South Africa’s captain hopes there will be more assistance for the seamers in Port Elizabeth, and less for the spinners, than there was in Durban

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Port Elizabeth20-Feb-20192:00

Something brilliant took away the first Test from us – du Plessis

At Kingsmead, Sri Lanka’s unknown bowlers were effective against South Africa’s batsmen. Then, Kusal Perera, whose excellence with the bat was a revelation to everyone – possibly even himself – took the match away from the hosts.At St George’s Park now – a venue at which they have won five of their six most recent Tests (the other was a draw) – South Africa have come to terms with the quality this inexperienced Sri Lanka team can sometimes summon. Or, at least, that is what captain Faf du Plessis hopes.With South Africa only ever having lost Test series to Australia and England at home, they must now prepare to defend their proud record, against a team they hope has sprung its last surprise. The last time Sri Lanka were on these shores, in 2016/17, they were brushed aside 3-0.”We’re very proud about our record – we have made sure that we’ve made our home a fortress,” du Plessis said on the eve of the second Test. “For the last two years or so, I don’t think we played a bad game against Sri Lanka at home. But we need to be better to beat them.”They surprised us with the way they played in Durban, but here there will be bit of sideways movement. In Durban, there’s not lot of that. Kingsmead has always a five-wicket-haul for spinners. Here, although the spinner plays a role, I don’t think that much help will be there.”Lasith Embuldeniya celebrates his five-wicket haul•AFP

A lack of turn may help neuter Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (as well as South Africa’s own Keshav Maharaj, of course), but South Africa will still have to contend with Vishwa Fernando, who took eight wickets in the first Test, as well as Kasun Rajitha. Quinton de Kock had said after the first day’s play at Kingsmead that those bowlers had “surprised” the South Africa batsmen, who had never played him before. This time, du Plessis, said, the top order would be ready.”It’s the nature of international cricket, and I find it happens a lot that new bowlers do well. If you play bowlers for the first time there’s an element of the unknown and a surprise factor, where it takes a you little while to get used to it,” du Plessis said. “Call it “first year syndrome” when oppositions don’t know them as well as they should yet. Batters need to play against them to set plans. There’s already been a lot of chat about playing the new guys better.”The St. George’s Park surface had a healthy covering of grass on the eve of the game, but du Plessis was wary of the famed Port Elizabeth wind drying the surface out once the game begins.”It looks a normal pitch for me. It has looked like this for the last two years. We have played Australia and Sri Lanka here in the last two Tests. The grass tends to look a bit thick a day or two before the game, but the wind, when it blows like today, dries it quickly. So the groundsman tends to keep most of the moisture before the Test match and then take a decision on the morning of the match. Hopefully there will be some sideways movement for our seamers.”

Opener scores third half-century in as many innings to lead thumping victory

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2019
Amy Jones scored her third half-century in as many ODI innings to lead England to a comfortable eight-wicket win and 3-0 series sweep against Sri Lanka in Katunayake.After winning the toss and electing to bat, Sri Lanka, led by Harshitha Madavi’s 42, were dismissed for 174 as the England bowlers shared the wickets around. Kate Cross, Anya Shrubsole, and Alex Hartley claimed two wickets apiece with wicketkeeper Jones running out Inoshi Priyadharshani on the last ball of their innings.Opening the batting for England, Jones smashed 76 off just 58 balls with eight fours and three sixes, adding to her 79 off 71 balls in the first ODI and 54 off 39 in the second. By the time she was bowled by Shashikala Siriwardene in the latest fixture, England were flying at 127 for 1 in the 19th over.Tammy Beaumont contributed 63 off 66 deliveries before she too was bowled by Siriwardene. That left Lauren Winfield and Heather Knight to put on the remaining 11 runs England needed for victory, which they secured with 143 balls remaining. Jones and Beaumont have now shared four century partnerships in 13 innings together.Knight was pleased with the work her bowlers did to set up England’s successful chase.”To come out here and perform like we did, we made it really clinical,” Knight said. “The bowlers really put a shift in actually, especially the seamers, it was so hot today. We had three shirt changes in the first innings… the spinners chipping in as well was really nice and obviously the way we finished it off made it look very easy.”It isn’t always easy but to make it look like that is brilliant and the way [Jones] and Tammy put on the hundred partnership to set the tone for the batting and to finish off in 26 overs, I’m delighted.”England won their rain-interrupted first ODI against Sri Lanka by 154 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method and their second, also in Hambantota, by six wickets. Their series sweep means England moved to second behind Australia on the ICC Women’s Championship table, while Sri Lanka will be forced to play in the qualifying tournament for the 2021 Women’s World Cup.The sides will contest three T20I matches in Colombo, starting on Sunday.

For the South African allrounder, the plans don’t change when bowling at the death to someone like the Knight Riders star

Sidharth Monga in Delhi29-Mar-20192:54

I have trained my whole life to bowl yorkers and bouncers – Morris

Be thick-skinned and follow your plans. Russellmania is all around this IPL, but the key to bowl to him is to not get psyched out, according to Chris Morris, who is all set to play his first IPL match of the season. He will be entrusted to bowl the death overs for Delhi Capitals, and at the death, on the opposite side, will be Andre Russell.Russell has already won Kolkata Knight Riders two games with highly impactful innings, first helping hunt down the biggest target in the last three overs of any T20 match and then going berserk batting first to set up a rare batting-first win in Kolkata. In 36 balls in the middle, he has killed two contests. His strike rate this season is 269.44, he has hit a six every four balls to go with a four every fifth.”Dre Russ is an absolute genius at hitting the cricket ball, it’s as simple as that,” Morris said. “End of the day, I think it has to be a case of he misses and I hit. I don’t want to give away too many tactics or anything. Like I said, Russ is an unbelievably good batter and he’s dangerous.”I’ve always said to people I look like a duck… a duck swimming on the water is nice and calm but underneath their feet are kicking like this. I might look calm and collected, but inside my brain’s working overtime. You just trust your training. I’ve practised my whole life to bowl yorkers, I’ve practised my whole life to bowl bouncers, so basically I’ve got to trust my training and hopefully at the end of the day, he makes a mistake.”The larger plans wouldn’t change even against Russell, according to Morris.”It’s all the same for me,” he said. “Playing against RCB, if you get the openers, you have AB [de Villiers] or Virat [Kohli] coming in. It doesn’t change, you’ve still got to hit your areas. The tactics might change for different field sets and stuff, but end of the day you’re bowling at the death so your mindset doesn’t change.”You’re going to get hit, you’re going to go for sixes. So whoever’s got the thickest skin is going to come out on top. So as a fast bowler, when you’re at the game you know that one of your bowlers is going to get hit today, if not two of them going for 50-plus. The sooner you accept that, the better cricketer you’ll be. If it’s your day, make it count. If it’s not, something will come up tomorrow. You just crack on to your next one.”It can be a tricky decision to make for a captain too. There might be a temptation to hold back your best bowlers because Russell is still in the dugout. But Morris suggested that such a ploy could be counter-productive.”You always try to take wickets,” Morris said. “If you’re taking wickets, that slows down run rates. It’s pretty simple. You never ever try to keep a guy out there because you’re worried about a guy coming in. Your job is to take wickets, that’s what you’ve got to do.”It still means the sooner Russell comes into bat, the better it is for the opposition. And it is the job of Russell’s team-mates to make sure they stick around so that Russell has the freedom to try to hit every ball for a six.”His role is extremely important, he understands the impact value that he has from the team going from like 180 to 215, like the previous game,” Knight Riders’ Robin Uthappa said. “There’s an impact that he creates in those last four-five overs. It’s important for him to have that sense of freedom. It would be great for him to be in a situation where he has a batsman batting with him, so as to have the freedom to go out there and go after each ball that he faces. And he understands that as well.”I think the fact that he led Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL has given him a sense of responsibility towards the team and he looks at himself as a senior statesman in the group and wants to make every outing of his count. He understands the value he brings to the side.”

Sri Lanka were meant to start their pre-World Cup fine-tuning in Edinburgh, but the weather wasn’t kind enough

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Edinburgh18-May-2019
For the second time in eight days, a rare Scotland home ODI against a Full Member was affected by rain as the series opener against Sri Lanka was abandoned without a ball bowled. After waiting through close to five hours of on and off drizzle, umpire Gregory Brathwaite called both captains together to deliver the news, turning Tuesday’s second ODI into a series decider.It was a major blow to Cricket Scotland, who had hired temporary bleachers to accommodate a sellout crowd of 1500 and will now have to issue refunds as a result of no play taking place. It was also a dent in Sri Lanka’s World Cup preparation, leaving the second ODI as their only official action before their World Cup opener against New Zealand on June 1.While clear skies are forecast for the next two days, rain is scheduled to return on Tuesday, putting the entire series at risk of being washed out.

Veteran seamer helps run through Worcestershire as Middlesex wrap up 127-run victory on final day

ECB Reporters Network30-May-2019Veteran paceman Tim Murtagh steered Middlesex to their first Specsavers County Championship victory of the campaign, a 127-run success against Worcestershire, with a six-wicket haul at Blackfinch New Road.Murtagh, who is 38 in August, struck twice before lunch, produced another triple breakthrough after the resumption and he went on to finish with figures of 6 for 51 and a match analysis of 35-16-76-8. Worcestershire, who had been set a 353 target after Middlesex declared overnight, were bowled out for 225 in 73.3 overs.It was the perfect return to county action for Murtagh after his recent international commitments with Ireland and the 33rd five-wicket haul of his career.Middlesex fully deserved their 20-point haul and fit again captain Dawid Malan produced the game’s outstanding batting performance with scores of 45 and 124 on a wicket where the ball nipped around over all four days.For Worcestershire, opener Daryl Mitchell made a return to form for the home side with a defiant 129-ball half-century and Ross Whiteley also produced strong resistance with a late order fifty. But for the home side it was a second successive setback following the defeat at Lancashire and they were second best with bat and ball for the majority of the game.Middlesex declared at their overnight total of 287 for 6 with John Simpson unbeaten on 30 and Toby Roland-Jones 11 not out.Murtagh took the new ball and struck in successive overs. Tom Fell was undone by a ball which bounced on him and nicked to Sam Robson at first slip with 5 on the board. Then George Rhodes departed lbw for a duck to a Murtagh delivery which nipped back sharply.Mitchell and Callum Ferguson tried to rebuild the innings and the latter needed 21 balls to get off the mark before reeling off a succession of boundaries. They steered Worcestershire to 91 for 2 at lunch but Murtagh came back into the attack after the resumption to re-assert a position of authority for Middlesex.Ferguson went for a drive to his first delivery of the afternoon from Murtagh and was pouched by Steve Eskinazi who held onto a head high catch at second slip. Two balls later Riki Wessels pushed forward and only succeeded in finding Malan in the gully region.Mitchell went to his half-century – containing nine fours – with a single off Murtagh but in his next over dragged a delivery on to his stumps.Murtagh had Whiteley dropped on 11 at third slip and the left hander profited from his let-off, mixing defence with some trademark attacking strokes.The wickets continued to tumble at the other end with Ben Cox and Ed Barnard both caught behind off Tom Helm and Toby Roland-Jones respectively. Victim number six for Murtagh came when he defeated the defensive push of Worcestershire skipper Joe Leach who was bowled.Whiteley’s half-century came up from 90 deliveries with seven fours. But the end came quickly as Josh Tongue was taken at second slip off Helm and finally Whiteley, whose 112-ball knock contained nine fours, edged James Harris to first slip with 22.3 overs remaining.

The New Zealand captain gives an insight into exactly why his team is sitting pretty when so many of its rivals are in such advance states of funk

Andrew Miller at Lord's28-Jun-20194:02

Vettori: Nicholls will put pressure on Munro

Permutations, permutations… somebody spare us from permutations. Who knows, England might go a long way to doing just that on Sunday, by losing against India and placing their World Cup fate firmly into the hands of the teams around them. But for now, with the sun shining over a pristine Lord’s, and the New Zealand flag flying proudly over the home dressing room, Kane Williamson isn’t about to be tempted into stressing.Of course, it’s not entirely obvious what tempt Williamson into such a course of action.Certainly, last week’s scoreline of 7 for 2 with both openers gone for golden ducks wasn’t enough to rattle his cage – his silken-touched retort, 148 from 154 balls against West Indies, rather proved that point.And certainly not the situation that greeted him on the last occasion that Australia and New Zealand met in the group stages of the World Cup – that cage-fight of a contest in Auckland in 2015, when Williamson responded to the loss of four wickets for seven runs in ten balls by planting the front foot forward against Pat Cummins and stroking him over long-on to seal an epic one-wicket win.So, trying to suggest that New Zealand’s skipper should be overly bothered by a first defeat of the tournament – against a resurgent Pakistan at Edgbaston on Wednesday – was something of an exercise in futility. Even if that setback genuinely has put the squeeze, just a teensy bit, on his team’s final two games of the group stage.In short [deep breath…] if England can find their chill at any time between now and the end of the weekend, and overcome India, and if Pakistan can avoid losing to Afghanistan, the one side that can match them in the hot-and-cold air-blowing stakes… then New Zealand’s fate may yet be ripped from their own hands.For that to happen, they would need to go on to lose to England in Chester-le-Street, and for Pakistan to keep up their own rampant streak in their final game against Bangladesh. And even that match could yet come down to a battle of net run-rates if Shakib Al Hasan can crown his own stunning campaign by inspiring Bangladesh to a knee-trembler of a victory over India in their penultimate fixture…If… if… if. It’s what the tournament wanted, and needed. The sun shining, the tongues wagging, the stakes rising. But… nah! Williamson and his team will not be drawn in like that.”It kind of is what it is, really,” he said. “You come to tournaments and sides beat each other and they climb the ladder, and that’s what everybody sort of desires to do, and who remains is kind of the ones that go through. But, at the end the day, you’re trying to play the best cricket that you can to try and put yourself in one of those top four positions.”Kane Williamson leads his ‘no-stress’ boys out to the middle•Getty Images

Williamson was sitting deep within the bowels of the MCC’s real tennis court – a strangely appropriate setting for such an anachronistically fabulous batsman – and he spoke with the clarity and lack of fluster with which he compiles his best innings. All angles and pointed placement, and next to no recourse to raw power.There are, doubtless, times when it gets grating to be so consistently talked down in the tournament narrative – as if ploughing a very steady path towards an eighth semi-final in 12 World Cups (a tally that no team, not even Australia, will have exceeded) is in any way underwhelming.But there are clearly also times when that relative anonymity is a blessing. Who, at various stages of this campaign, would have wished to be in charge of Sri Lanka or Pakistan’s fates, for instance, let alone an England campaign that, to judge by Jonny Bairstow’s feud with Michael Vaughan, is in danger of borrowing the apocalyptic Brexit stylings of @Coldwar_Steve … all shipwrecks and squabbles as the dream dies before their eyes.Nope, Williamson seems perfectly content with the hand that he has been dealt. A solidly placed side that, in coming through some taut contests against Bangladesh and South Africa, has been arguably been tested more robustly than either India or Australia, the only teams above them in the table. Another subtly different challenge awaits on a used pitch at Lord’s and the hottest day of the year – but in spite of the temptation to play legspinner Ish Sodhi, New Zealand look every bit as likely to name an unchanged team for the seventh match in a row.And, within his measured responses to an admittedly low-key grilling, Williamson gave an insight into exactly why New Zealand are sitting pretty when so many of their likeliest rivals are in such advance states of funk.”At a World Cup, perhaps teams adopt slightly different plans when we’re playing different opposition day-in and day-out on different surfaces,” he said. “[But] the most important thing is adapting to the conditions. Sometimes I think we’ve seen in the last few games, that looking to blast teams out, perhaps with the use of seam movement and these sorts of things, it hasn’t quite been there, and it’s been about playing the long game a little bit.”We haven’t played at Lord’s yet, and we’ll just have to assess those conditions.”If that was meant as a dig at England after the failure of their gung-ho approach on this same pitch last week, then it was delivered with such deftness that it barely made a sound off the bat.”There’s so many games of cricket, so many different things can happen,” he added. “We know in this sport the variables and uncontrollables we can come up against on any given day, and perhaps some sides might be more suited to certain conditions than others on a certain day, and that’s just the nature of the beast.”England are still in a strong position, as are a few other sides. The focus for all of those sides is to keep trying to apply what they know holds themselves in the strongest position with the sort of cricket they want to play, which is equally different to one another.”When the time comes and the round-robin’s finished, if you can hang your hat on that, then at the end of the day, you can either walk away and end up in a semi-final, or know that you’ve done that and it hasn’t quite happened.”Or, more likely, you’ll find that – over the course of nine group-stage fixtures – the fact that you’ve done more right than wrong will get rewarded in the final analysis. And those who have either not been good enough, or have relied on bluster and preconception at times of duress (or both), will be found out.So, what if it’s the Australians tomorrow, was Williamson’s message. We’re pootling along just fine. How about the rest of you?

Update follows the Supreme Court of India asking the BCCI to reconsider the length of the ban in March this year

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Aug-2019Sreesanth, the one-time India fast bowler, can finally breathe a little easy after the BCCI ombudsman Justice (retd) DK Jain reduced his IPL 2013 spot-fixing ban to seven years, the sanction period now ending on September 13, 2020. This comes five months after the Supreme Court of India “set aside” the BCCI ban – originally for life – and asked the board to “reconsider” and “revisit” the length of any fresh ban, preferably within three months.The sanction has been imposed retrospectively from September 13, 2013, when Sreesanth was slapped with the life ban by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee. He was then found guilty of breaching the code of conduct for his alleged role in the IPL corruption and spot-fixing scandal that year.The BCCI’s decision had followed the arrest of Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan Royals players by Delhi Police for alleged promises made to bookmakers during the 2013 IPL. The charges against Sreesanth pertained to the match against Kings XI Punjab, played on May 9 in Mohali, that Royals won by eight wickets. The disciplinary committee charged Sreesanth guilty of corruption, betting, bringing the game into disrepute and not informing the board’s anti-corruption unit of being approached by bookies.However, the Supreme Court pointed out the three-member disciplinary committee – comprising then BCCI president N Srinivasan and two vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah – had not considered the relevant provisions of the code before arriving at the length of the ban which ranges from a minimum of five years to a maximum of a life ban. The court said the BCCI disciplinary committee did not “advert to the aggravating and mitigating factors” listed under its code.Consequently, the court asked the BCCI to set aside the life ban and review the “quantum of punishment/sanction” to be imposed on Sreesanth. That decision was left to the BCCI’s ombudsman in the absence of a disciplinary committee which can only be formed post the board’s elections.Before arriving at his decision, Justice Jain heard both Sreesanth and BCCI, both of whom were represented by their lawyers. Sreesanth’s legal counsel, Krishna Mohan K Menon, said that his client’s conduct was fair throughout the inquiry conducted by then BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit head Ravi Sawani with the bowler not contesting any offence alleged against him and cooperating fully.Menon said Sreesanth, who was 30 in 2013, had no knowledge of the “bookie nexus operating behind the scenes” during the IPL. Menon also said the alleged incident did not have any impact on the result of the IPL match which Royals, Sreesanth’s team, won “comfortably”. Menon added the spot-fixing scandal itself had no material or commercial impact on the tournament in 2013. According to him, Sreesanth had “maintained good conduct” throughout his playing career and was a committed family man and a philanthropist.Menon also told the BCCI ombudsman that while determining the sanctions, he ought not to consider Sreesanth’s “biological life” but his “sport life”. Menon explained that Sreesanth, who is currently 36, has “only 3 years of active sporting life” and hence the ombudsman should consider all these factors.”It was thus, pleaded by the Ld. Counsel that having regard to all these factors, Mr. Sreesanth has already suffered sufficient punishment for the alleged offences and therefore, he does not deserve further sanctions,” Justice Jain noted in his order.In response, the BCCI argued that a life ban was just for Sreesanth for the various aggravating factors. Among those listed were: the player showed no “remorse” at any point during the investigation process, that he had been “infamous for his uncontrolled presentation of negative temperament in the form of anger, frustration and scuffles on field” with other players, that he was mature enough to understand the consequences of his offence, that there was material evidence he had received a sum of INR 10 lakh “in lieu of the offence committed”.”The award of sentence, less than a life ban in a clear case of match fixing, can clearly impact public confidence in the game of cricket,” the BCCI is credited as saying in the order.The board argued that the disciplinary committee was “merely” required to determine, after considering all the relevant factors, whether they aggravated or mitigated the offence. The quantum of punishment, the BCCI said, was a matter of discretion of the panel.Justice Jain agreed with the BCCI’s zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and any offence committed under its code could not be “ignored” and “dealt with leniently.” However, he pointed out that the zero-tolerance approach “cannot dilute consideration of the relevant factors” while imposing sanctions.Justice Jain concluded that he had found a “few mitigating circumstances” under the BCCI’s code as pointed out by Sreesanth. “Although the BCCI has referred to his erratic behaviour, both on and off the field, with fellow players, but nothing has been brought on record by the BCCI to show that any sanction was imposed on him in the past. On the contrary, he was regularly participating in the national and international matches. In the report of the Commissioner there is no allegation that Mr. Sreesanth did not co-operate in the Inquiry.”Additionally, the BCCI has not been able to controvert the specific plea of Mr. Sreesanth that the offences allegedly committed by him did not substantially damage the commercial value of the IPL matches, or even the final result of the subject match. I am, therefore, convinced that mitigating circumstances are attracted in the instant case.”According to Justice Jain, Sreesanth’s “prime years,” especially as a fast bowler, were nearly over. He had already served six years of the ban, which has barred him from playing any form of cricket both in India and overseas.”Bearing in mind, all these factors, I am of the view that banning Mr. Sreesanth from participating in any kind of commercial Cricket or from associating with any activities of the BCCI or its affiliates, for a period of seven years with effect from 13.09.2013, i.e. the date from which, the period of ban imposed by the Disciplinary Committee had commenced, will meet the ends of justice.”

Bravo retired hurt on the fourth morning of the Jamaica Test, having suffered a blow to the helmet in the last over of day three

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2019West Indies have drafted Jermaine Blackwood into their XI for the Jamaica Test as a concussion substitute for Darren Bravo.Bravo retired hurt on 23 on the fourth morning of the Test, having just driven Jasprit Bumrah to the cover boundary in the fourth over of the day. He had taken a blow to the helmet in the last over of day three, off a bouncer from Bumrah. The ball had struck the right side of his helmet, and sent his stem guards – which protect the batsman’s neck area – flying. He faced two more balls on the third evening, and a further ten balls on Monday morning.A medical examination confirmed a concussion, and match referee David Boon subsequently approved West Indies’ request for Blackwood to come into the game as a substitute.A CWI spokesperson said Bravo had undergone a concussion test after the end of the third day’s play, and passed it.”He obviously got hit yesterday evening, but there weren’t many balls left in the day’s play, so he got through that and came off and he thought he was doing alright. He didn’t show any signs of being dizzy or concussed,” West Indies captain Jason Holder later said. “But he came this morning, and I don’t know if it was because of the heat or what, you know, he was feeling a little bit dizzy, he had a headache, so we took the precautionary route and we pulled him off.”In what was to become the first instance of 12 batsmen playing in a Test innings, Blackwood came into bat at the fall of the fourth wicket, and scored 38 off 72 balls. West Indies, chasing 468 for an unlikely win, eventually slumped to a 257-run defeat.Blackwood wasn’t in West Indies’ original squad, but is from Jamaica, and had earlier fielded as a substitute during the match. The last of his 27 previous Test appearances came in Bulawayo in October-November 2017. He becomes the second concussion substitute in men’s Test cricket, after the Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who came in for Steven Smith in the Lord’s Ashes Test last month.As with Bravo in this Test, Smith passed a concussion test on the day he suffered the blow, but experienced delayed symptoms the next morning. A Cricket Australia spokesperson had said then that 30% of all concussions in Australian cricket are delayed.

The South Africa captain excited to work with the new-look squad that will take on India in a three-match Test series starting tomorrow

Firdose Moonda01-Oct-20190:33

How much have South Africa changed from their last India tour?

South Africa are readying themselves for a new era in Test cricket. Not only is the three-match series against India their first long-format outing of the World Test Championship or their first under the new coaching structure, it is also the first since the retirements of Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn, the last links to the golden generation who were ranked No.1 in the world. But, for captain Faf du Plessis, that signals an opportunity to deliver a statement of intent. And a strong one at that.

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“It’s a real good time for me to be involved with a young team,” he said at the pre-game press conference in Visakhapatnam. “There’s a lot of senior players that are out of our system, our leadership group has changed completely, you’ve lost all your experience and those players. But what that does, it’s a new time for growing new leaders in our team. The next best fast bowlers that’s going to come through, they’re going to be the next best Hashim Amlas, so it’s exciting for me to be working with the young guys in the team.”With 58 Test caps to his name, du Plessis is the joint-most senior member of the squad, alongside Vernon Philander. South Africa will look to draw from the experience of Dean Elgar (56 caps) and Quinton de Kock (40 caps) as well, even though de Kock is on his first Test tour to India after being dropped for the 2015 series. Vice-captain Temba Bavuma is the only other batsman to have played Test cricket in India. While all of this leaves presents the picture of a team that may not have enough information about the conditions they will face in the coming weeks, it also means there are fewer memories of the 0-3 series loss from four years ago.”What Test cricket, in general, does to you that if there is a flaw in your game, or if there is something that you’re not quite on top of against an opposition, generally Test cricket exposes that in your game,” du Plessis said. “And obviously, last time we came here as a batting unit, and personally myself, finding it very difficult in tough conditions, and it was a fact that I needed to get better from a defensive technical point of view, to adapt to play in tough conditions.3:15

Maharaj as good as any spinner in the world – du Plessis

“It was really dry back then, the ball spun a lot. As a batting unit, we found it tough, even though we had lots of experience in our team, and now we’ve got a completely different unit, you know. It’s a very, very young-looking batting line-up, so there’s not a lot of baggage that comes with the guys that are on the tour, and they’re also – as most young cricketers are – very motivated and driven to do well in international cricket, and this tour will be no different for them.”ALSO READ: Missing Dale-a in the time of India v South AfricaThose levels of determination run deep and South Africa have prepared extensively for this tour. Several members of the Test squad, such as Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn, Bavuma and Zubayr Hamza, were involved a spin camp in India, followed by an A team tour. South Africa even added local expertise in the form of batting consultant Amol Muzumdar to the backroom staff, which has added a different perspective to their planning.”It’s been really refreshing having some local knowledge in our dressing room,” du Plessis said. “It’s just a different mindset, it’s a different language, it’s different chats that you’re not used to, and that’s really refreshing no matter how many games you’ve played. I’ve enjoyed his time with us, it’s been very short, but already some really good conversations.”ALSO READ : Aiden Markram’s unfinished business in the subcontinentBut now the time for talking is almost up and South Africa have to show what kind of progress, if any, they have made since they last faced India at home. There is very little expectation of anything but another drubbing, which may only spur du Plessis to try to spring a few surprises.”It’s a challenge, but I’ve always been the type of person and character that enjoys the challenge, I think it generally brings the best out of me as a personality and as a character, so it’s one thing you have to look forward to,” du Plessis said. “You can’t look at teams that you’re playing and see that it’s… oh dear, we’re playing against some really strong oppositions. You’ve got to face it head on.”

Young allrounder makes 121 not out to rescue WA after they had slumped to 7 for 53 in their second innings

The Report by Alex Malcolm05-Nov-2019Emerging Western Australia allrounder Cameron Green has put his name up in lights with a stunning final-day century to help rescue his team from almost certain defeat against Queensland at the Gabba.Green’s 121 not out from 172 balls featured 13 fours and three sixes. He made 208 runs in the match without being dismissed and steered WA to safety after they appeared destined for an innings defeat.The visitors slumped to 7 for 53 just 12.1 overs into the final day, still needing 26 to make Queensland bat again. Cameron Gannon pinned Hilton Cartwright and Josh Philippe in consecutive balls to take his tally for the match to eight before Xavier Bartlett found Josh Inglis’ outside edge.Green, who had already made 87 not out in the first innings at No. 8 to dig WA out of trouble on day one, came in at No. 9 this time because of nightwatchman Matthew Kelly, and he again played with remarkable composure and assuredness for a 20-year-old in just his ninth first-class match.Green and Kelly batted nearly 42 overs in a partnership of 115 to at least ensure Queensland would have to bat again. Kelly faced 180 deliveries to reach his highest first-class score of 46 before falling to the part-time legspin of Marnus Labuschagne, edging an attempted cut trying to reach his fifty.Jhye Richardson joined Green after the pair put on 99 in the first innings, and again they frustrated Queensland by scoring freely against the second new ball.They added 52 to take WA into the last session and the lead beyond 150. But with Green on 97, Richardson was trapped lbw by Mitch Swepson. David Moody had to survive three balls of the over, having stranded Green in the first innings. He managed to do so before Green found the three runs needed for his maiden Sheffield Shield century in the next over via a tightly run two and a bonus overthrow. Green added 21 more runs before the match was declared a draw.