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Peter Richardson, the former Worcestershire and Kent batsman who played 34 Tests for England, has died aged 85

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2017Peter Richardson, the former Worcestershire and Kent batsman who played 34 Tests for England, has died aged 85.Richardson was brought into the England side at opener in 1956 after the retirement of Len Hutton and made scores of 81 and 73 on debut against Australia. His maiden hundred came in the fourth Test at Old Trafford as England retained the Ashes.He went on to score five hundreds in his first 16 Tests but lost his place after a poor tour of Australia in 1958-59 and only featured sporadically thereafter.In the 1957 Trent Bridge Test against West Indies, he played alongside his brother, Dick – they were the last brothers to represent England before the Hollioakes in 1997. Their other sibling, Bryan, also played occasionally for Warwickshire.An amateur with Worcestershire, where he was named one of ‘s Cricketers of the Year in 1957, he moved to Kent in 1959 and took up professional status. He made 1000 runs in a season on 11 occasions (four times passing 2000) during a 16-year career.Richardson was also known as a dressing-room prankster and was fond of sending pseudonymous letters to the .

New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi was unwanted at the IPL, and often by his country, but has joined Nottinghamshire for the NatWest T20 Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2017New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi was unwanted at the IPL, and often by his country, but has joined Nottinghamshire for the NatWest T20 Blast.Sodhi, 24, comes with the recommendation of Andre Adams, the former Nottinghamshire and New Zealand seamer, and will be available for the duration of the tournament.During a brief spell with Adelaide Strikers at the BBL he claimed the remarkable figures of 6 for 11, the sixth best in T20 history, against Sydney Thunder but that was not enough to attract interest from an IPL franchise at the recent auction. Overall in T20 he has 60 wickets at 21.96 and an economy rate of 7.14. He was impressive at the 2016 World T20 where he claimed 10 wickets in five matches with an economy of 6.10.”Ish is a young player whose game has really moved forward,” Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach, said. “He’s growing fast and we’re really excited to have him. We’ve seen the impact legspinners can have in T20 cricket. With the way batsmen strike the ball, you need bowlers that can take wickets throughout the innings.”Ish is a natural attacking leg-spinner who can create pressure and get us some crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs.”Sodhi has been in and out of the New Zealand side during their current season following his omission after the tour of India. He played two T20s against Bangladesh, where he claimed five wickets, and the first two ODIs against South Africa before being overlooked for Jeetan Patel in the last two matches of the series.Unless New Zealand take three specialist spinners to the Champions Trophy he could miss out on a place in the final 15.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann accepted that his side’s propensity for batting collapses had reached crisis proportions, and said they must improve

Daniel Brettig in Hobart12-Nov-2016Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, has admitted his team’s batting woes have reached crisis point and placed his own job under scrutiny, after their crushing 85 all out on day one of the Hobart Test against South Africa.On an ideal day for the seam and swing of Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott, the hosts lacked the technical or mental means by which to withstand the challenge presented to them. With the exception of captain Steven Smith, the batsmen melted away in a near action replay of their collapses in Trent Bridge 2015, Lord’s 2013, Cape Town 2011 and the MCG on Boxing Day 2010 – the sorts of unmitigated batting disasters that have come to define the team of late.Lehmann, who in August signed a lucrative contract extension to keep him in the job until 2019, conceded it would be difficult for him and others to retain their positions should things continue to deteriorate. “When you get bowled out for 85, it probably is, isn’t it?” Lehmann said, when asked if ‘crisis’ was an appropriate description. “So, for us, it’s a matter of actually getting better. We lost 10 for 86 in the last Test match.”We know they can play, you’ve got to have the belief to play at this level. It’s a tough game, international cricket, no doubt about that. Having been there and been through it as a player myself, there are times when you’ve got to really believe in your ability.”It’s a great challenge ahead for myself and the coaching group, to pull the young guys through and teach them better, improve their techniques both on and off the field, mentally and that side of the game. It’s a lot of fun. It doesn’t feel like fun right at the moment to be perfectly honest, but that’s what we’ve got to get better at.”Summing up the conditions, Lehmann said he had been reminded very much of Nottingham last year, when the Australians were shot out for 60 before lunch on day one of a match they had to win to avoid losing the Ashes.”It was a bit of a reminder of Trent Bridge to be perfectly honest, the way it was going around,” he said. “But again we’ve got to refine our game, as we spoke about before the game, if we bat first we have to really rein it in and make sure they’re bowling really good balls to challenge us. A couple of the dismissals probably didn’t warrant that. At the end of the day, 85 is not good enough from an Australian cricket team, there’s not much more you can add to that.”Lehmann: “Steven Smith played really well and we needed someone to hang with him.”•Getty Images

There were various contributory factors in Australia’s downfall – vice-captain David Warner’s decision to chase a wide delivery in the very first over of the day, batsmen falling over, as was the case in the dismissals of Joe Burns, Adam Voges and Peter Nevill, and the run-out of debutant Callum Ferguson – highlighting how many basics of the game seem to have passed the Australians by.”There were a couple of technical ones and mental decision making,” Lehmann said. “For us we’ve just got to be better. It’s a case of when the ball is swinging we’ve struggled, there’s no hiding from that fact. So we’ve been doing everything behind the scenes to get better at it, but today we weren’t as good as we should have been, we weren’t good at all.”Steven Smith played really well and we needed someone to hang with him. Our lower order has not performed either, but you can’t blame them, the batters have to do the batting. We believe this is the best squad we’ve got. On today’s performance you would say we’ve got to change. We’ve got to find a way to get through those tough periods, and we haven’t done that in our last five Test matches now.”So that’s a challenge for the players but also the coaches, to adapt to the situations that confront you. It’s been disappointing because once we have a collapse we seem to have a big one, and someone needs to stop that rot and have a partnership somewhere. A lot of good sides, whether Australian sides in the past or the good sides playing cricket now, find a way to have a partnership somewhere, and we didn’t have one today.”Lehmann denied that there had been mixed messages surrounding the dropping of Mitchell Marsh after the selectors had initially indicated he would be guaranteed the first two matches. “Conditions, [Shaun Marsh’s] broken finger, additions we had to make with Shaun going out and then picking the extra batter,” Lehmann said of the circumstances changing. “I don’t think it’s mixed messages, the players are fine, Rodney talks to them before the match all the time, so very clear. Whether they agree with it or not is a different scenario.”

On-loan seamer wrecks visitors’ top order as Derbyshire dominate opening day

ECB Reporters Network04-May-2023A career-best performance by Henry Brookes brought Leicestershire back down to earth as Derbyshire dominated the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match at Derby.The 23-year-old Warwickshire fast bowler marked the first game of a short loan spell by taking 6 for 20 in 12 overs, five of them maidens, to send Leicestershire tumbling from 45 without loss to 122 all out. On his first appearance of the season, Brookes showed impressive control to record the second best figures on debut for Derbyshire who rammed home their advantage by closing on 144 for 3, a lead of 22.Harry Came and Haider Ali shared a century opening stand and although Wiaan Mulder struck twice in an over, it was very much Derbyshire’s day.Leicestershire’s batsmen came into the game in good form and looked set for another productive day until Brookes was brought into the attack at the City End. Sol Budinger’s innings was bright and breezy like the weather until he launched an extravagant slash in Brookes’ second over and was caught at second slip.It was not a distinguished shot and triggered an astonishing collapse in which five wickets fell for four runs in five overs. Brookes and Luis Reece bowled a consistent line and length which proved too much for a team which had passed 400 on three occasions, one of them against Derbyshire at Leicester, this season.Lewis Hill played across the second ball he faced and Rishi Patel, who had scored two centuries in his previous five innings, was bowled by one that Reece swung back in just enough.What followed for the Foxes revived uncomfortable memories of recent summers as the innings crumbled with little resistance.Brookes tempted Colin Ackermann into a loose drive before finding the outside edge of Mulder’s bat with a fine delivery. And any hopes of a recovery were dashed when Reece beat Peter Handscomb with another swinging delivery to fully justify Derbyshire’s decision to bowl first.Leicestershire’s thoughts over lunch might have turned to last September when Rehan Ahmed scored a brilliant century on this ground to save the game but the England allrounder could not mount another rescue act this time.Derbyshire’s bowlers renewed their intensity with Sam Conners striking in the fourth over of the afternoon session when Tom Scriven edged a firm-footed drive and Rehan departed in the next over when he tried to glance Brookes and was caught down the leg side. That gave the seamer his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and he claimed a sixth by having Michael Finan caught at short leg before Conners finished off the innings.Brookes led Derbyshire off the field with his figures second only to Doug Gregory who took 6 for 9 on debut for the county at Old Trafford in May 1871.Leicestershire’s bowlers could not match his accuracy and leaked runs from the start by bowling too short and wide. Came and Ali tucked in and by tea were only 23 runs behind, but the visitors regrouped during the break and bowled much better in the final session.Mulder made the breakthrough when he trapped Haider lbw trying to pull a ball that kept low and three balls later, straightened one to knock back Brooke Guest’s off stump.Came, making his first appearance of the season in place of Billy Godleman, who was dropped after a pair in the previous game, was lbw to a full length ball from Finan for 49 before the umpires took the players off shortly before 6pm.

The batsman capitalised on a disciplined bowling effort that restricted Adelaide Strikers to just 150 for 5

The Report by Daniel Brettig06-Jan-2019Joe Denly and Josh Philippe capitalised fully on a disciplined Sydney Sixers bowling display to guide the visitors to a strong victory over Adelaide Strikers in the big Bash League match at Adelaide Oval.The Strikers, having won the toss, were never able to generate significant momentum from the moment that Alex Carey was run out in the opening over of the night, as Ben Mantenti and Ben Dwarshuis delivered economical new ball spells that were followed up by Steve O’Keefe and Sean Abbott.While Denly started the Sixers’ chase in intelligent fashion, Rashid Khan briefly threatened to upend the innings by deceiving Moises Henriques and Jordan Silk in the 13th over. The night’s definitive conclusion was to be reached via the burgeoning talents of Philippe, who galloped to an unbeaten 30 from 15 balls that allowed the Sixers to reach their target with 10 balls to spare and move up to second on the table behind the undefeated Hobart Hurricanes.Running into troubleCarey has been a key part of why the Adelaide Strikers won last year’s tournament, and have remained very much in contention this time around, leaving the Sixers in no doubt they needed to find a way past him early on. But they cannot have counted on gaining Carey’s wicket via a run out as early as the fifth ball of the match, delivered by Ben Manenti.Jake Weatherald’s cover drive was well struck but straight at the Sixers captain Henriques, who gathered and threw quickly enough to capitalise fully on Carey’s momentary hesitation at the non-striker’s end. This run out stunned the Adelaide Oval crowd, and also allowed the Sixers to dictate terms for the remainder of the Powerplay, to the extent that the Strikers could only manage a mediocre 2 for 42 from their opening six overs in favourable batting conditions.All’s well that ends with WellsThough Weatherald was to atone somewhat for the early run out by compiling a half century that grew in fluency the longer it went on, the Strikers were looking squarely at a total barely clear of 130 before Jon Wells came to the crease. A consistent, if low-profile, contributor to all the teams he has represented, 30-year-old Wells was tonight able to play the role of the swashbuckler, cracking 42 from 29 balls while scoring at better than a run a ball against every Sixers bowler he faced.Denly’s startOn his last start for the Sixers before flying out to play for England in the Caribbean, Joe Denly was still in search of a significant score. The opportunity presented by a middling Strikers total was an attractive one however, calling for controlled aggression rather than an unbridled attack. After Justin Avendano fell cheaply, Denly was able to form useful stands with Daniel Hughes and then Henriques, ensuring the Sixers’ Powerplay was a more than adequate 1 for 50.Later, when Rashid struck twice in the 13th over to give the Strikers and an expectant home crowd a glimmer of hope, Denly kept his composure to form a final, match-sealing partnership while ensuring that Rashid was unable to usher the sort of collapse that the hosts required to manufacture a win.Philippe’s finishJosh Philippe had been subject to something of a tug-of-war between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers in the run up to this tournament, with the magenta clad team winning out in part because the banned Steven Smith made a personal pitch to provide mentoring to the 21-year-old. On the same night Smith turned out in the distant Bangladesh Premier League, Philippe was to show why the Sixers were so eager to get him, with an innings of impudence and nerve to ensure victory for the visitors.First ball, Phllippe showed he does not lack for brio, paddle sweeping Rashid to the boundary from a delivery on the line of the stumps and leading to bowled or lbw if he missed. Other choice strokes from Philippe included an inside-out cover drive off the otherwise parsimonious Peter Siddle, and a dismissive clubbing of Michael Neser well beyond the midwicket boundary. Another Philippe blow off Neser, this time down the ground, completed the Sixers’ triumph, and left the Strikers’ captain Colin Ingram to conceded his men were around 30 runs short.

Lee accused CSA of failing to offer her any resources to help her lose weight, which the board has denied

Firdose Moonda and Alagappan Muthu29-Jul-2022Lizelle Lee has admitted that she did not meet CSA’s fitness requirements, and that is what led to her abrupt retirement from international cricket. In an interview with the BBC’s Stumped podcast, Lee revealed that after she failed to complete aspects of the fitness test, she was on the verge of being withdrawn from South Africa’s current tour of England, and the no-objection certificate to play in overseas leagues would have been denied. She chose to retire from the national side instead, which meant she would no longer need NOCs to play for T20 franchises.The issue came to a head when Lee was required to complete a fitness test before the squad left South Africa. She asked to do it in her parents’ hometown of Ermelo in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa instead of at her provincial base, North-West, or at CSA’s headquarters in Johannesburg because of the cost of travel. Lee weighed herself and sent the results to the team’s fitness trainer, who told her she had to also have her skinfold measured. Lee visited a biokineticist in Ermelo for that test later in the day, but did not weigh herself again because “it fluctuates and it’s small margins”, she said on the podcast. “I’m not going to do it again because if it’s over [the limit] I won’t be eligible for the England tour.” She told the biokineticist she had recorded her weight herself.She was subsequently selected for the tour and retested on arrival in England in early July, where, according to Lee, her “skinfolds were down but the weight wasn’t even close to where I thought it’d be”.CSA asked Lee for an explanation and established that Lee’s weight had not been verified by the biokineticist. In an email to CSA staff on July 5, Lee said she knew that she should have tested her weight again but didn’t, “because I was afraid that it might differ from the morning which might result in me not being selected” and conceded she “that was wrong and that I should have done it there”.The following day – July 6 – Lee was informed via email that she would be withdrawn from the squad. In communication between CSA and Lee, seen by ESPNcricinfo, CSA also said it would exercise its right to withhold an NOC for participation in leagues until she “met and maintained workload and fitness requirements”. CSA has since confirmed it was confident Lee could use the six to eight weeks away from the national squad in June and July ahead of The Hundred to meet the requirements if she returned home. They were also worried about her form and hoped she could work while at home on that too. Prior to the tour, Lee had played seven ODIs in 2022 and scored 81 runs at an average of 11.57, including five single-figure knocks.Related

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Lee, however, was concerned that she would not get an NOC in time for The Hundred, which would have considerable financial implications, especially as she had just become a parent. “It was a lot of money,” she said. “We needed it. We’re a young family. So I just said I was going to retire.”Through CSA, she initially issued a statement saying she was ready to focus on the next phase of her career but, days later, tweeted that national coach Hilton Moreeng was aware of CSA’s intention to deny her the NOC. That was in response to Moreeng telling a press conference he had no knowledge of the Lee situation.Lee accused CSA of failing to offer her any resources to help her lose weight. “I never got any support from CSA with that,” she said. “They never asked me ‘what do you need, what can we do to help you lose weight’. That’s something that I have had to do on my own.” CSA has denied that assertion.Lee recognised that CSA was “in their rights to do that [withhold the NOC] and that’s 100% fine”, but criticised their fitness requirements. She said that bracketing an athlete’s ability to run along with their skin folds and weight is not a true measure of cricketing ability and would prefer that the cardiovascular and body composition components be separated.”I understand the running, if you don’t make the running, they don’t see you as fit enough to play which I think is probably fine,” she said. “The big thing that just got me is that I made fitness physically, I did the running that I had to do. Basically, I’m fit to play, and I had this conversation with them before Ireland because I got dropped in Ireland because of my weight as well, and I told them ‘you’re dropping me because of the way I look and how much I weigh’ and they said ‘no, we’re dropping you because you failed the fitness battery’.In seven ODIs this year, Lizelle Lee had scored 81 runs, with a best of 36•ICC via Getty Images

“I said ‘yes, but if you break the fitness battery down, what did I not make? I made the fitness, the running, but not the weight. So you’re dropping me because of weight’. So as a woman that breaks me.”Lee’s gender is the reason CSA did not make these details public, with several officials citing an understanding of the sensitivity of body-image issues facing women as a reason to keep the matter private.In early 2020, CSA held a conditioning camp for Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, JJ Smuts and Sisanda Magala targeted at, among other things, their weight. At the end of the camp, all four players took fitness tests and Magala was the only one who did not pass. He was subsequently left out of an ODI squad to play England and his challenges have been well documented. Magala, despite being the leading wicket-taker in the domestic one-day cup in the 2021-22 season, will continue to be unavailable for national selection until he meets the fitness requirements.Lee asked for a complete relook at the process of fitness tests, especially for women. “We have to make sure, especially with women, the things that really count have to count more – like running and skills, all of those things that actually contribute towards winning instead of how people look.”

SL scored 156 in rain-reduced game, with WI’s target revised to 195, and Sherfane Rutherford smashed 50* off 26 deliveries

Madushka Balasuriya26-Oct-2024(23 overs) After a series in which they consistently failed to get the rub of the green, the stars finally aligned for West Indies as they ended their tour of Sri Lanka with a morale-boosting win. Evin Lewis, playing his first ODI since 2021, struck an unbeaten 102 off 61 balls, as West Indies chased down a DLS-adjusted target of 195 in a rain-reduced game of 23 overs with eight wickets to spare. In fact, they got the required runs with an over to spare. It was their first ODI win in Sri Lanka following ten straight defeats, and their first win on this tour since the first T20I.Sri Lanka, for their part, had put up a valiant effort after their innings had been cut into less than half. The first 17.2 overs had come prior to the rain intervention, and upon resumption, they were given just a further 5.4 overs to set a competitive total.Enter Kusal Mendis, who bludgeoned an unbeaten 56 off 22 deliveries – he got the half-century off 19 balls – as Sri Lanka themselves struck 75 runs in those final 5.4 overs to end on 156 for 3, and gave themselves a fighting chance. In the end, though, a combination of a wet outfield, wet ball and a laser-focused Lewis proved too much to overcome.Brandon King (18 off 19 balls) and Shai Hope (22 off 27) had kept Lewis company for most of the chase, but it wasn’t until Sherfane Rutherford joined him in the middle that West Indies truly took control of proceedings.Rutherford’s brisk cameo saw him plunder 50 off just 26 deliveries, including four fours and three sixes, with his partnership with Lewis amounting to an unbeaten 88 from just 45 deliveries. It was a pivotal stand in the context of the game, as it came just as Sri Lanka might have been harbouring thoughts of a late heist.Kusal Mendis blasted a 19-ball fifty•AFP/Getty Images

With the required run rate at roughly 8.5 an over from the outset, West Indies had done well to just about keep up with it over the opening ten overs – there was at least one boundary in seven of the first 11 overs. But in such a short chase, even a couple of quiet overs can heighten the pressure – and so it proved to be.Between the 11th and 17th overs, Sri Lanka gave away just 40 runs as the required rate rose to above 11.50 runs an over. Skipper Charith Asalanka had done well in this period by shuffling his pack to sneak in some cheap overs from himself and Kamindu Mendis – both of whom made up the fifth-bowler quota after Wanindu Hasaranga had struggled with controlling a wet ball.Where Asalanka erred was in bowling himself for one over too many, which allowed Rutherford and Lewis to go after him. That 14-run over set the tone, after which the pair never looked back. The miserly Maheesh Theekshana was rinsed for 18 in the next over, while even the excellent Asitha Fernando was hounded for 26 off his final two. Dilshan Madushanka, playing his first ODI since March, went for 50 in five.Sri Lanka, though, will have positives to take away from this game, particularly in how aggressively they approached the post-rain period, knowing that they didn’t have much time to scrounge up a competitive total. The opening 17.2 overs had seen Sri Lanka stitch together a measured start, with openers Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando putting on 81.That, though, owed much to West Indies dropping three chances – two of Nissanka and one of Avishka – inside the opening ten overs. This poor catching did not get much better after the five-hour rain delay, with Kusal also dropped twice on the way to becoming the third-quickest Sri Lanka batter to 4000 ODI runs.Sherfane Rutherford hit four fours and three sixes•Associated Press

It all began with the four balls left in Roston Chase’s second over, as Kusal proceeded to clatter each of them for boundaries – two precise pulls, one stunning straight drive, and finally a fortunate inside edge down to fine leg. In all, Sri Lanka struck 12 boundaries in the final 34 deliveries they faced.The shortened game also had some knock-on effects on West Indies’ bowling plans, as the new provisos meant three bowlers were given a quota of five overs each, while two others were handed four apiece. Once Chase’s over, in which Kusal had struck four consecutive boundaries, was belatedly completed, and with Sri Lanka in raucous mood, West Indies were suddenly faced with the proposition of figuring out how Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales, and Alzarri Joseph – who had bowled four, four and three overs, respectively – would split the remains.And with the economical Matthew Forde already having bowled five overs prior to the rain break, it meant only two more bowlers could bowl five; so they needed to find one more over from somewhere.With Chase having been dispatched upon the resumption of play, it was left to Rutherford to roll his arm over, and he was duly taken for 17 runs courtesy two fours and a six. And as Kusal’s carefree innings continued in earnest, Sri Lanka eventually managed to muster up a competitive total – though it proved to be just not good enough on the day.

Former Sri Lanka cricketer Pubudu Dassanayake, who coached Nepal from 2011 to 2015, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the job of USA’s head coach

Peter Della Penna29-Jul-2016Former Sri Lanka cricketer Pubudu Dassanayake, who coached Nepal from 2011 to 2015, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the job of USA’s head coach. Dassanayake, who lives close to Toronto, said he is looking for a challenge close to home after spending several years away with the Nepal side.”Nepal, they were from Division Four to Division One and played a World Cup and I want to do the same for USA,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo in Florida where he is participating in an ICC coaching seminar. “I think it’s a great place. There are great opportunities, a lot of talent in this country. I’d really like to see them come up the ranks and be in that World Cup setup.”Prior to his success with Nepal, Dassanayake coached Canada from 2007 to 2011, and helped them to the 2011 ODI World Cup in the sub-continent, Canada’s last major ICC event. Dassanayake also played for Canada after migrating from Sri Lanka following the end of his Test career and played in the 2005 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland.His ties to North American cricket make him a strong contender for the role. While coach of Nepal, Dassanayake racked up an impressive record against USA in ICC competitions, losing just once – at the 2013 ICC WCL Division Three in Bermuda – in six meetings.Anand Tummala, former USA and Ranji Trophy representative, is also in contention for the post. Tummala played briefly for Delhi before migrating to Atlanta in 2007. He made his only tour with USA in 2011, playing three T20s, including games against Canada and Afghanistan. Tummala, who is a Level Three Cricket Australia certified coach, also served as a guest coaching evaluator at last year’s ICC Americas Combine in Indianapolis. Tummala has also been in Florida this week as part of the ICC coaching seminar.Both Tummala and Dassanayake attended USA’s first training session in their week-long camp which began on Thursday, and will also be present at an exhibition match on Friday between a USA XI and a CPL Invitational XI in Lauderhill.Although the ICC wouldn’t comment on the applications, there are believed to be at least two more finalists with interviews beginning on Friday. USA will play three 50-over intra-squad trial matches in Florida next week among a 30-man squad, after which 14 will be selected for ICC WCL Division Four in Los Angeles from October 29 to November 5.

“Hopefully with no more bubbles, we can be at home more, have a bit more off time and then get straight into cricket”

Firdose Moonda21-Jul-2022While England’s schedule continues to overwhelm them, South Africa are itching to play a little , at least in the longest format, and are concerned with getting the balance between travel and playing days right.Asked how he views the current calendar, Anrich Nortje explained that he anticipates tours to become shorter as travel normalises post-pandemic, leaving sufficient time for being at home and playing.Related

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“I don’t have the answers, but I would love for us to play more Test cricket,” Nortje said. “We are very busy. We are on the road most of the time but recently, we’ve been away from home for a long time but the cricket has been limited. Hopefully, with no more bubbles, we can be at home a bit more, have a bit more off time and then get straight into cricket. We don’t need to prep as much as in the past, so that’s maybe something we can work around.”During the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, South Africa travelled to Pakistan, the Caribbean, Ireland, Sri Lanka, the UAE, and New Zealand and hosted England (including a partially abandoned white-ball tour), Sri Lanka, the Netherlands (also abandoned), India, and Bangladesh. Their bubbles were the hardest in New Zealand, where they had to undertake a mandatory quarantine and could not leave their rooms, and eased at home, where they had access to large resorts, with some leisure facilities. Since travel opened up earlier this year, they have travelled to India and now England.Nortje is expected to continue playing in all formats for South Africa having regained full fitness since the IPL. He was part of the T20 World Cup playing group last year but then spent six months on the sidelines nursing a back and hip injury, before traveling again to this year’s IPL.”It’s extremes. You get injured, you are at home for a long time. You get back into cricket and you’re on the road for a long time,” he said.”Hopefully, the body can stay in good nick. Playing all formats is tough. I have been playing a lot of T20 cricket the last while and now back into ODIs. It’s really nice to get some rhythm, to get used to some bigger loads and hopefully, build it up for the Tests. I am really excited about what’s coming up. We’ve got a busy schedule. I don’t think we will be at home for a long time, but I am really excited about what’s coming up.”What South Africa have ahead of them immediately is an opportunity to win their first bilateral ODI series in England since 1998 with victory in the second match at Manchester. They beat England by 62 runs in the first ODI, with Nortje starring with four wickets. Although the series does not count for World Cup Super League points, South Africa are taking value from what it can teach them about consistency in the format that has been their weakest since Mark Boucher took over in December 2019 and about closing out series when they are in the lead.They went 2-0 up in their recent T20I rubber in India, only to find themselves locked at 2-2 ahead of a washed-out decider.”We mentioned in India that the third game was going to be a final for us, and then the fourth game was a final and we didn’t pull through. We have to be on it,” Nortje said. “Every time we get close we want to try and pull through. We want to go for the kill. We don’t want to drag it out longer.”For that reason, South Africa are likely to keep the same XI (apart from Andile Phehlukwayo, who is concussed) that beat England in the opener – including both Nortje and Lungi Ngidi – who are also expected to play in the upcoming T20Is and Tests on a surface that should offer the quicks more. Nortje is looking forward to some bounce from the Old Trafford surface, after the benign track at Durham. “From what I understand, it might play a little better than the previous venue,” he said.But even if it does have more of the quicks, not all of the big-name players on both sides will be playing in Manchester as South Africa rested Kagiso Rabada for the series and England’s Mark Wood and Jofra Archer are both out injured.”It’s sad to see they are not here and it’s always nice to see them competing against us. It’s always nice to have the fastest guys, at least one or two in a team,” Nortje said. “Mark Wood and Jofra have played major roles in the England side, so I’m hoping they can have a speedy recovery and get back and produce what they have been in the past.”

On a day when India made questionable selections, one of the management’s moves in this series, the promotion of R Ashwin to No. 6, rescued them from 126 for 5

The Report by Sidharth Monga09-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Manjrekar: Saha, Ashwin save Kohli the blushes

On a day when India made questionable selections, one of the management’s moves in this series, the promotion of R Ashwin to No. 6, rescued them from 126 for 5. In testing conditions India left out Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay in favour of Rohit Sharma, whose inclusion led to a rejigged batting order.While this apparent push for quick runs resulted in a batting failure, West Indies were not behind in making unusual moves. There was more purpose to their attack, after putting India in, than in the first two Tests. But when they should have looked to finish things off, they opted for the patience route, which cut down the runs thanks to a slow outfield. The wickets, though, came only through the batsmen’s impatience. KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane threw away starts with impatient shots, but Ashwin – dropped on 26 and caught off a no-ball on 35 – and Wriddhiman Saha soldiered on to keep India from imploding.Ashwin and Saha, 46 off 122, added an unbeaten 108 for the sixth wicket. Another lower-order contribution was a continuation of a trend for India: on tough pitches in the home season, they recovered from 139 for 6 in Delhi, 125 for 6 in Nagpur, and 102 for 5 in Mohali.The big comeback, though, was that of West Indies in the series. For the first eight days of the series they were pretty much outplayed. Moral victories and psychology can be terms abused in cricket, but the Jamaica draw might have caused damage in Indian heads that might have played a part in leaving them in tatters at tea in St Lucia. West Indies won the toss and utilised the conditions efficiently without being sensational, but India helped them out with their selections.Having survived the Jamaica Test, West Indies mounted a fresh challenge against this unsteady Indian batting line-up – a different top three in each Test – by taking wickets when the pitch was fresh and then choking India out with disciplined bowling. Rahul and Rahane, the only specialist batsmen to reach double figures, helped India recover from 19 for 2 but fell in soft manner just before the two session breaks, Rahane to a full toss to end his slowest Test innings of 10 or more.The second of the wickets was the highlight. Debutant Alzarri Joseph, who impressed with his pace and his bowling mechanics in only his ninth first-class match, nicked out Virat Kohli with the new ball, a promotion in the order because of the selection of Rohit. West Indies’ resistance and the resultant draw in Jamaica led to three changes for India, two of them expected, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in for Amit Mishra and Umesh Yadav.The batting selections were instructive. At the toss, Kohli, who would have batted if he had won the toss anyway, emphasised that Rohit can change a match in a session. Both Vijay, who was fit after missing the Jamaica Test, and Pujara are reputed to be slower scorers. Turns out India might have misread the pitch or underestimated the attack: the situation asked for the patience of Vijay and Pujara. Moreover, Kohli and Rahane had to give up their familiar batting positions.West Indies were more aggressive to begin with. They added Joseph to the attack, and peppered India with short deliveries. The moisture in the pitch gave them spongy bounce when they pitched short, and some seam movement when they pitched it up. Shikhar Dhawan wasted little time in falling to a short ball, tickling Shannon Gabriel down the leg side.Kohli walked in at No. 3, but the fresh pitch with the new seaming ball was not suited for his style of play: soon he shaped up to cut a Joseph delivery that was neither short nor wide, neither full nor close enough to him. Kohli was eventually done in by the extra bounce, but playing such deliveries you get away on pitches like the one in Antigua or against the old ball. A bit of a repeat of his England dismissals brought in India’s most reliable batsman, Rahane.It was Rahul who weathered most of the initial storm. After an ordinary start – missing five of the first 11 balls he played at – he punished every error in length. Every time West Indies overpitched, Rahul drove hard, even in the air. Short and wide deliveries were cut away. It didn’t matter that the good ones in between kept beating him. On a day that the rest of the team scored 169 runs, Rahul took 50 off only 65 balls. Having done the hard work, Rahul fell 18 minutes before lunch, trying to whip a shortish delivery from Roston Chase straight to the man who had just moved to short fine leg.West Indies came back attacking in the second session. Soon Rohit fell in typical manner, pushing defensively at a Joseph outswinger a set of stumps outside off. After that wicket, though, perhaps because the pitch had settled down, West Indies began to test India’s patience. It worked: minutes before tea, Rahane, seeing release in a Chase full toss, swept down the wrong line and was bowled for 35 off 133. That didn’t result in taking off the part-time spin of Kraigg Brathwaite.The middle session produced just 43 runs for two wickets, and instead of going for the wickets of the lesser batsmen West Indies began with Jason Holder and Chase in the final session. On another day, persisting with these tactics might have worked but West Indies made two crucial mistakes. When Ashwin left the crease in impatience, inside-edging Chase, Leon Johnson missed him at short leg. When West Indies looked to break the monotony, Gabriel bowled a short ball from round the wicket for a catch at point, it turned out he had cut the return crease with his back foot.Other than that, Ashwin and Saha showed remarkable patience. Because of the slow outfield West Indies could have a stacked field. Chase often bowled with a six-three leg-side field, leaving point open and bowling into the pads. Any scoring was now fraught with risk, and if he dropped the ball short the slow outfield cost him just the one run. India were in no state to take risks so the two batsmen put their head down, and kept picking whatever singles or twos were on offer.Between the fall of Rahul and the claiming of the second new ball, only 111 runs came in 61.3 overs. Against the new ball, having done the hard work, the two batsmen chanced their arms. An edge fell short here, another flew over slips there; a crisp drive was misfielded now, a bowler bowled a loose ball there, and India had 46 in the last nine overs to wrest the initiative a bit. India dropped solid batsmen for quick runs when they should have been weathering the new ball out, then they were forced to bat slowly when they should have been capitalising on the older ball and tired fielders, and finally the lesson of building long Test innings was delivered by the lower order whose first role in the team is not batting.