All posts by csb10.top

Big picture

Cricket-mad Bangladesh is currently football-mad. The ongoing World Cup is not just watched in this country, but also celebrated in every corner, dominating most conversations. The visiting Indian players were welcomed by flags of Brazil and Argentina in the buildings overlooking their training ground in Dhaka. There’s little cricket paraphernalia for what is the BCB’s first marquee home series this season. International cricket, even if it is India’s first ODI in Bangladesh in seven years, will have to jostle for space.Bangladesh have qualified for the ODI World Cup next year, but they will not want to take the foot off the gas. India, with their first-choice players back in the squad, would want to start well, and lead into their home World Cup in October next year strongly. This series, remember, is not part of the World Cup Super League, but that shouldn’t reduce the intensity.Related

• Rohit on the ODI World Cup: We can't think so far ahead

• Litton to lead Bangladesh in ODI series against India

• Many contenders but little opportunity as India ring in changes

• Injured Shami ruled out of ODIs against Bangladesh

• 'It's not the ultimate goal' – Tamim on World Cup qualification

Rohit Sharma is back as India’s ODI captain, with KL Rahul his deputy. Virat Kohli has also returned to the side. The star players’ comeback in this format indicates India are starting their preparation for the next year, after sending a second-string side to the recent tour of New Zealand.However, this also means the likes of Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar and Rahul Tripathi might not get as many opportunities, as the top and middle orders are loaded with big names. With Mohammed Shami ruled out of the ODIs, and several allrounders like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar in the mix, it will also be interesting to see how India balance their side with the match being played on the slow Shere Bangla National Stadium pitch.Bangladesh will be missing the services of two star players: Tamim Iqbal, the regular ODI captain, who had earlier pulled out of the series because of a groin injury, and Taskin Ahmed, who was ruled out of the series because of a back injury.Both players have been in good form in ODIs. Tamim has led the side to direct qualification for the World Cup while scoring important runs, and Taskin is seen as the lynchpin of the pace attack these days. Litton Das, who will lead the hosts, has a major role to play with the bat, too, opening against a solid Indian bowling attack.Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are back in the ODI side•AFP/Getty Images

Litton will have seniors in Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to bank on, while the likes of Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali and Anamul Haque will be expected to step up in their respective roles.Mustafizur Rahman, who broke through in India’s last ODI series in Bangladesh in 2015, has to lead the attack now, sharing the duties with Hasan Mahmud and Ebadot Hossain. Mehidy Hasan Miraz has risen to the challenge this year, often proving handy when the chips are down .India would not want to take Bangladesh lightly this time, particularly at home where the hosts have not lost a bilateral ODI series since the defeat to England in October 2016. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will rely on their experienced players to get them through.

Form guide

Bangladesh: WLLWW
India: LWWLW

In the spotlight

Virat Kohli is 30 runs short of becoming the second overseas batter to get 1000 runs in ODIs in Bangladesh, where he averages 80.83. In good form in T20Is of late, there couldn’t be a better place for Kohli to get back into rhythm in ODIs after averaging 21.87 in eight games in the format this year.Litton Das has been in excellent form this year•Getty Images

Litton Das has scored 500 runs in ODIs this year while averaging 62.50. But there is an added responsibility this time, leading the side in Tamim’s absence. How he responds to the new test will be interesting to see. The Bangladesh captaincy has, of late, been quite a story.

Team news

Shakib batting at No. 3 should mitigate Tamim’s absence. It would also allow Bangladesh to play an extra batter, which will likely be Yasir Ali. Taskin is also missing, which means Ebadot could get the nod for his pace.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Litton Das (capt), 2 Anamul Haque, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Yasir Ali, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Ebadot HossainWith Shami ruled out of the series, young quick Umran Malik has been called up. Unless India decide to give Kuldeep Sen a debut, it is likely that both Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar will play.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Pitch and conditions

It is going to be a typical Mirpur pitch but not the raging turner we see often in Test cricket. The Shere Bangla Stadium last hosted an ODI in May 2021, and the pitch has mostly produced scores on the higher side for the teams batting first. Dhaka is cool this time of the year, with no rain forecast.

Stats and trivia

• Litton now has the most runs (1703) in a calendar year in all formats for Bangladesh, and is the second highest in 2022 behind Babar Azam.
• Bangladesh have won only five ODIs against India since 1988. They beat India the last time when the two teams met in 2015.

Quotes

“This format is such that we play well each time at home. We’ll miss two of our main players, but we still believe that who we have with us are very capable”

Steven Smith is moving closer to a County Championship deal with Sussex in pole position to acquire the Australia batter on a short-term deal for the start of the 2023 season.A report in the on Thursday cited Hove as the likeliest destination for Smith, who has spent the last few months in discussions with county sides over a possible stint of “three or four games”. ESPNcricinfo understands Smith was ideally looking at joining a club in Division One, with Kent seen as an ideal given his links to the county following a stint in club cricket at Sevenoaks Vine CC in 2007, which led to a one-off second-team appearance at Canterbury. However, the club’s situation and Smith’s availability did not align. No contract has yet been signed with Sussex, who play in Division Two, with a decision expected in the coming week.The short-term deal would allow Smith to acclimatise to English conditions ahead of Australia’s likely appearance in the World Test Championship final at the Kia Oval in June, along with the Ashes series that follows, beginning at Edgbaston on June 16. The 33-year-old is forgoing this year’s IPL, a period he will use to return home after Australia’s four-Test series in India which finishes in the middle of March.Related

• Steven Smith signs for three Championship games with Sussex

• Sussex bring in Shadab Khan for Vitality Blast

• Neil Wagner signs up for Yorkshire Championship spell

• Smith on his future: 'I really can't say how long I'll play for'

• Khawaja: Australia's stability will serve them well in India

This would be Smith’s first red-ball experience in county cricket, and the pull of a player of his undoubted quality is all too clear. He averages 60.89 in Test cricket – a figure that only drops to 59.55 across 16 Tests in England – and has 30 centuries in the format. His previous dalliance with the English domestic game came in 2010 when he played five T20 matches for Worcestershire.However in 2007, Smith was presented with the opportunity of forging a long-term future in English cricket when Surrey offered him a full-time contract after he was scouted by their first team coach at the time, Alan Butcher. Smith has British citizenship through his mother, Gillian, who was born in London, and ended up playing two matches for Surrey 2nd XI, but turned down the offer with a view to continuing his progression at New South Wales. His one-off appearance for Kent 2nd XI came earlier that summer. As it happens, Paul Farbrace, the new head coach at Sussex, was Kent’s academy and 2nd XI coach at the time.Smith’s presence in the English domestic game will present a concern for the national team, offering vital preparation for a rival ahead of their attempts to reclaim the Ashes. Such a dilemma was put to Ben Stokes on the recent tour of Pakistan, and England’s Test captain was conflicted on the matter.”It’s good for the county game to see players of Steve’s calibre want to come over and play,” Stokes said. “But I don’t know. It’s one of those where you probably prefer them not to get any game time in England before the Ashes. It is what it is.”However, Mo Bobat, ECB’s performance director, insisted that the benefits of Smith’s presence on the county circuit would cut both ways.”You end up being fairly split,” he said. “Any good player coming to our domestic system will raise the standard of it. In many ways it’s good. It’s good for our bowlers to bowl at Steve Smith. It’s good for young batters to bat with him. There is upside.”Specifically with the Ashes. Yeah, you could say it helps him prep and that could be a disadvantage to England. I don’t spend too much time thinking about that. We just try to control what we can do. I think, and I’m sure that Brendon and Ben would be the same, if we play to our potential we know we are a match for anyone and can beat anyone, the way we are playing our cricket. We will focus on that.”At times it’s disappointing that our players aren’t afforded the same opportunities overseas,” Bobat added. “I’d love to get more of our players in first-class cricket overseas. It’s notoriously difficult. It’s not particularly easy in Australia, can’t really do it in India, we’ve done it at times before in Sri Lanka. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it would be nice if our players could sample a bit of that in red-ball cricket. It’s not easy, though.”Should Smith sign for Sussex, he will be a replacement for Jayden Seales. The West Indian quick was due to be the club’s second overseas player alongside India batter Cheteshwar Pujara, but has been ruled out of the start of the English summer after requiring surgery on an injury to his left knee.It is understood Sussex, who went through a turbulent period under the joint coaching team of Ian Salisbury and James Kirtley before the appointment of Farbrace, are also looking to bring in Australia allrounder Sean Abbott on an all-format deal, and Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan for the Vitality Blast.

Aiden Markram has been named the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain for IPL 2023.Markram, 28, recently led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the inaugural SA20 title, where he also finished as the tournament’s third leading run-maker.Related

• IPL 2023 to be played from March 31 to May 28

• Prasidh Krishna ruled out of IPL 2023 with stress fracture

• 'Fully fit' Chahar ready to make comeback at IPL 2023

Sunrisers had to fill the leadership role after releasing Kane Williamson ahead of the IPL auction last December. The first player retained by the franchises ahead of the mega auction in 2022, Williamson struggled for form as Sunrisers failed to make the playoffs last season finishing eighth. Williamson missed the final league match last season to return to New Zealand for the birth of his child following which Bhuvneshwar Kumar took over the reins.It is understood that Bhuvneshwar, who has been with the franchise since its inception in 2013, along with Mayank Agarwal (bought in the December auction) and Markram were among the contenders for the leadership position. Markram was chosen for the role by the Sunrisers team management, which is led by Brian Lara, who was appointed as head coach ahead of the auction.In SA20, Markram proved he could excel both as a captain and a batter while leading Eastern Cape. Alongside making 369 runs at a strike rate of 127 including a century, Markram also bagged 11 wickets at an economy of 6.19 with his part-time offspin – enough to earn 596.6 points and top the Total Impact charts calculated as per ESPNcricnfo’s Smart Stats tool.Sunrisers paid INR 2.6 crore to buy Markram at the 2022 auction. In that season, Markram scored 381 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 139.05 and an average of 47.62.

New Zealand allrounder Daryl Mitchell rues the “small moments” that slipped away from their grasp in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, but insists that there isn’t a gulf between his team and England.”If you looked into that third innings, I think we had them six down for 230-240 – I’m not sure of the exact numbers – but if we had taken a couple of quick wickets, the game could have been a lot different,” Mitchell said after arriving in Wellington for the second Test.”So, for us, it’s actually not too far away. It’s sticking true to who we are as Kiwis and Blackcaps, and what’s worked for us for a number of years now. Yeah, we are missing a couple of small moments now, which is disappointing, but we also know that’s the nature of Test cricket, and it’s not always going to go your way, and it can be a bloody hard game at times. But we also know we are not too far away.”Related

• 'I'm not, as you'd say, Bazball' admits Foakes as Bairstow's return looms large

• Jamieson to undergo back surgery

• Transitional NZ cherish Tom Blundell's latest vital contribution

One of those small moments was New Zealand allowing England get away to 374 in their second innings after they were 237 for 6. England’s innings had threatened to spiral out of control when Joe Root fell to the reverse sweep for the second time in the Test at the stroke of tea on day three. But a composed half-century from Ben Foakes, and swift cameos from captain Ben Stokes and No. 9 Ollie Robinson powered England that far.Stuart Broad then tore through New Zealand’s top order under the Mount Maunganui floodlights to put the fourth-innings chase of 394 well beyond the hosts’ reach.New Zealand coach Gary Stead lamented New Zealand’s inability to throw the sucker-punch during that passage of play, which changed the mood and tempo of the game.”I thought there were times through this Test we did that really, really well,” Stead said. “I think in that second innings when they were 230 [237] for 6, if we could’ve bowled them out in the next hour, then we bat [for] a good period of time in the daylight as well with the softer ball. They are the little variables that affected us in this Test match, but looking forward to the challenge that’s ahead because we know that’s a big challenge.”Matt Henry is in, and Jacob Duffy is out for the second Test at the Basin Reserve•Getty Images

New Zealand suffered a big blow ahead of the Wellington Test, with Kyle Jamieson ruled out for another three to four months with a suspected recurrence of a back injury. So far, they have also resisted the urge to recall Trent Boult, who has handed back his New Zealand central contract, with Stead backing the current group to bounce back against England.”They [England] are obviously playing very, very good cricket,” Stead said. “I think they’ve won 10-11 of their last 12 Tests, and they’re on a bit of a roll and playing with some real confidence. I don’t think it’s unfair to say we’re probably lacking a little bit of that confidence at the moment because you don’t get the results.”But I can assure you that the faith is still with the group of these guys. We believe that these are our best cricketers, and we’re going to put everything behind them to make sure we can go out there in Wellington and really some throw punches back at England as well.”New Zealand, however, will be boosted by the return of Matt Henry, who has linked up with the squad after his partner Holly gave birth to their daughter last week. Henry is set to directly slot into the XI at the Basin Reserve in place of either Scott Kuggeleijn or Blair Tickner.”He’s obviously a seasoned bowler in international cricket now,” Mitchell said of Henry. “It’s awesome that he has just had the birth of his little girl, and I know he’ll be excited to come and join this group and hopefully take some wickets, which will be awesome. And yeah, I’m sure he’ll be pretty proud to do that with his little girl watching on TV.”Matty is my domestic team-mate at Canterbury as well, so it’s always nice having him in this group. He’s a fierce competitor, he will keep running in for you, he’ll do the job. Look forward to having him back. I think we will all do our job and see what happens.”Reserve seamer Jacob Duffy and legspinner Ish Sodhi have been released from the Test squad for the four-day Plunket Shield competition that will resume this week.

Henry looking forward to ‘taking it’ to England in Wellington

Henry is the top wicket-taker in the Plunket Shield this season, with 23 strikes in three games at an average of 11.69. But injury sidelined him from the ODIs in Pakistan and India. Having been passed fit, Henry is now looking forward to returning to action in front of a sell-out crowd at the Basin Reserve.”Not ideal with the injury – torn knee and everything,” Henry said. “So, it has been a bit of a rehab for the last few weeks. But it has been good; kind of ones of those ones where you look forward to playing some cricket. No better place to do it than the Basin.”Always well-supported here in Wellington. The Basin always has a great crowd and to hear it sold out for the first three days is amazing, and playing against England… the style of cricket they’ve been playing is an exciting one to watch as well. It has been cool to watch them play in that first game, and I’m sure everyone has learnt a lot from that first game as well and look forward to taking it to them come Friday.”The weather could play spoilsport in Wellington, with showers and strong winds predicted on the first day.

Wasim Akram has called on England to tour Pakistan in 2022, returning the favour as it were since Pakistan are on tour in the UK at present despite the risks in play because of the Covid-19 pandemic.”You boys owe Pakistan cricket, and the country, a lot, with the boys coming over here. They’ve been here almost two and half months in the bio-secure environment,” Akram told . “So if everything goes well, England should tour Pakistan. I promise you they’ll get looked after on and off the field there and every game will be a packed house.”England have not travelled to Pakistan since their tour in 2005-06, due to security concerns following the attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in 2009 that had halted all international cricket in Pakistan for several years. However, following a tour by Zimbabwe in 2015, international cricket has begun to slowly return to Pakistan, and the entire PSL 2020 took place in the country, although it couldn’t be played to a finish with the Covid-19 pandemic halting it near its final stages.International cricket only resumed with West Indies touring England, with the ongoing tour by Pakistan following quickly on its heels. Both series have reportedly saved the ECB from sustaining massive losses in what could have been a summer without cricket on television.But while there has been a steadier stream of cricket involving international players taking place in Pakistan, the team continues to play several of their home games in the United Arab Emirates, which has served as their home base since the 2009 attacks.England are scheduled to tour Pakistan in 2022 to play three Tests and five ODIs, a series that would have likely taken place in the UAE, but Akram pointed to the experience of England players in the PSL to build a case for having the games in Pakistan.”The English players were there for the Pakistan Super League in our team, Karachi Kings – Alex Hales and Chris Jordan. They loved it, they enjoyed it, they got looked after beautifully, so the PSL is a step in the right direction,” Akram said.Earlier this month, England coach Chris Silverwood had said he would have “no problem” leading a tour to Pakistan.

Daniel Worrall made a memorable return to first-class cricket, claiming 5 for 31 to help South Australia to a second-straight Sheffield Shield win as they bowled out Western Australia on the final day in Adelaide.The Redbacks swing bowler tore through WA’s lower order after the key breakthroughs from Nick Winter and Wes Agar had put WA in a hole in their pursuit of 332 for victory. Marcus Stoinis continued his good form from the BBL making 60 but could not press on as the visitors were bowled out for 222.Worrall had not played a first-class game since limping off the WACA in March last year with hamstring and back injuries ruling him out of county cricket in England and the first half of this Sheffield Shield season. His late outswing accounted for Josh Philippe and Josh Inglis as both threatened to form a partnership before he ran through the tail to claim his seventh five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and Player-of-the-Match honours.Earlier, South Australia declared after just two overs in the morning session having added 17 to their overnight total. It left WA needing 332 from 86 overs for victory. WA had chased down 313 to win against SA in the fourth innings in Adelaide last season.The chase started solidly but Agar made two huge breakthroughs with consecutive deliveries to have Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh caught behind with the total at just 44. Marsh was the big scalp for a first-ball duck after he made 163 not out in that successful chase last summer.Bancroft’s opening partner Jake Carder made an error on 28 cutting Will Bosisto’s part-time off-spin straight to cover.WA steadied through Stoinis and Cameron Green. The pair added 55 with Stoinis cruising to his fifth half-century of the Shield season. But Winter’s spell in the middle of the afternoon arrested the momentum. Green fell to a loose drive slicing a catch to point for just 15 before Stoinis was pinned plumb lbw for 60. Stoinis played down the wrong line as Winter nipped one back from around the wicket. It left WA in peril at 5 for 142.Philippe and Inglis counter-attacked briefly but Worrall snuffed it out with a supreme spell of swing bowling to close the game out. The win keeps South Australia in the mix for the Shield final with three rounds to go as they move up to fourth on a bunched points table.

Faf du Plessis has been included in South Africa’s T20 squad to play against Australia, after stepping down from captaincy on Monday morning. The team will be led by Quinton de Kock and also includes a return for Kagiso Rabada, who was rested for the limited-overs matches against England, and Anrich Nortje.AB de Villiers was not named despite coach Mark Boucher’s indication that he will be considered for this year’s T20 World Cup. There was also no room for Reeza Hendricks, who did not play in the England series, Beuran Hendricks, or Sisanda Magala, who has yet to pass a fitness test since being part of the strength and conditioning camp last month. Uncapped batsman Pite van Biljon remains with the group, with a view to debuting in this series.South Africa have stuck with the same core of players that lost 1-2 to England, where their bowling skills were under scrutiny. Boucher emphasised that the development of skills, such as delivering yorkers, are high on South Africa’s agenda and the Australia series will be an opportunity for Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo to do more work on that discipline. It is also a chance for the batsmen to bed into their roles, having pleased Boucher and independent selector Linda Zondi with their intent against England.”The T20 series may not have been won but it was really pleasing to see our batting unit play so well,” Zondi said. “They showed a lot of aggression, particularly upfront, in every match which set a good foundation for the rest of the line-up to follow. The very exciting bursts of cricket that we were served up bode very well for the future, especially in the short term as we begin our hunt in earnest for the T20 World Cup squad.”The form of the opening pair, Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock, was the highlight of the England series after they shared stands of 92, 48 and 84, but there is a chance they may not be together for the next three matches. Bavuma left the field with a right hamstring injury and will have an MRI scan to determine the extent of the damage. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, de Kock may have to be accompanied by another opening partner. With Reeza no longer in the squad, van Biljon, Rassie van der Dussen, Jon-Jon Smuts or even du Plessis could be tasked with that job.While that may increase the load on de Kock, he has shown an ability to thrive with additional responsibility and has taken to captaincy with ease. Though de Kock has not been confirmed as the permanent T20 skipper, it appears to be only a matter of time, which means he will be opening the batting, keeping wicket and leading in both limited-overs formats. Rather than question the sustainability of the treble role, his opposite number Aaron Finch is in awe of it.”He is someone who reads the game really well and loves getting around the team and encouraging and motivating. Your No.1 one job as an opening batter and wicket-keeper is to do your own job really well and once you do that, it’s easier to get everyone else on board and pulling in one direction,” Finch said. “The hardest thing as a leader is to be battling your own form. I went through this for a lot longer than I would have liked and to then try and drag other people with you when you know you are not going well yourself, its the hardest thing I found as a captain. The fact that he started really positively as an opening batter and as a wicket-keeper – he takes some unbelievable catches and does some brilliance behind the stumps. He is someone who naturally people would gravitate to and follow his direction if he keeps performing the way that he does.”Finch followed the series against England – which boasted the highest run-rate for any three-match T20 series – closely and also had praise for the rest of the South African squad for taking each game to the final over. “For South Africa to have a changing side and come in and play so well right from the top order through to No.11 was great,” he said. “All the guys in the side had an impact on a game at various points. They are slowly starting to get to their best XI, especially with some older guys mixed in there with some real experience.”South Africa’s most experienced T20 player is Steyn, who has played in 46 matches, and is now using the format to prove that pace is not the only effective way of dismissing batsmen. His slower balls and offcutters made regular appearances during the England series, where pace off the ball was key. Australia expect that to be the case in this series as well, and believe spin will play a role.”It looked like the wickets are maybe on the slower side, spinning a little bit so that will have its challenges,” Finch said. “We’ve identified that as something that we need to get better at as a one-day and T20 team in particular: finding ways to score but be really proactive against spin and Shamsi has been bowling well.”Apart from Shamsi, who is the frontline spinner in the squad, South Africa also have two left-arm spin options in Smuts and Bjorn Fortuin.The first match in the series will be played in Johannesburg on Friday, followed by a move to the coast with games in Port Elizabeth on Sunday and Cape Town next Wednesday. SA squad: Quinton de Kock. Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Pite van Biljon, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Jon-Jon Smuts, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Bjorn Fortuin, Anrich Nortje, Dale Steyn, Heinrich Klaasen

Sam Billings and David Willey dragged England to a second victory against Ireland in three days and a series win after a middle-order collapse left them 137 for 6 in pursuit of 213.Curtis Campher, the South African-born allrounder, had added to his unbeaten half-century on debut with a more fluent 68 from No. 7 to lift Ireland up to a respectable total, but one that had looked some way short of par when Jonny Bairstow blitzed a 41-ball 82 to break the back of the chase.After a three-wicket burst in six balls from Josh Little, England were staring at the prospect of only a second ODI defeat to Ireland and a first on home soil, but Billings and Willey – the stars with bat and ball respectively in the first match of the series – added 79 in 14.4 overs to calm any nerves and seal a four-wicket win.Ireland knew they needed early wickets when defending, and Craig Young provided the goods after three balls, as Jason Roy slammed a long half-volley straight to extra cover. But it looked as though it would be a chastening evening for them when Bairstow got up and running. He effortlessly picked off anything short, full, wide or straight in blitzing England’s joint-fastest ODI half-century from only 21 balls, spanking Andy McBrine over long-off for six to bring it up.Campher struck in his first over for the second time in as many games, nipping one back through James Vince’s gate to peg back his middle stump, before trapping Tom Banton for a third time in his career – once for South Africa Under-19s in 2018, two in this series. Bairstow looked utterly unfazed by what was happening at the other end, racing towards his hundred, before Little’s spell changed the game on its head.Little, a bustling left-arm seamer with broad shoulders and a skinhead, had starred on ODI debut against England last year, taking 4 for 45 to rattle England in their World Cup build-up. Things had not gone to plan in between, with one wicket for 217 in his next 28 appearances, and he was wayward in his first spell after being drafted in for the injured Barry McCarthy.But in his second, he nicked off Bairstow with a length ball that he looked to force through the off side before spitting a volley in his direction. Then, he removed England’s captain for a duck, just as he had in Malahide, digging one in short which Eoin Morgan spanked straight to (guess who?) Campher at short cover.Three balls later it was Moeen Ali’s turn to give his wicket away, top-edging a short ball towards short fine leg where Tucker ran round to take the catch. Suddenly, England needed 76 to win with only four wickets in hand. Throughout Little’s spell, England’s stand-in coach Paul Collingwood had been speaking to Sky from their diary room; once Moeen fell, he was running for the dressing room.Before long, though, any nerves had been calmed. Billings was happy to play second fiddle to Willey, who pulled a towering six over long leg before whacking Campher for two boundaries to alleviate any hint of scoring pressure. They continued to rattle along to pick off the remaining runs with ease, Willey crunching Campher through square leg to seal the win with 17.3 overs to spare.Ireland’s 212 for 9 had looked short of par on a good batting wicket, primarily thanks to a middle-over squeeze from Adil Rashid and Moeen. Rashid took 3 for 34 from his 10 overs, ripping out Ireland’s middle order, while Moeen bowled typically tight lines to conceded only 27 from his eight. Reece Topley bowled with good pace in his first appearance since 2016 after a string of serious injuries, taking 1 for 31 from his nine overs.Andy Balbirnie had demanded “more application” from his batsmen at the toss, but there was little sign of that against the new ball. Gareth Delany was trapped plumb in front by a Willey nip-backer for a 12-ball duck, and with the onus on Paul Stirling to make a meaningful total, he only managed to slice the same bowler to Banton at backward point.The low moment for Ireland came when the fielding restrictions were lifted. Balbirnie had hit two sweet boundaries, a straight drive off Willey and a sweep off Rashid, when Morgan sprung a surprise by giving Vince his first bowl in a limited-overs international.He looked perfectly serviceable but totally unthreatening, but with Balbirnie’s mind scrambled, stuck between attack and defence, he pulled out of a cut shot to a back-of-a-length ball, edging tamely through to Bairstow. Vince grinned sheepishly, almost apologetic that he had taken his first international wicket; in the absence of fans, you could just about make out a collective groan from the away dressing room.Rashid then took control, bowling Kevin O’Brien with a googly that completely wrong-footed him. Harry Tector fell tamely, chipping half-heartedly to mid-on, while Lorcan Tucker’s dismissal was no prettier, heaving a legbreak from wide outside the off stump down fine leg’s throat while top-edging a sweep.That left Campher, the shining light on debut on Thursday, with the bulk of the hard work to do from 78 for 5. He dug in for a 60-run stand with Simi Singh, dragging Ireland towards a defendable score, before putting his foot down alongside McBrine. They added 56 in 7.1 overs: McBrine nailed an upper-cut and smacked Willey straight back over his head, while Campher got innovative and proved he had power in his locker as well as poise.He eventually fell swiping at Saqib Mahmood outside off, before Topley bowled a tight last over, ending with a sharp bouncer which McBrine edged behind to give him a first international wicket since the 2016 World T20.The third game may be an opportunity for England to take a look at fringe players like Liam Livingstone and Liam Dawson, while both teams will know that they could do with a win with World Cup Super League points on offer.

It wasn’t pretty but the Jamaica Tallawahs made sure not to repeat the same chasing blunders they committed against Guyana Amazon Warriors earlier in the tournament, winning a battle of attrition to chase a target of 109 by five wickets with two overs to spare at Queen’s Park Oval. On a slow wicket which made for unattractive strokeplay, the Tallawahs suffocated the Amazon Warriors from ball one when Fidel Edwards cleaned up Brandon King with a yorker to give them an early advantage they never relinquished.Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Sandeep Lamichhane built on the early work done by Edwards with stifling spells of spin bowling to restrict the Amazon Warriors to 63 for 7 in the 15th over before some late hitting from Imran Tahir prevented the Amazon Warriors from registering their lowest CPL total and got them past 100.

Asif Ali fined 20% of his match fee

Jamaica Tallawahs batsman Asif Ali was fined 20% of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching the CPL code of conduct. After being dismissed, Ali swung his bat in the direction of bowler Keemo Paul. Ali was charged with being in breach of section 2.18 of the code of conduct, acting contrary to the spirit of the game.

Unlike the last time these two teams met when the Amazon Warriors set a CPL record for the lowest total successfully defended, the Tallawahs took a largely conservative approach to ensure the feat was not repeated. Only three players had a strike rate above 100 in the chase, the last of them being Andre Russell whose late flurry of sixes settled any nerves in the Tallawahs dugout.Edwards puts on a vintage displayThe 38-year-old fast bowler looked like he was bowling with the energy of someone half his age. King never moved his feet to adequately account for the first-ball yorker that pinged the base of middle stump. Edwards showed he still has the pace to bang it in short to good effect too, suckering Anthony Bramble into pulling to deep midwicket, one of the only two boundary riders in the Powerplay, to make it 17 for 3. He came back later on in his death spell to claim a third with the yorker again, trapping Keemo Paul in front of leg stump.Mystery spin twins tie up Warriors againIn the first match-up between the two sides, Mujeeb and Lamichhane wrecked the Amazon Warriors line-up only to see their efforts wasted in a clumsy chase. That was not to be this time as the pair reprised their dominance from the first encounter between the two sides.Mujeeb was marvellous in a Man-of-the-Match display, striking in the second over with the new ball when he made the most of an extra delivery following a wide on the last ball of the over to trap Hetmyer prodding forward on what was a generous decision from the umpire to uphold his appeal for lbw. However, no luck was involved in the wicket of Nicholas Pooran as a carom ball skidded in from a good length to catch Pooran flat-footed and tardy in bringing his bat down, unable to keep it from crashing into middle stump.Lamichhane got into the act in the 12th over. After Pooran opted to safely cut a steady diet of googlies with the spin through the off side, Sherfane Rutherford took the much riskier option of trying to slog against the turn of the googly resulting in a skied chance to extra cover. Mujeeb returned to cap off his haul of 3 for 11 by getting Green to poke an edge to Rovman Powell at slip. From 63 for 7, only some adventurous hitting by Naveen-ul-Haq and Tahir took Amazon Warriors into three figures.Tallawahs determined not to let history repeatAfter stumbling badly in pursuit of 119 the first time these sides faced off at Brian Lara Academy, the Tallawahs employed a cautious approach for the majority of their chase, leaving the fireworks for another day. The Amazon Warriors did their best to exploit whatever demons remained on a wicket which offered uneven bounce throughout the match, dislodging five batsmen in the process.There appeared some hope for the Amazon Warriors when Powell threw away his wicket with a heave off Ashmead Nedd to long-off, followed two overs later by a toe edge off the bat of Jermaine Blackwood – the most fluent Tallawahs batsman in the chase – that gave Naveen his second wicket and left the chase at 62 for 5 in the 11th over.But Nkrumah Bonner patiently stroked the ball around the infield, playing late with soft hands and mostly off the back foot to account for the variable bounce. Russell too was circumspect in the first half of his innings as the Tallawahs allowed the required run rate to climb above a run a ball with five overs to go. It was then that Russell finally chose Tahir to attack, clubbing him over the roof at long-on for six. He began the 17th with a flat six off Paul into the Amazon Warriors dugout before Bonner ended the match off the last ball of the 18th with another six over long-on off Naveen.

Staff at Cricket Australia have been asked to cope with a level of austerity that its far smaller equivalent governing body in New Zealand has not even considered. New Zealand Cricket, run on an annual revenue of about NZ$60 million a year (approx. US$35 million), confirmed it has not stood down a single employee during the coronavirus pandemic, as Australian cricket’s state association owners and player partners pleaded with CA for more financial information about the governing body’s self-declared cash crisis.The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) called off a board-to-board meeting that was scheduled to be held with CA on Friday because financial details had not been forthcoming, while state associations reached two weeks without receiving answers to their many questions about the game’s finances even if the governing body has backed down from an earlier proposal to cut 45% from their annual grants.The CA chief executive Kevin Roberts, meanwhile, addressed his staff again on Thursday afternoon and is understood to have told them he thinks the issue will now die down because he had fronted for media questioning on Tuesday and Wednesday. At the same time, he is believed to have reiterated his reasoning for standing down staff until July while not asking his executives – taking a A$6.6 million (approx. US$4 million) salary load in 2018-19 – to withstand anywhere near as much financial uncertainty.Roberts’ decision, endorsed by the CA board, to stand down all but a handful of staff on an 80% pay cut while retaining executives and a skeleton staff on a 20% pay cut, for an estimated saving of A$3 million (approx. US$2 million), is thrown into sharp relief when lined up against events across the Tasman.ALSO READ: FAQ – What is happening at Cricket Australia?The business of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is only a fraction of the size of CA’s, which turned over A$485 million (approx. US$307 million) in revenue according to its 2018-19 annual report, and has delivered financial losses over each of the past three years. Nevertheless, with the promise of wage subsidy support similar to the Australian government’s JobKeeper scheme and a further guarantee of government support maintained for the following year, NZC has no intention of standing down or cutting into the pay of its staff.CA chief Kevin Roberts reiterated his reasoning for standing down staff until July as the pandemic continues to affect the cricket season•Getty Images

The NZC complement is composed of 75 staffers divided between the national high performance centre in Lincoln and the organisation’s head office in Auckland. Rather than being stood down or compelled to take a major pay cut, NZC staff have been placed on four-day working weeks and also asked to use up their paid annual leave during the pandemic period between seasons.”We take our duty of care as an employer seriously and, at this juncture, want to avoid any changes to our employee headcount or remuneration levels,” NZC’s chief executive David White said earlier this month. “However, we’ll continue to closely monitor the effects on the wider cricket family.”There is mounting exasperation, however, among Australia’s state associations and players about CA’s apparent reluctance to provide detailed financial information that would back up Roberts’ emotive statements about the possibility of CA having zero cash by August. The states are awaiting clarity over the amounts of their annual grants which, in the most recent annual report, amounted to more than A$120 million (approx. US$76 million), while contracted players were meant to be receiving information about their contract rankings and retainer amounts by April 30.”The players are partners in the game with CA. We want to try and work through whatever’s going on together,” the Victoria captain Peter Handscomb said on Thursday. “That’s where the revenue share model comes in. From a player’s point of view, we’re happy to help out when times are bad and when times are good it works through like that as well. At the moment, we’re sitting and waiting to see if there’s any more information out of CA. When that does come, we can try and help solve any problems that are going on.”The players definitely understand this is very unprecedented. We haven’t seen something like this for a very long time, definitely not in the current era. We understand things are very different. Like I said, we’re happy to help out. When some more information does come through, we’ll be able to do everything we can to help the game.”As players, we trust the ACA and what they do for us. There are other things in place before we get to players’ pay cut – the revenue share model and a few other ones as well. It’s backing the ACA and once we get that information from CA, then we’ll be able to make a more informed opinion and can know more about what we can do. We don’t know what we can do and how we can help, as we are partners in the game. If we don’t have all the information on the table, we can’t exactly help in a way that we think will be beneficial for everyone.”ALSO READ: Cricket Australia could redeploy stood down staff to WoolworthsHandscomb, who was a member of the Australian Test team throughout the 2017 pay dispute between CA and the ACA that saw players go unpaid for more than a month after the previous MoU lapsed, expressed hope that CA would provide the requisite details before another similar scenario developed.”I think there’s concern for the fact it’s unprecedented times with this pandemic. Players don’t know,” he said. “I’m sure it’s tough from CA’s point of view as well. We have an understanding of what cricket and sport might be played and when, but it’s a lot of unknown at the moment which can be scary for everyone. It’s not just cricketers but everyone around the world who’s concerned about their jobs and where they’re going to be in a week, two weeks, a month.”I think Cricket Australia will come to the party and provide full transparency. We’ve always said we’re partners in the game and we want to be able to help out any way possible. And the best way to do that is to have all the information on the table. So, hopefully, that comes in the next few days and as a collective we can work together and try to come up with a solution for these pretty tough times.”