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Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin may have played his last Test match after being formally advised by the national selectors that they will retain Peter Nevill as gloveman for the third Ashes Test in Birmingham

Daniel Brettig in Birmingham28-Jul-2015Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin may have played his last Test match after being formally advised by the national selectors that they will retain Peter Nevill as gloveman for the third Ashes Test in Birmingham.Haddin was informed of Nevill’s ascension to first-choice by the selection chairman Rod Marsh and the coach Darren Lehmann during the Australians’ tour match in Derby. Nevill and Haddin both played in that match, but Haddin took part as a batsman only while the younger man kept wicket for Derbyshire’s sole innings.It is a hard call on Haddin after he made himself unavailable for the Lord’s Test when his ill daughter Mia was admitted to a London hospital, but demonstrates the resolve of Marsh and Lehmann to continue regenerating the national team. Given his chance in difficult circumstances, Nevill shone with seven catches and a fluent 45 with the bat, while also showing the ideal temperament for Test matches.The captain Michael Clarke is not a selector, but said he was consulted by Marsh and Lehmann before the decision was made. Clarke and Haddin have formed a fruitful professional union over the past four years, with Haddin serving as vice-captain for much of that time. Nevertheless, Clarke said he supported the decision to retain Nevill.”Rod and Boof came and spoke to me and told me what they were thinking,” Clarke said. “It’s obviously a lot harder for me because I have that attachment to Hadds, I’ve grown up playing cricket with him, we’ve spent a lot of time together and I love the fact that he’s still here working hard. If an opportunity comes he’ll grab it with both hands.”On the other hand, Nev made the most of his opportunity in the second Test, I thought he batted really well and I thought he kept exceptionally well. So it’s a tough one when you sit in the middle, but that’s the way the selectors have gone and I respect their decision.”The case for choosing Nevill ahead of Haddin was a strong one. Since his near-mythical displays in the 2013-14 Ashes series, Haddin’s returns had been depreciating, and he was a notable struggler during the Cardiff Test. A critical drop of Joe Root on the first morning of the series was to be compounded by a pair of low scores, and a rash shot to be dismissed in the second innings as Australia sank to a 169-run defeat.Even so, there is room for Haddin to be viewed sympathetically, most pointedly for the fact this is the second time he has found himself out of the team for personal reasons then not chosen by the selectors when he then became available once more. In 2012, Haddin left a West Indies tour to be with Mia and his wife Karina, but then waited another year before returning to the team as the selection panel – at the time including Clarke – preferred the younger Matthew Wade for 10 Tests.There is also the fact that as an exceptional vice-captain, Haddin never had the chance to lead Australia in a Test match, though he quite easily could have after Clarke was ruled out of the remainder of last summer’s Border-Gavaskar series due to a hamstring torn in the Adelaide match. Instead the selectors went with the youthful option of elevating Steven Smith, a decision Haddin supported as one of the 26-year-old’s chief mentors.This time around, Haddin is also in the position of being close to the man who has stepped in front of him. Nevill has been his back-up for New South Wales and Australia, and the pair have a strong relationship. The team have taken the decision well, though there is plenty of sympathy for Haddin’s predicament as a senior player nearing the end. The retired Ryan Harris and the dropped Shane Watson have also found themselves out of the team on this tour as the XI is refreshed even in the midst of an Ashes series.For now, Haddin is taking his new role as Nevill’s back-up with equanimity, but he is yet to decide on what shape his future will take. He is also believed to have knocked back the Sydney Sixers coaching job. “He still wants to play that’s for sure and he has a great relationship with Nev,” Clarke said. “So I think he sees his role over the last couple of days leading up to this Test to hep Nev as much as possible and they are really good friends so there’s certainly no lack of respect there.”Hadds will certainly wish Nev all the best and hope he does well, and if there’s an injury or there’s another opportunity then I’ll know he be ready. I can’t be any more complimentary for what he’s done for the Australian team, the New South Wales team as a player.”He’s a great man Hadds, he’s been an awesome vice captain, I’ve really loved having him as vice captain and he’s performed exceptionally well. He’s done himself and his family really proud in the way that he’s represented Australia and New South Wales and I hope he keeps playing.”

Under bright sunshine the Palam Air Force ground had no play for the first two sessions on day four of the Ranji Trophy semi-final with much doubt and deliberation whether play could begin at all on Saturday

The Report by Sharda Ugra in Delhi19-Jan-2013Under bright sunshine and bracing breeze from the east, the Palam Air Force ground had no play on day four of the Ranji Trophy semi-final; there was also an element of uncertainity as to whether it would be possible to begin play on time on Sunday.The fourth day was called off without a ball being bowled, at around 3:50pm, after umpires Subroto Das and Adrian Holdstock scheduled numerous inspections of the pitch that had been completely soaked by Friday’s hailstorms and rainfall over Delhi.So far only 143 overs have been held over the first four days of the semi-final, with a lot of play lost to bad light and rain. Mumbai, who won the toss and batted, scored 380 for 6 and with a day’s play left, they would need the Services first innings to be completed for less than that on Sunday for the match to come to an end tomorrow. Should the Services first innings not be completed tomorrow either way, the match can go into an extra sixth day on Monday.Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni said his team’s approach on Sunday would depend on the time the match eventually got underway and the weather conditions at the start of play. There were he said for Mumbai, “potentially 196 overs” still left in the game, based on an ideal 90 overs each being bowled on Sunday and Monday, plus an extra 16 overs, eight from each of the two weather-affected days.In this match though, the ideal has stayed away at an arms length, particularly on Saturday when the sun was blindingly bright enough well into the late afternoon. Given the quality of the light over the Palam Air Force ground today, play could have continued until 5pm, but the dampness of the pitch meant that an entire day went by without a ball being bowled. At the ground, the outfield has a sand base and the pitch is made of clay and has black soil in it that absorbs much greater moisture than the outfield does.The match pitch is at the extreme right side of the cordoned-off playing square, and had three layers of cover along with six iron pipes laid across it. During the hailstorm and heavy winds all through Friday night and Saturday morning, the wind ripped out the clamps of the cover and sent the pipes rolling along. With the pitch covers blown off, the rain soaked into the match pitch. It has led to a situation with no cricket, despite no signs of fog or rain.Services Sports Control Board secretary, Air Commodore Wing Commander M Baladitya said, “We had impressed upon the BCCI that they had the expertise and besides, we did not want to get into the money aspect of refurbishing the ground. We said if this ground developed it will be an asset for cricket.”The BCCI agreed to get involved in a project as it would have full control of it, starting with visits by the BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale, CAO Ratnakar Shetty and the issuing of tenders to chosen vendors along with the involvement of its pitch committee members like Sundaram and Daljit Singh. In June this year, the entire ground was excavated, fresh soil brought in to replace Palam’s nutrient-deprived earth, and a machine using laser to develop a proper gradient between the playing square and boundary. The entire center square was relaid and a plant set up for water purification along with a mechanised irrigation system.Baladitya said the paradox of bright sunshine and no play had taken place due to unprecedented rain. “We usually don’t have a drainage problem here because water drains very quickly,” he said. When a match wicket gets soaked though, what transpires is a peculiar state of events.

A round-up of the fourth day’s play of the seventh round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2011Group BA sustained bowling effort from Haryana carried them into the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals as they beat Gujarat by 140 runs in Surat. The result also condemned Gujarat to the Plate League next season, as they finished bottom of the group.With Baroda falling to Bengal, Haryana needed an outright win to go through while Gujarat needed a win to stay in the Elite League. Ashish Hooda gave Haryana the perfect start by having Jaisal Karia caught behind for 19 in the second over the day. Harshal Patel and Sachin Rana then picked up an early wicket apiece to leave Gujarat reeling at 49 for 4. Bhargav Merai and India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel knuckled down to take Gujarat past 100 but India legspinner Amit Mishra trapped Parthiv leg-before to end the 55-run partnership.Haryana were now into the lower order and they were not about to throw away their opportunity,. Pratharesh Parmar was dismissed by offspinner Jayant Yadav for 4 and Manprit Juneja was bowled by Mishra for 1. When Merai, who had battled to 47, was caught off Mishra, the writing was on the wall. The ninth-wicket pair of Ashraf Makda and Mehul Patel frustrated the bowlers for 8.3 overs and 21 runs, but Yadav cued the celebrations by snaffling Makda (16) and last man Ishwar Chaudhary in the same over. He finished with 3 for 37, while Mishra took 3 for 25.Bengal narrowly missed out on a spot in the quarter-finals despite beating Baroda by nine wickets at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. A ten-wicket win would have seen them match Haryana’s total of 14 points and they would have gone through on the basis of a better quotient. But they lost Arindam Das chasing a mere 36 for victory and his dismissal meant Haryana would move on to play in the quarter-finals.The loss marked the end of what had been a promising campaign for last year’s beaten finalists, Baroda, who needed only a point to progress. Unfortunately, their batsmen failed to show up when it mattered most, with five zeros and a 2 littering their scorecard. Rakesh Solanki was the only batsman to offer any resistance, and once he was out for 59 in the first over of the day, Baroda quickly capitulated, losing their next four wickets for 32 runs. Dinda, who had taken three wickets on the previous day, took another two to finish with 5 for 66 while Sourav Sarkar took 4 for 32.Needing just 36 for their first win of the season, and to avoid losing wickets to make the knock-outs, Bengal managed the first, but not the second.Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, both of whom have qualified for the next round, played out a draw in Chennai. Amarjeet took four wickets as the hosts tumbled for 208 in the second innings, with Yo Mahesh top scoring with 58 while Malolan Rangarajan made 48. MP did manage to reduce Tamil Nadu to 61 for 4, but since they conceded a 179-run lead, it meant Tamil Nadu were never in any danger.”We didn’t take advantage of the seamer-friendly conditions after winning the toss on the first day,” Madhya Pradesh coach Mukesh Sahni said. “We could have batted and fielded better. Our approach was a little defensive too. “There is now time for us to rectify those mistakes in time for the knockout stage.”

Bhargav Bhatt picked up a five-for but could not stop Rajasthan from putting up a stiff first-innings target of 394

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit at Moti Bagh12-Jan-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBhargav Bhatt picked up five wickets but had to bowl 43 overs to get them•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bhargav Bhatt toiled his way to a well-deserved five-wicket haul, but could not prevent Rajasthan from getting close to 400, a total which looks competitive on a wicket where uneven bounce is in play, with numerous deliveries failing to rise above ankle height. Jaykishan Kolsawala led a strong reply for Baroda, but Rajasthan managed to remove his opening partner Connor Williams, and will think they hold the initiative against a line-up that is thin on experience.That the second day saw more action after the dullness that had characterised the first was due to the batsmen taking more initiative, and the bowlers getting more help from the surface. While Bhatt was rewarded for his efforts, Murtuja Vahora got the ball to nip around and hurried the batsmen, though that was not reflected in his 36 wicketless overs that went for 108 runs.None of Rajasthan’s batsmen made a hundred, but the intent today was to look for every opportunity to score, and they added almost the same number of runs they had yesterday in fewer than two-thirds of the overs. The approach was characterised by Ashok Menaria, whose quick 45 inched Rajasthan close to the psychological mark of 400, even as the left-arm spinners Bhatt and Swapnil Singh were getting the ball to turn and bounce.Menaria’s innings was crucial as it came after Rajasthan had lost the pair of nightwatchman Vivek Yadav and Robin Bist, the latter to a ripper from Bhatt, with the score on 269. Bowling from over the wicket, Bhatt pitched one in the rough outside the right-hander’s leg stump, and got it to turn sharply past the angled forward push from Bist to uproot his off stump. Like yesterday, there was turn, but it was sharper, and the unevenness of the surface showed when consecutive deliveries from offspinner Aditya Waghmode took off to reach shoulder height, the second ball beating wicketkeeper Pinal Shah as well.Another wicket or two at that stage, and Rajasthan would have struggled to reach 350. Menaria showed the importance of being positive on this track, starting with two swept fours off Bhatt that went either side of the deep-backward square leg fielder. In the next over, he hit Waghmode for fours on either side of the wicket, and two overs later, looted 12 runs from Swapnil Singh with a six over midwicket and a four through extra cover. With Menaria dismantling the bowling and Rashmi Parida looking solid at the other end, Rajasthan added 120 runs in the first session, and were eyeing a total in the region of 450.Baroda, who had started to wilt under Menaria’s assault, came back with purpose after lunch, tying down the batsmen. Bhatt got Menaria pushing hard at one that gripped and bounced to take the inside edge, the ball then striking the pad before ending up in the hands of forward short leg.Parida ensured Rajasthan did at least get close to 400, playing safely, but using the steer, glance and sweep to pick up boundaries. He brought up his half-century with another sweep off Bhatt, but the tail did not offer him much support. Rohit Jhalani got a beauty from Sankalp Vohra, and Deepak Chahar and Pankaj Singh went to back to deliveries that came in and were bowled, though the ball that got Pankaj did not get up above his ankle. Bhatt bowled Parida with a quick yorker-length delivery in his 43rd over for his fourth five-wicket haul in ten first-class games.Pankaj and Chahar have formed a potent new-ball combination this season, but Kolsawala and Williams negotiated them safely. Both chose to defend the seamers mostly on the back foot. Kolsawala was a treat to watch, especially when he drove straight down the ground and through extra cover. An overly defensive approach could have played into Rajasthan’s hands, but Kolsawala made sure that didn’t happen.Rajasthan did end the day on a positive note, when Williams pushed at legspinner Yadav, playing for turn where there wasn’t any, and Aakash Chopra took a sharp diving chance at slip. The pressure of a final showed on Kedar Devdhar, who had made 4 and 0 in the semi-final, and looked anxious to get off the mark. But Rajasthan made him wait for 23 deliveries, and he finally got off the mark courtesy a misfield at mid-on. Rajasthan will hope the uneven nature of the track creates further doubts in the minds of the Baroda batsmen tomorrow, for whom 394 appears miles away at the moment.

Pakistan will have a new captain after their tour of Australia comes to an end in early February, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2010Pakistan will have a new captain after their tour of Australia comes to an end in early February,
Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said. Mohammad Yousuf was appointed to lead in New Zealand and Australia after Younis Khan quit in a huff back in November.”This captain [Mohammad Yousuf] was for this series only and we will decide after the tour of Australia about the captain, [but] we will change,” Butt told the private ARY News channel.Under Yousuf, Pakistan squared a three-Test series against New Zealand but lost three Tests in a row to Australia before they surrendered the first ODI in Brisbane today. The relationship between Yousuf and the selection committee, headed by Iqbal Qasim, has been tense over the course of the long tour of Australia. He had Misbah-ul-Haq sent over to New Zealand after the player had been dropped from all three formats of the game just a month before.Butt termed Younis’ decision to relinquish the captaincy as unfortunate for Pakistan. “We did not change Younis. Unfortunately the sports committee of the parliament made him run away after they levelled match-fixing allegations against him,” he said.Butt squashed the match-fixing allegations against Pakistan after the Champions Trophy, in specific the game against Australia in which they lost by one run off the last ball. “How can someone fix a match on the last ball? Only a magician can do that and on this allegation Younis was mentally disturbed and resigned,” Butt said. “Younis was a good captain but he was hurt on the allegations and quit. Now we will soon decide about the change.”Butt also said there could be changes to the coaching staff. “Coaching is a very difficult job so I don’t want to comment on it, but yes, we are looking at options to hire batting and fielding coaches, foreign or local, for the national team,” he said. “The problem is no foreign coach is willing to come to Pakistan in present security conditions and a local coach appears to be a more feasible prospect.”Pakistan’s next Test assignment is in England where they play Australia, a series shifted out of Pakistan over security fears. They are scheduled to play four Tests against England on the same tour.

Hosts record their fourth win in five games after chasing down Essex in tense contest

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay18-Jun-2025Warwickshire continued their impressive Women’s Vitality Blast charge with a tense two-wicket win over Essex at Edgbaston.Georgia Davis’s side recorded their fourth win in five games after chasing down Essex’s 150 for 3. Cordelia Griffith, 47 not out off 36 balls, and Madeline Penna’s unbeaten 41 from 42 balls pulled the visitors round from 56 for 3 but never escaped the shackles of a disciplined attack.Warwickshire then slipped to 43 for 4 in reply but recovered to reach 154 for 8 with one ball to spare as Charis Pavely struck a dynamic unbeaten 68 from 40 balls with five fours and three sixes.Essex chose to bat and started solidly as openers Lauren Winfield-Hill and Grace Scrivens added 44 in 35 balls before Scrivens fell to the antepenultimate ball of the powerplay when she skied a slog at Phoebe Graham to midwicket.Laura Harris took that catch and accepted another four balls later when Alice Macleod drove Hannah Baker to extra cover. Those two blows for Essex were quickly followed by a big self-inflicted one. Winfield-Hill, on 30 from 23 balls, was called for a quick single by Griffith, hesitated and was run out by bowler Davis who chased the ball down with the precision and purpose with which she used, as a police officer, to chase villains round Walsall.The loss of three wickets for 12 runs in 11 balls required some shoring up and Griffith and Penna stemmed the collapse before seeking to accelerate. Each hit six fours in an unbroken stand of 94 from 75 balls to assure a competitive, if less than imposing total.MacGregor, leading wicket-taker in the competition, inflicted brisk damage on Warwickshire’s reply with two wickets in her second over. Davina Perrin chipped a low full toss to mid on and Meg Austin top-edged a leg-side scoop to the wicketkeeper.Essex’s bowlers continued to exploit Warwickshire’s top-order carelessness as Natasha Wraith swung Eva Gray to deep midwicket and Sterre Kalis missed an attempted cut at Abtaha Maqsood’s first ball and was bowled.That left Warwickshire 43 for 4 which could have been worse had an early big hit to long on from Pavely off Sophia Smale not passed through the hands of Penna for six. Pavely survived to add 43 in 28 balls with Issy Wong (33, 25) who batted responsibly to rebuild the innings but then misjudged a second run and was beaten by Joanne Gardner’s throw.Harris swept Gray to short fine leg but Pavely pulled MacGregor into the Hollies Stand for six to leave Warwickshire needing 35 from five overs. Successive fours took her to a 31-ball half-century and another handsome six, off Jodi Grewcock, put the equation firmly into the home side’s hands with just three needed from the last over.Scrivens started it with a dot ball and a wicket – Davis caught at mid-on – but two singles followed to level the scores with two balls left and Baker struck the next to the midwicket boundary.

Tom Jones, the grandson of former captain Jeremy Coney, also finds a place in team heading to South Africa in January

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2023There were a few familiar names in the New Zealand men’s Under-19 squad picked to play the World Cup which begins on January 19 in South Africa.Zac Cumming, the son of former player turned commentator and coach Craig Cumming, Matt Rowe, the cousin of Hannah Rowe, and Tom Jones, the grandson of former captain Jeremy Coney all find a place in the 15-member squad.New Zealand won the ICC East Asia Pacific qualifiers in Darwin in June to qualify for the 15th edition of the Under-19 World Cup and 11 members of that squad have been retained for next month’s assignment.The 16 teams at the Under-19 World Cup have been broken into pools of four before the Super Six phase of the event ahead of the semi-finals and final in Benoni. New Zealand are grouped with Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan with their opening match in East London on January 21.”This tournament will be an awesome opportunity for our players to test themselves against the best in the world in their age group, and we hope it will be a great experience,” the U-19 coach Jonny Bassett-Graham said, “You only have to look at the impressive list of players who have represented New Zealand at this tournament to understand it’s importance – from senior Blackcaps like Kane Williamson and Tim Southee through to rising stars like Rachin Ravindra and Adi Ashok.”New Zealand will miss Cam Paul, who already has experience of playing the Ford Trophy, with the Canterbury allrounder ruled out with a shoulder injury. The squad departs for South Africa on January 11.

New Zealand U-19 squad

Oscar Jackson (capt, bat), Mason Clarke (pace), Sam Clode (wk), Zac Cumming (spin/bat), Rahman Hekmat (spin), Tom Jones (bat), James Nelson (bat), Snehith Reddy (bat/spin), Matt Rowe (pace), Ewald Schreuder (pace), Lachlan Stackpole (bat), Oliver Tewatiya (bat/spin), Alex Thompson (wk), Ryan Tsourgas (pace), Luke Watson (bat)Reserves: Ben Breitmeyer – (pace), Nick Brown (wk), Henry Christie (bat), Robbie Foulkes (bat), Josh Oliver (pace/bat), Amogh Paranjpe (pace)

He played 13 Tests for West Indies between 1953 and 1957 before emigrating to New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2022Bruce Pairaudeau, the former West Indies and Northern Districts batter, has died aged 91.Pairaudeau, who was born in British Guiana in 1931, played 13 Tests for West Indies between 1953 and 1957 alongside Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Alf Valentine. He fell in love with New Zealand on a tour to the country in 1956. After emigrating to New Zealand, he captained Northern Districts to their first Plunket Shield title in 1962-63 before retiring from domestic cricket in 1966-67.Pairaudeau had made his debut for Guiana in 1947 at the age of 15 and scored his maiden hundred the following season. He then scored a century on Test debut against India in Port of Spain in 1953, but in 20 further innings he only got into double figures six times. He finished with an overall 454 runs in 13 Test matches at an average of 21.61.Related

• Archive: That familiar Guyanese accent

More recently in 2015, Pairaudeau and his friend drove from Hamilton to Napier to watch the visiting West Indies team train.”We heard a West Indian voice and when I looked at who it was, I thought it might be Bruce Pairaudeau. We knew he lived in New Zealand but we didn’t know he was coming over,” Philip Spooner, West Indies’ media manager, told ESPNcricinfo at the time “All the guys just loved meeting him.”Pairaudeau is survived by son Jeffrey and three grandchildren.

Henry ripped through top order while Wagner exposed England’s fragile middle order

Valkerie Baynes12-Jun-2021A devastating opening spell from Matt Henry backed up by Neil Wagner and later Ajaz Patel snuffed out England’s hopes on the third day of the second Test at Edgbaston.England were left reeling at 3 for 30 as Henry tore through their top order either side of tea and by the close, they were nine down and just 37 runs ahead. Their fragile middle order was exposed once more and New Zealand were on the cusp of victory – although not enough to take the extra half-hour at the end of the day to try and finish it off.Having resumed on 229 for 3, still 74 runs behind, New Zealand lost their remaining seven wickets for 96 runs, but that wasn’t quickly enough for England, who collapsed to 76 for 7 still nine runs adrift, only clawing their way ahead via an eighth-wicket partnership between Mark Wood and Olly Stone.Bearing in mind that New Zealand were resting spearheads Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson ahead of next week’s WTC final, a theme that had developed surrounding the tourists’ incredible depth became outright dominance as England had no answers.Ross Taylor batted with greater fluency than on the previous day, pushing his overnight score on from 46 via a series of boundaries, including a deft sweep off Dan Lawrence to bring up his fifty. He then hit back-to-back fours off James Anderson through the point region, with the second looking more intentional than the first.Taylor was dropped on 68 hooking to long leg, where Sam Billings grassed the chance but he was eventually out nicking Stone through to wicketkeeper James Bracey for 80, the third New Zealand batter and fifth overall this match to be dismissed in the 80s.Bracey, the England wicketkeeper playing his second Test, had a moment to forget a short time later when he dropped Tom Blundell off Stone with the batter yet to score.Wood was bowling with sharp pace for reward as Blundell and Henry Nicholls withstood the pressure. But that was only until Nicholls was struck on the helmet attempting to pull a rapid bumper. No sooner had he been given the all-clear to continue, Nicholls gloved Wood’s next delivery down the leg side and Bracey held on.Anderson had toiled for 24.2 overs before taking his first wicket of the match, bowling Wagner for a duck and, when Wood had Henry out lbw, New Zealand’s lead was just 50 with only two wickets in hand.Ross Taylor batted with great fluency•AFP/Getty Images

Stuart Broad mopped those up, including the wicket of Blundell, caught by Joe Root, who let out an almighty shout directly at the ball after he held on at slip, having dropped one the previous day off Stone that would have dismissed top-scorer Will Young on seven. Broad remained the pick of England’s bowlers with 4 for 48 from 23.1 overs.But the lead was 85 by that point and, when Henry had Rory Burns out for a second-ball duck, attempting to drive and edging to Tom Latham at second slip, the danger signs were there. Burns had been England’s in-form batter this series and it would fall to someone else this time. As it turned out, not even Root could come to the rescue.Henry had Dom Sibley caught by Daryl Mitchell at third slip shortly before tea and, after the break, Zak Crawley’s lean run continued when he fell lbw to Henry for 17 Ollie Pope rattled along to 23 off just 20 balls but he was struck on the knee roll by a Wagner inswinger and sent on his way with England still 27 behind.Lawrence, who has impressed among the relative newcomers to this England side with a fifty on debut in Sri Lanka in January, scores of 46 and 50 against India in Ahmedabad and an unbeaten 81 in the first innings of this Test, was Wagner’s second scalp, caught behind without scoring.Bracey, out for a duck on debut at Lord’s and again in the first innings here, managed a wry smile as the Edgbaston crowd roared when he got off the mark and they were equally enthusiastic when he pulled Trent Boult through midwicket for four.His relief was brief, though, when Patel was re-introduced into the attack and struck with his third ball when Bracey moved across his stumps and ended up pressing the ball into middle with his glove.Where there was Root there was hope, even if he had faced 54 balls to reach double figures. But his attempted cut off Patel produced only a top-edge through to Blundell.What remained for home fans was another entertaining knock from Wood, who had put on a show on the second morning to reach 41 with some big hitting. This evening he took England into a five-run lead with a slog-sweep off Patel for six over deep midwicket. Two fours off as many balls in Patel’s next over brought up England’s hundred but they were seven wickets down and only 15 ahead.Wood’s partnership with Stone was worth 44 before Wood skied a Wagner short ball almost directly above his own head and Blundell had aeons to set himself beneath it, gloves at the ready.Boult rearranged Broad’s stumps in the last over of the evening, but Anderson survived the remaining four balls to ensure the match would see a fourth day.

Without their allrounder going into the series, losing their in-form opening batsman to injury during the series decider, India found a way to win

The Report by Sidharth Monga19-Jan-2020
Without their allrounder going into the series, losing their in-form opening batsman to injury during the series decider, India found a way to win the three-match ODI series against Australia despite losing all three tosses. Australia’s decision to bat first left Virat Kohli smiling ear to ear, his bowlers only widened that smile by keeping Australia down to 286 despite a Steven Smith century, but the chase was not your regular stroll that the scoreline suggested. On a testing, slow pitch, Rohit Sharma scored a special century to negate the challenge.In the final equation, on a pitch that spinners from both sides were a threat, the two main quicks from either side proved to be the difference. Jasprit Bumrah was stellar in conceding just 38 in his 10 overs, and Mohammed Shami took wickets with the new ball and old. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, though, were a big letdown for Australia, conceding 130 runs in 16 wicktless overs between them, which meant when the spinners and Josh Hazlewood bowled well, Sharma and Kohli were not under any asking-rate pressure.Australia’s team management had stayed at the ground till late on match eve to know dew wouldn’t play a big role. Combined with a dry pitch, and their own suspect middle order, they wanted runs on board. Shami dealt those hopes a big blow in the first exchanges despite a wayward – eight wides in first three overs – by both of India’s opening bowlers.In the fourth over, Shami got the ball to shape up to swing back into David Warner, but leave him upon pitching, taking the edge. This was a dismissal from an opening hour of a Test match. Bumrah’s edge over Aaron Finch was apparent again with two runs off 13 legal deliveries. Even when India removed Bumrah after just three overs, the edginess remained, especially with Navdeep Saini bowling the eighth over for just two runs.In the ninth over, Finch went for perhaps a highly risky single to Jadeja at point, but Smith was the bigger culprit in not trusting the call from the non-striker. The run-out left Finch furious, and Smith with a big task of shepherding the suspect middle order. Except that he was met in the middle by his clone Marnus Labuschagne, who has quickly shown he doesn’t need much shepherding. Yet, had Kuldeep Yadav collected a slowish throw cleanly he might have run Labuschagne out to make it 57 for 3.4:10

Bowlers set up series-clinching win for India

That error survived, Smith and Labuschagne pulled Australia out of that crisis, taking them into the last 20 overs with eight wickets in hand. This time Labuschagne reached his maiden half-century too. However, just like the last match, Ravindra Jadeja had begun to frustrate the batsmen with tight overs. In partnership with Yadav and Shami, he strung together 45 deliveries without a boundary. Then he had Kohli helping him in the 32nd over.At a close extra cover, Kohli made an excellent diving save to his left to deny Labuschagne a boundary first ball. To the third ball, he dived to his right to dismiss Labuschagne after a maiden fifty. An experiment to pinch-hit with Mitchell Starc lasted three balls with a slog sweep ending up with deep midwicket. Before this double-wicket maiden, at 173 for 2 in 31 overs, Australia were looking good for a score in the vicinity of 320 despite that recent slowdown.If Starc’s dismissal was a sign the pitch was not the usual flat Bangalore surface, Smith’s failure to place the ball in the coming overs only reinforced it. A mix of orthodox and reverse sweeps from Alex Carey gave Australia some momentum in a run-a-ball 58-run partnership, but the moment Carey tried to hit a six even he ended up miscuing Yadav to deep cover. Add to it the reverse swing India extracted, and Smith had to recalculate and target only the very last overs.Smith threatened a final kick with 25 off eight deliveries, but Shami not only had him caught at deep midwicket, he also ensured there was no annoying cameo from the tail.It was obvious fairly early this was not going to be an easy chase. Not often in ODI cricket do you see two fairly close lbw appeals, three plays and misses and one edge falling short against Sharma in the first 10 overs. Also just as rare is Sharma taking extra risks and scoring 41 runs in those 10 overs.Mohammed Shami celebrates the wicket of David Warner•Associated Press

This was a delicate situation. Shikhar Dhawan had injured himself while fielding. KL Rahul was opening with him after having kept for 50 overs. The ball was doing a bit off the seam. India’s batting more or less went till No. 6 Jadeja. Rohit, though, backed himself and knew he couldn’t let India fall behind the game by the time spin came on.So when Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Hazlewood put the squeeze on, taking Rahul’s wicket and conceding 35 in the next 10 overs, India could sit back and absorb that pressure. And when pressure was built, Finch didn’t go to his main bowlers to go find the breakthrough. He gambled. First with Labuschagne, then with himself. Twenty runs in two overs. Pressure off. And when Finch finally brought his main bowlers, they released the pressure further. Before Rajkot, Starc had taken a wicket at least in his previous matches; now he had two wicketless outings.Not that Sharma really needed freebies. He knew Kohli was going to set up to play till the end. He kept taking calculating risks, hitting six sixes in his innings, reaching his hundred with India’s score only 154. When he did perish, he did so trying to put the chase beyond doubt, looking to hit his seventh six. It left India 81 to get in 80 balls, and if there were any nerves with a shortened batting line-up, the king of chases was there to soothe them.In Kohli’s company, Shreyas Iyer too made a mini comeback from a mini slump. Kohli missed out on a century, but by the time he fell for 89 India needed just 13 from 25.