The Renegades captain Aaron Finch admitted he was an over away from throwing in the towel before the game suddenly changed

Alex Malcolm in Melbourne17-Feb-2019Melbourne Stars needed 53 runs from 43 deliveries with 10 wickets in hand to win the BBL title.They lost. Would you call that a choke? “Your words not mine,” a shattered Melbourne Stars captain Glenn Maxwell said.Cricketers hate labels, Maxwell especially. But in their deep dark quiet moments they are mostly honest creatures. The Stars should know.So how did it happen?The Stars were 0 for 93 through 12.5 overs chasing 146. Marcus Stoinis was 39 not out from 37 balls and Ben Dunk was 52 from 40 at the other end. Stoinis tried to launch Cameron Boyce down the ground as he had done four overs earlier and was cleaned bowled.Maxwell wondered in the aftermath whether his openers should have been more aggressive earlier.”I think with the way the game was going, the way they were throwing the ball into the ground, getting the ball soft it was going to be harder for a new batter to start,” Maxwell said. “You could sort of feel that on the boundary, we probably needed to kill the game earlier. Go a bit harder at the start while the ball was hard and just get ahead of the rate.”They bowled pretty well and kept us around 7.5 an over and as soon as you lose a wicket that can really sky-rocket. That’s probably the way we would have gone about it bowling. We wouldn’t have been too concerned with a team being none down. Especially as we didn’t really get away at any stage.ALSO READ: Renegade Boyce atones for unceremonious Hurricanes exit“I think those 10 overs, we batted beautifully but I think we probably could have gone a bit harder knowing what we had behind us. You can kill the game in the Powerplay when you’re only chasing 145. None for 36 is great, we had 10 wickets in hand but you probably needed to go a bit harder. That’s all in hindsight. It’s nice to know now. It would have been nice to know before.”Renegades captain Aaron Finch was almost ready to throw in the towel. “I was really close I must admit, it was probably one over away from them really almost breaking our heart I think,” he said.What happened next was astonishing. Finch squeezed the field in hope.”You just put fielders where you think they want to hit it,” Finch said. “Mid-on and mid-off up for quite a bit of that, try to get them to take a risk from a back of a length ball on a low wicket, it was always our plan and they played well for the first 12 overs. You just need one opening on a wicket like this, on a slow pretty low wicket to create some pressure, to create some doubt in their mind.Peter Handscomb was out when he ran down the pitch to Chris Tremain and skied his second ball. The Stars still only needed 52 off 41 balls with nine wickets in hand.”When they set straight fields and bowled back of a length, it’s not as easy to knock it around for singles,” Maxwell said. “It’s hard to score off every ball, when they bowl back of a length, the ball’s keeping low, it’s like hitting a tennis ball, they’ve got cover and midwicket really close, you actually can’t do much as a batter, you’ve got to try and make the pace. Petey Handscomb probably had the right idea, it was just probably a bit early in his innings. They executed really well under pressure.”The Renegades had engineered their attack for this surface and this scenario. Coach Andrew McDonald, his assistants and his analysts had handpicked an attack for this moment.Glenn Maxwell sports a look of disbelief•Getty Images

“We’ve got a fantastic bowling attack for this wicket,” Man of the Match Dan Christian said. “We’ve got a couple of good spinners, all of our bowlers take the pace off the ball.”Being a day game the wicket got quite abrasive so the ball got a bit chewed up and it got a pretty soft. So we knew that we were trying to take all the pace off and try and make them hit the ball hard and try and make them hit the ball straight down the ground. It’s quite a big ground here and that was the plan here and we were lucky it worked.”When Maxwell walked out the Stars needed 52 from 39 with eight wickets in hand. In the semi-final against Hobart Hurricanes the Stars needed 49 from 40 balls with six wickets in hand. It was a much slower surface and a slower outfield compared to the belter at Bellerive Oval, but Ben Dunk was 54 not out at the other end.Maxwell faced three dots, got dropped by Cameron White at cover and then nearly holed out to deep point before Dunk found long-on off Boyce’s last ball of his spell. “Once we got Ben Dunk we thought, oh here we go, we might be a chance here,” Christian said.”For Boycey to get the two openers out was outstanding to be able to do that and really create pressure and squeeze and get that run-rate going up was crucial,” Finch said.Panic set in for the Stars. They lost 7 for 19 in 30 balls.”Unfortunately, we just couldn’t have a batter come in and do the job,” Maxwell said. “It seemed like every time we had a person come out and take a risk they got out and as I said that can happen.”Christian has seen almost everything there is to see in T20 cricket but even he couldn’t recall a collapse like that. “Definitely not like that in a final,” he said.Whatever you want to call it, it was scarcely believable.

Victoria’s captain Travis Dean made his first half-century since December as the visitors rumbled over South Australia at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2019Victoria’s captain Travis Dean made his first half-century since December as the visitors rumbled over South Australia at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide to enter Thursday’s Sheffield Shield final against New South Wales with plenty of confidence.Needing 167 to win the Victorians were well served by Dean and the prolific Marcus Harris, one of two batsmen alongside Matthew Wade to pass 1000 runs for the Shield season, who added 130 before being separated to essentially put the result beyond doubt.The left-arm spinner Tom Andrews found a way past both Dean and Harris, while Luke Robins managed to zip past Will Pucovski for a duck, but Victoria were soon celebrating their sixth outright victory of the season by seven wickets, also consigning the Redbacks to last place on the table by a considerable margin.

Rob Jones helped Lancashire to a commanding position before James Anderson and Graham Onions struck with the ball

Paul Edwards at Lord's13-Apr-2019
Saturday morning in London: fat papers thumping on to doormats; the 319 taking its time getting to Sloane Square; Van Goghs at the Tate; Renaissance nudes at the Royal Academy; Soho’s pubs opening early and the regulars meeting for convivial loneliness; pre-season practice for clubs in the Surrey Championship; Luton at Charlton and Wrexham at Barnet; Oxted Villa at Streatham Rovers, Northampton at Harlequins and Essex at Surrey. And Rob Jones at Lord’s, hoping to secure his place in Lancashire’s side. This, too, is cricket in England.Just after 3.30pm Jones reached the century which will help him achieve his goal. He cut Steven Finn to the wide third-man boundary and, just as when he scored his maiden hundred against the same opponents in 2016, he went on a merry jig full of joyful leaps and fist pumps One could understand his euphoria. Jones has had to wait for his opportunities at Lancashire and showers here meant he had to begin his innings on a couple more occasions than he might have expected.None of it seemed to trouble him and neither was he too bothered when rattled on the helmet by James Harris after lunch. He eventually became one of five batsmen dismissed after tea when the admirable Tim Murtagh got a leg-before decision from Billy Taylor, but by the time Harris bowled Graham Onions to end the innings Lancashire had a meaty 162-run advantage on first innings.That lead had not been reduced at all when Nick Gubbins blamelessly nicked James Anderson’s fifth ball of the innings to Glenn Maxwell at second slip. Yet that wicket was followed by such a secure 68-run stand between Sam Robson and Stevie Eskinazi that it seemed Middlesex would be going into the final day with nine wickets in hand. Then Eskinazi played across a straight ball from Onions five minutes before the close and that reverse bruised the home side’s hopes. No doubt someone will say it is going to be a big first hour in the morning. But if the first hour is big, the second will be enormous and the third may well disrupt space-time altogether.Whatever the result, Lancashire had earned their earlier advantage in a flinty manner that bodes well for them this season. The morning session, for example, had been a grim affair: only 13 overs were possible between the showers and the lingering images are of Dane Vilas and Jones defending with the resolution of Protestant pastors before the Inquisition. Both Murtagh and Finn found a righteous length and Jones managed just three runs off 36 balls before the first interruption.Two fours off Harris, the second a sweet thing through mid-off, may have relaxed him a trifle but conditions were no easier for Middlesex. Their players all wore thick sweaters and between balls they stood with their hands dug deep in their armpits. On the scoreboard Haseeb Hameed’s 117 shone out against Last Man, a reminder of Friday afternoon, when the ground was thronged and our talk was filled with marvellous praise.We managed only 33 balls in the afternoon session before the rain returned. There was time for a stroll in St John’s Wood: Panzer’s deli selling kumquats, yellow dates and maracuya; the pavements rinsed as though after pain; the 113 rumbling past Lord’s on its way to Oxford Circus; young-leafed poplars in Cochrane Street; couples dawdling over a late lunch in Fego’s, their gestures suggesting possibilities.The cricket resumed just before 3pm and the rest of the day was played in bright sunlight. As if reassured by the prospect of prolonged time at the crease, the batsmen played with more assurance. Vilas reached his fifty with a tucked single off Toby Roland-Jones and one fancies it will be the first of many he will score this summer. Then Jones twice pulled Harris savagely to the backward square boundary, as if taking revenge for that blow on the helmet. Those fours took him into the nineties and he soon reached his second first-class century. It was a noble effort.Ten minutes before tea, though, Vilas was leg before when attempting to sweep Malan. That ended his 143-run stand with Jones and it was also the prelude to a further tumble on the resumption. In all, Lancashire lost their last six wickets for 53 runs in 16 overs. One of those dismissed was Alex Davies, who was fit enough to bat but not to field after injuring his thumb on the first morningIt is late now. The newspapers have been reduced to their constituent parts and lie around suburban lounges, their crosswords half-completed. From the pubs around Lord’s one hears the clink of glasses and the hum of talk on this cool spring evening. Elsewhere London’s theatres are preparing for their evening performances: . A thousand restaurants have opened their doors. And somewhere in this sleepless metropolis Middlesex and Lancashire’s cricketers are resting before the final act of this contested drama between two teams whose ambitions this summer are unapologetically grand.

KKR have lost five straight matches, while Rajasthan Royals are one loss away from crashing out of the race for the playoffs

The Preview by Vishal Dikshit24-Apr-20197:05

Tait: KKR spinners not doing well is their biggest dilemma

Big picture

Only a few weeks ago, there was a big gap between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals on the points table. While Knight Riders were riding on one big knock after another from Andre Russell, Royals were losing one match after the other. All that has changed. They are now placed alongside each other on the table, with Knight Riders placed sixth and Royals seventh, with eight and six points respectively.

Form guide (last three matches, most recent first)

Knight Riders: Lost to Sunrisers by nine wickets, lost to Royal Challengers by 10 runs, lost to Super Kings by five wickets.
Royals: Lost to Capitals by six wickets, beat Mumbai by five wickets, lost to Kings XI by 12 runs

Knight Riders’ journey has been very disappointing, chiefly because of their initial tempo. They have lost five consecutive matches now – they have failed to take early wickets, they are dropping catches, and they have leaked runs at the worst rate for any team this season (9.10). As for the reliance on Russell, his knocks of 65 off 25 balls, 45 off 21, and 50 not out off 44 have also resulted in losses, and there is a lot of back and forth about his batting position, especially after the loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad. Knight Riders know they have to get their act together before the qualification train leaves them behind.Time is running out for Royals too, as it’s a must-win for them. To add to that, they have learnt that individual centuries don’t necessarily win you T20s, and their foreign contingent is shrinking rapidly, not to mention Ashton Turner’s three ducks in a row in the IPL (and five in all T20s). Royals were already without Jos Buttler, who left early because of the birth of his child, and will lose Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer too after Thursday. How they will balance the XI for their last three games is another headache, but for now they need to ensure they at least beat Knight Riders with a near full-strength squad.Royals also need to up their batting game in the death overs; they have the third-lowest scoring rate in the period this IPL and need their big hitters to step up.BCCI

In the news

Stokes has been far from impressive this season, but Buttler is Royals’ second-highest scorer so far and Archer is their second-highest wicket-taker as well as their most economical bowler among those who have bowled more than five overs. Royals’ best hope will be if Stokes and Archer fire together before they are forced to change the combination.For Knight Riders, Joe Denly, a part of England’s World Cup squad, has flown back home early. He even played a one-day match after reaching England, scoring a half-century for Kent on Tuesday.

Previous meeting

These two teams met just over two weeks ago in Jaipur, and Knight Riders thrashed Royals – without Russell having to bat. Hosts this time, Knight Riders will draw confidence from that match as they look to notch up the wins again.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Harry Gurney, 11 Prasidh KrishnaRajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Riyan Parag, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Dhawal KulkarniBCCI

Strategy Punt

• Royals could think of getting Ish Sodhi back in the XI. In all T20s, he has conceded only 30 runs off 29 balls against Lynn, and 17 off 23 against Karthik (including a dismissal).
• Make Sunil Narine open the bowling, not just the batting. He has dismissed Rahane thrice in 52 balls in T20s, while conceding only 69 runs.
• Despite being an occasional wristspinner himself, Steven Smith doesn’t have a great record against the breed in the IPL since 2015. He has managed only 214 runs against them off 191 balls, and been dismissed four times.
• Royals should look to bowl Archer to Shubman Gill as soon as the batsman comes out to bat. Four of Gill’s five dismissals this season have come against fast bowlers and he has scored only 74 runs off 73 balls against them, with a dot-ball percentage of 37.

Stats that matter

• The last time Royals beat Knight Riders was way back in 2015. Of course, Royals didn’t play in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, but they have lost their last four clashes against Knight Riders. Worse, they have won only one of their eight matches in Kolkata in all these years of the IPL.
• Karthik’s average of 16.70 is his second-worst in any IPL season and his worst since IPL 2016. It’s a steep fall after averaging nearly 50 in 2018.
• Rahane is 87 runs away from the 5000 mark in T20s and Stokes needs two sixes to reach 100 in the format.
• Gurney needs one more wicket and Sodhi needs three more to reach 150 in T20s.
• Steven Smith needs two more runs to get to 2000 in the IPL.
• Knight Riders’ next win will be their 100th in T20s.
• Knight Riders and Royals have leaked runs at the same rate during the middle phase (overs seven to 15) this IPL: 8.8.

Steve Patterson’s men grateful for the late return of rain as their lacklustre efforts go unpunished

Paul Edwards13-Jun-2019
“When an hour is all thou hast, make much of that hour.” The phrase might be found on an old sampler reminding folk of the virtues of the Protestant work ethic yet it carried topical power on the final morning of this wet game at Guildford. For against the background clatter of staff gracelessly stacking chairs long before this match ended, Surrey’s Morne Morkel took three wickets in 12 balls, thereby establishing a dominance that would reach its climax when Yorkshire were bowled out for 148 just before tea.Steve Patterson’s batsmen thus spent the truncated last session of this suddenly dramatic game ensuring cock-up did not become total calamity. They achieved that goal although it was fitting that the weather came to their aid. Bad light trimmed four overs from the 38 Yorkshire might have faced but the openers, Adam Lyth and Will Fraine, had negotiated their way to 30 without loss when the draw was agreed amid gloom and approaching showers. All the same, a contest which had hitherto been notable mainly for its appalling weather had suddenly acquired much greater interest and that was a fitting reward for the tough souls who had braved both wind and rain on this last day.”Vigilance is the watchword of the righteous.” That saying, too, might once have been embroidered and framed in God-fearing households yet it has carried a powerful admonition for Yorkshire this week, quite regardless of their beliefs. To borrow a more modern idiom, they have not always been at it during this game. They didn’t expect to play on the second day and had to be roused from their hotel by coaches who were astonished to see Surrey warming up and groundsmen preparing the pitch. Then on this final morning, with nothing but bonus points seemingly at stake, they batted as if shocked into timidity by the intensity of Ben Foakes’ attack.But any tendency to pile blame on Yorkshire’s batsmen for their side’s collapse should be balanced by recognition of the excellence of Surrey’s bowling. That quality was apparent when Morkel dug in the first ball of the morning with perfect accuracy and a disconcerted Gary Ballance could only fend a catch to Dean Elgar in the gully. We little knew it but the tone of the day had been set. Next over Morkel pitched the ball up and had both Fraine and Jack Leaning caught behind by Foakes, who dived in front of first slip to make the second snare.After bowling only four overs Morkel was replaced by Jordan Clark who took his first wicket for his new county when Jonny Tattersall’s thoroughly irresponsible slash edged the ball high to Rikki Clarke at first slip. Next ball the same combination did for a rather less culpable Dom Bess and one’s thoughts went back to the July morning last summer when Clark, then wearing Lancashire’s colours, dismissed Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Johnny Bairstow with successive balls. There was no repeat of that famous hat-trick this damp morning in Guildford but the sense of panic among the batting side was similar.There was a rain break but it did not douse Surrey’s fire. Immediately the players returned Tom Kohler-Cadmore was caught down the leg side off Clarke for 14 and made his way off the field rubbing his hip. Three wickets had fallen for no runs and there was really no telling which way this game would go.As it turned out, an utterly unpredictable morning was followed by the most of predictable of early afternoons in a week which has taught us all to value the high days of summer. The rain set in and prevented any resumption until 2.30pm. But still the pattern of the cricket did not change. Despite Jordan Thompson’s late aggression – the debutant included a huge six off Clarke in his 34 – the 55 runs added by his side’s last three wickets could not prevent the follow on being enforced. After taking four wickets in the innings, Morkel took an excellent catch over his head at long leg to remove Thompson off Matt Dunn. Surrey’s cricketers then beetled off to have tea and prepare to bowl again. Yorkshire had lost all their wickets for 97 runs, the last nine of them in 26 overs.But the excitement was over. Lyth and Fraine batted with immense care in the final session of this game and spectators were left to wonder what might have happened had not 56.3 overs been lost on this last day. Surrey now have a free week but can be emboldened by their cricket at Guildford. Yorkshire, for their part, were probably grateful they could skedaddle home with five points for the draw. Not so far away, Somerset were the big winners from this rain-wrecked four days. Even in mid-June neutrals may be tantalised by the thought that this may finally be the Wyverns’ year.

South Africa captain says his team won’t invoke the ball-tampering scandal to gain psychological advantage

George Dobell at Old Trafford05-Jul-2019Faf du Plessis believes Australia “have learned” from the ball-tampering scandal and that David Warner and Steven Smith will be remembered for far more than that incident.South Africa and Australia meet on Saturday for the first time since Smith and Warner returned to the international game following their suspension for their part in the episode at Newlands in 2018.But du Plessis, the South Africa captain, insists his team will not be bringing up the incident on the pitch and reckons “the Australia culture” now “looks likes it is really good.””I think their records and their performances will speak much louder than a one-off incident,” du Plessis said. “I don’t think the game will remember them for that.”Any player as good as them that is taken away from playing at the highest stage will come back extremely motivated. And I think you can see that the two of them are and they are doing well and scoring runs. They are extremely hungry to perform at international cricket again.”The fact that Australia’s been boosted by the two guys coming back into their batting line-up has made them a pretty complete team. There’s not many holes in their team now and they’ve played some really good cricket at this World Cup.David Warner and Steven Smith, back in Australian colours•IDI via Getty Images

“They are probably better – I won’t say people – but if you look at them now you can see as a team, the Australian culture looks like it’s really good. So they have learnt from that and they have made themselves stronger for it.”I think that’s a good sign for anyone. All of us make mistakes. It is about how you learn and how you move forward.”South Africa and Australia have played each other since the Cape Town incident. But du Plessis says there was no attempt from his team to try to utilise the episode to try and unsettle their opponents, while Australia were also happy to “get on and play the game.””There was certainly no talk about the past or bringing up comments,” du Plessis said. “As I said back then, and I will say it now, I believe as a team we are a pretty low-key team when it comes to verbals.”We just try and get on and play the game and certainly the last few games playing against Australia that is exactly the same, the same from them.”When the World Cup schedule was announced, there was a thought that this game – the final group match – might prove pivotal in deciding which sides qualified for the semi-finals. As things have transpired, however, Australia are certain to qualify and South Africa are certain to go home. But du Plessis feels that such is the natural rivalry between the nations that both sides “give it everything.””For me playing against Australia has always been a great battle because you face a team that’s always very competitive. That is what I love about playing against Australia.”They are a very, very confident team probably right now and we are probably just are a little bit off where we need to be. But, in saying that, once we cross that rope, playing against Australia is certainly my favourite team to play against.”It’s a great competition between two fierce nations. So, yes, they are looking pretty where they are sitting in terms of the World Cup, but we are still going to make sure we give it everything.”

Having said that, though, the New Zealand captain gave credit to Dimuth Karunaratne for a ‘fantastic hundred’ in the fourth innings

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle18-Aug-2019Yes, the previous best chase at this venue was only worth 99, and sure, 268 seemed like an excellent total to defend, but this particular surface got slower, not harder to bat on. So, at least, said Kane Williamson after New Zealand’s six-wicket defeat.His analysis was not without strong evidence. New Zealand’s own tailenders had appeared comfortable on the surface during long stints in the middle on days three and four. And although there was significant turn, the majority of spin deliveries that Sri Lanka’s top order faced in the fourth innings did not spit, as they often do on days four and five on Sri Lankan tracks. The target was ultimately achieved with relative ease, thanks largely to Dimuth Karunaratne’s 122 and Lahiru Thirimanne’s 64, the pair putting on 161 for the first wicket.”We thought the wicket would deteriorate more than it did,” Williamson said. “It perhaps got slower. It wasn’t turning a huge amount out of the rough. It didn’t get more difficult to bat on. I think there was a little bit more bounce and the turn was a little bit quicker in the first innings. Though, saying that, it was a good batting surface as well. I thought our bowlers operated patiently for a long period of time. We probably even bowled better in the second innings, but without the edges going to hand, and those sorts of things, which is the nature of the game we play.”Still, I think in a last-innings chase, a lot of credit goes to the way Sri Lanka batted. It was a fantastic hundred by Dimuth.”New Zealand’s two specialist spinners only claimed a wicket apiece in the second innings, having combined for eight wickets in the first innings. Mitchell Santner – the left-arm spinning allrounder – went wicketless through the Test.”I though the bowling was outstanding on day four,” Williamson said. “Perhaps we didn’t have a lot go our way, and maybe we let the odd chance slip. We knew that on that sort of surface, if you are able to get a breakthrough things can happen quickly, as we saw later on today when perhaps the game was already lost. It was a shame not to get early breakthroughs.”Williamson himself did not manage a score of significance, falling for 0 in the first innings and 4 in the second, despite coming into the series with some form, as he almost always does. Both his dismissals in Galle were the result of attacking shots – the second-innings dismissal especially, where he came down the track at Lasith Embuldeniya and holed out.”Personally I was probably looking to be too positive when it wasn’t really required. In hindsight, if you go back in time, that wouldn’t have been the option, because the wicket was pretty much just getting slower rather than deteriorating.”New Zealand, though, will be hopeful that something can still be salvaged from this series. On their last tour of the island, in 2012, they had also lost the first Test in Galle, but levelled the series at the P Sara Oval in Colombo, with both Williamson and Ross Taylor hitting centuries there. The P Sara is the venue for the second Test this time around as well.”That last series here was a long time ago, but it was a brilliant performance from us to equal that series against a very strong Sri Lankan side. We’re up against a strong Sri Lankan side again who know these conditions very well. They’re very clinical at playing the sort of cricket that’s required here. We can take some lessons from the way they played as well. It was fairly evenly poised for a long part of the match. But they were exceptional in their last innings.”For us, I think there were good bits in the game, but perhaps we weren’t good enough for long enough.”

England’s fragile top order was again exposed by Australia’s attack but there is time for a few more twists on the final day

Andrew Miller at Lord's17-Aug-2019Test cricket is a shambles, and it is utterly compelling.There is no way on earth that a match that has lost five sessions to rain and hadn’t even reached the third innings until tea on the fourth day should be hurtling towards a position in which a positive result is now more likely than a draw.But we’ve known all along that the sport moves to an alternative rhythm these days, and as a pulsating Saturday at Lord’s concluded with England’s most potent duo, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, overcoming their team’s anxieties to keep their powder dry for a final push, it was clear that the pace of the format is now more thrash metal than the Green Sleeves of old.”This is why we love Test cricket so much,” said Justin Langer, Australia’s head coach, at the close. “Who would have thought it? We’re playing at Lord’s, we’ve lost a couple of days to rain, and it’s absolutely game on tomorrow.”ALSO READ: ‘I can’t get on the honour board unless I’m batting’Where’s your money now? Until Jofra Archer’s extraordinary exploits, you’d have assumed that any fourth-innings target would have favoured the Aussies, simply because in Steven Smith they possess a batsman who can operate in a different dimension to his peers.But now, all of a sudden, the parameters have shifted. Nobody in their right minds will expect England to still be batting by the end of this contest, which means Australia – with a battered and bruised Smith liable to be physically fit, if not quite in his pre-Archer mental zone – could be left with a tough dilemma in the denouement.More early success from their battery of quicks, and better luck (particularly with lbws) from the ever-probing Nathan Lyon, and they could give themselves a couple of sessions in which to close out an Ashes-crushing 2-0 lead. But if England’s middle order find anything resembling their gung-ho former selves (let’s face it, dying wondering is hardly going to be their chosen tactic…) the door could yet be ajar to sneak an improbable series-squaring win.”We probably went searching a little bit after getting off to a great start today,” said Langer. “It’s a tough wicket to bat on, which I don’t mind, and it’s going to be a great day’s Test cricket tomorrow. I guess the only issue is that there’s only one day left in it, so there’s lots of scenarios that can play out here. But it’s game on, I reckon.”Either way, it promises to be one of the most absorbing final days of Ashes cricket since the 2005 Ashes – that year’s second Test also came down to a faintly memorable Sunday shoot-out – and then as now, there’s an 18-year itch that is asking to be scratched, for incredibly it’s been that long since Australia last won the Ashes on English soil, and no Ashes team since Don Bradman’s in 1936-37 has ever come back from being 2-0 down.”When I envisaged Test and Ashes cricket as a child, this is what I envisaged it being like today,” said Chris Woakes, who finished the job that Archer had started by pinning Smith lbw for 92 shortly after the brave resumption of his innings.”An intense game of Ashes cricket is quite draining but it’s been an amazing game to be part of, and it’s pretty much in the balance now. Of course I think we can win the game, but I think all three results are still possible to be honest.”But one thing is for sure. Australia’s pack of quicks responded to Archer’s usurping of their mantle with a furious, if subtly different, mode of attack, and reconfirmed the fact that they’ve still got the weapons to defend their hitherto dominant position.The second of chances David Warner put down at slip offered by Ben Stokes off Nathan Lyon•Getty Images

Pat Cummins was supreme from the outset – just as he had been with the bat in the midst of the Archer onslaught – skilfully exposing everything we already knew about England’s batting frailties to ensure that another fretful innings panned out in a near-identical fashion to the first: two early wickets in Jason Roy and the hapless Joe Root, two half-formed repair jobs from Joe Denly and Rory Burns, and two more against-type survival grinds from Stokes and Buttler, albeit with their places in the order rightfully switched this time round.The fact that the damage was not more absolute by the close came down to a combination of Australia’s fallibility in the field, with David Warner dropping two clear-cut chances, and their ongoing failure to gauge Lyon’s angle into the left-handers, with Burns and Stokes both surviving leg-stump lbw appeals that would have been overturned on review.”We missed a few in the first Test as well,” said Langer. “Obviously the whole world’s aware whenever it happens, so it’s frustrating, there’s no doubt about that. It can change the game, it can change a session, it can change a Test match, it can change a series, so we need to get better at it.”It promises, too, to be a vital day for Root’s Test captaincy. A statistic doing the rounds before the match noted that, among men to have led England in 30 or more Tests, Root has the second-highest win percentage behind Mike Brearley. Unfortunately, he also has the second-lowest lose percentage behind David Gower – which is a testament to the ominous fact that his teams have managed just two draws out of 30.And another stat that cannot be ignored is his flatlining career average. Never mind the subplot about his promotion to No.3, Root’s returns have been nosediving since the end of the 2017-18 Ashes, to the extent that he is now averaging 32.82 from his last 18 Tests, having not strayed from a 50-plus average in the preceding four-year period.On a day when Smith required the fast-bowling spell of the series to remind onlookers of his mortality, the stark reality of Root’s first Test golden duck confirmed how far from those Fab Four standards he is now straying. Like Alastair Cook before him, he needs his team to rally round and ensure that the series doesn’t end before he can make a telling impact.Langer, however, believes his team is ready and waiting to take their chances on the final day, for he’s under no illusion that plenty will be flying around.”There’s always going to be tension in Test cricket, and with tension comes mistakes. I’m sure there’ll be six more opportunities tomorrow, and if that does happen, and we’ve got a chance to have a run-chase, we’ll stay nice and calm, on a very fast outfield, with great value for your shots. And it’s hopefully going to be a great run-chase if we can take those six wickets.”

Curtly Ambrose, meanwhile, has likened Bumrah to his old mate Courtney Walsh for his ability to adjust his lengths according to conditions

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2019Jasprit Bumrah’s 5 for 7 – the least expensive five-wicket haul by an Indian in Tests – helped hurry India towards a record 318-run win over West Indies in Antigua. That five-for also helped Bumrah become the first bowler from Asia to take five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies. And beyond the numbers, he impressed two Antiguan fast-bowling greats – Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose – with his clarity of thought, game sense and aggression.So impressed was Roberts that, in an interview with the , he called Bumrah the “best Indian fast bowler I have seen”.”In my time, it was all spin,” he said, thinking back to the India attacks of the past. “Good ones, but they wouldn’t win you matches overseas. India had Kapil Dev and some others, but we never thought they could produce someone as lethal as Bumrah. He’s the best Indian fast bowler I have seen.”Roberts, part of the great pace quartets that also included Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and Malcolm Marshall, described how Bumrah’s unorthodox run-up and action broke the mental rhythm of batsmen as they prepared to face him. But what made the India bowler truly special, he felt, was his game sense and thinking, which belie the fact that he only made his Test debut in January 2018, and has only played only 11 games in the format.”When a bowler is running in, you should look at the batsmen. They are settling into a mental rhythm of their own in their mind,” Roberts said. “They are visualising the bowler, his action, the leap, the load-up, the release and things like that. Their thought processes are conditioned in such a way that if he’s a side-on bowler, the ball will come like that, if it’s high-arm it would come in a different way. Or the longer the run-up, the quicker the ball will be. With Bumrah, the batsmen have little time to get into their mental rhythm.”Look at everything else he does, he’s classical. He moves two balls into the batsmen, and the other one goes away. Then two away from him, and then one into him. This is how we did, this is how fast bowlers have operated over the years. But the best one knows how, where and when to bowl. And Bumrah seems to have this awareness, which usually takes a lot of time to develop, a lot of experience. But how old is he? How many Tests has he played? He’s a quick learner, isn’t he?”To me, it has been the most striking feature of him. Some call it maturity. I call it game sense. There seems to be clarity in his thinking, and that automatically shows in his bowling. Some bowlers, very skillful ones, don’t develop it even 10 years after they had played the game. That’s the biggest thing for a fast bowler, to learn how to use your head.”Jasprit Bumrah is swarmed by his team-mates•Getty Images

The game sense also impressed Ambrose, who said Bumrah’s ability to size up and adjust his lengths according to surfaces and batsmen reminded him of his long-time new-ball partner Courtney Walsh.”He’s good at varying his lengths, depending on the surfaces and batsmen,” Ambrose told the . “I saw that in the World Cup, how he adjusted (and altered) his lengths according to the conditions and batsmen. That makes life difficult for batsmen.”(In this regard), he reminds me a bit of Courtney (Walsh) a bit. He was wonderful in sizing up the length and bowling accordingly.”Ambrose also said Bumrah’s quiet demeanour did not make him any less aggressive on the field.”I’m not talking about body language here. I’m not talking about being hostile. Aggression is not always about what you show outwards. Some show, some don’t. It depends on the individual’s nature,” Ambrose said. “To me, it’s about how you bowl, the aggression of the delivery. And Bumrah shows a lot of it.”Could Bumrah have fitted into the fearsome West Indies attacks of the past?Roberts suggested Bumrah’s unconventional action would have added a different dimension to the attacks he was part of.”It’s the strangest action that I have seen on a cricket field,” he said. “I need to study that for a longer time to understand the mechanics of his action. But if he were born here back in our days, we would have had him. A freak was the only element missing in our bowling line-up. In fact, Bumrah is the only variety of bowler we had never produced. Then I don’t think even India would produce one like him again.”Ambrose went even further in his praise.”At times, he rekindles memories of our prime,” he said. “The pace, aggression, the hostility, the craft. The way he outclasses the batsmen, the way he out-thinks them. He could have been one of us, he’s so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era.”

Australia’s ODI captain smashed 11 fours and 14 sixes as Victoria chased down their target at a canter

Alex Malcolm01-Oct-2019A sensational career-best 188 not out from Aaron Finch dominated Victoria’s commanding chase of 305 against Queensland at the Junction Oval.Finch clubbed 11 fours and 14 sixes to post his highest List A score, and Victoria’s best in one-day cricket, as they cruised to their target with 34 balls and nine wickets in hand. He shared century stands with Sam Harper and Marcus Harris to help inflict Queensland’s first defeat of the tournament and overshadow Usman Khawaja’s second straight century earlier in the day.Just two days after Victoria’s top order capitulated against the same attack, Finch’s power-packed performance, in conjunction with a change in batting order, helped the home side turn the tables on Queensland.Harper came into the side at the expense of Will Pucovski and was promoted to open alongside Finch, while Harris was shifted to No. 3 for the first time in his List A career. Finch and Harper put on 136 in 17.5 overs to put Queensland under huge pressure with Finch racing to his fastest domestic half-century in just 29 balls with six fours and three sixes.He lost Harper, who fell for a run-a-ball 44 trying to ramp Marnus Labuschagne over short fine, but Finch’s range-hitting session didn’t stop as he peppered the windows of Cricket Victoria’s administration building and the heritage-listed grandstands. He reached his third domestic one-day century for Victoria in 73 balls and then kept rolling to his second score 150-plus and his highest List A score.He was dropped by wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson on 129, but it was a difficult chance high to his right off Billy Stanlake on 129.Finch’s demolition gave Harris a chance to spend some time at the crease. He made the most of a huge let-off, after he was dropped by Labuschagne at cover on 4, to cruise to an unbeaten half-century. Finch finished the game with his 14th six in the 45th over, the second-most sixes in an Australian domestic one-day game.Victoria looked set to chase a far bigger score as a sense of déjà vu set in when Khawaja and Sam Heazlett exploded with another impressive opening stand. Just two days after putting on 185 against Victoria they added 118 in 17 overs on another superb batting track.Heazlett raced to his fourth consecutive half-century of the tournament but he again failed to turn it into three-figures, misjudging the length of Jon Holland to be trapped lbw for 69 from just 51 balls.Khawaja converted his second successive century, but he did ride his luck. He was dropped by Harper behind the stumps on 22, a relatively straight forward chance off the inside edge, and survived a huge lbw shout on 49 off Holland. The umpire felt Khawaja got just outside the line attempting a paddle sweep but replays showed he may have been hit in line with off stump. He was dropped again on 104, with Matthew Short unable to hold onto a diving chance at backward point.The innings slowed a touch when Victoria utilized the offspin of both Short and Glenn Maxwell to the left-handed pair of Khawaja and Matt Renshaw. They added 83 but it took 91 balls before Khawaja fell trying to up the ante with seven overs to go.Renshaw passed 50 for the second time this season Queensland were able to creep just past 300 on a surface that certainly slowed up towards the back end of the innings. In the end, it was well under par