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Usman Khawaja scored another hundred before Pat Cummins made a positive declaration to leave a target of 351

Tristan Lavalette24-Mar-2022Openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique made a confident start in Pakistan’s daunting chase of 351 to leave Australia anxious and the series deciding third Test tantalisingly poised ahead of the final day.The historic three-Test series is headed for a gripping finish after Pakistan reached stumps on day four at 73 for 0 with Imam 42 not out and Shafique unbeaten on 27. They survived 27 overs as Pakistan requires another 278 runs for victory with a minimum of 121 overs to be bowled in the innings.Shafique had a major scare on the second last day when he edged legspinner Marnus Labuschagne only for a wrong footed Steve Smith at first slip to desperately snatch his left hand out in vain. It continued a torrid time for Smith at slip and heightened Australia’s nerves in the series finale after draws in Rawalpindi and Karachi.Captain Pat Cummins had ended Australia’s second innings at 227 for 3 shortly after tea in a bid to ensure plenty of time for his bowlers on a pitch playing tricks but is not a minefield. The declaration dangled a carrot to Pakistan, who defied the odds during their remarkable chase of 506 in Karachi when they finished at 443 for 7 from 171.4 overs.This looms as another formidable challenge on a slow Lahore surface marked by low bounce with reverse swing and occasional sharp turn evident. History is against Pakistan with 208 runs being the highest successful fourth innings chase in Lahore while no team has survived more than 110 overs.But Pakistan made a strong start after surviving a couple of close calls. Nathan Lyon, targeting the rough patches, had a huge shout for lbw turned down against Imam in the eighth over and reviews confirmed there was an inside edge. The offspinner then had Shafique caught behind in the 16th over only for Pakistan to successfully overturn the decision with replays showing the opener had missed a delivery that skidded on.Lyon, who has traditionally struggled bowling Australia to victory on the final day, looms as a key figure particularly with legspinner Mitchell Swepson, in his second Test, looking ineffective so far this match.Australia, however, should remain confident with the knowledge that batting has been harder in this match against the old ball, which Cummins and Mitchell Starc memorably reverse swung in Pakistan’s first innings.Another day, another hundred: Usman Khawaja celebrates again•AFP/Getty Images

Up until Pakistan’s response, Australia had dominated day four after taking a first innings lead of 123.Usman Khawaja capped a series for the ages in his country of birth with an unbeaten 104 to notch his 12th Test century and second in the series. The remade opener has now scored fourth tons in nine innings since being recalled in January and has been the dominant batter in this series with 496 runs at 165.33. He was the only Australia batter to score a century in this series, the first between the teams in Pakistan since 1998.Just before tea, in more celebrations for Australia, Smith smoked a boundary to become the quickest to 8000 Test runs in his 151th innings – one faster than Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara.Khawaja was earlier well supported by an aggressive David Warner, as the openers batted almost through the first session albeit aided by a sloppy Pakistan who appeared to be going through the motions.Pakistan finally received a spark just before lunch when Shaheen Shah Afridi unleashed a spectacular delivery to uproot Warner’s off stump in an unplayable ball leaving the opener to shake the bowler’s hand on his way off.Leading by 220 runs at lunch with nine wickets in hand, there was an expectation Australia would put the foot down in a bid to force an early declaration. As has been the case throughout the series, runs were hard to muster against the older ball although Australia didn’t particularly look in any great hurry.With wickets hard to come by for Pakistan, dashing their hopes of a fightback, a stalemate ensued for much of the second session with attention turning to when Cummins would declare.Labuschagne, who had made two ducks twice in his last three innings, avoided a pair and made 36 before holing out attempting to lift the rate. It finished a relatively lean series for the No.1 Test ranked batter Labuschagne, who averaged 34 and remained without a Test century away from Australia.The acceleration was left to Khawaja who memorably reached his ton just before tea to trigger jubilant celebrations.After a disastrous final hour on day three, where they collapsed to lose 7 for 20, Pakistan were relatively toothless with the ball and in the field but there might be one last twist left in this long-awaited series.Aided by a sporting declaration, Imam and Shafique have made the first steps in Pakistan’s bid to conjure their second heroic fourth innings performance in just over a week.

Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants

Bruce Taylor06-Feb-2021Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants. Newcomers must adjust not only to a country of vast contrasts and stunning diversity but also to pitches and match atmospheres unlike any other in the world. In the second of the My India Tour series, Bruce Taylor, the New Zealand allrounder, talks about his Test debut at Calcutta on the 1964-65 tour of India , when he hit a century and took a five-for – the only time this has been achieved by a debutant.I had no time to get nervous about my debut because I only came into the side when Barry Sinclair fell ill and was unable to play. The first thing I remember about the game is John Reid hitting four sixes before lunch – the ground was chocka [full] with 30,000 to 40,000 people. I was pretty nervous before going out to bat but as I went I out I remember Polly Umrigar, then the manager of Indian side, wishing me good luck.I was 10 or 12 overnight, then the next morning Sutty [Bert Sutcliffe] and
I played a few shots. After a while Sutty came down the wicket to me and
said: ‘Listen, son – you could score 100 here if you keep your head down.’Then I hit the next ball for six and Bert just shook his head. The bowling
wasn’t as strong as it is nowadays and there was not as much pressure on me
as you might expect now. I had a few swings and misses. But I became
conscious of how close I was to a century as we were in the last over before
lunch. I managed to score it before the break.We had a couple of hours bowling at them before stumps that day and I picked up a couple. We thought the wicket would take a bit of spin but we got most of our wickets through our medium pacers.I was particularly pleased with getting Bapu Nadkarni’s wicket. He scored 75
against us in the first Test and I came around the wicket to him and got him
first ball. The next morning I got the Indian captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.He had batted fairly well, with a fair bit of luck. He got to 153 but had
been dropped a few times. He got a big top edge to one of mine and I
remember going for the ball as it came down near the point area. I thought,
‘If no one else can catch them I might as well try.’I actually collided with our wicketkeeper John Ward who had run across to
take the catch. Fortunately, he held it.I don’t think what I did in that match sunk in until years later. It wasn’t
as if we could go out and celebrate with a few drinks being in India.Other
‘The dinner service was all gold’ – John Reid’s tour in 1955-56.
Much more than cricket – Glenn Turner’s tour in 1969-70.
‘It was like a sauna’ – Richard Hadlee’s tour in 1976-77.

Keeper will leave Bristol at end of season

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2020Gareth Roderick, the Gloucestershire wicketkeeper/batsman, will join Worcestershire at the end of the 2020 season on a three-year-deal.Roderick, 28, has spent eight years as a Gloucestershire player, representing the club 168 times in all formats, and was part of the side that won the 2015 Royal London Cup. His place in the side came under pressure last year due to the emergence of James Bracey, who looks set to be the club’s long-term option as wicketkeeper.Worcestershire’s coach Alex Gidman was a team-mate of Roderick’s earlier in his career, and said that he was the “stand-out” amount the 134 out-of-contract players around the country. He will likely start as second-choice wicketkeeper at the club behind Ben Cox, but will compete as a specialist batsman in the County Championship.ALSO READ: Warwickshire size up move for Bess as Patel successor“Gareth is an established first-class performer and a top-order batsman which again, as we identify the areas in our squad that we need to strengthen, that is one of them,” he said.”Like most modern players, he is well suited to all formats. He wants to improve his T20 cricket as well, which is good to hear, and has a lot of experience in English first-class cricket, which is crucial.””Members were concerned last year, quite rightly, about the lack of runs at the top of the batting order and we’ve made some real effort to improve it,” said Paul Pridgeon, the head of Worcestershire’s cricket steering group.”We’ve signed Jake Libby from Nottinghamshire, had signed Hamish Rutherford as the overseas player, and have now signed Gareth as well. These new signings also help to provide competition and, if you are going to be successful, that’s what you need.””I’m very excited to be joining Worcestershire,” Roderick said. “When I spoke to Alex and he explained the kind of path he wants to take Worcestershire CCC on in the next five years, it became an exciting project to tie myself to.”It has been such a privilege playing for this great club [Gloucestershire]. There are so many people who deserve a massive thank you; from the coaches I have played under and who have helped me so much, through to the fans who have always been behind the team and myself.”

The fast bowler has paid a hefty price for diving in the field in an ODI against Pakistan in March, missing the World Cup and Ashes, but is now looking ahead

Alex Malcolm29-Jul-2019When Australia announced their six-strong fast bowling cartel for the Ashes series on Friday, Jhye Richardson’s absence slipped quietly by.One of the stars of Australia’s last Test series against Sri Lanka, and arguably the gold nugget find of their toughest home summer in decades, was instead sitting in a hotel room in Darwin preparing for a guest appearance in a club match for Nightcliff the following day, his first outing since dislocating his right shoulder against Pakistan in Sharjah in March.There was a small hope, after a careful build up, that he might be given the opportunity to be added to the Ashes squad for the back end of the Test series should his playing return go smoothly. But despite getting through Saturday’s match, where he took 1 for 67 from his 10 overs, the selectors had already told him two days earlier that they would settle with the pacemen they had in England.Richardson, 22, has every right to be bitter at the cricketing gods. A selfless act of desperation to save his team a boundary in Sharjah cost him the opportunity of a lifetime, appearing in a World Cup and an Ashes in the same English summer. But there was no bitterness, just a slow realisation and acceptance.”I think just progressively I got the understanding that I wasn’t quite ready to go,” Richardson told ESPNcricinfo on Saturday. “But I gave it my best shot. I had a lot of good people around me. I did everything I could. That was in the back of my mind. I said to myself you’ve done everything you can and it wasn’t meant to be.”When [the injury] first happened, initially I’d like to think I was pretty calm. Obviously your adrenaline is still going because a highly traumatic injury has just happened and you’re still buzzing around trying to figure out what’s going on. You probably don’t understand the true effect of what’s just happened at that moment. When I got home, the magnitude of the potential of having an extended time on the sideline probably sunk in a little bit more. But I think with that though, having the plan or the goal to get to the World Cup helped a lot. It gave me a lot of positivity. Whilst it was quite ambitious it sort of allowed me to keep track on something and really put my mind to something.””While it would be great to go over there it would be just as good to watch the guys go about their business over there and hopefully win an Ashes series. If something goes down, I’ll try and get over but if that doesn’t happen, we’ve still got a lot of cricket in Australia as well in the Australian summer. If the pace bowling stocks do get tested a little bit then I’m ready to go.”Getty Images

Unlike Josh Hazlewood, who found it hard to watch the World Cup having also missed selection, Richardson’s only trouble was staying up late enough in Perth. “I watched a bit of it,” he said. “Most games on the TV. I didn’t quite make it through all of them.”He watched while the Ashes carrot was still dangling in front of him. Cricket Australia’s selectors and medical staff liaised with the WACA high performance team in Perth to put a program in place. He did join the Australia A squad for their training camp in Brisbane in early June and then returned to Perth to progress to eight to ten-over spells in the nets ahead of Saturday’s game in Darwin. CA even sent cameras and an analyst to Darwin to record data on his return.Despite already knowing he had missed his chance, he was upbeat about his performance in his comeback clocking the mid-130kph mark.”Obviously I was very, very rusty,” Richardson said. “It was the first game in three or four months so I couldn’t expect miracles. In terms of shoulder wise, I coped fine. The pace was okay. Probably a little bit better than I expected. From all reports here, the day’s gone well. After today, it gives me a little bit more confidence that I’m ready to go. Practice is always good, but just being able to play in a game over bowling in the nets with no batter, just gives myself a better idea of where I’m at, and where I’m at I’m pretty happy with.”Richardson will not stay in Darwin to play more cricket. Instead he will head back to WA to resume pre-season training with the Western Warriors. He has no shortage of inspiration within the WA squad. Nathan Coulter-Nile suffered a shoulder dislocation in a BBL game in December 2015, and returned to play international cricket in March the following year, while Ashton Turner is also currently recovering shoulder surgery after missing World Cup selection.Richardson’s durability is another source of confidence. Last Australian summer he played more days and bowled more overs than Pat Cummins in all formats. Five consecutive Shield games before Christmas, where he delivered 190 overs and took 27 wickets, propelled him to his Test debut.”Everyone speaks about needing to be in such a good rhythm to bowl well,” Richardson said. “And they say you bowl your fastest when you’re not trying to bowl your fastest. So bowling a lot of overs takes a bit of pressure off steaming in trying to bowl as fast as you can. It’s a big mental game. It’s trying to get on top of the batsman and figuring out what their weaknesses are. I think bowling a lot of overs does help get your body accustomed to bowling a lot so the more balls you bowl the better you’re going to get. It definitely helped in that respect.”The development of his fast bowling craft has been the most impressive feature of his meteoric rise. As a teenage tearaway his radar was not always on song, but he has learnt the value of control at the professional level.”It’s just been a thing over time,” Richardson said. “Obviously coaches are there to help you, but on a personal level, bowling to the best batsman in the world it doesn’t quite work trying to bowl as fast as you can because they still have the most time to hit the ball where they want to. You feel like bowling 145kph is still not quick enough. I kind of just, over time, gained an understanding that it’s not the be all and end all of fast bowling. There’s probably something else that you need to work out, whether that’s swinging the ball or seaming the ball or have a few variations.”

The Australian Cricketers Association’s proposal features a spending cap on Cricket Australia’s bureaucracy

Daniel Brettig24-Jan-2017A proposal by the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) that calls for a cap on Cricket Australia’s (CA) administrative costs has been underlined by the Association as it chases full disclosure of the game’s finances ahead of the next round of MOU meetings, set for next week.The ACA executive, which includes Aaron Finch, Moises Henriques, Neil Maxwell, Lisa Sthalekar, Janet Torney and Shane Watson, met in Sydney on Monday ahead of the Allan Border Medal ceremony, which in itself is a vestige of warmer past relations between the players and CA.Negotiations for the next MOU broke down in December amid bitter sparring between the two parties, and though informal talks have resumed, the players remain convinced they are not being afforded the sort of transparency they had previously enjoyed when trying to reach an agreement with the board.Suggestions of “a ceiling on Cricket Australia’s administrative costs to create space for greater grassroots investment as future revenues grow” were included in the ACA’s original submission to the pay talks. That would appear to be a counter to CA’s claim that the longstanding fixed revenue percentage model by which players are paid needed to be pared back to only include the top male players, because more cash needed to be spent on the game’s grassroots.The ACA president Greg Dyer asserted that the players needed greater access to CA’s financial records than has presently been offered if talks are to progress.”The executive of the ACA are adamant that there must be greater financial disclosure from Cricket Australia if the talks are to meaningfully progress,” Dyer said in a statement. “Many players ask the very fair question: how does the game spend the revenue the players generate for it?”Players receive less than 20% of total revenue, and only 12% currently goes into grassroots investment. The players would like to see a greater investment in grassroots cricket, a better deal for female cricketers, and an ongoing share of BBL and WBBL revenue they generate.”We want the negotiations to be fully informed as due diligence demands. These are very fair questions and a very reasonable position for the players to take. Players regard themselves as genuine partners in the game. This is the strength of the current model – a partnership model which has grown the game and a partnership the players value and will fight for.”The ACA’s chief executive Alistair Nicholson, meanwhile, offered a reminder that fruitful talks needed to start in order to allow the new agreement to apply to the next round of contracts for all players, international and domestic, male and female.”Failure to get this sequencing right means that the contracts could include some of the out-of-date terms and conditions the ACA has acknowledged in our submission,” he said, “and could also create different types of contracts which create inequities from player to player. The MOU informs the contracts. That’s why the sequence needs to be MOU first and contracts second.”While there were few overt references to the MOU during the presentation ceremony, the Allan Border Medallist David Warner did make reference to the link between the present players and their forebears for helping to forge the path that has led to their current riches.

Upon learning that it may take too long for the equipment to arrive in India, the BCCI has decided to go ahead with DRS without HotSpot against England

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2016Although the BCCI has agreed to use DRS for the five Tests against England starting on November 9, HotSpot will not be among the tools available.The last time India played in a series with DRS – also against England, in 2011 – they were not impressed with HotSpot. Ravi Shastri, who had been a commentator at the time, had famously said, “HotSpot has gone cold.” Its absence now, however, is the result of logistical issues.It is understood that about a month ago the BCCI had asked HotSpot proprietors if they could provide the equipment for HotSpot and Realtime Snicko. At the time, the board hadn’t made up its mind over the use of DRS, but was happy to include the technologies as a broadcast tool.However, the BCCI was told it would take at least until the middle of November to transport the hardware to India. And that was not a guarantee either. There was a worst-case scenario which suggested the BCCI would have to wait until mid-February to have HotSpot and Realtime Snicko in working order. This was because the cameras used for HotSpot are military-grade and their shipping required special permission from the Australian government.So considering the first Test against England is scheduled to begin on November 9, the BCCI has decided to use DRS minus HotSpot.The presence of UltraEdge, however, should help make sure DRS deliberations are as accurate as possible. The technology is used to determine exactly when and what part of the bat or batsman the ball has struck, and its use was a contributing factor in convincing the BCCI to use DRS. “UltraEdge also ensures that post-impact balls do not affect the predicted path or impact point and hence the accuracy has been improved,” the board had said last week.UltraEdge will now be used in detection of edges on caught-behind dismissals and bat-pad catches, and to determine whether a batsman had hit the ball in lbw scenarios.

Billy Godleman staged a one-man roadblock but Essex remain on course to boost their promotion chances after Derbyshire were forced to follow-on in the Division Two match at Derby

ECB Reporters Network15-Aug-2016
ScorecardBilly Godleman defied his former county•Getty Images

Billy Godleman staged a one-man roadblock but Essex remain on course to boost their promotion chances after Derbyshire were forced to follow-on in the Division Two match at Derby. The former Essex batsman frustrated the bowlers for 55 overs to score 100 and Wayne Madsen completed 1000 Championship runs for the season but the home side closed day three facing defeat on 213 for 5, still trailing by 152 runs.Essex would have fancied their chances of wrapping up victory with a day to spare after Graham Napier, with 4 for 28, and Ravi Bopara had polished off Derbyshire’s first innings before lunch.The home side had showed fight from the first ball of the morning, with Alex Mellor and Matt Critchley taking their seventh wicket stand to 70 in 25 overs before Napier broke through. Mellor had been dropped by Tom Westley at second slip in the previous over but failed to add to his 44 when he edged a ball that moved away enough to give James Foster the first of two victims before lunch.Napier produced an unplayable inswinging yorker to bowl Tom Milnes first ball but Critchley negotiated the hat-trick ball before he steered Bopara to gully. When Bopara defeated Callum Parkinson’s defensive push, Essex had run through Derbyshire in less than 66 overs but they encountered greater resistance after enforcing the follow-on with a flat pitch and cloudless skies assisting the home side’s rearguard.Godleman and Ben Slater negotiated a tricky five overs before lunch and then batted well into the afternoon before Napier, who switched to the City End, had Slater taken low at second slip by Westley. But Essex had to wait another 30 overs for their next success as Alex Hughes joined Godleman, who cut Jamie Porter for four to reach 50 and then drove Westley over long-off for six.Hughes concentrated on survival, facing 99 balls for his 23, before he chased a wide one from Paul Walter, and the wicket Essex most wanted came three overs later. Godleman cut Walter for three to reach his third hundred of the season but, in the next over, he was lbw to Napier and Essex struck two more blows in the closing overs.Madsen had pulled Bopara for four to reach his milestone but was squared-up by Will Rhodes and snared at third slip for 37 and, without addition to the score, Bopara forced Neil Broom to play on for 13 in the penultimate over.

Earlier this week, Surrey knocked Middlesex out of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Lord’s. Now, with Middlesex at the summit of the Championship, Jason Roy has left Surrey bent on another act of sabotage

Tim Wigmore at Lord's04-Aug-2016
ScorecardJason Roy transferred his white-ball form with aplomb•Getty Images

Three weeks ago, Lord’s played host to Pakistan toppling England in one of the great Test matches of recent years. Now the legions of seats, which had been so enthralled by Misbah-ul-Haq’s press-ups and Yasir Shah’s legspin, lay mostly vacant, even with Middlesex eyeing up their first title since 1993.Yet there was much to admire in the opening day of the London Derby, and much of the best of it came from the bat of Jason Roy. A little after tea, as the clouds were beginning to dominate the sky above Lord’s, Roy unfurled consecutive off-drives against Toby Roland-Jones. The first went a little to mid-off’s right, the second a little to his left. Both were pristine shots that went all along the ground for four. Any of the thousands of batsmen who have played first-class cricket at Lord’s would have been proud to claim them as their own.The same was true of this entire innings: 110 runs, made at a sprightly rate but without recourse to slogging, that served as a magnificent riposte to those that imagine him merely a brawny limited-overs specialist. Roy has the technique and range of shots to be so much more, all of which makes his recent run of first-class innings – single-figure scores in six of his previous seven innings, including a pair of ducks in his last two – all the more infuriating.”I’ve found it hard to switch between the three formats this year, but I know I’m not the only one,” Roy said. “Your mindset’s completely different. I’ve tried to keep my movements the same and that’s the hardest thing.”After all the changes, it is to the continuity in his method that Roy credits his success. Last Friday night he made a rollicking 120 not out in a T20 game against Kent at a sold-out Oval. On Monday, only incessant rain denied him the chance to convert his unbeaten 93 against Glamorgan in the one-day cup into another century. After such success, a duck against Middlesex in the one-day cup on Tuesday notwithstanding, it made no sense to reinvent his game for red-ball cricket. Had the rain just come a few minutes later against Glamorgan, Roy would have made a trio of centuries in three different formats in a week, believed to be an unprecedented achievement in professional cricket.”My method is now very similar – it never used to be,” he said. “It was tough going in with a different mindset and different way of batting: it was pretty silly. I just went in and treated it like a 50-over game and got myself in. You’re allowed a bit more time in Championship cricket so if they bowled a maiden at me I wasn’t under pressure. That was the only difference.”I almost enjoy it more in the longer format because I’m not under that pressure to score at six, seven, eight, nine an over: I can just bat. Maybe putting myself under too much pressure, expecting myself to score a million runs is something that I’ve tried to deal with.”Even if this was only Roy’s first first-class century of the summer, and just the seventh of his career, England are excited by the prospect of his transferring his penchant for limited overs destruction into the Test arena.Trevor Bayliss has said he could envisage Roy soon playing Tests. “He’s spoken to me and told me to score as many runs as I can. Obviously volume of runs speaks louder than anything. Unfortunately I haven’t got the volume that I’d have liked but this is a start.”Indeed it is. And to all those who enjoyed a dreamy flick to square leg off Tim Murtagh, immediately followed by a gun-barrel straight drive, both for four – like a salsa dancer, Roy’s best work was done in pairs – the possibilities in England whites seemed tantalising. England are hardly short of middle-order aggressors but Roy in this vein loses nothing by comparison to Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler or Ben Stokes.If his first-class returns in 2016 remain underwhelming – 440 runs at 31.42 apiece do not immediately speak of a Test player – he might soon be a test case for whether Bayliss is willing, as he claims, to pick players for Test cricket largely on their ODI form. His last 11 ODI innings have included three exuberant hundreds.Yet there was much more to Surrey’s resolve than Roy. Rory Burns displayed skill to withstand Murtagh with the new ball, and then gave notice of his own expanded game. The compactness he is always associated with was all on display, but the drives, cuts and nudges to the leg side were timed so serenely that his pace lost little by comparison with Roy.And Ben Foakes, unobtrusive and playing unusually straight – three drives passed only a few inches to the umpire’s right before reaching the ropes – ensured that Surrey ended the day not shy of 400, a commendable effort on a pitch with more life than for some of Middlesex’s early season games here.Earlier this week, Surrey knocked Middlesex out of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Lord’s. Now, with Middlesex at the summit of the Championship, Roy has left Surrey bent on another act of sabotage.

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has said that the shattering death of Phillip Hughes and his Muslim faith has contributed to a more balanced outlook on the game

Daniel Brettig01-Jun-2016Usman Khawaja has always batted with a certain grace. His languid movements and supple wrists have combined for a visual style that suggests ease and peace, and a sense of time to spare enjoyed by only the very best players.But until fairly recently, the image was also something of an illusion. Khawaja’s technique may have looked smooth, but inside his head turmoil and worry raged. He was unsure of his place in the game, and his future in the Australian team. This fretfulness played out over a handful of Test matches that reaped only two half centuries and many slim scores.Ahead of Australia’s triangular series against the West Indies and South Africa, Khawaja has spoken of how the shattering death of Phillip Hughes contributed to a more balanced outlook on the game, and how his Muslim faith has helped him to retain it. The proof of Khawaja’s development can be found in his performance, peeling off century after century last summer and winning an all-format place in Australia’s plans.”We obviously lost Hughesy and I did my knee in the space of two weeks, so it was a pretty rough time,” Khawaja told reporters in Guyana. “So you just sort of learn to let go a little bit.”When I first came into the Australian team I wanted to make such a good impression and to do so much and so well, which is normal for a young kid. Now I’m just more relaxed about it all. What’s meant to be is meant to be.”I train really hard, I do the right things at training, and then when the game time comes I just try and compete and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough. If it’s not, so be it.”Cricket Australia has highlighted Khawaja’s Pakistani background and Muslim belief as signs of the game’s diverse future down under, but the man himself has been reticent at times to speak of a personal faith. However his development as a cricketer links directly to the sense of peace and perspective it gives him these days, meaning Khawaja was this time a little more expansive.”The game can be quite tough at times and stressful and emotional,” he said. “So you have to find a way to bring yourself back to your centre. Everyone does that in different ways. I have my own way and I do it because you play so much cricket and so much is going on, you can sometimes forget about that sort of stuff. It’s a good question because it happens a lot.”I pray. That’s what keeps me centred. The number one most important thing in my life is religion. That comes first and that helps me with everything else, cricket included. I haven’t become any more religious. I think I’ve just found a happy medium of religion helping me with life in general.”It sort of happens when something as big as what happened a couple of years ago with Hughesy happens. I think everyone took it in a different way. Everyone finds different avenues and aspects so that’s one big one for me.”In the Caribbean, Khawaja will again be pitched into a contest for places in the batting order, as the likes of Aaron Finch, David Warner and the captain Steven Smith all lay claim to places in the top three. Once upon a time this may have worried Khawaja, bringing anxiety and nerves close to the surface and clouding his method with the bat.But this time it will be more likely he takes events in his stride, whether cuffing balls to the boundary or running drinks for others. It’s not the end of the world, after all.”Obviously I love opening but I know that Finchy and Davey have been doing it for a while too, so I understand that and I’m glad to be part of this team,” Khawaja said. “I wasn’t around at all last year or the year before that, so I don’t look that far ahead. All that stuff has no bearing on me, it’s the selectors and coaches, they make those decisions and I just try to go out there and play cricket to the best of my ability. I’d be happy to play anywhere in the top order, but we’ve got a lot of very good players here too, so it just depends what happens.”

James Pattinson is out of the IPL and may also miss the Champions Trophy to have surgery on what Cricket Australia described as “a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region”

Daniel Brettig04-Apr-2013James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, is out of the IPL and may also miss the Champions Trophy that precedes the Ashes after he was compelled to have surgery on what Cricket Australia has described as “a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region.”The departure of Pattinson to India for his stint with Kolkata Knight Riders was initially delayed until Friday as medical staff awaited the results of tests and the advice of specialists. However, on receipt of opinion that Pattinson should undergo surgery immediately, he has been ruled out of competing in the Twenty20 event, joining the national captain Michael Clarke on the sidelines.Pattinson wishes to keep the condition private, but it is not believed to be serious, nor likely to affect his cricket future beyond the time required to recover from the surgery.”James Pattinson will be having surgery tomorrow for a non-cricket related medical condition in his lower abdominal region that has been troubling him during the latter part of the recently concluded tour of India,” CA’s chief medical officer Justin Paoloni said. “James has undergone tests and consulted specialists since returning from India, and it was felt that surgery is absolutely necessary at this time.”The recovery times will [be] determined once the surgery is completed but James is expected to return to training in approximately four weeks. His preparation for The Ashes is not expected to be affected but his availability for the ICC Champions Trophy will be determined at a later stage.”