Williamson, Broom secure New Zealand's 3-0 sweep

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:20

Isam: Broom made all the difference

Ninety-somethings from Kane Williamson and Neil Broom ensured New Zealand whitewashed Bangladesh with a crushing eight-wicket victory in the third ODI in Nelson. Their fluent 179-run stand, which came after Martill Guptill had retired hurt on 6 because of a hamstring strain, helped the hosts ace their chase of 237 with 52 balls to spare.New Zealand were also aided by poor shot selection from Bangladesh, who suffered a collapse of 7 for 77 after opting to bat on a slow surface. After Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes put on 102 for the first wicket, their middle and lower order fell away. That the visitors lasted 50 overs and reached 236 for 9 was down to rookie Nurul Hasan’s cameo of 44 off 39 balls.Mustafizur Rahman then trapped Tom Latham in front in his first over, and Bangladesh might have sensed an opening when Guptill retired hurt for 6 at the start of the third over in the chase.Imrul Kayes, an iffy choice at slip, then dropped a dolly and reprieved Broom on 0. Broom and Williamson combined to slam the doors on Bangladesh. After playing out a few quiet overs, Williamson kick-started the chase when he struck Shakib Al Hasan for back-to-back fours through point in the 10th over. Four overs later, the New Zealand captain lofted Shakib for a straight six.Taskin Ahmed wasn’t spared either and was taken for back-to-back fours. Williamson moved to his fifty off 56 balls and continued to pepper the point boundary.Broom, meanwhile, reached his fifty off 66 balls. He profited from pulls, drives, and sweeps and raced towards a second successive century. He moved into the nineties with a pulled four, but fell three short of a century when he was caught by Mashrafe at gully off Mustafizur in the 35th over.With him needing six to reach his ninth ODI hundred and the team three for the series sweep, Williamson took a single off the first ball of the 42nd over before Jimmy Neesham completed the win with a four over mid-on.Broom had sparkled on the field earlier in the day. He ran back from short third man and pulled off a stunning one-handed catch to send Imrul Kayes back for 44 off 62 balls. Luke Ronchi, the wicketkeeper, took a good catch and effected a crucial run out of Shakib, while Jeetan Patel, playing his first ODI after more than seven years, also made his presence felt with a fine running catch at long-off.Kane Williamson and Neil Broom put on a 179-run stand to deflate Bangladesh•Getty Images

Sabbir Rahman had an eventful 14-ball stay in which he struck four boundaries, copped a blow on the chest, and then got strangled down the leg side. Two overs later, Mahmudullah pulled Southee to short midwicket to finish the series with only four runs, rounding off the worst ODI series of his career.Tamim was next to go in the 31st over when Broom ran back from point and tracked a top-edged slog. The shot encapsulated his frustration; he had not scored a boundary in ten overs leading up to the dismissal. The wickets of Shakib, Mosaddek Hossain and Tanbir Hayder then hastened the collapse.Mashrafe and Nurul negotiated the next 6.3 overs for the addition of 33 runs. The stand ended when Mashrafe holed out to long-off. Nurul, however, boosted his team with sensible batting before opening up in the slog overs. He moved Matt Henry over midwicket at the start of the last over of Bangladesh’s innings, then hooked him over square leg. He fell to an excellent return off the next ball, but proved a bright spot for Bangladesh amid the gloom in New Zealand.

Gandhi ton gives TN first-innings lead

Kaushik Gandhi’s career-best 164 helped Tamil Nadu open up a 70-run lead over Punjab in Nagpur. After Tamil Nadu resumed on 218 for 4 in response to Punjab’s first-innings 284, Gandhi built on his overnight 75 not out for his second century this season, to go along with a half-century in the previous game against Bengal, before Siddarth Kaul (3 for 86) took out the lower order as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 354. Manpreet Gony finished with 4 for 81. Punjab lost their openers Manan Vohra for 41 and Jiwanjot Singh for a duck before they wiped out the deficit. Uday Kaul (43*) and Mandeep Singh (35*) stitched together an unbroken 62-run third-wicket stand as Punjab ended on 121 for 2, ahead by 51 with one full day remaining.At the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh’s batsmen enjoyed a field day against Railways, scoring 285 runs for the loss of two wickets as they closed in on the first-innings lead. MP had ended the second day on 71 for 3 in response to Railways’ 371 with Naman Ojha batting on 9 and Devendra Bundela, the MP captain, on 13. Ojha struck an even 50, while Bundela raised his 26th first-class century, staying not out on 131 with 19 fours and two sixes, as MP finished the day on 356 for 5, trailing by 15 runs. The duo extended their fourth-wicket partnership to 95, before Ojha was bowled by left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav. Harpreet Singh chipped in with 22, but after his dismissal, Railways had to endure close to 58 wicketless overs as Bundela and Shubham Sharma shared an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 192 runs. Shubham was closing in on his maiden first-class century, finishing not out on 91 with the help of 10 fours and two sixes.Shreyas Iyer’s first century this season, an unbeaten 191, kept Mumbai in the hunt for first-innings points against Gujarat in Hubli. They ended on 328 for 6, still trailing by 109 runs. Resuming on 58 for 3 after having bowled out Gujarat for 437, Iyer and nightwatchman Dhawal Kulkarni, who made 61, frustrated Gujarat with a 187-run stand for the fourth wicket. The pair lasted 62.4 overs before Jasprit Bumrah sent back Kulkarni. Axar Patel, leading Gujarat in the absence of Parthiv Patel, who has joined the Indian Test team in place of the injured Wriddhiman Saha, then dismissed Suryakumar Yadav. Then, shortly before stumps, Bumrah returned to trap Abhishek Nayar lbw for 14. He finished with figures of 4 for 49.

Revised USACA constitution to be presented before ICC board

The ICC announced on Monday that a revised constitution for USA Cricket Association will be put up for consideration at the next ICC board meeting later this month. Ratifying a revised constitution is one of the key terms and conditions for the USACA to be reinstated as an Associate member of the ICC following their suspension in 2015.The announcement came after an ICC delegation including chief executive David Richardson and chairman Shashank Manohar spent the weekend in New York having meetings with stakeholders, including members of four advisory groups appointed to help carry out the ICC’s strategic framework outline. According to the ICC release, members of the advisory group formulated the revised constitution over the last several months before presenting it to the ICC delegation this weekend. The advisory groups comprises people from across the USA cricket community, including USACA board members and administrators.”We have heard from representatives across the USA cricketing community and there is a clear desire from them to unify under a single umbrella,” Richardson said. “The ICC is here to facilitate that process of building a strong foundation on which the sport can develop. Should the ICC Board consider the new constitution appropriate for the US market then we would look to USACA to adopt that as part of the fulfilment of their reinstatement conditions before full implementation of the constitution in 2017.”USACA board representatives, including president Gladstone Dainty, also met separately with the ICC delegation over the weekend. It is unclear how much input, if any, the Dainty-led board – separate from the USACA administrators who have been appointed to the ICC advisory groups – had in the revised constitution that will be presented to the ICC board.The ICC had given USACA until December 15 to comply with meeting all conditions for reinstatement, including ratifying a new constitution. Failure to meet the deadline may result in a resolution to be put to the ICC board before the end of the year for the expulsion of USACA, which would be put forward at the ICC annual conference in June 2017.

Court to BCCI: 'Fall in line or we will make you fall in line'

The Supreme Court of India has warned the BCCI that if it “does not fall in line” and follow the court’s directive to implement the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, it will take measures to enforce them. The Chief Justice of India TS Thakur told the BCCI’s lawyer that the board, which has been accused of stalling by the Lodha Committee, had one week to respond.”BCCI thinks it is law unto itself,” Thakur was quoted as saying by . “We know how to get our orders implemented. BCCI thinks it is the lord. You better fall in line or we will make you fall in line. The conduct of the BCCI is in poor taste.”Thakur was responding to the status report submitted by the Lodha Committee on Wednesday. In its report, the Committee had asked the Supreme Court to “supersede” the BCCI’s top brass with “immediate effect” because its officials had not complied with various timelines set by the committee to implement the recommendations passed by the Supreme Court order on July 18.

Lodha hits out at BCCI president Thakur

In its status report filed in the Supreme Court, the Lodha Committee singled out BCCI president Anurag Thakur for making “objectionable” statements that “undermined” the court order. The report also said Thakur had failed to respond to or meet the Committee even once.
“Despite several emails sent to the President of BCCI as well as a direction to appear on August 9, there has been not a single response by him to the Committee,” RM Lodha, the chairman of the Committee, said in the report. “He has also requested the ICC to issue a letter stating that this Committee amounts to Governmental interference. In addition, over the course of the last few weeks, several very objectionable statements have been made by him to the press which undermine this Hon’ble Court and this Committee.”
Lodha cited statements made by Thakur over the last few months that highlighted how the BCCI was being “sidelined”, “arm twisted” and pushed into a corner by “people who have never even played the game, they are trying to govern the board.”

“BCCI, it seems, will go to the extent of defying court orders,” Thakur said. “We had been anticipating such disregard from the board. We don’t appreciate such tactics by the BCCI. We have no difficulty in passing orders to make sure our previous orders are implemented.”The Lodha Committee had asked the BCCI and its state associations to adopt the new Memorandum of Association and Rules by September 30. It had also sent the BCCI two sets of timelines with various deadlines to implement the recommendations within the six-month time frame set by the court.In the status report RM Lodha, the chairman of the committee, pointed out that the BCCI had not yet complied with seven timelines, and that it was unlikely the board would do so before the September 30 deadline. The BCCI has called for a special general body meeting (SGM) on September 30, when board secretary Ajay Shirke said it would “consider” the amendments recommended by the Lodha Committee.According to a senior official privy to the meetings between the Lodha Committee and the BCCI, the SGM was the “last chance” for the board. “The SGM is really their complete last chance to ensure compliance. If they haven’t got all those seven timelines in place and don’t adopt the new rules and regulations, they will have no further chance.”The BCCI has offered resistance to the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, having filed a review petition last month against the Supreme Court’s order directing it to implement most of the recommendations. In the petition, the BCCI called the court order “unreasoned” and asked for the recusal of chief justice Thakur from its hearing. However, the petition has been lying “in defect” because the court raised technical objections to the petition and asked the BCCI to repair them.The Lodha Committee – comprising Lodha and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran – was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.

Dilshan opens up on lack of support during captaincy tenure

Tillakaratne Dilshan cast aspersions on the conduct of former and present team-mates -particularly Angelo Mathews – soon after his final ODI, against Australia on Sunday. Prompted to speak on the challenges faced in his 10-month stint as Sri Lanka captain between April 2011 and January 2012, Dilshan suggested he did not have the support of some team-mates. He also said he had been hurt by his sudden removal as captain, following the year-end tour of South Africa, in which Sri Lanka lost both series, but won a Test in South Africa for the first time.Dilshan had been named captain after Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had both resigned from that post. It was Jayawardene who eventually replaced him after the South Africa tour.”I didn’t actually plan to take the captaincy, but the SLC president asked me to take over for six months until we find someone else,” Dilshan said. “Unfortunately, we had also lost two bowlers. Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] had retired. Nuwan Kulasekara was injured. Ajantha Mendis was injured. I didn’t have great resources.”Angelo Mathews had a calf injury for a year that stopped him from bowling. That must be because of my misfortune, because after I had stepped down, we went to Australia after a week. In that week, Mathews started bowling. That must be because of Mahela’s good fortune.”Mathews did bowl during Dilshan’s captaincy, but had a reduced workload. He did not bowl in nine of the 20 ODIs under Dilshan, and never delivered more than five overs in a match. This workload did see a substantial increase when Jayawardene resumed captaincy.In Tests, Mathews did not bowl in 12 of the 16 innings under Dilshan, though at the time, he was not an integral part of the Test attack. Mathews had also suffered leg injuries even prior to Dilshan’s captaincy, most notably when he missed the 2011 World Cup final due to a quad strain, and has managed his own bowling load carefully since he became captain.Though Dilshan said the manner of his ousting did cause hurt, he insisted he did not let “personal issues” affect his cricket. Sri Lanka’s first assignment after the South Africa tour was the 2012 tri-series in Australia. Dilshan top-scored in that tournament, hitting 513 runs at an average of 51.30.”At the end of that South Africa series, I put everything aside. I went to Australia, scored 500 runs, and became Man of the Series. It didn’t matter to me who was captain. I wasn’t concerned about who ousted me as captain. I always play for my country. I didn’t worry about those personal things, but I was hurt.”Dilshan’s own first assignment as captain had been Sri Lanka’s tour of England, but broke his finger during his 193 at Lord’s in the second Test. He suggested it had been with some reluctance that Sangakkara took on the captaincy for one Test, after that injury ruled Dilshan out for the game at Southampton.”There actually wasn’t anyone who was willing to be captain. Everyone resigned after the 2011 World Cup. In England a ball hit my hand and I broke my finger, and the former captains were asked to lead, and they said no. After that only when it was talked about that someone like Sanath Jayasuriya or Thilina Kandamby be made captain that someone presented himself to be captain. But I guess there’s no point talking about those past things anymore.”But I am proud that it is players that I brought into the team at the time who are winning matches now. About six or seven of the players today are cricketers who I’d given a chance to. At the time it was a problem for me, because people asked me why I was giving young players so many opportunities. But today, we should look at players like Dinesh Chandimal.”Dilshan still has two more T20 matches to play before he becomes an ex-cricketer across formats. He said the decision to retire had been spontaneous.”I hadn’t planned to retire, before the series,” he said. “Whether someone tells me to keep playing or stop playing, that’s not what’s important. What is important is what I feel. I started the series thinking that I’ll play for another year – at least in T20 cricket. But when I woke up on the 25th I felt that it was time to go.”To be honest I could easily play for another year or two. But we have to look to the future. If I play for another two years and leave, there’s only 18 months before the next World Cup and that’s unfair to the team. A young player could be blooded in that time. Since I started opening six years ago, we haven’t found a permanent partner for me. I’ve opened with about 10 people – so that’s a problematic area for us. If I keep playing we won’t be able to get two batsmen settled in that place. I’ll be able to get some rest.”

Agar sidelined by shoulder injury

Ashton Agar will miss at least some of Australia A’s winter matches and could yet be in doubt for the start of the domestic summer after suffering a shoulder injury at pre-season training.Agar suffered the injury while training with Western Australia and scans on Monday afternoon revealed some disruption to the same area of his right shoulder that was operated on last year.”Ashton injured his right shoulder during a WACA pre-season training camp and scans have confirmed that he has disrupted some of the structures that were surgically repaired in April 2016,” Alex Kountouris, Cricket Australia’s sports science and sports medicine manager, said.”He is due to see a specialist next week to determine if he will require surgery and when he is likely to return to training and playing. He will definitely miss the start of the quadrangular A series, but whether he takes any part in it and whether he will be fit for the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup will be determined in due course.”Agar played two Tests on the 2013 Ashes tour of England, made his one-day international debut in England last year, and was part of Australia’s team at the World T20 in India earlier this year. He was named in the Australia A squad for their winter matches, which include four four-day games against South Africa A and India A, and a quadrangular one-day series.

Ireland aiming to upset wounded Sri Lanka

Match facts

Thursday, June 16
Start time 10.45 local (0945 GMT)William Porterfield and Angelo Mathews pose with the series trophy•Getty Images

Big picture

Ireland begin what they hope will be a busy period of ODI cricket by welcoming a somewhat battered Sri Lanka across the Irish Sea for a pair of matches in Malahide. The series will provide a useful test of their progress after John Bracewell’s first year in the job of head coach.Although Ireland have theoretically been given a pathway to reaching the 10-team 2019 World Cup, a lack of fixtures means they face an uphill struggle to reach the top eight and secure automatic qualification (West Indies, currently ranked No. 8, are 52 points clear of Ireland in 12th). But the visit of Sri Lanka, ahead of a five-match series against England, will allow Ireland to return their focus to the format that has given them greatest exposure on the world stage after a disappointing World T20.It is only by playing the top sides that Ireland can be expected to progress and these two ODIs will be their first against a Full Member since a one-off game with Australia last August; Pakistan will also visit later in the summer, with a five-match series against fellow Associates Afghanistan in between. This all represents vital competitive game time for Ireland.As they look for a first major victory in Dublin, Ireland might be tempted to view Sri Lanka as wounded prey. Heavily beaten in the Tests against England, they have brought in several new faces (and some not so new) for the ODIs and their first challenge will be in working out a first-choice XI. Since Sri Lanka played five one-dayers against New Zealand in December-January, injuries, withdrawals and a change in selectors mean that only five of the side that played at Mount Maunganui are available here.Sri Lanka have a reputation as hardened Associate-beaters, however, as well as experience of playing Ireland in Dublin, having won with reasonable comfort in 2014. Graham Ford will be hoping a change to white-ball cricket can bring out some of their native belligerence once again.

Form guide

Ireland: WLLLL (last five matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: LWLLW

In the spotlight

Boyd Rankin‘s last ODI appearance came in an England shirt, at the end of the ill-fated Ashes tour of 2013-14. His time as an England-qualified Irishman was not the happiest but he remains a classy bowler, reliably effective with his county Warwickshire and set for a first home appearance in green in almost four years. The last time Rankin played at Malahide, he took 4 for 46 – but that was for England against his countrymen.Upul Tharanga has 13 ODI hundreds to his name but has played only nine matches in the last two years (one of which was against Ireland in Dublin). His last significant contribution was even further back in time, an unbeaten 174 against India in 2013 that stands out like a lighthouse amid the rocky returns of the latter half of his career. Recalled after strong domestic form at the age of 31, he will add vital experience to a transitional side.

Team news

Ireland lost Niall O’Brien, due to a calf strain, and Stuart Thompson (personal reasons) from their original squad of 13, while Craig Young was not considered due to injury. Durham seamer Barry McCarthy looks set for a debut, unless Max Sorensen is preferred. John Anderson provides another batting option but played the last of his three ODIs in 2014.Ireland (possible): 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Gary Wilson (wk), 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Stuart Poynter, 7 George Dockrell, 8 Andy McBrine, 9 Barry McCarthy, 10 Tim Murtagh, 11 Boyd RankinTillakaratne Dilshan made himself unavailable for the tour but Sri Lanka do have Kusal Perera back after his now-rescinded doping ban. Kusal Mendis could make an ODI debut, with Lahiru Thirimanne struggling for runs – although ODIs are his strongest format. Sri Lanka have several all-round options, including the uncapped (in ODIs) Dasun Shanaka, Danushka Gunathilaka and Farveez Maharoof, whose last international appearance came in 2012.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne/Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Dasun Shanaka/Danushka Gunathilaka, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Seekkuge Prasanna, 9 Suraj Randiv, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Pitch and conditions

The surface is unlikely to be chock-full of runs, with 250 the par score in recent years and some assistance likely for seam bowling. There has been some rain around but the forecast is reasonably good for Thursday

Stats and trivia

  • Sri Lanka and Ireland have met four times in ODIs, with two wins for Sri Lanka and two abandonments.
  • Ireland’s lowest all-out ODI total came against Sri Lanka during the 2007 World Cup, when they were dismissed for 77 in Grenada.

Quotes

“There’s a big opportunity for us to get a series win against one of the top-ranked sides. There’s no reason why we can’t come away from this with a 2-0 win.”

Burns stands out as Jarvis dismantles Surrey

ScorecardKyle Jarvis struck four times in his first spell•Getty Images

Kyle Jarvis continued his and Lancashire’s excellent start to the Specsavers County Championship season with four wickets before lunch and 6 for 70 in all on the opening day against Surrey at Old Trafford.Surrey, having elected to bat, slipped to 40 for 5 inside 18 overs during a weather-affected day and were later bowled out for 191 inside 62 overs.Jarvis claimed the prized scalp of Kumar Sangakkara, lbw for a duck, during an excellent 10-over opening spell on the way to his third career haul of six wickets or more. They were his best figures in a Lancashire shirt.Surrey opener Rory Burns batted superbly for 92 off 164 balls, but he was last man out to leave the hosts with 12 overs to face before close. They reached 16 without loss.Lancashire are aiming to win their first three home matches in a Championship campaign for the first time since 1952 having beaten Nottinghamshire and Hampshire here already. Victory could take them top of Division One ahead of next week’s Roses fixture at Headingley.Tom Bailey made the first breakthrough at the end of the fifth over when he had Arun Harinath caught behind.Jarvis then removed Sangakkara lbw and had Steven Davies caught behind for ducks in the eighth over before forcing Jason Roy to chip to mid-on for 2 in the 14th.And when Ben Foakes was bowled shouldering arms to one which nipped back in the 18th, Surrey were in all sorts of trouble.Lancashire’s new-ball pair were aided by swing and seam movement, but at least Burns and James Burke were able to stem the tide with a 64-run stand for the sixth wicket either side of lunch.Their partnership was interrupted by a near two-hour rain delay immediately after lunch, and Jarvis made the breakthrough in the 38th over when Burke edged to first slip for 31. Tom Curran followed caught behind as Surrey reached tea at 126 for 7.Burns reached his fourth fifty against Lancashire off 123 balls in the final over of the afternoon and shared 68 for the eighth wicket with Gareth Batty midway through the evening.He combated a hostile post-tea spell from Neil Wagner, who later removed of Batty and Mathew Pillans in the space of three balls in the 58th over to leave the score at 182 for 9.Batty was smartly caught at second slip by Tom Smith and Pillans bowled. Wagner wrapped up the innings when he trapped Burns lbw.Lancashire have included former captain Smith in their side after injury.Smith played in their opening T20 Blast match on Saturday, which was his first appearance since last April following a career-threatening back injury and more recent hamstring problems.He has come in for opener Karl Brown. He bowled nine overs for 27 and opened the batting with Haseeb Hameed. They will begin day two unbeaten on 7 and 5 respectively.

Nerves with the ball, calm with the bat, Owen happy with dream debut

Mitchell Owen says he was more nervous with the ball than he was with the bat in his dream T20I debut against West Indies in Jamaica, revealing that his game plan in an unfamiliar role at No. 6 was no different to when he has dominated as a franchise opener.Owen, 23, joined Ricky Ponting and David Warner as the third Australian man to score a half-century on T20I debut, clubbing 50 off 27 balls to help Australia to a three-wicket win over West Indies in the opening match of a five-game series at Sabina Park.He earlier took his maiden T20I wicket in his first and only over, removing Shai Hope for 55 at a crucial moment in the innings which sparked a West Indies collapse of 6 for 30 that was critical in Australia’s win.Related

  • 'Not much will change' – Owen plans to bring his T20 approach to ODI cricket

  • Short out of West Indies series as Marsh's bowling remains 'offline'

  • Australia to trial new combinations as T20 World Cup build-up begins

  • Mitchell Owen, Cameron Green fifties put Australia 1-0 up

Owen admitted he was very nervous in his first over, especially after Shimron Hetmyer launched his first ball for six.”I thought I was on 36 off the over there when he smacked me for six first ball,” Owen said after the match. “But I was lucky Shai hit one up the shoot and got my first wicket. I was pretty nervous running in those first six balls, but nice to get it out of the way.”Owen’s innings with the bat was even more remarkable given it was his first half-century in T20 cricket batting in a middle-order position. He had earned his call-up to the Australia squad on the back of stunning returns as an opener in the most recent BBL where he made two centuries for Hobart Hurricanes. Prior to Sunday, in 16 career T20 innings batting from No. 3 to 8, he had scored just 174 runs at 14.50, with a strike-rate of 148.71 and a highest score of 34, and had only twice batted at No. 6.Owen said he was unperturbed by starting against spin with five men on the rope.”I honestly tried not to look at the field too much and just sort of react to each ball, which I think held me in good stead,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a little bit different, but I think my process, my game plan, wasn’t too different to opening the batting coming in at six. We had to strike at 10s or nines when I came out. So I still had to be nice and positive. If I took my time to sort of try and get into innings, I feel like I sort of dig myself a hole. So, yeah, just try and get after them from ball one.”With captain Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head likely to be Australia’s first-choice openers for T20 World Cup next year, and Matthew Short the first-choice back-up, the selectors were keen to trial Owen in the middle-order and will be delighted with the early returns.His fearlessness against spin would have pleased them most given Australia’s middle order has often been bogged down by left-arm spin and legspin through the middle stages in the past. Owen blasted three sixes in four balls off left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein in the 12th over. He also launched two sixes off Andre Russell and one off Alzarri Joseph.Owen combined beautifully with new No. 4 Cameron Green, who himself worked two twos of Gudakesh Motie in the middle phase before smashing him for a six and a boundary to go with the four other sixes he hammered off Joseph and Jason Holder. The pair added 80 off 40 balls after coming together at 78 for 4 in the ninth over.”It was a lot of fun,” Owen said. “It’s the first time I’ve been on the same side as Greeny. So it was nice to be out there with him and contribute to a pretty good partnership. We kept each other nice and calm and just stuck to our processes.”Mitchell Owen and Cameron Green put up a match-winning stand•Getty Images

Ben Dwarshuis, who starred with the ball in Australia’s win taking 4 for 36, told ESPN’s Around the Wicket that Owen’s batting is on a different planet at the moment.”I’ve been on the receiving end of this bowling to him over the past nine months, and he’s just in a different world at the moment,” Dwarshuis said. “I think anything that’s remotely missed the mark from a bowling point of view, he seems to clear the rope. You see zero fours and six sixes. I think that shows that he’s ultra aggressive and if you miss your line and length, he’s going to make you pay.”It capped a dream debut for Owen after he received his T20I cap from close friend and Hobart Hurricanes captain Nathan Ellis, with his parents and his partner at Sabina Park to watch it.”Really special,” Owen said. “He had some really nice words for me. I was obviously stoked to get the hat and stoked to have my parents over here. Obviously, it’s a bit of a messed up travel getting to the West Indies, but yeah, they’ve sacrificed a lot my whole life, and this trip’s only just another one. So super grateful that they got to experience that.”

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