A disciplined bowling effort followed by a middle-overs run surge helped Melbourne Renegades upset Perth Scorchers at the Marvel Stadium

The Report by Sam Perry20-Dec-2018 103 all out (Klinger 28, Christian 3-22) by four wickets A disciplined bowling effort followed by a middle-overs run surge helped Melbourne Renegades upset Perth Scorchers in a low-scoring affair at the Marvel Stadium.After winning the flip and electing to bowl, the home side exploited the difficult wicket better than their opponents, who were bowled out for 103 thanks to Usman Shinwari, Daniel Christian and Kane Richardson’s bowling.While Renegades’ chase began nervously – at one point slumping to 4 for 17 – both Sam Harper and Mohammad Nabi profited from uncharacteristically loose bowling from the visitors, who are otherwise known for their tight defensive prowess. They put Renegades within reach, before Christian and Will Sutherland saw them home. Swing King ShinwariOn his BBL debut, the Pakistan international shone with the new ball, setting up Renegades’ bowling with four dominant overs that will be remembered throughout the competition. Shinwari’s first twelve deliveries kept the Scorchers largely quiet and allowed his team-mates to benefit from the pressure.He exploited the wicket’s underlying moisture through consistent length bowling, and he made the most of his whippy action that effects an acute swing away from the right-hander. He claimed 2 for 17 from his four overs, and looked a threat whenever he had the ball in hand.Scorchers splutter on tricky wicketThe fifth ball of the match told a key story. Michael Klinger, the only Scorchers batsman who made a significant contribution, came forward to a ball that zipped away from his bat. The camera quickly caught the Scorchers stalwart cocking his head, offering a wry grimace in response to a wicket that offered minimal pace and maximum seam, in T20 terms.From there, it was a procession of dot ball aggregation, followed by big shots that paid a big price. The wicket appeared very tacky, and Klinger aside, nobody seemed willing to make runs. Cameron Boyce was particularly difficult to get away, bowling with great control and giving away just 13 runs in his allotted four.Mohammad Nabi slugs one down the ground•Getty Images

Scorchers’ early surge A characteristically potent start saw Scorchers surge immediately back into the contest. First, Tim Ludeman feathered a soft glide through to Whiteman from Behrendorff’s bowling, before Wildermuth chopped on from Coulter-Nile in the second over. Even at 2 for 7, it looked salvageable enough for the hosts, before disaster struck again. Both bowlers were making the ball talk, but it was the former producing the most serious hoop. Behrendorff enticed Cameron White into an expansive cover drive, before the ball zeroed back very late to pin him in front.Coulter-Nile responded with a wicket of his own the following over. Tom Cooper, who to that point had looked relatively assured at the crease, first hooked Coulter-Nile for four, momentarily allowing Renegades fans to breathe. It was short-lived, however, as the stand-in skipper then spooned an easy catch to point. That made it 4 for 17, and 103 was starting to look uncomfortably distant for the home side.Harper and Nabi take the game awayAfter nearly 24 consecutive overs of disciplined, successful length bowling from both sides, Scorchers were the first to deviate from the plan. After new batsmen Sam Harper and Mohammad Nabi dealt blows to Andrew Tye’s opening over, they fully exploited the loose offerings of both David Willey and Usman Qadir. It was Willey who first suffered, presenting rare width to Nabi, who cut via third man for four. Two balls later the Afghanistan all-rounder was back smashing him over deep cover for six.It represented a turning of the tide, and it was amplified after Usman Qadir’s first over, which was one to forget. He dished up a number of drag-downs which were dispatched with ease, first conceding three, then four, then six, among assorted singles. After such a strong start, it meant Scorchers had leaked 38 runs in the next three overs, undoing their advantage.From there, Renegades cruised, eventually reaching the total in the 16th over with 28 balls to spare. Harper and Nabi’s partnership broke the arm-wrestle, before Christian and Sutherland guided the Renegades to a win.

The allrounder made 21 and 11 after returning to the Sheffield Shield and appears unlikely to play the second Test against India

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2018Mitchell Marsh missed an opportunity to make a forceful statement to Australia’s selectors after being left out of the first Test against India and doesn’t know the impact his omission will have on his role as joint vice-captain.Marsh was named as vice-captain of the Test side alongside Josh Hazlewood earlier this year, but neither have played in the same team yet after Hazlewood missed the Tests in the UAE and now Marsh’s axing for Adelaide. It is an unusual situation for a team to have a designated vice-captain on the sidelines other than through injury.”I don’t know where I stand in that sense,” he said. “Lucky we’ve got two vice-captains.”Marsh was dropped when Australia favoured Peter Handscomb as a specialist batsman in the middle order and the allrounder was sent back to the Sheffield Shield with instructions to score runs.ALSO READ: A genuine fight, but more pain for Australia
He returned 21 and 11 for Western Australia against Victoria at the MCG – and claimed 1 for 102 – in a performance that did not hammer the door down for an immediate recall.”I was obviously very disappointed to miss out in the first Test but I understood the reasons why,” Marsh told reporters in Melbourne. “Ultimately, you’ve got two ways to go about it – you can either sulk and go into your shell or you can put a smile on your face and enjoy the hard work, enjoy the challenge of getting back into that Test side.”Despite struggles in the UAE against Pakistan, where he made 30 runs in four innings which continued a lean Test run dating back to South Africa, Marsh returned to domestic action with 151 against Queensland last month but then followed that with scores of 1, 44, 6 and 30 in the next two matches before the Test squad assembled.”I still felt like I was in really good form and feeling very confident heading into last week. But ultimately I still had two chances before the Test match to put a big score on the board and I didn’t do that. The message was clear – I needed more runs.”It appears unlikely Marsh will get his chance in his home state of Perth despite continued discussion about the workload Australia’s three quicks face without the presence of an allrounder.Mitchell Starc, who sent down 40.5 overs, was disappointing in Adelaide but has been backed by captain Paine while Hazlewood clocked up 43 overs and Pat Cummins 37.”I was certainly pumped about [playing in Perth] and I still am,” Marsh said. “I’m in the squad so I’d say I’m a chance … ultimately it’ll come down to conditions and how the bowlers pull up.”

The dual roles of Mickey Arthur and Azhar Mahmood with the national team and Karachi Kings could come under review at the board’s next governing council meeting

Umar Farooq07-Feb-2019The PCB’s board of governors (BoG) has formally taken up the issue of dual roles causing potential conflicts of interest ahead of the Pakistan Super League. The BoG has agreed to chalk out a policy on engagement of PCB employees with PSL franchises.In the 52th governing council meeting today, the issue came up for discussion officially, with a focus on national-team coaches who also work with PSL teams. The PCB has confirmed the development, but with the league starting in a week’s time, a final decision on the issue will have to wait until the next board meeting, with all appointments to be reviewed after PSL season ends on March 17.Ever since Ehsan Mani took over as PCB chairman in September 2018, high-profile names such as Mickey Arthur have come under the spotlight, with other high-profile names having to give up roles in the PSL.Last year, the PCB removed chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq from the PSL player draft committee because of a potential conflict of interest since he was involved with a talent-hunt programme run by one of the tournament’s franchises, Lahore Qalandars. Tauseef Ahmed, who is part of the national selection committee while also being Islamabad United’s spin coach, was also left out of the PSL draft committee and later axed by the franchise.ALSO READ – Mickey Arthur’s dual roles with Pakistan and Karachi Kings back in the spotlightPakistan head coach Arthur is also part of the Karachi Kings coaching staff, which has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.In 2016, Arthur was already Karachi Kings’ head coach when he took over the Pakistan role shortly after Waqar Younis’ resignation. Arthur, with then PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, had negotiated a contract to allow him to fill both roles, foregoing his monthly PCB retainer during the duration of the PSL. When he renewed his contract as Pakistan coach until the 2019 World Cup, this agreement remained intact. Arthur has coached Karachi Kings in all three seasons of the PSL so far, and is set to do so again in the 2019 edition. Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood had been part of the franchise as well but that is no longer the case.PSL franchises haven’t raised the issue openly, but have hinted at concerns about having Arthur in both set-ups. “If you talk about me as a head coach, its challenging for a coach and selector within one set-up,” Aaqib Javed, the Lahore Qalandars head coach, told ESPNcricifo after the first season. “There is a reason why it’s been avoided and seen as awkward. I have great regard for Mickey but this should be avoided.”ESPNcricinfo understands that Arthur has no vote in picking Pakistan’s squads, though the selectors take his inputs on board, but he does have a vote in selecting the final playing XI. “I see absolutely no conflict at all and in fact see it as a massive benefit because it allows me to see all the best young talent available,” Arthur said in 2016. “I certainly am professional enough not to in any way be biased in selections or opinions on any player because at he end of the day I am here to assist Pakistan cricket and make Pakistan cricket the best and I am not going to jeopardise that in any way.”

The CA central contracts for 2019-2020 and the Australia A sides to tour England will also be named on Monday

Alex Malcolm12-Apr-20191:22

Shaun Marsh in for Handscomb? How many quicks in total?

How many announcements are expected next week?It is expected that Cricket Australia will make a raft of announcements on Monday, April 15 including naming the contract list for 2019-20, the 2019 World Cup 15-man squad, as well as the Australia A limited-overs and four-day squads that will tour England in June and July.That’s a lot of players…There will be 15 players in the World Cup squad as well as possibly another 15 or so in the Australia A white-ball squad in England in late June for five 50-over games. The Australia A red-ball squad will assemble in early July just after the conclusion of the World Cup and will feature a number of players from both white-ball squads plus some additional long-form specialists and perhaps some young players with an eye towards the future. There is an Australia versus Australia A four-day game in Southampton on July 23 that will require a minimum of 24 players. The Ashes squad is slated to be formally announced after the conclusion of that game, just five days out from the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston on August 1.Why so late for the Ashes squad?The selectors want the opportunity to pick players after seeing the performances on the Australia A tour and potentially county cricket. For the two previous Ashes tours the squad was selected and named more than two months out from the tour. A wider squad will be picked on Monday well in advance of the first Test in August but it gives the selectors the flexibility to add players depending on form and fitness.ALSO READ: Aussies overseas: Warner and Smith find form, Renshaw misses outRemind me where we are with the World Cup squadThe selection panel of Trevor Hohns, Greg Chappell and Justin Langer met in Perth on Tuesday to finalise the squad for the World Cup as well as discuss the Australia A squads. The World Cup squad will almost certainly be picked from the squad that toured India and the UAE for 10 ODIs in February and March as well as previously suspended duo Steven Smith and David Warner, and injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. It is unlikely than any player outside of the 15 who toured India and UAE plus those four will come into the World Cup mix.Usman Khawaja celebrates his maiden ODI century•Getty Images

So what’s the toughest decision for the selectors?There are two areas of contention. The batting is the toughest issue to solve. The inclusion of Warner and Smith means there are surplus to requirements in the top four. Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh on recent performance have every right to remain in the side but Warner and Smith are proven world-class players and World Cup winners. What it will mean is Ashton Turner misses out but they will lose a freakish power-hitting finisher at the expense of having six batsmen who are all top-four specialists, none of whom possess Turner’s late-over hitting ability.The bowling is less complicated despite the number of quality options. Starc, if fit, will likely replace Jason Behrendorff as a like for like. Jhye Richardson’s fitness may be an issue depending on his recovery from a dislocated shoulder. The other debate surrounds Hazlewood’s inclusion. He could well be left out in order to preserve his body for the Ashes. The wicket-keeping spot is unlikely to be up for debate. Alex Carey looks set to be the No.1 with Peter Handscomb only to be used in the case of injury.Who had central contracts in 2018-19?The initial list, not including players who qualified for upgrades during the year was: Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Tim Paine, Matthew Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis and Andrew Tye.Who might miss out this time?Smith and Warner are almost certain to be contracted after missing out last year due to suspension although the interest will be at what level. Renshaw did not represent Australia in a single international in the contract period so he is unlikely to keep his contract. Mitchell Marsh was named the Test vice-captain last year but lost his place in all three forms. Agar, Tye and Stanlake were out of favour by the end of the summer, although Agar missed a lot of cricket through injury and Tye was called up to the India ODI tour as cover for Kane Richardson. But Zampa has become an automatic selection in Australia’s limited-overs teams and would almost certainly be added while Peter Siddle and James Pattinson could become integral parts of Australia’s England plans, and Pattinson is a tantalising prospect long-term given he is seemingly back to full fitness.The other issue is whether the Test specialists will be rewarded given there were fewer Tests in this contract period than previously. Marcus Harris played all six Tests over the summer and appears a certainty for the Ashes squad at the very least. Joe Burns and Kurtis Patterson made Test hundreds in their last Test appearance against Sri Lanka while Marnus Labuschagne also played in five of Australia’s eight Tests over the last contract period.

Stand-in keeper showed skills that England has sometimes lacked, but knows his chances will be limited

George Dobell03-May-2019Ben Foakes admitted he has little chance of breaking into England’s limited-overs team despite leading them to victory on debut in Dublin.Foakes made an unbeaten 61 – the only half-century of the match – to help England secure a win that looked unlikely when they subsided to 66 for 5 within 15 overs of their reply. Keeping wonderfully calm despite the apparently hopeless position, Foakes added 98 in 15 overs with Tom Curran for the seventh wicket to see his side home. It meant that he followed the Man-of-the-Match award he won on Test debut with another such award in his first ODI. He is set to make his T20I debut on Sunday in Cardiff.But, as he has seen from his Test career, that is no guarantee of longevity. And despite finishing his maiden Test series in Sri Lanka as England’s Man of the Series, Foakes was dropped after two more games in the Caribbean as England struggled to balance their side. With Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, who have both been rested following their IPL stints, to come back into the side in the coming days, he knows there is a chance he may never play again.”Can I break into the team? Probably not,” Foakes said. “Jos is probably the best keeper-batsman in the world and Jonny is probably second, if not first. It’s ridiculous.”So just to get the game has been great. It’s something I didn’t expect. I didn’t really think I’d make my debut.”While Foakes is probably right in the short term – there were seven first-choice England players missing from this side, after all, and he was only called up when one of their replacements, Sam Billings, suffered an injury – he did show the skills that this England side has sometimes lacked in recent times.Adapting to the slow surface, he was content to rotate the strike and pick up singles for an unusually long time in modern ODI cricket – his first boundary, a pulled six off Boyd Rankin, came from the 57th delivery he faced – and he showed an unflustered temperament that was a little reminiscent of MS Dhoni. There have been a few times in the recent past that England could have benefited from such composure.”It was one of those rebuilding jobs and I guess that suited my game a little bit,” Foakes said. “I just had to get my head down and fight it out. It was a bit of a grind.”Whenever you lose that many wickets early, you’ve got a job to do to stick in there and not get out. There were a few nerves, but there was never a stage where the run rate was getting out of hand. The guys like Tim Murtagh and the slower bowlers were tough work on that sort of wicket, so the job was to see them off, try not to get out, and when a bit of pace came on, get a bit more value for your shots.”At one stage with Foakes at the crease, England scored just nine runs in six overs with Murtagh and George Dockrell – their bowling speeds around 14 mph apart – bowling their allocation of nine overs each for a combined total of just 56 runs. But with both bowled out with eight overs remaining and Ireland obliged to rely on two debutants in Mark Adair and the impressive Josh Little, Foakes always had confidence in himself and his lower-order colleagues to get the job done. Adil Rashid (10 first-class centuries), Liam Plunkett (three) and Jofra Archer were all still to bat.”Plunkett was coming in No.11 today, so I knew we batted deep,” Foakes said. “In that sort of situation you know what the job is, you don’t go too far out of your comfort zone. It’s just about soaking up the pressure.”Foakes also completed a stumping to dismiss the dangerous Andy Balbirnie. While most of the talk around the dismissal concerned the amount of time Foakes waited for Balbirnie to raise his back leg – Ireland captain William Porterfield subsequently claimed “the ball was pretty much dead” – what was perhaps more significant was the smooth way Foakes collected the leg-side wide.ALSO READ: Archer shows glimpses on debut but rivals raise their game“It was quite wide down leg,” Foakes said, “but I got it back to the stumps. When it’s a sweep you think they might fall over and I just saw he lifted his foot and nicked them off.”While Porterfield admitted the match felt “like the one that got away”, he said he was “proud” of his team and accepted that, in retrospect, he should have called for a review when Foakes was adjudged not out to a leg-before appeal when he had scored 37. Hawk-Eye replays subsequently showed that, had Ireland called for the review, Foakes would have been out.”We should have reviewed it,” he said. “But there were only about 10 overs left and you don’t know if you’re going to get another chance? It probably looked as high as any of them but it was red. If I could go back an hour I’d be reviewing it.”Meanwhile, another debutant, Dawid Malan, sustained a groin injury while batting and will be unavailable* for Sunday’s T20I in Cardiff. Sussex’s Phil Salt has been called up in his place as cover.*May 4, 1000 BST – This story was updated with confirmation of Malan’s replacement

England director confirms that management had been bound by confidentiality until story was made public

George Dobell02-May-2019Ashley Giles has accepted that Alex Hales would still be in England’s World Cup squad if news of his drugs test failures had not been revealed by the media.But Giles, the England men’s team director, has also insisted that Hales has not been “deselected” as a direct result of that indiscretion. Instead, according to Giles, Hales was axed from England’s World Cup plans because of “a string of poor behaviour over time” and “the effect the [latest] news had on the players, the management and the captain”.Giles also confirmed that, while he was aware of Hales’ second drug test failure before the selection of England’s provisional 15-man World Cup squad – only Giles, Tom Harrison (the ECB’s CEO) and Nick Peirce (the ECB’s chief medical officer) were informed among ECB officials – he had not passed on the information to the selectors as he was “bound by a duty of confidentiality”.ALSO READ: ‘Breakdown in trust’ between Hales and team – Morgan“When the teams were selected, the selectors and the captain were unaware of any issue surrounding Alex,” Giles said. “The advice we got from our legal guys was categorically we had a duty of confidentiality which we stuck to. We couldn’t tell them, simple as that.”But once the story broke on Friday, the effect of it on the England environment – on the players, management and captain – was really strong. We’re building towards our biggest summer of cricket in 40-50 years and our responsibility is to making sure we’re in the best possible shape going into the World Cup. This became too big a distraction for our environment to have.”Speaking candidly on Thursday afternoon, England’s captain Eoin Morgan confirmed that he and the team’s senior players – Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes – had reached the conclusion that Hales’ place in their plans was untenable, due to a “lack of respect for [the team] values, and … a complete breakdown of trust”. Giles subsequently confirmed that he had been asked to take action.”Being at England’s camp in Wales and seeing the effect of that news, it was clear it wasn’t going to work,” he said. “There’s an element of trust in that environment and if that trust is not within the group, that’s a problem. I think that’s what occurred here. It could be seen that a string of poor behaviour over time has led us to this point.”There was consultation. The captain consulted with his senior players and I talked to the captain and the coach. I’m not a selector, but the selectors were unanimous in this decision, fully supported by myself and Tom Harrison that this was the right way to go.”While Giles was adamant the door had not been permanently closed on Hales’ England aspirations, he did confirm the player “had some making up to do”.”Alex has been an important part of this team’s journey over a period,” he said. “The door isn’t closed, whatever people think.”What we want to see is some really good behaviour over time and some good cricket, of course. We’re there to support him. I understand he’s going back to play for Notts but it’s important we have support from all corners, whether it be the PCA, the ECB or Notts. The player’s welfare is still fundamental. But there’s some making up to do, I’m sure.”Ashley Giles discusses selection matters with England’s Test captain, coach and selector•Getty Images

Giles seemed particularly underwhelmed by the statement from Hales’ management team which suggested that previous assurances from Giles that Hales’ World Cup place would not be affected were “rendered meaningless” by the subsequent decision to ‘deselect’ him.”I didn’t think that statement was particularly good, but he’s clearly disappointed and we get that,” Giles said. “We – Tom Harrison and I – kept our part of the bargain and maintained our integrity throughout this. Someone else clearly didn’t. That’s the problem.”We said no off-the-field incident could have a bearing on World Cup selection. We stand by that. Any process, whether it be discipline or otherwise, you can’t have double jeopardy.”At the same time, Tom and I can’t make guarantees on selection because we’re not selectors. That’s not handing over responsibility, but we assured him in this case that, for this off-the-field incident, it could not have a bearing on World Cup selection.”But once the story broke, the effect was really strong. It was too big a distraction for our environment to have. So yes, of course, had the story not been made public, the environment would not have been affected and he could have stayed in the side.”Giles also confirmed that England’s policies on the issue of recreational drugs may need to change. While he accepted the current guidelines had been put in place to avoid a recurrence of the Tom Maynard tragedy in 2012 – many felt Maynard may not have attempted a desperate escape from the police if he was less fearful of the repercussions to his career of a potential drugs test failure – he conceded they required reviewing in light of the Hales case.”The worst thing we could do is bury our heads in the sand and go, let’s hope this doesn’t happen again,” Giles said. “If policies need reviewing, that’s what we have to do to make sure next time things work much smoother.”Let’s remember why it was put in place. That policy was put in place after the Tom Maynard situation, a terrible situation, where if we had something like this in place, maybe that could have been avoided. But whether it operates right or not, that’s what needs review.”

Australia’s warm-up in England brought three victories, but now Justin Langer has to finally nail down his starting XI for the opening game of the World Cup

Andrew McGlashan28-May-2019Khawaja v MarshBarring injury, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh cannot fit in the same XI now that David Warner and Steven Smith are back, so one will be carrying the drinks. Each have strong cases to make the cut, although if the most recent success carries weight then that favours Khawaja, who has scored 769 runs in 13 ODIs this year (more than any other player). He was shuffled around in the warm-up matches – batting in an unaccustomed No. 5 against West Indies then opening against Sri Lanka and making 89 – and has shaken off two injury scares (a blow on the head and the knee) during the preparation. The other debate with Khawaja, if he plays, is where he bats – either opening where he has forged a strong alliance with Aaron Finch or at No. 3 to allow Warner to return at the top. Marsh, meanwhile, could rightly feel hard-done by if he misses out having carried Australia’s batting during their one-day struggles with four centuries in eight innings against England, South Africa and India.
One spinner or twoThe warm-up matches allowed teams to use more than eleven players so there was a chance for Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon to get a good amount of work. During the camp in Brisbane, Finch said that Zampa was the No. 1 spinner given he provides an attacking option, but the ball has also been coming out nicely for Lyon since arriving in England. However, it’s tough for Australia to balance their side with three frontline quicks and play both frontline spinners – the only way would be to leave out a batsman, play Alex Carey at No. 6 and a collection of bowling allrounders. Glenn Maxwell’s bowling is shaping as an important part of the gameplan – good for a full quota if things go well – and he has previously spoken about the value of his stint with Lancashire earlier in the season. It was also interesting to see Smith given a twirl against West Indies and Sri Lanka, clearly Finch is trying to have as many options as he can. And could the captain be one himself? Remember that ODI against Pakistan in March when he took 1 for 41 off his 10 overs?
Who supports Starc and Cummins?The big two are locked in, but in the absence of Josh Hazlewood and Jhye Richardson there remains a jostling for who the third quick will be between Nathan Coulter-Nile, Kane Richardson and Jason Behrendorff. They all bring something a little different; Coulter-Nile offers more batting, Richardson is known for his skills at the death and Behrendorff can be a threat if the new ball moves. Richardson was given both official warm-up matches although he was expensive against the Sri Lankans, Coulter-Nile took a pasting from Jos Buttler before claiming his wicket and Behrendorff collected 2 for 43 in his outing against England. It is likely that all will be needed at some stage of the tournament but it remains tricky to say who is the frontrunner.

Mark Adair claims four-wicket haul and adds crucial runs as Craig Ervine’s ton for Zimbabwe goes in vain

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2019Andy Balbirnie’s fifth ODI hundred set up a successful chase as Ireland beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the first encounter of their three-match series. Balbirnie fell with 26 still needed but Mark Adair, who had earlier claimed 4 for 73, struck 21 from 13 balls to seal victory with an over and a half to spare.Zimbabwe’s 254 for 9 had been built around a century from Craig Ervine, but he received little support from the rest of the top order and it took an unbeaten 49 from 42 balls by No. 8 Ryan Burl to get them up to a competitive total.”Zimbabwe are a good team but I thought the Zimbabwe score was about par or a bit below, as the outfield was very quick and it was as good a wicket as I’ve played on here,” Balbirnie said. “I think looking ahead we can learn from last series against Afghanistan when we went one up and then we didn’t perform in the second. We’ll be desperate to train well and put in another good performance in the next ODI.”Morning rain had led to a delayed start, and Adair then struck twice in the opening Powerplay to send back both Zimbabwe openers. Brendan Taylor became the maiden ODI wicket for debutant Shane Getkate, leaving Zimbabwe 49 for 3 in the 14th over.Ervine found a partner in Sean Williams to post a 55-run stand, before Getkate struck again. Neither Sikandar Raza nor PJ Moor stuck around for long, and after Ervine fell for 105 – his third ODI ton – Zimbabwe were 210 for 7 and in need of some impetus from Burl, who cracked three fours and four sixes to end the innings with a flourish.In response, Paul Stirling and Balbirnie fashioned a century stand for the second wicket, after Kyle Jarvis had removed James McCollum in the ninth over. Stirling struck eight fours in registering his fifth consecutive ODI half-century, only for his dismissal to give Zimbabwe an opening, as Tendai Chatara claimed three wickets in as many overs to leave Ireland 150 for 4.Lorcan Tucker, in his third ODI and having taken the gloves for the first time, steadied the hosts by helping Balbirnie add another 64 runs. But there was more drama when Jarvis removed Tucker on the hook and then Balbirnie ran himself out three overs later.However, with 26 required from 28 balls, Adair and Getkate did their bit with the bat to ensure that Ireland would get home and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Hanging in and playing the long game as Rangana Herath did helped him succeed in Galle, the New Zealand spinner said

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle15-Aug-2019Much like the Sri Lanka seam bowler, the New Zealand spinner is a second-class citizen. If you’re not bowling with the seam upright and at at least 120kph, the place is practically designed to make you feel insecure.Early in the summer, pitches can be virtually indistinguishable from the outfield. In the stereotype of New Zealand, cows and sheep in neighbouring paddocks line up at edge of grounds and bleat longingly at the unused grazing opportunity that is the pitch block. A specialist spinner may sometimes not get a game at all, but if he does, he will be subjected to the gross indignity commonly known as the token “over before lunch”. This is the practice wherein a spinner is granted the final over of the session, to get it over with quickly, while all his teammates have switched off and begun thinking about food.Over the last 15 years, there has been an attempt to make New Zealand domestic pitches less seam-friendly, but this has only helped breed properly quick bowlers – Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, etc – instead of the military-medium operators New Zealand used to be infamous for. No Test spinner has made a serious attempt to pick up the retired Daniel Vettori’s slack. Partly as a result, New Zealand’s Test pitches are as lush as ever. If you’ve got Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner in your ranks – i.e. the greatest pace attack New Zealand have ever likely assembled – why prepare anything else?So imagine you’re Ajaz Patel. Yes, you have a good haul of domestic five-fors, but you’re also nursing a first-class bowling average over 31. Which, you know, are the kinds of numbers a Sri Lankan spinner (operating on domestic dustbowls) could put up if he bowled with his off-hand while balancing a kit bag on his head. You’re sent to Asia, given precious little time to acclimatise (the modern international schedule is unforgiving), and expected to essentially lead the attack. But, incredibly, for the second time in two Asian tours, Ajaz is doing it in remarkable style.His performance on debut in Abu Dhabi – the best Test of 2018 – was extraordinary. He had claimed 2 for 64 in the first innings, which is a middling return. But then when faced with defending a low score in the fourth innings, on a track that is taking turn (i.e. exactly the type of situation when the great spinners distinguish themselves from the mediocre ones), Ajaz took 5 for 59 – trapping Imam-ul-Haq in front, having Sarfaraz Ahmed caught behind, before spectacularly clinching victory with Pakistan needing only four to draw level by getting Azhar Ali lbw on 65. He would go on to play a strong role in New Zealand’s second win of that series as well, and finished with 13 wickets for the tour.And then he went home. He took no wickets for 60 on a greentop that turned into a road in Wellington. He bowled only 12 overs on another seaming deck in Christchurch. Then he went unrequired for the rest of the Test season.Now, in Galle, the pitch of a spinner’s dreams laid out before him, Ajaz has made big moves in a Test again. He was too quick through the air to begin with, by his own admission, but quickly discerned the appropriate pace, and soon was gaining wicked turn. Crucially, he wasn’t so enamoured of the rip he was getting off the surface, that he began to chase those magic pitch-on-leg-hit-top-of-off type balls. Instead, bowling those Herathian lengths, slipping in the occasional quicker one in Herathian fashion – though, of course, looking cooler than Herath, shades on, beard in a state of manly fullness – he set Sri Lanka’s dramatic middle-order nosedive in motion, and finished with 5 for 76 for the day.At stumps, he gave the most Herathian summary of his bowling he could possibly have given. “I think with surfaces that offer you something, you’ve got to stay patient and ask good questions of the batsman,” he said. “We know Sri Lankans are good players of spin, so you’ve got to respect that and make sure you put balls in good areas for long periods.”This should come as no surprise to anyone who watched him bowl today, but it turns out he has in fact intentionally taken cues from the great old waddler himself. “Bowling in the UAE there was a lot more bounce. Over here there’s not so much bounce, so you try and keep the stumps in play,” he said. “One of the greats, Rangana, who has got 100 [102] wickets in Galle – if you see the template that he set out when bowling on this wicket, he looked to attack the sticks and keep them in play the whole time, and allow the batters to make decisions around off stump. You’ve got to keep hanging in and play the long game.”Sri Lanka are not bowled out yet, so it is possible they will establish a first-innings lead. A slim one might not help them much, though – the highest successful fourth-innings chase at Galle remains 99. So long as New Zealand bat competently in the second innings, they will feel the more comfortable side. If they win a third successive Test in Asia in four attempts, they might reflect on the period either side of tea on day two as the definitive passage of play. Sri Lanka had a big lead in sight at 143 for 2. Then Ajaz, doing his Herath impression, took three wickets for ten runs. He changed the outlook of the game.

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.