The former Australia batsman has been part of the IPL as player and coach for several franchises, and brings an insider’s view to how teams operate

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2019As the IPL grows older and gets more competitive, its owners are becoming more demanding and “cut-throat”, in the words of tournament veteran and two-time coach Brad Hodge. “It’s pretty brutal (for coaches) in this part of the world (IPL). If you don’t make the finals here, you pretty much pack your bags and walk out the door.”Hodge, who coached Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab between 2016 and 2018, was talking to ESPNcricinfo’s Talking T20 podcast, in a wide-ranging chat on life inside an IPL team. An IPL regular since the first season, Hodge played for three different teams, including the Rajasthan Royals side that made the playoffs in 2013.As coach, he took Lions to the playoffs in their inaugural season in 2016. A miserable 2017 season later – the last for the franchise since it had only a two-year term – he moved to Kings XI Punjab for IPL 2018. However, they frittered away a promising start of five wins in their first six games to finish seventh on the points table.Hodge, who has since parted ways with the franchise as has team mentor Virender Sehwag, continues to coach in the Caribbean Premier League with St.Lucia Stars. However, he feels the culture in the IPL is different from most other T20 leagues, considering the scale of the tournament and the stakes involved.”Look, it’s pretty cut-throat here actually… I sort of said to the Kings XI Punjab (owners), ‘How do you define success? What do you actually want to do?’ You haven’t won in ten years, so if I’m not to win next year, how am I defined?” He cited Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, the two most successful sides in IPL history, as examples of a well-defined long-term vision working well.”I sort of said to them (Kings XI owners), ‘How many times do you want to win (the IPL) in a decade?’ And I thought three is realistic. It doesn’t matter whether you win this year, next year or the year after. You could win three in a row in the mid-pack. Just that if you’ve won three in a decade… If you look at CSK, they’ve won three. Mumbai Indians, they’ve won three. They’ve got a successful ten years.”Super Kings, along with Sunrisers Hyderabad, have two of IPL’s longest serving coaches in Stephen Fleming (2009-2015, 2018 onwards) and Tom Moody (2013 onwards), while Rajasthan Royals’ Paddy Upton and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Jacques Kallis are the only other current head coaches who have been around for more than three seasons with the same franchise.

England captain confirms it was senior players who reached the conclusion that Alex Hales should play no further part in World Cup preparations

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2019Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, has said that a “complete breakdown of trust” between Alex Hales and his England team-mates led to his banishment from the one-day squad, and confirmed that it was the senior players who reached the conclusion that they wanted him to play no further part in their World Cup preparations.In a damning expression of the extent to which Hales has fallen from grace since it was revealed that he was serving a 21-day ban for a second failed drugs test, Morgan said that the protection of England’s team culture was sacrosanct as they embark on the final preparations for a home World Cup campaign in which the team are currently rated the No. 1 side and pre-tournament favourites.Speaking on the eve of England’s one-off ODI against Ireland in Dublin, Morgan laid out the process by which Hales was removed from the squad on Monday morning, having attended a pre-season get-together in Cardiff that previous weekend.”I spoke to the coach [Trevor Bayliss] at depth,” Morgan said. “I spoke to all of our senior players – I actually called the meeting with the senior players to discuss moving forward, how it would affect the team, and the team culture.”We’ve worked extremely hard on our team culture in the last 18 months since the Bristol incident,” he added. “It really did open our eyes to ourselves, only not being judged on performance but how we are as role models, we really need to step up and recognise that it’s a huge part of our job.”So establishing that culture and working on it, to try and find values that everybody across all three formats can adhere to, those values have been in place for the last six months.”Unfortunately Alex’s actions have shown complete disregard for those values, and there has been a complete breakdown of trust between the team and Alex.”Morgan added that the decision had been reached in consultation with “the six most experienced guys in the team, [including] myself”, namely Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes.”We’ve been around a very long time,” he said. “We’ve been through thick and thin. And, as a group, culture is extremely important to us. And that resounding theme came out of that meeting, and we felt that, moving forward, it would actually have quite a significant contribution, particularly going into the World Cup and Ashes year.””We will need at least 15 men to win that World Cup. For whatever way Alex would have dealt with it, the other 14 people would have been
dragged down and that would have been quite a weight taken forward, and that didn’t outweigh his performance.”Having reached their decision, the next step for the squad was to inform the senior management and selectors of their wishes, with the upshot that Ashley Giles, the England managing director, cited the “best interests of the team” in confirming Hales’ de-selection, “to ensure they are free from any distractions and able to focus on being successful on the pitch”.Morgan added: “Obviously, we can’t make that decision, we can only speak to the selectors and Ashley Giles about how the team feel moving forward. It’s quite a big part of our team and what we need to do, particularly in a year that has such significance with the Ashes and the World Cup coming up.”I don’t think we have cast him adrift… To deselect him we felt was the best decision simply because he did not adhere to everything that
we have been working towards for a very long time.”Asked to assess Hales’ head-space during the Cardiff get-together, Morgan refused to be drawn into a sympathetic appraisal, but encouraged the player to seek the help he needs to get his career back on track.”We didn’t congregate a lot as a team while Alex was down there,” he said. “There was a lot of medical testing that took place, so I couldn’t be clear on his head space. But it’s very important that Alex utilises the support and the help put in place by the ECB and the PCA [Professional Cricketers’ Association] from here to try and regain that trust.””I have had communication with Alex [since the weekend], I have reiterated that the support is there, and for him to try to utilise it.”

Daniel Bell-Drummond fifty in vain as off-spinner becomes leading Championship wicket-taker

Daniel Norcross at Chelmsford30-May-2019After the previous day’s rain, Essex were compelled to bat in the morning session. They didn’t hang around for long. In just four overs they added 25 runs to their overnight score, losing Michael Pepper in the process, and then pulled out, setting Kent a not impossible but hugely unlikely 338 in 90 overs on a pitch where scoring has not been easy.This felt like both a generous declaration, most teams would probably have erred slightly more on the side of caution, and one that acknowledged how tough it was going to be to bowl out this redoubtable Kent side. They may have their limitations, most notably in their seam bowling attack, but they lack nothing in spirit and determination. Only a week ago they had batted through the last day at Beckenham to earn a draw against Surrey, but this felt like a tougher prospect.In Simon Harmer, Essex possess the perfect weapon on a fourth-day pitch, and he was unleashed on Kent as early as the tenth over after Kent had made a serene start against Jamie Porter and Sam Cook. In his second over he had snaffled Zak Crawley, trapped in front for 18. The pattern was set. Just like the first innings, Harmer would wheel away from the River End while the seamers rotated from the Hayes Close End.Joe Denly calculated that the best form of defence against Harmer was attack. It turned out to be a less-than-prudent calculation as he was caught at deep midwicket aiming to deposit the ball into the River Can.When Sean Dickson, who did so much to earn that draw last week, edged the dependable Peter Siddle to Harmer at slip, the visitors had stumbled to 51 for 3 and looked on the verge of subsiding completely. Somehow, amidst much playing and missing, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Heino Kuhn, who was dropped by Tom Westley before scoring, limped to lunch without incurring further losses.That drop didn’t look costly at first, but as Kuhn and Bell-Drummond dug in, even occasionally prospering against attacking fields, heretical thoughts of a possible Kent fightback emerged. Those thoughts would be broken by a less-than-smart bit of thinking from Kuhn. Padding up to Harmer is never a wise move. He generates significant turn, even on the most placid of wickets but, inexplicably, pad up is precisely what Kuhn did. Umpire Robinson had no hesitation in raising the finger.The next time the Robinson digit was elevated to the skies was more of a surprise. Ollie Robinson appeared to get nothing on a sharply turning off break that cannoned off his knee roll and looped, in a gentle parabola to Ravi Bopara at leg gully. The Essex fielders joined in a moderately concerted
appeal. The Kent keeper looked surprised but to his credit made a smart exit. In fairness to the umpire, adjudicating on the flight, trajectory and turn of Harmer must be a near impossible task, such is the action he generates on the ball.The fightback had been halted in its tracks and Kent went fully into reverse gear when Wiaan Mulder wafted horribly at a wide ball from Sam Cook to give Pepper his sixth catch of the match. All the while Bell-Drummond was quietly playing himself into some kind of form. His highest first-class score of the season before Thursday was 41 against Yorkshire and for the first couple of hours it was easy to see why, but by tea the old fluency and promise was returning. In tandem with Darren Stevens, who himself has looked all at sea this year, Kent took the attack back to Essex, with Stevens hitting the last two balls of the afternoon session for four and six.Their partnership of 47 in 11.3 overs offered a twist in the tale of this absorbing match. It was a partnership not without incident as Essex were convinced they had both batsmen on numerous occasions, only to be turned down by Robinson, as Harmer was getting the ball to spit and bounce. Harmer would not be denied however, when Stevens clipped the ball into Lawrence’s hands at midwicket to put the score at 210 for 7 with 100 minutes left for play.The game was now up as Harmer ripped through the remaining wickets of Harry Podmore, Matt Milnes and finally, for a stout but ultimately defeated 81, Bell-Drummond. Essex had wrapped up victory by 113 runs with just over an hour to spare. I say Essex. For all the excellent seam bowling on display, it was Harmer’s 8 for 98, giving him match figures of 11 for 170, which was the deciding factor, together with Alastair Cook’s 215 runs.Harmer has now bagged 29 victims this season and is the country’s leading wicket taker. Not bad for an off-spinner. In April and May. The rest of the country should be afraid of what he may yet achieve this season. Very afraid.

The match spilling into a second day made the New Zealander lose sleep, but he remained confident about the total they got given the conditions on offer

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2019For the longest time – the first day if you like – it did look like New Zealand had fallen behind and India had the edge in their World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. It turned out that the 239 for 8 they got was 18 runs too many for India, a target that Ross Taylor said his team were quietly confident about. “We thought 240 was a target that we wanted to get to, and be very competitive,” he said.It was a tricky pitch to bat on right through the 99.3 overs of action, with only Ravindra Jadeja getting the better of the conditions in his 59-ball 77.”We fell a little bit short (of 240) and we knew we needed early wickets and the way the two opening bowlers set the tone, 240 looked a long way away,” Taylor told newspersons after New Zealand had made the World Cup final for the second edition in a row. “We all knew in ourselves that we deserved to be here and we wanted to … not to prove anyone wrong, but to prove it to ourselves that we were good enough.”We were quietly confident, I think. When our backs are against the ball, quite often we have played our best. We talked about that, we have nothing to lose, just go out there and sum up the situation. We have obviously got quite a few level heads, from playing the semi-final and winning at home [in 2015]. We trusted ourselves, we trusted ourselves yesterday – strange to play over two days – but we got the right result.”With rain pushing the semi-final into the reserve day, a lot of focus was on Taylor, who came into the match on the back of middling form in the tournament. He looked scratchy during his innings in the semi-final too, but he hung in, and was on 67 not out when play was called off on Tuesday. He carried on to 74 and New Zealand got from 211 for 5 to 239 for 8.”I woke up at 3 o’clock this morning, wondering how I was going to bat these last 23 balls. I texted my wife at about five saying I still can’t go to bed. She said, ‘Oh dear.’ So I just turned my phone off because there were a lot of messages from back home. So in terms of my sleep, I had terrible sleep,” Taylor said with a laugh. “But my main focus, everyone kept saying, ‘come on, get to 250’, my mind set was to get to 240, as Kane and I discussed yesterday. I get to go to sleep now, though.”Once New Zealand had got their competitive total, the bowlers took over. In 3.1 overs, India were 5 for 3, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul all back in the hut. Man of the match Matt Henry picked up two of the wickets and Trent Boult accounted for Kohli, with the umpire’s lbw decision upheld despite an India review.”Starting up with the ball, we just wanted to put as much pressure on the opposition as we can. And yeah, to nudge him [Kohli] in the pads and see the finger go up, yeah, it was pretty exciting,” Boult said. “But obviously you’re always nervous if the decision goes upstairs. So it was good to see the bails just falling off. It was good fun.”I don’t want to say I am a magician against the best player in the world, but yeah, it was nice to see everything line up and I think we saw them at 3 for 6 [5] at one stage. So yeah, we bowled extremely well, it was good pressure from both ends, and it was nice to come out on the right side.”Virat Kohli reviews after being given out lbw to Trent Boult•Getty Images

From 5 for 3, India got to 24 for 4 and then 71 for 5 and 92 for 6 before MS Dhoni and Jadeja added 116 for the seventh wicket, Jadeja, especially, taking the fight to the opposition – he hit four of the six sixes hit in the entire match.”We know for a fact that if we can get sides three down inside the first ten, and put pressure on the middle order, it’s going to be challenging for anyone,” Boult said. “It was about keeping it simple and nice to put a bit of pressure on those guys. I thought they absorbed it very nicely to get into a position to need 25 [31] off a couple of overs. The end was … it was a great game, great fun, we’re in another final, and we can’t wait.”The moment that turned a fast-swinging game decisively in New Zealand’s favour was Martin Guptill’s direct hit to run Dhoni out in the 49th over. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the other end, Dhoni wanted to keep the strike and took on Guptill, who threw down the stumps from around the 30-yard circle after running in from the deep. The wicketkeeper had chased after the ball, so it had to be a direct hit, and it was. It was a spot of redemption for Guptill, who has had a horror run with the bat at the World Cup. After hitting 73 not out against Sri Lanka in New Zealand’s first game, he has totalled just 94 runs in eight innings.”He is down on confidence, we talked about it after he missed out yesterday, and this morning, he was going to go out there do something brilliant,” Taylor said. “Jimmy Neesham’s catch [to send back Dinesh Karthik off Henry] was fantastic, and Dhoni has won from that situation many times. Once we did break that partnership – Jadeja and Dhoni – we weren’t still out of the woods yet, but once we got Dhoni… Brilliant run out, no keeper, if the keeper had been there, he [Dhoni] would have been safe by the time he took the bails off.”But to have the confidence to do that, in a semi-final… hopefully that’s a bit of luck that he takes from his fielding to his batting and maybe he can have a bit of luck and make the most of it.”Cricket’s about small margins. When we came in to the huddle, the boys were joking that Gup always misses the stumps. When there’s a run out on, he always missed the stumps,” Taylor smiled. “All those misses over the years, he only hits when there’s nothing to worry about, but he did it now, and we celebrated accordingly and we’re very happy for him.”

Batting coach admits World Cup has taken physical and mental toll on players but makes no excuses

George Dobell at Lord's24-Jul-2019Graham Thorpe admitted there were “no real excuses” for England’s poor performance with the bat at Lord’s but suggested the experience could prove just “the jolt” required to focus minds ahead of the Ashes.England’s first innings amounted to just 85. It was the first time they had been bowled out before lunch on the first day of a Lord’s Test and the shortest innings, in terms of balls received, in their history of home Tests. It was also the fourth time in three years they had lost 10 wickets within a single session; a phenomenon that was almost unheard of until 2016.But while Thorpe, England’s batting coach, accepted the World Cup campaign – which finished little more than a week ago – had taken a toll on players both physically and mentally, he defended the decision to pick members of the limited-overs squad for this match. The five players from England’s World Cup squad involved here contributed seven runs between them and were also responsible for at least one dropped chance. The first Ashes Test begins at Edgbaston on August 1.”We can’t run away from today’s performance,” Thorpe said. “And we can’t make excuses. There are no real excuses for us being bowled out for 85 against Ireland. It’s been a bad day. I’m very surprised and disappointed.”It was a tough tournament, no doubt about it. And I don’t think there’s any harm in admitting where some of our players are [mentally]. There aren’t too many sports where you win a World Cup and are playing again a week later. We have to accept that some players are in maybe a different headspace to others. That’s natural and totally understandable.”The players have to show an enormous amount of character and mental strength as well to be able to come back down from last weekend and to be playing this week. I’m sure some of the lads would have liked to stay up on Cloud 9 for longer but this is the nature of our sport and this is the nature of our schedule so we have to accept it.”But we have to react to the fact we have an Ashes campaign coming up as well. Sometimes [experiences like this] can be a little jolt as well. In some respects, it will refocus minds. Hopefully the bump in the road puts some of the players back in a better place and we will be ready for Australia next week.”All the players involved in the World Cup were asked if they felt ready for this match by the England management ahead of selection. But while Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were rested, the other five (Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy) expressed a willingness to play.”Those players were all asked if they wanted to play,” Thorpe said. “And if we’d turned up at Edgbaston next week and been rolled over for 100 – and I’m not saying that can’t happen – without having given anyone the opportunity [to play here] then in a way you’re handing an excuse to the players also. So there’s a balancing act and I think everyone would understand that.”Sometimes you have to accept you have a bad day and you have to answer some questions. But you can’t bury your head in the sands. The schedule is what it is and we have to do our best to give the players the opportunities to put them in the best place to start an Ashes series. This will probably stand the guys in good stead in red ball cricket.”Disappointed as he was in England’s performance, Thorpe was pleased for his former teammate Tim Murtagh, who claimed a maiden five-wicket haul at Test level. The pair played together at Surrey”Murts bowled fantastically well for Ireland,” he said. “Ireland put our top order under pressure and didn’t let go. It was a disappointing batting performance but congratulations to Ireland.”I am really pleased for Tim. He has had a fantastic first-class career and he did the simple things well today. He put the ball in the right areas and put our batsmen under pressure. From a human perspective, I am pleased for him. I am disappointed we weren’t able to respond to it but I am pleased for him. He is a workhorse as a bowler, he’s very consistent and he will be over the moon to get on the honours board.”England require 122 in their second innings to avoid an innings defeat and make Ireland bat again.

The conditions and history rather favour New Zealand at this venue, but then Sri Lanka often make a mockery of the expected narrative

The Preview by Madushka Balasuriya21-Aug-2019

Big Picture

Chaos has been a constant in Sri Lankan cricket in 2019. Captaincy change – check; coach sacking – check; interim committee – check; sports ministry interference – check; contract terminations – check.Yet, quite incredibly, Sri Lanka are on a three-match winning streak in Tests, on the verge of consecutive Test series wins against South Africa and New Zealand. If results go their way in the Ashes, they could end up above either Australia or England in the Test rankings.Team selection and captaincy quandaries don’t seem such a big issue anymore as the selectors have seemingly stumbled upon a winning combination. A broken clock is indeed right twice a day. What does this mean for New Zealand?A series that began as a nice little warm-down from the emotionally and physically draining madness that was the World Cup final is now in must-win territory, with 60 World Test Championship points at stake. This isn’t to question New Zealand’s professionalism, but merely an indication of the resolve and fight shown by the hosts.New Zealand however do have history in their corner. They won at the P Sara Oval in 2012 to record their first Test win in Sri Lanka in 14 years. Their only other game here was drawn. Add to this, Sri Lanka have won less than half their matches at this ground.Both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor registered tons in that 2012 win, and with the captain having had an underwhelming outing in Galle, he is due a big score. On a surface that is likely to offer more pace and bounce, Sri Lanka’s top order will also need to be more wary of the visitors’ pace threat.

Form guide

Sri Lanka WWWLD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWD

In the spotlight

Trent Boult picked up seven wickets in his only match at the P Sara Oval. Having already troubled Sri Lanka’s batsmen on as pace averse a pitch as possible in Galle, he’ll be licking his lips at the prospect of squaring up to Sri Lanka’s top order again.Dimuth Karunaratne could not have asked for a better start to his Test career as captain. Three wins out of three, and a team that is fast gelling under his leadership. But he will know better than most how fragile a foundation this new found success has been built on. On a surface on which scores in excess of 400 and sub-200 are all possibilities, Karunaratne’s guiding hand at the top of the order will be crucial to the overall productivity of Sri Lanka’s batsmen.

Team news

Fit again, Dilruwan Perera will very likely come into the side in place of the still green Lasith Embuldeniya.Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella (wk) 7 Dhananjaya De Silva, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Akila Dananjaya 10 Lahiru Kumara 11 Suranga LakmalFor New Zealand, fast bowler Neil Wagner could come in, though it remains to be seen if it’ll be at the expense of one of the spinners or the quicks.New Zealand: 1 Jeet Raval, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ajaz Patel, 9 Will Somerville/Neil Wagner, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Tim Southee

Pitch and conditions

The pitch traditionally has more in it for the quicks, with a fair amount of pace and bounce, and back-bending effort is more often than not rewarded. However if the rain stays away and the pitch dries up, expect the spinners to come into play as the Test wears on.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka’s Test record of nine wins and seven losses at the P Sara Oval is their second worst at any home venue with at least 10 matches played, the worst being at Asgiriya in Kandy (seven wins, nine losses)
• The win in Galle meant Sri Lanka won three successive Tests chasing for the first time in their history
• Currently placed second in the rankings, New Zealand will drop a place (or places, based on results in the Ashes) if they don’t level the series
• With 972 runs, Kane Williamson needs a further 56 to become the second-highest run scorer in bilateral ties between the two sides, going past Mahela Jayawardene. Stephen Fleming tops the list with 1166 runs

Quotes

“I think this pitch will suit the batsmen and fast bowlers more than the Galle surface did. I think there will be more runs here from both teams than there was in Galle.”
“In these conditions if you get yourself in you need to keep going and take the game as deep as possible. We’re probably guilty of that throughout the [first] Test match. Hopefully we can go a lot bigger here.”

Thakur’s three-wicket burst played a key role in dismissing the visitors cheaply before Gill struck an unbeaten 66

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2019India A extended their dominance over South Africa A on day one of the first four-day match in Thiruvananthapuram, bowling the visitors out for 164 before going to stumps within 35 runs of taking a first-innings lead with eight wickets in hand. Shardul Thakur’s three-wicket burst played a key role in dismissing the South Africans cheaply before captain Shubman Gill struck an unbeaten 66 to put India A in a commanding position.The India A quicks wreaked havoc with the new ball and the spinners cleaned up the tail to shoot out South Africa in the 52nd over. The visitors were in deep trouble at 22 for 5 in the 13th over before some lower-order contributions saved them from a complete collapse. Mohammed Siraj had the captain Adien Markram caught behind for a four-ball duck in the first over and Thakur followed that up with the wicket of Pieter Malan for an eight-ball duck in the fourth, to leave the scoreboard reading 0 for 2.There was no respite with the introduction of spin either, as Shahbaz Nadeem removed No. 3 Zubayr Hamza for 13, and Thakur soon sent back Khaya Zondo and Heinrich Klaasen in consecutive overs to leave them five down.A series of small partnerships thereafter – 30, 31 and 30 for the sixth, eighth and ninth wickets respectively – took South Africa past 100. Wiaan Mulder scored 21 and Dane Piedt chipped in with a quick 33 off 45, with six fours. But it was for the final wicket that the visitors added the most runs – 33 – with Marco Jansen top-scoring with an unbeaten 45, with four fours and two sixes, and Lungi Ngidi, the last man out, contributing 15.K Gowtham, who was reported unwell on the eve of the match, chipped in with three lower-order wickets, including those of Piedt and Mulder. Thakur finished with 3 for 29 while Nadeem bagged 2 for 37.In response, India started fluently, the openers adding 48 before Ruturaj Gaikwad was bowled by Jansen for 30. Gill was then joined by Ricky Bhui for a 58-run stand, which was broken by Ngidi, who cleaned up Bhui for 26, before Gill and No. 4 Ankit Bawne negotiated the last few overs of the day.

An unsuccessful run against Pakistan and India last season has not deterred Finch from wanting to get back to Australia’s Test side

Alex Malcolm24-Sep-2019Australia’s ODI and T20 captain Aaron Finch wants to make one more push at trying to play Test cricket again after a brief and ultimately unsuccessful stint last summer.Finch was surprisingly drafted into the Test team for the UAE series against Pakistan last October, in the wake of the suspensions to Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steven Smith following the ball-tampering scandal, despite a middling first-class record.He played five Tests, two against Pakistan away and three against India at home, making two half-centuries before he was dropped after the Boxing Day Test.Finch’s experiment at the top of the order in Tests had a huge impact on his limited-overs returns and put him under pressure heading towards the World Cup, but he regained his form and his confidence to lead Australia to the semi-final.But after riding the rollercoaster last year, Finch is ready to have one more push at trying to play Test cricket again this summer.”For me personally, it’s about probably having one really good crack at trying to get back to the Test team again,” Finch told radio station. “The young guys who came in and did well throughout the back half of last summer did a really good job. I still think that I’ve got one really good crack at it left in me.”There are four Sheffield Shield games before the first Test against Pakistan for Finch to make his case although he is likely to miss one game when he is required to lead Australia’s T20I team in six matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.He played one County Championship game for Surrey during his stint in England after the World Cup, scoring 90 against Hampshire at The Oval. He only managed one game for Victoria last summer in between Test, ODI and T20I duties.”Obviously [I’ll] just try and get some runs, get some big runs there. That’s my plan,” Finch said. “I think, the young kids who have come in a taken their opportunities, Kurtis Patterson and Travis Head, these guys have come in and done reasonably well when they’ve played.”Kurtis got a hundred in the last Test that he played. Will Pucovski and that whole crop of young batters who are coming through are so talented, so I think I’ve got one more push in it for myself. If it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen. I’m comfortable with that. It will be nice to play a few Shield games in a row to be fair. It’s been a while since I’ve played more than one in a row.”Finch said he watched the Ashes with envy and still felt a desire to be part of Test cricket. He took heart from Matthew Wade’s effort to get back to Test level and score two Ashes centuries after dominating Shield cricket last summer.One point of conjecture will be where he bats for Victoria. There was a lot of debate last year about his selection as a Test opener given in his 44 first-class innings prior to his Test debut he had batted no higher than No. 4 for either Victoria or Surrey.Victoria coach Andrew McDonald was adamant Finch would not open in his only game for Victoria last season and the compromise was that he batted at No. 3 against Queensland ahead of the first Test against India.”We haven’t spoken about that just yet,” Finch said. “There’s a lot of quality players in Victoria at the moment so getting a game might be the first start. I think middle order will probably be my preferred spot. I know doing the opening duties last summer was one of first times I’d really done it in the longer format but you take any opportunity you can when you play for Australia.”

It’s a second injury blow for Paarl Rocks after Aiden Markram was ruled out

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2019JP Duminy will play no part in the 2019 Mzansi Super League (MSL) after picking up a hamstring injury in the lead-up to Paarl Rocks’ season opener.Duminy, who retired earlier this year as the country’s highest run-getter in T20Is, was diagnosed with a high-grade partial tear to his right hamstring after undergoing an MRI scan. He had also missed last season’s MSL because of a hand injury.Duminy’s injury is a second blow to the Rocks squad. Earlier this month, Aiden Markram was ruled out from the competition after he hurt his hand in a self-inflicted injury on the tour of India.While Kyle Verreynne has since replaced Markram in the side, Rocks have not named one for Duminy yet. “We will assess our options on Monday,” Rocks coach Adrial Birrell said in a statement. “[We will] then decide how to best replace JP.”As for Rocks captain Faf du Plessis, he believes the two setbacks offer an opportunity for the rest of the squad to step up. “JP brings a lot of value in a lot of different areas. His experience will be missed, especially by the younger guys. I have full confidence in our team to bounce back from this. We have strengthened our batting this year and we’ll use this setback as motivation.”The semi-finalists from last season play their first game of the season against Quinton de Kock’s Cape Town Blitz on Sunday.

Newcomers can’t always rely on senior players, England skipper says

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2019It’s the vicious circle that confronts young aspirants to any plum job anywhere: must have experience but can’t get it without working in the field.Now that they’ve been handed the opportunity to gain valuable experience on England’s tour of New Zealand, Eoin Morgan wants his fringe T20 World Cup hopefuls to hold up their end of the bargain and learn from it – fast.Morgan cited inexperience as a factor in England’s 14-run loss to New Zealand in their third T20I after a batting collapse which saw them lose 5 for 10 in 18 balls after they had needed 42 off 32 balls with eight wickets in hand.Also read: England throw away chase as NZ squeeze homeThe England side featured six players making their first T20 international appearances during the tour and when Morgan was out for 18 with five overs remaining, England crumbled.”It is the most inexperienced side that we will field,” Morgan said. “We can’t come out expecting to win 5-0, we do need to learn and make mistakes throughout the whole series.”An important part of learning is recognising exactly where you were and what you did wrong. You can’t be blindsided or be stubborn enough to not take in good information.”It has been a great learning day for us and hopefully the guys take in the information and learn from that, hopefully pretty quickly. They have to, and they have to play games so in situations like that you have to throw them out in the middle of it, you can’t say your senior players always have to support them and nurture them.”Sam Billings, with 24 T20I caps, was run out by Colin Munro in a moment the Black Caps hailed as a turning point and James Vince fell a short time later, having reached 49 off 39 deliveries. From there only Tom Curran reached double figures with 14 not out as the tourists managed just 166 for 7 chasing 181.”With a lot of wickets in hand you’d expect us to win,” Morgan said. “Certainly we did, we were in control pretty much up until that point. The guys that came in, we didn’t do the simple things right.”We didn’t establish a partnership, we didn’t hit with the wind, things that the Black Caps did throughout. We do have to get better and calmer in those situations and when we’re chasing.”Tom Banton – one of the six England debutants for the series alongside Matt Parkinson, Sam Curran, Saqib Mahmood, Lewis Gregory and Pat Brown – made 18 off 10 in his first international match before he was bowled trying to ramp Blair Tickner in a knock that pleased Morgan.”He’s a free-spirited guy who plays expansive cricket, and we want him to do that,” Morgan said. “He gets out playing one of his strongest shots. We’ll encourage him to keep doing that.”Banton’s fellow opener Dawid Malan was England’s top scorer for the second match running, following his 39 off 29 balls in the second match – which England also lost – with 55 off 34. Malan expressed his disappointment at not being able to build on a strong start in Wellington and Morgan thought he would feel the same after his latest innings in Nelson.”It’s extremely disappointing for him,” Morgan said. “He’s one of the only opening batters that ever talks about seeing the majority of the innings through and being there at the end. It will hurt him.”England must win the penultimate fixture in Napier on Friday to keep the five-match series alive with New Zealand leading 2-1.