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Notts allrounder continues stellar form as batters flunk on “blameless pitch”

ECB Reporters Network25-Jun-2023Brett Hutton claimed a five-wicket haul as Nottinghamshire took control on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.The hosts could post only 163 all out after winning the toss on a bright morning, Tom Kohler-Cadmore top-scoring with just 38 and Kasey Aldridge contributing 35. Hutton’s 5 for 34 and Matt Carter’s 3 for 43 did most of the damage for an accurate Notts attack.In reply, the visitors slipped to 105 for 4 on a seemingly blameless pitch, but opener Ben Slater’s unbeaten 67 saw them to 145 for 4 at the close, just 18 behind.With the sun shining brightly for most of the day, it was strange that 14 wickets should fall. Inability to post meaningful first-innings totals has been a long-standing problem for Somerset, and again there was a fragility about their top order as Hutton maintained an exemplary line and length from the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion End.Sean Dickson and George Bartlett were both dismissed shouldering arms to the experienced seamer; the former bowled for 1 and the latter leg before for 13 to a ball that nipped back. Sandwiched in between was the wicket of Tom Lammonby, who edged Hutton to first slip having made 24.From 48 for 3, Tom Abell and Kohler-Cadmore added 40 in positive style before the introduction of Carter’s offspin from the River End. With the first ball of his second over, he had Abell caught at slip, driving, for 19. Kohler-Cadmore looked strong through the off-side, producing some sweet drives and depositing Carter over long-off for six. By lunch, he had helped Somerset to 106 for 4.The afternoon session began disastrously for the home side as, with only four runs added, they lost first James Rew, caught at short leg off bat and pad to give Carter his second wicket and Kohler-Cadmore lbw to Dane Paterson, having faced 53 balls and hit four fours and a six.There was no way back from 110 for 6, despite the valiant efforts of Aldridge, who reverse-swept Carter for six and struck five fours. He quickly ran out of partners as Craig Overton edged Hutton into the slips where Carter’s left hand scooped the ball up for Joe Clarke to complete the catch.Hutton returned after an opening spell of 3 for 27 from eight overs to mop up the tail, bowling Matt Henry and having the advancing Aldridge caught behind. His wickets were largely the result of keeping the ball on the spot and taking advantage of batting errors.Somerset had been bowled out in just 48.1 overs and it looked like a well below par total in the conditions. Henry struck an early blow in the Notts’ reply by beating Haseeb Hameed’s defensive push and bowling him for a duck. By tea, the visitors had reached 23 for 1. Soon Slater and Matthew Montgomery were building confidently on that total under increasingly clear skies.They had put together a stand of 71 in 23 overs, with few alarms, when Montgomery, on 33, got an inside edge onto his leg off Aldridge and was powerless to prevent the ball rolling back onto his stumps.Slater edged Aldridge just short of wicketkeeper Rew and Somerset’s fightback continued when 19-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, making his first Championship appearance at the Cooper Associates County Ground, pinned Clarke lbw on the back foot for 12 to make it 94 for 3.Slater went to fifty off 104 balls before Henry struck another blow for Somerset with the total on 105, Lyndon James edging to Abell at first slip and departing for the second duck of the innings. But Steve Mullaney hit a six and two fours off a Bashir over as Notts regained some momentum before the close.Before the start of play, the teams lined up for a minute’s applause in memory of 19-year-old local club cricketer Barnaby Webber, who lost his life in the Nottingham stabbings earlier this month. Signed shirts from both counties were laid on the pitch at the toss and then presented to his mother, father and brother as tokens of support.

Only 4.4 overs needed for visitors to take final two Kent wickets on fourth morning

ECB Reporters Network08-Sep-2022Essex 573 (Khushi 164, Critchley 90, Cook 78, Westley 54, Allison 53) beat Kent 164 (Allison 4-40) and 149 (Cox 65, Cook 7-33) by an innings and 260 runsEssex routed Kent by an innings and 260 runs on day four of their LV=Insurance match with Essex at Canterbury. The visitors needed just 4.4 overs to claim the remaining two wickets on day four, bowling Kent out for 149.Sam Cook took 10 for 60 in the match, including 7 for 33 in the second innings, while Jamie Porter claimed 3 for 50. Jordan Cox was Kent’s top-scorer with 65, but the hosts are now deep in the relegation mire, having taken just a single point, while Essex claimed 23.”Credit to Kent and the groundstaff, they’ve actually done an outstanding job getting the ground fit and ready to play, “Essex’s captain, Tom Westley, said. “It was frustrating last night needing the two wickets and knowing there was some bad weather around today, but everything’s worked out for the best.”We could keep talking about Sammy Cook and I have done relentlessly, but he’s absolutely world class, I don’t think there’s a better seamer. The stats will back it up, he gets wickets in the first innings, the second innings, at Chelmsford and away from Chelmsford and he’s phenomenal. We’re very lucky to have him at Essex.”Torrential rain delayed the start until 12.38pm, with Kent resuming on 137 for 8 in their second innings, needing a notional 272 to make Essex bat again.In reality, with Milnes’ mobility drastically reduced due to a stress fracture in his back, Kent’s only hope of escaping with a draw was to bat for as long as possible and hope the rain returned.Milnes, in what may be his final act as a Kent player before he moves to Yorkshire next season, lasted three overs before getting a bottom edge to Cook that was taken by a tumbling Nick Browne. Although dark clouds were hovering, the rain stayed away and the victory was sealed when Cox edged Porter and fell to a juggling catch by Matt Critchley in the slips.Kent’s coach, Matt Walker, said: “I don’t think we deserved the rain to save us really, we haven’t played well enough over three days and if you’re hoping for rain to save you, you know you’re in a pretty tough spot. We fought hard last night to try and drag it out till today where we knew the forecast was a bit indifferent, but we didn’t deserve to get anything out of this game.”The numbers are pretty stark. It was a good cricket wicket, there was a bit in it, it was a good toss to win and we didn’t make the most of those conditions early on. It wasn’t a terrible first session but we didn’t challenge them enough and they just showed us how to go about it and how to bowl on this wicket. It almost at times looked as if it was two different surfaces and that’s what happens when you do your basics well enough.”

“We had a really good match, it was just some small moments that we could’ve done better,” says New Zealand head coach Gary Stead

Madushka Balasuriya25-Sep-2024You win the toss, you bat. When it comes to playing a Test in Galle, that is not so much as received wisdom as it as an etched in stone eleventh commandment. While this might on the face of it seem a ploy to get the best of the batting conditions, in actuality, it’s more down to not wanting to get the worst of it.In the first Test, Sri Lanka won the toss and obviously batted, but while the notable turn on day one signified a raging turner from the outset, Sri Lanka still managed to run up 305 in the first innings – even accounting for them losing their last four wickets for just 24 runs.And after that, it was in fact New Zealand’s batters that got to utilise the most batter friendly of conditions across the Test – on day two, when the turn had slowed down and Sri Lanka’s spinners struggled for control. But their innings, too, was hampered by a late collapse, going from a pretty strong 269 for 5 to 340 all out.Related

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But as the Test wore on, particularly on the fourth and fifth day, batting became the chore Galle is more commonly renowned for, with 14 wickets falling on day four and two wickets within 15 minutes on day five to wrap up the game.”The pitch can change quite quickly and we saw that,” New Zealand head coach Gary Stead noted on the eve of the second Test. “From being relatively good off the straight areas, to then spinning, quite a bit on that fourth day. The conditions can change very quickly.”So I think every run you get in the first innings is very important. And making sure you can post a as large a total as possible, as that means it’s just less runs you have to score in the second innings.”Stead’s sentiment was something shared by Sri Lanka batting coach Thilina Kandamby, who spoke towards the importance of setting the tone early on, be it with the bat or ball.”Setting the tone is key in Test cricket, even with the ball. In Manchester also, if you remember, we had a really bad day starting with the bowling. Then we recovered really well. That’s the positive part of it, whether it comes to bowling or batting our recovery is really good. But setting the tone is really important, and all the players know that.”Both teams are also acutely aware of the areas in which they need to improve, primarily in pressing home hard-fought advantages. With five wickets in hand, 50 runs adrift of Sri Lanka’s first innings total, and a set pair of Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips at the crease at the start of day three, New Zealand might have been eyeing a hefty first-innings lead – particularly taking into account the confidence with which they had approached their batting the previous day.As it turned out, they would lose their remaining five wickets for 86 runs on the third morning, and in the process relinquish the grip they had on the game. With 63 runs the final margin of defeat it’s pivotal passages such as these, that Stead knows proved the difference in the end.”I actually think we had a really good Test match and for the most part it was very evenly contested. I thought that it was just some small moments that we could have done better,” he explained. “We probably should have got more run in terms of that first innings, and the lead from the position we were in.”And then the second session, I think it was of the third day, where we didn’t take a wicket. [Dinesh] Chandimal and [Dimuth] Karunaratne batted very well, but we maybe were just a little bit slow to adjust and adapt to that situation.””We probably should have got more run in terms of that first innings, and the lead from the position we were in” – Stead•AFP/Getty Images

Kandamby had similar grievances with his own side. Sri Lanka lost five of their top six batters (including Angelo Mathews who retired hurt) inside the first 35 overs of day one, before a century from Kamindu Mendis and a Kusal Mendis fifty revived their innings. In the second innings, having got to 153 for the loss of just one wicket, Sri Lanka stumbled to 178 for 4. And then again went from 286 for 6 to 309 all out.”Mindset will be the same [going into the game], but we have discussed where we went wrong, especially in the batting,” revealed Kandamby. “We had a collapse in the third or fourth day, it had happened a couple of times earlier also. The senior players need to take the responsibility because they have played a lot of cricket in Galle. We all knew the wicket would be helpful for spinners.”When we see the stats, I think they swept more than us, which is a concern. We played some good sweep shots as well, but you can’t always trust the defence on a wicket like this. So you’re better always to be in a positive mindset to score runs.”One other area of concern has been the contribution from Sri Lanka’s tail. In terms of batting contributions from those batting at 9, 10 and 11, Sri Lanka know they could be doing better. Across both innings they contributed a total of 13 runs, while Ramesh Mendis batting at eight offered not much more.This has partly been reason for Sri Lanka bringing in Milan Rathnayake – following his impressive showing with the bat in England – in place of Lahiru Kumara, but Kandamby said it was nevertheless an area they were actively looking at improving on.”Yes we’re looking for runs from them [the tail], but more than that it’s about supporting the batter at the other end. It’s only after the recognised batter gets out that we start thinking about how to put the pressure back on the bowlers and get some runs. So honestly if they can get about 30-40 runs, that would be good. Because if you look at it compared the rest of the Test playing nations, our batters at 9, 10, 11, are quite low down.”Whenever we have practice, batting is compulsory for them. And when we’re not playing in a series, they will work the coaches at the HPC (high performance centre) to work on their technical errors.”

Australia allrounder will prepare for WTC final with five County Championship matches

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2025Gloucestershire have signed Australia’s Cameron Green for five County Championship matches, in a deal made possible by a “significant donation” from one of the club’s members.ESPNcricinfo reported this month that Green is hoping to make his return from a back stress fracture before the end of the Sheffield Shield season, and that he was lining up a stint in county cricket. Gloucestershire announced on Friday that he will play five games for them between April 18 and May 26 in the second division of the Championship.Green’s stint will enable him to play competitively ahead of June’s World Test Championship final, which sees Australia face South Africa at Lord’s. He will only be available as a specialist batter, rather than an allrounder, and faces competition for places in the middle order after the recent success of Josh Inglis and Beau Webster early in their Test careers.Gloucestershire’s finances have been perilous in recent years, with the club posting a £1.19 million loss in their most recent accounts. But chair Peter Matthews said one of the club’s 2,000 or so members had donated a sum of money which will enable them to cover the cost of Green’s wages without exceeding their playing budget for the 2025 season.”We are delighted to welcome Cameron to Gloucestershire,” Matthews said. “This deal would not have been possible without a significant donation from a member of the club, and we are incredibly grateful for his generosity, which has enabled us to do this deal without going over the playing budget.”Related

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Green has never previously played county cricket and will link up with his Western Australia team-mate Cameron Bancroft in Bristol, who was appointed captain for their Championship season earlier this week.Mark Alleyne, Gloucestershire’s coach, said: “Cameron Green’s ability is unquestionable… He usually operates in a key position for the best Test team in the world at the moment and having that pedigree in our camp is amazing for the players alongside him. We have serious ambitions in all formats in 2025 and Cameron’s signing will reinforce this sentiment.”Elsewhere, Hampshire have confirmed the signing of another Australian allrounder in New South Wales’ Jack Edwards. ESPNcricinfo reported this week that Edwards will effectively replace Mohammad Abbas for the first two months of the Championship season, with Hampshire’s hoping Edwards’ ability to bat No. 7 will help them fill the void left by James Vince quitting red-ball cricket.

The experienced Salma Khatun returns and Rubya Haider misses out with a knee injury

Mohammad Isam05-Jul-2023Bangladesh have left out two big names in Jahanara Alam and Fargana Hoque from the women’s T20I side ahead of their three-match series against India this month. Jahanara, who played just one game in their previous series against Sri Lanka in May, was one of five changes in the team.Fargana is Bangladesh’s second-highest scorer in the format, and along with her, allrounder Lata Mondal and left-arm quick Fariha Trisna were also dropped from the side. Left-hand batter Rubya Haider’s knee injury meant she had to be left out too.The experienced Salma Khatun returned to the side alongside batters Dilara Akter, Shathi Rani and 16-year-old Shorna Akter, apart from pace bowler Marufa Akter. Salma, Dilara and Marufa were not in the squad for the Sri Lanka series. Then selector Manjurul Islam had said at the time that Salma was “rested” due to the volume of cricket this year.

Bangladesh T20I squad changes

IN: Dilara Akter, Shathi Rani, Shorna Akter, Marufa Akter, Salma Khatun

OUT: Jahanara Alam, Fargana Hoque, Rubya Haider (wk), Lata Mondal, Fariha Trisna

Selector Sajjad Ahmed said that they brought Salma back to bolster the spin attack, while Dilara, Shathi and Shorna were promising for the shortest format. Sajjad, however, declined to comment on the players dropped from the side, citing his short time spent in the new role.Bangladesh’s batting will depend on Nigar Sultana, the captain, and Shamima Sultana, apart from Dilara, Sobhana Mostary, Murshida Khatun and Shorna. Uncapped Shathi Rani could open in one of the matches, after she was selected on the back of a strong domestic season.The spin attack will have to carry much of the bowling department, as only two pace bowlers were picked: Marufa Akter and the uncapped Disha Biswas. The spin attack comprises Salma, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Ritu Mondol, Sanjida Akter and Sultana Khatun.The Indian team will arrive in Dhaka on July 6 for the three T20Is on July 9, 11 and 13 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Bangladesh squad for India T20Is: Nigar Sultana (capt, wk), Nahida Akter, Dilara Akter, Shathi Rani, Shamima Sultana, Sobhana Mostary, Murshida Khatun, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Disha Biswas, Marufa Akter, Sanjida Akter Meghla, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatun, Salma Khatun, Fahima Khatun

Sri Lanka’s assistant coach Naveed Nawaz, meanwhile, felt too many of his batters failed to capitalise on starts

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jul-2023Pakistan will be aggressive as they attempt to knock off the 83 runs they need to get to go 1-0 up in the series. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, need three early wickets to give themselves a chance in the Galle Test.This was the latest from the two camps after play on day four. Although a target of 131 seemed like it would not present Pakistan with much of a challenge, particularly as they had hunted down 342 at this same venue on exactly the same day last year, three late wickets to Sri Lanka, including two to Prabath Jayasuriya, who has a spectacular record at this venue, made Pakistan’s position a little more precarious.Related

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Still, Pakistan have plenty of batting to come (one of those dismissed was nightwatcher Noman Ali), so there’s no cause to worry, said middle order batter Agha Salman. He also suggested there could be more of the new, attacking batting style that Pakistan embraced in the first innings.”We’re very confident, and at the same time we are very excited as well,” he said. “We’ll play the brand of cricket we have been playing since day one.”Sri Lanka’s assistant coach Naveed Nawaz was understandably not quite so upbeat about his team’s chances.”We’re going to go hard and try and put as much pressure on the Pakistan batsmen, to see what we can get out of it,” Nawaz said. ” I think if we can get through to another one or two wickets in their top order, it’s not going to be easy. The wicket seems to be taking a little bit of grip, and a bit of spin as well.”Dhananjaya de Silva followed up his first-innings 122 with 82 in the second•AFP/Getty Images

Sri Lanka were also left to rue their own batting. They had been 54 for 4 in the first innings before recovering through Dhananjaya de Silva to post 312. And in the second innings, they were 99 for 4 before another de Silva innings led a partial recovery.”Most of our batters got starts, and we needed them to carry on and make big runs,” Nawaz said. “If you look at the Pakistani batting, it was just two batters that contributed, and one of them made a big score and the others batted around them to put 400-plus on the board. That’s what we lacked. Dhananjaya was there till the end with a 120-odd. Angelo Mathews also contributed. We needed a few more contributions in the middle.”Unlike many Galle surfaces that take substantial turn from day three onwards, this one has remained reasonable for batting into day four. Sri Lanka, said Nawaz, should have taken advantage.”When we batted the pitch was good, even this morning. There wasn’t a lot of turn, though there was a bit of unevenness. There wasn’t a huge threat.”I thought we should have scored more runs in the second innings. If our batters had done well we could have got at least 100 more runs. In my head I was thinking that we should have batted for 120 overs to get to a good place in this match. Then we could have had them chasing 240 or more. If we had a score that we could have defended for 60 or 70 overs, we would have had the advantage. But that’s not how it happened.”

Trio won’t get franchise league NOCs for two years, the board statement said, while also having their national contracts delayed

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Dec-2023The Afghanistan Cricket Board has sanctioned Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen Ul Haq for “prioritizing their personal interests over playing for Afghanistan,” a board statement said on Monday. The board has therefore delayed their 2024 annual central contracts and also announced no NOCs (no-objection certificates) for the trio for the next two years, including the revokement of any NOC they currently possess.According to the ACB statement, the trio recently told the board of their desire to be released from the annual central contracts starting January 1 2024, while also asking for consent to play in franchise tournaments.”The insistence on not signing the central contract for these players was their involvement in commercial leagues, prioritising their personal interests over playing for Afghanistan, which is regarded as a national responsibility,” the board statement added. “By opting for their release, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has decided to take disciplinary measures against these players.”The sanctions come after the board assigned a committee to “thoroughly investigate the matter and develop appropriate recommendations that best serve the ACB’s interests.””The decision by the Afghanistan Cricket Board is made with a focus on national priorities, aligned with the ACB’s core values and principles,” the statement further said. “It highlights the necessity for every player to maintain the ACB’s principles and prioritise the country’s interests above their personal ones.”

Melbourne Renegades will ‘continue to support’ Mujeeb

Mujeeb was recently picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL auction for USD 241,000. He is currently at the BBL in Australia with Melbourne Renegades. Renegades put out a statement saying the franchise had “received no communication” about a change in plans about Mujeeb’s availability, and that the franchise would “continue to support him for the rest of the BBL season”.”The Melbourne Renegades are aware of the matter between Mujeeb Ur Rahman and the Afghanistan Cricket Board,” the statement, put up on the franchise’s website, said. “The club has received no communication that Mujeeb’s availability for the BBL could change from original plans.”Mujeeb remains available for the Melbourne Renegades’ important match against Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium. Mujeeb is a world-class player and a popular member of the squad, and the club will continue to support him for the rest of the BBL season.”Naveen, who is with Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, also retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad, recently featured in the Abu Dhabi T10 competition. All three players also featured for Afghanistan in their sixth-place ODI World Cup run.

The offspinner, who has faced scrutiny over his action in the past, will need to undergo independent assessment within 14 days

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2025South Africa allrounder Prenelan Subrayen has been reported for a suspect bowling action following the first ODI against Australia on Tuesday in Cairns.The offspinner took 1 for 46 in his ten overs, dismissing opener Travis Head as South Africa went 1-0 up with a 98-run win. This was the 31-year-old Subrayen’s ODI debut, which came almost two months after he earned his first Test cap against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.Related

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Subrayen now needs to undergo an independent assessment of his action at an ICC-accredited testing facility within 14 days which South Africa are hoping he can do in Brisbane at Cricket Australia’s National Cricket Centre where Australia’s left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann was tested earlier this year. Bowlers are permitted 15 degrees of elbow extension while delivering the ball and he is allowed to continue bowling in matches until the results of his test are known. But South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said on Thursday that the team has decided Subrayen will not play until he has completed the testing process.”He’s available to play,” Conrad said. “You are allowed to play until you get tested.””We just felt that less noise and get him out of the public eye, make sure he is okay and focuses on the testing.”The process is to get him tested as soon as we can and we are looking to do it in Brisbane. That suits everyone. We are going to the UK via Brisbane so hopefully we can get it sooner rather than later.”This is not the first time the Subrayen has faced scrutiny over his action. In December 2012, Cricket South Africa (CSA) placed him under rehabilitation after two separate independent tests deemed his action illegal. He was cleared to bowl again in January 2013 after undergoing remedial work and re-testing.Subrayen was reported in September 2014 during the Champions League T20 tournament in India, and once more during a domestic T20 game in November 2015, and suspended from bowling after an assessment of his action found all his deliveries to exceed the 15-degree limit. He failed a re-assessment in January 2016, and was eventually cleared to resume bowling after having his action cleared at the CSA’s High Performance Centre in March 2016.”He has gone through this process before,” Conrad said. “It’s never easy. It’s taken him a long time to make his debut and we are rallying around him. Next week will reveal a lot and we will take it from there.”They’ve [the ICC] flagged 12 balls which they’ve forwarded to us. He has got to emulate those 12 balls during the test. We are going to be sending our bowling coach (Piet Botha) with him for support and for us to gain some knowledge about how these things work.”The second and third ODIs, which are the last two matches of South Africa’s white-ball tour of Australia, will be played on August 22 and 24 in Mackay.

Fast bowler has ‘big smile on his face’, says captain Buttler, as he seeks to play down expectations

Matt Roller21-May-2024Jofra Archer will play an international match in England for the first time in nearly four years on Wednesday night, ending a 382-day wait since his most recent professional appearance. Jos Buttler, England’s captain, said that Archer is “desperate” to return after such a long injury lay-off and confirmed he will feature against Pakistan at Headingley if the weather allows.Back and elbow injuries have restricted Archer to seven matches for England in the last three years, all of which came on tours to South Africa and Bangladesh in early 2023. He has been gradually working his way back to competitive cricket, playing for his club Wildey in Barbados and bowling a six-over spell for Sussex’s 2nd XI last week.England have named Archer in their provisional 15-man squad for June’s T20 World Cup, which they must finalise with the ICC by Saturday. He bowled with good pace in the nets on Monday – including to Buttler – and had a lighter training session on Tuesday, in anticipation of his return on Wednesday night.Related

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“He’s got a big smile on his face,” Buttler said. “It’s great to see him back fit and bowling fast, and just being back around the group. I know how much he’s missed that. [Facing him] is never that fun, but he’s looking great.”You have to temper expectations. He’s been out of international cricket for a long time, and you can never quite replicate that. We all know what a superstar he has been, but manage those expectations: don’t expect too much too soon. He’s got such a high level of skill that he’s always going to perform well, but [he needs to] just enjoy being back playing cricket. As England captain and as a fan, people want to see him back enjoying his cricket.”Buttler confirmed that Archer will play on Wednesday night – if the rain holds off – and said England will “manage him through” the four-match series. “He’s fully fit, and the medical team will advise how best to manage that,” he said. “[He’ll play] as many as possible: he’s missed a lot of cricket and he’s desperate to get back out there and be a big part of the team.”Any player of Jofra’s calibre is a huge asset to any team. Absolutely, he makes us a better side and [gives us] a better chance of winning games. But we have to temper expectations, not put too much pressure on him, ease him back in. The great success would be him coming through this series with a big smile on his face and his body holding up. That would be a success to me.”Jofra Archer enjoys a lighter moment at England training•PA Photos/Getty Images

Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain, said his team are “looking forward” to the challenge of facing Archer but do not fear him. “As a team, we are very excited to play Archer,” Babar said. “We have that pace of bowlers: Haris Rauf, [Mohammad] Amir, Shaheen [Afridi]. We are facing it everyday. We are not [feeling] fear; we are excited.”Harry Brook will also return to international cricket on Wednesday, after missing England’s Test tour to India on compassionate leave. “He’s got a brilliant head on his shoulders,” Buttler said. “He can handle most things… watching him bat, he looks in great touch and he’s going to be an England player in all formats for a long period of time.”Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball coach, oversaw training in Leeds on Tuesday after missing Monday’s session for family reasons. While performances in the next nine days will be more important than results, his side have not won a T20I series since they became world champions in Australia 18 months ago and will want to break that streak.Mott and Buttler both came under pressure during England’s catastrophic group-stage exit at the 50-over World Cup last year and cannot afford a repeat in the Caribbean. Buttler said he had learned valuable lessons in India: “Sometimes, when results don’t go your way, it’s easy – as an individual, or a group – to go a little bit internal. [You should] keep putting the team first every time, and make decisions based around that.”But he said England will not focus too much on their 50-over struggles over the coming weeks. “It’s a different format. Times move on: there are different chapters in the book. It’s a real honour to go to another World Cup as defending champions again, but it also feels like a new time. There are guys coming into the side who are more established and proper players now. It’s their team as well to take forward.”Buttler comes into this series after hitting two centuries in three innings at the IPL last month, and said he is in “a really good space” with his batting. Across 22 innings for Paarl and Rajasthan Royals this year, he has averaged 40.36 while striking at 142.30: “Sometimes, I feel like a bit of a victim of my own expectations,” he said.He also confirmed he will keep wicket in this series, but is likely to hand the gloves to Phil Salt at least once since his wife Louise is expecting the couple’s third child imminently. “My family comes first: I’ll be at the birth,” he said. “I’m not a doctor. These things can come on at any time. But I’ve got a plan in place… fingers crossed, everything will go well.”

New Test captain delivers series-sealing knock to restore feelgood factor to South Africa

Firdose Moonda11-Mar-2023The Temba Bavuma who returned home from Australia at the start of the summer, after South Africa’s exit from the T20I World Cup at the hands of the Netherlands, was so distraught he could not even look up. Not directly at the people who were present at one of the first live press conferences of the post-Covid era. And nor at the Zoom screen either, where several squares stared at him, waiting for answers to a question no-one could answer: how had South Africa slipped that far?If you had said to that Bavuma that, four months and one chastening series loss to Australia later, he himself would be orchestrating a feel-good series win against West Indies – both as Test captain and as Player of the Match in the series decider – he may have praised your imagination. But that is exactly the kind of magic turnaround cricket sometimes provides.This time, Bavuma could look every fan in the eye in the Wanderers crowd – admittedly there weren’t many of them, given that the Test started mid-week and ended midway through Saturday – and with a smile after his series-defining century in his first rubber as captain. It turned out that four months is a long time in cricket, long enough for a complete turnaround for a player and a team that had been spiralling.”What happened in Australia took place a long time ago,” Bavuma said after his side’s 284-run victory. “What happened in the T20 World Cup, it’s in the past now. It’s happened and I’ve moved on from it. I’m here now and my mind is in a different space now.”Bavuma had to return to Australia after that defeat, for a Test series in which South Africa had been lucky to lose just 2-0, and in which they had extended their stretch of sub-200 to seven successive innings. He was at least South Africa’s leading run-scorer in that series, with 185 runs at 37.00 with a solitary fifty, but finished below three Australian batters.The series was chastening for a team that had previously won three successive series in Australia but Bavuma took it as a teachable moment and wanted to come back better. “It was tough in Australia and as players, we were all under pressure,” he said. “There were things that I learned in Australia and when I returned from the tour, I sat down and thought through them. I looked at where I needed to improve my game and I hope the results were there for everyone to see.”Related

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A key criticism of Bavuma over time had been his strike rate. In T20Is, it is considered too low for him to even make the team, and he has since been dropped after standing down as captain; and in Tests it was also sluggish enough for it to be cited as one of the reasons he had only scored one century in 54 appearances prior to this series. Despite that, South Africa’s new Test coach, Shukri Conrad, saw something in Bavuma that he liked and decided he was the man to captain the Test side – a factor in his relinquishing of the T20I reins to concentrate on the formats he is strongest at.Bavuma is now the face of a new South African Test outfit – albeit one that will not play again until December against India – and has the support of his dressing room. They’ve had to work through the sacking of Dean Elgar, who continues to open the batting and has been re-contracted for the 2023-24 summer. Conrad conceded that Elgar’s demotion was an issue that would require sensitive handling, but insisted that South Africa have moved on.”It’s no secret where the side has come from. Australia was really dark,” Conrad said. “We spoke honestly and candidly about Dean [Elgar] no longer being the captain. That’s the only way one moves on. Dean also appreciated that. For Temba to step up the way he has … we’ve also got key guys in that changeroom who perform leadership roles without being at the forefront of team conversations. The fundamentals and the cornerstones are there for this team to grow from a culture point of view.”Bavuma’s impact on the Test team was seen everywhere, from the way Wiaan Mulder celebrated his century on the third afternoon – leaping and fist-bumping as though he had brought up the hundred himself – to the way the support staff continue to back Bavuma. “Thankfully the cameras weren’t in the coaches’ room because there were some other wild scenes,” Conrad said. “But all the guys lauded him. With all the stick he gets, that was a hell of a knock.”Never one to expect too much praise, Bavuma swiftly deflected attention to the player of the series, Aiden Markram, who returned to the Test side to score a century at SuperSport Park and fell four short of doubling up at the Wanderers. “A guy like Aiden coming back into the team and leading the way” Bavuma said. “He was the difference between the batters in this series.”In the end, Bavuma’s 172 was the difference in the second Test and signalled a second coming for a batter and a leader who has always been under pressure because he is the first of his kind. Bavuma is South Africa’s first black African batter and captain and he has now established himself as the person to take the Test game forward.”As a leader you want to lead from the front,” he said. “Me being a batter, it’s at the top of my mind that I want to score runs. And I want to be able to speak with good authority in the dressing-room. This Test, things went my way. It’s unfortunate that we are only playing our next game in December. We need to make sure we keep ourselves in check and make sure our cricket is going in the direction we want it to go.”