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CSA and the South African Cricketers’ Association announce further delay in signing Memorandum of Understanding, but say it will be sorted by July 6

Firdose Moonda29-Jun-2018Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) have announced a further delay in the signing of Memorandum of Understanding, which expired at the end of April. The agreement, which is negotiated every four years and covers player contracts and commercial rights, was due to be signed by Saturday, June 30, but will now be concluded on July 6. An interim agreement has been in place for May and June.Though the talks had hit several snags, mostly as a result of delays but also because of disagreements with CSA, who initially indicated an end to the revenue-sharing model and then backtracked. Now, it appears, recent discussions have gone smoothly. “A lot of progress has been made since CSA and SACA signed an Interim Agreement at the end of April and we have consensus on virtually all of the key aspects,” Tony Irish, the SACA CEO, said. “We are now in the drafting process and have set ourselves a revised joint target of 6 July to complete that and sign the agreements.”There has been no reaction from the player body over the recent lambasting CSA has taken from three of the eight owners of the Global League T20 franchises, despite SACA’s earlier assertions that a functioning 20-over league is imperative to securing player commitment in the country.

Sinha had been undergoing treatment for liver cancer and kidney disease in Singapore and Thailand previously

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2018BPL chairman and BCB director Afzalur Rahman Sinha died at the Gleneagles Global Hospital in Chennai on Wednesday. He was 68 and is survived by his wife, son and daughter.A Freedom Fighter in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, Sinha had been undergoing treatment for liver cancer and kidney disease in Singapore and Thailand. He was a well-acknowledged financier and sports organiser, who joined the BCB in 1998 and later became chairman of its finance committee.Sinha was also president of Surjo Tarun, a Dhaka league side with whom he has worked with for two decades. He had also chaired Acme Laboratories; a leading pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh.

Warwickshire fast bowler set for maiden tour, as Alex Hales and Ben Stokes are both picked ahead of December’s disciplinary hearing

Andrew Miller19-Sep-2018The Warwickshire fast bowler Olly Stone has been given his first opportunity to impress in England colours, after being named in a 16-man squad for the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka which gets underway in Dambulla on October 10.Stone, who turns 25 on the eve of the first match, is the only uncapped player in the tour party, and a strong candidate to feature in next week’s Test squad too, having made a strong impression in his maiden season at Edgbaston following his move from Northamptonshire at the end of 2017.Since recovering from a horrific knee injury in June 2016 – he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament while celebrating the wicket of Moeen Ali in a T20 Blast tie at Wantage Road – Stone has consistently been one of the fastest bowlers on the county circuit.He claimed career-best figures of 8 for 80 in his first home Championship appearance for Warwickshire in April, as well as a further 12 wickets at 28.61 in the Royal London Cup – and he could be given the chance to fill Liam Plunkett’s crucial role of mid-innings enforcer, with Plunkett set to miss the first three matches of the tour because of his forthcoming wedding.

England ODI squad v Sri Lanka

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Mark Wood, whose international summer was interrupted by a recurrence of his longstanding heel problem, is also back in contention, as is Chris Woakes, who missed the last two Tests against India following a quad strain.With David Willey missing the Sri Lanka trip due to a back injury, Sam Curran offers a like-for-like replacement as a left-arm swing bowler and hard-hitting allrounder, although he would doubtless have earned a call-up regardless, in the wake of his stellar display in the Test series against India.Sam’s brother Tom is also back to fitness and back in the squad after a side strain ruled him out of the one-day leg of England’s summer, which means that both Curran brothers could yet feature in the same England team for the first time in their brief careers.With a surfeit of allrounders to back up England’s established top-order, there is no place for Kent’s captain Sam Billings, who has been a regular member of England’s recent limited-overs squads but who failed to take his chances against Scotland and Australia earlier this summer.On the slow-bowling front, England’s selectors resisted the temptation to blood a young spinner alongside the established pairing of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson might have been a contender – and have instead opted for the allround prowess of Hampshire’s Liam Dawson, who last featured for England in the T20 triangular against Australia in New Zealand in February. His most recent ODI was against Pakistan at Cardiff in September 2016.As expected, both Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have been included in the squad in spite of their impending ECB disciplinary hearing. The pair will attend a private hearing in front of a three-man Cricket Discipline Commission panel on December 5 and 7, after being charged with bringing the game into disrepute following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub last September.A separate squad will be named for the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on October 27, which may offer the selectors a chance to assess the merits of a few more young contenders, not least Pat Brown, the 20-year-old star of Worcestershire’s T20 Blast triumph.

The South African will slot into a batting line-up that already includes Chris Gayle and Alex Hales

Mohammad Isam27-Oct-2018

How the BPL squads look before the draft

Rangpur Riders: Chris Gayle, Mashrafe Mortaza, Nazmul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, AB de Villiers, Alex Hales
Dhaka Dynamites: Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Rovman Powell, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Hazratullah Zazai
Sylhet Sixers: Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Sohail Tanvir, David Warner, Sandeep Lamichhane
Khulna Titans: Mahmudullah, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Carlos Brathwaite, Dawid Malan, Ali Khan
Comilla Victorians: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoaib Malik, Asela Gunaratne, Liam Dawson
Rajshahi Kings: Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Qais Ahmed, Christiaan Jonker
Chittagong Vikings: Sikandar Raza, Luke Ronchi, Najibullah Zadran, Sunzamul Islam, Mohammad Shahzad, Robbie Frylinck

Rangpur Riders have signed up AB de Villiers for the 2018-19 BPL season as their second signing outside the player draft, which is set to take place on Sunday. It sets up the mouthwatering prospect of a Rangpur batting line-up that also includes Chris Gayle, whom the franchise retained after his fireworks in last year’s final, and Alex Hales, whom they signed earlier this month.Apart from de Villiers and Hales, other prominent recent signings in the BPL include David Warner for Sylhet Sixers and Andre Russell for Dhaka Dynamites. There was interest shown in players from Associates nations too, with Sylhet roping in Nepal legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane and Khulna signing USA fast bowler Ali Khan, who impressed in the CPL this year. Dhaka have picked up Hazratullah Zazai, who recently hit six sixes in an over in the Afghan Premier League.Each team has six players in their squad ahead of the draft. In all, each team can sign a maximum of 12 local and nine overseas players. Every side must include four overseas players in their playing XI this season.Dhaka already have five overseas players among their current squad of six, which means they will focus mostly on local players in the draft. Rangpur could add allrounders and spinners to their squad to complement their star-studded batting line-up and a bowling attack containing Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Islam. Sylhet have their top four sorted with Warner, Liton Das, Nasir Hossain and Sabbir Rahman, so they would look to strengthen their lower middle order and bowling attack which already includes Sohail Tanvir and Lamichhane.In the draft, the A+ category (USD 200,000) will include Shahid Afridi, Imran Tahir and Evin Lewis, while category A (USD 150,000) will include Mohammad Hafeez, Faheem Ashraf, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga and Darren Bravo.The BPL which is scheduled from January 5 to February 8, will clash with the UAE T20x and the Big Bash League in Australia.

It will mark the first ever T20I series to be played in Oman, and the first visit by a Test-playing nation

Peter Della Penna22-Nov-2018Oman Cricket has reached an agreement in principle to host Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands for a quadrangular T20I series early next year for the first ever T20I series to be played in Oman. Ireland’s participation would also mark the first ever visit by a Test nation to play matches in Oman.The announcement of the quadrangular series was made by Oman Cricket officials during a victory function held for the team after their undefeated run at WCL Division Three on home soil earlier this week. Multiple sources from the other teams confirmed that the series has been tentatively scheduled for February 10-17 at the Oman Cricket Academy in Al Amerat.All four teams participated in the opening round of the 2016 World T20 in India, during which Oman scored a famous win over Ireland. As a result of their appearance in India, all four countries have been exempted from participating in the regional qualifying process leading into the 2020 World T20 in Australia and instead have been fast-tracked into the global qualifier.According to a source, the global qualifier is scheduled for October 2019 at a venue yet to be determined. By virtue of their exemption from regional qualifying, all four teams are keen for opportunities to play in the lead-up to the global qualifier in October and this series provides them that.The three European sides staged a T20I tri-series held in the Netherlands last June, which Scotland won after sweeping both matches against Netherlands and tying Ireland once to end on five points. That was Scotland’s last T20I series whereas the Netherlands have since played a one-off T20I against Nepal in July at Lord’s that ended with no result. Meanwhile, Ireland lost a three-match series at home to Afghanistan this past August in their most recent T20I action.While the Oman Cricket Academy has two grounds that would allow for matches to be played simultaneously, the main turf ground is equipped with stadium floodlights. Such infrastructure may provide a good simulation exercise for conditions at the global qualifier later in October as well as for the 2020 World T20 in Australia.Aside from the recently concluded WCL Division Three tournament, Oman has hosted two prior series at the Al Amerat facility. UAE toured for three one-day matches in April 2017 ahead of Oman’s participation at WCL Division Three in Uganda a month later. USA also toured in December 2017 for three one-day matches while the Oman Cricket Academy building, which includes seven indoor nets, was still under construction.

Harmanpreet Kaur has extended her deal with Sydney Thunder and will return for her third successive season in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2018India opener Smriti Mandhana will turn out for Hobart Hurricanes in the fourth season of the Women’s Big Bash League, having previously played for Brisbane Heat in season two. Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur has extended her deal with Sydney Thunder and will return for her third successive season in the tournament.While Mandhana had a lukewarm 2016-17 season in the Big Bash League with just 89 runs in 10 innings for Heat, she is known for her explosive batting at the top of the order and finished as the third highest run-scorer in the recently concluded World T20 with 178 runs in five innings. Her 55-ball 83 against Australia handed the eventual champions their only defeat in the tournament.Mandhana said she was looking forward to her stint with the new team. “I’ve heard from many players that the Hurricanes group is a great squad to be around and I can’t wait to get to Tasmania for the matches,” Mandhana said. Hurricanes’ coach Salliann Briggs said that she was delighted with the new signing. “Mandhana is a proven performer on the world stage, we saw that just last week with her knock against the Aussies,” she said. “I can’t wait to see her in purple, she’s an exciting addition not only for us but for the whole competition.”Harmanpreet and Mandhana also played in England’s Kia Super League this year, where Mandhana topped the batting charts with 421 runs in nine innings at 60.14 average. They were also the captains of the two teams at the first-ever women’s IPL exhibition match played earlier this year, where Harmanpreet’s Supernovas beat Mandhana’s Trailblazers at the Wankhede Stadium.

Ali Tareen, son of businessman and politician Jehangir Tareen, has won the rights to the sixth PSL franchise, formerly known as Multan Sultans

Umar Farooq20-Dec-2018Ali Tareen, the son of one of the wealthiest businessmen and politicians in the country, has won the ownership rights of the sixth team in the Pakistan Super League. According to the PCB, he has won the ownership rights for seven years after significantly exceeding the reserve price of USD 5.21 million per year. Tareen’s bid of USD 6.35 million won out against a South African consortium, which bid USD 3.5 million for the rights. It isn’t yet established whether this is inclusive of 26% tax.Alamgir Tareen, the Pepsi franchise owner in South Punjab, is the biggest shareholder, while Ali Tareen and Taimur Malik, a Dubai-based lawyer from Multan, are the other major shareholders. Combined, they own over 80% of the sixth franchise, with Ali to take up a role as Director Operations.The ownership rights of Multan Sultans was terminated by the PCB this year after the Schön Group, a Dubai-based enterprise well-established in the real estate business, failed to pay their annual fee of USD 5.2 million. Tareen, after securing the rights, confirmed the team’s name would stay as Multan, though it remains unclear if it would still be called Multan Sultans.Ali Tareen’s financial clout emanates from his father Jehangir Tareen, has established JDW Group, a company that has overseen the development of one of the largest sugar mills in the country. Jehangir Tareen was a key political and financial backer of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, headed by current Prime Minister Imran Khan.Ali dabbled in politics last year, contesting a by-election in his native Lodhran, a key constituency in South Punjab, after his father was disqualified from holding political office. He was ultimately unsuccessful, and has since focused on promoting cricket in the province, and has championed the promotion of grassroots cricket in the country.The players selection process for the sixth team was completed last month in the draft process. The PCB-led selection team notably snapped up Steven Smith. They also retained Shoaib Malik, likely to be retained as captain, apart from purchasing Shahid Afridi in the Platinum category.Tareen is yet to take a decision on whether he would retain the management structure and personnel that have been at the franchise since last season, when they finished fifth and narrowly failed to make the knockout round.Separately, two petitions were filed in Lahore’s High Court, alleging the bidding for the Sixth Team was invalid. An investment group from Hong Kong Abelena Capital Limited with a local office in Lahore raised questions about the legality of the bidding process. Another group, Metac General Contracting Company, claimed they were the rightful owners, having finished second in the bidding last year to Schon Group. Both petitions were rejected.

In a summer where he’s had to battle injury and some very good bowling, the off-field issues really took a toll on Australia’s No. 3

Daniel Brettig in Canberra03-Feb-2019Having finally broken through for a century, Australia’s No. 3 batsman Usman Khawaja has revealed the extent of his mental anguish in a summer where his brother was twice arrested by New South Wales police on charges relating to allegations that he framed a co-worker in a fake terrorism plot.Back in October, Khawaja seemed set to be the fulcrum of Australia’s batting in the absence of the banned Steven Smith and David Warner, making a magnificent 141 to help Tim Paine’s team save the Dubai Test against Pakistan. However he suffered a knee injury in warm-ups during the Abu Dhabi Test and spent six weeks out of action, losing rhythm and momentum before the home series against India.In the days before the first Test in Adelaide, news broke of his brother Arsalan Khawaja’s arrest, and the story reared again when Arsalan was arrested a second time for breaching bail conditions in the middle of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in late December. Usman Khawaja’s struggle to make the most of a series of starts against India was compounded as low scores mounted, and reached a feverish pitch when he made a duck in the first innings of the Canberra Test.A century in the third innings with Australia already enjoying a huge lead was nothing like as impactful as the Dubai innings had been, but Khawaja’s celebration indicated the release of plenty of tension, something he spoke frankly about after the close of play. “Being around, getting lots of starts during the summer was tough, I’ve had a tough summer, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on off the field, which has made things a lot tougher,” Khawaja said.”It’s just been really nice to have my wife Rachel with me for the majority of the tours and she’s been awesome, just to have her around and to go and travel with me, she’s been my rock throughout the whole thing. It’s been tough, it’s something you don’t expect to happen. My family’s very close to me and I’m very close to my family, so at some level yeah I think it made it tougher to go out and concentrate and execute my skills and at the same time while I was playing cricket you sort of forget about everything because you’re only concentrating on cricket.”But it was very taxing, it has been very taxing mentally, and that’s why Rachel has been great, being around and trying to take my mind off things. Feeling a lot better now than I was probably a month or two ago, but its’ been a tough couple of months off the field.”Usman Khawaja looks on, with his other team-mates in the background, before the presentation ceremony•Getty Images

After working tremendously hard for the new coach Justin Langer to lose weight and be in the best fitness of his career, Khawaja faced significant issues both physical and mental, underlining his belief that there is no use thinking too far ahead in cricket or life. “It was [hard] I guess when I did come back. I still felt alright, [but] I felt like I lost a bit of momentum there, those six weeks I was out, it can happen,” he said of the knee injury.”Cricket’s one of those games where you can never look too far ahead and you can never get too far ahead of yourself because it bites you in the backside so quickly. You’ve got to keep your head down, worry about the next day. If you start looking too far ahead of yourself, it can really change quickly. As a team, I was really happy last game that we won. I didn’t contribute, I felt like I was batting really well and then chopped on and we won the game, it was awesome. We lost a couple of games against India, which always hurt. For me and the team moving forward, I was just really happy with the win. The way the guys set up the first innings was frustrating for me as an individual.”Then to see the other guys, KP [Kurtis Patterson] and [Travis] Heady get their first hundred, I know that feeling, it’s the best feeling ever. I was so happy for both of them, then to see Joey [Burns] back in the team, who I’m pretty good mates with, it made a pretty crappy day for me [scoring a duck in the first innings but] pretty good to see those guys set up that game. When they did that you know you’re in with a chance to win another Test match. There’s no feeling like winning a Test match. Getting a hundred then hopefully setting up a game we can hopefully win is the ultimate feeling for the team and yourself.”Khawaja’s struggles for big scores this summer have led to plenty of criticism, not least from the former captain Mark Taylor, who noted in the wake of his first-innings dismissal that “I’m not sure he’s taken himself to the next level of becoming a senior player”. The less febrile atmosphere of the third innings, even as Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella made repeated attempts to distract him, allowed Khawaja to start to rebuild confidence and form in a year when the World Cup and the Ashes both loom. An early skied hook shot that fell safely also provided some much needed good fortune.”I think so, you always need a bit of luck in this game,” Khawaja said. “I was just out there trying to score runs for the team. I wasn’t worried about myself even when Dickwella was getting into me, I couldn’t care less really, I was just trying to get us in a [good] position, we knew we had so many runs on the board courtesy of all the guys who batted in the first innings. It takes a bit of pressure off you in the second innings and we knew we were going to bowl at some stage tonight.”You definitely need luck in this game, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t, but you’ve still got to bowl well, bat well, field well. It’s a hundred for Australia so it meant a lot. It wasn’t fun getting a duck first innings and feeling like you let your team down a little bit at the start because we knew it was going to be hard and then it was really nice to see the other guys get runs but at the same time I knew I missed out on a few runs there too. So to get runs there and set this game up for the bowlers hopefully to finish up tomorrow, looking forward to it.”

Jessy Singh also comes back, while Alex Amsterdam and Nisarg Patel have been left out from the 14-man squad

Peter Della Penna28-Feb-2019Former West Indies batsman Xavier Marshall is in line to play his first match for USA in more than a year after being named in a 14-man squad for the tour of the UAE in March.The tour will mark USA’s T20I debut in a two-match series against the UAE at the ICC Academy on March 15 and 16. A few 50-over matches as part of the preparation for the WCL Division Two in Namibia this April are also being planned.

USA squad

Saurabh Netravalkar (capt), Jaskaran Malhotra (vice-capt & wk), Elmore Hutchinson, Aaron Jones, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Jannisar Khan, Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel, Timil Patel, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor, Hayden Walsh

Marshall, who played seven Test matches, 24 ODIs and six T20Is for West Indies between 2005 and 2009, made his USA debut in January 2018 at the CWI Super50 tournament in Antigua, finishing with 137 runs in eight innings – including one half-century – at an average of 17.12. But he then drew the ire of USA administrators for skipping the last two days of a regional selection trial in New York in June last year and was subsequently left out of a 33-man camp in Texas later that month, which was used to help select USA’s teams for the second half of 2018.However, signs began pointing to a reconciliation in January when the 32-year-old Marshall was one of 17 players invited to a squad bonding and fitness camp held at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Marshall was subsequently included in a 21-man group that went to Antigua earlier this month for a five-match tour. He made scores of 0 and 31 opening the batting against an Antigua & Barbuda XI in Coolidge that included West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph.ALSO READ: Marshall’s redemption song in home away from home?The other player recalled to the squad is 26-year-old medium pacer Jessy Singh. His last appearances for USA came in October 2018 at the CWI Super50 in Barbados, where he took one wicket in three matches before being left out of the squad that went to Oman for the WCL Division Three matches in November. Jessy took 1 for 35 in 7.5 overs opening the bowling in one of USA’s two wins over Antigua & Barbuda XI, but his sharp fielding and scores of 12 not out and 29 not out coming in late helped his case as someone who can shore up the lower-order batting.Jannisar Khan executes a sweep behind square•Peter Della Penna

Batsman Alex Amsterdam and left-arm spinning allrounder Nisarg Patel have been dropped from the side that clinched promotion last November in Oman to make room for Marshall and Jessy. Neither player made it into the starting XI during the Division Three games. Amsterdam wasn’t picked to play in either match against Antigua & Barbuda XI while Nisarg took 1 for 28 in ten overs in his lone outing outside of three USA intra-squad matches.The Barbados-contracted pair of batsman Aaron Jones and legspinning-allrounder Hayden Walsh, as well as the Jamaica-contracted top-order batsman Steven Taylor are expected to miss the final round of four-day matches in the CWI Professional Cricket League that start on March 14 after being named in the touring party.Taylor has not been picked for Jamaica in any first-class match this season. Jones has played in six out of Barbados’ seven matches during the current campaign but has yet to score a half-century, while Walsh claimed one five-for in the first of two matches he played for Barbados in December.The other notable aspect of the touring squad is the retention of former Pakistan Under-19 allrounder Jannisar Khan. As ESPNcricinfo reported earlier in February, USA Cricket were negotiating with the Emirates Cricket Board to include two T20Is as part of their tour to enable Jannisar to serve out a two-match ban he received for an ICC code of conduct violation during USA’s final match in Oman against Singapore. Clearing the ban in the UAE means Jannisar will be fully available for WCL Division Two, where USA need a top-four finish in the six-team competition in order to secure ODI status through 2021.Aside from the matches against the UAE, sources suggest USA are also organising 50-over matches against English county sides who are in the UAE during USA’s three-week tour, though the fixtures have not been confirmed.

Roy is likely to be a key performer in England’s attempts to win the World Cup but he is aiming to be involved in the Ashes, too

Alan Gardner01-Apr-2019The coming English summer is set to be dominated by two events, and it is a marker of how priorities have changed that the Ashes following the World Cup is not merely a matter of chronology. While Jason Roy is likely to be a key performer in England’s attempts to finally lift a global 50-over trophy, he is also hoping to press his case as a candidate to take on Australia, too.There was a time when England’s one-day team was viewed as largely as a proving ground for those with Test aspirations. Now the format has moved front and centre, with Roy among a buccaneering batch who have propelled England to No. 1 in the rankings; but while their World Cup prospects have rarely looked more promising, the Test side remains a riddle wrapped in an enigma.Chief among England’s conundrums is the make-up of the top three, and even Roy admits it would be a step into “the great unknown” for the selectors to drop him in as a Test opener – though his director of cricket at Surrey, Alec Stewart, suggested he would cope with the switch from white ball to red. Having been touted as a potential Test tourist in the Caribbean, where England variously used Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings and Joe Denly to open the batting, there is a sense Roy believes his time will come sooner or later.”It’s the great unknown, really,” he said of his capabilities as a Test batsman. “I don’t know. I think my technique’s shown to be pretty good against fast bowling early on. It’s got a lot better, I’ve progressed quite a lot in the last two years. Who knows? It’s so difficult to say because I’ve never been a part of the Test team, even the squad, training or whatever. But if given the opportunity, let’s hope I can.ALSO READ: From Test debut to forgotten man – Mason Crane on his lost season“I’ve had conversations [with the England management] over the last couple of years. It’s just a case of being patient and waiting for my turn. It’s all talk, I’ve kind of got used to that side of things. Until I’m actually there, putting my cap on, then I’ll be excited. But I’m taking each day as it comes.”Stewart, an attacking former opener in Test and ODI cricket himself, was more forthright in backing Roy for involvement in the Ashes, possibly as a partner at the top of the order for Burns, another Surrey player who finally won recognition over the winter.”Jason is opening in one-day international cricket. Twenty20 and Test cricket are miles apart, but in the first 10 or 15 overs of 50-over cricket you still have to respect that new ball,” Stewart said.”I don’t see it as a big issue for him and he’d cope with the stepping stone up to Test cricket. The Australia attack is a challenging attack, but Jason’s method is a solid one. He’s a good stroke player and a good hitter of the ball, but he can defend well too, which you have to be able to do.”However, while the theory is sound enough, in practice it could be fiendishly tricky. Surrey only play once in the Championship before May and Roy will by then be in exclusively one-day mode until after the World Cup. As Stewart noted, with Roy currently recovering from a hamstring injury – though still hopeful of facing Essex at The Oval next week – a call-up ahead of the Ashes could see him playing his first first-class innings of the summer in a four-day Test against Ireland in late July.Roy only played twice in Surrey’s Championship-winning 2018 season, though a sparkling hundred against Essex in the final round, batting at No. 3, helped fuel speculation about whether he could transfer his ODI form – where he averages a little under 40, with seven hundreds – into the Test arena. It is seemingly a challenge his is keen to embrace.Jason Roy acknowledges his hundred•Getty Images

“It’s more just a mental switch. The physical side of things, the technique side of things stays the game. Not a huge amount changes, just a game plan change, that’s all it is. It’s always fun going from T20 – even T10 this winter – into a longer format, because I’m under less pressure to score at ten an over. It’s actually quite nice to be able to bat, watch the ball and hit the ball, and be really relaxed about it, instead of having to score.”In the more immediate term, his importance to England’s World Cup campaign will be the overriding concern. Having missed three ODIs against West Indies with injury, before coming home early for the birth of his first child, Roy will not be rushed into action for Surrey. “I wanted to push myself for the university game starting on Thursday but the trainers were realistic about it and didn’t want me to push too hard, especially with the World Cup coming,” he said.He is relaxed, too, about seeing Alex Hales step into his one-day spot and immediately crack 82 from 73 balls, helping set up England’s latest 400-plus total in Grenada, suggesting that the friendly rivalry between himself, Hales and Jonny Bairstow can only benefit the team.”It keeps you on your toes but it’s also extremely comforting. I tweaked my hammy over there [in the Caribbean] and it wasn’t a question of ‘I’ll play on fifty percent’, because I know we’ve got a player that can come in and do a great job for us. So it’s really comforting to know that even if someone’s injured, there’s someone to come in a do well. It’s a good thing.”Healthy competition at the top of the order – not something the Test team has been used to. Perhaps picking players on one-day form might not be such a bad idea after all.