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Former England captain withdraws from Test Match Special following internal criticism

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2022Michael Vaughan has made the decision “step back from work with the BBC”, almost two weeks after being charged over the Yorkshire racism scandal, and will not be part of the Test Match Special commentary team for next week’s delayed fifth Test against India.Vaughan was dropped from last winter’s Ashes coverage after being implicated in Azeem Rafiq’s testimony about the culture of institutional racism at Yorkshire, but was restored to broadcasting duties for the recent three-Test series against New Zealand.That move, however, has caused disquiet for the BBC Sport’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic group, which last week sent an internal email criticising the “totally inexcusable” decision to re-employ Vaughan, whom Rafiq claims told a group of Asian players in 2009 that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.That alleged comment led to Vaughan becoming one of seven Yorkshire players to be charged by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission with bringing the game into disrepute.On Tuesday evening, Vaughan responded to the criticism by releasing a statement on Twitter.”On numerous occasions, I have put on record my views on the issues concerning YCCC,” Vaughan wrote. “It is always regrettable when commentary on matters off the field take the focus away from what’s happening on the field. In view of the ongoing dialogue on the subject, I have taken the decision to step back from my work with the BBC for the time being.”The key driver for this is my concern for the wellbeing of my family members and my wish to protect their family life. Stepping back temporarily is also in the interests of the game and I hope that it will minimise any difficulties for my work colleagues.”The BBC responded in a statement: “Following conversations with Michael Vaughan we have accepted his decision to step away from our cricket coverage. This is a decision we respect and understand. Michael remains under contract to the BBC.”

Priority is to reunite the IPL returnees with families as they come out of quarantine on Monday, CA CEO says

Andrew McGlashan31-May-2021Cricket Australia has yet to start discussions over whether players will be able to head back to the IPL when the tournament resumes in the UAE later this year as those who had returned from the suspended competition completed their quarantine in Sydney on Monday.The cohort of Australians – players, commentators, coaches and match officials – endured a long journey home when the tournament was halted earlier this month, having to travel via a stay in the Maldives due to Australia’s border being closed to arrivals from India, before a BCCI-chartered flight brought them back when restrictions were partly lifted.While Australia do not have any international commitments when the IPL is due to resume it is unlikely that all the players will resume their deals. The tournament is now set to run almost straight into the T20 World Cup – which still seems likely to be moved to the UAE, although the BCCI has asked the ICC for more time to see if the showpiece event can be held as scheduled in India – meaning another lengthy stint in various biosecure bubbles for those involved in both. It will also clash with the start of the Australian domestic season, although last year players with IPL deals did skip state cricket.”Once we get back together as a group that [the IPL] is something we’ll obviously need to discuss,” Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said on the day he was confirmed in the role full-time. “Our players returning from the IPL have only today come out of quarantine, so our first priority is to make sure they are reunited with their families…we [then] have a tour to prepare for in the West Indies.”Following the T20 World Cup, players will need to do a further two weeks quarantine in Australia then those in the Test squad will go straight into the opening match of the men’s season against Afghanistan in Hobart before the Ashes in December.Australia have named a preliminary squad of 23 for the West Indies tour in July, which includes five T20Is and three ODIs, with that expected to be trimmed to around 18. They are then due to go straight from the West Indies to Bangladesh for five T20Is although those dates have yet to be rubberstamped.Related

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• West Indies to host SA, Australia, Pakistan in home season

• Australia's Test drought poses possible Ashes problems

• BCCI mulls moving T20 World Cup to UAE

• Australia to tour Bangladesh for five T20Is in August

The group coming out of quarantine on Monday included nine players who are part of the enlarged squad while Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye and Adam Zampa – who left the IPL shortly before Australia’s borders closed to arrivals from India – are also included.There have been reports that David Warner and Pat Cummins may not be included in the final squad so they are able to spend more time with their families. Allrounder Daniel Sams, who contracted Covid-19 shortly before the IPL started, made himself unavailable for selection.”They are clearly quite shaken by the experience, and are very appreciative to be back home, very much looking forward to being reunited with family and friends today,” Hockley said. “It’s a couple of weeks before the West Indies touring party then regroups at the National Cricket Centre [in Brisbane] and then that’s the time to refocus.”Hockley also confirmed that Cricket Australia is continuing to work towards getting the squad Covid-19 vaccines before they depart in late June.Last month the Australian government approved vaccines for Olympians who will be heading to Tokyo and the cricketers are set to come under the same eligibility criteria for those given exemptions to leave Australia for work purposes.”We really welcomed the government announcements that people with exemptions to leave Australia for work will be eligible for the vaccine,” Hockley said. “Now once the players are out of quarantine we will be working to offer them vaccinations before heading off to the West Indies.”

Fast bowler confirms bid for full fitness is back on track after fiery opening gambit at Hove

Paul Edwards13-May-2021
When Jofra Archer last played a first-class match at Hove he was not a World Cup winner nor had he played in an Ashes series. The game took place in September 2018 and was memorable for the final first-class centuries of both Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell. Trott’s hundred satisfied the technicians; Bell’s pleased the aesthetes and brings them comfort still. Archer had played 10 IPL games for Rajasthan Royals and was plainly England’s next big thing. But his four late wickets against Warwickshire hardly disturbed the universe and certainly nobody gave a monkey’s what he did with his fish tank apart, one assumes, from the fish. The age of aquaria had not yet dawned.That era is upon us now, though, and so Archer is perhaps fortunate that he is based in Brighton, where other-worldliness is an asset and where shredding your finger cleaning up after your piscine pets is something that could happen to anyone. Even more than Britain’s metropolises this city is a shrine to the outré and the baroque. Archer is thus an extraordinary cricketer in a city filled with extraordinary people and maybe he enjoys the camouflage, even if such concealment is not always available. The news that he had recovered sufficiently from a right-elbow injury to be named in Sussex’s squad for this game against Kent brought extra photographers and journalists to the County Ground and in the first half an hour of the day we could all see why.In Archer’s third over Daniel Bell-Drummond was beaten for pace and bounce; the catch went very fast to second slip where George Garton made it look laughably easy. Next over, though, Archer over-pitched and Zak Crawley helped himself to four runs past wide mid-on. We settled down for a duel between a couple of England’s Test cricketers, only for it to end two balls later when Crawley could do nothing with sharp lift and movement off a length except nick the ball to Ben Brown.”Usually I bowl to Zak n the [England] nets and I have done that quite a bit,” observed Archer when our day’s cricket was done. “Obviously, you’re never out in the nets so it was good to get him out here, with umpires.”Related

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Thereafter, though, the bowler upon whom some Ashes strategies may rest blended into the background of what became a fine day for Sussex. He bowled two spells of four overs and then one of five that was bridged by rain. The speed and steepling bounce will have reassured the selectors but Archer bowled no better than Ollie Robinson, with whom he may yet open England’s bowling in a Test match during this most unpredictable of seasons. Robinson nags at a batsman’s technique much as an abscess might plague the nerves beneath a tooth; extraction is often the inevitable consequence.Such relentless discipline appeals to England’s selectors and Robinson was more responsible than anyone else in Brown’s attack for Sussex dismissing Kent for 145 on a cloud-strewn, shower-threatened day when the decision to bowl first cannot have required much thought. In the over after lunch he bowled Jordan Cox through the narrowest of gates for 24 and then returned in the evening to have Kent’s top scorer, Jack Leaning, taken at slip by Aaron Thomason for 63 when nibbling at a ball outside the off stump. “More of a chomp than a nibble,” observed Sam Keir, Sussex’s Media Executive, a man with a good memory for confectionery. One saw his point. It was a thickish edge.By then, though, Leaning’s studious, three-hour innings had become an exercise in damage limitation. In the morning session he and Cox had piloted their side to 68 for 2 only to see such comparative affluence frittered away by the haemorrhage of five wickets for 42 runs in the afternoon. Cox was the first to go but that misfortune was followed by the loss of three batsmen in the space of 15 balls. Garton took two of the three and may even have benefitted from his irritating habit of mixing many distinctly good balls with occasional dross. The saddest departure was that of 20-year-old Tawanda Muyeye, whose maiden first-class innings lasted just eight balls before Robinson’s third leg-before appeal against him in the same over received a grim assent from David Millns, a decision with which Muyeye could have no complaint.And the debutant had at least got a run to his name, a distinction not shared by Darren Stevens, who flashed at a wide one. The same error was committed a few overs later by Marcus O’Riordan and both edges were taken by Thomason at first slip. The showers returned and Kent took tea on 113 for 7. Jack Carson picked up a couple of cheap wickets to end the innings but even that skill adds to a spinner’s growing reputation. Adil Rashid could tell Carson that.Having been assisted by the relatively dry weather during the bulk of the day, Sussex were helped by the return of bad light when 14.3 overs remained to be bowled. At that stage Brown’s batsmen had reduced the deficit to 94 runs but only for the loss of Tom Haines who feathered a catch behind off Stevens and Thomason, whose booming drive off Nathan Gilchrist was snaffled by O’Riordan at cover point. It was a careless end to what had been a pleasing three sessions for Thomason and his team but Brown would have settled for this state of affairs this morning, when the captain of Sussex arrived at the ground on his scooter and saw a tiny murmuration of starlings feasting on grubs in the wet earth.

Marcus Trescothick’s marathon double century delighted Somerset, but he failed to bat through an innings for the first time as he was last out during a whirlwingdseven-wicket spell from Imran Tahir

David Hopps at Trent Bridge19-Jul-2016
ScorecardImran Tahir found a response to Marcus Trescothick’s marathon [file picture]•Getty Images

It was moving day in the Championship, but so hot that any form of movement took considerable resolve. The sort of conditions when young wannabees reckon they can outlast the senior citizens of the county circuit on energy alone and when the senior citizens shrug that they have seen it all before and just as often come out on top.Marcus Trescothick, if he was a lesser man, would have drawn alongside Harold Gimblett as Somerset’s leading century-maker on the second day, observed the sort of searing heat that drains energy from ageing bones and left it to younger men on the third.Instead, he extended his unbeaten 117 to 218 – his seventh first-class double hundred – before he was last out after tea: a seventh wicket for Imran Tahir. Seventy-eight years betweem them and entirely dominating the day.By then, Trescothick was bereft of support, his capacious frame sweating from places where it had never sweated since unfortunate circumstances caused him to call time on his England career.While Trescothick proceeded with selectivity, occasionally drawing attention to himself by crunching a cover drive, elsewhere was midsummer madness. Around mid-afternoon, one stripped-to-the-waste Nottinghamshire spectator was splashing his bare torso with emergency cold water in a Members’ Toilet, groaning as he did so, drying himself with paper towels as if a state of emergency had been called. One day of 35C and England was falling apart. “I can’t stand much more of this,” he volunteered, so mentally destroyed that he briefly forgot the rule in conservative parts that chat in a public convenience should be determinedly avoided.For all his achievements, all his longevity, Trescothick has never carried his bat in his career. Presented with the tail for company, over the years he has preferred to go for broke. He had not offered a semblance of a chance – disregarding those swimming angrily around Luke Fletcher’s head – which invited the thought that this surely was the time.Then he pushed firmly at Tahir and planted the ball in the hands of Brendan Taylor at extra cover. Disappointment must have been tinged with relief that it was all over. He had batted for nearly eight-and-a-quarter hours, faced 355 balls, struck 32 fours and a six, and passed 1,000 runs for the umpteenth time. And, after all that, with Somerset dismissed for 437, all he had to show for it was a first of innings lead of 36.Tahir, a wiry 38 year old, looks built for these baking conditions. Whereas Trescothick proceeds like a reliable old Dormobile where, much as you treasure it, you feel it’s best to keep a wary eye on the temperature gauge, Tahir, as a legspinner, seems a natural product of the heat that has suddenly descended upon England after three months of a season ravaged by cold winds and rain.In only his third first-class match for Notts, his 7 for 112 was the best return by a Nottinghamshire overseas bowler since Stuart MacGill, a fellow leggie, had helped himself to seven for 109 against Essex at Southend in 2004. Notts’ overseas pace bowlers have failed to cause havoc in the past decade despite Trent Bridge traditionally being a haven for swing. They must wonder why. Or if they don’t, they should.Without Tahir’s monumental effort, Trescothick’s monumental effort might have put Somerset in a winning position. The only substantial partnership of the day, 102 for the fifth wicket, was eventually halted by Samit Patel, who bowled Jim Allenby for 63 as he tried to work a flighted ball of full length into the leg side. At 379 for 4, Somerset were only 22 behind, only for Tahir to cause chaos in a spell of 5 for 20 in 9.5 overs as the pitch began to provide a little purchase.Tahir fulfilled his role brilliantly and, although the game smacked more of stalemate with every wicket he took, final days will become more unpredictable if the hot weather holds: even this one.It was the sort of spell that the ECB wants young English legspinners to produce. But it will take the best part of a decade if spinners are to be produced in England and the process is a lot more complicated than just taking grass off the pitch. By then, who knows where the game will be.

The confidence boost Sri Lanka gained from their T20 series victory did not carry over into the start of the one-day internationals as they were trounced by eight wickets in Port Elizabeth

The Report by Andrew McGlashan28-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsImran Tahir sliced through Sri Lanka’s middle order•Gallo Images/Getty Images

The confidence boost Sri Lanka gained from their T20 series victory did not carry over into the start of the one-day internationals as they were trounced by eight wickets in Port Elizabeth. A masterclass of limited-overs legspin by Imran Tahir snuffed out the middle order as they limped to 181, which proved a scant challenge for South Africa’s full-strength top order.Tahir finished with 3 for 26, including the scalp of top-scorer Kusal Mendis for 62, and did not concede a boundary in his 10 overs to ensure South Africa always held control after choosing to bowl first. Wayne Parnell had made swift work of the openers, before a stand of 72 for the third wicket between Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal steadied the innings, although it was laborious progress against probing bowling from South Africa’s quartet of seamers. It meant that when Tahir made his inroads, with three wickets in 15 balls, Sri Lanka had little to show for the consolidation and the innings frittered away.An opening stand of 71 in 13 overs between Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla, two of the senior South Africa players rested from the T20 series, broke the back of the chase and the target was knocked off with more than 15 overs to spare.For the eight teams taking part, all one-day internationals at the moment lead towards the Champions Trophy in June. While Sri Lanka appear to have many questions to answer, South Africa’s squad for this series is probably not far from what they will take to the tournament, but some players are still in need of performances to cement their positions.

Smart Stats

• 94 Balls remaining in South Africa’s victory. This is their fifth quickest win against Sri Lanka. Four of these wins have come at home.

• 2 Number of lower scores for Sri Lanka against South Africa in South Africa while batting first than the 181 they scored. Previously they scored 128 at the Wanderers in 2002 and 105 at Bloemfontein in 1998.

• 8 Number of half-centuries for Kusal Mendis from 17 innings. He is yet to convert these scores to a century. He has scored more than fifty in his last three ODI innings.

Chief among those is Parnell, and he made the perfect start when he trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw first ball. He soon followed that with the wicket of debutant Sandun Weerakkody, who had only arrived in the country yesterday after a delayed flight, when he had a waft outside off which smacked of jetlag.Sri Lanka knew they had to avoid further early losses, so caution was the watch-word for Chandimal, although Mendis showed greater inclination to attack, twice taking two boundaries in an over off Parnell and Andile Phehlukwayo. Mendis was given lbw on 48, but the decision by Richard Kettleborough was overturned when replays showed an edge off his sweep, and he reached his fifty from 74 balls.But it wasn’t long before Tahir started to unpick the innings. Chandimal, who had taken 47 balls to find the boundary, was beautifully set up by a series of leg-breaks, before Tahir tossed a googly wide which spun back between bat and pad. Two overs later, he removed Mendis, lbw, playing back to a delivery that spun enough to beat the outside edge, and this time the review brought no reprieve.Upul Tharanga, captaining this side in Angelo Mathews’ absence, continued in the middle-order role he had in last year’s tri-series in Zimbabwe despite his 13 hundreds coming as an opener. He could not lift his side, however, when he drove limply to cover, although Tahir deserved credit for switching his line to around the wicket.Sri Lanka’s problems were compounded by a mix-up between Dhananjaya de Silva and Asela Gunaratne, which saw the latter run out after a relay throw from the deep via Quinton de Kock to Parnell at the bowling end.Nuwan Kulasekara clubbed a couple of lusty shots, including the one six of the innings, before edging Kagiso Rabada. With nine overs remaining, there was little choice but to try and see out the innings. They failed by nine deliveries as Parnell and Chris Morris removed the final three wickets. From the start of the 43rd over, they had not scored more than one run off a delivery.South Africa’s top order is daunting with all the big-guns back, and it would have taken a remarkable effort from Sri Lanka to defend the total. Suranga Lakmal’s first ball took de Kock’s outside edge, but the ball fell short of the slips. De Kock could have been run-out from mid-off on 21. However, the way the openers imposed themselves on Sri Lanka’s wrist spinners – Jeffrey Vandersay and Lakshan Sandakan – showed their intent for a ruthless performance.Sandakan, who had claimed 4 for 23 in the second T20, was taken for 10 in his first over, and Vandersay, a late call-up to the one-day squad, 14 off his first. Although Sandakan struck against the run of play, when de Kock drove to cover, boundaries came regularly. Amla barely broke sweat in bringing up his fifty off 56 deliveries, and Faf du Plessis was able to enjoy an extended net after his brief down time following the Test series.While Amla’s slightly soft dismissal, as he lobbed a return catch to Gunaratne, was a disappointment for him, it gave the crowd what they wanted – AB de Villiers at the crease. To chants of “AB, AB”, he played within himself but did loft one over the boundary. Back as captain, in his first one-day international since last June, the day could not really have gone any better.

The positive result came from a member of the support staff just hours before the game was due to take place

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2021The BBL match between Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers on Thursday has been postponed due to a Covid-19 case within the Stars’ camp. The positive result came from a member of the support staff on Thursday afternoon just hours before the game was due to take place. All other members of Stars’ squad who had been in contact with the case have since undertaken PCR tests but are still awaiting the results, meaning the game cannot take place at the Marvel Stadium. It was already one of Scorchers’ rearranged fixtures due to the border restrictions in Western Australia.”While regrettable, the decision to postpone tonight’s match was the only option available given the exposures within the Stars cohort,” Alistair Dobson, the general manager of the Big Bash Leagues, said.Related

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“The League has a number of biosecurity protocols in place to keep our participants safe and the competition moving forward. These protocols are regularly reviewed in response to the risks in each state. Safety remains our number one priority, and we will work with the Stars to get their side back on the field as soon as possible.”It is the first time the BBL or the WBBL has been directly hit by a Covid-19 case during the pandemic, and comes amid rising cases around Australia. Sydney Thunder’s Sam Whiteman missed a game earlier in the season due to being a possible close contact.Thursday’s postponed match will be replayed later in the season, although no new date has yet been set; but already, there is very little room for disruption in the BBL schedule.Melbourne Stars General Manager Blair Crouch said: “The staff member is being managed by Melbourne Stars medical staff in consultation with Cricket Australia and we look forward to them being able to return to the group in due course. We have key home matches scheduled on January 2 and 3 in Melbourne so we hope to have more clarity through testing over the next 24-48 hours.”Unlike the men’s Ashes series – which has also been hit by a Covid-19 outbreak in the England touring part as well as to match referee David Boon – BBL clubs travel on commercial rather than chartered planes.Earlier in the season, a Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Victoria was postponed for a day after allrounder Will Sutherland tested positive.The Ashes tour is currently attempting to remain on track despite an outbreak in the England squad which has now reached seven cases, the latest one forcing head coach Chris Silverwood into isolation as a close contact.The first of the cases in the England camp emerged on the second day of the MCG Test but the game was able to continue after the playing group all returned negative rapid test results, with Victoria having a looser definition of close contacts which is now being adopted more broadly.

Matt Coles, Kent’s roistering allrounder, has taken another downturn as the county considers how best to deal with his conduct during a Championship match in Cardiff last week

David Hopps27-Jun-2016The turbulent career of Matt Coles, Kent’s roistering allrounder, has taken another downturn as the county considers how best to deal with his conduct during a Championship match in Cardiff last week.Coles’ behaviour was discussed at length on Monday by Kent officials, including the chief executive Jamie Clifford and chairman of the cricket committee Graham Johnson, as the fallout threatened to harm Kent’s season at a critical juncture.Johnson was earlier pressed for an explanation of Coles’ absence from the current Championship match against Derbyshire at a Members Forum at Canterbury as Kent press for promotion to Division One of the Specsavers Championship.”Unavailable for selection” was Johnson’s guarded reply, explaining that it was an employee-employer matter that had still to be fully resolved and which could not properly be divulged.Coles faced the wrath of at least one Kent spectator when he arrived at the ground in the final session when an elderly female member wagged her finger and asked: “What have you been up to now?” It is not the first time he will have been asked that question.Coles’ last Championship match was a rain-hit four-day affair against Glamorgan in Cardiff last week. As a direct result of events in Cardiff, he then missed the NatWest Blast tie against Middlesex in Canterbury on Friday night in which Middlesex rattled up 210 for 6 – the fifth defeat in seven for a Kent side who began the T20 season with such high hopes.They now face two critical opportunities to turn around their Blast campain – Sussex at Canterbury on Thursday with a trip to Chelmsford to face Essex the following day – with no indication as yet as to whether Coles, a hard-hitting batsman as well as strike bowler, will be available.His absence from the Championship match has also had an impact with a weakened attack struggling to contain Derbyshire, who started this match second bottom of Division Two but who finished the second day in a strong position: 88 runs behind Kent’s first innings of 379 with seven wickets intact.Coles has already faced one suspension this season – one where Kent defended him strenuously. He was banned for two Championship games by the ECB for “throwing the ball at or near a player, umpire or official in an inappropriate and dangerous manner” – a Level Two breach of the ECB’s disciplinary code – during Kent’s win against Glamorgan. Video footage of the incident suggested that the penalty was severe.That incident triggered an automatic suspension because he had accumulated 12 penalty points from the ECB within a two-year period. He was previously reprimanded for a Level One breach in August 2014 and a Level Two breach in September the same year.Coles left Kent for Hampshire in 2013 but made the return trip by mutual consent before the 2015 season after completing only one year of a three-year contract. A cryptic club statement said the 24-year-old had not “settled as he, or we, would have liked”.He went back to his home county, with the captain at the time, Rob Key, convinced that his talents could be harnessed and calling him a player of England potential. Key, a positive influence, has since retired and taken up a role with Sky TV’s cricket commentary team.Coles vowed to get his career back on track and told ESPNcricinfo that perceptions of him were unfair and openly dismissed talk of a drink problem.His reputation had also taken a battering when he was sent home early from a Lions tour in 2013, along with Ben Stokes, by Andy Flower for what was deemed “unprofessional conduct” – namely persistent late-night drinking. David Parsons, the ECB’s performance director, said at the time: “On a very challenging tour to Australia, both Matt and Ben have ignored the instructions given to them around their match preparation and recovery.”Since then Stokes has got his career back on track to become an integral part of England’s set-up, but Coles, although capable of impressive matchwinning flourishes with bat and ball which make him one of most entertaining cricketers around, has not made the same impact.

One-sided contest as bowlers combine to roll Lightning aside for 81

ECB Reporters Network10-Jul-2021Central Sparks 84 for 4 (G Davies 31) beat Lightning 81 (G Davis 4-12, Jones 3-14) by six wicketsCentral Sparks broke their duck at the third attempt in the Charlotte Edwards Cup, winning a low-scoring contest by six wickets with one over to spare as Lightning suffered a third defeat.Gwen Davies made 31, Eve Jones an unbeaten 27 and Thea Brookes 21 off 14 balls after Lightning had been bowled out for 81 in 19.1 overs.Off-spinner Georgia Davis, with 4 for 12, and all-rounder Jones, who took 3 for 14 with her left-arm seamers, each posted T20 career-bests with the ball.More than half of Lightning’s total runs were scored by their last-wicket pair as Shachi Pai and 19-year-old Sophie Munro put on 41 in 33 balls, Pai scoring 18 from 21, Munro unbeaten on 20 from 16 deliveries, including two nicely-executed offside boundaries.Munro then took 2 for 10 with her right-arm seamers in a Lightning attack that battled hard to contain the Sparks but ultimately had too little to defend.The 10th-wicket pair apart, only one other Lightning batter made it into double figures, albeit on a slow pitch that made it difficult to time the ball.Davis’s four dismissals were almost carbon copies as Abbey Freeborn, Teresa Graves, Sonia Odedra and Lucy Higham took it in turn to be out leg before, attempting to sweep.Jones profited from leading edges as Kathryn Bryce and Michaela Kirk found fielders on the off side, picking up her third success when Kirstie Gordon chipped back a return catch.Earlier, Issy Wong took a wicket with her second ball and another with her eighth as Beth Harmer and Sarah Bryce were bowled.With Lightning 40 for 9, Sparks might have envisaged a very early finish but it looked a more even contest once Davis and Jones had completed their stints. Pai eventually fell when she went aerial to Stephanie Butler’s off-spin but failed to clear mid-off.Sparks found it hard to get going and were six behind Lightning at nine for two from their Powerplay, having lost Marie Kelly and Milly Home in a double-wicket maiden from Munro.Davies and Jones were patient in adding 46 off 12 overs but when Higham had Davies stumped for 31, a requirement of 30 in as many balls could have been tricky.However, Brookes launched Gordon through midwicket for four and hit Odedra for six and four to change the picture as the 17th over went for 14 runs. Brookes swung and missed one from Bryce but with eight needed off 16 balls a couple of boundaries from Jones finished the job.

The serious demeanour of Dean Elgar, a batsman not given to fripperies, dominated the opening day of the second Test at Newlands as Sri Lanka failed to gain lasting benefit from a good bowling day

The Report by David Hopps02-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:38

Fernando: SL tried to prevent Herath from getting a wicket

The serious demeanour of Dean Elgar, a batsman not given to fripperies, dominated the opening day of the second Test at Newlands as Sri Lanka failed to gain lasting benefit from a good bowling day. A new year had dawned, but it was very much the old Elgar, recognisably sure of stroke and restricted in ambition, who guided South Africa forward as he progressed conscientiously to a sixth Test century.At 169 for 5, with 30 overs remaining and Temba Bavuma just dismissed on the pull by Sri Lanka’s highly-promising fast bowler Lahiru Kumara, the day was still in the balance, but South Africa snatched it with a sixth-wicket stand 103 in 24 overs between Elgar and Quinton de Kock, who gambolled around without a care on land that Elgar had tilled, and watered from the sweat of his brow, for hours.Elgar’s end came against the second new ball – 129 from 230 deliveries – when he pushed at a wideish delivery from Suranga Lakmal and was defeated by a little seam movement, leaving Kusal Mendis to pouch the catch. De Kock, his antithesis, survived a few escapades with failed ramp shots and top-edged pulls to reach a happy-go-lucky 68 not out by the close.Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s captain, would be well satisfied. He had happily volunteered that a fresh and grassy Newlands surface was intended to favour his strong pace attack. Even Table Mountain, adorned by cloud throughout the first session, came out in support. “Against England last year it was a road,” he said. “It was different for that bowling attack. You have to prepare for the team you are playing against.”Sri Lanka had first use of it, but were unable to bury their reputation. Two wickets late in the morning session for Kumara ensured they achieved what was surely a minimum objective of three wickets when the odds were most in their favour, and the addition of du Plessis shortly before tea brought them further reward on an otherwise trying afternoon.

Fastest to 1000 runs for SA and Herath’s feat

• 23 Number of innings taken for Quinton de Kock to reach 1000 Test runs. He is the joint fifth fastest for South Africa behind Graeme Smith (17 inns), AB de Villiers (20), Eddie Barlow (21), Graeme Pollock (22) and Faf Du Plessis (23).

• 355 Number of wickets taken by Rangana Herath in Tests. He is now the joint second highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in Tests and joint 19th overall. Herath, Dennis Lillee and Chaminda Vaas have 355 wickets each.

• 129 Dean Elgar’s highest Test score and his second century against Sri Lanka. Previously he made 103 in Galle in 2014. Elgar now has four centuries at home averaging 49.90.

Stephen Cook was the Man of the Match in Port Elizabeth, striking a century and half-century in South Africa’s emphatic 206-run win, but he made a four-ball duck on this occasion: two outswingers and an inswinger from Lakmal before another outswinger, slightly fuller, forced Cook into a statuesque nibble and a faint edge to the wicketkeeper.Lakmal carried the most threat for Sri Lanka with the first new ball, clearly roused by the sight of lavish movement, never short of a tongue-out grin when the ball behaved in a manner that is a special delight for bowlers condemned to playing out much of their career in Sri Lanka’s draining conditions.Nuwan Pradeep, although combative enough, lacked the technical skill to make the most of the conditions and limped off midway through an over during the final session. His only impact was on the umpire Aleem Dar, catching him on the elbow as he approached the crease and bringing some pained arm extensions from the man who had just passed Rudi Koertzen as the most capped umpire in all formats. An umpire incapable of raising his finger was not about to help Sri Lanka’s cause.Angelo Mathews, who initially bowled himself ahead of Kumara, settled for containment with a line well outside off stump which South Africa’s batsmen ignored at their leisure which later made it hard to ascertain why Mathews took the second new ball while Kumara, already strong and stocky at 19, and capable of speeds well beyond 140kph, had to make do with the old.Kumara accounted for both Amla and JP Duminy in the same over. Amla was unhinged by an excellent delivery which came back sharply off the seam between bat and pad, leaving him without a Test half-century in his last nine innings, a strikingly lean run for a batsman blessed with such natural gifts. Five balls later, Duminy became a second duck in the top four when he fended a back-of-a-length delivery from Kumara off his hip for Mendis to spring down the leg side for a fabulous catch.Mendis’ presence behind the stumps had been the outcome of much Sri Lankan agonising before start of play. News gradually filtered through that Dinesh Chandimal was feeling ill, not enough to rule him out of the match, but persuading Sri Lanka that he should concede the gloves to reduce his workload. Sri Lanka also made two changes from the first Test, omitting Kusul Perera and Dushmantha Chameera in favour of Kumara and the seasoned Upul Tharanga.Elgar’s hundred was his sixth in 31 Tests, his average still a touch below 40, but he has blunted many attacks in that time. He approached his innings methodically, working the ball off his hips and drawn occasionally into a restrained straight drive. His highlights reel included, oddly enough, a one-handed cover drive, a shot one imagines that he would prefer to be expunged from the records. The shot that brought up his hundred, down the ground of Pradeep, could hardly have been more satisfying: halfway through his next over, Pradeep trudged off to the dressing roomDu Plessis, a South African captain of some gravitas, played in similar vein. As the assistance for the seamers lessened, Mathews turned to his left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, for the first time in the 42nd over. Herath took 57 wickets at 18.93 in 2016, second only to R Ashwin in terms of victims, all of them killed with kindness. He is at the age when the passing of the years invite questions as to how long he can continue in such form, but he soon dispensed with Du Plessis.In his fourth over, he wandered up with his usual economy to draw du Plessis into an uppish drive only for Tharanga to miss an inviting chance at deepish mid-off. No matter. In his penultimate over before tea, he strolled up again to have du Plessis caught at slip, driving wildly at a wide one.South Africa’s captain had favoured a seamers’ track and, although in his case it was the portly figure of Herath who had prospered, he would be tossing a new ball to his pace attack sometime on the morrow with a belief that this Cape Town pitch would maintain its life for a while yet.

The batsman injured his shoulder on Test debut and the decision has been taken to undergo surgery

Alex Malcolm18-Feb-2021Australia Test batsman Will Pucovski’s domestic season is over and he is set to be sidelined for up to six months to undergo reconstructive surgery on his injured right shoulder.Pucovski, 23, suffered the injury on his Test debut against India in Sydney when diving for a ball in the field. He dislocated his right shoulder, his throwing arm, and was ruled out of the fourth Test at the Gabba.He trained with Victoria in the lead-up to the recommencement of the Sheffield Shield season but experienced some soreness after batting in the nets last week and was ruled out of the clash against New South Wales.Related

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After further consultation with medical experts, he will now undergo shoulder surgery in Melbourne next week with renowned shoulder specialist Greg Hoy to perform the procedure.The recovery will see him miss the remainder of the Australian domestic season and he will be unavailable for Australia if they do qualify for the World Test Championship final mid-year. But the timing of the surgery should allow for him to be available at the start of Australia’s next domestic summer and the home Ashes series if his rehabilitation goes to plan.Pucovski’s injury is the latest in a long string of unfortunate injury and mental health setbacks he has had in his short career to date.