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The noise might be a reminder of continued development, but Lancashire fail to build an innings

Paul Edwards07-Apr-2023
Given that on Thursday morning no county in the land had gained any points at all, it seemed both true and barmy for a few pundits to describe this as a top-of-the-table match. The expectation lying behind such a statement, of course, was that both Lancashire and Surrey will be among those fighting it out in September when every point’s significance is clearer and the title is in the hazard.But the significance attached to this first game of the season explains why Lancashire’s steady, and then headlong, subsidence this afternoon and evening mattered so much. The home side’s decline from 43 without loss to 197 for eight might not lead to a Surrey victory. (Can Keaton Jennings’ top-order donate their wickets so carelessly a second time?) But it has allowed Surrey to gain a powerful psychological advantage over the home side, even if such an advantage has modest expression in points. So far, at least…So almost all of today’s cricket will have pleased the Peter May Boys, whose loyal support is purely vocal at Surrey’s away games; sadly, they do not cheer on their team from a fine encampment such as they have established at The Oval. However, there is so much building work taking place on the ground at the moment that the addition of a gazebo or two shouldn’t cause much of a fuss and surely something should be done to mark Sean Abbott’s day.That said, Lancashire’s problems were very often their own damn silly fault. Facing a seam-dominated attack that asked probing questions, they offered inadequate answers and no one was guiltier than the specialist batsmen. For example, in the fourth over after lunch, Luke Wells drove at a wideish ball from Abbott at edged a catch to Ollie Pope, who pouched a diving two-handed catch to his left with an athletic lack of fuss. An hour later, Josh Bohannon, having played with impressive composure for his 32 runs, slapped a full-length leg-spinner from Cam Steel straight to Abbott at shortish extra-cover. Steven Croft, so often the source of Lancashire’s common-sense recoveries made 11 before hooking Abbott straight to Kemar Roach at long leg.By now, Abbott might have reckoned that this was his day and that memories of his previous injury-plagued stint at The Oval in 2021, when he took two wickets and scored 40 runs in his only game, were fading.If so, he was quite correct. After tea, he would take two more wickets and another catch to wreck Lancastrian hopes that their tail-end resistance would match that of their opponents. One of the most vital wickets, though, was taken by Dan Worrall, whose short ball was inside-edged into his stumps by Dane Vilas. “Oh, it’s a drag-on!” said the excellent Paul Allott on commentary, thankfully referring to the mode of dismissal rather than any perception that Lancashire’s batsmen were now being threatened by Smaug in addition to the Surrey attack.Seven overs later Jordan Clark bowled Keaton Jennings off his pads for 76, although Ben Foakes’ determination to stand up to Clark may have cramped the Lancashire skipper. As though reacting to the loss of a batsman who had scored runs for fun in 2022, the home side lost three wickets for one run in seven balls and did disappear as though there were a few fantastic beasts in pursuit of them. And nothing was quite so out of kilter with that passage of play than what then resulted – a last hour’s cricket in which Colin de Grandhomme and Will Williams put on 36 more runs in 17 overs and gave the impression that batting was one of the simplest activities known to humankind.Surrey supporters will rightly point out that a similar mood had been achieved on Thursday evening and Friday morning by Steel, who drove Williams through the covers and picked him up over square-leg for a six before reaching his century with his 11th four, this time a neat clip off his legs. The batsman’s celebrations were effusive enough but they were matched beyond the boundary: every member of the Surrey squad applauded him from the away balcony and cheers were also heard from a particular enclave of supporters sitting in the pavilion.One warmed to all these reactions; Steel’s century had taken him 189 minutes, 152 balls – and months of winter work in the nets. This was his fourth first-class century but, rather more significantly, his first score above 50 since September 2018, when he played for Durham. He has already provided us with one of the moments of the season.The broader context of Surrey’s batting deserved an ovation, too. Three of their last five partnerships had put on at least 50 and none had yielded fewer than 37 runs. Having been 77 for four and having lost half their side for 164 they had scored another 278 runs, thus collecting four bonus points. The only sliver of grit in their caramel Freddo was the dismissal of Kemar Roach for 18 caught behind by Bell off the final ball of the 110th over. Luke Wood’s second wicket had thus given Lancashire a third bonus point but even that was a thin reward and things might look a damn sight worse for the home side come Sunday evening.

“We are realistic about how difficult it is to get to this stage. That’s why we are proud of our record of being consistent,” adds the CSK head coach

Shashank Kishore27-May-20231:44

Fleming: We add the strength below to what Dhoni does at the top

Chennai Super Kings may be playing their 10th IPL final, but there’s a tinge of nervousness as if it’s their first. Stephen Fleming, their head coach, believes that isn’t necessarily a bad thing ahead of Sunday, when they take on Gujarat Titans at their home venue in Ahmedabad.”We’re excited, but there’s a bit of nervousness as well,” Fleming said at the pre-final press conference. “It’s a big stage, a big occasion, and there’s a lot of work that goes into getting to this point. We’re proud of what we’ve done, and we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”Fleming was asked to elaborate on why he felt there was nervousness. After all, CSK have won four titles, next only to Mumbai Indians, who have five. Shouldn’t there be an air of intimidation about them, then?”It’s a big occasion, the game doesn’t change, but the outcome does; it’s really hard not to look too far ahead,” Fleming explained. “And the dream is of winning it again, right from the coach to a guy who hasn’t played a game. To be part of that [final] is what we set out to do at the start, that’s our purpose. Trying to contain that excitement and trying to stay in the present is one of the great challenges as we get towards the end of the tournament.Related

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“We’ve got to stay very present against Gujarat, one of the most consistent sides in the tournament. They’re an excellent side, and we can’t afford to dream too much, but this is why we’re here. The excitement levels and the nerves of the big stage slowly simmer away, but it’s a good thing to have, it’s just how you work with them in your system.”We’ve worked very hard at that. We’ve got some good people around us. We look forward to this challenge, but you have to have a certain level of anxiety and nervousness to be at your best, I guess. It’s about how you manage that and how quickly you can sync into the game. That’s what we will be looking to do.”Fleming then offered a perspective on why it’s so difficult to win the IPL. It may seem he’s being modest at first, but as he peeled off different layers to managing a team, the emotions, results and staying balanced, there was a sense in why he and MS Dhoni keep focusing on “process” as a buzzword.”It’s a big process,” Fleming started. “What I will say is margins between success and failure have gotten closer and closer each year. We may have been ninth [in 2022] or seventh [in 2020], and you look back, and there are a number of games that could’ve gone differently. Maybe, last-ball finishes or a great performance. So they’re small defining moments that determine where you finish on the log.”Process” is the buzzword Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni operate on•PTI

“It’s just getting closer and closer as teams get smarter about the players they pick or conditions they play in. This year’s been no different, it’s been the hardest. Each team you come up against it feels like an incredibly difficult challenge. The thing we’re really proud of is that when we’ve had a bad season, we’ve been able to bounce back.”A part of it is to do with how we finish a bad season. We’re always looking for the positives, giving players opportunities that we can work into the following year; we don’t write it off. There are a lot of things to learn when a season goes well, but equally, a lot more things to learn when it doesn’t. So, we’re always looking to get better.”We are realistic about how difficult it is to get to this stage. That’s why we are proud of our record of being consistent over a period of time. The greatest challenge of this competition is when you get a new team that’s going really well, you’ve got to disband, and you can only keep four players. The fact that we’ve been able to stay consistent with those rules in place is something we look back very proudly on.”Fleming also underlined how playing on different types of surfaces in Chennai this time, as against playing on just the one kind of surface that they’re accustomed to at home, has geared them up to be a better team away.”[In the past] we geared ourselves up for Chennai so well that we struggled in different conditions at times in the away games,” Fleming said. “So, the finals are always a little bit of a challenge, our record is about 50% [won four, lost five finals] maybe, that’s due to the style of game that we created.”The victim of being so good at home is that we had to make adjustments when we went to a neutral venue. This year we’re a bit more rounded, we’ve had to be because of that reason. Going back to Chennai [this season] was hard [in terms of conditions]. I wanted to bowl [first vs Mumbai], MS was the other way and in Qualifier 1, it was the opposite. So we were well off the mark in trying to get the conditions right, but this time around, the team is rounded enough to put performances together come the finals. We’re not too worried about the conditions we will get. We’re mentally in a lot better place than what we’ve been in the past.”

Allrounder says Australia “travelling really well as a group” despite absence of Meg Lanning

Valkerie Baynes20-Jun-2023Tahlia McGrath has described the fact that Australia were pushed by England A in their Women’s Ashes warm-up as the perfect preparation for the series.England A bowled Australia out for 284 in the first innings of their three-day, red-ball warm-up match in Leicester last week then piled on 562 in reply, led by centuries to Lauren Winfield-Hill and Paige Scholfield.”It was perfect prep for us,” McGrath said at Trent Bridge, two days out from the Test which will begin the multi-format series. “We really enjoyed it. We got tested, we had a long day in the field and we had some really good moments and some moments that we’ve had some really good discussions about and reflected on. From a preparation point of view, we couldn’t be happier. We’ve had some really good chats, reflected and we’re going into this five-day game really confident.”Related

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McGrath is vice-captain for Alyssa Healy, who in turn will lead the side in place of regular skipper Meg Lanning, who was ruled out of the tour for medical reasons. McGrath said she was impressed with how Australia had adapted in the circumstances.”Meg’s an outstanding captain and it’s obviously going to be a bit different without her, but everyone’s stepped up and just found that five percent extra,” she said. “It’s a collective approach with the side and Midge [Healy] is doing an outstanding job with leading from the front. Every time she speaks, everyone stops and listens. So we’re finding everyone’s stepping up and doing that little bit extra and we’re travelling really well as a group.”McGrath has been hugely impressed with Phoebe Litchfield, who is expected to open alongside Beth Mooney as Healy moves down the order to manage her workload, which also includes keeping wicket.Litchfield scored 68 during a 167-run stand with Annabel Sutherland, who made 116, as Australia reached 371 for 7 in the second innings of the warm-up game.”Phoebs has been unreal,” McGrath said. “If I was her, I’d be quite nervous, my first major tour away, and she’s like she’s been doing it for years.”She’s absolutely killing it, extremely hard working at training, and she’s so hard on herself, she just wants perfection. I’m really enjoying watching her journey and I’m excited for her, if she gets the opportunity, to watch her go out there and do her thing.”I look at our squad and I’m just excited about how much talent there is. You look at the Phoebe Litchfields, the Darcie Browns, yes, they’re young in age but wow, they’re serious cricketers. I don’t think it matters who we put on the park, it’s going to be a really good team and yeah, we’re missing a bit of experience but we’ve got some talent and we’ve got a lot of domestic experience behind us as well so I’m excited for different individuals to stand up at different times.”England enjoyed the best of the weather on Tuesday and were able to train on the outfield at Trent Bridge while Australia had been forced to train entirely indoors due to heavy morning showers. But McGrath didn’t believe that would dent Australia’s hopes of taking four points from winning the Test, which looks set to be played in finer conditions and with a fifth day providing an added buffer against a draw.”That’s one thing we were really excited about, the prospect of a result, and both teams play a really aggressive brand of cricket and are both in some really good form at the moment,” she said. “Personally, I love the five days I’d love to see it from now on. That’s where I stand on it. But we’ll leave that for others to decide.”If any moisture remains in the air, McGrath will look forward to the chance to try and swing the red Dukes ball, which she said had provided a learning experience in terms of how to use it, but a welcome one ahead of just her fourth Test appearance in what will be 53 matches for her country.”I’m feeling really good,” she added. “If you’d asked me a couple of months ago, maybe a different story when I was learning the red ball. But we’ve all put in a lot of hard work, we’ve had a lot of discussions as a team, a lot of discussions with our skill group coaches… everyone’s feeling really good about their game.”We’ve had a decent training block where we’ve trained pretty uncomfortable at times and we’ve come out better for it, so I personally go in full of confidence and I know for a fact that the team goes in really confident as well.”

Earlier, Carey’s 66* allowed Australia to declare on 270 for 8

Karthik Krishnaswamy10-Jun-2023Under bright skies and on an Oval pitch that seemed to ease out against all expectations, India’s batters set up a potentially thrilling final day, racing to 164 for 3 at more than four an over to keep alive their pursuit of a world-record fourth-innings target. Australia remain favourites, with India needing a further 280 on the final day, but they may have a lot of hard work ahead of them to take the seven remaining wickets, with the second new ball 40 overs away.India may have still felt a little cross with themselves at stumps, though, losing perhaps a wicket more than they would have liked by then, two of them to aggressive shots. Rohit Sharma was lbw to Nathan Lyon, missing a sweep from a stump-to-stump line, and Cheteshwar Pujara toe-ended an attempted ramp over the slips off a Pat Cummins bouncer.Both batters will argue, though, that these are shots they usually play well. They will also argue that the same positivity had helped them stitch a second-wicket stand of 51 in 77 balls. The two wickets, however, fell in the space of five balls, turning 92 for 1 to 93 for 3.It was the perfect opening for Australia to bulldoze through, but Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were having none of it. They ended the day reprising the same positivity that had gone before, putting on an unbroken 71 for the fourth wicket, with both batters looking in excellent ball-striking rhythm. Conditions, too, didn’t seem to test them, with the pitch showing far less tendency to produce inconsistent bounce than it had done through the first three innings of the match. Kohli and Rahane ended the day with control percentages of 93 and 97 respectively.As they safely negotiated the last over of the day, a largely India-supporting crowd was in fine voice, a section of them belting out this number from the 1975 blockbuster : ” [we’ll never break this friendship].” Australia will want to break it as soon as possible when day five dawns.The crowd had been far less pleased some two hours earlier, though, after India lost their first wicket off what ended up as the last ball before tea, following a near-run-a-ball opening partnership of 41. Scott Boland got one to straighten and kick in the corridor, Shubman Gill pushed at it with hard hands, and Cameron Green dived low to his left to pluck out a superlative gully catch, his second of the match. Gill stood his ground, though, and the decision went up to the third umpire. As is often the case with these low grabs, replays seemed inconclusive, but the decision went in Australia’s favour.Chants of “Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!” continued to follow Green through the rest of the evening, particularly when he bowled. A World Test Championship that had been full of quality cricket now had the one ingredient it had been missing: controversy and needle.1:37

Was Green’s catch to dismiss Gill clean?

During the first session of the day, Green had had a far different effect on the crowd, keeping them quiet as he added 18 runs in 87 balls to his overnight score of 7. His dismissal was in keeping with the tone of his innings: he attempted to pad away a Ravindra Jadeja delivery from over the wicket only for the ball to hit his pad and roll onto the wicket.By then, Australia had added 44 to their overnight 123 for 4 while losing two wickets in 19 overs – Marnus Labuschagne the other batter dismissed, nicking Umesh Yadav to first slip. India had bowled with discipline while extracting just enough from the surface to keep the batters vigilant; with Australia’s lead just 340, they may have hoped to wrap their innings up before it got to 400.Alex Carey, however, ensured that it swelled well beyond that figure, scoring an opportunistic 66 to go with his 48 in the first innings, and putting on 93 for the seventh wicket with Mitchell Starc. Both batters began cautiously and had their moments of discomfort, particularly against Jadeja finding sharp turn and bounce from the footmarks outside the left-handers’ off stump, but grew increasingly confident as India’s quicks tired.Mohammed Shami, who had bowled frugally and beaten the bat multiple times without any reward in his previous spells, came back when India took the second new ball and dismissed Starc and Pat Cummins when they were looking to slog for quick runs. Australia declared at the stroke of Cummins’ dismissal, setting India a never-before-achieved 444 to win.It may have been a nostalgia-inducing moment among old-timers at the ground. In 1979, a Sunil Gavaskar double-hundred had inspired India to a thrilling draw at The Oval; they finished on 429 for 8 after being set 438 by England. There’s still a chance that Sunday may bring similar levels of excitement.

Australia quick to have left shoulder problem assessed on return home

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2023Tayla Vlaeminck has suffered a setback in her bid to return to international cricket from injury.Vlaeminck, the 24-year-old right-arm quick from Australia, suffered instability in her left shoulder while bowling for Australia A in a 50-over match against England A on Sunday, the final game of their tour which ran alongside the early stages of the Women’s Ashes.She will be assessed further upon returning to Australia in a few weeks’ time and it is hoped the problem is just a minor blip on what has otherwise been an encouraging return to action after a lengthy battle with a foot injury.Vlaeminck was one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s game before suffering a recurrence of a stress fracture in the navicular bone of her right foot, which kept her out of two T20 World Cups either side of the ODI edition in 2022. She made the last of her 24 appearances for Australia during the 2012-22 Women’s Ashes.Related

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Some 18 months on, she played for Australia A in a T20 at Loughborough on June 21, picking up a wicket. She claimed three more wickets, one in each of her next three games for Australia A – a T20 followed by two 50-over fixtures – but was injured during the last of those at Guildford, where she bowled just 2.4 overs for figures of 1 for 23.Vlaeminck has worked closely with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria, remodelling her action to try and prevent a recurrence of her foot injury, as well as working with the Australian Ballet to develop strength in the area. Previously she had endured two knee reconstructions, a dislocated shoulder and a partial anterior cruciate ligament strain.Speaking after Vlaeminck’s comeback match in June, Shawn Flegler, Cricket Australia’s Female High Performance and Talent Manager, said that while it was tempting to hope she could play a part in either of two upcoming Tests for Australia, in India towards the end of the year and against South Africa in Perth in February, that was not a priority.”We will just focus on white-ball stuff for the time being,” Flegler said. “That’s all I have said to her. Let’s get through that. She has to build confidence again that she can get through two games, and get her through a tour, and keep reassessing as time goes on.”Australia A swept the three-match 50-over series, while England A won the T20s 3-0.

Bumrah, who returned to competitive cricket after a lengthy injury layoff, was named the Player of the Series

Ashish Pant23-Aug-2023Match abandoned A persistent drizzle and later a wet outfield meant the third and final T20I between India and Ireland in Malahide was abandoned without even the toss taking place. India took the series 2-0.The day started with a steady drizzle and it continued for a long time. When the rain did relent, the umpires came out for an inspection at 5.45pm local time, but the outfield conditions were too damp for play. The match, which should have got underway at 3pm local time, was called off approximately three hours later.