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Dale Steyn has been ruled out of South Africa’s Test series in Australia with a fractured right shoulder

Firdose Moonda at the WACA04-Nov-2016Dale Steyn has been ruled out of South Africa’s Test series in Australia and could face up to six months out of the game with a fractured right shoulder. He did damage to the shoulder, which he had broken last season, while bowling on the second morning of the first Test in Perth.”I felt this pop or like a thud in my shoulder. There was a lot of pain,” Steyn told Channel Nine. “I had to go off the field and have an MRI. I did something very similar against England in December in a similar area but it wasn’t as bad. That was a stress reaction, which is like a very hairline little crack. This time it’s more like a fracture. It’s kind of broken the whole bone. I will probably have surgery and a plate in there. So we’re probably looking at a minimum of six months before I’m up and going again.”The last time took about three months and I was up and running and ready to play. As the scheduling goes, there’s a lot of cricket to be played and people want you to play. I didn’t have the full time to recover. I have been dealing with this for quite some time and I was wanting to rush and get to the Twenty20 World Cup, I wanted to go to the IPL. I wanted to play. This time I have to take the time to let it heal properly.”Steyn will return to South Africa after the WACA Test to see a shoulder specialist and it is “highly likely” according to South African team manager Mohammed Moosajee, who is also a medical doctor, that he will require surgery. Steyn is five wickets away from overtaking Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s leading Test wicket-taker.”He is extremely disappointed at the moment but knowing Dale, he will come back stronger,” Moosajee said. “We need to to give him the best opportunity to recover because South Africa and the world wants to see Dale Steyn play again.”Steyn complained of discomfort in the first session and went down after delivering the fourth ball in his 13th over – his seventh of the day – after picking up the first wicket of the morning. “He heard something thud or pop when it happened,” Moosajee said.Steyn remained on his haunches in his followthrough and held his right shoulder while grimacing in pain. Keshav Maharaj and Hashim Amla were the first of his team-mates to arrive at his side before physiotherapist Brandon Jackson walked him off the field, 42 minutes before lunch. He was taken to the hospital where scans revealed the fracture. He returned to the ground and watched his team-mates bowl Australia out but will not take the field at all and will only bat if “absolutely necessary” depending on the state of the game.The cause of Steyn’s injury is not entirely known except that it may have stemmed from trauma, such as a motor-vehicle accident, and was not caused by action on a cricket field. Injuries of his nature are so rare that Moosajee said there was only one documented case of it affecting a cricketer in the literature. The bowler, a 27-year-old from Staffordshire, was not named in a report Moosajee had with him but required the lengthy recovery time.Steyn has already spent several months tending to this injury. He broke the shoulder late last year and broke down in the Boxing Day Test against England and was ruled out of the rest of that series, including the limited-overs’ matches.Steyn had returned from the injury at the World T20 in March, when he played in two of South Africa’s four matches. He was then left out of the Caribbean triangular series in June – officially rested but unofficially dropped – and allowed to play in the NatWest T20 Blast to regain form. He returned for South Africa’s Tests against New Zealand and seemed back to his best with eight wickets in the Centurion win. He also played in four of the five ODIs against Australia and was occasionally seen holding the shoulder but did not need treatment at any stage.Before this series against Australia, Faf du Plessis stressed the importance of Steyn staying fit for the thee Tests because of his role in leading South Africa’s attack. Now, that responsibility will fall to someone else, most likely Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, but South Africa may consider flying in a replacement.Morkel is not playing this Test after concerns over his match readiness following two months on the sidelines with a back injury. He has only played one first-class match since making his return but has also bowled in the warm-up matches on this tour. “Morne is progressing quite nicely since he injured his back. During the build up to this week he looked pretty good. It looks like he will be available for selection for the second Test,” Moosajee said.Should Morkel not be 100% ready, South Africa have a fifth specialist seamer in Kyle Abbott. Others who could come into contention are Hardus Viljoen, who debuted against England last summer and is currently second on the first-class competition wicket chart with 21 scalps at 23.04, or Marchant de Lange, who has not played a Test since 2012 and is fourth on the list. Chris Morris and Wayne Parnell are also both injured.

An on-field brawl between two Bermuda club cricketers during the country’s Champion of Champions final on September 12 has resulted in one of them being banned for life and the other slapped with a lengthy suspension by the Bermuda Cricket Board

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-20151:05

On-field brawl between Cleveland County Cricket Club and Willow Cuts Cricket Club players

An on-field brawl between two Bermuda club cricketers during the country’s Champion of Champions final on September 12 has resulted in one of them being banned for life and the other slapped with a lengthy suspension by the Bermuda Cricket Board.At the end of an over during the game, Cleveland County Cricket Club’s wicketkeeper Jason Anderson, while changing ends, smacked the Willow Cuts Cricket Club’s batsman George O’Brien on the head to spark off a massive fight. O’Brien swung his bat at Anderson, who – after a moment of calm – then rushed the batsman and pushed him to the ground. Anderson then appeared to aim at kick at O’Brien’s body too, and the pair had to be separated by a large number of players and officials as play was stopped.Anderson was given “a life ban from all cricket, and any involvement in the game of cricket in Bermuda in any capacity” by the BCB, while O’Brien was suspended for a length of time that will include six 50-over matches at the start of the next season.The Cleveland Club imposed more sanctions on Anderson, banning him from representing the club “in all sporting activities for life.” Cleveland coach Clay Smith wrote in his column for that the incident was a new low in Bermuda cricket.
“Our standards of discipline have slipped tremendously, and what is deemed acceptable on the field of play is completely unacceptable,” Smith wrote. “Too few players are being written up for what some may deem minor infractions.”There is a solution to this madness, it just requires the Bermuda Cricket Board to implement the code of conduct that players are expected toplay under at the ICC international level.”The incident was criticised in Bermuda’s parliament. “What was to be a family and community event, has instead been marred by a repugnant incident of violence, lawlessness and unsportsmanlike conduct,” Shadow Sports Minister Michael Weeks said.

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has been surprised at how flat the Galle track has been, but still expects spin to play a major part in the last two days

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Mar-2013Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford believes his side is still capable of securing victory in Galle, despite a day of toil for his bowlers on a placid track. Bangladesh made 303 runs on the third day, for the fall of two wickets, with Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim remaining unbeaten at stumps with 189 and 152 respectively. The visitors trail by 132.”We’re certainly not in the position tonight, where we thought we had to be in,” Ford said. “When we came to the ground this morning, we were hoping for a better day. All credit to Bangladesh and those two batsmen (Ashraful and Mushfiqur). They batted superbly and played Bangladesh into [a] pretty strong position. It’s up to us to break this partnership early in the morning, and if we can get a couple of wickets, the game can change quite quickly.”The Galle pitch has traditionally taken considerable turn from the third day on, but apart from the occasional delivery from Rangana Herath that spat off the surface, the spinners have largely found it as unhelpful as the fast bowlers did.Though the spinners have not been as threatening as usual, Ford expected Herath to become more difficult to play on the final two days. Herath has prospered in Galle in recent years, picking up two ten wicket-hauls at the venue in three matches last year. He had taken 46 wickets at an average of 20.30 at the venue, before this Test.”Herath could factor into the game more, and history here at Galle has shown that with a harder newer ball, he is a lot more effective, and [has] taken a lot of wickets in the last three Tests. Looking at the way they played Herath, he turned the ball today, but the turn was slow and it didn’t help him.”One or two balls went past the outside edge from the spinners, but we didn’t really create a great deal of chances, partly because they batted well, and partly because the surface was very true.”Only eight wickets have fallen in the Test in 271 overs, with five batsmen making hundreds. Ford said this pitch was unlike any other he had seen at the venue. Galle Tests are generally not drawn – 16 of the 21 Tests played here ended in results.”In the Test matches that I have been involved with as coach of Sri Lanka, there’s always been something in it for the spinners. Even with the new ball, the seamers have got a little bit out of it. We expected some bounce in the wicket, which we didn’t really get. The extra dead grass has held the surface together and kept the bounce pretty true.”I came here once as the coach of the South Africa team, and it seemed very flat for the Sri Lankan batsmen, but not so flat for the South African batsmen. Muttiah Muralitharan played a big part in making it difficult for our batsmen on that occasion.”Ford also called for more application from his attack, which was wayward at times, especially towards the end of the day. “We have to take it one session at a time, and we can’t get ahead of ourselves and start dreaming about fancy positions which we can get ourselves into. We got to bowl with a lot of discipline, frustrate and create pressure. If we get those processes in place, things will work out for us.”

Namibia beat Scotland in the ICC World T20 Qualifer in Dubai

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Abu Dhabi14-Mar-2012
Scorecard
Louis van der Westhuizen hit eight sixes in his hundred•ICC/Ian Jacobs

If a century is scored in an empty stadium, does it make a sound? The answer is yes according to one photographer on the field Wednesday afternoon inside the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.Each time Louis van der Westhuizen connected with one of his eight sixes for Namibia, it sounded like a gunshot had been fired from the crease. Scotland certainly grew weary of hearing the rat-a-tat-tat off his bat that started 11 balls into the match and didn’t stop until the innings concluded with the broad-shouldered, brutally elegant left-hander 106 not out off 54 balls in 33 degrees.”It was quite hot, I think I’m a bit dehydrated now,” van der Westhuizen told ESPNcricinfo after receiving the Man-of-the-Match award for his performance in Namibia’s 49-run win. “It’s hot but it’s always nice to get a century.”Namibia lost their first wicket with six on the board when Gerrie Snyman was beaten for pace by Safyaan Sharif. After top-scoring with 34 off 16 in Tuesday’s win over Ireland, van der Westhuizen arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday ready to convert another start into the first century of the tournament.He hit his fifth ball into the sight screen at the Media End off Scotland captain Gordon Drummond. It was a warning shot signalling his intentions for the carnage he was set to unleash two overs later against off-spinner Preston Mommsen.Van der Westhuizen took the first ball from Mommsen and effortlessly lifted it over mid off for his second six, then followed it by flaying Mommsen over point for a boundary. On the next delivery, he leaned forward to launch the frazzled Mommsen over extra cover for another six. The over went for 18 and took the score to 43 for 1. Namibia, and van der Westhuizen, never looked back from there.”I think the fifth over was a bit of a turning point,” van der Westhuizen said. “I got used to the pace of the wicket and then started stroking the ball good.”The second-wicket partnership between van der Westhuizen and Raymond van Schoor added 86 in nine overs. Van Schoor was eventually trapped leg before for 30 when he missed a sweep against Drummond. Craig Williams came in and picked up the pace even more with two sixes but was caught on the midwicket rope going for a third.Van der Westhuizen continued on with his chanceless knock, beginning the final over on 88 and on strike to Richie Berrington, the only bowler to escape van der Westhuizen’s wrath to that point in time. But the Namibian didn’t let Berrington get off scot-free. Van der Westhuizen lofted the first ball over long off to go to 94. Berrington bowled a meaty full toss on the next delivery which was clubbed over long on to bring up van der Westhuizen’s century in 51 balls. There was time for one more boundary as well before the innings finished with Namibia 192 for 3.Scotland came out fighting to start the chase as Berrington laced two fours in front of point in a 17-run first over. Scotland were 45 for 1 after five but lost all momentum when van der Westhuizen came on to start the sixth and removed Berrington for 31 on his first delivery to continue a dream match. Berrington missed a sweep, was struck dead in front and with that Scotland’s momentum stalled.Any hope Scotland had of winning drifted away for good when Kyle Coetzer was bowled for 22 by van Schoor, foxed by a slower ball, to make it 90 for 5 one ball into the 13th over. The chase was abandoned and Majid Haq made sure to bat out the overs. Haq finished 27 not out in 21 balls and Scotland ended on 143 for 8.After winning their first two matches against ODI nations to start off tournament, Namibia are now in the driver’s seat to top Group B by the end of round-robin play on March 20. They play a winless USA on Thursday, who Namibia beat in a warm-up fixture last week by 22 runs. Van der Westhuizen isn’t ready to pencil his team into the knockout phase just yet though.”We’re a very unpredictable side,” van der Westhuizen said. “Like today if it comes off and we can just keep our composure, we are always in the running.”

There are formalities, then there’s the major Test nations qualifying for the quarter-finals from Group A

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan12-Mar-2011

Match Facts

March 13, Mumbai

Start time 9.30am (0400 GMT)Ross Taylor will lead New Zealand in the absence of Daniel Vettori•AFP

The Big Picture

There are formalities, then there’s the major Test nations qualifying for the quarter-finals from Group A. While the numbers are crunched in the other side of the tournament there is precious little nail-biting going on in this group. New Zealand could have had a few difficult moments in progressing given their poor form heading into the World Cup, but they already stand on six points after the impressive victory over Pakistan.This match against Canada shouldn’t cause them to lose much sleep even though their captain Daniel Vettori will be missing with a knee injury. His absence for one match is a minor problem compared to him being ruled out of the tournament which was a concern when he went down in the field against Pakistan. It was important for New Zealand to dispatch a leading team in the qualification to build confidence and there were many positive signs, from Ross Taylor’s powerful century to the incisive new-ball bowling. As has often been said, New Zealand raise their game in World Cups.Still, there are issues within the team – mainly in the consistency of the top order. Taylor’s innings was magnificent, albeit against awful bowling, but it can’t be one-off for New Zealand. They also need more from Jamie How, Scott Styris and James Franklin to spread the workload.To be fair to Canada they have had their moments this tournament and New Zealand need to show them respect. Their new-ball attack of Henry Osinde and Harvir Baidwan can create problems with early movement; Baidwan was mighty impressive Pakistan. Rizwan Cheema has promised more than he has delivered, but Canada’s middle order was calm in their successful chase against Kenya. In this match, though, coming out with respectability should be considered a success.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
Canada: WLLLL

New Zealand: WWLWW

Watch out for…

Nathan McCullum has quietly developed in a very useful player for New Zealand, both with his offspin and lower-order batting. In the absence of Vettori he’ll have a senior role to play in the bowling attack, which will be valuable practice in case he is needed at important stages later in the tournament. The team will hope his batting down the list isn’t required to provide too much, but he showed with his effort against Australia that he can build an innings and his striking power can also add the finishing touches in the closing overs.Hanvir Baidwan has been consistent during the tournament with nine wickets at 20.22 and an economy rate of just over five-an-over. He caught Pakistan by surprise with three scalps and also took two against Kenya to help set up victory. New Zealand’s top order is an inconsistent beast and it’ll need to be careful not to take Baidwan lightly especially if there is any movement early on.

Team news

Having won the basement battle against fellow Associates Kenya there seems little reason for Canada to change a winning side. John Davison returned for that match, but in the middle order, and he’ll be keen to produce a performance before the tournament is finished at the expense of a team he has a good record against.Canada (probable) 1 Ruvindu Gunasekera, 2 Rizwan Cheema, 3 Zubin Surkari, 4 Ashish Bagai (wk), 5 Jimmy Hansra, 6 Tyson Gordon, 7 John Davison, 8 Harvir Baidwan, 9 Parth Desai, 10 Henry Osinde, 11 Balaji RaoVettori will be missing with his injured knee which could mean an outing for Luke Woodcock, the left-arm spinner, or a recall for fast bowler Hamish Bennett. Meanwhile, Jesse Ryder is recovering from the stomach bug that forced him to miss the Pakistan match and could replace the struggling Jamie How.New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Jesse Ryder, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Scott Styris, 6 James Franklin, 7 Nathan McCullum, 8 Jacob Oram, 9 Luke Woodcock, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Tim Southee

Pitch and conditions

This is Mumbai’s first game of the tournament – the venue will also host the final on April 2 – so it will be interesting to assess the pitch conditions. The morning start suggests there could be some help for the seamers and Ross Taylor noted the extra grass on the net surfaces.

Stats and trivia

• The two teams have previously met twice in World Cups, in 2003 when New Zealand won by five wickets and again in 2007 when they claimed a 114-run victory.
• However, in both matches John Davison has made his mark with 75 off 62 balls in Benoni and 52 off 31 in Gros Islet.

Quotes

“I think it’s more with rugby. It’s not the same with cricket. The public doesn’t have the same expectations as we have as players.”
“We are getting better and better with each game, the performances if you have noticed are getting better and better with each game.”

Nobody in their right minds expected this Test series to be competitivebut the chasm that opened up on the first day at Chittagong was thoroughly and abjectly depressing

Andrew Miller in Chittagong12-Mar-2010Nobody in their right minds expected this Test series to be competitive, despite the undoubted strides that Bangladesh have made in recent months, but the chasm that opened up on the first day at Chittagong was thoroughly and abjectly depressing.All tour long, Bangladesh have talked a good talk and they even fought a good fight during the one-dayers, never more impressively than during the second match at Dhaka, when only a super-focussed Eoin Morgan stood between them and an historic result. But today every ounce of bravado deserted them – with the ball, in the field, but most crucially of all, in the demeanours of the two most combative characters in their camp.Jamie Siddons and Shakib Al Hasan have been up and at England since the very start of the tour. It was Siddons who declared that his team intended to “bite England on the bum” after their decision to give Andrew Strauss a sabbatical, and while Shakib has let his cricket do most of the talking, he hasn’t been afraid to sound off when prompted, such as his declaration after Dhaka that Bangladesh were more interested in taking on the big guns of one-day cricket, rather than fret about England’s mediocre middle-rankers.It’s been refreshing, to be honest, to hear the small fry talking big, even when what they’ve been saying hasn’t quite stacked up in the final analysis. After all, confidence begets confidence, as Kevin Pietersen knows only too well. But today Bangladesh’s words and deeds were completely polarised by the reality that slipped in between them, and nothing reeked more of surrender than their decision to pack their team with spinners, and then bowl first on a shirt-front.”We thought we knew a bit about the Chittagong wicket, and we thought that it would spin on day one, and get flatter and flatter like it has in the past,” said Siddons. “In hindsight it was probably a bad decision.” But seeing as England had taken their gift-horse at face value and clattered along to 374 for 3 at the close, hindsight wasn’t really the most pressing of their problems.Of far greater importance would have been a bit of foresight, a bit of conventional wisdom, and a nod to the small matters of pride and body language – all of these factors surely demanded that Bangladesh front up and play the game according to Siddons’ often-mentioned “team rules”. As they showed at times during the one-dayers, the team has the ability to bat calmly and assuredly against an England attack that, in the coach’s own words, had not penetrated them to any great effect. By doing so, they could have set a platform for their spinners to attack.Of course that policy could easily have gone wrong – it goes without saying, this is Bangladesh and they have a record of L55, W3. But at least by doing so, they might have spared themselves the “what ifs”. Instead, the impression was of a team that had pulled its punches (just as they did in this same city when England last visited six years ago) and Siddons looked like the public the face of a broken dressing-room when he fronted up on behalf of his players in the post-match press conference.On the one hand Siddons blamed the pitch for failing to meet his ambitious expectations – and while it is true that, back in January, India were skittled here for 243 after being asked to bat first (with Shakib claiming 5 for 62), the X-factor in that performance had been Virender Sehwag’s dismissal of Bangladesh as “ordinary” and the righteous indignation that his comments had fuelled.There was no such whiff of cordite in the air today, only the vaguest ripple of interest in a disappointingly sparse crowd, and the team reacted to the atmosphere accordingly, with Shakib’s own return a mute 21-2-80-0. That said, it was hardly necessary for Siddons to trot out quite such a list of disclaimers afterwards, as he managed to shrug every ounce of blame onto the shoulders of the boys he professes to be nurturing.His fast bowlers, he said, “had let the team down”; his left-arm-spinning captain, he said, had been the one who wanted to bowl first (“and I’ll be supportive of [him]”), and suddenly his “world-class” four-man spin attack had been downgraded to “two genuine spinners and two part-time offies”. As support acts go, it was about as comforting as Duncan Fletcher’s declaration that he “wasn’t the only selector” on England’s disastrous Ashes campaign in 2006-07, except in Siddons’ case he didn’t bother to couch his criticisms in code.”Our strength is our spin, so it didn’t matter whether we bowled first or second,” he added, incongruously. “Our quicks weren’t going to be the answer on that pitch, and won’t be throughout the game, they won’t play a massive part.” A statement which begs the question, did they even try to exploit the moisture in the first half-an-hour, or wasn’t that even taken into consideration?”We’ve probably put ourselves out of the game, which we tend to do a lot on the first day or the first session of a game, unless we bowl terrifically in the morning, and even then we’ll have to bat the house down,” Siddons concluded. “I expect them to make somewhere around 500, and that’s if we bowl well. It’s been a difficult day, and only one team can win.”In all honesty, only one team has ever been likely to win this match and this series from the moment the tour began. But as Siddons himself has declared at length all month, his tenure is not about victories, it’s about making visible signs of progress. Today, however, Bangladesh were in full retreat before the match referee had retrieved his coin.

Tournament opener to be held in Guwahati; Navi Mumbai to host second semi-final and, potentially, the final on November 2

Nagraj Gollapudi22-Aug-2025The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai has replaced Bengaluru as the fourth Indian venue for the upcoming women’s ODI World Cup starting September 30, the ICC announced while issuing the revised schedule for the eight-team tournament on Friday. According to the updated itinerary, Guwahati will now to host the tournament opener between India and Sri Lanka.Navi Mumbai will host two group fixtures involving India (against New Zealand on October 23 and against Bangladesh on October 26), the Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh game (originally slotted for Colombo on October 20), the second semi-final (October 30) and potentially the final, on November 2, if Pakistan don’t qualify. One other game – Sri Lanka vs England (October 11) – has been switched from Guwahati to Colombo. The Bangladesh vs New Zealand game on October 10 has moved from Visakhapatnam to Guwahati, while England vs New Zealand on October 26 – the only day game in the tournament – has gone the other way, Guwahati to Visakhapatnam.The changes became necessary after the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) failed to obtain police clearances to host games at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the wake of the stampede that led to 11 deaths and many injuries during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) IPL victory celebrations on June 4.Prior to Navi Mumbai, the BCCI had identified Thiruvananthapuram as a potential replacement for Bengaluru. While the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) expressed its readiness to host, it’s believed that the lack of direct flights from the city to some of the other venues proved a hurdle.Related

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In June, the ICC, while announcing the dates for the tournament, had listed Bengaluru as one of the five venues for the tournament. Along with the opener involving hosts India, the city was also scheduled to host the October 30 semi-final and the final on November 2 (if Pakistan didn’t make it).This is the latest setback for the KSCA, which has been involved in several issues with the police and Bengaluru’s civic authorities as well as the electricity department, which has cut off power supply to the venue owing to non-compliance with fire-safety regulations.Bengaluru hasn’t hosted any top-flight cricket since May 17, when the RCB vs Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2025 game was washed out. In the aftermath of the stampede, the state government had held the franchise and KSCA responsible for the mismanagement of the parade, and instituted a one-member committee to investigate the incident. The committee subsequently deemed the stadium “unsafe” to host large-scale events. Since then, the police has refused to give permission to the KSCA to host matches at the Chinnaswamy.This forced the KSCA to shift the Maharaja T20 – the state’s premier franchise tournament – from Bengaluru to Mysuru. The KSCA had offered to host the tournament behind closed doors, but even that wasn’t allowed by the authorities.

The allrounder will likely miss the limited-overs matches against Pakistan scheduled for November

Alex Malcolm04-Mar-20242:12

Cummins: Green as sharp as I have seen him

Cameron Green could be kept out of Australia’s limited-overs series against Pakistan at the start of the next home summer, ahead of a five-match Test series against India, to play Sheffield Shield cricket after the selectors were immediately rewarded for keeping him red-ball focussed before the Wellington Test where he delivered a match-winning 174 not out.Australia’s selectors decided to leave Green out of the three-match T20I series against New Zealand despite Green being in the frame to play in the T20 World Cup in June. They were not even tempted to call him in late when both Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Hardie were withdrawn with injury.Related

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Instead, they opted to leave him in Australia to play a Shield match for Western Australia against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval where he made an unbeaten 103 to help WA secure a draw on the final day. Green himself credited that preparation after his stunning century on the opening day at the Basin Reserve. He was the only player in the match to score more than 71 on a very tricky batting surface and was one of only three players to score more than 42.Following the second Test in Christchurch which begins on Friday, Australia do not play another Test until the Border-Gavaskar series starts at home in late November.Australia are scheduled to tour England for five ODIs and three T20Is in September and will then host Pakistan in three ODIs and three T20Is in November just before India’s arrival.Green will likely be a permanent fixture in both the ODI and the T20I sides by that time given Australia appear set to have several senior players finish their T20I careers after the World Cup in June. But coach Andrew McDonald said he was already thinking that Australia would prioritise Green’s red-ball preparation next summer even though the ODIs in particular will form part of the 2025 Champions Trophy build-up.”The next stress point on that’s going to be next summer leading into the Indian Test series,” McDonald said. “I think it’ll be a conversation where he’s at. I’d like to probably err on the side of preparing him through red-ball. We know how good a white-ball player he is. If you put a priority on what it looks like next summer, the white-ball cricket is important but, geez, that Test summer is important.”I think with the results he’s had out there, he’ll probably come to us and say can you give us a couple of Shield games before the first Test against India.”McDonald was careful to point out that not every multiformat player needs the same type of specialised preparation ahead of the India series. Australia have been comfortable with their three all-format fast bowlers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – playing white-ball matches ahead of major Test series as the lesser bowling loads at a higher intensity has actually proved to be an adequate preparation for a long summer of five Tests or more.Cameron Green showed the value of first-class cricket ahead of a Test series•Getty Images

This season they are set to play seven straight Tests together as a trio for the first time in their career having come off an ODI World Cup where they played at least 10 matches or more over two months in India.”We’ll use Shield cricket to get ready for the Test summer on an individual’s needs basis,” McDonald said. “There won’t be any [prescription that] this is what we’re doing with every player. But we’ll pick and choose what that looks like, based around international cricket.”It’s a big decision to leave anyone out of international cricket when they’re actually potentially in the best XI.”I was glad that [Green] embraced that when we had that conversation with him. And the return on it was pretty immediate. It’s not always going to be like that. So even if he failed here, we felt like that was his best preparation. So don’t always judge a result as making it right or wrong.”McDonald’s New Zealand counterpart Gary Stead lamented the fact that his players have not been able to play much first-class cricket in the Plunket Shield before their Test summer.Cameron Green made a Sheffield Shield hundred before the New Zealand series•Getty Images

“I would love as national coach to see us play some Plunket Shield prior to going into Test matches and certainly it’s something that is high on my agenda to try and get New Zealand Cricket to keep thinking about the structure of our season,” Stead said.McDonald was thrilled that Green was able to showcase the talent that they knew he was capable of at No.4 following the decision to recall him in that position against West Indies with Steven Smith moving to open.”We think he can be a long-term option there and I think this is a big step towards that,” McDonald said. “The conversations are always that he’s obviously a quality player and probably the statistics that everyone was looking at early on in his career probably didn’t reflect the player that’s in front of us.”And I think we’ve seen a snapshot of that now. And I think the public’s been able to see what we’ve been able to see over a period of time in Western Australian cricket and the changeroom as a whole.”So [it’s] a really impressive step forward. The way that he worked through batting with Josh Hazlewood as well, we’ve probably had a little bit of an issue batting lower down the order. We’ve seen opponents do it to us. But he was able to navigate five balls, give Josh one, work through that tricky situation, but then to find the boundary at the right time as well to get the total to where it was. It was really impressive.”

Heat’s 33-run win came at a cost though, with leading run-scorer Georgia Redmayne injuring her hamstring while batting

AAP09-Nov-2022Brisbane Heat will be sweating on the fitness of Georgia Redmayne after the golden-bat leader injured her hamstring during her side’s 33-run win over Perth Scorchers.Heat posted a competitive 7 for 153 at Lilac Hill on Wednesday, before restricting the Scorchers to 8 for 120 in a disappointing batting display from the defending champions. Legspinner Amelia Kerr was named Player of the Match for her miserly figures of 2 for 16, while Nicola Hancock picked up 3 for 26.The result rocketed Brisbane from third into top spot, while the fourth-placed Scorchers have lost two games on the trot and now face a fight to make the finals. Scorchers are two competition points ahead of fifth-placed Hobart Hurricanes, but Hurricanes have two games in hand and a better net run rate.Heat’s victory over Scorchers was significant in the race for the prized top spot, but the injury to Redmayne is a major worry just two weeks out from the finals.Redmayne winced in pain after getting down on a knee to play a shot early in the seventh over. The 28-year old continued to bat, but her hobbling between the wickets meant Heat had to settle for singles several times when two runs were on offer. She cracked a boundary to finish the 11th over, but she was called off by the doctor immediately after.Despite being forced to retire hurt, Redmayne’s 28 off 27 balls was the highest score of the innings. Redmayne has scored a competition-high 333 runs this season, and it remains to be seen how serious the injury is.Scorchers slumped to 4 for 47 in a poor start to their run chase. Openers Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine fell cheaply, with Chloe Piparo and Marizanne Kapp also failing to have an impact. The loss would have been far worse if it wasn’t for the efforts of Maddy Green, who scored 58 off 53 balls before being run out in the final over.The form of captain Devine is of particular concern to Scorchers. The 33-year old has scored just 119 runs at an average of 14.9. Her strike rate of 99 this season is also far below her usually lofty standards. Devine also dropped a catch in the deep on Wednesday, and conceded 12 runs off her first over, but she rebounded to finish with 1 for 27 and a crucial run-out.Scorchers legspinner Alana King produced a strong bowling effort taking 2 for 24, while Kapp came within a whisker of snaring a hat-trick in the final over.Kapp removed Georgia Voll and Pooja Vastrakar with consecutive deliveries, before finding the edge of Nicola Hancock on the hat-trick ball.
Scorchers wicketkeeper Mooney dived full stretch to her right, but the ball sailed just wide.

Home side move into three-figure lead after rounding up Derbyshire in first innings

ECB Reporters' Network05-Jul-2021Nottinghamshire, looking to book their place in the top division in the concluding phase of the LV= Insurance County Championship, will take a lead of 107 runs into day three against Derbyshire at Trent Bridge.Haseeb Hameed made 57 and Ben Duckett is unbeaten on 69, although Derbyshire’s pace-bowling allrounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice checked Nottinghamshire’s progress with 4 for 50 as the home county closed on 256 for 7.Related

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Earlier, from 91 for 5 overnight, Derbyshire subsided to 149 all out in the morning session, Luke Fletcher taking 3 for 36.Derbyshire’s last five wickets fell for 32 after the partnership between Hudson-Prentice and Leus du Plooy that began on Sunday was ended just inside the first hour when the former drove Dane Paterson straight to cover.With five fours, Hudson-Prentice had been the only Derbyshire batsman to hint at assertiveness against an attack that delivered 36 maidens, 10 each from Fletcher and Brett Hutton, nine in 15 overs from Paterson.Du Plooy fell without addition to the total, having faced 141 balls for his 30, drawn into chasing a wide delivery from Fletcher. Paterson removed Alex Thomson leg before, Michael Cohen – dropped on nought – drove airily at Hutton to be caught behind, and Ben Aitchison found the fielder on the square-leg boundary.Two wickets in two balls from Hudson-Prentice had Nottinghamshire 25 for 2 as Ben Slater miscued to mid-on and Ben Compton edged to third slip. But Hameed and Steven Mullaney fashioned a measured recovery to 94 for 2 at tea with six fours apiece, Hameed driving handsomely through the off side, Mullaney profiting mainly from cuts and pulls.Hudson-Prentice removed both soon after tea, Mullaney wafting at a short ball outside off to be caught at first slip after a stand of 78, Hameed passing fifty for the fifth time this season but then tickling a thin edge through to keeper Harvey Hosein.Duckett helped Lyndon James add a rapid 61 in 13 overs to give Nottinghamshire the lead but one wicket again brought another. James flashed at one from Cohen to be caught at second slip before Aitchison juggled and then held a chance at first slip as Liam Patterson-White departed in a double-wicket maiden for the left-arm quick.Joey Evison was caught behind as Aitchison claimed Derbyshire’s seventh wicket but Duckett timed the ball nicely and his 10 boundaries enabled Nottinghamshire to claim a second batting bonus point in a marathon final session of a 104-over day following Sunday’s rain.