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The last 18 months have provided a challenging time for the men’s team

Alex Malcolm20-Aug-2021In May 2020 Australia were ranked No.1 in Tests and T20Is. The Test team had retained the Ashes away and won seven consecutive Tests at home. They had also won four consecutive T20I series including away victories in India and South Africa. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit they have lost five consecutive T20I series and a home Test series to India with reports of tensions between coach Justin Langer and the players running rampant in the media. Here’s how it unfolded.September 2020Australia toured England for three T20Is and three ODIs with a full-strength squad, their first assignment since Covid-19 halted world cricket. In the first T20I they needed 39 runs from 39 balls with nine wickets in hand and lost. Australia also dropped the second game to lose the series but won the dead rubber. They then won the opening ODI before succumbing to another batting collapse from a winning position in game two. Langer gave the group a verbal lashing post-match for not learning from their mistakes in the opening T20I. It secured the desired response in the decider with Australia pulling off a stunning chase off the back of twin centuries from Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey to win the series, which the coach described as one of the best series wins he’s been involved in.November 2020 Australia thumped India in the first two ODIs of the home summer thanks to two masterclasses from Steve Smith to win the ODI series with a game to spare.Steven Smith made back-to-back centuries against India•Getty Images

December 2020-January 2021 Injuries and the need to rest players from the biosecure bubbles saw Australia lose the T20I series with Aaron Finch, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, and Marcus Stoinis missing matches. Australia were back to full strength for the Test series and won the first match in Adelaide when they bowled India out for 36. But they lost the series from there against a second-string India side with Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and R Ashwin all missing the decider at the Gabba. Australia’s batters failed twice in Melbourne, they dropped critical catches on the final day in Sydney to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, before the bowlers ran out of gas at the Gabba with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant engineering a famous chase to claim the series.Related

• After week of stress, Australia might only have papered over the cracks

• Cricket Australia give backing to under pressure coach Justin Langer

• Finch: Dressing room leaks about Langer 'disappointing' and 'not ideal'

• Langer addressed 'confronting' team review with squad ahead of tour

• Team rumblings are a 'wake-up call' which Langer won't ignore

February 2021 Reports emerged in the papers in Australia of tensions boiling over between the players and the coach during the Gabba Test match suggesting players were concerned about the team environment. Langer was shocked by the media reports but said it was “a wake-up call”.Australia then had to select two squads for simultaneous Test and T20I tours in South Africa and New Zealand respectively. Langer was to take charge of the Test squad while senior assistant Andrew McDonald was tasked with leading the T20I squad. A first-choice Test squad was chosen but the tour of South Africa was abandoned due to Cricket Australia’s concerns over South Africa’s biosecurity protocols. Australia lost the opening two games in New Zealand before Finch and Maxwell stood tall to level the series at 2-2. But the batting failed to fire in the decider and they lost the series 3-2.There wasn’t always much to cheer for Australia’s T20 side•Getty Images

June 2021 Langer joined the contracted players at a pre-tour camp on the Gold Coast ahead of back-to-back limited-overs tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh. The findings of an internal review into Australia’s performance against India, conducted by leadership consultant Tim Ford, were presented to the group. Langer addressed the findings with the players, something Finch described as “confronting” for the coach but Finch the meeting was successful and the group was “behind him 100 percent”.July 2021 Australia toured the West Indies for five T20Is and three ODIs minus, Warner, Cummins, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, and Daniel Sams who all withdraw due to bio-bubble fatigue or injury following the postponement of the IPL. Australia’s selectors opted to leave Marnus Labuschagne in England and Cameron Green at home and a host of others with international experience weren’t selected. The T20I team again disintegrated from a winning position in the first game of the tour and loses the series 4-1. Finch suffered a knee injury and was forced to withdraw from the ODI series. Carey was promoted to captain one of the most inexperienced ODI teams Australia has ever fielded and they claim a series win 2-1 despite the series being interrupted due to a Covid-19 scare.Australia’s last five T20I series•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

August 2021 Australia traveled to Bangladesh without Finch who headed home to have knee surgery. Matthew Wade took over as captain but the side capitulated on difficult batting surfaces to lose the series 4-1. They would have lost 5-0 save for an onslaught from Dan Christian in the third game and were bowled out for 62 in the last match.Two days after Australia arrived home, with the players and staff in hotel quarantine, the published a report of an incident that took place in Australia’s team hotel during the Bangladesh tour. Australia team manager Gavin Dovey was involved in a heated exchange with Cricket Australia’s digital journalist who was inside the Australian team’s bio-bubble as part of the touring party. Dovey was upset that a video had been posted on Cricket Australia’s website of Bangladesh celebrating their first-ever series win over Australia. Langer, a close confidant of Dovey’s, spoke briefly but firmly to the journalist in the immediate aftermath before the pair cleared the air the following day.The report sparked a flurry of media speculation about Langer’s coaching style and of tensions between the coach and the players resurfaced. Finch said the leaks from the dressing room were “disappointing” and “not a good look.” It led Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley to issue a statement supporting Langer and confirming he would continue on through the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. Hockley and CA chairman Earl Eddings held an emergency zoom call with Australia’s three playing leaders Tim Paine, Finch, and Cummins to discuss the tensions with the coach.Paine spoke on his SEN podcast two days later vowing that the players would work with Langer for the summer ahead.

He last played a Test eight years ago, and comes into the squad after Bashir’s injury

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-20251:30

Ehantharajah expects Dawson to shine for England

Spin-bowling allrounder Liam Dawson is in line to make a Test comeback after eight years after he was added to the England squad for the fourth Test against India, starting on July 23 at Old Trafford.Dawson, who last played a Test in July 2017, comes in after offspinner Shoaib Bashir was ruled out of the remainder of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with a fractured finger on his left hand.Related

• Sledging, swearing, send-offs – Lord's needling promises explosive series ahead

• Bashir ruled out of last two Tests with fractured finger

Dawson has played just three Tests but has been a consistent performer for Hampshire in recent years, winning the PCA Player-of-the-Year award in 2024 and men’s domestic MVP in 2023. In the current County Championship, he has played all nine games for Hampshire to collect 21 wickets at an average of 40.04. More recently, he has been in action in the Vitality Blast, picking up 11 wickets in ten games.”Liam Dawson deserves his call-up. He has been in outstanding form in the County Championship and consistently puts in strong performances for Hampshire,” national selector Luke Wright said in an ECB statement.Dawson, 35, has played all three formats for England, most recently in T20Is. It was in 2016 that he made his international debut, and he was a member of England’s 2019 ODI World Cup-winning squad before falling out of favour. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo last year, Dawson had even said Test cricket was “completely off the radar” for him. He recently earned a T20I recall after nearly three years, playing in three games against West Indies last month, where he claimed his best international bowling figures of 4 for 20.England currently lead the five-match series 2-1 after a dramatic end to the third Test at Lord’s where Bashir took the last wicket of Mohammed Siraj to seal England’s slim 22-run win.

England squad for fourth Test against India

Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes

Surrey offspinner outlines challenges faced by cricketers from Asian backgrounds

Matt Roller27-Jun-2020Amar Virdi, the Surrey offspinner, has said that club cricket in the UK is full of untapped talent from ethnic minority backgrounds and encouraged counties to be proactive in helping young players understand how to break into professional set-ups.Speaking from England’s bio-secure bubble at the Ageas Bowl, Virdi detailed the challenges faced by cricketers from Asian backgrounds trying to play professionally, and said that it could be “very daunting” for players from minority backgrounds to play for bigger clubs.”I started at Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club [in Osterley], which is a majority-Asian club, and I found it daunting moving to Sunbury which I did at about 12 years old,” Virdi said. “But it was the best move for my cricket, because it’s important to play at a standard where it’s recognised and you’ve got ex-pros at the club and you’ve got a lot of support.”It’s changing now, but a maybe a lot of kids from minorities don’t go to private schools. Maybe they’re first or second generation here, maybe they might not be able to afford those opportunities. That also can be a problem because maybe they’re not being seen by people in the county set-up.”ALSO READ – Virdi hoping to jump to front of England spin queueVirdi emphasised the role that his own parents had played in his career to date, but said that one of the main stumbling blocks for young Asian players is that their families do not know how the county set-up works. His comments demonstrate that the lack of ethnic diversity at county clubs is a deep-rooted structural problem: Vikram Solanki became the first British Asian head coach at a county this month when he was appointed at Surrey, and Mark Alleyne remains the only black British man to do so this century.”A lot of people don’t understand how much commitment it takes from a parent,” Virdi said. “If you’re at a private school, you’re getting cricket there on a weekly basis or a few times a week, but my school didn’t even play cricket, so that’s another avenue.”I’m really lucky because my parents were really supportive. A lot of people’s parents are busy making ends meet, and they don’t have time necessarily to take their kids to practice, but I’m so thankful to my mum and dad that they took time to support me, driving me up and down the country, and without that I wouldn’t be here.”A big thing, I think, that should be done is more education for the minority communities and for parents to know how the actual county system works. A lot of people I speak to don’t even know how to start. There’s so much talent, from so many different communities, it definitely needs to be tapped into.”Virdi also suggested that a major stumbling block for a lot of Asian players in the UK was that they had grown up supporting a subcontinental side rather than England.”A lot of it is to do with your mindset and definitely your upbringing,” he said. “Growing up a lot of people’s parents support India, for example, so you grow up supporting India or wherever you’re from or where your family background is. What’s fundamental is that even from a young age I’ve always supported England and that’s important to have that mindset firstly.”If Virdi makes his Test debut this summer, as he thinks he can, he would become only the third Sikh to play for England after Monty Panesar and Ravi Bopara. The ECB’s South Asian action plan, devised in 2018 to help engage South Asians in the UK who feel there are barriers to entry within the game, stresses the need to “celebrate heroes”, and Virdi said that seeing someone who “looks very similar” in the England team growing up had spurred him on.”Growing up I watched Graeme Swann and Monty [Panesar] bowling and that was very inspirational to me,” Virdi said. “Obviously with Monty as well because he looks very similar to me, especially being from the community that I am. We’re in a minority in a lot of industries so when you do see someone progressing and doing well in that particular field that you’re in, it really motivates you and shows you that can do it if they’re doing it as well.”

“If we keep playing with the same attitude, day by day, the results will eventually come”

Madushka Balasuriya22-Jun-2021″Fearless” was once again the buzzword for Kusal Perera on the eve of the first T20I against England, as the Sri Lanka captain once more leaned on the mantra that he had put forth for his side upon taking over the limited-overs reins earlier this year.”We need to be able to play fearlessly,” Perera said during a virtual pre-match media briefing. “This is not something that’s going to change overnight, but if we keep playing with the same attitude, day by day, the results will eventually come.”Perera had first spoken of playing “fearless cricket” ahead of Sri Lanka’s recent tour of Bangladesh, a plan that in the end wound up being more notional than anything else as Sri Lanka’s batters floundered in all but the last game of the ODI series.Related

• Arthur wants top-heavy SL to find middle-order balance in England

• Jayawickrama, Lakshan, Asalanka, Jayaratne in SL white-ball squad

That match and victory, incidentally, had come once the series had been lost, and the pressure to perform lifted. For Perera and the Sri Lanka coaching staff, getting the players to showcase their skills more consistently and, crucially, when it matters, has been the most pressing task in recent weeks.”We’ve had a lot of discussions with the coaches on how we can translate what we do in practice to competitive matches. The problem for us so far has been that in practice we perform really well, but during a match we’re unable to produce the same performances. Each player is different. So we’re trying to see how to get each individual to a point where they can take their performances from practice out into a competitive fixture.”This inability to perform consistently on the biggest stage has led to one of Sri Lanka cricket’s leanest periods in their history; dating back to the start of 2019, Sri Lanka have won just over 30% of their limited-overs games. And while in England – the top-ranked T20I side and reigning ODI world champions – Sri Lanka’s young side faces its toughest test to date, Perera is hopeful that the relative lack of expectation placed on the visitors will help free his side of the mental hang-ups that may have been holding them back.”In the situation we’re in at the moment, it’s like we have nothing to lose – we can only really gain from this series,” Perera said. “Whereas with England they have more to lose, there is always that additional pressure on them.”Under head coach Mickey Arthur, Sri Lanka’s limited-overs side has seen one of its most drastic overhauls in recent memory, with several senior players discarded in favour of younger alternatives. This has resulted in a fair bit of inexperience in the side, but on the flip side a lot of eagerness to impress fringe players.Perera is hopeful that a string of games against one of the top limited-overs sides in the world will help solidify the players’ trust and belief in the process Arthur and his coaching staff have put in place.”When we play against accomplished teams like this, a lot of our players are going to try and bring their A game. Because it’s only when you perform well against the best teams that your confidence in your ability increases.”At the moment our team is actually quite confident – but not over-confident – and we have the belief that we can make an impact here and turn things around. Our aim is to do the right things and play a good game. We believe that we can play well against this England team, and know that the results will come if we just keep doing the right things.”That said, Perera is acutely aware that Sri Lanka will need to be at the top of their game if they are to get anything out of this series.”We need to do what we know without fear. It’s of course easier said that done. We know that of the 11 players, not everyone can bring their A game every match, but whenever a player is able to reach that level, they need to be able to see the game through to the finish.”Sri Lanka will play three T20Is on June 23, 24 and 26, while the three ODIs will take place on June 29, July 1 and 4.

Former England wicketkeeper says runs on the board will be vital for attack to deliver

Andrew Miller18-Nov-2021Matt Prior, the former England wicketkeeper, believes that Joe Root’s Ashes squad has the right calibre of fast bowlers to match the methods that delivered their last victory in an overseas Ashes campaign in 2010-11 – but only if their batters can compile enough runs to keep England competitive across the five-Test series.Prior made 252 runs at 50.40 from the pivotal No. 7 position in 2010-11, including a century in the series finale at Sydney, and he claimed 23 catches behind the stumps across the five Tests. However, he was also England’s incumbent three years later for their fateful 2013-14 whitewash, when Australia’s bowling might, led by Mitchell Johnson, devastated a largely unchanged line-up.And so, while he has no doubts about the enduring class of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, who will be undertaking their fourth and fifth Ashes tours respectively, and believes that Ollie Robinson is another automatic pick in the seam department after an impressive debut summer, Prior knows that England cannot rely solely on Joe Root as a source of consistent runs, even though he’s in the midst of a world-beating run of form.Related

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“England taking 20 wickets hasn’t been the problem,” Prior, an ambassador for bettingexpert.com, told ESPNcricinfo. “The key will be, can England score enough runs to give the bowlers an opportunity to take 20 wickets? It’s no secret that England haven’t scored enough runs for a period of time.”The honourable exception is Root, who has amassed 1455 runs at 66.13 in 2021 so far, including six of the seven centuries scored by England batters since last summer’s home series against Pakistan.”We all hope Joe is going to score a massive amount runs, he’s one of the best players in the world, if not the best at the moment,” Prior said. “But we also can’t just lump the whole pressure on one guy. The top five, six batters need to score consistently the bulk of the runs.”In 2010-11, it was very clear what our batsmen had to do. [Andrew] Strauss, [Alastair] Cook and [Jonathan] Trott in that top three had to lay a foundation. If they didn’t score quickly, they had to bat time and get a get a real solid foundation for KP, Bell and Collingwood to come in and take the attack to tired bowlers, bowling with an older ball. It’s really that simple.”Nevertheless, Prior acknowledges that the advent of T20 cricket has changed perceptions about international batting, with few players able or willing to “Geoffrey Boycott it and bat all day”. And to that end, he believes that the proven ability of England’s bowlers to bang out a consistent line and length could prove vital in a war of attrition – especially now that England will not be able to turn to the express pace of Jofra Archer to lead the attack.”Making sure that you’re very clear on your own plans is crucial,” Prior said. “If you’re bowling on pretty flat wickets, which they are in Australia, and the ball’s not moving, through swing, reverse or spin, then you have to take wickets by building pressure, that’s your only other option.”Everyone will talk about Jimmy Anderson’s ability to swing the ball and he’s the best in the world at doing that, but the other thing that Anderson does is go at two an over. When the ball isn’t swinging, he doesn’t go for runs, and that builds pressure.”People expect runs to be scored quickly, and even in Test matches now, you’re looking at run rates of 3.5 an over as normal. So building pressure is a skill in itself, and one that people underestimate. It’s not just about hanging the ball wide, it’s about being able to stay very tight on your line and length, and execute your skill ball after ball after ball, without getting bored.”That was very much the tactic that England adopted on that 2010-11 tour, with Anderson leading the line with 24 wickets at 26.04, and an economy rate of 2.93. Though Broad was injured midway through the second Test, England had enough bench-strength to cover off his loss, with Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan both making key contributions in the series-sealing wins in Melbourne and Sydney, while the spinner Graeme Swann also starred with a matchwinning display in Adelaide, and hard graft as a holding bowler in the other four Tests.”It’s certainly what we did in 2010 11,” Prior said. “In Australia, the ball doesn’t swing all over the place, and you need to find different ways. Also, if you lose the toss on a flat one and end up bowling first, it’s a tactic that can arm you when things aren’t going so well.”There’s nothing about touring Australia that James Anderson and Stuart Broad don’t know. They’re invaluable in that dressing room to pass on to a younger bowlers like Ollie Robinson, who has been fantastically impressive since coming into the international arena.”I think there’s always a question mark when someone doesn’t have the express pace of Mark Wood or Jofra Archer. But Robinson has shown he is able to execute his skill and take wickets at the top level, and he will fit in to that game-plan of going for no runs, building pressure, consistently hitting the top of off stump, consistently challenging a batsman’s defence.”So those three, I have no worry about, but as we know, a bowling line-up has to bowl in partnerships, it has to be the full group, so whoever that fourth seamer is, it’s going to be crucial that they are able to maintain pressure as well, and not undo it all by going at four an over.”That was the complication that England encountered in 2010-11, when they chose to drop Steven Finn because of his leaky economy-rate, despite him being the leading wicket-taker in the series after three Tests. He had also been the fastest bowler available to England in those opening Tests, which may mean that England will need to be cautious about how they deploy Wood, their one remaining 90mph seamer, in the coming campaign.Matt Prior played a key role behind the stumps and with the bat in 2010-11•Getty Images

Prior, however, knows from his own bitter experience in 2013-14 that an out-and-out quick in Australia is a phenomenal weapon to have, and believes that Wood’s ebullient personality could have an equally crucial role off the field as the squad copes with the unusual circumstances of a post-Covid Ashes campaign.”I wouldn’t suggest that Mark Wood is a liability, quite the opposite actually. He brings so much more to the dressing room, with regards to his character. He is the kind of guy you want in Australia, because he will step up.”It’s going to be partisan crowds down there,” Prior added. “There won’t be the Barmy Army, the players are going to have to stand up and tolerate what’s going to come their way, and Mark Wood is definitely one of those guys.”But the captain and coach are going to have to be really clear on how they use him,” he added. “In that series that we all try and forget [2013-14], Mitchell Johnson rarely bowled more than three overs in any one spell. He could have taken six wickets in those three overs, but he would come off, and it would be back to Ryan Harris, back to Nathan Lyon, back to Peter Siddle. It was very, very clear what their plan was.”I think that’s something we haven’t always got right with our extreme pace bowlers. They haven’t been encouraged to bowl at 100 miles an hour, and they haven’t gone at two and a half an over either.”Winning away from home is difficult. Winning away from home in the Ashes during Covid is even more difficult. I never had that experience, thank goodness, because I would have gone absolutely crazy tied up in hotel. But it can’t be used as an excuse because it’s the world we live in now. When you get on an aeroplane, to represent England in an Ashes series, you have to find a way. You can’t just turn up and throw in the towel.”

Floyd Reifer and James Franklin will also join the coaching staff ahead of the ODIs against UAE and the World Cup Qualifier

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-2023Former West Indies captains Carl Hooper and Floyd Reifer have been appointed as assistants to new white-ball head coach Daren Sammy ahead of West Indies’ three-match ODI series against UAE and the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. Former New Zealand allrounder James Franklin has also joined the staff as an assistant coach.Hooper, who played 102 Tests and 227 ODIs, has worked at various levels of coaching in the Caribbean and Australia, where he is now settled. He was assistant coach of Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League (BBL) during the 2022-23 Australian summer, and has previously worked with Antigua Hawksbills and Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He has also served as a mentor at the West Indies High-Performance Centre in Barbados.Related

• Sammy appointed white-ball coach; Coley takes charge of Test team

“When I was initially approached by Daren about the potential opportunity, I immediately confirmed my interest, as I really want to help with the challenge and make a meaningful impact,” Hooper said. “I firmly believe that it is time for West Indies Cricket to ascend, and I am confident in my ability, knowledge, and experience to aid in this endeavour.”Reifer, who played six Tests, eight ODIs and one T20I, has also served as West Indies’ interim head coach during the 2019 World Cup. He has held coaching roles with the West Indies A team and the senior men’s side, and was head coach of the men’s Under-19 team in 2021 and Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL.Franklin, an allrounder who played 31 Tests, 110 ODIs and 38 T20Is for New Zealand, has served stints as head coach of the English county side Durham, assistant coach at Birmingham Phoenix in the Men’s Hundred, and fielding coach at MI Emirates in the ILT20.Meanwhile, former West Indies players Kenny Benjamin and Stuart Williams and the former Guyana fast bowler Rayon Griffith will be assistant coaches working alongside Test-match head coach Andre Coley. Benjamin and Griffith were part of the coaching staff for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa earlier this year, while Williams had previously worked as an assistant coach on various tours.CWI have said all new assistant coaches have been appointed on a short-term basis and will be “reviewed after the India series in August 2023”.West Indies are currently in Sharjah for the three-match ODI series against UAE, which is scheduled to begin on June 4, as they build up towards the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.For the ten-team Qualifier, West Indies have been drawn in Group A, which also includes Netherlands, Nepal, Zimbabwe and USA, against whom they kick off their campaign on June 18.

Durham batter moves to The Oval immediately after signing to end of 2023 season

Matt Roller16-Jul-2021Surrey have signed the Durham batter Cameron Steel on a deal that will run until the end of the 2023 season and see him move to The Oval with immediate effect to help assuage their availability crisis for the Royal London Cup.Steel, 25, has spent most of the 2021 summer on loan at Hampshire, playing largely for their second XI and in a single County Championship match. He caught Surrey’s eye with two performances against their second team, scoring 134 in a four-day friendly in April and taking 4 for 20 in a T20 at The Oval with his legbreaks in June.He joined Durham in 2016 after graduating from the university, making 51 appearances across formats. Marcus North, their director of cricket, said: “We thank Cameron for his commitment to Durham during the past five years.”He will join Surrey immediately, and will be in line to make his debut in the Royal London Cup against Yorkshire on July 22. Surrey are missing 12 first-team players in the 50-over competition due to their involvement in the Hundred, while Ben Foakes will miss both tournaments through injury.”I’m ecstatic to be joining Surrey, and honoured to have the opportunity to play at a club with such a rich history,” Steel said “Ever since watching England lift the Ashes in 2005, I’ve dreamt of being able to play at The Oval. I can’t wait to meet everyone, get stuck in and contribute in any way I can to the club’s success.”I’ve had some of the best times of my life playing for Durham and living in the north east. While I’m sad that it hasn’t worked out at Riverside, I’m extremely excited to begin my journey at Surrey.”Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said: “I’m pleased that Cameron will join us at Surrey. As a player that can bat anywhere in the top order and bowls legspin, he adds balance to the squad. I look forward to seeing him perform in a Surrey shirt over the coming years.”

Middlesex claim 213-run lead which is then stretched past 400 through Sam Robson, John Simpson fifties

ECB Reporters Network14-Jul-2019Two weeks ago, Middlesex were bottom of Division Two and Toby Roland-Jones had taken only five wickets at an average of almost three figures. But after beating Gloucestershire last week, they are currently well placed to defeat Glamorgan over the next two days move to within touching distance of the leaders.They closed on 189 for 5, a lead of 402, and are likely to bat until shortly before lunch in the third day and leave Glamorgan a mammoth target in the remaining time.Roland-Jones has played a large part in his team’s resurgence, taking ten wickets in the match last week, four in the first innings here and on a lively Sophia Gardens pitch, will hope to add to his tally in Glamorgan’s second innings.The home team, after their disastrous start the previous evening when they resumed on 25 for 4, made a partial recovery as David Lloyd and Billy Root put on 59 for the fifth wicket. But after Lloyd’s dismissal for 67 and Root for 32, Glamorgan lost their last five wickets for only 28 runs.Roland Jones started the collapse when he had Root caught at second slip, bowled Chris Cooke with one that kept low and followed up by having Lloyd caught behind and Graham Wagg also held by Dawid Malan in the slip cordon.Steve Eskinazi was caught at slip in Lukas Carey’s second over before Nick Gubbins was well caught by Lloyd on the third attempt also at slip, and when Malan was run out by half the length of the pitch following a poor call by his partner, Middlesex were 49 for 3.George Scott made a useful 23 before – for the second time in the game – he shouldered arms and had his off stump removed by Dan Douthwaite. From then Sam Robson and John Simpson settled into their productive partnership, although the pitch was not so bowler friendly as it had been earlier in the game.The fifth-wicket pair both posted fifties, with Simpson particularly strong through the on side but in the final over he drove Marchant de Lange to extra cover where Root held on to a low catch.

Clubs who missed out on staging agreements could be given opportunities in tournament’s second year

George Dobell11-Dec-2018Some games in The Hundred could be played away from their host cities as the ECB bid to appease smaller counties.While the ECB have recently declined requests from some counties – notably Gloucestershire – to increase the number of hosting teams from eight to nine or 10, there does appear to be increased hope from some of those who missed out staging agreements that, in the competition’s second year, they will be given the opportunity to host games.So Durham remain hopeful of hosting one of the games given to Yorkshire in 2021 – it seems there is no such expectation in the tournament’s first year – while Somerset hope for a similar reciprocal agreement with the team based in Cardiff.With only four home games scheduled for the group stages of the competition, however, it seems there will be few opportunities for such agreements. The likes of Somerset and Gloucestershire, therefore, may be looking at hosting a game each every other year at best and it remains possible that such talk will come to nothing and is simply designed to pacify the counties.Disagreement is also likely over the branding and, perhaps, the naming of the new teams. While it was initially announced that crossovers between new identities and county brands would be avoided to ensure no cannibalism of existing brands, there is a concern from some within the game that the teams based in Cardiff, Lord’s and Leeds, in particular, will lean pretty heavily on recognisable images in an attempt to appeal to existing supporters.

Sri Lanka’s total seemed sub-par, but a key innings from Angelo Mathews set the tempo for his team in a famous win

Alan Gardner at Headingley21-Jun-2019Sri Lanka had several heroes at Headingley, with captain Dimuth Karunaratne in particular praising the contributions of his two senior stars, Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews, for helping orchestrate a famous World Cup win over the hosts and pre-tournament favourites.Having decided to bat, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start at 3 for 2 in the third over. However, after an exhilarating counterattack from Avishka Fernando, which twice saw him hook 90mph Jofra Archer deliveries for six, the middle order contributed significantly for the first time in the tournament, Kusal Mendis making 46 and Mathews anchoring the innings to the finish with an unbeaten 85.Mathews had gone into this game having made scores of 1, 0, 0 and 9 since his ODI comeback last month, but dredged deep to produce a performance of substance. Perhaps the identity of the opposition helped – Mathews averages more than 50 against England and has made four fifties in his last six ODI innings against them – as well as the venue: in 2014, he played one of his finest Test knocks at Headingley to set up a series win for his team.While Sri Lanka’s score of 232 for 9 did not look the most imposing at halfway, Mathews had discerned that the surface was unlikely to get easier to bat on.”It looked like a good flat wicket that played nicely but when we played on it, you could see it got slower and slower,” Karunaratne said. “Angelo told us it was getting slower and slower, we couldn’t get to 280-300 but we could get to 240 and that would be a good total.”He is a good finisher and he did a really good job. And he read the game very well on this track. The middle order was important once the openers got out and he did a good job.”The wicket gave us an advantage, we thought we had a chance. But we needed to take a couple of wickets and we were in the game.”Watch on Hotstar (India only): Mathew’s vital half-century sets up Sri Lanka victory Malinga ensured they would do just that, removing England’s openers and then coming back to dismiss Joe Root and Jos Buttler on the way to figures of 4 for 43 – adding another match-winning performance to his storied World Cup record. He could have finished the game with a five-for, too, had Mendis managed to hold on to a tough chance off Ben Stokes in Malinga’s final over.Armed with Mathews’ intel on the pitch and Malinga’s belief that they could pull off an upset, Sri Lanka had belied their status as the ninth-ranked team out of ten at the tournament.”Mali is a legend,” Mendis said. “He has a lot of variation, an experienced player, he’s played a lot of T20. I think he is a match-winning bowler. He’s telling the fast bowlers, spinners to use variation. He told the players, ‘We can do it today’.”I missed a catch and was scared. When we got the [final] wicket, I gave thanks.”After Malinga had shaken England in their chase of 233, Dhananjaya de Silva then turned the heat up further with three wickets in nine deliveries. His dismissal of the dangerous Moeen Ali, caught at long-off a ball after he had hit Dhananjaya for six, was particularly damaging for England’s chances.Asked if he thought England were still the world’s best players of spin, as Karunaratne had suggested on the eve of the match, Dhananjaya replied with a smile: “They are, they played very well in Sri Lanka last time they came there. This wicket was hard to bat on, it wasn’t coming on to the bat. We bowled tight areas and very good lines. I got three wickets in two overs and turned the game around.”[Moeen] can hit a long ball, so his wicket was the main thing for us. He hit me for six the previous ball, so I just slowed it up and bowled a bit wide.”Dhananjaya described the contributions of Malinga and Mathews as “key” and added that Sri Lanka had renewed confidence of gate-crashing the last four, despite complaints from the team’s management earlier in the tournament that pitches were being prepared to their disadvantage.”These are slower wickets, not the greentops – on these wickets we can beat any team,” Dhananjaya said.Sri Lanka now sit fifth on the table, one point behind India (albeit having played two games more) and with a chance to capitalise against a demoralised South Africa in their next game, at Chester-le-Street next Friday. Karunaratne was however keen that his players do not get too far ahead of themselves.”We want to go one by one, we are not thinking about it. The next game is South Africa so we want to play and win that match so that is our main focus,” he added. “We will keep focusing on that match, if we can win that we will plan for the next game.”