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Australia appear to have momentum on their side after a crushing win at Lord’s but the series is poised at 1-1 with three Tests to play

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston28-Jul-2015It was Peter Siddle, back home after the miniature epic two-Test series against South Africa in 2011, who described the result as “a good one-all series win”. Having humiliated the Australians in Cape Town, South Africa walked away unfulfilled. Having scrambled to a cathartic victory in Johannesburg thanks largely to Pat Cummins, Michael Clarke’s team were understandably chuffed, even if they did not win the series.Entering the Edgbaston Ashes Test there is a similar sense of the scoreboard not reflecting how the two teams see themselves. After a surprise defeat at Cardiff, Australia’s demolition of England at Lord’s carried the air of natural order restored, and the confident strut of the tourists appears to be that of a team in the ascendant. England, meanwhile, are the men on the run, having changed their team and batting order while also looking warily towards the fitness of the third seamer Mark Wood.It would be easy then to be lulled into the impression that Australia will rumble on smoothly to the retention of the urn, having responded to England’s opening salvo with a riposte more or less twice the size. A certain sense of the triumphal accompanied Australian celebrations at Lord’s, which is always a major event match for the number of Cricket Australia management, board directors and corporate backers present. In the midst of the post-match revelry, one or two sober observers could have been forgiven for thinking “hang on, isn’t it only 1-1?”Not only is it 1-1, it is also 8-3. That’s the ledger in Ashes Tests in England over the past decade, with the hosts stretching out a major advantage over that time by winning three series in 2005, 2009 and 2013. Lord’s was a vast Australia victory, but it was also a rare one. Similarly lopsided victories at Headingley in 2009 and Lord’s again in 2005 proved to be statistical outliers. The Cardiff result was far more representative of those recorded by Australian cricketers on these shores.More broadly, Australia sides have struggled for a long time to win consecutive Test matches away from home. Taking out the struggling West Indies this year, they have not followed an overseas win with another in the same series since New Zealand as far back as March 2010. That is not a record to be proud of for a team that speaks with plenty of awareness about consistent overseas success as the measure of a top team.Famously, England came to Edgbaston in 2005 having lost heavily at Lord’s and in desperate search of a way to get back into the series. Glenn McGrath duly trod on a ball, Ricky Ponting took leave of his senses at the toss and a classic encounter ensued. Clarke was the youngest member of that Australian side, and learned more in that one defeat than he had in any of the four series wins he had been a part of prior. A decade on, the memory lingers.”I think the most important thing I’ve learned over my career is you have to start again,” he said. “Whether that be as a batter coming off 100 or 200 or as a bowler you feel like you’re on top of your game, when you walk out there you start again. It’s a brand new game, so that’s really important for us as a team that we come with the same attitude we had at Lord’s, that same hunger to want to have success, but realise that we start on zero.”This team from what I continually see, the way the guys trained and prepared in Derby to their attitude here yesterday when it was raining, and guys still found a way to get done what they needed to, there’s no doubt that hunger’s in the system. It’s important for us to run with this momentum while we have it, take confidence from Lord’s but also remember how disciplined England were in Cardiff and we know how good an opposition they are.”The momentum Clarke spoke about has had to cope with various potential speed bumps on the way, as the team finds itself evolving and regenerating in the middle of an Ashes series. Clarke has had to deal with the demotion of his longtime lieutenant Brad Haddin for this match, having already watched as Ryan Harris retired and Shane Watson was dropped. There will be a lot of experience on Australia’s drinks bench this week, and a lot of young Ashes combatants needing to know this series is far from over.”When you’re on tour I see the success as being about every one of the guys who are here, not just the 11 who take the field,” Clarke said of the changing face of his team. “I’m not too concerned, obviously there’s some things that have been out of our control, but it’s about playing your best cricket. I said before this tour I was really happy with the squad we have because it was about options. Hopefully the squad continues to perform like we did at Lord’s.”Australia achieved a fine victory at the Home of Cricket, but it will mean little if they cannot follow it up here. Most reasonable measures of the two sides would have them doing so, particularly after Chris Rogers was passed fit to lead the line at the top of the order. But the consistency for which Australia have successfully striven down under in recent times has been absent for more than a decade in England. The test of their resolve is clear.

Wasim Jaffer’s record-breaking century confirmed the first-innings lead for Mumbai against Saurashtra on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran in Mumbai27-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo: Wasim Jaffer scored his 32nd hundred in Ranji Trophy•Fotocorp

Wasim Jaffer’s record-breaking century confirmed the first-innings lead for Mumbai but the widely expected barrage of runs didn’t arrive from the home side, allowing a spirited Saurashtra a sliver of a chance to come back in the Ranji final. Mumbai are still in charge though not as emphatically as they would have liked.Saurashtra showed the sort of fighting attitude that has lifted the low-profile team to the finals. This was highlighted in the 34th over when despite several close calls for the batsmen in the morning session, Saurashtra were still looking for the first breakthrough. Jaffer had just struck three successive fours in the previous over to take Mumbai to 75 for 0. There was no wilting under the strain, though, and when Rahul Dave made a diving stop at cover, as many as six fielders ran up to him to give a congratulatory pat. Two balls later, Siddharth Trivedi had the opener Kaustubh Pawar caught and bowled.Aditya Tare, another heavy scorer this season, followed soon after, rousing the Sunday crowd from the stupor of a session of slow-going cricket. The man most of the fans were in to see, Sachin Tendulkar, walked out to the familiar chants of “Sachin, Sachin.” Tendulkar’s record in Ranji finals is as fearsome as Mumbai’s, and once he survived a few anxious minutes early on, Saurashtra looked set for a long haul as Jaffer was also looking fluent and settled.Tendulkar got going with an effortless off drive between the non-striker and mid-off and a disdainful flick through midwicket next ball. When he paddle-swept Kamlesh Makvana’s first ball in the next over, the crowd was at its most vocal.They were silenced not long after, though. You’d think over the course of a 25-season career, there would be few ‘firsts’ left for Tendulkar. Till today, though, he had never been run-out in a Ranji match. He was sent back by Jaffer after he had pushed the ball towards point but couldn’t beat the throw from Makvana.That was the one low point in a day to savour for Jaffer. He claimed two prestigious Ranji Trophy records – most runs and hundreds in the tournament – and also went past 16,000 first-class runs. With most of the other specialist batsmen not contributing anything substantial, Jaffer’s hundred was the cornerstone of Mumbai’s innings. It will help Jaffer put aside the disappointment of making just one run in Mumbai’s two knock-out matches last season when their campaign ground to a halt in the semi-finals. Even more praiseworthy is that Jaffer’s recent run of three centuries in four matches have come despite the fact that his father is in hospital following a heart attack.It wasn’t Jaffer at his best of his innings, though. He survived a close lbw call on his first delivery and was reprieved after a loud caught-behind appeal early on the second morning. There was another life for him when the wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani broke the stumps before the ball had arrived, with Jaffer out of his ground.However, there were some glorious strokes as well. He took on the gentle left-arm spin of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja in the morning after being patient for close to two hours, getting to fifty with a nonchalant six over long-on. There was also a classic drive past extra cover off Saurya Sanandiya to bring up Mumbai’s hundred. He looked more and more difficult to dislodge as his innings progressed and when he was finally dismissed for 132, it was through a poor lbw decision when the ball looked to be sliding down.Abhishek Nayar had provided Jaffer company for a while, using the sweep repeatedly to race to 26 off 35 before he swung a harmless Makvana delivery to midwicket. Ajit Agarkar was also dismissed cheaply and with Mumbai at 237 for 6, Saurashtra were dreaming of a comeback.Mumbai, as usual, found a player to ease their nerves. Hiken Shah stuck around for more than an hour to make an unbeaten 41, and put on an unbroken 50-run stand with the first day’s hero Dhawal Kulkarni. Saurashtra didn’t help their cause by delaying taking the new ball till the 88th over instead of going for the kill earlier itself. That allowed the lead to swell to 139, and left the Mumbai dressing room a more relaxed place.

The Hobart Hurricanes are probably the most unassuming and underrated side in the Big Bash League, but they are fast becoming the team to beat after another polished all-round display to dispose of the Sydney Sixers by 42 runs

Alex Malcolm21-Dec-2011
ScorecardTravis Birt’s half-century laid a solid platform for the Hobart Hurricanes•Getty Images

The Hobart Hurricanes are probably the most unassuming and underrated side in the Big Bash League, but they are fast becoming the team to beat after another polished all-round display to dispose of the Sydney Sixers by 42 runs.They may lack the big-name star-power but they make up for it with a well-balanced team that executes a tried and tested Twenty20 formula. It is no surprise that they have won two of two.Just like in Perth on Sunday, Xavier Doherty won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a good surface at the Bellerive Oval. Eyebrows were raised around the ground as they rolled to the half-way point of their innings at a pedestrian six-an-over.But, just as in Perth, the plan was to leave wickets in hand for a second half assault. At 1 for 63 after 10 overs, having lost only Jonathan Wells to the effective part-time spin of Dom Thornely, the scene was set for Phil Jaques and Travis Birt. In the eleventh over they let fly; Dwayne Bravo conceded 20 runs. Birt smashed two fours and a six before Jaques cut the last ball for four.Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill curtailed the pair to just 11 runs from the next 12 balls but unlike Perth when panic sparked a collapse of 8 for 39, the pair of left-handers kept their powder dry before targeting Moises Henriques. Five fours and a six were dispatched in two overs the Sixers all-rounder will quickly forget. Birt and Jaques both rocketed past 50 in the process.Their 107-run stand was broken Mitchell Starc, as he managed to snare Birt for 65 (from 41 balls) with a clever slower bouncer, but the damage was done. Starc also claimed Jaques for 73 with the third ball of the 20th over, but only after Jaques had steered him to fine leg for four and hit him over midwicket for 98-metre six.The Hurricanes defended 140 with ease against Perth, so 3 for 169 was a luxury total. Again, they opened with a mix of off-spin from Jason Krejza and out-swing from Ben Hilfenhaus. Again, it worked perfectly as they each knocked a batsman over with the score on seven – Peter Nevill missed an innocuous straight delivery from Hilfenhaus, Michael Lumb did the same off the very next ball from Krejza.Stand-in Sixers captain Steve Smith and 20-year-old Nic Maddinson steadied the ship with a 57-run partnership. They rode their luck but also played some attractive strokes. They took four boundaries from Hilfenhaus’ third over. Maddinson showed his immense talent, hitting two of those fours off consecutive deliveries to the cover fence – one over the top, the other along the ground.But again the Hurricanes stuck to their formula and came up trumps. Spin was ordered in from both ends at the halfway mark, and Doherty and Krejza removed Smith and Maddinson in back-to-back overs to regain control.Then, the local cult-hero Rana Naved-ul-Hasan entered to bowl at the death. He took 4 for 6 in 11 balls to close out the contest. This is something Tasmanian fans have become accustomed to since he signed up as their star import three seasons ago. Three of Rana’s wickets were bowled and he nearly managed his second hat-trick in Australia.Birt was named Man-of-the-Match but, in reality, the sum of all parts was greater than any one contribution for the Hurricanes. The opposite could be said for the Sixers. Only three of their players reached double-figures with the bat, and they managed just three wickets with the ball despite eight of their XI having represented their country.

Kevin Pietersen will not be disciplined for his latest Twitter outburst but his captain Andrew Strauss has warned him to be responsible with his comments in the future

Peter English in Adelaide02-Dec-2010Kevin Pietersen will not be disciplined for his latest Twitter outburst but his captain Andrew Strauss has warned him to be responsible with his comments in the future. In a series of tweets Pietersen concluded it was “pathetic” that the practice wickets were not covered more quickly when it rained on Wednesday.When asked if Pietersen crossed the line Strauss said: “No he didn’t. There are kinds of degrees of everything and we don’t want anything that distracts our attention from what is important, which is getting on the cricket pitch and performing.”Pietersen vented after missing out on a long bat by tweeting: “What should a groundsman make sure he does two days out from a Test match?” He followed it with: “Cover the nets when it rains maybe?” His final comment on the subject was: “Pathetic!”Pietersen’s most famous explosive tweet came after he was dropped from the limited-overs sides in August and the incident resulted in England introducing specific regulations for micro-blogging. “We have got a set of guidelines for our players and we fully expect them to adhere to those guidelines as much as possible,” Strauss said.Strauss is not a tweeter but is happy for his team-mates to embrace the format to connect with their supporters. “I wouldn’t prefer all of our players to be exactly like me, it would be a pretty boring dressing room,” he said. “Everyone is different and a lot of the guys really enjoy it. And it is a good way of broadening the appeal of the game, there is no doubt about it.”But it has to be used responsibly and by and large it has been. We have to make sure that we don’t have any more incidences of the likes of what we have seen previously.”

A summary of the third round of matches in New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition

Cricinfo staff20-Dec-2009Canterbury trumped Wellington by 140 runs at the Basin Reserve to notch up their second win of the competition and reach the top of the table. Boosted by half-centuries from Peter Fulton and Corey Anderson, and useful contributions from the middle and lower-order batsmen, Canterbury posted a competitive 279. Anderson was particularly harsh, smashing an unbeaten 52 off just 29 balls with eight fours and a six to make the most of the death overs. Wellington were hapless in their reply, failing to measure up to the bowling of Chris Martin, who took 4 for 25, and capitulating for 139. They now find themselves at the bottom of the table with two losses from three games.Northern Districts and Otago were involved in a more closely-fought truncated fixture in Invercargill. ND secured a 19-run win, thanks to the efforts of seamers Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who shared five wickets between them and undermined a fighting 58 from Neil Broom. ND’s innings was laced with three half-centuries, from openers BJ Watling and Anton Devcich and captain Peter McGlashan. The three scored briskly to take their team to a formidable 224 for 6 in 30 overs, and the seamers backed them up to bowl out Otago in the final over. Yasir Arafat, the Pakistan allrounder, provided some late entertainment, smashing 31 off 14 but Southee ended the innings to consign Otago to the second-last spot on the points table.Ravi Bopara was the star for Auckland yet again, following up on his 89 in his previous outing with a century against Central Districts to help his team win by 20 runs in Palmerston North. Auckland, after opting to bat, were in a terrible situation at 64 for 5 – Michael Mason grabbed three wickets – but Bopara, aided by Andrew de Brooder’s 55, resurrected the innings. The pair added 94 for the sixth wicket, and Bopara held one end firm, batting with the tail, to take his team to 246. CD were dented early in their reply, losing their first three wickets for just 11, but captain Jamie How fought back with a determined 94. However, CD would regret the fact that the other middle and lower-order batsmen, despite getting starts, could not push on. Left-arm seamer Michael Bates picked up 4 for 27 to keep the opposition in check and ensure they fell significantly short of the finish line.

ESPNcricinfo understands Kishan’s injury was the reason he wasn’t selected as back-up wicketkeeper for the fifth Test in England

Shashank Kishore18-Aug-2025Ishan Kishan will miss East Zone’s season-opening Duleep Trophy fixture as he is yet to fully recover from a minor injury he suffered in the UK during his stint at Nottinghamshire. He has been replaced by Odisha’s Aashirwad Swain in East Zone’s squad.ESPNcricinfo understands Kishan required multiple stitches after falling off an e-bike, and it’s due to this that he wasn’t considered as a replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant ahead of the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval. Subsequently, Tamil Nadu’s N Jagadeesan was flown in as the back-up to Dhruv Jurel.Related

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Kishan’s injury doesn’t appear to be a serious one. The decision to keep him out is a precautionary measure since he’s likely to be in the running for the India A squad that will play two four-day fixtures at home against Australia next month.For now, Kishan will continue to recuperate and undergo a fitness assessment at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. In Kishan’s absence, it’s likely Jharkhand’s Kumar Kushagra will be the first-choice wicketkeeper.

Akash Deep advised rest

Meanwhile, East Zone will also be without India fast bowler Akash Deep, who has been advised rest. Akash’s nature of niggle or injury – if any – is unknown, and his fitness assessment has been set for a later date.Akash was on the recent Test tour to England, where he missed the fourth Test in Manchester due to a back niggle. He subsequently returned for the decider, where he struck a maiden half-century after coming in as a nightwatcher in the second innings.Overall, Akash enjoyed a decent series – picking up 13 wickets in three Tests, including a match-winning ten-wicket haul in India’s series-levelling win in Birmingham. Akash has been replaced by Assam’s Mukhtar Hussain in the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led squad.East Zone open their campaign against the Shubman Gill-led North Zone in the quarterfinal starting August 28. All matches will be played at the CoE, in the outskirts of Bengaluru.Riyan Parag, the India and Assam allrounder, has been named as Easwaran’s deputy. The squad also comprises two other India internationals in Mohammed Shami, who has played just one first-class game in the last two years, and Mukesh Kumar.East Zone squad for Duleep Trophy opener: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Aasirwad Swain (wk), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Riyan Parag (vice-captain), Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain and Mohammed Shami

PCB chairman wants the national cricketers to improve their fitness levels and training standards

Danyal Rasool05-Mar-2024Pakistan’s cricketers are set to team up with another iconic institution of the country, the Pakistan Army, from March 25 to April 8 in a ten-day training camp. The announcement was made by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday at a hotel in Islamabad while addressing several players. The camp will start roughly one week after the PSL ends, and Naqvi hopes it will help players get their fitness “up to speed.””When I was watching the matches in Lahore, I don’t think a single one of you hit a six that went into the stands,” Naqvi said. “Whenever a six like that was hit, I used to think a foreign player must have hit that. I have asked the board to make a plan that gets every player’s fitness up to speed. You’ll have to make a proper effort for that.”We have New Zealand coming up, then Ireland, England and the T20 World Cup. I wondered, ‘When will we train?’ but there was no time. However, we’ve found a window, where we’ve organised a camp in Kakul (military academy) from March 25 to April 8. The Pakistan Army will be involved in your training, and hopefully, they’ll help you out.”An intensive training camp in one of the few windows the players would otherwise have rested is likely to be unpopular, especially as it is preceded by six months of virtually non-stop cricket, and followed by several bilateral series leading up to the T20 World Cup.Moreover, the camp coincides with the second half of the holy month of Ramzan, a time when most Pakistanis culturally tend to prioritise family or religious activities over work. The effectiveness of the camp is likelier made tricky by the fact most of the squad players will be fasting, with no food or water from sunrise to sunset unconducive to a rigorous boot camp.There is, though, precedent for Pakistan cricket getting the military involved with training. Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan famously organised a training camp with the military at Kakul academy before a Test series to England.When Misbah scored a hundred in the first Test, he celebrated by doing ten push-ups, followed by a military salute. The series was drawn 2-2, with Pakistan rising to the top of the Test rankings for the only time in their history.

‘Make Pakistan your first priority’

Naqvi also took aim at one of the thornier issues the board is grappling with, telling the players they needed to prioritise national commitments over the lure of T20 leagues. The matter was thrown into the spotlight when Haris Rauf declined to be part of Pakistan’s tour of Australia. Chief selector Wahab Riaz had publicly criticised Rauf, and two months later, the PCB terminated his central contract.To illustrate the point, Naqvi invoked his own time as caretaker chief minister of Punjab, a role he held for over a year, and briefly alongside the PCB chairmanship. He said it was a sacrifice he made because of a desire to serve Pakistan.”I’m not going to say you mustn’t earn money, or ask you to make sacrifices we are also not ready to make. But let me give you one example. One year ago, I was asked to become the chief minister of Punjab, and it caused me a financial loss in my business. I had to leave that aside and incur several extra costs. But I had a desire to represent Pakistan, and so I had to make that sacrifice.”I will support you 100%, but I’ll just ask you to make Pakistan your first priority, and T20 leagues your second priority. It’s unfortunate when money becomes first priority and the country second. If you do that, then we might have a problem. We can even look at central contracts and bolster them further if you desire, but you must be available for Pakistan first and foremost.”Pakistan are currently without a coaching set-up at the national level, and Naqvi briefly mentioned the PCB was in touch with potential options, saying no expense would be spared.”We’ll try to make the best available for you,” Naqvi said. “I have told the PCB our job is not to save money or keep it hoarded away, but to spend it on cricket, from grassroots right through to the national team. The money will be spent on your fitness, training and coaches rather than keeping it locked away.”

The agreement is for ten years and includes South Africa’s bilateral fixtures for the period

Firdose Moonda02-Nov-2022The SA20 has breached the hurdle at which the Global League T20 and the Mzansi Super League fell, securing a ten-year deal with Viacom18 for an undisclosed amount to broadcast the tournament in India. ESPNcricinfo understands that CSA has also reached an agreement with the broadcaster to put South Africa’s bilateral fixtures for the next decade on air.The deal is understood to be lower than the SA20’s asking price of US$ 100 million for a ten-year period, but an insider described it as “game-changing” for South African cricket, and said it would ensure that SA20 returned a profit in the first year as against the initial forecast of five years.Related

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The tournament will be broadcast in South Africa by SuperSport, which also owns a 30% stake in it – CSA owns 50% and former IPL chief executive Sundar Raman owns the remaining 20%.The Global League T20, which was expected to kick off in the 2017-18 season and had team owners from the IPL and the PSL, never got going because, ostensibly, no broadcast deal came through. However, Haroon Lorgat, the former CSA chief executive, has long maintained that a broadcast deal was in place and the league was instead stymied by political infighting at the board.Lorgat and CSA parted ways that season and his successor, Thabang Moroe, first tried to make the GLT20 happen, but then abandoned it.Under Moroe, CSA then created the Mzansi Super League, with no private ownership. The six-team tournament was held twice, in 2018 and 2019, but couldn’t acquire a major broadcast deal. Instead, it was televised on South Africa’s free-to-air service, the SABC, which did not pay CSA anything to put the competition on screens.It cost CSA more than Rand 100 million (US$ 5.5 million approx.) per season of the competition, which was financially unsustainable. Moroe was fired for misconduct in 2020 and the league was suspended during the pandemic.The Moroe era left CSA’s finances in distress and, with international fixtures dwindling, in April this year CSA announced a third attempt at a franchise T20 tournament – the SA20.

Championship’s leading run-scorer makes second consecutive Blast fifty in dominant run chase

ECB Reporters' Network17-Jun-2021A blistering fifty from David Bedingham allowed Durham to get back winning ways in their Vitality Blast campaign, defeating Lancashire Lightning by six wickets at Emirates Riverside.Bedingham operated at the peak of his powers to score his second T20 fifty in a row, allowing the rest of the Durham line-up to chase down a total of 152 with ease. The hosts cantered over the line with 14 balls to spare, securing their third win in four matches in the competition to leapfrog Lancashire into third.Liam Livingstone had scored 65 for the visitors after they opted to bat, but the rest of the Lancashire lineup struggled in their innings, including Jos Buttler who was dismissed for a duck.Durham were rocked by a Covid-19 scare before the start of play, but only one change to their line-up was required from their defeat to Nottinghamshire as Sean Dickson replaced Jack Burnham. Lancashire won the toss and enjoyed a fast start as Finn Allen found his range, clipping Matty Potts over the fence before Livingstone followed suit.Related

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Potts had his revenge on Allen, dismissing the New Zealander for 25. Buttler arrived at the crease in the hope of providing fireworks, but he was caught on the fence for a third-ball duck handing Scott Borthwick his first T20 wicket of the season.Durham dragged the visitors back with tight bowling, especially from the spinners as Alex Davies and Dane Vilas fell cheaply. Lancashire found life tough to find the boundary, enduring a 33-ball drought before Livingstone eased the pressure sending Borthwick to the fence twice and over the rope in the 15th over.Livingstone reached his half-century in the process from 46 deliveries, holding the Lancashire innings together. The opener fell going for the boundary to hand Potts his second wicket. Steven Croft became his third victim in the final over before Danny Lamb and Luke Wood scrambled their side to a total of 151 for 6.