All posts by csb10.top

Unless Bangladesh start to put together top-order partnerships, they will continue to suffer like they did in Chattogram against South Africa, according to captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. The home side sunk to an innings-and-273-run defeat, bowled out twice in a total of 89 overs. Bangladesh’s match aggregate of 302 runs is the lowest by any team at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, reputed to be the best batting pitch in the country.It played true to that reputation when South Africa posted 575 for 6 over the first two days, before Bangladesh imploded with the bat. They lost 14 wickets on the third day, ending the match bowled out for 159 and then 143 following on. Mominul Haque, who made 82 in the first innings, was out twice in one session.Related

• 'Worth the hours, worth the sacrifice' – SA savour subcontinent high after a decade's wait

• Shanto wants to step down as Bangladesh captain after SA Tests

• Cricket and chaos – Bangladesh are used to it, but Shanto wants out

• Spinners, Rabada's complete performances hand South Africa their biggest innings win

South Africa wrapped up a 2-0 series win, having won the first Test in Dhaka by seven wickets. Bangladesh had struggled there too, bowled out for 106 on day one.”We have been batting like this for a long time,” Shanto said. “If you don’t get top-order partnerships, the rest of the batters will find it difficult in red-ball cricket. I don’t know how our top-order batters prepare or think, but if it goes on like this, this will be the result. This was a good wicket. Even in Mirpur, the type of wicket it was, we shouldn’t have got out so quickly. Overall, we didn’t bat well in these two Tests.”While there have been individual efforts in recent Tests such as Mominul’s 82 out of Bangladesh’s first-innings total of 159, or even his century in Kanpur, these have tended not to come with sufficient top-order support. The lower order, instead, has been the source of resolute partnerships such as the 138-run seventh-wicket stand between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Jaker Ali in the second innings in Dhaka or the 103-run ninth-wicket stand between Mominul and Taijul Islam after Bangladesh slipped to 48 for 8 in Chattogram. There was also the famous recovery from 26 for 6, courtesy Litton Das and Mehidy, that enabled Bangladesh to win the second Test in Rawalpindi two months ago, but Shanto felt these lower-order stands were only papering over the top-order cracks.”We are making runs individually,” he said. “Mominul made a century, but we couldn’t support him in Kanpur. Shadman [Islam] made 90-odd [in the first Test in Pakistan] but there was no support [from the top-order batters] at the other end. The top order can only help the team with big partnerships. We talk about winning after being 26 for 6 in Pakistan but our top order didn’t bat well. Top-order runs will ensure consistent performance from the team.”‘The worst thing is, I am getting out between 20 and 40. It is not good for the team’•Getty Images

Shanto conceded that his own lack of runs was also contributing to the top order’s collapses. He made 9 and 36 in Chattogram, as Kagiso Rabada first dismissed him with a brilliant delivery in the first innings, before he inside-edged one to Tony de Zorzi at leg slip off the left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy. Shanto has scored just a single fifty in his last 17 Test innings, 15 of which have come his appointment as full-time all-format captain in February.”I have an important role as a top-order batter. I am supposed to score runs,” Shanto said. “It is not happening, and the worst thing is, I am getting out between 20 and 40. It is not good for the team. I have to concentrate more in my batting.”Shanto however said that he continues to enjoy the Bangladesh captaincy and that it hasn’t affected his batting, although he has informed BCB president Faruque Ahmed that he doesn’t want to continue as captain. “After I speak to the president, either of us can give a clear message,” he said. “I have always said that I enjoy captaincy on the field. I never felt that I am the captain when I am batting. I didn’t think I have to do all of it on my own. I am only focused on the ball.”Shanto suggested that the team tends to suffer whenever there are distractions around it such as the discussions around his captaincy. There have been regular off-field issues since the Pakistan tour. Less than a week before this Test series against South Africa, the BCB sacked head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, while Shakib Al Hasan couldn’t fulfill his wish of playing a farewell Test in Dhaka after the government told him it couldn’t guarantee his safety due to the protests around the Shere Bangla National Stadium.”[Distractions] might have contributed, but it doesn’t mean we will play this poorly,” Shanto said. “Bowled out for 100 or 150 runs. Players have to adjust with these things, even though it is difficult. Still, it shouldn’t be this bad. We have to improve our skills and change our thinking. We have to find out specifically exactly what is happening.”

Impressive innings from imports Heather Knight and Chamari Athapaththu and savvy bowling from Hannah Darlington have helped Sydney Thunder avenge an early season WBBL loss to Hobart Hurricanes.Three days after Hurricanes won by 31 runs in Hobart, Thunder scored a 33-run victory in a match reduced to 17 overs a side after rain delayed the start at North Sydney Oval by 30 minutes on Thursday.Related

• Carey and Graham star in Hurricanes' opening win

• Parsons wickets, Laura Harris' power help Brisbane Heat to 2-0 start

• Healy returns for Sydney Sixers after World Cup-ending injury

Athapaththu (38 off 29) and Knight (48 off 28) helped the Thunder amass 146 for 5. Hurricanes smashed 18 off their first seven balls, but lost 5 for 13 in the last few overs.Darlington claimed the big wickets of Lizelle Lee and Heather Graham and Athapaththu completed a good all-round effort by taking 1 for 11 off three overs of tidy spin, dismissing England star Danni Wyatt-Hodge.England captain Knight, who missed the first game between the two teams, played some handsome shots and added momentum in the second half of the innings.She struck 14 off the last three balls of the one power surge over bowled by Molly Strano, lofting the first over long off and adding two fours in the same area. “It was really nice when you start a competition to hit the ground running and I thought ‘Atta’ was brilliant as well,” Knight told . “We managed to get in a bit of a partnership there and it set up things at the end.”Athapaththu, who was out for a first-ball duck on Sunday, was dropped at deep midwicket on 5. Her innings included sixes over deep midwicket and long off before she fell to a remarkable one-handed low diving return catch by Strano off a fierce drive.”I didn’t have much time to think about it, it was a tracer bullet, so pretty happy it just stuck,” Strano said.In reply, Lee clubbed boundaries off the first two balls of Hurricanes’ chase and three in the over then Wyatt-Hodge belted a six over backward point off the first ball of the second over.Thunder struck back with Athapaththu having Wyatt-Hodge caught at backward point. Nicola Carey, who scored a 50 in last weekend’s game, then chopped a delivery from Shabnim Ismail onto her stumps, a ball after the South African quick struck her on the helmet.Lee couldn’t maintain her early impetus and was adjudged lbw the first ball after the mid-innings break, though if she had used DRS, she would have been reprieved.A brisk fourth-wicket stand of 43 between Graham and Elyse Villani gave Hurricanes hope before they were dismissed in successive overs to trigger a decisive collapse.

South Africa’s Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma has added his voice to the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA)’s calls for an end to the gender-based discrimination, which excludes women in Afghanistan from playing sport and in others areas of public life.Speaking ahead of South Africa’s departure to the UAE, where they will play Afghanistan in three ODIs next week, Bavuma said that South Africans, whose own system of legalised race-based segregation ended 30 years ago, are in a unique position to relate to those who are suffering human-rights abuses. Thus, Bavuma reiterated the call for women’s rights to be respected.”I look at it in my personal capacity. It’s obviously something that is quite strong within my own values,” he said. “I support the idea of inclusivity and caring for women. We want everyone to have a fair chance within society, and we know that that is something that is relevant to us as a country in South Africa. I’m fully behind the sentiments that are expressed by SACA.”Related

• SA reaffirms support for women's cricket ahead of Afghanistan series

• ICC mulls setting aside slice of Afg revenue to fund women players

• No bilateral cricket with Afg till there's 'a level of progress' – CA chief

On Thursday, SACA issued a statement which both recognised Cricket South Africa (CSA)’s right to seek out fixtures – such as these against Afghanistan – and also asked CSA to “utilise the leverage available to it through this series to highlight that these rights for Afghanistan’s women’s players must be protected and respected”.CSA have not commented on whether there are plans to make any statements or gestures in support of Afghan women, but continue to discuss the issue of women’s cricket in Afghanistan through the ICC. Both white-ball coach Rob Walter, who on Monday said he had no part in deciding whether to play Afghanistan or not, and Bavuma have opted to leave the issue of whether to engage Afghanistan on the field with CSA.”I think I’ve got to respect the fact that there are people in positions who have that responsibility to speak more eloquently and articulate a little bit more of it,” Bavuma said. “In my own personal capacity, I definitely support the stance and the sentiments expressed by SACA. And I can understand where Rob as well is coming from in that we are selected to do a job in the cricketing field. And I think a lot of our energy will generally be dedicated to that at least.”The Afghanistan Cricket Board contracted 25 female players in 2020 but the Taliban takeover a year later left women in the lurch•Afghanistan Cricket Board

So far, the only board that has actively pulled out of competition against Afghanistan is Australia, while the ECB has also indicated it will not schedule series against Afghanistan. Both Australia and England continue to play Afghanistan at ICC tournaments. South Africa have never played against Afghanistan outside of a World Cup – in either ODIs or T20Is.With this being their first bilateral series, it is also the first time the South Africa team and CSA have had to consider the ethics of playing against Afghanistan, who have not had a women’s team since becoming Full Members in 2017, although they contracted 25 women players in 2020. Since then, with the Taliban takeover in 2021, all hopes of a women’s team have deteriorated as women have been eroded from society with little to no access to healthcare and education, among other things.Apart from South Africa’s shared history of legalised discrimination with Afghanistan, the country also has an epidemic of gender-based violence (GBV). This year, the World Population Review rated South Africa and Brazil as the two most dangerous countries for women. In response, there have been various initiatives against GBV, including in cricket. The national women’s team has an annual black day, where they swap their usual green-and-gold kit for black outfits, to raise awareness about the plight of GBV.Two weeks ago, national rugby captain, Siya Kolisi, had this to say after the Springboks beat the All Blacks in Johannesburg: “It’s 30 years of freedom; I want to say congratulations to South Africans. But we still know there are many people who are still not free. Hopefully, the next celebration we celebrate is the women who are free of gender-based violence.”

Shubman Gill has said working on his “defensive game” helped him turn his Test fortunes around against England earlier this year.Before heading into the home series against England, Gill’s average in Tests was 30.59. But batting at No. 3 across the five games, he hit 452 runs in nine innings, at an average of 56.50. That included two centuries and half-centuries each, as he overturned a run of low scores in the format. Returning to first-class cricket for the first time since then, Gill will be leading India A at the Duleep Trophy opener on Thursday.”I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners,” Gill said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where his side will face India B in the Duleep Trophy. “Playing on turning tracks, if you are not able to have that confidence in your defence [then it disturbs your game]. If you’re playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more. [It is] then you play scoring shots.Related

• Suryakumar out of first round of Duleep Trophy with injury

• Test hopefuls jostle for limited slots as domestic season kicks off

• Duleep Trophy first round: Injured Kishan ruled out, Samson named replacement

“And with more T20 [cricket], and playing on, I wouldn’t say flat tracks, but [on] batting-friendly tracks – [and] more in the white-ball [games] – I feel it takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series.”After scoring 104 in the second innings of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, he revealed he had asked the team management to push him down to No. 3 instead of playing as an opener, a position where he had batted 29 times.Despite the returns against England, Gill acknowledged that he is not quite there yet as a Test player, and that he intended to make up for it. India play ten Tests over the next four months, starting with two against Bangladesh from September 19.”Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet,” he said. “But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations.”

Gill: As captain, ‘you should understand your players a lot more’

Gill said that he never felt any “extra pressure” being part of the India leadership group, as the added responsibility required him to know more about his team-mates.Over the last few months, Gill has had plenty of leadership opportunities. That run started when he captained Gujarat Titans in the IPL after Hardik Pandya went back to Mumbai Indians. Gill then led India in five T20Is against Zimbabwe, after Rohit Sharma had retired from the format and several other senior players were rested.India reversed a 0-1 scoreline to beat the hosts 4-1, after which Gill had said that captaincy “brings out the best in me”. He was even named vice-captain for the T20Is and ODIs against Sri Lanka that followed.”My role as a batsman doesn’t really change,” Gill said. “Even if I am the captain or the vice-captain, the aim is to get runs and make my team win, [and] contribute in any way possible.”If you are the captain or the vice-captain, then you should be able to understand your players a lot more rather than when you are just a player. Sometimes, it happens that you have played with a lot of [these] players since childhood. You have played a lot of age-group cricket [together]. So, obviously, you are already connected, and so it is more fun to play with them.”And if you are enjoying your role in the captaincy, it is very important to lead with performance. So if you are getting all these things, then you enjoy everything.”

Mason Crane, the legspinner who played a single Test for England, has signed a three-year contract with Glamorgan. He is a product of the Hampshire youth system and has spent his entire professional career under contract with them, but has enjoyed a successful spell in Cardiff this season after moving on a season-long loan.Crane, 27, is Glamorgan’s leading wicket-taker in both the County Championship (24 at 42.87) and the T20 Blast (17 at 16.94) this season, and said he has “loved every minute” of his time at the club. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to make this move permanent,” Crane said. “I’m very excited for the next chapter and the years to come.”Grant Bradburn, Glamorgan’s head coach, said Crane had been “an outstanding addition” this season and that his success has been “testament to the culture our players have welcomed him into.” Bradburn said: “We feel very fortunate to have the quality of Mason here at the club and we look forward to building more success with him as part of our Glamorgan family.”Related

• Crane: 'I just want to play and feel like an integral part of a team'

• Glamorgan sign Crane on loan, Hamza for Championship

Crane made his professional debut for Hampshire as a teenager, making Kumar Sangakkara his first victim. He quickly rose to prominence, playing two T20Is for England against South Africa in 2017, and found himself in the Test squad for an Ashes tour later that year as the second spinner behind Moeen Ali.He was handed an unexpected debut at the age of 20 at the SCG and took a single wicket for the cost of 193 runs. Since then, he has struggled for regular opportunities due to injury and loss of form – particularly in first-class cricket – though he remained an important part of the sides that won the Royal London Cup (2018) and T20 Blast (2022).”I would like to thank everyone at Hampshire for an amazing journey over the years,” Crane said. “We have created some memories together that will last forever, but now is the time for me to start a new chapter. Thank you also to the fans for all the support and I wish everyone associated with the club all the best for the future.”

Northern Diamonds bowled Lancashire Thunder out for just 61 – the lowest total in the four-year history of the Charlotte Edwards Cup – on the way to a five-wicket victory with 6.2 overs to spare against their arch-rivals at Durham’s Seat Unique Riverside.Scotland left-arm seamer Rachel Slater returned a superb three for 12 from four overs bowled straight through with the new ball, while opener partner Lizzie Scott also struck twice added to two wickets for the off-spin of Erin Burns in a final group clash which started with neither side able to qualify for Saturday’s Finals Day.Having almost perfectly made use of helpful bowling conditions, the Diamonds slipped to 37 for four in this helter-skelter contest. But Thunder had left themselves with too much to do, and their former batter Rebecca Duckworth steered the hosts over the line with an unbeaten 21.Both sides finished this competition with three wins from their 10 matches. Diamonds have won their last two and Thunder have lost their last two.Given the Diamonds are hosted by Yorkshire as a region, this was the first of two Roses T20s in as many nights, with the men’s teams facing off at Headingley in the Vitality Blast tomorrow. And the first blow was struck by the White Rose county in emphatic fashion.Diamonds got off to a near-perfect start, beginning with the correct call at the toss.Captain Hollie Armitage elected to bowl on a green pitch which offered obvious seam movement and also prodigious swing for Slater and Scott, the latter playing her first game of this season’s T20 competition.Thunder slipped to 19 for four inside the opening five overs, losing key trio Emma Lamb, Australian Katie Mack and in-form Seren Smale, whose 88 not out in their defeat at Central Sparks on Friday represented – at the time – the highest score by any batter in this competition.Scott had Fi Morris and Mack caught, the latter brilliantly by a diving Katherine Fraser at backward point, and left-armer Slater bowled Lamb and Smale.Unfortunately for Thunder, things got worse quickly, and 13 from Tara Norris batting at number nine proved to be their highest score. Only three batters reached double figures as a procession of batters came and went on a sunny North East day.Captain Ellie Threlkeld was run out from cover at the striker’s end before debutant all-rounder Grace Johnson chipped Slater to mid-off – 24 for six in the seventh.Kate Cross was bowled by Australian Burns before, considering the circumstances, the riches of back-to-back boundaries through the covers for Norris off former Thunder seamer Sophia Turner took the score to 50 for seven in the 11th.But it was only a brief respite. Norris was bowled on the pull at Scotland off-spinner Katherine Fraser before Liberty Heap was stumped off Katie Levick’s leg-spin.And when Sophie Morris chipped Burns to cover, Thunder were all out inside 15 overs for a record low total.Left-arm spinner Morris and new ball seamer Cross then both struck twice apiece to give Diamonds something to think about at 37 for four after eight overs, 25 runs still needed.England’s Cross trapped Emma Marlow lbw and had Bess Heath caught behind to finish with figures of two for 14 from four overs.Duckworth’s unbeaten 21 represented the highest score of the match.

After a dramatic end to the Super Eight stage, with Afghanistan winning a thriller against Bangladesh in St Vincent to knock out Australia, the four semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup 2024 have been confirmed: Group 2 toppers South Africa will take on Afghanistan in the first semi-final, while Group 1 leaders India will face England in the second semi-final.The first semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan will start at 8.30pm local time on Wednesday, June 26, at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. The second semi-final between India and England will be at 10.30am Thursday morning, June 27 (local time) at Guyana’s Providence Stadium.India had been allotted the second semi-final in Guyana well before the tournament started, irrespective of their Super Eight finish. That match will start at 8pm India time on June 27.The playing conditions for the two semi-finals, though, are different. The second semi-final, featuring India and England, will not have a reserve day because of a single day’s gap between that match and the final.However, a total of 250 minutes of additional time is available for each semi-final. The first semi-final will have an extra 60 minutes at the end of the day’s play and a further 190 minutes on the reserve day, starting from 2pm local time. The second semi-final will have the entire 250 minutes available on the scheduled day since it doesn’t have a reserve day.Additionally, for a game to be constituted as complete in the semi-finals and final, both teams should bat a minimum of 10 overs per innings, as opposed to five overs per innings in the rest of the tournament. This could be significant as rain has been forecast at both venues, and the playing conditions state that in case of a washout, the team that finishes higher in their respective Super Eight groups (India and South Africa, in this case) will proceed. In case the final is abandoned because of poor weather, the two finalists will be declared joint winners.

Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed inflicted a late collapse on South Africa to bowl them out for an under-par 263 in the opening ODI in Faisalabad.On a dry, flat batting surface, it allowed Pakistan to control the tempo of the chase, one in which they further tightened their grip with an 87-run opening stand in the first 15 overs. South Africa battled hard through the middle overs to drag the hosts back, but Mohammad Rizwan, freshly stripped of the ODI captaincy, shepherded his side calmly through the middle overs with 55, while Salman Agha chipped in with a half-century of his own.But it wasn’t without a dramatic late stumble that almost derailed Pakistan right at the death, needing a late Mohammad Nawaz six to see Pakistan through to a final-over two-wicket win that should have been more comfortable than it ultimately was.Pakistan appeared to have complicated a chase that – at the outset – looked especially straightforward. With 12 overs to go, Pakistan needed just 69 with seven wickets in hand and their two most reliable batters, Rizwan and Agha, having compiled a 91-run partnership. But Corbin Bosch, Pakistan’s tormentor-in-chief this series, struck when Rizwan flicked straight to deep backward square, and Pakistan suddenly began to find run-scoring hard.Salman Agha and Mohammad Rizwan added 91 together•Associated Press

However, they retained wickets as Hussain Talat and Agha kept counting the runs down, albeit a little more conservatively than Pakistan might have wished. The upshot, however, was a run-a-ball 45-run stand that took Pakistan to less than 30 runs away from a series lead. But when Talat misjudged a slower ball and looped one to mid-off, George Linde took a stunning catch diving forward, and threw the ball and the game back up into jeopardy.Linde would come back into the attack, ball turning square by this stage, and send back Hasan Nawaz, who saw fit to come down the crease against the turning ball and attempt a straight slog, already halfway down the crease when he was stumped. Pakistan’s plight became even drearier when, 12 runs shy, Agha holed out to Donovan Ferreira, who covered a huge chunk of the Iqbal Stadium before taking a catch that dismissed Pakistan’s anchor.With the equation suddenly ten in seven, it was thanks to a straight hit from Nawaz down the ground of the final ball of the 49th that brought the game irrevocably in Pakistan’s control. There was time enough for Nawaz to be dismissed with the scores level, with Pakistan limping over the finish line – quite literally – when one thudded into Naseem’s pads as they scuttled through for a legbye. It seemed an apt metaphor for the ultimate unconvincing manner of Pakistan’s win.It needed to be nothing like that, especially with Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub batting. The duo matched South Africa’s opening pair in the venom of their opening stand, finding boundaries and sixes in the first 15 that took them to well beyond the required rate. It was only a half-hour of pressure from South Africa’s spinners, Bjorn Fortuin and Ferreira, that turned a cakewalk into a contest.On ODI debut, Donovan Ferreira dismissed both Pakistan openers•Associated Press

Ferriera struck first with an arm ball that skidded into Ayub as he shaped for a cut. He would double up two overs later as Fakhar mistimed a slog that found long-on before Fortuin struck the dagger into Faisalabad’s hearts. With Babar Azam crawling along to 7, he got one to skid along the angle and trap him plumb in front, both bowler and batter barely waiting for the umpire’s decision.But Pakistan’s stalwarts of late salvaged the situation and steered Pakistan back on course. In their slightly humdrum yet dependable way, Rizwan and Agha kept turning the strike over and taking Pakistan closer to South Africa’s total. Most crucially, they avoided the fate of South Africa in the middle overs, denying the visitors the constant flurry of wickets that had characterised the first innings and hamstrung South Africa.This series has seen six captains across the two sides, and yet, it has been the home skipper who has won the toss each time. After winning their sixth on the trot, Pakistan elected to chase. Through the debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius and the returning Quinton de Kock, the visitors may have given Pakistan reason to regret that decision with a near-flawless start.They took on Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem early and refused to let the spin of Agha or Abrar settle either. Pretorius, who took much of the early impetus, danced down the ground to drive Agha over cover in the innings’ eighth over, while de Kock smashed Abrar over long-off to bring up the 50-run stand.By the end of his first three overs, Agha had leaked 30, and Shaheen was forced to turn to Ayub, and that is where Pakistan began to regain some control. South Africa continued to tick along at a fair clip as Pretorius completed a 48-ball 50, but Pakistan starved him of the strike for the next few overs. Even so, South Africa had got to 98 in the 16th over before Pretorius tried to carve Ayub through the offside, only for Nawaz to complete a sharp catch diving to his weaker right side.For the moment, though, South Africa were not to be slowed down by one bump. Tony de Zorzi made his intentions clear by creaming Nawaz over the top for a six so huge it flew out of Iqbal Stadium and required a replacement ball. De Kock was milking the spinners and getting a boundary away each over, with one through short fine off Ayub, bringing up his own half-century in his comeback ODI.Abrar Ahmed came back well in his later spells•Getty Images

The reintroduction of Naseem would serve as the first real break on South Africa’s careening sled. He’d copped 19 in his first three, but coming around the wicket to the two left-handers, he conceded just one in his return over, and when Ayub kept things tight at the other end, Naseem struck in the following over.It was the free-flowing de Kock who, cramped for room from the angle, chipped onto the stumps as he tried to guide the ball fine. Ayub struck six balls later to extinguish de Zorzi’s innings in its embryonic stages, and the momentum began to shift.South Africa lacked batting heft lower down the order. Sinethemba Qeshile’s back-to-back boundaries off Shaheen broke the shackles, while captain Matthew Breetzke walloped Abrar for a six and a four as South Africa attempted a relaunch. But Nawaz induced a top edge from Qeshile off the first ball of the next over, and from thereon Pakistan began to punch their way through a brittle South Africa.It was the first of five wickets to fall within 37 runs as Pakistan gutted their way through South Africa. Abrar got rid of Breetzke and trapped Fortuin first ball, almost believing he had a hat-trick when the umpire raised his finger for his third delivery in a row, but on that occasion, an inside edge denied him the honour.Bosch shielded Ngidi from the strike and put on a valuable 41 runs at the very end, but the resigned disappointment on South African faces at the ultimate score they’d posted told the real story. Four hours later, it was clear how just a few more runs might have made all the difference.

Chair of Australia’s selectors George Bailey has expressed sympathy with Sam Konstas after his Test omission, while former captain Steve Waugh drew parallels with his own career as a young player trying to find his way.After a tough tour of the West Indies, where he made just 50 runs in six innings, Konstas’ fate was sealed by an indifferent start to the Sheffield Shield season, where he has got one half-century in six innings. Prior to that, though, he hit a hundred for Australia A in India. Konstas, who recently turned 20, was handed his debut last summer against India at the MCG, where he took on Jasprit Bumrah in thrilling fashion but was then left out in Sri Lanka before being recalled in tough batting conditions in the Caribbean.”I feel for Sammy [Konstas] because at the moment, if he farts, it’s a headline,” Bailey said at the announcement of Australia’s squad for the first Ashes Test. “There’s a handful of young guys his age playing Shield cricket around the country, and they are all learning and are all going through the journey of becoming the best cricketer they can be, and Sammy is no different – he just happens to doing it under immense scrutiny.”Related

• Konstas dropped, Weatherald called up for first Ashes Test

• Labuschagne welcomes opening challenge with clear head

“We really like him… he’s been in and around the Boxing Day Test, he’s been on subcontinent tours, [and] he’s been on Aussie A tours. So we like the skillset, and [are] confident over the long run, it will continue to build out. It’s not going to be linear – no one’s passage through their career is linear – [but] the message is just to keep it simple: score runs and bat for as long as he can for New South Wales.”Speaking at a subsequent press conference, Bailey added: “He’s got a great outlook on life. He remains incredibly upbeat. The scrutiny on him is almost unprecedented on some levels.”Waugh, who spoke alongside the Waterford Crystal Ashes trophy, which is starting a tour of Australia, made his Test debut aged 20, also against India on Boxing Day at the MCG. He didn’t make a century until his 27th appearance, against England at the start of the 1989 Ashes. Eighteen months later, he was dropped in favour of his brother, Mark, but once recalled, went on to became one of Australia’s greatest batters with 32 Test centuries.”I feel a little bit sorry for Sam Konstas,” Waugh said shortly before the squad was confirmed. “He’s been in and out of the side a bit, and it actually reminds me a bit of myself when I first started playing for Australia. Not fully confident of being in the side, and up and down, and form not quite there. So he’s probably lacking a bit of confidence.”[My advice to Konstas would be] not to listen to everybody. Just trust one or two people around you. Go back to basics. At the end of the day, it’s really hard to learn how to play Test cricket while you’re playing Test cricket, and that’s what happened to me for a few years. I wasn’t really that finished product. I’d go back to Shield cricket, try and build some long innings, bat for as long as you can, and just get to know your game really well. And then [when] you walk out to play for Australia, you’re confident in what you’re doing.”I think, at the moment, he’s guessing how he’s meant to play. There’s a lot of expectations, so he’s probably not playing with a clear mind.”Konstas has potentially three more Sheffield Shield games to play before the BBL starts in mid-December, although Bailey said he would also be in consideration for the Prime Minister’s XI and Australia A fixtures during the first part of the Ashes.

Western Province opening batter Joshua van Heerden has become the first like-for-like injury replacement under a new trial for substitutes in cricket. Van Heerden replaced Edward Moore in a provincial four-day game against Lions at Newlands in the second round of the CSA’s first-class competition. Moore suffered a tear to his left adductor (inner thigh muscle) while fielding on the second day.The trial, which is also being conducted in Australia’s Sheffield Shield and India’s Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy, is part of an ICC initiative seeking a solution for teams that lose players to serious injury during a match.Like Australia, South Africa will consider both internal and external injuries (India are only looking at external injuries for now) and have a strict protocol for determining when a player can be replaced. If the injury is internal, such as a muscle tear, which was the case with Moore, the player is required to go for an Ultrasound and/or an MRI scan. The report is then sent to CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Hashendra Ramjee and CSA’s cricket operations manager Obakeng Sepeng who study the results and determine if the injury is serious enough to allow for replacement. They then contact the match referee to confirm the decision. If the injury is external, such as a visible dislocation or broken bone, the match referee can make the decision on a substitute in consultation with Dr Ramjee and Sepeng.Related

• BCCI introduces 'serious injury replacement substitute' rule

• CA to trial injury subs with tactical twist in Sheffield Shield

The injured player can only be replaced provided he has been ruled out of the match in its entirety. He will then be required to satisfy a “stand-down period of seven days”, as stated in CSA’s updated playing conditions before returning to play. In Australia’s case, substitutions are only allowed until stumps on the second day and the injured player is mandated a 12-day non-playing period. Like Australia and India, South Africa are only trialling the system in multi-day cricket for now.The differences in protocol stem from the ways in which different countries want to trial the system. They will all report back to the ICC, which could then come up with regulations for like-for-like substitutions in the international game. Currently, substitutions in international cricket are only allowed for concussion.