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Matthew Wade was out cheaply yet again as Tasmania collapsed from 2 for 100 to 9 for 150 against Queensland in Hobart

Daniel Brettig05-Nov-2017
Matthew Wade brought out the paddle sweep frequently•Getty Images

Australia’s incumbent Test wicketkeeper Matthew Wade was out cheaply for the second time in the Sheffield Shield match between Tasmania and Queensland at Bellerive Oval, as the Tigers fell in a heap while trying to set the Bulls an adequate fourth innings target in a low-scoring affair.Tasmania’s seamers had been able to dismiss the visitors five runs short of their own first innings tally, the wickets shared between Jackson Bird, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers and Gabe Bell. However after Alex Doolan and Jordan Silk put on 80 for the second wicket to push the Tigers into a seemingly strong position, a clatter of wickets reset the contest.The majority of these were claimed by the experienced swing and seam merchant Luke Feldman, who was aided by Mark Steketee and Michael Neser in facilitating a Tasmanian collapse of 8 for 30. Wade made it as far as 17, but was dismissed when trying to hook Steketee and well caught by Neser, diving forward.Wade’s exit meant he has tallied scores of 1, 6, 9 and 17 in four Shield innings so far, having averaged barely 20 with the bat in 10 Tests since his recall to the Australian team in November last year.

Al-Amin’s wicket of Ariful Haque in the 15th over of the match between Khulna Titans and Comilla Victorians on November 28 had raised suspicion

Mohammad Isam30-Nov-2017Fast bowler Al-Amin Hossain has been reported for a suspect bowling action in the Bangladesh Premier League. Al-Amin’s wicket of Ariful Haque in the 15th over of the match between Khulna Titans and Comilla Victorians on November 28 had raised suspicion.He will now have 14 days to respond to the BCB’s bowling action review committee, but can continue to bowl until then.”Al-Amin was reported for one delivery from the November 28 game,” Jalal Yunus, the BPL chairman and technical committee head, said. “The next step would be as per ICC’s rulings in these cases. Al-Amin’s bowling action will be reviewed after 14 days.”This is not the first time that Al-Amin’s bowling action has been in question. He had been reported in August 2014 and after a test in the ICC-accredited centre in Chennai, he was cleared by the ICC in November 2014.In the previous BPL season, Kevon Cooper and Arafat Sunny were pulled up for suspect actions. However, both bowlers are now playing in the league this season.

The team management made a specific request to get Dhananjai back in order to travel with the “best support staff and technology support possible” as the next year features tough tours of South Africa, England and Australia

Sidharth Monga26-Dec-2017India have made a last-minute change to their support staff in the lead-up to the tour of South Africa with analyst CKM Dhananjai coming back to the fold to replace Ashish Tulli. ESPNcricinfo understands the team management made a specific request to get Dhananjai back in order to travel with the “best support staff and technology support possible” as the next year features tough tours of South Africa, England and Australia.Dhananjai was the team analyst when India won the World T20 in 2007, the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. He was also part of the support staff when India reached the No. 1 Test ranking in 2009. He has also been the analyst of the defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians, a role he will now have to give up as part of BCCI regulations to avoid conflict of interest.Dhananjai is a vice president of SportsMechanics, a technology and analytics company set up by S Ramakrishnan, the first analyst India had. SportsMechanics provides analytics support to many sports team, including Mumbai Indians.Tulli, formerly with Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, was brought in when Anurag Thakur was the BCCI president. Until then, a SportsMechanics representative used to travel with the national team. Despite Tulli coming in, India retained the back-end support of SportsMechanics. In 2016, though, India cut ties with Sports Mechanics and moved to Agaram InfoTech Pvt. Ltd., who were technology partners of Chennai Super Kings among other teams.Now, though, on insistence of the team management, India have re-established their ties with with Dhananjai and SportsMechanics.

Bryan Bloy, the curator at Centurion, described the intensity of his job as being higher than in any of his previous positions

Firdose Moonda in Centurion12-Jan-2018Bryan Bloy is looking at his first Test pitch. You might think that’s why he is nervous.The SuperSport strip is “a bit browner” than Faf du Plessis thought it would be, and considering the South African captain has ordered spicy surfaces – and that this is his home ground, and also that he was frank in saying what he saw didn’t exactly meet his expectations – it would make sense if Bloy was a little worried.But it’s not what the eye can see that has raised Bloy’s nervousness. Instead, it’s all the interest in him and the way he goes about his job, something that Bloy has done under the radar since he started in September 2016.Bloy is less than 18 months into the position as curator at SuperSport Park and this is his first Test pitch. It’s only his fourth international strip after two one-day matches and a T20, all of which were packed with runs. He’s been tasked with producing the opposite now, a bowler-friendly surface, and there are many eyes watching him. Bloy has never had this much attention lavished on him before and it’s understandable that he isn’t enjoying it, especially since he doesn’t think he will deliver anything vastly different from the Centurion pitches of the past.”We don’t try to change things around too much,” Bloy told ESPNcricinfo. “On the Highveld, conditions allow for bouncy wickets. That’s our strength at SuperSport Park and we try to play to our strength. This is the Highveld and these are the kinds of wickets we prepare.”Bloy’s predecessor Hilbert Smit spent years saying the same thing. The basic premise of an upcountry pitch is that it will have pace, bounce and good carry. The rest depends on how much grass is left on it, which will determine the amount of seam movement. At Newlands last week, Evan Flint tried to get as much live grass he could and also had mid-match rain which resulted in a surface with more movement than usual, especially in the Cape.The SuperSport Park pitch also has a lot of grass on it, but not green grass, partly because extreme heat in the build-up burnt it off. “You need a little bit of grass to assist the ball but when its 37 degrees in the build-up, everything is tricky,” Bloy said. “We don’t have a lot of live grass, but there is a lot of grass.”That means movement off the seam will not be as “extreme,” in the words of Aiden Markram, who also plays his domestic cricket in Centurion, as it was at Newlands. That, probably, is something batsmen on both sides want to hear. Du Plessis’ concern is that the brown grass will continue to burn off as the match goes on, by exposure of the surface to the blazing sun which could cause deterioration. If that happens, the pitch could take turn, but it would be unusual. “Generally Centurion doesn’t spin that much, but there is a thick layer of brown grass on it, which is not something we’re used to seeing,” du Plessis said. “So it’s an unknown. Hopefully it doesn’t turn. To get the conditions that we would like, the ball must spin as little as possible.”The SuperSport Park during a T20 a year ago•AFP

Bloy confirmed there will be some wear on the pitch but not enough to turn around corners and already spoke to du Plessis on what to expect. “I met Faf yesterday when they arrived for training. The guys arrived and had a look at the pitch and we discussed what we think it’s going to do. They kind of know what to expect,” Bloy said. “It’s going to be a good SuperSport Park track. On day one, the pitch plays a little slowish. Not slow, but slowish. And then it quickens and gets better. Day two and three will be better to bat on. It will quicken up. And then with the forecast, it should deteriorate a bit on day four and five. Upfront, it shouldn’t be easy and then it should flatten out and then deteriorate.”Whatever happens towards the latter part of the match, bounce will be a factor throughout and India know it. “It looks likely a really lively pitch – exactly what we expected it to be and we actually wanted it to be that way, so that both teams are into the contest provided they play some good cricket,” India captain Virat Kohli said. “This pitch will again test us to play our best cricket and that is something that we are looking forward to.”Kohli has again told his batsmen to be prepared for the rising ball. “One must not get surprised by the bounce here,” he said. “We have to maintain composure when you get sudden change of bounce which you experience in South Africa. There are other pitches around the world as well but here the bounce can be steep. It can be quite steep from length also. Those are things you mentally need to tune yourself to, get over and mentally adjust to, accept that this is going to be a major part of batting in South Africa.”Kohli and Co will be hearted by Bloy’s pre-match prediction that even though it may be tough for batting, he anticipates a match that will go into four days. “I expect it to go longer than three days. I hope it goes four days,” Bloy said. “You can never tell. You prepare the wicket and then its up to the players.”From Saturday, Bloy hopes that the attention will shift to the players and that he can sneak out of the spotlight and away from the stress. He described the intensity of this job as being higher than in any of his previous positions, none of which have involved an international sporting venue.After studying turf and grass management with a previous curator at SuperSport Park, Rudolph du Preez, Bloy started off doing golf course maintenance. From 2010, he worked at a university managing their all sports grounds – a grand total of 25. At SuperSport Park, he only has one field to worry about but it’s more than enough. “It might have been easier there (at the university). I had been there for a long time so I had things dialed in. There is a lot of focus here and a lot of hype about Test-match cricket,” Bloy said.And it’s only the beginning.

The two captains outline how their approaches differ, but both agree that conversation on the field of play is fine so long as it does not veer into hurtful territory

Daniel Brettig in Port Elizabeth08-Mar-2018Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis have been reminded of their responsibilities, as captains of Australia and South Africa, to work with the umpires to stop their players from getting out of control – thereby ensuring no repeat of the ugly scenes that marred the Durban Test.In a meeting at St George’s Park on the eve of the second Test, the match referee Jeff Crowe and the umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Gaffaney stated that they would be keeping ears peeled for any potential flash points, following criticism by both du Plessis and the former Australian opener Simon Katich that the umpires needed to be more proactive.”It was nice to just have a chat and just ensure that we’re playing within the spirit of the game, and that cricket is what’s written about and talked about after this game,” Smith said after the meeting. “[After the first Test] it has all been about the indiscretions of the last fixture and it’s not what we want for the game. It’s about staying in line; there’s nothing wrong with a bit of banter out on the field, just making sure that we’re not getting personal.”That [umpires monitoring behaviour] was also talked about. More with the fact that if they hear something going on, it’s about going to either myself or Faf and ensuring that we have our troops in line and playing within the guidelines. That was basically the conversation.”The two captains outlined how their approaches differ, though both agreed that conversation on the field of play was fine so long as it did not veer into hurtful territory. Du Plessis said that his team was not as vocal as Australia, concentrating more on strong body language.”I have a lot of respect for every team that we play against. The style of play that that team comes with is probably the style of play that they feel they need,” du Plessis said. “If you play New Zealand, they are the nice guys. They’re really friendly.”Us as a team, and me as a captain, we are very similar in that I don’t see much value in what you say on the field having an impact on the performance you have as a team. For me it’s about focusing on what sort of presence you have, what sort of body language.”Smith said that he left it up to each individual player to decide how best to get themselves “in the battle”, whether it was by keeping their own counsel or engaging with the opposition.”I think for us, as an Australian team, we play our best when we play good, hard, aggressive cricket and find a way to get in the battle on the field.” he said. “Whatever way you have to get the best out of yourself… If that’s by having a bit of banter with someone then so be it, if that gets you motivated and up for the challenge then go for it. It’s pretty simple, it’s just about not crossing that line to go into that personal sort of space.”By the same token, du Plessis said he was not looking for Australia to change their style of play, but only for the umpires to regulate it a little more firmly than was the case in Durban. “I’m not expecting Australia to change their style of play. They are a team that have always done it and they will always do it. They are not going to change overnight,” he said. “They’ve always had characters in their team. It’s not even the whole team. There are just two or three guys that you can see it’s almost their job in the team, to go that route.”For me it will just be a case where if you have guys in your team who are pushing that line, as a captain, you make sure you keep them calm, and that things don’t get to a stage where it did in the previous game. If the captain is not close by, that role will fall to the umpires. I don’t have a problem with chirping, I think chirping is good for the game. It’s just… about that line.”It remains to be seen how much pressure the St George’s Park peace pact can withstand.

England Lions achieved a consolation seven-wicket win at the end of their disappointing tour of the Caribbean, thanks to an unbeaten 50 from Sam Hain

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2018England Lions 171 for 3 (Hain 54*, Davies 48) beat West Indies A 166 (Chase 67, Parkinson 4-26)
ScorecardEngland Lions achieved a consolation seven-wicket win at the end of their disappointing tour of the Caribbean, thanks to an unbeaten 50 from Sam Hain against West Indies A in Antigua.Once again, the Lions had to overcome a batting slump, as they lost three wickets for four runs, but Hain and Sam Northeast came together to put on 80, to take their side home at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.Matt Parkinson, the Lancashire legspinner, was the pick of the Lions bowlers, taking four wickets, while Richard Gleeson and Sam Curran took two apiece with the new ball.Roston Chase’s 67 had helped the hosts set 166, but once Alex Davies and Nick Gubbins put on 87 for the first wicket, the match was firmly in the Lions’ grasp.After West Indies won the toss and chose to bat, they were quickly reduced to 28 for 3, with Kieran Powell hooking Gleeson to fine leg before Jermaine Blackwood holed out to third man.Curran then bowled Devon Thomas for 5 to keep up the pressure, and though Chase found support in a fifty-run stand with Jahmar Hamilton, Parkinson returned to mop up the tail.The Lions started their response positively, with Gubbins and Davies both latching on to any loose deliveries from the Windies bowlers.Gubbins eventually pulled a Cornwall half-tracker straight to Blackwood on the boundary before Davies miscued an attempted ramp off Reifer, and when Jennings was trapped lbw by Cornwall for a duck, the pressure was beginning to build.However, Hain and Northeast carried the Lions over the line to record their first win in any of the unofficial internationals on this tour, following a clean sweep for West Indies A in the Test series.

England’s head coach has hinted that the batting line-up is unlikely to change much for the series against Pakistan in May, despite few of the issues being resolved over the winter

Andrew McGlashan04-Apr-2018Head coach Trevor Bayliss has hinted that the England batting line-up is unlikely to change much for the series against Pakistan in May, despite few of the issues being resolved over the last five months, but he called on domestic players to show they are better than those currently in the team.Bayliss conceded that England ended their 2017-18 Test campaign with largely the same questions as they began with following five defeats and two draws having been foiled by New Zealand’s lower-order on the final day in Christchurch.Over the seven Tests against Australia and New Zealand, Dawid Malan was the one batsman to enhance his reputation. Mark Stoneman and James Vince showed moments of encouragement but the pair finished averaging 30.23 and 30.54 respectively across all the Tests. Vince missed the Auckland Test when the line-up was reshuffled due to Ben Stokes being unable to bowl and returned with 76 in the second innings in Christchurch while Stoneman scored half-centuries in each Test.

Bayliss on…

Jack Leach “He’s the one who holds the position at this stage and I thought he had a good game for someone playing his first Test. He had good composure. Like anyone playing his first game or two, he’s still got a few things to learn at this level but I think he bowled a good line and didn’t give too much away which was a good thing.”
The batting order “We have tried Jonny up the list previously and I think he’s quite comfortable at No. 7 but he’s obviously a very good player. I think that will be revisited especially if some of the other guys don’t cement a spot and start averaging 45-plus for the batters.”
Catching “We’ve got to work harder. If what we’re doing is not working we’ve got to do it even more. We’ve tried to up the catching and fielding and at times we field and catch extremely well, as good as anyone, but it doesn’t mean you’re a good fielder if you’re inconsistent.”

“I think what they’ve all shown over this winter is that they are good players and they’ve scored some runs against quality opposition bowlers,” Bayliss said. “But what we need from them is to be doing it more often. They’re averaging high 20s, we need them to get that up and hopefully put another 20 on that.”Probably the same questions are still there but Malan for example played pretty well against the pace in Australia and the other two guys at different times stood up. Vince made a couple of good scores. Stoneman under a fair bit of pressure and a barrage of short-pitched bowling handled himself reasonably well but again to be an international batter we need to be doing better than that.”And the other side of that is who do we replace them with? We need guys and I guess this is a call-out to the guys in county cricket, the first five or six matches of the county season are very important. We’ve got Liam Livingstone here and the other one I’ll add in who’s impressed in the nets is Ben Foakes. He’s batting very well also. So there’s a couple of guys in this squad who can hopefully score runs and put a bit of pressure on and make the selectors job difficult which is what we all want.”The batting was not helped by Alastair Cook’s lean time, other than his double-century in Melbourne, which was compounded by a miserable series in New Zealand where he made 23 runs in four innings. Cook has reiterated to Bayliss that he has the desire to continue to add to his 154-cap career and after a couple of weeks off he will look to recuperate in the County Championship for Essex.”It’s dangerous to write off someone with 12,000 Test runs. He’s desperately disappointed he hasn’t contributed more but speaking to him in the sheds, he’s still got a hunger for the game and he’s still wants to do well and thinks he’s got a role to play,” Bayliss said. “Going forward I think having someone with that experience we will need, so hopefully it’s not too long before he gets back into the groove.”Then there is the captain. Root is England’s best batsman but can’t break his run of unconverted half-centuries, which now stands at nine, with two more in New Zealand added to the five in Australia (although retiring ill in Sydney can’t be held against him). Having come off a distinct second best to Steven Smith in the Ashes it was a slightly closer tussle with Kane Williamson as the New Zealand captain followed his Auckland century with a lean Test in Christchurch. Coming up for Root later this year is the head-to-head with Virat Kohli.Bayliss remains largely phlegmatic about Root’s conversion rate and would like to see the rest of the batting order take some pressure off the captain. There were just four centuries scored across the seven Tests in Australia and New Zealand, two by Jonny Bairstow and one apiece for Cook and Malan.”I’m sure he would have liked a few more runs himself but there’s a fair bit of pressure on him to be the one who scores the runs and we need a few more runs from some of the other guys,” Bayliss said. “I think that would take a little bit of the pressure off Joe. But he’s a guy who sets himself very high standards so I’m sure he’d be a little bit disappointed he hasn’t turned some of the starts into big hundreds.”

This is Bangladesh’s fourth tour to the West Indies, the last of which was in 2014 when they didn’t win a single game

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2018Bangladesh are set to play their first Test in Jamaica in 14 years after Cricket West Indies announced the tour schedule. The visitors’ first Test in the two-match series will be held in Antigua and the second at Sabina Park from July 12. They will also play three ODIs and three T20Is.

Bangladesh tour of West Indies 2018

July 4-8 – 1st Test, Antigua
July 12-16 – 2nd Test, Jamaica
July 22 – 1st ODI, Guyana
July 25 – Second ODI, Guyana
July 28 -Third ODI, St. Kitts
July 31 – First T20I, St Kitts
August 4 – Second T20I, Florida
August 5 – Third T20I, Florida

Bangladesh start the tour with a two-day practice match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua before the first Test begins on July 4. After the second Test, they will play the first two ODIs in Guyana, where they last played in the 2007 World Cup.The third ODI and the first T20 will be held in St Kitts while the second and third T20s will be held in Florida’s Central Broward Regional Park.This is Bangladesh’s fourth tour to the West Indies, the last of which was in 2014 when they didn’t win a single game in any of the formats.

William Porterfield has stepped aside to focus on leading the Test and ODI teams

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2018Gary Wilson has been named Ireland’s new T20I captain, replacing William Porterfield who stepped aside to focus on leading the Test and ODI teams.”It has been a huge honour to captain my country across all formats for the past 10 years, and I have been fortunate enough to captain Ireland at the last five World Twenty20’s,” Porterfield said. “With the qualifiers only a year or so away, I feel that now is the right time for me and the team for a fresh voice and leader in this format. I will now focus solely on my batting in a format that I love playing. I would like to thank everyone for their support over the past 10 years and indeed in making this decision. Finally, I would like to wish Gary all the best in what is an exciting time for him.”Porterfield, who succeeded Trent Johnston, has captained Ireland across all formats since 2008, including 56 of their total 61 T20Is. He also leads their batting charts in the format. Under his captaincy, Ireland have won 26 T20Is, the most significant of them coming during the 2009 World T20, where they knocked Bangladesh out in the group stage to make the Super Eights. More recently, in 2014, they beat world champions West Indies in their own backyard.Wilson, 32, is also among the leading run-scorers for Ireland in T20Is, with a tally of 891 in 46 innings. He is also the current captain of the Derbyshire T20 side and has also performed the role for Surrey in the past. Wilson’s first assignment as captain of Ireland will be the tri-series against Netherlands and Scotland starting on June 12 at Rotterdam.”I am absolutely honoured to be asked to undertake this role. With 16 months until the qualifying tournament for next World Twenty20 tournament in Australia, I believe this is a timely opportunity to prepare the squad for an important new phase in Irish cricket,” Wilson said. “I hope my experience and leadership in this form of the game will be of benefit in developing the next generation of leaders and am looking forward to the first step in this journey – the Tri-Series in the Netherlands.”Ireland tri-series squad: Gary Wilson (capt), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Craig Young

A dropped catch allowed Jonny Bairstow to streak away to a potentially decisive 82 from 67 balls, as another 16 wickets fell in the day at Old Trafford

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford23-Jul-2018Lancashire 109 and 194 for 6 (Buttler 59) need a further 129 to beat Yorkshire 192 and 239 (Bairstow 82, Brook 55, Onions 3-44)

ScorecardWhen Kane Williamson was caught behind by Dane Vilas off Graham Onions half an hour into the second day of this fast-forward Roses match 22 wickets had fallen in less than four sessions and the game was in the hazard. Fifteen of those wickets belonged to Test cricketers, with Williamson, Adam Lyth and Joe Root having twice signed their names in the register of fallibility. But by the time Jonny Bairstow became the 16th Test batsman to depart, 15 minutes into a sultry afternoon, he had played the innings – and Lancashire had dropped the catch – which will surely decide this game in Yorkshire’s favour.Bairstow’s 82 runs had been scored off 67 balls and they had seen his side progress from 21 for 3 to 160 for 5. Steve Patterson then swept and drove his way to an unbeaten 45 to leave Lancashire needing 323 to win. And even the fact that this would be by far the highest total of the game does not give an accurate reflection of the severity of the home side’s task on a pitch which has offered the seamers movement and bounce. For Lancashire began their innings knowing their captain, Liam Livingstone, will almost certainly be prevented from batting by the broken thumb he sustained on the first day.It was therefore no particular shock that the Red Rose struggled. By the close they were 194 for 6 and even the solace of fond hope had been removed from their supporters seven balls before the close when Jos Buttler attempted to sweep Root but only gave a catch to Williamson at leg slip. That ended a colossal 48-over post tea session, one filled with modest partnerships and false summits. The most beguiling was the enterprising sixth-wicket stand of 80 between Buttler and Tom Bailey. Now that hope is all but gone and Yorkshire’s bowlers have a clear sight of a deserved victory in one of their most important fixtures.

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Lancashire fought hard. Keaton Jennings and Alex Davies put on 54 before Davies was leg before to Tim Bresnan and further stands toyed with supporters’ dreams. Jennings was leg before on the front foot to Ben Coad for 30 and Vilas gave the Warwickshire loanee Josh Poysden his first wicket for Yorkshire when he, too, was hit on the front leg in the next over.Perhaps the most encouraging innings was played by Haseeeb Hameed, whose 31 included clear signs of the player he was when he made a hundred in each innings of this fixture two years ago. But Hameed was caught behind by Bairstow off a ball from Patterson which lifted malevolently and from that moment it seemed a question of whether this match would end inside two days. Buttler and Bailey ensured that it would not but as we entered the third hour of the evening session, the significance of Bairstow’s 82 became even clearer.As usual, Bairstow died as he had prospered: by taking the battle to the bowlers. Only balls of the high merit were defended; only deliveries of no possible use were ignored. Onions’ full-length ball outside the off stump just after lunch did not fall into either of these categories and Bairstow slashed it with his customary savagery to backward point where Buttler took an easy catch at about chin height. However, by then his 133-run stand with Harry Brook had done much to give Yorkshire a match-winning lead.One was left to pity Matt Parkinson, who had dropped a straightforward chance off Bairstow when the batsman had made only 22 and Yorkshire were 57 for 3. After Parkinson had fumbled the opportunity Gateshead-born Onions sank to his haunches and pondered the probable significance of the error. Those diehards who believe you need to hail from one of the participating counties to appreciate the significance of the Roses match might have adjusted their opinions had they seen him