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Carey has produced scores of 74 and 77 not out while incumbent Inglis has nursed a quad issue, creating a selection quandary

Alex Malcolm25-Sep-2024Alex Carey’s stunning return to Australia’s ODI side will cause the selectors a headache ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 when incumbent wicketkeeper Josh Inglis returns from a quad complaint, according to coach and selector Andrew McDonald.Carey was recalled to Australia’s ODI side at the start of the series against England – having been dropped during last year’s ODI World Cup – after Inglis was ruled out of the first ODI at Trent Bridge due to quad soreness he suffered in the second T20I against England on September 13.Inglis is still yet to recover and Carey has taken his chance with back-to-back scores of 74 and 77 not out, with both innings salvaging Australia from perilous positions to post competitive scores at Headingley and Chester-le-Street respectively.Related

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It has raised the question of whether Inglis will automatically reclaim his spot when he is fit to return. Following Australia’s loss to England in the third ODI, McDonald said the wicketkeeper’s spot would be a headache, but a positive one.”It’s always a good problem to have when you’ve got people competing for spots within your team,” he said. “Unfortunately, Josh was injured in the T20 series, and Alex has jumped into that spot and done incredibly well. So as I said, it’s always a good problem to have.”McDonald did suggest there was a possibility both men could play in the same team moving forward. The pair have played in the same ODI side for Australia on six occasions, four of those coming last year on the tours of South Africa and India immediately prior to the ODI World Cup, with Inglis playing as a specialist batter in all six games when Carey was the first-choice wicketkeeper.”It’s always something we will consider,” McDonald said. “If you think back sort of 12 months ago, we had Ingo and Kez in the same team. So it’s quite possible, and the way that Alex is batting is very impressive. Summing up the situation, navigating going through the middle against spin. He’s a quality player. He’s played a lot of international cricket, so the way he’s performing isn’t a surprise to us.”But it would seem a less likely option when all of Australia’s best players are fit and available. A more likely option would be Australia playing an extra allrounder to deepen the batting with Aaron Hardie putting his name up for the role with an impressive 44 from 26 balls at the death to help lift Australia’s total above 300 on Tuesday. Hardie wasn’t initially set to play until Adam Zampa was ruled out late with illness.Aaron Hardie clubbed his way to 44 off 26 balls•Getty Images

Australia have been keen to experiment with an allrounder at No. 8 since McDonald took over as coach in 2022 in the hope of potentially using that combination in major tournaments, only to consistently revert to playing seven batters and four specialist bowlers which was the model that won them the World Cup.Hardie’s form adds to their options, and potentially strengthens the case to play eight batters given he has bowled very impressively in the series so far. He can bowl with the new ball, and he provided a showcase of his death-hitting prowess despite having only limited experience in the role at the domestic level.”Aaron Hardie called into the team late, got some critical death hitting there to get us up to a total,” McDonald said. “He was definitely impressive today.”It’s something we’ve discussed over a period of time, and we’re on the record in saying, leading to the last World Cup, we wanted to have three distinct ways of playing, and one of those was with the eighth batter. So we’ve done that previously. The allrounders aren’t always available and fit, so therefore sometimes that team’s not on the table.”But we feel as though with the allrounders we’ve got with Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, you throw Marcus Stoinis also into that who’s not here, Will Sutherland’s been exposed across the journey as well. So you start to work through that. Matthew Short is an allrounder in his own right as well, along with Glenn Maxwell. So we’ve got options to be able to structure up that way. We do like to lean towards the three quicks with Adam Zampa, but clearly, that’s another way of playing.”The counterpoint is that Australia’s allrounder-heavy attack can lack potency, no matter how many runs they score. That was especially exposed without Zampa in the side and England’s batters took full advantage. McDonald is hopeful to have both Zampa and Travis Head available for the final two ODIs at Lord’s and Bristol on Friday and Sunday.”It’s always a different team when Adam Zampa is not there, an incredible performer for us over a long period of time,” McDonald said. “It was a late decision to leave him out. Clearly, we’ve had a little bit of illness in the camp, and that’s been well documented. Unfortunately, he was the latest casualty.”[Head] should be right for the next game. I won’t go into that any further, but he should be ready to go.”

Former England captain opts to move on as ECB announces boardroom changes

Vithushan Ehantharajah28-Apr-2023The ECB has announced that Andrew Strauss will stand down as a strategic advisor and chair of the performance cricket committee, part of a swathe of boardroom-level changes announced on Friday.Strauss, the former England captain, has fulfilled both duties since September 2020, and has been regarded as a respected figurehead throughout the English game, particularly given his strong links with many of the current players. He previously served as director of England men’s cricket between 2015 and 2018, then again in an interim capacity between February and May 2022.Strauss recently oversaw the men’s High-Performance Review, established after a 4-0 defeat in the 2021-22 Ashes, which set out 17 recommendations for English cricket to consider and implement. But two of the review’s major planks – the proposed reduction of County Championship matches and dedicated windows for domestic limited-overs cricket – were not passed after failing to achieve the minimum backing of at least 12 of the 18 counties.Related

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Having taken on external responsibilities, Strauss has opted to move on from the ECB. He will officially stand down at the board’s Annual General Meeting next month.In a statement, Strauss said: “I’ve really enjoyed my time at the ECB and am proud of having contributed to a successful period for our England teams. With increasing commitments outside of the organisation, sadly I’ve decided it’s time to step away from my current role. I wish the new board all the very best as it continues in its mission to grow our game.”ECB chief executive Richard Thompson offered his thanks: “Andrew has given outstanding service to English cricket over many years in a number of different roles. I’ve greatly valued the advice and expertise he has provided in my time as chair, and have enjoyed working with him. We are currently implementing the vast majority of recommendations from his impressive High Performance Review, which I believe will help our England men’s teams to sustain their success. I have no doubt he has much more to contribute to the game and hope he will return in the future.”The ECB has also added four new non-executive directors to the board: Penny Avis, Baroness Zahida Manzoor, Jennifer Owen Adams and Gareth Williams.Avis, currently the senior independent director at the PGA European Tour, and Baroness Manzoor, chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service, will become independent non-executive directors. Adams, the current chair of Cricket Wales, and Williams, chair of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, will join as cricket non-executive directors. The appointments of two further cricket non-executive directors will be confirmed in due courseOn the new appointments, Thompson said: “It gives me great pleasure in welcoming Zahida, Jennifer, Penny and Gareth onto our Board. They are all exceptional leaders with demonstrable strategic experience and expertise across a range of different fields, and are all passionate about our sport.”The ECB is privileged to be able to call upon their knowledge, communication skills, integrity, judgement, and independence. We look forward to having all four leading and supporting the growth of cricket in England and Wales at this vital time for our game, as we seek to make cricket the most inclusive sport in the UK.”

England opener described Australia allrounder Tahlia McGrath’s execution as “the difference between kicking onto like 180-190”

Valkerie Baynes20-Jan-2022Tammy Beaumont has backed England to compete with Australia when the sides reconvene for back-to-back matches at the Adelaide Oval over the weekend to complete the T20I leg of their Ashes series. But despite a heavy defeat in the first T20I to start off the tour, she was keen to highlight the positives for England after the match – not least after the visitors’ senior side had lost both of their T20 warm-up matches to England A in the lead-up to Thursday’s series opener.”We’ve come a long way in the space of less than a week,” Beaumont said. “There’s still a long way to go. We’ve got a lot more cricket to play, and I’m sure [we] will improve. We wanted to come out here and play the way we want to play T20 cricket, and to put 170 on the board was certainly the way we go about it. The way Danni Wyatt came out and really attacked – particularly the spinners down the ground – I thought was exceptional.”We wanted to say that we’re going to come toe-to-toe with Australia, and I think they were surprised in the field. You saw some mistakes from them, so I think we started well but we’ve just got to try and get over the line.”Related

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Beaumont admitted that there was little England’s batters could do in the face of Tahlia McGrath’s excellent bowling, which not only removed two set batters – Wyatt and Sciver in a double-wicket over – at a crucial time but also accounted for No. 5 Amy Jones, caught for four at long-on by Grace Harris, who returned to the Australian line-up with Beth Mooney’s fractured jaw pushing captain Meg Lanning up the order to open and Ellyse Perry dropped primarily owing to a dwindling strike rate.Australia’s depth wasn’t tested even after Sophie Ecclestone dismissed Alyssa Healy for just seven in the fourth over of their response thanks to McGrath and Lanning, the latter finishing on an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls. Ecclestone, the left-arm spinner who took a stunning 7 for 14 for England in a losing cause in one of the T20 warm-ups against England A, remains a huge weapon for the visitors, but the Australian line-up looked impenetrable in Adelaide on Thursday. As McGrath and Lanning turned up the pressure, cracks formed in England’s fielding and that was one area Beaumont said needed work.Danni Wyatt’s 70 off 54 balls set England up•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“I’ve been part of heavier defeats in some ways,” Beaumont said. “Obviously they have got a nine-wicket win at the end of the day but to post 170 on a ground where the par in women’s cricket here is a lot lower is a massive positive. We started really well in the powerplay as well with the ball. We’ve got to tighten up some areas: we probably didn’t field well enough on our ground fielding, and maybe tighten up our lines a little bit and come back with some plans to try and get those two out.”The hosts took the first two points of the seven-match multi-format contest with an emphatic victory in the opening game – thanks to McGrath’s three wickets and 91 not out, despite England setting themselves up well through an 82-run opening partnership between Beaumont and Wyatt, and another 59-run stand for the second wicket between Wyatt and Sciver. Wyatt had breathed new life into her international career with 89* in the third T20I against India in July and unbeaten 50-over scores of 63 and 43 during New Zealand’s visit to England in September. Her latest innings of 70 came off just 54 balls and included three glorious sixes, while Beaumont contributed 30 off 24.But the margin of defeat and the fact that England’s bowlers had no answers as McGrath and Lanning put on an unbroken second-wicket union of 144 to see their side home with three overs to spare, is cause for concern. So too is the fact that – surviving McGrath’s pin-point yorker in a devastating double-wicket over aside – England couldn’t have done much more with the bat.”We just need to build a bit of pressure, get a couple of dots an over, stop the boundary balls and then if they’ve got to get nine an over – which they did at one stage – they’re going to have to take more risks,” Beaumont said. “They played really well, took the right risks at the right time, but I’m not too worried about our bowling attack – it’s been brilliant for the last two, three years.””At the beginning of the day we would definitely have taken 170,” Beaumont said. “We just really wanted to get off to a good start and set the tone really well for our team. Credit to Tahlia McGrath, she bowled two brilliant yorkers there to get our two set batters out and that’s probably the difference between kicking onto like 180-190.”Meanwhile, England face one injury concern going into the second match on Saturday after Maia Bouchier appeared to jar her right knee heavily as she attempted to stop a McGrath boundary and spent the rest of the match off the field with it strapped and packed in ice.

PCB chairman displeased at being bypassed by the head coach and selector and Test captain

Osman Samiuddin18-Sep-2020Unhappy at Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali’s attempts to bypass the PCB hierarchy in meeting with Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan – also patron of the PCB – to discuss their reservations about the current domestic structure, board chairman Ehsan Mani has summoned the two for a meeting next week.The new domestic structure, in which there are six regional teams and no departmental sides, was implemented last season, effectively under direct orders from Imran. Ultimately, Misbah and Ali – alongside Mohammad Hafeez – were joined by Mani and PCB CEO Wasim Khan in the meeting with Imran on Thursday. There, Imran insisted on pushing ahead with the structure as it stands, one that he has long been an advocate of.But the meeting was an awkward one, not least because two of the highest-profile figures PCB employs – the head coach and selector and Test captain – were seemingly at odds with the two highest up the chain: Mani and Wasim. And the chairman and CEO were not happy with how they had been bypassed and Imran approached directly by Misbah and the players.”The players know the structure has changed, as per the PM’s wishes,” a participant in the meeting told ESPNcricinfo. “The PCB implements that but then its employees decide it’s a good idea to go to the PM to challenge his decision and a structure their employers have implemented.”Misbah, Ali and Hafeez are not alone in their concerns, which, broadly, centre around the financial hit a lot of players have taken, as well as a drastic shrinking of the overall pool of domestic first-class players. Departments historically provided financial security to players not only during their playing days, but beyond, though it is also true that the number of active departments on the circuit has shrunk over the years.The new structure, of six regional teams, has seen the number of active first-class players reduce from over 300 to 192. At the higher levels, players have seen their earnings drop too (as well as miss out on other employee perks departments offered) – although this season the PCB has enhanced pay scales across the board. The new structure has also added a weighty new cost burden on the PCB, which now pays the monthly salaries of all first-class cricketers. In the past, by dint of paying players’ salaries, departments picked up a considerable portion of that bill.The new structure did have one high-profile endorsement, however. On the same day as the meeting, Shahid Afridi called for more patience with the set-up. “I don’t think there is unemployment at large with the end of departmental cricket, most of the sidelined players didn’t have a future in the game or were past their prime as players and nearing retirement,” Afridi said.”Every system needs to be given at least two to three years. The results will start coming in a year or so from now. If the prime minister thinks that this system will develop world-class players then we must back it for a year or the next 18 months at least. We shouldn’t rush for results, Pakistan is seven decades old, everything needs time and this system also needs time and our backing.”It is unlikely that any formal action will be taken against Misbah and Ali (Hafeez is not a centrally contracted player) beyond the meeting, but they are expected to be told in no uncertain terms that there cannot be such a situation again in the future.

No reason why we can’t win with what we’ve got, says Sri Lanka captain after ten-wicket loss to New Zealand in World Cup opener

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Cardiff01-Jun-20191:23

Dilshan: Mathews needs to play further up order

There was music enlivening the stands in Cardiff, hundreds of Sri Lankan flags aflutter, and raucous cheers for every Sri Lankan boundary. Fans had traveled hours to be at this match, filling out early morning trains from London, and booking out Cardiff hotels for the night.It should have been a happy day out, but it was barely a half-day – Sri Lanka dusted off in emphatic fashion, in the space of 45 overs. There were even some reports of boos and hoots for their team, from the Sri Lankan sections of the crowd. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne – the only batsman to remain at the crease for more than 40 deliveries, made no excuses for his team. If spectators were angry, perhaps they had a right to be.”Everyone came here to see a good match. They came from far away, spending their money. We needed to give them a good match. Losing is one thing, but we need to fight for the sake of the spectators. If you only make 130-odd, that’s not a match,” Karunaratne said after the bruising ten-wicket loss. “Personally, a lot of people had wished as well and urged us to do well in this first match. Everyone was looking forward to this game, and to playing well.”If we had fought and made a good fist of this game and then lost, it wouldn’t have been so hard to swallow.”Sri Lanka are ranked ninth, and are nursing a woeful ODI record over the past two years. Karunaratne knows his team is not expected to challenge for the title. But the Test side he had led in South Africa earlier in the year was perhaps even more unfancied than this ODI side, beset as it had been by injury and inexperience. There, his team had somehow find the means to compete, and seized key moments in each of the Tests to turn the tide in their favour.”There’s a limit to our capabilities, and if you compare us with some other teams, realistically we are a side with limited talent,” Karunaratne said. “But there’s no reason why we can’t win with what we’ve got. We really thank the spectators, and their support is really important to us. We’ve got eight games left now. We want to come back and fight. If we win one game, we’ll build some momentum. The support that we get is vital, because it’s just 15 of us in the squad, and 30 of us traveling together with the team. We need that support around us.”Sri Lanka’s bowlers were unable to dent New Zealand, who sped to the meagre target at a rate of 8.47 an over, but it was at the batsmen’s feet that Karunaratne laid almost all the blame. Especially crucial was the period between the ninth and 16th overs of Sri Lanka’s innings, where they nosedived from 46 for 1 to 60 for 6. Yes, a green pitch and the skilful New Zealand seam bowling were challenges, Karunaratne said, but there was no excuse for a collapse quite that dramatic.”Because there was a bit of grass on the pitch, we were on the back foot,” he said. “The NZ attack is very good, but when Kusal Perera and I were batting, there wasn’t too much seam and swing. But as soon as we went on the back foot, we couldn’t play as well as we know we can.”More than the conditions, the problem is in our mind. There was some quick bowling from them, but it’s only with a few overs that they made it very difficult for us. If we had seen out those tough periods, we could have been in a better place. Even though it’s not the kind of pitch that’s conducive to 300 or 350, if we get it in our heads that we can’t bat well here, we can’t put the kind of score on the board that our bowlers can defend.”

After the batsman hit his first Test century in more than three years and one of his finest, the quick took three wickets to hurt Australia further on the third day in Port Elizabeth

The Report by Brydon Coverdale11-Mar-20183:18

Katich: De Villiers just too good for Australia

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsOn the third day in Port Elizabeth, AB de Villiers scored one of the finest hundreds of his Test career and Kagiso Rabada put in another excellent bowling performance. If those two men alone could keep up this form throughout the series, Australia would be hard pressed not to lose their first series in South Africa since readmission. But as the players walked off St George’s Park at stumps on day three, they knew that something could be about to change, for Rabada was set to face a Code of Conduct hearing that could rule him out of the rest of the series.Whatever the case, Rabada had helped put South Africa in a powerful position, claiming three key wickets that left Australia needing a significant lower-order bailout in order to post a competitive target. At stumps, Australia had turned their 139-run first-innings deficit into a 41-run advantage, but the loss of Usman Khawaja to Rabada for 75 late in the day was a major blow. Mitchell Marsh remained at the crease on 39, alongside Tim Paine on 5, and Australia had 180 for 5 and a huge amount of work to do.After early wickets, Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh had led an Australian fightback with their 87-run partnership. Mitchell Marsh was solid in defence and Khawaja had swept and reverse-swept effectively, also driving handsomely through the off side when given the chance. As a qualified airline pilot, Khawaja could be expected to travel well, but his form away from home has always been a major question mark. Before this innings, his previous nine efforts in Tests outside Australia had produced 26, 18, 11, 0, 1, 1, 14, 6 and 4. Adding 75 to that was good, but Australia needed more.Khawaja fell in the penultimate over of the day when Rabada angled one in from around the wicket and rapped him on the back leg, dead in front. It was so certainly out that Khawaja, the set batsman with two reviews up his sleeve, had little hesitation in walking off. It capped another fine day for Rabada, who had earlier bowled David Warner for 13 with a superb delivery that nipped in through the gate, and also had Shaun Marsh caught behind wafting aimlessly outside off for 1.Wickets came from other sources, too. On 24, Cameron Bancroft chopped one on off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi to leave Australia wobbling, and Steven Smith’s struggles against left-arm orthodox spin continued when he tickled one behind off Keshav Maharaj on 11. It was the third time from four innings in this series that Smith had been out to left-arm fingerspin, and South Africa will hope they have found a rare weakness in his game.Getty Images

Earlier in the day, de Villiers seemed to have no weaknesses whatsoever. The 22nd hundred of his Test career and his first in more than three years was also one of his best. In Durban, he had looked in ominous touch but ran out of partners before he could do too much damage; in Port Elizabeth, the lower order stuck with him long enough to get South Africa a healthy lead.The day had started with South Africa 20 runs in front with three wickets in hand. De Villiers batted brilliantly with the lower order, forging an 84-run stand with Vernon Philander, then a 58-run partnership with Maharaj, and finally a 13-run stand with Ngidi to cap the innings. He finished unbeaten on 126 and has been dismissed only once in this series, when he was run out for a duck in the second innings in Durban, following his 71 not out in the first.Much as a crafty politician answers not the question asked but the question they wish was asked, de Villiers seemed to face not the ball that was delivered but the ball he wanted to have been delivered. In other words, he was able to score runs from anywhere to anywhere, and struck 20 fours and one six during his 146-ball stay.His century came from his 117th delivery with a typically inventive stroke, gliding Pat Cummins over the cordon for a boundary. The support that he had was invaluable. Philander made a calm 36 before he was brilliantly snapped up by Bancroft at short leg off Cummins.Maharaj almost threw his innings away early when he slogged Nathan Lyon over midwicket and Khawaja tried a juggling take, throwing the ball back in as he landed over the rope. Maharaj looked set to walk off, with de Villiers clearly frustrated by his shot selection, but replays showed Khawaja had failed to let go of the ball before his foot was grounded over the rope, and it was ruled a six.If Maharaj learnt his lesson it was only briefly, for in Lyon’s next over he clubbed another six over the leg side, and his 30 off 24 balls proved to be a very handy cameo. In the end, another attempted slog brought his downfall as he was bowled by Josh Hazlewood. Ngidi was the last man out, run out attempting to get de Villiers back on strike. South Africa were all out for 382, with a lead of 139. And de Villiers had played what will likely be the innings that turns the match, if not the series.