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Stokes will be assessed “mentally and physically” over the two days of training at Trent Bridge before a decision is made on whether he returns to the XI

George Dobell and ESPNcricinfo staff16-Aug-20181:35

I’m sure it’s been a wake-up call for Stokes – Bayliss

England coach Trevor Bayliss has called on Ben Stokes to make a public apology following his involvement in the brawl in Bristol last September.Bayliss revealed that Stokes, who was recalled to the Test squad just hours after his acquittal for affray, had apologised to his England team-mates when he joined up with them for the New Zealand tour earlier this year.”That’ll be up to Ben and his management team, I suppose,” Bayliss said to a public apology. “But certainly, when he came out to New Zealand after the Ashes tour that he missed, he certainly addressed the players in the changing room when he first arrived. So from our point of view, his contrition was evident for the boys in the team.”I think it was important to actually apologise to the boys in the team, management of the team and management at the ECB – who had to go through a lot of extra activities to work our way through it. I’m sure something will be forthcoming.”Bayliss also said it was considered important to bring straight back into the squad following his acquittal for his own ‘wellbeing’, but he made no guarantees about his selection for the third Test against India.Stokes will be assessed “mentally and physically” over the two days of training at Trent Bridge before a decision is made on whether he returns to the XI.It was less than two hours after the verdict was handed down at Bristol Crown Court that the ECB confirmed Stokes’ recall following a conference call involving various parties including Bayliss, Joe Root and the ECB board.”It was a collective decision – myself, management, captain, the board, Ed Smith – everyone had a say,” Bayliss said. “It was basically thought that for his own wellbeing it was good to get Ben back around the cricket.”If Stokes is deemed available to return it will present a selection dilemma following the success of Sam Curran and Chris Woakes in the first two Tests.”There’s nothing automatic about selections, we’ll see how he is mentally as well as physically,” Bayliss said. “We’ll find out over the next couple of days, I haven’t actually spoken to him yet. We’ve got the next two days to assess where he’s at.”It’s a good position to be in from that [a selection] point of view. We’ve got some guys in form, in the team. It will be a difficult decision to make. Whether it’s Ben or someone else.”Following the conclusion of the court case, the attention will now turn to the Cricket Disciplinary Committee (CDC) and what sanctions they may take against Stokes and Alex Hales. The CDC are an independent body so Bayliss will not be involved in the process and he said it was “business as usual” while that takes shape.Bayliss did say, however, that there would be continued work on the team culture which began in the aftermath of the incident in Bristol. While in Australia for the Ashes series, Bayliss became angered at having to deal with the further controversies that arose involving Jonny Bairstow’s ‘headbutt’ of Cameron Bancroft and Ben Duckett’s incident in Perth, but he believes lessons have now been learnt.”Certainly since the Bristol incident there’s a lot of work been done on team culture with the two captains and that will be ongoing. We’ve had to make one or two changes – with curfews and that kind of thing – but there will be ongoing work on team culture and what it means to play for England”Since a couple of small indiscretions in Australia, I can sit here now and say the players have finally woken up and have learnt their lesson. Their behaviour and the way they go about their professional life off the field as well as on has been top class since.”

Rob Newton made his first century of the season in the Specsavers County Championship as Northamptonshire took control against Derbyshire at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network10-Jun-2017
ScorecardRob Newton brought more gloom for Derbyshire•Getty Images

Rob Newton made his first century of the season in the Specsavers County Championship as Northamptonshire took control against Derbyshire at Wantage Road, reaching 247 for 4 and a lead of 289 by the close of day two.Newton, who was awarded his county cap before the game, followed up a first-innings 67 with a century in 189 balls, his 12th in first-class cricket, reaching three figures by flicking Jeevan Mendis past midwicket for his tenth boundary.The second fifty was quite hard work on a fairly slow wicket against the older ball, taking 123 balls and scoring just two further fours, as the boundaries that flowed before and just after lunch dried up and Northants ground Derbyshire down with steady accumulation.Northants are not accustomed to playing in such a manner – Newton’s century was just the second they have made in the Championship this season and the century stand he shared with Alex Wakely was just the fifth of the year.Wakely was also forced to play carefully and struck just a six – heaving a Mendis full toss over midwicket – and one four in his half-century from 100 balls. He fell for 79 in the final over of the old ball, driving at Tony Palladino and getting an edge to wicketkeeper Daryn Smit who took a good low catch. And when Conor McKerr sent a full ball into the stumps of Rob Keogh Derbyshire opened a route back into the game.But until those late wickets, their hopes of a first four-day victory for two years were fading with just one wicket in the first 65 overs of the Northants second innings – that of Max Holden – pinned lbw by a McKerr yorker for 31.Their attack was very ill-disciplined in the morning session where Northants raced past 50 in just the 11th over. The regained a little control of the run-rate after lunch with Alex Hughes bowling wicket-to-wicket and a good second spell from Tom Taylor.Coming in from the Wantage Road end, Taylor provided some hope in his seven overs where he found a little movement to beat the bat several times. But it was the only period of concerted pressure Newton and Wakely faced as they grew the lead.Their second effort with the bat ensured a great day for Northamptonshire after Ben Sanderson completed his first five-wicket haul of the season in the morning session to bowl Derbyshire out for 176 and handing Northants a handy first-innings lead of 42.Sanderson struck in the eighth over of the morning to end a seventh-wicket stand of 59 that had frustrated Northants on the first evening. But Taylor, who survived 48 balls to the close of day one, added only three runs before shouldering arms and losing his off stump.And Sanderson’s five-for came when Tony Palladino tried to pull and got a thin edge to wicketkeeper Ben Duckett.Hughes, who was dropped in the gully to the second ball of the morning, was left to try and farm the bowling from No. 11 Conor McKerr but calling him back for a second run that was most certainly available, McKerr simply didn’t respond and was run-out without facing a ball. It left Hughes stranded on 62.

Durham supporters steeling themselves for the possibility of another Test mismatch after events at Headingley can at least find consolation that this Championship encounter has thankfully been made of sterner stuff

David Hopps at Edgbaston24-May-2016
ScorecardJames Weighell claimed his first five-wicket haul•Getty Images

Durham supporters steeling themselves for the possibility of another Test mismatch at Chester-le-Street after events at Headingley can at least find consolation that this Championship encounter has been made of sterner stuff. For three days, the leaders Warwickshire have failed to kill off a dogged challenge by Durham, the upshot being that they will begin the final morning 84 runs short with six wickets remaining. There is no doubt where the grittiest cricket has been on show.When it comes to toughness of character, Keaton Jennings loves nothing better than to sandpaper a bowling attack into submission. He began the season against Lancashire with centuries in both innings – only the third Durham batsman to achieve the feat – and his unbeaten 88 showed the same unyielding qualities. His fifth-wicket stand with Paul Collingwood was worth 67 from 23 overs at the close.Viewed through an international prism, as they are about to be, Durham, the hosts for the second Test, are in a mess. Appalling Test advance sales seemingly give them no immediate hope of reducing debts totalling £5m, especially with Ben Stokes hors de combat, but on the field, under the captaincy of Collingwood, their tenacity can be taken for granted.Durham’s tail is a long one: this match remains decidedly in the balance. But if they pull this one off, back-to-back wins (they beat the leaders Lancashire at Emirates Riverside last week) would be a powerful retort to those who imagined they might be relegation fodder. Instead it is Surrey, rich enough to lend them a few bob, whose season is turning sour.Durham’s ability to produce cricketers in the north-east also deserves to command huge respect, and it has been exemplified here at Edgbaston by James Weighell, the latest fast bowler to come off the production line – the result of a strong academy and a willingness to cast their net far and wide. Others can learn from that.A 22-year-old from Middlesbrough, border country where Durham’s raids are these days considerable more successful than Yorkshire’s, Weighell has twice set career-best figures in only his fourth first-class match, following up four wickets in the first innings with 5 for 33 second time around to return 9 for 130 in the match.He took all his wickets in the first innings from around the wicket – utilising it as an unusually persistent ploy against the right-hander – but he adjusted the balance towards a more conventional approach on the third day in conditions that gave plenty of encouragement to pace bowlers maintaining an attacking length.With Chris Woakes on the road north to join England – Warwickshire’s best bowling return for half a century safely gathered in – it was tempting to feel some sympathy for the effect that it would have on their Championship challenge until the thought dawned that Durham’s pace bowling stocks are currently weakened by the absence not just of Stokes and his England colleague Mark Wood, but also Chris Rushworth, whose 83 wickets last season made him the PCA cricketer of the yearFielding a trio of wet-behind-the-ears pace bowlers, Durham bowled themselves right back into the match by dismissing Warwickshire for 114 in their second innings, challenging the perception that their Woakes-inspired deficit of 123 on first innings was as good as terminal.Weighell was the prime reason. Warwickshire, resuming on 15 for 2, soon lost Andrew Umeed, who had made a century on Championship debut in the first innings, but who edged an excellent lifting delivery from Weighell. Ian Bell fell to a yorker and Weighell also added to the misery of Sam Hain whose desperately thin Championship season – a season in which he might have been expected to blossom – continued when he hacked a nondescript ball onto his stumps. Tim Ambrose caught at short leg on the stroke of lunch and a miscue to midwicket by Oliver Hannon-Dalby completed his five-for.Durham could be forgiven for identifying Keith Barker as the bowler they most feared as they set off in pursuit of 238. Barker, Warwickshire’s stocky left-arm swing bowler, has been Durham’s nemesis for years. There was a maiden century in 2011, the bowling figures behind two innings defeats in 2014 and another Championship hundred last season. One look at his sizeable frame sends them all a quiver.As it was, the threat came from a different source. It was the ganglier figure of Chris Wright who spearheaded Warwickshire’s challenge in a post-tea spell of 4 for 10 in 24 balls which disturbed the equanimity that had taken hold during a circumspect opening stand of 87 in 30 overs between Jennings and Mark Stoneman.In Woakes’ absence, and with no signs of turn for Jeetan Patel or Woakes’ stand-in – the legspinner Josh Poysden – Wright’s intervention was necessary. Scott Borthwick got the best delivery of all, which left him sharply to hit off stump, and when Michael Richardson pulled to midwicket few would have reckoned on Durham having a 50-50 chance of victory by the close.

Mervyn Westfield, the former Essex cricketer, has spoken publically for the first time about the chain of events which led to him receive a prison sentence for spot-fixing

David Hopps26-Sep-20130:00

Mervyn Westfield on Mind, Matters, Integrity

Mervyn Westfield, the former Essex cricketer, has spoken publicly for the first time about the chain of events which led to him receive a prison sentence for spot-fixing as part of an anti-corruption campaign headed by the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Westfield describes in the PCA video how he was lured into spot-fixing by the former Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria. Kaneria was banned for life for his part in the affair in June 2012 and lost his appeal against the ban in an ECB hearing in July this year.Kaneria’s lawyers have since filed an appeal in the UK in the Commercial Court, with Kaneria stating that he wants his story to be heard by all. The Commercial Court deals with complex cases arising out of business disputes, both national and international.Westfield tells in the PCA video how his four-month sentence in Belmarsh prison coincided with the discovery that his father had cancer and how he was shaken by the knowledge that he had let down his parents and that he was no longer a good role model for his two younger brothers.”I first met Danish at the age of 18 in the second year of my professional contract,” Westfield tells. “He was a very bubbly person. Everyone liked him in the dressing room. He was a role model for most of the people in our team.”Basically I was at his house and he asked if he could speak to me outside… that’s when he started first talking about it. He said it’s hard for a young person to get money nowadays in cricket and that’s how the conversation started.’If I can give back to anyone – kids, older people it doesn’t matter to me – as long as I can give something back.’- Mervyn Westfield•Getty Images

“He suggested to me that a few people in the game were doing it as well. I felt confused because I didn’t really understand where he was coming from or what he was talking about. Him and his friends kept on asking and asking and I felt pressured into it and I sort of had to do it. I just felt so confused what was going.”Westfield was asked to concede a pre-planned number of runs in a televised 40-over tie against Durham in Chester-le-Street in September 2009. He inadvertently failed to concede the number of runs agreed but after Essex returned home in the early hours of the morning he was paid anyway. He reveals that he resisted suggestions that he should repeat the sting against Somerset five days later.”When I bowled my first over, I didn’t even check the scoreboard to see if I went for 12 or more,” he said. “All the emotions going through my head, I was just confused about what was going on.”Because Danish lived next to me he always gave me a lift home. It was late, it was three o’clock in the morning or something like that. He had two friends in the car as well and they had a black bag and they gave it to me with money.”The next couple of days we went up to Somerset and they tried to get me to do that game as well but I said no definitely not this time. I was worried obviously if someone finds out a what’s going to happen to me and I love cricket and… I didn’t want to lose my career and obviously that Durham game has cost me my career.”He also relates how he was summoned back to Essex’s HQ at Chelmsford after a training session by the coach, Paul Grayson. Essex – in a meeting with Grayson, the chief executive David East and captain Mark Pettini – initially told him that they intended to deal with the affair in house. Westfield’s transgression only became public knowledge six months the event took place.Westfield was banned from professional cricket for five years, and club cricket for three years. In recognition of his willingness to help the PCA with its anti-corruption education programme, an ECB appeal panel in June reduced his ban from club cricket by a year, meaning he will be able to play again next season.He will also appear at the PCA’s rookie camp, for new professionals, in February and at PCA pre-season meetings with each of the 18 first-class counties next March.”I’m not trying to tell people to feel sorry for me… because what I’ve done is bad but not being able to play or coach any cricket is a massive shock for me,” he said. “I just want to rebuild my life.. and try and get back on track. If I can give back to anyone – kids, older people it doesn’t matter to me – as long as I can give something back.”Jason Ratcliffe, PCA assistant chief executive, said: “Mervyn recognizes that he did wrong and that the time is right to make amends within the cricket community to ensure nobody makes the same mistakes. His moving interview is the first step of the education process and should serve as a timely reminder to all, that cricket and other sports will not let up in the fight against corrupters.”

PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has reopened the debate surrounding Saeed Ajmal’s exclusion from the ICC awards shortlists by hinting that Pakistan’s players could boycott the awards function

Umar Farooq06-Sep-2012PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has reopened the debate surrounding Saeed Ajmal’s exclusion from the ICC awards shortlists by hinting that Pakistan’s players could boycott the awards function, to be held in Colombo on September 15, as a “robust protest”. The ICC, responding to the PCB’s protest on Monday, had ruled out a rethink and the matter seemed to have ended there.However, Ashraf’s comments, made during an interview to ESPNcricinfo, suggest the issue is still alive for Pakistan. “We are facing a lot of pressure from the public and from our former players to push for his inclusion,” Ashraf said. “I think the ICC should check whether the independent jury is coming up with the best name and they should not give away the due right of any player in the world.”If anyone else has more wickets than Ajmal, then we are ready to withdraw our concern and instead we will support their pick. But this isn’t reflecting well of the ICC and they should rectify it.”Meanwhile we probably have to give a second thought to even boycott the function as a robust protest.”Ajmal was in the longlist for the Test Player of the Year award but missed out when an independent 32-member jury, which included former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail and Pakistan journalist Majid Bhatti, nominated Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander, Australia captain Michael Clarke and South Africa opener Hashim Amla in that category.Ajmal, 34, took 72 Test wickets between August 4, 2011 and August 6, 2012 – the qualifying period for the award – including 24 at 14.70 as Pakistan swept aside England, the then No. 1 side in the world, 3-0 in January. He has climbed to No. 3 in the ICC Test bowling rankings and is the highest ranked spinner. On Thursday, he was revealed as the top bowler in the ODI rankings.After the PCB lodged the protest, the ICC refused to reconsider Ajmal’s case, saying it had no authority to change the results of the academy. The process was monitored by the independent auditor Ernst & Young, and the longlist was prepared by a five-member Selection Panel headed by Clive Lloyd and included Clare Connor (England), Tom Moody (Australia), Carl Hooper (West Indies) and Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka).

Chris Adams, the Surrey cricket manager, hasn’t been given any official indication over the availability of Kevin Pietersen but suggested that he’d struggle to get in the team anyway

Andrew McGlashan04-Sep-2011Chris Adams, the Surrey cricket manager, hasn’t been given any official indication over the availability of Kevin Pietersen but suggested that he’d struggle to get in the county team anyway. He also asked Andy Flower, the England team director, if they could fly Jade Dernbach down for the CB40 semi-final against Sussex, but that was refused although Dernbach will be available for the final at Lord’s.Pietersen has been rested for the current one-day series against India although reports have now emerged that he has a wrist injury that needs treatment. Last week it was also suggested that Pietersen won’t return to action until January when England play Pakistan in UAE.However, on Sunday, Pietersen said that he was still aiming for the two Twenty20s against West Indies and the one-day tour of India. The CB40 final, in which Surrey take on Somerset, is on September 17 at Lord’s, six days before the first T20 against West Indies.”Kevin is resting and I’ve no idea if he’ll be available or not,” Adams said after Surrey’s 71-run victory against Sussex. “I’ve no idea if he’d get in the side or not. We’ve come this far without two of England’s best players – Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett – and if we get Jade back that will be a huge bonus. I’m guessing at this stage we won’t have Kevin. I haven’t been officially told.”Unlike Pietersen, who Surrey have seen precious little of this season due to England commitments, Adams was in no doubt that Dernbach, who has taken 19 wickets at 15.47 in the CB40, will slot straight back into the side when he’s available, and they tried very hard to have him for the semi-final. Given that England’s last ODI is a day-night game in Cardiff, a helicopter may be needed to get him to Lord’s.”Jade is one of the reasons we are where we are,” he said. “He was the stand-out bowler for us in the competition and his career is going from strength to strength. We asked the question of Flower this week if we could fly him down last night, then we’d fly him off to The Rose Bowl [for the next ODI].”He’s someone who will take a great deal of pleasure in this result, he’s a Surrey man through and through. He continues to impress on every level and if we get him for the final then that’s great.”The news is not so good for Chris Tremlett, though, who has been struggling with a bulging disc in his back since he was ruled out of the second Test against India at Trent Bridge and didn’t play again the series.”Chris may struggle to get on the park in this domestic season, but that’s with the medics and people who know,” Adams said. “I can’t speak highly enough of him, he sent us messages before, during and after this game.”Tremlett was unlikely to have been part of England’s one-day plans against India – either home or away – having not been selected against Sri Lanka, so he has time to recover before the tour to UAE in the New Year. However, he will have a fight to regain his place after the success of Tim Bresnan and won’t find pitches in UAE, or in Sri Lanka, conducive to his style of bowling.

A Test series between India and Australia should be enough to whet the appetite of any cricket fan. But is that true of a contest spanning only two matches? We’re about to find out

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale30-Sep-2010

Match Facts

Friday, October 1, Mohali

Start time 9:30am (0400 GMT)

The Big Picture

A Test series between India and Australia should be enough to whet the appetite of any cricket fan. But is that true of a contest spanning only two matches? We’re about to find out. The abbreviated nature of the trip notwithstanding, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is up for grabs. India are the holders after their 2-0 win at home this time two years ago, but much has changed since then. Australia entered that tour ranked No. 1 among Test teams and India were third. MS Dhoni’s men are now at the top of the list, while the Australians have slipped to fourth. If Australia lose the series, they’ll fall to fifth and begin the Ashes ranked lower than England.There are several fascinating subplots in this series. Will Harbhajan Singh continue to mesmerise Ricky Ponting? How will Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket’s highest scorers, fare in what could be their final series against each other? Can Rahul Dravid find a way to dominate Australia, a team that has had his measure since 2004? Will Nathan Hauritz hold his own against the world’s best players of spin? Is Marcus North on his last chance? And what controversy will arise?India haven’t lost a Test series for two years and, despite drawing their last two, have so much talent in their batting line-up that it is hard to see how Australia can win. That is especially true of the first Test in Mohali, where India have lost only once, winning thrice and drawing five Tests. Can 20 wickets come from Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger and Hauritz? Australia can dream, but India are unquestionably the favourites.

Form guide

India WDLWL

Australia LWWWW

Watch out for…

It has been a heady couple of years for Suresh Raina. In that period, he has managed to force his way back from the wilderness through some compelling performances in the IPL, and done well in the shorter formats for India. Injury to Yuvraj Singh gave him a rare opening into Test cricket and he latched on with a fine debut century against Sri Lanka. That innings was testimony Raina’s mental fortitude but, coming as it did on a flat track against a friendly attack, it did not say much about his technical prowess. Questions remain over Raina’s ability to handle the bouncer and the next few months, including a tour to South Africa, offer him a chance to address those concerns. At some point over the next five days, Johnson and co. are going to test Raina with the short stuff, possibly with the help of the second new ball. How will he respond?Since Shane Watson stepped into the opening role during last year’s Ashes, only Simon Katich and Michael Clarke have scored more Test runs for Australia. Last time Australia played Tests in India, Watson was making his long-awaited return to the baggy green and slotted in as a useful, if not outstanding, No. 6. He will be wary of Ishant Sharma’s ability to jag the ball back in; that angle has been a weakness for Watson at the top of the order. Stuart Broad and Graham Onions repeatedly trapped him lbw using that method last year and three of his four dismissals against Pakistan in July also came against the ball moving in. But Watson has started the tour well, with a century in each innings of the warm-up game, and will look to use this trip to add to his one Test hundred.

Team news

An injury to Harbhajan has cast a cloud over India’s hopes of having their first-choice attack back in action, following endless fitness issues in Sri Lanka. Dhoni said India will take a call on the offspinner on Friday morning. If Harbhajan does not make the cut, Pragyan Ojha will assume the role of lead spinner. Mohali’s seamer-friendly reputation gives Sreesanth an opportunity to make the final XI as the third fast bowler, ahead of legspinner Amit Mishra. The batsmen pick themselves and, barring last-minute fitness issues, M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara are likely to sit out.India (possible) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt and wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh / Amit Mishra / Sreesanth, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Pragyan OjhaAustralia are waiting to see how well Doug Bollinger and Michael Hussey train after their last-minute dash to India from the Champions League in South Africa. However, it would be a surprise if either man was left out. The only change from the team that lost to Pakistan at Headingley in July is likely to be the inclusion of Nathan Hauritz, who has recovered from his foot injury, at the expense of Steven Smith.Australia (possible) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Marcus North, 7 Tim Paine (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Doug Bollinger.

Pitch and conditions

The Australians spotted a tinge of green on the pitch after heavy rain in Mohali, adding to the likelihood they would play just one specialist spinner. However, there is a chance the normally quick surface might play a little slower than usual due to the weather. It was here two years ago that Peter Siddle announced himself by thumping Gautam Gambhir on the helmet with his first ball in Test cricket. Dhoni admitted the difficulty in predicting how the pitch would play. “We will have to see the wicket tomorrow. It looks a bit damp, it’s been watered a bit. It looks like a good track. There may by a bit of skid for the fast bowlers,” he said.

Stats and trivia

• Over the last ten years, Australia have lost more Tests to India than they have won. India are the only team that can boast of this record over Australia for the decade
• During that period, Australia are the only team to have beaten India in a series at home
• No bowler has dismissed Ricky Ponting more times in Test cricket than Harbhajan Singh, who has claimed his wicket on 10 occasions
• With the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan is now the leading wicket-taker among active Test spinners, with 357
• Michael Hussey and Simon Katich, who started their careers as opponents in Under-13s cricket in Perth, begin this series each having played 52 Tests and each having scored exactly 3981 runs
  

  Quotes

  “It doesn’t matter on whom the pressure is. At the end of the day, you are expected to win if you are playing at home. Your ranking doesn’t matter here much.”
  “It is going to be a very big test for our bowlers and for me as a captain. India is the No. 1 team in the world and they are there for a reason.”
  
  “Whenever I play against the Aussies and perform, I feel good. I will try to perform even better this time so that next time when the next series happens they should again take my name first.”

The single one-dayer will act as preparation for the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2024Australia will play two Tests in Galle on their tour of Sri Lanka from late January, which could be vital in deciding who reaches the final of the World Test Championship, while an ODI has been added to the trip as preparation for the Champions Trophy.Depending on how the five-match Border-Gavaskar series plays out, the series may be crucial to both side’s hopes of reaching Lord’s in June.Related

• Handscomb a strong chance for a Test recall on Sri Lanka tour

• Maxwell's Test dream: 'While there's still a glimmer, I'll keep going for it'

• O'Keefe urges Australia to prioritise red-ball prep for Sri Lanka-bound spinners

• Andrew McDonald handed contract extension as Australia men's head coach until 2027

The Tests will be held from January 29-February 2 and February 6-10. The ODI will then take place on February 13 at a venue still to be confirmed with the teams then scheduled to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.The last time Australia visited Sri Lanka in 2022 the Test series was drawn 1-1 with the visitors winning in dramatic style in the first game before Prabath Jayasuriya claimed 12 wickets on debut to level it up in the second.There is a chance Australia could be without captain Pat Cummins for all or part of the tour due to the birth of his second child.”We’ll see what that looks like closer to the time,” head coach Andrew McDonald said. “We’ve got a couple of players in Mitch Marsh and Travis Head taking paternity leave at the moment. So we respect that if that was to unfold for that particular time and if he wants to miss a Test. If he’s got bigger things to take care of than a Test match in Sri Lanka, then that’s fine with us.”Australia are due to arrive on January 20 which means those in the squad with BBL deals may be available until close to the end of the regular season.McDonald and chair of selectors George Bailey have suggested they will select players specifically for Sri Lankan conditions. Glenn Maxwell is in contention for a return while left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann could be an option to supplement Nathan Lyon given the success of left-arm orthodox spinners in the subcontinent.Former Australia spinner Steve O’Keefe has urged the selectors to prioritise red-ball preparation for the spinners selected to support Lyon even if he comes at the expense of playing in the BBL.”I think if we’re really going to be serious about the young spinners going over there, whoever is going to accompany Nathan [Lyon], is the Big Bash the best preparation?” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’d be encouraging the selectors to let these spinners be going earlier and then I’d be encouraging those spinners to practice with a red ball in between Big Bash games.”

The Sri Lanka spinners did the spadework, setting up a 171-run chase, and then a 159-run stand between Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne took them home

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2023New Zealand are rated higher than Sri Lanka and are ahead of them on the Women’s Championship points table, but the combined might of their spinners and the peerless Chamari Athapaththu ensured that Sri Lanka started their ODI series, at home in Galle, with a comprehensive nine-wicket win.It was Sri Lanka’s first win over New Zealand in women’s cricket in any format, and included their highest stand for any wicket in women’s ODIs – 159 between Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne – as well as an unbeaten 108 from just 83 balls from Athapaththu. In a match reduced to 28 overs per side because of morning rain, New Zealand put up a decent 170 for 5. But it took Athapaththu and Co just 27 overs to run it down.The two of them, Athapaththu and Gunaratne, played contrasting innings. While Athapaththu hit ten fours and five sixes in her unbeaten century – her seventh in the format – and scored at 130.12, her partner was more sedate, scoring her 50 at a strike rate of 67.56.