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Gloucestershire’s long wait for home victory goes on after draw

ECB Reporters Network29-Apr-2024Gloucestershire 322 (Hammond 81, van Buuren 75, Brooks 3-55) and 127 for 3 (Price 52*) drew with Middlesex 203 (de Lange 6-49) and 449 for 7 dec (Higgins 155, Holden 111, Eskinazi 65*)Gloucestershire’s long wait for a Vitality County Championship victory on home soil continued as their Second Division match against Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol petered out into a draw.On a day which began with all three results still possible, Middlesex did their utmost to force a result by declaring their second innings on 449 for 7 and setting the home side a target of 339 to win in 58 overs on a hybrid pitch offering negligible assistance to the bowlers.The visitors still fancied they had an outside chance of prevailing when reducing their opponents to 102 for 3 in the final session with 27 overs still available, but Ollie Price displayed resilience in compiling an unbeaten 52 as Gloucestershire reached 127 for 3 to frustrate London ambition.Resuming their second innings on 262 for 3, Middlesex had earlier played positively in adding a further 187 in 36 overs, Ryan Higgins top-scoring with 155 and sharing in a stand of 202 for the fourth wicket with Max Holden, who contributed 111. Stephen Eskinazi’s breezy 65 not out prompted the declaration, which came half an hour into the afternoon session.Forced to contend with a cold and blustery wind and battleship grey skies – hardly conditions conducive to a successful run chase – Gloucestershire were never in a position to realistically pursue a first red-ball win since September 2022. Their 11-point haul from this game saw Middlesex overtake Sussex and assume leadership of the table after four matches, while Gloucestershire collected 13 points to move off the bottom.Starting the day with a handy lead of 143, Middlesex were intent upon hastening to a point where they could declare their second innings and set Gloucestershire a target. As such, Holden and Higgins picked up where they left off the previous evening, going for their shots and looking to carry the attack to the bowlers.When Holden slashed at one delivery outside off stump too many and was held by Price at second slip off the bowling of Ajeet Singh Dale, the fourth-wicket partnership stood at 201 from 39.4 overs. Having added just six runs to his overnight tally, Holden fell on 111, his transformative innings spanning 154 balls and containing 15 fours and a six.Undeterred by the departure of his long-time partner, the ebullient Higgins went to 150 in the grand manner, hoisting Graeme van Buuren high over deep mid-wicket and into the car park for his fifth maximum. He was out to the next ball, again attempting to hit Gloucestershire’s captain out of the ground and skying a catch to mid-off.In terms of its longevity, this latest innings might not have matched the career-best 221 Higgins compiled against Glamorgan at Lord’s three weeks earlier, but it certainly exerted a more profound impact upon proceedings. Having arrived in the middle on day three with Middlesex in some discomfort at 79 for 3, he departed with the score on 352 for 5 and the visitors in a position to dictate terms for the first time in the contest.Gloucestershire trailed by 234 when they took the new ball which realistically represented their last opportunity to wrest back control of the game. Marchant de Lange and Singh Dale bent their backs, only for the flow of runs to continue as Eskinazi and Jack Davies joined forces in a progressive alliance of 45 in nine overs. Davies eventually holed out to mid-on off the bowling of De Lange, but only after plundering five fours and a six to put a dent in the South African’s figures.Deploying a characteristically unorthodox approach, Eskinazi contributed an unbeaten 65 from 96 balls with eight fours, his innings a hit and miss affair that served to raise the tempo. Gloucestershire’s best efforts with the new ball would have done little to encourage the Middlesex bowlers in the belief that they could take 10 wickets on a hybrid pitch to win the game, but the declaration arrived nevertheless, Leus du Plooy calling the batters in with the scoreboard on 449 for 7 shortly after lunch.Required to score at a little under six an over, Gloucestershire were no doubt mindful of the alarming second-innings collapse that sent them spiralling to defeat at the hands of Sussex in their last game. When Chris Dent succumbed to a leg-side strangle at the hands of Tom Helm without scoring in the second over, the home side could have been excused for harbouring negative thoughts.Any fears of a repeat performance were allayed by Cameron Bancroft and Price, the second-wicket pair proving reassuringly obdurate in the face of testing spells from Helm and Henry Brookes to see Gloucestershire through to the tea interval at 69 for 1.Although the prospect of the home side scoring a further 262 runs to win in the final session remained no better than notional, there appeared to be precious little in the pitch to offer Middlesex any encouragement. Clearly undeterred, Helm removed Bancroft for 32 shortly after tea, locating the Australian’s outside edge and presenting an opportunity for du Plooy to demonstrate his athleticism at second slip.Price was fortunate to survive when dropped by Eskinazi at first slip off the bowling of Ethan Bamber, but the seamer breathed new life into the contest when inducing Miles Hammond to pull straight to midwicket soon afterwards. When Price and James Bracey proved obdurate, the two sides shook hands at 5.25pm with 18.3 overs unused.

Head coach says players got ahead of themselves in the match against Netherlands and “seeds of doubt” crept in

Hemant Brar02-Nov-2022After being “outplayed” by Netherlands in Adelaide, Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton said his players got ahead of themselves given the significance of the match and had “seeds of doubt” in their minds.Had Zimbabwe won, and then beaten India in their next game, they could have been in with a chance, although an outside one, to make the semi-finals of the men’s T20 World Cup. However, yet another batting failure meant they could put up only 117 and lost by five wickets, the defeat pushing them to the brink of elimination.Related

• Netherlands seamers, O'Dowd all but knock Zimbabwe out

• Cricket might not love Zimbabwe, but the game would be poorer without them

• How Zimbabwe prospered by practising less, not more

“We’ve been quite fragile with our batting throughout this tournament,” Houghton said after the game. “It has been our bowling, really, and fielding and catching, that has kept us in. Unfortunately, it [the batting] let us down in a game like this, which would have been huge for us if we had won, because then we’ll go on to the next game with just that outside possibility. I think we just got a little bit in front of ourselves thinking of what the possibilities might be.”One of the things I’ve tried to encourage to the team, even if our batting is a bit fragile, is to still be positive and play with fearlessness. There was a bit of movement in that wicket, and we needed to do something about it. We needed to be batting a bit more positively, using our feet going down the wicket at the seamers, but we didn’t. The seeds of doubt just kept us stuck to the crease, and unfortunately, it cost us.”Since I’ve been in charge of the side, the last four-and-a-half months, we’ve had an incredible journey; we’ve played some really good cricket. This is probably the first time that I’ve seen a bit of doubt creep into our game. Hopefully, it’ll be the last time for a while as well.”Earlier in the tournament, Zimbabwe had beaten Pakistan in a last-ball thriller but the high didn’t last long as they lost to Bangladesh in dramatic fashion, also on the final ball of the game.Houghton was asked if the result against Bangladesh played a part in today’s game.”Oh, no, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think we just had the doubt here. I think it was because of a new surface [this was the first match in Adelaide this World Cup]. We took a couple of days off between the two games, because our guys were so tired. I just couldn’t make them practice again. So that might have sown a little bit of the doubt that they hadn’t actually been to the ground.”And the occasion – we knew we needed to win one of the games against Bangladesh and Holland [Netherlands]. We lost closely to Bangladesh, so we thought, well, we need to beat Holland. That extra bit of pressure on them [the players], plus the fact that we hadn’t been down here beforehand, might have sown the seeds of doubt.”Regis Chakabva’s sub-par returns with the bat played a part in Zimbabwe not putting up challenging totals. In seven innings, the wicketkeeper-batter has scored only 45 runs at an average of 6.42 and a strike rate of 77.58.Chakabva started the tournament batting at the top of the order but was moved down to No. 6 in the last two games. Against Netherlands, he came in at No. 3, was offered two lives during his 16-ball stay but could score only five.”The biggest reason for moving batters around is that we’re not getting enough runs out of various players,” Houghton said. “I mean, we’ve been literally living on some runs from Sean Williams and [Sikandar] Raza for the last short while and one or two contributions from Wessly [Madhevere] and occasionally from Craig Ervine. So it has been difficult. We’re having to move people around to see if we can adjust the order a bit to make life a little bit easier so hopefully we get bigger contributions from everyone. As I said, our batting has been brittle throughout this tournament. So we’ve done incredibly well to get where we’ve got to.”Sikandar Raza has been, arguably, the prime reason for Zimbabwe’s run of good results•ICC via Getty Images

Overall, it has been a positive tournament for Zimbabwe. After a dominant show in the qualifying event in Bulawayo, they topped their group in the first round in Australia and then almost threatened a semi-final spot. Houghton said that the performance has “brought the game back to life” back home.”It has meant a hell of a lot to people at home, and not just people at home, but Zimbabweans all around the world,” he said. “The messages that we get on a regular basis from everybody have been unbelievable. We’ve had quite a few night games in this tournament, after which get back to the hotel at half past 11 and I’m still answering messages at 4-5 in the morning. It has been phenomenal and we know because we have been getting the videos posted [of the celebrations] as well.”We know how it has been taken at home. The thing is they’ve enjoyed the way we play. They’ve enjoyed the fact that we are able to come out and stand toe to toe with some of the best. And even though we have lost today, they will still have enjoyed watching us and they will still be proud of us. I said to the guys after the game that win or lose, our crowd is behind us, and you guys have brought the game back to life in Zimbabwe.”If you had told me in June, when I started, that we would end up being sort of two games away about with the possibility of getting to a semi-final, I would have bitten your hand off for it. But it has been a positive journey for us all the way through. It’s just a pity we chose this game to have our worst game.”

Will Smeed offers sound support as visitors bounce back from thumping less than a fortnight ago

Sam Dalling23-Jun-2021Something old, something new for Somerset, James Hildreth and Will Smeed combining to ease their side to victory in south London. Sweet revenge, for their thumping at Surrey’s hands less than a fortnight ago, the tables turned by a second-wicket partnership worth 103 in just 63 balls.Hildreth scored the winning runs at this ground when Somerset won their only T20 crown back in 2005 and tonight marked his 200th appearance – all of them for Somerset – with a typically classy unbeaten 72. To paraphrase his pre-tournament words, you seemingly can teach an old dog new tricks: promoted to open the batting as a stop-gap, Hildreth now has 169 runs at a strike-rate touching 150.He played with freedom, intent on celebrating his landmark with a waltz at every ball. Following several early wafts that threatened nothing but air, Gus Atkinson was pulled and then cut away to get Hildreth going. He never looked back, a free-hit following a Jordan Clark beamer was swatted into the Peter May Stand, while he picked up seven boundaries in his favoured spots behind square either side of the wicket.And with Hildreth, some 16 years his junior, was Smeed. He made 42 before a leading edge gave Dan Moriarty a rare-wicket maiden in this format. It meant the pair fell agonisingly one shy of Peter Trego and Corey Anderson’s record stand in this fixture for Somerset: one suspects they will care little.There are many fine judges in the West Country who believe Smeed is technically the best player Greg Kennis and his Academy staff have ever produced. It is very early days but there is plenty to suggest they are onto something. Beaten for pace several times by Jamie Overton, making a rare appearance with the ball in a powerplay, Smeed responded by flicking his former team-mate over the ground’s longest boundary. He later treated Jade Dernbach with disdain, taking 16 from three balls, including back-to-back sixes. If Smeed is not careful, that flick over square-leg will rapidly become a trademark.On a night of milestones, Lewis Goldsworthy became Gareth Batty’s 150th T20 wicket, the veteran celebrating with his usual roar. But any suggestion of a Somerset wobble was quickly dispelled by Tom Lammonby, who reverse-swept his first two balls for four. Such has been Lammonby’s lack of touch, this was his first Blast outing of the summer. He played tonight only because of Tom Abell’s hamstring injury but finished with a confidence boosting unbeaten 23 from 15 balls. Fittingly, Hildreth stroked the winning boundary.Earlier, Surrey’s innings had once more been built around the supreme talent of Will Jacks. He has lit up the Blast since the start of last season, any sense that he was flying under the radar extinguished by his savage attack on Middlesex’s at Lord’s in the opening round.And with top-order partner Jason Roy on England duty, Jacks all of a sudden was burdened by responsibility. Not that it showed. Boundaries came in flurries, Jack Leach – making his T20 bow a day after his 30th birthday – taking early tap. A deposit into the Micky Stewart Pavilion delighted the members who have only recently reclaimed their previous spot: it has been a makeshift dressing room for 15 months. And when Jacks cut away supremely to end the third over, there was little doubt that he was ‘on’ tonight.But while runs flowed freely from one end, Craig Overton was miserly at the other. Overton has a swagger about him these days that is backed up by returns. His three powerplay overs cost a mere 12 runs.Leach had in the meantime picked up a maiden T20 wicket, although he owes Ben Green a drink for it: Jamie Smith mistimed a slog-sweep that got far more height than distance, Green taking a superb catch diving forward over his shoulder having started at mid-on.At that point Surrey were under pressure. Or it least it seemed that way, only for Jacks to first stroke a pair of fours, before flicking and pulling consecutive Josh Davey deliveries for six. The first took Jacks to a half-century of sixes in just the 50th game of his fledgling T20 career: a remarkable 32% of his runs have come that way.Fifty was in vogue, with Jacks’ partnership with Laurie Evans suddenly worth that many from only 30 balls. But then Evans comically ran himself out. He saw a reverse-sweep fall just short of Leach at point, but had set off for a run in the meantime that Jacks had no interest in. Jamie Overton threatened fireworks, but drilled one to Lewis Gregory at cover.Rory Burns brought up Surrey’s hundred with the reverse-sweep that had drawn so much attention during England’s ill-fated tour of India but the runs had dried up. Much rested on Jack, but having raced to 50 off 28, even he found runs hard to come by on a used pitch against Somerset’s spin trio of Leach, Goldsworthy and Max Waller. Just 15 runs came from his next 14 balls and frustration lingered in the air. As did Jacks’ very next shot, Waller taking the catch at long-off to give Leach 3 for 28. Easy game, T20.Clark teased Lammonby to hit Craig Overton for six late on, with Moriarty hoicking Davey for a similar result in the final over. That allowed Surrey to set 147 to win. It proved well short.There was plenty of symmetry about the way both teams started their innings: an early wicket followed by a fruitful powerplay. But whereas Surrey men tumbled regularly, Somerset stood firm. And there is symmetry in results too: this is the fifth consecutive summer these teams have taken two points off each other.Following a slow start, Somerset have won their last two. Surrey, on the other hand, began like a steam train but are now in model railway mode, their momentum checked by first the rain and then international call-ups.

Experienced batsman will act as “sounding board” to new leader Andy Balbirnie

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jun-2020Ireland have appointed Paul Stirling as vice-captain, providing support to Andy Balbirnie after he took charge across all formats last year.Stirling is one of Ireland’s most-experienced players, capped 117 times in ODIs and 78 times in T20Is, as well as playing all three Tests since the country’s elevation to Full Member status. He is their leading run-scorer in both white-ball formats, and his 177 against Canada in 2010 remains an ODI record for Ireland.The two former Middlesex team-mates, who lived together during their time in London, will now oversee Ireland’s fortunes as they attempt to build for future challenges, including a T20 World Cup and the new 50-over World Cup Super League.”It was fitting to get a call from Bal to ask me to be his vice-captain,” Stirling said. “We’ve played together all the way up from when we were kids so I look forward to helping him shape the way this Irish side moves forward in the coming months and years ahead.”He’s had an excellent start to his captaincy with wins in the Caribbean and the subcontinent, but there is so much on your plate as captain – especially with a younger team than we’ve had in the past – so I am happy just to be a sounding board to bounce ideas off and help implement any changes in the way Bal wants to take this team forward on and off the field.”Stirling recently moved back to Belfast, after losing his status as a non-overseas player in county cricket. His first assignment as Balbirnie’s deputy could come in England, with discussions still taking place over Ireland’s proposed visit for three ODIs at the end of next month.Balbirnie took over as Test and ODI captain from the long-serving William Porterfield in 2019, before being given the T20I role as well. Ireland have lost six out of eight completed matches this year, but pushed West Indies close in the second ODI at Bridgetown before winning a T20I in Grenada.”I’ve known Paul since I was about 12 years old when we first played against each other in inter-provincial cricket – we’ve grown up together in our careers as such,” Balbirnie said. “We both went to Middlesex at the same time and lived together over in London, so he’s someone I consider a very close mate but also a very valuable person to have in our side from a knowledge point of view. So I didn’t really hesitate when I was thinking about who could be my vice-captain – he stuck out to me straight away.”I first mentioned the idea to him in the Caribbean and he said he’d love to do it. He’s someone that I’ve always sought advice from when thinking about my batting, so to have him as my right-hand man over the next few years is really exciting and one I’m sure he’s excited for as well.”I think within the Irish squad we have a lot of experienced guys to be able to voice their opinion, but at the end of the day, it is my decision. To have different points of view is great and refreshing, but with someone like Paul he is someone I’d talk to a lot about the game – it’s exciting for the next phase of the squad we’re bringing through. Even for the young players, to have someone like Paul to have a chat to in the change room or at training, he’s valuable to us both on the field and off.”

The controversial slogan associated with white supremacist groups was briefly unfurled on one of the stands

Tristan Lavalette25-Jan-2019Three men who unfurled an ‘It’s ok to be white’ banner during last night’s Big Bash match at Perth Stadium will receive a “first and final warning” from Cricket Australia.The banner was displayed for about five minutes over the railing on the top tier near the Justin Langer Stand during Perth Scorchers’ innings against Sydney Thunder. The men took down the banner shortly after reportedly being spotted by security and were issued move-on notices by police.Perth Stadium’s conditions of entry prohibits oversized banners and flags deemed to cause public nuisance.The slogan is affiliated with white supremacist groups and gained prominence in Australia last October when controversial senator Pauline Hanson put forward a motion declaring ‘it’s OK to be white’.Government senators originally supported the motion, before backing down and voted against it the second time around.A Western Australia police spokesperson said the incident was “currently under investigation by police”, with the trio involved aged 50, 38 and 24. Perth has a history of racial and religiously motivated banners appearing in public places. In 2016 a banner declaring “Go WCE, Stop the Mosques” was briefly unfurled at Subiaco Oval during an AFL fixture between West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, following a similar banner displayed during another AFL match in Melbourne.Stadium management indicated at the time that the four spectators responsible for the banner would be banned from the stadium for life.Earlier this summer, numerous spectators were ejected from the MCG’s famous Bay 13 during the Boxing Day Test for repeatedly chanting “show us your visa” to Indian members of the crowd. Footage of the chant, obtained by ESPNcricinfo, was passed on to Cricket Australia, who in turn passed the video on to Victoria Police and stadium management.”Three people in question was immediately removed from the venue and they will be issued a first and final warning from Cricket Australia,” a CA spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo in relation to Friday’s incident. “Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour at any of our matches, which includes racial vilification.”Our message to any fan attending a match is that if you display anti-social behaviour you will be removed and risk being banned from any cricket match across Australia, along with police action.”We encourage anybody who may witness this at one of our matches to report the matter to security or a member of staff immediately.”

Set a daunting target of 386, South Australia ended the third day on 5 for 124 with an entire day to spare at the Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2017
ScorecardGetty Images

Captain George Bailey’s 86 and twin strikes each from Jackson Bird and Gabe Bell combined to take Tasmania only five wickets away from victory. Set a daunting target of 386, South Australia ended the third day on 5 for 124 with an entire day to spare at the Adelaide Oval.Resuming on 2 for 79, Bailey had to carry the Tasmania middle order as none of his team-mates could cross 25 on the third day. He scored his third straight 50-plus score – after 106 and 59 against Victoria – to take the lead past 300 before Adam Zampa (3 for 85) took two middle-order wickets and Kane Richardson (4 for 30) wiped out the tail. By the time they were dismissed for 244, Tasmania’s lead had neared 400.Under 10 overs into the chase, 22-year old Bell removed the South Australia openers cheaply before Callum Ferguson and Travis Head stitched a 60-run stand to steer them towards 100. Once left-arm quick Sam Rainbird removed Head for a brisk 31, Bird struck twice in the 34th over to rattle the stumps of Jake Lehmann (17) and Joe Mennie (0). The doube-strike left South Australia five down for 119. Ferguson was unbeaten on 46 with a tall task for the last day.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich struck unbeaten fifties to complete a memorable five-wicket win in clinical fashion on the fifth morning in Sharjah

The Report by Sirish Raghavan03-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Kraigg Brathwaite became the first opener to be unbeaten in both innings of a Test, as he led West Indies to an absorbing five-wicket win over Pakistan in Sharjah – their first Test win outside the West Indies and Bangladesh since 2007. It was also West Indies’ first win in 14 Tests and their first under the captaincy of Jason Holder.Yet, resuming on 114 for 5, with 39 runs to win, overnight batsmen Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich showed no sign of letting the occasion get to them. Brathwaite opened proceedings with a crisp drive to the cover boundary off Wahab Riaz on the first ball of the day. Dowrich smacked a half-tracker from Yasir Shah to the midwicket boundary in the next over. That set the tone as the pair took just 7.5 overs to knock down the target in clinical fashion on the fifth morning.While neither batsman looked to force the pace, they were not afraid to put away bad balls either. Late cuts and drives through the off side featured prominently as the pair glided past the finish line with minimum fuss. Dowrich sealed the win, slashing a short ball from Mohammad Amir towards the third-man boundary for the sixth four of the morning.Pakistan’s bowlers were unable to create any pressure on a pitch that was still rather placid. Neither Wahab nor Amir got much swing or movement off the surface, and Yasir was ineffective and inconsistent in the two overs he bowled. The batsmen seemed to have little trouble in keeping the straight ones out and punishing anything that was too short or too wide.It was all a far cry from West Indies’ wobble the previous evening, as they slid to 67 for 5 after a rather shaky 29-run opening partnership. But Brathwaite and Dowrich scored unbeaten half-centuries, combining for a nerveless 87-run stand to steer their side to a memorable victory and finish a tough tour of the UAE on a high.

Alex Hales, Zafar Ansari and James Taylor have been named in England’s 16-man squad for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE

Andrew McGlashan15-Sep-2015Alex Hales, Zafar Ansari and James Taylor have been named in England’s 16-man squad for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE.Hales replaces the discarded Adam Lyth as the seventh opening batsman to be selected since Andrew Strauss’ retirement in 2012, although it is not a certainty that he will walk out alongside Alastair Cook in Abu Dhabi on October 13.Depending on how England structure their final XI in order to accommodate the extra spinner very likely required in the UAE they could open with Moeen Ali or even the uncapped Ansari who has taken 44 Championship wickets for Surrey this season with his left-arm spin.

England squads to face Pakistan

Test squad Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Mark Wood
One-day squad Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
T20 squad Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Stephen Parry, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Hales has not paid the price for a disappointing one-day series against Australia where he made 53 runs in five innings. Instead the selectors backed his Championship form for the season which had brought 886 runs at 52.11 before the current round of matches, including scores of 236 against Yorkshire and 189 against Warwickshire.Ansari made his ODI debut against Ireland, in Dublin, back in May but the match was abandoned after 18 overs and he did not feature in the remaining limited-overs squads during the season. However, he has made over 700 runs for Surrey in the Championship alongside his wicket haul and scored 99 against a Lancashire attack, which included James Anderson, on Monday.Taylor, who played two Tests against South Africa in 2012, is the other member of the squad who did not feature during the Ashes. He made his maiden international hundred in the third ODI against Australia at Old Trafford and could yet push for a spot in the middle order against Pakistan. He has made 827 runs in the Championship although 291 of them came in one innings against Sussex. He is preferred to Gary Ballance who was dropped after the second Test against Australia.”The challenge we face against Pakistan will be very different and the composition of our squads reflects the conditions we expect to encounter in the UAE,” James Whitaker, the national selector, said. “Zafar Ansari’s potential excites us and he will provide strong competition for Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali in the Test squad after enjoying an excellent domestic season with both bat and ball for Surrey.”Alex Hales has scored heavily for Nottinghamshire in first-class cricket this season, has shown he can play match-winning innings for England in white ball cricket and fully deserves an opportunity to compete for a place at the top of the order in our Test side.”The rest of the squad is as expected with Liam Plunkett taking the additional fast-bowling slot while Jonny Bairstow will contest a middle-order batting spot and act as reserve keeper.Ben Stokes, meanwhile, has been rested for the one-day series against Pakistan – he was the only England player to appear in every international at home this season against New Zealand and Australia – while Chris Jordan and Lancashire’s Stephen Parry have been recalled for the T20s. Jordan has not featured for England since being injured in the one-day series against New Zealand and Parry’s last match consisted of two overs for 23 in the World T20 game against Netherlands in Chittagong which England lost.Stuart Broad continues to be left out of the white-ball squads but Joe Root, who was rested for the limited-overs matches against Australia, returns for all formats while fast bowler Mark Wood, who has been carefully managed due to his injury history, is part of all three squads.”In line with our recent decision to rest Joe Root for the one-day series against Australia, we have opted not to include Ben Stokes in our one-day or T20 international squads,” Whitaker said”Ben has been an outstanding performer for England this summer and this decision reflects a desire to manage his workload across a busy winter period in all three formats of the game. He will come back into contention for the white-ball format when we consider the make-up of our squads for the tour of South Africa later in the year.”Also, as revealed by ESPNcricinfo, Mahela Jayawardene will join the Test squad as a batting consultant for the warm-up matches and first Test while Paul Collingwood, the former England captain, will work with the limited-overs teams on this tour and at the World T20 in India next year.Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, said: “We are delighted that Mahela and Paul will be joining the England management team, supporting our existing specialist coaches in this area. Both will bring a vast wealth of cricketing knowledge and expertise to the team, and in Mahela’s case, extensive experience of batting in the sub-continent which will be invaluable as part of our wider preparations for the UAE tour.”

Being big and bad has helped many bowlers to a successful Test career and Boyd Rankin hopes his main selling points can help him become the next

Alex Winter21-Feb-2013Being big and bad has helped many bowlers to a successful Test career and Boyd Rankin hopes his main selling points can help him become the next.At 6ft 7in, Rankin is brushing shoulders with contemporaries whose ability to look down on others has helped them into Test cricket. Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett and Steve Finn have all recently been picked for England on their height and aggression (at least with the ball in hand) and Rankin also offers those qualities.Alongside focusing on the 2013 season with County Champions Warwickshire, Test cricket is Rankin’s main aim after he ended his career with Ireland following the World T20 in Sri Lanka last September. Rankin, 28 and from Londonderry in Northern Ireland, now wants to play for England.”I’ve always said I’d love to play Test cricket,” Rankin told ESPNcricinfo. “I retired from Ireland to try and concentrate a bit more on Warwickshire. It got to the stage where I was playing all year round with Ireland, Warwickshire and England Lions and I wasn’t getting a lot of rest and I was picking up a few injuries on the way so I thought the best way to go was to stop playing for Ireland and concentrate on county cricket and see from there.”I think I bring something different with my height and my size, there’s not many guys around that can offer that and I think I’ve got a chance that way.”Rankin had a good record for Ireland, with 43 wickets in 37 ODIs at 32.34 and 17 wickets at 21.41 in 15 T20s, but he must prove his red-ball skills are good enough for international cricket if he is to force a way past an ever-lengthening queue for a place in the England bowling attack.His recent returns for Warwickshire have been encouraging. He took 55 first-class wickets at 25.80 in 2011 and was selected for England Lions that summer. He toured with the Lions in Bangladesh before a foot injury checked his progress; his 2012 season was halved and he took 16 wickets at 32.18 on his return.The problem flared up again after Christmas, ruling Rankin out of the Lions tour to Australia and forcing him to stay in Birmingham and work with Warwickshire bowling coach Graeme Welch.”He’s been great with all the bowlers since he’s been here,” Rankin said. “I did quite a lot of work with him up until I picked up this injury. I was changing a few things with my action and that was going really well. I’m looking forward to getting that going again. He’s worked wonders with the likes of Keith Barker and Chris Wright.”Welch was in the running to become Warwickshire’s new director of cricket after Ashley Giles left Edgbaston to become England’s one-day coach but was beaten to the position by Giles’ former assistant, Dougie Brown. Rankin was sad to see Giles go, having been one of his first signings after joining from Derbyshire in 2008, but can see no trouble with Brown’s new regime.”It’s been a very smooth transition over,” Rankin said. “The squad is in a good place at the moment. It’s just a matter of continuing on the work that was done with Ashley. Dougie is his own man and there have been quite a few things already set in place.”With the injury, I haven’t really been involved as much as I would have liked to but obviously Dougie loves the club and wants the best for every player. But the things are pretty settled and it’s been pretty straightforward for him.”Boyd Rankin was speaking from the StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports national cricket tournament at the Birmingham NIA. StreetChance is a Cricket Foundation project which uses cricket to engage young people in inner-city areas affected by anti-social behaviour and youth crime. Find out more at www.streetchance.org

Has Brad Haddin played his last one-day match for Australia? Matthew Wade is not allowing himself to think that way

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG05-Feb-2012Has Brad Haddin played his last one-day match for Australia? Matthew Wade is not allowing himself to think that way, but it is a scenario that becomes more likely with every game Wade plays. Two Man-of-the-Match performances for Australia in the past week have confirmed Wade as a player of international standard, and it would be a brave selection panel to drop him later in the series.For now, Wade, 24, has been picked for the first three matches of the tournament. The national selector John Inverarity said when announcing the squad that Haddin, 34, was rested, but Haddin took issue with that wording and said he felt as if he had been dropped. Either way, Wade is doing his best to make the limited-overs wicketkeeping position permanently his own.His 67 in Australia’s win over India at the MCG was the sixth-best score by an Australia ODI debutant, and he showed no nerves facing the reigning World Cup holders. That followed scores of 72 and 32 in the two Twenty20 internationals, but despite his strong form Wade insists he is looking no further ahead than the three matches for which he has been chosen.”I think that would be a bad option for me,” Wade said. “I just want to do as well as I can in the three games for which I’ve been picked. If you look too far ahead you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a pretty fickle game that we play. From day to day it changes. You’ve just got to live in the moment and concentrate on the next ball. It’s pretty clichéd but that’s what I’m doing.”The environment that I’m in, the Australian cricket team, no one is talking about what will happen down the road. Everyone is just focusing on the next game; all our planning, all our meetings, all the stuff we do is pretty much for the next game that we’re going to play. It’s all about what we can do in the present moment.”For Wade, that means making runs and taking catches. Given the chance to open alongside David Warner, he anchored the innings either side of a long rain delay, displaying impressive concentration and temperament. He does not have the power of Warner but rarely gets bogged down, and he has looked comfortable at international level. It has not all been easy, though.”The intensity,” he said when asked what was the major difference from domestic cricket. “When Mike [Michael] Hussey walked out and started running between the wickets like he was there was definitely a step up in intensity. I think that’s the major thing. Everything is just a bit faster. When you have to run with Mike it’s even harder.”He did not have much trouble keeping up with Hussey, although twice during his innings he needed to dive full length to make his ground. At 170 centimetres, he does not have the stretch of some of his colleagues. That has not hurt his effectiveness with the bat, nor with the gloves. In Friday’s T20 he took a terrific catch diving to his right to get rid of Virat Kohli.In the first ODI he pouched a pair of catches and one of them, Gautam Gambhir’s edge to a rising ball from Mitchell Starc, came through with surprising bounce at an awkward height. Effortlessly, Wade switched his hands from facing downwards to skywards, and he gloved the ball with no problem. His critics have questioned whether his glovework is up to international standard, but Wade believes he has never been in better form behind the stumps.”I definitely feel like I’m keeping as well as I ever have,” he said. “To be in the environment of the Australian cricket team, I’m catching more balls every day. Things are going really well. I feel on top of my game.”For now, he has two more matches to present his credentials. After that, it’s up to Inverarity and Co. to decide whether he wins the job permanently. Haddin will be watching on nervously.