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Match facts

November 19, 2016
Start time 0930 local (0730 GMT)

Big Picture

If off-field distractions have followed West Indies to Zimbabwe, their performance in their first game of the tri-series did not show it. They brought a largely young, inexperienced squad here but their win on Wednesday suggested depth and quality nonetheless, and they will arrive in Bulawayo a confident group.West Indies’ three debutants in the first match helped to shape their win, with Shai Hope and Rovman Powell both making 40s before offspinner Ashley Nurse chipped in with three wickets. Nurse has insisted that rankings are not foremost in West Indies’ game plans, but their current position of ninth in the ICC rankings suggests a serious malaise that needs tackling.With a forward-looking squad and the necessity for general improvement in one-day cricket, it’s hard to dismiss the feeling that West Indies are focussed on their future. They have already missed out on qualification for the Champions Trophy next year, and if they are to avoid the ignominy of having to play in a qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Cup, they will have to continue to build on performances such as those in their tour opener. This game offers their next opportunity to do just that.The increased pace and menace with which West Indies’ quicks will operate brings with it myriad dangers for Zimbabwe’s batsmen. Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder will not only gain extra lift from a traditionally dull surface, but Bulawayo’s drier pitches and outfields will also likely bring reverse-swing into the equation, as they did last year when Afghanistan’s Dawlat Zadran picked up nine wickets at 16.66 in five ODIs at Queens.Dawlat’s pace and swing meant he was able to strike upfront with the new ball, and then again with the old to help Afghanistan win the series 3-2. The bowling stats from that series offer further clues as to which bowlers might prosper in Bulawayo: Wellington Masakadza, Tendai Chisoro and Amir Hamza – all spinners – were the other leading wicket-takers. Genuine pace, accompanied by spin, will form a potent attack.With both Sri Lanka and West Indies gaining bonus points from their opening wins, Zimbabwe have their work cut out if they are to stop this tri-series becoming a two-horse race.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Zimbabwe: LLLLL
West Indies: WLLLL
Sean Williams seems to relish batting against West Indies – in two World Cup matches against them he averages 146•AFP

In the spotlight

Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak called for more energy and aggression from his team after their defeat to Sri Lanka, and one player who normally has both in spades is Sean Williams. This is a player who spanked Zimbabwe’s fastest Test hundred while seriously ill with the flu earlier this year: he has clearly got the sort of fight Streak is looking for. Williams made starts in both Tests against Sri Lanka, so he’s in some nick, and he averages 40 at Queens Sports Club – his home ground. Williams also seems to enjoy batting against West Indies – in two World Cup matches against them he averages 146, with a pair of 70s in 2007 and 2015.Given the advantages of his height and long fingers, Sulieman Benn‘s one-day bowling average of 46.38 is surprisingly high. Benn was part of the squad that lost to Pakistan last month, taking 2 for 158 in the series, and West Indies will want him to improve on those returns in Zimbabwe. Benn, 35, is of an age where consistency in performance is vital to continued selection. He should find Bulawayo’s pitches to his liking, and if he hits rhythm he will help West Indies retain control of the middle overs.

Teams news

Zimbabwe will probably look to bring in an extra spinner in these conditions. A debut for Tarisai Musakanda would offer an injection of youthful hunger into the batting, though that would also necessitate a re-shuffle in the batting order.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Brian Chari, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Sean Williams, 6 PJ Moor(wk), 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Graeme Cremer (c), 9 Tendai Chisoro, 10 Carl Mumba, 11 Tinashe Panyangara.With two spinners already in their line-up on Wednesday, and momentum with them following their win, West Indies may well go into this match unchanged.West Indies (possible): 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Shai Hope(wk), 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Jason Holder (c), 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Shannon Gabriel.

Pitch and conditions

Situated in the drier south of the country, Bulawayo tends to produce flatter pitches with less grass than Harare. Spin will be an important factor in the game, while inclement weather is less likely to feature – though when thunderstorms do brew they can be cataclysmic. Fortunately, Saturday should be sunny and dry.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies’ last tour of Zimbabwe was nine years ago, and none of West Indies’ squad have played at Queens Sports Club before.
• Zimbabwe have played 45 ODIs against West Indies, losing 35 of those. Their last win against West Indies was in Guyana in 2010, when Zimbabwe clung on to defend 254 and win by two runs.
• The first List A game to be played at Queens Sports Club in the independent Zimbabwe was between West Indies and Zimbabwe in October 1981. Zimbabwe overcame a young West Indies side containing Desmond Haynes, Faoud Bacchus, Gus Logie, Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshall and Wayne Daniel by 53 runs, with Dennis Streak – current coach Heath Streak’s father – taking 4 for 45 with his medium pace.

Quotes

“I had a chat with Marlon Samuels [who has been to Zimbabwe before], but apart from that we’re just pulling out all the data we can possibly find from the analysts in terms of the ground stats and the opposition. But cricket is cricket at the end of the day, you just have to play as you see it, and assess the conditions as quickly as possible.”
“We know their batsmen are pretty fearless. We know they like to hit boundaries. We’ll try and stop that, and starve them of the boundary option to put them under pressure.”

Suresh Raina has been ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 16 due to a bout of viral fever. The BCCI has not named a replacement for him in the side.Raina’s illness had affected his participation in Uttar Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy opener against Madhya Pradesh last week. Raina was named captain of the UP side, but did not bat in both innings as the team lost by an innings and 64 runs.Raina, who last played an ODI for India in October, 2015, had been recalled to the squad for the first three matches of the five-ODI series against New Zealand. MSK Prasad, India’s chairman of selectors, had said that Raina’s ability as a part-time spin bowler was one of the factors behind his recall as the team’s frontline spinners, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, had been rested for the matches.Raina was left out of India’s ODI squads for the tours of Australia (December-January) and Zimbabwe, and also missed the two T20Is against West Indies in the USA. In between, he had a disappointing run in the Asia Cup and the World T20. In the Asia Cup T20s, Raina scored 39 runs in three innings, and followed that with 41 runs in four innings at the World T20. Before his exclusion from the ODI team last December, Raina had managed only one century in the format in 26 innings.

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has picked the team’s batting as the area in need of the biggest improvement, heading into their first match at the World Cricket League Division Four – the ICC’s 50-over tournament for Associates and Affiliates – in Los Angeles. USA lost the first two games in the recently-concluded Auty Cup against Canada, before chasing down 222 to win by two wickets in the final match. Dassanayake said they could have performed better with more consistency in the batting.

Santhanam doubtful for WCL Division Four

USA allrounder Srini Santhanam is likely to be ruled out of the WCL Division Four, after a recurrence of the right shoulder injury that has plagued him over the last three years. Santhanam re-injured the shoulder at the five-day national camp in Indianapolis last month. He was fit enough to bowl six overs in USA’s 34-run loss to Canada in the Auty Cup opener, but aggravated the injury when firing in a throw from the boundary, and missed the final two games.
“Srini is definitely injured and he’s not going to be 100% before the tournament, but we are taking medical advice from the physio and Srini’s family doctor,” USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake said. “We are going to wait for those reports and how they advise us, but it looks it’s very doubtful that he’s going to be 100% fit.”

“It’s always good to get a win going into the World Cricket League against Canada, but, overall, we could have done better in the first two games,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo. “Especially in the second game, we had a chance at winning. Overall, we were improving every game. First game, we were very low, did lots of mistakes. Second game, we were better, and [last game] I think bowling and fielding were up there. We want some good performance in the batting, but there are lots of areas to improve.”The batting still needs to settle down. We have a very decent bowling attack. I’m happy about that. Fielding, there’s a few things we need to fix, but I’m not that nervous because the guys are putting a lot of effort, and I’m pretty sure we’ll get there. Batting, when you take the seven batters we have in the squad, they are quality, they can do the job. But, coming out from club cricket to this level may have made a huge impact.”Opening batsman Fahad Babar topped USA’s scoring charts in the Auty Cup with 148 runs, including two half-centuries. But, apart from him, Akeem Dodson was the only member of the original squad to score a fifty in the series. Ravi Timbawala, who came in as a replacement player for Sunday’s match and is currently not a part of USA’s squad for WCL Division Four, had USA’s best score with an unbeaten 73 in Sunday’s win. Incidentally, Elmore Hutchinson, a left-arm medium pacer, topped the batting averages at 59, albeit with two unbeaten knocks of 21 and 37. Dassanayake said the players are still adjusting to the rigours of 50-over cricket, given most of their local leagues are 40-over competitions.”They are used to playing a lot of 40-over cricket, so that mentality has to change. I think they’re working hard towards that, but I would still say that we are slightly behind on those areas. Next 10 days, we’re going to work hard and come to the level we want to be to win this tournament.”Dassanayake also said the team was affected by the absence of Timroy Allen and Ali Khan during the Auty Cup. Allen withdrew to attend to a personal matter, while Khan was nursing a left hamstring strain sustained at a five-day national camp in Indianapolis. Both are expected to return for Division Four, and Dassanayake was sure they’d make an impact.”Timroy is going to be one of the most important players in this tournament for us. The last three games, after Srini [Santhanam] got injured, it was tough for us to balance the team. On Friday, we went with an extra bowler and were a batsman short. [Sunday], we played an extra batsman and were a bowler short. When you go like that, it’s kind of a risk where we don’t know how we’re going to end up. I would say, on Friday, if we had that extra batsman, maybe we would have won that game in that 20 runs.”So, Timroy coming into the team is going to solve a lot of issues. As a top allrounder, he can even bat early in the order, and he can contribute 10 overs. Ali is always, when somebody bowls at 135-plus at this level, is always going to be very effective. In these types of wickets and conditions, he is capable of picking up early wickets and then very good bowling in the death overs. I’m sure both of them are going to make a huge impact by coming into the XI.”Half of the USA squad secured enough time off work to stay on in Los Angeles after the Auty Cup, while the rest went home. They will return to Los Angeles on October 23 for five days of training ahead of their first Division Four game, against Bermuda on October 29. USA will also have a warm-up match on October 25 against a Southern California Cricket Association XI. Dassanayake is hopeful that he can maximise the time he has with the players and translate it into positive results.”Even though we could have done better in the last three games, I’m confident with the talent and ability that I have with these 14 players, and I’m confident going into the tournament,” Dassanayake said. “But in saying that, this team has to do certain things well to win that tournament, and I’m just trying to have time with these players. That’s my toughest job.”

ScorecardSean Dickson made a steady fifty but Kent were dismissed for 230•Getty Images

Northamptonshire are easily branded a team of white-ball specialists. Yet for all their excellence in the limited overs games – T20 champions twice in four seasons, and denied a Royal London Cup semi-final berth only by the majesty of Kumar Sangakkara – the club feel that they have not given the best of themselves in the County Championship.Chances of a tilt at promotion went in the dying embers of spring, never mind the onset of autumn. But an evisceration of Glamorgan last week hinted at Northants’ potential over four days, especially when the end of their white-ball season means that David Ripley does not have to preserve his side’s vitality for limited-overs.The return of the schools in September feels like no time for outground cricket. For Northants, this sepulchral day allowed their seamers to embrace the role of wreckers, intent on ending Kent’s hopes of promotion back to Division One.Jokes about Rory Kleinveldt’s girth are trotted out often, yet Kent would have felt in no mood for them after his skilful swing with the second new ball prevented a score more substantial than 230. Ben Sanderson was relentlessly accurate, and Steven Crook in unyielding mood too.Yet it was Azharullah who left the greatest mark on Kent. First, Sam Northeast, the totem of his side’s batting all season, was induced to give an outside edge behind. Next ball, Darren Stevens’ edge found Rob Keogh at third slip, a dismissal for which the batsman could not be considered culpable.An odd feature of Beckenham is the Kent team analyst occupies the same tent as the media. As a result, batsmen often pop in to watch how they were dismissed. When he did so, Stevens could only rue his bad luck: the delivery had swung in, seamed away and squared him up, the sort of ball to render his outstanding form meaningless.After the end Sean Dickson’s austere 63, an innings in keeping with the sombre mood of the day, Kent slipped to 122 for 6, a position from which they feared not even gaining a single batting point. That they did so owed everything to a contrasting pair of half-centuries.It is only two years since Will Gidman was one of the most sought-after county cricketers in the land. Yet he has spent much of the intervening period marooned in 2nd XI cricket, seemingly a man too good for Division Two but not good enough for Division One. Kent still reckoned that he could assist their attempt to return to Division One for the first since 2010, and in July enlisted him on loan from Nottinghamshire.Gidman’s reputation in Division Two was built on his parsimonious seam bowling, but it is as an unobtrusive middle-order batsman that he has been most valuable for Kent. He plays the ball late, prefers to hit along the ground, and is skilled in working the ball around adroitly – so much so that, when Gidman chipped Graeme White to midwicket for 51, where Kleinveldt took a neat catch, it was the first time that he had been dismissed for Kent in the County Championship. Four innings have brought four half-centuries, an average of 283 and enough, surely, for Kent to be keen to sign him permanently should Gidman be released from the final year of his contract at Trent Bridge.Matt Coles, who could be considered the anti-Gidman, is not the sort to escape notice in anything he does. On this gloomy day, Coles briefly restored a little of the festival feeling that is supposed to be inherent to outgrounds with a sparkling 41-ball half century that was a distillation of Coles’ power, bravado and considerable skill. All were in evidence in an astonishing reverse-sweep for six over midwicket off Rob Keogh’s offspin, the sort of shot to startle any indulging in a late-afternoon nap.Yet when Coles failed to take a wicket in his opening burst, memories of this bravado were overtaken by Kent’s frustration with their opening-day batting. “Wish it was this easy when we batted,” chuntered a Kent member as the evening session meandered to a conclusion with Kent’s promotion ambitions cooling – at least for now.

Match facts

August 20, 2016
Start time 10.45am local (0945GMT)

Big Picture

Well, at least things can only get better for Ireland. It would be hard to go worse than a 255-run shellacking and they will be aiming to narrow the appreciable gap between the sides when the rematch gets underway with only 48 hours in which to recover their composure.Pakistan have had their difficulties against Ireland in the past but, on the back of Sharjeel Khan’s mighty hitting, they breezed to a confidence-boosting victory to start off the limited-overs leg of their tour. There is not much to be gained in the way of rankings points by beating Ireland but winning has yet to become a habit for Azhar Ali’s ODI side.Azhar did not gain any respite from his own trough of 50-over form but Pakistan appear to have a better balance to their side, with several allrounders and a blend of youth and experience. Mohammad Nawaz enjoyed his debut, with fifty and a key wicket, while a successful comeback for Umar Gul was also encouraging.It would be in Pakistan’s interests to come up against a stiffer test ahead of their five-match series against England. Ireland have stuttered through their busiest-ever home season but the incentive of a Full Member scalp remains on the table; they will certainly want to finish without chants of “Pakistan Zindabad!” ringing in their ears.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Ireland LWLWL
Pakistan WLLLL

In the spotlight

With only one fifty in 12 innings, William Porterfield has come in for increasing scrutiny at the top of the order. The long-serving Ireland captain moved down to No. 3 for the first match against Pakistan – though he was at the crease inside the first over after Paul Stirling’s two-ball duck – and he will need to draw on a decade of experience to lift a side that has just posted its lowest total at home.Sharjeel Khan became the seventh opening partner for Azhar Ali since he was made ODI captain after the World Cup and, at a stroke, the most successful. Having scored fifty on debut in 2013, Sharjeel failed to nail down a position and spent two years out of the side. He won a recall in T20s after an impressive PSL and, having swelled his ODI average from 17.63 to 28.83 in one boundary-filled innings, has earned an extended crack.

Teams news

Ireland are likely to stick with most of the team that were so ignominiously manhandled the other day but Peter Chase – whose seven overs cost 70 – could make way for Craig Young.Ireland (probable) 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Ed Joyce, 3 William Porterfield (capt) 4 Niall O’Brien, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Gary Wilson, 7 Stuart Poynter (wk), 8 Andy McBrine, 9 Tim Murtagh, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Peter Chase/Craig YoungYasir Shah and Wahab Riaz were rested after their Test exertions but may want a white-ball game to tune up for the resumption of competition with England. Mohammad Amir could be in line for a break.Pakistan (probable) 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Babar Azam, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Imad Wasim/Yasir Shah, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Hasan Ali

Pitch and conditions

Porterfield said the surface for the first match “wasn’t a 330-all-out pitch, but it wasn’t an 80-all-out pitch either”. It should provide something for everyone, provided the teams can get on – rain is forecast for much of the day in Dublin.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan’s 255-run win on Thursday was their biggest in ODIs; Ireland’s total of 82 was their second lowest
• Sharjeel Khan’s 61-ball hundred in the first ODI was the fourth fastest for Pakistan
• Niall O’Brien needs 34 runs to become the fourth Ireland player to 2000 in ODIs

Quotes

“It’s a tough learning curve for the younger lads coming into the team – it is a tough school coming in to bowl at the best players in theworld.”

Rahul Dravid believes batsmen in T20 cricket have benefitted from having the “freedom to develop” and the willingness of team managements be “more accepting of failure” than in any other format.Speaking on the second episode of to be aired on Friday night on SONY ESPN, the former India captain said batsmen feel increasingly secure about playing risky shots such as reverse sweeps and paddle sweeps because a dismissal caused by such shot selection isn’t frowned upon. He also highlighted how this freedom to “practice and experiment” with shots has made batsmen get much better at executing them in match situations.”We are more accepting of failure, I think, in T20 cricket than we are in any other form of the game,” Dravid said. “When a batsman takes risks and plays a paddle sweep or a reverse sweep or all the kinds of shots that they play, you’re more likely to view it with a certain degree of acceptance than you would, say, in a Test match or in one-day cricket. This has given batsmen freedom to try and experiment with these things more and they’re getting better and better at it.”Citing the example of AB de Villiers, who has been part of all the nine IPL seasons so far, Dravid said that while he was a batsman of “rare gifts”, de Villiers too had gained from the freedom to experiment.”He’s also had so many opportunities to fail, to learn from them and to keep refining his batting technique for T20,” Dravid said. “Apart from the IPL, he gets other opportunities to practice and experiment with that, and if you keep trying something and you keep failing and learning from it, you are going to get better at it, and that’s what happened with batting techniques. People have been allowed to take a few more risks. They keep doing that over and over again and they get better and better at it.”Dravid, who has been involved with the IPL as player, captain and team mentor over the last nine years, believes that while skill sets have improved dramatically over this time, the batsmen are “slightly ahead” of bowlers on the curve. Though he insists the bowlers are “catching up”, they are restricted by the amount of time they can spend on honing their skills in practice as compared to batsmen.”I think the very nature of bowling is such that you are limited physically in the amount you can do,” he said. “It’s not that you can go on. You hear a batsman batting for an hour, two hours. They can set up bowling machines to mimic certain kinds of balls and they can go on practising. You can’t obviously go on bowling for two hours, two-and-a-half hours, three hours every day because you’re going to get injured or you’re going to break down at some time. So, the opportunities for bowlers to work on their skills is limited physically, by the physical demands and the nature of the job that they are doing. Whereas batsmen, I think, have a little bit of a leeway because they are able to push themselves physically and practice a lot more.”Having observed the strides made by batsmen, in particular power hitters, Dravid also had a word of caution for the administrators as T20 cricket continues to grow. In his view, it is crucial to maintain the “balance between bat and ball” to ensure that the format isn’t reduced to a big-hitting contest.”I see that as one of the major challenges of T20 cricket,” he said. “What we don’t want is every score to become a 200, 200-plus score, where it’s always about power-hitting skills. We want to bring the skills of cricket. We want them on show even in a T20 game. We want somebody to, even if it’s for two overs, you want somebody to negotiate a difficult spell, you want to see someone’s ability against the turning ball and how he negotiates that and how he’s still able to score at seven-eight runs an over against a good spinner on a track that assists the spinner as well. So, I think we need that balance. I think otherwise you just might put up bowling machines and see who hits it further.”Watch with Rahul Dravid at 9.30 pm (IST) on July 15 (Friday) on SONY ESPN

ScorecardJohann Myburgh punished his old county•Getty Images

As Johann Myburgh’s chanceless hundred put Somerset firmly in control, Hampshire would be forgiven for looking on with envy at a former batsman. Myburgh played six matches for them in 2011 before being released, but such are the batting riches of Somerset that he is only playing because of an injury to Tom Abell. Hampshire’s spluttering batting and fast-imploding season could desperately do with a batsman of his ilk.This was a day which Hampshire spent the majority of it in the field, their batting ineptitude of the first day keenly felt as Somerset scored runs that Hampshire should have scored on an excellent batting pitch.Myburgh, 35-years of age, and playing his first Championship match of the season, displayed the game and hunger for runs that has been conspicuously absent from Hampshire’s batting for most of this season.The simplicity of Myburgh’s innings will have galled Hampshire’s onlooking fielders. He played just nine scoring shots on the leg-side and from the foundation of a strong defensive technique and beautifully soft hands he was able to compile a hundred which punished Hampshire’s batting collapse of the previous day and will surely have left them wishing they could go back and do it the Myburgh way.The James Hildreth way would also be worth imitating, although it would be a more demanding task. Hildreth is a beautiful batsman to watch with a wonderful range of shots. Owner of one of the best cover drives in county cricket he almost never looks rushed and today, although the intensity of the contest slowly diminished like air leaving a balloon, it was hard to imagine he could have played much better.Particularly impressive was his shimmering footwork to the spin of Mason Crane and Liam Dawson, from which he scored 61 off 51 and 24 off 23 respectively. Hildreth’s 152 elevates his season average to 72.10.Given that he is yet to be given a chance in an England shirt there is something almost quite sad about Hildreth continuing to plunder runs in Division One of the County Championship. Rarely can a player of such class not have played for his country, but it seems unlikely, albeit possibly unfair in the eyes of some, that England, moving on from one 30-something county veteran in Nick Compton and filled with the zest of a brave new era, will turn to another to plug the gap. Hildreth’s time one senses, for better or for worse, may well have passed.Hampshire’s performance with the ball was lacklustre. Admittedly, they began the day from a position of considerable weakness, but they lacked intensity in the field and although they kept persevering and picked up wickets throughout the day, there was not a single passage of play when they got on top of Somerset.Ryan McClaren bowled a useful spell after tea, taking two wickets in as many overs with the help of a seaming ball and finished with 5 for 104, and Crane too showed glimpses of his potential, but bowled too many loose balls and failed to maintain any pressure.When Somerset finally declared after some lusty lower-order hitting by Craig Overton and Ryan Davies it was tempting to think that Hampshire had been put out of their misery. As it was things were to get worse as Jimmy Adams chopped onto his stumps to leave Hampshire 18 for 1 at the close and trailing by an enormous 237 runs.Rain is forecast on both day three and day four but given the struggles of Hampshire’s batting of late it may not take much play for Somerset to force a result. Hampshire may find themselves looking even more enviously towards Myburgh by the time this match is done.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:34

WATCH – Highlights of the third day’s play

Nearly 10 years have slipped by while Alastair Cook has been a permanent fixture at the top of England’s order in home Tests. His absence at Lord’s was only temporary, the result of a hospital scan on a bruised knee, but in that time England had an unnerving vision of the future as Sri Lanka made them sweat in the final Investec Test.Four down by the close of the third day, England still held a healthy lead of 237, with six wickets – Cook included – and remain overwhelming favourites to win but shorn of his presence for the first time on these shores since Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss opened against Pakistan at The Oval in 2006, their shortcomings were stripped bare.There was another failure for Nick Compton, moved up from No. 3 to fill an emergency opener’s role, that will surely end the second phase of his Test career, his footwork again leaden as Shaminda Eranga brought one down the slope to have him caught at the wicket. There was a first-ball duck, too, for James Vince, who has failed to secure a maiden Test half-century in this series, and who naively left a delivery from Nuwan Pradeep which skipped back down the hill to hit his off stump. So far he has been a player of style rather than substance.”No thoughts of retirement for a while yet” will be England’s exhortation to Cook, a CBE freshly to his name in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. With Pakistan lying in wait later this summer, there will be relief that the x-ray – the result of a blow from Kusal Perera while fielding at silly point – revealed nothing sinister.Pradeep’s zestful display brought him three wickets in all, a shooter accounting for Joe Root, who risked ricking his back on his return to the pavilion as he turned round frequently to watch his demise on the big screen, and a hack across the line by Jonny Bairstow that was a throwback to earlier times. Alex Hales, 41 not out, stood firm but Pradeep would have removed him as well, on 19, if Dimuth Karunaratne had clung to a low chance to his left at second slip and again on 39, shortly before the close, when he glanced Pradeep down the leg side only for Dinesh Chandimal to grass the chance.A Lord’s Test Saturday had swung loyally towards England in the morning, as a place of such ingrained traditions must presumably feel obliged to do when they are Trooping the Colour a few miles down the road for the Queen’s 90th birthday.Sri Lanka’s visions at start of play of conceding more than 400 in the first innings and then winning the Test, as they did at The Oval in their Muttiah Muralitharan-inspired 1998 victory, would have been encouraged by reaching the close on the second day 162 runs to the good and Karunaratne the only casualty.But by lunch, they were obliterated: six down and still trailing by 198, Kusal Mendis, Kaushal Silva and Angelo Mathews all dispatched in the first 7.3 overs as England’s pace attack regained the initiative.Chris Woakes had been the most insistent of England’s attack on the previous evening and that was enough for him to start the day alongside Stuart Broad. There was enough in the air to encourage the bowlers that it would be a more even contest and they pounded a good length – a fuller length than on the previous day – from the outset.Woakes’ first ball of the previous day had brought about the Bairstow howler – and more critical examination of his wicketkeeping role. This time Woakes enjoyed immediate success, winning an lbw as he rammed a delivery down the slope into Mendis’ pads.Silva failed to add to his overnight 79, his edge to Bairstow in Broad’s third over of the morning extending a remarkable record in which he has been caught at the wicket in all nine of his Test innings in England. Repetition around off stump has rarely been more obviously rewarded.England’s energy also extended to Bairstow. When Mathews thick-edged Broad to third man, Hales and Root, giving chase, were shocked to find a red-headed retriever tearing past them and diving full-length in wicketkeeping pads to save the boundary. Such chases are part of Bairstow’s make-up and his pleasure in mildly embarrassing two of his team-mates was evident.Mathews’ pugnacity was needed to restore Sri Lanka’s ambition, but he was defeated by extra bounce from Woakes, going wide on the crease, and Root, quite close at second slip, held a good catch. It was a delivery that encapsulated Woakes’ improvement, a bowler of good habits and decent action now capable of something a little more unsettling.Chandimal was equally uncertain, beginning with an inside-edged four against Woakes and almost scooped up at second slip by Root when Anderson made an unaccustomed late arrival into the attack.It was not long before Chandimal fell, too, lbw to a fullish delivery from Steven Finn and unsuccessfully reviewing in the hope that the ball might have faded down the slope past leg stump. Finn also looked more eager than on the previous day and the wicket of Lahiru Thirimanne completed a satisfying England morning, a poor uppish-drive which gave Root another catch.Root, England’s stand-in captain, endured a merry stand of 71 in 17 overs, against old ball and new, by Sri Lanka’s seventh-wicket pair of Perera and Rangana Herath. Perera, back in the Sri Lanka side after overturning drugs allegations, produced some typically emphatic blows and Herath offered good support, chancing his arm and indulging in some puffed-out cheeks fist-pumping with his partner with an air of mild relief.Root’s star fast bowlers were also having a wild mustang moment. Root wisely resisted a headstron g appeal from Broad to review a refused lbw appeal against Herath, and then was spoken to by the umpires regarding Anderson, who indulged in some behind-the-hands muttering at slip (always a sign of trouble afoot).Around the time Cook collected his diagnosis, Sri Lanka’s lower order crumbled. Broad caused Herath to chop on, Perera was caught behind off a bottom edge, attempting to pull, Suranga Lakmal edged Anderson low to second slip, and Woakes, who had followed his highest Test score with a stand-out bowling display, took his third wicket when Eranga edged the first ball of his spell to Vince at third slip.When Anderson dismissed Perera the Anderson-Broad new-ball combination became the most prolific opening partnership in history, overhauling the 493 collected by Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and ahead of other notables on the list: Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, and Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock.Those wickets have come at five-runs more per wicket – roughly 26 to 21 – but they are all in the book, Anderson and Broad both stand in the top three in the ICC Test bowling rankings and how England will miss them when they are gone. Of Cook, the same was evidently true.

South Africa start their first Test tour of Bangladesh with a 45-minuteflight from Dhaka to Chittagong tomorrow. None of the South Africans haveplayed in Chittagong before, and little is known about the conditions. Byall accounts the hotel rates rather fewer than five stars, and the weatherpredictions aren’t great. It is the rainy season, and completing a Test atall is considered fortunate. The city is a busy port, and is in verymountainous region. Humidity is the biggest enemy of any touring team.But after their solid performances in the last two outings of the TVS Cupagainst India last week, the South Africans have good reason to feel upbeatabout their progress in this part of the world. The bowlers have clearlyworked out that on these sluggish pitches, slower balls are not easy toscore from. The batsmen, on the other hand, have realised there is nosubstitute for time spent at the crease. They also now realise that ifsomeone gets in he has to go on and finish the job, as starting an inningsis not an easy task.The make-up of South Africa’s team for the first of the two Tests, whichstarts on Thursday, will be interesting. The pitch is expected to betailormade for Bangladesh’s spinners, but Eric Simons, the SA coach, has twospinners in his own squad. Simons will have to weigh up whether to play bothof them, against a team which would probably prefer that, or to bank on thefact that even on a slow turner the South African pace bowlers will still bea handful. In any case, the two-spinner option would probably mean leavingout one of the batsmen who have been doing well on subcontinental pitchesrecently.The left-armer Paul Adams is likely to be the first-choice spinner and,since Jacques Rudolph and Graeme Smith can fill in with a few oversthemselves, Robin Peterson might well miss out.In the pace department Charl Willoughby was picked specifically for hisability to swing the ball in the air when pitches aren’t conducive tolateral movement. However, the fact that he is a genuine No. 11 won’t helphis cause. Andrew Hall and Alan Dawson have stepped up when needed, andtheir batting ability will make both hard to overlook.The series may be in Bangladesh, but South Africa are still expected to comeout on top. Bangladesh, after all, have lost 16 of the 17 Tests they haveplayed so far – and their only draw came when rain washed out the last twodays of a match against Zimbabwe. It should add up to a gentle baptism forSmith as a Test captain.

India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has been ruled out of the last two ODIs against Australia because of a viral fever. Tejal Hasabnis has been named her replacement. Providing the update on Wednesday shortly before the toss in the second ODI in New Chandigarh, the BCCI said its medical team is monitoring Rodrigues.Rodrigues was in India’s XI in the first ODI, which India lost by eight wickets. She scored 18 runs off 26 balls from No. 5 as India put up 281 for 7. Arundhati Reddy, the fast-bowling allrounder, replaced Rodrigues in India’s XI for the game on Wednesday.A 28-year-old middle-order batter, Hasabnis has been around the national team since last year, making her ODI debut – the only format she has played internationally – in October 2024 in Ahmedabad against New Zealand. She has 140 runs from six innings, going at an average of 46.66 and strike rate of 78.65 with a best of 53 not out.India would be keen to have Rodrigues, a key figure in their line-up, back fully fit in time for the ODI World Cup, which begins on September 30 with the co-hosts – India and Sri Lanka – taking each other on in Guwahati.

India squad for the last two ODIs against Australia

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kranti Goud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Sneh Rana, Uma Chetry (wk), Tejal Hasabnis