Sophie Ecclestone has been preferred as the left-arm spinner in a 14 player squad for the first two ODIs against South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-20181:47

‘The hardest thing for England is winning after winning’

Left-arm spinner Alex Hartley, who played an important role in England’s World Cup final victory over India last year, has been left out of the one-day squad for the first two matches against South Africa.Sophie Ecclestone, the 19-year-old left-arm spinner, has been preferred having taken eight wickets in the three-match series against India in April during which Hartley took one wicket in the three games. Hartley claimed 2 for 58 at Lord’s last year, including the key wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur, when England beat India by nine runs to lift the World Cup.England are able to recall the experienced pair of Katherine Brunt and Sarah Taylor who both missed the tour of India. Brunt was recovering from a back injury while Taylor was left out as part of the management of her anxiety condition.Georgia Elwiss, Laura Marsh and Lauren Winfield also return having missed the trip to India. From the squad that travelled to India, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Tash Farrant, Fran Wilson, Bryony Smith and Katie George have been left out.”It should be a really exciting summer against two of the best teams in the world,” Mark Robinson, the head coach, said. “South Africa are an up-and-coming team with some really dangerous players. They pushed us close the last time we met them and we will have to be at our best to beat them.”It’s obviously great to have Katherine and Sarah back, and Lauren and Laura’s recent form has earned them recalls.”The South Africa series forms part of the ICC Women’s Championship and marks England’s first steps on the way to qualification for the 2021 World Cup. After the one-day series there is a triangular T20I tournament also featuring New Zealand before a one-day series against New Zealand in July.Squad Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Georgia Elwiss, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Nat Sciver, Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Danni Wyatt

The Nelson Mandela Bay Stars are considering going to court following the South African board’s decision to replace the originally planned T20 league

Firdose Moonda26-Jun-2018Cricket South Africa could be drawn into a messy legal battle, with a second T20 Global League (GLT20) franchise confirming it is considering legal action against CSA following the organisation’s decision to shelve the 20-over tournament and replace it with a league it will co-own with South African pay-television broadcaster SuperSport.The Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, owned by Dubai’s Channel Two and chaired by Ajay Sethi, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that unless CSA “sorts it out” by “either keeping all owners in the new league or paying us our future profits and damages”, the franchise will join the Durban Qalanders in weighing up court action.In a strong statement released on Tuesday, Sethi confirmed the Stars were “very happy” when CSA signed with SuperSport but then found it “shocking to hear that CSA had another agenda by putting owners out of the league”. The franchise called it “totally unethical”, and said “no federation will do that in any part of the world”.Though the Stars have accepted the refund of their USD 250,000 deposit, they insist this was their right because they had “made it very clear to CSA that if they don’t give a definite date for the new league, the deposit would be refunded”. However, the Stars insist that when the money was paid back to them, they sent communication to CSA, in which they said they believed they had retained their rights as owners. “CSA didn’t respond, that meant they had accepted our mail. Hence, by returning our refund, CSA cannot take our rights back as owners,” the Stars’ statement said.Sethi wants to see the original owners reinstated or paid out and believes cancellation of the GLT20 was caused by “personal agendas” and exacerbated by the departure of former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat, who conceptualised the tournament and parted ways with the organisation late last September just weeks before the inaugural event was due to take place.”We feel that they terminated the CEO to manipulate the process, this is totally unethical and no federation will do that in any part of the world,” the statement read. “Agendas of these few individuals has made all reputed owners suffer the damages.”In communication last week, CSA confirmed it had refunded owners’ deposits, though the Durban Qalandars had refused to provide banking details or take their money back, and were in the process of negotiating an amount for reimbursement of expenses the owners’ incurred. A letter seen by ESPNcricinfo offered the Qalanders USD 180,000 in costs, but they were unhappy with the amount, and they are not the only one. South Africa’s newspaper reported that Hiren Bhanu of the Pretoria Mavericks totalled his expenses at between USD 400,000 and 500,000, and criticised the new deal between CSA and SuperSport as a “monopoly”. The Benoni Zalmi owners are also believed to be disgruntled with the way the cancellation of the GLT20 has panned out.The three IPL owners, Shah Rukh Khan of the Cape Town Knight Riders, the GMR Group, who owned the Jo’burg Giants, and Preity Zinta of the Stellenbosch Kings as well as Sushil Kumar, a Singapore-based businessman with Corporation City Sports, have yet to make any public comments, though a statement from Kumar is expected soon.Since announcing the launch of a new league earlier this month, CSA has yet to reveal the structure of the tournament and is understood to still be deciding on the number of teams and foreign players. The league is expected to take place in November and December this year.As CSA has indicated before, it could be willing to engage franchise owners again once details of the new tournament have been finalised.”CSA does not intend to debate the matter through the media and as per our last letter to the owners remain available to any party who wishes to engage in the current process of planning the tournament,” a board statement said. “CSA indicated from the off set that the key revenue streams must first be secured re broadcasting rights and potential sponsors before detail of the tournament can be finalised. Once that have taken place engagement with other stakeholders will be possible.”June 27, GMT 0745 The story was updated to include CSA’s response.

The left-arm fast bowler is a like-for-like replacement for Junaid Khan

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2018Mohammad Irfan is set to make a maiden appearance in the Caribbean Premier League, with the Barbados Tridents snapping up the tall left-arm fast bowler. In what is as close a like-for-like replacement as the Tridents could have wished for, he replaces his fellow Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan, whose wife is expecting their first child.Irfan, 36, hasn’t played for Pakistan in nearly two years, but has been a regular on the franchise T20 circuit. He just finished a Global T20 Canada stint earlier this month, taking six wickets in as many games for the Edmonton Royals at an economy rate of 7.17. In the Pakistan Super League this year, he took 12 wickets for the Karachi Kings, putting him in the top ten on the wickets leader board. However, he did go at 9.61 runs per over, making him more expensive than any other bowler with five or more wickets in the entire competition.”It is a disappointment not to have Junaid available but the experience of another left-arm quick like Mohammed Irfan will be an asset to our campaign,” Tridents head coach Robin Singh said. “He is no stranger to international cricket and this know-how, coupled with his unique ability with the ball, means he will be a key part of the Tridents attack and a handful for opposing batsmen.”The Barbados Tridents, who are led by the West Indies captain Jason Holder, begin their campaign against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on August 12. The CPL kicks off on August 8, with the final on September 16.

Imad Wasim will be returning to Pakistan to train with the national side ahead of the Asia Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2018Jamaica Tallawahs have snapped up New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme as a replacement for Imad Wasim. Imad, who played six games for Tallawahs this season, will be returning to Pakistan to train with the national side ahead of the Asia Cup which is scheduled in September.De Grandhomme, who has played 38 limited-overs games for New Zealand, has been a regular on the franchise T20 circuit, with 2699 runs, at a strike rate of 167.43, and 61 wickets in 164 T20 games. He played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in this year’s IPL, scoring 131 runs in nine games at a strike rate of 155.95 and picking up two wickets. More recently, he scored 254 runs for Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast, at a strike rate of 170.46, while also picking up five wickets in 14 games.Tallawahs are currently third in the points table, having won three of their five matches so far.

Jasprit Bumrah snared a four-wicket haul, but the duo’s efforts carried West Indies, need a victory to stay alive in the series, to a competitive total

The Report by Sreshth Shah27-Oct-2018This really must be how opponents of Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan felt back in the day. It didn’t matter whether you neutralised the influence of the other eight New York Yankees batters or the other four men in the Chicago Bulls roster. But if you could negate the effect that Ruth or Jordan single-handedly brought to the game, then you were definitely going to win the contest. Simple.Virat Kohli must give opposition teams the same feeling. After posting 283, West Indies were against the ropes all evening despite only one India batsman going past 35. That one batsman was Kohli, and as long as he was in the middle, West Indies looked unlikely to win. That’s when Jason Holder took his biggest gamble in the 41st over.He introduced Marlon Samuels’ part-time offspin for the first time in this series, the risk paid off right away, Kohli fell for 107, and with that India’s hopes of a win came crashing. A batting line-up lacking depth – with Ravindra Jadeja left out, Bhuvneshwar Kumar batted at No. 7 – folded quickly, and India were bowled out for 240, falling short of their target by 44 runs in front of a sparse crowd that began to make their way out as soon as the India captain was dismissed. West Indies levelled the ODI series to 1-1 after three games and set the five-game contest up beautifully as it approaches its crescendo.That West Indies eventually did post 283 in the first innings was courtesy Shai Hope’s second-consecutive fifty-plus score and a 22-ball 40 from Ashley Nurse. Hope saw West Indies slip to 55 for 3 and rebuild a bit before another wobble left them at 121 for 5. But he anchored the innings throughout, looking comfortable against both pace and spin in warm Pune conditions and handed them a promising score by the time he was bowled five short of a third ODI century.Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the India bowlers in the afternoon. He returned to the XI after being rested earlier on and collected a four-wicket haul at an economy rate of 3.50. That played a considerable role in restricting West Indies to under 300 for the first time this series.Bumrah had two double-wicket bursts: first he removed openers Chandrapaul Hemraj and Kieran Powell with short-pitched deliveries that contorted them into uncomfortable positions. He then bowled delivery of the match in the back-end – a pinpoint yorker originating outside off and tailing into the stumps – to dismiss Hope on 95 just when West Indies looked to accelerate past 300 and followed it up with the wicket Nurse in the 50th over to cap off a terrific return into the ODI side. The rest of the India bowlers though, including the spinners, went for over 5.20 an over.Midway through the chase, it looked like Kohli would once again be the difference between the sides. His third consecutive ODI hundred – he became the first Indian to do so – had kept India in control despite their openers and middle order failing. He treated both spin and pace with disdain in his 119-ball innings, a chanceless one up until his dismissal.But it all unravelled after Kohli’s wicket. India still needed 64, with the asking rate above six, and that was simply too much for their lower order to pull off. Samuels cleaned up the tail, finishing with figures of 3 for 12, and ended up as West Indies’ most successful bowler on the night.Offspinner Nurse, the Man of the Match, too played his part in West Indies’ victory. And not only with the ball. His strike-rate of 181.81 in a 56-run ninth-wicket stand with Kemar Roach gave West Indies the necessary push after they had looked likely to be bowled out for under 250. But he commandeered a late assault with Roach hitting three sixes and five fours. Together, they creamed 21 runs off the 49th to ensure Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with figures of 1 for 70, and gave West Indies momentum that they carried into the mid-innings break. He then got the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan, lbw in front of middle stump, and Rishabh Pant, caught behind down the leg side, to keep West Indies alive.Barring Rohit Sharma, who fell for 8 to a Jason Holder outswinger, the rest of India’s top five got starts, but only Kohli capitalised. Dhawan fell to offspin for the fifth time in his last 15 innings, after getting to 35. Ambati Rayudu chopped a length ball onto his stumps off Obed McCoy after scoring 22. Pant failed to capitalise after rushing to 24 in 17 balls, and MS Dhoni edged one to the wicketkeeper off Jason Holder. India were 194 for 4 just before Dhoni fell, and seemed destined to win as long as Kohli was at the crease. But he showed that he’s human after all, and India showed their batting was susceptible to smart, tight bowling.In the afternoon, West Indies were asked to bat first under sunny conditions, and they followed a similar template to the first two ODIs. Hemraj fell early, Kieran followed soon after, Samuels failed again and Rovman Powell crumbled to spin once more. It was a Shimron Hetmyer-Hope partnership of 56 for the fourth wicket that lifted the visitors from 55 for 3 to 111 for 4.Hetmyer found his range early, depositing Yuzvendra Chahal for two sixes and Kuldeep Yadav for another. But when Kuldeep teased Hetmyer with a slow, flighted delivery, the batsman couldn’t resist a slog, dragged his foot out of the crease, as he missed, and was stumped by the fast hands of Dhoni. Hetmyer fell for 37, his lowest score of the series. Kuldeep, who finished with 2 for 52, added another wicket when he deceived Rovman four overs later with a dipping delivery that looked fuller than it actually was. Powell slogged wildly and toe-ended a catch to first slip where Rohit took a sharp one.Rovman’s dismissal left West Indies momentarily staring at a sub-200 total but Hope took charge of proceedings. He played the slower bowlers around the V for ones and twos, while taking on the inexperienced Khaleel Ahmed. He punched the left-arm pacer through the covers early in his innings, and as the afternoon progressed he found it easier to find the boundary off the quicks. A strangling spin-bowling spell in the middle overs did slow Hope’s progress towards his seventh ODI half-century, but when Khaleel returned for his third spell in the 33rd over, Hope crunched a cut to point and raised his bat to soak in the applause.With Jason Holder at the other end, Hope accelerated towards the back end. He swept Kuldeep into the boundary and heaved Khaleel over midwicket after getting to his fifty, helping West Indies go past 200 and eventually setting the base for their 283 total, only 12 less than the ground’s first-innings par score, but more than enough for the contest at hand.For this young West Indian side – missing key players who pulled out for various reasons – against an Indian line-up that could be considered full-strength barring the absence of Kedar Jadhav and Jadeja, the victory would allow them to dream big. This is, perhaps, the boost West Indies needed. They are now equal favourites to win the ODI series.

In front of a record SCG T20I crowd of 37,339, India levelled the series on the back of a fine performance by their spinners and another chasing masterclass from Virat Kohli

The Report by Andrew McGlashan in Sydney25-Nov-2018In front of a record SCG T20I crowd of 37,339 dominated by blue shirts, India levelled the T20I series on the back of a fine performance by their spinners followed by another chasing masterclass from Virat Kohli. A first-wicket stand of 67 in 5.3 overs broke the back of the pursuit before Kohli’s unbeaten 61 off 41 balls ensured a couple of India wobbles did not prove terminal.Australia had started promisingly after Aaron Finch decided to bat, but once again the home side struggled against the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav who conceded just 19 runs in his four overs. While survival was the main task against Kuldeep, Australia tried to attack Krunal Pandya which presented him with the best figures by a spinner in T20Is in the country.Australia briefly found a response with the ball after the rollicking opening stand ignited by Shikhar Dhawan, as first Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa then Glenn Maxwell and AJ Tye struck in quick succession, but there was no getting past Kohli who made his first significant contribution of a summer he is sure to have a central role in defining.Swept awayIt wasn’t always convincing, but Finch and D’Arcy Short gave Australia a solid – if not spectacular – base with an opening stand of 68. They were aided by some below-par India fielding, including Rohit Sharma’s drop of Finch at long-on when he had 22, but the pair also found the middle more frequently than they have of late. Things changed when India’s spinners were handed the ball. It was the wonderfully skillful Kuldeep who provided the breakthrough having Finch caught at short fine leg and he thought he had Glenn Maxwell lbw three balls later but there was enough turn to beat leg stump. However, Krunal, bowling flatter than Kuldeep, had no problems claiming a brace of lbws in consecutive deliveries: Short and Ben McDermott both out sweeping as Australia showed a reluctance to hit straight.The Kuldeep-Krunal double actKuldeep continued to befuddle Australia, despite their attempts to counter him with a reshuffled batting order, completing his third spell of the series at or under a run a ball and Krunal was able to feed off the pressure applied. The batsmen knew they had to attack at his end and he bagged himself 4 for 36. His series had turned around significantly since being taken to the cleaners in the opening game by Maxwell.Krunal Pandya and Virat Kohli celebrate Ben McDermott’s wicket•Getty Images

Now Krunal claimed Maxwell in consecutive innings after Kuldeep went for just seven runs off the 10 balls he bowled to him. Trying to break free, Maxwell couldn’t clear long-on where, this time, Rohit held on. Then Alex Carey, who had shown some classy touches to revive the innings, picked out deep midwicket. Kuldeep and Krunal: 8-0-55-5.The innings did not quite fall away as it threatened to as a combination of edges, hefty blows and desperate running from Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile scrambled 33 off the last 16 balls of the innings. But to highlight the fact that Australia had to battle to set a decent target, their total of 164 was the highest in T20Is without a six.Flattened by Rohit and Dhawan, finished by KohliFor the first three overs of the chase, Dhawan and Rohit bided their time as Starc, playing his first T20I for more than two years, pushed the speed gun upwards of 145kph. Against the last ball of Starc’s second over, Dhawan nailed a thunderous off drive and it was the prelude of what was to come. Both batsmen deposited Coulter-Nile into the stands and Stoinis’ first over was brutalised to the tune of 22 runs as the openers feasted on medium pace. India were already 62 for 0 with one over of Powerplay to go.Finch had little choice to return to Starc and the moved worked when he pinned Dhawan lbw with a rapid delivery which the DRS showed had struck pad first in line with leg stump. When Zampa, who bowled superbly in Brisbane, started with a wicket maiden that included a brilliant skidder to beat Rohit, there was a glimmer for Australia. That sense returned when KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant both played careless shots when all Kohli needed was support, but back-to-back boundaries by Kohli off Tye – the second a magnificent lofted six over long-off – pushed the game back India’s way and this time Australia didn’t have a response. The first series of three is shared. Now for the main course.

The coin toss has been replaced by the bat flip, with the winner of the call begin decided by which side up the cricket bat lands

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2018There will be no more “heads” or “tails” at the toss in the Big Bash. Instead it’s “hills” or “flats” as an Australian backyard tradition takes center stage.The coin toss has been replaced by the bat flip, with the winner of the call begin decided by which side up the cricket bat lands.On the backyards around Australia the favoured call is “hills” because of the natural tendency for the bat to rest on the flat side, but in order to retain the fairness in the Big Bash a specially modified bat has been made which, it has been assured, won’t favour the call.”For me it’s a great moment which reflects what BBL is about,” Cricket Australia’s head of the Big Bash League, Kim McConnie, told the ABC. “I’ve got it from great authority at our [bat maker] Kookaburra friends that this is a tested and weighted bat to deliver that equity.”McConnie expected some resistance to the new method of starting a match, but believed in the tournament trying innovations.”Some people don’t like change but I’d also challenge people to say when was the last time anyone watched the coin toss or really focused on it to a great extent?” she said. “Now we are making it much more relevant to families, we are creating a moment which is much more fitting with kids.”The first captain to flip the bat will be Brisbane Heat’s Chris Lynn against Adelaide Strikers on December 19. Who calls “hills” or “flats” remains to be seen as Travis Head is the Strikers captain but he is involved in the Test series against India.

India’s injury-management policies have resurfaced after Ravi Shastri revealed that Jadeja had been nursing a shoulder injury even before landing in Australia

Sidharth Monga in Melbourne23-Dec-20183:08

‘We didn’t want Jadeja to break down after a few overs in Perth’ – Shastri

Ravindra Jadeja has been carrying an injury from even before he landed in Australia, and yet he was named in the 13 for the Perth Test even when not fully fit, India’s coach Ravi Shastri has revealed. In trying to defend himself against criticism from all corners regarding the selection of the XI in Perth, Shastri has not only opened himself up to more criticism, but has also gone against what captain Virat Kohli said after the end of the Test.Kohli said that India would have played four fast bowlers even if the leading spinner R Ashwin had been fit. India went ahead with four quicks, a move that backfired and came under severe criticism from former players, most notably Sunil Gavaskar. Not only did India not have a spinner who could provide them control with the ball – the opposition spinner Nathan Lyon was the Man of the Match – they also fielded four No 11s by selecting Umesh Yadav ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.However, Shastri took a potshot at the critics, saying they had no idea of the facts and that if Jadeja had been fully fit, he would have played. In the same breath, Shastri also went on to suggest they would risk Jadeja at 80% in Melbourne, which is roughly where he was at in Perth, if Ashwin is not back to full fitness.”When you are millions of miles away, it is very easy to fire blanks,” Shastri said of the critics of the selection. “Problem with Jaddu was that he had taken an injection four days into coming to Australia because of some stiffness in his shoulder, and it took a while for that injection to settle down. So when you look at Perth, we felt he was about 70-80% fit, and we didn’t want to risk that in Perth. If he is 80% here, he will play, that’s the answer.”ALSO READ: India’s worries ahead of Boxing DayIn what should be a serious question against how the players’ injuries are managed, Shastri went on to reveal Jadeja had in fact not been at 100% when he boarded the flight to Australia. “When he came here, he felt some stiffness, and he felt that in India as well but he played domestic cricket after that,” Shastri said. “Still felt stiff in the shoulder, and he was injected again and it takes time to settle. It has taken longer than we expected, and we wanted to be careful. Last thing you want is someone breaking down after five-ten overs, and then we are stuck for players to pick for Melbourne and Sydney.”*Later on Sunday evening, the BCCI sent out a press release that suggested Jadeja would be fit for the Melbourne Test.The release detailed that Jadeja had taken a guided injection on November 2, after complaining of discomfort in his left shoulder during the ODI series against West Indies that preceded the Australia tour. The injection gave Jadeja “good relief” and he went on to play a Ranji Trophy match for Saurashtra against Railways, in which he bowled 64 overs. Thereafter he was declared fit for the Australia tour.”After Jadeja flew to Australia, he then complained of a recurrence of his symptoms on 30th November during the match against the CA XI in Sydney,” the release said. “He was given another injection into a slightly different site on that day. This injection along with his rehabilitation program improved his symptoms.”In the lead up to the Perth Test match on 14th December, the management and the all-rounder were of the opinion that the intensity of his bowling in the nets could have been higher, to match the standards required for such an intensely fought series. For this reason, he was not considered for selection for the 2nd Test match.”Mr. Jadeja’s left shoulder has continued to improve and he is now available for the 3rd Test match of the series in Melbourne.”India’s selections and injury management have both been contentious for a while now. India’s last blunder was to play Ashwin when he was not fully fit in Southampton. This time it has come to injury management. Jadeja, who last played as the lone spinner in a live rubber back in 2014, has been travelling with the team only as a specialist 12th man. Would he have been better off going through proper rehab instead of taking injections and bowling in the nets and then fielding for a considerable period of time as a substitute not just in the infield but also in the deep, from where he has to get long throws in?1:06

WATCH – Ashwin trains for return at the MCG nets

When the BCCI sent out a media release with a fitness bulletin on eve of the Perth Test, it didn’t even include Jadeja’s status. Despite repeated inquiries about fitness status of all players all the time, the BCCI media management failed to make this situation known. If Jadeja was not fully fit and if the team management indeed wanted to play a spinner, they had Kuldeep Yadav in the squad, who was, not log ago, preferred to Jadeja when India played two spinners in the Lord’s Test.It is curious that Kohli named Jadeja in his 13 for the Perth Test, and then later said that his final selection was based on conditions and not on fitness. “Yes, we could have considered that,” Kohli had said when asked if Ashwin would have played had he been fit. “If you see, the rough didn’t have much assistance. It was just the pace on the ball that Lyon bowled that he got the wickets that he got. We as a team didn’t want to think that we definitely wanted to consider a spinning option on this pitch, especially having a look at the pitch on day one and how we thought it would play on the first three days, and exactly played out that way. We thought a fast bowler is going to be more productive and more helpful for us as a team.”Shastri didn’t feel criticism from India mattered because it was coming from the northern hemisphere while the team is in the southern half of the world. “We have to do what’s best for the team, as simple as that,” Shastri said. “Question was asked about Jadeja, which I answered, and I don’t think there was any other selection dilemma. If there was, then not my problem.”[Critical] Comments are [coming from] too far away, we are in the southern hemisphere.”India are now left with selection dilemmas aplenty. They have a 19-player squad, of whom three are under a fitness cloud and one returning from injury has played only one first-class match on his comeback. Out of the remaining 15, openers are a big concern. If they make a change there, it would mean a debut or a funky move of turning a middle-order batsman into an opener.”It is a big concern, that’s obvious,” Shastri said of the openers. “And responsibility and accountability has to be taken by the top order, and I am sure they have got the experience and exposure over the last few years to get out there and deliver.”However, fitness remains the biggest issue. R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma, both unfit during the last game, trained with the team but they didn’t go at full pelt. They went through the initial warm-up drills before feeling their way into their disciplines. Ashwin bowled at an empty net before taking throwdowns. Rohit was among the last set to have a hit. “Ashwin we will evaluate over the next 48 hours,” Shastri said. “Rohit Sharma looks good, and has made a very good improvement, but we will see how he pulls up tomorrow. He looks good as of today.”Jadeja was seen having a long chat with physio Patrick Farhart, and he had a long bowl in the nets, which he has been doing before all the Tests. One option might be to slot Hardik Pandya right back in, but Shastri didn’t want to be irresponsible in how Pandya’s return is handled.”It gives you that option but he has not played much first-class cricket,” Shastri said. “He has just played one game after injury so we have to be very careful before we actually decide whether he plays or not.”GMT 1504 *The story was updated to include details of the BCCI release on Jadeja’s fitness

Fast bowler reported the problem shortly after arriving in Barbados having flown from Australia a few days previously

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2019Olly Stone faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation in the wake of his early departure from England’s tour of the Caribbean, after a stress fracture in his left lower back was confirmed following further examination in the UK.Stone, the fastest bowler in England’s original squad for the West Indies series, reported the problem shortly after arriving in Barbados earlier this month, having flown from Australia a few days previously. His place has been taken by Mark Wood, who linked up with the squad last weekend.His county, Warwickshire, confirmed he had suffered “a partial stress fracture to his left lower back”, which typically takes six to 12 weeks to heal.Jim Troughton, First Team Coach at Warwickshire CCC, said: “We’re bitterly disappointed for Olly who has already had his fair share of injury heartache.”Getting himself into the England set-up was a great achievement so the timing of this setback is a tough one for him.
“The science and medical staff at Warwickshire will work closely with Olly, in partnership with the England medical team, and hopefully we can have him back to bowling as soon as possible.”Stone’s chances of breaking into the Test side on this tour were limited. But the England management were impressed by his pace and his attitude in Sri Lanka last year, where he claimed a wicket with his seventh ball in international cricket: a bouncer that took the gloves of Niroshan Dickwella as he fended the ball away from his face. He is seen as the sort of bowler who could learn from being in the environment and one day make a difference on an Ashes tour.

Ricky Ponting has answered the call from his great mate to help ease the burden on Australia’s head coach

Alex Malcolm10-Feb-2019Ricky Ponting is probably the only person in Australian cricket who could call national coach Justin Langer a “control freak” and get away with it.Not only because the pair are such close friends, but also because of the deep empathy and understanding that Ponting holds for difficult task Langer has guiding Australian cricket through an unprecedented phase.Ponting’s care for both his great mate and Australian cricket is a huge part of the reason he’s accepted a part-time role as Langer’s assistant for Australia’s World Cup campaign.”I think it’s been as hard on him as it possibly could be just because of the situation Australian cricket has found itself in with some senior players being out, a lot of changes happening internally,” Ponting said.”Knowing what Justin is like as well, I’m not . . . well I will say it, he’s a bit of a control freak. He wants to make sure that everything is exactly how he wants it to be and that’s the way it should be as the head coach of the Australian cricket team. You should have everything lined up the way you want it. He’s just come into the job at a really difficult time.”That’s what makes it even more exciting for me to get in and get my hands dirty and help him out as much as I possibly can. We are great mates. We know each other really well. We’ll work really well together, I’m sure, if he can put up with me. But no doubt it’s been a tough, but I think I’ll be able to take a bit of that workload away from him when I get involved as well.”The job of Australian cricket coach has escalated to a point where it is becoming almost impossible to manage for one man. Darren Lehmann, who vacated the position post the Cape Town scandal, outlined the enormity of the role while commentating on on Saturday night.”The hardest thing is you’re away 300 days a year,” Lehmann said. “You don’t sleep. Three hours a day was about all you got. You’re worried about the players. You’ve got selection issues going on all the time. You’ve got media, you’ve got board meetings, you’ve got high performance meetings, all these other things going on and you’ve got to try and cater for the six state coaches, the 66 players playing around [the country], the 25 contracted players, three different formats and then you’ve got to keep your family going okay.”Justin, I think, will be a fantastic coach for Australia. He’s got to find out what works for him. At the moment he’s probably not sleeping and not getting the results he would like but he’ll get there.”The bans of Australia’s two best players in Steven Smith and David Warner and one of Langer’s young talents in Cameron Bancroft, the loss of public trust, and the vast fallout that followed only added to the extraordinary pressure and stress levels.Selection during a staggeringly packed summer has also been a hot topic. Something that Lehmann identified as an enormous challenge. “I reckon I watched one Shield game a year for my five years as Australian coach,” he said. “You physically can’t because you’ve got so much going on with the Australian team.”Nothing exemplified this challenge better than January 17 this year. Langer was at the MCG all afternoon helping prepare the ODI team for a series deciding match against India. It meant he was unable to watch newly selected Test aspirants, who were playing Sri Lanka in a tour game Hobart ahead of a Test match a week later, and possible World Cup candidates and 2020 T20 World Cup candidates who were also playing in a BBL game in Brisbane.The addition of Ponting to Langer’s coaching team, albeit for the World Cup only, comes at a critical time. He is the godfather of Australian cricket and his presence, if only for a short time, will unburden the coach and energise the players.It is understood Langer has already used Ponting as a sounding board over the summer but Ponting’s many commitments as a commentator with and coach of the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals meant his council was not always available at short notice. Those lucrative commitments are also unable to be matched by Cricket Australia for Ponting’s services full-time.The challenge for Cricket Australia is how to get Ponting involved more permanently. There was a possibility of the Australian coaching jobs being split towards the end of Lehmann’s tenure with Ponting rumoured to take full control of the T20I side in the lead-up to 2020 before Cape Town scuppered all best-laid plans. But for Ponting the door remains ajar.”There’s a chance to do more, especially around white-ball cricket,” he said. “I don’t think I’d do much around Test cricket for the fact it’s through the summer and obviously my commentary commitments through the summer it makes it hard, but with the World T20 coming up as well, I think I might be able to do a bit more work around the group with that as well.”