After finishing last in the last three editions of the PSL, Lahore Qalandars have turned to Hafeez in a bid to improve their record

Umar Farooq09-Dec-2018Lahore Qalandars have appointed Mohammad Hafeez as captain for the fourth season of the Pakistan Super League. Fakhar Zaman and Yasir Shah had also been considered, but Qalandars went with the more experienced captain.In the last three seasons, Lahore Qalandars went with the Pakistan Test batsman Azhar Alias captain, followed by Brendon McCullum for the following two seasons. Azhar, their first captain, was removed from the job and never played again even though he was initially retained for the 2017 season, before being released. Two seasons with McCullum as captain did not help improve their fate either, with the side finishing bottom every year since the PSL’s inception. Over the three seasons, they lost 18 out of 26 games.Since the first season, other teams retaining their local captains had left the Qalandars short on options. But for the upcoming fourth season, they had a wider pool of Pakistan players to pick a captain from, with Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi all in the draft. They went on to pick Hafeez as their platinum player last month, believing a local captain would bring better results.Both Yasir and Fakhar were considered for the top job, with the proposition never quite materialising. The release of Hafeez from the Peshawar Zalmi roster this year made Hafeez the favoured pick.Hafeez, 38, retired from Test cricket after the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand in UAE in a bid to focus on his limited-overs career. He has played 248 T20 matches, scoring 5244 runs at a strike rate of 122.35. He captained Pakistan in T20Is between 2012 and 2014 before stepping down just days after the team’s exit from the group stage of the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh.During his stint as T20I captain, he led Pakistan to the semi-finals of the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka. However, the team exited at the group stage of the 2014 edition, after losing to West Indies by 84 runs. It was the first time Pakistan had failed to progress to the semi-finals in five editions of the tournament. Hafeez’s overall T20I record stands at 18 wins (one via a one-over eliminator) and 11 losses from 29 matches.

It turned into a one-side encounter at Spotless Stadium with Sydney Thunder’s attack sharing the success

Sam Perry13-Jan-2019Sydney Thunder atoned for their New Year’s Eve loss to Adelaide Strikers after a Shane Watson batting blitz and early inroads with the ball was enough to see off the high-flyers from South Australia.Both sides had major absentees, with the Thunder saying goodbye to English imports Jos Buttler and Joe Root, while the Strikers were without Alex Carey and Peter Siddle, both on international duty.Thunder captain Watson won the flip and elected to bat, finally making good on his early season promise with a powerful half-century. He was backed up by Anton Devcich, with the New Zealander providing an impressive opening foil. A handy 30-run partnership from 13 balls closed the innings at 168, led chiefly by Jay Lenton.Shane Watson showed his power•Getty Images

Usual suspects Rashid Khan, Michael Neser and Ben Laughlin bowled well for the Strikers, but Liam O’Connor and Billy Stanlake were wayward at key times, allowing for the Thunder to take charge. A poor Powerplay consigned the Strikers to a tough scoring rate early in their chase and they failed to recover. While Colin Ingram provided a vigil of sorts, once the Thunder were ahead, they didn’t look back.Watson belligerentHe’d threatened to go big in previous matches, and this time he did. Watson was at his destructive best, his characteristic portfolio of pulls and drives almost taking the game away from the Strikers before it had properly begun.He got the Thunder’s innings going when he was able to dispatch O’Connor’s wayward first over for multiple boundaries. He was ably supported by Devcich, who unleashed a brutal, fence-clearing on-drive from Neser’s follow-up over.O’Connor was subsequently withdrawn and replaced by the returning Stanlake who had been released from Australia duty for the day. He came into the game with an economy rate of 9.25 and was unfortunately true to form to begin with, conceding 14 from his first via another Devcich lofted on-drive, a top edge over keeper Harry Nielsen, and another swung away through the leg side, beating backward square.It amounted to a blistering Thunder start, yielding them 34 from their opening three overs.Watson brought his fifty up from 27 balls with a six, having been dropped in the deep on 35, and then hit two more in his next three deliveries. His partnership with Jason Sangha was a particular highlight. Sangha perished for 30 after an enterprising innings of flicks and drives at high bat speed, but did much to back the view that he is one for the future.How to handle Khan: Bat first?Rashid was thrown the ball after four overs in response to the fast start. There was some discussion that left-handers may provide the best antidote to the competition’s best bowler, who statistically enjoys better success against right-handers. The theory proved fruitless, as Rashid had Devcich lbw playing a reverse sweep at his third delivery. It brought Callum Ferguson to the crease, and Rashid claimed him first ball when he innocuously chipped him to midwicket after seeming to get tangled on the back foot. So far, no antidote.Rashid Khan was among the wickets yet again•Getty Images

It meant Sangha was charged with the task of surviving the hat-trick ball; a ball he faced with a slip, leg slip and bat pad in place. He both read and defended Rashid’s wrong’un, and saw out the remainder of the over with both the slip and bat pad unmoved. That both positions remained, despite the run rate at 10, says everything about Rashid’s impact. He started the over with the opposition 0 for 34 after three, and finished it at 2 for 37 from four.That said, there is something about batting first against a team containing Rashid that creates freedom. Freedom from a scoring rate. Freedom from scoreboard pressure. And if teams can take toll from other bowlers, as was the case here, it somewhat forces the usage of Rashid reactively. Though he finished with a classy set of figures (2 for 21), his impact felt less decisive given the regular carnage around him.No Powerplay, No Party for StrikersThe Thunder started with duel slow bowlers, and Devcich claimed the dangerous Jake Weatherald with the last ball of the first over. Shuffling in and bowling left arm around-the-wicket outswingers, Weatherald miscued a square drive that was caught by Gurinder Sandhu. Chris Green was typically miserly at the other end, his darted offspinners conceding only four from his first overSandhu then removed Matt Short lbw which brought together the Strikers’ two key batsmen: Ingram and Travis Head. Both managed to control then explode after a slow start in the Strikers’ last start against the Stars. Could they do it again? Not here. The introduction of Chris Jordan brought immediate dividends, after Head edged a ramp-cut that was too close to him, straight through to wicketkeeper Lenton.While Ingram was able to clear the ropes, no one could go with him. The innings dissipated as so many of these do, with batsmen meekly surrendering their wickets to longs off and on with the scoring rate at impossible levels. Each Thunder bowler took a wicket, with Arjun Nair picking up three in a collapse of 7 for 22. Stanlake’s comical run-out to close proceedings – where his jack-knifed bat had him looking like a 100-yard dasher – gave everybody a laugh at the game’s conclusion, including Stanlake.

The left-arm quick was able to arrest a fast start from the opposition while the opener helped seal a straightforward chase with a career-best 71

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Al Amerat13-Feb-20192:46

We were ready for Scotland coming hard at us in the first six overs – Seelaar

Netherlands’ bowling unit rebounded after a thunderous start by George Munsey to restrict Scotland to 153, before chasing down the target with one ball and seven wickets to spare in the Quadrangular T20I Series opener. A Dutch record opening stand of 100 by Tobias Visee and Stephan Myburgh ensured a stress-free chase.Having been sent in, Scotland put on 33 for 0 after two overs as Munsey clattered five fours and two sixes. He had hammered 71 off 34 balls to set up a record total of 221 the last time these two sides met, in Amstelveen in June last year. But Netherlands held the Scots to 120 off the final 18 with a fightback sparked by Fred Klaassen.Given the nod over Paul van Meekeren in the starting XI, the left-armer justified his inclusion by taking the key wicket of Munsey, lbw in the fourth over. Combined with Kyle Coetzer’s dismissal at backward point in the previous over off Shane Snater, momentum shifted dramatically back in favour of the Dutch, and they never relinquished it.Netherlands were sharp in the field early as well, with Max O’Dowd taking two catches at deep square leg. One of them was a sensational diving effort when Richie Berrington couldn’t keep a sweep down against Pieter Seelaar’s spin, to make it 44 for 4.Calum MacLeod survived an early chance on 9 and then again on 47 when O’Dowd spilled a comparatively easy chance at deep square leg before the reigning ICC Associate Player of the Year upper-cut his seventh four over third man to reach his half-century. MacLeod added 53 for the fifth wicket with Craig Wallace and eventually top-scored with 53 off 45 balls. In the 18th over, he was bowled shuffling across his stumps to scoop Timm van der Gugten, negating Scotland’s best chance of a late surge.Visee struggled early in Netherlands’ reply, taking seven balls to get off the mark, but a sliced four over the slips in the second over helped ease his nerves. In nine previous T20Is, his best score was 25 but by the eighth over he was on 37 and proceeded to drive Michael Leask for six, cover drive and sweep him for four and bring up his maiden T20I fifty off only 29 balls.Normally the aggressor in any opening stand for Netherlands, Stephan Myburgh was content to ride shotgun until he flicked Leask to deep square leg in the 12th over to signal the century stand. Visee was bowled a few deliveries later for 71 by Safyaan Sharif but Ryan ten Doeschate and Wesley Barresi saw Netherlands home with an unbeaten 33-run stand to give the Dutch an early advantage in the quadrangular series.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was awarded a category A contract, the second-most lucrative, while Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were moved down from category A+ to A

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Mar-2019Rishabh Pant’s exploits in international cricket since his Test debut in England last year have given him a lucrative entrance into BCCI’s annual retainers’ list. Pant, who was not part of the 26-man list in 2017-18, has been placed in Category A for the 2018-19 season, which carries a retainer worth INR 5 crore.The contracts, which run from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019, were approved by the Committee of Administrators, the supervisory authority of BCCI, on Thursday in Delhi.

The list of contracts

• Grade A+ (INR 7cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

• Grade A (INR 5cr): R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant

• Grade B (INR 3cr): KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya

• Grade C (INR 1cr): Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha

• IN: Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed

• OUT: Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, M Vijay

Grade A is the second-most lucrative retainer, one rung below the A+ grade, which was introduced last year for players that feature in all three formats. The A+ category, worth INR 7 crore, had five players in the previous contract period, but that count has been brought down to three with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan being dropped to the A category. The three players to retain their spots in the A+ category are captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.The A bracket has 11 players compared to seven last year. Three players have also been promoted from B to A: fast bowling pair of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, along with wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav.MS Dhoni, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have all retained their spots in the A category. Wriddhiman Saha, who missed out most of 2018 due to injuries and only started playing few weeks back, has been moved from A to C. There were some new entrants too in the C grade – Ambati Rayudu, Hanuma Vihari and Khaleel Ahmed – as Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel and Jayant Yadav were dropped.Opener M Vijay, who was in the A category last year, has been dropped from the list completely. The overall count of players contracted has also come down from 26 to 25 this year.Like last year, the final list was prepared by the five-man national selection panel led by MSK Prasad. The selectors have opted to reward players that have taken significant strides in the last year and have been the key performers consistently.One of those players has been Pant. The 21-year-old has been one of the most improved players on the Indian circuit across formats and is currently auditioning for India’s World Cup squad. Picked in place of Saha, who was injured through 2018, Pant cracked a century in his third Test on a debut tour of England. More recently, Pant made 159 against Australia during the New Year’s Test in Sydney, having taken 11 catches in the series opener in Adelaide, the most by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.ESPNcricinfo understands Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar were not retained in the A+ category because they did not consistently feature in all three formats last season. Dhawan struggled for form in the Test format on the tours of South Africa and England and was eventually dropped for the Australia tour, with the selectors picking Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal. Bhuvneshwar was injured at the start of the season, and although he was included in the Test squad for Australia, he did not play in the four-match series that India won 2-1.Two key players, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, who were briefly suspended by the CoA for their alleged misconduct on a TV chat show, will continue to be part of Category B (INR 3 crore). On Thursday, the CoA had asked Justice DK Jain, newly-appointed BCCI ombudsman, to probe Pandya and Rahul’s alleged misconduct. As per the BCCI constitution, the ombudsman is the final authority to adjudicate on such issues.Pandya is not part of the ongoing ODI series against Australia due to a back injury, but his stocks have gradually increased over the last 18 months with the management backing him to play in all three formats as the primary allrounder.Among the players that missed the cut were Shaw, Agarwal and Vijay Shankar. Shaw made his India debut with an effervescent Test century against West Indies last year and was part of the Test squad for the Australia tour, but was forced to return home due to a freak injury while fielding during the warm-up match. Agarwal, too, has made a strong start to his international career, while Vijay, who helped India clinch a thrilling last-over victory with the ball in the Nagpur ODI against Australia earlier this week, has given healthy headaches to the selection panel, which has put him in the pool of 18-odd players shortlisted for the World Cup.Women’s retainers: Poonam Yadav gets Category A contractLegspinner Poonam Yadav has been rewarded with a Category A contract, worth a retainer of INR 50 lakh, following her standout performances in 2018. Poonam was the highest wicket-taker in T20Is in 2018, and the joint-highest wicket-taker in ODIs. She joins Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Smriti Mandhana in the category, while the experienced Jhulan Goswami has been moved from A down to B (INR 30 lakh) for the 2018-19 season.

The list of contracts

• Grade A (INR 50 lakh): Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana

• Grade B (INR 30 lakh): Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rogdrigues

• Grade C (INR 10 lakh): Radha Yadav, D Hemalatha, Anuja Patil, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut, Mona Meshram, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Taniya Bhatia, Pooja Vastrakar

The other notable movement up in BCCI’s annual player retainership for women is that of Jemimah Rodrigues, who broke into the national team in 2018. She has moved up from C (INR 10 lakh) into B. She joins Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma, who have retained their places in the category.Middle-order batsman Veda Krishnamurthy, who finished 2018 with ten consecutive single-digit scores across formats, has been pushed down to C, along with left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad had left out the out-of-form Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey for the match against Delhi Capitals

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-20193:40

Murali Kartik: Winners have parties, losers have meetings

Kane Williamson’s return to fitness, and the lack of form of the middle-order batsmen, forced Sunrisers Hyderabad to make a raft of changes for their Sunday night exchange with Delhi Capitals, and David Warner feels that made a difference to end result – Capitals winning by 39 runs after Sunrisers went from 101 for 2 to 116 all out.”I don’t like hindsight. Today, there was a decision that they [the team management] made – I’m no longer part of that process, I don’t know what their thinking was – but when you lose that experience in the middle, it can be quite challenging and quite difficult for the new guys that come in,” Warner said of the call to leave out Mohammad Nabi, Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey to fit in Williamson, Ricky Bhui and Abhishek Sharma.Of those dropped, while Nabi had been impressive with the ball when given a chance, Pathan (32 runs in five innings with a strike rate of 86.48) and Pandey (54 runs in five innings, strike rate 93.10) had been struggling to score runs.That must have forced the team management’s hand, but the three men brought in scored a total of 12 runs in 23 balls on the day, failing to give the innings the solidity it needed in the middle overs after Warner (51 off 47) and Jonny Bairstow (41 off 31) had given them another great start.”But there is no excuses – we got off to a good start, we didn’t capitalise on those middle periods, there were a lot of ones, not many twos, they [Capitals] shut down the boundaries well and they bowled very well,” Warner said. “We just missed a couple of opportunities to hit boundaries through that middle period.”Sunrisers, after winning three of their first four games, have now lost three in a row to slip to sixth place on the points table, only above Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.David Warner punches down the ground•BCCI

“We got off to a good start, again, without losing a wicket. You look at the overs between seven and 13, we had a fair few dots, we didn’t find too many boundaries, and from that position we were in, you should be chasing … I think it was ten an over, 11 an over towards the back end,” Warner elaborated.”I think we probably didn’t utilise those middle periods as well as we’d like. We’re generally pretty good running between the wickets, but we failed to just hit that boundary. And again, we lost wickets after a start, which is disappointing.”I take responsibility as well, as an in batsman, you try and be there at the end. Unfortunate that that’s the way I play, I tried to look for a boundary but I was unlucky,” he said of holing out off Kagiso Rabada at mid-off in the 17th over.Colin Munro, the Capitals batsman who hit a 24-ball 40 earlier in the evening, credited his team’s bowlers – Rabada, Chris Morris and Keemo Paul picked up all ten wickets between them – for giving them a win that seemed unlikely while Warner and Bairstow were in the middle.”They obviously got off to a good start, but we knew if we stayed in the game and we stayed in the contest for every ball, it was going to go down to the wire, and we got those breakthroughs and those wickets at crucial stages,” Munro said. “They got away from us in terms of the [required] run rate, so credit to our bowlers, how we fought every single ball and stayed in the contest.”The win took Capitals to ten points from eight games and the No. 2 spot on the points table, only behind Chennai Super Kings, who are well ahead on 14 points from the same number of games.

Both teams are well placed to make the top four but Mumbai Indians look the side with better all-round strength

The Preview by Hemant Brar01-May-20197:22

Vettori – Only issue Sunrisers have is who will replace Warner

Big picture

He came. He promised. He delivered. And now he has left. How will Sunrisers Hyderabad fill the David Warner-size hole at a time they need him the most?It can’t be easy to replace a man with 692 runs this season and maybe Sunrisers shouldn’t try to. There will be a temptation to use Martin Guptill, the second highest run-getter in T20Is, but with Manish Pandey striking form, the better option might be to reshuffle the batting order to open with Kane Williamson and fill the fourth overseas slot with Billy Stanlake. With Sunrisers struggling a bit in the fast bowling department, Stanlake can slot in for Sandeep Sharma and add more firepower to the pace unit.

Form guide (last three games, most recent first)

Mumbai: Lost to Knight Riders by 34 runs, beat Chennai Super Kings by 46 runs, lost to Royals by five wickets
Sunrisers: Beat Kings XI Punjab by 45 runs, lost to Royals by seven wickets, lost to Super Kings by six wickets

Thanks to their healthy net run-rate (0.709), a victory against Mumbai Indians on Thursday will help Sunrisers put one foot into the playoffs even if they lose their last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. And as it happens, it will also put an end to Rajasthan Royals’ hopes of making it to the top four.For Mumbai, the equation is a bit simpler. A win would take them into the qualifiers and with 16 points from 13 games, they needn’t even worry about net run-rate and other results. In Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock, they have a settled and in form opening combination, with the likes of Evin Lewis, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard to follow.Although Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga conceded 92 from their eight overs in Mumbai’s last outing, against Kolkata Knight Riders, both are experienced enough to put that behind.

In the news

With Warner having left for Australia, Sunrisers have a big decision to make. “We’ve got a few options, haven’t we?” head coach Tom Moody said on the eve the match. “We are looking at those options at the moment. Guptill is the obvious one, being a world-class opener himself, a like-for-like replacement. But you know, there’s also that option to consider looking at someone like Billy Stanlake at a venue like this.”Hardik Pandya goes deep in his crease and goes through midwicket•BCCI

Previous meeting

When these two sides met earlier in the tournament, Sunrisers were bundled out for 96 while chasing 137 as Alzarri Joseph picked up 6 for 12, the best bowling figures ever in the IPL.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Barinder Sran, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit BumrahSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Abhishek Sharma, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Billy Stanlake

Strategy punt

• Hardik and Pollard have been taking apart bowling attacks in the death this season, but in Rashid Khan Sunrisers have someone who boasts a great record against both. Hardik has managed just 14 off 26 balls while getting out twice to the legspinner in three T20 innings, and while Pollard has got out just once to Rashid in eight innings, he has managed only 28 off 36 balls. Therefore, Sunrisers might consider saving Rashid for Mumbai’s biggest hitters.
• Despite going for plenty in their last game, Bumrah and Malinga remain Mumbai’s best bet in the death. Together the two have 20 wickets with an economy of 9.2 in overs 16 to 20. The other Mumbai bowlers have 12 wickets at an economy of 11.7.

Stats that matter

• Sunrisers have played six matches in Mumbai, winning one and losing five.
• Yusuf Pathan has scored 84 runs off 62 deliveries off Malinga in T20s, without getting out even once.
• Sunrisers have the best run-rate (9.3) in the Powerplays in IPL 2019. Warner and Jonny Bairstow had a lot to do with that and both of them have left the team. On the flip side, their run-rate of 9.1 in the overs 16 to 20 is the worst among the eight teams this season.

The allrounder, who is recovering from a side strain, will miss Saturday’s match against Sri Lanka

Melinda Farrell at The Oval14-Jun-2019Marcus Stoinis will miss Australia’s match against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Saturday as he continues to recover from a side strain. Selectors will give him every chance to prove his fitness ahead of their next match against Bangladesh, on June 20, before deciding on his future in the tournament. Stoinis sustainied the injury while bowling in Australia’s loss to India, and missed Wednesday’s match against Pakistan.While Stoinis has batted at training and spent time in the gym, he has yet to bowl, and Australia are unwilling to risk exacerbating the injury. Australia travel to Nottingham on Sunday ahead of their game against Bangladesh, giving Stoinis another four-day gap in which to continue his recovery.”Having four days between this game and the next game, I think that will be the ideal time to really test him out and assess him,” Australia captain Aaron Finch said. “But I think over the next five-six days, there will be a call made on that, just based on what he can and can’t do. We’ve seen him batting and running, no problem. Just he hasn’t tried to bowl yet. Just waiting for the injury to settle down a bit more.”Australia flew Mitchell Marsh in as cover for Stoinis before the Pakistan match but they can’t call him into the squad unless Stoinis is ruled out of the tournament. Finch said selectors have not yet decided if they will play an extra batsman or bowler against Sri Lanka, and admitted finding the best team balance was a concern.”Yeah, it’s tough when guys [are injured], especially allrounders who balance out your side really well, give you that extra fast-bowling option, as well as a top-six batter,” said Finch. “So it’s a little bit difficult trying to decide whether you go the extra batter or the extra bowler, depending on conditions.”So I think it does make it a little bit tougher, a bit more of a challenge, no doubt. But we also did plan for that, if it did happen throughout the tournament, before you sit down and you start planning out what happens if X, Y, Z happens?”Mitchell Marsh joined the squad in Taunton and has participated in training, although Australia’s final session at The Oval was disrupted by drizzle and none of the pacers bowled in the indoor nets. Finch said he had confidence that, while Marsh was present just as a precautionary measure, he could slot straight into the allrounder role if required.”The answer, the short answer, is yes. There is confidence that Mitch will come in and do well if selected, if Stoinis doesn’t recover properly.”

South Africa are already out of the World Cup but they have two games left to ‘finish on a high’, says assistant coach

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Durham26-Jun-2019Their opponents are still technically battling for one of those semi-final spots, but for South Africa the post-mortem has already begun. How did two years of intense planning, which featured serious blooding of hopefuls and all manner of contingencies, including letting David Miller keep for a few games in case Quinton de Kock got injured – how did all that manifest in this train wreck of a campaign?And what does it mean now that the dream is dead? What happens to the coaches and senior players? South Africa had had success in ODIs in the past year, winning five successive bilateral series, but does that mean anything without a half-decent World Cup to show for it?Head coach Ottis Gibson’s contract runs to September. Who deserves to stay as they attempt to build for the next cycle?”It’s a bit tough for all of us – we haven’t performed as well as we would have liked and we have to suffer the consequences of that,” assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa said ahead of the match in Durham against Sri Lanka. “We are willing to take responsibility, but hopefully we will be judged on more than what we have done here. A lot of good work was done before. Hopefully that counts for something.”If heads do roll then we can look back and say we’ve given it our best shot. We came here to win and it hasn’t happened. We want to make sure we leave Cricket South Africa in a better place than when we took over. It might not look like it now, but we think we have contributed.”Although coaching staff are clearly thinking about their jobs right now, there are still two games to play before South Africa return home to face consequences. For the likes of Imran Tahir and JP Duminy, who had announced their ODI retirements before the tournament, the games against Sri Lanka and Australia are a chance to bid farewell on at least a mildly pleasant note. The remainder are attempting to salvage pride and stem negativity.Senior players – Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in particular – may find themselves under the microscope when the tournament ends regardless of what happens in these games. But two wins, perhaps, would temper the scrutiny a little.”What’s left to play for is really ourselves,” Maketa said. “We’ve dedicated the last two years to coming here and win the tournament. We can’t let two weeks’ work reflect badly on us. We need to make sure we really finish strong. As much as we’re playing for millions of people back home. We need to make sure we walk away from this World Cup and justify why we’re here.”The way we see ourselves representing our country, we want to make sure that we finish off on a high. We’ve got a few players who are finishing after this World Cup. Two victories here will go a long way, rather than just one victory. That will be our legacy of the World Cup, and we don’t want to let ourselves down.”

England captain Heather Knight hopes spinning wicket will bring her side back into contest after ODI defeats

Melinda Farrell in Taunton17-Jul-2019England’s hopes of keeping the Women’s Ashes alive may rest on a turning pitch at Taunton and the two youngest members of their squad. Australia lead the multi-format series 6-0 after winning all three ODIs convincingly and will retain the Ashes if England fail to win the four-day contest, worth four points.England have drafted left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon into the squad after her impressive performance for England Academy in the three-day warm up match against Australia. Gordon took a total of eight wickets in the match and may join England’s other left-arm 20-year-old spinner, Sophie Ecclestone, in the XI.A turning pitch – a regular feature at a ground often referred to as “Ciderabad” on the county circuit – could help England negate Australia’s pace attack, which is likely to include Tayla Vlaeminck, the 20-year-old right-armer, who is widely considered to be the quickest bowler in the Australian squad.After both captains had viewed the pitch, Meg Lanning described it as “used” and, while this is technically the case, the last time it was played on was the Men’s World Cup match between Afghanistan and New Zealand on June 8. But there were still visible marks on what appeared to be a dry surface and Lanning and her England counterpart, Heather Knight, both expected spin to play a significant role.”It looks a little bit dry, I think it will generally play okay to start with but obviously we’ll have to see how it adapts as the game goes on,” said Knight.”There’s the potential it could turn later in the Test which is pretty exciting with both sides going out there to win,” said Lanning. “I think it will be a great contest.””We’re happy playing whatever comes our way, I think it will be a really good contest and it will play reasonably well early on, it’s just towards the back end we’ll just have to see how it goes.”ALSO READ: Perth glories inspire Kate Cross to hit her markBoth sides are keen for a result, and with rain forecast that may be a challenge, but it is difficult to over-emphasise the importance of a decent pitch in a women’s Test. The last time a Women’s Ashes Test was played on a surface conducive to attacking cricket was in January 2014 at the WACA. The previous fixture, at Wormsley in 2013, and subsequent matches, at Canterbury and North Sydney Oval were played on slow surfaces that all too often led to dull cricket.”We obviously need a result so we want a pitch that will be conducive to that,” said Knight. “But I think the last few pitches we’ve played on have been very flat and slow which haven’t been great for the spectacle and haven’t been great in terms of creating exciting cricket to watch and creating results.”I think it will be slightly different to that. We’ll obviously have to see how it plays and as a team we’ll have to adapt in terms of how we play our cricket. If you ask me at the end of the four days we’ll see and we’ll have a better reflection on whether it’s a good pitch for four-day cricket or not.”The last few Test matches haven’t been good as a contest, but I’ve no doubt this match will be different to that,” agreed Lanning.”We’re ready to play on anything, we feel we’ve got a good attack with the ball, both spin and pace and the batting line-up is really strong as well.”