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Kieron Pollard did not confirm whether he would be fit but Jason Holder is expected to return

Andrew McGlashan20-Jul-2021

Big Picture

As for a number of sides, one-day series have been few and far between for these two teams since Covid-19 struck. For both it will be just their third series under the World Cup Super League and in Australia’s case it’s more than six months since they last played 50-over cricket.In a way, the two teams emphasise how each ODI is now more important. Australia have won both their series against tough opponents in India and England but are only 10 points better off than West Indies due to dropping a game in each series. West Indies were whitewashed by Bangladesh but made up ground with a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka.Since 2000, the sides have played each other 48 times in ODIs with Australia 37-8 ahead although in this series the home advantage for West Indies could be significant. It means they can pick their specialist one-day squad whereas Australia’s line-up will be a mix-and-match job given the absentees and T20 focus of the tour.With Aaron Finch ruled out of at least the first match with a knee injury, stand-in captain Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh will be the only members of the top order who have been a regular part of Australia’s ODI line-up. In Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa they still have the core of their bowling attack together although there are spaces to fill there as well.West Indies played some very solid cricket against Sri Lanka earlier this year when they won all three games chasing but coach Phil Simmons has laid down the challenge for them of going big if they get the chance to bat first. The recent T20 series was West Indies’ first bilateral success against Australia in any format since 1995 when they won a one-day series. They have a good chance of matching that this time.

Form guide

(last five completed matches)
West Indies WWWLL
Australia LWWWL

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In the spotlight

Shai Hope has a phenomenal ODI record. Of players to score over 3000 runs, only two – Virat Kohli and Babar Azam – currently have a better average. He was in fine form during the series against Sri Lanka in March when he made 110, 84 and 64. In his one previous innings against Australia, he made 68 at the 2019 World Cup.Mitchell Marsh was the one significant success in the T20 series as he scored 219 runs and claimed eight wickets with some of the most consistent cricket he has produced for Australia. He returned to the ODI side in early 2020 for the first time in two years but then missed the home series against India due to injury. His ODI numbers are pretty solid: a batting average of 34.36 and bowling return of 36.79. He will enter this series full of confidence with a chance to cement his role as the team’s premier limited-overs allrounder.Related

• Simmons wants West Indies' ODI top order to keep pushing themselves

• Alex Carey to captain Australia after Aaron Finch ruled out

Team news

Kieron Pollard did not confirm whether he would be available. If he continues to be sidelined it could open up room for another batter. Hope is the vice-captain in this format. Otherwise if he is fit it could be a choice between Jason Mohammed and Shimron Hetymer in the middle order. Jason Holder is also set to return after being rested. Interestingly, Pollard hinted that West Indies could consider including legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr after his success in the T20 series even though he is not part of the squad.West Indies (possible): 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Jason Mohammed, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt)/Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Fabien Allen, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Akeal Hosein/Hayden Walsh Jr, 11 Sheldon CottrellFinch’s absence may give Matthew Wade a chance of his first ODI in four years if only to add some experience to the line-up. Marsh appears likely to remain at No. 3 after his success in the T20 series while there could be debuts for Josh Philippe and Ben McDermott. Carey did not rule out a return for Dan Christian as well.Australia (possible): 1 Matthew Wade, 2 Josh Philippe, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Ben McDermott, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Jason Behrendorff

Pitch and conditions

This will be the first international cricket in Barbados since January 2020. Carey said the pitch looked good while Pollard noted the lush outfield. The forecast is for a cloudy but dry day.

Stats and trivia

• Nicholas Pooran needs 18 runs to reach 1000 in ODIs. If he did it in his next innings, his 26th, he would be the third fastest for West Indies behind Viv Richards (21) and Gordon Greenidge (23).
• Since 1980-81, Australia have handed out three (or more) ODI debuts on only two occasions: 1984-85 against New Zealand in a game that was rained off and in 2012-13 against Sri Lanka – a match where Finch, Usman Khawaja and Phil Hughes made ODI debuts.

Quotes

“It’s an Australian cricket team that left the shores and these guys will want to impress. It’s a matter of us concentrating on what we need to do and our plans. Mitch Marsh has got away from us a little in the T20 series but hopefully it’s not the same in the ODIs.”
Kieron Pollard“Learning from those T20s, we played some good cricket, we had some opportunities to stay alive in the series but unfortunately didn’t quite grab them. Now moving into one-day cricket, the game lengthens out, there’s opportunities to bat time in the middle, a new location and a new series with the likelihood of some fresh faces, it’s an exciting feel around the group.”

All three cricketers picked up injuries during the recent home series against New Zealand and could be out of action for a while

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Dec-2021Injuries to Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill and Axar Patel have forced the Indian selectors to deal with some big questions ahead of the upcoming Test and ODI tour of South Africa. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that all the three players are likely to miss the entire tour.Jadeja, India’s first-choice spinner outside the subcontinent of late, was ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai because of what the BCCI had said was swollen right forearm. Though Jadeja was present in Mumbai with the team, it is understood that he could be out of action for a long period.If Jadeja does miss the South Africa tour, as is likely, it will be his second injury-enforced layoff this year. He had broken his left thumb during the Test series in Australia in January and had to miss the final Test in Brisbane as well as the entire home series against England.As for Gill, he was ruled out of India’s Test series in England in the summer after suffering a stress injury to one of his shins. Gill, who played the two Tests against New Zealand at home recently, sat out a few sessions of play in the second Test after first getting hit in the arm and then the finger.With question marks over Ajinkya Rahane’s future in the Indian middle order, Gill has been spoken of in some circles as a potential alternative.If he can’t make the cut for South Africa, it could open things up for the likes of Shreyas Iyer, who has just made a big start to his Test career, or Hanuma Vihari, who is currently on tour in South Africa with India A. Suryakumar Yadav, who was added to the India Test squad for the games against New Zealand but couldn’t get a look-in, could also get lucky in case Gill isn’t available.The exact nature of Axar’s problem could not be ascertained, though unconfirmed reports suggest it is a stress-related injury.Axar is India’s third-choice spinner behind R Ashwin and Jadeja, and if he can’t make it, and Jadeja isn’t fit either, Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem or Saurabh Kumar could be in the mix.Nadeem, who played the last of his two Tests in Chennai against England in February this year, has not been on the selectors’ radar since, while Jayant was the preferred third spinner against New Zealand, and put in a strong performance in the second Test, when he picked up 4 for 49 in the second innings. Nadeem, however, could be in favour since he is a left-arm spinner, like Jadeja and Axar.Saurabh is the wildcard in the race. The 28-year-old left-arm spinner has never really been close to a national call-up before but has excellent first-class numbers: 194 wickets from 45 matches – mainly for Uttar Pradesh in the Indian domestic circuit – at an average of 23.80. He is also currently on tour in South Africa with India A.

Short’s 44-ball 72 helps make light work of a modest chase

Tristan Lavalette05-Jan-2022Ageless Peter Siddle claimed five wickets as Adelaide Strikers swept aside Hobart Hurricanes with a desperately needed seven-wicket victory at Adelaide Oval.After being sent in, a struggling Hurricanes were bamboozled by 37-year-old Siddle who unleashed his full-length mastery to great effect and helped restrict the visitors to just 126.Opener Matthew Short made light work of the chase with a BBL career high of 72 not out from 44 balls as Strikers jumped off the bottom of the table with their second win of the season, while Hurricanes’ (4-5) inconsistency continued.The game was moved back an hour after BBL’s tumult continued when Wednesday night’s latter clash between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers was postponed due to 12 Heat players and a coach returning positive PCR tests to Covid-19.Hurricanes also had some upheaval with international players Harry Brook and Jordan Thompson ruled out due to being close contacts of allrounder Josh Kann, who has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in isolation in Hobart.Siddle turns back the clock
Even though seven of the last eight games at Adelaide Oval had been won by the team batting first, Strikers elected to bowl perhaps due to the forecast of rain.Strikers’ attack has been their strength but they decided to change it up with legspinner Fawad Ahmed replaced by exuberant seamer Harry Conway, who made his season debut and set the tone with the big wicket of Hurricanes skipper Matthew Wade in the first over.They frustrated a reckless Hurricanes batting outfit and picked up wickets at important junctures to maintain a stranglehold. Siddle, who had earlier claimed the key scalp of Ben McDermott cheaply, bowled dangerous Tim David in the power surge in a game-changing moment.Strikers’ bowlers impressively maintained control of the increasingly greasy ball as Siddle starred at the death with superb yorkers to claim three wickets in the final over and finish with his second five-wicket haul of his T20 career.McDermott fails, Hurricanes misfire
Wade has completely gone off the boil with just 63 runs in his last six innings. He only added one to that total leaving the pressure once again on red-hot McDermott, who couldn’t get going and fell for 11. With McDermott out cheaply, the vulnerable Hurricanes struggled, particularly D’Arcy Short.The left-hander has a BBL career strike-rate of 133.6 but drops to 99 this season and he maintained that lowly mark with a run a ball 32.Hurricanes slipped further when Peter Handscomb was run out calamitously and Caleb Jewell fell to a soft dismissal, but that provided an opportunity for David, whose season strike rate of 174 underlined his mastery of finishing innings.Coming out in the 10th over, David made his intent clear second ball with a brutal six off star spinner Rashid Khan and was in belligerent form until falling for 28 in the 16th over. Hurricanes lost their momentum to finish with a disappointing total.Matthew Short acknowledges the applause of the dressing room•Getty Images

Short makes light work of chase
Given their batting frailties, Strikers were no guarantee to chase down the modest total. To turn around their fortunes, they promoted Henry Hunt who made his BBL debut last start against Sydney Thunder at No.5.It did the trick with Hunt confidently striking several attractive boundaries as the home side powered to 0 for 38 after the four-over powerplay. But he disappointingly fell to a long hop from Sandeep Lamichhane’s first over as Short took over to keep Strikers’ momentum going.Short has been destructive in the powerplay but had only one innings of substance prior this season. He changed the script by picking the right balls to hit and finished with five sixes in a commanding performance.Since coming into the side after Australia A duties, Matthew Renshaw has shored up the batting order at No.3 and again he provided composure until holing late for 19. There was no trademark batting calamity for Strikers on this occasion with Short finishing the deal with 29 balls to spare.Injury concern for Meredith
Shorthanded without injured quick Nathan Ellis, Hurricanes needed early wickets but bowled too straight and let Strikers off the hook. Quick Tom Rogers, who has starred this season with 14 wickets, had a rare off performance as Hurricanes never really threatened.They were further weakened by the loss of speedster Riley Meredith, who only bowled one over after appearing to suffer a rib injury. He faces a nervous wait with Hurricanes mired mid-table after losing their second consecutive game.

Trust will be put in Josh Hazlewood over his fitness while Mitchell Starc unlikely to be rotated

AAP30-Dec-2021Australia’s selectors will put their faith in Josh Hazlewood’s judgement as they weigh up difficult choices with five in-form quicks ahead of the fourth Ashes Test.Hazlewood got through around 35 minutes of gentle bowling in the MCG nets on Thursday, still appearing in some discomfort on return from a side strain.The session was Hazlewood’s first bowling in almost three weeks, after hurting his side in the Ashes opener at the Gabba and missing the next two Tests.With the series already wrapped up in Australia’s favour there is some argument that Hazlewood should be given more time to recuperate. But chief selector George Bailey said his panel would not hold Hazlewood back if fit.Related

• Steven Smith's search for rhythm one of Australia's good problems

• Mitchell Swepson waits his chance, as SCG and subcontinent tours loom

• Ashes thrashings excites Pat Cummins for challenges ahead

• Scott Boland's blitz – how MCG six-for sealed Ashes

• Six and out for Boland? Australia's fast-bowling log jam for Sydney

“I’ve got pretty good faith in Hoff knowing his own body and trusting his own body,” Bailey said. “He’ll build up as he would before any sort of Test. He’ll talk a lot with [assistant] Andrew McDonald and [physio] David Beakley to see how he’s going. If Hoff’s confident and he says he’s right to go I think we back him in. He’s earned that trust.”Bailey also indicated that Australia’s innings victory in Melbourne meant Mitchell Starc would not sit out Sydney, despite being the only quick not to miss a Test this summer.Starc was required to bowl just 25 overs at the MCG and Australia’s early win gave him day four and five off without even bowling in the nets and a week between Tests.”Your plans are constantly changing because you’ve got no idea how many overs the bowlers are going to bowl,” Bailey said. “So you’ve got to stay pretty fluid around that. Today would have been would have been day five. So our quicks, in particular, not having as heavy a workload as they had in Adelaide and a couple of extra days off will all work in their favour.”Josh Hazlewood has not featured since the first Test•Getty Images

Captain Pat Cummins, who missed the second test due to a Covid scare, is one paceman assured of playing. If fellow regulars Starc and Hazlewood both play, it means there will be no room for debutant Scott Boland despite his stunning 6 for 7 performance on debut at the MCG.Jhye Richardson would also miss out after sitting out the Melbourne Test with minor leg soreness following his match-winning five-wicket haul in Adelaide.At best there could be room for one of them, creating a tough situation for selectors given Richardson was above Boland in the pecking order before Melbourne.”That’s a headache. It’s a great headache,” Bailey said. “[There are] obviously some hard conversations to be had at some stage.”The other spanner in the works could still be Mitchell Swepson, if Australia see a turning wicket in Sydney and decide to play two spinners, with allrounder Cameron Green as the third seamer.”We’ve got no doubt that, whether it’s at the SCG or whether it’s sometime in the future, that Swepo is ready,” Bailey said. “We’d love nothing more for him to get an opportunity but it will probably be conditions-dependent.”

Left-arm seamer Usman Shinwari called up as cover

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Feb-2022Karachi Kings’ floundering PSL campaign has been dealt another blow with the withdrawal of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Ilyas because of injuries. This robs the 2020 champions of two key bowlers, as they look to recover from three straight losses as a start to their season, and move off the bottom of the table.Amir had yet to play a game in PSL 2022. “Mohammad Amir, who was nursing a side strain for the past week or so, has aggravated his back injury during the rehabilitation process and shall also no longer be available to participate in the remainder of the season,” a franchise statement said.Ilyas had played in all three games, but conceded 71 runs across the six overs he had bowled. He hurt his shoulder in Karachi’s last game, a six-wicket loss to Lahore Qalandars, but returned to bowl again. Now that he’s out of the tournament, Usman Shinwari has been drafted in to replace him.”Mohammad Ilyas, who had a severe shoulder injury, despite which he came back after receiving treatment to bowl two overs in the last match,” the statement said. “MRIs have confirmed the worst and he has been advised rest for the next six weeks or so, and shall be leaving for his home in Peshawar tomorrow evening.”Karachi’s next game is against Peshawar Zalmi on Friday.

Pakistan batting coach was full of praise for Starc and Cummins’ bowling, but believes the hosts can “fight and try and take it to the end”

Danyal Rasool14-Mar-2022They had been kept out in the heat for 189 overs. Twelve overs into the second innings, they still trailed by more than 530 runs. There were almost nine sessions left in the Test match, and Pakistan’s bowlers were knackered after two draining days in the field. There was, suffice to say, no rush.So when, in Mitchell Swepson’s first over of Test cricket, Imam-ul-Haq took on Pat Cummins by summoning Abdullah Shafique for a tight single, it was a slightly bewildering moment. Cummins hit the stumps, as Imam only just made his ground. Pakistan had only just escaped what would have been the most embarrassing way to lose an early wicket.Three balls later, Imam prodded one behind point, where Swepson stood poised. Babar Azam admitted before the Test they hadn’t seen much of him bowl, so there was little chance of them having a clue how good his arm was. They tried to scurry through once more, but the 28-year picked up and threw side-arm in one whirlwind motion to knock the stumps down, sending Abdullah Shafique on his way. It doesn’t require a conducive pitch to lose a wicket like that.Related

• Australia's plans pay off as seamers conjure reverse swing to cap perfect day

• Mitchell Starc's reverse-swing masterclass rips through Pakistan as Australia dominate

• No slip-up for Carey this time as he takes 'little step in right direction'

Imam’s dismissal shortly after, too, had little to do with the surface. Using his feet to an uncharacteristically ineffectual Nathan Lyon, the left-hander never quite got to the pitch, only managing to shovel it to long-on. The bane of Australia’s existence in Rawalpindi was going to have the afternoon off in Karachi.Pakistan’s batting coach Mohammad Yousuf pointed to that passage of play as a key juncture. “They got momentum due to the run-outs,” Yousuf said. “They had experienced bowlers, and once they got momentum, they bowled in the right areas.”Imam scored runs in the last match by using his feet. He hit a six and a four here doing that too. It’s his strength. I feel batters score runs on their strength but can also be dismissed on it. People learn from these mistakes; it shouldn’t mean you abandon your strength.”It was an advice Mitchell Starc readily took to heart as the ball began to age. While conventional swing was unavailable, the ball began to offer reverse around the 20th over, and Starc, who had only bowled four overs with the new ball, was immediately brought back in.And as to why that happened became devastatingly clear to Pakistan in a match-defining 26th over. Starc’s intimidating pace and the angle from around the wicket to Azhar Ali harassed him into playing a wide delivery that was shaping away rather than in. But the piece de resistance was reserved for Fawad Alam’s first ball of the series, which had crashed into his pads before he had even appeared to get into position from his extravagantly side-on stance.Australia had seen their opening, and they rammed right through. Between the 26th and 33rd over, Pakistan lost four wickets in 41 balls as the relentlessly brilliant Cummins partnered up with Cameron Green to leave Pakistan reeling. It was a narrow window in which the ball suddenly seemed to come into life, and while Australia on day one saw off that tricky period, Pakistan found themselves blown away.”When such a big score is posted, the other side is under pressure,” Yousuf said. “The bowlers know they have runs on the board and can bowl with almost no pressure. Cummins and Starc bowled in fantastic areas. The hard period was when the ball was reversing between 20 and 40 overs or so; they exploited that beautifully. In that time, we lost five-six wickets.”Full credit to them for bowling and fielding so well. You’ll have seen often that when a side posts a big total on a pitch where there’s a chance of reverse swing or turn, the team batting second faces problems, no matter how good they are.”It’s very easy for me to tell them how to play from the outside, but when the bowling is so good and reverse swing is in play, we were taught to play only for inswing and not to take a big stride out. That’s my message to them, but it’s much easier said than done. It’s tough, because Starc and Cummins were magnificent. But you never know, sometimes a side can bat out two days. We’ll fight and try and take it to the end.”Yousuf understood frustrations around the batters’ failure to learn, both from Australia and past mistakes, offering up a tranquil defence as suited to his game as it is to his persona.”You always have to continue learning,” he smiled. “I try and learn something off my players, too.”On the evidence of today’s showing, Pakistan supporters would rather the learning went the other way, for quite a while yet.

“We didn’t quite find an answer [to Australia’s batting],” says England captain Heather Knight

Vishal Dikshit03-Apr-2022Australia “deserved a victory today” to lift their seventh World Cup title, after being “extremely consistent over a long period of time”, captain Meg Lanning has said. Australia were unbeaten throughout the tournament and have had a phenomenal run in ODIs since the 2017 World Cup, winning 40 out of 42 games for a win-loss ratio of 20. The next best is South Africa’s 2.75 (33 wins and 12 losses in 51 games) in that period.Australia had an unmatchable run through the league stage, barely going close to a loss in a World Cup full of close finishes. After a one-sided semi-final against West Indies, they were mostly ahead of England while defending a massive 356 in the final on Sunday and eventually won by 71 runs to lift the trophy, for the first time since 2013.”I think we have been extremely consistent over a long period of time, it’s been a massive build-up to this tournament,” Lanning said at the post-match presentation. “It’s been a long time coming. We felt like we have waited a hell of a long time. To come out and perform so well through the tournament, to be honest, it’s pretty amazing and I think we deserved a victory today.”Australia were especially dominant with the bat. Alyssa Healy flattened England with a career-best 170, off just 138 balls, and along with Rachael Haynes compiled another century stand. The duo also led the run charts for the tournament.”Healy’s knock was incredible,” Lanning said. “To do it in a World Cup final, I am probably not surprised, to be fair she’s done it before as well. To be able to come out and play so well, to play those shots she was playing was ridiculous and just to put the bowlers under pressure at the back-end was really important and she set the base really nice. We’ve spoken as a batting group about being patient upfront and building a partnership to get to explode at the back-end, and that’s what happened today.”Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes got Australia off to a strong start once again•Getty Images

Lanning was full of praise for her younger team-mates as well, especially legspinner Alana King and fast bowler Darcie Brown. King made her ODI debut only two months ago and was the second-highest wicket-taker for Australia with a tally of 12, just behind Jess Jonassen’s 13, whereas Brown’s speed gave Australia’s attack another dimension to add to Megan Schutt’s swing early on. Brown played six of Australia’s nine games for six wickets.”We came over with a squad mentality, we knew we had to have a number of different people contributing, which we’ve had throughout the tournament and it’s just been so great to see the team evolve over the tournament,” Lanning said. “We’ve had some young players come in and perform really well and make an impact straightaway which has been great for the team and for the more experienced players to keep pushing them to get better. Off the field, we’ve had great support from coaching staff to get us to this point as well.”Tay [Tayla Vlaeminck), Wolf [Georgia Wareham] and Soph [Sophie Molineux], big shoutout to you guys,” Lanning said of the three injured players who were back home. “There’s some good depth within our squad, we’ve seen Alana King and Darcie Brown come in and dominate and really lift the team, to be honest. It’s important to have some depth there. Injuries are unfortunately part of the sport and we’ve been able to cover that this time around.”Lanning said she was nervous almost throughout the final, particularly when Nat Sciver scored another century in the chase – just like in the league stage – but she ran out of partners in the end.”I was [nervous] the whole way through , especially when Nat Sciver went there,” Lanning said. “She’s an incredible player, played a really special innings today and would have been a match-winning one on any other day. We know England would come hard at us, we expected a contest today and got one.”Katherine Brunt and Kate Cross wear a dejected look after England’s loss•AFP/Getty Images

England captain Heather Knight showered praise on Sciver as well but said her team needed to learn from the way Australia build big partnerships to take the game away from oppositions.”I guess we didn’t quite find an answer [to Australia’s batting],” Knight said. “It was an amazing wicket, and if we had kept them to just about 300, probably par, we were in with a good chance of chasing it down.”Remarkable, absolutely unbelievable from Nat. The skill against spin, against seam, scoring all around the ground and unfortunately we couldn’t have someone stay with her. With the runs on the board we had to take a few more risks and unfortunately we couldn’t have a big partnership, something Australia do outstandingly and we can learn from how they have that big partnership in a ruthless way and they really take the game away from the opposition.”Knight was still “super proud” of her team for turning their campaign around in dramatic fashion after starting the tournament with three straight losses, before they won five on the trot, including the semi-final against South Africa.”Massively, super proud of the group, given how we managed to turn things around,” she said. “The fact that we’ve shown that character and resilience to turn it around and be within a shot of winning the World Cup. Unfortunately, one win was too many for us.”

England quick limited to solitary over as Sussex take charge even without him

David Hopps12-May-2022Sussex 39 for 1 trail Leicestershire 210 (Crocombe 3-37, Beard 3-58) by 171 runsOllie Robinson’s prospects of bowling himself into contention for the opening Test against New Zealand took another backward step when what was officially described as a stomach upset restricted him to only one over against Leicestershire. What he consumed ahead of the game has not been divulged, but it is a fair bet that it was not an ECB-approved mix of piri-piri breaded tofu and cruciferous vegetables.Fast food led to slow Robinson as he summoned up a single desultory over before leaving the field. He made a couple more shortlived fielding appearances later in the day, but none were long enough to bowl again. Fortunately for Sussex, Leicestershire’s innings developed a similarly pallid complexion as they subsided to 210 all out in 83.4 overs.”What are we going to do about Ollie?” will be a question in the In Tray of Brendon McCullum as he takes up his role as England’s new Test coach. Sussex loyally claim that his fitness in county cricket has been exemplary, but the extra intensity of international cricket has caught him all too frequently short.Since his fitness was openly brought into question at the end of England’s Ashes series, he has missed all three Tests in the West Indies because of a back spasm in the warm-up match in Antigua, and been refused permission to play in Sussex’s Championship match against Worcestershire because his fitness levels were unsatisfactory – something he blamed on a tooth infection. Nobody said what tooth it was, but as he appears to be undermining his own career it was unlikely to be a wisdom tooth.In his solitary Championship match, against Middlesex at Hove last week, Robinson took seven wickets. He appears to be a bowler who gets fit by bowling, an old-fashioned concept, but in many ways he is an old-fashioned cricketer. A casual look suggested he did look in need of an over or two. To deny him cricket at Worcester because he was not fit enough might well be viewed as a hard lesson, but the approach could prove to be largely counterproductive. Where should dictates begin and end? McCullum may have a view.Leicestershire have reached 300 only once all season, and their only hundred in a season in which the other 17 counties have racked up 94 between them was a match-saving affair by Hassan Azad against Worcestershire. This offered an opportunity to Robinson for something eye-catching, even allowing for the fact that this is a match between the Second Division’s bottom two, and so even if he had taken a 10-for, the clips would have brought paroxysms of rage from Kevin Pietersen on social media with cries of: “Look at the batting!””Look at the batting!” would have been an appropriate response, come to think of it, for several of the dismissals as Leicestershire, 69 for 1 with lunch approaching, contrived to lose seven wickets for 75 in 26 overs. In Robinson’s absence, Aaron Beard, an Essex loanee, and Henry Crocombe bowled with commendable energy to take three wickets each.Robinson’s talent is abundant – a Test and first-class average of 21 testifies to that – but he must be fit enough as a third seamer to bowl more than 20 overs a day, especially as England have no recourse to a reliable holding spinner. With James Anderson and Stuart Broad approaching an age when some people are already considering a re-run of an old Midsomer Murders, they cannot be expected to pick up any slack.With George Garton absent again because of the effects of long Covid, Mohammad Rizwan withdrawing due to a family bereavement and Mason Crane recalled by Hampshire, Sussex were up against it. The captain, Tom Haines, was forced to employ his own medium pace, with the keeper standing up, within the first hour.Crocombe had Sam Evans caught at second slip, but Leicestershire were within an over of lunch, with Azad and Rishi Patel looking untroubled, when they contrived one of the slackest run-outs of the season. The cover region was entirely unmanned as Azad pushed the ball firmly enough to point, but Patel half-heartedly opted for a single, Azad, whose running between the wickets can be a bit of a liability, wasn’t sure at all, and Tom Alsop dashed from first slip to pick up and throw down the stumps at the bowler’s end with Azad well short.Considering that Leicestershire had suffered three first-innings run-outs against Glamorgan last week, Azad among them, the waste was criminal. Patel followed soon after lunch to a good, back-of-a-length ball from Beard, and another catch at second slip for Tom Clark.Henry Crocombe led the line in Robinson’s absence with three wickets•Getty Images

Leicestershire have given away 4,000 free tickets for this match, many of them to schools, and judging by the squeals of delight that had met the team announcement at 10.40am, Patel was something of a favourite so his departure was a disappointment. In The Meet, the favoured haunt of more sedentary observers, team announcements have occasionally brought a momentary pause in the chewing of a sausage sandwich, but squeals have not been logged, and it was good to see the outfield swarming with children playing Kwik Cricket at the lunch interval.Leicestershire’s shot-making afterwards did not go so well. Colin Ackermann chopped a little inducker from Haines into his stumps and Lewis Hill’s run-a-ball 35 ended with an uncontrolled leaping cut at Crocombe and a decent, leaping catch by Archie Lenham at square third man.Harry Swindells was lbw on the back leg to Delray Rawlins, who also had the South African Wiaan Mulder caught down the leg-side. Ben Mike fell for nought, trying to force a Crocombe delivery off the back foot and edging to first slip. Callum Parkinson’s unbeaten 32 served as a suitable comment on the inadequacies of what had gone before and he reinforced that after the close.”A frustrating day because we’re repeating errors – we had the game by the scruff of the neck at 69-1, but then we have a soft run-out and a couple of soft dismissals and we’re on the back foot,” he said.”We’ve got to give ourselves a chance to get into games and you don’t often do that when you don’t score big first innings runs. It felt like a decent pitch to bat on. We just have to do the basics better.”Neither side will want to end the first phase of the Championship – this is the penultimate round of seven – without a win to their name. It was Sussex who closed the first day the more confident of achieving breaking their duck. And, in the second innings, who knows, a revitalised Robinson to come.

The former Australia wicketkeeper said the club had to become known for more than just entertaining cricket

Andrew McGlashan11-May-2022Ian Healy said a combination of Chris Lynn losing his enjoyment in trying to carry Brisbane Heat and a lack of development in the players around him were the key components in the club parting ways with the BBL’s record run-scorer.Healy, a Queensland Cricket director who was part of the committee that made the decision not to offer Lynn a new contract, referenced a history of under-performing by Heat having only reached the finals three times in 11 years with one title back in the second season of BBL in 2012-13.In last season’s Covid-disrupted campaign, during which Heat were one of the worst-affected teams, they finished seventh and Lynn ended with a tally of 215 runs at 17.91 from 12 matches.Related

• Chris Lynn finalises Northamptonshire deal for T20 Blast

• BBL record-holder Chris Lynn cut by Brisbane Heat after 11 seasons

Healy insisted it was purely cricketing reasons behind the move to end Lynn’s Heat career and believed it could help revive him but conceded the batter was still coming to terms with it.”No behavioral or cultural issues came into this at all,” Healy told reporters. “To me, it was the fact that performing for the Brisbane Heat wasn’t enjoyable for Chris Lynn and our players on the other side weren’t growing so neither were enjoying the relationship. So it needed to change.”Chris, for example, being relied upon so heavily in such a high-intensity job – trying to hit sixes from balls right where you don’t want them put – then his form being down, it becomes a real chore and effort to find energy day in day out. Then our team weren’t stepping up to support him well enough.”Healy said it was time for Heat to build a new image of more than just a side that provided the entertainment factor with a strong focus needed on results.”This is a sign that Brisbane Heat are going more to winning than entertaining,” he said. “That gives a lot of pleasure to fans. I don’t think the winning part has come easily for us and neither party has been enjoying the relationship last year.”In the years where Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum were setting the Big Bash on fire with entertainment, we still weren’t winning. To me, the other players weren’t stepping up and they’re still not stepping up and it’s become unenjoyable for Lynny. So we’ve just got to make a step and get some real responsibility into our players.”There were lots of reasons why last season wasn’t great but Lynny’s season, at the end of a five-year contract, was just poorly timed. This is one of the most significant decisions Brisbane Heat or even Queensland Cricket have had to make because he has been the Brisbane Heat.”Healy believed that Lynn, who will shortly take up a county deal with Northamptonshire in the T20 Blast and will likely have interest from a number of BBL sides ahead of the next season, has at least five years of cricket left in him and added Heat’s door “is still open.””He accepts it. He knows how hard it was playing with so many players relying upon you and against great opposition who bowl very well to you, it was very, very difficult,” Healy said. “Then he’ll go into disappointment mode as well. Time will help and certainly England will help and hopefully another BBL franchise. All my cricketing instincts tell me he’s not finished. He’s got five good years and I really hope he can find some fun and enjoyment.”

Kishan’s 76 goes in vain as SA build on powerplay dominance to chase imposing target down

Firdose Moonda09-Jun-20224:56

Steyn: Miller now seems to hit boundaries whenever he wants

South Africa pulled off their highest successful chase in T20I cricket, and denied India a record 13th successive T20I victory, despite being a batter light in the series opener. Unbeaten half-centuries from David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen, who shared a 131-run fourth-wicket stand, a record for South Africa, built on an impressive powerplay, led by a surprise move to promote Dwaine Pretorius to No.3, and earned South Africa victory with five balls to spare.On a pitch that India’s top-scorer Ishan Kishan described as “not easy”, run-scoring was quicker than expected and boundaries in over-supply. India hit 16 fours and 14 sixes; South Africa 17 fours and 14 sixes.India would have fancied their chances after they made use of some early luck to post their highest total against South Africa – 211 for 4 – and the highest T20I total at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. Their batters were particularly severe against South Africa’s two spinners. Keshav Maharaj, who opened the bowling, and Tabraiz Shamsi bowled five overs altogether and conceded 70 runs between them, with Maharaj finishing with his most expensive T20I figures of 1 for 43.But in response, South Africa played the powerplay to perfection, and scored 61 runs in the first six overs. They lost captain Temba Bavuma and Pretorius but the latter’s cameo set up the middle order to finish off. Though van der Dussen had a customarily circumspect start, and the required run-rate grew to over 14 an over at one stage, Miller kept South Africa in the hunt in the first half of the partnership. The pair took on the Indian pace bowlers at the end, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel conceding 86 runs in their 8 overs.2:12

Steyn: Rassie could look to improve on the way he starts his innings

Kishan turns uncertain start into cracking finish
Kishan mis-hit three of his first four boundaries and played down the wrong line to almost everything else as India appeared to struggle despite the runs on the board. His opening partner, Ruturaj Gaikwad, also wasn’t striking the ball entirely cleanly. He top-edged Anrich Nortje over short fine-leg but after India piled on 36 runs in five overs and survived the first properly disciplined over, from Wayne Parnell, things changed.Kishan showed his touch when he dabbed Nortje behind third man and then smoked a drive through the covers to finish the powerplay with India 51 without loss. He was unstoppable from there. He slayed the short ball, advanced down the track to hit Shamsi for six three times, and then belted Maharaj through the leg-side for 20 runs off four balls before successfully reviewing an lbw call.Fielding fluffs
South Africa made four errors, and two of them were costly. The first came immediately after the powerplay when Gaikwad pulled a hip-high short ball from Parnell to Pretorius at long leg. He hit it hard, but straight at Pretorius, who could not hold on as the ball burst through his hands for six. Gaikwad was dismissed off the next ball.Then, three balls past the halfway mark, Maharaj shortened his length as he saw Shreyas Iyer coming down the track and Quinton de Kock had an opportunity to stump him, but could not break the wicket in time. Iyer was on 25 and went on to score 36.And three balls after that, Kishan top-edged a slog-sweep to midwicket where Maharaj, van der Dussen, debutant Tristan Stubbs, and Shamsi all converged, but the ball fell between them. Kishan was on 52 and went on to add 24 more to his score, most of it off Maharaj. The very next ball, there was an opportunity to run out Rishabh Pant for a duck at the non-striker’s end, when he wanted to sneak a run but collided with Rabada. Stubbs lobbed the ball over the fielder backing-up at that end. Pant smashed a 16-ball 29.Pretorius promoted
In a surprise move, South Africa opted to move Pretorius rather than Miller or Stubbs to No. 3 when Bavuma was dismissed in the third over but a little bit of digging revealed there was some method to what seemed like madness. Pretorius has batted at No. 3 ten previous times in his T20 career, and once in an international, when he scored his career-best 77*. He punched the second ball he faced through the covers for four, and slog-swept the fifth for six to suggest what he could do and then took three sixes off Hardik Pandya to confirm it. Pretorius swung hard and got the short, full, and length ball over the leg side before Harshal broke through his defences with a slower ball and took out off stump.Ishan Kishan made 76•BCCI

de Kock dismissed and pressure builds
de Kock holed out to Kishan at square leg off Axar Patel, with South Africa’s required rate above 11 an over, and then India applied the squeeze. Between Axar, Avesh Khan, and Harshal, they bowled 18 boundary-less deliveries, which pushed South Africa’s required rate up above 14 an over.van der Dussen shifts gears

It was expected that Miller would be the batter to keep South Africa in the game – given his impressive IPL – and he did exactly that. He broke the boundary drought with 10 runs off the last two balls of Harshal’s second over and then hit Axar for a six onto the third tier of the stands.But van der Dussen, oft-criticised for his slow scoring rate, could not get the ball away as regularly until he broke the toe-end of his bat and had to change it for another. With the new bat, he hit Avesh over his head for four, off a no-ball, and then sent him straight to deep midwicket but Shreyas spilled a simple chance. van der Dussen was on 29 off 30 balls at the time and went on to plunder 22 runs off Harshal’s third over, including sending two full-tosses for six and bringing up fifty off the 39th ball he faced with a six over deep square leg. He brought the requirement down to 34 off the last three overs and then 12 off the last two before surviving an lbw review to hit the winning runs in the first ball of the final over.