The allrounder last played international cricket in 2016 but late last year said he was available for T20Is again

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2020Dwayne Bravo is set to play his first international since 2016 after being recalled to the West Indies T20I squad for the series against Ireland.Bravo, 36, confirmed in December that he was coming out of T20I retirement with the hope of securing a spot in the squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.His last international was a T20I against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in September 2016. Despite announcing his retirement in October 2018, he was included among West Indies’ reserves for last year’s World Cup, but when he officially made himself available again he said it would only be for T20Is.

West Indies T20I squad v Ireland

Kieron Pollard (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd Lendl Simmons, Hayden Walsh jr.

“Once selected I’ll be fully committed to represent the region again in T20 cricket, which I think is exciting for West Indies cricket and fans, with the young talents around,” he said.Bravo has had an extensive T20 career, amassing 450 matches – currently the second-most behind Kieron Pollard – with a host of franchises and leagues. He has played 66 T20Is, scoring 1142 runs and taking 52 wickets and it’s with the ball that he is being earmarked for a key role by the West Indies selectors.”Dwayne Bravo was recalled with the specific intention of bolstering our ‘death’ bowling which was identified as an area that really needs improving,” Roger Harper, CWI’s lead selector, said. “His record in this department speaks for itself. He will also be able to act as a mentor to the other ‘death’ bowlers and lend his experience wherever needed.”Jason Holder is being rested for the three-match series as part of workload management while allrounders Fabian Allen and Keemo Paul were unavailable due to injury. Paul suffered a back problem during the ODI series against Ireland.There is also a recall for allrounder Rovman Powell and on Monday Romario Shepherd, who has played five ODIs but has yet to be capped in T20Is, was confirmed as the 14th player in the squad.”Rovman Powell is a genuine all-rounder who we believe can add impetus and up the strike rate at the back-end of the innings,” Harper said. “He was excellent in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup – where he scored two excellent centuries and a 96 and also had some other good performances.”

Is it a “ridiculous” idea or is it necessary “for this day and age”? Listen to the players’ opinions and decide for yourself

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2020The ICC is exploring the idea of regular four-day Test cricket, to the point of possibly making it part of the 2023 Test championship. The argument for the move is that it could free up a calendar that is currently clogged with too many fixtures. But there is also a worry that without the fifth day, chances of a definitive result might reduce. Here’s what the players think.Joe Root, England captain: I think here’s a place for it in the game.”I do,” he told . “Whether that’s across the board or can it be flexible – we’ve obviously played one against Ireland. I’m sure that pitch would’ve been fit for a three-day game. I think it’s worth trialing. I do think it’s worth trialing and it might not always make sense for England to play especially if its against Australia or some of the bigger sides but it might draw a bit more interest with some of the countries who struggle to get people in the ground.”ALSO READ: ECB gives ‘cautious’ backing to four-day proposalFormer England captain Nasser Hussain prompted Root about the possibility of spin going out of the game if there isn’t enough time for a pitch to deteriorate, especially outside Asia. “If you don’t try it you don’t know,” Root replied. “You should be open minded enough to at least try it and see how it goes. I think the most important thing is not making a definitive decision. I love playing five days of cricket personally. I think it’s the best format. The extra day, like you say, it really does make [sure], majority of the time, 99% of the time, the best team’s won the game.Joe Root rallies his team before the start of play•Getty Images

Nathan Lyon, Australia offspinner: I hope ICC aren’t even considering it“Ridiculous. I’m not a fan of four-day Test matches,” he told “I believe you’ll get so many more draws and day five is crucial.”One, there’s the weather element. But the wickets these days are probably a lot flatter than they have been in the past, so it allows teams to bat longer and to put pressure on sides. You need time for the pitch to deteriorate and bring spinners in more on day five as well.ALSO READ: One day too many? Early finishes point to new possibilities for Test cricket“It’s a challenge You’re challenging yourself in different ways – physically and mentally. It’s not just a walk in the park. Five-day Test matches, they are hard work especially if the conditions aren’t in your favour. You want to challenge yourself. I’m all against four-day Test matches.”Nathan Lyon holds the ball up after his five-wicket haul•AFP

David White, New Zealand Cricket Chief executive: It demands serious attention“Given the congested schedule, four-day Tests demand serious consideration in order for us to accommodate an increasingly packed calendar – ICC world events, bilateral arrangements, and domestic leagues,” he told .Glenn McGrath, former Australia fast bowler: Hate to see it get shorter“I’m very much a traditionalist I like the game the way it is. To me five days is very special and I’d hate to see it get any shorter. The introduction of pink Tests, day-night Tests is a great way to continue keeping our game fresh and moving forward. In respects to changing how many days its played, I’m actually against it. I like the way it is.”Jos Buttler, England wicketkeeper: In this day and age, we have to consider it“Test cricket is the pinnacle but you have to be open to change,” Buttler said. “I think the game has changed and if four-day Test cricket could preserve and potentially improve Test cricket I think it has to be looked at. I think we all love a five-day finish with all three results possible on the last day but can four-day cricket be a success? I think if it’s done properly it can be. In this day and age we have to consider all the opportunities to see how we can do what’s best for Test cricket.”The scoreboard reflects Glenn McGrath’s best Ashes figures•Hardy’s

Vernon Philander, South Africa fast bowler: I am a purist“I hope five-day Test cricket doesn’t come to an end,” he said. “There is only one format and that’s Test cricket. T20 cricketers come and go and the names come and go, Test cricket is the ultimate. Hopefully we can still see five-day Test matches. I know there has been a lot of talk about having four-day Test matches but I am a purist when it comes to cricket and I would like to see Test matches survive for five days.”Tim Paine, Australia captain: Merit in trying it out for the odd Test“I think it should be taken into consideration,” he said. “I dare say going back six or seven years if you let the players decide on pink ball that probably wouldn’t have happened. There is always going to be some give and take. I think there is some merit on it being in the odd Test like we did with England and Ireland. But I think the big marquee Test series, the Test championship stuff has to stay five days.”Vernon Philander celebrates the wicket of Joe Root•Getty Images

Rassie van der Dussen, South Africa batsman: Pitches will change to force results“I’ve never played a five-day match in my life,” he said. “It’s difficult to say. In terms of over rate, we were a bit slow [in Centurion], England were also a bit slow, so there is definitely scope to fit in more overs in the day. We were coming off at 5.30 and there was bright sunshine on most days and you can definitely squeeze in half an over there and make up another eight overs. In the calendar these days, it’s definitely something that you have to consider. The pitch does deteriorate enough in four days to get a result and I think that will also make groundsmen prepare pitches that will force results in four days, like we had at Centurion. We’ll also probably have it at Wanderers where the cracks open up. It’s something to consider.”Keshav Maharaj, South Africa left-arm spinner: I just want to play“I just want to play Test cricket, whether its five days, four days, two days,” he said. “I just want to bowl and hopefully get some runs when I bat. I’ve got no issues with the duration of the Test match, I just want to play Test cricket.”

Waqar played more than a decade and a half of first-class cricket, and also served as a national selector

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2020Waqar Hasan, the last surviving member of Pakistan’s inaugural Test team, which played India in Delhi in October 1952, has died in Karachi at the age of 87.A middle-order batsman, Waqar’s first outing in Test cricket wasn’t too auspicious, as he scored 8 and 5 in an innings defeat, but he ended the five-Test series as Pakistan’s highest run-maker, with 357 runs at an average of 44.62, including three half-centuries. Waqar went on to play 21 Test matches during the course of a first-class career that spanned more than a decade and a half, from 1948-49 to 1965-66.He finished with 1071 runs in 35 Test innings, an average of 31.50, and hit a century and six half-centuries. His first-class average was 35.64.”Waqar Hassan was an attractive strokemaker, who was ideal in a crisis and and a fine field either at cover or further out,” Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote of Waqar in .ALSO READ: ‘Pakistan’s first tour of India was my most memorable’“It gives me immense satisfaction to have achieved many firsts for Pakistan: first to score a half-century in each innings of a Test [Bombay, 1952-53], first Test half-century in England [Lord’s, 1954], first Test half-century at home, and first to score two half-centuries in a home Test [Dacca, 1954-55], first century partnership [with Hanif Mohammad, Bombay, 1952-53], first double-century partnership [with Imtiaz Ahmed, Lahore, 1955-56],” Waqar recounted in an interview with in November 2012, by which time he had started splitting his time between Karachi and London.Originally from Lahore, Waqar shifted to Karachi in 1945 after being offered a job with the Public Works Department, and by the early 1960s, he launched a textile machinery business. The reason, as he explained, was financial. “I had lost my regular place in the Test team but my main reason for quitting cricket after the 1959-60 season was financial,” he said. “I opted out at the age of 27 to establish my business. I had seen the likes of Amir Elahi and Wazir Ali living not-so-happy lives in their later years.”He did, however, return to the game for a brief fling as a player. “In 1963-64, after being out of first-class cricket for four years, on the insistence of the officials of the Karachi cricket association, I agreed to captain the team,” he said. “I played only three more first-class tournaments in two years but we achieved remarkable results. We won all the three first-class tournaments – the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy [twice] and the Ayub Trophy.”In the 1963-64 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, my second-string Karachi Blues defeated the Karachi Whites, who had in their line-up five Test captains of the past and future. I played for fun with no ambition of making a Test comeback.”Waqar also served as a national selector, in spells during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The allrounder took 4 for 16, the best figures of the tournament so far, to leave Bangladesh winless

Report by Alex Malcolm at Junction Oval02-Mar-2020Shashikala Siriwardene held her own retirement party on her final day in international cricket taking a tournament-best 4 for 16 to help Sri Lanka to a consolation nine-wicket win over Bangladesh at the Junction Oval.Bangladesh suffocated against Sri Lanka’s disciplined and skilful attack, which was led by the crafty off-spin of Siriwardene and the wily left-arm seam of Udeshika Prabodhani. The pair delivered 26 dot balls between them in eight overs, with Sirwardene picking up the spoils and Player of the Match honours. Kavisha Dilhari was equally as frugal while Achini Kulasuriya’s extra pace picked up two wickets in the powerplay. Nigar Sultana played a lone hand for Bangladesh making a classy 39 as they struggled to 91 for 8 from their 20 overs having won the toss and chosen to bat.Bangladesh failed to apply any pressure in the chase fluffing two straight-forward chances in the opening two overs. Both Chamari Atapattu and Hasini Perera made their most of their luck blasting a 51-run opening stand before Anushka Sanjeewani joined Perara to finish the job with 27 balls to spare.Siriwardene sent off in styleSirwardene received a retirement gift the day before the game from the India team in the form of a signed shirt. Bangladesh joined the Sri Lanka team in giving her a guard of honour as she walked onto an international ground for the final time. They then gifted her the second-best T20I figures of her career through a lack of intent and some odd shot choices with Murshida Khatun falling sweeping to an offspinner in the powerplay for the second successive match. Prabodhani continued her impressive tournament bowling with unwavering accuracy which allowed Siriwardene and Kulasuriya to attack from the other end. Kulasuriya’s extra pace and bounce picked up two wickets in the last over of the powerplay to leave Bangladesh reeling at 26 for 3. Prabodhani bowled her four overs straight with 0 for 13 including 12 dots. Her tournament economy rate was just 3.68 from four games.Sultana solo effortSultana held the innings together with an excellent 39. But it was a strange innings from her. At one stage she had faced 10 dot balls, including leaves and defensive shots to be just 6 off 16, before she unleashed two of the best inside-out lofted cover drives of the tournament. One came off Sugandika Kumari who was bowling left-arm orthodox from over the wicket, the other was from the offspin of Dilhari at the other end. But thereafter Bangladesh went a full 36 deliveries without finding the boundary. It was left to Sultana again in the 18th to club back-to-back boundaries down the ground using the pace of Kulasuriya. Siriwardene returned to pick up two more wickets in the 19th over and finish her career with 4 for 16. Sultana was unjustly run out off the last ball of the innings trying to selflessly run for a second while her captain Salma Khatun was oddly content with one.Disastrous dropsBangladesh’s only chance of winning the game was to remove Atapattu cheaply. They had their chance to get both openers in the first two overs, and like so many catches in this tournament, spilled them. Hasini Perera was dropped by Sultana off Salma Khatun in the opening over attempting a flashing cut shot. Such catches are never easy up to the stumps but it wasn’t a major deflection. Worse was yet to come. Two balls into the second over Atapattu gifted a simple head high chance to mid-off where Fargana Hoque watched it go into her hands and then out. Some of her team-mates slumped to their knees as the ball hit the turf. Perera and Atapattu struck four fours and a six in the next 14 balls to rub salt into the wounds. Atapattu struck a second massive six over long-off in the ninth over to bring up the fifty partnership as Sri Lanka looked on track for a 10-wicket win.Support acts finish the setSri Lanka’s only challenge came when Atapattu departed. Sultana made up for her earlier drop with a sharp piece of work to have the star opener stumped off Nahida Akter. Atapattu was beaten by a nicely flighted off-break and had no part of her heel grounded behind the popping crease as the keeper whipped the bails off. Akter became the youngest to take 50 T20I wickets in the women’s game surpassing Sophie Ecclestone’s day-old record. It left Sri Lanka still needing 40 from 60 balls with every remaining player in the line-up having scored less than 50 runs for the tournament, but Perera and Sanjeewani made light work of the challenge. Both found the boundary regularly with skilful sweeps and classical footwork. The cruised to victory in a risk-free fashion with more than four overs to spare.

‘The way he’s been bowling the last 18 months has been outstanding’

Daniel Brettig28-Jul-2020Stuart Broad’s Ashes batting bunny David Warner is still trying to figure out how it was even possible that the paceman was dropped from England’s first Test match of the northern summer, and paid tribute to the 34-year-old as he stood on the brink of 500 wickets.In getting out seven times in 10 innings to Broad in England last year, Warner had a previously respectable record in England scythed down to an embarrassing size. The Australian was left questioning plenty about himself and his game in foreign conditions before he returned home to a typically bountiful home season against Pakistan and New Zealand.Warner admitted to some shock when he saw that Broad was left out for Mark Wood when England played the first Test match since cricket’s return amid the coronavirus pandemic, before the Nottinghamshire seamer was recalled and proved instrumental in securing the hosts victory in the second match of the series and then taking the hosts to the outskirts of another in the decider.”I think they should drop him again, I don’t know why they dropped him for that first game,” Warner laughed. “It’d be nice if I was to play over there again and he wasn’t playing. I saw he got a 50 and he’s taking some batting tips off Shane Warne, which is weird, but the way he bowls, the way he’s been bowling the last 18 months has been outstanding. I don’t know what was the reasoning behind leaving him out of that first Test, but obviously he’s come back and taken a few wickets.”Personally, I think he’s a world-class bowler and the last 18 months he’s really worked hard on pitching the ball up. When I look back on the stats it is probably the first time in his career, he’s actually pitched the ball up in that sort of five to six metres area the bowlers talk about quite a lot. He’s got a hell of a record against left handers as well, and I think the capability of him bringing the ball back off the wicket into the left handers has been another string to his bow.”Bowlers do tend to talk about not meaning to do that off the seam, but if you keep producing the right seam consistently enough, you’re going to get that sideways movement both ways and he’s been able to get that, and it’s not by fluke that he’s had success the past 18 months, he’s worked really hard to get to where he is and credit to him. Hopefully, yeah, I do get another crack against him.”The sequence of dismissals endured by Warner last year was testament to Broad’s ability to improve himself, having previously struggled to find the right lines and lengths with which to challenge the Australian left-hander, either in challenging Australian conditions or even friendlier home environs during the 2013 and 2015 series. Broad made his own disappointment plain during the first Test against the West Indies in Hampshire, but in the final match of the series at Old Trafford, he has returned to a familiar and prolific partnership with James Anderson.”I think when you’ve got two quality bowlers who’ve bowled in partnerships for a long, long time, in the partnership they bowl they don’t leak runs, and that’s the most important thing when we bat in partnerships, we try to get off strike, rotate strike, get bowlers off their lines and lengths,” Warner said. “These guys have the ability to keep those runs restricted, and they bowl a length where in England if you go to drive that length, you’re probably going to nick, but also the length means they’re still hitting the stumps, so you can’t really leave it.”In English conditions they just know how to get wickets and how to not leak runs. I know as well, James Anderson can not take a wicket, but still go for less than two an over. That just shows his experience as well. They’re both not express pace, and to take [nearly 1100] wickets between them as a pair when playing together is exceptional. You just can’t go after them, they don’t take their foot off the pedal and when you’re up against them, you’ve got to think of ways to rotate strike. Otherwise if you give them too many overs at you, they’re going to get you out.”

Plenty remains to be done ahead of the tournament, including finding a way to complete the qualifying event

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Aug-2020The ICC is looking for a biosecurity manager for the women’s 50-over World Cup, as planning continues for an event around which there remains a fair amount of uncertainty. The World Cup is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in February and March 2021, but the ICC is yet to officially take a call on its status, although the Board will meet on Friday to discuss this and other ICC events.It is not necessary that a decision on the tournament has to be taken then, especially as there is still some distance to be covered between now and the tournament. But plenty remains to be done, not least a place to host the qualifiers – postponed indefinitely from July 2020 in Sri Lanka because of the Covid-19 pandemic. As of now, only England, Australia, South Africa, India and hosts New Zealand are confirmed participants; three more spots are to be filled via the qualifiers. The UAE has come up in discussions as a venue, though the IPL window, which runs until November 10, squeezes that option a little.Biosecurity protocols have already been drawn up by the World Cup’s organising committee, in consultation with the ICC, New Zealand Cricket, and the New Zealand government. It’s understood that the role of the biosecurity manager would be to implement those. One part of that plan would involve teams arriving two weeks earlier than planned. Quarantine regulations in New Zealand currently require a two-week isolation period after entering the country. Teams were originally expected to arrive in New Zealand towards the end of January, but an earlier arrival would impact cost considerations for the tournament.For the moment, planning for the tournament involves fans at the ground. New Zealand has been one of the countries least affected worldwide by the pandemic, and following a strict lockdown that began in March, is now all but virus-free (New Zealand’s ministry of health website recorded figures for August 5 as 24 active cases, with two changes in the count in the previous 24 hours). Spectators have been present at rugby games in the country, without limitation, since mid-June and there are few restrictions once visitors have completed their two-week quarantine.Tickets are not yet on sale for the tournament and, unless late developments change things, they are likely to go on sale sometime in September or October.

Gloucestershire all out for 76 in first innings, in trouble in second

ECB Reporters Network23-Aug-2020Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby hit unbeaten centuries as Somerset set Gloucestershire an unlikely victory target of 385 on the second day of the Bob Willis Trophy match at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.A day totally dominated by the home side saw Gloucestershire bowled out for 76 from an overnight 13 for four, Craig Overton claiming 4 for 25 and Josh Davey 3 for 21.That gave Somerset a first innings lead of 161. Skipper Abell and Lammonby then both finished 101 not out after an unbroken second-wicket stand of 211 had guided their side to 223 for one when Abell declared, aware of the forecast of rain on the final two days.It was 20-year-old Lammonby’s maiden first class century to follow his maiden first class wicket in Gloucestershire’s first innings. The visitors were left with a tricky eight overs to negotiate, losing Ben Charlesworth, Chris Dent and Tom Lace before closing on 14 for three.Gloucestershire were under pressure from the opening delivery of the day, having already lost four first innings wickets. Davey made the first breakthrough with the total on 29 when nightwatchman Matt Taylor was caught at point for 12.The heat of battle between the two West country rivals was turned up when Jamie Overton thought he had George Hankins caught behind for six with the score 48 for five.Umpire Paul Baldwin disagreed and Overton showed his displeasure, first by crouching with head in hands and then unleashing three successive bouncers at the Gloucestershire batsman.The final ball of the over saw Hankins edge a low catch to Craig Overton at second slip and Somerset felt justice had been done.Lace, who showed better technique than a number of team-mates, was bowled by Jack Brooks for 21, attempting to drive, with the scoreboard showing 56 for seven.Gareth Roderick fell lbw to Craig Overton and Gordon Scott was caught behind off Lammonby’s left-arm seam before Ryan Higgins was last man out for 15.With a commanding lead, Somerset were able to approach their second innings positively. They suffered an early setback when Eddie Byrom chipped a catch to mid-wicket off a leg-side delivery from David Payne.But from then on Lammonby and Abell took control, looking increasingly assured in a partnership that had added 81 by tea, which was taken at 93 for one. Suddenly, batting appeared straightforward on a pitch that had never looked to have any demons in it.The final session saw Abell score more fluently to begin with, producing some textbook drives. Left-hander Lammonby, who had never scored even a half-century in first class cricket, moved cautiously to that landmark, having faced 122 balls and hit five fours.Abell was first to his ton, with two to third man off Ben Charlesworth. It was his second hundred of the competition and was made off 153 balls, with 17 boundaries.Lammonby was forced to hit out in a bid to reach three figures before the declaration and did so to great effect. Twice he cleared the ropes and a pulled four to fine leg off Scott took him to his century off 160 balls.After one more delivery Abell called a halt and soon his seamers were cutting through Gloucestershire’s batting as they had done in the first innings.Davey had Charlesworth caught behind with a ball that lifted and bowled Lace with the first ball of the final over after Craig Overton had pinned Dent lbw. Only the weather would now appear to stand between Somerset and a third win from four Bob Willis Trophy games.

Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering 79 and Bumrah’s four-for pushed Mumbai to top of the table

Deivarayan Muthu06-Oct-20202:19

Should Bumrah start to take the new ball again?

An inventive 79 not out off 47 balls from Suryakumar Yadav – his highest score in the IPL – carried the Mumbai Indians to 193 for 4, setting up their fourth victory in six matches this IPL. In pursuit of a tall target, the Rajasthan Royals lost three wickets in the powerplay, including that of their captain Steven Smith and Sanju Samson. Jos Buttler then slugged a 44-ball 70, threatening a comeback, but the Royals were ultimately dismissed for 136 in 18.1 overs.The 57-run victory – which also featured a fearsome Jasprit Bumrah spell (4-20) – meant Mumbai climbed to the top of the points table followed by the Delhi Capitals, who have played one match fewer, at No.2.After Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma sped away to 49-run opening stand, Yadav, in contrast, got off to a slow start – he was on 12 off 11 balls at one point. He watched Sharma and Ishan Kishan hole out off successive balls. He then watched Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to No.5 ahead of his younger brother Hardik and Kieron Pollard, struggle to 12 off 17 balls. However, Yadav’s wide range of strokes ensured Mumbai still took 68 from their last five overs and finished very strongly.Sharma, de Kock quick off the blocks
De Kock, who regained form with 67 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sharjah, set the tone in Abu Dhabi, too, with a crisp four off the first delivery from Ankit Rajpoot, who was picked ahead of left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat. The ball slid onto the bat in the early exchanges, with Sharma also using the extra pace of Rajpoot to his advantage. After launching him into the Royals dug out over the long-off fence, he sat back, waiting for the short ball and cracked it away to the left of sweeper cover.Smith used as many as five bowlers in the powerplay, but it was 19-year old debutant Kartik Tyagi who produced the breakthrough when he bounced out de Kock for 23. Sharma progressed to 35 before legspinner Shreyas Gopal had him caught at long-on with a wrong’un. His first delivery to Kishan, too was a wrong’un, which he spliced to extra-cover. Mumbai were 88 for 3 in the 10th over. A scoopful of Surya
After using his long reach to get to a pitch of a Gopal legbreak and pump it over extra-cover, Yadav hung back and placed Tyagi either side of third man for fours. Another great piece of placement – late-cut between the keeper and short third man for four brought him a fifty off 33 balls.The Royals had reserved two overs of Jorfra Archer for Pollard and Hardik at the death, but in the end Pollard wasn’t needed at all. While Hardik forced Archer down the ground for four, Yadav unfurled his ramps and scoops to pepper the ‘V’ behind the wicket. Thirty seven of his 79 runs came in that region. It was quite fitting that he helped finish the innings with a ramped four. Hardik did his bit in the unbroken 76-run stand with Yadav off six overs, contributing 30 off 19 balls.Buttler or nothing for Royals
Trent Boult found swing with the new ball once again, removing Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck in the first over of the chase. Then, in the next over as Bumrah opened the bowling for the first time this season, Smith fell swiping wildly for the third time in three matches. When Boult drew a top-edged pull from Samson to mid-on, the Royals were 12 for 3 in the third over.Buttler played himself in, getting to a run-a-ball 24 before exploding against the slower bowlers. He claimed 49 off 24 balls from Krunal, Rahul Chahar and Pollard.It needed a spectacular catch at the long-on boundary from Pollard – another special from the specialist T20 outfielder that will likely break YouTube – to get rid of Buttler in the 14th over. Royals lost their last five wickets for 38 runs and their third game in a row. The punches weren’t done yet. Long after the game was done, the IPL fined Smith INR 12 lakh for slow over-rate.

ESPNcricinfo understands the change is likely to happen as early as Pakistan’s upcoming tour of New Zealand in December

Umar Farooq22-Oct-2020Just 12 months after Azhar Ali replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed as Pakistan’s Test captain, there could be another change on the way, with increasing murmurs in the executive corridors of the PCB’s headquarters about a younger replacement. ESPNcricinfo understands Mohammad Rizwan and current limited-overs captain Babar Azam are at the top of the list of potential replacements for the Test captaincy, with the change likely to happen as early as Pakistan’s upcoming tour of New Zealand in December.The PCB confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Azhar’s annual appraisal is being carried out, and CEO Wasim Khan had already met him. The final decision, however, hasn’t been made yet as constitutionally, the prerogative to name or dismiss a captain rests with the PCB chairman – who is due to meet Azhar in the next 10 days.Babar lies in wait as something of an obvious replacement. He is one of the few Pakistan players guaranteed a place in all three formats, and, as Pakistan’s vice-captain in Test, was considered as an eventual replacement for Azhar Ali anyway. Rizwan’s stock, meanwhile, has never been higher. After being frozen out of the side for two years while Sarfaraz was Pakistan’s first-choice wicketkeeper and captain, Rizwan has firmly established his place, particularly in the Test side. He scored a half-century in his first Test since returning to the side in Australia last year, before returning a Player of the Series performance in a three-Test series in England earlier this year, where he topped the run charts for Pakistan and won high praise for his wicketkeeping abilities. Just last week, he led his T20 franchise, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to the National T20 Cup title, doing his leadership reputation no harm.Azhar, 35, has struggled for form over the past two years, and found himself in a sustained slump until he scored a hundred in Karachi late last year, followed by a fighting century in a rain-hit draw against England in Southampton in August. The innings looked to have bought him time, though it was notable that his ability as captain was openly questioned by television commentator Wasim Akram – also a member of the PCB cricket committee. “It will hurt the Pakistan team and the cricket lovers in Pakistan,” Akram, a former captain had said on . “Winning and losing is part of cricket, but I think our captain missed a trick quite a few times in this game, as far as his leadership is concerned.”Azhar is presently is the most capped player in the Pakistan side with 81 Test matches in a career that started in 2010. He was appointed ODI captain following both Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi’s ODI retirements after the 2015 World Cup, when he hadn’t been part of Pakistan’s ODI plans. Following poor results in England and Australia during his tenure, he was axed from the captaincy in January 2017, but remained in the squad until 2018 before losing his spot to younger players.He refused an offer to take up Test captaincy in 2017 after Misbah and Younis Khan retired from the longer format, with the PCB deciding to hand over the captaincy in all formats to Sarfaraz. While his limited-overs replacement Babar looks more secure than ever, Azhar’s stint as Test captain may well be drawing to a premature close.

A cautious approach will continue to be taken with the allrounder’s bowling workload

Alex Malcolm03-Dec-2020Australia debutant Cameron Green was “taken aback” by some unusual words of encouragement from an unlikely source when he arrived at the crease for the first time in international cricket.Green, 21, was visibly nervous as he entered batting at No. 5 in the 23rd over with Australia needing 186 to win against India in the third ODI in Canberra, having never previously batted higher than No. 7 in just eight List A innings for Western Australia.After negotiating Shardul Thakur’s over Green revealed that KL Rahul had a conversation with him during Ravindra Jadeja’s next over.”I was actually taken aback by how nice KL Rahul was behind the stumps,” Green said. “I think he asked me if I was nervous or not and I just replied saying ‘yeah obviously a little bit nervous’ and he just said ‘go well, youngster’. I thought it would have been the opposite. I think Virat [Kohli] was trying to be pretty loud at the time.”I was a bit taken aback by how nice that was. I’ll remember that forever.”ALSO WATCH: Watch – Thakur’s match-winning spell (Indian subcontinent only)
Green made 21 off 27, eventually falling to an excellent catch by Jadeja at deep backward square. He was initially just 3 off 12 balls but said captain Aaron Finch helped him through a tricky start.”Obviously early I was a bit scratchy…it took me a few balls to get used to it a bit but unfortunately in that situation you had to get yourself in quickly”I had Finchy down the other end who was absolutely awesome. I think every ball he came up to me and said ‘good job youngster, keep going, you’re batting well, you’ve got plenty of time’. Having him at the other end was pretty special for a guy who has played…someone with that experience at the other end helping you out when you first start, I can’t thank him enough.”Green’s debut had plenty of hype around it after he made a huge impact with both bat and ball in Sheffield Shield cricket in his first three years as a professional, but he acknowledged the jump up to international level was enormous.”They’re class bowlers, especially their spinners,” Green said. “I haven’t faced quality like that. Jadeja is just a beautiful bowler who knows exactly what he’s trying to do. Trying to spin a couple away from you and dart one back in. It was class bowling. You can do as much research and watch as much footage as you can, which I did, to get a better understanding of how they bowled, but it’s a different beast when you’re actually facing them out in the middle. It took me a couple of overs to get used to it. But I take a lot out of it.”Green also bowled four overs which cost 27. He has been on workload restrictions for both Western Australia and Australia as he continues to rebuild from multiple stress fractures in his back. He has only been bowling six overs in training every second or third day and was only going to bowl a maximum of six against India if required.Cameron Green bowling on ODI debut•Getty Images

He nudged speeds of 145kph and produced prodigious bounce that surprised Kohli at times. But he also got an education from the India captain who took Green for consecutive boundaries in his first over.”Fourth ball I tried to bowl a bumped to Virat and he was back on it so quick. He had so much more time than what I had seen before,” Green said. “Obviously it’s a pretty big step up than what I’ve seen.”Green will continue to be cautious with his bowling with Australia’s strength and conditioning staff monitoring his workloads extremely carefully. If he were to make his Test debut in the upcoming Test series it would be unlikely he would bowl a lot of overs.”[My] body is feeling really good,” Green said. “[We’re] being very slow. I’m not trying to bowl too many balls. I’ve started to try and do a 20 to 30-minute stretch daily. Something I haven’t really done before, just to feel that little bit better leading into games. But the coaches in WA have been talking to the Australia guys to keep similar plans to what I’ve had previously, just to not bowl too much.”I think when you get chucked into the Australian team you’re probably going to try and bowl a bit harder than you probably would before. So just restricting that high intensity will definitely help.”There was a chance Green was going to be released to play for Australia A in the three-day tour game against India A at Drummoyne Oval as preparation for the Test series, but he will remain with the T20 squad and will be pushing to make his T20I debut during the three-match series.Team-mate Glenn Maxwell was full of praise for Green’s debut performance including how relaxed he had been after being told he would be playing.”It was seriously impressive, and he’s impressed a lot of people with the way he’s gone about it,” Maxwell said. “Not just with the ball, but the way he bowled to Virat in that little spell, the way he fielded was exceptional. Even the way he went about his batting, he took the game on and it was unfortunate to get out the way he did.””I asked him how he’d slept and he said he still got nine hours sleep which is probably more than most of us got before our debuts. But he seemed pretty relaxed and I know he would have been pretty nervous when he first went out to bat, as everyone is.”Your feet feel heavy, the bat feels a ton but the way he got into his innings, he was able to get through that little bit of nervous energy at the start and then show he’s got a touch of class about him. So it’s good signs for Australian cricket.”