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Karachi Kings guaranteed to finish bottom of the table after eighth straight defeat

Danyal Rasool16-Feb-2022
They might have left it a bit late, but the inevitable could not be thwarted. Multan Sultans, almost certain to top the table now, edged past Karachi Kings, guaranteed to finish bottom, in the final over, sealing a seven-wicket victory. In pursuit of 175, they were only trudging along at seven an over with five to go, with the asking rate at 14. But 71 runs in the last 27 balls – the last six a dashing flourish over square leg by Rilee Rossouw – condemned the Kings to their eighth successive defeat, at the same time ensuring the Sultans will get two bites at the cherry in their bid to qualify for the PSL final.In the end, Karachi might blame a mystifying approach to the first innings, particularly the first ten overs. Only 57 came off the first nine, with vaunted power hitter Sharjeel Khan struggling badly, managing just 21 off his first 29 balls. With Babar Azam falling for just 2 off four, it was down to the middle order to salvage a respectable total for their side.Sharjeel belatedly clicked into gear and was good for a couple of sixes, but hadn’t nearly undone the damage he had caused in a somnambulant stroll of an innings when Khushdil Shah struck to remove him with just his second ball. The Kings seemed well off the pace until the last seven overs, and needed cameos from Rohail Nazir and Imad Wasim – who smashed an unbeaten 32 off 16 balls – to get the 174 they eventually did finish with, the late surge thanks coming courtesy of 75 runs in the final seven overs.The Sultans innings looked, for the most part, very much like the batting effort of a side that already knew it was through to the next round. Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood appeared content to strike at just over a run-a-ball, prioritising preserving wickets on a pitch that didn’t look quite as free-scoring as some in this tournament have. The free-flowing Masood was reined in for much of his innings, and would admit in a post-match interview he feared he had “messed up” the chase as the asking rate climbed inexorably and the Sultans’ power-hitters sat in the dugout where they could do little damage.It was only after Masood holed out to the deep-cover boundary that the game really moved into the next phase. Rizwan’s best instincts came alive, and all of a sudden he seemed to be finding the gaps with every delivery, almost putting Tim David, batting alongside him, in the shade as he brought the run rate down single-handedly every over. When he fell for a 56-ball 76 that belied his early struggles, David quickly picked up the mantle with a couple of further boundaries, though his dismissal in the 18th over kept the Kings just in front.It was, as it so often is in T20 cricket, the penultimate over when the game truly showed its hand. Khushdil Shah smashed Chris Jordan first ball for six over midwicket, with a remarkable flick of the wrists; astonishingly, it was the first six the Sultans had hit all game. The second would follow two balls later and a boundary came in between, leaving nine to get off the final over.The winning shot was delightfully flamboyant from Rossouw, who moved across his stumps to pick Umaid Asif up over square leg for six, before nonchalantly folding his arms and holding the pose. It showed a swagger that comes so easily to the Sultans right now, and is wholly missing from the Kings, for whom this campaign cannot conclude soon enough.

Rory Burns leads Surrey’s response after record-breaking sixth-wicket stand

David Hopps12-Jul-2022They know their history in Yorkshire. When Adam Lyth and Jonny Tattersall broke Yorkshire’s sixth-wicket batting record, prolonged applause burst across North Marine Road the moment that Lyth flicked the ball off his hip. Such momentous achievements have always been met by an outbreak of White Rose pride but these days there is a touch of defiance, too – a statement that the much-chastised County Championship is deep-rooted and forever worthy of protection.Fortunately, by the time Lyth and Tattersall broke the record, the spectator vainly trying to come to terms with his new yellow-plastic rain-protector had decided that the risk of a shower had receded and removed it. He had become so entangled in it, failing to find the arm holes in several futile attempts, pulling it backwards and forwards over his head at various angles, that he would have found it impossible to clap.As far as the main stage was concerned, it was less about contortions than skill and concentration. Lyth and Tattersall had logged 239 runs on the first day and they had extended that to 305 in 77 overs when Lyth pulled Conor McKerr to deep square leg to fall for 183, an innings that spanned nearly eight hours and his highest score in his home county. Tattersall, on his Championship return, was left with an unbeaten, career-best 180 as Tom Lawes took three quick wickets after lunch and Yorkshire were dismissed for 521.Related

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• Power of 63 keeps Kent afloat

• Mackintosh, Raine combine to keep Durham on dry land

• Harmer spins Gloucs to the brink after Cook century

• Holland, Dawson hit the 90s to build important lead

But they are not yet on solid ground and Surrey, the Championship leaders, 191 for 1 at the close, will imagine that they have the batting prowess to put Yorkshire under pressure on the final day. Dom Bess can anticipate a heavy workload and the offspinner took the only wicket to fall when he drew Ryan Patel down the pitch with one that dipped and turned a shade and Tattersall completed a straightforward stumping.There had still been life in the surface on a cloudy morning, for Dan Worrall in particular as he came down the hill, but Yorkshire’s attack rarely threatened. Rory Burns was calmness personified as he closed the second day on 93 not out. He was assured square of the wicket on both sides and his commitment to the long game was illustrated when he made only 10 runs in the last 12 overs of the day, from which he faced 33 balls. He had one moment of fortune, caught at first slip on 72 only to be reprieved because Shannon Gabriel, the West Indian quick who has joined Yorkshire on a short-term contract, had overstepped.Considering the overpowering nature of Yorkshire’s cricket history, it is instructional to reflect that five of the highest batting partnerships for each wicket have been made this century. Holmes and Sutcliffe are famously there for their 555 for the first wicket at Leyton in 1932 – the world record that wasn’t thanks to a faulty scoreboard – and Geoffrey Boycott makes an appearance for his 10th wicket stand of 149 with Graham Stevenson at Edgbaston in 1982 when he memorably remarked, with a lopsided grin, that was down to “his brawn and my brains”. But there are many names of modern vintage – Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan, Bairstow again with Joe Root. Lyth broke his own sixth-wicket record, too, a stand of 296 in league with Adil Rashid in the Old Trafford Roses match eight years ago. Flatter pitches for sure – markedly so – but Lyth, too, and the rest will enter Yorkshire folklore.Major renovations are in progress at North Marine Road•Matthew Allen

For Scarborough to protect its place in history, however beloved it is, the ground must remain solvent. Crowds here have been a little above 3,000 on the first two days which are reasonable, but well down on pre-Covid days and not entirely in keeping with the esteem in which the ground is held. A recent 10-year staging agreement with Yorkshire helps in an age when outgrounds are permanently under pressure but it is also ambitious to become an established centre for women’s cricket. It would have to address primitive broadcasting facilities to achieve that. But anyway, changes are afoot and that can only be positive.The very thought will have been enough to leave Yorkshire traditionalists on red alert because they routinely insist North Marine Road is perfect and want no messing with their memories. The last time it was suggested the place needed a revamp, a Yorkshire supporter on the wooden-benched banking took umbrage on and countered: “You don’t need a sofa to sit on”.Rest assured there are no unwelcome fripperies in a £500,000 upgrade. The first two phases – improved toilet facilities, better communications and new practice net facilities – are largely completed. The final phase, subject to planning approval, is a refurbishment of the incongruous West Stand, which will have new seating and a new ground-floor frontage which will also house a heritage museum and improved catering facilities – or, as they are known these days “innovative places to linger”.Scarborough is also an unusual place to linger for Clean Slate Filmz, Yorkshire’s main sponsor, which is making a biopic of Jhulan Goswami, the great champion of India women’s cricket, in September.Also attracting interest was Yorkshire’s 2nd XI match against Derbyshire at Chesterfield where Gary Ballance is continuing a low-key return to action after missing the bulk of the season with mental health issues. Ballance has made back-to-back hundreds so it appears from afar that he is feeling his way back successfully. He is one of seven people charged – and the only current player – by the ECB after their investigation into Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations. There is no regulation that stops Yorkshire selecting him, but there is no suggestion that any 1st XI return is imminent and that seems to be the most sensible approach.Yorkshire’s fast-bowler injuries are also relenting. Ben Coad is also involved the 2nd XI fixture, although he is following a programme of limited workload and has yet to bowl, and Matthew Fisher has not given up hope of a match or two at the back end of the Championship season. He has been undertaking fielding drills during the lunch interval on the last two days as he recovers from a stress fracture.

On their last tour to SA, they became the first Asian side to win a Test series in the country

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Dec-2020

Big picture

At face value, do Sri Lanka really have a chance? Let’s look at the facts against them:

• They’ve not played international cricket since March.
• Most squad members have spent three weeks playing T20 cricket, and are now expected to make the substantial switch into Test mode.
• They’ve had no warm-up match due to Covid-19 complications.
• They are missing Angelo Mathews – the most experienced member of their batting order.
• Sri Lanka batsmen have always struggled at Centurion.

And yet, when they won 2-0 in South Africa last year, Sri Lanka had faced even steeper odds, their fast bowling stocks having been decimated by injury, while a captain had just been sacked, and a coach was fearing for his job (which he would lose, several months later). This time, not only do they feel they have a stronger seam attack, but also have a batting group with more experience, and a coach who knows South African conditions intimately, in Mickey Arthur.South Africa, however, are much more fearsome in the Highveld – where both Tests will be played – than they are on the coasts, particularly against South Asian opponents. They also have players in form. Anrich Nortje was rapid in the T20s against England, as well as in the IPL. This was in T20s, but the man is clearly in good rhythm, and the prospects of him hitting high speeds at Centurion will worry some Sri Lanka batsmen. The likes of Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Keshav Maharaj are coming off excellent performances in the four-day competition (Markram has 75, 113, 149, 121 in his four most-recent innings), which is leads to another point – they have been playing long-form cricket, where Sri Lanka have not had competitive multi-day matches to play for at least five months.South Africa clearly start as favourites, but as Sri Lanka’s captain Dimuth Karunaratne has asserted, a lot depends on how well each team bats after their long Test hiatus. There have been some seriously low team totals in each of the last four matches between these teams. If that is the case again, Sri Lanka will feel they have a chance.Related

• De Kock wants Test captaincy only as a short-term role

• Hendricks, Petersen withdrawn from SA squad

• Is Markram ready to repay South Africa's faith?

• Sri Lanka's recent dominance over South Africa

• Karunaratne on matching South Africa's seam bowling

Venue record

These teams have played four times at Centurion, and South Africa have won each of those matches, two of them by an innings. The closest Sri Lanka have ever come, was when they lost by just three wickets, way back in 2002. The most-recent Centurion match between these teams was in 2011 – Sri Lanka losing by an innings and 81.

Players to watch

Quinton de Kock will captain South Africa in a Test for the first time, but already, he has said he sees himself only as a caretaker leader. He leads the team in all three formats now, and also keeps wickets in all three. The usual question here: how will captaining over five days impact his batting and his keeping? (His batting has been good of late – his average up at 45.9 since the start of 2019.) And will he lead well? De Kock is generally a cricketer of few words, but this new job may need him to find his voice.Can de Kock juggle with captaincy, batting and keeping?•Getty Images

Kusal Perera played one of the all-time great innings to wrench victory from defeat last year in Durban, but aside from this one blinding knock, there hasn’t been a lot to his Test career. Eighteen Tests in, he has an average of 31.13, which is passable only for an allrounder. And he has batted everywhere from No. 1 to No. 8, without appearing in more than eight innings in any one position. Despite his having produced Sri Lanka’s greatest-ever innings from No. 5 on the last tour here, his team now looks set to ask him to open the innings, to cover for the injured Oshada Fernando. If he is to find a more stable place in the XI, Perera desperately needs to settle into a more consistent phase in his career.

Pitch and conditions

South Africa need to balance creating conditions that will suit their seamers, and making sure it’s not impossible for their batsmen to find form. So it will be green, but not too green, and we can expect pace, bounce and swing but not the kind that saw Sri Lanka crushed at the Wanderers in 2017. SuperSport Park is usually a bat- first pitch; if you can get through the first hour or so, it very good for batting on the most of the first three days. De Kock said he expects it to take some turn later on.It’s been raining a fair bit on the Highveld in the build-up and afternoon thunderstorms are forecast from Sunday. Otherwise, it will be warm with temperatures touching 30.

Team news

It’s Oshada’s hamstring injury that will keep him out of the first Test, and him being unavailable means there may be a spot in the batting order for Dasun Shanaka, who not only brings dynamism to the lower middle order, but also can send down a few overs of serviceable seam bowling.Sri Lanka are wondering whether to go in with an out-and-out spinner in Lasith Embuldeniya, or to hedge their bets and go with Wanindu Hasaranga, who adds value with his batting. There is one other serious injury worry too. Suranga Lakmal picked up a hamstring niggle in the approach to the match, and may need to be replaced, perhaps with Kasun Rajitha.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Suranga Lakmal/Kasun Rajitha, 9 Lasith Embuldeniya, 10 Vishwa Fernando, 11 Lahiru KumaraWith Kagiso Rabada out through a groin injury, right-arm seam bowler Glenton Stuurman may get a debut. But that’s only if he gets over a niggle. An injury doubt also hangs over Lungi Ngidi. Lutho Sipamla and Migael Pretorius would seem to be the next in line to play, if Ngidi or Stuurman (or both) aren’t fit in time.South Africa (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Faf du Plessis, 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 Quinton de Kock (capt. & wk), 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Anrich Nortje, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Glenton Stuurman, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Stats and trivia

• In the two Tests Perera has played since the last South Africa series – of which he was Player of the Series – he has averaged six and has a top score of 23. Perera, however, has been unavailable for several Sri Lanka Tests through injury.
• On Sri Lanka’s last tour here, de Kock was South Africa’s best batsman, hitting 80, 55, 86 and 1 in his four innings.
• South Africa have only ever lost two of the 25 Tests they’ve played at Centurion – against England in 2000, and Australia in 2014.
• Even overall (counting Tests in Sri Lanka as well), Sri Lanka have a poor win-loss record against South Africa, having won only nine and lost 14 of their 29 Tests.

Quotes

“There is a lot of grass on the surface at the moment, and I think the more there is, the easier it will be for us. When you have less of an up-and-down type pitch, you just have to survive that first couple of hours, and you give yourself a chance to put a decent score – something like 300 – on the board.”Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne“I don’t want to think ahead too much. I’m trying to keep it as basic as possible and as simple as possible. It is something we are aware of, the last time they were here, they did beat us, so its definitely something we want to rectify. Hopefully we can do it by being as simple as possible.”

It’s been a dozen years since his debut, but the Australia captain admits he’s still coming to grips with the format

Firdose Moonda11-Oct-20231:39

Cummins: ‘It’s a clash of two very similar teams’

The strategies involved in structuring a spell in ODIs still present Pat Cummins with a conundrum he is keen to conquer, 12 years after making his debut in the format. That may seem a strange takeaway from an engagement with an Australian captain under some pressure after his team’s defeat to India and their struggles against spin, but it’s a small example of a bigger picture that we will be talking about all tournament: the future of this format.We don’t even need to go through the proposals to scrap bilateral ODIs and confine the format to World Cups only, because in Cummins, we have a ready example. He had only played 19 matches between the last World Cup and this one; and including Australia’s defeat to India in their World Cup opener this time, he has played only three this year, and just 78 across a dozen years. The consequence is that it has taken him longer than it may otherwise have to feel confident in his tactical approach to ODIs.”Early in my career, I found it a hard balance between Test cricket and T20, and I was getting too funky,” Cummins said at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, the day before Australia prepared to play South Africa. “With one-day cricket, your roles can be very different – from being an opening bowler with a ball that swings, to coming on first change and maybe bowling cross-seamers where you are trying to defend and get your wickets through pressure. It’s a different kind of challenge to the other formats.”Related

• De Kock's relationship with ODIs is complicated, but it's clear he cares

• Storied World Cup rivals joust again but it is Australia under pressure

• Maxwell: Australia ready for 'unknown' from relaid Lucknow surface

• Defensive Australia burnt by India's spin trio in Chepauk furnace

It is also what Cummins called “the most physically taxing” of the three formats, because as we know from the ICC slogan – it really, truly takes one day. One. Whole. Day. Although the duration of a Test and the intensity of an T20 can’t be matched in an ODI, the amount of time spent on the feet and the kilometres run in the legs will be more than both the other versions of the game.”The biggest challenge is that you’ve got ten overs [to bowl]. It’s quite a physical format,” Cummins said of ODIs. “I find it the most physically taxing if you are doing two or three games in a week. We are doing 15k (kilometres) in a 50-over match.”And then there’s the trade-off between consistency and creativity that must come into play in one-day cricket, where some level of patience is required alongside a touch of all-out attack.”In T20, if you bowl one really good over that can be match-winning. But in one-day cricket, it’s not normally the case,” Cummins said. “And it’s rare that conditions are in the bowlers’ favour, which is fine. It’s just a challenge you’ve got to try and deal with. It’s tough but I do enjoy it.”Cummins expects at least one of those things will get easier on Thursday, when he thinks there will be pace and bounce on offer on a surface that remains something of a mystery. Only four ODIs have been played at the Ekana Stadium so far, with the highest score batting first being 249 in a full 50-over innings. Three of those ODIs were played in 2019, with one held last October, but the pitches have since been dug up and relaid.On Thursday, Australia play South Africa in Lucknow, where the pitches have been dug up and relaid•Getty Images

Cummins also feels his own form is “in as good a place as it’s ever been”, and backs himself to be “almost be prepared for anything”, including maybe “death bowling”. Against a South Africa line-up that is in good form, he also expects that he may have to try “to create a wicket out of nothing”, even as unorthodoxy is also something he has been working on.All that does not take away from his inexperience as ODI captain – since being named ODI captain in October last year, he has played only five out of Australia’s 15 ODIs – and the problems Australia have to solve in the middle overs. That’s where they lost the game against India, after they slipped from 110 for 2 in the 28th over to 199 all out.It’s something the batting group, under the guidance of Andy Flower, who has also been Lucknow Super Giants’ coach – the IPL team whose home ground is the Ekana Stadium – have been discussing, and much like Cummins’ own conclusions about bowling, it’s a balance between formats they’re seeking.”It’s no secret that the [middle-overs] period of the game seems to be the most important in one-day cricket,” Cummins said. “How do we create partnerships? If they’re bowling well, how do we shift the pressure back on to their bowlers, and try and force their hand to make some changes? It’s a real delicate balance in one-day cricket of not taking huge risks, but it’s not like Test cricket where you can wait it out. You have to keep the run rate ticking over.”The middle overs are also thought to be the hill on which ODI cricket may die, unless the narrative that unfolds in that passage is captivating even if nuanced. As Cummins hinted, those overs are the Goldilocks of the game where players are required to not do too much of one thing or too little of another, and for Australia, it’s about finding out how much is just right.

The left-arm quick first played for them in 2023 and then helped them to the Division Two title in 2024

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2024Jaydev Unadkat will continue his association with Sussex after extending his contract with them for the 2025 and 2026 County Championship seasons. He will be available for the final run-in in both seasons.”When I came to Hove last year, I wasn’t sure what was on offer in the County Championship and how would I adapt to it. But after a few games now, I can definitely say Hove is my home away from home and Good Old Sussex by The Sea has my heart,” Unadkat was quoted as saying in a release by the team.”Everyone at Hove is very pleased and excited that Jaydev [Unadkat] has signed a two-year extension and will be returning to the Club for the next two seasons,” Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said.”Jaydev’s quality on the pitch has been so evident for everyone else to see, but just as importantly his qualities as a person make him one of the most popular and nicest guys any team could wish for.”Unadkat first signed for Sussex in 2023, and took 11 wickets in three matches. He returned to the team in 2024 and took 22 wickets at an average of 14.40 in five games, helping Sussex win the Division Two title.Unadkat is currently leading Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy, which got underway on Friday.

Joe Weatherley’s 63 from 39 gives Hampshire a chance before Simon Harmer seals shortened chase

Alan Gardner15-Jul-2023Essex squeezed past defending champions Hampshire to reach the Vitality T20 Blast final via a rain-affected chase at Edgbaston. Simon Harmer, who hit the winning runs when Essex lifted the title in 2019, again applied the this time around as he drilled Nathan Ellis into the stands at long-on to complete a five-wicket victory.Having restricted Hampshire to 170 for 7 from 20 overs, Essex were then handed a revised target of 115 from 12 overs, following an extended delay for rain shortly after the start of their innings. Although Hampshire made quick inroads after the resumption to reduce Essex to 50 for 4 after 6.2, the arrival of Australia allrounder Daniel Sams brought a vital injection of power as he and Matt Critchley added 45 in 22 balls.Sams could not finish the job, well held on the boundary by Ross Whiteley, but despite Liam Dawson only conceding seven off the penultimate over to leave 13 needed from the last, Ellis – the hero in Hampshire’s dramatic victory a year ago – was hit for two sixes in three balls to end hopes of a defence.Hampshire’s innings had been a stop-start affair, held together by Joe Weatherley’s 63 off 39 balls. Spinners Critchley and Harmer picked up combined figures of 3 for 55 from their eight overs but a spirited finish from Weatherley and Benny Howell helped get Hampshire up to a par score.The rain delay took eight overs out of the Essex innings and seemed to tip the balance back towards the chasing side, with the requirement now 96 off 55 and the ball skidding around on a greasy outfield. They threatened to squander the advantage by losing 3 for 3 in the space of six ball, but Sams smashed three sixes in an innings of 29 from 17 to put them back on course for only a second Blast final appearance.Essex come out on top of DLS equation
Essex have based much of their approach to this year’s Blast on attacking come what may, so losing a wicket from the third ball of the innings would have been priced in. Adam Rossington’s flip off the hip went fine but Weatherley’s good day continued as he raced around the rope for a tumbling catch. But Essex’s start was scratchy as the clouds began to roll in, with Dan Lawrence dropped off a steepler by Dawson shortly before a heavy downpour took the players off for an hour with the score 19 for 1.The revised target left Essex needing to go at just above ten an over, and that had come down to 68 off 40 when James Fuller struck twice in the space of three balls: Michael Pepper caught at deep third off a wild hack and Lawrence edging a pull to the keeper. When Paul Walter was palpably lbw to John Turner in the next over, Essex were four down with the required rate climbing.”With wickets in hand and a smaller total, you would back yourself to get there,” Harmer said. “But in saying that when you lose wickets it’s tough to start again. You got to have your foot on the accelerator from ball one. So the way that guys like Critch and Dan Sams played, coming in there and striking from ball one was huge for us in the context of that chase.”Weatherley, meanwhile, described Hampshire as “bitterly disappointed” with the outcome. “With Duckworth-Lewis, it only takes is a couple of guys to hit a couple of sixes,” he said. “We still took wickets, if we hadn’t have done it would have looked a lot easier. It certainly feels unfair when they’ve got nine wickets in hand to get ten an over.”Hampshire start well, then stutter
Aaron Beard’s only over, the first of the Hampshire innings, went for 14 as both Ben McDermott and James Vince opened their accounts by whipping leg-side deliveries to the fence. McDermott then picked off Sams’ first two balls, the second via a domineering stride down the pitch before launching over long-off. An edged four wide of the keeper and two more off Sam Cook – one scooped over the head of short fine leg – took McDermott to 29 off 11 but he fell to his next delivery, pulling Cook straight to deep square leg.Hampshire at that point were 39 for 1 after three overs but Vince departed in the next over, chipping Shane Snater to mid-off, and Essex got a hold on the scoring to make it 55 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. The spinners then kept Hampshire in check, with Tom Prest, Dawson and Fuller all falling for middling scores and only five boundaries coming between the seventh and 16th overs.Weatherley, Howell add finishing touch
With wickets falling regularly, Weatherley had to take a circumspect approach, although he did hit one sweetly struck six down the ground off Harmer. Whiteley’s miscue off Walter left Hampshire 130 for 6 after 17, but the arrival of Howell added much-needed impetus at the death, as the seventh-wicket pair mirrored McDermott’s opening burst by lashing another 40 runs to the total. A wide full toss from Sams saw Weatherley bring up his fifty from from 34 balls, and the Hampshire No. 4 then spoiled an otherwise-decent penultimate over from Cook by going deep in his crease to slog-sweep a slower ball for six.Howell then helped plunder 14 off Sams’ closer, including a towering six over long-on the ball after being dropped by Snater, and although he was dismissed off the final delivery his 22 off 11 had given Hampshire something to bowl at. Thanks to the rain, however, and Sams late blows, it would not be quite enough.

Sri Lanka are back playing a Test at The Oval for the first time since 1998

Alan Gardner05-Sep-20240:35

Ollie Pope excited to see ‘massive’ Josh Hull debut for England

Big picture: Sri Lanka return to scene of 1998 triumph

To The Oval, traditional venue for the final Test of the English summer – although not, by any means, the final international commitment for England’s men, who go straight into eight white-ball fixtures against Australia off the back of Sri Lanka’s visit (the first T20I takes place 24 hours after the scheduled fifth day of the Test).For now, the focus remains on Test cricket – even if Brendon McCullum’s mind may start to wander following news he will soon take charge of England’s white-ball fortunes as well – and the aim of completing a first summer sweep since 2004. Twenty years ago, Michael Vaughan’s team dispatched New Zealand and West Indies for a 7-0 scoreline, providing momentum that fueled them into the following year’s Ashes campaign; McCullum and Ben Stokes, currently watching on from the sidelines as he recuperates from a torn hamstring, will hope something similar can play out ahead of marque series against India (at home) and Australia (away) in 2025.England’s reboot, having lost 4-1 in India at the start of the year, has gone smoothly thus far, despite the limited challenge provided by West Indies and Sri Lanka. Gus Atkinson has emerged as the star of a post-Broaderson attack, with 33 wickets in five appearances – to go with a maiden hundred at Lord’s last week – while Jamie Smith has nailed down the wicketkeeper’s spot. With the Sri Lanka series secured, McCullum has decided to throw in another promising tyro, with 6ft 7in Leicestershire left-armer Josh Hull emerging from left-field for an unexpected debut.Related

• Hull call sign of times as England make their point of difference

• De Silva: First-innings runs are what's crucial to victory

• Switch Hit: Baz Supremacy and Root maths

• 6ft 7in Hull handed England Test debut

• Hull, England's left-armer from left-field, prepares for shock Test debut

All this may well be with the 2025-26 Ashes in mind – and who wouldn’t want a giant southpaw who can hit 90mph to bowl down under? – but Hull has already had success against Sri Lanka, taking five wickets for England Lions during the series warm-up, and England have once again reasoned that raw first-class statistics (16 wickets at 62.75) only tell part of the story.The final Test of the home season is also a final chance for Ollie Pope to improve his average as Test captain – that is assuming Stokes is fit to take the reins again in Pakistan next month. Pope has so far managed 30 runs in four innings, with his dismissals ranging from eyebrow-raising to hair-raising. Leading England to three wins from three would certainly tick a box, but runs under the belt might have more long-term significance.For Sri Lanka, a first multi-match Test tour at the height of the English summer has not lived up to expectations – although the same might be said of the English summer, with the weather again likely to be underwhelming in London this week. There were flashes of resistance at Lord’s, Asitha Fernando and Kamindu Mendis once again showing their promise while the senior trio of Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva held up England with fourth-innings fifties.They would certainly have hoped for more than to be fighting for pride at this stage, but two first-innings collapses have left them with too much to do – while Dhananjaya’s decision to bowl at Lord’s threw an inexperienced bowling attack under the bus. A return to south London for their first Test since famously winning at The Oval in 1998 should help raise spirits. If further motivation is needed, Sri Lanka have played four previous three-Test series in England and never been whitewashed.Ollie Pope will continue to deputise for Ben Stokes•Getty Images

Form guide

England WWWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
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In the spotlight: Josh Hull and Asitha Fernando

He might be blotting out the spotlight, so tall is Josh Hull. The 20-year-old only emerged on the county scene last summer, notably bowling the final over as Leicestershire sealed the Metro Bank One-Day Cup with a two-run win over Hampshire, and his rise this term has been meteoric. A couple of outings in the Hundred showed he had put on pace, nudging the speed gun up to 89mph, while success in the Lions game counted for more with England than a County Championship record of two wickets at 182.50. He is set to become only the second left-arm seamer to play Tests for England since Ryan Sidebottom in 2010.Despite Atkinson’s stellar performances and England’s dominance generally, the leading wicket-taker in the series is Sri Lankan. Asitha Fernando has 14 scalps at 20.14, already second only to Muthiah Muralidaran for Sri Lanka in England, and his lion-hearted efforts have kept the home batters honest. Asitha got himself on the honours board with a five-for at Lord’s – matching Rumesh Ratnayake’s effort from 1991 – but would no doubt love to help his team end the tour on a winning note. With Sri Lanka banking on pace at The Oval, his skills with conventional and reverse-swing will be vital if can post a score.

Team news: Hull to debut, SL go all pace

England announced on Wednesday that Hull would debut, coming into the XI for Matthew Potts. The Oval Test will likely be Dan Lawrence’s final opportunity to impress as stand-in opener ahead of the return of Zak Crawley.England: 1 Dan Lawrence, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Olly Stone, 10 Shoaib Bashir, 11 Josh HullSri Lanka warm up – literally and figuratively – at The Oval•PA Photos/Getty Images

Sri Lanka have opted for a rare four-man pace attack, given what they expect from the pitch (see below), meaning Prabath Jayasuriya makes way. They have also rejigged the top order (again), with Kusal Mendis back in the side at No. 3, Pathum Nissanka opening and Nishan Madushka sitting out. Angelo Mathews has only bowled a handful of times in Tests since 2017 but was going through his paces in the nets at The Oval, with a view to making up Jayasuriya’s overs alongside Dhananjaya and Kamindu.Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Milan Rathnayake, 9 Lahiru Kumara, 10 Vishwa Fernando, 11 Asitha Fernando

Pitch and conditions: Autumn weather sets in

The Oval has not been the place to bowl spin this season, with only 26 wickets falling to slow bowlers in six County Championship matches – compared to 173 taken by pace, where Surrey’s seam-and-swing merchant Dan Worrall leads the way. With wet weather in the build-up and a forecast for showers throughout – Monday looks particularly bleak – the conditions will be a long way from those in which Murali’s Sri Lanka dominated England 26 years ago.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have a 100% win rate in Tests at The Oval, having beaten England emphatically on their only previous visit – Sanath Jayasuriya’s 213 helping the visitors comfortably overhaul a total of 445 before Muralidaran took 9 for 65 to set up a 10-wicket win.
• Joe Root overtook Alastair Cook’s Test centuries record for England at Lord’s, and is now only 95 runs behind overall. He needs 24 runs to pass Kumar Sangakkara in sixth on the all-time list, with Cook next in his sights.
• Root also took his 200th catch in the field and can close in on the top two, Mahela Jayawardene (205) and Rahul Dravid (210).
• Atkinson will break the record for most wickets by an England seamer in a home summer – currently jointly held by SF Barnes, Alec Bedser and James Anderson – if he takes seven in the match.
• Karunaratne overtook Jayasuriya at Lord’s to become Sri Lanka’s fourth-highest Test run-scorer; he needs 10 more runs to reach 7000 in the format.
  

  Quotes

  “Six foot heaps, bowls left-arm, ranges in pace from 80 to 90 miles an hour. Swings it, not too dissimilar to the likes of Jimmy Anderson. He’s 20 years of age, good farming stock. It’s not a huge gamble, is it?”
  
  Brendon McCullum on England’s latest surprise selection“We need to score big runs and that’s the biggest fault that we had in the first two Tests. Most of our batters who had got starts didn’t convert. Joe Root is a good example, he converted the starts into hundreds. Others batted around him. One of us need to do that and if that happens we need to get 320 mark in the first innings.”
  
  Dhananjaya de Silva on how his side can improve

Action shifts to Mount Maunganui with the series now a two-match contest

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2022India’s white-ball tour of New Zealand began with the first T20I in Wellington being washed out without a toss.Both sides were consigned indoors due to continuous rain. Barring a very short dry spell, it was wet throughout.That was disappointing news for the fans in attendance at the Sky Stadium, which was set to host its first men’s T20I match in 20 months.Even while it was drizzling, on-field umpires Chris Brown and Wayne Knights seemed to be inspecting the outfield to gauge the earliest time a match could start once the rain stopped.However, that never happened, with the game called off at 8.52pm local time, roughly 54 minutes before the cut-off time for a five-over shootout.The T20I series now moves to Mount Maunganui for the second match on Sunday, after which the teams will move to Napier for the third T20I on Tuesday.A young India squad is being led by Hardik Pandya for the T20I series with many senior players rested. New Zealand are competing without Martin Guptill and Trent Boult with both sides looking to move on from their respective semi-final defeats at the T20 World Cup in Australia.

‘That was the slowest pitch a visiting team could ever play on in Australia,” Pakistan team director says

Danyal Rasool11-Dec-2023Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has criticised the pitch and conditions laid out for Pakistan’s warm-up game in Canberra, saying he was “really surprised and disappointed by the arrangements.”Speaking to reporters at the WACA ground following Pakistan’s morning training session, Hafeez said Pakistan were excited by the challenge, but appeared particularly irked by the tour arrangements for game against the PM XI in Canberra, at one point implying it might have been tactical.”That was the slowest pitch a visiting team could ever play on in Australia,” he said. “As a team we are really happy with our preparations because we ticked most of the boxes.”Everyone knew [the pitch wasn’t what we wanted], so there was no point of saying it again and again and raising the issue with Cricket Australia. The disappointment was really high because we weren’t expecting these kinds of arrangements. Maybe it’s tactical but we’re ready for it. We’re not using it as an excuse, we’re absolutely ready for the challenges coming up.”The PM XI game has traditionally been a limited-overs game in the Australian capital city, but has been played as a four-day contest over the past two years. Only three days of play were possible, with a freak storm bringing an early conclusion to the game. Pakistan batted 116.2 overs and scored 391 for 9 before declaring. But on a noticeably slow surface, they toiled for 141 overs, managing just four wickets.Related

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The game being a proper first-class game meant they could only use eleven players, and were further reduced to ten when Abrar Ahmed went off with an injury that has now ruled him out of the first Test.While Hafeez – and Pakistan – were clearly upset by the variance between the conditions they wanted and the ones they got, the weather may have had a bigger say in it than any tactical considerations. There was significant rain in the lead-up to the game, to the extent the ground was underwater at one stage, so preparing a pitch to any particular specifications was always going to be a challenge. In addition, the Manuka Oval has historically tended to offer flat decks, with limited pace on offer. Recently, the outfield was relaid, and was also quite slow.But there were positives to take from the contest for Hafeez, most notably in the form of the new Pakistan captain Shan Masood’s innings. Masood scored an unbeaten 201 in an innings where none of his team-mates managed a half-century. Hafeez was particularly effusive about him and his abilities as a leader.”For me, seeing Shan become captain is no surprise” Hafeez said. “He was always ready for this role, and when you get this sort of opportunity, it shines. He’s a superb player, and as a leader, he’s got a great rapport with the players and a great relationship with the whole team. His experience as a captain and what he’s learned over the years – especially the couple of years he’s played county cricket – have all seen his management skills have come to the fore even more. What’s important is this is a confident unit that’s here and Shan is playing his role very well.Hafeez also insisted he wasn’t pointing out his disappointment with the Canberra surface as an excuse, saying he was confident this team had the ability to walk away with a series win. Pakistan have traditionally found playing in Australia harder than anywhere else, having lost their last 14 Tests on the bounce in the country, spanning five whitewashes.”This Test team is very settled. They’ve all done a great job for Pakistan cricket. Everyone is excited to take the challenge. Performing in Australia would be great for them. We are here to beat Australia, not just to compete.”As a team, we believe we have great talent within the team who can win in Australia. The guys are really hungry to perform in Australia. They wanted to take that excitement and challenge in the right spirit. The message the team conveyed is they want to beat Australia this time.”

England went to lunch on 83 for 2

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2025

Jasprit Bumrah in action•Getty Images

Nitish Kumar Reddy removed both England openers in his first over but the hosts escaped the first session only two wickets down after choosing to bat first at Lord’s. Reddy struck twice in four balls after Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley scraped through the first hour unscathed. Ollie Pope and Joe Root then led England’s recovery with an unbroken stand of 39 before lunch.Duckett was repeatedly struck on his body in a probing first spell from Jasprit Bumrah, who replaced Prasidh Krishna in India’s only change from the side that won at Edgbaston last week. But England reached the drinks break at 39 for 0, despite a frenetic start from Crawley which featured four boundaries – one via the outside edge – and several plays-and-misses.Reddy’s double-strike opened up both ends for India. His first wicket was a freebie, a long-hop down the leg side which Duckett under-edged through to Rishabh Pant on the pull, but his second was a beauty. He angled the ball into Crawley, then found late movement away off the seam to take the outside edge, as India sensed an opportunity.Pope was dropped between those two wickets, edging his first ball – a full outswinger – to gully, where Shubman Gill could not hold onto a tough, low chance, diving to his right. But after his early life, he grew in confidence alongside Root, and they saw off Bumrah’s third spell to reach the lunch interval at 83 for 2.Ben Stokes’ decision to bat first on winning the toss – for the third time in a row – was met with cheers at Lord’s, after bowling first had backfired at Edgbaston. Gill admitted he was “a bit confused” about what he would have done but said that he would have leaned towards bowling in the belief that the only assistance from the pitch would come early on the first day.