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While one of the favourites to replace Justin Langer long term, he believes international coaching could be heading into a new era

Andrew McGlashan12-Feb-2022Andrew McDonald insists he has yet to consider the prospect of becoming Australia’s new permanent head coach following the resignation of Justin Langer and believes the game is heading into a fascinating period with how international teams shape their coaching structures.McDonald, who had already been due to take charge of the Sri Lanka T20 series and will now lead the tour to Pakistan next month in an interim capacity, is considered a frontrunner for the long-term position and his calmness was endorsed by limited-overs captain Aaron Finch.While Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley has previously said they will be looking to appoint a single replacement for Langer, who resigned last week having only been offered a six-month contract extension, McDonald sees the game could be heading into a new phase with the increasingly crammed nature of international cricket.Related

• McDonald backs Finch to regain form heading towards T20 World Cup

• 'I'll be doing a lot of listening' – new CA chair Lachlan Henderson outlines fresh strategy

• Josh Inglis right at home on international stage

• Sri Lanka seek better display with bat to hurt high-flying Australia

• Andrew McDonald 'never seems to get flustered' – Aaron Finch

“It happened really really quickly with JL and the process there. No thoughts given to it at this stage,” he said. “I think the greater conversation around that at this stage is clearly Australia and England have jobs open but it’s what they’re looking for. Split roles have been mentioned [to manage] all three formats. There’s a lot to work through. I’ll wait to see how that process unfolds and see what happens there.”Firstly you’ve got to see what they’re looking for in the job and then whether it’s the right fit for you. It’s like any coaching role that you put your hat in the ring for. It’s not just as simple as saying ‘there’s a job there, would you like to do it, yes or no?’ I think it’s a great opportunity for a greater cricket conversation that two of the bigger cricket nations are embarking upon. I’m fascinated to see where that lands.”The FTP over the next 12-24 months is not getting any lighter, there’s a conversation to be had there. [Split coaching] has been tried before. We saw Andy Flower and Ashley Giles do a split role, whether that was the right time for it, the game’s changed a hell of a lot since then as well.”In the short term, McDonald does not see a need to reinvent the wheel in the Australia set up with the T20 World Cup and Ashes secured in recent months with Langer at the helm albeit having heeded warnings to take a less hands-on approach.Australia secured a 20-run victory against Sri Lanka on Friday with a particularly impressive performance in the field led by Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa who were both key figures in the World Cup success.”The last six months have been an incredible time,” McDonald said. “It’s been well documented the changing room was in a good space. The World Cup was a great experience, the Ashes was a great experience. I can’t see there being a hell of a lot of change on the back of that. I’ve got an opportunity to do my job for the next month or so to the end of the Pakistan tour then see what it looks like. There will be an element of continuing to run the team with similar fashion to what we have.”McDonald also praised the role Langer had on the team which he joined in late 2019.”The values he instilled in the team, the way he was able to manage things from South Africa forward was an incredible effort,” he said. “He had an incredibly high work rate, that attention to detail, care, empathy, all those types of things. Respect for what he’s done in terms of his playing and coaching career.”

Vince becomes second Multan Sultans player to withdraw; Joe Denly lined up as replacement

George Dobell09-Nov-2020James Vince’s involvement in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is in doubt after he tested positive for Covid-19.Vince, a member of England’s World Cup-winning squad, was set to play for Multan Sultans in the PSL playoffs on November 14.ESPNcricinfo understands he is asymptomatic and will imminently undergo a second test. But he is legally obliged to self-isolate for 10 days from the date of the positive test.Vince has also signed for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League (BBL), but, with the start date just over a month away, he should still be able to take part.ALSO READ: Mahmudullah to miss PSL playoffs after testing positive for Covid-19It is the second significant blow to Multan’s title hopes in as many days, following the withdrawal of Mahmudullah, the Bangladesh allrounder, on Sunday, also due to a positive Covid test. Vince scored 155 runs in five innings before the tournament was cut short by the pandemic earlier this year.ESPNcricinfo understands that the franchise are hoping to sign a replacement for Vince, with Joe Denly the likely candidate.It is unclear at this stage who Vince may have been in contact with in recent days but they, too, would need to self-isolate for 14 days from that meeting.

Former allrounder last played an international match in 2012, shortly before turning 28

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jun-2020Irfan Pathan burst onto the international scene as a teenager full of promise, swing and runs, but played his last international match just before turning 28, in October 2012. Pathan, who retired from the game only in January this year, finished with 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is. He often had to battle injuries and long spells out of the game, but Pathan held that if he been backed more in the second half of his career, he could have become “the best all-rounder India ever produced” in ODIs.”In terms of achievement, there could have been a lot more. I really believe that in one-day internationals, I could have been the best all-rounder that India ever produced, I could have been,” Pathan said in an interview with . “That didn’t happen because I didn’t play as much cricket as I could have because my last game for India was at the age of 27.”I see people playing till the age of 35 or 37 like England fast bowler [James] Anderson. Obviously the conditions in England are different. I think if you play till 35, things would have been better, but that’s gone, it’s done and dusted.”Whatever matches I played, I played as a match-winner, I played as a guy who made the difference to the team. Even if I took one wicket — the first wicket for the match — that made a big impact on the team. Whatever innings I played with the bat, I played to make a difference. That’s what will stay with me throughout my whole life.”In ODIs, Pathan held that his numbers were used against him even when his role in the team changed from being a strike bowler to being the all-rounder who came on first change.”The one thing I always get disappointed is that a lot of people only see the numbers and numbers don’t always give you the right picture. If you see the first 59 ODI matches that I played, I got to bowl with the new ball,” he said. “And when you are the new ball bowler, you got the opportunity to bowl with the new ball as well as the old ball. Your aim, your mindset, your body language and your responsibility is to take wickets.”When you are bowling first change, when you are a defensive bowler according to your captain and coach, you have to play the role of containing the runs. You have to make sure that you don’t give away too many runs. So if your role becomes different, then your numbers also become different as well.”Pathan largely took the new ball for India in ODIs till the end of the Champions Trophy 2006. In that time, he played 69 ODIs, and didn’t open the bowling on only two occasions. In that period, he took 113 wickets at an average of 24.78 and an economy rate of 4.96.Having played 69 ODIs in under three years, mostly under Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid’s captaincy, he went on to play only 51 more in his next six years, a period that coincided with MS Dhoni taking over the reins. He took the new ball only 19 times in that second half.”I actually feel that people from the team should have spoken about it,” Pathan said. “They should have said that, ‘Yes Irfan used to take wickets, but now we have given him a different role. We have given him the role of first change bowler and someone who can bat at No. 7 or No. 8, which is very much required in one-day cricket right now.’ Now, if an allrounder goes for around six runs per over and takes one wicket per match, you are happy with that, but you were not happy with Irfan Pathan who did the same thing. Why is that?”While Pathan agreed that a player needed to be flexible, he held that a change in role needed to be acknowledged, and supported, by the team management too.”I am not saying that I could only bowl with the new ball. No, I was ready to bowl with the old ball, I was ready to bowl with the new ball as well. But in a team game, when you have a different role, your numbers reflect differently. When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the captain, he used to be very flexible in his batting order, so his numbers used to be different. Now when he is not flexible, obviously his numbers are getting affected. That is why either his average or strike rate will also get affected. It’s a team game. It’s not only about individuals.”The player has to be flexible, but if his role has been given differently, then it is the team’s responsibility to talk about it, but no one talks about it.”

Rawlins 56 not out after partnership with David Wiese closes the gap

Paul Edwards25-Jun-2019
Early on the second morning of this game Stiaan van Zyl dived to stop a ball on the fine leg boundary. He failed but managed to cake himself in mud, a legacy of Monday night’s heavy rain. Van Zyl’s embarrassment greatly amused Ben Brown and Chris Jordan but they would have chuckled less freely had they been told it was a portent of Sussex’s day. Or rather, of much of their day.Sussex supporters will tell you that one of the frustrations of following the county has been its occasional tendency to lose matches when simple victory beckons and win them when undertakers are parked outside the ground. They do not quite mean what they say. Sussex’s inconsistency also gives their supporters a frisson of excitement. That emotion was felt by some on the second evening of this game when the batting of Delray Rawlins took a day Durham had dominated and gave his own county’s supporters something to cheer after a grim couple of sessions.Had it not been for Rawlins’ unbeaten 56 and his eighth-wicket partnership of 109 with David Wiese, the day’s honours would have been claimed by Brydon Carse, whose four wickets were a just reward for 14 accurate overs. Perhaps they still should be; after all, Sussex have not yet saved the follow-on and the visitors are in the ascendant. But after watching Rawlins strike the ball clean and long through a perfect Hove evening Sussex supporters may have gazed into the gull-strewn sky and not known whether to curse or bless their loyalty.When Rawlins joined Wiese twenty minutes after tea Sussex were 110 for 7 and 284 runs in arrears. Gradually the 21-year-old adjusted to his task and began to hit the ball with more assurance. His second four, an on-drive off Ben Raine, was as sweet as anything we saw. Two balls later he stroked Raine easily for six in the same direction and followed that in the next over with a straight drive off James Weighell. Rawlins was beginning to enjoy himself and Wiese, too, batted with greater certainty, sweeping Liam Trevaskis for six and reaching his own fifty before falling leg before when attempting a reverse sweep. Aaron Thomason became Carse’s fourth victim a couple of overs later but by then Rawlins had reached his fifty off 88 balls with a huge six over long-on.It was intriguing as Rawlins was applauded to recall Sussex’s travails earlier in the day. The morning’s cricket, for example was divided into two very unequal parts. In the first Cameron Bancroft and Ned Eckersley extended their overnight partnership to 282, a sixth-wicket record for Durham in first-class cricket; in the second Durham lost their last five wickets for 12 runs in 32 balls, three of the wickets falling to the left-arm spin of Rawlins, a bowler who had never previously taken more than one wicket in a first-team game.Bancroft and Eckersley batted competently but needed to do little more. Thomason seemed to require more evidence Bancroft can play the pull shot; the evidence was duly provided and the ball smacked into the advertising hoarding. The session continued in similar fashion for nearly two hours. The collapse began when Eckersley, having registered his maiden century for Durham, drove too early at a ball from Luke Wells and was caught and bowled for 118. Two balls later Bancroft was lbw for 158 when sweeping a full toss from Rawlins. One wonders why long partnerships are so often the prelude to both partners getting out in quick succession. Is it a form of trivial bereavement, the second batsman being unable to carry on without his long-time colleague? Simple destabilisation is probably a better explanation. Either way, it never seemed to unsettle Bradman.Such thoughts did not trouble Rawlins. He carried on giving it a tweak and had picked up two more wickets and a career-best 3 for 19 before Will Beer wrapped up an untidy session on the stroke of tiffin. All the same, 384 seemed a decent score and an even better one when Sussex were 3 for 2 twenty minutes into the afternoon session.Their favourites’ rapid decline did not surprise the regulars in the Sharks stand. One declared he had never seen anything like it. (He probably had.) Another that: “We’ll be batting again by tea.”(They weren’t.) But Sussex, whose top-order batting is flaky at the moment, were five down at tea, two of their early wickets having been taken by Chris Rushworth, who struck with the fourth ball of the innings when Wells’ weak defensive push only edged a catch to Alex Lees at first slip. Will Beer, whose place as opener indicates a willingness to help rather than unsuspected competence, was then leg before to a full length ball from Carse, and Harry Finch was then trapped in front by one from Rushworth which nipped back down the hill.Subsequent recoveries beguiled supporters in the Spen Cama Pavilion but ultimately deceived them. Laurie Evans made 20 before being caught down the leg side off Weighell. Van Zyl batted carefully for 34 but played down the wrong line to Gareth Harte’s fourth ball of the day. That wicket fell a few minutes before tea; two balls after the resumption Brown made to whip Carse through midwicket but only gave a catch off the leading edge to Rushworth at mid-on. By now Wiese was at the crease and four overs later he was joined by Rawlins. Sussex supporters could have given up the day as a bad job but instead they opted to stay where they were and watch this young lad Rawlins for a while.

The performance of Chris Woakes, on his return to side was a huge boost for England as he absence of Ben Stokes was barely noticed

Melinda Farrell at Lord's12-Aug-2018England may be 2-0 up in the series after a resounding victory over India. They may have dominated the entire Indian batting line-up apart from Virat Kohli. Not to mention there is a chance Kohli may not be at full strength for Trent Bridge after battling back stiffness at Lord’s.And yet… Joe Root isn’t leading the wagon-circling just yet. That is to be expected of course. Captains are naturally cautious of prematurely blowing the victory horn, they’d rather wait until all the ladies of varying girth have packed up their vocal chords and gone home. So it was no surprise that Root was keen to play down any talk of smelling five-nil-type blood in the water after an innings victory that has left India in disarray.”Obviously, that would be the dream – to put in five complete performances and have five wins,” said Root. “But it’s important we don’t get complacent, arrogant, or look too far ahead.”We’re playing against the No. 1 side in the world, with some very talented players, and we have to make sure we keep looking to learn and develop.”We’re not the finished article – we’ve got a long way to go to where we want to get to. We’re going to have to start again and work extremely hard over the next five days to win the next game.”That’s got to be our mentality…of course, it’s a great position to be in – 2-0 up with three to go, going into Nottingham, which is a great place for us to play.”But we’ve really got to make sure we are realistic about things. Enjoy the position we’re in, and when we get our opportunities really try to put India under pressure and drive the game forward, but not get ahead of ourselves”The question of how to fit both Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes into one Test team is one that has hovered around the England camp for some time. Stokes’ availability for the third Test is completely out of England’s hands for now but his loss has been softened by Woakes’ Man of the Match performance – he took four wickets and made an unbeaten 137 – in his first match back from side and knee injuries.”Ben is obviously a huge part of this squad, so it’s a miss him not being here this week,” said Root. “But what it did do was create an opportunity for Chris to come in and perform – and boy, he didn’t disappoint did he? He was outstanding.”He’s a big part of our squad, all three formats, it’s been a frustrating summer for him, he’s been injured for a long part of it, and to get an opportunity to come in this week – the easy thing to do is get anxious, try a bit too hard, but he settled in magnificently well with that first spell in particular, then took that confidence into his batting, that partnership changed the game, turned it on its head, and got us miles ahead on that surface.”It’s a great headache to have for us, going into next week.”It’s nice to see guys really taking opportunities, and that’s something we really want to harness as an example to the guys in and around the squad – when you get your chance, make it as hard as possible to leave you out.England are mindful that their own performances with the bat and in the field have hardly been blemish free in the first two Tests and Root doesn’t want his side distracted by the prospect of any changes India make as they try to salvage the series.”We haven’t played the perfect performance yet, and that’s something we’ve got to keep striving towards, regardless of what team India have at Trent Bridge. We’ve got a place we want to get to as a side, and we have to continue to work hard to get there. It’s important we enjoy this win then we spend next couple of days getting good preparation into that third Test.”

Pakistan coach rues the inconsistency in his young team as England bounce back from a humbling defeat at Lord’s

Andrew Miller03-Jun-2018Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach, said that he would need to “dish out a couple of hidings tonight”, as he rued the inconsistency in his young team that allowed England to bounce back from a humbling defeat at Lord’s to square the series in some style at Headingley.Arthur, who was also at the helm when Pakistan drew their last Test series in England, 2-2 in 2016, said that his players were “gutted” to have been rolled aside inside three days, but said that a setback such as this could be instrumental in helping them grow as a side, so long as the right lessons are learned.”I am incredibly disappointed to be brutally honest,” Arthur told Sky Sports. “It was a poor display from us, coming off the back of such a high at Lord’s. It’s all about trying to get this consistency right and trying to get us playing in the right style and manner, so I’m incredibly disappointed with what we’ve dished up here.”We’ll talk about it and have a hard discussion right now but as long as that dressing room has learned from it, it’s a young team and we can grow, and grow quicker.”Only four players remain from the side that toured in 2016, and Arthur admitted that his current team had not been able to replicate the levels of consistency that they were able to generate, especially in the absence of such proven performers as Younis Khan, Yasir Shah and the then-captain Misbah-ul-Haq.”The guys are feeling what it’s like to play tough Test cricket over an extended period, a lot of guys haven’t done that before,” he said. “But our expectation is more, it’s better than that. They will take it on the chin tonight, and they will hopefully grow and learn from it.”In particular, Arthur bemoaned Pakistan’s batting in this contest, particularly on the first day, when they slumped to 174 all out having won what could have been a useful toss.”Inconsistency is something that comes with a young team, however hard that is to take at the moment for all of us,” he said. “[At Lord’s] they were patient, they committed to defence, committed to attack and showed good intent.”We got the balance wrong here. We weren’t as disciplined, we weren’t as patient in this first innings especially. There was always going to be something in the wicket but we had to get through a session and a half there, because the sun came out and it became really good batting conditions late in the day .”If we had got ourselves a big score we could have put them under some pressure but we could never do that at 180 [all out]. The key thing is that a number of batsmen got starts and no one got a hundred. For us to grow as a team, we need someone in top six get hundreds consistently.”Another critical lapse in Pakistan’s hitherto high standards came late on the second day at Headingley, when Jos Buttler was dropped on 4 at short midwicket by Hasan Ali, off the bowling of the legspinner Shadab Khan. Buttler went on to blaze a decisive 80 not out from 101 balls, extending England’s lead to an insuperable 189.”It was a massive chance, massive in the way the game panned out,” said Arthur. “We knew in the moment it went down it had the potential to be big, and it was. Shadab had bowled a really good spell up to that point so that would have capped it off really nicely, in terms of him confirming he belongs at this level.”But that happens. No one drops them on purpose. On the whole we fielded well, we caught well, we’ve done a hell of a lot right in this series. We’re just disappointed at the eventual outcome.”We need to dish out a couple of hidings tonight, but that’s how they’ll grow. I can’t fault effort, the way the boys worked. They are hungry, they want to do well for Pakistan, most of these young players have advance their cause, and it confirmed to us we are on the right track.”I think to be honest, most of these boys have advanced. The talent in that dressing room is phenomenal, we’ve just got to get that consistency back and that’s what we strive for as a coaching team.”

AB de Villiers is expected to play in a three-day match against the touring Zimbabweans next month, before the four-day Boxing Day Test

Firdose Moonda28-Nov-2017AB de Villiers is expected to play in a three-day match for the South African Invitation XI against the touring Zimbabweans next month, in a bid to make a Test comeback. South Africa take on their neighbours in the inaugural four-day day-night Test starting Boxing Day, and to prepare for the fixture, Zimbabwe will play a three-day practice match in Paarl from December 20 to 22 where de Villiers may play.”We’d like to get him back in whites as soon as possible and we have some plans in place. There’s the practice match which will be good for him,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors told ESPNcricinfo.Zondi has kept an eye on de Villiers’ performances in the Ram Slam T20 matches – he has scored 130 runs with a half-century in three innings – and is satisfied that de Villiers has sufficient match fitness. “The manner in which he has played has shown that he is ready. It was never a case of him being rusty but just about getting him match fitness,” Zondi said.De Villiers has not played a Test since January last year because injuries kept him out of series against New Zealand and Australia in 2016 and a self-imposed sabbatical from the longest format has seen him sidelined throughout 2017. As a result, it was widely speculated de Villiers would retire from the format, something even former captain Graeme Smith confirmed he had heard, but in August de Villiers stepped down as ODI captain and committed to play across all formats. This week, he explained to reporters in Centurion that the long break had done him good.”I’ve had time at home to get fresh, time to work on my body, and time to work on skills I’ve not worked on in many years.,” de Villiers said. “I’ve sort of rediscovered that love of the game. I’ve not had an off-season where I’ve gone to nets to work on my skills and technique for ages. Last year, in the peak of the season, I was less ready for Test cricket than I am now.”Though de Villiers has played international cricket this year – he was part of the ODIs in New Zealand and the limited-overs matches in England – he has had most of the year, especially the winter, off. On comeback this summer, he struck 176 in an ODI against Bangladesh in Paarl and has since been back to his aggressive best. Since his last Test, de Villiers has only played one first-class game, for Titans, but still feels he is ready for a longer stint and the warm-up match will help.”It will be nice to go out there and spend some time on my legs. Form-wise I feel ready, but it’s important to stand in the field for a while and hopefully get a long knock,” he said.The only question that remains is how (not if – because coach Ottis Gibson made it clear de Villiers and Dale Steyn would play as soon as they were available) de Villiers will slot back into the Test XI. Not even Zondi has a proper answer yet. “For us as selectors, it’s about getting him into the squad and then it will be worked out from there. It’s a nice problem to have,” Zondi said.South Africa’s Test team composition has shifted from seven batsmen, three seamers and a spinner to six batsmen, two allrounders, two frontline quicks and a spinner in recent months which has complicated the case for de Villiers’ return. The six incumbents are Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, and of those, only Bavuma did not score a century against Bangladesh. Bavuma also occupies the No. 4 position that used to belong to de Villiers, so it would seem he is the likeliest to go. But Bavuma had only recently been promoted to the position and dug South Africa out of several holes and is seen as someone to invest in for the future, leaving South Africa with a conundrum.A possible solution could present itself if du Plessis is not declared fit for the start of the Test summer. Du Plessis suffered a lower-back injury during the third ODI against Bangladesh in late October and was ruled out of action for six weeks, which puts his comeback sometime in December. He has since also had surgery on a troublesome shoulder and is not expected to participate in the Ram Slam at all. Though Zondi is hopeful du Plessis will be available to lead the Test team against Zimbabwe, some of South Africa’s de Villiers puzzle may be solved if he is not. And then it remains to be seen how South Africa will line-up for the three Tests against India in January.

Virat Kohli followed up successive hundreds in the last two ODIs with another display of ruthless efficiency in a chase, and ensured India left Sri Lanka no crumbs of comfort at the end of a long and chastening month-and-a-half of one-sided contests

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy06-Sep-2017
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Maharoof: Once Virat hit top gear, he never let it go

Three-nil in the Tests, five-nil in the ODIs, a crushing seven-wicket win in the one-off T20I. Virat Kohli followed up successive hundreds in the last two ODIs with another display of ruthless efficiency in a chase, and ensured India left Sri Lanka no crumbs of comfort at the end of a long and chastening month and a half of one-sided contests.Set 171 to win, India romped home with four balls remaining and Manish Pandey making his third important contribution in a row, following up 50* and 36 in the last two ODIs with his maiden T20I fifty.Kohli, the only batsman with 1000 T20I runs and a 50-plus average, ended his tour with 82 off 54 balls, an innings that oozed arrogance. It was present in the shots he played – an umpire-endangering blast down the ground and a bottom-handed whip through midwicket, both off Lasith Malinga, standing out among his seven fours and a six – but especially in the way he admonished himself, bat slapping pad in annoyance, for little moments of imprecision: for putting too much weight on a clip down the ground and ending up with a single rather than two, for placing a front-foot slap a few inches closer to the extra-cover fielder than he would have liked and ending up with a single rather than four. It was as if the opposition did not matter.Virat Kohli went to No. 3 on the list of top scorers in T20Is•NurPhoto/Getty Images

Until he miscued a leg-side whip and holed out with India just 10 away from their target, it was easy to miss the assured hand played by Pandey in a 119-run partnership for the third wicket. He came in with India not entirely secure; they had lost both openers by the end of the sixth over, and Kohli not yet fully settled, having just been beaten twice in a row by Malinga’s seam and Isuru Udana’s left-arm angle. But Pandey promptly calmed any nerves in the dressing room, turning the strike over with dabs and pushes either side of point, and switching gears with a straight six and a fierce, airborne cut in the 12th over, off Angelo Mathews.With Kohli also blazing five fours and a six in that period, India sped from 47 for 2 after seven overs to 118 for 2 after 13. Four of those six overs were either Mathews’ medium-pace in conditions with no swing or seam or Seekkuge Prasanna’s quickish and not particularly ripping legspin, showing the lack of genuine wicket threat from Sri Lanka in the middle overs.The story was rather different when Sri Lanka batted. Sent in after a 40-minute rain delay, their batsmen, Dilshan Munaweera in particular, seemed liberated by the switch to the shortest format as they sped to 60 for 2 in their first six overs. They finished well too, scoring 52 for 1 in the last five, with Ashan Priyanjan turning around a slow start and Udana clubbing the quicks powerfully down the ground.They faltered in between, though, losing four wickets in those nine overs while scoring at under six-and-a-half per over.For India, the middle overs illuminated the value of playing two wristspinners. Kuldeep Yadav only conceded 11 in his three overs in that period, and bowled Munaweera with a quick skidder, the batsman sending his bat flying in the direction of square leg in a sweaty-gloved attempt at a pull.Yuzvendra Chahal gave away 13 in his one Powerplay over, Munaweera greeting him with successive sixes, over extra-cover and down the ground. He continued to go for runs in the middle overs, with Munaweera launching him for two more sixes in his third over and Thisara Perera pummeling him over long-on in his fourth. But he picked up three key middle-overs wickets: Mathews stumped while reaching out to a big legbreak and overbalancing; Perera bowled trying to cut one that cramped him for room; Dasun Shanaka lbw playing outside the line of a wrong’un.And so, despite conceding 43, Chahal probably bowled the crucial spell for India to keep Sri Lanka in check. Kohli and Pandey did the rest.

Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe with a strain on his left side

Mohammad Isam05-Nov-2015Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar has been ruled out of the three ODIs and two T20s against Zimbabwe with a strain on his left side. He has been replaced by Imrul Kayes for the first two ODIs after Sarkar’s MRI report on Thursday confirmed that he would be out for around two weeks.During Tuesday’s training session at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Sarkar overstretched his left side during a bowling stint in the nets. He immediately withdrew from training and also didn’t bat on Wednesday despite planning to do so.”Such injuries take around 2 to 3 weeks to heal and therefore he will miss the matches against Zimbabwe,” BCB’s senior physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury said. “He will begin his rehab under the BCB’s medical team as soon as the pain subsides.”Since making his ODI debut in December last year, Soumya has been a regular in the Bangladesh side throughout 2015, during which he became the team’s highest scorer in ODIs with 672 runs.His replacement Kayes last played an ODI during this year’s World Cup but he has been consistent in Tests, becoming the highest scorer in the format for Bangladesh this year with 384 runs at an average of 54.85.”It is a huge opportunity for me,” Imrul said. “I haven’t played ODIs since the World Cup. I have been in decent touch since the NCL started in September. I have worked on a few things and I have made some tactical changes to my batting.”I hope to do something good from this chance. I think my Test form will help me in ODIs. Scoring runs in international cricket, regardless of the format, gives a player confidence.”Imrul and Anamul Haque were the leading candidates to replace Sarkar and their 105-run opening stand against the Zimbabweans in the practice match in Fatullah was a duel. Imrul came out on top because, according to the chief selector, of his fluency this season.”I didn’t take this innings as a path into the ODI team. I just tried to bat better in a one-day setting. I worked in the gaps in my game. I am batting well, and if I can continue in this vein, I can bat better,” Imrul said.

Yorkshire have signed offspinner James Middlebrook to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2015Yorkshire have signed James Middlebrook, the 37-year-old offspinner, to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.Yorkshire asked England to release Rashid from their tour of the Caribbean but the request was denied with the legspinning allrounder in contention to play the third Test in Barbados on May 1.Middlebrook, originally from Leeds, was released by Northamptonshire at the end of last season in a cost-cutting purge despite being one of their more effective players in a grim season.He has been playing for New Farnley in the Bradford League and has been included in the 12-man squad for the match at Headingley starting on Sunday. Head coach Jason Gillespie said he was likely to play.Middlebrook, who began his career at Yorkshire and last played for the White Rose In June 2001, described his unexpected comeback as “surreal”.Yorkshire feel they had fair reasons to request Rashid’s return, believing that he has no prospect of playing in the third Test in Barbados and that he is being used as little more than a glorified net bowler on a tour that, improperly, clashes with the start of the England season. Their request has been criticised by the BBC’s cricket correspondent, Jonathan Agnew.”Karl Carver has been in our squad this season and we have been pleased with his development over the past 12 months,” Gillespie said. “But at this point in time, we feel he is best served learning his trade in the second team.”We felt that James could come in and do a job for us in the short-term. He is an experienced campaigner and knows the county system inside out. I expect him to do well for us and add to our squad in the short-tem.”Middlebrook added: “It has been surreal. I wasn’t expecting a call to come and play first-class cricket again and to get the call from Yorkshire was a shock. It will be a big honour to walk out in front of the Yorkshire members on Sunday at Headingley.””Yorkshire are a talented side with some great players. I’ll do my job and hopefully help the lads get a win against Warwickshire.”