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Australia’s attack shared the wickets around with Alana King impressing on debut

Andrew McGlashan28-Jan-2022Heather Knight almost single-handedly kept England afloat in Canberra with a magnificent century which frustrated Australia’s attempts to secure a big lead in their bid to retain the Ashes.England were in danger of not saving the follow-on when they lost their eighth wicket with 19 runs still needed, but Sophie Ecclestone stayed with Knight as she brought up her second Test hundred and then carried her team past the initial target of 188. The 127 that Knight closed on equaled Smriti Mandhana as the highest innings by a visiting female batter in Australia.To emphasise the domination of Knight’s performance, the next highest score in England’s innings was Ecclestone’s vital, unbeaten 27 at No. 10. The pair took advantage of the extra hardness of the second new ball and some weary bowlers with 37 runs coming off the last seven overs of the day. The ninth-wicket stand extended to 65 and took them through to the close with the opportunity to further eat into Australia’s lead. After two days, Knight had been on the field for all but 2.1 overs of the match.With bowling again removed as an option for Australia, the onus may come onto what size of target they want to set England although the visitors will hope to apply pressure with the ball. The forecast is not good for Saturday which may cut into the time available and Australia do not have the same urgency to win the Test given they hold the points lead in the series.It was a wonderfully-constructed hundred from Knight, whose previous Test century came at Wormsley in 2013 when England were in a similarly difficult position. Initially the innings was studded with superb cover drives, one which took her to her fifty, then her full array of sweeps were on show against the spinners. She also struck her first Test six when she sent Ashleigh Gardner over deep midwicket.Australia’s bowling success was shared around with the seamers getting the ball rolling, including maiden Test wickets for Darcie Brown and Annabel Sutherland, before the spinners started to chip in which included a first scalp for Alana King who sent down a long spell of well-controlled legspin during the afternoon and evening.Meg Lanning had declared when Australia lost their ninth wicket with them adding just 10 runs to their overnight total. Katherine Brunt claimed the two wickets, including a fantastic delivery to take the top of Sutherland’s off stump, which completed the third five-wicket haul of her career.Brown soon provided the breakthrough with her first Test wicket when she lured Lauren Winfield-Hill into a drive which was neatly held by Beth Mooney at second slip.Ellyse Perry, during a seven-over opening spell, then found a way past Tammy Beaumont as the tactics of targeting the pads paid off when a delivery nipped back to beat the inside edge and take the back leg. Beaumont reviewed but it was three reds.However, despite the two wickets Australia could have bowled better overall before lunch with the batters not made to play often enough. Brown operated with good pace but was too wide either side of claiming her wicket while Tahlia McGrath didn’t settle from either end across two spells and also had no-ball problems, of which she was not alone among the pace bowlers.But Australia continued to take key top-order wickets against an England line-up that had gone in a batter light compared to their previous Test against India last year. Sutherland found the inside edge of Nat Sciver early in the second session with a delivery that nipped back sharply to claim her first Test wicket and when Sophia Dunkley chopped against Perry it was 79 for 4.Knight continued to stand out, peppering the off side with a series of well-timed drives, to extend a fine record at Manuka Oval but struggled for support. Amy Jones had briefly offered a counterattack in a period that brought England four boundaries in six balls, but she then got a top edge against a short-of-a-length delivery and Brown took a running catch from mid-on.King’s first Test wicket came when she beat Brunt with a delivery that skidded on and she also found significant turn with her leg-break which suggested a big role to play if Australia are to force victory.Debutant Charlie Dean hung around for 40 balls alongside Knight before picking out deep midwicket the delivery after Rachael Haynes had almost managed to kick the ball up and take a parried chance at short leg. Anya Shrubsole played a poor stroke against the lightly-bowled Jess Jonassen, but there was no shifting the England captain in one of the great Ashes displays.

Kia Oval crowd sees Hampshire restricted to below-par total on rain-affected night

ECB Reporters Network03-Sep-2020Surrey 81 for 1 (Jacks 45*) beat Hampshire 77 for 5 (Moriaty 2-12) by nine wickets (DLS method)County cricket’s first live attendance of the Covid-shortened season saw Hashim Amla and Will Jacks steer Surrey to a nine-wicket victory against Hampshire in a Vitality Blast south group match affected by rain.It was Surrey’s first win of the summer, following four Bob Willis Trophy defeats plus a tie, a no-result and a defeat from their opening three Blast fixtures, and they were always in charge once Gareth Batty had won the toss and opted to field.Chasing 80 on Duckworth Lewis Stern, after Hampshire’s innings was delayed and then disrupted by the weather, Amla and Jacks put on 64 in 8.1 overs to ensure there would be no alarms as they chased down a total that always looked inadequate.It took until the fourth ball of the final over, though, for Jacks to finish off Hampshire when, after six runs were still required from the last six balls, bowled by Ryan Stevenson, he top-edged a pull for his fifth four to reach 45 not out from 31 balls. Laurie Evans was 4 not out at the other end.Former South Africa batsman Amla took an immediate liking to Pakistan’s 20-year-old left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, making his Hampshire debut by conceding 30 from his three overs, with fours over extra cover and a lovely on-drive.Jacks, meanwhile, twice lofted Afridi high over extra cover for boundaries and he also swept Mason Crane’s legspin for four before Amla thin-edged an attempted reverse sweep at Crane to keeper Lewis McManus to go for a 27-ball 29.Some much-needed late hitting from Sam Northeast and James Fuller had earlier hauled Hampshire to 77 for 5 from their eventual 11 overs. Northeast made a run-a-ball 31 before being caught at long-on in the final over, while Fuller smashed a flat six over square leg off an excellent Gus Atkinson bouncer with a flashing blade to finish 17 not out.Jamie Overton’s only over, on his debut for Surrey on loan ahead of his permanent move from Somerset this winter, went for 12 runs as Northeast cut and forced successive fours in the innings’ penultimate over.Surrey were permitted to allow 2500 members into the Kia Oval, as part of the government’s ongoing process of getting live crowds back to sporting events, but those spectators initially found themselves frustrated rather than feeling fortunate as bad weather hit south London.A long burst of applause rang around the ground, however, when Batty led out the Surrey team to begin a match initially reduced to 17 overs-per-side, following an hour’s delay to the original start time of 6.30pm.But, after just three overs, more rain arrived to drive the players off with Hampshire 21 for 1. Reece Topley had bowled two tidy overs for ten runs but it was Jacks who grabbed the first wicket to fall, and his first in T20 cricket, when he turned an off break to have Tom Alsop stumped for 1 attempting a big hit from down the pitch.On the resumption, at 8.25pm, slow left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty bowled Felix Organ for 9 and then, in his second over, was delighted to see Rory Burns slide around the deep square leg ropes to hold a tremendous catch when Joe Weatherley swept powerfully.Weatherley had hit the first boundary of the innings in the previous over, the fifth, with a sweep at Batty’s offspin, but it was Surrey’s 42-year-old captain who then reduced Hampshire to 41 for 4 by having McManus held at point for 2 from a reverse sweep. Moriarty ended with the impressive figures of 2 for 12 from three overs.The only crowds previously allowed into county grounds this summer before tonight were at the Kia Oval and Edgbaston for two pre-season friendly contests in late July between, respectively, Surrey and Middlesex and Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

‘We played Rajasthan Royals recently and got defeated by a weak batting line-up … Against a strong team like Mumbai we’re going to need miracles’

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-20199:44

We are a good team but making bad decisions – Andre Russell

After winning four of their first five matches of this IPL season, Kolkata Knight Riders have lost their last six matches on the bounce. Their batting has come under plenty of criticism for the situation they find themselves in, but Andre Russell believes the blame lies elsewhere.”We have a good team,” Russell said on the eve of Knight Riders’ match against Mumbai Indians. “But having a good team and making bad decisions, I think you will always lose games. And that’s what we’ve been doing.”I could pinpoint a few games where if we’d just looked to bowl tighter, and bowl bowlers who would restrict the game – the right bowlers at the right time [the results would’ve been different]. They say our batting has been struggling, but our batting hasn’t been struggling really. We get the totals that we should defend, and we should restrict teams to lesser totals and go in and get those runs. And we don’t really take our catches, we’ve been the worst fielding team so far. It’s plain on TV, everyone’s seeing it.”As an example of Knight Riders’ inability to defend totals, he picked their most recent game, against Rajasthan Royals – a “weak batting line-up” – who chased down 176 after slipping to 123 for 6.”I’m disappointed that we played Rajasthan Royals recently and got defeated by a weak batting line-up,” Russell said. “If you can’t restrict a team for under 170-plus with our bowling attack, then against a strong team like Mumbai we’re going to need miracles. We just have to count on our belief. If we win the next three games, chances are that things might go our way. But we have to win our games.”Russell has been Knight Riders’ standout performer this season – with 406 runs at a strike rate of nearly 210, and eight wickets – but he says his team’s performances have left him deflated.”To be in this position is not the most healthiest,” Russell said. “I find myself just being in my room for the last couple of days. Losing game after game… I’m not the type of guy to go walking around like I’m doing something good. Even if I score a half-century or get five wickets and we come out on the losing end, it doesn’t make me want to leave my room.”We as cricketers, we have to hold our passion inside and not show it on the television. I’m passionate inside. Sometimes it may show on the field. I may get upset at a team-mate for dropping a catch or not taking a half-chance. Because when mess up, [opposition] guys take our half-chances. It’s hard to go walking around, losing six games in a row. It’s not healthy. I’m feeling down at the moment, but tomorrow when I cross that rope, my level will be 150.”As for his highly-debated batting position – he has himself advocated going higher up the order – Russell hinted at more flexibility in the matches to come.”Yes, there have been conversations with the coach, and he’s backing me to go in whenever the team needs me,” Russell said. “Maybe tomorrow you’ll see me a bit earlier, maybe I’ll be coming in at the same lower-order spot. It all depends on what happens tomorrow. You can’t predict the future.”If we should get a good start, then maybe I’ll just stay where I normally bat. I can go in at four-five overs to go, I’m happy doing that. If the team needs me to bat 12 overs tomorrow, I’m happy to bat 12. If they need me to bat three or four, that’s my job.”Andre Russell goes big•BCCI

Asked about the prospect of facing one of the best attacks in the IPL in Mumbai Indians, Russell said the pressure would be on the bowlers and not on him.”I never fear any bowler. Never. Bowlers fear me! (laughter) I’m not bragging or anything,” Russell said. “I can get out in one ball tomorrow, or the first ball they bowl can go for six. I’m not afraid to get out. It’s not a life and death situation. You’re giving yourself a chance to score runs, and they’re trying to get you out.”[Jasprit] Bumrah is a top bowler, [Lasith] Malinga – top bowler. But they’re human beings. Tomorrow they can bowl a few balls that slip out of the fingers and don’t come out like they normally come out – and I’m in business. I never back down.”The Eden Gardens crowd has witnessed four straight Knight Riders defeats. Russell was amazed that spectators were still packing the stands.”It’s been unbelievable to be honest. We keep losing game after game, but the stadium is always full,” Russell said. “And I know Sunday we’ll get another full crowd. It’s just amazing.”In the Caribbean, if I was playing for West Indies or Jamaica, and we lose six games in a row, you’ll not see no fans to be honest. You’re going to see a few die-hard fans, but you won’t see the stadium full like this. People are going to say, ‘you’re not playing good cricket’. It’s not like the English Premier League where guys look to fight. It’s just amazing. I would appreciate if the stadium gets full tomorrow. That would really get me pumped, after hitting a boundary and taking a wicket to hear a big cheer. That would really keep us going.”

In light of their failure in the home T20s against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh pace bowlers were ordered to participate in a special training camp under bowling coach Courtney Walsh ahead of the Nidahas Trophy

Mohammad Isam23-Feb-2018Bangladesh’s bowling coach Courtney Walsh will brief pace bowlers in a week-long camp on how to prepare for certain match situations. Becoming more consistent and mentally strong are other areas in focus as they prepare for the Nidahas Trophy T20s in March, which involves India and hosts Sri Lanka. The camp started on Friday and will go on until March 2.Bangladesh’s pace bowlers have come under increased scrutiny after their failure to stop Sri Lanka batsmen in the two T20s that rounded up a miserable home season for Bangladesh. Sri Lanka won the T20 series by putting up scores of 194 and 210, and losing eight wickets across the two matches. As a result, BCB president Nazmul Hassan ordered a special training camp for the pace bowlers, under Walsh, which includes Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain among the 14.”We are working on the mental side of bowling in the camp,” Walsh said. “They have to back themselves and keep it simple. In my assessment, that’s what has happened in the last series. The guys went a little bit over the top in terms of trying a bit too hard. They have to know what best to do in a situation and how to execute it. If they get the consistency, eight out of ten times it will work in your favour. We are trying to get them to be consistent and remain relaxed with the execution.”Walsh said that the camp will also take the bowlers back to basics, to give them a better understanding of pace bowling, and at the same time work on their consistency. “We haven’t bowled as consistently as we would have liked so this camp is to focus on that. They have to understand their roles in the upcoming tour.”The camp is also to make them know what fast bowling is all about, and the hard work that is required. It is a combination of both. We are trying to keep it simple. We are focused on the consistency, working on the skill-set and get a better understanding of it.”The camp includes six uncapped pace bowlers, some of whom appeared in the BPL in November last year. After initially seeing what they bring to the table, Walsh said these young pace bowlers, whom he is seeing for the first time, will be taken through the rigours.”It is the first time I am seeing some of these guys properly,” he stated. “To look at them today was to assess them and see what they have. Over the next few days, we will be doing specific work on individuals. They have to improve their departments.”If they are weak in any department, we will work on it. If they are strong, we will get them to be stronger. It is to develop the overall skill of the player. At the end of the day, I am here to make Bangladesh cricket as best as it can be, and for the bowlers to be a lot more consistent.”

Virat Kohli has been unveiled as the latest cover star of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, following his leading role in India’s clean sweep of trophies against England

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-20172:32

India’s player of the year – Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has been unveiled as the latest cover star of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, following his leading role in India’s clean sweep of trophies in all three formats of their recent series against England.Kohli, who made two centuries in India’s 4-0 Test series win before Christmas, including a career-best 235 in the fourth Test at Mumbai, is pictured playing a reverse sweep – a reflection, according to Wisden’s editor, Lawrence Booth, of the manner in which he has helped to revolutionise the sport in recent years.Kohli’s reverse-sweep adorns the cover of Wisden 2017•Wisden

“It underlines the fact that he is a very modern cricketer,” Booth told ESPNcricinfo. “It felt like the right time to get some unorthodoxy onto the cover. People often think of Wisden as a bastion of orthodoxy, but cricket is changing so rapidly that it felt like the right time to reflect that, and Kohli was the right man for the job.”Kohli is the third cricketer of Asian extraction to feature on the front cover in the past four editions. His former India team-mate Sachin Tendulkar was honoured in 2014 following his retirement from international cricket, while England’s Moeen Ali was the cover star for 2015.Kohli is the stand-out contender to be named as Wisden’s Leading Player of the Year, an accolade that dates back to 2004, when Ricky Ponting was the original recipient.”Kohli will be fresh in the mind of all cricket fans after his performances against England,” Booth said. “He has pulled clear of the likes of Steve Smith, Joe Root, Kane Williamson and AB de Villiers, and is clearly the most exciting all-format batsman in world cricket.”However, Kohli has not yet been named as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, the book’s oldest honour that can only be bestowed once in a player’s career and tends to reflect a player’s impact on the preceding English season.Kohli’s record in England does not yet match his overall impact on the sport – his only previous Test appearances in the country came in 2014, when he made 134 runs in five Tests at 13.40 in England’s 3-1 series win.However, he seems intent on making amends when India next tour England in 2018, and admitted last year that he would consider a stint in county cricket to acclimatise himself properly for the challenge.The 2017 edition of Wisden will be published in April, to coincide with the start of the English season.

Jonny Bairstow goes into the opening warm-up game of England’s tour of South Africa knowing that he is at last England’s first-choice wicketkeeper in Test cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2015Jonny Bairstow goes into the opening warm-up game of England’s tour of South Africa, against an Invitational XI at Potchefstroom tomorrow, knowing that he is at last England’s first-choice wicketkeeper in Test cricket, having twice been handed the role mid-series following an incumbent’s loss of form.Bairstow, whom England’s coach Trevor Bayliss confirmed at the weekend would start the Boxing Day Test at Durban, inherited the gloves for the final Test of England’s tour of the UAE, at Sharjah last month, after Jos Buttler had mustered 430 runs at 23.88 in 12 previous Tests in 2015. And this time he believes he is ready to make the job his own, having originally been handed the role in invidious circumstances during England’s whitewash tour of Australia in 2013-14.On that occasion, again for a Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, he took over from Matt Prior with England in freefall, 3-0 down in the series and with the Ashes already gone, and he proved powerless to resist the tide with scores of 10, 21, 18 and 0 in a pair of crushing defeats.Bairstow believes, however, that he is stronger for that experience. Though he does not doubt that Buttler has the wherewithal to battle back into contention, not least after his eye-popping 46-ball hundred in the recent ODI series against Pakistan, the chance to start the series with the gloves, having already earned selection as a pure batsman since the midpoint of last summer’s Ashes, will help him to play a key part in what he terms a “massive” series.”There’s always healthy competition,” Bairstow told reporters in Potchefstroom. “Jos has played some fantastic stuff in one-day cricket and Test cricket so the competition for places is there but that will drive us on to become better players and better people.”You can never take anything for granted,” he added. “Every spot within the side has got to be treasured and every opportunity you get you’ve got to try and take. So from game to game you’re always wanting to do as well as you can and get a run.”Hopefully I’ll be able to secure that spot. I’ve only kept in three Test matches but it’s an exciting time for me personally. I’m really looking forward to the challenge and with that comes a lot of responsibility.”Looking back on his baptism of fire in the 2013-14 Ashes, Bairstow was phlegmatic about the experience, from a personal point of view as well as that of the overall team.”I think I’ve grown as a person over the last couple of years since the two Tests in Australia,” he said. “The position of the squad and the morale in the camp is completely different from what it was going into those Test matches in Melbourne and Sydney.”When you’re 3-0 down against an Australian side that’s flying it’s never going to be an easy Test. So there’s different circumstances that are around this group of players at the moment and it’s an exciting time to be involved in English cricket.”As if being a Test wicketkeeper-batsman is not an onerous task in itself, Bairstow will have to match the standards of arguably the best current allround cricketer in the world, following South Africa’s decision to hand AB de Villiers the wicketkeeping duties for the Durban Test, with Dane Vilas, who held the role during their recent 3-0 series loss in India, left out of the squad.It is not exactly an onerous task as far as de Villiers is concerned. He has performed the role in 23 of his 102 Tests, including as a 20-year-old way back in his debut series against England in 2004-05, while his Test average in those matches is a remarkable 58.26. Seven of his 21 Test hundreds have come while doubling up with the gloves, most recently against West Indies at Cape Town in January.”You want to do as well as you can against the best that you can,” Bairstow said. “Obviously comparing yourself to someone like AB is going to be a fantastic challenge and if you do come out being the better of the wicketkeeper-batsmen then I will have had a very good tour.”Having the confidence of the captain and coach going into the warm-up games and hopefully the first Test allows you to be relaxed and enjoy yourself,” he added. “That’s when I play my best cricket and hopefully I’ll be able to do that not only in the warm-up games but going into the series.”

Barbados won the Regional Four-Day competition for the first time since its inception, and finally broke the dominant hold that Jamaica has had on the competition

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2013
ScorecardKirk Edward and Everton Weekes at the trophy presentation•WICB Media Photo/Randy Brooks

Barbados registered their first first-class triumph in six seasons, winning by an innings and 22 runs against Trinidad & Tobago despite a fighting 140 from Lendl Simmons while his team was following on. That also meant that for the first time in six years, the competition has not been won by Jamaica, who lost out to T&T in the semi-finals this season.T&T, coming into the third – and eventually final – day on 140 for 4, were only able to add 30 runs before Denesh Ramdin fell for 18. Lendl Simmons and Ramdhin had put on 83 runs for the fifth wicket, in an effort to reduce the deficit after T&T’s first innings flop for 110.The wicket of Simmons followed soon after with the score on 195. Simmons, who had been batting on 111 overnight, was caught-behind off the bowling of Jonathan Carter. Miguel Cummins and Javon Searles then took out the remaining batsmen. They ultimately fell 23 runs short of making Barbados bat again.Kraigg Brathwaite of Barbados ended up the second-highest run scorer in the competition with 577 runs in eight matches, while their offspinner Ashley Nurse finished third-highest wicket taker with 45 wickets in eight.Hendy Springer, the Barbados coach, was delighted with his team’s performance. “It feels great to win a trophy, after the kind of start we had to the season [Barbados began with a loss to Jamaica], and to look around and see some of the young players improve, which is the definition of success for me.”We had guys that were willing or fight, willing to prove their worth and that was important. Players have come with higher skill levels than the ones we had this season, but the fight that they showed day in, day out was what made the difference.This team is different to others that I have coached over the years since it does not include a number of players that have represented West Indies at the higher levels. When I first started coaching Barbados back in December 2000, we had players like Roland Holder, Philo Wallace, Sherwin Campbell, Hendy Bryan, Adrian Griffith, Floyd Reifer to name a few – a number of players that had represented West Indies and it was much different then. This season we had more first-class players than West Indies players, and it was good to see those players come to the fore as well.”T&T captain Denesh Ramdin was disappointed with his side’s batting, and hoped to rectify this performance for the future. “It was an up and down season and we had to keep chopping and changing players, some going and some coming, and we never got that balance right in our batting department. We were always struggling to put 200 runs on the board but our bowlers had done it throughout the season for us. This is one of the few times we have gotten over 220 runs for the season. It is something we have to think about and we have to go back to the drawing board.”The top five or six batters need to come to the party. They didn’t come consistently as we wanted them to in this tournament. Well played to Lendl Simmons for getting a hundred this game, but having to come from 260 behind was a hard task to overcome.”I believe it is a mindset that the players have to change. We have to learn to stand up and bat longer. Players are sometimes playing too many shots and not batting as long as they should. To get hundreds, you need to bat at least two and a half sessions and we find guys are trying to get the runs all in one session. Hopefully, they can all learn from this experience and learn as fast as possible. Next year will be right around the corner and we will need to bounce back strongly.”

After having Hampshire reeling at 72 for 6, with 50 overs remaining, Gloucestershire eventually won with only 12 balls left

Ivo Tennant at the Rose Bowl15-Apr-2012
ScorecardMichael Bates almost defied Gloucestershire with 87•Getty Images

For Gloucestershire, this victory was not just important but desperately needed. Beaten in two days at Chelmsford last week and worryingly short of money, they had to dismiss Hampshire, a club with significantly greater resources, for a total of less than 289. After having them reeling at 72 for 6, with 50 overs remaining, they eventually won with only 12 balls left.Hampshire, seemingly, were on the verge of drawing what had been an absorbing contest. Michael Bates, their talented young wicketkeeper, had demonstrated he can also bat. His innings of 87 was a career best in the Championship. His partnership of 118 with Chris Wood, whose 65 was also more than he had ever made before, appeared sufficient to save the match.As it was, Will Gidman, Ian Saxelby and David Payne continued to extract life from this pitch. It was Gidman who bowled Bates and Hamza Riazuddin in swift succession. This at a stage when nothing seemed more certain than that Bates, in need of runs to ensure his club does not make any further misguided attempts to sign a more experienced replacement on the basis that he might bat better, would reach the first century of his career.Bates struck 11 fours and Wood 12. Riazuddin, too, batted with assurance. So credit to Gloucestershire’s seamers – their attack, remember, is shorn of Jon Lewis, the ideal bowler to deal with the late order – for their perseverance.Hampshire never looked likely to reach their target of 290. That was particularly so after the openers, Liam Dawson and Jimmy Adams, swiftly went, one picking out long leg and the other well held low at second slip by Chris Dent, whose fifth catch of the match this was, to say nothing of his first-innings century. Simon Katich, the one batsman who could well have stayed in all afternoon, attempted to steer Saxelby to third man and was taken behind the wicket: 36 for 3.Michael Carberry took 29 balls to get off the mark and in due course was held by Richard Coughtrie at the second attempt. When James Vince and Sean Ervine were both taken at third slip by Ian Cockbain, off Saxelby, Hampshire had subsided to 72 for 6. An early finish appeared quite possible – unless Bates, whose previous highest score was an unbeaten 58 despite possessing a sound technique, remained at the crease for a considerable time.He did just that, getting into line, collecting runs whenever he could through front foot drives and a keenness to cut. He and Wood, who put away anything on or outside leg stump to good effect, added 100 off 154 balls. Alex Gidman switched his bowlers around, utilising Ed Young’s left-arm spin, but once Bates had been bowled by brother Will, the tail was exposed.Gloucestershire, of course, are not only having to make do without Lewis. Steve Kirby and Gemaal Hussain went to Somerset the previous winter and there has been little talk since of anything but other cutbacks, players not being retained and of the need for the club to move grounds to secure its future.So they will take great heart from this triumph: the bowlers utilising the conditions to the full, the quality of the slip catching and, above all, the obduracy of Dent, a Bristol boy to boot.

Sri Lanka will have to adjust to the Test format and the English conditions if they are to challenge England this summer, Marvan Atapattu, their batting coach has said

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2011Sri Lanka’s batting coach Marvan Atapattu has said that the side will have to adjust to the Test format and the English conditions if they are to challenge England this summer.”The biggest challenge is to adjust to English conditions,” he said prior to the team’s departure for the two-month tour. “We are playing a Test series after a gap of a few months [Sri Lanka’s last Test was in the rain-affected series against West Indies in November-December 2010]. Winning the Test series in England is our aim.”A [Test] win will make it easier for our preparation work for the one-day and T20 games [that follow].”The squad left without newly appointed captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, and former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, as the players are on IPL duty. While Dilshan will join the squad ahead of their first practice game – against Middlesex between May 14 and 16 – the other two seniors will join the squad along with Dilhara Fernando, Thisara Perera and Suraj Randiv, in time for the second practice game on May 18.Another notable absence in the squad leaving for England was Muttiah Muralitharan, who retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. While Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test series in England, Muralitharan has featured in some of their better performances there, picking up 16 wickets to help them win a one-off Test at The Oval in 1998, and eight wickets to win a Test at Trent Bridge in 2006 to draw a series.Downplaying Muralitharan’s absence, Atapattu said the tour provided a chance for fringe players like Farveez Maharoof and Kaushal Silva – who have been brought in for the first practice game as cover for the absent players – to prove their credentials.

Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris will replace the injured Brett Lee in the 15-member squad for the ICC World Twenty20, the ICC has confirmed

Cricinfo staff28-Apr-2010The fast bowler Ryan Harris will replace the injured Brett Lee in Australia’s 15-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20, the ICC has confirmed. Lee suffered a muscle strain in his right forearm while bowling during the warm-up game against Zimbabwe in St Lucia.”During yesterday’s game against Zimbabwe, Brett developed increasing right elbow pain and by the time he completed his final over the pain was significant,” Alex Kountouris, Australia’s physio, said. “At the conclusion of the innings it was obvious Brett had sustained an injury to one of the forearm muscles near the elbow and this was confirmed by a subsequent MRI scan.”Due to the condensed nature of this tournament Brett will not recover in time to take any further part and has therefore been withdrawn from the squad. This is not a recurrence of the elbow injury that recently required surgery but a new injury that will require specialist opinion upon his return to Australia.”Harris and the left-armer Doug Bollinger were the front-runners to replace Lee and the selectors preferred Harris, who had a very successful summer against Pakistan at home and later in New Zealand. Harris had a successful tournament for Deccan Chargers in the IPL this year, when he took 14 wickets in 12 games at 16.64 runs.”While it is obviously disappointing for Brett, this gives Ryan Harris a wonderful opportunity,” Andrew Hilditch, Australia’s chairman of selectors, said. “Ryan was very close to selection in the initial 15-man squad. He has been in excellent form for Australia in one-day and Test formats and during his recent stint at the IPL.”