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The two matches will provide Australia’s preparation for the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2025An extra ODI has been added to Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka which will provide the visitors additional preparation for the Champions Trophy.The two matches will now take place on February 12 and 14 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and will be day games.The first of the games begins just two days after the scheduled fifth day of the second Test in Galle so it remains to be seen how many players featuring in that match can turnaround for the one-dayer if the Test goes the distance.However, Australia have nine players in their preliminary Champions Trophy squad who aren’t part of the Test series, including captain Pat Cummins and fellow quick Josh Hazlewood.But Cummins’ participation remains uncertain as he is carrying an ankle injury which he played with during the India Test series.Australia’s ODI players are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka around the start of the second Test. Their first match in the Champions Trophy is against England on February 22 followed by South Africa on February 25 and Afghanistan on February 28.The first semi-final will take place in Dubai on March 4 with the second in Lahore on March 5 following confirmation of the hybrid model due to India not traveling to Pakistan. The final will be on March 9, in either Dubai or Lahore depending on whether India qualify.

Meg Lanning is feeling confident ahead of her WBBL return but has refused to commit to being available for Australia’s tour of India in December

AAP17-Oct-2023Australia captain Meg Lanning is confident she has more good cricket in her but has refused to be drawn on her availability for the upcoming tour of India.After missing the Ashes in England earlier this year over health concerns, Lanning is back in action ahead of the Melbourne Stars’ WBBL campaign. The 31-year-old declined to elaborate on her second extended break from the game during the last two years.Lanning missed Australia’s recent home series against West Indies but could head to India for a historic day-night Test in Mumbai in December.Related

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“I haven’t thought that far ahead [about India],” Lanning said on Tuesday in her first media appearance for more than six months.”I’m back playing some cricket, which is nice.”I’m really enjoying it, and I still feel like I have a little bit more to give, but what exactly that looks like, I’m not sure.”As for returning to captain Australia, Lanning said she had not “really got that far”.”I’m just worrying about this next couple of weeks with the Stars,” she said.Lanning admitted she barely watched any of the Ashes as Alyssa Healy captained Australia as they retained the urn in England courtesy of a drawn series.She put the bat away after finishing the inaugural Women’s Premier League with the Delhi Capitals in March.”I didn’t bat for a fairly long time,” Lanning said.”Probably I needed a little bit heading into the WNCL.”But I have played a lot of cricket over the years so I do feel like the skillset’s there.”It’s just about getting into a confident position and feeling good in my mind that I can go out there and play. I feel like I’m in that position now.”Lanning initially took a break from cricket last year following Australia’s gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, returning for the home series against Pakistan in January.She led Australia to a Twenty20 World Cup title in South Africa in February, before again taking leave on the eve of the Ashes on medical grounds.Lanning’s Stars will open the WBBL season with a match against the Sydney Sixers at North Sydney Oval on Thursday night.

Durham beaten as Duckett, Clarke combine but hopes fade for hosts

ECB Reporters Network01-Jul-2022Nottinghamshire 184 for 6 (Duckett 53*, Clarke 51) beat Durham 183 for 8 by four wickets Nottinghamshire Outlaws’ last desperate hopes of a seventh successive T20 quarter-final berth finally vanished despite a comfortable victory over Durham Jets by four wickets in the Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge. Amongst other things, they needed a tie, no less, in Leicester to retain any hope but Leicester just refused to oblige.It was at least a rousing farewell for Dan Christian, their departing veteran captain who led the Outlaws to T20 glory in 2017 and 2020. He could revel in watching 51 from 30 balls for Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett’s unbeaten 53 from 34 that helped bring success at the gallop with three overs to spare.Christian’s fellow Australian and opposite number, Ashton Turner, threatened to upstage things earlier with a rapid 33 as Durham’s third wicket added 54 in five overs but Steven Mullaney removed him and two new batters in four balls as the Jets backfired.From 98 for five with 51 balls to come, Michael Jones, the opener, reached 41 until brilliantly caught on the mid-wicket rope by Mullaney off Jake Ball and Durham finished with 183 for eight, late-order hitting bringing 70 from the final six overs. It proved far from enough.The evening had started painfully when the opening delivery, from Ball, cut back to strike Graham Clark flush in the box, flooring him and causing a three-minute delay for treatment. Durham, already out of quarter-final contention, chose to bat but lost Clark, slicing his drive for 14, and Ollie Robinson, who skied a swipe to the keeper, as Ball conceded only four in the fifth over.But in the later charge, Brydon Carse, batting at No.7, was dropped off Ball when twelve before surging to 25 from 17 balls when becoming Lyndon James’s maiden T20 scalp, whilst Ned Eckersley finished unbeaten with 23 from a dozen balls. Andrew Tye hit two sixes in his not-out 13.Even by the second over of the reply, however, with Liam Trevaskis taken for 19, the target seeemed less than daunting. The left-arm spinner had revenge of sorts when Alex Hales top-edged a sweep to go for 26 but the Outlaws had struck as many sixes in the reply’s first 47 balls as the Jets managed in their entire innings.Clarke, who had creamed 53 with Hales in 26 balls for the first wicket on a typically good Nottingham pitch with short boundaries inviting mayhem, then added another 55 in 35 balls with Duckett.Eventually miscueing against a leg-break from the Australian, Nathan Sowter, Clarke gave way to Mullaney, another victim of spin when soon stumped by Robinson off Trevaskis next over. James arrived to send his third and fifth balls for six off Carse and at the end of an over that cost 16, only 46 were needed from the final 42 balls.James fell smiting for 20 but, maintaining the tempo, Tom Moores hit his first four balls for boundaries until magnificently caught by Sowter who took the ball jumping on the boundary, threw it up before crossing the rope then grasped it again back on the field. Dramatic, indeed. But not enough, even though Sol Budinger fell stumped with three needed.

Shakib had hurt his left thigh during the first Test, which Bangladesh lost by three wickets

Mohammad Isam08-Feb-2021Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the second Test against West Indies, beginning in Dhaka on February 11, because of the left-thigh injury that kept him away from large chunks of the action during the first Test in Chattogram. *Bangladesh have named Soumya Sarkar as his replacement.According to a BCB statement, the board’s medical team will continue to treat Shakib, who will, however, leave the team’s bio-security bubble for the time being. “After careful consideration it has been confirmed that he will not be available for the second Test,” it read.Related

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Shakib picked up the injury during the second day’s play in Chattogram, when he attempted to stop a ball off his own bowling with his foot. He continued to bowl for a while longer, but neither batted nor bowled after leaving the field later that afternoon. Bangladesh, who had a 171-run lead after the first-innings exchanges, eventually lost the Test by three wickets with debutant Kyle Mayers hitting a stunning 210* to take West Indies to victory. Shakib had scored 68 in nearly four hours’ batting in the first innings.Shakib had earlier suffered a groin niggle during the third ODI against West Indies, on January 25 in Chattogram. He had left the field on that occasion too, and joined the national team’s training a few days before the first Test, which began on February 3.Despite the injuries, Shakib’s return to international cricket following the one-year ICC ban has been a successful one. He was the Player of the Series in the ODIs, where he returned 4 for 8 in the first game and hit 43* and 51 in the next two games as Bangladesh won 3-0.No replacement has yet been announced by the Bangladesh selectors, who had earlier named an 18-man Test squad for the two matches.*This copy was updated on February 9 when the BCB announced Shakib Al Hasan’s replacement

England’s one remaining decision is the identity of their seam-bowling allrounder

George Dobell in Whangarei13-Nov-2019England face a choice between Chris Woakes and Sam Curran for the final place in their XI for the first Test against New Zealand.With the remainder of England’s plans falling into place, it seems the only decision left for the team management to make is who should operate at first change and bat at No. 8 in the Test team.It was hard to pick between the pair on Wednesday. There was little movement – off the pitch or in the air – for any of England’s bowlers on the second day of this game with two young New Zealand batsmen, Finn Allen and Jakob Bhula, taking advantage of a pitch that flattened out in weather much warmer than the previous day.Not for the first time in recent years, England’s attack struggled to gain much movement from a sluggish surface and the Kookaburra ball. And with every indication that the pitch in the first Test may be very similar, England will be looking to Woakes or Curran to provide control with the older ball. Woakes, not entirely encouragingly, later reported that the Kookaburra ball was “softer after 40 overs than a Dukes gets after 80.”There was, though, one reminder of the value of the variation that the left-arm of Curran offers. While the delivery that bowled Bhula did not appear to deviate in the air or off the pitch, the batsman did seem to misread the angle and, as a consequence, played down the wrong line. If Woakes plays, England will field an attack of four right-arm seamers.Woakes is a bit quicker, however, and hopes his ability to bowl the wobble seam delivery provides an edge that he has lacked on previous overseas tours. He certainly used the skill to decent effect in the English summer and felt that it was the one ball that offered some threat here.Chris Woakes bowls during England’s tour game at Cobham Oval•Getty Images

His overseas record is not in his favour. Woakes averages 23.45 with the ball – and, most pertinently, the Dukes ball – in his 19 Tests in England and 61.77 in his 12 Tests away from home when using the Kookaburra or SG ball. Curran averages 20.94 in his seven Tests at home and 105.50 in his four Tests away. Whichever way you look at it, Jimmy Anderson can probably expect, if fit, to return to the side for the Test series in South Africa.Both Curran and Woakes may benefit from the presence of England’s bowling consultant on this tour, Darren Gough. He was one of the few England seamers to have managed to swing – both conventionally and reverse – the Kookaburra and will have told both men his success was derived, in part, from his preparedness to pitch the ball full in search of swing. Yes, it cost him the odd boundary. But it also ensured he continued to threaten.Curran probably bowled fuller of the pair here and was rewarded with that wicket. But he was also thumped for a six back over his head by the impressive Allen. It may also be that Woakes, who played in four of the Ashes Tests compared to one for Curran, is considered the man in possession. Had Saqib Mahmood been considered fit, Curran would not have played here.There’s little doubt over England’s opening pair. While Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer were clearly easing into the tour, they claimed three of the four wickets England managed. Broad, forced to wait until second change here, struck with his third delivery. Continuing the policy which brought him such success in the England summer, he bowled a fuller length and was rewarded when Jack Boyle misread one which took his off stump. Ken McClure was beaten for pace by a full delivery from Archer that struck him on the foot. Archer later picked up the wicket of Leo Carter, too, feathering a catch down the leg side. Neither spinner enjoyed any assistance from the surface, though Jack Leach was the more consistent of the two.In between times, Allen and Bhula, who not so long ago were representing New Zealand U19, added 117 in 29 overs for the third wicket. Both looked high-class prospects but while was the one able to retire after reaching his century from 129 balls, it was Bhula, who spent six months on the MCC’s Young Cricketers scheme, who impressed with the way he dealt with the new ball. Both may have a future at the highest level.All this suggests that England will have to take whatever chances come their way in the Test series. Here they put down a couple, with Allen dropped before he had scored – Stokes, at second slip, realised an edge off Archer would not carry to first slip and attempted a tough chance diving across Joe Root – before Pope, at backward square-leg, was unable to cling on to a tough chance when Bhula, on 58, pulled a long-hop from Matt Parkinson.Earlier England extended their innings by 21 overs into the second day in order to provide time at the crease for more of their batsmen. With Root selflessly retiring on his overnight score, Pope and Jos Buttler settled in comfortably. While Pope, a little too expansive during his first stint in the Test team, left with some discipline outside the off stump, he lost patience against the left-arm spin and sliced a catch to cover. Buttler was fortunate to survive a similar error – Sandeep Patel making a fearful hash of the chance – off Theo van Woerkom’s first ball of the day.Stokes had no such issues. He smashed four fours and a slog-swept six in his 20-ball stay, showing no signs of the blow to the hand he sustained the previous day.But it was a disappointing day for Mahmood. Struck down with a migraine, he was forced to stay in the hotel all day. With little prospect of breaking into the Test team, he may well have missed his only opportunity to play with a red ball on this tour.There was better news for Joe Denly. Having suffered an ankle injury during the T20I series, he had been a doubt for this part of the tour. But he fielded through most of the day and will return to the team for the next game. If, as expected, he suffers no relapse, he is certain to play in the first Test. Jonny Bairstow, who has remained with the squad as backup, will consequently be sent home.The England squad have a rest day on Thursday ahead of a three-day, first-class match against a New Zealand XI here from Friday. As things stand, England will probably field their Test XI in that match.

MSK Prasad clarified that he had personally spoken to Nair after dropping him from the Test squad, and that he was “in the scheme of things for Test cricket”

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2018After controversially dropping Karun Nair from the Test squad, even though he didn’t get a chance to fail or succeed for six straight Tests, India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has given the batsman an advice: “keep on piling runs” in the domestic circuit and for India A.Prasad also clarified that he had personally spoken to Nair after leaving him out of the 15-man squad for the West Indies series at home. Nair’s omission created a stir because he was given no opportunity to prove himself on the preceding England tour and the lone Test against Afghanistan at home.”I personally spoke to Karun soon after the selection of the Test team against the West Indies and also told the ways to make a comeback. The selection committee is very, very clear with regard to the communication process,” Prasad told . “He will have to keep on piling runs in Ranji Trophy and whatever India A series is there. Karun is very much in the scheme of things for Test cricket. Right now, we have advised him to focus on performing in domestic and India A matches.”Prasad further stated that Nair had been spoken to in England too, where the batsman sat on the bench for the entirety of the tour, despite being named in the squad for all five Tests. That included the much talked-about inclusion of a debuting Hanuma Vihari, who edged out Nair to replace the injured Hardik Pandya for the fifth Test at The Oval.”Communication has always been the strong point of this committee,” Prasad said. “It’s really tough to inform any unpleasant news to any player. You need to have valid reasons to explain them about their exclusion though they may not agree with it.”Having said that, we are very clear and candid in our communication process. My colleague Devang Gandhi spoke to Karun Nair at length in England to keep him motivated and wait for his opportunities.”These statements are in direct contradiction to Nair’s. Shortly before the squad for West Indies series was announced, Nair had stated that he had received no communication about why he didn’t get a chance in England even though he was picked in the squad before Vihari.”We [Nair, the selectors and the team management] haven’t had any conversations. Nothing at all,” he had said. “It is difficult, but I haven’t gone forth and asked anything, but yeah, we haven’t had any conversation.”

Ramachandra Guha has left with a scathing resignation letter that expresses extreme frustration with the inaction of the committee over several issues while also accusing it of not keeping every member in the loop regarding important decisions

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-20174:22

Bal: Guha saying CoA hasn’t fulfilled its mandate

Ramachandra Guha, the prominent historian who stepped down from the Supreme Court-appointed committee of administrators (CoA), has left with a scathing resignation letter that expresses frustration with inaction over conflicts of interest, superstar culture, poor treatment of domestic players who don’t play IPL, among other issues.”It has been clear for some time now that my thoughts and views are adjacent to, and sometimes at odds with, the direction the Committee is taking as a whole,” Guha wrote.Here is a summary of Guha’s concerns:Conflict of interest of coaches
Guha was unhappy with the system where national coaches are contracted for 10 months a year and then go away for IPL duty. Rahul Dravid, R Sridhar, Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun are examples of coaches who are, or have been, part of the support staff of both national teams and IPL franchises.Guha also alleged preferential treatment when it came to awarding these contracts. “The more famous the former player-turned-coach, the more likely was the BCCI to allow him to draft his own contract that left loopholes that he exploited to dodge the conflict of interest issue,” he wrote. “I had first raised this issue to my COA colleagues in an email of 1st February, and have raised it several times since. I had urged that coaches and support staff for national teams be paid an enhanced compensation, but that this conflict of interest be stopped.”Guha went on to mention an NCA camp where at least one national coach was not available because of IPL duties.Conflict of interest of commentators
Guha said Sunil Gavaskar was a BCCI-contracted commentator and the director of PMG, a player management company, which has Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan on its rolls.”Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel,” Guha had written to his colleagues on March 19. “This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI.”Without naming possibly Sourav Ganguly, Guha wrote: “One famous former cricketer is contracted by media houses to comment on active players while serving as President of his State Association.”Superstar culture in awarding national contracts
Even though the new contracts rewarded Cheteshwar Pujara’s Test performances, Guha also noted: “As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding MS Dhoni an ‘A’ contract when he had explicitly ruled himself out from all Test matches was indefensible on cricketing grounds, and sends absolutely the wrong message.”Ramachandra Guha questioned awarding a Grade-A contract to MS Dhoni, who retired from Test cricket in 2014•AFP

Superstar captain
In all likelihood, India’s coach Kumble will not get an extension of his contract even though India have won every series bar one – a rain-affected T20 dash against West Indies in USA – under his watch. The reason being given by BCCI officials is that Kumble has lost the trust of the captain Kohli. The news broke a day after Kumble made a presentation for better contracts for all stakeholders.”Kumble was left hanging, and then told the post would be re-advertised afresh,” Guha wrote. “Clearly, the issue has been handled in an extremely insensitive and unprofessional manner by the BCCI CEO and the BCCI office-bearers, with the COA, by its silence and inaction, unfortunately being complicit in this regard.”Guha questioned the timing and intent of the advertisement for the coaching job. “If indeed the captain and the Head Coach were not getting along, why was not this attended to as soon as the Australia series was over in late March?”Surely giving senior players the impression that they may have a veto power over the coach is another example of superstar culture gone berserk?”Poor payments for domestic cricketers
Domestic cricketers end up making about INR 1.4 lakh for a Ranji Trophy match, but they are paid only INR 10,000 upfront. The balance is often delayed.”There are many more Indian cricketers who make their living via the Ranji Trophy than via IPL; besides, for us to have a consistently strong Test team (especially overseas) we need a robust inter-state competition and therefore must seek to compensate domestic players betters,” Guha wrote. “And yet, shockingly, Ranji match fees have remained at a very low level (a mere Rs 30,000 odd for each day of play); moreover, cheques for match fees sent by the BCCI are sometimes not passed on by the state associations to the players.”CoA complicit in Champions Trophy pullout threats
Guha did not spare the CoA for its inaction until the last minute when the BCCI delayed the team selection for the Champions Trophy because they were unhappy with the outcomes of the ICC meetings.The BCCI meetings that decided this course of action were attended by disqualified officials such as N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah. “All these illegalities were widely reported in the press; yet the COA did not bring them to the notice of the Court, and did not issue clear directions asking the offenders to desist either,” Guha wrote.Not everyone kept in loop
In perhaps the most damning indictment of the CoA, Guha accused the commitee of changing its lawyer without informing him. “There were several crucial decisions made where all the COA members were not brought into the loop,” Guha said. “For instance, a capable, non-political Senior Counsel representing the COA and the BCCI in the Supreme Court was abruptly replaced by another Senior Counsel who is a party politician.”Male cricketer missing
Guha said he believed CoA’s inaction was down to the absence of a senior male cricketer in the committee. He said he had suggested the names of Bishan Bedi and S Venkataraghavan to the committee, but both of them were disqualified by the virtue of their age over 70. He then suggested the name of Javagal Srinath, but this was not acted upon. He ended the letter saying he hoped he would be replaced by a senior male cricketer.

Mahela Jayawardene has confirmed that a recommendation has been made to reduce the margin of umpire’s call on the DRS, which would lead to more batsmen being given lbw

Melinda Farrell and Andrew McGlashan09-Jun-2016Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka captain who sits on the ICC cricket committee, has confirmed that a recommendation has been made to reduce the margin of umpire’s call on the Decision Review System (DRS) which would lead to more batsmen being given out lbw.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo after the first day’s play of the third Test at Lord’s, Jayawardene, who attended the latest meeting last week after being appointed to the ICC cricket committee in May, revealed that the proposal is to reduce the margin by half. If the change is approved, only 25% of the ball would need to be hitting the stumps in order to overturn an on-field not out decision, instead of the current 50%.That would have meant Jonny Bairstow being given out on 56 in England’s first innings against Sri Lanka at Lord’s. Instead, when Sri Lanka reviewed S Ravi’s not out decision, a verdict of “umpire’s call” was returned, with Hawk Eye showing the leg stump being struck by just fractionally less than 50% of the ball.”We sat in the cricket committee last week and we decided that the 50% rule should be reduced to 25%, so that recommendation will probably go in and it’s something for the stakeholders and ICC to take up,” Jayawardene said.”Even the MCC rule book says if it hits any part of the wicket it should be given out, so you are going away from all that with the 50% rule.”Jayawardene added that it was unfair for teams to lose a review when an lbw decision is so close to be being overturned. Research has shown that up to 80% of umpire’s calls that currently remain on-field would be given out under the adjusted protocols.”That argument has been there for the last three or four years when captains are losing reviews so that is another reason the reduction came into play,” he said. “If you take 25% out, I think the stats say that 75-80% of the umpire’s calls decisions would be given out. When umpires are considering benefit of the doubt I think 25% is okay, but 50% is too much.”Jayawardene’s erstwhile Sri Lanka team-mate Kumar Sangakkara expressed his dissatisfaction at the current functioning of the DRS for lbw reviews, in the wake of Bairstow’s reprieve. “High time the ICC got rid of this umpire’s call,” Sangakkara tweeted. “If the ball is hitting the stumps it should be out on review, regardless of [the umpire’s] decision. With the umpire’s call, technology is used as an excuse for the umpire making a mistake. Technology should ensure the correct decision’s made.”If the umpire wants a comfort zone, give him a margin of 20%,” Sangakkara added. “If anything more of the ball is hitting it, his decision can be overturned.”The recommendations by the cricket committee will be discussed at the ICC’s annual conference in Edinburgh at the end of the month, as part of a wider debate around the implementation of DRS.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has produced detailed research on the Hawk Eye and Hot Spot technology used for the DRS. There is a desire to bring in universal application of the DRS to avoid the current situation whereby differing levels of the technology are used around the world. India still refuses to use the system in bilateral series.

Embarrassing though this was for Somerset, bowled out for just 90 and struggling to work out why they have lost all three of their matches so far, Worcestershire can only be encouraged.

Jon Culley at New Road05-May-2015
ScorecardCharlie Morris took a his career-best match figures•Getty Images

Embarrassing though this was for Somerset, bowled out for just 90 and struggling to work out why they have lost all three of their matches so far, Worcestershire can only be encouraged. It took them until July to register a first win in their last Division One season in 2012, which ended in relegation. To have one to their name in the first week of May will fire belief that they are capable of holding their own.Clearly, Somerset are in a bit of bother. After two defeats at Taunton, they succumbed here rather too meekly for anyone’s comfort. At tea on the second day, they had been firmly in the match, nine runs in front with Worcestershire six down. Two sessions more and the contest had been turned on its head.It was as if conceding 161 runs after tea on Monday had convinced them that Worcestershire were too good. There was clearly still something in the pitch for the bowlers, certainly some up-and-down bounce from one end, but to be bowled out for 90 in 32 overs was desperately poor. Charlie Morris and Joe Leach bowled well with the new ball but it was the lack of conviction and the neglect of application that will have alarmed Matthew Maynard, their new director of cricket. Only James Hildreth, who made 35, seemed to have any will to apply himself to the task.”I’m a little bit shellshocked, really,” their captain, Marcus Trescothick, said. “I can’t remember ever losing three Championship matches on the bounce. We certainly did not see it coming before the season began.”We haven’t performed anywhere near the level we expect over the three days. We’ve got a bit of soul-searching to do because we can’t carry on in this vein.”Trescothick had been bowled for a duck by the second delivery of the morning as Morris took the new ball from the Diglis End. Then Johann Myburgh pushed tentatively at a ball outside off stump to be caught behind, Tom Cooper surrendered one stump as Morris claimed his third and Jim Allenby lost two stumps to Joe Leach, who then had Alex Barrow caught at first slip. In the blink of an eye, it seemed, Somerset were 19 for 5 and effectively gone.Morris, impressively accurate and pretty quick, finished with 4 for 38 for career-best match figures of 9 for 109. Leach, who played only because Gareth Andrew was injured, added two more to his first-innings three and Jack Shantry wrapped things up with four wickets in the space of 17 balls, three in 11 after lunch.It meant that, having seen good positions slip away from their opening two matches, Worcestershire could congratulate themselves at having seized this one with conviction and followed it through.It is only one win to go with two defeats but there is plenty about which to be optimistic. Three of their young batsmen have centuries – Tom Fell against Yorkshire, Richard Oliver against Sussex and now Ben Cox, who played so handsomely for his career-best 109 on Monday. In Morris, meanwhile, they have a bowler capable of match-winning spells with the new ball.”It was Alan Richardson-esque, the way he hit line and length with pace and nipped the ball around,” their director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, enthused. “Charlie had new ball spells in both innings that were unbelievably good. He made life very difficult for some excellent Somerset batsmen.”Everyone knows how tough it is going to be for us in Division One so to get a win early in the campaign is important for confidence. I know Somerset are going through a tough spell but they are still a battle-hardened Division One side.”Trescothick can console himself with that thought too. Although they have lost some experienced batsmen since last winter, Somerset ought to be capable of getting back on track.”These situations can turn around pretty quickly,” he said, as if to reassure himself. “It is just down to team unity and the work we put in behind the scenes.”

Although Brad Haddin was named Man of the Match after Sydney Sixers’ thrashing of Yorkshire, the demolition was inspired by their gang of young quicks

Liam Brickhill at Newlands16-Oct-2012Although Brad Haddin was named Man of the Match after Sydney Sixers’ thrashing of Yorkshire at Newlands on Tuesday afternoon, the demolition was inspired by their gang of young quicks. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood combined to take 6 for 44 in 12 overs, with Hazlewood proving miserly in giving away just nine runs in his spell.”The beauty with the group we’ve got at the moment is they’re all so different, and if they get it right they’re definitely hard to score off in this form of the game,” Haddin said. “They all bowl well together. There are no egos with them, they’re happy to bowl when they’re asked to. We’ve got a good crop there.”Haddin was particularly effusive in his praise for the 21-year-old Hazlewood, who drew extra lift and carry off the pitch from the start of his spell to keep Yorkshire’s batsmen on the back foot. “I thought Josh was outstanding,” he said. “The big fella was very hard to play out there today, with the lengths he’s hitting.”Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale admitted that Hazlewood had adjusted very quickly to what he thought was a slightly green, spongy wicket. “Hazlewood came on and he adapted straight away, hit the pitch hard back of a length,” he said. “I thought the pitch was a bit spongy. It was quite hard to pick up the pace of the pitch early on, and he exploited that.”Haddin, on the other hand, insisted that the pitch had very little to do with his bowlers’ success. “It was a very good wicket today. These fast bowlers make the wicket look a lot different to other teams. Everything’s got to go to our bowlers, they did a very good job to put us in the position we got into today.”That position hadn’t looked too healthy when Starc’s radar went awry and he leaked 13 runs from his first over. Yorkshire will have seen a lot of Starc, who was their overseas player this season, and Gale suggested he would have been a welcome addition to their squad for this tournament.”His first over went for 13 and I thought we were going to take him down,” Gale said. “He’s a great lad, a great talent and he should’ve been at the top of his run bowling for us today, not them.”Gale also tipped Starc, who made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gabba last December but has only nailed down a permanent spot in Australia’s limited-overs sides, for major honours in the future. “He’s one to look out for in the future. It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes all the way to be a world No.1 bowler in the short and the long formats of the game.”Hazlewood played a solitary ODI aged just 19, while Starc and Cummins have shared the new ball for Australia in a handful of Twenty20 Internationals. They’re all tall and quick, but ply their trade in subtly different ways and could well form the backbone of a potent Test attack in years to come. That is, if they’re all fit at the same time.”It’s very exciting,” Hazlewood said. “We had a little joke about it, that we’re all fit at the same time. It hadn’t happened yet, but it’s good now that we’re all together and we’re all fit and firing. This is only the second game I’ve played with Cummo [Cummins]. With all three of us in the same team, it was pretty good fun.”Haddin was quick to draw the focus from potential future Test pairings to the task at hand in this tournament. He was happy enough that the order had not come from Cricket Australia to rest any of his young quicks or, even worse, to get on a plane back to Australia as Shane Watson has been told to do.”I hadn’t even thought about that. We might have to turn our phones off,” Haddin joked. “I think we’d know by now. But I’m not resting the quicks. They can rest tomorrow.”It’s obviously a very good attack, and they all complement each other very well. What we’ve got to remember with these guys is that they’re still very young, and they’ve got a lot of cricket left in them. At the moment, they just want to learn. They want to keep getting better. These guys are challenging each other at training, and trying to get better and better.”