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New Zealand did not bowl as well as they should have with the second new ball on day three in Bulawayo, according to their bowling coach Shane Jurgensen, but they are still in with a good chance of winning

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2016New Zealand did not bowl as well as they should have with the second new ball on day three in Bulawayo, according to their bowling coach Shane Jurgensen, but, he insists, they are still in with a good chance of closing out the Test.”There is still a long way to go in the match,” Jurgensen said after day three, which Zimbabwe ended on 305 for 6, 78 short of avoiding the follow-on. “We did that quite well up until the start of the second new ball. We didn’t bowl as well as we wanted to with the second new ball. We’ve got to work hard and keep toiling away. [But] it’s only day three and we’ve got the runs on the board and we have a lot of time in the game. We’re down the bottom end of their innings, and there were signs today that there is bit more spin.”When Kane Williamson called for the second new ball at the start of the 85th over, Zimbabwe were 166 for 5, with Craig Ervine on 46 and Peter Moor on 8; Ervine went on to record a maiden Test ton and finish the day unbeaten, while Moor added 63 more runs to his tally before finally being removed by legspinner Ish Sodhi.Sodhi claimed two wickets on the day, as did the other slow man, left-armer Mitchell Santner. The faster men enjoyed less success: after effecting the first breakthrough – bowling Tino Mawoyo – Tim Southee could not add to his tally, while Trent Boult went wicketless on the day.Jurgensen, though, felt both the quicks threatened promisingly. “We’re very impressed [with Boult],” he said. “He has improved with every ball he has bowled. He has a lot more confidence, really hitting the wicket hard. He has been quite unlucky, bowled really well and missed out.”That’s what happens on these wickets. Sometimes the bowler who hasn’t quite bowled exactly where he wanted to be, gets more wickets. Tim has worked really hard coming to Zimbabwe. He has looked threatening. Happy with his pace. Really good bounce too, which is what he has been working on.”Jurgensen remained non-committal when asked whether New Zealand would enforce the follow-on should they get the chance to do so. “It will depend on how it goes first thing in the morning,” he said. “We can’t look too far ahead.”

James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been ruled out of action for the rest of the season due to injury

George Dobell27-Aug-2016James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been ruled out of action for the rest of the season due to injury.While neither man was named in the England limited-overs squads, both had hopes of playing county cricket with a view to helping their teams, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire respectively, avoid relegation in the County Championship.A statement released by the ECB explained that “Anderson requires ongoing rehabilitation of his right shoulder and Broad, who last played in the NatWest T20 Finals Day for Nottinghamshire last week, is recovering from an ankle problem.”The news will come as a blow to both clubs. Nottinghamshire are currently bottom of the Division One table, 35 points beneath Durham, who are in seventh position (with a game in hand). Lancashire are sixth but, having won three of their first five games, have not won any of their last eight Championship matches in a run that extends back to May. The teams placed eighth and ninth will be relegated.”Both players have managed their injuries through the summer,” the ECB statement continued. “A break from cricket is needed to best prepare the Test opening bowling pair for England’s winter campaign that begins this October in Bangladesh.”The ECB also announced that Jonny Bairstow was to be released from the ODI squad to play for Yorkshire in Sunday’s Royal London semi-final against Surrey. David Willey, who has a hand injury, is not deemed to be fit enough to play.

Mayank Agarwal and Gautam Gambhir struck half-centuries for India Blue before thunderstorms washed out close to two sessions in Greater Noida

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Gautam Gambhir reached his 61st first-class half-century before rain hit Greater Noida•AFP

A thunderstorm that turned the Greater Noida Sports Complex ground into a swamp washed out close to two sessions of play after Mayank Agarwal and Gautam Gambhir struck half-centuries at the top of the order after Yuvraj Singh’s India Red elected to bowl.Yuvraj, perhaps mindful of his side being bowled out in under two sessions in their Duleep Trophy opener at the same venue last week, was left to wonder what may have been had they converted two opportunities – one each from Gambhir and Agarwal – in the 34.2 overs that were possible. A majority of those were bowled by the pace trio of Nathu Singh, Pradeep Sangwan and Ishwar Pandey in search of seam movement when there was none on a fresh surface that had less grass cover than the one used for the previous game.Gambhir, batting with an open-chested stance, seemingly in a bid to negate the away-going deliveries that have often discomfited him over a period of time, was troubled early on by his Delhi team-mate Sangwan. In the third over of the morning, the left-arm pacer saw an edge fall short of second slip and then had a shout for lbw turned down, but released the pressure in the very next over when he grassed a miscued pull at fine leg off Nathu.Agarwal’s technique outside off stump also came under scrutiny, but unlike Gambhir, he was happy to trust the bounce and hit through the line. After Nathu’s initial burst, he looked increasingly comfortable against the Pandey and the spin of Akshay Wakhare and Kuldeep Yadav.Kuldeep, the left-arm wrist spinner who picked up his maiden five-wicket haul last week, didn’t get the kind of purchase he would have hoped for. He was also guilty of bowling a touch flat and short as Gambhir, who captains him at Kolkata Knight Riders, eased him repeatedly behind square on the off side.Agarwal, who had a lucky reprieve minutes from the tea break when he fended a Nathu bouncer back for a return catch off a no-ball, got to his fifty in the second over after the break when he lofted Kuldeep over the infield. Gambhir then struck Sangwan for successive boundaries to raise his half-century before retiring to the dressing room to see a gentle drizzle turn into a thunderstorm.

Former England Test batsman Graeme Hick has been appointed as Australia’s batting coach for the next four seasons

Brydon Coverdale15-Sep-20162:07

Conditions in India need a little bit more patience – Hick

Former England Test batsman Graeme Hick has been appointed as Australia’s batting coach for the next four seasons. Hick joins head coach Darren Lehmann, fielding coach Greg Blewett and new bowling coach David Saker in the Australia set-up, and will begin his contract at the start of the home Test series against South Africa in November.However, his first significant challenge will be to help Australia’s batsmen improve their output on the subcontinent, with a four-Test tour of India in February-March. Australia have lost their past nine Tests in Asia and were recently humiliated 3-0 by Sri Lanka in a series that was notable for Australia’s consistent batting failures against spin.When he was appointed Cricket Australia’s high performance coach based at the Centre of Excellence in 2013, Hick stressed the need for patience from Australia’s young batsmen, instead of expecting that they could score at limited-overs speed in first-class cricket. He believes a similar mental approach will be necessary for Australia’s batsmen to succeed in India.”At times maybe the Australian way is to really dominate,” Hick told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday. “In Test cricket the daily run-rate has increased a lot. Maybe India is a place where you need a little bit more patience. The teams that have been successful there recently have been guys who have got big runs up front.”If one of our top order get in, batting a couple of sessions maybe is not enough. You’ve got to look to post a big first-innings score and take that responsibility if you get in. That may require a little bit more patience than maybe some of the players would normally play at.”Hick would appear well qualified to discuss patience, as a man who scored 41,112 first-class runs, 15th on the all-time tally, and as one of only eight men in history to have scored a quadruple-century in first-class cricket. Hick also played 65 Tests for England from 1991 to 2001, and his lengthy contract appears partially designed to ensure he will be around for the 2019 Ashes in England.”I played there for 25 years, I think there was maybe a bit of that in the planning and the appointment,” Hick said. “If I feel like I can add to that and contribute to us doing well … there’s plenty to happen before that, but I’m sure there was a bit of that foresight to my appointment.”The swinging ball has been almost as much of a challenge for Australia’s batsmen as the turning ball in recent years, from 88 all-out against Pakistan at Headingley in 2010, to 47 all-out against South Africa in Cape Town, to last year’s Ashes humiliation of 60 all-out at Trent Bridge, where Stuart Broad proved to be almost unplayable in collecting 8 for 15.”At the end of the day, the players are out there themselves,” Hick said. “All the players will be able to reflect on that [Trent Bridge] experience and think they could have played it differently. That goes back to the mental side of it and the mental approach. I played in a game for England where we were bowled out for 46 in the Caribbean. It was just one of those occasions where before you can get prepared and everything, the innings is over.”People didn’t necessarily have time there to sit and plan and take stock of what was happening, it all happened so quickly. That’s all part of the challenge. Without doubt, you go to India and you’re going to get their subcontinent wickets, you go to England now, certainly Trent Bridge and Headingley will be seaming and swinging around, Edgbaston maybe as well. That’s the challenge.”Hick takes on the role as batting coach after it was vacated by Michael di Venuto in February, when he was named as Surrey’s new head coach. Blewett had filled in as batting coach since di Venuto’s departure but will now return to his original position as fielding coach.”Graeme worked with us during the recent ODI tour in the West Indies and we were really impressed with what he brought to the group,” Lehmann said. “He is a very experienced player in all conditions and will bring a wealth of knowledge with him. With an ICC Champions Trophy, an Ashes Series and an ICC World Cup all to be played in England in the near future, his knowledge of those conditions will also be invaluable.”

England’s cricketers were facing a test of nerve in the face of a confident, no-regrets run-chase from Bangladesh’s batsmen

The Report by Andrew Miller23-Oct-2016Bangladesh 248 and 253 for 8 (Sabbir 59*, Taijul 11*) need another 33 runs to beat England 293 and 240 (Stokes 85, Bairstow 47, Shakib 5-85)

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBangladesh’s hopes of securing their greatest Test victory were in the hands of their debutant batsman, Sabbir Rahman, and his final two tail-end partners, after an enthralling fourth day at Chittagong finished with three of the four results possible, and history on the cards for Test cricket’s youngest nation.The situation at stumps, after a sensational final session played out in front of a fervent, expectant and ever-growing crowd, was simple. Bangladesh, chasing 286 for victory, were 33 runs short with two wickets remaining and Sabbir standing tall on 59 not out from 93 balls – a supremely gutsy performance from a man who utilised his experience in ODI and T20 cricket to break down the chase into calm and manageable chunks.Alongside him at the close was the redoubtable figure of Taijul Islam, whom Sabbir trusted with the strike as he accepted every single on offer from a deep-set field, and who subverted all conventional tactics in the final over of the day’s play by swiping Gareth Batty for two ambitious lofted strokes down the ground, to reach the close unbeaten on 11 in a ninth-wicket stand of 15.England, by that stage, had earned the right to be considered favourites once again, having cracked the crucial partnership of the innings – Sabbir’s 87-run stand for the sixth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim – before dispatching two more of Bangladesh’s debutants, Mehedi Hasan and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, with minimum fuss.But, with a notable lack of faith in his trio of spinners (notwithstanding a hard-earned three-wicket haul for Batty) Alastair Cook telegraphed his team’s anxiety throughout a gripping final session. The new ball, due in two overs’ time and such a key weapon throughout this contest, may well be ignored if Ben Stokes and his fellow seamers can locate the sort of reverse swing that derailed Bangladesh’s first innings when play resumes on the final morning.It was a far cry from England’s ambition at the very top of the innings. After being bowled out for 240 in the first 20 minutes of the day, England had made their intentions plain from the outset by handing the new ball to two spinners, Batty and Moeen, for the first time since the Lord’s Test against South Africa in 2008.Both men bowled some unplayable deliveries, but Bangladesh’s attitude was established in a skilful and aggressive 43 from Imrul Kayes, who found a means to counterattack in style, sweeping with intent to disrupt their lengths and pick off his boundaries behind square, while playing with confidence off the back foot in between whiles.Tapping into their recent success in one-day run-chases, Bangladesh were happy to live dangerously in the opening overs – Tamim in particular twice came close to holing out – but their positive mindset sowed some early seeds of doubt in Cook’s mind, as he shed a few close catchers to patrol his boundaries. Nevertheless, England’s patient approach slowly reaped its rewards, and after removing Tamim and Kayes before lunch – the latter caught on the sweep as he attacked Adil Rashid out of the rough – Batty returned with a spring in his step and an extra zip through his action, to grab two lbws in eight balls and put England firmly in command at 108 for 4.Bangladesh’s middle-order, however, contains two of their toughest nuts in Mushfiqur and Shakib Al Hasan, and for the best part of an hour, the pair pushed back against the tide. Mushfiqur produced yet another unflustered display of patience, skill and experience – he has, after all, been playing Test cricket for longer even than Cook, England’s newly crowned most-capped cricketer – while Shakib seemed eager to atone for his wasteful dismissal in the first innings.Bangladesh’s debutant No. 7 Sabbir Rahman celebrates his half-century•AFP

A pair of fizzing boundaries off Rashid lifted the spirits of the crowd – a slammed drive through mid-off and a vast bottom-handed swipe over long-on for six – but, on 24, he received the best ball of the innings to date, a perfect ripping offbreak from Moeen that he couldn’t help but nick to the keeper.Enter Sabbir, with the chase in the balance at 140 for 5. His performance featured two distinct tempos – firstly, when he arrived at the crease in the 41st over, Sabbir’s one-day instincts were to go for his shots, and with two big sixes and a four in his first 25 runs before tea, he gave a nervous crowd plenty reasons to cheer as their numbers and belief mounted with every stroke.After tea, however, he was sufficiently confident to retreat back into his shell without losing any of his intent. England resumed the final session with 107 runs to defend and, with the ball exactly 50 overs old, Cook’s instinct was to revert to the familiarity of his seamers – Stokes from one end, Chris Woakes from the other – with Rashid’s legspin thrown into the equation after half an hour of attrition in a bid to buy a breakthrough.Stuart Broad, who had bowled a total of four overs in the first two sessions, joined the fray with a tight angled line into the off stump. But with the reverse-swing of the first innings proving hard to replicate, Mushfiqur and Sabbir had no reason to rush their approach. With caution on the front foot and an eye for the occasional flick off the pads, the pair ground down the requirement on a ball-by-ball basis, embracing the need to take the match into the fifth day if required, in spite of the mounting excitement in the stands.On 34, Sabbir had the moment of good fortune that most players need in such tense scenarios, when Jonny Bairstow – whose glovework had been impressive for much of the match – failed to gather a thin leg-side tickle as Broad strayed onto the pads. It was a tough opportunity, but the sort that needed to be taken, and England’s frustrations mounted after the drinks break when Broad’s second over of the restart was taken for two boundaries, Bangladesh’s first for 19 overs. A short ball was gleefully pounded in front of square by Mushfiqur, before Broad fizzed a yorker out of the footholes and away for four byes.Cook had no option but to revert back to his spinners, and the situation looked ominous when Batty’s second delivery was paddle-swept through fine leg for four by Sabbir. But, before the over was out, Batty had made the critical breakthrough, bursting a leaping offbreak through the top of the pitch and into Mushfiqur’s glove, for Ballance to snaffle at leg slip.The breakthrough had come with 59 runs still required, but if Sabbir had any doubts about the task now in his hands alone, he banished them in style, drilling Batty out of the rough through long-off to bring up his maiden half-century from 76 balls.But Sabbir couldn’t bat at both ends at once, and two of his fellow debutants came and went with minimal resistance. Mehedi was pinned on the crease by a nipbacker from Broad for 1, before Rabbi endured a three-ball stay that was as brief as it was eventful – he might have been run out and bowled in the space of two deliveries, before Broad delivered him a pair on debut courtesy of another important grab from Ballance at short leg.With the light fading and 48 runs the requirement, Sabbir declined the temptation to farm the strike and regularly helped himself to a single off the first ball to expose his partner, Taijul. The tactic kept England frustrated to the close, with Broad completing a valiant nine-over spell that went for 12 runs in total, although Taijul was lucky to survive on 3 when a thick edge from Batty fizzed through the cordon at a catchable height. Cook’s refusal to bowl spin from both ends spoke volumes as the umpires called off the chase in the twilight.Win, lose or tie, this has been a contest to savour, on a surface that deserves huge praise for offering a distinctly subcontinental challenge without descending into a puff-of-dust farce. And whatever the outcome, Bangladesh have played their part and more in the most compelling Test match in this country since Australia’s terrific scare at Fatullah in 2006. On Monday, within an hour of the resumption, Sabbir could have made himself a national hero.

Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, praised Travis Head for taking his opportunity at No. 6 in Australia’s 68-run victory over New Zealand in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2016Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, praised Travis Head for taking his opportunity at No. 6 in Australia’s 68-run victory over New Zealand in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series. Smith said the decision to prefer Head in the middle order had nothing to do with Glenn Maxwell’s comments about team-mate Matthew Wade ahead of the match, describing Head’s batting as “beautiful” after the two put on a century stand to revive Australia from 92 for 4 in Sydney.Head made 52, his highest international score and second half-century in 13 ODIs, to help set up the Australia innings, while Smith went on to record 164 – a record at the SCG – as New Zealand conceded a total that proved to be well out of their reach, despite a fighting hundred from Martin Guptill.”It was more about giving Travis another opportunity, he played well last week, scored a hundred in Shield cricket so he’s in good nick,” Smith said of the decision to pick Head ahead of Maxwell. “I guess it was about giving him an opportunity first and obviously he played pretty well, so he’s taken that opportunity.”Asked about the relationship between the two Victorians, after Maxwell’s criticism of Wade, Smith said: “I think they’re okay. I made some comments in here the other day about him, the comments that he made were disappointing and disrespectful towards Matty and I think we’ve moved on from that now and it’s about focusing on this series. It was great for us to get a win tonight and hopefully we can play some more good cricket in the nation’s capital.”Maxwell has not played an ODI since the tri-series with West Indies and South Africa in June, during which Head made his debut. Since then, Head has made a number of handy starts – only twice failing to reach double-figures – but he needed some luck in Sydney, with Matt Henry fluffing a simple catch when he had 7.”When he came out to bat, we were just communicating, saying that we’d try and get through to about 40 overs and then we’d have a bit of a crack at them,” Smith said. “We were able to still play quit positively through that period and score five an over, so we set ourselves up nicely with that partnership and I thought the way he played was beautiful, he obviously got dropped that one at mid-off, but besides that I think he played some really good cricket. And it was nice to see Matthew Wade come in at the end and play a good little cameo as well.”It looks like [Head’s] improving every game, he’s in good form, coming off the back of a hundred last week in the Shield, so he’s playing some good cricket and I’m sure he’s going to continue to improve.”Smith chose not to dwell on his own innings, calling it “pleasing” and saying he preferred the century he made at the SCG during the 2015 World Cup semi-final. He was also grateful for the indecision among the New Zealand ranks after Trent Boult appealed for an lbw when Smith had made 14 – Kane Williamson chose not to review, possibly on the suggestion of a team-mate that there was bat involved, only for Hawk-Eye to show it would have been overturned on DRS.”I was pretty glad they didn’t review it. I think it was out, so yeah, of course I’m glad,” Smith said. “But not much was really going through my head, I let it go pretty quickly and moved on. Thought he set me up pretty well, actually, Boult wasn’t swinging any so I was moving across even further and then he got one to come back quite late. So set me up pretty well and fortunately it got given not out, and unfortunate for NZ that it was.”I think someone said that I’d hit it, from point, I reckon I heard someone say that I’d hit it, and I think they ran with that. I may have looked at my bat at one point as well, to throw them.”

If Kyle Abbott thought he had it rough after only appearing in 11 Tests in four years, Wayne Parnell has had it rougher

Firdose Moonda08-Jan-2017If Kyle Abbott thought he had it rough after only appearing in 11 Tests in four years, Wayne Parnell has had it rougher. In seven years, Parnell has collected just four Tests caps, mostly because injury has stunted his international progression but also because he has battled to break into a pace pack that has been well stocked. Now, with Abbott unavailable after going Kolpak and Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel unfit, Parnell could be in the perfect position for a long run.He was included in South Africa’s squad to play Sri Lanka despite no first-class cricket this season and could be in the starting XI for the Wanderers Test after a strong performance for Cobras at the weekend. Parnell took six wickets and scored an unbeaten 103 opening the batting in the second innings in their victory over Lions in Oudtshoorn.Cobras interim coach Ashwell Prince, who was a national selector as recently as last September, believes Parnell should make a Test return later this week. “I’d play him. A left-armer complements what South Africa already have,” Prince told ESPNcricinfo.South Africa’s current attack includes Vernon Philander who offers seam movement and Kagiso Rabada, who provides pace. Even though Abbott’s job was more containing than attacking, Prince believes Parnell could be a handy third prong.”They have got someone who has control in Vernon Philander and Wayne will add to the strike force. He is looking really good and starting to swing the ball back into the right-hander, which is something he had lost.”Parnell’s ability to find movement waned as his injuries mounted. In 2010, less than a year after an impressive World T20 performance and with three Tests to his name, he suffered a groin strain at the IPL which ruled him out of most of the next season. He lost ground to Philander in the longer format and in 2013 was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat while playing for South Africa A against India A and had to wait even longer for a Test return.It was only in 2014 that Parnell wore whites again, in Port Elizabeth against Australia. He took a wicket with his first ball and another with his third but only bowled eight more overs before leaving the field with another groin strain. Abbott replaced him in the South Africa squad and played the following match; Parnell has not featured in a Test since. He has been injured three more times – hamstring (September 2015), foot (November 2015) and rib (October 2016) – moved from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, from Warriors to Cobras, got married and put in first-class performances that have put him in line for a third recall.Despite playing only half the matches in last season’s first-class competition, he finished as Cobras’ player of the season with took 23 wickets at 20.56 and scored 337 runs at 48.14. Prince has noticed some marked differences in Parnell’s action, specifically at delivery point. “He has been working with [national bowling coach] Charl Langeveldt on his approach to the crease. It is not as fast as it used to be and that gives him a lot more control. Instead of sprinting in, which used to affect his stability at the crease, he is running in with nice rhythm. He has also done work on his wrist and release point.”Prince said the adjustments mean Parnell can offer a lot more consistency than he used to but more important than any of that has been a change in attitude. At 27, Parnell is older, wiser and has a greater understanding of what it takes to make it on the biggest stage. “There is a lot more maturity to his game. He is in his later 20s and married, maybe that has made the difference,” Prince said. “He works as hard as anybody in the gym and on his fitness and his game. He is ready.”Parnell is competing with the rookie call-up Duanne Olivier for a place in the XI but South Africa may choose to include both quicks on the fastest, bounciest strip of the series. The Wanderers surface is generally spicy but heavy rain in the lead-up to the match could see it offer even more in the third Test. On Sunday, the pitch was being prepared under a tent and with showers forecast throughout the week it may not see any sunlight at all. South Africa also fielded an all-pace attack against England at the venue last year.

Virat Kohli has hailed the professionalism not just of his team but of the cricket set-up after the sweet 4-0 series win against England

Sidharth Monga in Chennai20-Dec-2016Virat Kohli has hailed the professionalism not just of his team but of the cricket set-up after the sweet 4-0 series win against England. Constantly India had to chop and change in this series because of injuries, but the players coming in fitted in seamlessly. India started out with two of their three openers injured, lost one of them again, lost their pace spearhead and firefighting wicketkeeper in the middle of the series, but never missed any of them.”Whoever comes into the team he knows there is a certain benchmark for fitness in the team,” Kohli said. “Of performance. Of mindset. We want players to be match-ready when they join the India team. You shouldn’t be spending a year in international cricket just learning what to do now. You lose a lot of time in that. And many players can’t face that pressure. But if you are prepared, if you are professional, if you know you have to work hard, if you know how to prepare for a game, you have a better chance of performing.”Like KL Rahul. Like Karun Nair. You can see their performance for yourself. Especially Karun. Replacing a batsman like Ajinkya [Rahane], who has been performing consistently in the last two years in Test cricket. To walk in and score a triple-hundred, there couldn’t have been a bigger statement. It shows that the next generation will keep getting smarter looking at others, learning how it is done. What we need to do when we reach the Indian team. It is just evolution. It is sometimes surprising looking at these youngsters, how quickly they pick things up. They are very smart, and it shows on the field in how they play.”In this age of cricket throughout the year, it is near impossible for the national captain to keep track of all the talent in the country. So the support system around the India team has to be impeccable. Rahul Dravid, who was part of the eight straight away losses in India’s slump in 2011 and 2012, has played a not insignificant part in this series. Nair and Jayant Yadav were both groomed under him on A tours. Nair in particular left Kohli impressed.”Karun, I haven’t seen him play too much first-class cricket,” Kohli said. “I’ve seen him play in the IPL against world-class bowlers. And he’s someone who has always showed character. He could pull the ball well. He used his feet, drive the ball well. At No.3, when the ball is swinging. Spinners, he’s very lethal. I’ve not seen anyone currently in India sweep so well against spinners. He’s just the complete package.”It’s difficult to find guys like that, which have such character when they are batting and understand their game so well at such a young age. It’s important to back guys like Karun. We’ve always believed. He was always our No.1 choice as a middle-order back-up.”As part of backing Nair up, Kohli was happy to delay the declaration on the fourth evening. “This guy is close to 300 and it doesn’t happen every day. It’s not like he is taking 10 overs to do it. He was hitting sixes, he was hitting fours, he was getting us a bigger lead. So it was a perfect scenario where he got us to a stage where we couldn’t have batted again and at the same time, we had enough overs.”If the wicket was doing enough, then those overs were good enough. If we have five bowlers, we should be able to knock teams off in 90-plus overs. That’s exactly what we did. It’s all how you go about that particular situation. The good thing was Karun really stepped it up close to his milestone and he didn’t take too long to get there. So it gave us five overs yesterday.”The end might have come swiftly, but the series win has been hard work. Unlike the one against South Africa, this was played on traditional Indian pitches and India had to come back from four lost tosses and playing catch-up in the first Test. “It’s a complete performance,” Kohli said. “From the time we were put under pressure in the first game to coming back and winning the next four Test matches. And coming from behind, all four games, we lost four tosses including Rajkot…and winning three games out of that is very satisfying. As a captain, I feel it’s a complete series for us. Everyone contributed at different times. Especially the lower-order contribution is something that stands out for me in this series.”It’s been a complete year, except for a blip here or there, but Kohli said this was just a start. “As a team we have had a very good 2016 apart from two setbacks that I can point out,” Kohli said. “One would be the ODI series in Australia, and the second one the World T20. We won the Asia Cup, we won the one-day series against New Zealand in India, and we won all the Test series that we played. It’s been a memorable 2016 for the Indian cricket team, and that’s something I am really proud of.”To be part of such a good year and such a good season, especially with the team in transition, is something we can be really proud of. But this is just the foundation that’s been laid for us to carry on for many years. It’s just the beginning. It’s nothing [compared to what] we want to achieve. It’s not even a tiny bit of that. We understand where we want to go, and hopefully the guys can keep putting this kind of effort and take the team where it belongs.”

The young fast bowler, who made his debut for South Africa in the Johannesburg Test against Sri Lanka, says he is not fazed by the possibility that he could have to wait longer for another chance at the international level

Firdose Moonda16-Jan-2017Duanne Olivier was in debutants’ heaven. He was picked to play his first Test at the Wanderers, as part of an all-pace pack, in a week when the sky was curtained in cloud, the air was heavy with moisture and the opposition would obviously have preferred to be somewhere else.But then his captain won the toss and decided the bowlers would have to wait. And then his team-mates batted so well, they ensured the bowlers would have to wait even longer.Olivier was in danger of doing nothing all day until eight balls before close on the opening day, when JP Duminy edged to second slip and a nightwatchman was needed. The team management decided it was a chance to get the new man in the game, even though it was something he had never done before.”They (Faf du Plessis and Russell Domingo) asked if I wanted to do it. And I decided why not. It’s an opportunity. It was scary because I don’t even bat as high for the franchise but it was exciting,” Olivier admitted.Frustrated after a long day with scant reward, Lahiru Kumara bounced Olivier first-up. He ducked, and made a mental note to dish out some of the same treatment later. Olivier faced only three more balls that evening, including one that seamed and bounced and beat his outside edge, but finished his first day as an international fully satisfied. “I was nervous going out there, batting with a guy like Hashim but it was an unbelievable experience for me.”It was only midway through the following day that Olivier got to do what he had been picked for and then, the nerves came back. “My hands were sweating and I didn’t think straight,” he said, when asked to recall how he felt as he bowled his first ball, to open the 10th over: a 136kph length delivery on off stump. The bouncer followed, some late swing came, the yorker was attempted and then, the chance for his first Test wicket.Kusal Mendis chipped a drive back to Olivier who jumped late and, despite going with both hands, could not hold on. “I was disappointed but it was only my own fault,” he said. “But I knew there was a lot in the wicket so if I just bowled according to plans and did what Faf told me to do, I would get rewarded.”Olivier had to wait for his second spell before that happened, deep into the Sri Lankan innings, but it was worth it. A throat-high bouncer had Rangana Herath top-edging a pull and Stephen Cook’s catch at short leg completed the job. Olivier was off the mark and he didn’t want to stop.He took one more wicket in that innings and three in Sri Lanka’s second innings, with a noisy Wanderers crowd cheering him on. What’s not to love? “When I play four-day cricket, there is no one watching but here, it feels like there are 20 million watching,” he said. “It’s intense, it’s crazy, you need to concentrate, you need to be on the ball, you can’t wander off and watch at the screen. The level is so much different to domestic cricket, you can’t compare. At the end, their No. 8, 9 and 10 batsmen can bat. That’s not to say our franchise players can’t but you feel like you have a chance with franchise players.”Olivier quickly realised the step up to international cricket will demand a lot from him, especially as he tried to find a place as the third-seamer in South Africa’s XI. They are looking for someone who can do a dual job of containing and attacking, for someone who can complement the seam movement of Vernon Philander and the pace of Kagiso Rabada. Someone who generates good bounce is an obvious choice and Olivier does that, but so does Morne Morkel. And there are other options like the left-arm angle of Wayne Parnell, which means Olivier is in a queue.After a decent outing, he may have to wait again but, for now, he doesn’t mind. “I know there are players coming back. If I get the opportunity to play again, of course I want to play. Who doesn’t want to play for the country? But I do also understand they have been performing well for the last 10 years so I can’t be like I must play. I am not too fazed. If I don’t play it’s not the end of the world for me. I will keep working hard at franchise level until I get another opportunity. I will get my opportunity and I will wait for it, whenever it comes.”

England Lions set an imposing target and then took two early wickets on a rain-interrupted third day of the first unofficial Test with Sri Lanka A

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Tom Curran played a role with bat and ball•Getty Images

England Lions set an imposing target and then took two early wickets on a rain-interrupted third day of the first unofficial Test with Sri Lanka A. Having recovered from 85 for 6 to post 215, Tom Curran removed Dimuth Karunaratne with the first ball of the fourth innings and Toby Roland-Jones had Sandun Weerakkody, Sri Lanka A’s top-scorer first time around, lbw for 16.Tom Curran and his brother Sam had played a central role with the bat, too, having extended their seventh-wicket partnership to 62. Dilruwan Perera then struck three times to complete a five-wicket haul before rain caused a delay of more than four hours.When the teams finally got back out, Ollie Rayner and Tom Helm held off the Sri Lanka A spinners to put on another valuable tenth-wicket stand. Helm was last out for 26, one run short of equalling his first-class best, as he and Middlesex team-mate Rayner added exactly 50 in 21.5 overs.That left Sri Lanka A facing a stiff requirement of 365 to win and they were quickly in trouble at 19 for 2. Rayner could have struck with the ball in the fading light, too, but Udara Jayasundera and Roshen Silva both survived chances to slip.The start of play was moved forward by 15 minutes to try and make up for time lost on the second day. The Lions already had a lead of 261 and the Currans set about extending it, both striking an early boundary.Sam Curran had reached 36 when when he was pinned lbw by Dilruwan, who also had Tom Curran stumped, for 29, in his next over. Roland-Jones, having cracked a belligerent 82 in the first innings, was taken at slip for 7 but Sri Lanka A had to wait several hours to separate the final pair, Malinda Pushpakumara eventually taking the second new ball to claim his fourth wicket and match figures of 8 for 174.