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Brad Haddin struck 73 off 39 balls to power defending champions Islamabad United to a seven-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi on the opening night of PSL 2017

The Report by Danyal Rasool09-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrad Haddin struck 73 off 39 balls to fire Islamabad United’s chase•Pakistan Super League

In a nutshellA 39-ball 73 from 39-year old Brad Haddin steered Islamabad United to a remarkable seven-wicket win in the opening match of the Pakistan Super League against Peshawar Zalmi at the Dubai International Stadium. For large parts of the game, that result looked extremely unlikely, never more so than during a 122-run partnership – the second-largest for any wicket in the brief history of the PSL – for Peshawar between Dawid Malan and Kamran Akmal, who scored a brilliant 88, with the stand coming as it did in just 68 balls. At that stage, Darren Sammy’s men looked set for a total well in excess of 200, but Islamabad made regular inroads into the batting thereafter, and even a late surge from Chris Jordan couldn’t get Peshawar past 190.Islamabad’s chase started off disastrously as the impressive quick Hasan Ali trapped Sharjeel Khan in front in just the second over. However, they followed up with a quality partnership of their own. Haddin and Dwayne Smith – who was Man of the Match for Islamabad in the 2016 PSL Final – added 104 runs in 70 balls either side of a rain delay in Dubai, you read that right, to keep Islamabad in the hunt. Haddin’s fellow Australian Shane Watson – who also took four wickets – then applied the finishing touches, spanking Junaid Khan for 19 in the penultimate over to take the defending champions over the line.Where the match was wonIslamabad’s position was most precarious immediately after the early departure of their destructive opener Sharjeel Khan. Chasing a target of 191, less experienced players might have panicked. But Haddin and Smith, boasting a combined age of 72, came together at just the right time to steady the ship for Islamabad. While Smith consolidated one end, Haddin let fly. This was no agricultural, run-of-the-mill T20 slog; a number of his boundaries came via exquisitely timed drives over cover and point. The pair complemented each other perfectly, ensuring Islamabad stayed in the game as long as possible to set Watson up for the final flurry that dealt Peshawar the knockout blow.Kamran Akmal got PSL 2017 off to a cracking start•Pakistan Super League

The men that won itFor a side that conceded 190, there were more solid bowling performances than one might expect. Islamabad United’s new ball pair, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Sami, conceded 43 runs in eight overs, taking three wickets between them. It all started on the first delivery, Mohammad Hafeez poking outside off stump at an Irfan ball that was seaming away, gifting Sharjeel the easiest of catches at first slip. Sami conceded 7, 1, 2 and 6 runs off his four overs respectively, taking two wickets, including that off the sensational Akmal in the 16th over, which triggered Peshawar’s ultimately decisive collapse.Key pointsThe difference between the two sides was how they reacted after their century partnerships were broken. For Peshawar, the wheels came off the innings once the Akmal-Malan stand ended, the next 7.3 overs yielding just 49 runs. Islamabad, however, kept pushing on after Haddin’s departure, a point at which the side still needed 55 to win off less than five overs. Smith was happy to play second fiddle to Watson as Misbah’s men ultimately cut a giant total down to size.The moment of the matchSmith won’t grab any headlines from this match, yet Islamabad almost certainly couldn’t have chased this total without him anchoring the innings from start to finish. It need not have been that way, though. In the third over, with Sharjeel already dismissed, Smith edged a full length delivery from Chris Jordan. Peshawar captain Sammy didn’t have to move as the ball headed straight for him at first slip at knee height. Somehow he let the ball, and the contest, slip through his fingers.Where they standIslamabad have managed to carry on where they left off last season, winning their sixth consecutive match in the PSL. They’ve hit the ground running, registering the first points available in this year’s competition. Peshawar’s defeat is their third consecutive loss going back to 2016, and the side has its work cut out if it is to emulate its feat from last year and top the PSL group stage table again.

Captain Upul Tharanga said the choice of their openers in the first T20I will depend on the opposition’s plans and involve trying to neutralise the Bangladesh spinners

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo03-Apr-2017After years of failing to find a partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order, Sri Lanka are currently faced with a logjam over the opening slots. While Niroshan Dickwella is unavailable for the T20I series against Bangladesh, the hosts have in their squad four men – each of them having trodden a different path – who can open the batting in the shortest format.Upul Tharanga – the oldest of the four – has usually been thought of for the longer formats, but has recently unveiled a more explosive avatar to his batting. By contrast, 26-year-old Kusal Perera, the only batsman who has tasted some consistent success as a T20 opener, has not been in the best touch of late. Though he was part of the victorious World T20 campaign in Bangladesh, his form in the recent past has been somewhat shaky.Dilshan Munaweera had an abortive first stint in the team, but has since found his way back into Sri Lankan colours via the global T20 circuit. As for the newest of their opening options, Danushka Gunathilaka has a reputation of being a live wire in the field, and can also double up as a useful part-time bowler. However, at the moment, he is trading more on potential than tangible results.Under normal circumstances, there would be little pressure for Sri Lanka to lock down their best opening combination immediately – considering there is no world T20 tournament on the horizon. However, with both the ODI and Test series having been drawn 1-1, there is little more at stake in this series than usual.Taking into account how the odds stack up against both teams ahead of the T20 series, Captain Tharanga said the issue of choosing the opening combination deserved a little mulling over.”We really haven’t decided on the openers, and we have to take the opposition’s plans into account,” Tharanga said. “They have the offspinner Mehedi Hasan, and he often opens the bowling – as we saw in the ODIs. So, that can affect the combination. And, we might also want a right-hand left-hand combination.”This suggests Munaweera is likely to open the innings, as he is the only right-handed batsman among the quartet, and as such, is best-equipped to neutralise Mehedi.According to Tharanga, the opening combination is not the only area where Sri Lanka have options. Thanks to their recent successes – albeit against depleted opposition – Sri Lanka may head into the T20I series with a little more confidence.”In the last two series, we beat South Africa in South Africa and Australia in Australia, which is never easy to do,” Tharanga said. “They were top teams at the moment in the T20 format. We are in good shape in the T20s, and we have a lot more experience, especially with players like Lasith Malinga coming back, and Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera being there as well.”We have explosive batsmen up the top of the order, but some firepower lower down as well in Seekkuge Prasanna and Chamara Kapugedara.”Though Tharanga revealed on Saturday that he had asked for an offspinner – Dilruwan Perera – to be added to Sri Lanka’s ODI squad after the selectors had initially failed to name one, he did express support for the selectors’ policy of stacking T20I sides with allrounders.”In T20Is, a lot changes with the situation. Sometimes, if you have players that can play a few big shots and contribute with a couple of overs at the right time, it can be an advantage.”As specialist bowlers, we’ve got Malinga and Kulasekara; Lakshan Sandakan as a spinner, and Seekkuge as well, who bowled all four overs in Australia. We’re just looking for one or two overs from the allrounders,” Tharanga said.

The Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) will be split into three rounds next summer, and for the first time prize money of $258,000 will be up for grabs in the one-day tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2017The Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) will be split into three rounds next summer, and for the first time prize money of $258,000 will be up for grabs in the one-day tournament.Cricket Australia has announced the WNCL schedule for 2017-18, with one round in October (prior to the Women’s Ashes), a second round in November (ahead of the WBBL), and the last round and final to be played in February.New South Wales will be aiming to defend their title after last year’s triumph, which was their 18th title. From 2005-06 onwards, New South Wales won 10 consecutive titles before South Australia broke the dominance in 2015-16.”This will be the 22nd season of the Women’s National Cricket League, and the tournament has a strong history of producing world-class talent as well as attracting high-profile international players,” Pat Howard, CA’s executive general manager – team performance, said. “It continues to provide a platform for Australia’s finest young cricketers to further develop their skills and strive for national selection.”We know we have a strong structure to our domestic competitions which identifies and elevates players who are performing, so that we can continue to strive for success on the international stage and ensure our players are provided with the very best opportunities to perform to their ability here at home and away.”Cricket has led the way in showing that women too can make a living from the game, with the proposed remuneration providing the country’s best domestic players the opportunity to earn a full-time wage for the first time.”

In the wake of Anil Kumble’s withdrawal from the race, the BCCI has decided to invite fresh applications to pick India’s next head coach

Nagraj Gollapudi23-Jun-2017In the wake of Anil Kumble’s withdrawal from the race, the BCCI has decided to invite fresh applications to pick India’s next head coach. The advertisement is likely to be out on Saturday. The new candidates will join the five already shortlisted candidates comprising Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Pybus and Dodda Ganesh. The last date for submission of applications has been extended to July 9.The final shortlist will be then sent to the three-man cricket advisory committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, who will conduct interviews before sending their final choice to the BCCI. It is understood that the BCCI would ideally want the new coach to be in place in time for India’s tour of Sri Lanka, which his likely to start from July 19. But if the CAC is unable to make a choice by then, the BCCI is willing to wait longer.According to a BCCI official the main reason behind inviting fresh applications was the thought that a number of eligible candidates may not have applied since Kumble himself had re-applied for the post when the BCCI opened the process on May 25. Kumble, who had been recommended and finalised as the best choice last year by the CAC, enjoyed a highly successful run in his one-year term.He was once again the favourite from the six-man shortlist and the CAC endorsed his name to the BCCI subject to the widening rift between Kumble and Indian captain Virat Kohli being resolved. The CAC members met Kohli individually to ascertain the differences he had with Kumble’s style of coaching. The CAC conveyed to the BCCI that, in the best interest of Indian cricket, the differences needed to be sorted out before moving forward.The BCCI top brass – Amitabh Choudhary (secretary), Rahul Johri (CEO) and MV Sridhar (manager, cricket operations) – met Kohli and Kumble separately as well as together. Despite multiple meetings no solution was in sight. Kohli maintained his stance during his last meeting with the BCCI before heading to the Caribbean on Monday. Kumble, too, met the BCCI trio on the same day and felt he was not at fault. Kumble tendered his resignation the next morning and posted on Twitter that he had decided to step down since the “partnership” with Kohli had become “untenable”.

Australia sauntered to an eight-wicket victory in Bristol but only after they were forced to chase 258 courtesy a marvellous unbeaten 178 from Chamari Atapattu

The Report by Shashank Kishore29-Jun-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning strolled to her 11th ton, the most in women’s ODIs•Getty Images/ICC

This was a mismatch on paper. Sri Lanka were ranked eighth. They had never beaten Australia, the defending champions, in eight previous meetings. Chamari Atapattu, however, showed cricket isn’t played on paper, but out on the field. By smashing the third-highest score in women’s ODIs – an unbeaten 178, two more than Sri Lanka’s previous highest of 176 against Australia – she gave them more than a shout of pulling off a mighty upset with a score of 257 for 9. But, as was the case against New Zealand, poor fielding and catching let them down, and the defending champions broke open the deadlock and razed to an eight-wicket win in Bristol.Nicole Bolton should have been out on 4 when wicketkeeper Prasadini Weerakkody fluffed a straightforward chance in the third over. Bolton made Sri Lanka pay by going on to make 60 – her second successive fifty-plus score of the tournament. While she couldn’t carry on, Meg Lanning, scratchy to begin with – scoring runs off edges – recovered from early rust to bring up her 11th hundred, the most in women’s ODIs. That meant Australia didn’t even have to flex their muscle to kill Sri Lanka’s hopes halfway through the chase. Lanning fittingly finished it off with a six, ending on her personal ODI best of 152 not out.Lanning and Bolton exposed Sri Lanka’s one-dimensional spin-based attack during the course of their 133-run second-wicket stand. Ellyse Perry, who had an off day with the ball – conceding 52 off her eight overs – made up by backing the captain in an unbeaten 124-run stand. She remained unbeaten on 39 as Australia, who won with 37 balls to spare, hauled themselves to the top of the points table thanks to a superior net run rate after two rounds.The manner in which Lanning asserted her authority early against spin, particularly off Shashikala Siriwardene, was the hallmark of her effort. Where Atapattu was all belligerence, Lanning punctured the bowling softly. She used her feet well to get to the pitch of the ball and drive inside-out, and put away anything in her driving arc on a surface where Australia’s spinners exposed a hint of grip if tossed up. Bolton slipped into the role of an accumulator, but was equally punishing against the long hops that came in routinely. This meant there was no pressure on Australia for most of the chase, not even when Sri Lanka finally got a breakthrough with Bolton’s wicket in the 26th over.Yet, for its sheer audacity, Atapattu’s third ODI century was the standout innings of the game. During the course of her 143-ball vigil, she effortlessly showed different elements of her game – timing, ability to rotate strike and muscle in the end overs. She laid down the marker early, off Perry, who was getting the ball to bend back in to the left-hander. She followed a streaky top edge to fine leg with two glorious drives on the up. But her partners didn’t help one bit, by throwing away wickets, some to injudicious shots: the cream of the top order was out sweeping to full deliveries.Lanning and Australia were briefly caught off guard by Sri Lanka’s fightback in the form of a 52-run stand for the fifth wicket between Siriwardene and Atapattu, before Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the space of four deliveries. At 130 for 6, Atapattu had no option but to go for broke. She lined herself to play the pull on demand and, on a flat deck, Australia were guilty of feeding her short balls, which she nonchalantly pulled. She hit 22 fours and six sixes in all to make up for close to 70% of her team’s runs, a record.The other batsmen combined to make 60 off 157 balls, and it was perhaps there that Sri Lanka, despite Atapattu’s heroics, lost the plot. Sri Lanka’s best chance was to make early inroads and expose the middle order against the new ball, but that wasn’t to be. It wasn’t quite a mismatch, yet Australia’s utter dominance exposed the gulf that exists between both sides, who were at opposite ends of the points table early in the tournament.

India batsman Karun Nair said he was not too perturbed by his exclusion from the Sri Lanka Test series but admitted his failure to build on the Test triple-century against England in the home series against Australia

Gaurav Kalra10-Jul-20175:16

Wasn’t in right frame of mind after Australia series – Nair

Batsman Karun Nair insists he is not too perturbed by his exclusion from the India Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour, after only four innings since becoming just the second Indian to get a Test triple-hundred. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in Bengaluru a day after the squad was named, Nair conceded he should have “converted a couple of starts” in the Test series against Australia into “more substantial scores” to bolster his case, after the 303 not out against England in Chennai. Nair will instead travel with the India ‘A’ team to South Africa for a series of limited-overs and four-day matches at the end of the month.”I will have to respect the decision of the team management and selectors,” Nair said. “That’s the way it goes and I am just focusing on South Africa now, the India ‘A’ tour, looking forward to it. It is going to be a new experience for me, I have never been to South Africa, so trying to just prepare myself and do well there.”If I look back, I got a couple of starts which I feel I could have made into substantial scores. Those two starts I got were supposed to be converted, but you know that’s how it goes for a batsman, sometimes you get starts and you are not able to convert them. I don’t think there’s any point talking about it right now. I am just looking forward to the season coming up and try to do better.”Honestly, I was fortunate enough to get to play in the XI. So I was very happy, learning new things from everyone around and playing Test cricket. I was really enjoying myself and not thinking too much about it. But the competition is very high and it’s healthy competition. There’s nothing to worry about there, I am not thinking too much, just looking forward.”It will be a new experience to go to South Africa for the first time, to experience those conditions and see how it is to play cricket there. It is a stepping stone to do well and get myself back into the Test team. Even looking at it that way, I am looking forward and just trying to be positive.”In four Test innings after the triple-hundred, Nair scored a total of 54 runs•Associated Press

Nair has experienced an extended dry spell with the bat since the triple-hundred. In four innings against Australia, he made scores of 26, 0, 23 and 5 as India eked out a 2-1 series win. His form didn’t get much better in the IPL – and he ended the season with 281 runs at an average of 21.61 as Delhi Daredevils failed to make the play-offs. Nair says the series against Australia was a lot more intense than England, and his failures in those matches affected him in the early phase of the IPL too.”There was a lot a difference, the Australians were more at you. Even the English were good but the Australians had more aggression I felt,” he explained. “And we had lost the first game and that made it even more difficult for us and it put them on a high because England never got a sniff also. That also helped Australia.”At the end of the season, after the Australia series, I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind because I was thinking too much about how I should be playing and how well I should be doing for Delhi rather than just looking at the ball and reacting. It took me half the season to realise I was doing that. The second half was a little better I felt, just looked at the ball and played how the ball came down. Those were the things I learnt this season.”Nair, 25, took over as captain of Daredevils when Zaheer Khan was unavailable due to injury. He will now be leading the India A team in the two four-day games in South Africa. Having led teams at Under-19 level, as well as Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, Nair is convinced his quiet, easy-going personality won’t be a hindrance in performing the role.”Everyone has their own style,” he said. “I don’t think I should change who I am to try and lead eleven people. I can still lead them by being myself and do it in my way. I have been captain on several occasions and I just enjoy the fact that whenever I am captain I do well. So, I have that positive mind frame when I am captain. It has been the same case from the U19 days to the Ranji trophy last year when I captained, we did well and I scored runs. It is obviously an extra responsibility, but generally when I am batting that kind of feeling doesn’t come.”

Joe Root joined a list of captains who’ve been thwarted after declaring at Headingley, but insisted he would stay positive despite defeat in the second Investec Test

Alan Gardner at Headingley29-Aug-2017Having become the first England captain to lose a home Test against West Indies for 17 years, Joe Root conceded his players had been beaten by the better side at Headingley but said he did not regret his decision to declare on the fourth evening and would continue to take positive options in pursuit of victory in future.England only managed to take five wickets on the final day – one of them a run-out that came via yet another dropped catch – as West Indies were led home by an unbeaten century from Shai Hope. The result levelled the series at 1-1 and completed a huge swing in fortunes, after West Indies’ innings defeat in Edgbaston, as well as compounding England’s reputation for inconsistency as a Test side.”In hindsight it’s easy to say the declaration might not have been timed right but I thought last night it was a positive thing to do,” Root said. “We’re a side that want to go out there and win Test matches, we got ourselves in a position where we can do that – but credit to the West Indies, they played really well today. They made it difficult to get on top of them, create much pressure against them.”England had been eight down with Chris Woakes, on 61, and Stuart Broad both unbeaten at the crease when they were waved in. With England 1-0 up in the series, it was an attacking move by Root, captaining a Test on his home ground for the first time. Perhaps he should have been more wary of the local lore: of the four captains to lose a Test in England after declaring the third innings, three have now come at Headingley.Sitting uncomfortably alongside Norman Yardley in 1948 and Adam Gilchrist (deputising for Steve Waugh) in 2001, is now Root in 2017. Asked if it had been the most difficult experience of his captaincy so far, he admitted: “It was tough”.Root trusted his senior attack of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who bowled more than half of the overs, but England were again let down by their catching – most damagingly when Alastair Cook dropped Kraigg Brathwaite on 4. Moeen Ali was tried from both ends but, although he did eventually remove Brathwaite for 95 on the stroke of tea, he was unable to maintain pressure as the contest began to tilt towards West Indies.Ben Stokes was not introduced until the 48th over and only bowled five overs, something Root conceded he may have done differently a second time around. While admitting “the surface didn’t misbehave as much as we might have thought or liked”, Root said there had never been any thought of trying to play for the draw once Brathwaite and Hope were settled.”I thought the best chance of slowing things down was to take wickets,” Root said. “As the game progressed, wickets were the best way of us getting the result. It would have been very easy to try and go 7-2 and go at two an over but I wanted to take the positive option and put them under pressure by taking wickets.”Last night we were in a position where we could win the game, it was a fifth-day wicket and maybe we slightly misread the surface. Looking at two guys who’ve taken nearly 900 Test wickets between them, and the other bowlers we have available, on a fifth-day pitch, I thought we had a great opportunity to win the game.”England’s failures were not limited to the final day. Having chosen to bat first – rather than put West Indies’ batsmen in the firing line again after they had been dismissed for 168 and 137 at Edgbaston – Root acknowledged their first-innings total of 258 was not enough. Ben Stokes made a hundred (having been dropped on 9), Root made fifty (having been dropped on 8) but the next-highest scores was Woakes’ 23. West Indies then compiled 427 to give a truer reflection of the pitch.”I think if we’re being brutally honest we weren’t as good as we can be,” he said. “To bat first, win the toss and only make what we did was not anywhere near what we’re capable of. We didn’t see that the ball was moving around and we maybe could have played that slightly differently. Again guys got in and got out and didn’t support Stokesy, I thought he played tremendously well in that first innings. It was a slightly bowler-friendly wicket, it did surprise me having seen it. Sun out at the toss, it looked like a dead-cert bat-first.”The most pleasing thing for me was the way we fought back into the game. Previously, when we’ve been behind the eight-ball, we’ve struggled to do that. I thought we showed great character, great determination and fight to get in a position last night where we could declare and try and get a win. Looking at the back end of day two, that was an unlikely possibility … [just] very frustrating that we weren’t able to take the ten wickets today.”England’s catching has periodically been cause for concern over recent years and there were four drops on the final day, to go with two in West Indies’ first innings. England benefited from seven themselves but it was not enough to keep them ahead in the series.”You’ve got to take your chances in Test cricket,” Root said. “When you get to this level, if you give guys chances, they generally go on and hurt you. It’s been a strange Test match, there’s been so many catches go down. It’s not always the easiest viewing ground … But we have to be better.”

The Cricket Australia XI squad for this year’s domestic one-day tournament, the JLT Cup, has been named, with Queensland fast bowler Mark Steketee and Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster the most experienced members of the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2017The Cricket Australia XI squad for this year’s domestic one-day tournament, the JLT Cup, has been named, with Queensland fast bowler Mark Steketee and Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster the most experienced members of the squad. Victoria allrounder Jonathan Merlo is the only player in the squad without a state contract.”There is some real talent within this group, and we believe the players in this squad will benefit enormously from the opportunity to compete against the best players in Australia,” Greg Chappell, Cricket Australia’s national talent manager, said.”This is now the third year of the Cricket Australia XI competing in our domestic one-day competition. It’s great to see seven players who represented the CA XI last year feature in state squads this year – Western Australia’s Will Bosisto and Josh Inglis, Victoria’s Sam Harper and Matt Short, New South Wales’ Ryan Gibson and Arjun Nair, and Queensland’s Brendan Doggett.”We will look to use multiple captains, and give some of our emerging leaders experience in that area as well. It’s great to have three Under 19s players in this squad in Jonathan Merlo, Max Bryant and Param Uppal, they’re all exciting young cricketers. They are all primarily batsmen, but also provide us with additional bowling options.”Henry Thornton is coming back from some injury issues, and he’s a very exciting prospect. He has been clocked bowling at similar speeds to Brett Lee at the same age. Daniel Fallins is an exciting leg-spinner, he’s up there on the rev counter with the elite wrist spinners – he gives it a real tweak, not unlike Stuart MacGill.”The Cricket Australia opens the tournament against South Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday next week. In two previous years of competing in the state one-day competition, the CA XI – made up of emerging cricketers who failed to win selection in their respective state squads for the tournament – have won only one of their 12 games, a three-run victory over Tasmania in 2015.Cricket Australia XI Max Bryant (Qld), Jake Carder (WA), Jackson Coleman (Vic), Daniel Fallins (NSW), David Grant (SA), Clint Hinchliffe (WA), Jonathan Merlo (Vic), Harry Nielsen (SA), Ben Pengelley (SA), Mark Steketee (Qld), Henry Thornton (NSW), Param Uppal (NSW), Beau Webster (Tas), Mac Wright (Tas).

Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach, has admitted that Ben Stokes’ alleged involvement in a street brawl in Bristol has revived memories of David Hookes’ death in 2004

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-20171:23

Stokes set to miss Ashes as Finn gets the call

Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach, has admitted that seeing footage of Ben Stokes allegedly involved in a street brawl in Bristol has been a “touchy” issue for him, in light of his memories of the incident in Melbourne 13 years ago when his friend and mentor David Hookes died after being punched to the ground by a hotel bouncer.Speaking at the Hurstville Oval in Sydney, where he was watching Mitchell Starc’s return to action for New South Wales, Lehmann was reminded of the events of the fateful night in January 2004, when Hookes struck his head on the ground after being felled in an altercation in St Kilda, and suffered a cardiac arrest. He never regained consciousness.”It’s happening all around the world, to be fair. Not just one incident,” Lehmann told The Sydney Morning Herald. “[We’ve] got to be careful with what we do outside, anywhere. It’s a touchy one for me.”I can’t say much obviously, it’s with the ECB and I don’t know the whole story, no one does I don’t think. Really, it’s left with them and [we’ll] see what they do, but we can’t control what they do with Ben or any of their players.”What we’ve got to worry about is getting our best XI to play really good cricket. At the end of the day, I have my personal views but at the moment, until I get the whole story, I’m not going to share them.”Darren Berry, the former coach of South Australia, was another witness to the Hookes incident and last week admitted that the Bristol footage had brought back “horrific memories”. But Lehmann stopped short of comparing the two incidents and said it was not his job to tell the ECB what disciplinary measures should be taken against Stokes if the police choose to press charges against him.But, asked how Stokes would be received by the Australian public if he made it onto the tour, Lehmann replied: “You’d have to ask the 25 million people in Australia. Me as the coach, I’ll probably stay away from that one as well. I think it will be interesting. We’ll only know if he comes and if he plays.”England are currently the holders of the Ashes, after winning at home 3-2 in 2015. However, Australia inflicted a crushing 5-0 whitewash when the sides last met down under in 2013-14, and despite the possibility of their star allrounder missing out, Lehmann was counting no chickens ahead of the first Test at Brisbane on November 23.”They’re obviously improved players,” he said. “Everyone is talking about four years ago or two years ago in England. We can’t worry about that.”They’ve played some good cricket. They’re probably a bit like us, inconsistent at times. It’s going to be the team that withstands the pressure early on in the series [that has the edge]. Their younger guys will be under pressure, there’s no doubt about that, but same as our guys.”

Tom Harrison, the chief executive of the ECB, has given the clearest indication yet that Ben Stokes could be back in England’s Ashes squad sooner rather than later

Andrew Miller07-Nov-2017Tom Harrison, the chief executive of the ECB, has given the clearest indication yet that Ben Stokes could be back in England’s plans sooner rather than later, after admitting that the board was keen to “rehabilitate reputations on the field” in the wake of Stokes’ arrest in Bristol in September.With just over a fortnight to go until the first Test at Brisbane on November 23, Harrison conceded that the ECB had been forced into a “holding pattern” as it awaits news as to whether Stokes will be charged by Avon and Somerset Police for his alleged actions outside Mbargo nightclub on September 25.And though a board spokesman sought to downplay rumours, emanating from the Australian media, that a police update could come as soon as Wednesday, it seems increasingly clear that England are refusing to discount a recall for their star allrounder, who was made unavailable for selection after appearing to be caught on camera throwing punches at two men in a street brawl.”What happened was wrong, there’s no question about that,” said Harrison, speaking at the Deltatre Sport Industry Breakfast Club in London. “You don’t want to see your sport in that position and there are consequences of that. We’re in a holding pattern at the minute.”There’s a process with the police and then a disciplinary process. As you’ll appreciate, these things take time and that’s the pattern we’re in at the moment.”The question of Stokes’ availability has been made ever more pressing for England’s tour party following confirmation that his designated replacement, Steven Finn, has been ruled out of the rest of the tour after sustaining a knee injury.Finn suffered a tear to his left knee cartilage while batting on the first day of middle practice, and was unable to recover despite an injection. England have called up Tom Curran as a replacement but, along with the impending arrival of the England Lions squad to shadow the senior squad, there is still a need for clarity as they formulate their Ashes plans.With an internal ECB disciplinary process underway, but taking its lead from the police investigation, further reports suggest that – should Stokes escape police charges – he could be facing a two-Test suspension, which would make him available for the third Test at Perth, starting on December 14. However, Harrison refused to be drawn on any timeframes.”It’s complicated,” Harrison said. “We can’t go into any kind of detail about police matters, but there are serious issues that the game has to face and we have to get it right.”We have to get that balance between censure and support absolutely right. I think cricket’s response to this will show the value of the game in the best light.”Having been through a difficult moment, I think we’ll see the very best of cricket come out. We are blessed with a group of outstanding characters in the men and women’s game. They are great ambassadors for the game and this is very much an isolated incident and an aberration.”I think we will quickly recover to a place where the game is seen as doing its best to rehabilitate reputations on the field, and try to get Ben and Alex [Hales] back to a place where fans are really behind them, trying to do what they do best.”