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Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, is not in talks with Cricket Australia about joining the national team as a batting consultant

Daniel Brettig14-Aug-2015Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, is not in talks with Cricket Australia about joining the national team as a batting consultant.Following Australia’s surrender of the Ashes with a pair of meek batting displays at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, there has been much speculation about Ponting being called up to work alongside the nation’s young players as a batting consultant.However Ponting, who returned home to Australia following an Ashes commentary stint in the UK that ended with the Trent Bridge Test, said he had not engaged any formal discussions with CA and was, for the moment, otherwise committed to his job as Mumbai Indians coach, family, commentary and charity work.”I’ve had no formal discussions with Cricket Australia about a role,” Ponting told ESPNcricinfo. “I have always said that one day I would like to get more involved with the young batters around the country but at the moment I’m fully committed to my family, my coaching job at Mumbai, commentary and sponsor commitments and the Ponting Foundation.”The team’s performance manager, Pat Howard, who speaks regularly with Ponting about the game, had told that they discussed the possibility earlier this year.”We have spoken to Ricky a few times this year to be around the side,” Howard had said. “I am certainly very open to getting him involved and we would love to have him on board. I sense Ricky would also love to be involved. His time commitments are obviously one of the big challenges.”The relentless international schedule has been a stumbling block for numerous former greats getting directly involved with the Australian team in recent times. The likes of Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist have been engaged by the coach Darren Lehmann to speak to the players, but none have been able to commit to anything more substantial than that.

Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday

Firdose Moonda17-Jan-2013Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday, which has cleared him to play in the first two ODIs against New Zealand. Gary Kirsten confirmed de Kock will keep in all the matches he plays in the series.To help de Kock prepare for his fifty-over international debut, team management roped in the services of Mark Boucher, who trained with him at Claremont Cricket Club on Thursday. “When Mark retired I said to him that his experience in international cricket is something I wouldn’t want to turn away,” Kirsten said. “I think he has a lot to offer. We felt the perfect place for him would be to be with a young keeper like Quinton, to spend some time with him and give him and understanding not only of the skills required but the pressures of international competition.”Mentoring de Kock also seems to be part of integrating him into the national structures because he has only emerged on the circuit quite recently. De Kock is a former South Africa Under-19s player but this is first season contracted to a franchise and Kirsten admitted he does not know much about the 20-year-old. “I’ve met this guy once before and the longest conversation I had with him was one minute,” he said.Kirsten’s assistant, Russell Domingo, may have slightly more information on the youngster. Domingo coached the national side during de Kock’s debut: the T20 series against New Zealand in which he also donned the gloves. All evidence suggests de Kock has been earmarked as a permanent replacement for AB de Villiers, who seems set to give up wicketkeeping in limited-overs. “We want to give AB a chance to just be the captain,” Kirsten said.”We feel that to captain, bat at No.4 and keep is a very hard task. It’s something that we spoke about even before he started the role because I was concerned that it was going to be too much to ask of him. He really wants to focus his attention on his captaincy.”De Villiers was named South Africa’s limited-overs captain in July 2011. He missed his inaugural series as leader against Australia in late 2011 because of injury and Hashim Amla stood in for him. De Villiers was first in charge for the 3-2 win over Sri Lanka last January. He also captained in the T20 and ODI series in England and the World T20 in Sri Lanka. He kept wicket in all those matches but did not play the T20 series against New Zealand, citing fatigue and a focus on his Test keeping.It has now emerged that de Villiers also finds wicket-keeping in ODIs too taxing on his chronically bad back and does not feel he has enough of a grip on the demands of captaincy to do both jobs. “He has had all this on his shoulders,” Kirsten said. “He feels keeping in 50 overs is more intense than in a Test match and he just needs to understand how he is going to go about captaining this team.”Some of the strategies de Villiers will have to get his head around are the floating batting line-up and the possibility of changing personnel. Both are tactics Kirsten will continue with, although he has indicated he may rein in the former. “We’ve tried to rotate the batting order, we feel we need to find a middle road there,” he said. “We are certainly going to be flexible. We believe that is the way forward but, at the same time, we cannot be silly about it.”Kirsten suggested that Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, the two quicks who play all three formats for South Africa, will be rested for some of the three ODIs because the three-Test series against Pakistan is only two weeks away. “Test cricket is our number one and we want to make sure we pick a full strength team in whatever Test we play. We don’t rest players and rotate at that level,” he said. “With the other versions, because there is a lot of cricket, something has to give. These guys are fit enough to play every game but I want them mentally 100 percent ready to deliver.”Although Kirsten’s main emphasis is on Test cricket, South Africa will not have as taxing a year as they did in 2012. Their only away tour in which they will play in the longest format is to the UAE to face Pakistan in October.Contrastingly, South Africa play much more ODI cricket this year. Eight matches at home (three against New Zealand, five against Pakistan) will be followed by the Champions Trophy and a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. With one eye on ICC silverware, Kirsten indicated the 50-over game will come into the spotlight in 2013, where he hopes South Africa can step up.”We would like to perform at a higher level than we have done so far,” he said. “We’ve been ok but we haven’t been outstanding. We’ve got a great opportunity this year so there will be a lot more emphasis on ODI cricket this year.”

The Adelaide Oval might provide the under-the-pump Indian batting line-up some respite with a typical Adelaide pitch, which is usually good for batting without monsters in it

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval20-Jan-2012The Adelaide Oval might provide the under-the-pump Indian batting line-up some respite with a typical Adelaide pitch, which is usually good for batting without monsters in it. Four days before the start of the Test, the strip – same as the one used in the Ashes Test that Australia lost on the fifth day – sports an even covering of grass, but it seems dry. More hot days are forecast in the lead-up to the Test, and Adelaide is scorching in the mid-to-late 30s right now.”The heat will definitely dry the pitch out and it’s reasonably dry already,” Damien Hough, the Adelaide Oval curator, said. “There’ll be a little in it on day one, but Adelaide Oval traditionally is a good batting pitch with a bit of spin on days three, four and five. It will always produce spin later on as the game goes. Normally there will be a little bit of inconsistent bounce on days four and five, so I wouldn’t expect anything else.”Hough, though, said the pitch did look greener this year that was because he wanted good carry, and also guard against the dry and hot week in the lead-up to the Test. “We’re trying to get a pitch with as much bounce and carry as we can possibly get,” he said. “We want something that will settle down well for the batters on days two and three, and variable bounce on days four and five, and something in there for the spinners.”Hough said that didn’t have anything to do with early finishes to the previous Tests and the pressure to take the Test into the fifth day. “I have had no such communication,” Hough said. “I’m just here to produce a sporting pitch. I’ll leave it up to the teams to fight that out.”For all of Adelaide’s reputation of being a batsman’s paradise, only three Tests have been drawn here since 1990-91. A part of it has to be down to the Australian domination for a majority of this period. The rest, Hough said, could have something to do with the seam movement when the pitch is fresh on day one, and variable bounce towards the end of the match, which has led to many a third-innings collapse. India’s only win here came thanks to a third-innings collapse.

Michael Hussey expects Michael Clarke to be a positive and aggressive leader in his first outing as Australia’s Test captain on Monday

Peter English01-Jan-2011Michael Hussey expects Michael Clarke to be a positive and aggressive leader in his first outing as Australia’s Test captain on Monday. Clarke gained the post following Ricky Ponting’s withdrawal with a broken finger and will be in charge of a young outfit that has the job of levelling the Ashes series at the SCG.Clarke is the team’s most experienced player with 68 Tests, while Hussey, one of only two men in the squad over 30, has appeared in 10 fewer matches. Hussey said it would be strange walking on to the ground without Ponting, but he is confident Clarke will be a strong replacement.”He’ll be an aggressive captain, always looking to take wickets out there, make changes to the field and with the bowlers,” Hussey said. “He’ll be searching for a wicket all the time, and will always want the game going forward. That’s the way Australians have played our cricket as long as I can remember. I think he’ll be a very positive captain.”Clarke has been successful in the limited-overs arenas and was in charge of Australia’s journey to the final of the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in May. He also has 13 victories in 18 ODIs as leader and has been able to impress his team-mates with his high-energy style.”I guess the challenge is to be able to maintain that over the five days,” Hussey said. “It’s going to be a hard old graft. But we have 100% confidence in him. I think he’s done a really good job when he’s captained the team so far in his career.” This Test assignment is more complicated because it comes at a time when Clarke is struggling for runs, having scored 148 in seven bats against England.England retained the Ashes with their victory in Melbourne last week, and Hussey hopes the Sydney Test will be the start of Australia’s revival. “Our focus is trying to get it back to 2-2 – I think that would be a real morale-boosting win for us,” he said. “We’ve got to get better. We hope our Test team is going to get better over the next 12 months to two years, but the process starts now. Unfortunately, we can’t win the Ashes, but if we can get it back to a two-all series leveller, it will be a good result for us.”Hussey, who is 35, was particularly disappointed after the MCG defeat. “It’s the Ashes and the biggest thing you play for,” he said. “I hope I get another opportunity to have another go at it. But I don’t know if I will, so that is a pretty hard thing to start thinking about.”

Betty Wilson, one of the greatest women’s cricketers who was sometimes called Australia’s female Bradman, has died aged 88

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2010Betty Wilson, one of the greatest women’s cricketers who was sometimes called Australia’s female Bradman, has died aged 88. Her decade-long international career lasted till 1958 and, in an era where there was little women’s cricket, she averaged 57.46 with the bat and 11.80 bowling offspinners in 11 Tests.She made a spectacular entrance to top-flight cricket, scoring 90 and taking ten wickets on debut against New Zealand in 1948. In her next Test, she became the first Australian woman to make an Ashes hundred, and topped that effort with nine wickets in the match. Other highlights in a legendary career include becoming the first woman to take a Test hat-trick, becoming the first person to achieve the double of a century and ten wickets in a Test, and signing off with a couple of centuries and 21 wickets at 9.71 in her final series.In 1985, Wilson became the first woman cricketer to be inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame and and that year the Under-21 National Women’s Cricket Championship was renamed the Betty Wilson Shield.She was born in Melbourne in 1921 and became part of the club cricket scene by the age of 10, joining Collingwood. In four years, she had graduated to the second XI of the Victoria side and at 16 she was in the state side. A natural athlete, she was also admired for her work ethic – practicing daily when most of her team-mates trained once a week.

They needed less than half an hour on the fourth morning to take the last four Bangladesh wickets

Madushka Balasuriya28-Jun-2025Sri Lanka needed just 28 minutes on the fourth morning to pick up the final four Bangladesh wickets, and with it wrap up a win by an innings and 78 runs. It was Sri Lanka’s ninth innings-victory over Bangladesh, which gave them the series 1-0 and also some crucial World Test Championship points.Prabath Jayasuriya did the bulk of the damage – with some handy assists from wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis, who had been off the field the previous day nursing a sore shoulder – picking up figures of 5 for 56, his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests.It took just three deliveries into his first over of the day for Jayasuriya to take Litton Das’ edge on the forward defence, with Kusal holding on to a sharp chance. Then in his next over, he had Nayeem Hasan attempting to drive one tossed up on off, only for it to dip and rip past him. Nayeem, who had slid his back foot out of the crease in the process, was unable to get back before Kusal flicked the bails off.Jayasuriya completed his five-for pouching a return catch to his right, as Taijul Islam got a leading edge looking to work one through midwicket. Tharindu Ratnayake got in on the act then, trapping Ebadot Hossain in front of middle the very next over, as Bangladesh folded 34 balls into the morning session.Related

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It was Jayasuriya’s best against Bangladesh, a welcome return for Sri Lanka’s lead spinner who had gone wicketless in the first innings, and struck just once in Galle.In total, nine wickets fell in the innings to spin, with Tharindu and Dhananjaya de Silva sharing two apiece to go with Jayasuriya’s five. Bangladesh though will no doubt feel this was a game they lost control of in the first innings itself, when a sub-par batting effort – followed by some loose bowling – allowed Sri Lanka to take a commanding grip of proceedings.While the spinners wrapped things up for the hosts, it was Pathum Nissanka that was named Player of the Match for his match-winning 158 off 254 deliveries. Nissanka also clinched the Player of the Series award following his 187 in the first Test.

Pakistan team director believes Shan Masood captained well overall and blamed his side’s fielding for their 0-3 series defeat

Danyal Rasool06-Jan-2024Shan Masood’s communication skills have garnered plenty of praise throughout his career, but this afternoon in Sydney, it seemed no one could quite understand him.After Australia were set 130 to win the final Test, Pakistan didn’t turn to the series’ joint-leading wicket-taker Aamer Jamal all morning. It was only after lunch that, with Australia needing 33 to win with nine wickets in hand and all jeopardy squeezed out of the game that Masood tossed him the ball in the 20th over.It was a decision team director Mohammad Hafeez appeared to slightly distance himself from, saying he believed Jamal should have bowled earlier. However, he also stressed Pakistan understood the importance of bowling offspin on a wicket that was beginning to take plenty of turn, and backed Masood to take on-field calls. Offspinner Sajid Khan opened the bowling and took a wicket in his first over, as well as another one shortly before Australia wrapped up an eight-wicket win.Related

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“It’s up to the captain,” Hafeez said after the game, talking about the bowling plans. “All bowlers were available but it’s the captain’s tactic. We wanted to bowl more from the offspinner because this track can offer a lot from the far end but the rest is up to [Masood]. Tactically, I think Jamal should have bowled earlier, but inside the field, the captain is the best judge so you have to back that up.”In truth, the decision to overlook Jamal will go down as a curious detail in a match where Pakistan’s advantage had been squandered in other areas and phases of the game, most notably a madcap final hour on the third day when they lost five wickets for nine runs to slump from 58 for 2 to 67 for 7. Pakistan frequently found themselves on the wrong end of those sorts of frenetic passages with huge swings of momentum, especially in the last two Tests.In Melbourne, Pakistan found themselves at 124 for one in response to Australia’s first innings score of 318, but lost the next five wickets for 46 runs. In the second innings, the visitors reduced Australia to 16 for 4 in the second innings, before dropping a vital Mitchell Marsh catch early only for him to take the target out of sight. The following day, Pakistan were 98 runs away from chasing down the total with half the side intact but lost 5 wickets for 18 runs to slip to a painful defeat.Sajid Khan did take two wickets but it wasn’t enough•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

In this Test, Pakistan had the momentum after skittling Australia’s final five for just 10 runs that gave them a slender first-innings lead, only for a Josh Hazlewood-inspired bowling attack to wrest back those losses.”We learned hard lessons,” Hafeez said. “As a team, we had our moments but we couldn’t grab those. We perhaps didn’t [deserve] 3-0, as a team I think we did some really good things this series, but we couldn’t win the crucial moments of the game and that’s the reason for the 3-0. We lost the series, but watching the talent of the players is what made me say we could compete right from the start. We’ve seen some glimpses of it. There were certain moments in these games that we should have grabbed because they can make a difference, especially in Melbourne when they were 16 for 4. It could have been a situation where we needed to chase just 140-150 but it ended up above 300.”Even here, we dropped some catches. Mitchell Marsh was dropped by Saim Ayub. We didn’t drop catches, we dropped the winning moments of the game. That is the negative side of our team: our fielding. We need to really work hard on this. The coaches worked really hard on it but when the players went inside they couldn’t respond accordingly. This is the one area I believe we need to work on.”It was hard to miss the cosy congeniality that formed a recurring theme in this series. Both sides’ players have spoken about the relationships that were built when Australia went to Pakistan in early 2022 to play series in all three formats, and over the last month, those relationships have sustained. Pakistan’s players presented gift baskets and sweets for the Australian players’ children on Christmas Day, with players and families interacting with easy familiarity. Pakistan formed a guard of honour for David Warner in Sydney in both innings, applauded him off the field and presented him with Babar Azam’s playing top signed by the whole team.”Playing the cricket with the right spirit of the game [was a positive],” Hafeez said. “Our captain led the side very well. He made correct calls at important times. It’s not just about your cricket, it’s about how you behave as an ambassador. I think he did most of the things correctly.”But the cold, hard facts remain unchanged. Pakistan may have competed more ably than in any of the six series they have now been successively whitewashed in against Australia away, but that streak – now stretched to 17 – remains stubbornly unbreakable. And though Australia were pushed closer than most people – even in Pakistan – might have expected given the visitors’ depleted bowling attack, the appetite for drawing consolation in Australia from what-ifs and so-nearly’s has begun to wear thin.

Topley to fly home, where he is set to have surgery on his ankle

Vithushan Ehantharajah19-Oct-2022England have drafted Tymal Mills into their T20 World Cup squad after Reece Topley was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury.On Tuesday, the ECB said that Topley had “rolled his ankle” after standing on a boundary cushion during a fielding drill ahead of their final warm-up match against Pakistan in Brisbane the day before. The prognosis was initially hopeful ahead of England’s tournament opener against Afghanistan on Saturday in Perth, but the injury is worse than expected and Topley has sustained ligament damage.Topley will fly home to England, where he will undergo surgery on the injury. His absence is a significant blow for England: he is their leading wicket-taker in men’s T20Is in 2022 and can bowl at the death as well as providing an attacking new-ball option in the powerplay.”Devastated,” Topley wrote on Instagram, “but wishing the boys the best of luck and backing them to put in an amazing performance at this World Cup! Thanks for all the messages, I feel so lucky to have people sending so many messages of good wishes.”As ESPNcricinfo revealed, Mills has beaten fellow fast-bowling reserve Richard Gleeson to the call-up on account of his previous tournament experience. He performed well at last year’s Men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, with seven wickets at 15.42 and an economy rate of 8.00 in the four games he played. His participation in that tournament was cut short by a thigh injury and, as it happens, Topley was the one to replace him in that 15-man squad.Related

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Mills also has a bank of experience in Australian conditions, with previous Big Bash League stints for Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers. He offers a valuable option for captain Jos Buttler, with his speed and nous, particularly at the death, having performed the role admirably in the previous T20 World Cup.However, Mills has not played any cricket since August 10 after an operation to fix an issue with his right big toe that blighted his 2022 summer. The last of his 13 T20I caps came in July, against India at the Ageas Bowl, taking 1 for 35 from three overs. Having tried to manage the toe injury without surgery, a decision was made to operate in the middle of August after his first appearance in the Hundred for Southern Brave against Birmingham Phoenix.Mills spent the seven-match tour of Pakistan at home getting up to speed before joining the squad in Australia. He has so far participated fully in all net sessions ahead of the tournament. England’s next training day is Thursday.Luke Wood, the Lancashire left-arm seamer who made his international debut in Pakistan last month, has been added to England’s touring party as a travelling reserve, cutting short a holiday as a result. The ECB said he would “join the England party in due course”.

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.

Bangladesh batsman says the team got fewer runs than they wanted, but they can still fight back with quick wickets

Umar Farooq in Rawalpindi07-Feb-2020Bangladesh’s fight in the middle order was bookended by wickets falling cheaply in the first Test against Pakistan, as they were bowled out for 233 on the opening day in Rawalpindi. Bowling first after winning the toss, Pakistan dismantled Bangladesh’s top order to leave them 2 for 3, before the middle order rallied somewhat. But although there were three stands that crossed fifty, none went beyond 59. Najmul Hossain Shanto, playing in just his third Test, rued that the Bangladesh batsmen didn’t capitalise on their partnerships.Shanto (44 off 110) had put on 59 for the third wicket with captain Mominul Haque, while the highest scorer of the innings, Mohammad Mithun, took part in stands of 54 and 53 for the sixth and seventh wickets. Shanto and Mominul were helped by Pakistan’s bowlers spraying the ball a little, perhaps becoming over-eager after the early strikes on a green top. However, the bowlers settled down and found a nagging length, and continued to strike regularly.Six of Bangladesh’s batsmen – from No.3 to No.8 – got starts, going past 20 but Mithun’s 63 was the only fifty-plus score, a fact that Shanto described as disappointing.”There was little bit of movement in the early few overs, but then later it turned into a good batting wicket,” Shanto said. “But I think we needed to be more patient. With early wickets there, we were under pressure but then the way Mominul batted it was good for us to go on. We needed to build on the partnership, have a stand of over 100 or something. Had we had a good partnership, it could have been different. I am disappointing that we didn’t capitalise.”The day belonged to Pakistan, but Bangladesh can take some positives, having batted the whole day against hostile fast bowling. Shanto was optimistic that Bangladesh were still in the match and could learn from their first-innings experience.”To me, the wicket was good for batting with not much seam movement after the first five to six overs,” Shanto said. “But Pakistan’s bowlers were patient kept on hitting the right line and maintained it. We, however, managed to get some runs on the board. We are still short of runs but if we get a few quick wickets then it will give us a chance. Whatever we have done is done, and we have to look ahead now and think about how well we can bowl. It’s challenging, but we obviously have to bowl well. I believe we can still get back in the game.”