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Pat Howard has signed on for another two years as Australia’s executive general manager of team performance

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2015Pat Howard has signed on for another two years as Australia’s executive general manager of team performance.Howard was appointed in 2011 to the newly created role recommended by the Argus review and although his contract was due to end in June, his reappointment will now take his tenure through until at least 2017.”This recognises the outstanding job Pat is doing leading the team performance function at Cricket Australia,” Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland said. “Our men’s and women’s teams continue to succeed on the world stage while strong foundations are being built to achieve sustained success in all forms of the game.”Howard’s time at Cricket Australia has been eventful and he was part of the decision to sack Mickey Arthur as coach on the eve of the 2013 Ashes series in England.However, the team has enjoyed significant on-field success in the past two years – Australia currently hold the Ashes, World Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.The major challenge in the coming months, though, will be to sustain that performance away from home, with Test campaigns in West Indies, England and Bangladesh.

Alex Hales made 99 and Jos Buttler an unbeaten 48 from 28 balls as England took a 2-0 lead in their five-match ODI series against South Africa

The Report by David Hopps06-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSt George’s Park, the oldest of South Africa’s international venues, stayed true to its nature by overseeing a one-day international with an old-fashioned flavour on an inhibiting surface. A keenly-fought affair, in which both innings seemed locked together throughout, had the makings of a last-over nail-biter. Instead, thanks to Jos Buttler’s sudden lift of tempo, it fell England’s way by five wickets with 20 balls to spare.Inhibitions? Not when you have just won your first IPL contract and are nearly £400,000 richer. Buttler gave the impression he would have played just as freely on the cobbled streets of his native Somerset as he logged an unbeaten 48 from 28 balls.Three successive fours off Kyle Abbott, the first of them streaky (where was South Africa’s slip?) then three sixes in a row off Imran Tahir in the following over sent England scooting to victory. South Africa’s pace bowling had gone up a notch since their defeat in Bloemfontein but they now trail 2-0 in the five-match series.It was Alex Hales’ 99 from 124 balls that placed England for victory, although there was work to be done when he was fifth out with 59 needed from 52 balls – caught down the leg side pulling at Abbott with visions of a hundred. Front-foot pushes and crafted singles had supplanted what has become the common avalanche of sixes but the incoming Buttler recognised only a day of dreamy blue skies.Hales has played more exciting innings, he has played fine innings in more draining conditions, but this was one of his most judicious ODI affairs. The Test series did not advertise the emergence of a rounder game, but his selectivity did here. With the exception of AB de Villiers, whose 73 from 91 balls was a notable return to form, he managed the conditions better than anybody.Abbott, fit again after hamstring trouble, put in a combative shift, a bowler of great physicality, nipping one through to gate to bowl Jason Roy for 14 – Norton anti-virus would insist on a patch to stem that weakness. Root was at his most conservative, labouring 64 balls over 38 before he tried to advance to Abbott and deflected a rising ball into his stumps.Eoin Morgan came in at No 4 – shrewdly, no promotion for Buttler on this occasion with grafting to be done – and kept England in touch with the rate with judicious sixes against Imran Tahir and Farhaan Behardien before Morkel defeated his blow-down-the-ground shot with a wide cutter.Stokes’ fate was an eventful duck. Tahir nearly had him twice in an over, sweep and reverse sweep both failing in turn with a review needed to spare him on the second occasion. In the next over he deflected Morkel into his stumps. The pressure was on England, but not, it became evident, on Buttler.Financially, Chris Morris was even better served than Buttler by the IPL auction – he was sitting on a cool million dollars after a bidding frenzy that eventually saw him move to Delhi Daredevils. No matter: he had to watch from the outer. South Africa, seemingly of different persuasion, dropped both him and his Bloemfontein new-ball partner Marchant de Lange.The match did not turn solely on Buttler’s late merrymaking – Chris Jordan also played a crucial part in South Africa’s innings. De Villiers came into the match with three successive ducks to end the Test series and 8 in the opening ODI, but he did the hard yards, his form flooded back and he signalled his intentions as South Africa reached the last 10 overs by lashing Jordan over midwicket for six.But Jordan is a multi-faceted cricketer, dangerous with the bat, outperformed by few at slip and in the deep, and when de Villiers failed to middle another mighty hit over the leg side off Ben Stokes in the following over, Jordan was equal to the challenge.It was a hugely difficult catch, a white ball falling out of a blue sky, a swirling breeze strong enough to fleck the sea and shake the branches of the trees outside the ground holding the ball just within range: Jordan’s range anyway as he dashed back full tilt to take the ball over his shoulder at mid-on with remarkable poise.De Villiers had built his own stage in the early part of South Africa’s innings but the final onslaught which could have carried the game away from England never materialised. Only 64 came from the last 10 – respectable but not a game changer.By the 20th over, South Africa had been three down for 98, Hashim Amla bowled when Reece Topley’s semblance of inswing developed into something straighter, Quinton de Kock’s bountiful run of form ended when Stokes had him lbw with a fullish delivery, and du Plessis’ confident innings fell just short of a half-century when Adil Rashid found drift and turn to have him caught at slip.Rashid and Moeen Ali throttled the mid-innings, both stints completed by the 37th over. That left a lot of onus on Jordan, and he could have done without Buttler spilling a very acceptable catch, one-handed to his left, when JP Duminy tried to run him to third man on 37. Five overs for 33 did not flatter him, but the catch released him from his troubles and Topley, maintaining a full length, squeezed South Africa to a chaseable total.A slow pitch was to get slower still. The breeze was lifting. The match was in the balance. Hales got a break on 17 when he scrunched a full toss from Tahir into no-man’s land and played with great responsibility. Then came Buttler, the liveliest breeze of all.

Ollie Pope left out of England’s four-day warm-up fixture in Antigua

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2022Dan Lawrence has been given the opportunity to secure a spot in England’s middle order for the first Test against West Indies after being listed at No. 4 for their four-day warm-up match against a CWI President’s XI in Antigua.Lawrence, 24, made his Test debut in Sri Lanka last year and averages 27.23 after eight matches. He was part of the Ashes squad in Australia but did not make an appearance, and has not played any competitive cricket since the end of the County Championship season.Ollie Pope, who was retained in the squad for the West Indies tour despite a torrid series in Australia in which he made 67 runs across six innings, is the only batter not included for Tuesday’s warm-up fixture.Related

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Zak Crawley and Alex Lees will open the batting with Joe Root carded in his new role at No. 3 ahead of Lawrence at No. 4. Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow are due to come in at No. 5 and No. 6 respectively with Ben Foakes keeping wicket at No. 7.England have picked a 12-man side featuring four seamers (Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson) and one spinner (Jack Leach) with one of those five likely to be squeezed out for the first Test on March 8. The uncapped Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Fisher and Matt Parkinson join Pope on the bench.”We’ve done a lot of talking,” Paul Collingwood, England’s interim head coach, told the ECB’s in-house channels. “We’ve had some real open and honest meetings, and a lot of players and a lot of staff have spoken up in those meetings so they’re accountable now. They’ve got to go and live it. They’ve got to put what they’ve said in those meetings out onto the field.”I feel as though the guys have really bought into it. There’s a sense of excitement and genuine enthusiasm about moving the team forward and to build self-sufficiency in the team. I know I’ve only got the job as an interim coach but I guess the challenge is to pass the team onto whoever comes in after the four weeks and the team to be in a better, stronger place than it has been. When you get a role like this, you want to make a difference.”The President’s XI will be captained by Shane Dowrich, who recently returned to the professional game after a 14-month hiatus and scored 116 not out against England in Barbados three years ago.The fixture also marks England’s return to the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua for the first time since the Stanford 20/20 for $20 million in 2008. The ground is the site of CWI’s new headquarters following its redevelopment and hosted men’s international cricket for the first time last year.”The pitch and the outfield are looking in immaculate condition and we are really pleased with what we are seeing,” Rayon Griffith, who will coach the President’s XI, said. “We’ve had some good training sessions and we expect to give a really good account during the four-day match.”England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Joe Root (captain), 4 Dan Lawrence, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Craig Overton, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Ollie Robinson, 12 Jack LeachCWI President’s XI: (possible) 1 Jeremy Solozano, 2 Shayne Moseley, 3 Keacy Carty, 4 Devon Thomas, 5 Alick Athanaze, 6 Raymon Reifer, 7 Shane Dowrich (captain/wk), 8 Shamar Springer, 9 Colin Archibald, 10 Preston McSween, 11 Bryan Charles, 12 Shermon Lewis

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has been suspended for two ODIs and his team-mates have been fined 40% of their match fees for their slow over-rate in the final of the tri-series against India in Port-of-Spain

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2013Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has been suspended for two ODIs and his team-mates have been fined 40% of their match fees for their slow over-rate in the final of the tri-series against India in Port-of-Spain.Match referee David Boon handed the suspension after Sri Lanka were found three overs short of their target at the end of the match, after time allowances were taken into consideration. Mathews accepted the suspension which avoided a formal hearing.In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct, the captain receives two suspension points and his team-mates are fined 10% of their match fees for each of the first two overs short and 20% for every subsequent over they fail to bowl in the stipulated time. Two suspension points equate to a suspension for one Test or two ODIs.The suspension means Mathews will miss the first two of the five ODIs against South Africa on July 20 and 23 in Colombo.

New first-team coach back at Lord’s after three seasons with Surrey

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2022Richard Johnson has returned to Middlesex as the club’s new first-team coach after three years as an assistant coach at Surrey.Johnson, who played three Tests for England in 2003, stood in as Middlesex’s interim head coach in 2018 after Richard Scott’s departure, having previously worked as fast-bowling coach and assistant coach.Middlesex have been undergoing a major off-field transition over the last year. Angus Fraser has moved from director of cricket to a new role overseeing the academy and county age-group squads; Richard Goatley stepped down as chief executive for health reasons, replaced by Andrew Cornish; Stuart Law was removed as coach; and Alan Coleman took on a new role as head of men’s performance.Related

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Cornish said that Johnson was the stand-out candidate in a recruitment process that had been running for several months, with Graham Thorpe – the England assistant coach – widely reported to be another candidate.”In what was an extremely competitive recruitment process, we were fortunate to interview a number of exceptionally high-calibre candidates. However, for us, Richard stood out,” Cornish said.”His credentials as a coach are unquestionable and he returns to Middlesex with even greater knowledge and experience following his time coaching with Surrey. Culturally he is absolutely the right fit and the right man for the job.”He has worked closely with the majority of our playing squad before, knows their strengths, and conversely the areas they need to improve upon, and he has a brilliant working relationship with the rest of our newly-appointed coaching team.”Middlesex finished second in the third division of the County Championship last year, and are due to play in Division Two this season. They have brought Shaheen Shah Afridi in as a marquee overseas signing for next year but are also bringing through a number of home-grown, academy players.”I feel incredibly honoured to be given the chance to be the first-team coach of this amazing club,” Johnson said. ” It is a place that I hold extremely close to my heart, having been associated with the club since I was ten years old.”The opportunity to return and give my all in trying to make Middlesex successful again is one that not only excites me but makes me incredibly proud.”I would like to take this opportunity to thank Surrey, and especially Alec Stewart for the past three years. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and wish the players and the club all the very best for the future.”

A total of 548 runs scored in 52 overs as rain triggers 30-over mayhem

George Dobell27-Jul-2021Surrey 311 for 8 (Patel 131, Smith 54) beat Nottinghamshire 266 for 7 (Slater 69, Evison 54) by 33 runs (DLS method)There’s a generally held view that the life of a modern sportsperson is a glamorous affair full of travel and adulation. And it’s true, the good days can be pretty damn good.But not if you’re a bowler confronted with Guildford. This is a desperately tough ground on which to bowl. The flat pitch is complemented by short boundaries and an outfield that slopes a little from the square meaning the ball picks up pace as it approaches the rope. Really, it’s the sort of place to make a bowler wish they had persuaded a career in sewage treatment instead of sport. It is brutal.The bare facts of this match are this: in 52 overs (following an early stoppage for rain), 548 runs were scored between these two sides. At one stage, as sixes rained down onto Woodbridge Road despite the high fencing designed to avoid such mishaps, you feared for the safety of pedestrians and motorists. One motorcyclist will, thankfully, arrive home this evening having no idea that a six from Rikki Clarke missed him by an inch.Some will suggest that such surfaces, offering little balance between bat and ball, are not especially good for the game. And it is true that an attempt from a pensioner to throw a ball back into the ground – it took him four efforts – was one of the more competitive moments of the afternoon. The fence really did put up a terrific fight. But for anyone who wasn’t a bowler – or especially sympathetic to bowlers – it provided rich entertainment for a crowd which included former Prime Minster, Sir John Major, lots of families on summer holiday and a stag party dressed as flamingos.That Surrey prevailed was largely due to two career-best innings from Ryan Patel and Jamie Smith. It’s worth reiterating that Surrey have lost 11 players to the Hundred and Nottinghamshire nine, so players like this are winning opportunities which might otherwise be denied them. Though whether any bowler feels this was an opportunity is debatable.Surrey had reached 28 for 1 after eight overs before rain interrupted their innings. But, after a prolonged delay, they resumed in such style that they plundered 282 in the next 22 overs. Two hundred and eighty two! Their innings included 23 sixes and, not only the fastest List A century from a Surrey player since 2007, but what is believed to be the quickest List A half-century ever made in England (an equally quick one was made in Wales by Somerset’s Graham Rose).Related

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The century, reached in just 59 balls, was scored by Patel. It was an innings that improved his List A career-best by 90 and tripled the number of sixes he had hit across formats from five to 15. He later took an outstanding catch – running in and diving forward from the cover boundary – to account for Haseeb Hameed. He had, in short, a wonderful day.Patel actually started relatively cautiously. With Surrey having lost an early wicket – Hashim Amla walked after gloving one down the legside – he took 27 deliveries to make his first 16 runs. But shortly after play resumed, Patel seemed to be a man reborn. He thrashed 115 from the final 43 balls of his innings, including 25 from a Matthew Montgomery over which included a six from each of the first three balls.But the half-century from Jamie Smith was, if anything, even more eye-catching. It took only 16 deliveries (with two fours and six sixes) and contained several strikes that would have cleared the boundary on any ground. At one stage he added 50 in just 14 balls with Nico Reifer; Reifer contributed one scoring stroke.Surrey actually scored 311. But the DLS algorithm reduced Nottinghamshire’s target to 300. Understandably, that caused some consternation around the ground, but it seems the reasoning was that Surrey had benefited from eight powerplay overs and Notts had only six.Notts’ reply started brightly. Sol Budinger and Ben Slater added 71 for the first wicket in just 5.5 overs, with Slater going on to make a fine half-century, from 38 balls, and Joey Evison later made one from 37.Given the deluge of runs, some of the bowling is worthy of particular praise. Matt Dunn, for example, delivered nine dot-balls in succession at one stage – an incredible achievement amid the carnage all around – while Clarke also ratcheted up the pressure with a masterful display of controlled variations. Connor McKerr and Dan Moriarty held their heads in a way the Notts bowlers struggled to match. In their way, these Surrey performances contributed just as much to Surrey’s victory as Smith and Patel’s batting.Spare a thought for Peter Trego. Not only was he one of the few to miss out on this feast – he received what might have been the delivery of the day and nicked off for a second-ball duck – but he put down a chance in front of the beer tent. It did not go unnoticed.It’s worth noting the size of the crowd, too. Despite the rain, just over 3,000 spectators – or ‘haters’ as they might be called by some – stayed to watch this run-fest. At Taunton and Chelmsford, Scarborough and Bristol, this competition is continuing to win encouraging support. Might that show that the Hundred and the county game can co-exist? It certainly could be interpreted that way. Or maybe it just shows there’s a market for cricket scheduled where and when people can see it. Twenty overs, 50 or 30 overs a side; we have a great game. Unless, of course, you’re a bowler.

Top cricketers in Bangladesh have threatened to “stay away” from this season’s Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League after the BCB proposed a change in the players’ transfer system

Mohammad Isam17-Jun-2013Top cricketers in Bangladesh have threatened to “stay away” from this season’s Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League after the BCB proposed a change in the players’ transfer system. The Dhaka Premier League is a city-based domestic one-day competition and is the country’s most popular league.Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh, the players’ body, announced the decision after a long discussion with the players on Monday afternoon. They complained about the lack of communication from the BCB, which announced on Sunday that the new system of player transfer – similar to the draft system that is used in American sports – will take place on June 23. The league is slated to begin on July 3.Former Bangladesh player Rajin Saleh read out CWAB’s letter, but Debabbrata Paul, the secretary, said that there was never any official discussion between the two sides, which was one of the reasons for their plan to stay away.”We gave our observations to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) in a letter, but they never replied,” Paul said. “We got to know of it from the media that they will start a gradation and rotation policy. So today we took a decision after speaking to the players that we will stay away from the competition.”The BCB never sat with us, so we don’t really know where our differences are. There was no official discussion with them. I had a personal talk with Jalal Yunus, the CCDM chairman.”The main reason for the row is the new players’ transfer system, which replaces the traditional way in which the players negotiated a fee for one season with a Dhaka-based club to play in the tournament.Instead, the players were divided into categories according to a pay structure that started from Tk 22 lakh ($28,300 approximately) for the A+ group of players. A lottery would decide which club gets to pick first from the top category, and after all 12 clubs picked players from that particular category, the next pick would go to the club who selected last in the first category. From there it would proceed sequentially in the next categories.According to CWAB, clubs picking players was against the spirit of the competition and also curbed the players’ freedom to choose which club to play for.”The new system was forgoing the traditional way of players’ transfers and replacing it with a new system of grading and rotation,” CWAB’s statement said. “There was not only financial loss for the players, but professional freedom was hampered.”The BCB didn’t take any immediate action, merely saying that they want an official letter from CWAB. It is also not clear what action the BCB are likely to take against their contracted cricketers, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, who have effectively opposed the board’s decision.Acting CEO Nizamuddin Ahmed said that they still haven’t received any word from the CWAB regarding their latest action. “We haven’t received the players’ decision formally. We will discuss the situation once we receive it.”Otherwise we have pitched a tentative date for the Premier League to start, which is on July 3. We have spoken to players and the players association informally.”

Gary Kirsten has decided not to renew his contract as South Africa coach

Firdose Moonda10-May-2013Gary Kirsten’s tenure in charge of South Africa will end on July 31 after he decided not to renew his contract for a further two years. Kirsten, who was appointed in 2011, cited the needs of his sons, Joshua and James and daughter, Joanna, who are all under the age of 10, as the only reason for him opting not to continue to be in charge of the team he took to No.1 on the Test rankings. His last assignment will be the Champions Trophy in England before he settles in to spend more time with his family.”I feel I can no longer cope with the lengthy periods of separation from my family that this job demands,” Kirsten admitted. “Last year, I had 250 days away from Cape Town, my home. I believe my absentia as a father is compromising my responsibilities to my family. I’ve just had five weeks at home now, which is the longest period I have had there for a few years and I began to realise the impact my absence as a father has had on my family.”When Kirsten took the job as South Africa coach, he made it plain to his employers, CSA, that his first priority was to his family. His contract included terms relating to the amount of time he could spend at home, even during the season and on tours, because he did not want the job to rob him of his primary role of husband and father.At the time, he and his wife, Deborah had a policy in place about the maximum number of days they would spend apart – 21. Kirsten also assured her if the separation ever became “unbearable”, he would not continue as coach. He has now decided it has reached those levels and Deborah was among the most surprised by that conclusion.”I don’t think she believed me when I said I was not going to renew,” Kirsten said. “But that’s how I feel about the importance of the institution of family. I don’t want to be a statistic so that when my kids are grown up, they say they didn’t see their dad. Right from the outset of my contract, it was a concern – how I would be able to manage the time apart. I even considered doing only one format of the game but we felt it would be unfair on many people. The last five weeks at home have made me more aware of my responsibilities.”Kirsten denied that political reasons pushed him, although there was some suspicion he was under pressure for a slow transformation rate, especially in Test cricket. Although South Africa has not had a quota system in place for several years, it was widely frowned upon that no black African played in the longest format for South Africa during Kirsten’s time in charge. “No, that has nothing to do with it. I’ve given my reasons and those are 100%,” he said.Kirsten leaves South African cricket in a healthy state at Test level, where he had the best record of all past coaches. The team won 63% of the Tests they played and Kirsten was the only coach who took them to No. 1 in the world with victory over England. “The Test team moved to new heights,” he said. “We’ve got an incredibly strong senior player base. They are the heartbeat of the team and they drive the values and the culture of the team, so I move away very comfortable that that is in place.”His limited-overs returns were not as striking. So far, Kirsten is the third-worst performing coach in the fifty-over game with a win percentage of only 56%. He conceded, “performances in ODIs and Twenty20s haven’t been where we wanted them to be. But we’ve built a good base of players.”After winning the World Cup with India in 2011, Kirsten was widely thought to be the man who would help South Africa finally lift that trophy. But he said that was never part of his plans. “It was not my intention to go to the World Cup. My work is part of a process to help the players and South African cricket reach the goals they want to reach,” he said, although he did have some advice for the man who takes South Africa to the 2015 event. “Going into the World Cup in two years, we don’t have to shift the team around too much.”Kirsten has one more chance to achieve success in the fifty-over format with the team in a month’s time. He pledged to approach the Champions Trophy with “renewed vigour,” but after that family will have him around almost full-time.Kirsten confirmed he will not seek any other employment immediately although he will not rule out contributing to South Africa in a consultancy role. “I like to think my time is not done. I don’t think I will ever leave coaching but it would have to be in a way that suits my needs,” he said.CSA will appoint a committee to handle the appointment of the new coach, who will take over for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka in July and August. Kirsten himself could be involved in the process and hinted his assistant, Russell Domingo may be best placed to take over.”My relationship with Russell has always been a close one. He is passionate and clinical and he has done a lot of coaching. I have no doubt that he is very capable of doing high-level coaching jobs,” he said. Domingo and bowling coach Allan Donald’s contracts also expire at the end of July and they will only know if they will continue in their roles after the new head coach has been appointed.Donald appears interested in continuing. He is currently coaching Pune Warriors in the IPL and told ESPNcricinfo that if it was up to him, he would stay on. “I spoke to Gary personally a couple of days ago and I respect his decision 100%,” he said. “At the moment we are very focused on the Champions Trophy and I’m sure that this team needs no motivation to go and win this tournament for Gary. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve just got to let this whole thing take its course and, for me, there is no decision to be made about my future with the Proteas.”

The wicketkeeper-batter is in quarantine and will not travel with the team to Durham on Thursday

PTI15-Jul-2021Rishabh Pant, who is part of India’s touring party in England, has tested positive for Covid-19. He will not travel with the team to Durham as it reassembles ahead of next month’s Test series against England.A BCCI source confirmed that Pant had tested positive and had been in isolation for the past eight days. He is, according to the source, asymptomatic at this point. “He is in quarantine at an acquaintance’s place and won’t be travelling with the team to Durham on Thursday,” the source said without divulging when the 23-year-old would join the squad.”Yes, one player has tested positive but he has been in isolation for the last eight days. He was not staying in any hotel with the team, so no other player has been affected,” BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla told PTI. “As of now no other player has tested positive. Also you must be aware our secretary Jay Shah has written a letter to all players to maintain protocols.”Related

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The development came close on the heels of Shah sending an email to the Indian contingent, warning it about the rising cases of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. The players were given a break after the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, which the team lost last month.It is understood that Pant has been afflicted by the Delta variant, which has led to rising number of cases in England. He was seen attending a Euro 2020 football match last month and had even posted pictures on his social media accounts.Shah, in his letter, told the players to “avoid” crowded places as Covishield, the vaccine that has been administered to the players and other members of the team, only provides protection, not full immunity against the virus.In fact, Shah’s letter had specifically stated that players should avoid going to Wimbledon and the Euros, both of which recently concluded in the UK.The Indian team is due to take on England in a five-match Test series starting August 4. It will play a practice game starting July 20 as a build-up to the high-intensity series. The India-England showdown marks the beginning of the second cycle of the World Test Championship.Recently, the England team too was hit by the virus and was forced to field a second-string side for its limited-overs series against Pakistan.

Jamieson says “everyone’s ready to go” and “push for a win”

Alan Gardner05-Jun-2021Tim Southee said New Zealand had not given up on the possibility of forcing victory at Lord’s, despite a day being lost to rain. The visiting side have made the running in the first Test, with Southee’s six-wicket haul helping them to a 103-run lead, but England were kept afloat by a battling hundred from Rory Burns.Southee picked up five of the eight England wickets to fall on the fourth day, claiming a spot on the Lord’s honours board for the second time in his career. However, Burns’ efforts in compiling 132 from 297 balls helped repel New Zealand after they reduced England to 140 for 6 – still more than 200 in arrears – during the morning session.New Zealand needed to force the pace, and were immediately up and running when Kyle Jamieson found the outside edge of England captain Joe Root with his opening delivery. Burns and Root had lifted England from trouble on day two, before rain further checked New Zealand’s advance on Friday but, following Jamieson’s breakthrough, an inspired spell from Southee saw three wickets fall without addition to the score.Related

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• Rory Burns earned this recall, and needed this innings

Burns then dug in to add a valuable 63-run stand with Ollie Robinson, and another 52 for the last wicket alongside James Anderson – although he could have been stumped on 77 and was dropped at slip on 88.”Yeah, with the wicket of Joe Root from the first ball of the day, we probably couldn’t ask for a better start,” Southee said. “It was a dream start to take those early wickets but we knew there was going to be a counterpunch from England at some stage, they’re too good a side just to roll over.”Their lower order, especially Robinson, played a nice hand there, and Jimmy hanging around with Burns at the end, putting on over 50, blunted our attack towards the end. But I think if we’d turned up at the start of the day and been told we’re gonna walk off in the position we’re in now we’d have been pretty happy.Tim Southee ended with 6 for 43 and bowled eight maidens•AFP via Getty Images

“Losing yesterday doesn’t help, but there’s 98 overs tomorrow and it’s always great to turn up on the last day with all results possible. Who knows what may happen but it’s great to be in a position where we can push on. You play to win Test matches for your country and a Test win at Lord’s would be pretty special, so I’d imagine we’ll chat overnight, get together as a side and come up with a plan for day five.”Jamieson, who bagged three wickets, wasn’t too harsh on his team-mates for giving Burns a couple of chances and concurred with Southee on going for the win.”Ideally you want to take those chances; games don’t always pan out perfectly the way you want them to,” Jamieson said after the day’s play. “I certainly don’t believe that there’s time taken from the game in terms of us not being able to push for a win. We’re still ahead in this game. I guess we have the ability to control how this game is set up in the first session tomorrow and probably having that rest on day three, everyone’s ready to go for tomorrow and we’ll certainly push for a win, that’s for sure.”It’s a couple of sessions and there’s a Test victory on the line, I have no doubt that all of us will be pushing as hard as we can and just see that we get through. There’s nothing guaranteed if you bring that attitude but without a doubt we’ll certainly be bringing that, that’s for sure.”New Zealand were missing Southee’s regular new-ball partner Trent Boult for this match, but have had more than enough firepower to keep England in check. Southee’s figures of 6 for 43 bettered the 6 for 50 he claimed at Lord’s in 2013, and he may yet have the chance to help his side push for a first win on the ground this century.”Any time you contribute to the side and do your job it’s very satisfying, and I guess it’s that little bit sweeter when you do it at such a special ground like Lord’s,” he said. “It was a nice day today, and looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow at some stage.”Playing his seventh Test and his first outside New Zealand, Jamieson said he had learnt a lot from Southee, who was playing his 78th, about specific skills and the workings of Test cricket at a broader level.”I think just around the ebbs and flows of Test cricket,” Jamieson said. “Like we’ve spoken a lot around skills like wrist position, moving the ball, when to come wide of the crease. We’re always having conversations around the tactical side of the game. But it’s just an understanding of how Test cricket works. When you’ve played 70-odd Tests, you learn how Test cricket tends to flow and when there’s times when things don’t happen as quickly and as good and about staying patient and on the opposite end of the spectrum when things are happening and you put the hammer down. So those intricacies around the flow of Test cricket is the biggest thing for me.”0410 GMT: The story was updated with Kyle Jamieson’s quotes after an embargo