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Pakistan have picked four uncapped players in the Test side to play three matches against West Indies starting April 21

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2017Eighteen-year-old Shadab Khan has broken into the Pakistan Test squad, 10 days after making his T20 international debut. Misbah-ul-Haq was named captain, as expected, for the three Tests in the West Indies starting April 21 in Kingston.

Pakistan squad changes

IN: Ahmed Shehzad, Shadab Khan, Shan Masood, Usman Salahuddin, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas
OUT: Sharjeel Khan, Sohail Khan, Sami Aslam, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz, Imran Khan

Four other uncapped Test players, apart from Shadab, were included in the squad – Usman Salahuddin, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Asghar – while Ahmed Shehzad and Shan Masood returned to the side.As many as seven players out of the 17 that toured Australia in December-January didn’t find a place this time: Sharjeel Khan, Sohail Khan, Sami Aslam, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz and Imran Khan.”The Test team has been selected keeping in mind the conditions in West Indies and the recent performances of players during the domestic and international season,” chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said. “The team is a fine blend of experience and youth and believe that team will do well in the tour.”While Shadab foxed the West Indies batsmen in all four T20Is recently, Salahuddin was picked to strengthen the middle order, and Abbas and Hasan beefed up the pace attack that also comprised Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz. The spin attack would consist of Yasir Shah and the uncapped left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar, who toured Australia as back-up for Yasir.Shehzad last played a Test on the tour of Sri Lanka in 2015 and was not part of the national side since the World T20 due to disciplinary issues. He returned to the T20I and ODI sides recently, picked for the ongoing West Indies tour. Masood, on the other hand, last played a Test last July against England. He has been among the runs recently in domestic one-day matches in Pakistan, for United Bank Limited in the Departmental One Day Cup and for Islamabad in the Regional One Day Cup.Pakistan Test squad Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk & vice-capt), Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas

When the two teams meet on Wednesday, Bangladesh will have a chance to register their first victory over New Zealand at an away or a neutral venue

ESPNcricinfo staff16-May-2017

Match facts

Wednesday May 17, Dublin
Start time 1045 local time (0945 GMT)Mitchell Santner’s five-for against Ireland was a tale of two spells•AFP

Big picture

Bangladesh have never beaten New Zealand at an away or neutral venue in 15 matches and will be keen to set that record straight, given how the last series between the two teams, in New Zealand, panned out.In all three of those matches, sudden and quick batting slumps from positions of relative stability cost Bangladesh. Some of that fragility was also on display in their opening match of this tri-nation series against Ireland: they lost wickets on either side of a promising stand, before Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah made a recovery. It’s a tendency Bangladesh will have to guard against, particularly if they want to tackle a New Zealand side which, although weakened, fought back well against Ireland.In conditions suited to seam bowling, how Bangladesh cope with New Zealand’s inexperienced but promising pace attack will be key. They will also be wary of New Zealand’s middle order striking form, although both George Worker and Ross Taylor were not quite fluent during their half-centuries against Ireland. New Zealand are likely to continue with Luke Ronchi as opener, giving the batsman freedom to hit out in order to ease the pressure on the middle order.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LWLLL (most recent first, last five completed matches)
New Zealand: WLWLW

In the spotlight

Mahmudullah‘s unbeaten 43 in the rain-interrupted match last week was only the fourth time he’s scored more than 20 in an innings since October 2016. While he has scored a half-century in that period, he has not been consistent. Mahmudullah had a disappointing ODI series in New Zealand, where he scored 4 runs in three innings. However, the solid patch of form from the Dhaka Premier League has extended to this tour, and Bangladesh will be happy that his runs against Ireland came after they were struggling at 70 for 4 in the 15th over. Mahmudullah needs another 79 to become the fifth Bangladesh batsman to score 3000 ODI runs.New Zealand coach Mike Hesson recently said they were not averse to opening the bowling with a spinner even in English conditions during the Champions Trophy, particularly if the track was flat. Mitchell Santner could be a key part of that strategy. Hesson was particularly impressed with how the left-arm spinner bounced back against Ireland: having conceded 43 and taken one wicket in his first spell of seven overs, Santner came back to take four wickets for seven in his second spell, decisively turning the match for New Zealand.

Teams news

Adam Milne is likely to be available for selection, having joined the team last week. He could replace Ish Sodhi if New Zealand opt to boost their pace attack in what are likely to be seaming conditions.New Zealand (probable) 1 Luke Ronchi (wk), 2 Tom Latham (capt), 3 George Worker, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 James Neesham, 7 Colin Munro, 8 Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Seth Rance, 11 Adam Milne/ Ish SodhiMashrafe Mortaza will return from over-rate suspension, at the expense of possibly Rubel Hossain. Apart from that change, Bangladesh may want to persist with the XI they picked for the first match, which was abandoned.Bangladesh:(probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

This will be the first ODI, and the second international game, at Castle Avenue since May 2014, when Sri Lanka took on Ireland in a two-match series. At the time, conditions were green and seaming and it could be the same on Wednesday. The temperature in Dublin is expected to be between 15 and 18 Celsius during the day, with a chance of rain.

Stats

• This will be the first match at Clontarf between two Full Member nations. Bangladesh had played a match there against West Indies in 1999, but had not yet achieved Full Member status
• Sunday’s match against Ireland was only the eighth time that Ronchi opened the batting in an ODI. His score of 37 was also his best at that position.
• Tamim and Shakib Al Hasan have the most runs by Bangladesh batsmen against New Zealand – 442 and 436 respectively.

Quotes

“It’s a challenge for us because we have guys coming back from the IPL. So we will have players we will release back to England and we will give a little bit of time to acclimatise and then assess conditions, because there are still ODIs and we will need to keep picking what we deem to be our best team.”

Karn Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah picked up their best T20 bowling figures, combining to take 7 for 23 in seven overs to lift Mumbai Indians into their fourth IPL final

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy19-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:11

Tait: Bumrah is consistent and unstoppable

Legspinner Karn Sharma and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah picked up their best T20 bowling figures on the same day, combining to take 7 for 23 in seven overs to lift Mumbai Indians into their fourth IPL final with a six-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders.Sent in to bat on another difficult Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, Knight Riders succumbed against excellent bowling plans to slump to 31 for 5 in seven overs. A 56-run sixth-wicket partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Ishank Jaggi ensured they would get past their lowest total – 67, against the same opponents in 2008 – but their total of 107 was never going to present Mumbai a genuine challenge.Mumbai lost three wickets inside their Powerplay, before Krunal Pandya and Rohit Sharma steadied the chase with a 54-run stand. Krunal was unbeaten on 45 off 30 balls as Mumbai got home with 33 balls to spare.Bumrah, Karn demolish top order
Mumbai are among the best teams in the IPL at drawing up strategies against individual players. They proved this in the Powerplay.Bumrah had not taken the new ball this season, but he did so today. There seemed to be a reason for this – his exaggerated angle into the right-hander and the bit of extra bounce off his high-arm action can make it hard to hit down the ground. Down the ground is Chris Lynn’s go-to area, and even the presence of a fielder at long-on did not deter him – he only managed to pick him out, though, making contact with the ball off the high part of his bat.The exaggerated inward angle also did for Robin Uthappa, who has a pronounced tendency to plant his front leg across and play around his front pad. Bumrah, bowling a second over inside the Powerplay for only the third time this season, slipped one in nice and full, beat his inside edge, and pinged his front pad.In between those wickets, Karn took out Sunil Narine. Before this match, Narine had scored the bulk of his runs through mid-off, at a blistering pace: 78 – 36.45% of his 214 this season – off 24 balls. Mumbai had made note of this even in the previous meeting between these sides at Eden Gardens, stationing a man at long-off and getting their quicks to deny him the drive. He fell for a four-ball duck in that game, lofting a back-of-a-length offcutter from Tim Southee to extra-cover.This time, following broadly similar plans, Mitchell Johnson, Bumrah and Lasith Malinga gave him only 10 from seven balls – with six coming off one hit over square leg – before Karn came on to bowl the fifth over. The legspinner made a conscious effort to deny Narine swinging room, bowling at pads instead, and gave up only a leg-bye off two balls before he came back on strike. Frustrated, he ran down the pitch and was stumped slogging at the perfectly-pitched googly.Two more fell in Karn’s next over, the seventh of Knight Riders’ innings. Gambhir picked out deep midwicket and Colin de Grandhomme, camped in his crease to a googly he didn’t pick, was rapped on the back pad. Knight Riders were 31 for 5.A brief and inadequate fightback
Suryakumar and Jaggi stemmed the fall of wickets, but runs continued to trickle. By the end of the 12th over, Knight Riders were only 61 for 5. Then Suryakumar swept Krunal to the square-leg boundary and followed up by lifting him inside-out over extra-cover. Jaggi, who had been scoring at well below a run a ball till that point, also got into the act, whipping Malinga for two leg-side fours in the next over. Knight Riders made 22 off the 13th and 14th overs, but they were taking risks in order to score that quickly. Karn came back to bowl the 15th over, and Jaggi, getting too close to the pitch of the ball, whipped him straight to long-on.There was no real batting to follow, and Knight Riders only added 19 while losing their four remaining wickets, leaving seven balls unused. Johnson picked up two in the 17th over, Bumrah got his third in the 18th, and Malinga finished off the innings with a trademark dipping slower ball in the 19th.Krunal aces Mumbai’s chase
Mumbai only needed one partnership, and they got that courtesy Krunal and Rohit. They lost three wickets before that, though, two to Piyush Chawla. Like Karn, Chawla enjoyed the amount of grip he was getting off the surface; he foxed Lendl Simmons with a googly in the second over, and then bowled Ambati Rayudu after spinning a legbreak past his outside edge. In between, Parthiv Patel, who had hit three fours in racing to 14, top-edged Umesh Yadav to the keeper.Right from the time he walked in, there was a sense of awareness about Krunal’s batting. His first four was a paddle-sweep through the vacant short fine-leg area – Narine had moved that fielder to slip in a bid for wickets. Krunal showed ample signs that he was picking Narine’s variations out of his hand, scoring two fours in the 12th over – a dab to fine third man and a chip over the covers.Rohit pulled Nathan Coulter-Nile straight to deep square leg in the 13th over, but by then Mumbai only needed 20, off 46 balls. They would only need 13 to set up a summit clash against Rising Pune Supergiant.

Chris Woakes knew his Champions Trophy was over when he left the field against Bangladesh after bowling just two overs with a side strain which felt like ‘someone sticking a knife in my side’

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-20171:29

Agarkar: Woakes a huge loss at the death

Chris Woakes knew his Champions Trophy was over as soon as he left the field against Bangladesh after bowling just two overs, having sustained a side strain which felt like “someone sticking a knife in my side”.Scans following the match on Thursday evening revealed the extent of his injury, which could also make him a doubt for the start of the Test series against South Africa which begins on July 6. A replacement for England’s Champions Trophy squad is expected to be named late on Saturday after England Lions – who include two contenders in Steven Finn and Tom Curran – complete their second one-day match against South Africa A.”I finished two overs but it was probably on the third or fourth ball of the second over that it felt like something had become tight in my side,” Woakes said. “I managed to finish the over but, by the last ball, I knew that something really wasn’t right. To a certain extent, it felt like someone was sticking a knife in my side. That was why I didn’t come back out.”I knew yesterday that it wasn’t going to be good news. It was then a matter of seeing how bad it would be on the scan results.”The toughest thing as a bowler is having to come off after only bowling a couple of overs. Leaving the guys out there with almost 10 men is difficult to take, so I’m really pleased the boys managed to get over the line with a win.”Woakes had gone into the Bangladesh match nursing a tight quad that led to his omission from the final two matches of England’s recent ODI series against South Africa, but he seemed back to his best when he opened the tournament with a maiden to Tamim Iqbal.He was one of three players – along with Ben Stokes, who is also managing a knee injury, and Jos Buttler – who had extended stays at the IPL, but Woakes insisted he returned from the tournament feeling in tip-top condition.”When I came back from the IPL, my body felt as good as it can be. I felt in a good space physically and mentally, and I was confident too because I bowled well out there,” he said. “There were no signs of my side being tight or sore before the game yesterday, so it’s just one of those things and you have to take it on the chin.”England captain Eoin Morgan said after the Bangladesh game that Woakes had not been rushed back from the quad niggle. “He was chomping at the bit to play,” he said. “If we rushed him, he might have played the last game of the [South Africa] one-day series but we didn’t want to rush him.”While a timescale for Woakes’ recovery remains uncertain, things can get especially tricky if the injury involves damage to the intercostal muscles, because, even when fully recovered, fast bowlers in particular find it hard to hit the crease with their usual aggression for fear of suffering a relapse.”I will rehab it as well as I can,” Woakes said. “I’ll listen to the medical staff, they know exactly what they are doing. We will be as professional as possible and try and get back as soon as possible.”I don’t want to set a target to come back, I want to take it day-by-day and build it back up to return as soon as possible. I’ve never had a side strain before but, as a bowler, it’s one of those injuries that is important not to risk.”In Woakes’ absence, England’s remaining bowlers did enough to limit Bangladesh to an obtainable 305 for 6. However, their seam attack remains a cause for concern. Jake Ball – included in place of the legspinner Adil Rashid – struggled for form, conceding 82 runs in his ten overs, while doubts still linger over Stokes’ ability to bowl a full spell following his knee injury.The likeliest replacement is Finn, who was considered unlucky to have missed out on original selection for the squad, in spite of his occasionally erratic form in recent months. He signalled his readiness for a recall by claiming three wickets for England Lions against South Africa A on Thursday.Other candidates could be Toby Roland-Jones, the Middlesex seamer who made his debut against South Africa at Lord’s and offers batting ability, or Surrey’s Tom Curran who was called up to the tour of West Indies earlier this year.Given that England are now in the midst of a global tournament, another strong candidate could have been Stuart Broad, a proven international performer who has not been a regular member of the one-day set-up since the end of the 2015 World Cup, but was drafted into the tour of South Africa last winter. However, it is understood that he is not under consideration.

Afghanistan A will be replacing Australia A, who had pulled out of the tour of South Africa over the ongoing pay dispute with their board

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2017Afghanistan A will join South Africa A and India A to play a seven-match, 50-over tri-series starting on July 26 in Pretoria.Cricket South Africa (CSA) had extended an invitation to the Afghanistan Cricket Board after they were informed that Australia A, who were originally scheduled to participate in the tri-series, pulled out over a long-standing pay dispute with their board.

A team series schedule

• Jul 26 – Afghanistan A v India A

• Jul 28 – South Africa A v India A

• Jul 30 – South Africa A v Afghanistan A

• Aug 1 – Afghanistan A v India A

• Aug 3 – South Africa A v India A

• Aug 5 – South Africa A v Afghanistan A

• Aug 8 – TBA v TBA

• Aug 12-15 – South Africa A v India A

• Aug 19-22 – South Africa A v India A

“We are very pleased to accept Cricket South Africa’s invitation to participate in the upcoming triangular series,” Afghanistan Cricket Board’s chief executive Shafiqullah Stanikzai said. “This will be our first-ever visit to South Africa and I am certain that this will give Afghanistan A team very good exposure to competitive cricket.”This came on the back of Afghanistan securing Test status at the culmination of the ICC board meetings in June and CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat congratulated them on their rapid rise. Afghanistan also made their debut at Lord’s last week against MCC, but persistent rain led to play being called off midway.”Afghanistan were deservedly granted Full Member status at the ICC annual conference last month after showing impressive growth in recent years,” Lorgat saidThe ACB tweeted their squad for the tour and it features 11 men who have already played international cricket including the likes of openers Usman Ghani and Javed Ahmadi, middle-order batsman Najibullah Zadran and wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai.Ihsan Janat, Younas Ahmadzai, Nawaz Khan, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai are the only uncapped players in the 15-member squad.Afghanistan A: Usman Ghani, , Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Younas Ahmadzai, Nasir Jamal, Najibullah Zadran, Shafiqullah, Afsar Zazai (wk), Karim Janat, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Yamin Ahmadzai, Fareed Ahmad, Ihsan Janat, Younas Ahmadzai, Nawaz Khan, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai

Luis Reece has had a fine T20 season and Derbyshire needed him again after an uncertain display against Durham

ECB Reporters Network15-Aug-2017Luis Reece carried Derbyshire Falcons to the brink of the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals with 66 from 49 balls that sealed a three wicket win over the Durham Jets at Derby.Reece scored his fourth T20 fifty as the Falcons survived a late wobble inspired by Durham skipper Paul Coughlin to chase down 162 with three balls to spare. Derbyshire go second in the North Group with two matches to play.Stuart Poynter had made a competition best unbeaten 61 from 32 balls as the Jets recovered to 161 for 7 but Reece again played a decisive hand to turn the game.Durham’s innings began badly with Keaton Jennings run out by a direct hit from midwicket in the first over and Graham Clarke lbw going back to Wayne Madsen in the third.Michael Richardson went for a duck in the fourth when Hardus Viljoen side-footed the ball into the stumps in his follow through and although Tom Latham twice pulled the South African for four, the Jets hopes of a substantial total were dented when he swung Matt Henry into the hands of deep midwicket in the last over of the powerplay.Jack Burnham and Paul Coughlin added 38 before the Jets skipper was caught behind trying to pull Ben Cotton and the Falcons looked in control when Burnham was caught at third man in the 17th over.Luis Reece has had a fine NatWest Blast tournament•Getty Images

But Poynter had already lofted Imran Tahir for six and he drove and pulled two more from Cotton in the 19th over to reach 50 from 28 balls.A full toss from Henry was dispatched over deep point for his fourth six and when he late cut the last ball for four, 35 had come from the final two overs.The Falcons lost Billy Godleman in the second over despite replays showing James Weighell was perilously close to a no ball and after Matt Critchley pulled Chris Rushworth for six, he miscued to midwicket to reduce the home side to 33 for 2 in the 5th over.As one of the leading batsmen in the competition, Madsen’s wicket was key and he moved smoothly to 24 but then swung Ryan Pringle to wide long on.Reece, badly dropped at deep cover on 21, pulled Jennings for six but the Jets were building pressure which told when Alex Hughes top edged a pull in the 15th over.Reece took two fours from Weighell as 16 came from the 16th over, Henry pulled Usman Arshad for six, and although wickets fell in the closing overs, they had done enough.

In a run-laden ODI at Bristol, Liam Plunkett’s figures stood out from the carnage – a career-best haul of 5 for 52 in 8.1 match-sealing overs

Andrew Miller25-Sep-20171:13

‘Happy to be the bad guy if I’m not going out of the park’ – Plunkett

There can’t have been many punters who left the County Ground at Bristol on Sunday night feeling short-changed. With Moeen Ali scorching all before him with his sensational 53-ball hundred, and Chris Gayle responding with ominous intent during his 94 from 78, a grand total of 28 sixes were struck in the course of the two innings – the most ever scored in an international match in England. That’s entertainment, as Gloucestershire’s marketing men would amply agree.And yet, had it not been for a less prominently celebrated performance, England’s eventual 124-run win would have been significantly less comfortable, and perhaps even in doubt altogether. Instead, once the dust had settled on a pulsating afternoon’s strokeplay, there were Liam Plunkett’s figures standing out from the carnage – a career-best haul of 5 for 52 in 8.1 match-sealing overs.It was, as Plunkett readily agreed, something of a killjoy’s performance. This is, after all, a player who has been forging an invaluable niche in England’s one-day plans in recent seasons – that of the mid-innings aggressor, the man whose extra oomph can force a mistake out of even the most well-set batsman, or demand that they shelve some of their intent in a bid to keep their powder dry for the slog overs.And that he did to impressive effect in the course of a run-laden contest. After entering the attack in the tenth over, his first two wickets were classic heavy-ball dismissals, as first Shai Hope and then – controversially – Marlon Samuels were drawn into drives and beaten by extra bounce outside off stump. Then, when he returned in the 34th over, Plunkett’s second-ball bouncer lured Jason Mohammed into a top-edged slap to square leg, before Devendra Bishoo and Jason Holder completed his haul with the contest effectively settled.”Everyone wants to see sixes and fours, so you try to come in in that middle period, and close a team down,” Plunkett said. “That’s why I do like it, because you feel as though you can run the game in that period. I love to be the bad guy for the crowd, it means I’m not getting hit out of the park.”He’s clearly revelling in that villainous role. Plunkett’s Bristol haul propelled him into elite company among England’s one-day cricketers – with two matches remaining of the 2017 season, he has become the joint third-most prolific wicket-taker in a home ODI summer, with 20 scalps – alongside his regular middle-overs partner, Adil Rashid, who himself picked off three wickets to hasten West Indies’ demise in Sunday’s contest.Liam Plunkett struck twice in his first spell•Getty Images

“If we can squeeze them in that middle period, it’s invaluable,” said Plunkett. “That’s what me and Rash have done in the last year or two, because people are getting set and looking to knock it around a bit, and not take as many risks. So if you can get a couple of big wickets there, it gets the tail in earlier and hopefully limits the damage at the back end. So I do relish it, trying to take a few wickets, and [at Bristol] I did that.”Plunkett didn’t have everything his own way during his afternoon’s work. In fact, he suffered the indignity of being pounded for the biggest six of the match: his second ball to Gayle was swiped clean out of the ground over midwicket. But he took stock and adjusted his approach accordingly – aided, he said, by the prep he’d been able to do thanks to dressing-room footage of Gayle’s previous performances.”The two bouncers I bowled to him, he flapped at to get out of the way, but the ball he hit for six was chest high, which obviously isn’t a good delivery,” Plunkett said. “I still backed myself to go at his head or mix the pace up, but you’ve got to stick to your plans. The stuff that’s in the dressing room gives you reminders before you go out, but if you don’t bowl well, it’s still your fault. There’s no-one else to blame but yourself.”After a washout in Nottingham, England have now secured an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the five-match series, and Plunkett has few doubts about his team’s ability to wrap up the rubber in Wednesday’s fourth ODI at The Oval. His side, he believes, are simply better than West Indies, the No.9-ranked ODI side, who must now go through the ICC’s qualification tournament if they want to secure one of the two remaining places at the 2019 World Cup.”We feel as though, if we can get an early wicket, we can get on top of them,” he said. “We feel like we do back ourselves, we’re a good team. Obviously you can never take it for granted, but if you can get one [wicket], you can squeeze them because they’re a team that likes boundaries and play out dot balls. We feel we are a better team because we hit boundaries but also run the ones and twos.”That said, the Gayle factor can never be entirely discounted. After all, who needs ones and twos when you can deal exclusively in fours and sixes?”He played nicely, didn’t he?” said Plunkett. “We know he’s dangerous. You look at the stats he’s got, even his bowling – he’s got 160 wickets or something – so he’s a great cricketer, isn’t he? We’ve got a method though, we have to try and squeeze him, although if you miss, he’ll hit it miles. You need to shut him down and try to get him to run the singles he doesn’t want to run – because a couple of run-outs have saved us as well.”Perhaps coincidentally, the Bristol ODI was England’s last international fixture before the announcement of England’s Ashes squad – and while the days have long since passed of players earning themselves winter-tour places on the strength of an outstanding performance in the season-ending NatWest Trophy final (for instance, Ashley Cowan in 1997), the circumstances of this late-September series are not entirely dissimilar.Thus, in the wake of the stress fracture that has scuppered the hopes of Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones, could there yet be a vacancy for a tall deck-hitting seamer with the stamina and experience to give Australia’s batsmen the hurry-up on flat pitches?Plunkett, understandably, is refusing to get his hopes up. After all, he hasn’t played a Test match for England since 2014 while, through a combination of injury and England call-ups, he has played just two first-class matches for Yorkshire this season, albeit that included a hard-earned four-wicket haul against Somerset at Scarborough.”I’ve not played that much so, I guess, there’s nothing to go by,” he said. “I guess they know what they’re going to get with me, I’ve been around for plenty of time, so if I got the go-ahead, happy days. But I can’t see it happening.”Obviously I’d love to go in the Ashes squad, but I know it’s far for me. I’ve done well in white-ball cricket and I’ve been successful in that, so maybe they think me as a white-ball bowler. But I am happy where I’m at and I feel good in the one-day team right now.”

Debate heats up after both West Indies and Zimbabwe were denied crucial wickets because of lack of reviews in Bulawayo Test

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo02-Nov-2017The Decision Review System came in for some criticism from both camps after the second Test in Bulawayo. This wasn’t the first time that the DRS has been used in Zimbabwe – it was first used during the second Test against Sri Lanka last year – but neither team seemed to get the best out of the system.Zimbabwe may have removed eventual centurion Jason Holder for 11, if they still had a review available, while West Indies’ push for victory on the final day was stalled when Graeme Cremer was given not out after gloving a sharp bouncer to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich off the first ball he faced. Without any reviews to fall back on, West Indies could not reverse the decision.That wasn’t it, however. Late in the afternoon they had two lbw decisions turned down despite the ball tracker returning three reds. “I probably can’t comment on that because I’ll get into big trouble,” said Stuart Law, the West Indies coach when asked about the DRS. “It costs a lot of money to set up the cameras and have the technology available to us. To only be able to use it for two incorrect appeals, I think, is ludicrous considering that you had $400,000 worth of machinery around and you can’t use it. To me that doesn’t quite make sense. But we’ve got to be smarter and understand that we do only have two reviews.”From my understanding, the technology has been incorporated to stop the absolute howler. Umpires are human and they make mistakes, we all do. But it’s there to stop the howler and if there are decisions where you feel you’ve been hard done by and you’re not able to use it, I think it’s something that must be looked at.”Heath Streak, the Zimbabwe coach, also resonated Law’s thoughts. “You pay a lot of money to have those systems in place,” he said. “I think that people watching on the telly could see that incorrect decisions were made. So I think it’s something that will have to be discussed going forward as to how we can best utilise what is effectively a very expensive system to have more correct decisions out there, so that the result is a reflection of the game and what’s really happened, rather than one or two guys getting away with a decision because the other team has lost reviews.”Graeme Cremer, the Zimbabwe captain, admitted that both teams used the system poorly. Zimbabwe had used their last review on the third day attempting to reverse a decision against Kieran Powell. Sikandar Raza subsequently couldn’t review an lbw appeal off Holder, which cost them plenty.”The Test match could have been a lot different if Holder had got out [with that review],” Cremer said. “We could have knocked off the tail a lot quicker, and got a long way ahead in the game. Then we definitely would have bowled again and it would have been an exciting finish to the Test match. It’s one of those things. It can happen.”Like Law, Streak also questioned the limitation of two incorrect reviews per team per innings. “If you’re going to spend that much money I think four or five reviews should be necessary to get the correct decisions. I don’t see any reason why they should limit it to only two.”Law also questioned the consistency of the results being provided by the technology in use, such as Snicko, which is used to graphically analyse sounds made by, for example, an edged shot.”I’ve found it a little inconsistent these two Tests,” Law said. “On the Snicko there have been a lot of waves or spikes, some days there were plenty, some days there were none when someone is smashing the inside edge onto their pad. It doesn’t provide an exact result, but it gives you an idea I suppose. We’ve just got to use it better.”

A round-up of the first day of Group B games from the fourth round of Ranji Trophy matches

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2017Cheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten ton powered Saurashtra to 341 for 5 after they elected to bat first against Jharkhand at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot. Pujara’s 42nd first-class hundred ended a spell that saw him go without a half-century in his last ten innings.Coming into bat at the fall of opener Robin Uthappa in the 11th over, Pujara faced 223 balls during the course of his unbeaten 125, which included 18 fours. Saurashtra were in trouble on 46 for 3 after they lost Snell Patel and Sheldon Jackson in quick succession, but Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja (42) revived the innings with an 88-run stand. After seamer Ashish Kumar got rid of Jadeja, Pujara added 137 runs with Prerak Mankad, who notched up a 118-ball 85 before Varun Aaron had him lbw.Pujara and Chirag Jani (40*) then ensured Saurashtra didn’t suffer any further losses with an unbroken 70-run stand. Ashish picked up three wickets.Haryana captain Amit Mishra led from the front with a four-wicket haul to restrict Gujarat to 236 in their first innings in Valsad. Electing to bat, Gujarat kept losing wickets at regular intervals – they were at 127 for 5 at one stage – and only Bhargav Merai (52) and Rujul Bhatt (40) produced knocks of substance. Mishra’s wickets – three of which were bowled and lbw – included those of Parthiv Patel (4) and Manprit Juneja (19). Haryana got off to a bad start in their response after opener Shubham Rohilla was dismissed by left-arm seamer Siddharth Desai in the first over. They went to stumps at 0 for 1.Jammu & Kashmir captain Parvez Rasool’s six-for resulted in Kerala crumbling for 219 in their first innings in Thiruvananthapuram. With the exception of Sanju Samson (112), there was little resistance from Kerala’s batsmen after they chose to bat first. Kerala slipped from 19 for 2 to 91 for 4. Samson and KB Arun Karthik added a 79-run partnership for the fifth wicket.But after Karthik’s departure, wickets continued to tumble again as Rasool ran through the lower order to complete his 10th five-wicket haul. Samson, who hit 14 fours and a six in his 187-ball knock, was the eighth batsman to fall.

Matt Prior, the former England wicketkeeper, has stepped up his war of words with Australia’s Nathan Lyon

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2017
Matt Prior, the former England wicketkeeper, has stepped up his war of words with Australia’s Nathan Lyon, warning the offspinner that it could be his own career that is ended if England repeat their Ashes triumph of 2010-11.Prior, an integral part of the side that won the Ashes Down Under in 2010-11, was one of the most prominent England failures on their return trip three years later, making 107 runs in six innings before being dropped for the fourth Test of the series.

However, having already hit back at Lyon’s claim that he had been “scared” of the extreme pace generated by Mitchell Johnson in that series, Prior went one step further in a pair of Twitter posts, as he addressed Lyon’s desire to “end some more careers” when the 2017-18 series gets underway on Thursday.”I sincerely hope you’re not part of a losing @CricketAus team on home soil @NathLyon421,” Prior wrote. “I still remember being sat on the outfield at the SCG after winning 3-1 while your press&fans were tearing into the Oz players. You want to end careers? Just make sure its not yours that ends.”Prior is no stranger to wars of words, having been the subject of a vitriolic attack from his former team-mate, Kevin Pietersen, who labelled him the “big cheese” in his autobiography in 2014.By and large, Prior kept his counsel on that occasion, but he has been less willing to take Lyon’s comments lying down.”Last time someone spouted a whole load of BS about me I stayed quiet not this time,” he wrote. “To be clear I may have been playing badly fair enough but there was no way I was getting on a plane home. You’ve embarrassed yourself @NathLyon421 & this game has a funny way of biting back.”