Paul Collingwood’s retirement, at 42, comes with Scotland seeking a coach after the departure of Grant Bradburn

David Hopps13-Sep-2018The handshakes with his team-mates at the end of Durham’s victory over Sussex at Emirates Riverside on Wednesday said it all: Paul Collingwood, the former England batsman, has decided to end his first-class career at 42.Collingwood will not be short of coaching offers. He has impressed with England in his occasional forays as a fielding coach and there is bound to be interest in Scotland, where he has already worked extensively and where Grant Bradburn, a 52-year-old New Zealander, resigned a week ago to become Pakistan’s fielding coach.It has taken a while for coaching opportunities to prise out Collingwood from the middle. More than seven years after the end of his England career, he retires with quite a record: he has represented the club in 23 of their 26 years in professional cricket and has amassed 304 first-class appearances, 16,844 runs and 164 wickets.In common with Marcus Trescothick at Somerset, he grew into one of the grand old stagers of the county circuit, communicating that England’s professional circuit remained a place where international stars who had known the best could still find satisfaction. A phlegmatic, hard-working, get-the-job-done cricketer, he squeezed value from himself to the very last drop.”After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to announce my retirement from cricket at the end of the current season,” Collingwood said.”I knew this day would eventually come but it hasn’t made it any easier – although it’s an emotional decision, I know that the time is right and I’m comfortable knowing that I have given every last ounce of energy to the sport.”I have achieved so much with both Durham and England; far more than I ever imagined and I feel extremely privileged to have had such a long and rewarding career. I am excited about what the future holds for me and am looking forward to new challenges.”Paul Collingwood bowls in the England nets•Getty Images

Last year, aged 41, Collingwood capped an incredible season with three trophies at Durham’s end-of-year awards: Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Batsman of the Year. He also recorded the club’s first T20 Blast century against Worcestershire. Earlier this year, his contribution to the club was marked with the naming of the Paul Collingwood Pavilion.His fitness record was exemplary, too – it needed to be as Durham approached Twenty20 as a fast-running game, keeping the boundaries at the Riverside bigger than many. One of his last memories will be surviving four Vitality Blast matches in six days while he scrambled ones and twos and his achilles nagged away at him and told him it was time to go. A Collingwood career should quite properly have ended with hard graft.If the prospect of more coaching opportunities with England and Scotland has arisen, it is neatly timed. This season has been tough – his 47 against Sussex was his highest Championship score of the season, but it was a vital contribution nonetheless and – if he stands down immediately – it helped him see out his career with victory.As he wrestled last month with thoughts of retirement, he mused to ESPNcricinfo: “I’ve loved every minute of my coaching work with England and we will have to see what opportunities arise but I’ve no God-given right to walk into a job with the ECB. I feel I have something to offer.”Collingwood, a three-times Ashes winner, played 68 Test matches for England, scoring 4,259 runs at an average of over 40 and produced a number of outstanding performances, including a memorable double-century at Adelaide during the 2006-07 Ashes series, an innings where Australia grudgingly accepted that there were qualities, after all, in this battling cricketer that they had grown to admire.He became the first England captain to deliver at a global men’s tournament when England beat Australia to win the 2010 World Twenty20. A year later, he was gone, his decision to retire from Test cricket after a memorable Ashes triumph in Australia quickly leading to his removal as T20 captain.He observed soon afterwards: “When you’re out of the England team you get forgotten very quickly.” Even then he was attracted by coaching, but instead he deepened his respect at Durham, the granite-like batsman, productive rather than attractive, whose upbringing in Consett, an old steelworks town, had taught him from the outset that life did not owe him a living. Having lost much of his England rewards in bad investments, he knew that all too well.He went on to lift the 2013 County Championship title with Durham and also played a significant role in the club’s Royal London One-Day Cup victory at Lord’s a year later. When the ECB had to bale out Durham financially, and relegated them as a lesson to others, he called it “brutal” and was driven by a deep sense of pride; there was no way he would retire then.But retire now he has, leaving Durham’s chairman Sir Ian Botham, to bang the drum, claiming with a certain hyperbole: “Paul is one of the greatest all-rounders to ever grace the game of cricket and to have him playing at Durham, his home county, for all these years has been an absolute privilege.”Both on and off the field he has class, intelligence and charm and it is a testament to his incredible commitment and work ethic that he has been able to compete at the top level for the amount of time that he has. Colly is Mr Durham and it will be very strange without him.”

The outgoing Cricket Australia chief executive has opened up about his “heartbreak” at waking up and finding out what had transpired in Cape Town

Daniel Brettig25-Oct-2018Departing Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has revealed his regret that the Newlands ball tampering scandal may not have played out so disastrously, resulting in bans for Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, had he been able to intervene earlier in the affair.Sutherland famously turned off the TV in his Melbourne home before the broadcast showed evidence that Bancroft had used a foreign object to try to change the ball’s condition, later revealed to be sandpaper. This meant he was unaware of the various attempts by Bancroft, Smith and the team to cover up the truth of the matter, culminating in a press conference where the captain and opening batsman had lied about the object used – claiming it was tape rather than sandpaper – and about who was involved – Smith stating the “leadership group” rather than the vice-captain Warner. All were subsequently banned via the CA code of conduct.Speaking on the final day of his eventful and influential 17-year tenure as chief executive of CA, Sutherland said he had pondered how differently things might have played out had he been able to influence proceedings earlier. It was not until about 3am the following morning, after the press conference had taken place, that Sutherland was spoken to about events in South Africa. In this the episode echoed others where Sutherland was unable to be directly involved, including the 2013 suspensions of four players for not doing “homework” for then coach Mickey Arthur in India, an event that led to his replacement by Darren Lehmann.”At a guess it would’ve been about midnight I suppose [that I turned the TV off] but, yeah, I wish I was watching, absolutely. It was a serious WTF moment there,” Sutherland told ESPNcricinfo. “I’d like to think that my judgment and possibly influence would have meant that the media conference would have gone slightly differently.”As we know, that was part of the penalty and the severity of the penalty, was to some extent related or at least was consequential in terms of how that was handled – not telling the truth, or not telling the whole truth.”No doubt that homework thing, if I’d been anywhere near that, it would have been a different outcome. I’d like to think in some cases where things have gone awry that that’s true. You can’t be everywhere.”Questions have been raised about how the spirit of cricket has appeared to recede from prominence in CA’s most recent strategy, which speaks instead of “smashing the boundaries” and other corporate-speak. Sutherland, who personally led a concerted effort to make the spirit of cricket a more prominent element of the game early in his tenure in 2003, said that the fact that his earlier warnings to the captain Smith and the coach Lehmann about the team’s conduct had gone unheeded was part of why he was left “heartbroken” by what transpired in Cape Town.”I was heartbroken by the events that happened and I think that in some ways I totally understand that in the heat of battle things can boil over and go awry and there can be regrettable incidents,” Sutherland said. “[But] I think in some ways the issues of Cape Town were a different thing altogether, it wasn’t necessarily a confrontation between two players, that was a premeditated WTF moment that shocked us all. Part of the extent of my disappointment around Cape Town is heightened by what happened earlier in the series, and my feeling that there were warning signals.”There were lots of other things going on, and some disgraceful behaviour during the Port Elizabeth Test, provocation by opposition fans but also administrators from the opposition team. But still, if you go back to Durban, my views were expressed during and after the Durban Test match that we needed to take stock and be very aware that when you’re playing South Africa, you’re playing in a cauldron and we’ve got two teams that go very hard at each other.”Our leadership needs to show restraint and understand that it’s not the first time that things have boiled over on the field between CA and South Africa and it won’t be the last time. But it’s happened before, particularly on those tours at the end of a long season and to some extent it was predictable. But my view was that, putting everything aside from Durban it was time to understand and settle back in to playing good, hard cricket.”James Sutherland addresses reporters about Australia’s ball-tampering•Getty Images

The CA chairman David Peever has said that the wording of CA’s current strategy document was likely to be revised to return the spirit of cricket to a more prominent place in the governing body’s thinking, and Sutherland said that while the 2003 campaign was aimed at placing the spirit of the game in public view, he had long been at pains to reinforce its importance to leaders of the national team.”It’s always been prominent, but there was a very conscious shift back then in the 2000s to ensure that there’s a greater awareness around that, and various measures that came into play,” Sutherland said. “That was quite public, but it’s not in any way to say there’s been a loss of focus around that, it was public then, a conscious shift to make it public and create awareness around that.”I’ve had countless discussions with captains and coaches along the way to remind them that it is enshrined in the laws of the game through the preamble about the spirit of cricket. The responsibilities of players led particularly by captains for the respect that teams show to umpires, their opponents and everyone else in the game. I’ve always felt very strongly about that and I’ve always certainly dedicated my attention when I’ve felt it was needed to the captain and remind them of their responsibilities, as I did after the Durban Test match.”The exit of Sutherland has taken place at a time when CA has never been richer or larger as an organisation, but with plenty of thinking to do about how it carries on to restore public trust after Newlands while also rebuilding the performance of the national team, now led at Test level by Tim Paine and coached by Justin Langer. Sutherland is adamant that the game, while shaken, will be better for the events of Newlands.”I think that the good thing about the public response to Cape Town is it’s a reminder to everyone as to how important cricket is, what cricket means to the Australian public and the pedestal on which the Australian cricket team is held and the expectations that come with being an Australian cricketer,” he said. “I think our players, Cricket Australia and everyone in Australian cricket is reminded of that and I think it is a huge compliment to cricket and a really stark reminder to everyone.”I said from the outset the game will be better for this, it already is, it is not just in Australia but around the world through various things at ICC and other countries that people are picking up and responding to. But also within our own organisation and within our team, players are committed to seeing Australians being proud of the Australian cricket team and the players and how they carry themselves on and off the field.”

Former England opener Marcus Trescothick feels counties should be allowed more scope in preparing surfaces that aid spin bowling

George Dobell03-Nov-2018Marcus Trescothick has called for a “mentality change” in county cricket in a bid to better prepare players for overseas tours. Trescothick, the former England opener, feels counties should be allowed more scope in preparing surfaces that aid spin bowling and feels his own club, Somerset, have been “harshly put under the spotlight” for producing such pitches.”People are never going to get better playing on spinning pitches if they don’t play on spinning pitches,” Trescothick said. “It’s frowned upon when you produce something that is spinning but of course it shouldn’t be.”We’re so used to seaming pitches in England. That’s what we’re notorious for. Especially in April or late September. But what’s wrong with producing something different? It shouldn’t be frowned upon as it has been.”Somerset have attracted criticism for preparing surfaces that aid their spinners. Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, called one such pitch in 2017 “dreadful” and “disgraceful”, while last season Paul Allott, the Lancashire director of cricket, said another was “below average verging on poor”. On that occasion, Somerset narrowly avoided sanction from the ECB.But Trescothick, who made his maiden Test century in Galle, the venue of the first Test of the series between Sri Lanka and England, believes that such surfaces provide a rare opportunity for England-qualified players to experience the sort of conditions that are prevalent in many other parts of the world.”If you’re going to learn to play spin you’re going to have to face it, and when you come to Taunton you have to learn the art of playing on tough pitches,” he said. “We at Somerset have harshly been put under the spotlight for producing pitches that have spun. Other counties have had pitches reported, but because it’s a seaming pitch it doesn’t get talked about. If you play on pitches that spin it gets highlighted quickly and wrongly.”[South Africa opener] Dean Elgar said he didn’t face a ball of seam throughout the series when he went to Sri Lanka. But how often do you get to face a spinner opening the bowling? If you come to Taunton, it’s pretty much the only place you’ll get to do it at the moment. It shouldn’t be penalised too much. Yes, there needs to be a mentality change.”Jack Leach finally got the chance to press his case•Getty Images

Apart from warning England they would face a large amount of spin, Trescothick feels the conditions render Sri Lanka an especially demanding tour. But he said he had “no doubt” that his Somerset team-mate, the left-arm spinner Jack Leach, would succeed.”It’s very hot,” Trescothick said. “It’s probably the hottest play they’ll go. It’s very demanding.”Jack has had a couple of nice pitches to bowl on at Taunton and he’s produced the goods. He’s worked really hard to come back from injury and hopefully he’ll flourish.”This is a great chance for him, whether he takes the new ball or not. He’s played on pitches that have spun more than anywhere else at Taunton, so he’s used to those sorts of environments. I have no doubt he’ll succeed. I’ve seen him produce it at Somerset for a number of years.”Marcus Trescothick was speaking at the relaunch of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, which provides support for PCA members and their immediate families when they need it most

India’s captain said Australia could compete in England if their batsmen were patient against the swinging ball

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-20198:23

‘No one plays Test cricket with more passion than Kohli’ – Shastri

Leave your egos at home. That is Virat Kohli’s message to Australia ahead of their trip to England later this year, as they attempt to retain the Ashes on English soil for the first time since 2001. Speaking after becoming the first-ever India captain to win a Test series in Australia, Kohli said of his experience of playing in England in 2018 – when he scored runs 593 runs in a losing cause – that patience was the key to batting there because the Dukes ball “buries egos pretty quickly”.Defeat to India has left several question marks over Australia’s batting, in particular, with only a two-Test series at home to Sri Lanka left in which to establish a settled a line-up – although the expected returns of Steven Smith and David Warner from ball-tampering bans would undoubtedly strengthen their Ashes credentials.Kohli and India’s coach, Ravi Shastri, were asked for their views on the home team after India had secured the draw they needed in Sydney to cap a historic tour. Alongside his warning about English conditions, Kohli offered encouragement for Australia’s batsmen, saying if they “believe that they can do it, it can be done, definitely”.”Playing in England, what I experienced this time was, if you go out there with an ego you might as well not go out at all,” he said. “Because that Dukes ball, it buries egos pretty quickly. You have to curb yourself, do the hard yards, grind it out the whole day. You have to be patient as a batsman. There’s a lot of time in Test cricket. Sometimes because we’re so nervous as batsmen we don’t quite realise it, you just want to get away quickly but in England you’re not allowed to do that, so you have to bide your time, earn the right score runs eventually.”You have to get into a position where, you should not even look at the scoreboard or the number of balls, it’s inconsequential, patience is the only thing that works there. Putting runs on the board again is the most important thing to win Test matches. I’m sure [Australia] will regroup as a unit, we’ve all gone through those phases where you figure out what needs to be done – it’s just mindset. If the same batting unit can go out there more confident and believe that they can do it, it can be done, definitely.”Virat Kohli presses forward and defends•AFP

With Australia having not won a Test series in England for 18 years, their batsmen arguably know the difficulties of facing the Dukes all too well. In 2015, with Smith and Warner in the side, they conceded the urn after four Tests, having been dismissed for 136 at Edgbaston and 60 – an innings that lasted just 18.3 overs – at Trent Bridge.India were also beaten last year, despite Kohli’s stellar returns as he conquered the weaknesses that had seen him average 13.40 across five Tests in England in 2014. Shastri put the 4-1 defeat down to the ability of England’s lower-order to repeatedly dig their side out of trouble, something Australia were unable to do against India. He also stressed the need for patience against the Dukes ball, suggesting Australia had the bowlers to compete during the Ashes.”In England we lost because the lower order often got runs against us,” Shastri said. “We could have bowled out England much more cheaply, we didn’t do it. Here at least we managed to do that, so that can be a big difference.”I think Australia has to be patient, because in England that Dukes ball will curve around corners, so you’ve got to be patient, got to trust your technique, trust that off stump. And it’s again belief, because you’ve got the attack.”Australia’s much-vaunted quicks were outperformed by their Indian counterparts across the four Tests, with only Pat Cummins averaging under 30 and Mitchell Starc criticised for his inconsistency. While Kohli offered a slightly different interpretation – “I wouldn’t say they bowled badly, I would say we batted well” – he counselled Australia to give Starc, a team-mate during his time in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, greater support rather than risk undermining an asset.”I played with Mitchell, I think he’s a very skilful bowler, he’s got the right mindset and he’s been your No. 1 bowler for years now. So I’m a little surprised with the magnitude of the criticism that’s come on to him. If he’s your best bowler you give him space to works things out, not mount more pressure on him because you don’t want to lose a guy like that, who’s so skilled and wins you games.”

With Sri Lanka having slipped to ninth on the T20I rankings, this will be the first time they’ll not gain direct qualification into the T20 World Cup

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Auckland10-Jan-2019Once the No. 1 T20 side in the world, Sri Lanka should “never have let things get so bad” that they are now forced to play in a qualifying tournament in order to gain entry to the T20 World Cup proper. So went the lament of Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s World T20-winning captain, and a great of the format.With Sri Lanka having slipped to ninth on the T20 rankings after losing 12 of their 16 most-recent matches, the ICC announced earlier this month that they would not gain automatic entry into the “Super 12″ round of next year’s T20 World Cup. Instead, they will have to finish in the top two in a group of four in the opening round of the competition, in order to progress into the part of the tournament into which the eight top teams gain automatic entry.This fate is quite a fall for a team that had a history of performing extremely well at T20 global tournaments between 2009 and 2014. Three times they made the final of the event, losing to Pakistan and West Indies in 2009 and 2012 respectively, before finally going on to lift the trophy in 2014, defeating India in the final. They had also been the top-ranked T20 side between late 2012 and mid-2014, and had wielded one of the smartest attacks in the world, led by Malinga.”It’s really disappointing to need to qualify, because having won the World T20 in 2014, inside five years we’ve slipped lower than No. 8,” Malinga said. “We have a chance to get into the World Cup by playing qualifiers, but we’re not a country that should ever have fallen that far. We’re a country that’s won two World Cups (including one in one-day cricket). We’ve gone wrong somewhere. But if the right people come into the right places, things can be put right quickly as well.”Now tasked with turning the fate of Sri Lanka’s limited overs sides around, Malinga will captain in a T20 international for the first time since 2016, when Sri Lanka take the field against New Zealand in Auckland, on Friday. Malinga was hopeful the recent decline could be arrested.”If you look at the players we have, we can build a good team, but we need to put effort into that,” he said. “We need to cultivate the skills necessary for T20. As captain, along with the team management, I’ve got a responsibility to try and help our players tune their existing skills to the T20 format. We need to know as a team which skills should be used in which match situations.”The bowlers, in particular, could be cleverer in pressure situations, Malinga said. Reputed to be a quick thinker in the shorter formats, this is an area in which Malinga felt he had a role in helping improve.”At some stages the bowlers are confused. We have so much variation in our attack, but bowlers have to understand how to set up an over. Every ball can’t get a wicket. Bowlers have to set up a batsman and take that wicket. They have skill, but they’re not comfortable using those skills while the over is going on, I feel. In the training sessions, they are really good. But in the match situations, they are lacking confidence. I want to help them learn how to improve that aspect of their game. They have a lot to learn.”

The fast bowler suffered a left ankle injury while attempting a catch near the boundary during Sylhet Sixers’ BPL game against Chittagong Vikings on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2019Taskin Ahmed has been ruled out from the Bangladesh squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand next week. The fast bowler suffered a left ankle injury while attempting a catch near the boundary during Sylhet Sixers’ BPL game against Chittagong Vikings on Friday.

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“We can tell the extent of his injury after we get the MRI report but he is out of the ODI series against New Zealand,” Dr Debashish Chowdhury, BCB’s chief medical officer, said.The injury comes as a heartbreak for Taskin, whose BPL performances had earned him an ODI recall after more than a year out of the side. Taskin currently tops the BPL wicket-takers’ list this season, with 22 in 12 games at an average of 14.45, while maintaining an economy rate of 8.55.Either Ebadot Hossain or Shafiul Islam is likely to be named as Taskin’s replacement.

Hazlewood’s back injury has meant the selectors won’t risk him for the World Cup while Handscomb is the unlucky batsman in the logjam for places

Alex Malcolm15-Apr-20190:32

Hodge: Smith, Warner should march into the World Cup side

Steven Smith and David Warner will make their international returns at the World Cup after both were named in Australia’s 15-man squad.Their comeback has come at a price with Peter Handscomb a surprise omission from the squad. Josh Hazlewood has also been left out.It means that Warner and Smith, who also return to the CA central contract list for 2019-2020, could play their first international since the Cape Town Test on June 1 against Afghanistan in Bristol when Australia start the defence of their World Cup campaign. Before that, there is a training camp in Brisbane with three one-day games against New Zealand – not full internationals – followed by warm-up matches in England.The pair has been using the IPL to help prepare for the World Cup following elbow surgeries. Warner has been in sparkling form for Sunrisers Hyderabad but Smith, whose injury was more severe, has found life a bit tougher for Rajasthan Royals.
Mitchell Starc has been included among a group of five fast bowlers despite not having played in Australia’s last 13 ODIs, but there was no room for Hazlewood, who has been sidelined with a back injury since January. The selection panel picked Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson, who is also returning from a shoulder dislocation, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff as the other pacers. Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Starc and Richardson had been selected subject to fitness. Squads can be changed until May 23 without ICC permission.Handscomb’s omission is the most surprising. The return of Smith and Warner meant there was an over-supply of top-order batsmen but it was thought Handscomb’s excellent recent record and his skills as a back-up wicketkeeper would almost certainly see him included.”He’s obviously disappointed and everyone is disappointed for him,” captain Aaron Finch said. “We knew that there was going to be some really tough decisions and some really big tough calls to be made on the squad and unfortunately Pete was that one. It shows the great strength of our group at the moment that we’re leaving guys in really good form out. I think that’s a reflection of where we come over the last couple of months in particular so he’s obviously disappointed but he also understands.”Mitchell Starc and Justin Langer at a training session•Getty Images

Handscomb had played each of Australia’s last 13 matches, making a century and three half-centuries, averaging 43.54 and striking at 98.15. In Australia’s eight-game winning streak on the tours of India and the UAE he was one of only three players, alongside Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Turner, to strike above 100. His 117 in Mohali was pivotal as Australia chased down 359, their highest chase in ODI history. Turner also made 84 not out from 43 balls in that innings but he too has been left out of the 15-man squad.”Given the depth of talent and competition for spots there were a number of tough calls we had to make to settle on our squad of 15,” Hohns said. “Unfortunately, from the recent squad which toured India and the UAE, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Turner and Kane Richardson have made way for the above inclusions, but all three have been included in the Australia A squad for the tour of England.”Josh Hazlewood has also been named in the Australia A squad. Having not played at the highest level for some time, we feel this will provide him with the best preparation to get some quality cricket under his belt. Our focus is to have Josh back bowling at his best for the commencement of a big Ashes Tour.”Alex Carey is the sole wicketkeeper in the squad, leaving Australia exposed if he gets injured during the warm-ups or any World Cup game. They will rely on the cover available in the Australia A squad, which includes Handscomb, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade although they wouldn’t be available for an injury shortly before the toss.As expected, both Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon have been included as the two spinners in the squad.Squad: Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon

Junaid Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Abid Ali have been removed from the provisional squad

Umar Farooq20-May-2019Pakistan have not quite hit the panic button yet, but in adding Wahab Riaz to their World Cup squad two years after his last ODI and a year after Mickey Arthur seemingly signalled the end of the pacer’s career, they have indicated growing alarm at the steep decline in their bowling performances.On Monday, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq announced Wahab’s surprise return, as well as the slightly less surprising additions of Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali, to Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the World Cup. Junaid Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Abid Ali are the players culled from the provisional squad announced a month ago.Why Wahab?
Wahab’s last ODI appearance came as far back as on June 4, 2017, in the group stage game against India in the Champions Trophy, when Pakistan suffered a heavy defeat. He wasn’t a part of the playing XI for Pakistan in their run to the trophy following that reversal.He has played 17 List A games since then, taking 27 wickets at an average of 28.40 with an economy rate of 5.18. Ten of those wickets have come in five games this year, at an average of 20.70 and economy of 4.60, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s title run in the Pakistan Cup 50-over tournament.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

More than those numbers, it seems to have been Wahab’s ability to generate reverse swing – and Pakistan’s poor form with the ball in England – that has swayed the selectors’ opinion.”Whatever you plan, you keep the room to review it as well,” Inzamam said in Lahore. “I don’t compromise on the team’s requirements. If he (Wahab) wasn’t originally picked in the squad, it didn’t mean that he had been discarded forever.”I understand he wasn’t close to the 23 probables named for the World Cup, but no one is in the squad without a reason. The rationale behind bringing him back is his ability to reverse swing the ball. Nobody expected the pitches in the UK to be flat even in the early season there (during the recent ODI series against England). So we have realised that and reviewed our selection.”We need to have bowlers who are good with the old ball and can defy the conditions and also have experience under their belt. Wahab has played in Tests recently and he was dropped on the basis of his form. But he did well in domestic cricket,” explained Inzamam. “But it was the requirement of the team and the conditions there in England, which have changed drastically.”Bringing him in doesn’t reflect any panic, but it’s a decision purely based on the requirement.”Mohammad Hasnain and Mohammad Amir look on•Getty Images

The comeback of Amir
Amir didn’t – or couldn’t – take part in any of the ODIs against England. He missed four of the five games with chickenpox but such has been the sense of worry following Pakistan’s bowling in the series, it was almost certain that Amir’s experience would see him return.Pakistan conceded 373 for 3, 359 for 4 (in 44.5 overs), 341 for 7 (in 49.3 overs), and 351 for 9 across the four completed games. Mickey Arthur, the coach, pointed to the fielding lapses as the team’s biggest concern after the series, but added that “our bowling has been average at best.”That has come on the back of a longer-term slip in bowling form, paralleling Amir’s own dip since the Champions Trophy two years ago. In his last ten ODI appearances, Amir has picked up just two wickets at an unflattering average of 148.50, though he has usually kept things tight. In 14 ODIs since the final of the Champions Trophy, his economy rate has been an excellent 4.58, though if games against Zimbabwe and Hong Kong are taken out, it goes up to 5.28.
“If you analyse the series, if the Pakistan bowlers were punished, so were the England bowlers,” Inzamam said. “So whatever the conditions, we need experienced bowlers, and Amir is very much ahead of every bowler we have. He was originally never discarded either, but we kept him with the team for the England series.”On the two pacers who were left out, Inzamam said, “Junaid and Faheem are dropped but that doesn’t mean they are not good. But we think players like Amir and Wahab are more suitable for these conditions, which is why we have preferred them.”Pakistan did utilise the 30 days the teams had been given – April 23 to May 23 – to make changes. They had named a 17-man squad for the England series and also carried Mohammad Hafeez while he was still recovering from injury. Hafeez missed the initial games but played the last two ODIs, scoring 59 in the first of them.Pakistan are, however, missing a reserve wicketkeeper behind captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, but Inzamam confirmed that Mohammad Rizwan would stay on in England and fill in in case of an injury.”I see my team at No. 1,” Inzamam said. “I am sure all teams are working hard for the World Cup, but I think Pakistan have the capability to win the World Cup.”

The batsman said that the collapse against Trailblazers in their earlier match had made the team cautious

Annesha Ghosh in Jaipur10-May-2019The final league game of the three-team Women’s T20 Challenge in Jaipur set off a debate over whether Mithali Raj’s Velocity should have tried to go for a win or – as they did – play conservatively to secure qualification for the final based on a “calculative”, net-run-rate-focused approach.The purpose of the four-match tournament, carrying official T20 status, is to try and make a case for a full-fledged IPL-style league for women, by drawing in more audience with high-quality cricket. On Thursday, though, Velocity’s innings – following No. 3 Danielle Wyatt’s dismissal – put up anything but, that too in front of a 7000-strong crowd.Chasing 143 against Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas, and with both spots in the final up for grabs, Velocity needed 66 off 51 to win when Wyatt was dismissed. Getting to 117 would have allowed Velocity to finish the league on second and pip third-placed Trailblazers on NRR for a final showdown with Supernovas. They opted for the safer option.After getting to 77 for 3 in the first 69 balls of the innings, Velocity made 53 off the remaining 51 without losing a wicket. They hit only two fours, off 43 balls, until reaching the 117-run mark, their qualification cut-off. By then, the equation for a win had ballooned to 25 off eight balls, and they eventually managed to get to 130 for 3.ALSO READ: Shafali, Harleen, Sushree – inspiring hope for India womenSteering the chase after Wyatt’s dismissal were Raj and Veda Krishnamurthy, who remained unbeaten on 40 off 42 and 30 off 29 respectively. Krishnamurthy, usually an attacking batsman, shed light on Velocity’s conservative approach to the chase after the match.”In the previous game, we made a lapse by losing a heap of wickets because we were in a rush to close out the chase,” said Krishnamurthy of Velocity’s five-for-nothing collapse with two runs left to score against Trailblazers on Wednesday.”So our initial aim [on Thursday] was to qualify for the final because we had a certain target to get. So, we were asked to play accordingly. And when we got close to that target is actually when we tried to go for our shots.”The experienced pair’s cautious approach stuck out as a sore thumb, for only two days ago, the fearless strokeplay of their 15-year-old uncapped team-mate Shafali Verma became an early highlight of the three-wicket win, and the tournament.Krishnamurthy, however, reasoned that any other approach on their part would have exposed the “inexperienced” Velocity middle order to a “pressure situation” and put their chances of qualification in jeopardy.”If you look at it, we did get good runs in the Powerplay,” she said. “With Danni going about playing her natural game. It put us on the front-foot. It was just that we were being very calculative in how to get the game done.”We wanted to get as close as possible, considering after me, it’s a bit of an inexperienced middle order coming in, so we didn’t want to put them under a pressure situation. We just wanted to get as close as we can so we have another game to come back and think about it.”

Tours by West Indies, Zimbabwe and Australia also scheduled between December 2019 and March 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2019Five Test matches, three against South Africa and two against Bangladesh, will be the highlight of a packed home season for the Indian team – the top-ranked Test team – one in which they will host five teams.The season kicks off with South Africa’s tour in September-October 2019, in which the teams will face off in three Tests – to be played in Visakhapatnam, Ranchi and Pune – and three T20Is. That will be followed by a visit from Bangladesh in November, with the teams playing three T20Is and two Tests, in Indore and Kolkata.The five Tests will be a part of the ICC’s new Test Championship.West Indies visit next, for a series of three T20Is and three ODIs, all in December, and in January there will be three T20Is against Zimbabwe and three ODIs against Australia. South Africa complete their tour with a three-ODI series in March.

Fixtures – 2019

South Africa tour of IndiaBangladesh tour of IndiaWest Indies tour of India

Fixtures – 2020

Zimbabwe tour of IndiaAustralia tour of IndiaSouth Africa tour of India