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A selection of what the media are saying following the release of the reviews into Australian cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2018Greg Baum, The AgeThe individual could only dissemble and squirm. Peever said he had taken responsibility, “voluntarily” commissioning two “independent” reports and transparently and fully releasing their contents and findings. As if he had any choice to order up the reports. As if they could credibly have been anything other than independent… And yet still presiding is the man who sat atop the previous dispensation, the one that neglected the spirit of cricket, for which he says he accepts full responsibility while everyone else cleans out their lockers and desks. Even if only as a figurehead, it is an uncomfortable position for him, incongruous in the eyes of the cricket world; in a word, untenable.Tracey Holmes, ABCCricket has become a commodity, a business, where only numbers matter, and the human element — ethics, morals and personal values — has diminished to the point of hardly being recognised. Cricket Australia did not deliberately set out to get to this position but, the Ethics Centre report suggests, it was a foreseeable consequence of the way the governing body has gone about making the success of the men’s team the measure of its reputational standing.Patrick Smith, The AustralianPeever could not middle any delivery aimed at knowing why he is still in charge of the sport when even the most sympathetic interpretation of good governance would demand he step away. The review by The Ethics Centre identified what was essentially a cultural cesspool. Deaf to advice, irrational abhorrence to defeat, crass and offensive behaviour, barely a trace of respect between officials and players. Peever, as chairman, and others within Cricket Australia, had to accept responsibility because they failed hopelessly to show appropriate leadership.Gideon Haigh, The AustralianIn a corporate model, there are external agents, such as regulators, such as institutions, such as government. Chairs resign; boards reconstitute; executives get fired, and even have bonuses clawed back. At Jolimont, somehow, a small elite award themselves promotions, new terms, fat benefits, cheery farewells. Let’s not forget that the only reason we have been afforded this glimpse of the degree of cricket’s organisational dysfunction is because a vigilant cameraman spied a cricketer scratching a cricket ball; otherwise CA would still be stumbling along counting its millions, oblivious to the players’ discomfiture and the public’s discontent.Sam Perry, The GuardianIt is a wicked problem for the governing body. Already under pressure from a sceptical public to enact concrete change following Dr Longstaff’s findings, any decision to uphold the player bans without requisite and tangible leadership accountability would smack of the precise double-standards they stand accused of in the culture review. Should their executive survival instinct remain strong, another route would be to reduce the bans applied to the trio, though it would infer poor original judgment. But it takes special mental gymnastics to at once reform a “win at all costs” attitude, and to simultaneously conclude that Smith and Warner deserve an early return. Australia will of course win more games with these two in the side.Robert Craddock, News CorpAdministrators can pound the pulpit as much as they like but the success of any renewed push for the spirit of cricket rests squarely on the shoulders of the players. Passion tends to be at its strongest at the start of projects. If player commitment is patchy now, how will it be when the battle starts? The most significant part of the review is Australia is now a prisoner of its own improved standards. The bar has been lifted. The standard has been set. Now, can anybody bat?

Rumesh Ratnayake’s appointment does not have any immediate impact on Chaminda Vaas, who is the fast-bowling coach presenting working with the national team

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Aug-2017Sri Lanka Cricket has appointed former quick Rumesh Ratnayake to the top fast-bowling coaching job in the country. As SLC’s head of fast bowling, Ratnayake will work closely with Sri Lanka’s high-performance centre, and will oversee the work of the board’s other fast-bowling coaches, including whoever is posted with the national team. He may not himself work and tour with the Sri Lanka side, however.”Ratnayake will head the national fast-bowling programme, spearheading its talent identification, skills development and training processes in cohesion with the national high-performance plan,” an SLC release said.Ratnayake’s appointment does not have any immediate impact on Chaminda Vaas, who is the fast-bowling coach presently working with the national team. SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha did state, however, that the fast-bowling coach embedded with the Sri Lanka side may change from tour to tour.”All the fast-bowling coaches will work under Rumesh,” Gurusinha told ESPNcricinfo. “We will then work with the high-performance centre to get the specialist coaches in whenever the national team needs. We will take specialists to different tours. If the head coach says, ‘I want so-and-so’, we will put a request to high performance and get that coach.”Ratnayake’s most recent high-profile coaching position with Sri Lanka was during the 2015 World Cup, where he worked as a supplementary fast-bowling coach with the national team, also alongside Vaas. He had also been interim head coach during Australia’s tour to Sri Lanka in 2011.One of the fastest Sri Lanka bowlers in the 1980s, Ratnayake had taken 73 Test wickets at an average of 35.10 during his playing career.

Jason Mohammed steered Guyana Amazon Warriors to a thrilling four-wicket win over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre after Dwayne Smith’s scorching 62 off 36

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJason Mohammad hit six fours during his unbeaten 42 off 29 balls•CPL/Sportsfile

Jason Mohammed steered Guyana Amazon Warriors to a thrilling four-wicket win over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre after Dwayne Smith laid the platform for the chase of 165 with a scorching 62 off 36.Smith’s pyrotechnics in the first 10 overs included three fours and five sixes, and helped the visitors race to 91 by the halfway stage of their innings. However, his dismissal off the first legitimate ball of the 11th over enabled Patriots to claw their way back with regular strikes. Chris Lynn was run out two balls after Smith’s departure, while Chris Barnwell and Anthony Bramble nicked behind.With Amazon Warriors still requiring 30 off the last three overs, Mohammed took charge. He did so with aplomb, finding timely boundaries as the Patriots pacers missed their lengths in the slog overs. With two needed off two, Mohammed mistimed a slog towards midwicket, but Faf du Plessis, sprinting in from the deep, could not hold on to the catch and the batsmen scampered through for two to seal victory with a ball to spare. Mohammed finished with an unbeaten 42 off 29 balls.Earlier, Sohail Tanvir was Amazon Warriors’ hero with the ball. The left-arm seamer began with a maiden, which included the wicket of Lendl Simmons for a five-ball duck. Tanvir was then re-introduced in the closing overs and conceded only 12 runs in his last two overs, while taking three wickets, including those of set batsmen Devon Thomas and Thisara Perera. Tanvir finished with figures of 4 for 20 while Australia legspinner Adam Zampa took 3 for 34 on CPL debut.While middle-order cameos from Thomas, Perera and Brad Hodge helped Patriots to to 164 for 9, that total proved to be not quite enough in the end.

The only optimistic note on a grey day at Old Trafford was that Tom Smith’s back operation had been a success. Smith, appointed Lancashire captain in February, has led them in just one championship game

Paul Edwards06-Jul-2015Lancashire 96 for 4 v Essex
ScorecardNews that Tom Smith’s back operation promised to be a success lifted a grey Manchester day•Getty Images

As the clans gathered at Cardiff and Yorkshire ran through Warwickshire quicker than stomach trouble on a campsite, one did not have to be a cricketing paranoid to think that the main action was taking place many miles away from Emirates Old Trafford this damp Monday.The only optimistic note of the grey afternoon was struck when it was reported that Tom Smith ‘s back operation had been a success. Smith was appointed Lancashire captain in February but has been able to lead his team in just one championship game this season.Yet the 25.4 overs that were possible on the first day of Lancashire’s Division Two match against Essex were important to players in both teams. By common agreement Lancashire produced their worst championship cricket of the season in last week’s grimy draw against Northamptonshire. Glamorgan, third, may trail by 50 points but they have a couple of games in hand and still have to play Lancashire twice. Ashley Giles will be on the lookout for the least speck of complacency among his players.And as Glamorgan fought their own battle against the weather in the urban pastoral of Queen’s Park, Chesterfield, they may have been heartened to hear of Lancashire’s struggle to a very moderate 96 for 4 against Essex on a day when James Porter added Paul Horton and Karl Brown to the 15 opening batsmen he had already sent packing this season.Porter bowls with a commendably high action and he is not scared to pitch the ball up. Those qualities may have led to him being milked for a few boundaries as the openers added 48 in 8.2 overs on the first morning but they also helped him achieve his successes.The first of these came when Horton pushed forward at a ball which moved enough off the seam to catch the outside edge and fly to the safe hands of Jesse Ryder at first slip; the second arrived just two balls later as Porter’s bounce surprised Karl Brown with the resulting nick being safely cupped by second slip Liam Dawson.If that catch helped Dawson feel that he belonged in the first game of his one-month loan from Hampshire, what happened over the next 15 overs may have turned him into an adopted son of Southend. Summoned into the attack by James Foster in the 16th over of Lancashire’s innings, the slow left-armer’s third ball had Alviro Petersen leg before for 14 when he played back to a delivery to which he might have gone forward.Having lunched on a moderate 92 for 3, the home side’s innings trespassed into outright mediocrity when Ashwell Prince tried to pull the first ball of the afternoon session to the boundary but only bottom-edged it onto his stumps. That gave Dawson his second wicket of a day which was soon to be cut short by the weather. A typically pugnacious clout over mid-on by the new batsman, Alex Davies, was the last scoring shot before a shower sent the players back to the pavilion just before two o’clock.

Twelve months ago, the chances of Ricky Ponting being part of the Australian side for this year’s home series against South Africa seemed to be almost non-existent

Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane06-Nov-2012In South Africa this time last year, Ricky Ponting’s days as a Test batsman appeared to be rapidly dwindling. At 36, he was enduring the leanest patch of his long career, having not scored a Test century for nearly two years. Such slumps are usually terminal for batsmen in their late thirties. The chances of him making it all the way through the 2011-12 Australian summer appeared slim. The chances of him being part of the side for this year’s home series against Graeme Smith’s men seemed to be almost non-existent.

Ponting confident of fitness

• Ricky Ponting is confident the hamstring niggle that required him to be withdrawn from Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield match on Friday won’t affect his chances of playing at the Gabba. Ponting batted in the nets on Tuesday and will increase his workload over the remainder of the week. “I did everything that was required today,” Ponting said. “I’ve been pretty confident from the last three days, since the end of the Shield game in Hobart. I didn’t do any running today. I was limited with what I could do in the nets but that was just precautionary. With two days to go training-wise before the Test, I’ll ramp things up tomorrow, do a little bit of running tomorrow and batting against the bowlers and then top things up on Thursday but so far I’m very positive.”

Fast forward 12 months and Ponting is not only part of the team, he is its form batsman. David Warner and Michael Hussey have had scant first-class preparation. Michael Clarke has had some starts for New South Wales without going on. Ed Cowan hasn’t reached 50 in his four Sheffield Shield games this summer. Meanwhile, Ponting has piled up the runs for Tasmania and is on top of the Shield run tally with 355 at 118.33.Most importantly, he has fixed a technical flaw that was undermining his entire game. On Melbourne Cup day last year, Ponting shuffled across his stumps in Potchefstroom and was lbw to Vernon Philander for 2. He went on to be dismissed cheaply in the same way in three of the four Test innings that followed, once by Philander and twice by Dale Steyn. It was a trigger movement that was threatening to end his career.”It was technical. You don’t go from playing the way I was playing to getting hit on the pad as often as I was without something being wrong,” Ponting said in Brisbane on Tuesday. “The frustrating thing for me through that period was that I identified it really early in the series and I was training really hard and trying to rectify it and still getting out the same way. It just took a long time to break the habit that I was in and the cycle I was in.”I’m doing things a little bit differently at training now, with the way that I train and prepare. Some of the drills that I’m working on have made me feel a lot better balanced at the crease and certainly not getting hit on the pad as much as I was 12 months ago. My pre-ball movements were a little bit earlier than what they normally were. I was trying to move early to give myself a little bit more time but it was actually having a detrimental effect. I was actually moving too early and locking off and not being able to move again after that.”Gradually, he worked out how to address the problem and the runs piled up during the home series against India in December and January, when he made 62, 60, 134, 7, 221 and 60 not out. He made more runs in that series than he had in his previous four series combined. Ponting has tried not to look back at that South African tour too often since then, but he concedes that things couldn’t have gotten much worse.”There’s no doubt it was a lowlight,” he said. “I was training really hard and not getting the results I was after. At that stage where I was batting we needed to be getting results if the team was going to win games. Whenever you fail it’s not just about you, it’s about feeling like you’ve let your team-mates and your mates down. It was a low moment.”I batted my way back in the second innings of that last Test match over there and then started the series well here against New Zealand and things turned around in the summer. Pretty much from the end of that series in South Africa until now I’ve been a pretty consistent run scorer in all the games I’ve played. Some of the things I’m working on are starting to pay dividends.”Now, Ponting finds himself preparing to take on Steyn, Philander and Morne Morkel once again, this time at the Gabba, a venue that fast bowlers always enjoy. Steyn is the ICC’s No.1-ranked Test bowler and Philander, who debuted in Cape Town during last year’s series against Australia, has rocketed to No.2, while Morkel sits at No.9. Ponting said despite the class of South Africa’s attack, Australia’s experience at the Gabba would hold them in good stead.”We know the ball swings around a little bit up here. All of our batsmen have played enough here to know how to combat it,” he said. “They’re all good bowlers and their records speak for themselves, especially over the last couple of years. Philander burst onto the scene last year.”We’ve played a lot against Morkel over the years and had a reasonable record against him, us as a team, and Steyn is one of the best bowlers of the last four or five years. The thing about their attack is they’re all different bowlers. They’re all slightly different and that makes a good attack. There’s not much opportunity for our batsmen to relax but that’s what Test cricket is all about.”

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke is adamant his deputy Shane Watson will open the batting in the Test series against South Africa, despite Watson’s concession that his role in the team is changing

Daniel Brettig04-Oct-2011Australia’s captain Michael Clarke is adamant his deputy Shane Watson will open the batting in the Test series against South Africa, despite Watson’s concession that his role in the team is changing.Having bowled plenty of important overs for Australia in Sri Lanka, and seen his batting returns diminished as an indirect result, Watson is again toying with the concept of moving down the order, as he plays exclusively as a batsman for New South Wales in the Twenty20 Champions League in India.However, Clarke has no intention of messing further with the balance of a batting order that underwent significant change in Sri Lanka, where Shaun Marsh staked a strong enough claim for the No.3 spot to push Ricky Ponting and Clarke himself down to Nos.4 and 5.”My mind hasn’t changed since Sri Lanka,” Clarke said. “Right now I think he’s best for the team opening the batting and that’s certainly where he’ll bat in South Africa.”Prior to the upheaval wrought by the Argus review, Watson and Phillip Hughes had been identified by the national selectors as Australia’s preferred opening pair from now until the next Ashes series. Simon Katich was acrimoniously dumped in the process.Hughes settled speculation about his place with a fine century in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, and can now look forward to South Africa, where he first made his name as an unorthodox but destructive international opening batsman in 2009.”When we left Sri Lanka he was excited he made some runs at the end of that tour and got another hundred for Australia which is fantastic,” Clarke said. “He knows he’s had some success over there, so I think he’s pretty excited to get over there and bat in those conditions again.”Hughes’ success on that tour was emblematic of Australia’s unexpected 2-1 series victory over the South Africans, and those memories will now be fused with the confidence derived from a committed, organised and thorough team display in Sri Lanka.”I think we can take a lot of confidence out of it, but we went there planning and hoping to win the series, whether it be the one-day game or the Test series,” Clarke said. “So we weren’t shocked but we knew it took a lot of hard work.”That’s probably what it did more than anything else, it showed us how hard it is to win in those tough conditions and I’m certain South Africa is going to be the same, a really tough test to have success over there.”We won’t be slackening off, if anything we’re going to be working harder. We’re trying to get better every day, so there’s certainly no room for taking things for granted.”Australia’s batsmen face the challenge of adjusting back up to the higher bounce to be found on the veld, after a succession of low wickets on the subcontinent, both in Sri Lanka and during the Champions League. To this end, Clarke and others will make the most of the next two weeks before departure ahead of the ODI series that precedes the Tests. Cameron White’s T20 team will depart on Saturday.”It’s as big a challenge no doubt, conditions are a lot different,” Clarke said. “I’ve had the opportunity to look at Sri Lanka and look at the pros and cons, the areas we need to improve, and that’s really important for me over the next week to make sure planning with Troy Cooley and the other coaches, that we are trying to improve a few of those areas.”But South Africa are going to be tough, their own conditions, I think the wickets will probably suit us a bit more, our own fast bowlers I know are looking forward to getting over there and seeing a bit more pace and bounce than there was in Sri Lanka. But it’s going to be a really tough tour.”I think the advantage we have for the guys that are home can now prepare in Australian conditions, which are very similar to South African conditions. The next week or so that’ll be my plan, to do as much batting as I can, whether it be the SCG on outdoor wickets or indoor nets with the bowling machine, and hopefully that’ll hold us in good stead.”

After playing just eight Tests, Darren Sammy finds himself catapulted to the forefront of West Indies cricket in a time of upheaval and change, but none of this appears to faze him

Tariq Engineer21-Oct-2010Darren Sammy never dreamed of being the West Indies captain. He once said his goal was to be the workhorse of the side. Yet after playing only eight Tests, he finds himself catapulted to the forefront of West Indies cricket in a time of upheaval and change, with a tough tour of Sri Lanka on the horizon, but none of this appears to faze him.”I am going to be bold and frank,” Sammy told ESPNcricinfo. “I will let the players know what I expect and I, myself, will set an example. I will bring out the passion, the energy, and the commitment to West Indies cricket.”Sammy was given the captaincy after his predecessor Chris Gayle, and vice-captain Dwayne Bravo chose not to sign central contracts last month. The pair, along with Kieron Pollard, have forged lucrative Twenty20 careers in domestic tournaments, including the IPL, and refused WICB’s contracts which stipulated that they must make themselves available for the West Indies team at all times.The selectors decided it was important to have a captain who wanted to make that commitment, and placed Sammy and the Australian-born batsman Brendan Nash in charge of the Test squad until the end of the 2011 home series, ending Gayle’s three-year period at the helm of the team. Gayle and Bravo are in the squad that is headed to Sri Lanka, and Sammy is confident of having his former captain’s support.”Ever since I started my career in 2004, Chris has been the one who has made me feel comfortable. I have a good relationship with him, and with most of the players. He has said he will give me and the team his full support, which I know he means.”Sammy said he doesn’t feel any pressure to justify his place despite not being a regular member of the Test squad since he marked his Test debut in 2007 with 7 for 66 at Old Trafford. Since then he has been in and out of the side, averaging 19.40 with the bat and 27.74 with the ball. “I have full confidence in my ability,” Sammy said. “When I have been given the opportunity to play Test cricket, my stats show that I have done well.”West Indies have slipped to seventh place in the ICC Test rankings and eighth in the ODI chart and Sammy, obviously, is keen to lead the side back up the table. To do this he talks about thinking clearly on the field and executing properly, about doing the right things. But most of all, he talks about playing with pride and passion – something West Indies teams of recent vintage have often lacked.”I vow to represent the West Indies with pride and dignity,” he said. “Whatever we do, whether we are fielding, batting or bowling, you do with pride.”He realises this is no overnight task, that West Indies are in a rebuilding phase, and the Sri Lanka tour is merely the first step in what will be a long journey back to prominence. He remains optimistic though, that everyone is on the same page. “It will take a strong work ethic and discipline to get us there. We have to work as a team. We have to enjoy what we do. When we do that, and when we play well, it brings lots of smiles to the Caribbean people.”Sammy is acutely aware of the heritage of West Indies cricket and the responsibility of the current generation to live up to it. “I am taking on a mountain that carries so much legacy,” he said, “and I will also remind the guys of the great legacy that we carry.” He talks about the honour of following in the footsteps of Frank Worrell, Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards as the captain of the side. Sammy’s comments are in contrast to Gayle’s, who has said more than once that he does not want to be captain, and that he wouldn’t be sad if Test cricket were to disappear.Sammy plans to pick the brains of Lloyd and Richards, as well as senior players in the current team, to help him become a better captain. However, he makes it clear he will ultimately be his own man.His expectations for the tour of Sri Lanka are simple – to compete. The squad contains a lot of new faces and he cites Shivnarine Chanderpaul as someone who sets “an excellent example” as a batsman and a cricketer that newcomers can look up to. Gayle is another player he feels can inspire the youngsters in the squad. Although Sulieman Benn will miss the first Test due to suspension, Sammy is confident the team has the bowling resources to trouble the Sri Lankan batsman.But beyond the mathematics of wins and losses, Sammy wants to put the smiles back on the faces of West Indies fans. He wants to make them feel the same way he felt when he first started watching cricket with his father. “That’s what Darren Sammy wants to do. Bring back the joy.”

Captain Nathan Ellis’ all-round effort not enough for Hurricanes, who folded for their lowest BBL total

AAP19-Dec-2024Hobart Hurricanes crumbled to their lowest BBL total, and lost Matthew Wade to a calf injury, in a shambolic six-wicket loss against Melbourne Renegades in Geelong.After being asked to bat first, Hurricanes’ innings at GMHBA Stadium lasted less than 13 overs on Thursday night as they were skittled for 74. They fell well short of their previous low benchmark – 91 against Sydney Sixers in 2015.New Zealander Tim Seifert, who pulled off a remarkable catch behind the stumps, belted an unbeaten 37 as Renegades chased down 75 in only nine overs.Captain Nathan Ellis saved Hurricanes from worse embarrassment, smashing 35 after coming to the crease at 32 for 6. Ellis then bowled superbly, taking 2 for 12 from his three overs, to clearly be Hurricanes’ best player.In a further blow for Hurricanes’ hopes of breaking through for their first title, Wade was assessed for a calf injury after pulling up sore behind the stumps. Wade, who was on the player microphone for Fox Cricket, expressed his frustration via the commentary when there was a long delay in being able to get off the field.Ben McDermott eventually replaced Wade as Hurricanes’ wicketkeeper after two overs of chaotic communication. The former Australia player didn’t return to the field for the rest of the match, sitting on the bench with a compression bandage on his calf.After conceding boundaries from his first two balls, Renegades seamer Tom Rogers struck back to take 3 for 25, including being on a hat-trick. Fellow opening bowler Fergus O’Neill also claimed wickets in consecutive deliveries. Captain Will Sutherland joined Renegades’ wicket party, finishing with career-best T20 figures of 3 for 14.It was the first BBL match in Geelong since last year’s match between Renegades and Perth Scorchers was abandoned due to an unplayable pitch.Renegades move to 1-1 after losing their opening game of the tournament on Monday night against Sixers. Hurricanes will attempt to put a disastrous start to the season behind them when they host Scorchers on Saturday.

Chasing 400, Australia crumbled to 217 all out in a rain-hit game in Indore

Sreshth Shah24-Sep-20230:53

Chawla: Suryakumar gives India a good headache

A statement century from Shreyas Iyer, a fifth ODI ton in the calendar year for Shubman Gill, a 37-ball 72 from Suryakumar Yadav and a three-wicket haul for R Ashwin gave India a crushing 99-run (DLS adjusted) win over Australia in Indore to clinch the ODI series 2-0.The India batters pumped 31 fours and 18 sixes in all to post 399 for 5 on a batting-friendly surface, but Australia didn’t enjoy the same run. They were hurt by Prasidh Krishna – who had replaced the rested Jasprit Bumrah in the XI – first and, after a second rain delay to the game, they came undone at the hands of the spinners, 217 all out in a contest where the gulf was massive.In the afternoon, a partnership of 200 in only 164 balls for the second wicket between Iyer and Gill asserted India’s dominance for the first 30 overs of the innings. In the last 20, KL Rahul (52), Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan (31) put in the finishing touches to leave Australia chasing a record target.Iyer, who was run out for 3 in Mohali, started with five fours in his first 14 balls, and just before the first-innings rain break, Gill too found his rhythm. They brought up a fifty stand in 29 balls and by the tenth over had taken India to 80 for 1. Even after the field spread out, the pair powered on, with Gill especially dominant down the ground.That helped him accelerate from a score of 9 in 19 balls to a half-century in just 37. Like Gill, Iyer too reached his fifty with a six, getting there in 41 balls. With small boundaries and a flat pitch on offer, they went at 7.8 per over between overs 11 to 20 to take India to 158 for 1. It was only for a brief period while getting to their respective centuries did they slow down at all.A cramping Iyer reached his third ODI century in the 30th over of the innings and the whole stadium was up on their feet to celebrate the occasion. He was handed a second life when Sean Abbott failed to take a catch cleanly off his own bowling, but departed soon after for a 90-ball 105. Two overs later, Gill completed his sixth ODI century, and while trying to clobber Cameron Green for a six down the ground, he too was out for a 97-ball 104.Shubman Gill was likely seeing the ball quite well in his Indore special•AFP/Getty Images

Both Rahul and Kishan, Nos. 4 and 5, started their innings with sixes to get off the mark. Rahul then hammered two more – including one that flew over the highest stand near deep midwicket. The 33-ball partnership of 59 was the perfect follow-up to the twin centuries with Kishan then falling to Adam Zampa for 31.For most of the first innings, 400 was a realistic target, especially with the wickets in hand, but Australia slowed the game for a few overs in the final powerplay. India were 311 for 4 in 43 overs with the run rate going the wrong way.Suryakumar, though, ensured that was but a temporary blip. He hit Green for four sixes in four balls in the 44th over which cost 26 runs. At the other end, Rahul fell for 52 off 38 but Suryakumar had found his range. He toyed with Abbott in a 17-run 47th over to reach his second fifty of the series in 24 balls.Australia had a forgettable bowling day, even if they didn’t do much wrong, which is how you know you’re playing in Indore. This ground is merciless on the bowlers and it was on display again as debutant Spencer Johnson conceded 61 in eight overs while Abbott was hit for 91 in 10. Green’s 2 for 103 made him the fourth Australian bowler to concede triple digits in ODIs.Prasidh provided the early jolt in the chase with his dismissals of Matthew Short (9) and Steven Smith (0) off consecutive balls, leaving David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne to rebuild. As they were motoring along, a second rain break came and shrunk the innings to 33 overs. The DLS-adjusted target – 317 – looked even more daunting.David Warner bats right-handed against R Ashwin•Getty Images

When play resumed, Ashwin came on and unleashed his bag of tricks. One variation had a right-handed Warner lbw. Another had Labuschagne seeing his stumps pegged back. And a third one was too good for Josh Inglis and his attempted sweep.With the pitch offering massive turn – in contrast to afternoon conditions – and Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja getting the ball to spit across the batters, it seemed like the end was near. When Carey was bowled by Jadeja and Green was run out in lazy fashion, all that was left was consolation runs.That’s what Abbott offered with his 36-ball 54 from No. 9. From 140 for 8, his boundary-laden innings dragged Australia past 200, with Josh Hazlewood giving useful support. Abbott thumped Ashwin for a six to reach his fifty in 29 balls, and even though it never threatened the result, his blitz of four fours and five sixes provided something positive for Australia before they slumped to their fifth ODI defeat in a row.The only negative for India was their fielding. They struggled in dewy conditions late in the day and let the lower-order batters boost their score. Jadeja finished the game with a terrific turning ball that rattled Abbott’s stumps in the 29th over, and finished with a three-for himself.The teams now move to Rajkot with both sides set to field full-strength XIs in the final ODI. In that sense, this game provided the fringe players a final chance to impress, with some more successful than others.

Nida Dar stands up with bat, ball and in the field to underpin her side’s victory

Valkerie Baynes19-Jul-2022An excellent combined Pakistan bowling effort through the middle overs stifled Ireland and sealed victory by 13 runs in their rain-hit T20I, which was reduced to 14 overs per side at Bready.Player of the Match Nida Dar set Pakistan up with a quick-fire 26 off 15 balls after Muneeba Ali had compiled a 24-ball 29 either side of an interruption after the rain that had delayed the start returned five overs in.Dar was also instrumental in containing Ireland after the hosts had enjoyed a promising four-over powerplay, as she, Tuba Hassan and Fatima Sana took one wicket apiece.Sana and Anam Amin were miserly over the last two overs which saw three run outs and an lbw in favour of Sana as Ireland’s task of chasing down the 23 runs still needed proved insurmountable.That came down largely to Hassan, Sana and Amin putting the clamp on Ireland through the middle overs after top-scorer Gaby Lewis and Rebecca Stokell reached 34 without loss after four overs.Hassan broke through when she bowled Stokell for 19 with one that skidded onto off stump. Lewis and Orla Prendergast managed just nine runs off the ensuing three overs before Dar had Prendergast caught by Iram Javed off a top edge behind point.Hassan and Amin combined to run out Laura Delaney, attempting a second after she had driven Amin to sweeper cover, Hassan firing the ball back into the bowler to great effect and Amin conceded just four runs off the over.Lewis had started brightly with 15 off just seven balls including back-to-back fours, pulled and swept off Amin in just the second over of Ireland’s reply. She dealt Kainat Imtiaz similar treatment through the off side in the seventh to reach 32 off 20 deliveries but from there the going got tougher.Lewis eventually fell for 47 off 41, run out in the final over, cutting Sana towards Dar, who collected and threw back to Sana at the batter’s end as Lewis came back for a second run.Two dot balls from Sana followed before she trapped Mary Waldron lbw and then Arlene Kelly was run out by yet another sharp throw in from Dar to the keeper.Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat, resuming on 34 for 1 after Ava Canning bowled Iram Javed on the first legitimate ball of the match, having sent down a leg-side wide to begin with.Delaney bowled Ali shortly after the restart with a full, straight delivery that pegged back off stump as Ali tried to swipe across the line to make it 43 for 2. Delaney struck again in her next over, bowling Bismah Maroof with one that skidded on and clattered into middle and off for 13.Dar and Ayesha Naseem put on 40 runs for the fourth wicket in the next four overs, Naseem striking Delaney for six over long off and Dar launching Jane Maguire over the midwicket fence.But Maguire accounted for both within moments of Dar’s m, bowling her with a slower ball before she had Naseem caught by Kelly at long on two balls later to finish with 2 for 14 from three overs.Ireland next face Australia on Thursday after their first match ended in a resounding nine-wicket win to the visitors.Delaney, the Ireland captain, said her side would “look to push the boundaries in the middle period” going forward.”Bitterly disappointing,” she said of the loss to Pakistan. “This is the challenge playing against some of the best sides in the world, you’re going to go out and you’re going to play good cricket and you’re still going to be beaten.”So we’ll go back, we’ll regroup again tomorrow with training. We play against Australia then on Thursday which we know again will be a really good contest but we’re just happy to be playing good cricket against competitive sides.”