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The interim white-ball coach said they want to keep a “settled team” in ODIs but there will be “changes” in T20Is

Danyal Rasool20-Nov-2024Newly appointed Pakistan white-ball coach Aaqib Javed’s primary focus during his interim stint will be ODI cricket and the Champions Trophy, and he wants to test the bench strength in the shortest format. Aaqib, who will serve in the role until the end of the Champions Trophy next year, will fly out to Zimbabwe for his first assignment later this week – three ODIs and three T20Is starting November 24.”Our main focus at the moment is on ODI cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy,” Aaqib said. “You’ll see a settled team in this format. You’ll see changes in the T20I format. We plan to give new players chances in the Zimbabwe series. It is a message and opportunity to the new players to take the chances they’ve been given. If you don’t give new players chances, you’ll never get the opportunity to improve your bench strength.”Australia has never been an easy tour. When the team went, if we had said we were going to win the series, people would have thought it impossible. Under the new captain [Mohammad Rizwan], they showed the world they could do it after 22 years [by winning 2-1]. They also had chances in the three T20Is, but if you don’t avail your chances, you won’t win.”Related

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Aaqib’s rise within Pakistan cricket has been meteoric. Earlier this summer, he was Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach with no involvement at the PCB. Just five weeks ago, he was nominated to Pakistan’s selection committee after its latest revamp. With the PCB’s top brass viewing him as the mastermind behind Pakistan’s Test series turnaround in England, his stock has soared.Shortly after his appointment, the PCB also confirmed he would keep his place on the selection committee during his stint as coach, something that full-time Test coach Jason Gillespie no longer has, and was partly the reason why Aaqib’s predecessor, Gary Kirsten, quit the role.Aaqib, though, sought to portray his selection responsibilities as a collaborative rather than top-down arrangement. “We always consult the coach and captain, and then the selection committee announces the team,” he said. “From Multan until now, there has been consistency in selection. Asad Shafiq was on the Australia tour. His role was to discuss selection with the coach and captain, and present a final team, which would be discussed by the selection committee, who make the final decision. Now, instead of Asad, it’ll be me, but the final XI will still be decided by the committee. The selection committee is not just me; it is a panel of five people.”I’ve been coaching for 20 years. The coach’s role does have a limit. You can create an environment and give out loud, clear messages about the type of cricket you expect them to play, and help prepare them. But in the end, the players and captain provide the results.”Aaqib is aware of the scrutiny and criticism a coaching job entails; indeed, he was a critic of a number of his predecessors, taking particular aim at what he saw as Misbah-ul-Haq’s dual role, when he was the chief selector as well as the head coach. With Aaqib in an uncomfortably similar position; now, though, he believed the cases could not be directly compared.”My case is slightly different from the cases you mentioned,” he said. “I am not the chief selector, but part of a panel. I do not view it as a problem because we all want to select players who do the best for Pakistan.”Criticism is inevitable and can be healthy. It is within a player’s control whether people praise or criticise him. That also goes for the team. Criticism and praise all depends on your performance. I’ll be the first one to accept criticism if merited.”Pakistan’s Zimbabwe tour will starts with the ODIs on November 24, 26 and 28 followed by the T20Is on December 1, 3 and 5. All games will be played in Bulawayo.

Unbroken stand of 121 in nine overs with Charlie Allison sees top-two rivals Sussex downed

ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2024Essex, needing to win their last three games for a home quarter-final spot in the Vitality Blast, got off to a terrific start with an improbable win over the Sussex Sharks by five wickets with nine balls to spare.Essex were inspired by an heroic innings of 120 not out by Michael Pepper, who faced just 53 balls balls and hit nine sixes and nine fours But he was well supported by Charlie Allison, who made an unbeaten 44 from 26 with a six and four fours. The pair stunned a sell-out crowd with a partnership worth 121 in nine overs.Sussex had scored an impressive 207 for 2. And Essex, who had chosen to bowl first, were soon set back on their heels when their turn came to bat. Ollie Robinson broke through with only the second ball of the innings, when he had the dangerous Adam Rossington caught at deep square-leg. And when Tymal Mills brought himself on for the fourth over he immediately bowled Dean Elgar for 11 to make it 30 for 2.Then, when Robinson was switched to the Cromwell Road End, he took wickets with each of his first two deliveries, having Robin Das caught behind and then dismissing Paul Walter, who was caught at extra-cover from a leading edge. Essex looked out of it at 90 for 5 in the tenth over. But Pepper, who had launched his innings with an assault on spinner James Coles, was already well into his innings and managed to take his incredible strike rate to 200 for the competition this season. He has scored 488 runs at an average of 48 and this was his second hundred.Sussex themselves needed two wins out of three to win a home quarter-final spot. And for the second time in two days the their innings was based around a dominant partnership. On Friday it was Tom Alsop and John Simpson, who put on 139 against Kent. And against Essex it was Daniel Hughes and Tom Clark, who added 110 for the second wicket in just 11 overs.Once again Sussex had made a fast start, thanks to Hughes and Harrison Ward, who put on 34 in just 3.2 overs, before Ward was caught at mid-off. But then Hughes in particular powered Sussex to yet another big score, with an innings of 81 off 43 balls, with five sixes and eight fours, striking at a rate of 188 to take his total to 435 runs in the competition this season.Twice in one over Hughes hitting Shane Snater over long leg for six to bring up his fifty off only 26 balls. At the halfway stage Sussex were 94 for 1 and then Hughes raised the hundred by hitting leg-spinner Matt Critchley for a massive six over mid-on.At the other end, on a slightly slow pitch, Clark did not find his timing early on. But after striking Walter over fine leg for six his tempo increased and he finished with an unbeaten 72 from 53 balls, with eight fours and two sixes. The in-form Alsop hit a bright 27 not out off 14, including a magnificent six over midwicket off Snater. But it would not be enough.

It is understood that Rohit will continue playing for Mumbai in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-20238:59

Jaffer: Surprised that Mumbai Indians moved on from Rohit so quickly

Hardik Pandya will captain Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, taking over from Rohit Sharma, who led the team through a decade of thrilling highs. Rohit, who led Mumbai to five IPL titles, is the joint-most-successful captain in the tournament’s history alongside Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni.The leadership change comes less than a month after Mumbai brought Hardik back to his original franchise after he had captained Gujarat Titans to a title and a runners-up finish in back-to-back seasons.Related

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While the development might come as a surprise to some, Mumbai had a clear plan when they traded Hardik from Titans. The franchise had identified Hardik as Rohit’s successor and wanted to ensure a smooth transition as in the past, when the captaincy baton had passed from Sachin Tendulkar to Harbhajan Singh and then Ricky Ponting to Rohit.It is understood that Rohit will continue playing for Mumbai in the IPL.”It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready,” Mahela Jayawardene, Mumbai’s global head of performance, said in a statement. “Mumbai Indians have always been blessed with exceptional leadership right from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who while contributing to the immediate success have always had an eye on strengthening the team for the future. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma for his exceptional leadership; his tenure as the captain of the Mumbai Indians since 2013 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His leadership has not only brought unparalleled success to the team but has also solidified his place as one of the finest captains in the history of the IPL.”Under his guidance, MI became one of the most successful and loved teams ever. We will look forward to his guidance and experience on and off the field to further strengthen MI. We welcome Hardik Pandya as the new captain of MI and wish him all the very best.”In all, Rohit led Mumbai 163 times in the IPL and the Champions League T20, winning 91 games, tieing four and losing 68. Under him, Mumbai reached five IPL finals – in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 – and won all of them. The last three seasons have been less successful for Mumbai, though. They failed to make the playoffs in 2021 and 2022, and went out of the 2023 tournament with a loss to Titans in the second Qualifier.It remains to be seen whether the captaincy change at Mumbai is a precursor to a similar shift in India’s T20I team. Rohit is currently India’s all-format captain, but has not played a T20I since the semi-final defeat at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. In that time, Hardik has captained India in the format when available – he has led them in 13 of their last 25 T20Is – but is currently out of action with an ankle injury sustained during the recent ODI World Cup. Suryakumar Yadav – another Mumbai Indians player – captained India in the recently concluded T20I series in South Africa.

The wicketkeeper-batter has had more opportunity in South Africa but will likely be sidelined when the World Cup starts

Andrew McGlashan15-Sep-2023Josh Inglis knows that his chance to feature in the ODI World Cup might come with a last-minute tap on the shoulder. It’s a situation he’s getting used to as a regular back-up player in Australian squads.The ongoing tour of South Africa has seen him offered more opportunity than has often been the case: the three T20Is and the first two ODIs before being rotated out for the third. There should be more chances to come over the next couple of weeks with two games left in South Africa and then three in India – and it’s likely he will get at least one outing with the wicketkeeping gloves – but come the World Cup, if everyone is fit for Australia, he probably doesn’t start.On the previous tour of India in March, he was called into the side in Mumbai when Alex Carey fell ill, while his versatility with the bat will also see him provide back-up for almost any position in the order.Related

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“I feel like it’s been the story of my international career,” he said. “A lot of the games I’ve been involved in have sort of been at the last minute. Think that comes with being a spare batter or replacement player in the squad that when those situations arise you are the next one in.”Preparation-wise, you’ve just got to stay mentally ready the whole time and prepare as if you are going to play because these things just seem to happen more and more now with concussions, Covid etc, so just got to stay ready then hope for the best when you get a crack.”Since making his international debut in early 2022, Inglis has appeared in 12 T20Is and five ODIs – the two games in Bloemfontein were his first consecutive outings in that format.He was part of the 2021 T20 World Cup squad in the UAE and also initially selected for the 2022 edition in Australia before being ruled out with a hand injury caused when playing golf.Inglis has racked up plenty of hours on tour, including for part of this year’s Ashes either side of flying home for the birth of his child, and particularly during Covid when larger squads and bubbles were required, it meant lengthy periods not playing much cricket.Josh Inglis is a versatile batter who will cover various positions•Gallo Images/Getty Images

“I mean, I’d rather be playing,” he said. “I’m very lucky to be doing what I’m doing, being involved in a lot of tours and a lot of cricket is really exciting…but obviously at times I’ve gone long spells without playing much and it can be quite tough when you are just coming in for the odd game with no real rhythm and match practice. Obviously, it’s not ideal but I’m doing everything I can, I’m working my socks off and will try and cement a spot in all three forms.”At 28, he has time on his side to become a more regular part of Australia’s line-ups and there are just a few questions starting to be raised about Carey’s form with the bat ahead of the World Cup although it’s unlikely initial plans will change at this stage.But if Inglis is required, he has given a glimpse of his batting prowess in South Africa, firstly with 42 off 22 balls in the third T20I in Durban and then a maiden international fifty in Bloemfontein where he overcame a sluggish start of 13 off 19 balls to explode through the gears.”I was pretty satisfied at the end,” he said. “I haven’t played a hell of a lot of cricket lately and seeing the boys get off to an absolute flyer and seeing the names coming be, I thought I probably had to get on with it. But at that stage the wicket had slowed up and the ball was a bit older. I just had to be a little bit patient, probably didn’t get off to the start I wanted but got away a bit towards the end of my innings.”

Welsh Fire hit rock-bottom after slipping to sixth consecutive defeat

Harshini Mehta24-Aug-2022Dan Lawrence starred with bat and ball as London Spirit recorded their fifth victory out of six in their Hundred campaign, beating winless Welsh Fire by 18 runs.The England international top-scored for his side with an impressive 43 off 26 and with Adam Rossington and Ben McDermott weighing in with 32 apiece, Spirit set a challenging target of 157 despite Ish Sodhi’s tight spell on debut.Lawrence made sure that total was never seriously challenged as he decimated Fire’s top order with 4 for 20, and despite some explosive hitting from the middle order, Fire came up short.Related

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After Fire won the toss and chose to field, Spirit opener Rossington produced the early pyrotechnics with a flurry of boundaries off Dwaine Pretorius and David Payne. His partner Daniel Bell-Drummond was undone by a beauty from Jake Ball, but Rossington’s brutal striking brought the hosts to 41 for one at the end of the powerplay.Sodhi, Fire’s replacement for Adam Zampa, applied the brakes, only giving away two runs in his first five and pressure told when Rossington slog-swept the New Zealand legspinner straight down Ben Duckett’s throat in the deep. Eoin Morgan went without scoring but McDermott picked up where Rossington had left off, smashing his second six over long-on.McDermott too though fell to Sodhi’s wizardry at which point he had 2 for 6 in 14 deliveries. But Lawrence caused a dent in his bowling figures, twice planting him into the Grandstand.A third six to the long side followed as he endangered the cameras beyond the longer square boundary and with Kieron Pollard also clearing the ropes in his last appearance before making his way back to the Caribbean Premier League, Spirit posted a competitive 156.Dan Lawrence gets down to slog-sweep•ECB/Getty Images

Fire struggled for momentum from the off, taking 17 balls to find the boundary and the out-of-form Joe Clarke holed out soon afterwards off the bowling of Thompson trying to go the aerial route.Thereafter Lawrence returned to centre stage – his delivery to captain Josh Cobb caused him to skew his effort and he was comfortably caught by Bell-Drummond; two balls later, he yorked Bethell with a beauty and David Miller’s effort was seized by Pollard on the boundary edge.Pretorius and Duckett briefly raised Fire’s hopes with a partnership of 52 off 28, the latter striking two big sixes, but Lawrence returned to castle Duckett with the last ball of his spell.Leus du Plooy took up the challenge clubbing consecutive sixes and Matt Critchley blazed 21 from six balls, but Chris Wood dismissed both in the final set of five to finish with 4 for 28 as Spirit clinched victory.

Joe Root, with a career-high 923 rating points, is now at No. 19 on the list of the highest-rated batters in Test history

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2022Jonny Bairstow and Rishabh Pant, the standout batting stars of the Edgbaston Test, have burst into the top ten of the ICC men’s Test player rankings – Bairstow at tenth place and Pant at a career-best No. 5. The unbeaten century in the second innings didn’t hurt Joe Root’s cause either, as he consolidated his position at the top of the table, that too with 923 rating points, his best.Bairstow was the Player of the Match following innings of 106 and 114 not out in England’s seven-wicket win, which helped them square the five-match Test series 2-2. That made it four centuries in his last three Tests for him, and he moved up 11 places to No. 10. He has 1218 runs at an average of 55.36 with six centuries in the current World Test Championship cycle.With Bairstow moving up, Virat Kohli, who only managed scores of 11 and 20 at Edgbaston, fell four spots to No. 13. This is the first time since 2016 that Kohli has not featured in the top ten in Test cricket. As for Bairstow, it was a continuation of his stunning rise in recent weeks. Prior to the New Zealand Test series in June, he was ranked 47th. Now, he is back in the top ten for the first time since 2018.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Root, who collaborated with Bairstow in an unbroken 269-run stand that took England over the line against India and scored an unbeaten 142 himself – to go with 31 in the first innings – stretched his lead at the top of the table to 44 ratings points over second-placed Marnus Labuschagne. Root is now also among the top 20 highest-rated batters in Test history, at No. 19.Steven Smith and Babar Azam were at three and four respectively, with Pant at five. Pant was the main performer with the bat for India in the Test, hitting 146 in the first innings and 57 in the second. That took him up six places from No. 11.Two bowlers who gained in the latest rankings update were James Anderson and Nathan Lyon. Anderson picked up six wickets at Edgbaston, including 5 for 60 in the first innings, to move up one spot to sixth among Test bowlers. And Lyon, who picked up nine wickets in the first Test in Sri Lanka, has risen five spots to 13th.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

There was also a new top-tenner in the men’s T20I bowling rankings: Akeal Hosein. Hosein has returned 1 for 22 and 1 for 27 in the two T20Is at home against Bangladesh so far – the first ended in a no-result because of the weather and West Indies won the second by 35 runs. That has given him a jump of ten spots, and a joint-eighth position with Maheesh Theekshana.Papua New Guinea’s Norman Vanua’s impressive all-round showing in the T20I series in Singapore, meanwhile, has put him in the top ten among allrounders in the format. He hit 20 and picked up 2 for 30 in the first game, and scored 71 and returned 1 for 33 in the second, moving ten places to No. 9 as a result.

Australia quick to have Renshaw and de Lange as fellow overseas players at the club, to be available until early August

Matt Roller21-Jan-2022Somerset have signed Peter Siddle as an all-format overseas player for the 2022 season. Siddle, 37, will be available until early August, with Somerset becoming his fourth county team after previous spells with Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and, most recently, Essex.The veteran Australian quick is Somerset’s third overseas signing for 2022 after Matt Renshaw – his Adelaide Strikers team-mate – and South African Marchant de Lange, with only two permitted in the playing XI in each format. Siddle looks set to play alongside de Lange in the T20 Blast, and is likely to start the season playing with Renshaw in the County Championship after de Lange underwhelmed with the red ball last year, taking 20 wickets at 34.25.Related

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Andy Hurry, the club’s director of cricket, said that the decision to sign an extra seamer was a nod to the possibility of England call-ups for the likes of Craig Overton and Lewis Gregory.”We have taken some very valuable learnings from the 2021 season, and one of those is the demands that the domestic and international schedule is placing on the players and our squad,” he said. “With a very busy international schedule and anticipated call-ups, we needed to recruit an additional highly skilled bowler who is ready to perform this coming summer.”This in turn will enable us to ensure that we can create the appropriate time and opportunities to nurture the development of our highly talented group of aspirational bowlers and embed the foundation skills required at the top level.”For his part, Siddle, who retired from international cricket in 2019, said, “Somerset are held in high regard within the game, and to get a chance to play for the club is something that I am really looking forward to.”I’ve had some good games against Somerset over the years and now I’m looking forward to contributing to some wins for them. I enjoy playing in England and I would love to be able to play a part in Somerset winning some silverware, especially their first-ever County Championship.”

Iftikhar starred with two wickets for just four runs, before staying unbeaten on 33 to guide his team home against Lahore

The Report by Danyal Rasool28-Feb-2019

How the game played out

Karachi and Lahore are the two largest cities in Pakistan, boasting a population in excess of 25 million. These are gigantic numbers, but when the two have met in the latest edition of the PSL, big numbers have been in short supply. The two played out an edgy low-scoring contest for the second time in ten days, but this time Karachi Kings prevailed, thanks to an an all-round performance from Iftikhar Ahmed, which helped them to a five-wicket win. Karachi’s need was greater, and they have now propelled themselves back in contention for the playoffs.It was a subdued batting performance from Lahore Qalandars, who never seemed to get the lift-off they needed to put up a more testing total. Fakhar Zaman was well contained at the top, while Haris Sohail could manage no more than a start. Even AB de Villiers couldn’t be his destructive self, and though the South African was at the crease for the better part of Lahore’s innings, the team would have hoped for more than the somewhat plodding 32-ball 33 he scored.Iftikhar was the pick of Karachi’s bowlers, oddly bowling just two overs, but conceding just four runs in them and taking the wickets of Fakhar and Haris in the process. It meant they put up 133, left needing another big performance from their bowlers on a track that had begun to slow down.The bowlers did give it a right go, with Sandeep Lamichhane continuing his dazzling form. He took 2 for 17 in his four, with David Weise impressively economical and Haris Rauf irrepressibly valiant. But not everyone was able to deliver in the way they needed to with only a low total on their side. Yasir Shah was disappointing and expensive, and when Aizaz Cheema bowled a no-ball that went for four, Imad Wasim thumped the ensuing free hit for another boundary. That was it for the Lahore fightback, and impressive as it had been, the flawlessness necessary to defend 133 wasn’t quite there.

Turning point

• Iftikhar’s first over was the stuff of dreams for Imad’s side. He bowled wide to the left-hander, frustrating Fakhar, who skied his second ball straight to Babar Azam at point. Two balls later, he had de Villiers sweeping straight to Babar, who dropped a simple catch. Off the last ball, there was a run-out chance, de Villiers surviving by inches. Iftikhar’s day had just begun, and Lahore would never get on the front foot again.
• Fakhar opened the bowling in defense of a low total. There was little margin for error in the Powerplay, and the gamble did not work. Karachi carted him around for 14, and they were already off and running.

Star of the day

He won’t get the plaudits today because there was just so much happening, but just when Karachi seemed like they might lose their way, Liam Livingstone’s calm head set them back on course. Coming in during a time when Karachi had scored just ten runs in four overs, he began by taking six singles in Lamichhane’s third over along with Colin Ingram. In the next two overs, he found a four and a six off Wiese and Yasir to keep the asking rate in check. That fifty-run partnership with Ingram may not have been the most explosive, but it was precisely what Karachi required in a moment when Lahore threatened to undo all their good work. Livingstone ensured that wouldn’t happen, scoring 38 off 34 to become the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and more importantly, keep his side in real contention.

The big miss

It might have been conjectured that bowling with Yasir would give Lamichhane an invaluable learning experience, but on the evidence of their performances, much of the advice may be heading the other way. While Lamichhane has thrived after a rough start, Yasir’s game looks like it has fallen away. He never looked in control of the spinning deliveries, and whenever he tried the googly, he invariably ended up dragging it short. The batsmen appeared to pick him out of the hand far better than they did the Nepal teenager.The 11th over saw Livingstone mete out the toughest punishment, smashing him for two fours and a six. That brought the asking rate from 7.5 to almost a run a ball, with Yasir conceding 21 off 3.1 overs. The contrast with Lamichhane gives the more experienced Yasir plenty to ponder with regards to adapting his game for the shortest format.

Where the teams stand

Karachi and Lahore now both have three wins in seven games, occupying the fourth and fifth positions respectively. They are ahead of Multan Sultans, who have just two wins in seven.

The likes of Harris, Head and Labuschagne suffered for the lack of guidance from the other end, feels the Australia paceman

Daniel Brettig19-Feb-20191:20

Smith and Warner were a bit rusty early on, but improved quickly – Hazlewood

Even as he conceded that he had no idea whether he would be reconsidered for Australia’s vice-captaincy, injured fast man Josh Hazlewood has declared that perhaps the biggest gap caused by the bans on Steven Smith and David Warner was the absence of first-hand experience and advice for the group of young batsmen cycled through Test series against Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.Neither Shaun Marsh nor Usman Khawaja are universally regarded as seniors, according to Hazlewood, and his comments reflected the fact that advice provided exclusively by coaches was unable to get any further than the boundary’s edge. Hazlewood said that the likes of Marcus Harris, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, all new batsmen in the Test side, suffered for the lack of guidance at the other end from players who had found ways to be consistently high scorers at Test level.While the aforementioned trio looked the part at times throughout the summer, it was not until the final match of the home Test calendar that any batsman reached three figures. Khawaja, his season interrupted by a knee injury, did not reach the milestone until his final innings in Canberra, and Marsh was dropped after an underwhelming run of innings against Pakistan and India.”Every time Steve goes out to bat, he pretty much gets a hundred these days, so the time with the feet up is pretty important [for the fast bowlers],” Hazlewood told ESPNcricinfo when reflecting on the gulf set to be filled in time for the Ashes series in England later this year. “It’s probably been the first time when you’ve had the top six with no real senior batsmen to feed off, I guess, around training and games, so they [the newcomers] have had to do all their learning from the coaches.”It’s just so important to have those couple of senior guys when you bring those couple of young guys into the top six to learn from. You just can’t teach some things as coaches, you have to learn out in the middle batting with a senior person, so I think the other young batters will really feed off having them back.”Hazlewood got a vantage point from which to observe how the reflexes of Smith and Warner had been dulled by what is now close to a year without top-tier first-class cricket, having participated in a pair of net sessions against them in Sydney in early January. It suggested that coach Justin Langer’s desire to see both the former captain and his deputy playing a significant volume of cricket before returning to Australian ranks is well-founded.2:12

Hazlewood admits to Australia bowling plans being ‘confused’ in Sydney Test v India

“It was great to have them around – it’s better than bowling to a stump if no-one’s available,” Hazlewood said. “They were really keen to get in there and have a hit. I think all three quicks were there on one of the occasions and there was just me and Patty [Cummins] the other time.”They’re class players and they really put you to the test and it really makes you get something out of the net session. They were a little bit rusty early on, it’s hard to prepare to face 140kph-plus if you haven’t been doing it, but you saw over the course of three or four overs how much improvement they had even in that short space of time, so there’s no doubt they’ll be ready to go when called upon.”When they do return, Smith and Warner will be kept away from holding leadership positions, the former for another year, the latter for the remainder of his career. Hazlewood was part of the churn of vice-captains for Tim Paine and Aaron Finch this summer. He revealed that he had taken a minimalist approach to the role before he was sidelined with a back stress fracture, adding that he had not received any word either way about whether or not he would be required as an official team leader upon his return.”Not really going forward, to be honest. I’m not sure how it will all work out, there’s obviously been a few guys have a go of the vice-captaincy and help out as best they can at different stages,” he said. “I really enjoyed my time doing it for a couple of one-dayers and four Tests. I didn’t see my role change too much from previous years, to be honest.”[Paine] probably came to me a bit more than in the past, but I’ve always voiced my opinion when we’re out there in the field or in team meetings and things, so I didn’t go out of my way too much to add to that. If I saw something, I’d mention it and go from there. I’m not sure how the roles will go moving forward. They obviously pick the team and then we’ll work it out from there. Interesting times.”Perhaps the most prominent example of unsteady leadership in a time of struggle for Australian cricket was on day one of the Sydney Test against India, where Paine and the fast bowlers – Hazlewood among them – could not agree on a collective approach to test the opposition top order after the still newish Kookaburra ball had stopped swinging.”It’s just part of learning, I guess,” Hazlewood said. “We’ve got quite an inexperienced leadership group to a degree and the plans were a bit mixed and we weren’t all in on the one plan and things got a little bit confused. On a wicket like that, you had to be 100% on the plan I guess, and have everyone buy into that.”There was a little bit of confusion, but I don’t think it played too much of a role, to be honest. It was probably blown up a little bit too much – those little things happen all the time, and different people have different opinions of what’s going to work on a different wicket. We could have bowled a bit better, there’s no doubt about that, but it wasn’t as big a thing as it was made out I think.”

Ben Stokes produced a starring all-round performance in his second match back in the England fold to help level the ODI series

The Report by Andrew McGlashan28-Feb-2018
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBen Stokes produced a starring all-round performance in his second match back in the England fold to help level the ODI series. He helped seal a reasonably straightforward chase of 224 with a crisp 63 off 74 balls to follow two sharp run-outs, as part of an outstanding fielding display, and a brace of wickets.Stokes – who could have been run out on nought when Colin de Grandhomme side-footed past the stumps in his follow-through – and captain Eoin Morgan added 88 in 15 overs to break the back of the chase in Mount Maunganui’s first day-night ODI. Stokes, playing increasingly fluently, reached his fifty from 54 balls and gave a muted raise of the bat around the ground, before finishing the task alongside Jos Buttler, who clubbed 36 off 20 balls. They won with more than more than 12 overs to spare.This was a victory set up in the field, by the fielding. Four run outs, equalling England’s most in an innings, and three fine catches keeping the pressure on New Zealand throughout. After defeat in Hamilton, both Morgan and Buttler spoke of needing to sharpen up in the field – this was a stirring response. David Willey set the tone with an over-the-shoulder catch, Jason Roy took two excellent grabs while four out of five run-out chances were taken. Only a ninth-wicket stand of 69 between Mitchell Santner, who made his maiden ODI fifty, and Lockie Ferguson nursed New Zealand over 200.England’s chase did not get off to an ideal start. Roy picked out square leg pulling at Trent Boult, Joe Root fell to the most spectacular catch of the match – de Grandhomme low to his right at short midwicket – and Jonny Bairstow lazily ramped to third.Yet while de Grandhomme’s grab had taken the catching to new heights, two tough chances which escaped New Zealand were costly. Morgan began in ultra-aggressive mode and after three fours and two sixes in the space of 16 balls, on 28, top-edged a pull towards wicketkeeper Tom Latham who couldn’t quite grab the chance, followed on 40 when he clipped what would have been another belting catch to Henry Nicholls at short midwicket.After his early alarm, as Stokes called Morgan through when the ball bobbled by his feet and was left sprawling in the dirt as he dropped his bat diving for the crease, he played himself in then started to unfurl some trademark shots, hammered pulls through midwicket and a crunching straight drive for six off Boult.New Zealand were without their captain, Kane Williamson, due to a hamstring injury and after being put in, their innings followed a similar start to the Hamilton chase three days ago when Colin Munro edged Chris Woakes’ third delivery, attempting another expansive drive before he’d got his eye in. It meant an early walk to the middle for Mark Chapman – in his first ODI for New Zealand having played two for Hong Kong in 2015 – and it was a brief stay when he top-edged Woakes into the leg side where Willey took a well-judged running from inside the circle.Ross Taylor, who later did not field due to a quad injury, was required to rebuild the innings again and started to repair some of the early damage alongside Martin Guptill, although it was slow going. The first 10 overs brought 34 runs and the opening spells of Woakes and Willey were backed up by Rashid who went for just four in his first three overs.The partial recovery was halted by an outstanding piece of work from Willey at backward point as he intercepted Taylor’s cut shot, collected the ball and threw to Buttler, who gathered cleanly low by the stumps to find Taylor well short. Guptill’s fifty came off a sedate 84 balls, his third slowest in ODIs, but he fell three deliveries later when Roy held the first of his excellent catches, a skimming low take at deep midwicket as Guptill tried to put Moeen onto the grass banks.Roy wasn’t finished there, diving full-length to his right at backward to pluck Nicholls’ square cut out of the air in the next over. New Zealand were five down and still short of three figures.Moeen, who found nice drift on a stiff breeze, claimed his second when Latham couldn’t keep a cut shot down and found short third man. Moeen and Adil Rashid combined to bowl their 20 overs for just 65 runs, Rashid’s 0 for 32 his joint-most economical 10-over spell in ODIs.Just as de Grandhomme was building a base for a potential late-overs charge, he chanced a second run to Bairstow’s arm in the deep and lost the race. Even when England fumbled, they recovered as Santner sold Southee short after Stokes initially didn’t gather the ball cleanly at midwicket. England blotted their fielding copybook when Roy couldn’t gather the ball at midwicket – a decent throw would have found Ferguson short.England would have expected to wrap up the innings well within the overs, but Ferguson brought up the fifty stand with a pulled six and Santner raised his half-century with another as Tom Curran went for 19 in the 48th over. Fittingly, the innings was rounded off by Stokes’ strong throw from the deep finding Boult inches short. Briefly, at three down, it looked like there might be a game on, but Morgan and Stokes quickly doused that prospect. It’s all to play for in this series.