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Daryl Mitchell hit a well earned century as bottom-of-the-table Worcestershire attempted to ease the threat of relegation

28-Aug-2012Worcestershire 295 for 8 (Mitchell 129*, Kervezee 55) v Middlesex
ScorecardToby Roland-Jones was the main wicket threat for Middlesex•Middlesex CCC

Daryl Mitchell hit a well earned century as bottom-of-the-table Worcestershire attempted to ease the threat of relegation on the first day of their Division One match against Middlesex at New Road. Worcestershire’s captain made 129 not out to help lift his side to 295 for 8 at stumps.It was Mitchell’s second Championship century of the season and came off a stately 273 balls. He put on 114 in 38 overs for the fourth wicket with Alexei Kervezee, who made 55 on his return to first team action for Worcestershire – who dropped Surrey-bound Vikram Solanki and wicketkeeper Ben Scott for this contest.After being put in, Mitchell’s men made an aggressive start to their innings thanks mainly to Phil Hughes, who darted to 34, including six fours off 28 balls, before being comfortably caught at deep fine leg by Ravi Patel off Toby Roland-Jones.Hughes’ departure signalled the start of a decline in Worcestershire’s run-rate. They reached 50 in the 14th over, which saw Roland-Jones strike again to trap Matt Pardoe leg before wicket. Roland-Jones then accounted for Moeen Ali for a duck to finish his opening spell with impressive figures of 8-3-17-3.Opener Mitchell and Alexei Kervezee, making his first Championship appearance for four months following a loss of form and injury, then steadied the ship to take Worcestershire to 104 for 3 at lunch.Mitchell continued to make healthy progress after the interval and completed his half-century with five fours off 128 balls. Kervezee rode his luck on a couple of occasions before his well crafted partnership with Mitchell topped the three-figure mark.The 22-year-old completed his first 50 in first-team cricket this season before a loose uppish drive against Neil Dexter led to him being easily caught at mid-on by Roland-Jones. Neil Pinner fell to spinner Patel before Mitchell went in at tea on 71 not out.Shortly after the break the hosts picked up the first of two precious bonus points before Joe Leach was yorked by Steven Crook. Young wicketkeeper Ben Cox, making his first Championship appearance for Worcestershire for 16 months, was then removed by Tim Murtagh before Mitchell completed the 12th first-class century of his career in nearly five-and-a-half hours.Roland-Jones took his wicket haul to four by ousting Gareth Andrew but Mitchell ended the day unbeaten and with a further batting point just around the corner.

Collins Obuya, the 29-year-old batsman, has been named Kenya’s new captain in the latest of a series of moves aimed at revitalising Kenyan cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-2011Collins Obuya, the 29-year-old batsman, has been named Kenya’s new captain in the latest of a series of moves aimed at revitalising Kenyan cricket. Jimmy Kamande was removed from the captaincy after Kenya’s woeful performance in the 2011 World Cup, after which a performance review was conducted by Cricket Kenya.They then excluded four of their senior players – Kamande, Peter Ongondo, Thomas Odoyo and former captain Maurice Ouma – from the list of contracted players for the next year. Obuya was one of the few seniors to survive the shake-up and was named captain a day after Kenya announced New Zealander Mike Hesson as their new coach.Obuya was one of the few bright sparks for Kenya during the World Cup, during which they lost all their six group-stage matches. He scored a half-century against Sri Lanka and a 98 not out against Australia, and was Kenya’s leading run-getter in the tournament. Obuya originally hit the headlines for his legspin bowling with which he picked up 13 wickets during Kenya’s run to the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. After struggling with his bowling thereafter, he has turned himself into a top-order batsman who bowls a bit.Hesson and Obuya’s first assignment as the new leaders of the Kenya team will be two limited-overs games and a four-day Intercontinental Cup game against United Arab Emirates. The first 50-over match is on July 25.Kenya Cricket chief-executive Tom Sears said Obuya’s performances at the World Cup were one of the reasons for his being named captain. “Collins is now an extremely experienced and accomplished player who can set the standards on and off the field,” Sears said. “He has demonstrated at the World Cup what can be achieved by Kenyan players on the international stage, and as captain he has a big role to play in taking the national team forward.”Kenya’s new list of contracted players includes several young players and Obuya said he was looking forward to leading them. “We have some very good players and some very talented ones coming through our system,” he said. “It is an exciting time to captain a developing team, and work with our new coach Mike Hesson and chairman of selectors Alpesh Vadher.”

Greg Smith made his highest score for nearly two months to give Derbyshire a
chance of a first Championship victory since late April at Derby

Cricinfo staff23-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Greg Smith made his highest score for nearly two months to give Derbyshire a
chance of a first Championship victory since late April at Derby.Smith made 91 off 163 balls as Derbyshire claimed a first-innings lead of 126
and then reduced Worcestershire to 70 for 3 at the close.Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan took 3 for 94 but Derbyshire’s last
five wickets added 168 to take the home side to 405 before their bowlers left
the visitors facing defeat.The match was in the balance at the start of day three with Derbyshire 96 runs
behind with six wickets intact but the home side slowly gained the initiative
after Worcestershire’s bowlers failed to make an early breakthrough.Smith and Dan Redfern batted through the first 18 overs before Matt Mason
finally struck with the new ball when Redfern was well caught at second slip by
Daryl Mitchell for 19.Redfern had faced 110 balls but he had done a valuable job in frustrating the
bowlers who were then held up by Smith and Robin Peterson as the sixth-wicket
pair put on 71 in 22 overs to take Derbyshire past 300.Smith had not scored a half century in any form of cricket since late May –
against Worcestershire – but he showed his confidence had returned by hammering
four boundaries in an over from the wayward Richard Jones.He looked set for a hundred until he drove Moeen Ali’s off-spin loosely to
short extra cover and Derbyshire were only 45 runs on when Peterson was caught
at short leg to give Shakib his first Worcestershire wicket. But Steffan Jones mixed watchful defence with some punishing blows, including two big sixes over midwicket, to score 40 off 43 balls and Lee Goddard chipped in with 38 to leave Worcestershire with a lot of batting to do.David Wheeldon had batted for more than three hours for 20 in the first innings
and he was again threatening to stand in Derbyshire’s way when Jones broke
through with the last ball of his second over.The experienced pace bowler found the outside edge as Wheeldon prodded forward
and Goddard pouched the chance to end the opener’s one-hour occupation. Worcestershire suffered another blow five overs later when skipper Vikram Solanki got a good ball from Mark Footitt that left him and Chris Rogers dived forward at first slip to hold a fine catch.Derbyshire’s celebrations showed just how important they thought that wicket
was and they were gifted a big scalp off the penultimate ball of the day. Mitchell and Moeen had dug in for 14 overs to reduce the arrears to 56 when Moeen drove loosely at Peterson and sliced a catch to point to leave Derbyshire scenting victory.

Wareham was player of the match and Gardner player of the series as both took important wickets and made crucial runs in the third T20I in Brisbane

Alex Malcolm24-Sep-2024Skillful all-round displays from Georgia Wareham and Ashleigh Gardner helped Australia secure a 3-0 series sweep over New Zealand following a six-wicket win in the final T20I in Brisbane. It was also the visitors’ 10th loss in a row in T20I cricket.Wareham took 2 for 21 with her legspin to help restrict New Zealand to 146 for 6 after Georgia Plimmer’s maiden T20I half-century had put the visitors in a position to post something a bit more imposing.Wareham was then promoted to No.3, in move that could be replicated at the T20 World Cup, and thumped 26 off 16 balls to ease any run-rate pressure in the chase before Ellyse Perry and Gardner compiled a 61-run stand to put Australia on the brink of victory with Perry making 36 and Gardner 33. Two late mistakes from the duo, that cost their wickets respectively, were the only blemishes in an otherwise controlled partnership. Tahlia McGrath and Phoebe Litchfield finished the job but did get some help from Fran Jonas who spilled a sitter off Litchfield.Gardner, like the Player of the Match Wareham, also bowled beautifully to put the brakes on New Zealand, taking 1 for 27 to follow up her 3 for 16 in the second T20I and was named player of the series. New Zealand had reached 118 for 1 in the 17th over after Plimmer reached 50 off 47 balls while Amelia Kerr had also made 40 off 36 in a 73-run stand for the second wicket. But their dismissals, to Wareham and Gardner sparked a collapse. They lost 5 for 28 off the final 22 balls with Annabel Sutherland picking up two in an over. Maddy Green, playing her 100th T20I, made 12 not out off five balls to ensure they at least posted in excess of 140 but it was never enough.Georgia Plimmer launches over midwicket•Getty Images

Plimmer delivers on the promise

The pressure was mounting on Plimmer ahead of the World Cup. Her 23 T20I innings prior to this game had yielded a highest score of 28. She finally broke through with a hard-fought half-century. It wasn’t fluent. She took six balls to get off the mark and was striking at well under a run-a-ball through her first 27 deliveries. She was also dropped twice having offered sharp return catches to Sophie Molineux and Tayla Vlaeminck. But she finally broke free in the 11th over with two crisp strikes off Sutherland, one a powerful blow over midwicket and another over long-on. The longer her innings went, the more balanced she was at the crease and her striking became crisper as a result. She shared a 45-run powerplay with Suzie Bates, which was New Zealand’s best of the series before Bates was bowled trying to sweep Wareham off the first ball of the seventh over. Plimmer then added 73 with Kerr for the second wicket which appeared to lay an excellent platform for a final overs assault. There was palpable relief on her face when she reached her first half-century in international cricket off 47 balls. New Zealand were 118 for 1 with 22 balls left. Kerr was 35 from 33 and although the scoring rate was just over seven an over, there were enough wickets in hand to post a score of 160 with some good late hitting.

Late overs slump shakes the foundation

New Zealand’s hopes of 160 disappeared in the blink of an eye as they lost 5 for 28 from the final 22 balls of the innings. Plimmer fell the very next ball after reaching her half-century. Wareham picking up her second victim in an outstanding spell. Gardner accounted for Kerr in the next over, clattering her stumps as she tried to cut. The bottom then fell out of New Zealand’s order. Sophie Devine and Brooke Halliday both holed out in the penultimate over from Sutherland who was rewarded for some excellent death bowling have earlier been dispatched by Plimmer. There was a moment when New Zealand looked like they might not post 140. But Green proved again she is potentially batting too low in the order, cracking a six and a four off Molineux in the final over to finish with 12 not out off 5 and post 146 for 6.Georgia Wareham was promoted to No.3•Getty Images

Wareham at No.3 offers options

Healy said pre-series that Australia would not experiment ahead of the World Cup. So when Beth Mooney’s lean series continued as she was clean bowled by a brilliant arm ball from Eden Carson for 6, it was a shock to see Wareham walk out at No.3. Wareham had done it once before, in Australia’s most recent series in Bangladesh in April when she made 57 off 30. It proved another masterstroke and looks a genuine option for the World Cup. Wareham struck the ball as powerfully as anyone had in the series and looked very comfortable against pace and spin, scoring at a rate well above everyone else in the game bar those who faced five balls or less. While Healy battled for timing during a tortured 27 from 29, Wareham stood still and smashed four boundaries in 16 balls. She raced to 26 to remove any run-rate pressure from the chase. But she threw away a golden chance at another half-century when he miscued a low full toss off Hannah Rowe to deep midwicket. Her assault allowed Perry and Gardner to settle into a rhythm and the pair played with typical composure to close out the game with a 61-run stand. Perry shook off the rust she showed in the first two games to produce a classy 36 from 29 with five boundaries. She was frustrated not to finish the job when she sliced Jonas to cover. Gardner was scratchy by comparison but still found the rope consistently. She too was frustrated not to finish unbeaten after she failed to execute a paddle scoop attempt and was pinned lbw by Carson, who was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers finishing with 2 for 29.

Surrey left waiting to secure home quarter-final after defeat in high-scoring game

ECB Reporters Network30-Jun-2023Somerset 208 for 5 (Banton 84) beat Surrey 190 for 9 (Jacks 50, Henry 4-30) by 18 runsTom Banton lit up a gloomy night at a sold-out Kia Oval with a brilliant 84 as South Group leaders Somerset beat Surrey by 18 runs to leave their hosts needing to win their final game to join them in the quarter-finals.Banton’s brilliance underpinned Somerset’s 208 for 5 after they had been put in and they then bowled and fielded impressively to defend that total and chalk up their 11th win out of 13. Matt Henry picked up two wickets with the new ball and two more at the end to finish with an excellent 4 for 30 while New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi had 3 for 33 on an impressive debut including the key wickets of Will Jacks, who top-scored for Surrey with 50, and Jamie Smith off successive balls in the ninth over.That left Surrey 85 for 5 and although Sam Curran kept swinging with 47, Surrey finished on 190 for 9. Somerset had already secured a home tie in the last eight but Surrey will need to beat Essex at the Kia Oval on Sunday to give themselves the chance of finishing runners-up.Surrey paid heavily for an unusually sloppy performance in the field. Banton was badly dropped by Jacks at backward point on 39, Jacks having earlier put down a tougher chance when Tom Kohler-Cadmore had made 14. Those drops were to cost Surrey 70 runs.Somerset lost Will Smeed in the fourth over when he failed to clear mid-on off Sean Abbott, but Banton and Kohler-Cadmore ticked along at nearly 12 an over for the next five overs, Kohler-Cadmore producing the shot of the innings when he reverse-swept Sunil Narine over the short boundary on the gasholder side which bounced back off the scoreboard.Jacks held on to a catch to remove Kohler-Cadmore for 39 and Narine picked up Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby in successive overs to give Surrey some control. But when Ben Green, twice, and Banton lofted Tom Lawes over the leg-side boundary in the 15th over Somerset found momentum again. Banton looked to be on course for a hundred but aiming to clear the leg side again he got a leading edge and Sam Curran took a simple catch off his own bowling.Green struck the ball impressively in his 40 from 24 balls although Curran and skipper Chris Jordan did well to only concede 12 runs in the last two overs.Somerset’s most experienced seamers, Craig Overton and Henry, shared the first six overs and Henry removed Laurie Evans, who drove to mid-on, and Narine, caught at mid-off, to give them early control. Jacks and Sam Curran counterattacked, adding 58 in 29 balls before Sodhi made a decisive breakthrough in his first over for the county.Jacks had just reached a 26-ball fifty – his fifth in this season’s Blast – when Kohler-Cadmore plucked a brilliant catch out of the air at long-on and Sodhi pinned Smith lbw with his next ball. If that wasn’t bad enough, Craig Overton returned to the attack in the next over and had the dangerous Abbott caught behind. Surrey had lost three wickets in six balls for the addition of one run and their race looked run.Sam Curran and Jamie Overton took the fight back to Somerset, sharing 51 off 28 balls before Green, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, snared his 27th victim when he bowled Overton at the start of the 15th over. A target of 67 off the last five overs was beyond Surrey but at least a crowd of 25,000 had 19 sixes and nearly 400 runs to enjoy.

In the absence of Moeen Ali, Devon Conway could be used as a floater to target KKR’s mystery spinners

Deivarayan Muthu25-Mar-20222:34

Preview: Chawla wants Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane to open for KKR

Big picture

MS Dhoni Ravindra Jadeja vs Shreyas Iyer. Two new captains will kick off IPL 2022, in a rematch of the IPL 2021 final, at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. The time Dhoni has represented Super Kings strictly as a player was in 2012, in a dead-rubber Champions League T20 game against Yorkshire. A decade later, Super Kings will start preparing for life after Dhoni although a statement from the franchise said he would continue to represent Super Kings as a player this season and “beyond.”Related

• Iyer buys into KKR's 'mindset' and 'intensity'

• Moeen likely to miss CSK's season-opener

• IPL 2022: Ravindra Jadeja to lead CSK after MS Dhoni decides to step down

• Team-wise player availability for IPL 2022

Jadeja’s immediate challenge is plug the holes created by the absence of first-choice players Deepak Chahar (injured) and Moeen Ali (unavailable following visa issues). Iyer, too, will have to contend with the absence of Alex Hales and his replacement Aaron Finch, who is not available for the early part of the tournament. Iyer has vowed to follow Knight Riders’ attack-first approach, which saw them surge into the final in 2021 despite a horror start to that season.

In the news

Moeen has arrived in India and will be available for Super Kings’ second game, against Lucknow Super Giants on March 31, after undergoing quarantine for three days. In the absence of Moeen, New Zealand batter Devon Conway is likely to make his IPL debut. Head coach Stephen Fleming had previously worked with Conway when he was part of New Zealand’s preparatory camp for the 2021 T20 World Cup.Tim Southee, who got married earlier this week and joined the IPL bubble late, will miss Saturday’s game. In his absence, Knight Riders could pick Sri Lanka’s Chamika Karunaratne or an extra Indian seamer.Ruturaj Gaikwad and Varun Chakravarthy could play key roles for their respective teams•BCCI

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Devon Conway, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Ravindra Jadeja (capt), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Rajvardhan Hangargekar, 10 Chris Jordan/Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Adam MilneKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Venkatesh Iyer, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Sam Billings (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Shivam Mavi 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Umesh Yadav/Rasikh Salam DarDevon Conway could make his IPL debut in the absence of Moeen Ali•Getty Images

Strategy punt

There is a case for Super Kings to use Conway as a floater in the middle order to counter Knight Riders’ mystery spinners, who have strong records against most of the Super Kings batters. In the T20 World Cup game against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, Conway threw both Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, who is now part of KKR, off their lines and lengths with a variety of sweeps, including the reverse-hit. In all T20 cricket, Conway averages 61.63 and strikes at 134.65 against spin. Against pace, the average drops to 37.40 and strike rate to 126.15.

Stats that matter

• KKR have the lowest win percentage among current IPL teams at the Wankhede: 9%. They have won just one out of 11 IPL games at this venue.
• Varun Chakravarthy has dismissed Dhoni three times in three meetings in the IPL. As for Sunil Narine, he has kept Dhoni to 44 off 83 balls in T20 cricket while dismissing him twice.
• No player has hit as many sixes against a single bowler as Russell against Bravo in T20s – 23.
• Ambati Rayudu has 885 runs in 48 IPL innings at the Wankhede. Only Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma have more runs than Rayudu at this venue, but both batters have had the benefit of more hits with the bat.

“I just see it as a different part of the evolution of the game,” the allrounder said after his 100-metre shot

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2020Glenn Maxwell believes it is up to bowlers to evolve in an attempt to combat the ever-more outlandish strokeplay that is on display in limited-overs cricket after he produced a 100-metre switch hit in Canberra.Former Australia captain Ian Chappell reignited the debate over whether the shot is ‘fair’ – where a right-handed batsman effectively becomes a left hander and vice-versa when, for example, a bowler must tell the umpire if they are coming from over or round the wicket – after the opening two matches of the series against India, before Maxwell produced his latest display of outrageous skill at Manuka Oval.”[Switch-hitting] is very skillful, some of it’s amazingly skillful – but it’s not fair,” Chappell told . “How can one side of the game, ie. the bowlers, they have to tell the umpire how they’re going to bowl. And yet the batsman, he lines up as a right-hander – I’m the fielding captain, I place the field for the right-hander – and before the ball’s been delivered, the batsman becomes a left-hander.”One of the main reasons why he’s becoming a left-hander is so he can take advantage of those field placings. I’d love the administrators who made those laws, I’d love them to explain to me how that’s fair.”Maxwell launched Kuldeep Yadav over point and such was the swiftness of his hand switch that it takes a couple of replays to even notice he did it.”It’s within the Laws, batting has evolved in such a way that it’s just got better and better over the years which is why we see these massive scores getting chased down,” he said. “Suppose it’s up to the bowlers to try and combat that. The skills of bowlers are being tested every day with bowlers having to come up with different change-ups, ways to stop batters and the way they shut down one side of the ground.”The way batting is evolving, I think bowling has to try and evolve at the same stage. We see guys coming up with knuckle balls and wide-yorker fields, the tactics of one-day cricket have definitely evolved over the last little bit as well. I just see it as a different part of the evolution of the game.”Glenn Maxwell switch-hits Kuldeep Yadav for six•Getty Images

However, Maxwell wasn’t taking all the credit for how far the stroke went. “It probably helped that it was with a pretty decent wind, I wasn’t too worried about the boundary rider and just thought if I got it up in the air it was going to travel,” he said.His 59 off 38 balls kept Australia in the chase of 303 after they had slipped to 5 for 158 but when he was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah the task was too great for the lower order. Maxwell, who said he should have finished the game, took the blame for the run out of Alex Carey as the pair were building a solid partnership.”I thought the changing point was probably the run out with Carey which was probably 100% my fault and unfortunately when you leave yourself six down it makes it a little bit tougher because you know one mistake and it can all turn around pretty quickly. That was a key moment of the game which I probably stuffed up, but saying that I feel I should probably have iced that game from there. But they are allowed to bowl well and Bumrah is a class finisher.”

Gil Langley, the Australian Test wicketkeeper who also represented his state at football before becoming Speaker of the House in state parliament, died on Monday night in an Adelaide nursing home at the age of 81 following a long illness

Rick Eyre14-Sep-2019Gil Langley, the Australian Test wicketkeeper who also represented his state at football before becoming Speaker of the House in state parliament, died on Monday night in an Adelaide nursing home at the age of 81 following a long illness.Langley played 26 Tests for Australia from 1951-52 to 1956, in which he held 83 catches and made 15 stumpings. He made his first-class debut for South Australia as a specialist batsman in 1945-46, immediately after the conclusion of the Second World War. He donned the gloves during the 1947-48 Sheffield Shield season, and by 1949-50 was chosen as deputy wicketkeeper to Ron Saggers for the Australian tour of South Africa.Both Saggers and Langley remained in the shadow of the great Queenslander Don Tallon whenever he was available for Australia, but following the retirement of his two peers, Langley received his first call-up to the Test side in the 1951-52 series against the West Indies. On his debut, at the Gabba, Brisbane, he took three catches and four stumpings in Australia’s three-wicket victory, going on to claim 21 victims for the series.He remained Australia’s first choice wicketkeeper until 1956, playing his last Test match against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In addition to his 98 dismissals, and scored 374 runs in Tests at 14.96 with a top score of 53.Despite being part of a well-beaten Australian side in England in 1956, and missing two Tests because of injury, he was recognised by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack as one of its five cricketers of the year in its 1957 edition. In the Lord’s Test of 1956 he completed nine dismissals – at the time a world Test record – in Australia’s only win of the series.In all first-class cricket he made 122 appearances, taking 292 catches and 77 stumpings. He scored 3236 runs at an average of 25.68 and a top score of 160 not out. The last of his four centuries was achieved in his final game for South Australia, against New South Wales at Adelaide Oval in December 1956. Given three cheers by his opponents as he came to the crease in the second innings, Langley made exactly 100, scoring a boundary after 6pm on the final day before being stumped next ball off the bowling of Richie Benaud.Langley was also a successful Australian Rules footballer, who played for the Sturt club in the SANFL (South Australian National Football League) and went on to captain South Australia in interstate football competition. While transferred to Melbourne in the munitions department during the Second World War, he played for Essendon in the Victorian Football League, making four first team appearances and sitting on the reserve bench in the losing grand final side of 1943.Langley achieved a rare double, equalled only by Victor Richardson, of captaining Sturt in both cricket and football.A popular identity in Adelaide, Langley later entered politics and became the Member for Unley in the state House of Assembly, representing the Australian Labor Party. During his 20 year parliamentary career he became Speaker of the House.Gilbert Roche Andrews Langley was born on September 14, 1919 in North Adelaide. He is survived by four children. His nephew, Jeff Langley, played cricket for South Australia and Queensland between 1969-70 and 1979-80.

Australia coach wants his team to play hard, play fair, but not give an inch during their ODI tour of England

Andrew Miller at Lord's06-Jun-2018″Sledging is fun!” says Australia’s new coach!Okay, so Justin Langer was referring specifically to the “banter” (note: definitely NOT abuse …) that flies across the table when he and his daughters are playing the card game UNO. However, there was a steely message lurking within an otherwise amusing metaphor, as he and Tim Paine, Australia’s captain, faced the media at Lord’s in their first official engagement of this month’s tour of England.”Everyone talks about this word ‘sledging’, but there’s a difference between banter and abuse,” Langer said. “Abuse is no good – it doesn’t matter if you’re off the field or on the field, there’s no room for it ever. But there’s plenty of room for banter, or what we call sledging. It’s a fun part of the game!”If I’m playing with my daughter, she wants to beat me big time, so we have a bit of banter, or what we call sledging. She’s pretty good at it, all Australians are good at it, we take it so seriously, but that’s okay. I never abuse her, and if she abuses me … there’s trouble you know!”It was all said with a smile on the face, as Langer laid on a charm offensive to diffuse the tension that might have been anticipated – especially in what must surely have been the smallest room laid on for a press conference at Lord’s since Michael Atherton faced the music after his own ball-tampering scandal in 1994.But, after all of the talk of “headbutting the line” when England and Australia last met during the winter (as well as the widely held view that a line was crossed where Jonny Bairstow in particular was concerned), here was Langer’s attempt to draw a new line under the issue for Australia’s post-apocalyptic world.His squad, after all, have arrived in England without their best two batsman – Steve Smith and David Warner, banned in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal – and with none of their big three bowlers either; Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are all missing through injury.Therefore, to take the field at The Oval next week, against the No. 1 ODI team in the world, without recourse to the tongues in their heads would have been an indignity too far, especially for a team that has always prided itself on “playing hard and playing fair”, and which is desperate to earn back that reputation after a season defined by some grievous misdeeds.”We certainly we won’t be silent out in the field,” Paine said. “We are going to be speaking, we’re going to be trying to put pressure on opposition teams and players like we normally do, but there’s got to be a respectful element to it.”We know what’s right and what’s wrong, so it’s pretty simple,” he added. “But I’m sure you’re going to hear us talking through the stump mic and see us talking on the ground. It’s up to me and Justin, and our senior players, to make sure that we start on the side of banter and never go to abuse. While I’m captain and Justin is coach, that is not going to be accepted.”Justin Langer and Tim Paine face the media at Lord’s•Getty Images

A further Australian grandee will be on hand to help guide a young and inexperienced squad through the rigours of an England tour, with the news that Ricky Ponting, Langer’s former captain, has been recruited to the team’s support group. Ponting was already due to be in England on commentary duties for the series, but given the huge scrutiny on the tour, not to mention its significance to Australia’s defence of their World Cup title in England next summer, Langer felt that his “experiences, tactical expertise and leadership” would be invaluable.Ponting certainly knows a thing or two about dealing with hostile crowds, having become something of a pantomime villain on his two tours as Australia captain in 2005 and 2009. And Paine was under no illusions about the flak that was about to fly the way of his players.”We’ve spoken about this,” he said. “We think it’s going to be pretty full-on, we expect that when we come to England. All the time we cop a little bit of a ribbing and, this time, we come with a bit more reason for them to do it. But it’s one of the challenges of international cricket, and sides get it when they come to Australia, so it’s part and parcel of the game.”And yet, for all the focus on the merits, or otherwise, of sledging, it was another and far more damning word – “cheating” – that caused Australia’s behaviour to hit the headlines in South Africa. And with that in mind, Paine admitted that his team had arrived in England with a reputation to restore.”There’s no doubt our reputation as a cricketing nation took a bit of a battering from South Africa,” Paine said. “It was difficult for the players to come to terms with what happened and what we’d done, but certainly coming to England and having a few new faces, a new coach, and getting back into cricket is a great opportunity to move on and show the world that we have made changes.”But Langer, a hard-nosed veteran from Australia’s old school of world-beaters, was unapologetic about what was about to come to pass. And once again, though he spoke with a smile on his face, his subtext was unmissable.”Even if we are so nice, everyone is still going to think we are still a bunch of rough-edged Australians,” he said. “That’s just how it’s going to be, mate. So whatever, we can go about our business really well, behave well on the field and off the field, but we’ll still be called sledging Australians. It’s been happening the last 30 years. We’ll work with that.”We have written down our values and our expectations, and that’s really important,” he added. “But the truth is, and I’ve said this for 25 years, we can put all the fanciest mission statements and values together, and put the fanciest posters up on the wall, but if you don’t live them, they are like toilet paper. The words are irrelevant. It’s how we live them all the time that is going to be important.”

The injured fast bowler has said India’s attempts to sledge Australia were a ‘defensive mechanism’ in response to the fear that they might lose the series

Daniel Brettig22-Mar-20170:25

Steven Smith upbeat after Ranchi draw

Australia’s injured spearhead Mitchell Starc has said India’s verbal confrontations with the tourists were the result of fear over losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after their unexpected defeat in the opening Test of the series in Pune.Starc, who flew home with a foot stress fracture after the second Test in Bengaluru but hopes to be fit in time for the ICC Champions Trophy later in June, stated that a young Australian side had not gone to India looking for fights but found themselves in several stoushes after the dramatic result in Pune.”It’s probably come a lot more from their side than ours,” Starc told . “There’s been a lot made of it before the series, there was so much hype before the series, and I think we’ve gone about the cricket as we have done for a long time now. As a young group, we’re probably still finding our way. We’re still learning about each other’s games and how we’re going as a team probably since the Hobart Test match [last year].”It’s probably showed in how the guys have been playing their cricket, especially the way they batted [in Ranchi]. A couple of young guys performed outstandingly well, [like] Peter Handscomb. It shows who we are as a group and things have come hard, and it’s almost a defensive mechanism for them that we won the first Test match, we’re here for the challenge.”They were scared of us, beating them in India the way they’ve been playing as well. So it was almost a defensive mechanism for them and obviously they come out in the second Test match, performed really well and got back into it.”‘I think we can win. I think we’ve showed throughout the series that we’re definitely up for the challenge’ – Mitchell Starc•Associated Press

Australia’s attitude on the tour has been one of learning and humility, as demonstrated by the way Handscomb and Shaun Marsh played out the final afternoon of the Ranchi Test to secure a draw under concerted Indian pressure. Starc pointed to the eagerness of 20-year old Matt Renshaw to learn about the game – so much that he has tried the patience of some team-mates – as an example.”The more time he spends out in the middle the less time we have to listen to him,” Starc said, laughing. “He’s different but he’s a lovely kid. Loves his cricket, just loves batting – so I think that’s obviously shown in how he’s gone about his cricket in India.”His first trip there, he’s learning – he’s probably not eating the right things, being sick all the time – but he’s performing quite well. He says some strange things, he comes up with some strange theories. He talks a load about [Don] Bradman and whether he scored those runs. He keeps talking about bats these days. He talks like he’s 35.”Starc said his foot fracture was not as serious as the one that kept him out of much of the 2015-16 season. “The foot is okay. It’s not snapped in half like the one 18 months go,” he said. “It’s the same foot, so I did the third metatarsal the last time, this is the fourth. Nice fracture. It’s not displaced though.”I don’t need a boot fortunately. I’m still in the gym getting myself ready for when I do come back whenever that might be. I see the specialist on Thursday and hopefully get a clearer picture then. But the Champions Trophy is clearly not out of the picture.”Looking ahead to the final Test in Dharamsala, Starc said the Australians had demonstrated their ability to defend and attack at the right times. “I think we can win. I think we’ve showed throughout the series that we’re definitely up for the challenge,” he said. “We’re in the fight – we have been for three Test matches. We can knuckle down when we need to but we can attack when we want to and we can.”