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Alastair Cook warns Joe Root: England's relentless positive message sounds 'deluded'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Former captain praises successor for supreme batting focus but fears his message is getting lost

Andrew Miller04-Apr-2022Alastair Cook says he is in awe of Joe Root’s ability to stay focused on his run-scoring amid intense speculation about his future as Test captain, but has warned his successor that the relentless focus on the “positives” within England’s dressing-room is running the risk of sounding “deluded”.Root is currently taking a break from cricket in the wake of England’s series loss to West Indies, having overseen a run of one Test victory out of 17 since February 2021. And Cook – who is gearing up for his 20th season of county cricket with Essex – knows better than most how his predecessor will currently be feeling, having come through his own torrid year as captain in 2014, when England’s 5-0 whitewash against Australia gave way to the controversial sacking of Kevin Pietersen.However, while Cook acknowledged that his own Test form suffered amid the furore, Root’s own batting standards remain a class apart. Despite a relative lull during the Ashes, in which he was still one of only two England batters to average more than 30, he returned to form with twin hundreds in the Caribbean, making it eight in 20 Tests, and a total of 2066 runs, since the start of 2021.”The amount of runs that Joe Root has scored is an incredible effort,” Cook said. “I really struggled in 2014, scoring runs with that KP stuff going on the background, that really affected me. For him to be able to handle that and not let his personal performance go, that’s an unbelievable sign.”He’s England’s most complete batsman I’ve ever seen, but if [juggling the captaincy] was going to affect him, it would have affected him in the last eight months or so,” Cook added. “To score 1700 runs [in 2021], 1200 more than anyone else, it’s laughable, and normally it’s untenable to do that. But the way he’s scored those runs, and singlehandedly carried England’s batting, is an extraordinary effort, with all the other stuff going on.”Nevertheless, Cook also warned that the singlemindedness that has allowed Root to block out the criticism and concentrate on his run-scoring could also be a double-edged sword when it comes to recognising when and if his tenure as captain has run its course.Writing in his Sunday Times column, Cook had praised Root’s determination to “get England’s sinking ship … floating again”. However, having spent the winter as an at-times outspoken pundit for BT Sport, Cook also admits his concerns that the players will stop listening to their captain’s belief in the team’s progression if – as seemed to be the case in the immediate aftermath of their ten-wicket loss in Grenada – it seems too far removed from the reality of their performances.”I am a bit bored of all the positive chat, because I don’t think it was a sense of reality in that changing room,” Cook said. “All the noise was that ‘we’ve turned a corner and our attitude is brilliant’. Some of that stuff should have been a given.Root speaks to his team during the tour of the Caribbean•Getty Images

“And it looked like a dig at the Australia tour, that their attitude there wasn’t great,” Cook added, after a raft of senior players were dropped for the West Indies – most notably James Anderson and Stuart Broad, but also Rory Burns and Dawid Malan.”Actually, from watching, I never saw them throw the towel in. They just weren’t good enough to compete, and their batting under pressure folded, and the same thing happened in Grenada.”I compare it to Toto Wolff and the Mercedes [Formula One] team,” Cook continued. “They’ve been the outstanding team for the last eight years, and they’ve obviously designed a car which isn’t quite as quick as their rivals, and [Wolff] comes out after two races, and says ‘that’s totally unacceptable’.”Now that’s not slagging off his team. It’s just the reality they’re in, and I’m sure he would have said ‘we will be good enough to turn it round’. But some of the stuff coming out [from England], with all this positivity. We’ve just lost again, we’ve won one in 17. That’s the reality, and it hurts. But if you own that, as a side, that could be a step forward.”Cook, however, also recognises there are extraordinary external circumstances dominating England’s current agenda, and that nothing significant can change within the existing set-up until a raft of permanent appointments are made at the ECB.”It’s maddening to think that a company as big as the ECB has got no chairman, no director of cricket and no coach,” Cook said, following the departure of Ian Watmore before Christmas and the sackings of Ashley Giles and Chris Silverwood after the Ashes. “How it’s got there shows where English cricket is at this point. It’s an amazing challenge for whoever does get that job to turn it around because there’s been some dark days for English cricket.”Maybe dark isn’t the right word, because actually there’s a huge amount of talent around and I think everyone can see that. But you can’t have no coach, no director of cricket and no chairman – if you’re running a business that doesn’t seem to make much sense. So it’s an exciting time. You’re actually thinking if the next appointment is a good appointment, it’s a total and utter fresh start because that’s what English cricket needs.”With that in mind, there remains an awkward piece of unresolved business for whoever does take over, given that Anderson and Broad, 39 and 35 respectively, have both made it clear they are not ready to accept their time in the England team is over just yet – and that, with the possible exception of Saqib Mahmood, few of the seamers selected for the Caribbean tour enhanced their claims to be long-term replacements.Related

  • Root insists he wants to remain England captain

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  • England at rock-bottom but rudderless ECB will struggle to cast Root adrift

  • Root rested for opening rounds of County Championship

Cook himself bowed out of Test cricket on the ultimate high in 2018, with a matchwinning century in his final Test innings against India. But he recognises that not everyone gets the chance to go out on their own terms, even when their records and reputation merit a perfect send-off.”Absolutely they [deserve it], but professional sport doesn’t always work like you want it to,” Cook said. “We know they are legends of the game. They’re legends of English cricket, they’re right up there with the best bowlers ever to play the game.”Hopefully they do get a chance [for a send-off], but tell that to Jimmy, he’ll slap your hand off and say ‘I’m not thinking about retiring, I’m still playing until I’m 75’. He’s thinking, I want to get back in that Test side and prove that they shouldn’t have left me out.”But it makes it an interesting summer doesn’t it? Do they play or who is the new line-up? Are they good enough? Absolutely. Do they still warrant their places? Yeah, you’d say so with the quality they’ve got. But this is where England need to be clear.”

WICB have done a 'lousy job' – Viv Richards

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Former West Indies captain Viv Richards has blamed the ‘arrogance of administrators’ involved in West Indies cricket for the failure to ensure the best players in the region remain available for international duty

Gaurav Kalra05-Apr-20175:47

‘Arrogant administration’ causing problems – Viv Richards

Former West Indies captain Viv Richards has blamed the “arrogance of administrators” involved in West Indies cricket for the failure to ensure the best players in the region remain available for international duty. Several big ticket players including Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons, Carlos Brathwaite, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo are currently in India to participate in the IPL even as a three-match ODI series against Pakistan gets underway on Friday in Guyana.In the last few years a number of high profile Caribbean players declined central contracts from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), leaving them under no compulsion to appear for national duty. One of the diktats of the WICB that has irked the players is being asked to play the Regional Super50 in order to qualify for selection for ODI squad. Considering the aforesaid players all feature in domestic T20 leagues like the Big Bash, which clash with the Super50, they have refused to sign the binding WICB contract.Richards insisted that the situation has come to pass only because members of the WICB have done a “lousy job” in creating an environment where players feel treasured by the national set-up. “When you have an arrogant administrative unit, guys are going to pick and choose,” Richards told ESPNcricinfo in Mumbai on Wednesday. “We must remember that many of the players come from humble backgrounds. I have no qualms in saying this, some of these administrators think they are as important as the players on the field. They are not. It is all about the attraction of the environment that the players on the field would have created for them to be in an administrative position.”I think it is a bigger issue than about the guys playing in our domestic competition. Most of the guys played there when they first started out, that’s what they wanted to do. But when you get an administration who thinks that they are the most important entity where West Indies cricket is concerned, they better wake up. The players have done their bit in terms of their representation. We lost a series in the UAE recently [in 2016 against Pakistan], now we have lost the T20 series in West Indies to Pakistan. All this after winning the last World T20. That sends a message in my opinion that all is not well with all the players who are representing West Indies at this stage.”Having failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy in June, West Indies are currently lying ninth in the ODI rankings and face the prospect of missing out on direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup. The cut-off date for the World Cup, which will be held in England, is September 30 this year. Other than the hosts England, the top seven in the ODI rankings will get a direct berth in the World Cup. West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh are vying to take the seventh position to avoid being forced to play the qualifiers.In Test cricket too, West Indies continue to founder and are in eighth spot in the rankings, only above Bangladesh who are in fact snapping at their heels, and Zimbabwe. Attendances continue to be poor back home but Richards remains hopeful of a turnaround, urging the administrators to pay heed to counsel from former greats.”I am one of those individuals that never says never,” Richards said. “I believe if we start having a little bit more respect for the individuals who would have helped the administrators into that administrative position. You have a Michael Holding, who refuses to be part of cricket in the region because of the behaviour of members at the administrative level. It hurts because we are the ones that are the trailblazers, not the ones who have come on the scene at present wanting to be administrators. We are the ones who made it attractive enough for them to administer and they have done a lousy job.”Besides keeping a close eye on West Indies cricket, Richards has stayed involved with the game in a mentorship capacity for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash and most recently with the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League for the last two years. One of the most destructive players of all time, Richards keeps his advice simple to eager young batsmen who have sought him out during these stints.”Some of these individuals in the coaching department are trying to enhance their product in terms of what they believe coaching is all about,” he laughed. “If you look at the instinctive nature of players in T20 and the things that they do try, it is tough to coach that. So it is all about getting the guys to be mentally prepared and in a frame of mind that they understand what their duty is. This is such a great format for you to have a swing of the bat. I would have loved that more than anything else.”Our job is to give them the confidence if necessary. It is to be brave. You will have your bad days, but in the end it is about believing in the product that you have. As they say, he who dares, wins. That sort of mentality, you can take that in, you will have success.”

Shane Bond leaves Sydney Thunder to spend more time at home

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He had been with the BBL side for three seasons and would have earned another deal

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2021Shane Bond has opted not to seek a new contract as head coach with Sydney Thunder at the BBL to ensure he is able to spend an extended period of time at home amid the ongoing challenges caused by Covid-19.Bond, who is currently at the IPL with Mumbai Indians, had been in the role for three seasons and the Thunder reached the expanded finals series in the last two seasons – falling in the Knockout final this summer against Brisbane Heat – but could not commit to another long stint overseas.He also said he had withdrawn from his coaching role at the Hundred in the UK later this year where he had been due to work with Southern Brave.”I loved my time with the Thunder but with so much uncertainty around travel restrictions these days and not knowing what that might look like I just didn’t want to miss another summer at home,” Bond said.”I haven’t had one there for six years and my wife Tracey has had to carry the load. I want to be there again before I get to the point where my girls get to the end of high school. My son has some important cricket coming up too and I want to be there for that.”I’ll miss the boys at the Thunder, all the people from players to management. It’s a great club to be a part of. I’ll miss everybody. That will be the hardest thing.”Bond’s decision means the Thunder are searching for a new head coach and captain for next season after Callum Ferguson was cut from the list shortly after the recent season. It also comes at a time of a wider restructuring of the BBL clubs within Cricket New South Wales with the recent scrapping of the general manager roles with the Thunder and Sydney Sixers.”Shane has done a fantastic job over the last three years, ensuring the Thunder are in a good place for whoever takes on the role,” Greg Mail, Cricket New South Wales’ head of cricket, said.”He has been critical to the emergence of some brilliant young NSW based talent over the last two years whilst also bringing the best out of some of our established local and international players.”We are a values-based organisation and although we would have loved to have seen Shane at the helm next summer, choosing to spend time with his family is a decision we respect.”

Gavaskar: India should 'persist' with Rohit-Kohli opening formula

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“Maybe Rahul’s loss of form has been a blessing in disguise,” he says

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-20212:41

Gambhir: A perfect T20 batting display from India

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes the lack of runs from regular opener KL Rahul has ended up benefiting India by providing them with an ideal opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Following scores of 1, 0, 0 and 14 from Rahul, India dropped him for the T20I series decider against England on Saturday, thus pushing Kohli up the order to partner Sharma and the duo put on a 94-run stand in just nine overs to set the platform for a match-winning total of 224.”Your best batsman should bat the most number of overs in limited-overs cricket. So it was very important for Virat Kohli to bat at the top of the order,” Gavaskar told . “So maybe KL Rahul’s loss of form has been a blessing in disguise because this has given us an opening combination to look forward to.”Sharma and Kohli’s rapid partnership followed opening stands of 2, 0, 7 and 21 in the first four matches where India used three different combinations also involving Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan. On Saturday, Kohli, who opened for the first time in T20Is since 2018, batted out the entire 20 overs to finish on 80* from 52 deliveries by accelerating towards the death while Sharma smashed a quickfire 64 off 34.Related

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  • Stats: India's batting's new heights; Malan breaks new milestone

With the T20 World Cup scheduled for this October in India, Gavaskar said he would continue with the latest pair.”I would persist with this opening formula. Look at the way they fed off each other,” he said. “You could see the interaction between the two of them, whenever each of them got the big shot going. When that happens, when two leaders of the team show the way, it becomes easier for the guys coming down the order. With Suryakumar Yadav in India colours and playing those cameos, it’s really good.”Soon after India clinched the series 3-2, Kohli told the host broadcaster at the presentation that he would also open in the upcoming IPL, starting April 9, and he could also open in some additional T20Is India are likely to play between the England tour and the T20 World Cup.

“Yes, I am going to open in the IPL as well,” Kohli said. “Look, I’ve batted at different positions in the past, but I feel like we do have a very solid middle order now, and now it’s about your two best players getting the maximum number of balls in T20 cricket. So I would definitely like to partner Rohit at the top.”Ahead of the T20I series against England, Kohli had, however, firmly backed the pair of Sharma and Rahul to start the series and had said that they would be separated only if one of them had to take a break or was injured.”If Rohit plays, then it’s quite simple. KL and Rohit have been consistently performing at the top of the order for us and those two would start,” he had said. “In a situation where Rohit takes rest or KL has a niggle or something like that, then Shikhi [Shikhar Dhawan] obviously comes in as the third opener. But the starting composition, Rohit and Rahul will be the ones who start.”Sharma, the vice-captain, said during the post-match press conference on Saturday that despite an instant result from the new pairing, the team may yet have to analyse and work out what is best since the T20 World Cup was still some time away.”We’ll just have to analyse and think about what suits the team most,” Sharma said. “Today was, I guess, a tactical move because we wanted an extra bowler to play. We wanted to leave one batsman out, and unfortunately, it was KL, which was very tough.”

Karunaratne: Arthur was 'like a father' to Sri Lanka's players

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Test captain praises outgoing coach’s influence on the team

Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Nov-2021Mickey Arthur is an excellent manager of players. This, essentially, is Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s take-away after two years under this coach.Arthur had spent much of the pandemic in Sri Lanka while borders were closed, and has had a number of public endorsements from his players, including Karunaratne and Wanindu Hasaranga. He is, however, leaving Sri Lanka for a “head of cricket” role with Derbyshire, despite having wanted to stay on.

The board, acting on the advice of SLC’s technical committee headed by Aravinda de Silva, had asked several of the men’s national side’s coaches to reapply for their roles – a risk Arthur was unwilling to take given the Derbyshire offer.Either way, this is Arthur’s last series with the Sri Lanka side. Although senior players had at times been unhappy with Arthur’s role in the resolution of their contracts stand-off with the board earlier in the year, Karunaratne was nevertheless effusive in his praise of Arthur ahead of these Tests against West Indies.”Mickey’s a different kind of coach – he’s someone who builds a lot of confidence,” Karunaratne said. “When you get to this level, more than skills, it’s your mental side and your preparation that’s important. Mickey treats each player differently.”

Although Sri Lanka’s Test side has not seen substantial leaps ahead during Arthur’s tenure, they did seem to make gains in the limited-overs formats. Although not particularly renowned as a T20 coach, Sri Lanka’s T20 side turned heads at the recent World Cup.”He’s a father to some, a friend to others,” Karunaratne said of Arthur. “He knows how to handle each player. He’s built a lot of confidence in the team. We saw a lot of players come through under him, and we saw players who were already good get better while he was around. He’s a very good coach. I’m disappointed he’s leaving us. Actually, as players, we’re very sad. But I’m sure he’ll be of great service to Derbyshire.”Arthur’s final assignment with Sri Lanka is the two-Test series against West Indies, starting Sunday in Galle.

Surrey bring Finch back for 2017

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Aaron Finch, the Australia opener, will return to Surrey for the whole of the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2016Aaron Finch, the Australia opener, will return to Surrey for the whole of the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast. He will also provide cover in the Championship when Kumar Sangakkara is away playing in the Caribbean Premier League.Finch featured as an overseas player for Surrey last season, scoring 259 runs at a strike rate of 144.69 in six Blast games, as well as averaging 48.66 in the Championship. At Guildford in July, he hit his first ball faced as a Surrey player for six. He has previously had two spells in county cricket at Yorkshire.Currently rated the No. 2 T20 batsman in the world according to the ICC rankings, Finch also holds the record for the highest T20 international score.”We are very pleased to welcome Finchy back to the Kia Oval after his positive impact on and off the field last season,” Surrey’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, said. “He remains one of the most destructive batsman in world cricket and I’m sure our members and supporters will enjoy watching him again.”From the next season, the NatWest T20 Blast reverts to a single block in middle of the English summer, running through July and August – a move in part designed to try and make overseas players available for more of the competition.

Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Jordan hit straps as England canter to victory

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Shreyas Iyer’s 67 in vain as India could only get to 124 for 7 in the first T20I, with England sealing an eight-wicket win

Deivarayan Muthu12-Mar-20212:06

Ian Bell: Jofra Archer is ‘a real entertainer’ when he bowls like this

Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan ambushed India with blistering pace and trampoline bounce, taking the two-paced Ahmedabad track out of the equation and reminding the world why they are the No.1-ranked T20I side. England’s irresistible attack consigned India to 22 for 3 in first six overs – their second-lowest powerplay score in T20Is – and although Shreyas Iyer scored 67 off 48 balls, the hosts could muster only 124 for 7.In stark contrast, England stormed to 50 for 0 in their powerplay in the chase, with Jason Roy and Jos Buttler repeatedly mowing India’s depleted attack to the boundary. India captain Virat Kohli had promised a similar gung-ho approach from their top order on the eve of the series opener, but while the intent was there, the execution was awry.KL Rahul dragged a 141kph dart from Archer back onto his stumps for 1 and then Kohli backed away first ball to Adil Rashid, who had taken the new ball for England, swishing him in the air to mid-off for a duck. When Wood blasted out Shikhar Dhawan with a 148kph thunderbolt, India were 20 for 3 in the fifth over, with their top three having managed a mere five runs together.Iyer tried his best to give India’s bowlers something to defend, but that soon became next to nothing once Roy and Buttler got cracking. Both the England openers fell lbw to spin, but Dawid Malan and Johnny Bairstow took them home by batting at a similar high gear and throwing down the gauntlet to India for the rest of the series.England’s fast men crank it up
While India had packed their attack with three spinners – legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal and fingerspin-bowling allrounders Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – England went the other way, recalling Wood, at the expense of allrounder Tom Curran, and pairing him up with Archer and Jordan.It was Archer who set the tone for England by removing Rahul and marking his return from an elbow injury with a second-ball strike. Like Rahul, Kohli and Dhawan, who was picked in place of the rested Rohit Sharma, looked hurried and were dismissed cheaply.While Archer and Jordan regularly hit 140kph, it was Wood who set the pulse racing by breaching 150kph. After bowling a sharp eight-over burst in Galle, Wood was rested for the red-ball leg of the India tour. He came back with a sharper spell in Ahmedabad and at one point he had even prompted Eoin Morgan into deploying a short leg for him.Quite fittingly, Wood capped his spell with a 149kph delivery that was just about diffused to third man. Archer returned at the death to get Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur off consecutive deliveries, but Sundar denied him a hat-trick.Shreyas Iyer brought up his third T20I half-century•BCCI

Iyer steps up
The second delivery that Iyer faced summed up the challenge posed by the pitch: Jordan hit a hard length, but the ball stuck in the surface and forced him to spoon a checked drive in front of cover. After Rishabh Pant failed to clear the longer square boundary and holed out for 21 off 23 balls, Iyer simply saw off England’s main bowlers and set about repairing the innings.Iyer smartly used the pace and bounce of England’s bowlers to his advantage, picking 36 of his 67 runs square of the wicket or behind square. He did go after the change bowlers – Sam Curran and Ben Stokes – and ultimately holed out in the last over of India’s innings with Dawid Malan pulling off a blinding catch at deep square leg. Barring Iyer, Pant was the only Indian batsman to cross 20.Roy, Buttler…and sustained hitting
India matched Chahal up with Roy early in the chase in an attempt to exploit the opener’s perceived weakness against spin. However, Roy muscled the legspinner for six first ball and then crunched him behind point for another boundary. Buttler, too, joined the fun, dashing out of the crease and swiping Patel over midwicket for six.All up, Roy took Chahal for 26 off 13 balls before the leggie pinned him in front. Sundar, who was held back until the 12th over, then trapped Buttler, but Malan and Bairstow rushed England to a 1-0 lead.

Ankeet Chavan cleared to resume playing after spot-fixing ban is reduced to seven years

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“Whichever opportunity I get to be back at the ground, I will be really eager for that”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jun-2021Mumbai-based left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan has been cleared by the BCCI to resume playing professional cricket after he received a revocation letter from the board that confirmed his ban – originally for life – had been reduced to seven years.In an email accessed by ESPNcricinfo, BCCI interim chief executive Hemang Amin confirmed that Chavan’s ban had effectively ended on September 13, 2020 based on an order received last month. The BCCI ombudsman, the email said, “has restricted the ban imposed on you from life ban to 7 years, with effect from 13 September 2013. In view of the order dated 3 May 2021, the ban imposed on you therefore ended on 13 September, 2020.”Related

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While the ban in principle got over in September 2020, unlike Sreesanth, whose order for a similar term reduction arrived last August, Chavan had to wait till May 3, 2021 to get a copy of the order from the ombudsman. Chavan subsequently requested the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to apply to the BCCI for a confirmation letter, a requisite for him to return to competitive cricket, which he received on June 15 from Amin.”The ban has been completely over as of September 2020,” Chavan told PTI on Tuesday, soon after the development. “I am open for whatever (comes) my way. I am really looking forward to getting on the ground as soon as possible.”Unfortunately, because of the pandemic (Covid-19) and the rains, the grounds would probably be closed but whichever opportunity I get to be back at the ground, I will be really eager for that.”In 2013, Chavan was given a life ban for his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. Chavan was one of three Rajasthan Royals players, along with Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila, to be chargesheeted by the Delhi Police at the time.Sreesanth had received his order before his ban ended last year, allowing him to participate in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this year.”I got (a) letter from (the) ombudsman that my ban has been reduced to seven years,” Chavan told PTI earlier this month. “The same as what was given to Sreesanth, but his order came before the end of the ban and mine after the completion of ban. Since I didn’t get that letter, I had to write to MCA requesting them to write to BCCI for that letter.”Chavan, 35, has played 18 first-class matches, 20 List A games and 26 T20s. His last representative match was against the Mumbai Indians in the 2013 IPL season.

Jayden Seales hails Wahab Riaz, Suranga Lakmal's mentoring after LPL stint

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Young fast bowler in line to make ODI debut against Ireland this week

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2022Jayden Seales is in line to make his ODI debut for West Indies against Ireland on Saturday and knows that his ability to adapt to situations and learn on the job will be key, with limited experience of professional 50-over cricket to fall back on.Seales, who turned 20 in September, made his Test debut as a teenager last year and has impressed in a West Indies shirt, taking 16 wickets at 21.31 in his four caps to date.He has played only three List A games in his fledgling career, but was a key part of Jaffna Kings’ side as they won the Lanka Premier League last month and will try to take things in his stride if selected this week, with the first of three ODIs – all at Sabina Park – taking place on Saturday.Seales was playing in an overseas franchise league for the first time and took 15 wickets in only seven appearances. He was part of the same squad as Suranga Lakmal and Wahab Riaz, and credited them with helping him to develop his death bowling.Related

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  • Malan appointed Ireland's new full-time head coach

  • Pollard fit to lead West Indies for visits of Ireland, England

“In the team I was with, they had a lot of guys around my age group [so] we tended to go to the gym and practise a lot together,” Seales said in a virtual press conference on Thursday. “But in terms of the fast bowling, I hung around a lot with Suranga Lakmal and Wahab Riaz.”They would kind of mentor me in terms of my death bowling. I think that was the biggest struggle for me in the tournament, bowling my yorkers and things like that. Being around those guys gave me a bit more confidence in my death bowling and helped me throughout the tournament.”It wasn’t that hard [adapting to white-ball cricket]. For me in the LPL, it was just to start off bowling that hard, Test-match length and when I was given the ball in the middle and death overs, bowl my variations and take pace off the ball, whether it be slower balls, yorkers, things like that.”Seales – who has also been named as a reserve for the T20I series against Ireland and England later this month – suggested that there was a certain amount of pressure on him to perform if selected, due to his quick rise to prominence.”I think I’ve been under pressure for the majority of the time in my career thus far, seeing as I’m a youngster and I’ve been performing,” he said. “Now the media and everyone will look at me [and say] he has to perform, or if he doesn’t perform, the talk might come up ‘he’s too young’.”Yes, there’s pressure, but I don’t take it on per se. I just go out and enjoy my cricket and play to the best of my ability. If, on the day, I happen to perform well for the team, I’m very pleased.”I was born into a family of cricketers from the age of three years old – I started playing windball cricket with my family outside. I was the youngest and the smallest and they never took it easy on me. Growing up into that, I think I got competitive because of that, and it made me grow into the cricketer I am today – it made me love the game even more.”I thought I would have started [playing international cricket] at the age of 21 or 22. That was the age I gave my parents, I told them at 21, I’d be at the top. Thankfully, it came earlier. I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I’m just enjoying it.”

Hodd carrier to rescue after Yorkshire crumble

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Andy Hodd finished four runs adrift of his first Yorkshire century to dull the excitement for bottom club Nottinghamshsire after they had reduced Yorkshire to 51 for 6

Paul Edwards23-Aug-2016
ScorecardAndy Hodd finished four runs adrift of his first Yorkshire century•Getty Images

Even in this age of cash and context, the Scarborough Festival still takes place but its nature has changed. For evidence of this one had only to glance at the Division One table before this match or observe the admirable Steven Mullaney’s reactions as he ran out Adam Lyth and took three vital wickets on the game’s opening morning.Mullaney reckons his team may need three more wins to avoid relegation; meanwhile, near the top of Division One, Yorkshire are 26 points behind Middlesex and this is their game in hand.So a great deal may depend on the result of this seemingly festal cricket match. There could therefore have been few better times for Andy Hodd to make 96 not out, his best score for Yorkshire, or for Azeem Rafiq to help him add 132 for the seventh wicket. Their partnership revived a side whose top-order batting remains very flaky and it snuffed out any Nottinghamshire hopes that they would seize a decisive early advantage.The crowd is wrapped up in it all at Scarborough, too. As at most outgrounds, with North Marine Road and Cheltenham the grandest of the genre, they are closer to the action and their joys are thus plainer than they might be when expressed from half way up a tiered concrete mountain. Their disappointment could also be touched when Whitby-born Lyth was run out at the bowler’s end, Mullaney tipping a fierce drive from Alex Lees on to the stumps and wheeling away in glee like a boy who had snagged an apple.The concern of most of the 5000 folk in the ground turned to plain worry half an hour later as Yorkshire slipped helplessly to 36 for 4. Lees and Jake Lehmann both edged catches in the slips when failing to cover Mullaney’s movement on a heavy morning and Gary Ballance was leg before to an inswinger from Luke Fletcher.Then it all got worse for Yorkshire as Tim Bresnan was lbw when playing no shot and Jack Leaning was caught at second slip by Patel when playing a rotten one. These dismissals sent the North Marine Road diehards into a rumble of discontent and understandably so. Bresnan, normally the shrewdest of cricketers, fell to Mullaney’s umpteenth inswinger of the morning while Leaning played the sort of stroke he might favour when giving his team mates their morning catching practice.This latter limpness was particularly ill-timed, given that Leaning, like Rafiq, had been presented with his first-team cap by the club president John Hampshire 20 minutes before play began. In the old days the former Yorkshire skipper, Brian Sellers, might have advocated that same cap being depetalled at tea. The current Director of Cricket, Martyn Moxon, may have to settle for a bollocking.As it turned out, 51 for 6 represented Yorkshire’s lowest point of the day, just as it may yet be viewed as Nottinghamshire’s best moment of the whole match as Rafiq and Hodd countered. Rafiq hit five boundaries before lunch with a clip square off Brett Hutton offering a portent of his later aggression. Hodd also started as he meant to go on, working his three fours to third man or long leg.In the afternoon, they strengthened the recovery. Rafiq drove Hutton through the leg side for successive fours and went to his fifty off 75 balls. Hodd played the supporting role to perfection, plainly realising that this was a day on which every run was precious.It was Nottinghamshire’s spinners who eventually made the breakthrough, Patel being a trifle fortunate to have Rafiq lbw when the ball seemed to be straying down leg and Imran Tahir dismissing Patterson in similar but less controversial manner. By now, though, Read’s bowlers had lost their grip and every fielding error was chi-iked by the crowd at the Peasholm Park End.Jack Brooks only improved the crowd’s mood during his 66-ball 48, an innings which included seven fours and a hooked six off Mullaney which rather symbolised the changed balance of the game. Hodd again took his cue from his partner, a strange and flattering position for Brooks to occupy but one which he probably rather enjoyed. And Yorkshire’s No 10 was only five short of his best first-class score of 53 when he cut a ball from Brett Hutton onto his stumps, leaving Hodd to negotiate his way to three figures with Ryan Sidebottom for company.A couple of singles took the Yorkshire wicketkeeper to within a boundary of his goal but Sidebottom propped forward to Hutton in a manner which proved to be nothing like as reliable as it used to be in the days before DRS. Hodd took a standing ovation from the crowd as he ran off to get ready to keep wicket.As is so often the case, late resistance, such as Brooks and Hodd’s 88-run stand, helped to take early wickets. Jake Libby was lbw for a first-ball nought to Brooks’s first delivery of the innings and Tom Moores, who was making his Nottinghamshire debut, nicked Bresnan to Lyth at slip in the final over of the day.

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