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Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan were Sunrisers’ two biggest threats on the night of the IPL final. Shane Watson saw them off and waded into the rest of their attack, validating CSK’s faith in his experience and know-how

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai28-May-20182:32

‘A lot of emotion in the franchise, a lot of desire’ – Fleming

In Royal Challengers Bangalore’s disastrous campaign last season, Shane Watson played eight matches and scored all of 71 runs. He bowled 26.5 overs for only five wickets and an economy rate of 9.13. He was about to turn 36 then and did not possess a fresh pair of legs, and it seemed only natural when RCB released him ahead of the 2018 auction.There were rumours that he was playing his last IPL, and he himself admitted, “there may be a time when, hopefully, I get a chance to coach somewhere, and it just takes over from my playing days,” at the end of the tournament.When his name came up in the auction with a base price of INR 1 crore, only Chennai Super Kings bid for him initially before Rajasthan Royals joined in. Whenever Royals raised their paddle, Stephen Fleming, the CSK coach, replied immediately with a bigger bid. What was he thinking? Why did he want an out-of-form 36-year-old?Fleming had done his homework. Watson had found some form at home, with 331 runs from 10 innings for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. Two half-centuries, a strike rate of 139, nothing extraordinary. Fleming explained at the press conference after winning his third IPL title with CSK that he kept a close eye on Watson and had “no doubt” the allrounder would do well. CSK bought him for INR 4 crore.”When you look at his season with RCB, he was in and out, and he batted at No. 4,” Fleming said. “I also watched him closely at the Big Bash and there were signs that he was in good form. Certainly, every team that I have come up against, he seems in good form, so the best way to get rid of him is to buy him. I had no doubt he was going to make an impact. Fitness was an issue as it is a long tournament, but he is more professional than even I thought. He is a bit broken now. [His] bowling, we didn’t have to use much but he has got through with one of his greatest performances.”In the UAE a month after the auction, Watson finished as the fifth-highest run-getter in the Pakistan Super League with similar numbers to the BBL: 319 runs from 10 innings, two half-centuries and a strike rate of 135.With those numbers behind him, Watson got his “favourite” position in the line-up, in the IPL – the opening slot. He first showed against Rajasthan Royals what kind of damage he could inflict from there: a 51-ball century.On Sunday, in the IPL final, he was coming off a duck against the same opponents they were meeting in the final, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was toying with him again, and it seemed as if Watson had no clue what was happening. The ball was bouncing, swinging both ways, and Bhuvneshwar was making it do whatever he wanted, at speeds in the mid-130s. Fleming admitted later CSK were “lucky” Watson didn’t lose his wicket.”Yeah, it was a good struggle, wasn’t it?” Fleming said. “The opening spell was, I thought, outstanding from SRH. He might’ve been none off 10 balls. It was a real battle in the first four or five overs. It was a great final in that sense. Shane gradually found a bit of range and rhythm. The boundaries aren’t too big for the big hitters like Watson, Brathwaite and Dhoni. He kept patience – again, that was experience – didn’t give it away. He knew his power game would get the team out of trouble, and it did in spectacular fashion. He got his second hundred of the tournament, he’s got over 500 runs. He has been a star performer for us.”BCCIWhen Watson was on 0 off 10 in the fourth over, Sunrisers fans could have made memes already of how Watson was going to cost his team the match, and the trophy. CSK were chasing 179 against the best attack in the tournament on the biggest stage. In Bhuvneshwar’s third over on the trot, Watson and Suresh Raina took four singles. Watson’s first job was done – to act like a sponge, absorb all the threats Sunrisers’ attack was posing, and not give a wicket to Bhuvneshwar. As soon as he was out of the attack, Watson changed gears, smacking a short and slow delivery in the last Powerplay over from Sandeep Sharma over deep midwicket for six. He must have expected the delivery next; he stood still, let the ball come to him, and drilled it back for four.Kane Williamson brought on Siddarth Kaul, Sunrisers’ best fast bowler this season, but he turned out to be a different bowler on Sunday night. He was bowling short, down the leg side, and into Watson’s pads. Watson can flick those away even in his sleep. The result – 16 off the over. All the pressure Watson had absorbed was now being transferred back onto Sunrisers.Williamson now brought on Rashid Khan. As with Bhuvneshwar, all CSK wanted was to not give him wickets. In his first two overs, Watson nudged him into the leg side whenever he spotted a googly and Suresh Raina kept dabbing him to midwicket one ball after another.Fleming explained later that having a strategy against Rashid was a “key focus” to win the final. “[Facing] Rashid Khan was a definite plan,” he said. “We actually have played him quite well, we’ve been more positive in the past, but we were afforded the luxury through Shane’s hitting of being more conservative, even playing out a maiden. At that point in time, we had really nullified his impact and that was a key focus for our tactics to win the final, and we did that well.”By seeing off Rashid’s first two overs without much fuss, the Watson sponge had done its job again. When Sandeep got the ball again, the Watson sponge became the Watson bludgeon again. In the 13th over, Sandeep kept missing his yorkers and Watson kept clubbing them. A drive over wide mid-off for four, three consecutive sixes off misdirected deliveries, and a four off the last ball, expertly guided between backward point and short third man, gave CSK 27 runs from the over. It brought the equation down to 48 runs from 42 balls, which ended the match right there. Rashid still had two overs left and Bhuvneshwar one, and they would bowl them with CSK facing no scoreboard pressure.In Rashid’s last over, Watson completed his hundred and stood still at the non-striker’s end while facing his team’s dugout, with a beaming smile and arms aloft. In the 19th over, Ambati Rayudu hit the winning runs and Watson ambled across the pitch to embrace his partner. His back was to the dugout, so he didn’t realise that a swarm of his team-mates was running towards him. Rayudu quietly slipped away, allowing them to clamber all over Watson.If this team management had not stood behind Watson when he was being written off, he wouldn’t have scored two centuries this season. And if Watson had not shown his patience and experience on Sunday, who knows how CSK would have handled the pressure on this big night.

The latter half of Angelo Mathews’ captaincy wore his batting down. As Sri Lanka prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, they need Mathews the batsman to let the weight fall and rediscover his old freedom

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Jul-2017Angelo Mathews, 30 years old, former captain, once the owner of a fearsome average, now merely a very good one, potentially a great batsman still, but man, the last 18 months have not been kind.For a player of such indisputable quality, it has been a strange decline.Remember how he had been in 2014 – that last great year of Sri Lankan cricket – when out of nowhere, he hit a harvest so golden, so irrepressible, that he bludgeoned attacks into pulp, nurdled without relent, left no advertising board unstung by his boundary hits, and even when off the field, probably coughed up, sneezed and exhaled runs.There was that monstrous 160 at Headingley, of course, when he threw his bat in anger at a team-mate’s dismissal, then set about busting England up all by himself. There had also been a sweaty 157 not out to save a tough game in Abu Dhabi, and a difficult 43 not out to set up a victory at SSC. At times, Mathews seemed to have supernatural help. Having hooked Sri Lanka towards victory late on the fifth afternoon in Galle, against Pakistan, the furious black cloud that had bore down on a packed stadium held off its torrents until he was taking the winning run. He averaged 87.80 and played the lead role in a famous series victory in England. So thoroughly did Mathews own 2014, that Kumar Sangakkara scored more international runs than has ever been made in a calendar year, and still, quite happily admitted his captain had been the better batsman – prospering on every type of surface from greentop to dustbowl, producing every kind of innings from stonewall to sprint.Now, three years between himself and his best work, Mathews finds himself surpassed. He was once the torchbearer for the next generation of great batsmen, but what’s this? Four younger men have snuck by him, mounting hundreds upon hundreds in years in which he has not averaged thirty. And while Mathews had been stuck attending Sri Lanka’s transition into transition into transition, each of Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson have taken the reins of happier, more confident sides. Mathews will be thankful for last year’s Test series against Australia, at least, when he for once got the better of one of those younger men. Otherwise, since the beginning of 2016, his would have been one long, sombre vigil.And this is perhaps the most unfortunate thing about the dip in his arc: where once leadership had unlocked the great batsman within him, the latter half of Mathews’ captaincy so clearly wore him down. Every time he fronted up after a match and declared his team’s performance to be “humiliating” or “embarrassing” or his “worst loss as captain” or “one of the lowest points” in his career, Mathews the batsman appeared a little more diminished in his next innings.Where’s the rampaging Angelo Mathews of 2014?•Getty ImagesThere were no technical failures during this leaner period. Well, not really. He does occasionally hang his bat out against the seaming ball, and that had been the source of some strife in South Africa this year. But far worse has been the lack of conviction in his strokes, pushing tentatively even after he has struck firm boundaries, handing out soft dismissals to every team that rolls up – the recent caught-and-bowled to Graeme Cremer being a prime example.For that Test – against Zimbabwe – Mathews had already handed over the reins, but there was still none of the old freedom about his game. When you are captain, you tie yourself so tightly to the team’s fate, that maybe it takes a little untangling to feel your old self again.India’s last tour of Sri Lanka in 2015 was the last the world saw of Mathews the great batsman. In that series, he had averaged 56.50 on pitches favouring bowlers, and outscored India’s best batsman – Kohli – by more than 100 runs.In 26 innings since, 735 runs at 28.26 have been his returns. This, for a man who once mopped up top-order spills better than anyone in the world, wiped nervous sweat off tail-enders’ brows and charged them to bat better in his company than they ever had before. And if all else failed, and a loss was certain, he would at least hit a few quick runs and make the scoreline more presentable.Sri Lanka have no more need for Mathews the captain. As they prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, Mathews the batsman they could use plenty of.There is no better time to shed the despondence of the last few months. No better time to let the weight fall, and to discover the joy that once coursed through his game.This time, do it for yourself, Angelo. It could be the best thing you do for your team.

A hostile English crowd, a dicey pitch, a batting collapse, a rearguard century and adulation for one of the greatest innings ever

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston01-Aug-2019How, over the 12 months in which he was banned from representing Australia, might Steven Smith have imagined making his return to Test cricket?How about this? A raucously hostile English crowd, a dicey pitch, a day one batting collapse, a rearguard century as tough as it was masterful, a cover drive off Ben Stokes to get there, a foothold in the game, and adulation for one of the greatest innings ever played.Amid all the isolation, the ridicule, the lonely batting sessions, the community service and the club games for Sutherland, that would have sounded pretty good. In fact it might have been the stuff of Smith’s dreams, or the script of a movie capturing the disgrace, recovery and redemption of an elite athlete. It is a dream, or a film pitch, no longer.On day one of the 2019 Ashes, Smith played an innings as good as any in his career, possibly better. He played an innings as valuable as any in his career, possibly better. And he played an innings more cathartic to Smith and Australia than any in his career.Wiggling, twitching and light sabre leaving in a fashion that felt even more exaggerated than he did before the ban, Smith blunted everything England, the pitch and the weather could hurl at him. In the course of doing so he also caused a perceptible change in the Edgbaston crowd’s response – booing overshadowed if never completely drowned out by ever more generous applause.A lone hand first innings century, this was a kind of performance only seldom seen in Australian Test history – a couple spring to mind. In 1981, Kim Hughes fashioned an even 100 out of 198 against the West Indies on a difficult MCG pitch, getting to the milestone with nine wickets down. And in 1997, Steve Waugh battled to 108 out of 235 against England at Old Trafford on a surface where seam and swing were available in generous quantities more or less all day. Both knocks set up Australian victories and are still spoken about, decades later, but neither had quite the subtext of this one.For almost three weeks now, Smith has been driving Australia’s assistant coaches to distraction with his ravenous appetite for net sessions and throw downs. He has hit thousands of balls, most of them delivered by the batting coach Graeme Hick, indoors and outdoors, morning and evening, optional sessions and mandatory, from Southampton to Birmingham. Asked whether the coaches effectively drew straws for who would throw to Smith, Justin Langer had laughed.”Yep. Yep pretty much,” he said. “That’s why I was out on my knees before, because he didn’t have that long a net today. It’s almost when he comes out, you’re down on your knees going ‘oh thank you, thank you’ because he loves hitting balls, which means you’ve got to throw a lot of balls. Graeme Hick works very hard…”Steven Smith looks to the skies•Getty ImagesThe obsession and compulsion of Smith’s preparation ran alongside his litany of superstitions and routines, all compiled over the years to ensure he feels as comfortable and normal as possible at the batting crease. These extend from the order in which he puts on pads, gloves and helmet, to the taping of his shoelaces to his socks to ensure he does not see them when he looks down at has bat tapping by his right shoe. They help Smith to feel cocooned at the crease, and he most certainly needed that feeling for the scenario that confronted him at 17 for 2 in the eighth over.In the hands of Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes, the ball was zipping, seaming and bouncing. Too much for David Warner, albeit via an erroneous lbw decision, too much for Cameron Bancroft. There was talk of a Newlands scandal hat-trick of sorts for Broad, but Smith responded with a broad bat and cool judgment of what to play and leave from the very earliest stages of his innings.A few deliveries beat the bat, and Smith soon lost Usman Khawaja’s companionship, but overall the impression was of a batsman who, after all that had taken place, still had the measure of the England attack as he had done in Australia two years ago. This was not in Australia, however, nor with a Kookaburra ball travelling gun barrel straight for most of its journeys. The degree of difficulty was undoubtedly far higher. This was true even when considering how James Anderson withdrew from the attack with a recurrence of calf trouble after only four overs, not delivering a single ball to Smith all day.For a period either side of lunch, Smith was able to play in the slipstream of a fluent Travis Head, playing his first Ashes innings with some panache, until a seamer from Woakes found the left-hander lbw. That signalled another rush of wickets, as Matthew Wade, Tim Paine, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins cobbled just 11 runs between them. Smith came close to being part of the procession, successfully reviewing an lbw appeal when he shouldered arms and saw that the ball had not seamed back quite enough to hit the stumps. But at 122 for 8, it did not appear as though this would matter all that much.Walking to the wicket, though, was Peter Siddle, a cricketer with his own story of second chances to tell. He had been surplus to requirements for most of the journey here in 2015, and his selection for the opening Test demonstrated how far Australian thinking had evolved since then. In England this year, Siddle has been making himself useful to Essex with the bat as well as the ball, averaging 32 in the County Championship. Not having to deal with Anderson, who has dismissed him 11 times in Tests, Siddle was almost as fluent as Smith in adding 88 precious runs.”I was just telling him to watch the ball and to keep watching it really hard and play his natural game,” Smith said of Siddle. “When they over pitched he drove a few balls really nicely, when they bowled short he was getting underneath it the majority of the time. He had a really good, strong defence which is what you need on a wicket which is doing a bit. His defence was magnificent.”He was willing to get beaten every now and again and just play the line of the ball. He did that beautifully. It’s great to see Sidds back. He’s very experienced, he’s played a lot of cricket over here and he’s a bowler that is similar to Woakes who hits the stumps a lot, maybe a little bit shorter and is able to hit the stumps from a shorter length. It’s going to be crucial on this wicket and I think it’s a wicket that will really suit him.”When Siddle exited, Smith was still 14 runs from a century, and he knew from recent experience here in the World Cup semi-final that it was eminently plausible he may be left short of the mark. But Nathan Lyon was able to endure in his company, to a point that Smith was able to go to three figures by following a thumping six off Moeen Ali with a sweet cover drive off Stokes to return to the ranks of Test century makers. He celebrated in something of a daze, the enormity of the occasion and the achievement taking time to soak in. The lower order help was serendipitous in itself, for so many of those extra batting sessions for Smith have taken place alongside similar additional nets for the lower order, the better to eke out every last available run for the cause.Once he had composed himself, Smith launched into a final third of the innings that was often brutal, consigning Joe Root to a task that was less a case of setting fields as ordering his men to disperse as widely as possible – all of them retreating to the boundary by the end. Smith was utterly cocooned in the aforementioned zone, complete with all its many, ever more pronounced fidgets, including one instance of self-reproach when he failed to get a tennis slog past cover. The ticks and twitches eased a little towards the end, but only slightly.When finally Broad found a way through, Smith sprinted off the field, almost as though he was seeking to reach the sanctuary of his teammates before another round of booing could engulf him. But there was rather more applause for a day that, in Smith’s own words, defied his ability to describe them. He is back alright, and Australia could not be more grateful.

Four years on from the famous leak, how well do you remember England’s much-derided Ashes 2013-14 cookbook?

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2017

Stats highlights of the Australian summer, which was headlined by Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Lyon

Gaurav Sundararaman06-Jan-2020 896 Runs scored by Marnus Labuschagne in the Australian summer – Only two batsmen have scored more than him in a home season: Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden (twice). Labuschagne finished with an average of 112 with four hundreds and three fifties. While Hayden and Ponting played more than 10 innings, Labuschagne batted only eight times this summer with a lowest score of 19. Labuschagne has now scored 1459 Test runs from 23 innings averaging 63.43.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Ross Taylor is the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. He went past the Stephen Fleming’s tally of 7172 on Monday. Taylor reached the landmark in his 99th Test. He finished the innings with 7174 runs at an average of 46.28. Taylor and Fleming are the only cricketers from New Zealand to score more than 7000 Test runs.ESPNcricinfo Ltd 8 Instances in which Australia have won every Test in their home summer (condition of at least five matches played). They had a similar summer in 2004-05 when they won two Tests against New Zealand and three against Pakistan. Since 2013-14 this is the first instance of Australia whitewashing every opposition they faced at home. 1 Test win for New Zealand against Australia from 31 matches since April 1993. New Zealand have lost 22 and drawn seven in this period. They have now lost six in a row against Australia with their last win coming nine years ago at Hobart. 27.97 Difference in batting and bowling average for Australia – fourth-best figures for Australia in a home season with a minimum of three Tests. Australia’s domination was evident against both Pakistan and New Zealand, averaging 50.67 with the bat and 22.7 with the ball.41.8 Strike rate for Australia’s bowlers against New Zealand – their best for a home series with a minimum of three matches and the their best overall since the 2002-03 series against Pakistan. 19.25 Average runs per wicket for New Zealand this series – their worst for against Australia across all 21 tours so far. Their highest score this series was 256 – the lowest top total for an overseas team in a series of three or more matches in Australia. 3 Ten wicket hauls for Nathan Lyon in Tests. This was also the second-best match figures for an Australian against New Zealand, and the best by a spinner. Coming into this Test, Lyon did not have a five-wicket hauls at his home ground Sydney. Now he has taken two in a match taking his wickets tally to 36 – second-most for him at any venue. Lyon finished with 27 wickets at an average of 21.96 in the summer with three five-wicket hauls. 24 Centuries for David Warner in Tests, which places him ninth in the list of most centuries for Australia. In contrast to the Ashes where Warner made only 95 runs, he amassed 786 runs at an average of 131 with three centuries in the home summer. Warner now has 7244 Test runs and is among the top 10 for Australia. Eighteen of the 24 centuries for Warner have come at home. Only Hayden and Ponting beat him on that count. Interestingly, Warner’s lowest score in the series like Marnus is 19.

Manchester United could land an experienced player on a free transfer once his contract at his current employers runs out, according to a recent report.

Manchester United transfer updates…

Undoubtedly, the Red Devils will feel the need to strengthen in January amid their topsy-turvy start to the Premier League campaign and Erik ten Hag will have designs on recruiting some high-profile stars to help combat their recent run of injury issues.

Nevertheless, the Dutchman has thrown caution to the wind in that respect, detailing that Financial Fair Play issues may limit the power his side, alongise others, have to be able to recruit on a large scale in January, as he stated via BBC Sport: "It gives you limitations. You tell me 'bring this player in', but you have to match the FFP rules, in those rules you have to construct the best squad possible. When you set such rules everyone has to match the rules because otherwise it's not fair."

Spending a figure in the region of £170 million across the summer, it is unclear how much financial muscle Manchester United will have to throw about in the mid-season window. Recently, The Sun have reported that Nice's Jean-Clair Todibo and Sporting Clube de Portugal man Goncalo Inacio are both targets for the Premier League giants as they aim to shore up their backline.

The report states that incoming investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe has cleared the sale of France international Raphael Varane at Old Trafford, which could pave the way for a younger alternative to take his place.

According to TEAMtalk, Everton star Jarrad Branthwaite is believed to be the Red Devils' main defensive target from the English top-flight alongside detailing that the club monitored his progress during his spell at PSV Eindhoven last term.

Despite links to big-money arrivals, Manchester United could also land themselves an economically advantageous deal in the market, according to a report.

Thomas Muller eyed on free transfer

As per BILD via Sport Witness, Manchester United are keen on Bayern Munich veteran Thomas Muller and could look to sign the Germany international in 2024, when his contract at the Allianz Arena is due to expire.

The outlet claim that there is not yet clarity over whether Muller will sign an extension at the Bundesliga champions, which has also put clubs from the United States and Saudi Arabia on alert. 34-year-old Muller has been forced into a diminished role for his current employers due to the emergence of Jamal Musiala in the engine room.

Labelled "intelligent" by Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, Muller has still been able to have a positive influence in offence for the German champions, recording 1.4 key passes per match in the Bundesliga (Muller statistics – WhoScored).

Restricted in his duties at present, Muller ending his career by having a swansong at Old Trafford would definitely be an enticing thought for all concerned; however, we will need to wait and see on that front.

10 most famous players in Manchester United history 

Manchester United are undoubtedly one of the biggest clubs in world football, and with that comes a certain fame for the players wearing the shirt.

Dismissals of Moeen Ali and James Vince epitomise a team that can’t help but look for the aggressive option

George Dobell at Headingley21-Jun-2019England were 170 for 5. They required 63 more runs to win and they had five wickets and 70 deliveries in hand. Their remaining batsmen had 12 Test and 54 first-class centuries between them. They had one foot in the semi-finals.But then Moeen Ali took a chance. He must have seen the fielder on the long-off fence, but he backed himself to clear him. Instead his lofted drive was well taken by Isuru Udana and Sri Lanka were thrown a lifeline. It was a dismissal that precipitated a slide in which four wickets fell for the addition of 16 runs. Suddenly something relatively simple was almost impossible.We have to be a bit careful criticising England’s limited-overs batting. You don’t set the records they have – the total of 481, the 17 sixes in an individual innings, the 46-ball hundred – without taking a certain amount of risk. It would be unfair to praise that bold approach one day and decry it the next. It is absolutely inevitable they will fail sometimes.But this was a run-chase. And a relatively small one at that. So there was no need for the high-risk strokes. Simple rotation of strike and calm heads would have sufficed. And, as admirable as England’s bravery and aggression has been, you do wish it was combined with a bit of common sense just a little more often. Adapting to surfaces and situations is key to success across formats and this was Moeen’s 100th ODI. With all that talent and all that experience, it really does seem fair to expect a bit better than this. It was, in its own way, just a little reminiscent of Kevin Pietersen’s dismissal in the second innings of the Perth Test of 2013. And we all remember how that was received. One hopes Moeen did not whistle at any point afterwards.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Sri Lanka’s remarkable victory over EnglandMoeen might claim, with some justification, that the wicket was challenging. So he might claim, with some justification, that if he could smash a quick 20 or so more runs, he could have put the game beyond doubt. But that’s the logic of the get-rich-quick scheme; the mentality of the gambler. There was a simple single on offer here and Moeen, who had hit a six the previous delivery, showed a lack of composure in not taking it. It was a key moment in a defeat that puts England’s World Cup progress in jeopardy.To be fair, Jofra Archer’s dismissal – caught at long-on – was every bit as grim as Moeen’s. But he is a 24-year-old playing his ninth ODI. And he is batting at No. 10. Moeen is 32 now and playing in his second World Cup. More is expected of him.Moeen Ali leaves the field after holing out•Getty ImagesWas it relevant that, the previous day, Moeen had spoken of the internal – and good-natured – competition within the England dressing room over who could hit the most and biggest sixes? It seemed a light-hearted chat at the time. And Moeen is no doubt right when he talks of the importance of keeping the environment light and positive. But just because you don’t want them to over-think situations doesn’t mean you don’t want to think at all. And the balance here was more towards reckless than responsible.It would be simplistic to single out one man for England’s defeat, though. Just as it would be wrong not to acknowledge the fine performance of Sri Lanka. Angelo Mathews’ innings raised some eyebrows while it was in progress – he had made 34 from 80 balls at one stage – but in retrospect it appears an intelligent contribution from a man who adapted to the conditions better than most on the home team. He gave his bowlers a chance and, with Lasith Malinga nailing every yorker and his team-mates providing decent support, it was a chance they grasped. This upset was every bit a result of Sri Lanka playing well as it was England playing poorly.READ MORE: The monster they call MaliBut that doesn’t mean England didn’t play poorly. Or bat poorly, at least. It doesn’t mean that Jonny Bairstow didn’t play round a straight one or that Jos Buttler didn’t waste a review having done the same. And if Joe Root – who was batting masterfully well – was a bit unfortunate to be caught down the leg side, the best sides don’t trust to luck. They make sure.And then there’s James Vince. He did receive a decent ball that left him a little while inviting the drive. But it was an invitation he could have declined. Or at least an invitation he could have accepted with his foot to the pitch of the ball. As it was, that foot barely moved. It was a dismissal as soft as it was familiar.What do England do with Vince? He continues to look a million dollars. But increasingly he appears to be the sports-car which spends more time with its bonnet up than its roof down; the beautiful partner who can’t stop straying; the cigarette you’ll regret in the morning. He promises pearls and delivers pewter.He has now batted 10 times in ODI cricket with a top score of 51 (which came the first time he batted, back in July 2016) and 40 times in international cricket without making a century. And while it is true he has rarely enjoyed a run in the side – he has always been looking over his shoulder and never quite able to relax – that is the nature of much of professional sport. Jason Roy, by comparison, has passed 50 five times in his last six ODI innings. Suffice to say, his return cannot come soon enough for England. One wonders, too, if there is any part of the England management pining for a replacement opener with six ODI centuries. They have made their bed with Alex Hales, however, and must lie in it.This defeat does not ruin England’s World Cup hopes. Their fate is still very much in their own hands. Two victories from their final three games should ensure their progression; one might even be enough.But it does make life much more tense than it might have been. And it might well compromise their chances of resting key players – especially the fast bowlers – ahead of the semi-finals. Their opposition in those next three games – Australia, India and New Zealand – are fine sides who will sense blood. England really have made life much more difficult for themselves.Most of all, this result will do nothing to decrease the nerves in the England camp. And judging by the performances against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, those nerves are quite a factor.

The No. 4 position has become a problem for South Africa and captain Faf du Plessis is best placed to fill the hole in their batting line-up

Firdose Moonda at Old Trafford05-Aug-20171:35

A bad day today, but the Test isn’t gone – Amla

Nothing is working for South Africa. Not changing up the opening pair, not trying three different No. 4s, not altering the balance of the side from seven specialist batsmen to six and then going back to seven again. Not counterattacking, not trying to bat time, not even leaving. Nothing is working and, as this tour hits Groundhog Day, South Africa have to ask themselves why.The answers may lie in their failure to address the issues that existed last summer, when they were winning. And that is understandable. A team on the up – and South Africa were on a major up after slipping to No. 7 in the Test rankings this time last year – can brush their inadequacies aside. They can excuse them as mere speed bumps on the road to success, so that is what South Africa did. They said home pitches were generally seamer-friendly, especially in season when Sri Lanka were the sole visitors last summer, and they blamed conditions for the lack of hundreds in the New Zealand series in March, where Dean Elgar was their only centurion.Elgar is also the only one to have made a hundred in this series so far and South Africa can’t claim clouds and movement are the only reasons for that. Especially not after this showing.With the sun out at Old Trafford and after the early bite, this should have been a batsmen’s day. It was in the morning session, when England’s tail added 102 runs to their overnight total against a listless South Africa attack, whose only tactic seemed to be to wait for an error. And the defensive, dare we say negative, approach came from the top. Half of those runs came after Faf du Plessis moved the field out when the ninth wicket fell and Jonny Bairstow was then dropped on 53. The pressure was completely off the last pair and James Anderson could enjoy the best view of Bairstow taking England to a decent total, but not one that should have scared South Africa as much as it seemed to.

South Africa have thrown their two most promising players – de Kock and Bavuma – to the wolves while leaving the captain to clean up the mess

Their approach was to bed in. After the early losses of Elgar and Hashim Amla, just as he was getting going, Heino Kuhn and Temba Bavuma scored just 17 runs in the next 11 overs as they tried to show they could bat like Test players. But Kuhn got frustrated. Even though he was carrying a hamstring strain, he tried a tip-and-run and it almost cost him, then he was almost involved in a run-out after a mix-up with Bavuma, then he gloved a sweep and was almost caught behind and then he nicked off. Then the real rescue act was supposed to begin.Du Plessis spoke pre-Test about being “extremely hungry to make a play” at the place he used to call home; he spoke at the end of the last Test about “really enjoying those situations where there is almost no hope and you can just do your thing”. With him and Bavuma at the crease, South Africa were steady but when they were dismissed within three balls, South Africa had sunk to a position where a series-saving victory seemed impossible. And to where the proper scrutiny should begin.The No. 4 position has escaped the microscope because the opening partnership has been so poor but it can’t for much longer. In this series alone, South Africa have tried to fill it with experience in the form of JP Duminy, attack in the form of Quinton de Kock and an anchor in Temba Bavuma. They have not looked at making it the place for a leader.Du Plessis is probably the best candidate to bat there but is hidden at No. 5 instead, perhaps because the demands of the captaincy necessitate that he has some breathing room lower down the order; perhaps because his preference is to bat lower so he can come in if there is a real crisis. He should instead be thinking back to when he stepped into the role and how he fared. Du Plessis only batted at No. 4 in seven innings but in the time performed one his greatest rescue acts. His 134 against India in Johannesburg allowed South Africa to draw. When Jacques Kallis retired in the next match, there was talk of du Plessis taking over permanently but he only batted there in three more Tests before being moved.Temba Bavuma was the latest to bat at No. 4 for South Africa in the series and he top-scored with 46•Getty ImagesDu Plessis moved back to No. 5 for the tour of India and the home series against England and then he was dropped. When he returned, it was as captain and the decision was taken to move Duminy to No. 4. Duminy scored two hundreds in that position but a lean run in the last two series all but ended his Test career – he has not even been included in the A side that will play India A later this month – and means South Africa have to look elsewhere.Given that de Kock has been the most consistent performer in the last year, he was promoted to No. 4 but three failures in four innings forced another rethink. Bavuma was then promoted and it sounds like he will stay there. “Technically, Temba is very sound. He has been getting starts and the captain and coach feel he is the guy to hold the mantle,” Amla said, though he admitted South Africa are “still looking for the right combination”.Really, they have thrown their two most promising players to the wolves while leaving the captain to clean up whatever mess remains. It does not sound like the most effective way to order a batting a line-up, it sounds like a reaction to what could quickly become a crisis.South Africa are struggling for depth and though they may blood Aiden Markram in the home summer, Theunis de Bruyn – who made 11 batting at No. 7 here – is the only viable middle-order option. They need more batsmen to come through and the upcoming A series may help in that regard. David Miller has been included, Stephen Cook has been given a lifeline and the likes of Khaya Zondo and Jason Smith are on the radar. But none of them is likely to be the next No. 4. For that, they need du Plessis to step up again and maybe start to get things working.

In the year of ball-tampering and bans, a weakened team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a dramatic draw

Daniel Brettig in Dubai11-Oct-2018For the first time in 2018, new territory for Australian cricket represents a point of pride rather than a moment of madness. In the year of ball-tampering, bans and backlash, a severely weakened Test team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a draw from Pakistan out of the dust of Dubai. History made, leaving a series still to be won.When Australia began their occupation on day four, they faced the prospect of 140 overs to block out; more than a day and a half of batting on a pockmarked and spinning pitch. In the team’s rearview mirror was the loss of all 10 wickets for 60 runs on day two; looming in the headlights were Yasir Shah, Bilal Asif and Mohammad Abbas.Never had Australia lasted more than 90 overs in the fourth innings for a draw in Asia. A team shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner? Forgeddaboutit! To paraphrase Ray Warren’s call of an end-to-end Queensland try in a famous State of Origin encounter, that’s not a draw, that’s a miracle.And whose miracle was this, forged amid enervating heat and all sorts of mental blocks. It belonged, chiefly, to Usman Khawaja, conjuring the greatest of his Test innings and one of the greatest save-a-game efforts in all of Test history. Only Michael Atherton, for 643 minutes at Johannesburg in 1995, had batted longer in a fourth innings than Khawaja’s 524 minutes for 141. Much as the Wanderers has remained Atherton’s signature moment, so too Dubai will always be associated with Khawaja.From the very start of his first-innings 85, Khawaja showed evidence of strong planning, deep concentration and vastly improved fitness. While he joined his team-mates in the hole they fell into after an initial opening stand of 142 with Aaron Finch, Khawaja had provided an example for others, as underlined by a post-play discussion in the middle with the rest of the side’s left-handers. As Travis Head attested, Khawaja’s strength of mind and sureness of method was something to be followed.In the second innings, Khawaja added a fusillade of reverse sweeps, 21 in all, to confound Yasir in particular. In the consistency of the shot’s use and its proficiency, Khawaja recalled a famous World Cup innings by Graham Gooch at Mumbai in 1987, when he swept Maninder Singh and India out of the tournament. But the use of attack as the best form of defence over such a prolonged period provided a reminder of how much quality may be found in Khawaja’s cultured hands, now without peer as the most skilled in this Australian batting line-up. He played the innings of a senior player, and a leader. As so many in the team had said before this match, it should not require the bestowal of a formal title to make one.Accompanying Khawaja for the best part of 50 overs across close to two full sessions was Head, the South Australian captain and debutant. Here was another example of deep concentration but also rapid learning. Having looked lost in the first innings, Head found his way through the testing early passages on the fourth evening and slowly gathered confidence, punching the ball with clear intent off both front and back feet. He did not always get it right: the sweep did not work for him and he may easily have been lbw playing it against Yasir when he was on 44. But overall Head showed he was a willing pupil in these conditions, and with Khawaja turned the draw from a theoretical possibility to a tangible one.Usman Khawaja gets down the track to hit straight•Getty ImagesAfter Head and Marnus Labuschagne both fell to skidding deliveries made possible by the second new ball, Tim Paine walked to the middle with a keen desire to salvage more from this day. He had, as a far younger man, made quality runs in Asian conditions on the 2010 tour of India – at the time describing conditions as the toughest he had ever encountered. But now as Australian captain, having also delivered 222.1 spotless overs behind the stumps, Paine was highly invested in this team and this scenario.His early overs in the middle were fraught just about every ball. One Yasir legbreak, left alone with a clear sight of the stumps, failed to disturb the off peg by approximately one millimetre, and there were numerous other strangled appeals. But little by little, Paine gained a foothold, aided by Khawaja’s serene presence at the other end. Slowly the minutes ticked past, and tea arrived without a further wicket. Five left to survive the match’s final session, in which an average of 4.75 wickets had fallen across each of the previous four days, meant that Paine’s Australians now had a glimmer, however slight.When eventually fatigue and sweeping got the better of Khawaja, lbw to a perfectly pitched googly by Yasir from around the wicket, the final hour had already begun. Time was running short, but there was plenty for Pakistan to conjure a win – just ask the West Indies and their inattentive No. 11 Shannon Gabriel. Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle were unable to endure, as 15 overs with five wickets left became 12 with a measly two. Nathan Lyon, so often the last man out in Australian defeats, marched to the middle at No. 10.The closing overs were incredibly tense, with the benefit of a Paine inside edge onto pad meaning that Pakistan were out of reviews. Yasir, Abbas and Bilal all tried their wares, with Sarfraz Ahmed unwilling to try a wayward Wahab Riaz, despite his greater pace. Paine’s bat, for the most part broad, also found fortuitous edges, one fractionally over the stumps from Yasir, another marginally past them from Abbas. Strained smiles from Pakistan’s fielders and an increasingly grimacing face from their coach Mickey Arthur told a tale that climaxed with something as simple as a Paine forward defence, and then a fist pump. Australia did not, in the end, bat out 140 overs, but only because Sarfraz offered his hand to Paine after 139.5.For the coach Justin Langer, this was a result to epitomise the type of Australian team he and Paine are trying to build – hard to beat at first, and then ever more frequently victorious. Langer, of course, had been involved in one other result commonly viewed as miraculous, the fabled Hobart chase against Pakistan in 1999. Where that victory, complete with centuries to Langer and Adam Gilchrist, had jumpstarted Australia’s reign of dominance, this one picked a previously forlorn team off the Newlands killing floor.Langer has reflected on that result, where his outward positivity when Gilchrist arrived had masked a sense of impending doom, and thoughts mainly of keeping his tenuous spot. “Gilly walks out, and I’m being positive, saying, ‘If you just hang in there, you never know what could happen. Let’s see if we can stick it out till stumps, it might rain tomorrow’. He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, no worries’,” Langer said last year. “I was just trying to say the right things but thinking to myself, we’re going to lose this Test but if I get 50 not out I might get another Test match…”Similar exchanges were had between Khawaja and Head, then Khawaja and Paine. In the closing overs, Paine and Lyon tried to relax by talking about watching episodes of . But at the end of all that talk, the nerves, the sweat and the sweeps, was salvation of a kind Australian cricket had not previously seen. In it came a significance that recalled Hobart, as Langer has often said: “It was significant personally, but for the Australian cricket team, it was actually the [third] of our 16-match winning streak. I think we thought if we could win from there, we could win from anywhere.”This wasn’t a win, but very close to it for the psyche of this team. At the end of another famous draw, in 1984 against the West Indies, the then recently retired Rod Marsh rang the Caribbean to inform the batting hero Allan Border and the captain Kim Hughes that a rare non-winning rendition of the team song had his blessing. In the heat, dust and glare of Dubai, another Australian team forged a similar piece of history, at a time when it was so sorely needed.

It has been a far from simple build-up for Joe Root with injury and form concerns to deal with. The final XI looks exciting, but also a gamble

George Dobell at the Ageas Bowl29-Aug-20185:46

Compton: England top-order lacks backbone

When England were at their best between 2009 and 2011 or so there was a predictability about almost every aspect of their cricket.They had a settled batting line-up, a settled slip cordon and a settled bowling attack. Squad announcements could be cut and pasted for months at a time.Those days are long gone. It might just prove that England have stumbled upon the perfect line-up ahead of the fourth Test in Southampton, but it feels patched together rather than engineered.There is some justification behind the tinkering. Jonny Bairstow, for example, has a finger injury that necessitated he relinquish the gloves, while Chris Woakes has a long-standing quad issue that rendered him unfit for selection. Ben Stokes also has a knee problem that will limit the number of overs he can deliver. The knock-on effects of those injuries was bound to create ripples.But England go into this game looking just a little vulnerable. Few of their batsmen are in their regular positions, after all, and there are four left-handers in the top seven against an attack that favours them. And, as well a new keeper and slip cordon – well, not new so much as revisited – they appear to have abandoned their continuity of selection policy. Meanwhile, their most pressing problem – the fragility of their opening partnership – has not been addressed at all.None of that necessarily makes the selection of the side wrong. It’s just that England have a side stacked with aggressive allrounders most of whom would be best placed batting at No. 6 and very few candidates to strengthen the top three. And in asking Bairstow to move up to No. 4 – an unusual response to a man breaking a finger – they are asking him to fulfil a role he has almost never attempted in county cricket and for which he expressed little enthusiasm on Tuesday.It is not impossible he could make a go of it. He has the talent and it could even be the making of him. But if he is to make it work, he may well have to curb the natural aggressive instincts that have earned him much of the success he has enjoyed to this point. If, as is entirely possible, he comes to the crease within the first 10 overs and continues to push at the ball, he will quickly expose a middle-order that looks more exciting than reliable.The same could be said for most of the batsmen. Joe Root wants to bat No. 4, Stokes has spent most of his career at No. 6 and it is only a few months since Ed Smith, the national selector, talked about Jos Buttler as an ideal No. 7. A few days ago, Moeen Ali scored a double-hundred against a strong Yorkshire attack while batting at No. 3. There is, for sure, some method in the madness of mixing all that up. But there may be some chaos, too.Collision course: Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook bump into each other during training•Getty ImagesEngland have altered their slip cordon, again, too. Root, whose catching gained a far from effusive review from Trevor Bayliss only a couple of weeks ago, will field at second slip with Stokes at third replacing Keaton Jennings. It said a lot for England’s lack of confidence in the position that Root explained the changes not by way of suggesting they would catch better as much as they would deal with the disappointment of drops better.”The hardest thing to get your head around in Test cricket is dealing with when you’ve dropped one,” Root said. “It’s easier to ask experienced guys who have done that a lot more to handle it better.”Ollie Pope is a particularly unfortunate victim of all the tinkering. Asked to fulfil a role that was alien to him – he bats No. 6 for Surrey but was required to bat at No. 4 for England – he has been jettisoned after just three Test innings. As a result, he could be forgiven for wondering what happened to the policy whereby a player was given “one Test too many rather than one too few” that has been touted so often in recent times.Dom Bess (two Tests) and Jack Leach (one Test), who appear to have become England’s third and fourth-choice spinners, could be forgiven similar thoughts. Perhaps Sam Curran, who was dropped a couple of Tests after producing a player of the match performance, too. You wonder whether such treatment – and the insecurity it can breed – compromises their development and confidence within the dressing room. And if it doesn’t, why can’t Alastair Cook, or other experienced players, be dropped when out of form? It seems, at present, as if England find it much easier to drop according to age than merit. Bess, Curran and Pope were all 20.”That’s part of international sport,” Root said in explanation of the Bairstow decision. “You don’t always get what you want. And hopefully he uses it in the right way to continue to work really hard at that side of his game. And he and Jos two can push each other to keep improving in that department.”There were no guarantees that Bairstow would win the gloves back, either. With every chance that his finger will not have improved sufficiently for England to make any change ahead of the final Test at The Oval, it seems Buttler will retain the job. Then, when the side travels to Sri Lanka, it will be unclear who the first choice keeper has become.Admirably meritocratic? Or unnecessarily destabilising? We’ll see. But you do wonder how many people in that dressing room are starting to look over their shoulders.There was one nice moment at the end of training on Thursday. Once all the players had left the field, Mark Nicholas and Robin Smith – both hugely popular and significant figures in Hampshire cricket – emerged from one of the function rooms overlooking the ground and took some pictures of one another playing imaginary shots on the Test pitch. Smith has had some tough times in recent years so to see him in fine fettle and, even without a bat, unleashing that famous square-cut was heartening and reviving. How England could do with a batsman of his class now.