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Jhye and Kane Richardson have been added to the ODI squad

AAP and ESPNcricinfo09-Jun-2022 • Updated on 10-Jun-2022Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has been ruled out of the third T20I against Sri Lanka and is in doubt for the early part of the five-match ODI series after requiring six stitches in his left index finger following a bizarre laceration in game one in Colombo on Tuesday.Jhye Richardson, who replaced Starc in Australia’s T20I side and took 3 for 26 in the three-wicket win in game two on Wednesday, and Kane Richardson* have been called into Australia’s ODI squad as cover.Kane Richardson was added to the group on Friday and, initially, will be with the squad for the first two matches in Pallekele to provide an extra pace-bowling option alongside Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. It is expected Australia will rotate their quicks during the ODIs with five matches in quick succession.Starc lacerated the index finger on his bowling hand in the opening over of the first T20I on Tuesday. He reached so far down in his follow-through with his bowling arm that he ended up spiking his own finger with the bottom of his bowling shoes. He was able to bowl his remaining three overs and picked up 3 for 26.He will remain with the squad and will continue to train but he will need a minimum of seven days, and possibly longer, for the wound to heal. That likely rules him out of the first ODI in Pallekele next Tuesday. Australia will likely be cautious with Starc as he will be a key cog in the Test attack later in the month after starring on his last Test tour of Sri Lanka.Jhye Richardson was initially left out of the ODI squad despite being in the original T20I squad. He was set to play in the two Australia A four-day games in Hambantota that run concurrently with the ODI series in Sri Lanka. South Australia quick Nathan McAndrew has been called in from Warwickshire as Richardson’s replacement for Australia A.Australia to persist with Smith in T20I squadMeanwhile, Australia assistant coach Michael Di Venuto is confident Steven Smith will find form to consolidate his spot in the middle-order of the T20I side.Australia will persist with Smith in the T20I squad, believing they can unlock the Test star’s true potential in the shortest format of the game.The 33-year-old’s position in the middle-order has come into question after a prolonged slump in T20Is. Smith’s last T20I half-century for Australia came back in November 2019 and he was barely needed during the run to last year’s drought-breaking World Cup title as Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade were the batting heroes.The former Australia captain averages 25.45 at a strike-rate of 125.31 from 56 matches in T20Is. Since the start of 2020 his strike-rate has dropped to 119.39 across 16 innings and he has only struck above 130 in five innings in that period.Josh Inglis performed exceptionally well when called up for Australia’s home series against Sri Lanka in February, averaging 35.80 and striking at 145.52 in six matches, but he’s been squeezed out for Smith in this three-match series. Tim David is also knocking on the door of the Australia squad for a middle-order/finishing role as he continues to dominate in T20 leagues following another stunning showing for Lancashire on Wednesday.Nuwan Thushara appeals successfully for an LBW to pick up Steve Smith•Getty Images

Smith was not required to bat in game one against Sri Lanka but he unsuccessfully challenged an lbw decision on Wednesday night and was out for 5 off 4 deliveries.”Recent history, we’ve used (Smith) in a different way throughout our middle order, where people have batted around him,” Di Venuto said. “We know his skill level, we know his talent so we’re pretty keen to unlock him as a T20 cricketer and just let him go about his business and show us how good he is.”If he was playing BBL cricket, he would dominate that competition. Unfortunately, a lot of our best players don’t play that competition because they play Test matches. Steven’s had good success in the IPL in years gone past.”The skill level is exceptionally high, we’re hoping to unlock him during this period. We’ve got plenty of games leading into the World Cup so hopefully we see the best of Steve Smith.”Di Venuto said Inglis could not be working harder to earn a recall but will have to bide his time for now.”We’ve got very good players in our batting order and it’s a hard order to break into,” Di Venuto said. “He’s doing all the work behind the scenes, he’s a very valued member of this squad and waiting for his next chance.”

Hosts facing elimination if they cannot arrest slump in form, as group-stage hots up

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2022Katherine Brunt believes that the pressure will be ramped up on the tournament hosts New Zealand in Sunday’s crucial group-stage encounter at Eden Park, as they take on England in what is effectively a knock-out contest in an extraordinarily tight race for the Women’s World Cup semi-final berths.England, the defending champions, made a disastrous start to their campaign with a trio of narrow defeats against Australia, West Indies and South Africa in their opening three games. However, they ended a run of six consecutive ODI losses by beating India by four wickets in their last outing, and it is now New Zealand who are encountering a slump in form following back-to-back losses to the tournament’s two unbeaten teams, Australia and South Africa.Failure to reach the semi-finals would be a desperate disappointment for Sophie Devine’s team, who can expect a strong home support in Auckland, but whose hopes of qualification would be all but over if they slumped to their fourth loss of the group stages.Looking back on England’s own experiences of hosting the World Cup in 2017, Brunt recalled how their opening-match defeat against India in Derby had served as a “wake-up call”, meaning that they never sailed quite so close to elimination in the first round.”We didn’t experience that ourselves in 2017 because we had that wake-up call very early on,” Brunt said. “So we got ourselves right pretty early and then won every game thereafter. So we didn’t have that nervousness of everything being a knockout.”So, I would say that would definitely add some tension, especially with it being at Eden Park, and I’ve no doubt there’ll be a very good outpouring of people for that game to support their country. So 100%, it will add pressure on them.”An extraordinary tournament was treated to another thrilling finish overnight, as Australia maintained their 100% record by hunting down a record World Cup target of 278 with three balls to spare. Quite apart from being a spectacle in its own right, the result was good news for England, as it means that they and India have each lost three games.Related

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Assuming both sides win their remaining fixtures, Net Run Rate could be the deciding factor in the race for a top-four finish, with England potentially having an advantage in that regard given that they have two matches against the group’s bottom two sides, Bangladesh and Pakistan, to come.”Obviously we’re in a position where we are relying on other people’s results,” Brunt said. “So there’s something of becoming a fan of other teams, as it may be, which is not what you want but that’s just the reality of it. But it’s been great to watch all the other nations, and be a part of games like that, putting on exciting games of cricket.Reflecting on the glut of cliffhangers in the tournament to date, Brunt added: “As players it’s certainly never a situation you want to be in, and every game has been that kind of situation. Obviously in the last three games we’ve lost, we’ve probably lost by a total of about 20 runs [three wickets, 7 runs, 12 runs], which is mad.”These things generally happen rarely, so for every game to be going down the wire just shows you how many nerves there are, and how much teams have improved. We don’t necessarily take it for granted or think less of these teams, it’s just we’ve not played these teams in forever. People can improve in six months, never mind three or four years. So it’s been a learning experience along the way, and it’s great to see everybody playing good cricket and different people coming out of the woodwork.”Despite the victory over India, Brunt is conscious that England’s standards have been a long way short of the levels that carried them to the title in 2017. But, she said, after a bruising Ashes campaign and a tricky first three weeks at the World Cup, an experienced squad can yet be galvanised by the chance to finish their winter on a high.”We’ve had 10 weeks with our backs against the wall,” Brunt said. “We fought a lot in Australia. We gave everything in the Ashes. From there we were probably not in the best headspace. But we are certainly learning to show fight and adapt quickly, and move on pretty quick from disappointments”You can’t be in form all the time. But what you can do is always show fight and turn up, and that’s what we’re doing. It might not be pretty at times. But that’s just how we’ve got to do it, and how we’re going to get past each game. Hopefully things will improve.”

Virender Sehwag has said his decision to give up the Delhi Daredevils captaincy will have no effect on his batting in the upcoming IPL season

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2013Virender Sehwag, dropped recently from India’s Test side, has said his decision to give up the Delhi Daredevils captaincy will have no effect on his batting in the upcoming IPL season. Mahela Jayawardene was named Daredevils captain after Sehwag told the franchise he wanted to focus on his batting ahead of the Champions League 2012.”I don’t think it matters whether I am captaining the side or not,” Sehwag told , when asked if Jayawardene taking over would lessen the burden on him. “Captaincy has never affected my game. I have never ever felt the pressure on my batting while leading the side. I have never felt any pressure as captain. My approach to batting has always remained the same.”I have always maintained that captaincy and performance are two separate issues altogether. If you talk about pressures of captaincy, then I had scored five consecutive half-centuries [a Twenty20 record] during the last edition of the IPL and the highest number of runs for Delhi Daredevils.”Sehwag admitted that Daredevils would feel the absence of England batsman Kevin Pietersen, who is out of this IPL with a knee injury. “KP is a big occasion player and he will certainly be missed but we have other players who can put their hands up and be counted. We have 10 quality foreign players and whoever replaces him in the XI will get an opportunity to make a name for himself on the big stage. If they can grab their chance and prove their worth, we can win the trophy.”Daredevils meet Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural match of this season in Kolkata on April 3.

The BCB ends the matter after accepting explanations provided by both parties

Mohammad Isam04-Feb-2022The Chattogram Challengers captaincy row came to end in Dhaka on Friday after the BCB accepted the explanations provided by the franchise officials and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was removed as captain last week.BPL governing council secretary Ismail Haider Mallick, BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury, BCB’s head of anti-corruption Maj (retd) Abu Mohammad Humayun Morshed and BPL tournament in-charge Saiful Amin heard the respective accounts on the matter.Challengers’ owner Rifat Uzzaman and chief operating officer Yasir Alam were summoned by the four-member panel representing the cricket board.A couple of hours before Challengers’ match against Sylhet Sunrisers on January 29, the franchise officials had replaced Miraz with Naeem Islam as captain. They explained that outgoing coach Paul Nixon, who they claimed had to leave the BPL because of an emergency call from Leicestershire, had recommended the change at the top.The following day, an angry Miraz was talked out of leaving the team hotel. Standing outside the hotel, Miraz had singled out Alam for spreading lies.BPL secretary Mallick said that both parties admitted that they behaved “unreasonably” and left the league and the BCB embarrassed.”We decided to speak to Miraz and the Challengers officials to find out the reasons for their reaction in public, which gave birth to unwarranted speculations,” Mallick said. “Both player and the franchise officials admitted they had acted unreasonably without considering the consequences. It was a case of miscommunication, which should have been settled amicably within the team. They have expressed their regret for allowing the situation to escalate and accepted responsibility for causing embarrassment to the board and the tournament.”After meeting the player and officials, the board is satisfied that this was an internal management issue of Chattogram Challengers which has since been resolved.”We also understand that the decision to replace Miraz as captain, which apparently triggered the misunderstanding, was communicated to the player by the management well in advance of the team’s ensuing match. The board has reminded the player and franchise officials of their responsibility towards the event and has reiterated its zero-tolerance policy on discipline and integrity.”

Englishman lands two-year deal starting with Sri Lanka’s Bangladesh tour in May

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2022Chris Silverwood, the former England fast bowler, has been signed by SLC on a two-year deal as head coach of the Sri Lanka men’s national team. His first series in charge will be the team’s upcoming two-Test tour of Bangladesh in May.Silverwood was until February the head coach of the England men’s team, but parted ways with the ECB in the wake of the side’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat in Australia. His term with England lasted a little over two years after he took over from Trevor Bayliss in October 2019.Sri Lanka have been without a full-time head coach since Mickey Arthur’s departure in December after his contract had run out. While he had repeatedly expressed a desire to continue, SLC were understood to have been unresponsive. Since then, former fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake had been in charge of the men’s team.The appointment of Silverwood also comes after several other international coaches had been approached by SLC and its technical committee, and those coaches had eventually turned down the advances. Graham Ford, who coached Sri Lanka in two separate stints over the past decade, is understood to have been among those approached.”We are delighted to appoint Chris as the new head coach of the national team. He is an extremely experienced coach and from our discussions with him in the recruitment process it is clear he has the required qualities we are looking for to take the team forward,” said Ashley De Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, in the board’s statement. De Silva did not specify what those qualities were, and was not available for comment.Silverwood now becomes the Sri Lanka men’s team’s eighth permanent head coach appointment in the last 10 years (Ford had two separate stints in this time), in addition to the interim coaches who took the role on. He inherits a side that is seventh on the Test rankings, eighth in ODIs, and 10th in T20 internationals – Sri Lanka having to qualify for the main draw of the T20 World Cup later this year.On the Test front, Sri Lanka have home series against Australia and Pakistan, and an away series against New Zealand late in the year, in addition to the Bangladesh tour.

As a result of the 10-for, he has something to do as he quarantines when he goes back home

Sidharth Monga04-Dec-20214:11

Daniel Vettori: ‘Rare’ Ajaz Patel 10-wicket haul is greatest individual feat in NZ Test cricket

Ajaz Patel is in no hurry to go through the notifications on his phone after he became only the third man in the history of Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings. He might have been born in the chaotic city of Mumbai, but Ajaz is a proper New Zealander now. Revealing ice running through his veins, Ajaz said, “I might leave them for quarantine for when I get back home.”

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Not that he was not at home when he bowled at the Wankhede. He was about eight years old when his family moved to New Zealand. “To come back home to Mumbai and Wankhede and to be able to produce something like that is quite special,” Ajaz said. “I am thankful to god for blessing me with such an occasion in my cricketing journey.”Related

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Ajaz ended the first day on four wickets, and when leaving he had his eye on the stadium’s honours board. “I mean I knew leaving here last night there was still work to do,” he said. “I really really wanted to get my name on the honours board. I had no expectation of it going up in this fashion. It is very special and pretty cool. One of the first things I saw when I got off was my name is definitely going to be on the honours board now.”One of the first congratulatory tweets for him was from one of the two other men to have achieved this feat, Anil Kumble. “I definitely do remember [Kumble’s effort at Feroz Shah Kotla],” Ajaz said. “I have seen highlights of it as well many a time. To be in such an illustrious group is really really special. It was very cool to see his message and kind words. I am very very humbled and very very fortunate to be in such fine company.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

One of the stumbling blocks for Ajaz was Mayank Agarwal, whose one innings alone was worth 2.5 times New Zealand’s. “To score 150 out there in conditions that are pretty challenging for batting is pretty special,” Ajaz said. “My plan was simple: keep challenging him with good balls. As a batter he has got to front up every ball. As a bowler, I have to keep bowling my best ball. It was a long battle. Sometimes they take a lot longer than you like. He played a special knock as well. It was cool for me to finally get him. It was quite rewarding to be honest. It was a lot of hard work trying to get him out.”The final few moments of the 10-for left Ajaz nervous, especially as the last catch, a skier, wobbled on its way down. “We back Rachin [Ravindra] to be under that but I saw the ball wobble a bit while coming down so I was a bit nervous for a second, but Rachin took a brilliant catch,” Ajaz said. “I said to Neil Wagner who ran on just before the 10th wicket, I am more nervous now than I have been all game. It was pretty special. Knowing that you are going to achieve something special was quite unbelievable, and I am just ecstatic that I got to do it in Mumbai.”Personally I think one of the greatest cricketing days in my life. And it will probably always be.”

England’s bowlers successfully defused West Indies’ explosive batting line-up to set up a six-wicket win that puts them holders through to the Super Six stage

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2013
ScorecardEngland’s bowlers successfully defused West Indies’ explosive batting line-up to set up a six-wicket win that puts the holders through to the Super Six stage. Anya Shrubsole claimed career-best figures before opener Danielle Wyatt hit 40 and victory with 15 overs to spare had the added effect of damaging West Indies’ net run rate, which could help decide qualification from Group A.Only two West Indies batsmen got into double figures – and there were six ducks – as they limped to 101 all out. Katherine Brunt removed Kycia Knight with the second ball of the match before her new-ball partner Shrubsole struck three times. The run-out of West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira was followed by Brunt having Deandra Dottin caught behind, leaving the innings in tatters at 31 for 6.Kyshona Knight, batting at No. 4, and Shanel Daley staved off complete disaster with a partnership of 58 but the introduction of Arran Brindle hastened the end of the innings. Brindle took 3 for 0 from two overs, having top-scorer Kyshona Knight stumped for 33, and Shrubsole returned to complete a four-wicket haul, with Daley unbeaten on 30.In reply, Wyatt and Brindle put on 66 for the first wicket, as England appeared to be cruising into the Super Sixes. Dottin took two in two balls as four wickets fell for 13 runs but Heather Knight struck three boundaries to make sure Charlotte Edwards, England’s captain who had been feeling unwell, did not have to bat. The only other flutter for England was caused by Brunt having to leave the field during West Indies’ innings with a suspected twisted ankle.Although West Indies had gone into their final group game with a healthy NRR of +1.040, it fell to +0.276 in defeat and they will have to wait on the result of India’s match with Sri Lanka to determine whether they stay in the tournament.

Twelve overs were still left in the game when umpires called bad light and the players started shaking hands

Annesha Ghosh26-Jun-20214:02

Mithali Raj – ‘The current bowling attack, especially the spinners over the years have won matches for us irrespective of the wicket we played’

Mithali Raj, India’s Test and ODI captain, has expressed surprise at how their one-off Test against England ended last week. According to her, the visiting side wanted to continue batting when play was called off on the final day with 12 overs still left to be bowled. In response to this assertion from Raj, England captain Heather Knight explained that bad light was the reason for the premature close to proceedings in Bristol.Though no result other than a draw was possible at the time, two of India’s five Test debutants, Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia, were batting on unbeaten scores of 80 and 44 respectively, their rearguard ninth-wicket stand having swollen to 104.”We wanted to continue the play and that’s what we informed to the opposite captain, and they continued,” Raj revealed on ahead of the ODI series opener between the two sides. “But then I was told by Sneh Rana because even I was a little on the back foot when I saw the bails coming off and them walking out. So I asked her what happened and she said it was a bad light call taken by the umpire.”That’s what they were told. But then I saw the teams were congratulating [each other], so the umpires told that since both the teams are congratulating, it’s pretty much taken that the match is over. That’s what I was told by Sneh Rana. So that’s what happened.Knight, meanwhile, revealed that Raj was nowhere to be found when England were ready to accept a stalemate.”It became apparent to us that it was going to end in a draw, so we asked to shake hands with the Indian team,” Knight said. “We couldn’t actually find Mithali, so I think eventually a message got back on to us to that we were to carry on, which was fine. And then the umpires [Chris Watts and Sue Redfern] took us off for bad light and then the Indians came over and shook our hands. So that was what happened.”Knight also confirmed that the first ODI on Sunday will be played on a fresh pitch and that Sophia Dunkley, who made a first-innings unbeaten 74 on her Test debut last week, will make her maiden ODI appearance.”Yes, I have [had a chance to take a look at the pitch],” Knight said. “You’ll be pleased to hear it’s a fresh one. It looks pretty good, [with] an even covering of grass. Yeah, [it] looks like a reasonably good batting deck as it usually is with a fresh wicket in Bristol.”The teams head into the three-ODI series, which kicks off the limited-overs leg of the multi-format tour, on an even keel, with two points apiece. Wins in the white-ball games, which also features three T20Is, will be worth two points each.

has turned on Kevin Pietersen, terming him arrogant, self-pitying and isolated, for his part in the furore which destabilised English cricket last summer

David Hopps10-Apr-2013 has turned on Kevin Pietersen, terming him arrogant, self-pitying and isolated, for his part in the furore which destabilised English cricket last summer.There have been more trenchant Notes by the Editor than those which grace the 150th edition of the Almanack, published today, but Lawrence Booth reserves his sternest criticism for Pietersen’s behaviour during England’s Test series defeat against South Africa.

The wisdom of Wisden

– Simon Barnes finds echoes of Don Bradman in Sachin Tendulkar.
– Steve Davies, the Surrey and England wicketkeeper, on coming out as gay in professional sport.”
– Patrick Collins asks why Kevin Pietersen has not become universally revered in English cricket.
– Mike Selvey on his friend and fellow journalist, Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
– Barney Ronay bemoans the retirement of a prolific county runscorer.

“Cricket, some suspected, existed only as an extension of Pietersen’s whims (and unlike team, cricket definitely has an “I” in it). Emboldened by a lucrative new Indian Premier League deal, he was arrogant, attempting to bulldoze over the terms of his central contract. He was self-pitying, claiming he had never been looked after. And he was a man apart, sending silly texts to the South Africans,” Booth writes.Those texts were regarded in much of the media last summer as a national scandal. Perhaps in the use of the term “silly” has stumbled upon a greater truth., condemning the rift as a “mishmash in many genres”, does not spare ECB officials from criticism, concluding: “Only the dressing room knew just how troublesome Pietersen had become; for outsiders to lecture Andy Flower on man-management was plain ludicrous. But as his exile dragged on, the ECB began to look petty, if they showed their faces at all.”Pietersen’s pursuit of Twenty20’s riches at the expense of the Test side – the format which had made his name – was unattractive, although those attitudes can filter down from the top. If there was a have-cake-and-eat-it feel to his simultaneous grouse about excessive cricket and his yearning for IPL, it was hard to ignore a wider truth: a bloated schedule has asked the players to make unfair choices.”The dilemma is not going away, however much English cricket wishes it would.”Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year – an award specific to the English season and winnable only once – are Hashim Amla, Nick Compton, Jacques Kallis, Marlon Samuels and Dale Steyn. The Leading Cricketer in the World award goes to the Australian captain, Michael Clarke.

Kate Cross scores 43 and takes three-for in pivotal all-round display

ECB Reporters' Network31-May-2021North West Thunder recovered from their heart-breaking one-wicket defeat on the opening day of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy to beat Sunrisers by 36 runs at Chester Boughton Hall and record their first win of the season.Georgie Boyce hit a superb 91 in Thunder’s total of 247, in which Sonali Patel took a hat-trick to finish with figures of 4 for 40. Sunriser’s spirited reply was based around an excellent half-century from Fran Wilson but three wickets apiece for England stars Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone ensured the target was too much for Amara Carr’s side.Boyce and Emma Lamb got the hosts off to a steady start and the pair had reached 44 when Patel made the breakthrough thanks to a smart catch from Alice Macleod at mid-off.A pattern was quickly set as Boyce was joined by a revolving supporting cast with Pippa Cleary, Natalie Brown and Ecclestone all departing to Maddy Villiers’ offbreaks without hurting the Sunrisers too much. It was not until the arrival of Cross that Boyce found a partner of any real note as the 29-year-old sparked an acceleration of the run rate with some powerful hitting.When Boyce finally departed nine short of a well-deserved century, trapped in front Grace Scrivens, Thunder had passed the 200 mark with Cross continuing to bludgeon her side to a competitive total.It was just as well as when Cross skied one to Wilson for a vital 43 she became the first instalment of a Patel hat-trick, with Laura Marshall stumped next ball for 13 before Alex Hartley departed first delivery caught by Scrivens.The clatter of wickets ensured Thunder closed on 247 for 9, which felt a little short of what they would have liked and Sunrisers began their chase in confident fashion.Macleod and Cordelia Griffith had reached 37 unbeaten in the eighth over before Cross claimed two wickets in two balls to dismiss the latter for 22 and have skipper Carr caught behind first ball.Wilson began to rebuild the innings and Sunrisers looked to have got themselves back in contention as together with Macleod the pair built a third wicket partnership of 72. But Ecclestone then struck, trapping the opener in front for 38.Wilson’s lone resistance proved fruitless as the visitors lost their next three wickets for just nine runs with Hartley accounting for Naomi Dattani and Villiers before Lamb claimed the crucial wicket of Wilson bowled around her legs for 50 with Sunrisers 127 for 6.Some late resistance from the tail saw Sunrisers pass 200, but Ecclestone and Cross came back to wrap things up before Hannah Jones trapped Gayatri Gole in front for 15 and claim the victory.