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A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group C matches on October 30, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Rajat Paliwal’s 121 laid the foundation of Services’ innings•Dainik Dabang Dunia

Rajat Paliwal’s first century of the season led Services’ batting effort on the first day of their Ranji clash against Saurashtra in Delhi, but a six-wicket haul from Jaydev Unadkat meant the hosts were bowled out for 254. Services, after being inserted, lost three early wickets, but Paliwal and Yashpal Singh stabilised the innings by joining hands for a fourth-wicket stand which yielded 112 runs. Paliwal was eventually dismissed for 121, after striking 19 fours and a six. His wicket sparked a collapse, as Services lost their last seven wickets for just 83 runs. Yashpal remained unbeaten on 55, but no other batsman contributed more than 16, as Unadkat collected 6 for 80 to bundle Services out in 69 overs. Ravindra Jadeja, who had taken six consecutive five-fors coming into this game, finished wicketless from his nine overs. Saurashtra were 19 for 0 in reply when stumps were called.
ScorecardMithun Manhas made his 26th first-class hundred to lead Jammu & Kashmir to 331 for 4 against Hyderabad. J&K were 29 for 2 after losing their openers in successive overs before Ian Dev Singh and Manhas came together for a 189-run partnership. Manhas put on another 113 for the fourth wicket with Parvez Rasool after Ian Dev departed for 83. The J&K captain stretched his knock to 150 off 194 balls, with 21 fours and three sixes, till he fell off what proved to be the last ball of the day. Rasool remained unbeaten on 61 off 97 with ten fours.
ScorecardUdiyan Bose scored an unbeaten 95 to steer a wobbly Tripura line-up to 223 for 7 against Himachal Pradesh. Barring two fifty partnerships for the third and fifth wickets, Tripura were unable to build stable stands. Bose was involved in both, with Parvinder Singh (23) and allrounder Manisankar Murasingh (44). Tripura managed to lose a wicket off the last ball of the day as well, but Bose was around at the other end on 95 off 239, with 12 fours and a six. Akshay Chauhan picked up two wickets for Himachal.
ScorecardOvernight rain in Jamshedpur meant no play was possible in the Ranji clash between Jharkhand and Goa.

Glamorgan have turned to Australia to help ease their middle-order problems. They have signed Nick Selman, a 20-year-old from Brisbane with a dual passport

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2015Glamorgan have turned to Australia to help ease their middle-order problems.They have signed Nick Selman, a 20-year-old from Brisbane with a dual passport, on a one-year contract ahead of the 2016 season.Selman represented Queensland in both cricket and Australian Rules football at age grade levels before choosing cricket as his first choice sport.Following spells with Kent and Gloucestershire 2nd XIs in 2015, Selman has joined Glamorgan after impressing in two late-season 2nd XI matches.”I’m very excited to be joining Glamorgan, coming to Wales and helping the county to build on their performances of 2015,” said Selman. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of helping the club push for promotion into Division One.”Glamorgan began the season well in Division Two but fell away badly and they were also one of the counties unable to surf the trend of rising attendances in Twenty20.Glamorgan chief executive and director of cricket Hugh Morris said: “We identified we needed more depth to our batting department and Nick is a talented young player who will have an opportunity to score runs for the county as he has done in grade cricket in Australia and in Second XI cricket over here.”Nick has played through the age groups for Queensland and has spent some time in county cricket already, so knows what to expect. I’m sure he will have a big future with Glamorgan.”

Australia’s quest for overseas success in 2016 will start at home, with the inclusion of Steve O’Keefe as a second spinner made with an eye towards the tour of Sri Lanka later in the year

Daniel Brettig in Sydney02-Jan-2016Australia’s quest for overseas success in 2016 will start at home, with the inclusion of Steve O’Keefe as a second spinner made with an eye towards the tour of Sri Lanka later in the year.Sunday will thus be the first time the hosts have plumped for twin spin in Sydney since the days of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill in tandem, and they will be doing so with clear goals in mind. Victories away from home will require team compositions more varied than the five batsmen, one allrounder, three pacemen and one spinner formula usually favoured by the coach Darren Lehmann, making O’Keefe a key part of plans for later in the year.

Boland ensures captain remembers him

There are few better ways to impress the national captain than to splay his stumps in training, and the Victorian Scott Boland ensured he would not soon be forgotten by Steven Smith when he did exactly that on Test match eve. Smith agreed he had been well beaten by the delivery, which exemplified the way Boland has developed as a seamer of good pace to now sit on the fringes of the Test team.
“That was a pretty good ball in the nets today. I think it hit a crack and did a little bit – it was a pretty good area,” Smith said with a smile. “He’s done that pretty consistently over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty impressed.
“The last couple of yeas he’s gotten a lot stronger. He’s probably got a bit more confidence in his body and he’s running in all day. He’s really impressed all the selectors in Shield cricket this season, hence why he’s got into this squad and been close to playing.
“I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s bowled the last couple of weeks. He certainly is hitting the bat hard and hopefully he can continue to do that.”

England’s strong start in South Africa and a looming return series away to New Zealand also affords Australia the possibility of climbing to No. 1 in the Test rankings should results fall their way, so adaptability and versatility is paramount. All these factors made it convenient for Peter Siddle to carry a sore ankle to Sydney and rule himself out after an exploratory bowl on match eve – the captain Steven Smith admitted he was unlikely to play in any event.”His ankle still isn’t 100%,” Smith said. “He felt it wasn’t best for him to come into this Test match the way he is at the moment. He’s a great team man and felt he would be letting the team down [if he played]. But we were probably going to go the two spinners option anyway. We think it’s going to turn so we were going to go that way anyway.”He’s going to have a rest for a couple of weeks I think and hopefully get himself right for New Zealand. But we’re happy with the side and the two spinners, we think it’s going to turn and we’re ready to go. It’s going to spin and it gives us an opportunity now to see Steven and see how he goes.”Obviously we’ve got a tour of Sri Lanka coming up where two spinners is a pretty good possibility. Nathan Lyon has done a terrific job for Australia since [O’Keefe] has been playing. He’s an experienced player now and he’s our No.1 spinner. I think everyone around the country knows that, including Stephen. He’s got an opportunity now to become the second spinner.”Smith made no secret of his desire to get Australia back to the top of the ICC rankings – his is not the only side seeing an opportunity as South Africa appear increasingly shaky in their move towards a period of transition. “Huge motivation,” Smith said. “That’s what we want to do, to be No. 1 in all three formats, we’re working extremely hard to get there.”It’d be nice to win this week and wrap the series up 3-0. It’s been a good summer for us so far, so we’d like to finish on a high and then New Zealand is going to be another big challenge for us. Playing away from home is a challenge for all teams around the world at the moment.”That’s one of the biggest ways we’re going to be judged – how we play away from home. It’s a big challenge for us in New Zealand but I’m confident if we continue playing the way we are, hopefully we can have a lot of success over there.”To that end, Smith’s rediscovery of something like his best at the MCG was a tonic for the new year. It is a testament to the difficulty of batting that even as he finished 2015 as the most prolific run maker in Test cricket, Smith was experiencing another period of doubt about his technique and rhythm, having slogged through other miniature slumps at the start of the World Cup and then in the midst of the Ashes in England.”I felt pretty good last week. it was nice to just spend a bit of time in the middle again,” he said. “All of my movements and my swing and everything were back in sync. I went back and looked a bit of footage before the Melbourne Test and noticed my bat face was a little bit closed.”I was looking at footage from last summer actually, where I was scoring a lot of runs, and I think last week I got my bat face back to where I wanted it to be and everything felt really good. Hopefully I can score a few more this week.”

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the first ODI between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale02-Feb-2016

Match facts

February 3, 2016
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)3:07

Australia quicks look forward to NZ pitches

Big Picture

There was much fanfare around the announcement of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy back in May 2004. At simultaneous press conferences in Melbourne and Christchurch the boards of both countries set out their plans to compete for the trophy on an annual basis, strengthening the cricketing ties between the trans-Tasman neighbours. Walter Hadlee, then 88, was at the announcement in Christchurch, along with his son Dayle; Greg and Trevor Chappell attended in Melbourne. The New Zealand cricket chief executive of the time, Martin Snedden, declared: “I am confident that the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy will become as eagerly anticipated as other great annual sporting events such as the Bledisloe Cup series.”Well, that didn’t quite happen, but plenty of memorable matches were nonetheless played under the Chappell-Hadlee name and the boards stuck to their plans to contest the trophy annually for the next six years. And then it was quietly shelved. At the 2011 World Cup in India, it was announced that since no other time had been found in the summer’s schedule for a bilateral series, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy would be on offer to the winner of the World Cup pool match between the two sides. After that it was forgotten, so much so that the boards neglected to even put the trophy up for grabs when they met at the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. They remembered again for their pool match at last year’s World Cup, but it has now been nearly six years since the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was contested in a series of its own.At last, it is back. The two teams who competed in the World Cup final at the MCG last March get the chance for a bilateral one-day series, a three-match contest that precedes a series of two Tests. It all begins on Wednesday in Auckland, the venue of New Zealand’s one-wicket win over Australia in that Chappell-Hadlee match last year, one of the most memorable games of the World Cup. Despite the short boundaries at Eden Park, swing was king, Australia managed only 151 and it wasn’t far off being a winning score. Nearly a year on and with New Zealand’s personnel largely the same and Australia’s changed significantly, both sides are coming off series wins at home, Australia over India and New Zealand against Pakistan. The World Cup might not be up for grabs this time, but the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy gets a well-deserved return to centre stage.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)


New Zealand: WWWLW
Australia: LWWWW

In the spotlight

Brendon McCullum is now into the final month of his international career, and it is possible that he could finish by lifting both the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and the Trans-Tasman Trophy as captain. His first task is to provide runs at the top of the order, and having missed the past month with a back injury his return in the final ODI against Pakistan did not exactly go to plan: he was caught hooking for a golden duck.Usman Khawaja is Australia’s most in-form batsman but the selectors have stuck to their existing pecking order and gone with Shaun Marsh for the first match. Marsh scored half-centuries in two of his three ODI innings against India last month, which has earned him the first chance in New Zealand, but Khawaja has produced such piles of runs in the past few months that one failure from Marsh might be enough for the selectors to make the change for the second game.The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has been pushed to the fringes in recent years, contested as an after-thought in World Cup games; New Zealand won it last year in Auckland•ICC

Team news

Legspinner Ish Sodhi has been added to the squad for this first match in Auckland, after the New Zealanders saw how much turn Pakistan’s part-timer Azhar Ali extracted from the Eden Park surface on Sunday.New Zealand (possible) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt.), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner/Ish Sodhi, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Trent Boult.Australia confirmed their XI on match eve, with Shaun Marsh named to open the batting with David Warner in the absence of the injured Aaron Finch. That meant there was no place for Khawaja, who was added to the squad to cover for Finch, while fast bowler Scott Boland and legspinner Adam Zampa were the bowlers who missed out.Australia 1 Shaun Marsh, 2 David Warner, 3 Steven Smith (capt.), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 John Hastings, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitch is usually good for batting at Eden Park, though there could be some swing in the air. The forecast is for a sunny day and a top temperature of 27C.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won their past four bilateral ODI series at home against any opposition
• It has been so long since the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has been contested outside of World Cups that only two Australians in the current squad – David Warner and Shaun Marsh – have experience in such series
• New Zealand currently hold the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after winning the World Cup group match in Auckland last year; it was not up for grabs in the World Cup final
• New Zealand could field as many as eight men who played in the World Cup final (Ross Taylor and Tim Southee are injured, and Daniel Vettori has retired); Australia will have only five

Quotes

“There’s obviously going to be a few nerves tomorrow when you’re playing in a big series and hopefully if we can settle early then we can resort back to that even temper that we’ve played with throughout this summer and last summer as well.”
“New Zealand are a very good one-day side; they have played particularly well here at home. I guess for us we’ve got quite a different side to the one who faced them in the World Cup final, so it is a big challenge for us but we’re really looking forward to it.”

ESPNcricinfo’s blow-by-blow coverage of the 2016 IPL player auction in Bangalore

06-Feb-2016

New Zealand began with six wicket standing, but lasted only a little bit after lunch as Austrlia’s bowlers swung them out for an innings-and-52-run victory

The Report by Daniel Brettig14-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:38

Farrell: Test was decided on the first two days

Emphatic doesn’t quite do it justice. Unrelenting throughout, Australia put on another exhibition of high quality bowling to seal a vast victory over New Zealand and place one hand on the ICC Mace awarded to the world’s No. 1 Test team. A deflating result for the visitors in Brendon McCullum’s 100th Test was only a tail-end flurry short of New Zealand’s heaviest ever loss at home to Australia.Having set up the match with expert use of seaming early conditions on the first morning, Australia’s bowlers asked quite different questions on the fourth morning. Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird all used reverse swing to good effect, while Nathan Lyon homed in on a footmark outside the right-handers’ off stump to gain sharp spin. The absence of Peter Siddle, resting a back complaint, was well compensated for.Steven Smith will be a most contented captain, having overseen a performance in which many questions about this team have been answered. They chose the right XI for the conditions, they bowled impressively, and most importantly batted with command even after Joe Burns and David Warner were out cheaply with the ball still new on day one. New Zealand will be left to wonder over the significance of the “no-ball” that reprieved Adam Voges early.Henry Nicholls endured longest for the hosts, on the way to making the highest score by a New Zealand debutant batting at No. 4. But his dismissal on 59 by Bird left the tail exposed to the bounce and conventional swing of the second new ball. Southee and Trent Boult entertained another strong Basin Reserve crowd with a late flurry against Lyon, but it was merely a parting shot.Having lost McCullum from the last ball of day three, New Zealand’s chances of survival were slim, and they narrowed further when the 63-over old ball began bending in both directions. Corey Anderson struggled with the ball moving away from him around the wicket, but after a few play and misses Smith directed Marsh to go over the wicket and try to straighten one down the line.Two balls into the tactic, Marsh pitched one in line and swung it back to pin Anderson in front. Like McCullum he reviewed, but it was a futile gesture for a delivery crashing into middle and leg.BJ Watling arrived and his first ball from Lyon hit the aforementioned footmark and narrowly missed spinning back to strike the off stump with the batsman offering no shot. Lyon took note of this, and it was not long before he delivered a slightly flatter delivery on the same line that had Watling playing back, fatally. The turning ball was through him in an instant.Nicholls had absorbed all this pressure, but Bird’s decision to send one down at a full length made the difference, coaxing the batsman into a flick across the line. Again there was some swing, and the ball flicked off the pads into the stumps. At this, the Australians took the second new ball, and a Hazlewood lbw review against Doug Bracewell was declined due to a lack of conclusive evidence before the interval.Hazlewood had his due reward soon after resumption, when Bracewell was struck in front: this time there was no bat to confuse the issue. Southee’s blows dented Lyon’s figures somewhat, but the bowler was content to keep tossing it up in expectation of a miscue, which was exactly what happened.Mark Craig and Boult entertained for a time also, but in playing so freely they did nothing so much as underline how well the Australians had bowled to the batsmen. A match over in fewer than four days had taken place on a pitch that would still be good for batting on day five. In pursuit of Test cricket’s top perch, Smith’s men had played to a very high standard indeed.

Billy Godleman takes over the captaincy in the Championship of a Derbyshire side who must learn to live without Mark Footitt

David Hopps29-Mar-2016Elite performance director: Graeme Welch
Captain: Billy Godleman (Championship), Wes Durston (limited-overs)
Last season

In: Andy Carter (Nottinghamshire), Tom Milnes (Warwickshire), Neil Broom (UK passport)
Out: Mark Footitt (Surrey), Wayne White (Leicestershire), Jonathan Clare (released)
Overseas: Hamish Rutherford, James Neesham (T20)
2015 in a nutshell
The arrival of Graeme Welch as elite performance director encouraged much optimism last season, but Derbyshire rarely lived up to it. Mark Footitt was the outstanding bowler in Division Two of the Championship for the second successive season, but an inexperienced squad had little else to celebrate. Wayne Madsen and Billy Godleman, captains old and new, delivered with the bat, but Shiv Thakor disappointed.2016 prospects
How to replace Footitt, who has decamped to Surrey, is Derbyshire’s first challenge. Welch has raided his former club, Warwickshire, for Tom Milnes; Andy Carter – signed from Notts – has bags of ability but a poor fitness record; and Tom Taylor and Ben Cotton will look to continue their development. Hamish Rutherford can bring zip to the top order, and his fellow Kiwi Neil Broom has dusted off a dual passport at the age of 32. Youngsters such as Matt Critchley (see below) and Harvey Hosein, an excellent wicketkeeper who made a maiden first-class 50 last summer, should also progress. A Godleman captaincy – he has had his share of disciplinary problems – is intriguing.Key player
Derbyshire can probably assemble enough runs this season – particularly in the Championship – but replacing Footitt is a different matter. It would be a much easier task if Andy Carter stays fit. His wickets come well below 30, but he has managed only 29 first-class matches since his debut in 2009. A tall fast bowler, he is able to mix the short stuff and yorkers.Bright young thing
Matt Critchley was initially seen as a promising legspinner, but he made history when he became Derbyshire’s youngest first-class century maker with 137 against Northamptonshire last May. It was enough to bring him his first professional deal. Proof of developing legspin would also be enthusiastically received.ESPNcricinfo verdict
Derbyshire’s youngsters have the talent to kick on, but not enough to fill their impressive new media box or make a concerted challenge for honoursBet365 odds: Specsavers Championship, Div 2: 12/1; NatWest Blast n/a; Royal London Cup 40/1

An unbeaten 59-ball 90 from David Warner steered Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first win of the season after their bowlers had kept Mumbai Indians to 142

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy18-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner’s unbeaten 59-ball 90 was his second half-century in three matches•BCCI

Win the toss, restrict your opposition to a manageable total, and bat through the chase to win it for your team. Everything went to plan for David Warner, whose unbeaten 59-ball 90 steered Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first win of the season after their bowlers had kept Mumbai Indians to 142 in conditions that led to a well-matched contest between bat and ball.It had rained in Hyderabad on the eve of the match, and the residual humidity made the new ball swing appreciably. Both the Sunrisers opening bowlers exploited this, but Mumbai’s seamers, apart from Tim Southee, did not. They bowled too short and suffered the consequences on a deck that was otherwise excellent to bat on, and against a batsman, Warner, who loves to cut, slash and pull. All of Warner’s boundaries against the quicks, apart from a big six down the ground off Jasprit Bumrah, came against the short ball.Southee kept Mumbai in the game with three well-timed wickets, starting with a late-swinging yorker to Shikhar Dhawan, but Mumbai kept feeding Warner a steady supply of release balls, which he put away merrily. He ended the game with two sixes in three balls, flat-batting Mitchell McClenaghan over mid-off and pulling him over deep square leg, and Sunrisers were home with 15 balls remaining. Mumbai’s defeat was their third in four matches.

Sran fined 10% of match fee

Sunrisers Hyderabad pace bowler Barinder Sran has been fined 10% of his match fee for “inappropriate behaviour deemed contrary to the spirit of the game”, following the game against Mumbai Indians. An IPL release said Sran pleaded guilty to the offence, though it did not specify what it was. It is likely that Sran was fined for sending off Mumbai Indians opener Parthiv Patel; Sran clapped his hands and showed Parthiv the way back to the dressing room immediately after bowling him with a slower delivery.

Warner had hoped, while opting to bowl, that his seamers could exploit the initial freshness on a green-tinged surface. It only took four balls for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to strike, though it was swing rather than seam that did the damage. With Kieron Pollard out due to food poisoning, Mumbai had brought in Martin Guptill, and his debut innings in the IPL was terminated by a perfectly pitched outswinger that kissed his edge through to the wicketkeeper.Guptill’s inclusion meant Mumbai had to rejig their batting order, and Rohit Sharma demoted himself, rather than Parthiv Patel, to accommodate the New Zealand opener. Parthiv looked distinctly uncomfortable against the swinging ball, playing and missing repeatedly before he was bowled by a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Barinder Sran that jagged in like a left-arm wristspinner’s googly.
Then came a self-inflicted wound – Rohit, who came in at No. 4, running himself out while looking for a suicidal single. When Jos Buttler, surprised by extra pace from Sran, gloved an attempted pull in the 11th over, they were 60 for 4 and going nowhere.At the crease now were Ambati Rayudu, who had been promoted to No. 3, and Krunal Pandya, who had been promoted to No. 6 ahead of his brother Hardik, who had batted at No. 3 in all of Mumbai’s previous matches. All the meddling with the batting order indicated a muddled think-tank, but Rayudu and Krunal made the most of their opportunities.They had to bide their time initially, with Moises Henriques and the left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma varying their pace cleverly in the middle overs. But Bipul, who had gone for only 14 off his first three overs, hadn’t bowled much to a left-hander. Only three balls. The next four yielded 18 runs as Krunal swung him away for three successive sixes in the 14th over. Rayudu stepped out and hit one himself, and Bipul finished with figures of 0 for 40.The momentum seemed to be with Mumbai, with six overs to go, but Sran, Bhuvneshwar and Mustafizur Rahman proved too difficult to get away, changing their pace astutely and executing the yorker perfectly. The three quicks shared the last three overs, and gave away only 19 runs while picking up two wickets.

Test wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow hopes to persuade the selectors to find room for him in England’s white-ball set-up as well

Alan Gardner23-May-2016With two hundreds in his last four Tests, as well as 24 catches in his last three, Jonny Bairstow has seemingly silenced debate about his place in the side. He is not ready to stop there, however, and hopes to persuade the selectors to find room for him in England’s white-ball set-up as well.Bairstow has averaged 46.93 since returning to the Test XI at the expense of his Yorkshire team-mate Gary Ballance during last year’s Ashes, while the hard work he has put into his wicketkeeping looks to be paying off as well. Bairstow took the gloves when Jos Buttler was dropped in the UAE and has now twice claimed nine catches in the match – two shy of the record – during emphatic England wins at the Wanderers and Headingley.While his renaissance was founded on 1108 runs at 92.33 while keeping wicket for Yorkshire as they once again secured the Championship title in 2015, the spark in international cricket came during an ODI against New Zealand last June, when an unbeaten 83 from 60 balls led England to victory in the deciding match of the series at Chester-le-Street.Bairstow has played just three more ODIs and a single T20 since then, with Buttler preferred as England’s limited-overs keeper, but the injury suffered by Ben Stokes at Headingley, which is expected to keep him out for six weeks, as well as James Taylor’s retirement could pave the way for a return during next month’s one-day fixtures with Sri Lanka.”I want to play every format I can. Absolutely,” Bairstow said. “I want to play all forms of cricket for England, that’s an ambition I have. I want to succeed in that. If that opportunity does arise, I don’t see any reason why Jos and I can’t play in the same side. I think that would be an exciting prospect with the likes of Stokesy, Jos and myself in that middle-order.”There are still two more Tests to play before England need worry about their 50-over side and, after his Man of the Match performance on his home ground, Bairstow will return to Chester-le-Street looking to continue the superb form that finally earned him another chance, 18 months after his previous appearance at the back end of the disastrous 2013-14 Ashes tour.”I think it has been the culmination of a few years,” he said. “Being left out of the side isn’t necessarily a very nice thing to have done to you. I think moving forward, you either rest on your laurels or you take it on the chin and crack on. I think you learn a lot about yourself. It’s not necessarily a nice thing to be left out or not do so well in a position that you know you’re capable of doing.”Coming back to Yorkshire for pretty much two years, learning your game, learning about yourself, playing my cricket here in a really great environment and winning trophies has done us and myself a world of good. Form can be taken from you very quickly. It only takes a couple of bits to go wrong and all of a sudden potentially you can be out of form. At this moment in time, I’m feeling good, happy with the way I’m striking the ball and with my movement. Hopefully, that can continue.”Bairstow’s performances at No. 7, from where he helped put on 141 with Alex Hales at Headingley, and continued uncertainty over England’s best batting order – James Vince scored 9 on debut at No. 5 after coming in for Taylor – has led to suggestions he could go up the order. Stokes’ injury means he and Moeen Ali will almost certainly move up a spot for the next couple of Tests and Bairstow remains happy to fill whatever role best meets the team’s needs.”I’ll bat wherever. [No. 5 is] the position I bat for Yorkshire and keep wicket so, if that opportunity comes up, it comes up,” he said. “I’m happy at seven. As we know, the team is pretty balanced with Stokesy at six and Mo at eight and myself at seven. I think that is a really good position to be in, a good balance. The rest, I don’t really want to think about to be honest because at this moment in time, I’m just happy, playing my cricket, seeing the ball, trying to catch the ball.”An uncluttered approach and a drive to keep improving seem to be serving Bairstow well, and after a “very special game” he just wanted to savour the moment. “First Test in England keeping wicket, first hundred in England in the Test side, 25th cap at your home ground in front of your home crowd is a fantastic moment. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. And to have family and friends here makes it a pretty good week.”I didn’t go on and score big runs in the UAE but I was happy with the way I was playing. South Africa, the way I contributed there with both bat and gloves I was pretty pleased with. And it was important I started this season well. I’m pleased with the way it has gone for Yorkshire and started for England but we know it will be tough for the rest of the series against Sri Lanka and who knows what will happen against Pakistan.”

Having taken Australia into the triangular series final with the bat, Mitchell Marsh ensured a tournament-winning victory over the West Indies by delivering with the ball

The Report by Daniel Brettig26-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
1:18

Australia hold off West Indies to claim tri-series title

Having taken Australia into the triangular series final with the bat, Mitchell Marsh ensured a tournament-winning victory over the West Indies by delivering with the ball.Marsh’s emergence as a performer under pressure was a major positive of Australia’s otherwise workman-like defeat of West Indies and the already vanquished South Africa, making it fitting that he landed the decisive blows against a doughty home side.A spell of 3 for 6 featured the wickets of Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles in successive overs, breaking the back of the West Indies chase and leaving too much for their heavy-hitting lower order to do. Josh Hazlewood followed up with five wickets of his own, the finishing touch arriving with a typically mercurial catch by Glenn Maxwell.Australia also owed much to the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who muscled his way to a half-century with the tail that atoned for earlier wasted starts by the top order, while also reaffirming his place in the team. Wade’s late hitting stretched the total to 270 when at one point 240 looked more likely.Following a decent start on a slowing pitch in Bridgetown, the visitors’ middle order fell away and the tail was left to scratch around against tight bowling by Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder and Sulieman Benn. From 152 for 3 in the 31st over, Australia lost 4 for 59 in 13.2 overs before the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade staged a punchy rearguard – his first meaningful innings of the tournament.Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, George Bailey, the captain Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh were all left to rue their dismissals after making starts. Maxwell was unable to halt the slide, falling to Shannon Gabriel’s well-directed pace in the same over as Smith.Those wickets left Wade in the company of the bowlers, after the selector on duty Trevor Hohns and the interim coach Justin Langer made a significant departure from previous policy by dropping the allrounder James Faulkner.Man of the match in last year’s World Cup final, Faulkner’s recent form with the ball has disappointed, and he has had relatively few opportunities to showcase his late innings batting due to the performances of others. Instead, Hohns and Langer plumped for the pace of Nathan Coulter-Nile alongside a recall for the wristspin of Adam Zampa.Both the seamer and spinner would play their part in the defence of 270, but it was Marsh who struck the vital blows after Hazlewood had ended a firm opening stand between Andre Fletcher and Charles.Mixing cross-seam deliveries with his usual seam-up offerings and the occasional bouncer, Marsh took control of proceedings in a manner Langer would have been particularly proud about.Bravo was cramped from around the wicket and edged behind, Samuels was flummoxed by a ball that stopped in the wicket and gifted a front edge to short cover, and then Charles was struck in front of the stumps by a quicker delivery.From 72 for 4 in the 21st over there was only the narrowest path back into the match, and for all the efforts of Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard and Holder, Australia always had too much of a scoreboard edge. Their victory was a worthwhile moment for a young team who overcame some unfamiliar conditions and injury to David Warner to vindicate their No. 1 spot on the ICC’s ODI rankings.Khawaja and Finch had made a smooth start against the new ball, finding the boundary regularly and motoring along at better than five per over. It was something of a surprise when Khawaja tried a flat-footed forcing shot at Holder and edged behind, but even so Finch’s momentum was barely stopped by the wicket.Instead it took the arrival of Kieron Pollard to draw a miscue, a slower cutter dragged from outside off stump and taken at deep midwicket to deny Finch a half-century. Smith and Bailey prospered for 51 runs, consolidating the innings for further acceleration, but the Tasmanian lost the thread when he tried to run Carlos Brathwaite behind point and dragged onto the stumps.Smith had played a deliberate innings, not taking undue risks, and one of his first gambles resulted in his downfall when a pull from Gabriel skewed straight up. Next man Maxwell did not suggest permanence in his brief stay, and the innings had turned when Gabriel pinned him in front.Marsh added to the procession when he edged Sulieman Benn onto the stumps, leaving Wade to fight for a competitive tally with a series of muscular tugs over the leg-side field. He did so after surviving the wiles of Sunil Narine, a consistent source of trouble for Wade in the past, and finished the innings by clouting a Brathwaite full-toss for six.Those late blows made a psychological difference to proceedings, before Marsh whirred down the spell that dictated the course of the match and, in turn, the triangular series.