ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between England and Australia

The Preview by Alan Gardner10-Sep-2015

Match facts

September 11, 2015
Start time 10.30am local (0930 GMT)3:11

McGlashan: Both captains would like to bat first

Big Picture

England’s win at Old Trafford kept alive hopes of beating Australia in an ODI series for the first time since 2012, as well as eased fears that they will fall below Bangladesh in the ICC rankings. Even a 4-1 defeat will see England remain in sixth, for now, while two more victories would drag them up to within range of Sri Lanka in midtable.The last time England managed consecutive ODI wins over Australia was also three summers ago. That 4-0 win was among the peaks of Alastair Cook’s roundhead reign as captain but the ODI world has shifted dramatically since then – and England have at last shown signs of catching up. Only Eoin Morgan and Steven Finn remain from the 2012 NatWest Series (with Stuart Broad’s future undecided) and pulling back the No. 1-ranked side from a 2-0 lead would be worth a campaign medal for Trevor Bayliss, Paul Farbrace and their new model army.They will attempt to do so in front of a packed house at Headingley, home of the back-to-back County Champions, Yorkshire. The locals have sometimes struggled to work up enthusiasm for England visits – and a significant number will be at Lord’s hoping to see their team lift the Championship pennant on Friday – but, having paid their shilling, they will demand England maintain the standards on display across the Pennines.Australia, too, can claim a strong Yorkshire connection, from the coach, Darren Lehmann, through to Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell – both of whom have had to make do with representing Yorkshire’s 2nd XI this season. Coming towards the end of a long tour that has yielded rather less success than was promised, Australia would surely like to tap into the prevailing mood of celebration by sealing the series with a game to spare.Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and Jonny Bairstow are likely to play on their home ground•Getty Images

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WLLWW
Australia LWWWW

In the spotlight

Alex Hales is hot-and-cold player. Having come into the one-day series on a blazing run of scores for Nottinghamshire – 85, 9, 81, 58, 189 and 62 – he has felt the chill of Autumn more than most: four innings against Australia, including the T20, have tallied 52 runs and a high score of 22. Hales has still only played 17 ODI innings and, with a couple of blistering half-centuries against New Zealand earlier this year, looked to be finding his feet. He has, however, lost form at the wrong time and has been outshone by his opening partner Jason Roy in the series so far.Pat Cummins, 22 years old and with 16 ODI caps to his name, could find himself the most experienced member of the Australia pace attack on Friday. If Mitchell Starc is rested, then Cummins – comfortably the quickest bowler on either side – will be required to step up and lead the way. He has impressed with his pace, steepling bouncer and impressive control; he is the leading wicket-taker in the series, with the best average and, among pace bowlers to have delivered more than eight overs, the lowest economy. Perhaps more importantly, he has avoided injury – this will be his fifth consecutive ODI and his longest run in the side.

Team news

Chris Woakes has been ruled out with a thigh injury, so England will be forced to change their attack – David Willey seems the most likely candidate, offering a left-arm angle as well as the potential for bludgeoning runs lower down the order. Mark Wood and Reece Topley are the other pace-bowling options in the squad.England (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 James Taylor, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 David Willey, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Steven FinnAustralia have already had three players withdraw from their squad and look set to give Mitchell Starc a rest after playing in all 12 of Australia’s international fixtures in the West Indies, England and Ireland. John Hastings, called up as cover from Durham, could come in for his first ODI appearance since 2011.Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 John Hastings, 10 James Pattinson, 11 Pat Cummins.

Pitch and conditions

England, in their stodgy former mould, still managed to knock up 294 under clear skies against India at Headingley last year and Lehmann said he expected the pitch the good for batting. The forecast is good, if a little cool, for Friday but an early start and any passing cloud cover could interest the seamers.

Stats and trivia

• England and Australia last contested an ODI at Headingley in 2005 (the scheduled fixture in 2013 was washed out)
• Australia have won 11 out of their last 13 ODIs against England
• Steven Finn needs two more wickets for 100 in ODIs
• If they play, Cummins, James Pattinson and John Hastings will form an Australia pace attack comprised of 41 caps between them

Quotes

“I was keeping tabs on the score on Twitter, looking every five minutes and there were texts flying around.”
Adil Rashid couldn’t join in with Yorkshire’s Championship celebrations but enjoyed from afar“We’re all tired, but that’s international cricket, that’s what you do when you’re representing your country.”

Sri Lanka’s interim head coach, Jerome Jayaratne, has said the team has “accepted they have fallen behind” in Test cricket, and are working hard to correct that against West Indies

Sa'adi Thawfeeq10-Oct-2015Sri Lanka’s interim head coach, Jerome Jayaratne, has said the team has “accepted they have fallen behind” in Test cricket, and are working hard to correct that in the upcoming home series against West Indies.”I spoke to all of them individually before they went to the nets. We got a good feedback. They were well disciplined and they accepted they had fallen behind in performance and had two bad series,” Jayaratne, who was appointed interim coach following the resignation of Marvan Atapattu, said. Sri Lanka have lost their last three Test series, against New Zealand away and then to Pakistan and India at home, winning two and losing six out of eight games.Jayaratne said he expects an improved performance against West Indies, but will not be taking them lightly. “I would like to believe that we have a better chance of getting back to winning ways, but I definitely won’t underestimate the West Indies.”We’ve done a bit of research on them and know what our line of attack will be. They are an unknown quantity in the sense something of a mix with some known players like [Kemar] Roach, [Darren] Bravo and [Denesh] Ramdin coupled with a few new faces. They did well against England at home and had some decent performances.””All are aware of what is expected of them. We had lengthy discussions, and despite the rain which held us back for about a week, we have made good progress. They’ve worked very hard and I feel they will put on a very good show. If we can have a couple of good days early in the series the confidence will start to come back.”Batting and fielding are two areas that cost Sri Lanka against Pakistan and India. In the absence of a batting coach, a role that was fulfilled by Atapattu, Jayaratne has taken on the task. As for the fielding, Jayaratne said, “There is a significant improvement but they won’t be at their very best because they have some more time to reach their individual goals set by the trainer. But they will put up a better show than in the last two series. We are progressing well with all the department heads doing their part, it’s just a matter of putting them all together.”Jayaratne said he is also keen on keeping the team atmosphere good, and has instructed the players to come to him if they are not comfortable. “We have conveyed the message that we should be happy and conducive and everybody should be accepted. If anybody is having an issue, they should keep me at least confidentially informed.”Sri Lanka play West Indies in two Tests, staring on October 14.

A century from Shammu Ashan followed by an impressive spell of fast bowling from Jehan Daniel helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in a rain-affected Youth ODI in Hambantota

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2015
ScorecardA century from Shammu Ashan followed by an impressive spell of fast bowling from Jehan Daniel helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in a rain-affected Youth ODI in Hambantota.Ashan came in with his team at 50 for 3 and helped hold the innings together with an 86-run partnership with captain Charith Asalanka, who contributed 65 off 75 balls. Sri Lanka’s recovery though was dented when Asalanka was removed in the 34th over. With the score at 136 for 4, Pakistan would have hoped to put the squeeze on, but Ashan held firm at one end to record 103 off only 112 balls, despite hitting only four fours and two sixes. He was unable to prevent Sri Lanka being bowled out before their full 50 overs as seamers Sameen Gul and Arfan Liaqat two two wickets apiece to keep the hosts down to 239 in 49.4 overs.However, the Pakistan chase began poorly. They lost their openers by the sixth over courtesy Daniel, who had figures of 5-2-8-2. The rest of the bowling attack were also very miserly – all of them cost less than 4.5 per over – and that pressure told on the opposition. Pakistan fell well behind the required rate, and were 92 for 4 in the 30th over when rain put a halt to proceedings. They were ruled 37 runs short by the Duckworth-Lewis method and go 0-1 down in the five match series

Critical contributions by Daniel Worrall and Jake Lehmann allowed South Australia to squeeze past Victoria in another low-scoring Matador Cup encounter at Bankstown Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2015
ScorecardJake Lehmann made the only 50-plus score of the game•Cricket Australia

Critical contributions by Daniel Worrall and Jake Lehmann allowed South Australia to squeeze past Victoria in another low-scoring Matador Cup encounter at Bankstown Oval.Chasing 198 to win, the Bushrangers were rounded up for 181, having never established their innings due to Worrall’s early dismissals of Aaron Finch and Cameron White.No Redbacks bowler claimed more than three wickets, but a very even contribution in the field was enough to shut out a vastly more experienced Victorian XI, of which only Scott Boland had never been chosen in an Australian squad. Kane Richardson and Joe Mennie were exceptionally stingy, while Callum Ferguson chimed in with the important wicket of Peter Handscomb.A late stand of 59 between John Hastings and James Pattinson had threatened to take the Bushrangers to victory, but the left-arm spinner Tom Andrews tempted Hastings to loft a catch to Richardson in the deep, with the Bushrangers tail unable to muster the remaining runs.The Redbacks had been in trouble early after James Pattinson’s swift yorker had Travis Head lbw in the very first over, but the left-handed Lehmann added vital lower-order runs with Adam Zampa and Mennie. Those partnerships ensured that the Redbacks would have something near 200 to defend, and on a sluggish pitch they defended it grandly.Redbacks’ third win in five games mean they are one win short of qualifying for the competition finals, and face the fledgling Cricket Australia XI in their last qualifying fixture.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2015

Six department teams and two regional teams – Lahore Blues and Karachi Whites – qualified for the Quaid-E-Azam trophy Super eight round starting on December 14

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2015Six department teams and two regional teams – Lahore Blues and Karachi Whites – qualified for the Quaid-E-Azam trophy Super eight round starting on December 14.Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited topped Group A, while Port Qasim Authority (PQA), Islamabad, Hyderabad and Peshawar region, despite not having lost a single match in the season, have been relegated. National Bank of Pakistan lead the progression from group B.

The Super Eight

Teams qualified: Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, Water and Power Department Authority, National Bank of Pakistan, United Bank Limited, Khan Research Laboratory and Sui Southern Gas Cooperation, Lahore White and Lahore Blues.
Teams that failed to make the cut: Peshawar, Port Qasim Authority, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Habib Bank Limited, Rawalpindi, Lahore Whites, Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Port Qasim have managed only one win in seven matches. Not only have they failed to qualify, but they are now relegated from grade one to grade two. If the QEA format remains intact, they will have to finish top in grade two tournaments and then have to qualify for the Trophy.This despite having international players like Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Talha and former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif as coach.Port Qasim’s fate was sealed when they could only manage a draw in their final game against Sui Southern Gas Corporation in Islamabad. They finished sixth with 11 points – the poorest record among the eight department teams – and is the only one that has been demoted.Hyderabad, a regional side from Sindh, were demoted from Quaid-e-Azam Trophy after they finished at the bottom of Group B. They ended up winless after seven games, and lost five of them. Lahore Whites were also winless, but avoided relegation by losing one less game than Hyderabad.Federally Administered Tribal Areas may have finished bottom, if not for their first-ever win in first-class cricket, over Karachi Blues. FATA will not make it to the Super eight, but will continue playing grade one cricket.

A 57-ball 62 from the opener Heino Kuhn helped Titans to a four-wicket victory against Dolphins in Benoni.

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2016
ScorecardFile photo: Heino Kuhn (left) scored 129 and 62•BCCI

A 57-ball 62 from the opener Heino Kuhn helped Titans to a four-wicket victory against Dolphins in Benoni. Set a fourth-innings chase of 173, Kuhn’s blast laid a strong platform for Titans, who also rode on a handy 38 from Qaasim Adams to secure the win inside 34 overs.Titans win, though, was mainly set up by Kuhn’s performance in the first-innings, as he and Theunis de Bruyn both scored centuries, powering the team to 440 and collecting a vital innings lead. Kuhn struck 16 fours and a six during his 129, while de Bruyn’s 123 featured 19 fours. This was despite a five-for from Keshav Maharaj, and a 4 for 101 from Craig Alexander.Earlier, Dolphins, having been inserted, managed 357 in their first innings on the back of fifties from Imraan Khan, Khaya Zondo and Daryn Smit. Imraan got among the runs again in the second innings, stroking a patient 107, but received little by way of support from his team-mates, as Dolphins folded for 255.

While Sri Lanka’s pacers looked helpless on a dry wicket in Ranchi, they seem to be the only hope Sri Lanka have to seal the series. India, on the other hand, will be mighty pleased with the comprehensive win in Ranchi, and will hope to stretch their form

The preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando13-Feb-2016

Match facts

Sunday, February 14, 2016
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)Dushmantha Chameera’s tight bowling performance was one of the few bright spots in Sri Lanka’s loss in Ranchi•BCCI

Big Picture

Sri Lanka, with their raw-but-aggressive seam attack, prospered on a greentop, but on the dry Ranchi surface, the visitors were never in the game. Seam and pace appear to be Sri Lanka’s surest route to rattling the hosts again, but it’s unlikely they will encounter a helpful pitch in Visakhapatnam. If another dry track is prepared, Sri Lanka are in danger of being blown away by India’s top order cannons, and picked off by India’s spin.More worrying than a potential series loss for the visitors, will be their problems at the top of the order. Sri Lanka are days away from naming their World T20 squad, but are yet to locate a replacement for Kusal Perera. Danushka Gunathilaka has not quite made the best of his chances. Niroshan Dickwella has played only one T20 international, and was dismissed cheaply in it.With Shikhar Dhawan striking his first T20 half-century on Friday, India’s T20 puzzle is falling into place. Hardik Pandya’s pinch-hitting promotion also went off well, while Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane all seemed in good touch. Yuvraj Singh appears to be the only doubt at present, but he has also had limited opportunities with the bat.On the bowling front, R Ashwin seems to be spinning himself into ominous home form, as Ashish Nehra continues to settle into his new-ball role. MS Dhoni has options with this XI. He tried seven different bowlers on Friday, allowing him to reserve more overs from the frontline bowlers for the back end of the innings.

Form guide

India: WLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: LWLLL

In the spotlight

Dhoni had so many overs from his part-time bowlers on Friday, that he was able to use Jasprit Bumrah as a death-overs yorker specialist. It was a job Bumrah performed admirably. He gave away 13 runs in his first over – the 16th of the innings – but varied his deliveries better in the second over, to claim two wickets and concede only one run. As sharp in the field as he is at the bowling crease, Bumrah is among those adding dynamism and versatility to the India XI.Quick and hostile in Pune, versatile in Ranchi, Dushmantha Chameera is beginning to blossom at the top level. There are areas to improve on. Maybe he could use the seam a little better than he is at the moment, and the yorkers aren’t exactly consistent either, but those are minor contentions. Chameera will probably play through the entire T20 season coming up, because Sri Lanka have few other choices, but they should also be wary of overusing him. There are big mid-year Tests on the horizon. They need Chameera fit for those.

Teams news

With almost everyone having contributed in some way to the victory, India will be tempted to keep the same XI.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 MS Dhoni (capt.)(wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish NehraWith Gunathilaka unable to show his T20 wares so far, Niroshan Dickwella may be given another chance at the top of the order. Team management will also think about giving Jeffrey Vandersay a match ahead of Seekkuge Prasanna.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Niroshan Dickwella, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Dinesh Chandimal (capt.)(wk), 4 Chamara Kapugedera, 5 Dasun Shanaka 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Sachithra Senanayake, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Jeffrey Vandersay, 11 Kasun Rajitha

Pitch and conditions

Going by the scores in the four one-dayers that have been played in Visakhapatnam, the pitch makes for moderately high-scoring games. The weather is expected to remain good for the game’s duration, with temperatures dropping to the low 20 degrees Celsius range.

Stats and trivia

• Having begun the series needing 17 runs to get to 1000 for his T20 international career, Yuvraj Singh still requires seven to reach the milestone. He would be the fourth India batsman to the mark.
• India have won four of the five completed games at Vishakhapatnam – all ODIs.
• Thisara Perera’s hat-trick – off his three final deliveries of the innings in Ranchi – gave him his best T20 figures of 3 for 33.

At the recent ICC board meeting in the UAE, chairman Shashank Manohar discussed the possibility of giving 6% of India’s 22% share of ICC revenues back to the world body, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan

Mohammad Isam and Nagraj Gollapudi06-Feb-2016At the recent ICC Board meeting in Dubai, chairman Shashank Manohar discussed the possibility of giving 6% of India’s 22% share of ICC revenues back to the world body, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan. The BCB president made the statement while speaking to TV reporters in Bangladesh on Saturday but did not respond to calls from ESPNcricinfo for comments. Manohar, too, could not be reached.According to Hassan, and two other directors of Full Member boards who attended the meetings which finished on Thursday in Dubai, Manohar told the ICC Board that he would speak to the BCCI about giving 6% of the revenue earned by the Indian board to other Full Members outside the Big 3 group.”Mr Shashank Manohar has said he wants to give away a percentage from India’s behalf. He said he will speak to his board and if he gets approval, he said he will give around 6% of the money,” Hassan told reporters in Bangladesh. “Shashank Manohar is a logical man. He thought that if India gives away 6%, it would help those countries below them. But first he has to get this approved by the board.”About a month after he became the BCCI president and, by extension, the ICC chairman, Manohar made a statement in a personal capacity, disagreeing with the constitutional revamp carried out in 2014 in controversial circumstances which allowed the BCCI, the ECB and Cricket Australia more authority and a greater share of profits in the ICC.”I do not agree with the Big 3 countries bullying the ICC,” Manohar said upon returning from Dubai after his first visit to the ICC headquarters in Dubai in November. “Because it is nice to say that India (BCCI) will get 22% of the total revenue of the ICC but you cannot make the poor poorer and the rich richer, only because you have the clout. The ICC runs cricket throughout the world.”After the Board meeting on Thursday, the ICC stated in a media release that Manohar would head a five-member steering committee that would review the 2014 restructure of the ICC carried out by the trio of Srinivasan, then ECB chairman Giles Clarke and former CA chairman Wally Edwards in 2014.”We need to revisit the Big 3 decisions. And stop calling it Big 3 from now onwards. He [Manohar] was very, very particular about that. Every member has equal rights,” a Full Member director, who was present at the ICC Board meeting, said.According to this official, Clarke, who is now the ECB president, remained quiet throughout the board meeting. Cricket Australian chairman David Peever, though, is understood to be on board with Manohar’s idea to roll back the revamp.The steering committee will have on board chiefs of the BCCI, the ECB and CA, and Manohar has asked all 10 Full Members to give their own comments on the issues they had with the resolutions passed in 2014. The committee will present its first report at the next round of ICC board meetings, scheduled to be held from April 16.”There is a genuine appetite to revisit the financial model to better share the ICC funds,” said a senior official of second Full Member country.

Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, has joined the chorus of Associate voices calling for more opportunities to play against Full Members

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2016Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, has joined the chorus of Associate voices calling for more opportunities to play against Full Members. Speaking to the media on the eve of his team’s World T20 clash with Sri Lanka, Stanikzai said the level of talent in Afghanistan was evident from their remarkable climb up the cricketing ladder over the last decade, and said the gap between Full Members and Associates would only narrow from more regular competiton.”You can’t make big comparisons between Afghanistan and other Associates,” Stanikzai said. “Many other Associates have been playing for the last 30 to 40 years, participating in World Cups and other events. But if you see Afghanistan’s history at the elite level, we have only been playing for the last 6-7 years.”In that time we have achieved what other nations couldn’t do in 30-40 years. It shows how much talent Afghanistan have to play at the elite level. Definitely we need more games against the Full Members, it can increase our experience in the game.”Pointing to Afghanistan’s recent ODI and T20 series wins over Zimbabwe, both home and away, Stanikzai said his side had what it took to beat a Full Member side.”If we play against other Associate countries, we will get experience from each other, but if you play with a Full Member, like we did against Zimbabwe in ODIs and T20s, you learn how to beat them. We now have that experience. As long as we play more games against Full Members, the distance between Associates and Full Members will reduce.”Looking ahead to the game against Sri Lanka, Stanikzai was confident Afghanistan had the quality to pull off a win.”We have some game-changers, and we have not qualified for the Super 10s just to participate. We are ready to challenge some big teams.”Looking back to Afghanistan’s impressive display against Sri Lanka in the 2015 World Cup, where a century from Mahela Jayawardene prevented a potential upset, Stanikzai said the absence of the now retired Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara raised Afghanistan’s hopes.”We came close against Sri Lanka in the 2015 World Cup but their experienced batsmen, particularly Mahela Jayawardene, played outstandingly to beat us. This time most of their players are new; this time we have a good chance to beat them.”