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“Why go down that route,” Aakash Chopra asks on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Sep-20251:55

Why did Suryakumar let Siddique bat despite being out?

Suryakumar Yadav, the India captain, withdrew an appeal against Junaid Siddique on Wednesday night in Dubai despite the batter being given out by the third umpire.The incident took place in the 13th over of the UAE innings. Siddique was beaten while attempting a pull off Shivam Dube, and was found outside the crease when wicketkeeper Sanju Samson collected the ball and under-armed a direct hit to the stumps at the striker’s end. As soon as he missed the ball, Siddique seemed to point towards the towel that Dube appeared to have dropped while delivering the ball.Even as the square-leg umpire referred the decision to third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Suryakumar walked up to the umpire at the bowler’s end to have a chat, and withdrew the appeal after he saw the replays on the big screen. The third umpire had declared Siddique out by that stage.Related

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Siddique was out one legal ball later, when he toe-ended a slog off a Dube slower delivery to Suryakumar at mid-on to leave UAE 55 for 9. It was Dube’s third wicket; UAE were eventually bowled out for 57, which India overhauled in 4.3 overs.On ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show, Aakash Chopra suggested that Suryakumar’s decision was based on the match situation at the time, which was heavily in India’s favour.”It’s event-specific in my opinion, it wouldn’t have happened if [Pakistan’s] Salman Agha was playing on 14th [of September] and the game is in the balance, and he’s just roaming around, he [Suryakumar] won’t do that,” Chopra said. “It was a good throw, presence of mind from Sanju to hit the stumps.”If he was [outside the crease], it should be out, in my opinion. But opinions may vary. The problem is the moment you bring in ethics and generosity, it opens a can of worms: ‘oh, you did this today, why are you not doing the same thing tomorrow?’ Why go down that route?”Will you do it? If that’s the case, it’s like walking. You nick it and you walk. But the day you do not walk, that’s the day that decides which side of the divide you are on and that’s when you look like a hypocrite. I’m not saying SKY is going to do it again, or not do it again. But if it is within the rules and the umpire has given it out, just stay out. That’s it.”India went on to pull off their fastest chase in men’s T20Is, in terms of overs left – eclipsing the 6.3 overs’ chase against Scotland at the T20 World Cup in Dubai in 2021.

Australian allrounder takes two wickets before anchoring chase with unbeaten half-century

ECB Reporters Network24-Apr-2024Australian Charli Knott continued to impress with bat and ball as Southern Vipers secured the first victory of their defence of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.For the second game in a row, 21-year-old Knott picked up two wickets with her offspin but upgraded the 41 she scored against South East Stars into an unbeaten 58 to set up a seven-wicket victory over Central Sparks.Katie George had saved Sparks from a collapse with a classy 52 to give her side 151 to defend. But Ella McCaughan’s patient 43, Maia Bouchier’s elegant 43 and Knott’s in-control innings gave Vipers an uncomplicated bonus point win.Vipers only had one fast bowler in their attack, while Sparks were fully stocked with pace – but it was the hosts that got a flyer with the ball. Sparks were 31 for 4 and then 84 for 7, after being stuck in, as the Vipers kept taking wickets and building pressure.Eve Jones was the first to depart as she fatally took on Bouchier’s arm at mid-off in the sixth over, before Knott pounced in her first over when Davina Perrin chipped to point.Also swooping at the picturesque Wormsley was a family of red kites, who stole an orange from Sparks’ Hannah Baker and a banana off Vipers assistant coach James Hibbard.Abbey Freeborn was bowled by Linsey Smith, as the visitors only reached 27 in the first 10-over powerplay, before the left-arm spinner tclung on when Ami Campbell thumped back at her. Smith would end up with 2 for 20, with four maidens – the most economical Vipers bowling figures.Chloe Brewer had driven nicely and looked in good nick for her 23 before she tamely drove to Emily Windsor at cover, before Emily Arlott missed a Georgia Adams arm ball.Issy Wong picked out mid-off, but just as Sparks looked at a worrying sub-100 score, George and Ria Fackrell added 77. George, who had picked up five penalty runs after being hit with the ball by Charlie Dean, was in complete control throughout her innings – keeping things ticking on the leg side and using the off side for more expansive shots.She reached her third Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy half-century in 98 balls, Fackrell accompanying her with 39 to reach a more defendable total. But George fell the ball after raising her bat as she picked out long-on, with Fackrell run out in the last over as Sparks set 173 to win.In reply, Bouchier carried over her form from England’s tour of New Zealand – where she scored 293 runs in eight innings – with boundaries galore in a glorious 32-ball 33 before she was adjudged lbw.Queenslander Knott replaced her and was the subject of another controversial moment – with Wong initially claiming a boundary catch, but the Vipers contingent insistent she had stepped on the boundary rope. After a lively conversation, both teams agreed to a six rather than a wicket.McCaughan took the George approach with a watchful 43, with a seeming instruction to bat through, but after a barrage of well-directed short balls from Wong, she pulled to square leg.Knott continued with Georgia Elwiss in a 56-run stand, before the right-hander reached her milestone in 79 balls – with victory coming shortly afterwards, despite Elwiss being given out leg before to Fackrell.

West Indies spinner takes 3-15 on BBL debut to dent Heat’s chase

AAP15-Dec-2022Melbourne Renegades captain Nic Maddinson plundered a scintillating 87 against Brisbane Heat to set up a 22-run victory in his 100th BBL game.Maddinson got out of the blocks quickly, kept his cool when four wickets fell in a clump, and put his foot down again late to lift the Renegades to 7 for 166 batting first in Cairns after being sent in.West Indies international Akeal Hosein opened the bowling for Renegades with his left-arm spin and dismissed opener Max Bryant for a duck with his fifth delivery. The momentum stayed with Renegades from then on.Hossein was playing his first game in the BBL and was the dominant bowler on the night to give Renegades a great start to the new campaign after finishing bottom of the ladder last season.Heat recruit Colin Munro (35 off 30 balls), with 65 T20 internationals to his credit for New Zealand, was finding top form with the bat before he was run out by a direct hit from Tom Rogers.When Heat skipper Jimmy Peirson was bowled by Hossein for 43 off 30 deliveries in the 15th over the required rate was nearing the unachievable.Maddinson earlier set the platform for victory. He took 20 off Xavier Bartlett’s second over and a further 22 off his third in a 49-ball innings, including 10 fours and three sixes, that produced his highest score in T20 cricket. Andre Russell (35 off 28 balls) celebrated his return to Renegades with a powerhouse innings including three sixes.The visitors rocketed to 0 for 65 off six overs before Sam Harper was well caught at fine leg by Josh Brown off the first delivery bowled by the impressive James Bazley.Renegades lost 4 for 13 in four overs due to some shrewd captaincy by Peirson and smart bowling by spinners Mitch Swepson and Matt Kuhnemann. Swepson knocked over Jake Fraser-McGurk with a classic googly. Then Kuhnemann took two wickets in one over by slowing down his pace and bamboozling Aaron Finch and off-season recruit Jono Wells.That was when Maddinson and Russell took control in a 78-run stand off 46 deliveries. Maddinson, when on 42, was involved in a bizarre incident when he played a pull-shot off Mark Steketee.The ball lobbed over the stumps but one bail came off. On review it was clear that the dislodged bail was an unexplainable mystery but no fault of the batter.

Mithali Raj back at No. 1 in ODIs after Stafanie Taylor slips to fifith

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-2021Smriti Mandhana has reached a career-best third spot among women T20I batters on the back of her 51-ball 70 in the third and final match away against England. Danni Wyatt, too, moved up four places to 17th after hitting a match-winning 89* as England won the series 2-1.Among the other England players to play key roles in the series win, Katherine Brunt broke into the top ten among bowlers, jumping four places to seventh, after picking up 2 for 27 in the final T20I, while Nat Sciver has moved up five places to be joint No. 17 in the same list.

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Elsewhere, though she wasn’t in action this past week, Mithali Raj has climbed back to the top of the ODI batters’ table after Stafanie Taylor had a bad run. Taylor, who had reclaimed the top position among batters as well allrounders in ODIs last week, slipped to the fifth spot in the batting list after losing 30 points following scores of 49 and 21 in the last two matches against Pakistan.Raj has reached the perch among ODI batters for the ninth time in her long and celebrated career. The first time she was No. 1 was way back in April 2005 after she had scored 91* against New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup that year.In the allrounders’ list, Taylor lost her top spot to Ellyse Perry and moved down three spots among the bowlers too after going wicketless in the last three of the five ODIs against Pakistan.Among the West Indies players to have gained following the 3-2 series win were batters Deandra Dottin and Britney Cooper and offspinner Anisa Mohammed among bowlers.Pakistan’s Omaima Sohail, meanwhile, has reached a career-best 36th position following her 195 runs in five matches against West Indies.

The teams were scheduled to play a three-Test series in the July-August period

Mohammad Isam24-Jun-2020Twenty-four hours after the postponement of their home series against New Zealand, Bangladesh have deferred their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. The teams were scheduled to play three Tests in the July-August period.The BCB informed SLC of its unpreparedness on Wednesday, which means both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will remain out of action due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The BCB hasn’t yet commenced any form of training of its cricketers with the Shere Bangla National Stadium, cricket’s headquarters in the country, well within a virus “red zone”. Bangladesh’s count of those infected by the virus has crossed the 100,000 mark, with 1,502 officially counted dead as of June 23. Earlier this week, cricketers Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Islam, as well as former batsman Nafees Iqbal. tested Covid positive.So far, this is Bangladesh’s fifth postponement since March, following the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi (April), the tour of the UK and Ireland (May), and the home series against Australia (June) and New Zealand (August-September).Sri Lanka is in a better situation than Bangladesh in terms of numbers of Covid-18=9 cases and deaths, but it has also had its share of postponements. Apart from the England team returning home from Sri Lanka after two practice matches, South Africa and India have also postponed tours of the island.

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.

The victory was set up by a trio of half-centuries from Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil, and Darwish Rasooli, to set up an imposing total of 284 for 7

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2018Ikram Ali Khil gets off his feet to play a shot during his innings of 55•Getty Images

Reigning Under-19 Asia Cup champions Afghanistan reprised their regional success on a global stage at the World Cup in New Zealand, defeating Sri Lanka by 32 runs on DLS Method in Whangerei. Having already beaten Pakistan in Group D, Afghanistan clinched a place in the quarter-finals for the second time in their history, having done it in 2014 in the UAE before losing to eventual champions South Africa.The success for Afghanistan is also a 180-degree turn from the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, when they were similarly placed in a group with Pakistan and Sri Lanka but were defeated by both sides.

SL’s Kalana Perera out injured

Sri Lanka Cricket has named Thilan Wallekamkanamge as a replacement for left-arm spinner Kalana Perera, who has been ruled out of the World Cup with an ankle injury. Perera had hurt his ankle during a training session on January 16 in Whangarei.

Wednesday’s victory was set up by a trio of half-centuries from Ibrahim Zadran (86 off 112 balls), Ikram Ali Khil (55 off 89 balls), and Darwish Rasooli (63 off 44 balls) to set up an imposing total of 284 for 7. The chase was in the balance when rain arrived after 24 overs with Sri Lanka 108 for 3. A revised target of 127 off the final 14 overs was set when play resumed, and the required run rate jumped from 6.80 to nearly ten an over.Afghanistan’s bowlers seized on this to successfully apply pressure. Captain Naveen-ul-Haq snared two wickets in the first four overs after play resumed, including the well-set Jehan Daniel for Sri Lanka’s eventual top score of 48. Naveen finished with 4 for 35 in eight overs and also effected a run-out.Afghanistan play Ireland in their final Group D match. Sri Lanka play Pakistan with the winner joining Afghanistan in the quarter-finals. A tie or a washout would also put Pakistan into the knockouts due to the net run rate tiebreaker.

A round-up of the fourth day of Ranji Trophy games from Group B

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2016Seamers Rahul Shukla and Ashish Kumar combined to knock Assam over for 299 on the fourth morning before Jharkhand chased down the target of 110 with five wickets in hand. The win pushed Jharkhand to first place on the Group B points table with 32 from seven matches. Resuming on 269 for 5, Assam lost Arun Karthik in the second over of the morning. Overnight batsman Sibsankar Roy was subsequently dismissed for 86 as Assam lost their last five wickets for 30 runs. Shukla returned figures of 3 for 74, while Kumar chipped in with two wickets.Coming in at 52 for 3, Ishank Jaggi quelled any hope of an Assam fightback with a 15-ball 34 that included four fours and two sixes. Arup Das claimed 3 for 49.Karnataka offspinner K Gowtham ripped out four wickets and gave Saurashtra a bit of a scare but couldn’t prevent them from wrapping up a four-wicket win in Patiala and climbing off the bottom of the table. Karnataka began the day 168 for 5 – effectively 9 for 5 – in their second innings, and their last five wickets only managed to add 48 to their total as the left-arm spinner Jay Chauhan finished with 4 for 71 to end with match figures of 7 for 123 on debut.Apart from two overs from their captain Vinay Kumar, Karnataka used spin throughout in a desperate bid to defend a target of 58. Gowtham took four wickets in 7.4 overs and left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi two in eight, before Arpit Vasavada and first-innings centurion Prerak Mankad steered Saurashtra home with an unbroken 22-run stand for the seventh wicket. The defeat meant Karnataka slipped to second place, two points behind Jharkhand.Only 19 overs were possible on another rain-hit day at the SSN College of Engineering ground in Chennai, where Delhi picked up three points for their first-innings lead against Vidarbha. With day three washed out completely, Delhi declared on their day-two total of 250 for 8, with a lead of 67. Vidarbha lost three wickets in getting to 37, with seamers Sumit Narwal, Navdeep Saini and Vikas Tokas picking up one each.

Quality won out in the day/night Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval, with New South Wales obliterating South Australia in three days that served as a dry run for the floodlit Test to be played there next month

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2015
ScorecardSteven Smith struck 17 fours and four sixes for his unbeaten 152•Getty Images

Quality won out in the day/night Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval, with New South Wales obliterating South Australia in three days that served as a dry run for the floodlit Test to be played there next month.After Steven Smith and Ed Cowan continued on their merry way to set SA a distant target, the Blues bowlers shared the wickets to end the match early.Mitchell Starc was again a fiendish proposition, but he was well supported by Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, a combination that will next be seen against New Zealand at the Gabba.Starc’s dismissal of Travis Head for a duck maintained his recent domination of SA’s new captain, and though Callum Ferguson frustrated the Blues with a defiant 96, the result always seemed likely to be sealed a night early.

Andy Flower has said that he will look into his side’s problems with starting overseas Tests poorly and suggested that he will implement changes for future series

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin11-Mar-2013

England overseas: shall we skip the first Test?

• 2004-05 – Port Elizabeth: won by seven wickets

• 2005-06 – Multan: lost by 22 runs; Nagpur: draw

• 2006-07 – Brisbane: lost by 277 runs

• 2007-08 – Kandy: lost by 88 runs; Hamilton: lost by 189 runs

• 2008-09 – Chennai: lost by six wickets; Jamaica: lost by an innings and 23 runs

• 2009-10 – Centurion: draw; Chittagong: won by 181 runs

• 2010-11 – Brisbane: draw

• 2011-12 – Dubai: lost by 10 wickets; Galle: lost by 75 runs

• 2012-13 – Ahmedabad: lost by 9 wickets; Dunedin: draw

Andy Flower, the England Test coach, has said he will take a look at his role in the side’s continued problems with starting overseas Test series poorly and suggested that he will implement changes for future tours.England fought back to save the opening match against New Zealand, in Dunedin, but the performance on the second day – being bowled out for 167 and watching the home side reach 131 without loss – was probably their worst start to a Test under Flower.”If you are asking about a trend, that is certainly something that I should be addressing myself,” he said before the team travelled to Wellington. “I have some ideas on rejigging a couple of things in our preparation, in our management team firstly, and we’ll see if we can do something about it.”We always encourage our players to be honest with themselves, and each other. So then we’ve got to do the same. The coaches have to do that, and I’m the first guy that has to do it.”Since 2004-05, England have only beaten Bangladesh in an opening Test in 2010. Of the away 14 series since they won at Port Elizabeth under Michael Vaughan’s captaincy (incidentally having prepared by being hammered by South Africa A), nine have started with a defeat and only in one, against India in Nagpur in 2006, did England take control of a match for any considerable time.The lack of a sustained warm-up period is often cited as a key reason. Flower has gone to great lengths to ensure the team have high-quality preparation leading into a series, but on this tour that was restricted to one four-day game – albeit against a strong New Zealand XI side. For the Ashes later this year, England will repeat the 2010-11 schedule of three first-class warm-ups before Brisbane.Flower, obviously, has no control over the strength of opposition for warm-ups and some of the matches during the early stages of the India were of debatable quality, although India’s plan to hide top-class spin did not stop them from losing the series. However, he does not believe the poor start in Dunedin can be purely put down to not having more games before the series.”The way we started this tour, principally in that first innings, has nothing to do with people not having enough cricket,” he said. “We’ve had a reasonable amount of preparation time, and enough to get ready for that first Test. So that is not the reason why we under-performed.”Am I happy with the preparation for this series? Well, I’m not happy in that we lost the four-day game – we go into those games trying to win them,” Flower said. “So that is not a habit we want to keep. We transferred some of the sloppiness that we showed in that four-day game into the Test match.”England finally kicked into gear on the fourth day as they faced a deficit of 293. Alastair Cook and Nick Compton added 231 before further half-centuries from Steven Finn, on his first occasion as the nightwatchman, and Jonathan Trott helped keep New Zealand at bay, although a wobble either side of tea kept the day alive. “We had a long time to bat and, even on flat pitches when you are batting under that type of pressure where a mistake might cost the match, I thought they did an outstanding job,” Flower said.For Compton, though, it was still too early for any assurances over the Ashes with Flower taking a similarly guarded tone to his views on Joe Root. “It was great to see him get the big score he’s been after. There are no guarantees about the future for any of us, and the Ashes is still a little way away. So let’s just take it one step at a time.”He also gave a strong hint that he does not want Cook to always be the man to have set the tone at the top of the order after the captain scored his 24th Test hundred. “He’s handled the captaincy very well, and has also led from the front with the bat. We need some of our other top-order batsmen to do the same.”