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Sri Lanka were unable to cope with conditions in Delhi, where the air quality dipped to “very unhealthy” levels on Sunday

Sidharth Monga in Delhi03-Dec-20172:25

Not normal for players to suffer like this – Pothas

There were players vomiting inside the Sri Lanka dressing room. There were “oxygen things” used. Eventually they were reduced to only 10 fit and able cricketers who could go out and field in the Delhi pollution when Virat Kohli declared India’s innings closed on 536 in order to “get on with the game”. India felt the stoppages in play, when the Sri Lankan medical staff looked after their players and match officials deliberated, were unnecessary and unfair.It was a bizarre day’s cricket, played in the notoriously poor air of Delhi. After lunch, with Kohli set to give a maiden triple-century a fair go, and with India’s sights set on a mammoth total, at least five of Sri Lanka’s fielders came out wearing masks. About 20 minutes into the session, fast bowler Lahiru Gamage complained of respiratory problems, which resulted in a 17-minute stoppage. In the next hour, there were more complaints. When Suranga Lakmal went off the field to vomit inside the dressing room, Kohli, who was dismissed on 243 during this stop-start period, declared the innings closed. It was only 127.5 overs old.Prior to that, India coach Ravi Shastri had come out and seemed to have a stern word with the umpires. “Ravi was pretty simple,” bowling coach B Arun said at the end of the day’s play. “He said. ‘Please get on with the game, don’t stop, you don’t need to stop. You take a decision, and just get on with the game.'”I think the umpires and the match referee, they have a job on hand and it’s not up to the players to go and protest. They know what they are doing. When the play was unnecessarily being stopped, we just wanted to get on with the game because our focus is to win this Test match.”Asked if, as a fast bowler himself, he felt any sympathy for the Sri Lankan seamers who were ill, Arun said: “Why should we? We are focused on what we have to do, and what we need to do in the Test match. I don’t think we need to be thinking about what the opposition does. It’s their lookout, and their problem to keep their bowlers fit.”That was not the only dig at the Sri Lanka players. “Virat batted close to two days, he didn’t need a mask,” Arun said. “We are focussed on what we need to do, what we need to achieve as a team. The conditions are the same for both teams, we aren’t too bothered about it.”When asked if a review was needed when it comes to playing in Delhi, because the air quality is not great for athletic activity, Arun said: “I think pollution is everywhere in our country. We are not too worried about the pollution. The BCCI schedules these matches, and our job is to go out and play and get the best out of our team. Focus is more on that.” Incidentally, Arun was the coach of the Hyderabad side last year, when their Ranji Trophy match against Tripura was called off due to heavy smog, along with the match between Bengal and Gujarat. The air quality was much worse at that point. On Sunday, Kuldeep Yadav, India’s 12th man, wore a mask when he came on to the field with drinks in the first session. This was even before the first drinks break, when physio Patrick Farhart came on to check on Kohli’s back.Arun didn’t expressly say that Sri Lanka held the game up in order to break the rhythm of India’s batsmen, but he didn’t deny that the stoppages might have resulted in it. That was the farthest thing on Sri Lanka’s minds, according to coach Nic Pothas. They were more worried about the safety of their players.”It is well documented that Delhi has high levels of pollution,” Pothas said. “They had got extremely high at one point, we had players coming off the field and vomiting. There were oxygen things in the dressing room. It is not normal for players to suffer in that way while playing the game. From our point of view, it has to be stated that it is a very very unique case.”I thought all the officials, the match referee and others handled the situation very well. When it is a new situation for everybody, it is not easy to make decisions. I feel for the umpires, and I feel for the match referee. It’s not easy but the job of myself and the manager is to make sure that the players are safe. That’s all what we were trying to do.”Apart from Lakmal and Gamage, Dhananjaya de Silva vomited. “The bowlers obviously were struggling,” Pothas said. “Suranga and Lahiru were struggling. The match referee was in our change room and the doctors, and Suranga, poor guy, was just continuously vomiting. Doctors were in there as well. Dhananjaya de Silva was vomiting. It was tough.”Pothas himself had to go out to discuss matters with Dinesh Chandimal as they were left with only 10 players to put on the park. Trainer Nick Lee had changed into whites when Kohli did declare. Pothas clarified, though, that they never asked for play to be stopped but wanted clarity from the officials regarding players’ safety.”We are here to play cricket,” Pothas said. “Under most circumstances we wanted to play cricket. This wasn’t a case of us wanting to stop. We just wanted to have some clarity on the safety of players. You could see the two fast bowlers… fast bowling is a high-intensity activity. The two guys were struggling. When it becomes unsafe that is when the conversation started. The safety of the players is of paramount importance.”The final decision regarding player safety rests with the ICC. An exchange between the ICC and the officials is expected overnight. “That (future course of action) is in the hands of match referee and umpires, and I am sure they will have meetings tonight and try and put together some sort of precedent if that happens tomorrow again.”Asked if he would personally like to see a precedent being set, Pothas stayed non-committal. “It is an abnormal case,” he said. “I will leave that with the ICC. The match referee and the umpires will file a report, and it will go back to the ICC. Our job is to play cricket.”Pothas also refused to comment on the crowd’s reaction – they booed Sri Lanka and chanted “loser, loser” – or the appearance that India were less than understanding of their plight.

West Indies head coach Stuart Law came down hard on his team after they listlessly crumbled to a 204-run defeat against New Zealand in the second ODI in Christchurch

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2017West Indies coach Stuart Law came down hard on his team after they listlessly crumbled to a 204-run defeat against New Zealand in the second ODI in Christchurch on Saturday. It was West Indies’ 15th defeat in 21 ODIs this year, and the 121 they managed in a chase of 326 is their lowest total in 2017.”As I said to them before they left [the ground], words are cheap. We’ve got to see actions now,” Law was quoted as saying by . “There’s so much talent in this squad. I don’t think what we saw in the first two games is a fair indication of how well these guys can play.”At one stage, West Indies actually seemed to be in control of the match, having brought New Zealand down to 186 for 5. But from there, Henry Nicholls and Todd Astle flattened them with a sixth-wicket stand of 130 runs in 98 balls. Trent Boult then ripped through their batting order with a career-best 7 for 34 that sent them packing in 28 overs.It is these sort of performances that made West Indies miss out on an appearance in the Champions Trophy in England earlier this year, which was contested between the top eight teams in the world. West Indies have also lost out on a direct entry into the 2019 World Cup and now have to go through the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe next year.”We need to settle on a group of players to take us forward,” Law said. “The earlier we can come up with those names [for the World Cup qualifier] and come up with a plan for those guys leading up to that tournament [the better].”More immediately, one prospect that could possibly fetch them better results in the third and final ODI of the current series in Christchurch on Tuesday is the likely return of Chris Gayle. The opening batsman has been in imperious form of late, smashing a record 18 sixes in a T20 innings in the final of the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League that gave his side Rangpur Riders the title.Gayle, however, hasn’t played much of a role in the current series. He struck 22 in the first ODI but did not take the field during the New Zealand chase. He also missed the second match due to illness. But Law suggested that the left-hander was progressing well. “Fingers crossed he should be right for the next one. I saw him [on Sunday morning] at breakfast and he seemed to have a little bit more life about him. It’s moving in the right direction.”While Law was all for West Indies’ attacking brand of cricket, he impelled them to exercise caution and better discretion. “People talk about poor execution, but if it’s the same dismissal over and over again, it rivals lunacy,” he said.”The batters know they made mistakes and we’re far better than what we showed. Hitting balls into the wind, it’s not very smart, particularly when we spoke about it leading into the game. We were trying to get 300 in 25 overs, when we had 50 overs to get it.”Our guys want to be positive and play an attractive brand, but you can’t be reckless with it. You’ve got to be smart in the way you go about it.”

Visitors target back-to-back series win in Asia; Hosts drop Lasith Embuldeniya, with four others out after contracting Covid-19

Andrew McGlashan07-Jul-2022

Big Picture

There has been plenty of Test cricket recently that you don’t want to take your eyes off. England are changing the way people think of the game by charging their way to fourth-innings targets as though it was the most normal thing ever; while in Galle, the first match of the series was over in less than two days’ playing time as Australia adapted to conditions far better than the home side.The type of match we saw in the first Test was not a complete surprise – it was always likely the game would move quickly – but the way Australia bossed proceedings when it had been a pretty even contest on the second day, and barely 24 hours later secured victory, was somewhat unexpected.If they can do it again over the next few days – no one believes the second Test will go close to five – it will complete significant back-to-back triumphs in the subcontinent after the win in Pakistan, and set them up well for the challenge of India next year.Related

• Dimuth Karunaratne hopes 'big first-innings score' can 'build pressure' on Australia

• Australia could play Maxwell at No. 8 in second Test

• Dhananjaya, Asitha and Vandersay join Sri Lanka's Covid-19 list

• Sri Lanka's top order can't just sweep away their problems

• Adaptable Australia make further strides on subcontinent mission

Sri Lanka have plenty of problems to solve, and their difficulties have been exacerbated by a Covid-19 outbreak in the squad which has ruled out four players, although Angelo Mathews, the first case, is available again. Their bowling attack will look considerably different, although that may have been the case anyway after the spinners were unable to keep any control of Australia’s batters.But they also need their senior batters to step forward. There is no lack of experience in the top order but it was collectively a very poor performance in the opening Test, even though coach Chris Silverwood was not critical of their second-innings approach as conditions became even tougher, having also been able to bat first when conditions were, relatively speaking, at their best.The bare facts would suggest Australia have Sri Lanka’s number and should be comfortable favourites to take the series 2-0, but the nature of the pitch – if, as expected, it is anything like the opening game – means that form, perhaps, does not play the role it often does. One spell, one collapse, and things can change quickly.

Recent form

(Last five matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka LWDLL
Australia WWDDW
Can Travis Head now contribute with the bat?•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Travis Head left a mark on the opening Test… but with the ball. He bagged 4 for 10 in the second innings to hasten the game to its swift finish. When batting, he got a leading edge back to Dhananjaya de Silva early on the second day to continue a run in the subcontinent where he is the one member of the batting order yet to make a significant contribution after not getting going in Pakistan.Head acknowledged the technical mistake he had made, but is confident he can rebound. “I’ve played well on spinning pitches in Australia,” he said after the first Test. “These are different, I’ve never played on a wicket like that. So it’s another one to take into consideration over the next few days. Talking to the people closest to me, I just need to keep doubling down on that plan, and keep backing it in and try to execute it. When you second-guess yourself or try to change things for the next Test, you get yourself in more trouble.”With Lasith Embuldeniya dropped and Praveen Jayawickrama out with Covid-19, there appears a strong chance of a debut for 19-year-old Dunith Wellalage, the leading wicket-taker in the ODI series where he showed impressive composure and caused plenty of problems for Australia’s batters.There is also the intriguing prospect of a debut for Maheesh Theekshana, who has played just three first-class matches – all of them in 2018 – as Sri Lanka search for a way of controlling the run rate. It would be a fascinating look at how important first-class experience is when conditions are at the extreme end, and how specialist white-ball skills – much like Theekshana’s – can translate.Dunith Wellalage could make his Test debut•AFP

Team news

Dimuth Karunaratne said that the Sri Lanka squad had to get through round of rapid antigen tests before they would know who was available. There will be at least four changes and they will be hoping the Covid-19 outbreak doesn’t go further. Dhananjaya de Silva, Asitha Fernando, Jeffrey Vandersay and Lasith Embuldeniya – with the latter dropped – are out for certain. Although Oshada Fernando was Angelo Mathews’ Covid sub last week, allrounder Kamindu Mendis, who is an ambidextrous bowler, could come into the middle order to cover for Dhananjaya’s spin. There remains uncertainty over the combination of frontline spinners they could choose with Lakshan Sandakan and Prabath Jayasuriya also being considered.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Oshada Fernando/Kamindu Mendis, 6 Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Ramesh Mendis, 9 Dunith Wellalage, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Maheesh TheekshanaAustralia have kept the option open of bringing in Glenn Maxwell at No. 8 as another spin-bowling option in place of Mitchell Starc. But that will be decided on the morning of the game. That should be the only change.Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Glenn Maxwell/Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Mitchell Swepson

Pitch and conditions

More of the same – a turning pitch, of course – is expected, unless there is a significant change of heart from the home side. There is again the chance of storms interrupting play, but given the speed the game is likely to move at, it shouldn’t impact the prospect of a result.

Stats and trivia

• Pat Cummins needs two wickets to reach 200 in Tests.
• Nathan Lyon, who has moved in the top ten of the all-time wicket-takers, needs seven wickets to go above R Ashwin (442), which would leave him only behind Muthiah Muralidaran as a fingerspinner.
• The last time Australia won three consecutive Tests in Asia was in 2004, when they beat Sri Lanka and India in four successive matches. And between 2002 and 2004, they had won seven in a row.

Barisal Bulls won’t be part of the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League season after they were ousted for not meeting the financial terms and conditions set by the BCB

Mohammad Isam09-Aug-2017This year’s Bangladesh Premier League will be without Barisal Bulls after the governing council ousted them for not paying the tournament fees. The tournament will now have seven teams.”At a meeting today, we decided that Barisal Bulls will not be participating in the 2017 BPL,” governing council chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha said. “They didn’t meet the BPL’s financial terms and conditions.”The Barisal franchise, co-owned by Axiom Technologies and BCB director MA Awwal Chowdhury, finished last in 2016. ESPNcricinfo understands that one of the owners was reluctant to run the team this year due to financial difficulties.Sinha said the Barisal players, including their icon player, were likely to be in the draft next month.

Ed Barnard starred with four wickets on an excitable but brief day of action at Trent Bridge

David Hopps at Trent Bridge05-Sep-20171:37

County Championship Round-up: Barnard gives Worcs the edge

Nottinghamshire 188 for 9 (Barnard 4-66) v Worcestershire

ScorecardTwo limited-overs trophies safely gathered in, it was time for Nottinghamshire to return to the gentler rhythms of the County Championship. Ah yes, the dutiful seeing-off of the new ball, the careful perusal of each bowler until every variation had been logged, the chance for spectators to chew upon the clue for seven across and contemplate the latest news from North Korea.Except Championship cricket at Trent Bridge is rarely like that. At one point Notts were for 127 for 6 in the 28th over, the ball as excitable as a week-old puppy, the top six batsmen all suffering the batting equivalent of wee up the trouser leg. Last week, Notts traded runs for wickets with Northants, who were third until they were well beaten. This week it is the turn of Worcestershire, who lie second. There has barely been time to read the news at all. No bad thing.No English ground looks more beautiful in the rain, with the floodlights blazing, than Trent Bridge, but by the time the weather worsened for the final time at 5pm, with Notts 188 for 9, it was time to accept the inevitable with honours about even. To steal 47.5 overs from a day like this was a fair effort.Such is county life on a bedraggled day like this that Ed Barnard, an archetypal English seamer, making strides at 21, had four wickets – removing Jake Libby, Cheteshwar Pujara, Samit Patel and Riki Wessels in the space of 25 balls – while Ravi Ashwin, the Indian spinner brought over to England with considerable fanfare, did not even get a bowl.Ashwin took 8 for 162 to guide Worcestershire to victory against Gloucestershire on his debut last week, but his most valuable experience here, ahead of India’s tour next summer, might well be to bat twice on a seaming deck.Barnard maintained an attacking length and was rewarded for it. His first four overs disappeared for 24, Notts well placed at 79 for 1 in the 19th over, but then the wickets came thick and fast. Jake Libby fell to a combo catch – wicketkeeper Ben Cox knocking the ball on to second slip – Cox held on to dismiss Pujara then took a beauty, low to his right, to silence Samit Patel. Riki Wessels made nought, sitting back to one that kept a little low. Barnard also threw out Brett Hutton late in the day, Hutton had got off the mark the previous ball – his 26th – as he was almost solely responsible for slowing the rate to four an over.The first session was so high-risk, so full of threat and counter-threat that the story should properly have been told in front of a TV camera by Ri Chun-hee, the patriotic North Korean newsreader. She began her career, incidentally, back in 1971 when Mike Smedley and Brian Bolus were mastering the art of the scurried leg-bye at Trent Bridge and North Korea was actually talking about unification with the South. More sober, safer times.Nottinghamshire are marking the retirement of their own supreme leader here, an altogether more popular figure. This is their last home Championship match of the season, the last time that Chris Read will be seen at Trent Bridge. For 20 years, he has graced the game as one of the most quicksilver glovemen around, including 15 Tests – a figure that would have been far higher if the batting qualities that ultimately brought him more than 16,000 first-class runs at 37.18 had been apparent a little earlier.Read’s elan has brought joy to so many Trent Bridge days. He has been nimble behind the stumps and a counter-attacker with the bat around No 7 in the great wicketkeeping tradition. As was observed by Michael Henderson, from , who was on hand to pen a leisurely valediction, while Read has played for Nottinghamshire, the entire ground, bar the chimney-potted old pavilion, has changed around him. The pavilion is also due for a revamp, although Read will not be around to see it. The game has changed too.Read surpassed Thomas Oates for most victims by a Notts wicketkeeper last month. After the last of his Tests, against Australia in Sydney 10 years ago, England preferred to treat him like Captain Lawrence Oates, presuming that he may be gone some time. In England terms, so he has been, but quite properly he walked out to a standing ovation. England should have made better use of him, but in the pubs of Worksop and Newark people will talk fondly of his skills well into their dotage.

Bangladesh team director feels that the players shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose the formats as they wish

Mohammad Isam07-May-2022Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh team director, feels Mustafizur Rahman should not have been allowed to pick and choose the formats he wished to play, as it has led to a fast-bowling vacuum in the Test side. Mustafizur is currently playing in the IPL for Delhi Capitals, having taken eight wickets in as many matches this season.Ahead of this year’s IPL, the BCB gave Mustafizur the clearance to play in the tournament even when Bangladesh were playing Tests in South Africa.It wasn’t a topic of particular interest at the time because Bangladesh had already won the ODI series, and they still had Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam around. While there has been debate about who decides on the format, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has been saying since mid-2021 that the centrally contracted Bangladesh players will be allowed to pick and choose their formats, regardless of their experience.It started as a verbal promise last year, and the players have since signed the 2022 contracts by providing their choice of format in some cases. Mustafizur was given the IPL No Objection Certificate (NOC) this season after the Bangladesh selectors didn’t pick him in the squads for the South Africa and Sri Lanka Tests. Mustafizur has not played a Test since February last year, having taken just four wickets in the last four years.”(BCB president Nazmul Hassan) Papon said that the players can discuss which format they want to play but this was only applicable to the senior players, not all players,” Mahmud said in a press briefing at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.”Would it be okay if (Mahmudul Hasan) Joy said that he doesn’t want to play Tests? How old is Mustafiz? How long has he been playing for? He is not Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe or Mushfiq. These players have provided service for many years. I don’t know why Mustafiz doesn’t want to play Tests. The board should decide which format a player plays.”Shakib and Tamim are 34-35 years old. They deserve breaks. But Litton Das doesn’t need breaks. When he becomes Shakib or Tamim, I will say that he deserves rest. Mustafiz must play Tests. It is his peak time. I am not saying he should play all the Tests but he should definitely be available for six to eight matches per year. I used to hear that he doesn’t want to play due to bio-bubbles, but now things have changed so that can’t be an excuse anymore. If Taskin and Shoriful can play (Tests), he should too.”Capitals are currently just outside the top four with four games remaining in the league stage, so Mustafizur will be available for them till May 21 at the very least. There’s still no movement from the BCB or the selectors to bring him into the Test side, but Mahmud said that with Taskin Ahmed already out of the Sri Lanka series due to a shoulder injury and Shoriful Islam’s availability still subject to a fitness test, the home side are missing out on their best bowler, regardless of the format.”With Taskin injured, one of our main bowlers is out. Shoriful could be injured any time soon. Both Taskin and Shoriful are injury-prone bowlers. In that case we need Mustafiz who, when you consider his experience, skills, technique and tactics, is Bangladesh’s best fast bowler. Mustafiz would have provided balance to the side.”There’s a lot of cricket in the three formats so everyone needs time off. Taskin and Shoriful also deserve rest. When we have enough bowlers, we probably won’t need Mustafiz in this format but till then he should provide support. He is dangerous in white-ball cricket but I also know that he can be a handful with the red ball too.”Mahmud came down strongly on Mustafizur’s commitment towards red-ball cricket and Bangladesh, but also felt that someone should have gotten in touch with him to clarify the situation.”He might get two or four crores in the IPL, but isn’t cricket bigger than the money? Isn’t the country bigger than money? We never played for money. Now a cricketer needs the BCB’s help when he is dying. (Mustafizur) won’t need the BCB (in that situation). They can themselves help others (financially). Why won’t I want to play for Bangladesh?”Cricket board means Mustafiz, and Mustafiz means the cricket board. They are both in the same place. There’s no distance. Maybe nobody spoke to him.”

Australia women lose No. 1 ranking for the first time since the introduction of the combined ranking system in October 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2017ODI world champions England have pipped Australia by 0.04 ranking points to take the top spot in the ICC women’s team rankings. England, who travel to Australia for the Ashes this month, were the only team that changed position following the annual ranking update. India, who were ranked fourth, gained three ranking points to move to 116, only two behind third-placed New Zealand.England began the year on 125 ranking points, three behind Australia’s 128. But they drew level and went ahead on decimal points following the annual update, which considered results from the 2013-14 season and the 2014-15 season at 50% weightage, and the 2015-16 season at 100%.Australia are ranked second now with 128.43 points, and it is the first time they’ve dropped from No. 1 since the combined rankings were introduced in October 2015.”It’s flattering to be named as the No.1 side in the world because it’s a sign of how much progress we’ve made. It won’t take anything away from the challenges ahead of us, though. We’re a developing side and our journey isn’t finished yet,” England captain Heather Knight said.”We have plenty more hard work to do, starting with the Ashes in Australia this winter but it has been a great 12 months for us. We’ll never forget the feeling of winning the World Cup on home soil and we want to keep pushing forward as a side so we can experience more moments like that.”

Essex have brought in Australia Test quick Peter Siddle for the first five games of their Championship title defence

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2018Essex have signed Australia Test quick Peter Siddle for the first five games of their Championship title defence.As in 2017, when Essex supplemented a largely homegrown pace attack with an overseas pro, Siddle will bring an experienced edge during the opening weeks of the season. Essex’s unexpected Championship success was spearheaded by Jamie Porter and former South Africa spinner Simon Harmer, who took 147 wickets between them, but they benefited from significant contributions by Neil Wagner and Mohammad Amir.Siddle, who previously signed to play T20 for Essex in 2012 before being ruled out with injury, will be expected to fulfill a similar role alongside England Lions bowler Porter and a crop of young seamers including Sam Cook, Aaron Beard and Paul Walter.”I am delighted to sign for Essex,” Siddle said. “I have heard very good things about the club and the quality of the playing squad and look forward to contributing strongly towards the title defence during the first few weeks of the season. I’ve enjoyed my previous experiences of county cricket and can’t wait to get underway at Chelmsford.”Siddle, 33, has taken 211 Test wickets and his style of bustling, skillful seam-bowling is well suited to English conditions; on Australia’s 2015 Ashes tour, he claimed match figures of 6 for 67 to help set up victory at The Oval. His last Test appearance was more than a year ago, however, and he has been troubled by persistent back injuries.He has previously enjoyed successful Championship spells with Nottinghamshire and Lancashire. A recent Big Bash League winner with Adelaide Strikers, he is currently only expected to play four-day cricket at Chelmsford.Anthony McGrath, who was recently appointed as Essex’s head coach after Chris Silverwood left to take up a role with England, said that he had spoken to his former Yorkshire team-mate Darren Lehmann, now in charge of Australia, about signing Siddle.”Peter is someone with proven quality at the highest level,” McGrath said. “He is vastly experienced and is a player who won’t just deliver on the pitch but will help our younger bowlers as well.”He recently played in one of the best International teams around, and we are looking forward to picking his brains and seeing what else we can produce as a bowling unit with his help. Darren Lehmann spoke glowingly about him as a person and a bowler when I spoke to him recently, so we are looking forward to him joining us and making a real impact in the opening weeks of the season.”

West Indies toil during unbroken 193-run second-wicket stand but rain cuts further time from the game

Valkerie Baynes11-Mar-2022Joe Root looked genuinely impressed by what he was seeing. As Zak Crawley drove Kemar Roach down the ground for a boundary – not exactly sweetly struck but with the momentum of his considerable levers behind it – the England captain met him in the middle of the pitch for a couple of fist-bumps and approving nods, chattering away in encouragement and eliciting a broad grin from his young charge.Given that it was boundary number eight of 16 and counting for Crawley, who was compiling the second Test century of his career, the exchange may not have been unusual but in the circumstances, it stood out.After a dirty day three when Root more commonly wore a look of anguish as his attack failed to capitalise on prior opportunity, not to mention a tumultuous start to the year, England turned the tables on West Indies with an unbroken second-wicket stand in Antigua worth 193, a century and fifty so far to its protagonists and a 153-run lead heading into the final day.Related

• Zak Crawley makes his mark to begin his repayment of the faith

• Wood's elbow injury casts spotlight on England bowling stocks

• After ten-year wait, Nkrumah Bonner scripts a nine-hour epic

The hosts failed to make further inroads after Roach removed debutant opener Alex Lees, lbw in single figures for the second time in the match, to put the tourists at 24 for 1, still 40 runs in arrears.On a pitch that had admittedly offered nothing for the bowlers all match, the West Indies bowlers leaked runs, Veerasammy Permaul particularly expensive in conceding 51 off his 10 overs.Fellow left-arm spinner Jack Leach, meanwhile, had been one of the brighter lights for England, bowling 20 maidens – almost half his overs – as he took 2 for 79, including West Indies’ last wicket with the third ball of the day as the hosts took a 64-run first-innings lead.Quick Jayden Seales was the man dismissed, and he did not enjoy much more success with the ball, 12 wicketless overs costing 51 runs.But Roach, who was getting considerable swing with the new ball on the fourth morning, set Lees up with a series of deliveries that moved away from the left-hander before banging one in full and straight to beat the inside edge and slam into the front pad. Lees reviewed, perhaps in hope after seeing Crawley successfully overturn an lbw decision from umpire Gregory Brathwaite in the first over, only to have it confirmed that the ball was crashing into leg stump.Crawley was yet to score when he was reprieved the first time, with Hawk-Eye showing the ball was missing leg stump by some way. He had moved to 18 when West Indies burned a review shortly after Lees’ dismissal, Crawley adjudged not out to a Roach inswinger that hit him high on the back leg outside off stump.He had to wait out a 10-minute rain delay and Alzarri Joseph maidens either side of it on 49 before he regained the strike from Root and flipped Roach off his hip for a single to bring up his fifty off 100 balls. Crawley peeled off his next fifty from 81 balls as he and Root hit full flow and West Indies floundered for ideas despite trying seven different bowling options.Joe Root celebrates his half-century•Gareth Copley/AFP via Getty Images

Caught behind off Seales for just 8 in the first innings, Crawley tightened up his defence but played expansively where it was warranted, pulling the short ball with authority, cutting anything wide and finding the boundary with the sweep and drive also.Root raised his half-century late in the afternoon session with a four off Permaul through third, and Crawley survived a hearty shout by West Indies, thinking he’d been caught at slip off the spinner, but for replays to show he had edged the ball into the pitch before it bobbed up to the fielder.Having scored 267 against Pakistan at Southampton in August 2020, his eighth Test, Crawley had made 12 single-figure scores – including two ducks – in 21 innings since.Called back into the side for the first time since the English summer for the last three Ashes Tests when England initially dropped Rory Burns and then Haseeb Hameed, Crawley scored a second-innings 77 in Sydney and survived the post-series clear-out, which also saw Lees called up to accompany him at the top of the order.Just like 19 months before, Crawley again lived up to the potential that put him there as he and Root gave England something to smile about before the intermittent rain that had punctuated play briefly a few times set in.

England also have to deal with injuries to Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow ahead of the fifth Ashes Test

Andrew Miller09-Jan-2022Jos Buttler is set to fly home from England’s tour of Australia, after sustaining a broken finger that hampered his performance in the drawn fourth Test at Sydney.Buttler suffered the injury while keeping on the second day at the SCG, and struggled to grip the bat while making a duck in England’s first innings.He was replaced behind the stumps by Ollie Pope, who equalled the record for a substitute fielder with four catches in Australia’s second innings. Buttler fronted up for England’s rearguard on the final day however, making 11 from 38 balls before being trapped lbw by Pat Cummins, armed with the new ball.”Jos Buttler is going to be going home, it’s quite a bad injury,” Joe Root, England’s captain, said at the post-match presentations. “It’s a real disappointing shame for him and for the team. But it’s part and parcel of playing Test cricket. Sometimes you’ve got to take these things, but the way he stood up throughout the rest of the game, having taken that, and put in for the boys is a testament to his character and how much he cares about playing for this team.”The injury nevertheless completes a desperate campaign for Buttler, who made 107 runs at 15.28 across the four Tests, with his most significant contribution being an innings of 26 from 207 balls in England’s failed attempt to save the second Test at Adelaide.Related

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In addition to his poor form with the bat, Buttler endured an erratic series behind the stumps, with a number of crucial dropped catches, in particular off Australia’s centurion Marnus Labuschagne in that Adelaide Test.The ECB confirmed that Buttler will fly back to the UK on Monday and will be assessed on his return by the ECB Medical Team. A further update is expected later this week on his rehabilitation period.With Jonny Bairstow nursing an impact injury to his right thumb, albeit he was able to bat for a further two-and-a-half hours in the second innings at Sydney, Buttler looks set to be replaced behind the stumps at Hobart by Sam Billings, who completed a nine-hour drive from Brisbane on Saturday, from where he had been set to fly back to the UK to prepare for England’s white-ball tour of the Caribbean later this month. Billings has returned one negative PCR test after beginning his isolation period in Sydney, and will link up with the main squad subject to a secondary negative test this week.Meanwhile Ben Stokes, who sustained a left side strain while bowling on the second day, also battled through the pain to produce his second half-century of the match. Root could not yet confirm whether he or Bairstow will be involved in Hobart, with both players set for further assessment in the coming days, but he was proud of the character that England’s walking wounded showed.”A lot of the guys could see a number of players hurting physically and still putting in a huge amount, and in many ways it lifted the rest of the group,” Root said. “I’m really proud of the way that they stood up at times, clearly in a lot of pain to produce for England.”There was clearly a bit of pain relief required. It’s not just that, but also the psychological element. For them to perform the way they did shows a huge amount of character.”