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Alex Blackwell and Beth Mooney made fifties to steer Australia’s chase of 254 against New Zealand women and level their three-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Mar-2017
ScorecardAlex Blackwell struck 65 to steer Australia’s chase of 254•Getty Images

Alex Blackwell struck a timely 65 to help Australia recover from a middle-order slide and chase down 254 against New Zealand in the second women’s ODI in Mount Maunganui. Blackwell’s knock followed on from Beth Mooney’s 57 at the top as Australia made 256 for 6 to win by four wickets and level the three-match series.Mooney helped Australia recover from the early loss of Nicole Bolton for 17 in the seventh over. She added 87 for the second wicket with her captain Meg Lanning. However, the introduction of 16-year old legspinner Amelia Kerr dented Australia’s chase. Kerr struck twice in her first over, the 21st of the innings, bowling Lanning for 44 and Elyse Villani for a first-ball duck. Mooney fell in the same fashion six overs later, as Australia slid from 109 for 1 to 138 for 4.But Alyssa Healy and Blackwell made sure the runs kept flowing and shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 81 off 85 balls. Blackwell, in her first game back from a hamstring injury, walked out to face the hat-trick ball, but managed to get off the mark straight away. “It’s never nice to face a hat-trick ball. I was just thinking about playing as straight as possible,” she said. “It was a bonus to score off the first ball, that settled me. I would have liked to finish not out.”Healy became Kerr’s fourth victim when she was caught and bowled in the 41st over for 36. Blackwell was caught behind with Australia 17 away from the target. Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner ensured her effort wasn’t in vain as they knocked off the remaining runs with 16 balls to spare.”We know it’s a really good wicket here and the outfield is exceptional, so 250 wasn’t something we were too concerned about,” Blackwell said. “I think we can continue to improve with the ball as well, but today was a much better effort.”Suzie Bates, the New Zealand captain, felt lapses in the field cost them. “I don’t think we fielded well today, it was probably our worst fielding performance this series,” she said.Bates showered praise on Kerr, who finished with 4 for 54 runs in 10 overs. “I probably left her a little bit late. For a 16-year old, you would think she’d be under pressure, but there is no such thing as pressure to her, she just wants to bowl. She knows her game and the game of cricket really well. She knows exactly what she wants to do and has pretty good control. She is going to be a massive star for us and she was a key bowler for us today.”Kerr, who dismissed Lanning with a googly, especially cherished that wicket. “She’s one of the best players in the world, and to get her with a googly is wow, it’s something I have been working on a lot,” she said. “The bowling coach told me to bowl the googly to Lanning, and luckily, it worked. And she is tough to bowl to, so I was glad I didn’t need to bowl to her for too long.”When New Zealand batted, after being asked to, Bates dominated the early going, and made 35 of the 55 runs her team had scored at the time of the dismissal. Amy Satterthwaite and Katey Martin joined hands for a third-wicket stand of 87. Once the association was ended, with the dismissal of Martin, the onus on building the innings fell on Satterthwaite. Perkins chipped in with 38 and helped Satterthwaite add 63 for the fifth wicket that pushed the score past 200.Satterthwaite hung on till the 47th over. She made 85 off 117 balls, falling 15 short of what would have been her fifth consecutive ODI century. New Zealand stumbled towards the end, losing two more wickets after her dismissal to finish with 253 for 8. Amanda-Jade Wellington took three wickets for Australia, but Perry, who opened the bowling, stood out in her short spell, finishing with 1 for 9 in four overs.

After his career-best 4 for 47 against New Zealand, JP Duminy said even though the work had been put into his bowling, there weren’t too many opportunities to improve

Firdose Moonda in Wellington16-Mar-2017Despite JP Duminy taking a career-best 4 for 47, he said offspinner Dane Piedt, who is arriving ahead of the Hamilton Test, should “definitely not” remain in South Africa at his expense. Instead, Duminy intends to keep working on his bowling in the hope that he will finally be able to live up to the allrounder reputation he was developing a few years ago.”It’s something that I have been working on for a period of time and unfortunately I haven’t reaped any rewards, but I guess it comes down to opportunities,” Duminy said. “If you look at recent Test matches, our seam attack coupled with Keshav (Maharaj) have been doing really well. I’ve been getting an odd over here and there so the opportunities haven’t really been there. When you look at a spinner, it’s got to be a big portion of overs that they have to bowl to get success. Today was one of those days when I got an opportunity to carry on.”Although picked for his batting alone, Duminy offered South Africa offspin from the start of his career and was often asked to play a holding role in the early years. He bowled in 11 of his first 14 Tests, once delivering as many of 24 overs – against England in Durban – and had some success. In total, Duminy took 11 wickets in that part of his career albeit at an average of 45.Things became more serious in November 2012, when Duminy was picked as the sole spinner in a South African XI to play a Test in Brisbane but tore his Achilles’ tendon in the match and was out of action for six months. On his return, he bowled with some regularity for South Africa, and delivered a minimum of 11 overs a match in the next ten Tests. Since, however, he has tapered off. He has only bowled more than 10 overs twice in 16 Tests after that and fewer than five overs on eight occasions.In Wellington, Duminy was tasked with bowling 11.3 overs and helped trigger a lower-order collapse in unlikely fashion. Six of New Zealand’s wickets fell to spin on a surface that was seamer-friendly. “It’s probably not a wicket we will think that spinners will dominate on,” he said. “The plan we had to try and get wickets was a good one – to try and bowl a wider line. There wasn’t a lot of purchase for spinners so I thought our tactics were pretty good.”South Africa had some luck – Jimmy Neesham was stumped after striding far out of his crease and BJ Watling was caught off the back pad flap – but Duminy believed that was a result of the pressure the visitors put back on New Zealand after easing off in the second session. “There were periods when they played really well and we were probably guilty of leaking a bit in the middle session. But I thought we brought it back nicely and got some crucial wickets at crucial times,” Duminy said. “There are times in the game when things need to go your way, and fortunately for us it happened that way. But I think it comes down to being consistent in a certain area and with that, things will happen for you. That sort of played out today.”Although South Africa fought back, they found themselves on the back foot after both openers were dismissed in the final period. With “something in the wicket,” Duminy expects his batting will be needed more than his bowling on the second day. “Tomorrow will be a big day in terms of where this Test match goes. There will still be a hint of swing with Southee there so we’re going to have to bat well.”

The Pakistan batsman told a news website that he could be open to the idea of extending his Test career if the team management requests him to do so

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Apr-2017Pakistan may not have to suffer the double whammy of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan exiting at the same time if they do not want to. The latter is open to the idea of extending his international career, but only if the Pakistan board and team needs him to do so. Younis raised the possibility ahead of Pakistan’s Test in Jamaica, having hinted at it during the announcement of his retirement in Karachi two weeks ago.”Yeah, I will think about it,” Younis told before the first Test. “It all depends on if my team needs me. If they request me or people want me then why not? But it all depends on my team.”Given his experience and recent Test form, and given that a tour to Bangladesh this summer will provide a far sterner test of their batting than tours past, a case can be readily made for wanting Younis to stay on. If he scores runs in this Test series, that is likely to increase calls for him to stay on though Younis has said he would prefer to leave with people wanting more from him, rather than overstaying. The selection committee, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq will also play a role – Inzamam is known to have been keen to move on beyond both Misbah and Younis after the Caribbean tour.Younis announced his decision to retire at the end of the West Indies tour earlier this month, only two days after Misbah did. Together the two batsmen brought close to 190 matches worth of experience to the side, with Younis on the verge of becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs.An example of the influence the pair had on the side came during their tour to England last year, when the side drew the Test series 2-2 and briefly gained the No. 1 ranking. Misbah scored a crucial first-innings hundred at Lord’s in the first Test, while Younis’ 218 in the fourth Test at The Oval, helped Pakistan cling on to the series after two defeats. Their contributions earned them places on list of Five Cricketers of the Year.In a column for ahead of the first Test, Misbah also made public his feeling that the team still needed Younis and that he could continue playing for a year or two.”I talked to him about it in Australia and told him that ‘You can play on’,” Misbah wrote. “Even though we have some very good youngsters in the team, the gap left by Younis’ absence will be difficult to fill.”The Pakistan team will not just miss him as a batsman, they’ll also miss him as a mentor. He has been a terrific role model for everyone and it will be very tough to replace him. Every member of this team, including myself, has learnt a lot from him. He has changed our dressing room culture. If one wants to be successful in professional life, one only needs to regard Younis Khan’s organised and punctual lifestyle from breakfast to bed.”The speculation around Younis’ retirement after the tour of Australia was not as intense as it had been for Misbah, who battled poor form on the tour and came away with a 0-3 series defeat. After scoring an unbeaten 175 in the third Test in Sydney, Younis had said his future plans would depend on what the team needed from him. In April, while announcing his intention to retire, Younis said: “No player always remains fit, the motivation never remains the same, so this is the time when Younis should leave the field after the upcoming series in West Indies.”One of Pakistan’s modern batting greats, Younis’ 17-year-long Test career saw him play 115 Test matches with 9977 runs and 34 Test hundreds, the most by a Pakistan batsman. Younis’ personal best of 313 – against Sri Lanka in 2009 – is the third-highest score by a Pakistan batsman, after Hanif Mohammad’s 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 329.

The BCCI will receive a little over US$100 million more than what was agreed upon by a vast majority of the ICC Board in meetings in April

Nagraj Gollapudi22-Jun-20171:44

How the BCCI and ICC reached a consensus

Peace has broken out in world cricket, as the BCCI and ICC have finally reached an agreement on a new finance model. The bare facts are that the BCCI will receive a little over US$100 million more than what was agreed upon by a vast majority of the ICC Board in meetings in April and most of the other boards will receive marginally less. Under this model, approved by the ICC Board on Thursday in London during the ICC’s AGM, the BCCI will now receive US$405 million, $112 million more than in the original model, which was passed by nine votes to one in Dubai in April.In the final model, seen by ESPNcricinfo, figures are based on the ICC earning US$2.7 billion in the new rights cycle from 2016-2023. After various ICC expenses and costs are taken out, the net surplus is US$ 1.776 billion; of this amount, Full Members will receive US$1.536 billion and Associates US$240 million. Out of the FM’s share, the BCCI will receive US$405 million and the ECB US$139 million. Each of Cricket Australia, Cricket South Africa, Pakistan Cricket Board, New Zealand Cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket, Cricket West Indies and Bangladesh Cricket Board will receive $128 million. Those figures represent a US$ 4 million drop for each of the eight boards. Zimbabwe Cricket retains the same share that was presented in April – $94 million.The total reduction of the eight boards – $32 million – as well as a $40 million cut from the Associates’ share ($280 million in April) has likely gone some way to making up the BCCI’s increase. That, as well as a cut in total ICC event costs of nearly $16 million; also notably absent from the financial model that was approved in February are proposed shares for Afghanistan and Ireland. It is not clear what the breakdown in revenue for Associates will be yet.The BCCI will receive more than what was agreed upon by a majority of the ICC Board in April•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Though all sides will have breathed a collective sigh of relief, the BCCI will feel it especially pleased given the manner in which it was so comprehensively outvoted at the April meetings. At that meeting the BCCI had walked in demanding $570 million as what it thought was its due share. But it was outvoted 9-1 – the only Full Member board to oppose. Licking its wounds the BCCI also rejected a $100 million increase, offered to them as a compromise by the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar. In the intervening months the BCCI has clearly softened its stance and it is now clear it accepted Manohar’s offer.The BCCI’s refusal to accept the new financial model – as part of changes drawing back from the short-lived Big Three era – had hovered over international cricket since February, when matters first came to a head. There was, briefly, a worry that the BCCI might pull India out of ICC tournaments, though that was swiftly assuaged when India played at the Champions Trophy.A key detail is that the finance model is not part of the new constitution. During the last two Board meetings, the BCCI had insisted that the finance model be dealt with exclusively outside the constitution which caters mostly to the governance structure. An accompanying paper from the ICC on the new governance structure, seen by ESPNcricinfo, states that the details of a financial model will “be determined by the Board from time to time in a manner that may allow each member to receive a different level of distribution”.

The CoA has asked the Supreme Court to take note of the “disruptive and subversive conduct” of disqualified office bearers who were preventing the implementation the Lodha recommendations

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Jul-20175:55

Ugra: Old BCCI challenging Supreme Court

The Committee of Administrators has turned up the heat on the BCCI’s old guard, asking the Supreme Court to take note of the “disruptive and subversive conduct” of disqualified office bearers who were preventing the board from implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.In its fourth status report which the court will consider on July 14, the COA, which was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, named former BCCI office bearers N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah as being particularly problematic to the process.Srinivasan and Shah had become ineligible to continue in their roles as heads of the Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra Cricket Associations, and to attend BCCI meetings, after the court approved the Lodha report on July 18, 2016. They were disqualified because they were over the prescribed 70-year age cap and had exceeded the maximum tenure for office bearers.Yet both Srinivasan and Shah have found ways to stay involved in administration and attend important BCCI meetings, including the most recent special general meetings (SGM) of the board on May 7 and June 26. Those two SGMs had been convened for the BCCI’s members – the state associations – to approve the new constitution, as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.The CoA said the SGM on June 26 was “manifestly disruptive”. In its report, the CoA told the court that it had managed to convince the majority of the state associations to adopt the recommendations but the SGM was “hijacked” by the disqualified former office bearers.”From an audio recording of the SGM, it appears that such disqualified persons were able to effectively hijack proceedings at the SGM by prevailing upon other attendees (who may have been otherwise willing to facilitate the reform process) to either support the cause of such disqualified person or remain silent,” the COA said.Srinivasan and Shah, and other disqualified administrators, had attended the meetings as a representative or nominee of their state association. In their defence, the TNCA and SCA said the Lodha Committee’s eligibility norms were for office bearers and not representatives. The CoA countered in its report that the “true intention” of the court’s order had been violated on a technicality.”In this manner, such disqualified persons are effectively able to do indirectly what they have been prohibited by this Hon’ble Court from doing directly,” the CoA said. “Such disqualified persons have a vested interest in stalling implementation of the Judgement because, if the Judgment is implemented, such disqualified person will have to relinquish control over their respective State/Member Associations.”The COA also noted that though the three existing BCCI office bearers – CK Khanna (acting president), Amitabh Choudhary (secretary), and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) – had given written consent to the Supreme Court, only Choudhary urged the members to take “concrete steps” to implement the reforms at the SGM on June 26. Chaudhry, the COA said, was a “mute spectator, lacking the courage and conviction” to support the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.The BCCI’s recent decision to form a special committee to shortlist “critical points” from the Lodha recommendations that it wanted the Supreme Court to reconsider, was also criticised by the CoA. Such a committee, the COA said in its report, was formed almost a year after the order was delivered last year, clearly indicative of the resistance to the reforms. The COA requested the court to “remove the impediments to implementation” of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

Luke Fletcher ‘feels lucky to be here’ after his blow on the head while bowling in the NatWest Blast and he fears he may not be the last to be injured in this way

George Dobell12-Jul-20172:35

‘I’m lucky to be here’ – Luke Fletcher

Luke Fletcher feels “lucky to be here” after sustaining a ferocious blow to the head during Saturday’s T20 Blast match at Edgbaston.Fletcher, the Nottinghamshire seamer, sustained the injury when his first ball of the match was struck back at him by Birmingham batsman, Sam Hain and hit him on top of the head.While Fletcher didn’t lose consciousness, subsequent scans showed bruising and a small bleed on the brain with a decision taken to rest him for the remainder of the season. He will have a further MRI scan in the coming days to assess his recovery and currently sports a cut held together by eight stitches under the hairline.But while he is naturally disappointed to miss the rest of the season – Nottinghamshire are well-placed to push for promotion and are among the favourites in the Blast – and frustrated at being told he must not drive a car, he accepts his is a story that could have had a far more serious ending.Indeed, he has warned that something similar “will happen again” and said that, at Notts, the bowlers no longer take-part in net sessions with batsmen to avoid such injuries.”I’m really lucky to be here now and speaking to you today,” he said. “The doctors said I pretty much dodged a bullet. A few inches to the left or right and it could have been a completely different story. If it had hit the temple or straight in the face then…. I don’t really want to think about what may have happened.”In a weird way, I suppose I’ve been lucky. It’s hit me on a part of the brain or skull that the surgeon said you don’t use much.”He remembers every moment of the incident. And, having not seen the ball hit back at him – his head was down as he completed his delivery stride – or felt much pain, it was only when he saw the reaction of his teammates and then saw footage of the moment of impact that he started to realise how serious the episode was.”I remember letting go of the ball and I could see that Hain backed away,” he said. “The next thing I remember being hit on the head and thinking ‘I may be in a bit of bother here.’ I didn’t see the ball one bit. I just felt it.”When it hit me I went down and was waiting to go unconscious. When I realised I was all right, I had my hand on my head and the physio, James Pipe was asking ‘How are you?'”I said ‘I don’t feel too bad to be honest.’ And then I lifted my hand off my head. Steven Mullaney ran off – and a few other lads ran off – because of the bleeding. But I got to my feet pretty quickly and never really felt unstable at all and walked off. Which is absolutely amazing having watched it back. You’d probably expect a bit more, really. Having such a big ‘swede’ probably helped me out a bit.”In a weird way, I quite enjoyed watching it back. I quite like stuff like that. As long as I knew I was all right, it was quite good. It was just amazing how far the ball went. I couldn’t believe it. The first time I saw it, I was a bit like ‘off’ and that’s when I realised why everyone was so concerned.”The concern of Fletcher’s teammates was understandable. Not only is he a popular member of their squad, but it is only just over a year since the club was jolted by news of James Taylor’s illness.”Having spoken to a few of my mates – Mullaney and Jake Ball – that’s what was going through their minds,” he said. “And then there was Phil Hughes as well….”But once the lads came off the field and saw I was fine, they got on with the game. James Pipe has been unbelievable throughout; he stayed by my side for the next 48 hours, really. He’s been amazing.”Fletcher is guided from the field at Edgbaston•Getty Images

It doesn’t take long to understand Fletcher’s popularity. He has a good line in self-deprecating wit – “I don’t know how the ball is,” he says at one stage. “Someone had better check up on it; the lads said it was reversing a bit later” and, later “My mum and dad were a bit annoyed as they had paid £30 and they only saw me bowl one ball” – and knows many of his team-mates well having come through the club’s system from his teenage years.He didn’t have things easy, either. When he was initially offered a place on the staff as a 16-year-old, he was obliged to turn it down as it didn’t pay as much as the job he was currently in – he was a grill man at Hooters – so the club arranged for him to have a stint on the gates letting lorries come in and out as the Radcliffe Road Stand was redeveloped. “It was freezing,” he recalls with a smile. “It was much better in the kitchen.”But he has developed into a fine cricketer. While not an especially fast bowler – probably somewhere around 80 mph – he can move the ball in the air and off the pitch, is considered one of the best death bowlers in the county game and was recently run-out just eight short of a maiden first-class century. He is out of contract at the end of the season but the club will look after him: a new contract will be announced shortly.The worrying aspect of this incident is that it could easily have ended much worse. Indeed, Fletcher warns that in training, bowlers are already reluctant to bowl at batsmen practising their T20 skills.”I think it’ll happen again,” he said. “Most bowlers – certainly at Notts – in the nets tend to go away and do target practice on the side in one-day and T20, just because balls are coming back at a speed you can’t react to. You get hit all over your body. I certainly think the chances are it will happen again.”I’m sure after this people will come up with some sort of theories and some sort of technologies or protective equipment. You can’t be running in with a helmet, can you? But maybe something to protect your head?”I’ll certainly bowl again. I’d bowl now if I could.”There are huge questions here for the game. While some level of risk may be considered unavoidable, incidents such as this – coming on top of the incident that caused such devastating damage to club cricketer Alex Tait a few months ago – might be considered warnings. With bats better, batsmen seemingly more powerful and the aggression of the game having undergone a transformation since the introduction of T20, it seems inevitable that, sooner or later, we’re going to see a bowler killed by a return hit. The game, or at least the look of the game, might have to change radically to counteract such a threat.

Shahid Afridi’s four wickets gave Hampshire promise of victory but they dried up with the bat as Kent kept their last-eight hopes alive

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2017Shahid Afridi’s four wickets were to no avail•Getty Images

Mitchell Claydon defended 16 in the final over to back up Daniel Bell-Drummond’s ninth career T20 fifty as Kent edged a last over thriller to beat Hampshire by five runs in the Natwest T20 Blast.England Lions star Bell-Drummond carefully hit 62 to help the visitors reach 159 for six on a slow track.Hampshire faltered in the second half of the innings to fall short. They needed 37 from 28 balls when Australian George Bailey was the third wicket to fall. Liam Dawson managed 5 from 9 balls and No. 3 Tom Alsop was left high and dry with 43 from 41 balls with only two boundaries.Hampshire’s captain James Vince expressed his disappointment at a victory that eluded his side: “For three quarters of the game we did better than them but we struggled to find the boundary in the second half of our innings,” he said. “We needed 72 from 10 overs with eight wickets in hand – it was a bit of a mess up but we have to move on for Friday.”He defended the decision not to push Shahid Afridi up the order to No 6, saying: “Afridi hasn’t really hit it miles yet this season and McManus has been in really good touch. We didn’t lose a wicket for a while so no one went in and we left too much to do in the back end. In hindsight we would have liked to win that with an over to spare.”Vince and Rilee Rossouw had got Hampshire off to a quick start in their quest to reach 160. Skipper Vince in particular took a fancy to Mitchell Clayton, who he dispatched for the match’s first six over cover in the fourth over.But the fast bowler hit back three balls later as Rossouw picked out Alex Blake at mid-on to break the 43-run opening partnership. Vince departed to the final ball of the powerplay as he was yorked by former teammate Matt Coles – as Hampshire sped to 60 in the opening six overs.Spin pair Imran Qayyum and James Tredwell put the brakes on Hampshire’s charge with tight middle overs. And from then on the hosts struggled, Bailey and Alsop neatly added 40 to take their side to 28 runs from victory before the Australian chipped a paddle sweep to short fine leg for a season best 41.Liam Dawson then picked out Blake on the long on boundary to leave his side needing 16 from the final over. But Claydon brilliantly defended the last six balls, as he only went for 10, to lift Kent’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.Earlier, Kent captain Sam Northeast won the toss and decided to bat on a grubby track under thin grey clouds.Joe Denly and Bell-Drummond set off at an understated rate, which set the tone for the innings. Denly cracked back-to-back fours off Chris Wood in the second over, two of just 12 boundaries in the Kent total, as they reached 47 by the end of the Powerplay. Mason Crane broke the 65-run opening stand when he bowled Denly with a googly.Skipper Northeast was bowled for a quick 10 and Sam Billings picked out Crane on the long on boundary as Afridi showed his class by going on to take four wickets.England Lions star Bell-Drummond continued to tick the score along effortlessly and reached a 33-ball fifty. Afridi was keeping things tight at the other end but waited until his final over to blow the visitors away by snatching two wickets in two balls.James Neesham top edged a sweep to short third man and Bell-Drummond was brilliant caught by a sliding Dawson on the cover boundary – leaving Afridi with his third best Hampshire T20 figures of 4 for 26.Alex Blake and Darren Stevens struck a quick 39 to lift Kent to 159 although the latter was caught at mid-off at the final ball as Kyle Abbott deceived him with a slower ball – but the score was enough.

Sri Lanka Cricket, who had already named a T20 squad ahead of the ODI series against India, have now announced a new 15 two days ahead of the one-off game

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Sep-2017Although Sri Lanka Cricket had already named a T20 squad ahead of the ODI series, two days out from the one-off match against India, the board has released a new squad, this one featuring legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay and seam-bowling allrounder Dasun Shanaka.

Sri Lanka’s revised T20 squad

Upul Tharanga (capt), Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Isuru Udana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Vikum Sanjaya

Also in this side are spinner Akila Dananjaya, who was Sri Lanka’s most penetrative bowler in the ODIs, seamer Suranga Lakmal, who has recovered from a back complaint, and allrounders Wanindu Hasaranga, Thisara Perera and Milinda Siriwardana. Seam bowler Isuru Udana has also been named, while Dushmantha Chameera and Vishwa Fernando have been omitted.Kusal Mendis, whom the management feels is suffering from mental fatigue, has been rested as well.Vandersay has not played a T20 for Sri Lanka since the World T20 last year, which is perhaps surprising, as he had been one of the team’s standout players in that tournament. His return was complicated by injury, but the selectors have tried other spinners ahead of him as well. Notably absent from this 15 is left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan – a more aggressive but expensive option.*On the seam-bowling front Sri Lanka have Lasith Malinga, in addition to Lakmal and Vikum Sanjaya. The most senior batsman is Angelo Mathews, and this will also be Upul Tharanga’s first match as full-time T20 captain.T20s are the one format in which Sri Lanka have a creditable record in 2017. They won both the three-match series against Australia and South Africa, and drew the two-match series against Bangladesh to keep a 5-3 win-loss record. The victories over Australia and South Africa, however, were against substantially depleted teams.The match is scheduled to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 6.*The story had earlier stated Seekkuge Prasanna had been ommittted. However, he is in the squad.

The India batsman will be available until January 15 and will miss the last stages of the tournament to prepare for the national team’s tour to South Africa

Shashank Kishore18-Oct-2017Batsman Veda Krishnamurthy has been signed by the Hobart Hurricanes for the third edition of the Women’s Big Bash League, which starts from December 9. Krishnamurthy will be part of the Hurricanes’ overseas contingent, alongside England’s Lauren Winfield and West Indies’ Hayley Mathews, and will be available until January 15 before returning for national duties.Currently, Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur are the two Indian players in the WBBL line-up, with the latter set to continue her stint with the Sydney Thunder. ESPNcricinfo understands allrounder Deepti Sharma is also in negotiations with a number of franchises, while Smriti Mandhana, who represented the Brisbane Heat last year, could miss out this season. It is not yet clear if the franchise will renew her contract.Krishnamurthy has stated she is available for ten matches and will miss the last stages of the tournament to prepare for India’s tour of South Africa, which starts from mid-February. The WBBL final is scheduled for February 4.”The offer came about a month ago. I was pleasantly surprised because I wasn’t expecting it,” Krishnamurthy told ESPNcricinfo. “Because our South Africa tour dates weren’t announced then. We were expecting it [the tour] to be in January, so there was some confusion if I’d be able to take up the offer.”Initially, they wanted my availability for the full season. But now, they are okay with me missing the last stages to accommodate the South Africa tour in February. At the moment, I’ll be playing 10 games for Hobart Hurricanes.”I spoke to Harman and Smriti about what to expect. It’s exciting to play in a brand new country, interact with new cultures. I think this is a direct result of ICC promoting the game well. With the World Cup being so well received, new avenues have opened up for cricketers from around the world. This deal is a direct recognition of India’s performance at the World Cup. To play in that environment with some of the world’s best will surely add a new dimension to my game.”Krishnamurthy was a key member of India’s squad that finished runners-up at the 2017 Women’s World Cup. Her unbeaten 45-ball 70 in a must-win game against New Zealand helped India secure a semi-final berth.

The Australia captain acknowledges the importance of using Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood in short bursts, but assures that they are more than capable of keeping at it for longer periods

Brydon Coverdale at The Gabba22-Nov-20171:24

Net sessions with Cummins and Starc have been scary – Smith

If recent net sessions are anything to go by, Australia’s pace trio could be even tougher for England’s batsmen to face than Mitchell Johnson was in 2013-14, captain Steven Smith has said. At the Gabba this week, Australia will for the first time field a Test pace attack consisting of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, an exciting state of affairs for Smith, given the promise that all three men have shown over the past few years.”It has been exciting watching them bowl in the nets,” Smith said on Wednesday. “I think back to 2013-14, when Mitchell was bowling in the nets – these guys are just as nasty, if not more nasty, to be perfectly honest. A couple of the net sessions I have had against Cummins and Starc have been quite scary, so that is really exciting for us.”Cummins will play his first Test on home soil, and one of the question-marks will be how his body holds up over the course of a five-Test series. After bursting on to the Test scene as a teenager in South Africa in 2011, he has spent much of his career sidelined by injuries, and has still played only 15 first-class matches.The lack of an allrounder in Australia’s line-up could also mean a significant workload for the three fast men, along with offspinner Nathan Lyon; among the batsmen, only Steven Smith and David Warner could feasibly be used to bowl a few overs, and even that in only very occasional capacities. That could limit Smith’s ability to use his quicks in short, impactful spells as Michael Clarke used Johnson in 2013-14.”In an ideal world, yeah, that would be how I would like to use them as much as I could,” he said. “I think back to 2013-14, we had the luxury of someone like Shane Watson there, who bowled 15 overs an innings, kept things really tight and gave those guys that little bit of extra rest so Johnson could come on and do what he did.”We have only got four frontline bowlers here at the moment. At times, I will try to use them in shorter spells, but they are also comfortable bowling a little bit longer. I know that some of them, when they get into rhythm, they like to keep on going and they actually bowl a bit quicker at the back end of their spells.”The lack of a fifth bowling option will only increase the importance of Lyon, whose provocative comments in the lead-up to the series suggest a man full of confidence. For perhaps the first time in his career, Lyon has not had to deal with speculation about Australia fielding an all-pace attack – hardly surprising, given that over the past year he has taken nearly twice as many Test wickets as any other Australian.”I think with England, a lot of left-handers, Nathan Lyon is going to be an important bowler for us,” Smith said. “He has been bowling particularly well, he is probably bowling as well as I have seen him bowl. I think he has grown in confidence a lot over the last year, even in the way he talks to me out in the field, he is willing to throw out suggestions, come over the wicket to a left-hander – things that he probably wasn’t comfortable doing just over a year ago.”I think he has grown in confidence a lot in his place around the team, in his ability, the way he is bowling. And the consistency he is bowling with is really good for us. I am excited; I think he bowls really well on wickets that bounce a bit, something like out there at the Gabba. I think he had a lot of success last time against England in the game out here.”Not surprisingly, Cricket Australia scheduled the first Test at the Gabba after last year’s experiment of starting the summer at the WACA, where South Africa secured a 177-run win. By comparison, Australia have not lost a Test at the Gabba since the heyday of West Indies, who beat Allan Border’s men at the venue in 1988.”We know these grounds like the back of our hands,” Smith said. “The Gabba has been a fortress for Australia cricket for a long period of time, and no doubt it is important that we start really well in this first Test match here.”