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He said conditions in the series meant a batter has “never really felt in” although Australia have still scored more than enough runs

Andrew McGlashan03-Jan-2022On a scale of problems, it’s pretty low down the list – and one that England would love to have. A Test batting average last year of 53.75 and three innings ago a score of 93, but Steven Smith admitted he is still searching for his best rhythm in a series where he feels conditions have favoured the bowlers, adding he had never seen the ball move as much as it did in Melbourne.England have managed to keep Smith under a reasonably tight leash in this series, certainly compared to the 2019 edition in which he made a chart-topping 774 runs, with scores of 12, 6 and 16 aside from his major contribution in the first innings in Adelaide when he had been rushed into the captaincy.After a brief slump against India in the 2020-21 series, where he was dismissed for three single-figure scores in a row, Smith rebounded with 131 and 81 at the SCG. That century remains his only Test hundred on home soil since returning from his ban.”It’s been a little while since I’ve scored a hundred; [I] got close in Adelaide,” Smith said. “Think we’ve played on some pretty bowler-friendly wickets in the first three Tests. You’ve never really felt in. Anyone can bowl a good ball at a certain time.Related

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“It’s about hanging in there as along as possible, defending well and leaving well and pouncing on anything loose. Think that’s what the guys who have scored runs in this series have done well. It’s been tough to get rhythm and to get into a groove but hopefully this week [I] can score a big one.”In Melbourne, Smith fell to James Anderson during an excellent spell on the second day before being able to watch the excellence of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins during the final hour stood in the slips.”I’ve probably never seen seam movement like that in my life,” he said. “One of those balls that [Haseeb] Hameed left that evening when it hit him, that came back like an offspinner. The ball was seaming as far as I’ve seen on any wicket in my career. It was never going to be easy. Our bowlers were relentless with their line and length.”Steven Smith looks back to see his bails missing during the MCG Test•Getty Images

Despite being what Smith termed a “bowler-friendly” series, Australia twice passed 400, in their first innings in Brisbane and Adelaide, to set up their victories. Of the top order, only Cameron Green has not contributed at least a half-century but they will be without Travis Head in Sydney after his positive Covid-19 result.Two days out, the SCG pitch was proving a tricky one to read with a significant covering of grass which is likely to be trimmed before the game. However, with that and the dodgy forecast, any chance of a debut for legspinner Mitchell Swepson appears to have receded.”It’s pretty green at the moment, so what it’ll do I’m not sure, but [will] sum it up when we are out and there and play accordingly,” Smith said. “If it starts with a lot of grass it doesn’t seem to break up that much whereas if they take it off it has the ability to break up a bit more and the footmarks come into play a lot more. I dare say it may not take too much spin late in the game which was the traditional SCG…which I would like to see personally.”Josh Hazlewood is continuing his recovery from a side strain that has kept him out of action since the Gabba Test and had a lengthy run out on Monday. “The ball seemed to be coming through quite nicely,” Smith said. “Not sure how he’s pulled up. I know that the guys have a lot of trust in him to make the right decision.”There are fast-bowling riches for Australia to pick from, with Jhye Richardson having taken a five-wicket haul in Adelaide before being left out as a precaution in Melbourne where Scott Boland grabbed a stunning 6 for 7 which may yet not be enough for him to retain his place. Another of the good problems to have that England would dearly like.

The middle-order specialist hopes to play his first T20I since November 2019 on the tour of New Zealand

Alex Malcolm11-Feb-2021Ashton Turner is learning not to judge his performances as harshly while playing the most difficult of T20 roles, as he tries to reclaim a permanent spot in the middle order of Australia’s T20I side.Turner appeared to be the answer to the national side’s long-standing middle-order woes in limited-overs cricket when he played one of the best innings by an Australian at No. 6 in ODIs, against India in Mohali in 2019.That was just his second ODI, having played only five T20Is prior. The era of Australia shoe-horning dominant domestic openers into middle-order roles looked over as Turner was a specialist showing why specialists are needed.But he has played just four ODIs and six T20Is since for his country and has batted only six times in those ten games. Shoulder surgery following a bizarre IPL, a horror run with other injuries and illnesses, a severe dip in domestic form and a lack of opportunity have all conspired to leave him in the international wilderness for over 12 months.Turner’s inclusion in the squad for the T20I tour of New Zealand may have surprised a few given his raw numbers this BBL. But such is the nature of the role he plays at No. 6, that 228 runs at 22.80 with no half-centuries aren’t numbers he can be judged by.Only Jordan Silk made more runs batting at Nos. 5-6 in the BBL and of the four players who scored 200 runs or more, only Daniel Christian had a better strike rate than Turner’s 155.47.Turner, 28, himself is starting to judge his own performances differently as he prepares for a return to international colours.”I think that when I first started playing Big Bash cricket and domestic cricket I probably didn’t know how to judge my performance,” Turner said. “When I first came into the team I was batting at No. 6 in a really strong team for the Perth Scorchers. I was probably a bit harsh on myself. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t scoring as many runs as guys who were opening the batting.”As I’ve got older and a bit wiser and a bit more experienced, I probably have different KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for myself. I hold myself to different standards. Opening batters want to go out and be the leading run-scorers in the tournament. I think for me it’s about doing what the team needs and it’s about trying to have an impact in the game whether it be two balls at the end of the innings or I get to face 20 balls, that can determine how much of an impact I can have.”I don’t train for as long in T20 cricket but it’s at a real intensity”•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

“Guys who are batting in the middle order – 5, 6, 7 – you probably won’t see too many of those guys at the top of the run-scoring charts. But quite often you will see those guys batting in real high-pressure situations with four runs to win off the last ball or situations like that. I probably judge myself more on how I perform in those situations than I do on averages or anything like that.”In Turner’s six international innings since Mohali, he has only been dismissed three times. In his last six T20Is, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he only batted thrice making scores of 1, 22 and 8 without being dismissed, with the last two coming in successful chases as Australia went undefeated in the two series.”I take a lot of confidence out of the times I have played really well for Australia,” Turner said. “I know my best is good enough. The challenge for me is being more consistent with that and being able to replicate my best days again and again. That’s something that I’ve been working really hard at over the last 12 months and hopefully, you can see that on show in this series.”Turner has more experience batting at No.5-6 in all T20 cricket than any of the candidates that Australia are looking to use in the upcoming series. He also has a better strike rate than all bar Josh Philippe, who has only batted in the position 10 times in all T20 cricket compared to Turner’s 61 innings in those spots.That vast array of experience and specialisation in the role has also helped Turner learn to tailor his preparation for it.”Quite often the role of a middle-order batter is to walk out and you might have to try and find a boundary in your first or second ball and that’s something that you don’t prepare for in red-ball cricket and I like to think my training reflects that,” Turner said.”I don’t train for as long in T20 cricket but it’s at a real intensity. It’s certainly a skill to be able to walk out to bat and to be able to not face dot balls, be able to score really quickly, and potentially find the boundary early. But sometimes it’s a skill to be able to get off strike and get your mate who is going really well at the other end on strike and being really adaptable. Sometimes you might be chasing a low target, sometimes you’re chasing a big score and that dictates how you need to play. I like to think that my training reflects all situations but I certainly do prepare really differently for white-ball cricket compared to how I prepare for red-ball cricket.”His bowling will also be significant for his selection chances. Despite bowling just 5.3 overs in the recent BBL, he has fully recovered from his shoulder issues and with Australia having two specialist spinners in Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa, who both predominantly turn the ball away from right-handers, having Turner and Glenn Maxwell’s right-arm offspin in the playing XI provides captain Aaron Finch with a full board of options if specific match-ups demand it.”I’m confident in my bowling,” Turner said. “I’ve had some issues with my body in the past and that has meant that I’ve had a couple of years where I haven’t been able to bowl at all or as much as I would have liked. But that being said, I was probably just a victim of us having a quality bowling line-up in the Big Bash this year.”I’ve been bowling a lot at training and I still feel really confident in my skills.”

India have named a 16-member squad for the five-match T20I series that will kick off their tour from January 24

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2020India have named a 16-member squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will kick off their tour from January 24. Rohit Sharma, who was rested for the recently concluded three-match series against Sri Lanka, is back in the squad as vice-captain. His direct replacement for the series, Sanju Samson, has been drafted out of the squad.An addition has also been made to the squad that played Sri Lanka, with fast bowler Mohammed Shami back in the T20I squad after playing one match against West Indies in December, which was his first since July 2017.Shami’s inclusion makes it three express fast-bowling options for India, with Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini retaining their places. Shardul Thakur, who was Man of the Match in the last T20I against Sri Lanka, and took five wickets in two matches in the series, rounds up the frontline seam options. Backing them up is the medium-pace of allrounder Shivam Dube.Sharma’s return and Shikhar Dhawan’s retention gives India three in-form opening options, while KL Rahul will also double up as the back-up wicketkeeper. The length of this series, however, may also prompt India to try all three of them together as they have before, with Virat Kohli acknowledging during the Sri Lanka series that he was open to batting lower than the top three if needed. In essence, that would mean Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant could see themselves in and out through the course of these five matches, depending on which top-three combination India chooses.Among the spinners, India have continued to go with one of every kind – Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav have all kept their places in the squad.India T20I squad for New Zealand tour: Virat Kohli (capt.), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt.), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur

An independent assessment on November 1 revealed that the majority of the offspinner’s deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under ICC’s regulations

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2017Pakistan will once again have to do without the bowling services of Mohammad Hafeez, after he was suspended from bowling in international cricket by the ICC. An independent assessment at Loughborough University found Hafeez’s action to be illegal – the third time in recent years that has been the case.Hafeez, currently the world’s top-ranked ODI allrounder, was reported for a suspect action after the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi last month and underwent his assessment in Loughborough two weeks ago.The assessment, according to an ICC release, revealed that a majority of Hafeez’s deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the ICC’s regulations. Data on Hafeez’s action was captured for four overs’ worth of deliveries – the data that is recorded is only for those deliveries where testers are satisfied that the match action has been replicated in the lab. It is believed that less than half a dozen deliveries were within the 15-degree limit, but that margins he was over by were not as big as, for example, Saeed Ajmal’s when he was suspended a few years ago.That will be of little consolation to Pakistan, for whom the availability of Hafeez’s bowling this year has been a major factor in their resurgence in white-ball cricket. They have risen to the top of the T20 rankings and won the Champions Trophy in June in some part because Hafeez was back bowling – his availability offered Pakistan not only control at one end, but the flexibility to choose a number of attack-minded, wicket-taking options.It leaves Hafeez to ponder over the future of his bowling once again. Under ICC rules, though this is the third time he has been suspended from bowling in three years, he will be able to return to bowling as soon as he has rectified his action and passed another assessment. There is a suggestion, however, that he will give himself as much time as he needs to resolve issues in his action before he applies for a re-assessment. He tweeted after the news of his suspension came out that he will work twice as hard to rectify his action this time.
Hafeez’s action was first reported in November 2014, during a Test series against New Zealand and suspended from bowling in December. By April 2015, he had remodelled his action enough to satisfy another test and he was cleared to bowl again. Just a couple of months later, however, he was reported again during the Galle Test against Sri Lanka. Tests confirmed again that his action was illegal, and because his action had been found illegal twice within a period of 24 months, he was automatically suspended from bowling for 12 months.Though it hasn’t happened before, if a bowler returns and is found to have an illegal action once again after this – as has now happened with Hafeez – he goes back to square one; that is, there is no bar on how soon he can return to bowling provided he has corrected his action and cleared an assessment. In a different time, Hafeez’s action was called in Australia as well – back in 2005 – while just before he was reported in November 2014, he was also reported in a Champions League T20 game in India.One thing in Pakistan’s and Hafeez’s favour is a relatively light international schedule. It will be difficult for Hafeez to start bowling again in time for Pakistan’s next assignment, a limited-overs series in New Zealand in January. There is the possibility of a T20 series against West Indies in Pakistan in March, but otherwise they are not scheduled to play any international cricket until the tour to England in May.In the interim will be the PSL where, according to ICC regulations, he can bowl should the PCB choose to allow it. In the first PSL in 2016, however, when Hafeez was serving a 12-month suspension, the league chose to not allow him to bowl. Hafeez was also expected to fly out to the Bangladesh Premier League on Friday, to play for Comilla Victorians, but is now expected to skip the tournament and instead concentrate on working on his action.

Imad Wasim and Usama Mir kept Islamabad United to 90 in a 13-over game after which Babar Azam made an unbeaten 47 to seal Karachi Kings’ victory

The Report by Danyal Rasool17-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Watch – Highlights of Karachi’s rain-disrupted win

In a nutshellKarachi Kings registered their first win of this year’s PSL, beating the defending champions Islamabad United by eight runs (D/L method). In a game severely disrupted by rain at the Sharjah Cricket Ground, Karachi won the toss and elected to bowl. Both teams must have watched the first game, evidenced by XIs replete with spin bowlers to exploit a slow, turning pitch.Barring a couple of sixes that Dwayne Smith muscled over long-on, Islamabad wasted much of the Powerplay and by the time rain returned after 7.1 overs, they were struggling at 34 for 2. With the game reduced to 13 overs a side, Misbah-ul-Haq’s men had no option but to tee off right from the resumption of play. However, they struggled to do so and aside from a poor penultimate over from Mohammad Amir that went for 18, Karachi’s disciplined bowling performance kept Islamabad to 90 for 7.In response, Chris Gayle mistimed the third ball he faced to third man, his early trudge back becoming a familiar sight in the PSL. With no one else in his side getting to double-figures, Babar Azam played a sensational innings, blitzing an unbeaten 47 off 30 balls. Mohammad Sami and Shadab Khan were spanked for 18 and 14 in their solitary overs as the 22-year old opener ensured Karachi were ahead of the D/L par score. When the final, decisive shower mercifully put the day’s cricket out of its misery, Babar had done enough.Where the match was wonIslamabad will consider themselves unlucky to have lost this game. The weather’s unpredictability meant the toss was always going to be important, and it didn’t go Misbah’s way. Put in to bat, they lost the hero of the last match Sam Billings for a golden duck, as an arm ball from Imad Wasim trapped him plumb in front. Brad Haddin’s departure forced Misbah and Smith to consolidate but their work was ruined by another spell of rain. By the time play resumed, they were well behind where they needed to be and a late flurry was exactly that: too late.The men that won itBabar may get most of the plaudits for his sublime innings, but the win was set up by outstanding bowling contributions from Karachi’s spinners Imad and Usama Mir. Imad piled on the early pressure by sending Billings and Haddin back early, while Mir was brave in the later stages of the innings, tossing the ball up and extracting substantial turn with his legbreaks. Combined figures of 6-0-25-4 were a just reward for their efforts.The moment of the matchWith Gayle dismissed cheaply and Karachi’s chase in need of guidance, Kumar Sangakkara was expected to build on the 65 he made against Lahore Qalandars on Thursday. But Mohammad Irfan had other ideas. Lumbering in, he bowled a superb yorker from a release point that must have been close to 10 feet high. It was also close to unplayable, and it snuck under Sangakkara’s bat and crashed into the base of off stump.Where they standIslamabad slip to fourth after their defeat, falling behind Lahore on net run-rate with both teams level on four points. Karachi are at the bottom of the table, with this being their only win in four games so far.