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He feels West Indies probably would have won or come very close had the game lasted the full duration

Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill05-Aug-20191:40

‘We think this Indian team is beatable’ – Rovman Powell

West Indies allrounder Rovman Powell believes his side was well-placed with “sufficient” wickets in hand to make a powerful launch in the last four overs to overhaul the target of 168 against India in the second T20I. Instead, a lightning alarm forced an initial delay at the 15.3-over mark with West Indies needing 70 to win before torrential thunderstorms officially ended proceedings with India declared winners by 22 runs via the DLS method.”I think the wicket was a little bit better,” Powell said after Sunday’s defeat while assessing West Indies’ batting performance compared to a day earlier when they struggled to 95 for 9 after being sent in. “It came onto the bat a little more. It didn’t spin as much or it wasn’t as slow as yesterday. As a team, I just thought we were an over behind. If the game had finished, we probably would have won or come very close.”I think we had sufficient wickets in hand. We had Kieron Pollard and [Shimron] Hetmyer at the crease, and Carlos Brathwaite and Keemo Paul to come in. I think those are guys that could have brought it to them. I guess in the end India are runaway winners but we don’t look at it and say we were far behind.”But rather than a possible finishing kick that was stymied by rain, a bigger issue was a poor start to their innings for the second day in a row as West Indies once again found themselves at 8 for 2. West Indies captain Brathwaite had said a day earlier that Sunil Narine was kept down the order in the first T20I so as not to expose him to offspinner Washington Sundar turning the ball away from him. Yet, Narine was sent in less than 24 hours later to open for the first time in a T20I for West Indies.Despite Narine’s well-documented success as an opener in T20 leagues, the strategy failed for West Indies as Washington didn’t concede a run off the bat in his first two overs bowling to the left-handed Narine – who opened after John Campbell was left out of the XI – and Nicholas Pooran. Narine racked up nine dot balls against Washington with the sequence ultimately ending in a failed charge that saw the batsman bowled for 4.”Sunil, around the world, has opened for different franchises,” Powell said. “We decided as a team that we were going to use that option today but unfortunately it just didn’t come off.”In contrast, Powell found success, top-scoring for West Indies with 54 off 34 balls at a venue that he is familiar with. Playing for Jamaica Tallawahs, he has made five appearances at the Central Broward Regional Park in the last two CPL seasons. That helped.”I’m comfortable with the ground,” Powell said. “It has been my home ground for maybe the last year or two with regards to the CPL. So I’ve played a lot of cricket here. I think it has got very good facilities and I feel at home whenever I come here.”Powell said that although India had already clinched the three-match series, he didn’t feel the results were particularly lopsided. Instead, he thought West Indies were not far off from turning the results around on Tuesday in the final T20I in Guyana to help give the hosts a momentum boost heading into the ODI series.”I wouldn’t know what changes will be made [for the third T20I] over maybe a two-day period,” Powell said. “But what we will say is that the team that is heading to Guyana, we’re looking to put our best foot forward. We think this Indian team is beatable and it’s just for us to string together good performances to show people that.”

Floodlit Championship cricket halved the average crowd at Chelmsford as Essex supporters shunned the attraction of a gorgeous summer’s evening

Dan Norcross25-Jun-20181:33

Nash’s ton gives boost for Notts

ScorecardThe sun refuses to set on day/night cricket in England, however much a grumbling Chelmsford crowd may wish it to, in no small part owing to it being played in midsummer.On a scorching hot, blue-sky, ice-cream and sunblock day, the sort of day which is supposed to attract hordes of late arrivals bunking off work early to enjoy a reviving ice-cold beer or simply ambling by and thinking “what the hell”, there were fewer people present to watch Alastair Cook and Essex’s return to batting form than you’d expect at a good old-fashioned run of the mill red ball game in mid-April.There are reasons; it was a Monday, many of the home fans live a good drive away from the ground, and the lure of the World Cup is stronger than the novelty of a pink ball. It might help if the pink ball in question, a Kookaburra for Division One matches, didn’t show less inclination to swing than Odysseus’ virtuous wife Penelope. Indeed, the seam on these balls unthreads more rapidly than her tapestries.It might help, but really not a lot. Alan, an Essex member of decades’ standing, ran through the myriad objections: “Most of the members are getting on. They don’t want to queue in the car park at 9.30, waiting to drive home 20 miles. Then you don’t feel like eating because it’s too late, and you can’t live on a diet of burgers and chips which is all I can get here.”What about the walk-in crowd? Well, Chelmsford isn’t The Oval. You’re not likely to stop your journey back home from work (which as often as not will be in London), traipse 10 minutes to the ground to arrive at around 6.30pm only to contemplate the remaining half hour (at least) of your journey starting at 9.15pm. On a Monday. With a World Cup going on.And then there’s the spectacle. Day/night cricket can be a wondrous spectacle in Australia, India, pretty much everywhere else in the cricketing firmament . A jet black sky, the lights on full beam, the ball misbehaving in that exotic final session. If, though, you insist on playing
it in midsummer in England, it’s hard to know why they don’t just stick to the red ball. The spectacle never appears. The crepuscular hour falls and casts its magically spectral light on a crowd that has by now decamped to the train station or pub. But if you play it much later in the season, it gets bloody cold by 9pm.Alastair Cook was Essex’s mainstay•Getty Images

Is it just possible that England is not Australia. It is not India. Is it possible that England needs to tailor cricket to England and English conditions, rather than creating a bastard hybrid of what works abroad. In countries closer to the equator. Countries that get dark earlier and are warm? Because if day/night cricket wasn’t going to work today of all days, it’s hard to know exactly when it will. Under a heated, roofed, megadome in central London?All of which is a shame since what many locals missed was a fighting day of good quality cricket from two teams on whom the sun actually is threatening to set on their title ambitions after heavy defeats last week. Essex finally rediscovered some form with the bat thanks to an opening partnership of 151 between the returning Nick Browne (out since early May with a broken finger) and Alastair Cook. It was Essex’s largest partnership of the season by 41 runs, and was only ended when Tim Groenewald deflected Cook’s firmly struck straight drive onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end, stranding Browne (66) a couple of feet out of his ground.Somerset, spearheaded by Dom Bess, who bowled unchanged for 35 overs, dragged back the scoring rate on a dry first day pitch that will surely assist Harmer later in the game. Somerset chipped away with wickets at regular intervals in the middle session, including that of Cook whom Bess trapped lbw four runs short of his 63rd first-class hundred, and we got a first sight of Michael Pepper , debuting on his 20th birthday. A six foot three inch wicket keeper batsmen who is much admired by local legend Robin Hobbs, he survived a spicy spell from Jamie Overton who repeatedly tested him with the short ball either side of tea, but he couldn’t survive Bess’s arm ball, playing down the wrong line as it cannoned into his off stump.At 212 for 4 Essex were in danger of succumbing to familiar frailties but were seen home by an unbroken partnership of 86 between their old stagers Ravi Bopara (37) and Ryan ten Doeschate (46) to finish on 298 for 4, just four runs short of their highest first innings score this season, with power to add.Sadly, a crowd of 1202, roughly half the average attendance at Chelmsford this season, was there to see it.

Ahead of their WCL Division Three tournament in Uganda, head coach Pubudu Dassanayake took the assistance of top Australian coaches to sharpen players’ skills in USA’s bid for promotion to Division Two

Peter Della Penna25-Apr-2017In a bid to reverse the curse of Division Three, the USA team’s preparations for their upcoming tournament in Uganda have been kicked up a notch with the help of several Australian coaches, including New South Wales assistant Beau Casson. It is a boost that USA players hope will finally get them over the hump and into Division Two for the first time since the ICC began the World Cricket League system in 2007.”It’s been great to tinker with some of the players and make slight technical adjustments, but there’s been a major emphasis on tactical awareness and particularly ‘game sense’ and when to execute certain deliveries depending on what the situation demands,” Casson told ESPNcricinfo during USA’s recent preparation camp in Texas. “That’s an area that I think there’s going to be incredible growth within this playing group because there’s skill there, but being able to identify certain situations in the game is very important.”A lack of tactical nous has been a key reason why USA has failed in three prior attempts to progress out of Division Three despite the talent at their disposal. In 2004, USA was in the top tier of Associates and qualified for that year’s Champions Trophy in England. A 10th place finish at the ICC Trophy in 2005 saw them reclassified into Division Three when the World Cricket League structure was unveiled for 2007, but when the ICC suspended the USA Cricket Association that year, one of the penalties handed down was a relegation from Division Three to Division Five.In their first attempt after gaining back-to-back promotions to move up from Division Five in 2010, USA opened the 2011 WCL Division Three tournament with a thumping seven-wicket win over current ODI nation Hong Kong before a calamitous series of results saw them relegated to Division Four. Back in Division Three in April 2013, they began 3-0 in Bermuda including a big win over current WCL Championship side Nepal before stumbling on the final two days of group play against Uganda and Bermuda. Another confident start against Bermuda at Division Three in 2014 in Malaysia spiraled out of control, resulting in relegation once more.Fresh talent not scarred by the memories of prior Division Three debacles has been drafted into the squad for the Uganda tour, including left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige. After a stint training with the Knights franchise in South Africa under coach Nicky Boje earlier this year, Kenjige says the time spent in Texas this month with Casson as well as Tasmania high-performance manager Richard Allanby further elevated his ‘game sense’ to get ready for a crucial tournament.”It’s just been priceless just because the kind of expertise and knowledge that these two coaches have,” Kenjige said. “They’ve played for international sides and they’ve been coaching around the world. So just to have them around and looking at you bowl, and then they’ve also been helping me in different scenarios with the field, with the tactical part of it and also the technical part of the bowling side. So it’s just been gold.”Peter Anderson worked extensively with USA’s wicketkeepers, including this golf ball catching exercise•Peter Della Penna

Fielding expert Trevor Penney is on USA’s staff for Division Three as an assistant coach alongside head coach Pubudu Dassanayake, but former Queensland wicketkeeper and current Cayman Islands coach Peter Anderson was brought to the Texas camp as a consultant specifically to work with USA’s wicketkeepers. Akeem Dodson said the brief time with Anderson was a bonus ahead of Division Three.”That kind of experience, it’s all you’ve been waiting for all your life as a professional athlete,” Dodson said of Anderson. “Not only the drive but the wherewithal to implement his own personality onto the way he teaches things. There’s so many different drills he had put together, things you could tell he did himself and now he’s passing on to you.”One drill Dodson did with Anderson was a rapid reflex exercise in which golf balls were hit from two feet away that needed to be snatched barehanded, then tennis balls, before advancing to cricket balls. The progression is intended to make each step easier for game action.”I didn’t find it too weird,” Dodson said. “I’ve heard golf ball practice is very good for your reflexes because it pings off very fast, then tennis ball for the touch and then those two things going together it makes the cricket ball easier to catch. Going through those progressive drills opens your eyes and you see and feel technically the things you’ve been doing wrong, and by the time you get to the cricket balls you’re not dropping any of them. It’s like you flip a switch.”Meeting him, working with him and having the chance to talk with him, he’s learned from some of the best and been around the best. It’s that kind of people that you want to keep close to you and build off of. The wealth of experience that he comes with is unfathomable almost and just to be able to have him here along with us and working with us is a great pleasure.”Anderson has formerly headed the Afghanistan national academy from 2014 to 2016 and also coached Papua New Guinea at the 2014 World Cup Qualifier where they secured ODI status. He believes, from his observations in Texas, that USA has the squad right now to be a Division One Associate.”They have a lot of talent but they have to go back home and reinforce what they’ve learnt,” Anderson said. “The intensity I’ve seen, I think they’re starting to understand what’s required to go to the next level and I think these guys will climb fairly quickly. They’ve got a good nucleus of players together. The biggest challenge is that it’s such a big place, they have to go back [home] and take ownership to work on their own game.”The talent I’ve seen, it won’t be long before they’re in the top leagues in my opinion. Playing against those teams, the hardest challenge is working their way up the ladder. I’ve coached two of those teams and there’s no doubt they have the talent to be there, it’s just a matter of getting consistency and working hard on their games. I expect them to go to Uganda and do very well and within 18 months I think they’ll challenge Papua New Guinea and some of those other countries.”

The grand finale of the 2016 Women’s World T20 is between two contrasting sides – one that knows what it takes to win the cup and another for whom the stage is new territory

The Preview by Shashank Kishore02-Apr-2016

Match facts

April 3, 2016
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)Given their limited talent pool, West Indies would be delighted at having unearthed talents like Britney Cooper, who struck a match-winning 61 in the semi-final•AFP

Big Picture

The grand finale of the 2016 Women’s World T20 is between two contrasting sides – one that knows what it takes to win the cup and another for whom the stage is new territory. Australia, barring the mishap against New Zealand, have run roughshod over their opponents, while West Indies have played an entertaining brand of cricket, even if not always of the highest quality.Irrespective of Sunday’s result, that West Indies have finally managed to pass the semi-final barrier in their fifth attempt is a step in the right direction. But try telling that to Stafanie Taylor and her team, who are looking to upset Australia, having fallen short in each of their eight previous meetings. A rare opportunity to make it a treble of titles for West Indies at global tournaments this year – their U-19 team won the World Cup in Bangladesh – should fire them up.Taylor, Deandra Dottin and Merissa Aguilleira have been the torchbearers for West Indies since the tournament’s inception in 2009. Taylor has even been upfront about how their domestic structure lacks depth and they have had to make do with a limited talent pool. Considering those constraints, the team management would be delighted at having unearthed two players for the future in Hayley Matthews and Britney Cooper, who struck a crucial maiden half-century in the semi-final.For Australia, the World T20 is simply a culmination of their summer that began with the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League, which allowed a lot of their players the best possible match preparation leading into the tournament. A T20I series loss against India offered them an opportunity to rectify creaking areas. While the top-order batsmen took their time to find their bearings on slow surfaces in India, disciplined batting efforts against Sri Lanka and Ireland, followed by a combined show of strength spearheaded by their captain Meg Lanning against England in the semi-final, points to a unit brimming with confidence.While the batting of both sides has the X-factor that could take the surface out of the equation, Australia seem well rounded in the bowling department. Ellyse Perry, their spearhead, has not had a campaign to remember, but in Megan Schutt and Rene Farrell, they have pacers, whose incisive deliveries upfront and variations at the death have been tough to get away. In comparison, West Indies have relied often on Taylor and Dottin to bail them out, with the ball too. How successful they are in dismantling the Lanning threat will go a long way in deciding the outcome of the final.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WWWLW
West Indies: WWLWW

In the spotlight

Britney Cooper made her debut in 2009 and had played 44 T20Is without scoring a half-century. While being shunted up and down the batting order may have not helped, that she was presented with opportunities to play was not lost on anyone. In what was seen as a gamble, Cooper was promoted ahead of accomplished batsmen like Dottin and Aguilleira in the semi-final against a New Zealand side on a rampage. She repaid the faith with a 48-ball 61. More than the runs, the manner in which she accrued them showed why power-hitting is West Indies’ stronger suit.That Australia are gunning for their fourth title is as much due to the efforts of Megan Schutt as it is because of Lanning. Three years ago, Schutt, just two ODIs old then, surprised many with her street-smart variations and subtle changes in length to play a key role in Australia’s World Cup triumph. Having been a constant since, she has stepped up every time Australia needed her to; her vital scalps of Tammy Beaumont and Katherine Brunt subdued England’s challenge in a tense semi-final.

Teams news

While most teams would prefer a horses-for-courses approach, both sides are unlikely to tinker with their winning combinations, considering they have bowlers of all kinds for what is largely expected to be a belter of a surface. Australia (probable) 1 Elyse Villani. 2 Alyssa Healy 3 Meg Lanning 4 Ellyse Perry 5 Alex Blackwell 6 Jess Jonassen 7 Beth Mooney 8 Erin Osborne 9 Megan Schutt 10 Rene Farrell 11 Kristen Beams West Indies (probable) 1 Stafanie Taylor 2 Hayley Matthews 3 Britney Cooper 4 Shaquana Quintyne 5 Deandra Dottin 6 Stacy-Ann King 7 Shemaine Campbelle 8 Merissa Aguilleira 9 Shamilia Connell 10 Afy Fletcher 11 Anisa Mohammed

Pitch and conditions

The final will be the first women’s game at Eden Gardens this tournament, but if the league stage of the men’s competition is an indicator, there will be turn on offer, although not to the extent that was seen in the game between India and Pakistan. A 2pm start means there will be no dew, and the toss is unlikely to have that big an impact on the result.

Stats and trivia

• The only time both sides have met in the final of a global event was at the 2013 World Cup in Mumbai, where Australia were runaway winners, by 114 runs
• Australia are unbeaten in T20Is against West Indies, with their head-to-head record an impressive 8-0
• Stafanie Taylor is the leading run-getter among the players who will feature in the final. She has made 187 runs in five innings, with scores of 40, 40, 35, 47 and 25. She is also the leading wicket-taker among both sides in this tournament.

Quotes

“The men’s team has been very successful in the past couple of years. I think they’ve shown in Tests and by winning the World Cup as well. They’ve played some good cricket, but couldn’t quite get over the line. Virat Kohli took it away from us. We’re certainly not competing with them.””We’ll definitely have a ‘Champion’ dance. Dwayne Bravo said to us that we’re not doing it enough. Tomorrow, if we do win, we’re going to do it a lot.”

Mickey Arthur has claimed he had no choice but to take legal action against Cricket Australia after being ignored by the organisation following his dismissal last month

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2013Mickey Arthur has claimed he had no choice but to take legal action against Cricket Australia over the “totally unfair basis” for his sacking. Arthur has also said he was given a positive appraisal by Cricket Australia before the Ashes tour and that his reputation had suffered extensive damage after his axing, which would make it hard for him to find another job.Arthur has been in South Africa since his sacking and on Sunday arrived in Perth, where he delivered a statement to the media. Arthur reiterated that he was not responsible for last week’s leaking of details of his legal claim against Cricket Australia, in which a rift between Michael Clarke and Shane Watson was detailed. But he homed in on the CA chief executive James Sutherland’s admission that Arthur had been made a “scapegoat” as the key to his case.”James Sutherland himself said that, to an extent, I had been made, I quote, ‘a scapegoat’,” Arthur said. “I find that a totally unfair basis to end my career. The damage to my reputation and career has been immense, which means the chances of me getting a senior job are that much less. I was truly shocked and devastated by my dismissal. I had received a positive appraisal on all my key performance indicators just prior to departing for the Ashes tour.”I am told that David Warner’s conduct was ‘the last straw’ for the board. I received no hearing at all over that issue, and no one was doing more to improve discipline in the young Australian team than I was. After my dismissal, I received nothing in writing from Cricket Australia, no contact, and no payment at all, not even of my basic leave pay, until I was forced to bring in lawyers to assist in the process. I had tried on a number of occasions to make direct contact at a very senior level of Cricket Australia, for days there was just no response.”I thought, perhaps naively, that, under all the circumstances of my dismissal, that Cricket Australia would be willing to have sensible and good faith talks in private. Sadly that hasn’t happened. And here we are today. I never wanted to launch legal action but Cricket Australia simply left me no option.”Arthur said the handling of David Warner’s punch at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar during the Champions Trophy had been the catalyst for his axing, despite his attempts to instil discipline in the developing squad.Responding to Arthur, CA released the following statement: “Cricket Australia stands by its earlier statements on this matter and disputes a number of claims made by Mickey Arthur today. We will not be articulating these disputes publicly except to say that we are confident in our legal position, are comfortable with the level of support provided to Mickey and look forward to resolving this matter in an appropriate manner.”Arthur and CA will hold conciliation talks this week in Sydney.

Sussex took control of their Championship Division One game with Durham, reducing the visitors to 92 for 4 before rain forced an early close at Arundel.

18-Jul-2012
ScorecardSussex took control of their Championship Division One game with Durham, reducing
the visitors to 92 for 4 before rain forced an early close at Arundel.That score represented a minor recovery for bottom-of-the-table Durham, who have yet to record a four-day win this season, after James Anyon had taken two wickets with successive balls to reduce them to one for two in the third over. Mark Stoneman struck a half-century but he was removed by Monty Panesar shortly before the lunch interval to put the hosts back in the ascendancy.Although Durham’s new captain Paul Collingwood had recovered from a broken hand to lead the side his luck did not hold at the toss and his batsmen soon found it a struggle in overcast, damp conditions after they were put in.In his second over Anyon made the breakthrough when Will Smith fenced outside off stump and Mike Yardy dived to his left at second slip to take an excellent catch. Gordon Muchall lost his off stump to the next delivery driving airily but Ben Stokes did manage to avert the hat-trick.Stokes was soon timing the ball sweetly and had hit four boundaries in his 20 when Steve Magoffin was rewarded for an excellent new-ball spell with a wicket in his seventh over. He tempted Stokes with extra width and his full-blooded drive was intercepted in front of his face by Yardy in the slips.That left Durham 34 for 3 but opener Stoneman, who made a century in the equivalent fixture last season, and the experienced Dale Benkenstein staged a decent recovery with a stand of 50 in 13 overs.Stoneman timed the ball crisply, accelerating to his second half-century of the season with a flurry of seven boundaries in 20 balls when Luke Wright and Kirk Wernars, who was making his first championship appearance of the season, came into the attack. But shortly after reaching his half-century off 80 deliveries with nine fours Stoneman, who had taken two boundaries off Panesar in his first over, missed an attempted pull at the left-arm spinner and was leg before.There was just enough time for Collingwood to get off the mark with a boundary through the covers when rain forced the players off five minutes before lunch with 27.4 overs bowled. Umpires Nigel Llong and Neil Mallender made three afternoon inspections in the hope of making a resumption but further rain forced them to abandon the day’s play shortly after 4pm.

Sourav Ganguly has welcomed the ICC’s decision to make the DRS mandatory, saying that there would only be more improvements ahead

Sharda Ugra in Hong Kong30-Jun-2011Sourav Ganguly has welcomed the ICC’s decision to make the DRS mandatory for international Tests and ODIs, saying that there would only be more improvements ahead for all the parties involved. Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo that he understood India’s reluctance to use the system because, “they had their reasons”.Ganguly was a part of the Indian team which played the first series in which the DRS was used, against Sri Lanka in 2008. In the immediate aftermath of that series, the Indian team had expressed its lack of confidence in the technology to the BCCI. “At the time we were not convinced by the camera angles in use at the time,” Ganguly said. “We were not convinced they were right. There was so much negativity around it that we didn’t think it worked. Hopefully there’s much more consistency around it now.”Ganguly, who left Sri Lanka after the Test series, said he did not know whether the Indian team had made its concerns about the camera angles known either to the match referee or the broadcasters.After the 2008 series, Ganguly got a first-hand view of the DRS during his television commentary stint at the 2011 World Cup. “The changes were huge, the technology was just far better this time,” he said.Making the DRS mandatory for Tests and ODIs, he said, was a step forward for the game itself. “Would I have liked to have played under the DRS? It’s hard to say now, but you accept technology and you get used to it – and that’s probably what would have happened. In the case of the DRS, players will get better using it as they go along.”Ganguly said it was important that players’ opinions on the technology that involves them directly are heard, and any changes and improvements also communicated to them.Ganguly was in Hong Kong on the invitation of the ICC to speak at its annual conference. Along with Shane Watson this morning, he addressed the Full Council’s members’ forum, the last event of its annual conference. On his first visit to Hong Kong, Ganguly held a clinic for young players at the Kowloon Cricket Club yesterday, where he was asked what he thought about cricket in Hong Kong. He glanced around at KCC’s small ground with its short boundaries and said with a smile, “When I played, I loved hitting sixes.”

Australia will hope to maintain their improvement in form after finally registering a win at The Oval, but Andrew Strauss has reminded his team of the importance of not slipping back into bad habits

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan02-Jul-2010

Match facts

July 3, 2010, Lord’s
Start time 10.45am (9.45GMT)

Big picture

Australia ensured there would be no first one-day whitewash for them with a much improved performance at The Oval as England slipped back into a few bad habits with the series safely in the bag. Both Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower have called for a big effort in the final match to ensure the scoreline finishes in emphatic style: 4-1 looks at lot better than 3-2.However, the visitors are starting to move through the gears having taken two weeks to shake off the rust from their recent break. With Shaun Tait back in the attack the bowling line-up has a much more threatening look with both Tait and Ryan Harris operating above 90mph, while Doug Bollinger has continued his consistent form. The batting, which let the side down in the first three matches, was anchored by 90s from Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke at The Oval as the two leaders led from the front.This final outing of the series will be a good test for England to see how deep they can dig now that a whitewash is no longer on the cards. It hasn’t often happened that the team has won a series with two games to spare, but they won’t want laziness to creep into performances. The batting has been led by Strauss and Eoin Morgan, but it’s about time Kevin Pietersen built a substantial innings and Craig Kieswetter needs a score.And, of course, this is the last meeting between these two sides before a certain encounter in Brisbane on November 25. Both teams will have gained some useful knowledge over the last two weeks, but a lot can change over the next five months.

Form guide (last five completed matches)

England LWWWW

Australia WLLLW

Watch out for…

For Steven Smith this is becoming a tour of great significance. The 21-year-old legspinning allrounder is now the team’s No. 1 slow bowler after Nathan Hauritz’s injury and is primed for his Test debut against Pakistan. He has shown his skills in all three disciplines during this series with useful contributions lower down the order, the ability to pick up important wickets and his speed in the outfield. England will be watching him closely over the next few months.Craig Kieswetter came into this series with great things expected of him after a successful World Twenty20 campaign. He was meant to provide the top-order power that has long been lacking in England’s 50-over cricket. However, it hasn’t quite work out that way and Kieswetter has been troubled by Australia’s quick bowlers. A player of his style will always collect a fair few failures, but in a series of five games at least one good score is required. A flat pitch and quick outfield at Lord’s provides him the chance to show what he can do.

Team news

As usual, Strauss gave little away about possible changes to the team. “We’ve got the series against Bangladesh coming up as well so maybe we can look to chop and change a little bit, but on the one hand the 11 players we’ve played so far have done a very good job and we’re 3-1 up in the series,” he said. Ian Bell and Ajmal Shahzad again played for the Lions yesterday to keep them active, while Ryan Sidebottom is still waiting for a chance. The form of Tim Bresnan with the ball and Luke Wright with the bat has dipped in recent matches, but Flower has faith in his group after their recent successes.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Michael Yardy, 7 Luke Wright, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.Now that Australia are finding some form it seems unlikely they will alter a winning line-up unless they want to give Josh Hazlewood another outing. The three-pronged fast attack has been impressive, while Steven Smith is a confident cricketer. Tim Paine has had a lean series and with his Test debut looming would like some runs to settle his nerves.Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Cameron White, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Steven Smith, 9 Shaun Tait, 10 Ryan Harris, 11 Doug Bollinger.

Pitch and conditions

Lord’s in midsummer for a one-day international should mean just one thing – runs, and plenty of them. Expect a surface with decent pace and carry, but there shouldn’t be much help for quicks if the sun stays out.

Stats and Trivia

• The two teams have met 11 times in ODIs at Lord’s and it’s Australia who hold the edge with six wins to four. There was also a tie in the NatWest Series final of 2005.
• Despite the ground’s reputation for high-scoring, in the 11 matches only three 250-plus totals have been scored with England’s 278 for 7 (off 55 overs) in 1989 the highest.

Quotes

“We don’t want to finish this series 3-2 having been 3-0 up. To win a series against the number one team in the world 4-1 would be an outstanding achievement.”

Each of the five is believed to be paid salaries that are more than what all but the most elite Pakistan players are paid

Danyal Rasool30-Aug-2024While Pakistan look to stave off a first series defeat against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, much of the PCB’s focus has been 300 km south in Lahore. Having announced five mentors for the Champions Cup, an upcoming series of domestic tournaments which begin with a one-day competition from September 12, the PCB lined them up for press conferences to outline their vision, and, to some extent, clarify their roles.On Friday, it was the turn of former Pakistan captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq, who will mentor the Wolves. “My thinking is you need to try and maximise a player’s potential. If a player is well-equipped and technically good, he can play all formats. We have to look at how he manages his fitness and potential, and not have any pre-conceived notions about any player. Then we can look at which player specifically fits into our team. That doesn’t mean we limit a player’s ceiling. As mentor and coach, we need to explore their potential to the full.”The vision is to reduce the gap between domestic and international cricket. I feel it and players feel it too. When I came to the international side, it took three to four years to believe that I belonged to international cricket. The vision of the mentors is to prepare the players to raise them to that level, so they adjust with it. This requires a lot of hard work, and it will only happen if we do it.”Misbah is one of five mentors, alongside Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Malik. Only one – Sarfaraz – is set to participate in the upcoming one-day cup, while Malik, who conducted a press conference on Thursday, said he planned to play “select” games in the T20 iteration of the tournament, for which the window has not yet been finalised.”As a mentor, my role goes beyond just providing guidance from the dugout,” Malik, affiliated with the Stallions, said in a statement released by the PCB. “I will also take to the field in select matches to impart my first-hand knowledge and experience. This will enable our upcoming cricketers to refine their skills and elevate their game, ultimately supporting the Pakistan Cricket Board’s efforts to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket.”In addition to his role as mentor, Shoaib Malik will also play the T20 version of the Champions Cup•PSL

Though the teams don’t have geographic affiliation, Malik’s pairing with Stallions is symbolic, given his success as captain of the Sialkot Stallions in the mid-2000s. Malik created one of the first successful T20 dynasties, leading his side to five successive domestic titles in the days before the PSL. To a lesser degree, so is Misbah’s with Wolves, the former Pakistan captain a key player in the successful Faisalabad Wolves sides of the early 2000s.The mentor roles have come under scrutiny not least for the salaries involved. Each of the five is believed to be on three-year contracts, earning in the range of PKR 5 million (approx. USD 18,000) per month. Those salaries have raised eyebrows because they are higher than what is paid to all but the most elite Pakistani cricketers – the category A players, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan, in the central contracts pool. The Champions Cup has yet to announce a tangible commercial inflow. A broadcaster has not been announced either. The PCB has advertised for team partners/sponsors to come in but has not yet said whether any have come on board.For perspective, just the mentor salaries will total about half the PCB’s entire broadcast deal for bilateral international cricket at home over the next 30 months. From August 2024 to December 2026, the PCB’s broadcast deal is worth between USD 6 to 6.5 million. Salaries for the five mentors in that time will amount to approximately USD 2.7 million.The roles are separate from coaching – each side will have a separate yet-to-be-announced coaching set-up – and do not require coaching qualifications. Three of the five mentors have served as Pakistan’s head coach in the recent past and the PCB has not made public what metrics the mentors will be evaluated by, or why they believe the outlay will offer a return on investment. In a statement to ESPNcricinfo, the PCB said that it “as a responsible organisation, never discusses in public salaries of its staffers and consultants, which remain a matter between the employer and the employee”.The Lahore and Karachi stadiums are currently undergoing significant renovation, with minor upgrades scheduled for Rawalpindi as well, the cost for which is understood to run into billions of Pakistan rupees. This lines up with a generally heavy spend rate since Mohsin Naqvi assumed the PCB chair, which has coincided with annual revenues from the ICC that have doubled in this international rights cycle, thanks to the global body’s new deal with Disney-Star. However, there will invariably be concern around whether the spend rate is sustainable, especially because the PCB does not receive any public money for its operations.Naqvi made clear early on his goal was to spend the PCB’s money on improving Pakistan cricket, rather than save it.”I have told the PCB our job is not to save money or keep it hoarded away, but to spend it on cricket, from grassroots right through to the national team,” Naqvi said in March, addressing the Pakistan players. “The money will be spent on your fitness, training and coaches rather than keeping it locked away.”

Carsen, Kasperek and Kerr took two wickets each to restrict Sri Lanka to a modest score

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2023New Zealand 107 for 5 (Bates 44, Kerr 34, Priyadharshani 3-17) beat Sri Lanka 106 for 9 (Gunaratne 26, Kerr 2-18, Carson 2-20, Kasperek 2-21) by five wicketsNew Zealand’s spinners Eden Carson, Amelia Kerr and Leigh Kasperek combined to take six wickets and restrict Sri Lanka to 106 for 9 to set up a five-wicket win in the opening T20I of the three-match series in Colombo.Opener Suzie Bates and No. 3 Kerr then knocked off 78 runs between them from the 107-run target to ensure New Zealand had scored enough before a middle-order stutter to win with seven balls to spare.New Zealand cashed in on their decision to bowl by getting the big fish Chamari Athapaththu first ball, castled by offspinner Carson. The second-wicket stand of 37 between Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama was the only good sign for the hosts before Kerr took a return-catch to send Gunaratne back for 26. Sri Lanka never recovered from that and lost five wickets for just 35 runs to stumble to 72 for 6 in the 15th over. Returning to T20 internationals after nearly two years, offspinner Kasperek had Samarawickrama stumped and trapped Kavisha Dilhari lbw to finish with 2 for 21.Anushka Sanjeewani and Oshadi Ranasinghe revived Sri Lanka’s innings briefly by stitching a stand of 29 for the seventh wicket to take them past 100 but Sanjeewani’s run out broke the partnership before Kerr ran out Udeshika Prabodhani and took Ranasinghe’s return-catch as well, on the last ball of the innings, to finish with 2 for 18. New Zealand had used as many as eight bowling options.The visitors lost Bernadine Bezuidenhout early in the chase before Bates and Kerr put them in command with a 58-run stand, scoring 44 and 34 respectively. New Zealand withstood a wobble when offspinner Inoshi Priyadharshani struck twice in three balls and then in her next over as well to send back Kerr, Sophie Devine for a duck and Maddy Green for 5. With 30 required off 38 balls, New Zealand were still in command and Bates nearly took them all the way home before falling for 44. Georgia Plimmer knocked off the winning runs not long after.