going into the Super Over.NSW sent the form-man, Henriques, to bat ahead of Shane Watson. T&T persisted with Rampaul, who persisted with bowling round the stumps. He began with a dot, but a poor throw from their worst fielder – Bravo – allowed Henriques a second off the second ball. The way the game panned out, T&T would have taken any other man than Henriques on strike. Henriques hit fours off the next four balls: through such varied areas as midwicket, point, mid-on and fine leg.More drama followed just before T&T could bat their Super Over. T&T saw the ball being tossed up to O’Keefe, and wanted to promote Bravo, originally slated to bat at 3. Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, was alert and wouldn’t have any of it. With Bravo still kicking the ground, O’Keefe began to bowl left-arm spin to two right-hand batsmen. With 15 required off last three, Simmons managed to clear a leaping long-on. O’keefe followed it up with a wide. Cummins followed it up with a misfield at square leg to allow a four. Simmons timed the last ball perfectly, but it was pitched just too close to him to allow the elevation. It was a matter of inches in the end.

Seamer Andrew Carter and left-arm spinner Graeme White have signed new two-year contracts with Nottinghamshire

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2010Seamer Andy Carter and left-arm spinner Graeme White have signed new two-year contracts with Nottinghamshire.Both players were already under contract until the end of the 2011 season but have agreed new terms on deals that commit them to the club until the end of the 2012 season.White joined the club from Northamptonshire last year and enjoyed a solid debut season at Trent Bridge, playing his first Championship game as well as being a regular in limited-overs cricket.”Graeme has quickly become a key member of our team in limited overs matches,” said Nottinghamshire coach Mick Newell. “He’s here principally for his spin bowling but he has shown promise with the bat and has the potential to become a good all-rounder.”He’ll be keen to play four day cricket and to do that he needs to show that he can bat at eight or nine which he’s working hard to achieve.”Carter had a spell on loan at Essex last season taking 13 wickets in three Championship games, including a second innings haul of 5 for 40 against Kent, and Newell feels he has gained the ingredients to perform for Nottinghamshire.”Andrew needed to gain first-class experience and did very well during his spell with Essex,” said Newell. “He has genuine pace and has developed accuracy to go with it which will help to push his case for a place in our side next season.”