New blow ends realistic hopes of World Cup recall, and raises questions about fast bowler’s future

George Dobell06-Jul-2018Reece Topley has been ruled out of the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a recurrence of a stress fracture in the lower back.Only days after it emerged he had come close to a recall to the England limited-overs squad – the selectors considered him (and Yorkshire’s Matt Fisher) as a replacement for the injured Tom Curran in the T20I squad facing India – the 24-year-old Topley experienced pain in his back while bowling for England Lions on Monday and was sent for a scan. The results show the fracture that he suffered last year has returned.He will see surgeons next week and is expected to undergo an operation shortly afterwards where a titanium pin will be inserted to strengthen the spine.From a personal perspective, the news is catastrophic for Topley. Aged 24, his highly promising career has been plagued by back injuries. Having worked long and hard to come back from the last setback, this new blow not only ends any realistic hopes of earning a recall to the England squad ahead of the World Cup campaign, but raises questions about his future in the game.It is his fifth stress fracture – all in L3 and L4 lumbar vertebra – in six seasons as a professional cricketer. Out of contract at Hampshire at the end of the season, clubs are likely to prove highly cautious over future contract offers.Topley is the third bowler on the fringes of the England squads – Toby Roland-Jones and Mason Crane are the others – to have suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture this season. That’s a situation which is bound to prompt some reflection on the treatment of such injuries at the ECB. Both Roland-Jones and Topley also spent time on the ECB’s recently discontinued pace programme.The news realistically ends a relationship between Hampshire and Topley that never really took off as expected. Signed amid great hope and competition, he managed only three Championship matches in three years and was disappointed to be left out of the side playing in the Royal London Final at Lord’s on Saturday.He impressed the England management as recently as last week, however, in bowling with pace and skill in a Lions match at Northampton – he claimed 4 for 16 – and revived hopes he could add to his tally of 10 ODI and six T20I caps.

England captain Joe Root has urged the top order to focus on turning their form around ahead of the fourth Test at Southampton

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2018England’s misfiring top order will be tasked with turning things around in the week before the fourth Test starts in Southampton, with captain Joe Root highlighting the example shown by Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes at Trent Bridge. Buttler scored his maiden Test hundred during a 169-run partnership but it was not enough to prevent England falling to a heavy defeat on the fifth morning, leaving them 2-1 up against India with two Tests to play.Facing a notional target of 521, England had slipped to 62 for 4, before Buttler and Stokes showed the application to bat through 57 overs and give the scorecard a measure of respectability. However, England’s hopes of winning the Test and taking an unassailable lead in the series had practically disappeared when they were dismissed for 161 in their first innings.”I think it’s fair to say we very much underperformed in that innings,” Root said to Sky Sports in a post-match interview. “You look at the second innings, that partnership between Jos and Ben, I think that’s a real lesson to our side of how to play Test match cricket. Not the fact that they scored at a slow rate or looked slightly more defensively-minded but the way they adapted to the situation, the way they built that partnership and looked very clear about how they were going to score runs.”For us that’s a really nice thing to see and to learn from and we have to look at that, adapt our own games individually and make sure that when we turn up to Southampton we give ourselves the best chance of getting scores over 400, and do it in the first innings, and try and apply that scoreboard pressure that is so important in Test cricket.”After three Tests against India, only Root among the top four has made a half-century, with openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings averaging 16.60 and 18.00 respectively; in eight Tests in 2018, England have not had a centurion at higher than No. 6 in the order. Cook could yet miss the Southampton Test to attend the birth of his third child, but Root defended the openers and said it was up to the batting group as a whole to put bigger totals on the board.”If you look at this series and some of the conditions we’ve played in it’s been very challenging for the top order – and that’s on both sides. It’s very easy to look past that, we’ve got to be quite realistic about things, we’ve got two very good players at the top of the order. We have got time now to go away and look at individually how we’re going to play in these conditions, find our own methods – that’s not just those two guys, I think that’s the whole batting group, and I’m sure we’ll come back with a strong response.”Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes share a laugh•Getty Images

England may need to juggle their batting anyway for the fourth Test, with Jonny Bairstow’s fractured finger putting him in doubt – though Root did not rule out the possibility of him relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves and playing as a specialist batsman.”It’s very early days, we’ll have to see how that swelling goes down, see how he pulls up,” Root said. “We have got time on our side, over the next couple of days we’ll have a clearer idea of where he’s at, I’m sure he’ll be desperate to play, he’s in fine form and you want guys like him in your side, so it would be great if he pulls up well.”Buttler’s hundred, in his 23rd Test, came after taking over behind the stumps following Bairstow’s injury, and Root was full of praise for his performance, which helped push the game into a fifth day.”People’s perception of Jos is someone who can crash the ball to all areas, and play a very expansive game, but one thing he has got is a great cricket brain, he works out situations very well,” he said. “To be able to go out and do everything you’re talking about in the dressing room and have that performance in the bank will give him a huge amount of confidence. It’s great to see what we all know he’s capable of doing and hopefully it’s just a start for him to go on and score many more hundreds in this format.”Root was also asked about his decision to insert India at the toss. Despite having been bowled out for 107 and 130 in testing conditions at Lord’s, India put on a much-improved display, led by Virat Kohli’s 97, to score 329 and set the game up.”At the toss there was some live grass on the wicket, we’ve been performing extremely well with the ball and saw it as an opportunity to try and get ahead of the game, unfortunately it didn’t quite unfold like that,” Root said. “Potentially we could have bowled slightly fuller and a little bit straighter – but that’s nit-picking, I though India played extremely well, made it very difficult for our seamers to make those early inroads and you have to give them credit for doing that.”

Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes held India up ably for much of day four, but they still need just a wicket more to seal the win

The Report by Sidharth Monga21-Aug-2018Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes found some belated fight for England. More than an hour of hilarity before stumps made sure we need to show up on day five at Trent Bridge for one more wicket. But amid all this drama, you could not deny that India once again proved themselves to be the superior side in this game and that the England batting once again proved to be brittle. Despite England’s biggest-ever fourth-innings partnership – 169 runs between Buttler and Stokes – there were chunks of wickets on either side that hurt them: first four for 35, and then four for 10.Ishant Sharma was largely responsible for the first slide, and Jasprit Bumrah was sensational with the second new ball after the final drinks break of the day. Only a wicket off a no-ball, which delayed the completion of a second five-for in four Tests for Bumrah, sent the match into the fifth day. In between Buttler scored England’s first Test hundred of the year from positions 1 to 6 and Stokes scored his slowest half-century to at least set some sort of example for their team-mates.England will take some confidence from the partnership between Buttler and Stokes, they will know it is possible to bat against India – that’s all you can do when chasing 520 with no rain to save you – but they were still left with more frustration than answers. The openers continued to disappoint, Joe Root and Ollie Pope continued to be undisciplined, and as soon as the new ball was taken, the rest all but fell in a heap.Their issues start at the top. In four of their five innings this series, the two openers have got off to soft starts with India spraying the new ball around for the first eight-nine overs. Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings have enjoyed that generosity, but it is difficult to imagine an India batsman throwing away such free starts on all five occasions. It is as if the sight of Ishant Sharma freezes the pair of them no matter how set they are.Neither of them is sure what to play and what to leave as Ishant angles deliveries in and then gets them to move away. Ishant’s natural inswing release makes it easy for him. Both of them nicked behind. Ishant has now taken Cook 11 times; only Morne Morkel has done so more often. Both are similar bowlers, who relish bowling round the wicket to left-hand batsmen.Getty Images

An interesting mini duel ensued between Root and Bumrah. The problem for the batsman was the same as in the first innings. Bumrah bowled big inswingers, but they all ended up on the stumps, making Root play everything. All this while he had to watch for the ones that hold their line outside off. Root kept him out, but never came close to being at ease. Virat Kohli kept Bumrah on for an eighth over. And Root attempted to punch the widest delivery of the spell. It was also one of the wider releases in relation to the crease, making him play the angle. Bumrah to Root: 23 balls, two runs, one catch to second slip – one of the seven KL Rahul held, now one behind the world record with one wicket left standing. The wicket prompted Rahul to try a Dele Alli celebration.Pope has reminded people of Ian Bell with his driving and stroke-play, but Bell will not be proud of the big cover drive he attempted to a wide Mohammed Shami outswinger. Buttler and Stokes showed more application. In fact Stokes went through 28 Hardik Pandya balls for just two runs. As the day progressed, though, the truth reinforced itself: if you bat long enough, the ball stops moving, the bowlers get tired, and if someone is not a 100% fit, you can take advantage of that bowler.All of those things happened. The sun came out. The ball stopped doing things. R Ashwin, struggling with a hip issue, couldn’t impart the spin he would have liked, and Buttler capitalised with some glorious shots. In three of the four innings in this match, 387 runs have come for the loss of one wicket between overs 30 and 70. In the one other innings, England didn’t give themselves an opportunity to use that quiet period, instead trying all kinds of shots against Pandya when the ball was swinging.With the second new ball, though, questions re-emerged for the batsmen. Buttler left Bumrah alone in the first over with the new ball only to see it sail over the stumps with movement back in. In the next over, he made a similar decision a touch too early, the ball was fuller this time and trapped him lbw. Jonny Bairstow walked out with a broken finger and got an unplayable delivery first up. He did almost everything right – covering the angle, covering the swing in the air – but after pitching this Bumrah delivery held its line to beat the outside edge and hit the top of off.Chris Woakes survived the hat-trick ball, but he fell to his second bouncer of the match, this time a brutish lifter that followed him as he looked to sway out of the way. Bumrah nearly had five when Adil Rashid edged him behind, but it turned out to be a no-ball, and Rashid swung his way to a merry, unbeaten 30 by stumps. Amid sledging from Kohli, Stuart Broad also enjoyed some luck and scored 20. The umpires utilised the extra half hour available in the provisions of the game, but India couldn’t remove either Rashid or James Anderson.

A win for Durham at Chester-le-Street would be a nice way for Paul Collingwood to go and there is every chance after Matt Salisbury set up a dominant opening day

ECB Reporters Network24-Sep-2018
ScorecardDurham have made the perfect start to Paul Collingwood’s final match, producing a strong performance to lead Middlesex by 106 runs on day one of their Specsavers County Championship Division Two clash at Emirates Riverside.Coach Jon Lewis demanded that his players put in a display to reflect the career of the former England all-rounder to respond from their humiliating defeat at the hands of Leicestershire last week. Matt Salisbury rose to the occasion with the ball, claiming his best figures in first-class cricket of 6 for 37 to bowl out the visitors for 121.Gareth Harte and Michael Richardson made fifties to lead the way with the bat as Durham bounced back from their abject efforts from Grace Road. Collingwood’s hopes of ending his career in style were dashed when he was dismissed for 32, although Harte was there at the close unbeaten on 76 with the home side ending the day 227 for 5.Middlesex made the curious choice to bat on a chilly September morning at Chester-le-Street, allowing Collingwood to receive a guard of honour from his team-mates. Nick Gubbins and Sam Robson made a decent start scoring 32 off the first seven overs. However, Salisbury made the breakthrough, producing a fine delivery to take Gubbins’ edge behind to Stuart Poynter for 19. The 25-year-old displayed a good rhythm after an underwhelming first over and he notched his second wicket of the morning by trapping Robson lbw.Chris Rushworth beat the bat several times before being rewarded with the scalp of Middlesex captain Dawid Malan. Salisbury kept bounding in with menace with almost every delivery, accounting for the wickets of Stevie Eskinazi and Robbie White. Mark Wood put Durham in control with the wickets of Max Holden and James Harris.Durham wrapped up the tail in just 16 deliveries at the start of the second session. Salisbury struck twice in the same to claim his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, dismissing James Fuller courtesy of a bizarre stroke along with Ethan Bamber. Wood wrapped up the innings when he bowled Tim Murtagh, claiming his third wicket of the day.The home side needed a response with the bat after being skittled twice in the sixties in their humiliating defeat at the hands of Leicestershire at Grace Road. Cameron Steel and Alex Lees were composed in the early stages, although both openers were out after making starts as Murtagh and Harris made inroads.Harte and Richardson held firm at the crease, guiding Durham past Middlesex’s first innings total. Richardson past fifty for the second time of the campaign, reaching the milestone off 67 balls, including six fours. However, he was unable to kick on as Murtagh struck to break the partnership of 89.Richardson’s dismissal brought the arrival of Collingwood, who received his second guard of honour of the day – this time from the visiting side. Harte eased the pressure on his skipper playing two fine strokes to reach his fifty off 98 balls.Collingwood was dropped on nine by Eskinazi, who took a blow to the face in the process, forcing him to exit the field. The Durham skipper played a couple of crisp drives through the covers before he fell for 32 to Bamber – leaving the crease at the Riverside for potentially the final time.Harte continued his innings unbeaten with Poynter at the end, with Durham boasting a healthy lead of 106 runs at the close.

Meanwhile former CA chairman Bob Merriman has termed the review “absolute bloody nonsense and a disgrace” while endorsing Mark Taylor for the role

Daniel Brettig31-Oct-20181:56

ACA will be ‘relentless’ in aiming to overturn player bans

Australia’s largest cricket state, New South Wales, will not express public support for Cricket Australia’s current chairman David Peever and his board before further consideration of the findings of the cultural review released publicly on Monday.The Cricket NSW board, chaired by the Credit Suisse Australia chief executive John Knox, convened for a regular meeting in Sydney on Tuesday night and discussed the release of the cultural review, which has handed down numerous highly critical findings about the culture of CA. “The CNSW Board is considering the review,” a spokesman said.As owners of CA, the state associations have the constitutional right to sack individual directors by a two thirds vote of state delegates at an extraordinary general meeting. Should each state’s three delegates for such a meeting vote en bloc, four out of the six states would be required to carry any motion to remove a board director.While the CEOs or chairmen of three states – Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania – have expressed support for Peever, NSW carries considerable influence as the largest of the state associations. It is also the home state of the long-serving board director Mark Taylor, who has been suggested by past administrators as the most appropriate man to take CA forward while carrying out the review’s 42 recommendations.Western Australia, home state of the board director Bob Every who resigned in protest at Peever’s intention to continue for another three years, has also declined to say anything beyond the fact that the WACA is considering the findings of the review. Cricket Victoria, meanwhile, released a statement from its chairman Paul Barker expressing support for CA in general but not Peever specifically.”Cricket Victoria will continue to support Cricket Australia in the delivery of the overall strategy for cricket,” Barker said, “and in the effective implementation of the Ethics Centre recommendations – as supported by Cricket Australia.”There is consternation among the states about CA’s decision to withhold the cultural review to stakeholders until after last week’s AGM, at which Peever was re-elected for three years. Internal discussions, in which the role of the outgoing chief executive James Sutherland was placed at the heart of cultural problems, has also left some states unimpressed.This has been underlined by the fact that it was Peever and the then lead negotiator Kevin Roberts who led the adversarial MoU dispute with the Australian Cricketers Association last year, before Sutherland was compelled to intervene and broker a compromise with a looming Test tour of Bangladesh under threat. Similarly, Peever’s public discussion of the review findings, both at a press conference in Melbourne on Monday and an interview with Leigh Sales on that night’s current affairs program, left plenty of questions being asked about his ability to serve as frontman for the organisation.Cricket Australia chairman David Peever•Getty Images

Colin Carter, joint author of the governance review that brought the current board model into effect, said it was “completely astonishing” that the states found themselves voting for the re-election of the chairman for another three years without having access to the cultural review beforehand.”The one thing I would say is that I am incredibly surprised that the ‘shareholders’ voted on the composition of the board before they had a chance to read the report,” Carter told . “There is a legitimate debate that goes on, to what extent as you move up the chain should senior people be held accountable and even lose their jobs. That’s a debate that goes on in the banks at the moment, in the churches and the Essendon footy club a few years ago. There is a no black-and-white answer to that because the circumstances are all different and stuff like that.”I don’t think it is possible to have a strong view that board members should be re-signed or sacked or whatever. What I do think is completely astonishing is that decisions were made about the composition of the board for the next three years before any of the people who were voting had a chance to read the assessments that were made. From a governance point of view, I think that was not correct.”Bob Merriman, the former CA chairman, has stated bluntly that Taylor should replace Peever as chairman as soon as possible, while also slamming the findings and process of the cultural review. “I believe Mark Taylor should be the chairman tomorrow and the place should get back on its even footing, either Mark Taylor or Earl Eddings. He [Taylor] is one of the greatest captains we’ve had in our time,” Merriman told the . “He’s been on the board for at least 10 years and has experience in what cricket people really want.”We don’t want this kind of crappy, academic bullshit that’s been presented. We want people that know the game and know what to do with the game. I’m concerned for the game, I’m concerned for the leadership of the game. We’ve lost some good people. I don’t know how in the hell we rely upon non-cricket people to make decisions that are so important for the game. I personally think it’s a disgraceful report as to its quality, I’ve read it in detail.”I think the wisest thing that’s happened is James Sutherland has decided to retire rather than put up with this kind of crap. All the actions James Sutherland took to cover and do the right thing in Cape Town were not even mentioned – the fact that he acted so quickly to suspend the captain and the vice-captain – and under his leadership, the administration took every step that was possible. Now we find a situation where, against the better judgment of a number of people, we’ve got people reporting and investigating without the proper quality. To me, the report is an absolute bloody nonsense and a disgrace.”Another former director, the South Australian Ian McLachlan, reiterated his opposition to a fully independent nine-person board, preferring to see a model where six state-appointed delegates mix with three nationally-appointed independents. A former cabinet minister in Federal Parliament, McLachlan led SA’s opposition to CA governance reform in 2011-12, before sitting on the initial nominations committee for the new board that unearthed Peever, Roberts and Jacquie Hey as the first three independents.”Until they let the states elect their own person to the board, the states will simply be told what to do from Jolimont, and that’s exactly not the way to run cricket,” McLachlan told the . “That was the one mistake in the Carter/Crawford report. It says CA is there to represent its owners, and the states are the owners, but it also contradicts that by saying the owners can’t have a direct member on the board. That in my view has led to the owners not knowing anything because they’re not told anything.”

Former captain endorses David Warner’s aggressive style, but old adversary Simon Katich says he’s ‘missing the point’

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-20184:28

A Nation’s Shame: How do Australia bounce back?

“Australia are ‘not going to win s**t” by playing nice, according to former captain Michael Clarke. But an old adversary of Clarke has said that he is “missing the point”. Simon Katich, whose relationship with Clarke fell apart after an argument over singing the team song in 2009, said that Australia’s problems stemmed from more than just their aggression, but rather that they premeditatedly cheated.Clarke endorsed the aggressive style in which David Warner played his cricket even though he was seen as a central figure in some of the most controversial episodes, including the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands, which tipped Australian cricket into the abyss.In the wake of the South Africa tour and cultural reviews, new coach Justin Langer and captains Tim Paine and Aaron Finch have made a conscious effort to rein back the team’s approach on and off the field, including pre-match handshakes, the introduction of a Players’ Pact, and the emergence of the term “elite honesty”.None of this has gone down well with Clarke while the team continues to struggle on the field ahead of the Test series against India, which begins next week.”Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected,” Clarke told Macquarie Sports Radio. ”Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that’s in our blood.”If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most liked team in the world, we’re not going to win s**t. We won’t win a game. Boys and girls want to win.”Katich, however, differed and felt that Australian cricket needed to rectify the reputation garnered from the Newlands incident and years of bad on-field behavior.”Once again we find someone missing the point,” he told SEN radio. “What’s been forgotten in all of this is we blatantly cheated. The point is, we were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as soon as possible to earn back the respect of the cricketing public in Australia and worldwide.”We’ve been a disliked team for a number of years through that on-field behaviour and it obviously came to a head in Cape Town.”Speaking specifically of Warner, who had confrontations with England and South Africa players during the two series before his year-long ban, Clarke said the aggression Warner showed on the field was an attempt to have it fired back at him when he batted, and described it as a “turn on”.”He brings that positive approach to the Australian cricket team. You can’t ask him to bring that and then, on the other hand, blame him or ask him to be a pussy cat when it comes to giving it,” Clarke said. “David Warner gives it to certain blokes on the field because he wants them to give it to him when he’s batting. It’s like a turn on, it makes him play better.”It’s his style; he’s very upfront, in your face. What you see with David Warner is what you get. Your greatest strength can be your greatest weakness. To me, I always loved having him in the team I was captaining because he brought that aggression that I wanted. In saying that, there was always a line, he knew that. We had a number of conversations one-on-one about that line he couldn’t overstep.”Oppositions have noted Australia’s attempts to change their ways, with South Africa captain Faf du Plessis saying they felt “tame” as compared to in the past, something Langer took him to task on.”I’m not sure what people want from us,” Langer said. “We can’t confuse the messages. On the one hand, we’re too aggressive and probably stepped over the line. Now we’re getting called tame.”We’re going to play good, hard cricket. It’s what the fans want to see. It’s what Australia wants to see. When you lose a series, it’s easy for someone to come out and say we’ve been a bit tame. You can’t have it both ways.”

The England quick faces up to eight weeks on the sidelines, having sustained an injury during Hobart Hurricanes’ practice game

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2018England left-arm quick Tymal Mills faces up to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering a recurrence of hamstring strain. As a result, he will not be able to play for Hobart Hurricanes in the ongoing Big Bash League.
Mills had sustained the injury during his fourth over in the Hurricanes’ practice match against Auckland Aces at Blundstone Arena on Thursday. Later on Saturday, he missed Hobart Hurricanes’ season opener against Brisbane Heat in Carrara.”This comes at a really unfortunate time for Tymal,” Adam Griffith, the Hurrcanes’ head coach, said. “He was bowling well and feeling really good as a result of playing cricket throughout the year leading up to the Big Bash season.”Mills’ workload has been carefully managed after he had been diagnosed with a congenital back condition in 2015: his spinal cord and vertebrae are unusually close together and bowling fast too often can agitate his spinal cord. The condition has forced him into a T20 specialist. In addition to playing for Sussex in the T20 Blast at home, Mills has played for Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League, Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League, and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.Mills’ absence further depletes the Hurricanes who are already without Tim Paine, who is captaining Australia in the Test series against India.

Australia hurled everything they could at India but were facing a daunting run chase after the visitors took control

Andrew McGlashan07-Dec-20183:37

Laxman: Rahul has lost ability to build a Test innings

The scoreline and history was firmly against Australia at the end of the third day in Adelaide with India having forged a lead of 166. In a compelling final session, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, who was continuing a personal tour de force, put together a stand of 71 and despite Kohli’s late dismissal to Nathan Lyon India remained in a position to bat the home side out of the match.They may be close to that already even though Australia were boosted by Lyon who ended a day of frustration with the biggest of scalps when Kohli gloved to short leg. Chasing statistics are not always the best way to judge a fourth-innings scenario – overall totals can offer a better view of what’s possible – but Australia have chased over 200 to win in Adelaide once, and that was in 1902. R Ashwin posed problems for them in the first innings and will be a major threat again, whenever his time comes. Kohli, though, is unlikely to have thoughts of bowling before tea tomorrow.The first innings were almost level after a truncated morning session, Australia’s last three wickets adding 44 to the overnight total, leaving one of those third-innings scenarios where the game can shift quickly if the batting side is not careful. The role of India’s openers, KL Rahul and M Vijay, was therefore vital even if both would end up being dismissed in familiar style. Unlike the first innings, though, they did not expose the middle order to the new ball: it was the 19th over before Pujara walked in and the 25th when Kohli emerged.India’s main pair – their leader and the first-innings century-maker – resumed after tea for a session that had the feeling of being match-defining. There was little fluency in the batting, but lessons had been learnt from the first innings: batting time was the first port of call. Australia strained every sinew to find the breakthrough, Josh Hazlewood challenging the outside edge with his line, Pat Cummins testing techniques with shorter deliveries – one to Kohli was fended into a vacant short leg area – and Lyon finding considerable help from the rough.Lyon thought he had removed Pujara twice – on 8 and 17 – only for DRS to overturn Nigel Llong’s out decisions. The first came when he was given caught behind and the second when lbw, adjudged playing no shot when padding Lyon away as he did multiple times, but the bounce was taking the ball just over the stumps.Lyon became a little frustrated during his 18-over spell before being replaced by Travis Head, with India latching on to loose deliveries from the part-time offspinner whose stint was terminated after just two overs. Whereas India’s early collapse in the first innings meant they only belatedly stretched the stamina of the Australia attack, this time the top order was firmly intact as workloads increased. Australia have one session to keep themselves in the match.The individual scores of Vijay (18) and Rahul (44), plus their manner of dismissals playing expansive drives, will leave India followers, and perhaps the coaching staff, exasperated but taken in the context of the match their contributions could yet prove a key passage of play. When play resumed after lunch, the break having been taken early due to further rain, conditions felt good for pace bowling. Instead of taking the attack to Australia straightaway, as they had tried in the first innings, Rahul and Vijay gave the early exchanges to Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood as the opening eight overs brought just eight runs, four of them leg byes.Then Rahul flicked a switch heralding 54 runs off the next 10 overs, a rare period of free-flowing batting in a game where the run-rates have been below three. It was a significant momentum-grab from India, including a cover-driven six against Cummins by Rahul, although he was given a life on 32 when Aaron Finch spilled a tough chance at leg slip off Lyon.Vijay, who couldn’t break free in the same way, edged to slip driving at Starc, then six overs later Rahul had a wild mow at Hazlewood and Kohli was welcomed to the crease by some significant booing. He would dearly have wanted to walk off unbeaten at the close, able to define the innings himself tomorrow, but his side remains strongly placed for something very significant.

Nicholas Pooran has also earned his first call-up to the 50-overs side for the first two matches against England

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-20192:32

Gayle returns for first two ODIs against England

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis are back in West Indies’ squad for the first two ODIs against England.Gayle last played for West Indies during the home ODI series against Bangladesh in July 2018, and had made himself unavailable for the tours of India and Bangladesh over the 2018-19 winter in order to play the Afghanistan Premier League and the T10 League. Lewis had withdrawn from the India tour for personal reasons, and missed the ODIs in Bangladesh as well, but returned to the squad for the T20Is.Nicholas Pooran, meanwhile, has been called up to the ODI squad for the first time. The left-hand batsman has impressed with his shotmaking ability in the eight T20Is he has played so far, most notably while cracking an unbeaten 53 off 25 balls against India in November.West Indies’ 14-member squad for the first two England ODIs features a number of other changes too. Captain Jason Holder is back, as expected, having made a successful return to the Test side after missing the Bangladesh tour with a shoulder injury. The offspinner Ashley Nurse returns too, having made a comeback to domestic first-class cricket after injuring his shoulder on the India tour.Batsmen Marlon Samuels, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kieran Powell and Sunil Ambris, and allrounders Roston Chase and Carlos Brathwaite, who were all part of the ODI squad in Bangladesh, have been left out.Samuels, according to chairman of selectors Courtney Browne, is undergoing treatment on a knee injury. He also suggested that the fast bowler Shannon Gabriel could feature in the latter part of the series.”As we continue our Cricket World Cup preparations, the upcoming series against the top ranked ODI side is a great opportunity for us to gauge where we are as a team,” Browne said. “This allows us to identify any areas that need addressing relating to selection and also helps the coaching staff to fine tune their game strategy.”We welcome the return of Chris Gayle who missed the last two series and Ashley Nurse from injury. We are pleased to introduce Nicholas Pooran to the ODI cricket for the first time. He is clearly a young player with undoubted talent and we believe he can add value to our middle order. Shannon Gabriel remains very much in our World Cup plans but with a heavy workload expected in the Test series he will be considered for selection later in the ODI series.”The ODI series against England begins on February 20 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.West Indies squad: Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas
In: Jason Holder, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran
Out: Marlon Samuels, Roston Chase, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Carlos Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, Sunil Ambris

Rumman Raees’ three-for restricted Karachi Kings to 168 despite half-centuries from Babar Azam and Liam Livingstone

The Report by Danyal Rasool27-Feb-2019How the game played outWhen Islamabad United are set a target, it is almost impossible to subdue them. On multiple occasions during the game, Karachi Kings seemed to have secured an unassailable advantage, but United dragged the contest wide open each time. A 38-ball 70 from Asif Ali led the way as he and Philip Salt helped the side recover from a poor start chasing 169, and by the time their 93-run partnership ended, United were firm favourites.Kings had begun the game outstandingly despite the early failure of Colin Munro. The young Muhammad Musa missed his lines again, bowling down the leg side as Kings made hay, while Faheem Ashraf and Samit Patel were both taken to the cleaners by Babar Azam as he looked in exceptionally good touch during the Powerplay. Babar was to remain at the crease till the 19th over, but couldn’t keep up that brilliance; the shots that initially found the gaps were later to find fielders more often.When United pulled Kings back – they managed just 78 off their last 11 overs – they had a steep but gettable target in front of them. United haven’t yet lost a match while chasing this season, but they appeared in deep trouble when – just like Tuesday – they lost their first three wickets, including that of Luke Ronchi, cheaply. However, Asif and Salt were there to whittle down the runs this time. To top it all, it came down to captain against captain in the final over. The younger man was to claim victory when Shadab Khan lofted Imad Wasim over long-on for a six and pushed the men in blue one step closer to an early exit.Asif Ali racked up a 21-ball half-century•Mzansi Super League

Turning pointWhereas Kings were at one stage destined for a score close to 200, United’s bowlers forced their way back into the contest. Much of the damage had been limited to the first nine overs, in which 90 were scored, but it was the final three that sealed Kings’ fate. Rumman Raees, Faheem Ashraf and Amad Butt allowed just 17 in the last three overs as all the early momentum seeped out of the batting side.Star of the dayAsif rose to national prominence through his exploits with United last season, and he continues to serve the franchise exceptionally well. While much of the time his role has been limited to crucial cameos, Asif showed that the fireworks over a longer period of time are not out of his skill range. United were 47 for three when Asif came to the crease, still needing 122 in 13 overs. A magnificent partnership with Salt in which he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck saw the defending champions turn the tables on Kings, thwacking five fours and half a dozen sixes during his blazing innings. Four maximums in two successive overs off Usman Shinwari and Colin Munro saw the asking rate plunge from over 11 to under seven, with Kings’ formidable bowling attack looking powerless in the face of the assault.The big missAsif was on 13 with over 100 required when Aamir Yamin bowled a slower one to the right-hander. He skied it – that word is almost a literal description of how high the ball went – with substitute fielder Mohammad Rizwan having ample time to get under the ball. But when the ball eventually made its way back, it popped right out of Rizwan’s hands. Asif made sure Kings regretted it.Where the teams standUnited’s second win against Kings in five days took them to the top of the points table with four wins from seven games. Kings, meanwhile, continue to languish at the bottom with two positive results in six matches.