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Cricket Australia has appointed Adam Griffith, a highly experienced coach and former Tasmania fast bowler, as the new national pace bowling coach in a role that has been recreated to help develop Australia’s next generation of fast bowlers.The role was first advertised back in October as an Australia-based position to oversee the management of fast bowlers across international and domestic programmes, in a bid to prevent the spate of injuries that have been occurring and ensure a more co-ordinated approach to the handling of Australia’s quicks.Griffith, 46, brings a huge amount of experience to the role, sitting underneath Australia men’s coach Andrew McDonald and current bowling coach Daniel Vettori who will continue to travel with the men’s team. He will also report to CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver, having worked previously with him in Western Australia.Related

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Griffith is currently Victoria’s bowling coach but has been head coach of Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes. Prior to taking on the head coaching role in Tasmania, he was WA and Perth Scorchers senior assistant coach under Justin Langer. He has also been a long-time bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore [RCB] in the IPL and has worked with San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC. He has done short stints with the Australia men’s team on bilateral tours in 2012 and 2016 and the 2019 ODI World Cup.Griffith’s appointment comes at a time when Australia’s fast bowling depth is coming into sharp focus with Australia’s big three in Pat Cummins, 31, Mitchell Starc, soon to be 35, and Josh Hazlewood, 34, unlikely to continue to play all three formats consistently in the short to medium term.Griffith will be based in Brisbane at CA’s Centre of Excellence and implement a national strategy to develop fast bowlers. He will also oversee the preparation of national fast bowlers, as well as step in as coaching support for Australia A teams and Australia when Vettori is absent due to franchise commitments. He will also be the point-person for developing fast bowling coaches and coordinating with state bowling programs.Adam Griffith and Jeff Vaughan celebrate a win for the Hobart Hurricanes•Getty Images

Griffith’s experience and knowledge of three state programs and his work with a number of Australia’s bowlers across various levels will be important as there has been some friction between CA’s high performance unit and the states over the management of some CA contracted bowlers as well as domestically contracted bowlers on the fringe of national selection. There has also been a spate of injuries across the last seven months that has severely tested Australia’s depth across four different international series over three formats.Jhye Richardson and Cameron Green are both recovering from significant surgeries and Griffith has worked with both of them in their junior days in WA. Griffith was a key figure in the rise of Riley Meredith and Nathan Ellis to becoming Australia white-ball representatives.He was also the coach who convinced new Test allrounder Beau Webster to bowl medium pace for Tasmania and oversaw his transition from offspin. More recently he has worked closely with young Victorian quick Sam Elliott, who is enjoying a breakout year in domestic cricket, and has overseen Will Sutherland’s recovery from stress fractures in his back.His time in the IPL at RCB, where he worked with Green, Josh Hazlewood and Mohammed Siraj at various stages, is also significant as CA try to navigate the management of their bowlers in the rapidly evolving franchise era as players look to take IPL and T20 opportunities during periods when CA would prefer them to rest or undergo specifically tailored preparation for upcoming international series.McDonald was thrilled to secure a coach of Griffith’s calibre for the role. “I’m delighted Adam will bring his extensive experience to Cricket Australia as National Pace Bowling Coach and become an important part of our coaching set up,” he said. “Adam’s expertise across all formats will be invaluable in the preparation of pace bowlers for Australia’s national men’s teams.”Griffith will complete the domestic season with Victoria in his current role as bowling coach under Chris Rogers, with the team currently sitting second in both the Sheffield Shield and the Dean Jones Trophy, before moving to Brisbane to take up his new post.

Sam Konstas has missed out on another century but teammate Kurtis Patterson managed to break a long drought to give New South Wales a chance of pulling off victory in their Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia at the SCG.The Blues went to stumps on day three at 463 for 9 in their first innings, with a lead of 252 after WA were rolled for 211. Heavy rain washed out most of day two, but NSW made up for that lost time by piling on the runs on Sunday.Konstas (88) resumed on his overnight score of 80, but his hopes of scoring his fourth century of the summer were dashed when he edged Lance Morris to second slip.Patterson picked up where Konstas left off, scoring an unbeaten 167 off 255 balls to lift the home side to a big first-innings lead. It marked a big turnaround for Patterson, who was dropped last season amidst a form slump.He now has 527 runs this season at an astounding average of 105.40, thrusting his name back into the national selection puzzle to add to his two Tests.Patterson yelled out in joy upon reaching his century – his first ton in 769 days. The previous highest first-class total by Patterson was 157 on debut as an 18-year-old, but he surged past that late on day three.The 31-year-old struck 15 fours and three sixes during his glittering knock, while Chris Green (35) and Jack Edwards (30) added some handy runs lower down the order.WA paceman Brody Couch finished with 3 for 66, while Morris (2 for 69) and Cameron Gannon (2 for 99) also chipped in.Spinner Corey Rocchiccioli, who is trying to earn a spot on Australia’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, returned figures of 1 for 87 off 27 overs.For WA, the final day will be all about survival given there’s no hope the defending champions can win the match. NSW sit second last on the table, and desperately need to win in order to revive their finals hopes.WA, winners of the past three titles, entered the match second on the ladder.

Courtney Winfield-Hill will join the England Women’s set-up as an assistant coach for the upcoming tour of South Africa and the Women’s Ashes.Winfield-Hill, a 37-year-old former cricket and rugby league professional who was part of England’s backroom staff on the tour of Ireland in September, will be reunited with the squad in South Africa once she has finished her second-year stint as an assistant coach with WBBL side Brisbane Heat.Winfield-Hill worked with Trent Rockets in the most recent edition of the Women’s Hundred and previously held a regional academy coach role with Northern Diamonds as well as assistant coaching roles at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League and England Women’s A and U19 squads.”I am really proud to be a part of the set-up,” Winfield-Hill said. “Since working with England teams, I have been made to feel nothing but welcomed and feel the ECB have invested in developing me as a coach.”The development of the domestic game over the last five years has been brilliant to watch and I have taken a lot from recent involvements with the England A, development games and the Ireland tour. South Africa and the Ashes are two exciting series and I am really looking forward to linking up and working with the group.”As a player, Australia-born pace bowler Winfield-Hill – who is the wife of former England and current Brisbane Heat batter Lauren Winfield-Hill – represented Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat.After moving to England in 2018, she led Leeds Rhinos to a Grand Final and Challenge Cup double in 2019. She represented England at the Rugby League World Cup in 2022 having qualified on residency and now works for the sport’s governing body as Senior Women and Girls’ Partner.Courtney Winfield-Hill switched countries and sports to star for England at the Women’s Rugby League World Cup•Getty Images

Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women’s Cricket, said Winfield-Hill’s dual background in professional sport offered a fresh outlook to the current coaching set-up, led by head coach Jon Lewis.”Courtney has played such an important role in developing the up-and-coming players on our international pathway and adds tremendous value in any environment she is part of,” Finch said. “She will bring a different outlook on the game into the coaching team which will ensure the support we provide to players continually moves forward in what will be an exciting period for the senior team.”

Days after the 2024-25 Quaid-e-Azam trophy was delayed, the PCB have announced the final schedule for Pakistan’s premier domestic first-class competition. The tournament will begin on October 26, with the final on December 19.In a major overhaul, the days of parsimony when it came to the number of teams have flown out of the window. This year’s QeA will see 18 teams spread out into 16 regions take part; Lahore and Karachi have two teams each. Last year, just eight teams played the tournament, with the four years prior seeing just six participants. Karachi Whites are the defending champions.”Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is the pinnacle of domestic cricket in Pakistan as it is not just a tournament but also an event that showcases the immense talent across the country and prepares them for the challenges of international cricket,” Abdullah Niazi, the director of domestic operations, said in a statement. “As always, we will continue to provide the best possible platform for players to excel and show their capabilities on the biggest stage in domestic cricket as they will be rubbing their shoulders with the best players of the country.Related

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“Earlier we demonstrated a successful Champions One-Day Cup, and are fully committed to strengthening our domestic structure. The successful execution of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy remains at the heart of this commitment.”Just days ago, though, the fate of this year’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was uncertain. ESPNcricinfo understands the tournament was delayed, with the domestic cricket department awaiting the chairman’s sign-off for the tournament. The QeA was tentatively scheduled to start on October 20.The start date of October 26 is considerably later than usual. Just two of the last 15 years have seen the tournament begin after this date. The PCB opted to host the Champions One-Day Cup in September, Pakistan’s only meaningfully empty window until May, pushing the first-class competition deeper into the season.This means the Quaid-e-Azam trophy starts while Pakistan’s Test season – it’s busiest this century – will already be well into the fifth of seven home games. The final begins on December 19, a week out from the first Test in South Africa on December 26. Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan vice-captain Saud Shakeel suggested the first-class competition could be used to prepare for the tour of South Africa by attempting to replicate those conditions.”If you want to prepare for SENA [series in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia], you can do it during practice and first class cricket,” Shakeel said. “If there’s first-class cricket before South Africa, we could prepare those kinds of pitches there. But we should prepare pitches and conditions series-by-series, and according to the opposition.”

With all potential relegation permutations happily off the agenda at last, Warwickshire calmly settled down to avoiding defeat against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on the final day of the 2024 Vitality County Championship. Saving the follow-on with five wickets down effectively saved the game.The draw, for which the pitch was probably intended from the start, thus duly arrived with ease, Notts taking 14 points to the visitors’ 13. Sam Hain signed off the season with an unbeaten 153 and his overnight partner Ed Barnard made 81 before Michael Burgess struck 56 from 71 balls in an eventual 373 for 7 after the resumption on 143 for 4.It was not until the 13th ball after lunch in fact that the fifth-wicket partners were finally separated after adding exactly 150. The wunderkind off-spinner Farhan Ahmed switched to bowling over the wicket for the first time in the day and Barnard, who had passed 5000 first-class runs on the way, immediately top-edged a sweep to the deep.The catch was well judged by the 21-year old substitute Sam King, yet to gain a first-class debut, with Brett Hutton briefly off the field. But only 84 more runs were then needed to avoid the follow-on, reduced to 58 by the time Hutton returned to take the new ball five overs later.In a challenging summer during which personal reasons and concussion had seen him miss six games, Hain had completed a heartening second hundred of the season from 202 balls just before lunch. As Ahmed shared the new ball, he remained the anchor while Burgess proved typically combative.The follow-on target of 333 was passed with 43 overs remaining but the match, bonus points aside, long since academic as certain to be drawn. Burgess entertained with four sixes in all until he swiped at Lyndon James 21 runs later and failed to clear mid-on. Ahmed came off next over with three for 93 from 33 overs, good figures on this pitch.A second substitute, James Hayes, also without first-class experience, then took a gentle catch at cover off Rob Lord as a loose cut undid Danny Briggs without score. After tea taken at 361 for 7, however, just four bonus-point overs remained, neither side adding to their tally. Notts brought Ahmed back on but he found no further success and bad light conveniently ended play at 3.50.Warwickshire could reflect on a season of just one win but the boon of no fewer than 33 batting points, a total bettered only by Surrey and Essex in Division One. Added to the reinstated increased reward of eight points for each of their nine draws, it served them very well.Nottinghamshire too benefited from eight draws and Lancashire would no doubt rue the fact that they arguably had a marginally better playing record than both their rivals but could muster just 15 batting points along with their four draws. They ended with three wins and six losses, compared to Notts’ two wins, four losses and Warwickshire’s one win also with four losses.

Defending champions India are grouped with West Indies, Sri Lanka and hosts Malaysia for the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup which begins on January 18, 2025. The 41-game event will feature 16 teams, like the inaugural edition in 2023, and will conclude with the final on February 2.Four venues across Malaysia will host the event. Bayuemas Oval in Selangor will host all Group A games and the final. The Dato’ Dr. Harjit Singh Johor Cricket Academy (JCA Oval) in Johor will host the Group B games. Sarawak’s Borneo Cricket Ground will be the venue for the Group C fixtures, and the UKM YSD Oval in Selangor will host the Group D matches.It will be the first World Cup appearance across any age division for Samoa, who are in Group C alongside New Zealand, South Africa and an Africa qualifier, yet to be decided. Group B has England – losing finalists in 2023 – alongside Pakistan, Ireland and USA. Group D features Australia, Bangladesh, Scotland and an Asia qualifier. Group A has India, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, who will be featuring in their maiden U-19 women’s World Cup competition as well.

How the teams stack up

Group A – India, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Malaysia [Bayuemas Oval in Selangor]

Group B – England, Pakistan, Ireland and USA [Dato’ Dr. Harjit Singh Johor Cricket Academy, Johor]

Group C – New Zealand, South Africa, Africa’s Qualifier and Samoa [Borneo Cricket Ground, Sarawak]

Group D – Australia, Bangladesh, Asia’s Qualifier and Scotland [UKM YSD Oval in Selangor]

The tournament will begin with six games on opening day: Australia versus Scotland, England against Ireland, and Samoa taking on the Africa qualifier in the morning; followed by Pakistan-Ireland, Bangladesh against the Asia qualifier, and New Zealand versus South Africa in the afternoon. India begin campaign on the second day against West Indies. Before the main event gets underway, there will be 16 warm-up games between January 13 and 16.Once the group stage is over, the top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six stage, with the three teams from Group A and Group D combining to form one Super Six group, and the same with the top three teams of Group B and Group C in the other group.The teams will also carry forward their points and net run rates and will play the two sides who, a) were not in their group in the first stage, and b) finished at a different position from them. As an example, if India finish second in Group A, then they will play the winner and second runner-up of Group D. The top two teams from each Super Six group will progress to the semi-finals.The groups and teams for the Under-19 T20 World Cup 2025•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“This is a special event to the ICC and forms an important part of our Global Growth Strategy of raising the profile of women’s cricket and further growing the game around the world,” ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said in a statement. “It is also a unique opportunity to introduce our vast global audiences to the future stars of the sport.”We look forward to building on the success from the foundation laid at the inaugural event in South Africa in 2023. We wish all the teams the very best of luck in their preparation and to the Malaysian Cricket Association in organising the event.””Malaysia is proud to host the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in 2025, continuing our tradition of supporting the growth of cricket on the global stage,” host tournament director Dinesh Muthuraman said. “Women’s cricket is experiencing unprecedented growth both in Malaysia and around the world. We are fully confident that this World Cup will further accelerate that momentum, leading to significant developments in the sport, especially for women’s cricket.”The tournament was originally supposed to be co-hosted by Thailand, but their withdrawal means Malaysia will host all games. In 2008, Malaysia also hosted the Men’s Under-19 World Cup which had future stars like Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Steven Smith, Imad Wasim, Reeza Hendricks, Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Ravindra Jadeja.

Ben Stokes is set to make his first appearance in the Hundred for three years this summer. ESPNcricinfo understands that he has been made available by the ECB to play the second half of the group stage for Northern Superchargers, where he will be coached by Andrew Flintoff.Stokes made two appearances for the Superchargers in the inaugural season of the Hundred in 2021 but has not played since taking over as England’s Test captain, despite being named in their squads. He has instead opted to rest between Test series, having struggled with a chronic knee injury which prompted surgery after the 50-over World Cup last year.He suffered a severe panic attack the morning after his most recent appearance in the competition, which came at Trent Bridge in July 2021, when he collapsed on the floor of his hotel bathroom. It was depicted in , Stokes’ documentary with Sam Mendes, and prompted him to take a prolonged break from the game later that year.But ESPNcricinfo can reveal that he has been made available for four group-stage games this season — and the knockout stages, should the Superchargers qualify — starting with an away fixture against Birmingham Phoenix on August 6. It means one of England’s great allrounders will play under another, with Flintoff due to begin his first role as a head coach next week.Related

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The Hundred starts on Tuesday (July 23) but men’s teams will be light on star names in its first week due to a clash with the third Test against West Indies. It also overlaps with the latter stages of Major League Cricket, where many of the Hundred’s leading overseas players have spent the last two weeks.England’s batters will be released to play straight after the third Test at Edgbaston, while the allrounders and bowlers in the squad will be made available from August 6 onwards, for the second half of the group stages. Shoaib Bashir and Mark Wood do not have Hundred contracts, while the availability of Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts will depend on their potential involvement in Birmingham.The ECB are due to confirm a number of injury replacements on Thursday, with Will Smeed (Phoenix) and Tash Farrant (Oval Invincibles) both set to miss the competition with hamstring injuries. Riley Meredith (Trent Rockets) and James Neesham (London Spirit) have signed short-term deals as cover for Joe Root and Zak Crawley respectively.Elsewhere, Tim Southee has replaced Naseem Shah at Phoenix after he was denied a No-Objection Certificate by the PCB, while New Zealand allrounder Mitchell Santner will deputise for Daniel Sams at Superchargers who has been ruled out due to a knee injury.

Bangladesh made a big stride towards securing a Super Eights berth at the T20 World Cup 2024 with a confident 25-run win over Netherlands in the first international fixture in Kingstown in close to a decade.It was a welcome return to form for Shakib Al Hasan, who scored his first fifty in 20 T20I innings to shepherd Bangladesh to 159 for 5. Netherlands made a good fist of the chase, moving to 111 for 3 in the 15th over. But legspinner Rishad Hossain struck three times in four balls spread across two overs to change the course of the game.Related

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With Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman tightening the screws alongside Rishad, Netherlands fell in a heap, losing 4 for 6 in the space of 16 balls. They still had an outside chance with 36 needed off the last two overs, but Mustafizur Rahman’s cutters proved too much to handle in the 19th over. He kept slanting the ball across, and the batters kept swishing and missing. He conceded just three runs in that over, having given away just one in the 17th, and Netherlands were eventually restricted to 134 for 8.

Bangladesh fly away despite Dutt’s strikes

With the Bangladesh top order studded with left-handers, Netherlands brought Aryan Dutt in for his first game of the tournament and he immediately repaid their faith. Introduced in the second over, he removed the Bangladesh captain with his second ball. It was an innocuous length ball outside off, which Najmul Hossain Shanto reverse-swept straight to first slip.Dutt struck again in his next over, with a lot of help from Sybrand Engelbrecht. Litton Das eyed a slog-sweep only to get a top-edge well in front of square. But Engelbrecht, stationed behind square, sprinted to his left , put out a full-length dive and picked up a screamer inches off the turf.Despite the early losses, Bangladesh continued to score at a fair clip. Tanzid Hasan struck Vivian Kingma for two fours and a six in the third over before Shakib picked another four off Paul van Meekeren in the fifth. Shakib then laid into Logan van Beek in the sixth over, smashing him for four fours to take Bangladesh to 54 for 2, comfortably their highest powerplay score of the tournament.1:42

Maharoof: Shakib was prepared for Netherlands’ short-ball tactics

The middle-overs squeeze

Netherlands weren’t backing down, though. Captain Scott Edwards rung in the changes and the bowlers made sure to stick to their lengths. According to ESPNcricinfo’s logs, Netherlands only veered into the full lengths four times in 10 overs from the seventh to the 16th, and Bangladesh’s scoring rate dropped. The pressure told on Tanzid, who mistimed a pull to deep backward square leg in the ninth over, while Towhid Hridoy had his leg stump flattened by Tim Pringle in the 13th. Bangladesh managed only 58 runs in the middle ten overs with five fours and a six, and lost two wickets.

Shakib the glue as Bangladesh end strongly

The last time Shakib scored a fifty in T20Is was in October 2022 against Pakistan. At the T20 World Cup, he hadn’t breached the half-century mark since 2016. But on this crucial day, Bangladesh’s stalwart stood tall.He scored his first seven runs at a run-a-ball, and picked up his once he got the hang of the surface. And even when the runs dried up in the middle phase, he kept rotating strike without panicking. He reached his fifty off 38 balls and hit de Leede for back-to-back fours in the final over to finish unbeaten on 64 off 46 balls, his innings studded with nine fours.There were important contributions from Mahmudullah (25 off 21) and Jaker Ali (14* off seven) as Bangladesh collected 47 runs off the last four overs.Bas de Leede is stumped off Rishad Hossain•ICC/Getty Images

Bangladesh keep chipping away

With 349 runs in nine innings, Michael Levitt came into this tournament as Netherlands’ highest run-scorer in T20Is since the start of 2024. However, he’s had a dismal start to his T20 World Cup with scores of 1 and 0 against Nepal and South Africa. He seemed to change the tide against Bangladesh when he drove Mustafizur through the covers in the first over. Then, when he smashed Taskin Ahmed over the roof at deep midwicket, it seemed his campaign was back on track.But Levitt’s joy was short-lived. In the fifth over, he top-edged a cut off Taskin to Hridoy at point. In the next over, Max O’Dowd smashed a length ball straight back to Tanzim Hasan, and Netherlands ended the powerplay at 36 for 2.Vikramjit Singh hit Shakib for back-to-back sixes in the seventh over and slog-swept Rishad over deep midwicket in the ninth. His sprightly 16-ball knock was cut short when he was stumped, walking past a tossed-up delivery from Mahmudullah. But at 69 for 3 in the tenth over, Netherlands were still in with a chance.

Rishad triple-strike gives Bangladesh the W

Netherlands seemed to be giving Bangladesh a proper fight when Engelbrecht and Edwards were at the crease. The duo ran superbly and got the boundaries at regular intervals during a 31-ball stand of 42 for the fourth wicket.When Rishad was brought on to bowl the 15th over, Netherlands required 56 off 36. The legspinner’s first two overs had gone for 19 and he knew this over could decide the match. It did, in Bangladesh’s favour.With his fourth ball, he got Engelbrecht to top-edge a legbreak straight up, with Tanzim taking the catch at point. Two balls later, he had de Leede stumped with a ball that spun sharply past his outside edge. Mustafizur then got into the act by taking out Edwards, and when Rishad sent back Logan van Beek at the start of the 18th over, the game was as good as done.Dutt struck a six off Rishad later in that over, but he and Pringle had no answers to Mustafizur’s cutters in the 19th. Eventually, Netherlands fell well short of their target. The result does not knock them out of contention, nor does it give Bangladesh a sure-shot place in the Super Eight. It has, however, knocked Sri Lanka out, and given Bangladesh an excellent chance of advancing from Group D.

Rohit Sharma was effusive in his praise for his bowlers after India successfully defended 119 – despite looking like they wouldn’t be able to at various points – against Pakistan on a New York pitch where “140 was a good score to fight”.”We didn’t bat well enough,” Rohit said on the host broadcast after the game. “Halfway through, we were in a good position, 80 for 3 [81 for 3]. You expect guys to stitch partnerships, but we didn’t put enough partnerships there.”I thought we fell 15-20 short. We spoke about how every run matters on a pitch like that. We were looking at 140, but I thought the bowlers can [do], and did, the job for us.”Related

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Jasprit Bumrah cracked the game wide open for India in his third over, the 15th of the Pakistan chase. With Pakistan needing a straightforward 40 off 36, he beat Mohammad Rizwan’s swing to hit timber, and that was the twist in the tale.Then, in the penultimate over, with Pakistan needing 21 off 12, he conceded just three while picking up the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed to leave Arshdeep Singh with 18 to defend. Bumrah finished with figures of 4-0-14-3 to earn his second straight Player-of-the-Match award.As for Pakistan, they went from 80 for 3 at the start of the 15th to 113 for 7 after 20 to fall six short.”We felt we were a little under par,” Bumrah said. “When the sun came out, the wicket got a bit better. So we had to be disciplined with what we were trying to do. I tried to keep it simple, the wicket got better, and the swing was less. So I tried to hit the seam as much as I can. I just tried to be clear with my plan and focused on my execution.”Rohit talked up India’s “never-say-die” attitude on a New York surface he felt was “good” compared to those in the earlier games. “With only 119 on the board, we wanted to make early inroads, which we didn’t,” he said. “Halfway through, I got everyone together. We said if things can happen to us, it can happen to them as well.”Bumrah aside, India also had key bowling contributions from Hardik Pandya (2 for 24), Arshdeep (1 for 31), Mohammed Siraj, who gave away 19 runs in four overs, and the spin twins – Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja – who conceded 1 for 21 in four overs between them.Axar, in particular, bowled an excellent 16th over that went for just two runs, even though the match-up of bowling to Imad Wasim, a left-hand batter, could have worked against him.”Absolutely! That’s what’s required in a tournament like this,” Rohit said of his bowlers. “We need everyone to show up. Those little contributions make a huge difference. Whoever had the ball in hand wanted to make a contribution for the team.”Bumrah is going from strength to strength. We’ve seen him over the years what he can do, I’m not going to talk too much about him. We want him to be in that kind of mindset till the end of the World Cup. He’s a genius with the ball, we know that, but hats off to the other guys as well.”

Queensland quick Sam Geyer withstood an early barrage from Sam Harper to take four wickets on debut in the Sheffield Shield against Victoria.Geyer was the star of the show for Queensland on Saturday, as Victoria hit 318 for 9 declared before the home side were 15 without loss at stumps on day one of the pink-ball fixture.Crucially Matt Renshaw survived a tough final half hour under the Gabba lights to be unbeaten on two, in what could be an audition for the day-night second Ashes Test at the same venue.With questions over Usman Khawaja’s fitness and whether Travis Head will remain opener or go back to No. 5 after his Perth heroics, Renshaw has a big Sunday ahead of him in Brisbane.Saturday night’s 34-ball survival came with chief selector Tony Dodemaide in attendance, with the opener having already scored two centuries this summer.Regardless it will be Geyer who left the Gabba happiest after his 4 for 102 on debut, even if he went at more than six an over. Struck down by stress fractures in his teens, the 22-year-old paceman needed plenty of resilience after Harper took him down early at the Gabba.Harper cut the seamer’s first two balls for four on his way to 88, in a brutal welcome to first-class cricket for Geyer. But the seamer responded shortly after, having Marcus Harris well caught at slip for 18.Geyer also copped some treatment from Matt Short, but recovered to remove Mitchell Perry, Fergus O’Neill and Will Sutherland in the final session.He would have had a five-wicket haul had Tom Straker not put down a catch at fine leg to dismiss Todd Murphy.”He’s very high energy Sammy,” spinner Mitch Swepson said. “Looked like he would run through a brick wall every time I threw the ball to him. He was ready and raring to go.”Outstanding for him to get four wickets, he probably deserved five as well. He bowled brilliantly and was that spark for us.”Swepson also took two crucial wickets, getting Harper and Peter Handscomb in quick succession after the pair added 88 for the third wicket.Harper had been the chief aggressor for Victoria, bringing up his 50 in 55 balls after a series of cuts, late cuts and a big six over mid wicket off Straker.But he fell when he cut Swepson straight to backward point, before Handscomb picked out the midwicket fielder in Swepson’s next over.Veteran Gurinder Sandhu also took 2 for 55, and was arguably Queensland’s best bowler with the pressure he built with the ball.