Give or take the little matter of a last over defeat in the Royal London Cup semi-final, these are good times for Essex

David Hopps at Chelmsford20-Jun-2017
ScorecardGive or take the little matter of a last over defeat in the Royal London Cup semi-final, these are good times for Essex. They are top of the Championship in their first season back in Division One and the joie de vivre has fittingly returned to a county that, at its best, has always known how to combine business with pleasure. There is a big gulf between the divisions but they have leapt it with ease.By batting for much of the first two days on that pitch where they suffered such an agonising last-over defeat against Nottinghamshire, they have ensured there will be no hangover in the Championship. If the pitch deteriorates enough, their 541 for 9 can be a bridgehead for victory. If not, they will still carry their Championship challenge deep into the second half of the summer.Not one, but two wavering careers were restored to full working order against a Warwickshire side that must have been feeling its age after 164 overs in the field under a broiling sun. James Foster and Ravi Bopara both made hundreds, with Bopara batting for eight hours to make 192 in what was his first Championship hundred for three years. Such a sense that the feel-good is spreading to all members of the squad is bound to have a beneficial effect.Bopara’s attempts to enliven his career once his England days were over by taking up the limited-overs captaincy did not quite work out. No harm done in trying it. It felt like a good ruse, only for Bopara to discover that he liked nothing more than to just rock up and play, concentrating on the more important matters like remembering to put his kit in the car.Foster, by his own admission, recognised that he might not even play this season. When he took up a cricket coaching role at Forest School, his old school, at the end of 2015, his talk of dovetailing the two roles sounded ambitious, considering what he termed a “ridiculous” county schedule.James Foster scored an emotional hundred after Ravi Bopara ended a three-year wait for one•Getty Images

When Essex enticed back a former keeper, Adam Wheater a year later, and gave him the keeping role in all formats at the start of the season, the transition seemed to be gathering pace. But here Foster is, back in the Championship side, “nicking a few down to third man” and sharing a stand of 229 in 64 overs with Bopara that was a county sixth-wicket record against Warwickshire.For Ronnie Irani, the ebullient chairman of the cricket committee, life has gone swimmingly since he took up the post nearly two years ago. Essex still organise their affairs in traditional fashion, with the cricket chairman exerting a strong influence, and the role seems to suit Irani, who when he is not overseeing Essex’s fortunes is a staple on the after-dinner speaking circuit.When you are winning, the jokes come thick and fast, but Essex have combined shrewd overseas recruitment, such as the South African Simon Harmer on a Kolpak basis with a strong commitment to player development. Unless their seam stocks are depleted, there is no reason why they cannot sustain this challenge to the end, even though Alastair Cook, so important at the top of the order, in helping them to bridge the quality gap, is about to depart for an England Test summer.Foster’s emotions ran high after reaching his first Championship century for more than a year, leaping skywards and punching his fist three times towards the Essex balcony. Moments such as this, late in a career, can seem more joyous, valued because of the awareness that time is running short.Typically, there were unorthodox moments to savour, more so after lunch as Essex took full command. He played a ramp shot over the wicketkeeper for four and later reverse-swept Jeetan Patel so fine that stumper and slip dived in opposite directions as it sped to the boundary.It was a brave effort considering that, on 85, he was clanked on the helmet by Boyd Rankin, unfortunate to be followed by one when, in crouching and swaying inside the line of the ball, he did not appear to have done much wrong. After medical attention, he survived the succession of short balls that followed, even reaching his hundred by hooking Rikki Clarke: a satisfying pronouncement that all was well. He fell to Keith Barker’s tumbling catch off the left-arm spinner Sunny Singh, whose absence through illness during the morning session had hampered Warwickshire’s cause.Bopara had closed the first day on 84, and had caused a ripple of amusement that he might need a dose of Night Nurse to get a good night’s sleep. With night-time temperatures so high, at least everybody was in the same boat. Twice he jabbed at Barker without making contact but from the moment he unfurled an off-drive against the same bowler to move to 92, his century seemed assured. Strong on the off-side and releasing his inhibitions to strike three straight sixes – two in an exploratory over from Andrew Umeed – he was lauded by Foster as “great to bat with, totally cool.” It is to be hoped he remembers his cricket bag for a few years yet.The afternoon was a pleasure for Essex supporters: two fine servants enjoying a renaissance. Up in the media box, Keith Fletcher, one of the proudest Essex servants of all, still involved in bringing forward the next generation, lapped it all up. He was involved in the previous sixth-wicket record, with Allan Border, although he could not remember it. But few can match his cricket knowledge and, as for the best fishing spots in Essex, probably even fewer.

Asela Gunaratne was the go-to man on Tuesday – for Niroshan Dickwella, with whom he put on 121, and for captain Dinesh Chandimal

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo18-Jul-2017Niroshan Dickwella has played more Tests, but during the 121-run stand that turned the match, it was Asela Gunaratne who found himself constantly pestered for advice. Sri Lanka had been five-down and 185 runs short of their target when the two came together. Dickwella played aggressively through the partnership, and helped ensure some of the pressure Zimbabwe had exerted, was reversed.”Since he came to the crease, what Dickwella told me was: ‘Talk to me all the time, and make me score runs.'” Gunaratne said. “I think what he meant was that he hasn’t scored a big Test innings, where I have. He just wanted me to tell him how to handle situations. Sometimes when the game was going a certain way, he wanted me to keep advising him. Occasionally I’d tell him not to go for certain shots. In the end, he stuck around and scored.”Gunaratne’s own hand in the victory had been a little more measured than Dickwella’s. At the crease when the winning runs were hit, Gunaratne compiled a sensible 80, despite having suffered a mild hamstring injury earlier in the match. Captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed he had expected Gunaratne to play a major role, at the start of the day.”I told Asela this morning: ‘You’re going to get a hundred today’.” Chandimal said. “But very confidently, Asela said to me: ‘No Chandi, there won’t be need for me to get a 100. I’ll get 70 and win the game.’ That’s the kind of faith I expect from my players. There’s a chance he might not have been able to do that today, but the way he spoke, even I became confident as a captain that we could win this match. I’m really happy I have players like that.”Though Chandimal himself had been out for 15 on the fourth evening, he said it was important to him that his middle order batted with freedom. Of the three Sri Lanka players to make fifties, two – Dickwella and Kusal Mendis – batted at a strike rate of around 70 for much of their innings (though they would both slow slightly in the approach to their dismissals).”When it came time for us to bat yesterday, most of what we talked about was playing your own game as batsmen,” Chandimal said. “We knew that it was tough for us to bat out the time and draw the match. If we tried that, it was likely we’d lose. So we said: ‘play your own game’.””As a captain I told them that I’d take the responsibility for any mistakes, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Kusal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga played well. Then at the end, Asela and Dickwella were excellent.”Dickwella and Mendis had also perished playing aggressive strokes: Mendis a sweep and Dickwella a reverse-sweep. Chandimal, however, refused to characterise those dismissals as wasteful.”We’ve played on these kinds of pitches before in Sri Lanka, and in India and Bangladesh. On these pitches, it’s with sweeps and reverse-sweeps that we can score runs. There’s a risk in that, but if we are chasing scores, we have to play those shots. At training we had practiced those things, and they bore results today.”

A marathon spell from captain Graeme Cremer has allowed Zimbabwe to seriously think about securing a first-innings lead over Sri Lanka in Colombo

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo15-Jul-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Cremer bowled 32 of Zimbabwe’s 80 overs on the second day at Khettarama•AFP

Graeme Cremer spun them hard and his team-mates stretched, dived and hunted balls down in the field so splendidly that, at the end of the second day in Colombo, Zimbabwe finished with a good chance of taking a first-innings lead – Sri Lanka seven down, and still 63 runs behind.Where Craig Ervine held Zimbabwe’s innings of 356 together, Cremer performed a similar role with the ball. Thirty of Zimbabwe’s 82 overs were his, and rarely did batsmen appear to have his measure.The legspinner found increasing assistance from the surface, beat the edge regularly through the second half of the day, and brought himself on to break the hosts’ rhythm whenever they appeared comfortable at the crease. Figures of 3 for 100 do not flatter the impact he had on the day.Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will rue two mini-collapses: the first just after lunch, which cost them their top three for 32 runs, and the second soon after tea, in which three further wickets fell for 26. This, after the openers had begun with such confidence. Upul Tharanga was regal at the top, racing to 26 off his first 14 balls, his delectably timed drives piercing the tight infield. He and Dimuth Karunaratne put on 84 for the first wicket, before that first stumble took place.Sri Lanka will regret their batsmen not having gone on to triple figures, and Tharanga will regret it most. He was perfectly at ease during virtually the whole of his 71, and was only dismissed because of a little carelessness while backing up at the non-striker’s end. The last wicket of the day – Dilruwan Perera’s – was also a run-out, and again it was of a batsman who had begun to get the better of the bowling.The tide began turning thanks to Zimbabwe poking holes in the hosts’ middle order. Barring a 96-run stand for the fourth-wicket between Dinesh Chandimal – who scored the only other half-century of the innings – and Angelo Mathews, there weren’t very many contributions. And as a result, Sri Lanka were left relying on Asela Gunaratne, struggling with a hamstring injury he picked up in the field, to take them closer to parity.It had been a loose Karunaratne shot that had set Sri Lanka’s first slide in motion. Having played cautiously through the morning session, he attempted to cut a ball angled into him by Donald Tiripano, and sent a thick edge to slip, where Hamilton Masakadza held the sharp chance.His confidence bolstered by that breakthrough, Tiripano stacked the offside infield, and delivered a disciplined spell, in which he dared the batsmen to take risks. There were no further wickets for him, but at the other end, Kusal Mendis nicked a bouncing, turning delivery from Cremer, which he perhaps did not need to play at. Mendis has often been jumpy at the start of his innings, and this knock was no different. In 15 balls at the crease, he attempted several pull shots and often found the fielders.The ever reliable Rangana Herath bagged his 30th Test five-for. But his batsmen couldn’t back him up well enough•Associated Press

Tharanga, meanwhile, who could not have looked more natural plundering the seamers and advancing down the pitch at the spinners, was the victim both of his own carelessness and a little bad luck. When Chandimal drove Tiripano straight, the bowler managed to get fingertips to the ball, which then clattered into the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Tharanga had not bothered to keep his bat in the crease, using it to lean on instead. His boot was on the crease, but not behind it.Cremer was the protagonist in the next big Sri Lanka stutter. The pitch had begun to sing for him in the second half of the second session, and switching ends after tea, he bowled himself into a fresh rhythm. Chandimal reached his half-century by then, but Cremer, ripping the ball more with each passing over, got it to dip and turn sharply. It flicked the shoulder of Chandimal’s bat and wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva picked up his second difficult catch of the day.Four overs later, another big turner from Cremer made a further dent in Sri Lanka’s innings – Niroshan Dickwella fell unable to handle one that pounced at him off a length. The well-set Mathews was the next to depart. Attempting to paddle-sweep Sean Williams against the turn, he offered only a top-edge to the legside, which Masakadza – running back from slip – snaffled up with a full-length dive.Sri Lanka were now on 238 for 6 and Dilruwan, having been promoted to No. 7 as a result of Gunaratne’s niggle, took on the responsibility of pushing the innings forward. He did so by taking calculated risks against the spinners – hitting Sikander Raza and Williams for one six apiece – but just as his partnership with Gunaratne, who came in at No. 8, began to look good, Zimbabwe managed to break it.Gunaratne cut a ball forward of point, and set off for the run. Dilruwan, however, was late to respond, and by the time a diving Tarisai Musakanda made the stop, flicked the ball to Malcolm Waller at cover in one smooth motion, and Waller then found Chakabva behind the stumps, Perera was caught short by at least a metre. It was a spectacular piece of fielding.Rangana Herath played a customary slog sweep to make the final runs of the day, but thanks to a doughty Zimbabwe performance, and Sri Lanka’s sloppy running, the hosts will begin day three in a precarious position.Early in the day, Sri Lanka had opened the bowling with Lahiru Kumara – the wilder, but more aggressive seam option in their team – and, thanks in part to the early pressure he created, Zimbabwe’s two remaining wickets cost only 12 runs.It was Herath, however, who made the first breakthrough. Tiripano attempted the reverse sweep that had brought him success on the first afternoon, but managed only to send the ball to Karunaratne at slip. That was Herath’s 378th dismissal, taking him past the tallies of Malcolm Marshall and Waqar Younis. He also wrapped up his 30th five-wicket haul, putting him clear at fifth on that all-time list, behind four bona fide greats of the game.

Hardik Pandya’s maiden Test hundred was the highlight of a triumphant second day for India, who made Sri Lanka follow on for the second successive Test match

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Aug-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:19

Dasgupta: Pandya’s century had phenomenal hitting

The second day of the Pallekele Test began with Sri Lanka in their most promising position of the series. It ended with them a long way down the forest path towards another massive defeat, with hardly a sliver of sunlight to be seen. Hardik Pandya slipped the blindfold on them, with a brilliantly paced maiden Test hundred that stretched India’s first-innings total to 487; Mohammed Shami’s new-ball spell applied the machete jab to their backbone, instructing them to keep walking and try no funny stuff; and Sri Lanka themselves walked the rest of the way, a number of their batsmen throwing away their wickets as they slid to 135 all out in only 37.4 overs.Having secured a 352-run lead, Virat Kohli enforced the follow-on for the second time in successive Tests. It left enough time for India to bowl a further 13 overs, enough time to take one more wicket, Upul Tharanga chopping Umesh Yadav onto his stumps. It was Tharanga’s second dismissal in just over four hours. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 19 for 1, needing a further 333 to make India bat again.Sri Lanka’s first-innings largesse allowed Kuldeep Yadav to settle into a menacing rhythm and pick up his second four-wicket haul in only his second Test. He had begun expensively – erring on the full side, usually, or getting swept – as he found himself in the middle of a counterattacking fifth-wicket stand of 63 between Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella.But Dickwella, taking one risk too many, slogged down the wrong line of a wrong’un after jumping out of his crease, precipitating a slide that cost Sri Lanka their last six wickets for 34 runs. That slide contained numerous signs of a loss of fight from Sri Lanka: Dilruwan Perera slogged one to deep square leg, Chandimal looked to flick one around the corner without taking a proper stride out, Malinda Pushpakumara left a big gap while attempting a drive against the turn.It was Shami, landing nearly every ball on the seam and making the batsmen play just as often, who set Sri Lanka’s batting horrors in motion. He was at peak rhythm right from his first ball, a bouncer that forced Dimuth Karunaratne to duck hurriedly. Bowling around the wicket to the two left-handed openers, he dismissed both with balls that held their line after angling in from wide of the crease. Both balls landed on the perfect length, and in successive overs both Tharanga and Karunaratne had nicked Shami behind, their feet frozen at the crease.The examination continued against the right-handed pair of Kusal Mendis and Chandimal, with the the latter surviving an lbw appeal, DRS returning an umpire’s call verdict on height. The pressure Shami was exerting – utterly suffocating, despite Umesh Yadav straying onto the pads repeatedly at the other end – played some part in the mix-up that cost Sri Lanka their third wicket, and two pieces of excellent fielding from R Ashwin at mid-on and Kuldeep at extra-cover sent back Mendis in the ninth over of their innings. Four balls later, Sri Lanka were 38 for 4, Angelo Mathews lbw to Pandya, pinned on the crease by one that kept a touch low.In the first two Tests, Pandya had largely been used in a supporting role to relieve the burden on India’s four main bowlers. Now, he had come on as first change. This may have had something to do with the innings he had just played.It was an innings of two distinct halves. Pandya had just reached his half-century when India lost their ninth wicket, some ten minutes before the scheduled lunch break. The interval was duly pushed back by half an hour, and Pandya went on to dominate a tenth-wicket stand of 66, racing from 50 off 61 balls to 108 off 96, with the No. 11 Umesh scoring 3 off 14 in that time.By the time he was the last man out for 108, in the first over after lunch, Pandya had become the second Indian batsman in the series to score a century in a session, after Shikhar Dhawan on the first day of the first Test in Galle. He was out third ball after resumption, slicing a Lakshan Sandakan googly to the fielder on the cover boundary. Sandakan finished with figures of 5 for 132, his first five-wicket haul, coming in his sixth Test match.Sri Lanka had begun the second day with the verve and menace with which they had ended the first, Vishwa Fernando finding extra bounce to have Wriddhiman Saha caught at gully in its second over and leave India 339 for 7. Fernando kept testing the batsmen with swing, bounce and a bit of seam, and at one point beat the No. 9 Kuldeep Yadav four times in succession – three times going past the outside edge and once past the inside edge to provoke a loud lbw appeal.Mohammed Shami undid Sri Lanka’s openers with accuracy and seam movement•Associated Press

Having survived that, Kuldeep put his head down and ground out 26 off 73 balls to help add 62 for the eighth wicket with Pandya. That partnership came at 3.17 an over, indicative of how hard Sri Lanka’s bowlers made both Kuldeep and Pandya work for their runs. During this phase of his innings, Pandya treated the bowling with respect, keeping an eye out for the odd short ball from the fast bowlers, which he put away with pulls, punches and ramps over the keeper.Otherwise, he simply took the singles on offer against Sri Lanka’s defensive fields. The bowlers and Pandya circled each other warily in this period; they knew of his hitting ability, he knew they knew, and for now he would bide his time.Then, Sandakan struck twice in three overs, finding Kuldeep’s edge with dip and turn after drawing him forward with his flight, and then taking a sharp return catch when Shami drove him hard and straight. It brought the No. 11 to the crease, and provoked a change of approach from Pandya.By this time, Pushpakumara had bowled four overs in the morning, and his figures read 22-2-56-3. Over the course of his next five balls, Pandya went on to mangle those figures, taking 26 runs off them with the cleanest striking imaginable, all of it executed with the stillest of heads and the smoothest of bat-swings.He began the over with a flat, slog-swept four, and followed it with a charge down the pitch for a stinging flat-bat hit past the bowler’s left hand. Then came three successive straight sixes, one of them clearing the sightscreen and another punching a hole through it. This was the head-on confrontation that the morning had been building towards all along.Sandakan, varying his pace and keeping batsmen guessing the direction of turn, conceded only three off the next over despite Pandya being on strike through most of it. Then Lahiru Kumara replaced Pushpakumara, pace replacing spin. No matter; Pandya hooked his second ball for six, premeditating by taking guard on off stump and hitting clean and hard. Into the 90s.Another six in the next over, over midwicket off Sandakan, took him to 97, and the century came up with a straight drive off Kumara – a straight-bat push to the left of a diving mid-on. He had become the fifth Indian to score his maiden first-class hundred in a Test match, after Vijay Manjrekar, Kapil Dev, Ajay Ratra and Harbhajan Singh.

One last hundred from Daryl Mitchelll and five wickets for R Ashwin secured Worcestershire victory and the Division Two title on the final day of the season at New Road

Paul Edwards at New Road28-Sep-2017Hunched of shoulder and a trifle bandy of gait, Daryl Mitchell works the ball square of the wicket in the manner beloved of a thousand county openers. Every April across the decades members have turned up at cricket grounds across England hoping to see batsmen like Mitchell play the innings that win or save games. Formats change and modernities obtrude but cricketers like Mitchell disguise the gentle lies of time. They also win championships.This simple truth was confirmed at 4.20pm on a gorgeous September afternoon at New Road when Graham Onions drove R Ashwin to Joe Clarke at short cover. That dismissal gave Ashwin his fifth victim of the innings; it also completed Worcestershire’s ninth victory of a season which ended with champagne, a trophy and all the endearing dance-about daftness that comes with them. For the fifth time in 12 seasons Worcestershire are to test themselves against the cracks of Division One and the finest bowlers in the land will try to best one of the canniest openers on the circuit.In May, when the world sang with the ambition of spring, Mitchell went to Derby having scored 31 runs in four first-class innings. He then made 120. And on the final day of this season, under beguiling June-blue skies, Mitchell cover-drove Liam Trevaskis for three runs to reach his seventh century in this year’s Championship. His unbeaten 123 set up Worcestershire’s declaration and thereby their push for victory on a last afternoon which had already been garlanded by the certainty of promotion. .And thus the joy of the triumphal moment was mixed with the bittersweet sadness that lies on all cricket grounds in September. “Der Sommer war sehr groß / Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren” wrote Rilke, who was actually something of a Kolpak poet. “The huge summer has gone by / Now overlap the sundials with your shadows.”This last day passed more or less as Worcestershire intended. Mitchell reached his hundred off 134 balls and delighted the crowd when he cut a boundary between the two backward points Paul Collingwood had carefully positioned. The declaration was applied when George Rhodes notched his second fifty of the season and it left Durham to score 369 in 76 overs, a proposition they were never permitted to entertain.As if to reassure spectators that they were ready to play at a higher level, the Worcestershire seamers put on a fine show. Joe Leach pinned Cameron Steel on the back foot with the sixth ball of the innings and then ended Jack Burnham’s season when Durham’s No. 3 played no shot at a ball which came back off the seam. “Joe Leach, Joe Leach, Joe Leach, Joe Leeeeaaaach” sang a group of Worcestershire supporters and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” will never sound the same.It was an afternoon of last things and farewells, and when cricket has no time for such things, we might as well fold up the tents and head for the hills. Each of his team mates hugged Onions when Durham left the field as a team for the last time; Keaton Jennings’ final innings for the county to which he owes so much ended on 20 when he played carefully forward to Ashwin but edged to Mitchell at first slip; and when Steve Gale came down the steps after tea to stand in his last session as a first-class umpire, both teams formed a guard of honour. The Worcestershire crowd also applauded Collingwood at almost every opportunity and Mitchell merely when he went to field at third man.None of these fond moments weakened Durham’s resolve to save the game and it is this readiness to resist that will help sustain them over the next few years. Collingwood and Graham Clark put on 88 for the fourth wicket and both hit Ashwin for six. But both were also leg before on the back foot to Ed Barnard, whose cricket has been one of the young joys of Worcestershire’s summer.Clark had made his second fifty of the match and seems likely to be one of those players upon whom Durham must build a new side. But none of his colleagues could match his intransigence on an afternoon dominated by Leach’s bowlers and by the warmth of a large crowd bubbling with good humour and success. Ryan Pringle skied Ashwin to Rhodes at square leg just before tea and Leach yorked Michael Richardson just after the resumption. Ashwin took care of Trevaskis and Chris Rushworth with successive balls and the late high jinks of a last-wicket stand simply allowed the ECB’s presentation party to ready the banners and bells.And so ended a game which has seen all seasons but spring and a cricket season enriched by men like Mitchell and Leach. Before long the spectators who had applauded the cricketers were planning to meet over the winter and saying their farewells in the meantime. “As the thin glow of summer’s death / Will turn the leaves to red / May the wind blow like a lover’s breath / Still warm as gingerbread” sings the matchless Nancy Kerr, and if our farewells were not as eloquent they were no less heartfelt. But some of those spectators will not return to New Road until chestnut empires recolonise the sky above this ground.Now evening: from the pavilion can be heard celebrations which will reach deep into the night; the tower of the cathedral is etched against a silver-blue background; through the trees boys can be seen training for a rugby match; in the distance a last spectator is leaving. Now overlap the sundials with your shadows.

Josh Hazlewood felt a fifth bowler would allow him, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins to bowl at their best and fastest, while easing some of the load off Nathan Lyon

Daniel Brettig02-Nov-2017Josh Hazlewood’s return to fitness will mean New South Wales will field Australia’s Ashes bowling attack against Western Australia in the unassuming surrounds of Hurstville Oval from Saturday, though the tall fast man admits he would like to see some extra bowling cover in the Test squad when it is finally announced.The certainty around the shape of Steven Smith’s top four bowlers and top five batsmen is in sharp contrast to the vast speculation about who will fill the spots at Nos. 6 and 7, in recent times nominally the preserve of an allrounder and a wicketkeeper. Australia’s selectors will not be unveiling their Gabba squad until the day after the third round of Sheffield Shield matches on November 17, having gained precious little relevant information from the first, floodlit fixtures.Returning to the state team following a side strain in Bangladesh and a 10-over spell in Sydney club cricket on the weekend, Hazlewood said he would like to see a fifth bowling option present in the Australian Test side. That balance would aid him, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in bowling at their best and fastest, notwithstanding the outstanding recent displays of the spin bowler Nathan Lyon. Moises Henriques is the allrounder for NSW, while Hilton Cartwright and Marcus Stoinis seem the most likely contenders to fulfill that role in the Test team.”It’s always nice having that allrounder to maybe bowl five or six overs throughout the day,” Hazlewood said. “I think the way Gaz has bowled over the last 12-18 months has been fantastic and he’s been shouldering the workload if it does get put upon the quicks. But for balance you want runs and wickets from that No. 6 batter … you could go either way.”It’s always great to have a full-strength NSW side, a lot of Test experience, the skipper and vice skipper there as well, so yeah really looking forward to getting out there. Western Australia are really strong at the moment in all formats, so looking forward to a good game.”It’s usually one or the other [of Starc or Cummins] at different stages, so it’s great to get them together. We’ve got a pretty good record when we’re all together bowling. We’re pretty used to bowling together these days, whether it’s for Australia or NSW, so we’ll just take it as another game and try to get those 20 wickets.”In making his recovery from the side strain, Hazlewood was several weeks behind Starc’s own rehabilitation from a foot problem, meaning he was unable to play in the first Shield round. This means he will play consecutive Shield games before the Gabba Test, creating a delicate balance between the demands of Smith, the selectors and medical staff trying to manage his workload.”The other guys played last week and this week and I think they’re having a rest for game three,” Hazlewood said. “I’m playing game three since I missed the first one. It’s a good build-up, two Shield games before the first Test, and hopefully get through the first Test as well. Ideally you’d want to play the same as Mitch and Pat, the first two, but I don’t see it as much of a big deal, we’ll just bowl a little bit less in the nets leading into it if we bowl a bit more in the game.”It feels really good, it’s got better every session from when I started bowling probably four or five weeks ago, it feels good now, nice and strong, so hopefully it stays that way. Very close to, if not, 100%.”Another contender for the Ashes, Nathan Coulter-Nile, has been bizarrely withdrawn from WA’s Shield team to face NSW at Hurstville and will instead bowl a limited number of overs for an invitational XI against the Englishmen in Perth on November 4 and 5. Hazlewood, who has himself had his bowling load closely managed over numerous years, took the view that it was a chance for a speedy compatriot to place some early doubts in the minds of the touring team’s batsmen.”I see it more as a positive I think, that he can maybe crack open a few of them early and create a few scars in their top order and middle order maybe,” he said. “Disappointing he’s not playing in the Shield game against us, but he’s had trouble with injuries in the past few years so that’s the reason he’s playing there.”Their top order, it’ll be their first hit on tour, and to have a guy there like Coults there to warm them up I guess to maybe create a few scars would be nice. That’s their plan too, to start with the bounciest, quickest wicket and get used to that straight away.”Elsewhere, the national selectors named the Cricket Australia XI squad to face Joe Root’s England tourists in a pair of Ashes warm-up matches, first in Adelaide (November 8-11) and then Townsville (November 15-18). The experienced Tim Paine and the NSW seamer Gurinder Sandhu add experience to the side, which also features the more youthful talents of Will Pucovski and Jason Sangha.Cricket Australia XI squad: Jake Carder, Jackson Coleman, Michael Cormack, Daniel Fallins, Ryan Gibson, Nick Larkin, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine, Will Pucovski, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Matthew Short.

Nazmul Hassan also said the coach was upset about what some Bangladesh players said about him in the media, but didn’t mention names or the particular incident

Mohammad Isam09-Nov-2017Chandika Hathurusingha sent in a letter wanting to step down from the post of Bangladesh head coach during the team’s tour of South Africa last month, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan. He said that Hathurusingha had not discussed the matter with the board since then, but said he may be in Dhaka after November 15.Hassan said that Hathurusingha didn’t provide a reason for wanting to resign, but had done a similar thing in August 2016 when Sri Lanka Cricket offered him the head coach’s position.”He gave me a letter in the first week of October, possibly after the second Test [against South Africa] and definitely before October 15. He didn’t specifically mention a reason, so I can’t really say what has happened before I can speak to him. He said he is no longer interested.”He had an offer from Sri Lanka last year; the country’s president had called him to give him the proposal. He showed me offers from other countries. But now I am unable to say why he is leaving – whether it is a better offer, family reasons or something else that is bothering him.”Hassan said that Hathurusingha has stopped all communication with the BCB, except for taking one call in which he apparently said he will arrive in Dhaka later this month.”We felt it was not appropriate to speak about this [resignation letter] during a series. I think we got him once on the phone, and he said he is coming after November 15. But he hasn’t communicated with us since.”If someone doesn’t want to stay, what will we do with his notice period? What we can say is that he is a professional. Suddenly he gives us a letter and is sitting quietly in Australia. It is quite unusual. He lets us know if something is bothering him but during the [South Africa] series, he didn’t communicate with us.”Hassan said that Hathurusingha was upset about what some players said about him in the media. He also said that he had confronted the players in front of Hathurusingha once on the matter, although he didn’t mention names or the particular incident.”[Hathurusingha] was hurt by things said about him by a couple of cricketers. I wasn’t in South Africa but if he felt that they are not listening to him, why would he run the team? I am just giving an example. It might be a reason [for his resignation letter], although there might be a personal reason too.”He didn’t mention the media in the past but he used to say why do the players say such things in the media? I sat with him and the players a number of times, asking them why they lie in the media.”Hassan ruled out the theory that Hathurusingha is using his resignation letter as a bargaining chip. “I am sure it has nothing to do with bargaining. Money isn’t an issue.”

The pair added 212 runs for the fourth wicket to stretch South Australia’s overall lead to 275

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2017
ScorecardGetty Images

Jake Lehmann put himself squarely in the running for an Ashes berth with a second counter-attacking innings of the match against Victoria, helping South Australia’s captain Callum Ferguson give the Redbacks a 275-run lead with one day remaining at the MCG.After SA again lost early wickets in a mirror of day one, Lehmann combined with Ferguson to add 212 for the fourth wicket, their stand only ended when Lehmann, on 93, top-edged an attempted sweep shot at the wrist spin of Fawad Ahmed. The innings, soaking up 143 balls, was a somewhat less frenetic affair than his first-innings century but equally important to the match situation.Ferguson, meanwhile, provided a reminder to the chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns that he remains a player of substance, guiding his team into a position from which it will be possible to dictate terms to the Bushrangers on the final day. His innings featured 14 boundaries but also plenty of alert running between the wickets as the Victoria captain Pete Handscomb tried in-out fields for much of the day in an effort to test the batsmen’s patience.Victoria’s last pair of Fawad and Chris Tremain had earlier frustrated the Redbacks in surviving for 10 overs, after the seamer Chadd Sayers had started the day on a hat-trick. Tremain, Scott Boland and Peter Siddle then bowled some challenging overs with the new ball, restricting the usually free-spirited Jake Weatherald to 21 from 72 deliveries.

Western Australia opener Jon Wells scored the third hundred of his first-class career as the Warriors frustrated Victoria by playing out a draw on the final day at the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2017
ScorecardWilliam Bosisto grafted a 300-ball 98•Getty Images

Western Australia opener Jon Wells scored the third hundred of his first-class career as the Warriors frustrated Victoria by playing out a draw on the final day at the MCG. Fellow opener Will Bosisto fell just short of a century himself, caught behind off the bowling of Chris Tremain for 98, but the 195-run stand he and Wells had built was enough to prevent a Victoria win.The day had started with Western Australia on 0 for 86 in their second innings, needing a further 121 to make the Victorians bat again. The openers cruised past that mark before Wells was the first man to fall, caught off the bowling of Jon Holland for 107. Hilton Cartwright was caught behind off Daniel Christian for 13, before the captains agreed at 3 for 281 that no result was possible and they called the game off.Victoria used 10 bowlers as the match petered out, with only wicketkeeper Seb Gotch not rolling his arm over. Mitchell Marsh finished unbeaten on 38 and Marcus Stoinis was on 16. The result means that Victoria, winners of the past three Sheffield Shield titles, head into the break in the season without a single win.