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Australian Andrew Tye joins a Gloucestershire squad which won the Royal London Cup last season

David Hopps31-Mar-2016Director of cricket: Richard Dawson
Captain: Gareth Roderick (Champ), Michael Klinger (T20, 50)
Last season
In: Chris Liddle (Sussex), Josh Shaw (Yorkshire, loan)
Out: James Fuller (Middlesex), Geraint Jones (retired), Cameron Herring, Robbie Montgomery (both released)
Overseas: Michael Klinger, Andrew Tye, Cameron Bancroft (April-May)2015 in a nutshell
Gloucestershire pepped up spirits during the first year of a new coaching team – Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey – to such an extent that they won the Royal London Cup final at Lord’s, reviving memories of the times, a decade and more earlier, when they dominated the limited-overs game. Michael Klinger was formidable with the bat and Geraint Jones wandered happily off into the sunset.2016 prospects
Gloucestershire’s squad lacks depth, especially in the bowling department, which suggests limited-overs cricket will again be their chief focus. Their Royal London triumph could be the catalyst for bigger T20 crowds at Bristol (they missed the quarter-finals by a point last season) and their intent is shown by the signing of a second overseas player, Andrew Tye, whose effectiveness for Perth Scorchers won him a place in Australia’s T20 squad. Cameron Bancroft, the WA keeper/batsman, deputises for Klinger in the Championship. Progress for Chris Dent and Roderick should help the runs tally, but James Fuller’s departure for Middlesex invites questions about their Championship attack. Bet365.com don’t fancy them for a 50-over repeat: they are out at 16/1.Key player
Wicketkeeper-captains always have it tough, but Gloucestershire have entrusted the role to Gareth Roderick in the Championship with Michael Klinger not back until late May. Roderick, born in South Africa, also bats top order, all of which means that Gloucestershire need him to shoulder a heavy burden if they are to maintain their progress.Bright young thing
George Hankins broke the record set by Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond for most runs in a season at Millfield School last season and continues their tradition of producing county cricketers by winning a two-year contract. Fresh back from the Darren Lehmann academy in Adelaide, he already had some sizeable 2nd XI scores to his name.ESPNcricinfo verdict
After winning the Royal London Cup, Gloucestershire will seek to spice up their T20 cricket which will make South Group stronger than ever.Bet365 odds: Specsavers Championship, Div 2: 10/1; NatWest Blast n/a; Royal London Cup 16/1

Sri Lanka face off against South Africa in five ODIs and three T20Is, between July 20 and August 6

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jul-2013As Sri Lanka’s next ODI assignment in a year of Test avoidance rolls around, against South Africa, fans may be beginning to feel more than a touch of limited-overs fatigue. Neither team has played a Test since March and there have been no major triumphs for either team in ODIs either.The fact that this tour could have been so much better, had the Tests not been postponed to make way for a now kaput Twenty20 tournament, will make the bilateral series all the more tough to swallow. Moreover, with the battle royale unfolding in the UK, viewers are left with a very tempting alternative.However, this match-up does have a little about it that may help distinguish it from the glut of the modern-day limited-overs sludge.It’s not often that South Africa play Sri Lanka, particularly away from home. Their last ODI series here goes back as far as 2004, when a team featuring Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Nicky Boje, lost 5 -0. A three-ODI series between the two sides was planned in 2006, but was cancelled due to bad weather. The touring captain AB de Villiers has not played a single ODI in Sri Lanka, in an international career spanning eight years.The sides are well matched on paper. Neither team is a world beater in the limited-overs format, but can be formidable when their moods and conditions align. In the Champions Trophy in June, both teams were beaten comprehensively in the semi-finals, which once again prompted everyone to believe that while the teams have the skill and determination to consistently find themselves at the sharp end of tournaments, they lack the mental steel to close out results in high-pressure encounters. In fact, had there been more riding on this series, it might have even been billed as a “choke-off.”There is also a mutual onus on developing young talent. South Africa have arrived without Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Graeme Smith, in an effort to find the right combination and rhythm ahead of the 2015 World Cup. Men like Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso have the chance to prove they should be part of South Africa’s long-term plans, and others like Rory Kleinveldt and David Miller must now add consistency to the qualities that has seen them emerge at the top level.For Sri Lanka, the series will provide another opportunity for the younger players to reassure their fans that the side will not slide into doldrums once Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan retire. All three seniors privately hope to play the next World Cup, but they cannot hope to end their careers with a major title unless the remaining batsmen become better than just adequate support players. The Champions Trophy might have been a disaster for Sri Lanka without the trio’s efforts in England, as none of the remaining batsmen could manage more than 74 runs during the tournament.Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, who have been made captain and vice-captain respectively for the first two games, will have the most to prove in this series. Their talent, particularly in Tests, is beyond doubt but neither is yet to repay the faith that has been afforded to them in the shorter formats. South Africa boast one of the world’s finest attacks but their inexperience in Sri Lankan conditions, and the absence of Steyn, will make them a slightly less intimidating prospect, and Sri Lanka’s middle order cannot complain that they are out of their depth.Sri Lanka and South Africa thrive in conditions that are almost diametrically opposite to the other’s favoured stomping grounds. South Africa may probably be slightly at ease, given the pace and bounce in the Sri Lankan pitches, but they must also be wary of the dustbowls at the Premadasa and in Pallekele.There has been some rain at both venues in the build-up to the series but in the past Sri Lanka’s groundsmen have always managed to maintain a turning track despite the weather. If they have done so again, South Africa will find it that much more difficult to turn around an abysmal ODI record on the island.There should be no pretensions that this series is anything other than yet another forgettable bilateral tie, robbed of much of its context because of the removal of the Tests. But for both sides, it will be another crucial step taken on their journey to Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

It was a relief for Scotland and Canada finally to get a cricket match, after their 4-day Inter Continental Cup match at Uddingston last week was completely washed out, and the two one-day internationals suffered a switch of venue.

Callum Stewart12-Jul-2012
ScorecardAlasdair Evans was the pick of the opening bowlers•ICC/Ian Jacobs

Calum MacLeod missed the chance of a hundred in bizarre circumstances but found joy all the same in his unbeaten 99 as Scotland took a step closer to World Cup qualification with a four-wicket defeat of Canada in Ayr.Scotland chased them a target of 177 in 42.1 overs, and took a step closer to the World Cup by overtaking UAE and moving into the second qualification spot.MacLeod would have had a chance for his century, was it not for an errant overthrow from a Canadian fieldsman, when the wicket keeper thought the game was already over.He said afterwards: “I was delighted with the team performance out there, and I’ve been fortunate to contribute in both ODIs, T20s and CB40s. Qualifying for the World Cup is the main goal, and it’s been a terrific job by the Ayr groundstaff this week to get the pitch playable.”This was no ordinary praise for the groundstaff. It was a relief for both teams to finally to get a cricket match underway after the four-day Inter Continental Cup match at Uddingston last week was completely washed out, and the two one-day internationals suffered a switch of venue and cancellation on three occasions.On the last possible day of play the sun was shining at Cambusdoon in Ayr. The ground staff had been working full time here for over a week just to make this game possible. Understandably, Scotland chose to field in the sunny, but damp conditions.Canada staggered to 177 all out in the last over, with Ruvindu Gunasekera providing the only real resistance with 53 before cheaply giving his wicket away.Canada’s opener Hiral Patel was trapped lbw early on by Alisdair Evans who was the pick of the opening bowlers. The gangly figure of Gunasekera produced some big if unorthodox shots and was the only Canadian batsmen to reach fifty, making 53 from 75 balls before he was stumped off the off-break bowler Majid Haq.It was a youthful Canada batting line-up. Nitish Kumar, 18, in at No 3, failed to live up to his reputation and was caught behind off the bowling of Josh Davey for just 9. Zeeshan Siddiqi steadied the ship, but was in danger of grinding Canada to a halt, as he stole most of the bowling at a strike rate of less than 50.Along with Damodar Deasrath he stopped the flow of wickets but allowed the Scottish bowlers to take control. Canada struggled to rotate the strike with the arrival of spinners Haq and Preston Mommsen who managed to pin down the run rate.Canada’s frustration eventually told. Siddiqi played a handful of erratic shots before trying to make room to cut the ball and chopping on, to the delight of the Scottish fielders. This was followed by a succession of three run outs, each due to miscommunication from the batsmen who could not decide whether they wanted a single or two, and then found themselves stranded in the middle.It all led to Scotland’s wicketkeeper Craig Wallace being involved in five wickets, with Haq bowling his allocated 10 overs for just 19 runs and taking two wickets.Scotland’s chase did not get off to an ideal start. They lost Northants’ batsman Kyle Coetzer in the second over when he played a flashing cut to a short ball, only to be taken by a great catch from Usman Limbada at backward point. This brought Davey to the crease at No 3 and he nudged and pushed the singles and rotated the strike along with MacLeod who despatched the ball to all corners from an early stage.MacLeod was the anchor of the Scottish innings as his team-mates came and went around him. It really was a solo performance as no other Scottish batsmen managed to get over 25.The pace bowling of Durand Soraine was expensive but yielded two key wickets. But Canada’s batting performance did not give their bowlers much to defend, and as such they were chasing wickets from an early stage. Scotland were always ahead of the run rate.

Greg Chappell has said Nathan Lyon and Trent Copeland were among those who showed during the A-side’s tour of Zimbabwe that they could perform at a higher level

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2011Greg Chappell, Australia’s selector and national talent manager, has said Nathan Lyon and Trent Copeland were among those that showed they could perform at a higher level during the A side’s tour of Zimbabwe. Fast bowler Copeland and offspinner Lyon – who was the leading wicket-taker in the tri-series in Zimbabwe that also included South Africa A – have since been picked in Australia’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka series that begins on August 31.”They are very exciting cricketers,” Chappell told Australia’s . “The Australia A tour to Zimbabwe was a huge success. Those guys were two of a number who showed that what has worked for them in Australia can work at a higher level. They bring with them some form and confidence and freshness.”The fast bowlers who missed out on Sri Lanka, Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus, need to work on their fitness, Chappell said. “The message to both of them is quite clear. Doug’s fitness levels were not where they are needed to be. He knows what he has to do. The same with Ben. He struggled technically last summer [during the Ashes].”A big talking point about the Test squad was the omission of legspinner Steven Smith, but according to Chappell, this is all part of his maturing process. “He is in the same position that most players are in early in their careers when they get an opportunity. They get to have a look at it. Very few players are ready to go.”Most of us have been dropped. Even Bradman was dropped. You go away and rethink it. That’s where Steve’s at. I think he has the ability to be a very fine player for Australia, but this is only part of his development.”Australia are yet to find a long-term replacement for Shane Warne, and if spinners are to do well, Chappell said, the environment in which they are nurtured has to change. “The environment in which young spinners are growing up is very different from before. I just don’t see them getting the encouragement from captains and coaches, who see them as bowlers who leak runs rather than one who have the opportunities to take wickets.””They are a last resort option in junior cricket, club and first-class cricket at times. If we are going to produce champions [in the spin department], we have to encourage environments where spinners get the opportunities.”

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has said he is willing to come out of retirement sooner rather than laterand has no issues playing under any captain

Cricinfo staff19-Jul-2010Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf is ready to come out of retirement sooner rather than later, further broadening the possibility of an appearance at some point for Pakistan in the summer.Yousuf, who announced his sudden retirement after a win-less tour of Australia, had said recently he was targeting the tour of UAE later this year to make a return, but the team’s struggles in the first Test against Australia at Lord’s may have prompted him to change his mind.”I am available any time for my national team,” Yousuf said in Karachi. “If the team doesn’t need me I stand retired. But if I’m needed, I am ready and available to serve my country. If PCB invites me with respect I will definitely go and join the team.”Ijaz Ahmed, Pakistan’s assistant coach, hinted at Yousuf’s possible return. “He can replace Afridi but the management haven’t decided yet who will come. It could come out in a couple of days. Maybe later, somebody will come but not at the moment.Pakistan made scores of 148 and 289 with only one batsman, Salman Butt, managing to pass fifty. They lost 11 of their wickets to Shane Watson and the part-time spinner Marcus North.Though their bowlers competed well, the batsmen fell short mainly due to the lack of experience in the middle order, which was missing the pedigree of Yousuf and Younis Khan for differing reasons.In the immediate aftermath of the Lord’s loss speculation centred on the PCB sending out an SOS to Yousuf, but Ijaz Butt denied that was the case. The matter of Yousuf and Younis’s return was considered at a meeting the chairman held with team management to appoint a new captain, but was deferred until after the second Test against Australia, officials insisting they were happy with the performances of debutantes Azhar Ali and Umar Amin.”These are the only two players we are talking about, Younus Khan and Yousuf,” Ijaz Ahmed added. “Let’s see, it might be decided about Yousuf. Yousuf might be coming here.”Salman, 25, was appointed captain after Shahid Afridi announced another unexpected retirement from Tests. Afridi was named captain for the entire tour of England but quit after the Lord’s defeat saying he wasn’t enjoying Test cricket after all.”He was the vice-captain as well. I hope he can manage this,” Ijaz Ahmed said of Salman’s promotion. “We have done a lot of talking to him and he has played really well and is shaping up well. I think he is getting mature and now he has got the responsibility as well. I think he will come good for that.”Yousuf has had problems in the past with Shoaib Malik when he was captain but said he was willing to play under Salman. “It’s a PCB decision (appointing Salman) and everybody should respect it,” Yousuf said. “I can play under any captain and have never felt degraded playing under anyone.”Yousuf added that he was in touch with the PCB chairman, who was kept aware of his plans to return.Yousuf was the captain during Pakistan’s shambolic tour of Australia, where the team came under fire for their performances. The PCB responded by penalising seven players it believed were responsible for the defeats, Yousuf among them. He and Younis were banned indefinitely, and as a mark of protest, Yousuf announced he was quitting the game “for now.”He was the only one among the seven punished players not to appeal against the sanctions, despite the PCB leaving the door open for him to return. However, since Yousuf didn’t respond to those messages from the board the national selectors could not consider him for the tour of England.

New Zealand’s spinners had restricted India to 227, but the visitors couldn’t get any momentum going in the chase

S Sudarshanan24-Oct-2024New Zealand were on the high of a maiden Women’s T20 World Cup win and their spinners combined to take seven of the ten Indian wickets to restrict them to 227. But India’s ODI debutants, Tejal Hasabnis and Saima Thakor, shone in crucial moments to help them make a winning start to the three-match series against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.Hasabnis, the Maharashtra middle-order batter, played a steady innings at No. 6 walking in after India were in a spot of bother. She made 42 off 64 balls and was involved in a 61-run partnership. Then Thakor, Mumbai’s bowling allrounder who played for UP Warriorz in WPL 2024, delivered telling blows with the ball to help dismiss New Zealand for 168 and help India go 1-0.Amelia Kerr and Eden Carson continued their superb form from the T20 World Cup. Amelia, the Player of the Tournament, returned 4 for 42 while Carson, who headed into the title-clash on the back of two Player-of-the-Match performances, picked up two of her own. With Suzie Bates also bowling five overs and returning a wicket, it seemed as if India had left a few runs on a surface that looked good for batting.That looked to be case even more when Georgia Plimmer got off to a flier. She hit a flurry of boundaries off Thakor and Renuka Singh, both of whom erred by bowling on her pads. The idea was not all wrong – Thakor was getting the ball to shape away, and hence was trying for the magic ball. There was merit in her bowling plan after it paid dividends on her third ball in internationals. She got one to nip away ever-so slightly to entice a poke from Bates and feather an edge behind.Renuka used the width of the bowling crease to bowl the in-anglers but it played into the hands of Plimmer and Lauren Down, batting at No. 3 after Amelia was seen limping towards the end of the bowling innings. But Deepti Sharma then used her experience to prise out Plimmer. She slowed the flighted ball down and made the batter force the issue, only for her to chip a return catch back.Deepti’s street-smartness then helped India see the back of New Zealand captain Sophie Devine. Devine, who stepped down from T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup, pushed one towards Deepti but stood out of her crease. Deepti threw the ball back at wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia even as Devine took a few steps back, but no part of her foot was inside the crease.Radha then managed to have Down miscue one to mid-off an over after a leading edge landed short of the same region. Which is when the real domination came from New Zealand with the bat. Brooke Halliday and Maddy Green combined to play a clinical game. They used the crease to manufacture boundaries regularly, most of them behind square on either side.Green first scooped one fine down leg, cut one fiercely past backward point and then sliced one over the same region. Halliday even used the reverse sweep early. They added 49 off 63 balls for the fifth wicket. Smriti Mandhana, captaining India after Harmanpreet Kaur missed out due to a niggle, brought in Shafali Verma in a bid to change a few things but she was hit for a couple of fours in an over.Thakor then broke through, in the third over of her second spell. She got one to stop on Halliday and managed to catch hold of the caught and bowled chance. Three balls later, Mandhana nailed a direct hit at the striker’s end to send Green back. And there was no looking back from there for India. They struck regularly, with only Amelia’s 55-ball stand with Isabella Gaze for the eighth wicket delaying the inevitable.Tejal Hasabnis was solid in the middle order•BCCI

It was not the perfect start for Mandhana, who was leading India in an ODI for the first time. She fell cheaply, cutting one straight to backward point. But Shafali looked to bring a gear that we hardly saw at the T20 World Cup, particularly targeting Jess Kerr. She used the pull shot to good effect and then dispatched a length ball over the sightscreen. But she pulled Carson’s first ball straight to square leg to fall cheaply.A couple of 20-something partnerships followed – first between Bhatia and Dayalan Hemalatha, who batted at No. 4 in Harmanpreet’s absence, and then between Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues. It was only when Rodrigues combined with Hasabnis that there came a sense of stability in the Indian batting.The pair looked particularly at ease against spin, maneuvering the ball in the outfield to keep the scorecard ticking. Hasabnis showed her prowess against spin specifically when she went deep in the crease against Amelia’s legspin to slice it past backward point. The pair increased the pace as they went along in their 61-run partnership of just 70 balls.But Rodrigues missed a clip off Bates and was adjudged lbw, the review returning an umpire’s call on impact. Then on 42, Hasabnis could not resist charging at a tossed-up delivery from Amelia and was stumped. Deepti, who walked in at No. 7, showed a lot of intent from the start. She hit a couple of fours and a six in her 41, her best score in ODIs since September 2022. Her innings capsulated the theme of India’s innings – that of batters getting starts but not carrying on. Five India batters made more than 30 but none crossed 42.India faced 125 dots in the 44.3 overs they batted; New Zealand faced 141 in their 40.4. But eventually, it came down to the team that made fewer mistakes and India, despite finishing on what can at best be termed a par score, took the honours that mattered in the series-opener, winning just their second ODI in the last eight outings against New Zealand.

Leicestershire’s bright start undermined by dramatic afternoon collapse

Paul Edwards19-Jul-2023One can understand bowlers flinching a little at the prospect of playing cricket in a town where pies are not so much a speciality as an obsession. Oakham is only ten miles away from Melton Mowbray, after all, and spectators at this game who were tempted by the aroma from Piglets’ Pantry would have found steak and ale, chicken gammon and leek, and chicken balti, all stuffed under a thick crust that mocked thoughts of healthy eating. As things turned out, however, it was the bowlers who gorged themselves, almost all of them feeding greedily on a pitch that rewarded the ancient disciplines.It was a day on which even top-order, top-dollar cricketers could return to the pavilion after being dismissed and think themselves poorly used. They had played blameless forward defensive strokes to deliveries that required such careful treatment only to find the ball spitting away and taking the edge or jagging back and plucking out a stump. Seen in that context, Worcestershire’s opening stand of 48 between Jake Libby and Gareth Roderick and their last-wicket partnership of 33 between Adam Finch and Dillon Pennington were major contributions. Between those alliances Azhar Ali’s 34 was the innings of the day and his side’s total of 178 was somewhere near par. When Leicestershire batted, they could make little of Finch, Pennington and Matthew Waite and were eight down for 88 at the close. Unless we have rain, it seems clear there will be no cricket here on Saturday.And days such as this seem to concentrate spectators’ attention. Aware that every run matters greatly, they devote themselves to the particular intensity of a brief match, especially so, perhaps, when it takes place in a part of the kingdom that few people seem to know well and on a day when the world’s gaze is elsewhere. For Oakham is deep England; rich, dark-earthed farming country in Rutland, a county that many people outside its borders would struggle to locate. The locals sink their pints of Everards in The Wheatsheaf and the All Saints’ campanologists rang on throughout Tuesday evening, quite oblivious to the fact of their drowning out Stephen Hough’s performance at the Proms.Even the names of the ends at the Doncaster Close ground seem to have been forgotten since 1935 when the cracks of Kent were the first to visit this ground and were beaten by ten wickets. “Sports Hall” and “Nursery” insist some modernists but given a rich choice, we settled for “Allotment” and “All Saints” because they reminded us of timeless nourishment of one sort or another. Drought-stressed leaves fell from trees, which was ironic given the rain that Oakham’s head groundsman, Richard Dexter, has had to cope with when preparing the pitch for this match.The first hour’s play was all watchfulness. The Leicestershire bowlers stuck to their lines, and Worcestershire’s openers responded with little more than occasional pushes into gaps. Then Tom Scriven came on from the Allotment End and sprayed his first delivery down the leg side. Four wides. Then there was a delivery miles outside off before Scriven’s sixth ball surprised Libby with its accuracy and tempted him to nibble a catch to Peter Handscomb behind the stumps. It is so often the way. As though obeying some secret lore, a spinner bowled the over before lunch but Callum Parkinson made no breakthrough and Worcestershire came in prosperously placed with 74 for 1 on the board.Ah, but grievous penury lay in wait for them. Wiaan Mulder’s second ball after the resumption swung away from Roderick who snicked it to Handscomb. Mulder’s next delivery compelled a defensive shot from Jack Haynes, who also edged to the keeper. In the following over a straight one from Wright had Adam Hose leg before for 5 and the visitors had lost three wickets for five runs in ten balls.Respectability, threadbare as it was, was achieved through the efforts of Azhar, who continued to play the ball as little as possible and late when he did so. While three batsmen, Brett D’Oliveira, Waite and Joe Leach, all fell to slip catches by Ackermann, Azhar accumulated runs as if doing so in a gradual fashion pleased him somehow. He had made 34 in 153 minutes before his first misjudgement, a grope at a ball from Matt Salisbury, was his last. Mulder dived to his right from first slip to take the catch.Other games were taking place and some notice was taken of them. News came through that Stuart Broad had dismissed Usman Khawaja at Old Trafford and folk recalled that Broad had taken his first Championship wicket at Oakham, his old school, in 2005, dismissing Somerset’s Mike Burns in the first innings of the game and then repeating the trick in the second dig. No doubt the boyish joy was as great in Manchester as it was on this field some 18 summers and a thousand years ago.There was plenty of delight in the evening session here but it brought little comfort to the locals. A blameless Rishi Patel nicked Pennington to Roderick in the fourth over of the innings but half of the eight home batters to be dismissed were bowled, either by balls that straightened or by ones that jagged back. Mulder looked relatively comfortable in making 21 before becoming Leach’s only victim and he can look back on his day with some pride. And if Leicestershire supporters need a little encouragement to take into tomorrow, it was provided by Rehan Ahmed, who ended the day unbeaten on 25 off 39 balls and batted as if he wondered what the fuss was about.

“He was a legend of the game…he lit up the room,” said Darren Lehmann

AAP16-May-20222:52

‘When times were tough, Roy made it easier on his team-mates’

Tributes continued to flow for Andrew Symonds, with a ‘Fishing Rods for Roy’ campaign launched to honour the former Australia star.Cricket fans have been encouraged to leave fishing rods and cricket balls outside the front of their house as part of a nation-wide tribute for the 46-year-old.Symonds died on Saturday night when his car left the road and rolled in Hervey Range, about 50km from Townsville.His love of fishing was the stuff of folklore, with Symonds even sent home from an ODI series against Bangladesh in 2008 after missing a team meeting in Darwin so he could hit the water.Related

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Symonds had even been willing to accept a 20 percent pay cut from his Cricket Australia contract if it meant he would be granted more free time to go fishing.Symonds was travelling with his two dogs, and they reportedly didn’t want to leave his side after the crash.Former team-mates and rivals alike paid tribute to Symonds once the news of his death was made public.Adam Gilchrist choked back tears when paying tribute to Symonds on Monday morning during his SEN radio show. Justin Langer, who played alongside Symonds in the Test team, joined Gilchrist and former coach Darren Lehmann to reminisce about their good friend.”When I was 25, I went back to the Cricket Academy with Rod Marsh as a scholarship coach, and he [Symonds] was one of the guys I coached,” Langer said. “On every Wednesday night, there was some nightclub or some bar the boys would go to, and Rod Marsh would say, ‘righto boys, who went out last night?'”And every single Thursday morning two blokes put their hands up, Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey. And Rod Marsh would say, ‘Righto, you’re over there with Alfie’. And I had to take them…so they could sweat out these Bundies from the night before.Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds with the World Cup in 2003•Getty Images

“To this moment the perfume of Bundaberg Rum makes me gag, because I used to have to take these guys and I smelt Bundy every Thursday morning for about seven months.”Lehmann said he was struggling to process the loss of Shane Warne, Rod Marsh, and Symonds in such a short space of time.”It’s been a tough time,” Lehmann said. “He [Symonds] was one of the first guys I coached. To lose a larger than life character is quite distressing for everyone, none more so than for his family. He was a legend of the game, we loved him very much, he lit up the room, and loved life to the fullest.”Another former Australia coach – John Buchanan – said he saw Symonds as a leader despite his larrikin behaviour.”Roy was never perfect, that was for sure, and he never admitted that he was,” Buchanan told the ABC. “You know, he made poor decisions, like all of us do, at different stages of his life and different stages in his cricket career.”But the one thing about Roy — and one of the things that I think endeared him to most people — was that even though he made a mistake, he would openly admit that and try to rectify that and take full accountability for that.”And so when he saw other people that were probably treading the same path, he was certainly one of the first people to come forward and try to put them on the right direction. I always saw him as a leader in our team without a title.”

Quick looks back on ‘toughest day of Test cricket’ after bowling through the day with a fractured toe

Umar Farooq28-Dec-2020Neil Wagner was carrying the pain of fractured toes*, sustained while batting in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan, but he persevered through that injury and bowled 21 overs in Pakistan’s first innings because it would have ‘taken a stretcher’ to carry him off the field where he would be sitting and watching his team-mates do the hard work.Wagner was struck on his right foot by a Shaheen Afridi yorker on the second morning, but was later cleared to play if he could tolerate the pain.”I do take a lot of pride in something like that,” Wagner said about bowling through the pain. “But it comes down to the team. There’s still a way of contributing for them. I wouldn’t be wanting to sit on the side with my foot up and watching the boys doing the hard work out there, and I can’t be there to help out. I feel I’ll be left out, I have a bit of FOMO. Injuries happen and it’s unlucky, but I can still walk, I can still do things, I can run. It’s not going to stop me. It’s sore and it’s uncomfortable but it’s just one of those things you have to deal with.

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“Test matches don’t come easy. Playing for your country is never anything you can take for granted. I know how bloody hard I had to work to get to where I am now and I’m sure as hell not going to sit on the side and watch other people do it. I want to be part of it and playing my part. Unless they carry me off on a stretcher, I’m going to try and do everything I can, I guess.”Related

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• Tim Southee, the support act who is front and centre of New Zealand's best-ever attack

• Jamieson leads the way as NZ pace pack secure 192-run lead

Wagner had continued to bat after being struck on the toe, getting treatment from the physio and eventually being the last man out for 19, to stretch New Zealand’s first-innings total to 431. Wagner then sent down 21 overs – three on the second day and 18 on the third – picking up 2 for 50 to bowl Pakistan out for 239. Wagner’s effort included a long spell of nine overs, during which he dismissed Fawad Alam before going off the field.Play on the third day was interrupted by several rain breaks, and taking a pain-killing injection in the first one helped Wagner soldier through till the end.”Hurts every time I walk, to be fair,” he said, responding to whether the pain was more acute while bowling. “Just walking to fine leg, doing anything, twisting, turning…as soon as you bend the toe a little bit. I guess obviously standing on it hurts. It’s just one of those things, I guess. Try and put it out of your mind and get on with it. Try to get into the battle and try not to think about it too much. Obviously that’s hard because it’s at the back of your mind the whole time. At the start it sort of felt like – not having to change my action but it felt a little bit awkward towards it. It wasn’t until the first rain break where I just went down and said I can’t bear the pain, got a jab done and that sort of took the pain away for a lot of it and it helped. It’s one of those things, you’ve just got to find a way and deal with it.”To focus his mind more on the task at hand than on the pain, Wagner said he didn’t keep track of the number of overs he had bowled either, and expressed confidence in being able to bowl again in the second innings.”I’ve bowled – I don’t even know how many overs – didn’t want to count them and think too much about it,” he said. “So I’m pretty confident I can bowl again. It’s going to be damn sore, no doubt about it, but bowling is always… I’ve never bowled in a game where something doesn’t hurt, so it’s sort of part of it. It’s a different pain but I’ve just got to find a way of still being able to contribute to the team. There’s still a role to play out there and we still have to come back to get ten wickets again and try and win a Test match. So whichever way I can play a role, still going to have to try and do it.”Wagner called the third day one of the toughest he had experienced, harking back to a Test match against India in October 2016 for a comparable experience.”I went back in the change-room and said it was probably one of my toughest days of Test cricket I’ve ever experienced. Took me back to Kolkata against India, probably one of the toughest matches I’ve played. It was pretty hot and dealing with the heat, humidity and going off and changing your clothes after every four-over spell… I went through four sets and was just completely knackered off the exhaustion of the Indian heat. Today was right up there. It was pretty tough.The possibility of Wagner being available to bowl in the fourth innings will be a boost to New Zealand. Pakistan had collapsed to 80 for 6, and seemed in danger of falling well short of the follow-on mark, but fighting half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan (71) and Faheem Ashram (91) meant they avoided that fate. New Zealand still have a handsome lead of 192, and are likely to press for quick second-innings runs and a declaration when they start batting again on the fourth day.Wagner praised Pakistan’s grit, but also lauded his team-mates for not letting the intensity drop.”The wicket’s deteriorating at the moment and we knew we had a big task to try and bowl them out today. I think today was the best time to bat, but also it was tough in periods because there was a bit of variable bounce and the ball went up and down a fraction,” he said. “Those cracks are starting to come into play a little bit more now, as the game goes on. But they batted really well. They’ve played well this whole Test match. They bowled really well which gave us nothing, and obviously took a lot of time out of the game. The way they batted – I thought we bowled really well and put them under pressure but they still managed to get a really good partnership. We kept throwing everything at them and they kept counter-attacking against us. But credit to all the guys, everybody kept running in and bowling for each other, working really hard. We bowled as a pack and knew rewards would come our way.”The second and final Test of the series starts on January 3, and it’s one Wagner does not intend to miss if he can help it.”Don’t want to look too far ahead, but you’re going to have to try and force me away,” he laughed. “We’ll sum it up after each day and hopefully it gets better. Hopefully we can do the job and get a couple of days rest for the foot, but we’ll see how it goes.”*This copy was updated on Dec 30 at 11.00am GMT to reflect that Wagner had two broken toes and not one.

The nearly-est of nearly-men throughout tournament history and one of them will lift the trophy at long last

The Preview by Andrew Miller13-Jul-2019

Big picture

And so it all comes down to this. After 47 matches stretched across six weeks, after a rollercoaster of a group stage (which, like all the best big dippers, started tame before lurching into a series of gut-wrenching twists and turns), and after a pair of semi-finals that were as compelling as they were different, we’re left with just two teams standing. World Cup virgins the pair of them, each with their own tales of heartbreak and regret to fall back on as they look to go that one step beyond.England and New Zealand, eh? The nearly-est of nearly-men throughout the tournament’s history. Three times runners-up in the first five editions on the one hand (followed by a three-decade bout of mourning that gives Queen Victoria a run for her money); eight semi-final appearances out of 12 on the other, a succession of doughty line-ups invariably greater than the sum of their parts, invariably found wanting in the final analysis. But at some stage on Sunday afternoon, someone’s World Cup record is going to have to lurch into credit … at long, long last.But it also had to be these two teams, didn’t it? Fate plays a spurious hand in sporting contests – it’s there for all to see when it suits the narrative but strangely takes a back seat on all other occasions – but these two teams have been locked in a special embrace for the past four years; from the shellacking that was meted out on Eoin Morgan’s men at Wellington in the 2015 World Cup, to their stunning resurgence on home soil a couple of months later. And now onwards to the biggest stage of all.WATCH on Hotstar (INDIA ONLY) – Highlights of England’s semi-final win over AustraliaNew Zealand are the team on which Morgan modelled England’s rebirth, and now they are the team that England must beat to achieve that ultimate fulfilment. It’s a symmetry that was not lost on the captain in the build-up – not least when he caught up with Brendon McCullum, his closest of friends and de facto mentor, outside the Lord’s pavilion in the moments before the pre-match press conference. When asked about that reunion, and the lessons he had gleaned from their often bruising encounters on the field, Morgan said that, above all, McCullum’s stewardship had proved “you can get to the top by being yourself, not trying to be somebody else”.And with that in mind, the match-up in Sunday’s final offers both sides the best opportunity of the tournament to be as true to their selves as they could wish to be. England arrive with their chests puffed out, their confidence spilling over, their key weapons fit and firing in every facet of their game – precisely the sort of cocksure attitude that would have set previous England sides up for disaster … except that in this team’s case, Morgan has been conditioning them to embrace the role of favourites pretty much since that first flowering of competence against these same opponents four years ago.It’s a subtle positioning for any sporting team to achieve – on the cusp of arrogance, maybe, but in reality, it’s just a matter of self-awareness – something that the great Australia dynasty from 1999 to 2007 knew better than any other side.England know they are a good team, and they know they go into this contest as overwhelming favourites – a tag that Kane Williamson was all too happy to palm off in their direction on the eve of the contest. As such, now is not the time for the team or its individuals to start second-guessing themselves or their methods.But England have learned also, from the pitfalls they’ve encountered in the tournament to date, that there are moments to push and moments to sit tight – never better demonstrated than in their dramatic explosion against Australia in the semi-final. From 6 for 0 after three overs to 50 for 0 after ten, and onwards to their date with destiny. It is an inadvertent benefit of those back-to-back defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia that England have been playing knock-out cricket since, as it were, the Last 16 – a fact that Morgan admitted had forced them to play with more positivity and smartness than perhaps had been the case in their carefree opening rounds.As for New Zealand, they have no qualms whatsoever about assuming their habitual position of underdogs. “England rightly deserve to be favourites, but whatever dog we are, it’s just important that we focus on the cricket that we play, any team can beat any team, regardless of the breed of dog,” Williamson said.They are a compelling story in their own right. A side with unfinished business on the one hand, after the crushing disappointment of their maiden World Cup final appearance at the MCG four years ago, and yet seemingly grateful to have another chance so soon to set the record straight. Not that they are seeking to project any confidence that they can do so, of course.They are a vastly different outfit to the 2015 team, with just six survivors from that final still in the squad today. McCullum is gone of course, taking with him his hair-raising habit of charging the new ball and clobbering his team a fifty-run start before the bowlers have found their length. Now they sit deep, bat long, stay in the game with caution to the fore – that has been their method throughout a tournament in which they have yet to pass 300 with the bat, but have remained competitive thanks to a bowling attack with individual components that any team would envy.They’ll roll out that familiar canny game on Sunday – new-ball threat, old-ball savvy, and a senior statesman in Williamson whose batting has been like a barometer all World Cup long. And by the end of their measured, forensic display with bat and ball, we’ll know for sure whether the formula that they shared with England four years ago is a World Cup-winning one, or just another cause for regret in a 44-year tale of woe.

Form guide

England WWWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WLLLW

In the spotlight

It perhaps wasn’t as obvious as it should have been coming into this World Cup, but for a team that invests so much faith in the power and majesty of its batting, the poise and presence of Jason Roy at the top of the order is absolutely fundamental to their tempo. His fifty in the tournament opener against South Africa settled the nerves after the shock of Jonny Bairstow’s first-over first-baller; his bruising century against Bangladesh in Cardiff set up the second-highest total of the World Cup to date. And his absence with a hamstring injury coincided with their headless chicken defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia. But it was his evisceration of Mitchell Starc at Edgbaston that really showed his worth. Tight in defence, lethal in attack. He played with respect when the delivery called for it, and furious aggression when Starc erred even fractionally in line. And given the potency of New Zealand’s own attack, it’s a template that his team will want him to replicate on the biggest stage of all.Eoin Morgan and Kane Williamson pose with the World Cup trophy•Getty Images

Okay, so Williamson is a given. With scores of 40, 79 not out, 106 not out, 148, 41, 40, 27 and 67 in his eight innings to date, the significance of the skipper to New Zealand’s cause is self-evident. But the real story of their tournament has been the support cast – intermittent, erratic, and yet providing sufficient runs from somewhere in the order to get them over the line more often than not. In that seismic semi-final, it was Ross Taylor who did the needful with a superbly weighted 74 from 90 balls. Hindsight demonstrated that he had measured the conditions to perfection, and given that he had come into the tournament as one of the outstanding form players of the past 18 months, he is surely one of the men on whom New Zealand has to rely come Sunday.WATCH on Hotstar (INDIA ONLY) – Taylor’s innings against India

Team news

Bairstow appeared to tweak his groin while batting in the semi-final, but he was not sent for a scan and seems set to take his place in an unchanged XI. Given the green tinge on the pitch, it is highly improbable that England will sub out one of their seamers to accommodate Moeen Ali.England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Mark WoodHenry Nicholls was to undergo a fitness test on Saturday after tweaking a hamstring against India, but no other changes are anticipated. The legspinner Ish Sodhi played in New Zealand’s last visit to Lord’s against Australia, but that was on a used deck.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Henry Nicholls, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Lockie Ferguson.

Pitch and conditions

It’s perhaps an indication of the distance that England have come since the start of the tournament that Morgan did not raise more of an eyebrow at a remarkably green wicket that had more in keeping with a golf green than a cricket pitch two days out. Some of the colour had drained from the surface by preview day, but there’s still going to be some live grass come the 10.30am start on Sunday. “It looks greener from afar than it is up close,” said Morgan, diplomatically, adding that it’ll go whiter and burn off when the sun comes out. Whether England would choose to bat or ball first “depends on how hard the wicket gets”, he added.

Strategy punt

• There’s mode of attack in New Zealand’s ranks that England will be unable to replicate (even allowing for Jofra Archer’s ambidexterity in the nets). Left-arm seam has accounted for a staggering 39 wickets at 13.6 in the course of the four group games at Lord’s – compared to 18 at 42.7 for the right-arm quicks. And that tally, of course, includes Trent Boult, who claimed a hat-trick in New Zealand’s defeat against Australia. England, meanwhile, lost nine of their ten wickets to Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendorff in their group-stage loss to the Aussies. If Boult can shape the new ball down the slope, into England’s front pads, there could be fireworks.
• England’s recent prowess against spin will be tested by one of New Zealand’s unsung heroes of the campaign. In the three matches where Mitchell Santner has conceded over 6 RPO, NZ has lost two and scraped through the third, by five runs against West Indies. Conversely, his first spell of 6-2-7-2 against India was instrumental in their successful defence of 239.

Stats and trivia

• The importance of Roy and Bairstow’s opening partnership extends beyond numbers. Their mere presence at the crease has been talismanic for England. On the seven occasions that England have not lost more than one wicket in the first Powerplay, they have won every time. On the three occasions they’ve lost more than one wicket in the same period (including of course with James Vince in the side for Roy) they’ve lost every time.
• In keeping with the theme of this tournament, the team batting first has won seven out of the previous 11 World Cup finals. However, each of the last two has been won by the chasing team, India in Mumbai in 2011 and Australia at the MCG in 2015.
• England have won seven of their last nine meetings in ODIs with New Zealand, including a 3-2 victory on their tour of New Zealand in February and March 2018. However, New Zealand have won both of their most recent encounters at Lord’s – by 51 runs in 2008 and by five wickets in 2013.
• Of the four World Cup finals played at Lord’s, the team in the away dressing room has won all of them. England will be in the home dressing room on Sunday.

Quotes

“Whether having had experience in a final or not is a good thing, any final you get the opportunity to play in is a really positive thing. But at the same time, as we know, in this game nothing promises, so it does come down to putting a performance on the board that gives us the best opportunity to win.”
“I haven’t allowed myself to think about lifting the trophy. Cricket and sport, in particular, is very fickle. If you ever get ahead, it always seems to bite you in the backside, so for us to win it, I think around the country it would be awesome, great for the game..”