Chris Jordan, Ben Brown pass 150 unbeaten to rescue Sussex

Visitors were 68 for 6 before pair saved the day in style

Jon Culley20-May-2019If Chris Jordan was feeling frustrated at watching his slim chance of making the cut for England’s World Cup squad disappear before his eyes over the past two weeks, then there are not many better ways in which he could have got it out of his system.His career-best unbeaten 158, the third century of his career, was an essay in controlled aggression, occasionally risky but never irresponsibly so, and with no leaping around punching the air as he ran the single that took him to his century or after the magnificent straight drive that took him past 150 in the midst of a wonderful record-breaking partnership with Ben Brown, who finished 10 short of his career-best on 153 not out.Yet you sensed he must have been feeling a particular kind of satisfaction at that moment, one borne of being selected for the one-day series against Pakistan that ended on Sunday – a chance, he must have thought, to make a late claim for a World Cup place – only to play no part, beyond being a substitute fielder.His response here, then, was hugely impressive, not least to his teammates, who watched with growing appreciation as he and his captain repaired the damage of a dreadful morning that had seen them lurch from 20 without loss to 68 for 6.”It can be a little bit frustrating to be with England like that and not get a game,” Jordan said afterwards.”But I tend to take the positives from a situation and the fact of the matter is that I had not been called up to that 50-over squad for three years so it means I am getting close again. Unfortunately I was not able to get a go but the boys are in great shape for the World Cup and it is good to be playing cricket again with Sussex.”Going out to bat at 68 for 6, Jordan said, was “not ideal”. Brown will certainly have concurred. During that torrid passage, he must have wondered what he was thinking when he looked at a green-tinged pitch before play and decided he wanted to bat. More so when the toss went against him and his opposite number said he was happy for him to do so.Alex Wakely was clearly spot-on about the conditions favouring his bowlers, the ball moving in the air and some nipping away off the pitch too. Moreover, several Sussex batsmen played some pretty woeful shots, as if disoriented to be batting.Ben Sanderson inflicted the first blows, taking three for none in 10 deliveries as Phil Salt lost his off stump, Tom Haines skewed one to point off a leading edge and Stiann Van Zyl drove loosely to mid-off.Luke Wells got a good one from Luke Procter that zipped away and took the edge, Adam Rossington taking a tumbling catch in front of slip, but Harry Finch did not offer a shot to the ball from Nathan Buck that literally broke his middle stump and David Wiese, who had been in excellent form in 50-over cricket, was bowled by a fullish delivery from Jamie Overton, the Somerset bowler who is here on loan, without scoring.Jordan, in fact, was a little fortunate not to go the same way, the ball flying between ‘keeper and first slip as he tried to jam the bat down on another Overton delivery that was well pitched up.From a Sussex viewpoint, it was the last scare before lunch. Nonetheless, 77 for 6 was a test for their digestion. No one could have imagined 370 for 6 at the close, yet from thereon in, Jordan and Brown reigned supreme.That is not to say that nothing troubled them. There was still something in the pitch, clearly, and neither batsman was immune from playing and missing. Yet Jordan, in particular, looked confident, punching boundaries both sides of the wicket and driving forcefully if Northamptonshire’s bowlers strayed in length or line, and the presence at the other end of a batsman with a very different style was certainly a factor in making that happen quite regularly.”We have batted together a few times and we tried to rotate the strike,” Jordan said. “We hit the ball in different areas and that makes it difficult for bowlers to settle on one length or one line.”Brown hit 20 boundaries, Jordan 24, the most thrilling of which came towards the close as he drove Procter straight down the ground three times in the same over, the third of them taking him past 150.”We did not get that many balls to hit down the ground so it felt good at the time and I’m grateful to get a personal best,” he added.The partnership is the highest conceded by any Northamptonshire side for the fifth wicket and the second-highest scored by a Sussex partnership, the highest being 344 by K S Ranjitsinhji and Billy Newham against Essex at Leyton in 1902, which was the highest by any side in the County Championship until Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan put on 366 for Yorkshire against Durham at Chester-le-Street in 2015.That mark could yet be under threat.

Australia's balance in question against Pakistan threat

A few months ago Pakistan were beaten 5-0 by their next World Cup opponents but they have already shown that recent form can go out of the window if things click

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan11-Jun-20192:58

Hussey: Stoinis’ injury is a big loss for Australia

Big Picture

Things are starting to bubble up nicely. Both teams are entering a key phase of the tournament in terms of their semi-final hopes. Australia’s shortcomings were shown up by an impressive Indian performance at The Oval, and Pakistan have been kicking their heels since turning on the style to beat England with a washout against Sri Lanka.If you go by recent history, Pakistan would appear a long shot for this match. But, as we well know, that isn’t how it works. Their 5-0 defeat in the UAE a couple of months ago came with an underpowered side. If they can channel the form shown against England, with bat and ball, they are fully capable of overturning Australia – it would be a huge result ahead of their marquee clash against India on Sunday.Australia need to get the show back on the road to make a case for being serious contenders for the title. The format of the tournament means there is time to do that, but lessons will need to be learned from the India match and it will be interesting to see how rigid, or not, their game plans are. The batting order and balance of the side are raising questions with the news of Marcus Stoinis’ side injury creating a headache.The venue for the match, Taunton, could add a few more issues to consider with some short boundaries on offer and the weather forecast remaining uncertain. All that points to win toss, bowl first.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LWWWW
Pakistan WLLLLDavid Warner walks off after his unbeaten 89•Getty Images

In the spotlight

David Warner is scoring runs, but not at the rate that everyone has become accustomed to and that Australia ideally need him to. In the space of three innings at the World Cup, he has twice set a new mark for his slowest ODI fifties. Against Afghanistan, it wasn’t an issue, but needing 353 against India, it left Australia well behind the required rate. Team-mates have come out in support, with Glenn Maxwell saying conditions have been trickier than expected, but Australia need some impetus at the top. At the very least, if Warner is going to soak up a lot of deliveries, he needs to bat through for a big hundred.Four years ago, Wahab Riaz was half of one of the most thrilling duels of the 2015 World Cup as he put Shane Watson through the wringer which a vicious spell of short bowling in Adelaide. Little more than a month ago, it did not seem like Wahab would be back for the 2019 event but a typically last-minute change of plans altered that. Against England, he shipped 82 runs but, crucially, claimed three wickets to help secure Pakistan’s victory. Australia’s top order was rattled by the West Indies bouncers. Can Wahab reprise 2015?

Team news

Stoinis’ injury leaves Australia with two ways to go, both significantly changing the make-up of the team. They can either bring in Shaun Marsh, which would leave Maxwell as the fifth bowler, or add another frontline bowler which would shorten the batting order – although Stoinis hasn’t contributed many runs of late.Australia (possible): 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jason BehrendorffAgainst Australia, there is always the temptation to play more spin, so, ideally, Imad Wasim should into the equation. But the weather and conditions could have a say in team selection too. Pakistan are keen to play the same top seven from the England game and keep the batting strong; the bowling dilemma is whether Shaheen Afridi comes in, his swing perhaps more useful than Wahab’s pace.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Asif Ali, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shadab Khan, 11 Mohammad Amir

Pitch and conditions

Traditionally a high-scoring venue for domestic one-day cricket, Taunton’s first match of the World Cup saw New Zealand’s seamers prove too much for Afghanistan’s flimsy batting. The forecast is for a cloudy day with a chance of showers so it could again be the quicks who prosper.Fakhar Zaman plays a pull•Getty Images

Strategy punt

  • Warner has struggled to up the tempo so far at the World Cup and Pakistan have three bowlers in their likely line-up – Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez – against whom he has scored significantly under a run-a-ball and has a dot ball percentage of over 50. The bowler Pakistan may want to hide from Warner is Hasan Ali – the left hander has a strike rate of 168 against him.
  • If there isn’t a frontline pace bowler operating when Hafeez comes to the crease, Aaron Finch should quickly change the bowling. All seven of his ODI dismissals this year have been against pace. Against England he skipped down the pitch to his first ball against Moeen Ali to dispatch a boundary which kickstarted his match-defining innings of 84 off 62 balls. The short ball from the quicks is worth considering, too, with Hafeez falling 11 times in his ODI career from 161 short balls he has faced – although his strike-rate against them is a handy 126.
  • Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will need to avoid length deliveries against Fakhar Zaman who has made positive starts in both his innings without converting. It is better to err full or short; Fakhar’s ball-per-dismissal ratio is considerably lower – 19.5 in both cases – to those two lengths compared to good length (30.5) and back of a length where he is most comfortable and has only been dismissed once in 110 deliveries.

Stats and Trivia

  • Both Nathan Coulter-Nile and Shadab Khan need one wicket each to reach fifty in ODIs
  • Maxwell’s average of 55 against Pakistan is his best against any opposition in ODIs – he has scored seven fifty-plus scores in 15 innings against them
  • In the domestic Royal London Cup, Somerset made scores of 353 and 358 on their home ground

Kumar Dharmasena to umpire final despite Jason Roy controversy

Sri Lankan to stand in second World Cup final alongside Marais Erasmus

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2019Kumar Dharmasena will umpire Sunday’s World Cup final between England and New Zealand, despite his incorrect decision to give Jason Roy out in yesterday’s semi-final.Dharmasena gave Roy out caught behind on 85 off Pat Cummins, despite replays showing that he had made no contact with the ball.The umpire appeared to suggest Roy should refer the decision if he didn’t think he was out, apparently failing to realise that Jonny Bairstow had already used up England’s review after he was trapped in front by Mitchell Starc.Roy’s remonstrations on the field – he was picked up calling the decision “f**king embarrassing” by stump microphones – earned him two demerit points and a fine worth 30 per cent of his match fee, which he accepted at a post-match hearing.Roy escaped a ban for the final, falling one short of the four-point threshold, but will face a one-Test or two-ODI suspension if he receives another demerit point within the next two years.Dharmasena has won the ICC’s Umpire of the Year award twice – in 2012 and 2018 – but also holds an unwanted record involving England. In 2016, during a Test in Chittagong, eight of his on-field calls were overturned, notably including a streak in which he gave Moeen Ali out three times in six balls, only for the batsman to successfully review each decision.He will be standing in his second consecutive World Cup final, and also umpired the 2016 World T20 final.Dharmasena will be joined in the middle by Marais Erasmus, who stood alongside him in Thursday’s semi-final.Rod Tucker will be the sole Australian representative at Lord’s in his capacity as third umpire, while Aleem Dar, of Pakistan, will be fourth official. Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee.

Mason Crane, Liam Dawson spin Hampshire towards victory over Essex

James Vince takes Hants over the finishing line with thunderous 87

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2019Mason Crane and Liam Dawson spun Hampshire towards victory before James Vince took them over the winning line with a thunderous 87 not out to give the visitors their first victory at the Cloudfm County Ground in Chelmsford for five years.Spin twins Crane and Dawson ripped through Essex Eagles’ batting in the middle overs as they snatched figures of 5 for 55 from their combined eight overs to set up a seven-wicket thrashing.The Eagles, having been 81 for 1 at one point, lost nine wickets for 52 runs in 47 balls, to fall well below par.Hampshire knocked off the 134 required inside 14 overs, with captain Vince raising his bat for his second fifty of the competition, to condemn Essex to a single win from their opening five fixtures.Hampshire, who have now won two Vitality Blast matches on the bounce after ending their Somerset hoodoo last week, hadn’t previously won on this ground in any competition since a T20 victory here in 2014 – with this being only their 10th success at Chelmsford this century.Vince won the toss, stuck Essex in, and was immediately high-fiving Chris Wood and Dawson after Cameron Delport edged the first ball of the match to first slip.Adam Wheater and Tom Westley, who had been promoted to the top of the order then enjoyed a boundary-hitting contest. Westley won the battle with three huge sixes and a trio of boundaries to Wheater’s four inventive fours and sole maximum in the pair’s 81-run stand in 53 balls.But Dawson and Crane entered the attack and dismissed Westley and Wheater in successive overs before ripping through the rest of the Eagles’ batting.Crane then suckered Ryan ten Doeschate into a hoof down the ground, Chris Morris snaffling at long-off, before Dan Lawrence was bowled next ball.Shane Snater was run out by Wood attempting a foolhardy second run and then Simon Harmer chipped to Sam Northeast at short cover, Dawson and Crane ending with middle-order figures of 2 for 32 and 3 for 24 respectively.Overseas duo Adam Zampa and Mohammad Amir quickly followed as Essex lost eight wickets for 32 runs in an epic 40 ball collapse.Paul Walter then thumped 26 off 13 balls to give the hosts some respectability but Matt Quinn was castled to leave him stranded – the Eagles all out for 133.Aneurin Donald scored four and out in two balls before Vince and Rilee Rossouw comfortably ticked through the runs in a 78-run stand. Vince, who opened his campaign with 50 against Kent, tonked one over long-on to accompany a series of gorgeous fours to reach his milestone in 34 balls. Rossouw slapped to the straight boundary to depart for 25 but Vince continued to take his tally to three sixes and 12 fours.He ended unbeaten on 87 as he and Northeast eased Hampshire towards the line with a 50 stand. The latter was bowled but Vince scored the winning runs two balls later.

Mohammad Hafeez joins Middlesex as AB de Villiers' replacement

Pakistan batsman signs for five Vitality Blast group games

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2019Mohammad Hafeez has signed for Middlesex as AB de Villiers’ replacement for five Vitality Blast games.De Villiers’ initial stint finished with a victory against Surrey last week, but he will return to the club for the final two games of the group stage, and the knockouts if Middlesex qualify.Hafeez will also be available for those two games, with Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the club’s other overseas signing, set to return to Afghanistan after being recalled by his board.Hafeez has been playing in the Global T20 Canada – he hit 85 runs in five innings for Edmonton Royals – and is expected to be available for Wednesday’s game at Essex.This will be Hafeez’s first stint in county cricket, though he did play club cricket in the Liverpool League in 2004 and 2005.Hafeez retired from Test cricket in December, but remains available for white-ball internationals.He was part of Pakistan’s World Cup squad, making 253 runs including a vital 84 against England at Trent Bridge, but was left off their central contracts list last week.After reaching the knockouts once in the last ten seasons, Middlesex have had an impressive campaign, and sit second in the South Group with five games to play.De Villiers’ shoes will be difficult to fill: in five innings for the club, he made 253 runs, striking at 191.66, including two scores of 88 not out and a 40-ball 64 to sign off against Surrey.1600 BST, August 13 – This story was updated to include news of Mujeeb’s availability

Shahid Afridi to turn out for Qalandars in T10 League

Qalandars, who have close links with their PSL namesake Lahore Qalandars, are one of two new teams that will take part this year

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2019Two new teams – Qalandars and Bangla Tigers – will take part in this year’s T10 League in Abu Dhabi. The latest team, Qalandars, was unveiled on Sunday, with Shahid Afridi signing on as the franchise’s icon player.”I was very excited to be a part of it (T10) from the time I heard it was going to be played in Abu Dhabi,” Afridi said at a press conference in Abu Dhabi. “The first two editions of T10 were in Sharjah and now it is in Abu Dhabi. We will be here to provide fans all the entertainment in this short format of the game.”T10 is a different concept where batsmen will have to have a go from the start. It’s good to have some variety for the fans.”Qalandars have close links with their Pakistan Super League (PSL) namesake Lahore Qalandars, with the Pakistani businessman Fawad Rana serving as chairman of both teams. Rana had also invested in a franchise, Durban Qalandars, in the stillborn T20 Global League in South Africa, which later gave way to the Mzansi Super League (MSL).Bangla Tigers, owned by Bangladeshi businessmen Yasin Chowdhury and Sirajuddin Alam, a former BCB director, were unveiled on Thursday.The league had previously included a team named Bengal Tigers, but that team – owned by the India-based Danube Group – have since changed their name to Delhi Bulls. The erstwhile Sindhis franchise, meanwhile, have been rebranded following a takeover by the Indian businessman Gaurav Grover, and will now be called Deccan Gladiators.

Lockie Ferguson returns from injury to face England

The quick suffered a fractured thumb at the start of the tour of Sri Lanka in August

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2019Lockie Ferguson will make his return from injury for the New Zealand XI in England’s warm-up matches ahead of their T20I series.Ferguson suffered a fractured thumb at the start of the tour of Sri Lanka in August and the two practice matches at Lincoln on October 27 and 29 will give him a chance to get up to speed ahead of the T20Is.He was one of the stars of the World Cup, finishing as New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker with 21 at 19.47.”The thumb has healed well and I’m looking forward to having a hit-out at Lincoln,” he said. “While it’s obviously frustrating to be side-lined, it’s actually been good to take some time to freshen up and be able to return with plenty of motivation and energy. It’s the beginning of a really big summer of cricket and it’s exciting to be starting it against a quality England side.”Lockie Ferguson at his point of release•NurPhoto/Getty Images

He will be joined in the New Zealand XI by current internationals Colin Munro, who will captain the team, and Tim Seifert.Squad Colin Munro (capt), Katene Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Blake Coburn, Anton Devcich, Lockie Ferguson, Jake Gibson, Brett Hampton, Anaru Kitchen, Christian Leopard, Tim Seifert (wk), Anurag Verma

Langer's bid to turn Australia into a T20 fortress

Australia have never cracked T20. They have a year to get it right before the World Cup

Daniel Brettig24-Oct-2019In a lot of ways, T20 appeared to be the best developed element of Justin Langer’s coaching repertoire when he replaced Darren Lehmann some 18 months ago.In Western Australia, he had played a large role in making the Perth Scorchers the most feared T20 team in the BBL, turning the WACA Ground “furnace” into a fortress, mastering all the defensive skills of the game, using game analytics effectively and also making shrewd use of the parallel Scorchers and Western Australia programs to keep his playing list strong.Yet for all the dramas surrounding Australia’s Test team in the wake of Newlands and then the ODI team’s underperformance since winning the 2015 World Cup, it is international T20 that has long looked to be a blindspot. They have never won the T20 World Cup, nor been much more than a middling team in the scattered bilateral series.So when Langer looks to the method for success in the format where Australia will next have an ICC global event, in October and November next year, he will be leaning heavily on his experiences with the Scorchers, allied to the trove of lessons he has taken on board at international level. To attempt to win a World Cup at home carries great expectations, but also more than a few in-built advantages for the hosts.”As we saw with the 50-over World Cup there’s obviously some home ground advantage because we’re used to the conditions, we’re used to the dimensions of the grounds, we’ll have a good mix of players who play Big Bash at all the different venues,” Langer told ESPNcricinfo. “But to win the World Cup it’s like winning an AFL Grand Final, everything’s got to go right at the time.”What we can look after at the moment is how we lead up to it, guys getting their job in the team. We’ve shown by selecting this team, very role specific, we want them in the short term, these six games coming up, but over the next year and couple of years to become the best in the world at what their role is, whether it’s bowling at the death or finishing in the middle of the innings. The non-negotiables are still our fielding, that’s got to be sharp.”But if our guys can get really great at their roles, my experience of Big Bash and T20 cricket, is if you’ve got specialists who do their roles really well, you’ll win more games than you lose.”Getting the best out of Steven SmithSteven Smith cracks one to the off side•BCCI

Anyone who watched the Ashes for more than an hour or two would have been left with the conclusion that the game has seldom seen a genius like Smith, but a few weeks later and his selection in the T20 squad ahead of the likes of Chris Lynn raised a few eyebrows. In truth, Smith has been a fair proxy for Australia’s fortunes in the format, occasionally dominating, but more often looking distracted between Test or ODI assignments.ALSO READ: Chris Lynn ‘crystal clear’ on his T20I position – Justin LangerIn seeking to get the best out of Smith, Langer believes that continuity in the format will allow him to focus his brilliant knack for problem solving with the bat, while at the same time becoming more of an area of personal hunger due to the trophy missing from Australia’s cabinet. Equally, Langer’s belief in a more unified white-ball squad between 50 and 20-over cricket – once again after the fashion of the Scorchers – will help Smith find the sense of normality that has always aided his batting.”The two ways I’ve described Steve Smith are his hunger for the game and that’s his batting in general and runs, but also his ability to solve problems,” Langer said. “T20 is no different, you’ve got to solve a lot of puzzles and he’s got this incredibly intuitive mind where he wants to solve the problem. I’m really confident he’ll be a great success there. The only thing we have to manage with him and Dave Warner and a couple of the quicks is the fact they are in all three forms of the game and that can be a challenge in itself.”My view is that in white-ball cricket, the closer we can get the two squads together the better, because you can use skills for both 50-over and T20 cricket if that makes sense. That’s more how I look at it than one-day cricket taking a backward step. We’ll probably use as many experiences in 50-over cricket to help us become better in T20 cricket and vice versa.”Moneyball methodsPerhaps the most significant contract signed before the start of the summer was not those for any of Langer’s assistant coaches or even a new selector to join him and Trevor Hohns on the national panel, but instead a new deal with the cricket data analytics company CricViz for their extensive suite of information on Australia and their opponents.CricViz is no stranger to Australian cricket, having worked closely with broadcasters and also teams such as the Melbourne Renegades (led by captain Aaron Finch and the coach Andrew McDonald), but the new partnership is a first for the national team. Over the years, CA has accessed intelligence from the likes of Cricket21 in addition to the work of the team analyst Dene Hills and his colleagues.Langer, who relied heavily on the insights of the Scorchers’ performance analyst Dean Plunkett, described CricViz and its work with Hills and company as “the Rolls Royce version” of what he had in Perth. “The data these days is incredible,” he said. “Some of the stuff they give to us is unbelievable. What the trick is though, is to siphon it down and get the little gold nuggets that you work out for selection and that you can sell to the players, which makes sense to them, ‘okay if you do this well, then you win a lot of games’.”Justin Langer in the Perth Scorchers dugout•Getty Images

Defensive skills of an attacking gameSomething that Australia pioneered in the 1980s was an identification of the fact that limited-overs cricket, while commercially devised to showcase more aggressive skills to a new audience, was actually best played through rigid adherence to many of the game’s less glamorous fundamentals. Tight fielding, alert running between the wickets and taking singles, and keeping wickets in hand were all hallmarks of the former coach Bob Simpson and the unfancied but ultimately victorious 1987 World Cup team.Similarly, Langer’s Scorchers were rigorous Roundheads as opposed to the Cavaliers back east, fighting out every game and often strangling the life out of opponents before they got room to free their arms and swing for the fences. For Langer the T20 game is a pressure contest every single ball, so anything that can enhance the sense of pressure or even claustrophobia on an opponent is, as he would put it, “like gold”.”That’s just a good blueprint for playing great T20 cricket,” he said. “I’ve said all along one of my important KPIs is how we throw, because it’s indicative of our attitude and our athleticism. Our fielding and the defensive game – back then we had a very good bowling attack. We had Alfonso Thomas, we had Yasir Arafat who could bowl at the death particularly, and I think that helped guys like AJ Tye and Nathan Coulter-Nile to learn. And we were really good up front as well at the WACA.”We had swing bowlers like Jason Behrendorff, we also recruited David Willey, we had Mitchell Johnson. So the blueprint’s there, the next plan is to execute it really well. The running between wickets back then was something we prided ourselves on, it also puts the opposition under huge pressure when you’re not only hitting boundaries but running hard between wickets.”We also know that the rotation of strike is an incredibly powerful statistic in T20 cricket, and in fielding you’re under the pump because you can’t afford to make mistakes.”Leadership and learningThe humble beginnings of the Australian team last year after the Newlands scandal meant that new ways of playing, winning and conducting business all got the chance to grow without too much pushback about “this being the way it’s always been done”, and the T20 team have a similar opportunity. Under Finch, who grew in global respect as leader of the World Cup team having already fashioned a strong reputation as a leader with the Renegades, the Australian team should not be overly beset by ego or an unwillingness to learn.At the same time, the fact that Australia were able to come through the trials of a long England tour that took in a World Cup and the Ashes, registering more than creditable results in each, has imbued Langer with quiet confidence that, given a year’s run at it, they can build a winning T20 combination first on home soil and then again in India at the next T20 World Cup in 2021.”There’s still growth for the group, and it’s the same with our captains, whether it’s Finchy or Tim Paine they’re doing a tremendous job for us and there’s still growth in both of them,” Langer said. “That’s exciting for us, it’s exciting for them, that’s what gets us out of bed every day, doesn’t it.”But one of the things I love about the role is you’ve got to keep learning and keep getting better. The last 18 months I’m learning so much and that’s what’s exciting. Despite it being tiring and despite it being different pressures, I’m learning so much from this gig and in terms of leadership I’m loving that part of it.”

Bushfire smoke forces Canberra BBL match to be abandoned

The contest was four balls short of being a match with the Thunder ahead of what the DLS target would have been

Andrew McGlashan21-Dec-2019The BBL match in Canberra was abandoned – four balls short of being a game – after smoke from the devastating bushfires, which are raging in New South Wales, drifted back over Manuka Oval on Saturday evening leading the umpires to suspend play due to poor visibility and air quality.The situation did not improve by the 9.14pm cut-off time to resume the game so each side took one point. The Thunder were ahead of both the par score after five overs (34) and what an adjusted five-over target would have been if there was time to resume for five more deliveries (38). When play was initially suspended, Callum Ferguson showed his frustration, although players and officials from both sides were quick to express their understanding of the situation.”There’s some people in the wider area going through some horrific times, so the fact you drop a point is not anything compared to what other people are going through,” Shane Bond, the Thunder coach, said. “The decision was made, we respect that decision and we are happy with the one point.”Visibility got poor during Sydney Thunder’s chase•Getty Images

Umpire Paul Wilson told Fox Cricket: “I understand that the Thunder have four balls to go. We can’t take that into consideration. It’s about air quality. We would not have started like this.”A BBL statement said: “The KFC Big Bash League advises that tonight’s match between the Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers at Manuka Oval has been abandoned due to dangerous and unreasonable playing conditions. The decision was taken by match officials after conducting a thorough assessment of conditions at the ground, with participant safety the number one priority. The League and all Clubs wish to reiterate that our thoughts and best wishes are with the people and communities affected by the current bushfire emergency.”Conditions had been assessed before the game started – with hazardous levels of air quality reported in the region – following heavy smoke at the venue on Friday, but the air had cleared sufficiently for the match to begin on schedule. The first innings was completed without incident, but in a matter of minutes during the chase, the smoke rolled in across the ground.”It’s been a bit hard to breathe all game, really,” Jake Weatherald said to the host broadcaster shortly after play was suspended. “You can see it coming though. Even the smell a little bit, we noticed it yesterday when we were training. We were training and there was this repugnant smell of fire.”Jonathan Wells hooks during his rapid half-century•Getty Images

It is the first professional match to have its result impacted by the fierce bushfire season, which has struck across Australia. Earlier this month, the Sheffield Shield game between New South Wales and Queensland at the SCG was completed in extremely hazy conditions, which raised a health and safety debate. There are concerns about the situation that could arise during the New Year Test at the SCG early next month, with Sydney having been blanketed in smoke regularly in recent weeks.Though when this match was called off the Thunder were within touching distance of victory, if the game had run its distance, the Strikers could have come back. Rashid Khan was just two balls into his first over, although the in-form Ferguson was hitting the ball crisply after Usman Khawaja had been superbly held at slip by Cameron White as Alex Carey dived in front of him.The Strikers’ innings had started poorly with Daniel Sams beginning with a wicket maiden, removing Phil Salt for a five-ball duck, before Matt Short was lbw sweeping at Jono Cook. However, Weatherald began the recovery with a well-paced 42 only to be undone by Sams’ perfect slower-ball.When Chris Morris, making his first appearance for the Thunder, removed Alex Carey and Rashid in the space of three balls, it appeared as though the innings would stutter to a finish, but Jono Wells struck a thumping 55 off 32 balls as 36 runs came from the last three overs.

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