The Sunrisers captain struggled to get going in a 55-ball innings, scoring just 57

Saurabh Somani28-Apr-20212:25

Trevor Bayliss: ‘There’s no reason why we can’t turn it around like last year’

David Warner will not look back very fondly at the match that got him his 50th IPL half-century and his 10,000th T20 run. Warner struggled to 57 off 55 against the Chennai Super Kings, contributing to a sluggish start as the Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to a seven-wicket defeat to stay at the bottom of the points table in IPL 2021.”I take full responsibility. The way that I batted was obviously very slow,” Warner told host broadcaster Star Sports at the end of the match. “I was hitting a lot of fielders and [was] very, very frustrated… Look I take full responsibility from a batting point of view. I felt [that with] Manish [Pandey] coming back into the team, the way that he batted was exceptional. And obviously Kane [Williamson] and Kedar [Jadhav] towards the back end there, they put some boundaries away and got us to a respectable total. I felt that we were probably just below par from where we were. But yeah look, at the end of the day, I’ll take full responsibility.”It is not that Warner wasn’t to get the ball away, but he never found the combination of timing and placement right. A lot of his forcing shots couldn’t hit the gaps, and those that did hadn’t travelled sweetly enough off the bat and could therefore be cut off. ESPNcricinfo’s control percentage illustrates both points: Warner was not in control of his shots for 20% of his innings which comes down to 11 balls, a high enough figure anyway given the length of his innings.He was in control for 44 balls, but those yielded only 56 runs. Normally, when a batter of Warner’s ability is in control for that many balls, you would expect a higher yield. But against the Super Kings, he couldn’t pierce the gaps even when he timed the ball well. The lack of runs told on Warner, who audibly indulged in self-recrimination and angry, frustrated swings of the bat after yet another ball had not gone where he wanted it to.”I hit probably 15 good shots to fielders, [as] simple as that,” he said. “I can’t do much about it. They’re the ones that make or break your innings I think. In the first six overs, I hit [to] the fielder four or five times. There was one guy on the leg side, I hit it straight to him with a full toss. It gets frustrating as a batsman when you’re out there. But at the end of the day, I took too many balls.”The Sunrisers’ coach Trevor Bayliss acknowledged that Warner was finding it tough but backed his captain to come good at the post-match press conference.Related

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• 'Change in attitude' turning CSK's fortunes around from 2020 to 2021

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“Look I think David will be the first to admit he struggled to hit the gaps today,” Bayliss said. “He hit a lot of balls to the field today. Obviously, with David that doesn’t happen a lot. Tonight it did, so yeah that put us a bit behind the eight-ball, but the other guys batted really well in a team effort. Unfortunately, 170 [171] wasn’t quite enough. I thought they bowled pretty well and then obviously batted well.”Warner’s 55-ball 57 was worth only 24 points on ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. An indication of how low that is, is demonstrated by how much Kane Williamson’s 26* off 10 deliveries was worth, which was nearly double at 44 points.Williamson’s knock, in fact, was worth more than even Pandey’s 61 off 46. Pandey didn’t accelerate enough through the middle overs and at the death. The Sunrisers have top-heavy batting in their playing XI, with Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Williamson expected to do the heavy lifting. Ordinarily, an innings where Warner has faced 55 balls might have yielded 75 to 100 runs for them. But this happened to be one of those days when everything went wrong for Warner.With the team sitting at the bottom of the points table and time to catch up running out, they will need this to be a one-off.

Family affair in prospect as England allrounder gets his first game-time of the season

George Dobell28-May-2021Moeen Ali is set to return to action on Saturday with an appearance in the Birmingham League.Moeen, who recently returned from the IPL, has received approval from the England team management to play for West Bromwich Dartmouth (WBD) against Walsall in Premier Division One of the country’s oldest cricket league.The match promises to be something of a family affair. Moeen will be joined in the WBD team by his brother, Omar, and his cousin, the former England swing bowler, Kabir. Another cousin, Ismail Mohammed, who is on the staff at Worcestershire, is also in the side.Moeen’s oldest brother, Kadeer, will be absent, however. The former Gloucestershire and Worcestershire batter is WBD’s regular captain but has been asked to help out the Worcestershire first team in a coaching capacity (he is the county’s second XI coach) this weekend. In his absence, Kabir will captain the side.Several, though not all, of the England players who were at the IPL are likely to return to LV= Insurance County Championship action in the round of games starting on June 3. A firm decision on each player’s involvement will be taken by the England management in the coming days.

She praised the performances of India’s debutants in Bristol, especially fellow opener Shafali Verma

Annesha Ghosh18-Jun-20211:37

Smriti Mandhana: Verma’s maturity a positive for India

India batter Smriti Mandhana believes that more opportunities to play Tests can help cultivate a better understanding regarding approaching the closing stages of each session in a day’s play.Mandhana’s views came after stumps on the rain-affected third day of India’s one-off Test against England in Bristol, where she fell for 8 in her second innings on the stroke of lunch, with her side following on after being bowled out for 231.In her first innings, Mandhana made 78 before her wicket became part of a collapse that started late in the final session of the second day, as India slipped from 167 for 0 to 183 for 5 – in all they lost all 10 wickets for 64. On the opening day, England, too, had suffered a collapse after tea losing 4 for 21 before the close.”I think that will just be an excuse to give,” Mandhana said when asked about the trend around a flurry of dismissals coming about towards the end of sessions in the match. “But we can consider for sure that we aren’t used to batting beyond 50 overs that much. But I wouldn’t say I got out because of lack of experience in Test matches because I threw my wicket away in the last session of yesterday.”But, definitely, I think a slight pressure of ending the day being not out, that might play a bit of a part [in the loss of wickets in a heap] and that will come with experience. The more we play Test matches, the more we’ll get used to the conditions – one over before lunch or one over before the day’s end and all those sessions, so we can be more mature about [approaching them] and not take pressure.”Related

• Shafali Verma's follow-on fifty helps India cling on against England's might

• From 167 for 0 to 231 all out: a record collapse for India Women

• Sophie Ecclestone aiming to 'win the battle' with Shafali Verma as England push for victory

Mandhana’s half-century in the first innings was pivotal to India putting on their highest opening stand in the format in response to England’s 396 for 9 declared. Ninety-six runs in that record 167-run opening tally came from 17-year-old debutant Shafali Verma. On the penultimate day of the Test – the standard length of women’s Tests is four days – Verma got India off to a brisk start in their second innings, having fallen 15 shy of their follow-on mark.After Mandhana’s dismissal, Verma pressed on to bring up her fifty off just 63 balls. In doing so, she became the first Indian, and the youngest player from any country, to make half-centuries in both innings on Test debut in women’s cricket.”It’s quite impressive to watch her bat from the other end,” Mandhana said of Verma, who is also her designated opener partner in T20Is. “I think we both are very similar [in our approach] to keep things simple, so we don’t really discuss much about batting in the middle. The way she changed her game and the kind of maturity she showed at this stage of her career, it’s very positive for Indian cricket going forward. Her shots, in T20Is I’ve always watched them from the other end. It’s amazing what she does. I hope she keeps going the way she is.”Smriti Mandhana was left frustrated by her dismissal on the third day•Getty Images

Mandhana, who had played only two Tests before, made her debut in the format at age 17, in the Wormsley Test in August 2014. In the India XI for the Bristol Test, she is one of the six players with prior Test experience. On Friday, she praised the performances of India’s five debutants – Taniya Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, and Verma.”All the debutants have really got onto a good start,” Mandhana said. “In general, everyone was excited to play this Test match, and not just the debutants because we all are playing after a very long time, so I think it is a really special match. But all the debutants have really stepped up – Deepti, Shafali, Pooja and even Taniya with the catch [of opener Lauren Winfield-Hill in the first innings] – everyone has done a lot of contribution.”Mandhana got off the mark in her second innings with a cracking punch off fast bowler Katherine Brunt that went for four through backward point. But her 13-ball stay ended in the fifth over when she edged a wide, fullish delivery from the same bowler to be caught by Natalie Sciver at second slip.”Really disappointed,” she said when asked to review how the day had ended for India, on 83 for 1, forced into early stumps due to rain. “But, of course, before the game stopped, before lunch, I got out, so definitely disappointed.”I would have loved to stay there and come back fresh tomorrow to bat again, but that’s what the day’s cricket is, so we’ll take it. But Shafali and Deepti stitched in a good partnership at the end, so I think at the end we were in a good position.””The conditions changed slightly [on day three],” she said. “It was just windy, but it wasn’t swinging that much that it was not playable or something. It was good conditions to bat on still even if conditions were cloudy or overcast.”We just needed to take a few minutes initially. Of course, I lost my wicket, but I wouldn’t say that it was a very good ball. I think I gave away my wicket because it wasn’t that great a ball.”

Whitewashing by second-string ODI team leaves visitors short of answers

Danyal Rasool15-Jul-2021

Big Picture

English eyeballs might have primarily focused on football heartache over the past week, but those who tuned into the cricket received the fillip they might have craved. An ad-hoc English squad cobbled together from a motley crew of country cricket staples and international reservists overwhelmed a Pakistan side that, despite its recent travails, will have felt fairly star-studded in comparison. The visitors were swept aside 3-0, an England team that will never again play together did what was expected of them, and plenty more.The sight of John Simpson being put out to pasture, only to be replaced by Jos Buttler, and the general return of a near-full strength England side for the T20I leg should send a shudder down Pakistani spines. The tiresome cliché about Pakistani cricket’s unpredictability continues to hold, but the ODI series threw up very few of the highs and far too many lows for a casual observer not to suspect the hangover to bleed into the shorter format. It’s quite all right to succumb to England in an ODI series away, but the embarrassment around the circumstances of the defeats are set to define this tour, no matter what happens in the T20Is that follow.Some English fans – and many, many Pakistani ones, rest assured – might worry England’s full-strength squad threatens to make this even more of a no-contest than the ODI series was. However, Pakistan retain the uncanny ability to drop or raise their level, especially in T20I cricket, in accordance with the quality of opposition they face. The most recent T20I series ended in a narrow 2-1 win for Babar Azam’s side in Zimbabwe, which included a game where they were bowled out for 99. Two series against rather stiffer opposition, South Africa, ended in 2-1 and 3-1 wins for Pakistan earlier this year. And when they last played England in this format? A creditable 1-1 draw last year. Mercifully for England, when cricket throws up that scoreline, there’s no penalty shootout to follow.The return of some of their more renowned power-hitters is timely for England, given the venue of the first T20I. Trent Bridge is among the more conducive venues to run-scoring in T20s around the world, what with its short boundaries and flat wickets. Pakistan will remember England chasing down 340 in an ODI against them at this ground two years ago, with Jason Roy, among the returnees for England, smashing an 89-ball 114. Not to mention the 444 for 3 and all that at the same venue in 2016.However, Pakistan should find some joy in playing T20I cricket at Trent Bridge too, whatever the relative strength of their opposition. For inspiration, they need only rewind to their last meeting on this ground, in the World Cup group stage in 2019. Pakistan’s ODI middle order is notoriously porous, which forces conservatism up top, but that shouldn’t shackle the batsmen when they have only 20 overs to get through. Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan might not be around for long, but they continue to be explosive in brief cameos, and if Mohammad Rizwan’s form up top continues, that might just be good enough to give what is still a quality bowling line-up a fighting chance.

Form guide

Pakistan WLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)

England WWWLL

In the spotlight

Tom Banton might argue that England owe him an outing. He would have been an ideal candidate for their emergency ODI squad last week, except that his non-playing presence on England’s bench during the Sri Lanka series meant Phil Salt claimed the stand-in opener’s role while he served his period of self-isolation. Prior to that call-up, Banton had been setting the Blast alight, as he seems to do year after year, but puzzlingly, that form hasn’t quite translated into white-ball explosiveness for England, either in T20Is or ODIs. The sample size remains small – he has played just nine T20Is, but crossed 20 just twice. The last series he played, against Australia last year, he managed 12 runs in three innings. His showings in the Pakistan Super League haven’t exactly burnished his reputation back in Pakistan, where only 83 runs across nine innings and two seasons saw him left out of his franchise sides. However, Pakistan might do well to remember both innings of consequence he has played in T20I cricket came against them in last year’s series, in the shape of a 42-ball 71 and a 31-ball 46.Related

• James Vince trumps Babar Azam's 158 as England seal stunning 332 chase

• Stats: Babar Azam fastest to 14 ODI tons, hammers career-best 158

• Babar Azam consolidates top spot among ODI batters after career-best 158

• Misbah: Can never defend such poor and disappointing performances

Everyone knows Babar Azam scores runs, but that’s really not enough in T20 cricket. He was the highest scorer at the PSL this season, with seven half-centuries across 11 innings, and two fifties and a hundred in his last six T20Is. However, criticism over his strike rate has mounted, especially over the past year, and many feeling his side was hampered the longer he stayed at the crease, particularly with Karachi Kings. He comes into this series fresh off the memory of a career-best 158 in the final ODI, an innings he took time to settle into, only for England to chase their target down with time to spare. In high-scoring T20s, as the one at Trent Bridge is overwhelmingly likely to be, the role of an anchor is especially reduced, and the Pakistan captain might find he needs to be at his sizzling, stylish best if he is to give his side the best shot.

Team news

England’s primary headache revolves around how many of their ODI heroes deserve to get a go at Trent Bridge, now that the big boys have turned up. Saqib Mahmood might retain his place ahead of Tom Curran, though Matt Parkinson has a struggle on his hands now that Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali have turned up. Skipper Eoin Morgan slots back into the middle order comfortably, with Jason Roy and Jos Buttler likely to open. In Sam Curran’s absence, there’s a potential berth for Lewis Gregory as their all-sorts allrounder.England (possible): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Lewis Gregory/Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood/Tom CurranHasan Ali will miss the first match as a precautionary measure due to a strain in his left leg, which he picked during a training session at Trent Bridge on Thursday. Mohammad Hasnain may get his first outing of the tour. There are more Pakistan batters eyeing a spot in the top order than there are slots to accommodate them, so some will play outside of their preferred positions. Shadab Khan will vie with Usman Qadir for the spinner’s role, though it might not be a surprise to see both line up in the starting eleven.Pakistan (possible): 1 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 2 Babar Azam (capt), 3 Sharjeel Khan, 4 Sohaib Maqsood, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Faheem Ashraf, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Haris Rauf, 9 Mohammad Hasnain, 10 Usman Qadir, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi

Pitch and conditions

The weather across the UK has been grim for weeks, but Nottingham is braced for a relative heatwave in the coming days, so the conditions on Friday evening are expected to be balmy. The wicket should be true, despite the rain that’s been around, and the boundaries small. Expect a run-fest.

Stats and trivia

• Only four venues have seen runs come at a greater rate than Trent Bridge’s 8.70 in T20 cricket over the last five years. Three of them are in New Zealand, with Eden Park leading the way (9.01). Taunton (8.92) is the other.
• Should Fakhar Zaman play, he needs just 52 runs to become the 7th Pakistani batter to reach 1,000 T20I runs
• This is the first T20I to take place at Trent Bridge in nearly a decade. The last one, in which England beat West Indies in 2012, included three players from the current English side – Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow
  

  Quotes

  “We’re treating it as if it’s our last chance to look at guys in various positions”
  
  England captain Eoin Morgan suggests there might be an element of rotation to the home side’s line-up this series

The franchise has got a new logo as well

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2021Saint Lucia Zouks are now Saint Lucia Kings, the CPL franchise said in a media release on Monday. The team has got a new logo as well.In 2020, the franchise was sold to KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns the Punjab Kings in the IPL. The Punjab Kings had also changed their name from the Kings XI Punjab before IPL 2021.”The new name and logo are consistent with the KPH Dream Cricket brand while still capturing the essence of Saint Lucia through the name and national colours of Saint Lucian Flag,” the release said.”The brand name and monogram, lion in the team’s logo stand for exuberance. While the blue epitomises the sky and the sea, specifically the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea which encircle the country, the roaring lion monogram infuses vigour and vibrancy.”Related

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The team, coached by Andy Flower and captained by Faf du Plessis, will also feature Daren Sammy as the team’s assistant coach and mentor in CPL 2021. Sammy was the captain till the last year when the team finished as the runners-up.”I love the logo and I love the new name, and I truly hope that the name can inspire our players to play like the true Kings that we are,” Sammy said in the release.Satish Menon, the CEO of Saint Lucia Kings said, “Saint Lucia Kings is more in line with the positioning that the KPH Dream Cricket brand has, and we believe that the time was right for us to merge the sister brand and its inherent values with the mother brand.”Recently, the owners of the Rajasthan Royals bought a majority stake in the Barbados Tridents, which will now be known as the Barbados Royals, making them the third team after the St Lucia Kings and the Trinbago Knight Riders to be run by the IPL franchise owners.CPL 2021 will be held between August 26 and September 15, with all 33 games to be played at Warner Park in St Kitts & Nevis.

Australia lost both openers after India declared early in the second session

Annesha Ghosh02-Oct-2021A high-octane second session in which Jhulan Goswami’s epic two-spell new-ball burst accounted for Australia’s openers headlined day three of the standalone pink-ball Test in Carrara. Ellyse Perry, who shortly before India’s declaration on 377 for 8 had become the first woman with the double of 300 wickets and 5000 runs in international cricket, rode her luck through her 98-ball 27 to carry the hosts to 143 for 4 at stumps, 85 behind the follow-on target of 228.A booming inswinger from Goswami crashed into left-hander Beth Mooney’s leg stump in the seventh over and when she returned for her second spell in the 23rd over, she renewed her battle against Alyssa Healy, who had creamed her for a crackling cover-driven four five balls into Australia’s innings. In her second burst, Goswami, in the space of three balls, beat Healy’s defence with one that came back in, hurled a bouncer into the opener’s front shoulder, and drew a faint outside edge with an outswinger to leave Australia at 63 for 2.Meghna Singh complemented Goswami in a fiery 12-over pace-bowling opening charge. The pink ball, which India had their first brush with only two days out from the start of this day-night fixture, moved in the hands of the pair and later Pooja Vastrakar, who, on the night, delivered her most incisive performance with the ball in international cricket yet, taking out captain Meg Lanning – albeit via an erroneous lbw decision – among her two wickets.Vastrakar set up a riveting battle against Lanning, who struck three fours – including a trademark square drive and an emphatic pull – en route to 17, when she survived two edges off back-to-back Vastrakar deliveries: Deepti Sharma shelled a thick outside edge at gully before a leading edge landed in an unpatrolled area at short cover.Left-arm spin, a missing component in India’s attack in their drawn Test against England in June, was deployed to good effect in the form of Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who remained wicketless for her 12 overs, but beat Lanning’s outside edge twice, including a dropped chance by the wicketkeeper off the final ball before tea.Ellyse Perry celebrates her 300th international wicket alongside Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham•Getty Images

Goswami challenged Perry, taking an inside edge precariously close to her stumps on 2 and then beating her front-front drive’s outside edge. With Australia on 86 for 3, Perry survived an lbw appeal on 8, with replays showing Gayakwad taking top of leg in what eventually proved to be a pad-bat front-foot block.After Lanning’s departure, a steady rebuild had ensued via a Tahlia McGrath-Perry stand, before McGrath’s uppish cut to Smriti Mandhana at point gave Vastrakar a well-deserved second wicket.Aggressive tactical ploys from India captain Mithali Raj bookended the day’s play, both in the form of attacking field placements inside the circle and repeated insistence on swapping the wet ball with dry ones before a final burst from the three quicks post-tea.The opening session of the day had been largely sluggish, with Australia picking up just two wickets before dinner, the second of those, Vastrakar’s scalp, being Perry’s 300th international wicket to go alongside 5000 runs. Australia also dropped two chances, which meant India gathered 83 runs in a session spanning 40.4 overs, going into the session break at 359 for 7, which had already become the highest by any visiting side against Australia.Deepti put on 45 with Taniya Bhatia, building on India’s overnight score of 276 for 5. Before Perry removed Vastrakar for 13 at the stroke of the dinner break, Stella Campbell offered a reverie-snapping breakthrough with her second ball of the day. The tall debutant’s nagging fourth-stump line, helped by healthy bounce and carry off the drop-in surface, forced Bhatia to prod at the outswinger for wicketkeeper Healy to gobble it up, and give the 19-year-old her maiden Test wicket. She clocked 124kph with that delivery.Having picked up her first wicket of the series in the second session of the truncated day two, Perry almost had a second with her third ball of the day. An inswinger, Perry’s yorker, struck right-hander Bhatia on toe on the off-and-middle line, but there was hardly an appeal for lbw. From that lifeline on a duck, Bhatia, playing her first match since the ODI series against England, unfurled an array of cover drives and cuts before perishing to Campbell.Deepti then added 40 with the Vastrakar, playing mostly risk-free against spinners and pacers alike, riding on five scares since day two, including two close shaves past first-slip Lanning. The closest of them was when, on 24, she nearly chopped on and her attempt to brush the ball, rolling millimetres away from the off stump, almost put her in further jeopardy. A single off her 148th ball took her to her second straight Test fifty, the previous having anchored a rescue act against England. After she was given out when India batted on briefly after dinner, replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg. In the absence of DRS, the umpire’s call couldn’t be challenged.With just the fourth day left in the game, chances of a second drawn Test for India this year – extending their unbeaten streak to six in the longest format – seems the likeliest outcome.

Pope set to deputise behind stumps in Sydney with Buttler, Bairstow suffering hand injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2022England have drafted Sam Billings into their Ashes squad as a back-up wicketkeeper-batter ahead of next week’s fifth Test in Hobart.Billings, who has just completed a Big Bash spell with Sydney Thunder, was due to fly to the UK on Friday to prepare for England’s T20I tour of the Caribbean later this month. But, with Jos Buttler’s woes deepening and Jonny Bairstow suffering a nasty blow to the thumb during his unbeaten century in the fourth Test, Billings will now join the touring party in Sydney after a period of isolation in the team hotel, subject to returning a negative Covid test result.England said in an update* before play on day four at the SCG that both Buttler and Bairstow had been sent for X-rays, and that Ollie Pope would be subbed in to keep wicket during Australia’s second innings.Buttler’s struggle for form with the bat continued during the third day at the SCG when he was dismissed for an eight-ball duck, prodding a Pat Cummins delivery tamely to Usman Khawaja at short extra cover. Buttler now has 96 runs at 16.00 from seven innings. He may well have been hampered on this occasion by a finger injury picked up while fielding the previous day which cast doubt over his ability to keep wicket during Australia’s second innings.Related

• Sam Billings: 'Don't want to be pigeonholed as a white-ball player. I'm better than that'

• Seventy balls of England struggle

• Defiant Jonny Bairstow century keeps England fighting

Bairstow reached 103 not out at the close, having been left in agony after being struck on the thumb by a Cummins delivery during the afternoon.”I was hurting,” Bairstow said. “But, look, you’re playing in a New Year’s Test match in Sydney on the pink day, it is going to take a heck of a lot to get you off the field. In some ways, it frees you up, in some ways it doesn’t. But at the end of the day, you’ve still got a job to do. Yes, it will be sore, but at the end of the day you’re playing cricket for England and I’m very, very proud to do that.”Asked about potentially taking the wicketkeeping gloves in Hobart, Bairstow said: “I don’t know as yet, to be really honest with you. I’ll know some more information tomorrow. I’m not sure about the keeping side of things anyway. But from a batting point of view, I’ll be out there in the morning.”Sam Billings has just finished a BBL stint with Sydney Thunder•Getty Images

With Buttler and Bairstow under injury clouds, Pope spent time working with wicketkeeping consultant James Foster in the nets on Friday afternoon in case he is needed behind the stumps when Australia bat again.Billings is yet to make his Test debut, but he has spoken previously of his ambitions to break into the red-ball side. He has played 58 limited-overs matches for England and averages 34.29 in first-class cricket with six centuries.England also have concerns over the fitness of Ben Stokes, after he left the field mid-over holding his side on day two. England said on Saturday that Stokes had also gone for a scan and that they would “evaluate the extent of the injury and update at the end of the Test match”, amid questions about his availability for Hobart.*2300 GMT – This story was updated

Australia opener says she was “more disappointed to lose two wickets in a row,” when she fell soon after Lanning

Andrew McGlashan27-Jan-2022A Test century continued to elude Rachael Haynes but it was not a milestone she was worrying about despite the fact this match against England in Canberra could be her last in the format.With the one-off Ashes Tests, which form part of the multi-format series, the only guaranteed games in the format Australia get – although this is their second of the season after the game against India in October – and most nations not playing them, Haynes admitted it might be the final time she pulls on the whites for her country.Her 86 was the third occasion she had got within touching distance of a Test century following her 98 on debut in Worcester in 2009 and the 87 in Taunton two years ago. Having taken advantage of being dropped on 44, she was closing in on triple figures until receiving a terrific delivery from Katherine Brunt which bounced to take the glove.”It’s probably a fair assumption, think it probably will be my last Ashes Test,” she said. “I just want to enjoy it. It’s a really special occasion, not just for me but for the whole team. This series is one that’s held in really high regard. First and foremost I just want to focus on tomorrow and get another good day’s play.”Haynes combined in a 169-run stand with captain Meg Lanning – who was dropped on 0 and 16 – which lifted Australia from 43 for 3, and things had been even more uncertain when Haynes watched from the non-striker’s end as Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney edged to the wicketkeeper inside the first four overs.As much as the missed landmark, it was the fact Haynes’ departure came just three balls after Lanning had also fallen narrowly short of a century that frustrated her, although the partnership between Ashleigh Gardner and Tahlia McGrath ensured Australia ended on top despite McGrath falling to the last ball of the day.”I wasn’t thinking about it [the hundred] to be honest,” she said. “I was more just disappointed to lose two wickets in a row. It just opened the door a little bit but think our batting order rallied really well and had a good counterpunch. It was pretty good to watch as well, the contest between Ash and Katherine [Brunt], it was good fun. It was a really positive way to finish the day.”If the chance had been taken off Lanning before she had scored, edging low to second slip, Australia would have been 43 for 4 and if she had been held by Heather Knight at slip in the last over before lunch it would have been 78 for 4.However, Nat Sciver said that overall England were satisfied with seven wickets on the opening day having opted to bowl in conditions where she felt runs could be scored at a good rate throughout the game. Four wickets in the final session kept them in the hunt after Australia had scored 120 without loss between lunch and tea.”All the bowlers can do is create them [the chances]. We have to take them really,” Sciver said. “We’re frustrated with the drops and maybe we lacked a bit of energy in the middle session.”We brought it back at the end and feel pretty positive…probably buoyed a little more with the wicket on the last ball. When they got in it seemed a lot easier to score so hopefully that’s what we can do.”

Nat Sciver, whose 109 off 85 balls went in vain for England against Australia, moved up to No. 6 among batters

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2022Australia captain Meg Lanning has climbed two spots to be ranked No. 2 among ODI batters. She is currently just 15 points behind the leader, team-mate Alyssa Healy. Lanning hit 86 in Australia’s World Cup opener against England on Saturday, as they opened their campaign with a close 12-run win against the defending champions.Rachael Haynes, whose 130 at the top was instrumental in Australia posting 310, has broken into the top ten. She is at No. 7 after gaining six places in the chart. The opener, who was also the Player of the Match, added 196 with Lanning for the second wicket in that match. Haynes’ knock came off just 131 deliveries, and included 14 fours and a six.

Full rankings tables

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England’s Nat Sciver, who cracked an unbeaten 109 from just 85 balls in a losing cause, also made strides among batters. Sciver jumped five spots to get to No. 6, as her quick knock kept England is sight of the target for the longest time.Meanwhile, West Indies’ Hayley Matthews moved up in all three rankings tables after her all-round contribution helped her team pip hosts New Zealand in an opening-day thriller in the tournament. Matthews hit 119 in West Indies’ total of 259, with the next highest score being 36, as her innings came off 128 deliveries, and featured 16 fours and a six.And in the New Zealand run chase, she dismissed the in-form Amelia Kerr and Brooke Halliday in an economical spell of 2 for 41 from ten overs.

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.