Tag Futebol

Gary Ballance is to have an X-ray on his left index finger after sustaining a blow on it when batting on the fourth day of the Trent Bridge Test

George Dobell17-Jul-2017
Gary Ballance is to have an X-ray on his left index finger after sustaining a blow on it when batting on the fourth day of the Trent Bridge Test.Ballance was hit by a delivery from Morne Morkel as England slid to a 340-run defeat at the hands of South Africa. It is, in terms of runs, the second-largest defeat South Africa have inflicted upon England.Any break would render Ballance a severe doubt for the third Investec Test which starts at The Oval on July 27.With only 85 runs in the series at an average of 21.15, Ballance has not made a compelling case for his continued selection. While recent policy would suggest the selectors would allow him until the end of the series to prove himself, it is not impossible they could be swayed by any injury doubt.Mark Wood’s bruised left heel will also be monitored over the coming days, with an England spokesman suggesting “he might have a scan” if it was deemed necessary. Wood returned to Test cricket at Lord’s for the first time since October 2015 and has undergone three bouts of surgery on his left ankle.The England selectors are expected to meet over the next couple of days to name their squad for the third Test.Speaking after the game, England’s new captain Joe Root kept his options open in terms of selection, but hinted that he favoured no dramatic changes.”We will sit down over the next couple of days,” he said. “The top six are talented players and they will be desperate to make their chances count when they come along.””It’s important at The Oval we try to get off to a really strong start especially in the first innings and those guys are more than capable of doing it. The way they’ve gone about things in practice and the runs they’ve scored in county cricket have been outstanding and now it’s just about doing it in international cricket.”

Chris Woakes and Keith Barker made centuries as Warwickshire recovered from 17 for 4 to post 372 for 9 after choosing to bat

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge15-May-2016
ScorecardChris Woakes once again proved his worth with the bat (file photo)•Getty Images

The hamstring injury to Ian Bell meant that, for the first time, captaining Warwickshire rested on the shoulders on Chris Woakes, who may have felt it was weighing pretty heavily as he made his way out to the middle at 60 for 5. His decision not to bowl first on a mottled pitch came as a surprise to some, possibly including the Nottinghamshire captain.The word from the home camp was that Chris Read would “probably” have chosen to bowl had the coin fallen in his favour but Woakes had his wish. If he might have been wondering where to look as wickets tumbled during the morning session, the first four with only 17 runs scored, he was happy to engage with anyone in the shadows of the evening as Warwickshire recovered to claim four batting points.”It’s a tricky one on the first day when the pitch is a little bit green but the sun’s out,” Woakes said. “After an hour maybe it looked like a bad decision but sitting here at 370 for 9 we would have taken that.”I did feel a bit of responsibility to make some runs myself, although probably no more so than usual. And though it’s my decision to bat, it is a collective thing, with Belly having an input as well, and the management of course.”His own contribution was 121, which must certainly have reinforced his perception that bat first was the appropriate tactic. It was his first century in a first-class match since March 2014 when, as it happens, he was captaining England Lions against Sri Lanka A in Colombo. Here is a man, it seems, who thrives on responsibility.His stand for the eighth wicket with the perpetually underrated Keith Barker turned the day around. Barker, who bowled superbly against Somerset at Edgbaston last week, albeit on a pitch subsequently deemed suspect, batted with style and aplomb on this occasion, recording his sixth first-class hundred after a partnership with Woakes that added 167.Yet Nottinghamshire will argue quite reasonably that it should never have happened and chastise themselves for allowing it to, having dropped Woakes twice when they were well on top.The first was a difficult chance, to Michael Lumb at third slip when he was on 19, the second much more straightforward to Steven Mullaney at second slip when he had reached 29. At 117 for 7 or 129 for 7, would Warwickshire have found a way back? Perhaps, but after Rikki Clarke’s dismissal, paying the price with a catch at long-off for a disdainful swing in the day’s first over of spin, Barker would have had to make most of it with only Jeetan Patel and Chris Wright to come.Brett Hutton was the bowler left cursing on both occasions, his frustration all the more keenly felt for the fact he had just taken an absolute blinder himself to inflict what had looked like a critical wound, diving to his right at third slip as Jonathan Trott edged a ball from Jackson Bird, throwing out one hand to pluck it out of the air when it seemed to have gone past the cordon and was heading for the boundary.Trott, serenely authoritative, had made 68 as others feebly succumbed. He had just survived an appeal for leg-before by Bird, the ball striking him a painful blow on the inside of his right thigh, but otherwise had been untroubled. It seemed like a decisive moment.Indeed, at that moment it appeared the story of the day would be about a triumphant return to Trent Bridge for Luke Fletcher, the crowd favourite, affectionately nicknamed the “Bulwell Bomber”, the local lad, big of build and even bigger of heart but slipping down the pecking order among the young tyros emerging from the Nottinghamshire academy.He had been shipped off to Derbyshire, in Division Two, on loan, but brought back after Jake Ball’s call to Test duty left Nottinghamshire a little short. His figures down the road had been modest, to say the least, amounting to four wickets in four matches at 69 runs each. Yet here he was, back and relishing every moment, bowling straight and full, swinging it late. He bowled 11 overs off the reel, six of them maidens, and had 3 for 6 when he took his sweater and his appreciative fan club warmly applauded.Fletcher would not have played, as it happens, but for Luke Wood, one of the aforementioned tyros, having a bad back, which made the story even more appealing.By the close, though, he was 3 for 70, which was not so much fun. Even with the second new ball he was unable to summon his earlier powers as Barker, his eye well in, making good use of the short boundary on the Bridgford Road side (the Smith Cooper Stand, to acknowledge the sponsors), began to take liberties, hitting him for four boundaries in the same over.”It was good to be back,” Fletcher said “I enjoyed having the Radcliffe Road getting behind me. It was like old times. There is a lot of competition here now, which is good for the club, but I feel I’ve kind of taken my chance today and hopefully I can play the rest of my cricket here this season.”Woakes reached his hundred off 156 balls with 15 fours, Barker his off 113, completing it with a nonchalant pick up for six off Hutton to go with 14 boundaries. Bird, the best on a day in the end of not particularly distinguished Nottinghamshire bowling, eventually found a thin edge to dismiss Woakes before Barker helped one round the corner to give his wicket to Harry Gurney.

Leicestershire’s Clint McKay starred with bat and ball in blustery Canterbury, where 15 wickets fell in a day to leave the visitors with a real chance of ending a Championship winless run that dates back to September 2012

Press Association05-May-2015
ScorecardClint McKay took six wickets and then helped shore up Leicestershire’s position with the bat (file photo)•Getty Images

Leicestershire’s Clint McKay starred with bat and ball in blustery Canterbury, where 15 wickets fell in a day to leave the visitors with a real chance of ending a Championship winless run that dates back to September 2012.Having conceded a first-innings deficit of 118, Division Two bottom side Kent appeared to have Leicestershire on the run at 86 for 7 in their second innings, until McKay waltzed to a quickfire 43 from 36 balls and wrestled the initiative back Leicestershire’s way. The visitors will go into the final day of a fascinating tussle on 189 for 8 and a lead of 307 over a Kent side who are defending a 10-year unbeaten record against the east Midlands county.After a 15-minute delay to mop up overnight rain, Kent appeared set for a fair first-innings lead at the start of day three as fourth-wicket partners Joe Denly and Sam Northeast extended their stand to 139 – Kent’s best of the summer to date.However, Denly’s demise leg-before for a stoic 84, coupled with the arrival of the second new ball, sparked a dramatic collapse that saw Kent lose their last seven wickets for 53 runs.Northeast, who battled to his third half-century of the campaign, also missed out on a century when he fell lbw to Charlie Shreck for 84 then McKay ran through the tail to finish with 6 for 54 – the best bowling figures by a Leicestershire bowler since Robbie Joseph bagged 6 for 47 against Glamorgan in the opening match of 2012.Batting again soon after lunch, Leicestershire struggled initially against Kent’s rookie paceman Ivan Thomas, who found his range for the first time in the match to send both Matt Boyce and Ned Eckersley packing.The visitors lost three more wickets for as many runs in the run-up to the tea interval when Mitch Claydon trapped fellow Australian Mark Cosgrove lbw, leaving Darren Stevens to dislodge Angus Robson and Neil Pinner with naggingly accurate away swingers.Only 199 runs ahead on 81 for 5 at the interval, the visitors were in danger of throwing away their healthy position when Kent won two further lbw appeals soon after the restart, but McKay was having none of it. The willowy Australian clattered seven fours and a six in his cameo knock and featured in a crucial stand of 62 inside 13 overs with Rob Taylor before Stevens made him his eighth victim of the game by plucking out off stump with a shooting leg-cutter.Taylor remained unbeaten on 33 at the close, together with Jigar Naik, to restore Leicestershire’s ascendancy and take their side into the final day as favourites to secure a first four-day win since an edgy two-wicket victory over Gloucestershire at Grace Road in September 2012.

Matthew Wade has been confirmed as Australia’s first-choice Test wicketkeeper but Brad Haddin remains a “player of significant interest”, according to the national selector John Inverarity

Brydon Coverdale29-Oct-2012Matthew Wade has been confirmed as Australia’s first-choice Test wicketkeeper but Brad Haddin remains a “player of significant interest”, according to the national selector John Inverarity. Wade was named in a 12-man squad to take on South Africa in the first Test, starting at the Gabba on November 9, and there were no surprises in the group, with Mitchell Starc included and Pat Cummins, who has not played first-class cricket for nearly a year, left out.The selectors chose four fast men – Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Pattinson and Starc – along with the offspinner Nathan Lyon, and the main question in the lead-up to the Test will surround the final make-up of the attack. There were no changes to the top six with the opener Ed Cowan given a chance to make the position his own, after beginning his Test career with encouraging but not outstanding performances against India and West Indies over the past year.The major decision for Inverarity and his panel was whether to give the gloves to Wade, 24, who was wicketkeeper for the tour of the West Indies in April, or return to the veteran Haddin, 35. Inverarity said both men had made compelling cases for inclusion and while Wade had won his place for the Gabba Test, Haddin, who still holds a Cricket Australia contract, remained in the frame for future international selection.

Australia squad for first Test

David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Matthew Wade (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon

“Matthew came into the Australian ODI team in February and has since acquitted himself especially well,” Inverarity said. “Matthew and Brad both went to the West Indies; Matthew as our preferred ODI and T20 player and Brad as our incumbent and preferred Test match keeper. As is widely known Brad returned to Australia early in the tour due to family circumstances and as a consequence Matthew was our Test keeper for the three Test matches.Matthew Wade has retained his place in Australia’s Test side•AFP

“He kept and batted very well and made a match-defining brilliant century in the second innings of the third and final Test against West Indies. Since then he has played and gained valuable experience in England, the UAE and Sri Lanka. As a young player, getting better by the month, he is thoroughly deserving of his retention. While Matthew has been retained as the Test keeper, Brad remains a player of significant interest.”The selectors decided against including Cummins, 19, although he is likely to be around the squad in Brisbane to prepare him for a potential place in the side later in the series. Injuries and short-form commitments have meant Cummins has not played a first-class match since his Test debut in Johannesburg last November, and with Siddle and Pattinson fit again after missing Australia’s most recent Tests in the Caribbean, the selectors decided there was no reason to rush Cummins.”We didn’t feel as though Pat Cummins was ready to play a Test match,” Inverarity said. “We hope he’ll be ready to play a Sheffield Shield match soon, and then he’s likely to come on the radar for perhaps the third Test in Perth. That’s not speculating that he’ll be selected for that, but he’ll be ready to be in contention at that stage.”The last Test match that Australia played, the third Test in the West Indies last April, included Ryan Harris. Ryan is continuing his rehabilitation from injury and is unavailable. Peter Siddle and James Pattinson have recovered especially well from the injuries that rendered them unavailable for that last Test in West Indies. In fact, they have been enjoying an ideal preparation for the first Test in Brisbane having played in three Sheffield Shield games with another one to come later this week.”The squad will assemble in Brisbane on Monday and will have three days of training ahead of the first Test. Two Sheffield Shield matches begin on Friday but the New South Wales v Queensland game at Allan Border Field does not start until Saturday and the Tuesday finish means some Test players might miss the final day of the match in order to prepare for the Test.”I’m definitely playing the Shield game and I’m not sure if I’m playing three days or four,” Australia’s captain Michael Clarke said. “I think the plan is it will be an individual case, if NSW are batting on day four it’d be silly for the batters to be pulled out to go into camp.”We’re very lucky we’re playing in Brisbane so once we finish we can go into camp, but in saying that, if a bowler has bowled a lot in the first innings I think it would be silly to overload them leading into a Test match. Pat Howard’s on to that, the plan at the moment is to pull everybody out, but I know he’ll make sure he assesses once we get closer to day four.”

Marcus Trescothick has admitted he is lost for answers when it comes to Somerset’s record of falling at the final hurdle after they came up short against Surrey at Lord’s in the Clydesdale Bank 40 final

Andrew McGlashan18-Sep-2011Marcus Trescothick has admitted he is lost for answers when it comes to Somerset’s record of falling at the final hurdle after they came up short against Surrey at Lord’s in the Clydesdale Bank 40 final. It meant a fifth runner’s-up position in two seasons for a county that is gaining the reputation of not being able to go that one step further.Somerset slumped to 79 for 5 in the final – with Trescothick the first man dismissed – and although Jos Buttler’s 86 carried them 214 it didn’t prove enough to seriously challenge Surrey in a Duckworth-Lewis run chase. It left Trescothick fielding familiar questions which he fielded with honesty as he said everything the team had tried to overcome their finals’ jinx had failed.”What more can you say to justify it or tell you what’s wrong? I don’t know if I’m honest,” he said. “We’ve looked at different things but it’s not working out when we get to this point. It’s another kick in the teeth”I’m out of ideas to try and improve. I’m out of answers. We didn’t bat as well as we could do, whether that’s nerves I don’t know. It’s something we need to address and it needs some honest answers.”He also acknowledged how tough the result would be for the Somerset supporters. “I apologise for putting everyone through this,” he said. “We are playing great cricket for 99% of the season and we all love coming to the big finals. We’ve got to give it our best – and will do – to keep fighting to get the right result.”However, despite the latest setback he still sees a bright future for Somerset and believes the fact the team keep getting close to gaining silverware shows how much is being done right.”I take a lot of comfort from that,” he said. “A lot of teams would swap. We are in the top five teams in the country and getting into positions to win things. It takes the edge off by not winning but we are doing a hell of a lot right. We could be a special team; at the moment we just aren’t quite good enough.”For Trescothick’s opposite number, Rory-Hamilton Brown, there were very different emotions as Surrey followed Championship promotion with a trophy. Hamilton-Brown also played a key role with the bat as he made 78 off 62 balls, although he lost out on the match award to Jade Dernbach who took 4 for 30, he was excited about the prospects for the team”The way I see it, a lot of change has been made over the last three years at the club,” he said. They are changes that needed to be made and this is just a start of what I think we can achieve. It lets the guys know that what we are doing is right and if we keep putting in the hard work we’ve got a very successful future ahead of us. We’ve worked really hard. We’ve had a fantastic finish to the season.”

Gautam Gambhir, the India opening batsman, has said he is happy with his fitness and the next step in his recovery from injury is putting bat to ball again

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2010Gautam Gambhir, the India opening batsman, has said he is happy with his fitness and the next step in his recovery from injury is putting bat to ball again. Gambhir missed the third Test against Sri Lanka earlier this year and the second Test against Australia because of knee problems. He has been named in the side that will take on New Zealand in a three-Test series starting November 4 in Ahmedabad.”It’s important to get back into the rhythm,” Gambhir told the in an interview. “I have increased my batting time at the nets and am happy with my fitness.”Gambhir said it was very frustrating to sit and home and watch India playing. “I watched every bit of the Visakhapatnam game [against Australia] and I missed being part of the team. To be honest, missing out on a game after being dropped feels bad but to sit out with injury and watch other people play feels even worse.”Gambhir chose to rest his knee in the light of the upcoming assignments – the potentially tough tour to South Africa and the World Cup. He has also spent a lot of time at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, undergoing rehabilitation.The biggest challenge, according to him, will be starting from scratch after the layoff. “When you go out to bat in a match after a long break, you just try to test if you still have the old touch. When you come back from a break, you need time to get used to things around you. If you look, I haven’t played much in the last three months. It’s a challenge that I am now looking forward to meet.”Gambhir believed he had done enough to merit a place in the side for the 2011 World Cup that will be hosted in the subcontinent, but was quick to add that the other series were equally important. “It is not just about playing the World Cup but it’s about being in good form and being absolutely fit. I plan to build on it from this New Zealand series, then to South Africa series and so on.”Gambhir thinks the BCCI’s proposal to send India’s Test players to South Africa a week ahead of the tour is a great idea. “[If ] you go to South Africa after playing in subcontinental conditions you need to adjust. The more time players get to acclimatise themselves in those conditions, it will be fantastic preparation.”

O’Rourke took four wickets, while Santner and Bracewell got two each, just days before teams meet in Champions Trophy opener

Deivarayan Muthu14-Feb-2025Despite injuries to Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand clinched the tri-series title in Karachi and sounded out a warning to the hosts, five days before they meet again in the Champions Trophy opener at the same venue. In the absence of the senior quicks, Will O’Rourke stepped up admirably with a four-wicket haul, while the spinners, led by Mitchell Santner, straightjacketed Pakistan in the middle overs, limiting them to 242.The batters then completed the demolition job on a two-paced surface, chasing the target with 28 balls and five wickets to spare. After Devon Conway and Kane Williamson set the platform with a 71-run partnership for the second wicket, Daryl Mitchell launched from there in the middle overs, befuddling Pakistan’s spinners with his variety of sweeps, including the reverse. He struck up an 87-run stand with Tom Latham, which highlighted New Zealand’s dominance in the middle overs, before Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips sealed the deal.It was Phillips who had kicked off the tri-series with an unbeaten 106 off 74 balls, his maiden ODI century, against Pakistan, before Williamson reminded the world of his genius with an unbeaten century of his own in New Zealand’s second game of the tri-series against South Africa. Having bagged ducks in those two games – and also against Sri Lanka in Auckland last month – Latham made a timely return to form, and re-established himself as New Zealand’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter with his 56 off 64 balls.Related

• Sears out of Champions Trophy with hamstring tear; Duffy brought in

• Stats – Babar joins Amla as fastest to 6000 ODI runs

Latham had benefitted from multiple reprieves – he was dropped by Shaheen Shah Afridi off his own bowling on 15, and then by Saud Shakeel at square leg on 29. Earlier, when he was on 13, legspinner Abrar Ahmed pinged him on his pad and wasn’t given out lbw. Pakistan missed a trick by not going for a review, with ball-tracking indicating that it had pitched in line and would have crashed into the stumps.Abrar, Pakistan’s specialist spinner, lacked penetration, and was taken for 67 in his ten overs. In stark contrast, New Zealand’s premier spinner Santner was unhittable, coming away with his most economical ten-over spell in ODI cricket. Forty of his 60 balls were dots as Santner varied his pace from the mid-70s kph range to mid-90s kph with remarkable control. Bracewell also kept things tight, finishing with 2 for 38 in his ten overs.The first powerplay was a portent for Pakistan’s go-slow. The hosts played out 48 dots in the powerplay, in which they managed 48 for 2, and failed to hit a high tempo through the innings. After taking a sequence of short balls away from Fakhar Zaman with his sharp angle from over the wicket, including two off-side wides, O’Rourke brought a fuller one back into the opener and had him chipping a catch to square leg for 10 off 15 balls.Babar Azam then brought the Karachi crowd alive when he laced Jacob Duffy through the covers for four, and became the joint fastest to 6000 ODI runs in his 123rd innings, alongside Hashim Amla. Nathan Smith, the seam-bowling allrounder, though spoiled the party when he had Babar spooning a return catch for 29 off 34 balls in his first over.Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan needed 13 balls to get off the mark, and then four more balls to find the boundary. Salman Agha was more fluent at the other end, wedging the ball into the gaps as the pair forged an 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket.Will O’Rourke claimed career-best ODI figures of 4 for 43•Getty Images

The stand, however, ended when O’Rourke returned to the attack and had Rizwan chopping on with a cross-seamer, which stopped on him, for 46 off 76 balls. After hitting hard lengths and the splice of batters with high pace and bounce in the early exchanges, O’Rourke proved that he could be just as effective with the older ball. Almost five overs later, Bracewell had Agha miscuing a reverse sweep to short third to leave Pakistan at 161 for 5 in the 37th over.Tayyab Tahir then gave the innings a leg-up with his 38 off 33 balls, but his innings was cut short by Duffy in the 42nd over. Tahir was the only batter in Pakistan’s top seven to strike at over 100. In the last eight overs, New Zealand conceded just four boundaries, keeping Pakistan to 242.The new ball did a lot more under lights, with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi using the swing and seam movement on offer to apply pressure on Conway and Williamson. In the first powerplay during the chase, the broadcaster put up a graphic showing the average swing achieved during the two innings. New Zealand’s seamers had generated 1.5 degrees of swing, and Pakistan’s 2.4 degrees.The experienced pair of Conway and Williamson absorbed all of that pressure, and once the ball became older and softer, they picked away Pakistan’s spinners. Williamson carted Agha’s offspin over mid-off while Conway flayed Abrar and Khushdil Shah through the covers. When Williamson tried to pop Agha over the infield once again, he caused the ball to dip and turn to castle him for 34 off 49 balls. Conway then departed two short of his half-century, but the depth in skill in New Zealand’s middle order was too much to overcome for Pakistan.New Zealand will be strengthened further by the potential return of Ravindra and Ferguson for the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday.

Stoinis reveals text saying: “I’ll be home for a little bit and then I’m coming back to win this World Cup”

Alex Malcolm02-Nov-2023Australia’s World Cup campaign has hit another hurdle with star allrounder Mitchell Marsh ruled out of the England clash after flying home for personal reasons.Marsh has flown home to Perth and will not play in Saturday’s clash with England in Ahmedabad. This comes on the back of Glenn Maxwell being ruled out of the clash after suffering a concussion during a golf day on Monday.Cricket Australia confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Marsh had flown home on Wednesday night. “Australian allrounder Mitchell Marsh has returned home from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 late last night for personal reasons,” the statement said. “A timeline on his return to the squad is to be confirmed. No further detail will be offered at this time.”Marcus Stoinis is likely to be fit to come into the side having recovered from a minor calf problem that has kept him out of the last two matches against the Netherlands and New Zealand but Cameron Green will also be set for a recall while Marnus Labuschagne is likely to remain in the middle order. Australia will be down to only 13 fit players for the clash with England with Sean Abbott and Alex Carey the only others available in the squad.”He’s flown home late last night: he’s got a family issue going on,” Stoinis said on Thursday morning. “And, like we all know, family is very important. He’s doing the right thing and he’s getting home and he’s seeing the people he needs to see and then I don’t think there’s a timeline on when he’s coming back but I’m sure he’ll do what he needs to do at home and then and then get back. He sent me a message last night saying, ‘I’ll be home for a little bit and then I’m coming back to win this World Cup’ so that makes me smile.”You miss him off the field or in terms of his energy and his personality around the team as much as we’re going to miss him on the field. But you can pretty much see how the team’s going to line up anyway, and there’s bases covered. I joked with him that he just passes the overs back to me now – and thanks for that… We will miss him and yeah, he’ll be back soon. And the train keeps rolling.”Marcus Stoinis is set to return from a calf niggle against England•AFP/Getty Images

Marsh’s absence will also likely mean that Steven Smith will return to his preferred position at No.3. But it is a huge blow to Australia’s balance with two of their most explosive and destructive players in Marsh and Maxwell missing for the match against England as they look to shore up a semi-final spot.Stoinis confirmed that he is hoping to be fit enough to bowl 10 overs – if required – following his calf issue. “I’ll have a big training session today [Thursday], go through my paces. But I think I’m ready to go, touch wood,” he said. He attempted to convince coach Andrew McDonald and selector George Bailey that he was available to face New Zealand in Dharamsala last week, but they decided to delay his return by a week.”There’s been moving parts… it hasn’t been the smoothest campaign and we’ve gone from losing the first couple to now sitting in the top four,” Stoinis said. “There is a silver lining there. It always feels good when you walk towards the finals and boys starting coming back into the team and that sort of thing. We saw it with Heady [Travis Head] last game so it could be our secret weapon.”

Potts has retained his place, while Billings has been dropped following Foakes’ recovery after a bout of Covid-19

Vithushan Ehantharajah02-Aug-2022England have handed a recall to Ollie Robinson for the upcoming home Test series with South Africa.Robinson, the right-arm seamer whose last Test appearance was against Australia in Hobart in January this year, has made the squad of 14 for the first two matches of the three-match series after a battle with an array of ailments that kept him out of action for almost two months. After coming through problems with his back, Covid-19, and dental issues, he will be in line to add to his nine caps so far.Related

• England's summer slump leaves T20 WC plans in a mess

• Mott braced for 'hard decisions' as T20 WC selection looms

• England return to Pakistan after 17 years

Robinson, 28, has had a mixed start to his Test cricketer, despite exemplary overall figures of 39 dismissals at an average of 21.28. His debut at Lord’s at the start of last summer was marred by the emergence of historic offensive tweets, before he put that behind him to emerge as England’s standout bowler of 2021 and earning a spot as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. However, he was publicly admonished for his fitness during the 4-0 Ashes defeat, something which came in for further scrutiny when he was unable to play a part in England’s tour of the Caribbean in March.He began the 2022 summer looking to put that problem behind him only for back spasms and other niggles to restrict him to just four first-class appearances by the middle of May. But 4 for 44 and 5 for 66 in his return to County Championship action for Sussex against Nottinghamshire last week, getting through 36.1 overs, showed Robinson was back on the right path. He will continue to prove his game-readiness by turning out for the England Lions in their four-day match against the South Africans at Canterbury, which begins on August 9. ESPNcricinfo understands batter Harry Brook, also a member of the 14-man squad, will play in this match too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The finishing touches on the squad were made by the selection committee on Monday, with Brendon McCullum dialling in from New Zealand. He is due to be back in England by the start of next week.Robinson was expected to be part of the Lions squad, which is expected to be named on Friday. But an injury to Surrey quick Jamie Overton, who made his debut in the final Test against New Zealand at Headingley, saw them pick Robinson in the main group. Robinson was due to represent Manchester Originals in the Hundred, which starts on Wednesday, but opted to continue at Sussex and play in their Royal London Cup matches instead.Durham’s Matthew Potts, one of the beneficiaries of Robinson’s absence, retained his place in the squad after 18 dismissals from his four Tests this summer. Wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings has dropped out now that Ben Foakes has recovered from his bout of Covid-19, which led to him being replaced during the Headingley Test.

At 23, Pant will become the fifth-youngest captain in the IPL

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Mar-2021Rishabh Pant has been appointed the Delhi Capitals captain for the 2021 IPL. The development comes in the wake of the Capitals’ regular captain Shreyas Iyer being ruled of the season after he dislocated his left shoulder during the ODI series against England. This is the first captaincy assignment for Pant in the IPL, who was bought by the Capitals before the 2016 IPL and then became the first player to be retained ahead of the 2018 mega auction.At 23, Pant will become the fifth-youngest captain in the IPL after Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Suresh Raina and Iyer. While Kohli and Smith assumed leadership at 22, Raina and Iyer were 23 too but younger in terms of days than Pant.Despite his inexperience, Pant was one of the frontrunners in the captaincy race to replace Iyer along with the senior Indian pair of R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane, who had long leadership stints at Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals, respectively. Pant had only led Delhi in domestic cricket, but he has been in phenomenal form as a match-winner for India recently, starting with the historic Test series win in Australia followed by the series win across the three formats against England at home.Related

• How will the change in venues and schedules affect each team's strategy this IPL?

• IPL 2021 does away with soft signal, tightens over-rate stipulations and penalties

• Iyer set to be out of IPL 2021 with shoulder injury

• Shastri: 'Outstanding' Pant 'worked his backside off'

• The audacious, and gloriously disrespectful Rishabh Pant

Pant was “humbled” to take on the captaincy, which, he admitted, was a “dream” from the time he started playing for the Capitals.”Delhi is where I grew up, and where my IPL journey began six years ago,” Pant said in a Capitals media release. “To lead this team one day is a dream I’ve always harboured. And today, as that dream comes true, I feel humbled.”Iyer, who is awaiting surgery on his hand, said Pant was the “best man” to take charge at the Capitals in his absence. “I had no doubt that Rishabh would be the best man for the job,” Iyer said in the media release.The decision to appoint Pant was taken collectively by the franchise co-owners Kiran Kumar Grandhi and Parth Jindal along with the Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting.In the 2016 auction, the Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) bought Pant for INR 1.9 crore and in 2018, he got INR 15 crore (USD 2 million approx). In 2022, the IPL will host a mega auction where teams will overhaul squads while being able to retain a few players. Pant will once again be expected to be the first retention on the Capitals’ auction sheet. Along with Iyer, he is expected to be among the core group of players.The development marks a turnaround of sorts for Pant since the 2020 IPL. Pant had entered last IPL, which was played in the UAE, on the back of some strong words from the Indian team management, with his shot selection coming under the scanner.Although the Capitals reached the IPL final last season, Pant’s batting remained under par by his standards. Overall, he made 342 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of just 114 and an average of 31, with just one half-century. The Indian selectors wanted Pant to work on his fitness and did not include him in the squads for India’s limited-overs segments on the Australia tour. Despite the snub, Pant ended the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India’s best batsman, including setting up the historic win on the final day of the Brisbane Test, where several of India’s frontline players were absent.Pant then dominated England both in the Test series as well as the white-ball segments, with some adventurous and dominant strokeplay including the memorable reverse scoop against James Anderson in the Test series against England.Ponting said Pant now had a “tremendous opportunity” to bring that form in the IPL. “The previous two seasons under Shreyas’ leadership have been incredible, and the results speak for themselves,” Ponting said in the media release. “This is a tremendous opportunity for young Rishabh, who is coming off successful stints against Australia and England which will no doubt give him the confidence needed to take on a new role that comes with a lot more responsibility.”According to Jindal, Pant with his brand of cricket “embodied” the ethos of the Capitals. “Delhi Capitals as a team plays a passionate and fearless brand of cricket, and Rishabh Pant embodies that best. The Delhi team has played an important role in his growth as a cricketer, just like he has played an equally important role in the growth of the Delhi team.”