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Jordan Clark took the first Roses hat-trick for 50 yrears as all around him there was bedlam on a pumped Roses first day at Old Trafford

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford22-Jul-20182:03

Clark’s stunning Roses hat-trick stuns Yorkshire

Yorkshire 192 (Lyth 70, Clark 5-58) lead <b<Lancashire Lancashire 109 (Davies 51, Coad 3-28) by 83 runs

ScorecardIt is doubtful if many of those attending the 272nd first-class Roses match arrived at Emirates Old Trafford talking of the contribution Jordan Clark might make to the match. It is unlikely if by mid-afternoon anyone was discussing anything else.Yet by the end of the day even Clark’s hat-trick and his career-best figures were becoming vague memories of a mad Sunday on which both sides had been bowled out, supporters of each team had called for everyone to resign and Lancashire’s captain, Liam Livingstone, had broken his thumb. Yorkshire ended the day comfortably in the ascendant, as they so often do in Roses matches, but the means of their ascent made the Hinterstoisser traverse look facile.For on a day which began in the thick-furred gloom of a Mancunian morning yet ended in the crystal sunlight of this treasured summer Clark became only the second Lancashire bowler to take a hat-trick in this fixture since the County Championship was properly constituted in 1890. And when he bowled Ben Coad for 15 to end Yorkshire’s innings for what seemed a plainly inadequate 192, Clark had taken 5 for 58, his finest figures for Lancashire.The quality of Clark’s hat-trick victims was even more bewitching than the feat itself. Those who had hoped to see Joe Root make runs had to be content with five fluent boundaries before the England captain pushed half forward to Clark and was leg before. Enter Kane Williamson, who was caught helplessly on the crease by Clark’s first delivery to him. Exit Williamson and enter Jonny Bairstow, whose nervous prod edged a catch to Jos Buttler at third slip. Yorkshire 59 for 4.Having dismissed the batsmen ranked second, third and 16th in the world, Clark indulged in an aeroplane impersonation and sprinted towards The Point, caught in the exultation of the moment. He was followed by his team-mates and the game was reduced to a Benny Hill sketch. The black comedy awaited us.In the pavilion most of the former players attending their Lancashire reunion watched these events happily and one hopes they showed Clark’s celebrations appropriate indulgence. After all, none of them could talk about their hat-tricks in Roses matches. The only man to share Clark’s honour was Ken Higgs, who passed away in 2016, although one could argue that playing for Lancashire and taking a Roses hat trick are two of the few things the pair have in common.Clark looks like an athlete whereas Higgs, as his obituary in obituary pointed out, had “an arse which crossed two postcodes”. Clark has a straight run-up whereas Higgs had a curving approach and rumbled to the wicket like an irate landlord in hot pursuit of a chiseler. Clark’s diet is strictly controlled and probably owes much to energy supplements and isotonic refuelling. Higgs more or less lived on fish and chips.Jordan Clark claimed a Roses hat-trick for Lancashire•Getty Images

But both men know, or knew, how to compel the shot and move the ball late, albeit that Higgs’s virtues earned him 1536 first-class wickets whereas Clark has so far picked up 75. And neither man had to be born in Lancashire in order to pledge their loyalty. Clark is a Cumbrian; Higgs was born in Staffordshire. They also serve who hail from Whitehaven or Kidsgrove.So great was Clark’s apparent dominance of this day – he also ran out Tim Bresnan for nought when he got a hand to a fierce straight-drive by Adam Lyth – that it was sometimes difficult to understand that other cricketers were playing well too. Old Trafford may not be Lyth’s favourite ground; indeed, expressing such an opinion may be something of a heresy in Yorkshire. But it is one on which he has scored a lot of runs and the opener’s fluent 70 was vital in ensuring his side posted what became an eminently defendable total. When Bresnan was out, Yorkshire were 86 for 6 but Lyth helped Steve Patterson put on 45 before both fell to slip catches by Keaton Jennings, Lyth being James Anderson’s only victim.But what had appeared to be a bottomless Harrod’s hamper of a day for Lancashire rapidly became a soggy packed lunch. The most serious long-term blow was struck when Liam Livingstone fractured his left thumb when attempting to take a slip catch off Lyth. He is likely to be out of action for some time.Perhaps in solidarity with their captain, Lancashire’s batsmen then inflicted some blows on themselves and they should be fatal for their chances in this game. Yorkshire’s four seamers bowled superbly, no one better than Ben Coad, who took three wickets in an over as the home side lost four wickets for no runs in eight balls.By then, though, Haseeb Hameed had been dismissed for the fourth successive innings when playing no shot, a dismissal followed two balls later by Dane Vilas’s departure, leg before on the back leg to Patterson. Alex Davies made 51 and put on 46 for the first wicket with Keaton Jennings, who was brilliantly caught one handed by Root at short midwicket off Bresnan. Jennings was blameless but many other Lancashire batsmen were deeply culpable. God knows what the former players thought of it but one doubts it harmed bar takings.

Despite success in the second Test, South Africa’s captain was concerned with the uncharacteristic SuperSport Park surface it was played on

Firdose Moonda in Centurion17-Jan-2018Faf du Plessis has called on Cricket South Africa (CSA) to put in place a process to ensure a pitch like the SuperSport Park surface during their second Test against India is not produced again. Though South Africa won the match comfortably, and in so doing claimed a series victory over India, a traditionally spicy track proved slower than usual and even took turn – the one thing du Plessis had expressly said he did not want in this series.”I was very concerned when I got here, leading up to the Test match. It didn’t look like the Centurion wicket that I know. That is a concern, to be honest. I am very honest about good things and when we get it right but it’s also fair to comment on where we can get better. I believe this was an opportunity that we missed,” du Plessis said.”We can blame the groundsman but we also have to blame ourselves. We can have processes where we make sure CSA has someone that looks after the groundsman to get the right kind of pitches – not make it ridiculous. We never wanted something ridiculous, we just wanted a pitch with pace and bounce. I think there is concern that we are not getting it right and this is not the first time. I can think of three or four occasions over the last 12 months. We need to be better as a collective. That’s something I will be taking up and making sure we can improve.”The South African captain is the fifth member of the side, after Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Morne Morkel and Dean Elgar, to take issue with the SuperSport Park pitch but he also referred to other surfaces which have been similarly placid. The pitches against Bangladesh in September-October, in Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein, were also slow, so much so that even the visitors were surprised by their similarity to subcontinental wickets. Though it is not always easy to get more sporting pitches in early season, du Plessis wants South African curators to make more of an effort to do so and they need look no further than Newlands for an example.In the middle of the worst drought in the Western Cape in more than a century, Evan Flint managed to produce a surface with pace and bounce that facilitated seam movement. Flint, who is an experienced groundsman, had identified and been working on the surface for several months. Contrastingly, Byran Bloy at SuperSport Park, who visited Flint last week to see how things are done, was preparing his first Test pitch after being appointed in late 2016. He is expected to come under pressure over the lack of life in his strip.Pre-match Bloy had promised he was not doing anything different from the norm and was expecting a slow start to the match, but that the strip would pick up pace as the game went on. That never really happened, which thwarted some of South Africa’s plans. Still, their fast bowlers got most of the job done and their batsmen the rest, leaving du Plessis ultimately pleased with the outcome even though he admitted winning the toss was crucial.”It was a big toss to win. We knew it was going to be lower but we didn’t know it was going to take so long to that process and be so slow. It was important for us to, in that first innings, put a decent total on the board,” he said. “I do feel we were 60 or 70 runs short from the position we were in just before overnight [on the first day]. Those few silly wickets was a bit of panic and we felt we were a little bit short but the next two or three days, the team responded beautifully and the bowlers were exceptional on a wicket that didn’t offer a lot.”South Africa ultimately want pitches that give their quicks a lot more, so they can play to their strengths, especially against subcontinental sides. Finding that all around the country may not be possible but du Plessis hopes common ground can be reached. Currently, the groundsmen have an annual conference but, after du Plessis’ reaction, CSA may look into appointing an overall manager for the international pitches.

Spinners Bernard Scholtz and Petrus Burger took seven wickets between them to send Kenya crashing to 110, 90 minutes before lunch

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Windhoek13-Feb-2018
ScorecardPeter Della Penna

Kenya’s fiery start was put on ice by the spin duo of Bernard Scholtz and Petrus Burger as Namibia secured an eight-wicket win before lunch. It was Namibia’s third victory in as many days, and a fourth on Wednesday over UAE would put them in the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.Kenya had been eliminated from contention for the Qualifier a day earlier, but they were now looking to avoid relegation to WCL Division Three. After Irfan Karim fell on the second ball of the match to Sarel Burger, Dhiren Gondaria torched the medium-pace trio of Burger, JJ Smit and Craig Williams. Gondaria smashed five sixes on his way to 60 off 46 balls as Kenya motored to 77 for 1 in 12 overs.But after an early crest, the trough came just as quickly for Kenya when Petrus and Scholtz entered the attack. Gondaria’s innings came to an end when he holed out to Jan Frylinck at long-on off the first ball of the 13th over. Two balls later, Collins Obuya attempted a paddle sweep only to pop a catch to wicketkeeper Zane Green. The downward spiral continued to twist through Kenya’s scorecard.Scholtz struck with his first balls in the 16th and 18th and over the next eight overs Kenya managed to add just 10 runs. The pressure created panic and resulted in the run out of Rakep Patel. The left-arm spinner struck two more times to bowl Kenya out 90 minutes before lunch.Stephan Baard got Namibia’s chase rolling to make sure the match would not suffer the same fate as the first replay, washed away after five overs in the second innings with no result after Kenya had been bowled out for 83. The opener spanked 37 off 39 balls before retiring hurt with a muscle strain in his left shoulder. He is expected to be available for Wednesday’s match against UAE.After Lohan Louwrens and Zane Green fell off successive balls, Williams came out and settled the nerves with an unbeaten 28 off 18 balls. All but two of those runs came in the last over of the match in which Williams slugged Nehemiah Odhiambo for two fours and two sixes, including the match-winning boundary off a free hit.On the final day of the group stage, Namibia and UAE will play a de facto semi-final at Affies Park while Canada and Nepal will do likewise next door at Wanderers. Both Canada and Nepal have three wins and one loss in four matches, and the winner of this match will clinch a spot in the Qualifier. Namibia also have three wins in four matches and will face UAE who have two wins and two losses. A win for Namibia will also clinch a promotion berth. A win for UAE, on the other hand, will create a three-way tie for second with Namibia and the loser of the Canada v Nepal match. However, UAE’s net run-rate – the tournament tiebreaker – is superior to the three other teams, none of whom can improve their net run-rate through a loss, meaning a UAE victory would clinch their spot in the top two.

Opener’s 27-ball 77 sets up huge total, before bowlers suppress Karachi’s steady surge to give Peshawar an opportunity to defend their crown

The Report by Arun Venugopal21-Mar-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellPowered by Kamran Akmal’s 27-ball 77, Peshawar Zalmi waltzed their way to their second consecutive PSL final, after suppressing a steady surge from Karachi Kings. After Peshawar posted 170 for 7 in a rain-shortened 16-overs a side contest, their seamers teamed up in disciplined fashion to ensure Karachi never outpaced them. Despite half-centuries from Joe Denly and Babar Azam, who stitched together a 117-run partnership for the second wicket, Hasan Ali, Sameen Gul and Chris Jordan choked the flow of runs at regular intervals to crush any aspirations Karachi might have had of a home final.Needing 44 off the last two overs, Denly belted out a few big hits to take 16 runs off Hasan in the 15th over. However, 28 runs off the last over proved a little too steep, even though Wahab began with a no-ball. Karachi were left to rue their inability to accelerate. In the end, they had their strongest finisher Colin Ingram walk in a little too late.Much of Karachi’s discomfort was also a product of some inspired seam bowling from Hasan and Gul early on. Hasan thrived on seaming the ball away from the batsmen late and finished with figures of 4-0-41-1, while Gul conceded only 20 runs from his three overs and removed opener Mukhtar Ahmed, who was brought in for his first game this season. There were backed up by an excellent support cast – Jordan, Umaid Asif and Wahab – that made Azam and Denly work hard for their runs. Captain Daren Sammy didn’t even have to employ left-arm spinner Liam Dawson on a wet day where the opposition’s spinners continually struggled to grip the ball.That, however, wasn’t the only reason Karachi struggled after they put Peshawar into bat. Apart from stand-in captain Mohammad Amir, who finished with remarkable figures of 4-0-16-0, their bowlers fluffed their lines in the face of Akmal’s onslaught. Karachi were also undone by some listless fielding in sharp contrast to the smartness that Peshawar displayed later in the evening.Where the match was won
In taking their time to suss the pitch out, both Peshawar and Karachi began their innings in remarkably similar fashion. Peshawar were on 29 for 0 at the end of four overs while Karachi had scored four runs fewer at the same stage. However, the difference lay in how Akmal and Peshawar took off from there and consistently amped up their scoring rate. The fifth over, bowled by Usman Khan, went for 25 runs and the over after that yielded 15, as Peshawar reached 69 at the end of six overs. They didn’t let the ball drop, as overs six to 10 produced 66 runs.In contrast, Karachi wheezed their way to 37 runs at the end of five overs and never managed the 20-run overs that Peshawar achieved regularly. Karachi did pull it back in the backend as Peshawar only scored 50 off their last six overs, but the belligerent striking at the top had eventually given them enough cover.
The men who won itAkmal was a doubtful starter ahead of the match with a bothersome hamstring. It was thanks to some last-minute repair work from the physio and the trainer that he was able to play. Once on the field, Akmal, like so often during this tournament, set the tempo for the rest of the batting group. He remained true to his methods, and merrily collected boundaries by clearing his front leg and giving the ball a resounding whack. Predictably, a large chunk of his runs came on the leg side, and he finished with five fours and eight sixes.What was more impressive was the manner in which he transferred pressure on to the opposition. Sensing that his opening partner Andre Fletcher was struggling, Akmal counterpunched against Karachi’s bowlers, who had started steadily, and broke their resistance. He disoriented Usman in the fifth over with a sequence of 6,4,4,4,6,1 to open the floodgates. From thereon, it was carnage. It was only after his dismissal off the last ball of the 10th over that Karachi found some respite.Where they stand
Thanks to the win, Peshawar travel to Karachi, where they will meet Islamabad United, the champions of the 2016 edition, in the final. Meanwhile, Karachi would be sorely disappointed at blowing both their shots at making the final, after finishing in the top-two at the end of the league phase.

Ballance is 57 not out after rookie Robinson scores his second century of the season

ECB Reporters Network15-May-2019Gary Ballance posted Yorkshire’s first half-century of the game to keep his side in contention against a Kent side buoyed by a second County Championship century of the season by rookie keeper-batsman Ollie Robinson.Having conceded a first innings deficit of 86 runs, Yorkshire closed on 166 for 3 after 46 overs of their second innings to lead by 80 runs going into the third day of this finely poised Division One game in Canterbury.Ballance, who won the last of his 23 Test caps in July 2017, went in at the close unbeaten with 57 and having added 27 with fourth-wicket partner Jack Leaning, who was not out 11.After dismissing Kent for 296, Yorkshire started their second innings shortly before tea but soon lost Harry Brook, caught behind when prodding outside off at one from Fred Klaassen.Left-handed pairing Adam Lyth and Ballance took their total through to 82 before Lyth, well set on 44, nibbled at a Mitch Claydon leg-cutter to be caught at the wicket.Tom Kohler-Cadmore became the final casualty of the day when he attempted to force off the back foot against Daniel Bell-Drummond to be held in the gully.Kent, who had earlier resumed on their overnight score of 130 for 4, only had themselves to blame for missing out on a third batting bonus point by only four runs.Robinson and Zak Crawley batted on for half an hour without alarm to extend their partnership’s value to 86 before Crawley fell for 81 to Steven Patterson’s fourth ball of the day. In aiming to work a length ball to mid-wicket, the willowy right-hander found a leading edge to loop a comfortable return catch to the bowler.Robinson, Kent’s 20-year-old understudy keeper, drove nicely all morning to his first 50 at Canterbury from 103 balls with six fours and with only three scoring leg-side shots.After a sticky start, Alex Blake cover drove Patterson for four to raise Kent’s 200 and a batting bonus point, then the left-hander’s backward cut through point against Dom Bess also went to the ropes to level the scores.With his score on 22, Blake took a hefty blow on the head after ducking into a Duanne Olivier bouncer but continued after treatment and replacing his helmet. He swayed out of the way nicely when Olivier followed up with another bumper.Olivier maintained his aggression and was unlucky not to remove Robinson on 71 when an edged glance flew behind to Jon Tattersall, only for the Yorkshire gloveman to spill the chance.Robinson and Blake added 50 before Blake, having been dropped at short leg the previous delivery, edged to slip to give Kohler-Cadmore the fourth of his six out-field catches – equalling the Yorkshire record set by Ellis Robinson against Leicestershire at Bradford in 1938.With Kent’s Robinson edging toward three figures, Harry Podmore miscued to mid-on to gift Bess a wicket, then Matt Milnes nicked off against Olivier.Robinson finally reached his 177-ball ton with a scampered single to mid-off, but holed out soon after enabling Yorkshire to polish off the home tail.

Captain draws on England’s women’s side, who won a home World Cup in 2017, to show the effect it could have

George Dobell at The Oval29-May-2019Eoin Morgan believes the World Cup in England can inspire “every young kid in this country” to take up cricket.While Morgan, the England captain, accepted that the impact of the tournament will be greater if his team “go a long way” in it, he believes that simply hosting the event for the first time since 1999 will capture the public imagination and attract a new generation of supporters. And he drew on the example of England’s women’s side, who won a home World Cup in 2017, to show the effect a successful side could have.”The World Cup alone raises the profile of the game,” Morgan said. “And provides a platform for every young kid in this country to have a hero or inspiration to pick up a ball or a bat.ALSO READ: The importance of Moeen and Rashid to England“The impact of this World Cup is not as big an impact unless we go a long way, but it will have an impact on everybody. We got knocked out of the ’99 World Cup early, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.”The impact of that [women’s] World Cup two years ago was amazing. The women’s game is thriving. It would mean a huge amount for us to win it. I couldn’t imagine what it would do.”While much live coverage of the tournament remains, in England and Wales at least, behind a paywall, the ECB hopes that the publicity generated by it will overflow into the mainstream media and create a similar level of excitement as experienced during the football World Cup last year.In a reflection of the efforts being made to capture the public imagination, Morgan and all the other World Cup captains have been invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening, while an opening party will take place along the Mall in London.The England squad also welcomed Gareth Southgate, the manager of the England football side, into their dressing rooms in recent times to share his experience of reaching the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup in Russia. And while Morgan recognised the similar challenges facing sides who had struggled in previous tournaments, he did hint that the expectations of the teams were quite different.Adil Rashid bowls to Eoin Morgan in the nets•Associated Press

“Yes, we did a session with Gareth,” Morgan said. “And it was brilliant. He talked about his journey with the team in and around the World Cup and its build-up and how they built bigger expectations and came together more as a group.”I think everybody who has been involved with our team over the last four years recognised that they are where we were two years ago and we started exactly where they did. We recognised what had happened in the past, tried to do things differently and moved forward.”Gareth did brilliantly. They got to the semi-final and everybody said it was great. But we got knocked out of the Champions Trophy semi-final and everyone said we were crap.”Morgan, clearly, was joking on that point. However, he was not seeking to play down the expectation upon his team. Having gone into previous tournaments considered no-hopers, he relished the fact his England team are ranked No. 1 in the world and seen by many as favourites for the trophy.”The level of expectation and favourite tags is there for a reason,” he said. “Over the last two years, our form at home, in particular, has been outstanding. That’s the reason the expectation is there.”In a lot of the World Cups I’ve played in – or in which a couple of the guys in the changing room have played in – we’ve gone in with very little expectation and not done that well. I’d pick this position over any other.”There’s a lot of belief within the room. The transformation of the team has been brilliant. We’re very confident within our own game.”

Two years ago, Felix Anderson wanted a little help with his batting and so he wrote to the Pakistan batsman

ESPNcricinfo staff11-May-2018Two years ago, a young fan from New Zealand Felix Anderson wanted a little help with his batting. So he wrote a letter to one of his heroes – Younis Khan.Twitter

After recalling his favorite Younis innings – the treble against Sri Lanka and the 2016 double against England – Felix asked for advice on how to play the cover drive and the cut shot.Younis has retired from international cricket since but the letter finally found its way to him. And in response, he made a personal coaching video just for Felix, now 12 years old.
A coaching career awaits Younis, as well as a tutorial for his fans on the shot he played arguably better than anyone else: the sweep.

His two-month stint includes six first-class matches and potentially ten List A games

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2025Khaleel Ahmed has signed a deal with Essex for the remainder of the County Championship and the entirety of the One-Day Cup. It will be Khaleel’s first foray in County cricket. The two-month stint goes on till late September and includes six first-class games along with eight List A games, which could stretch to ten if Essex progress to the final.Khaleel will join the squad in York and will be available for selection for the County Championship match against Yorkshire starting Sunday.”I have heard a lot about the rich history of the Club, and I’m excited to be part of it and will look to make an immediate impact,” he said. “I’m looking forward to playing at Chelmsford, meeting the loyal Essex Members and fans, and delivering performances they can be proud of.”Related

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Essex’s director of cricket Chris Silverwood looked forward to the “new dynamic” Khaleel’s left-arm pace adds to the attack.”We were impressed with his performances for India A and firmly believe he can strengthen our already very strong seam attack,” Silverwood said. “As a left-arm seamer, he offers something different and will add a new dynamic to the squad in both the One Day Cup and the County Championship.”Khaleel has taken 15 wickets in 11 ODIs for India at an average of 31.00. He has played 20 first-class games and picked up 56 wickets at an average of 27.67. He was also part of the India A side that took on England Lions in June.Apart from Khaleel, Ishan Kishan (Nottinghamshire), Tilak Varma (Hampshire), Ruturaj Gaikwad (Yorkshire) and Yuzvendra Chahal (Northamptonshire) are the other Indians who have signed County deals.Essex currently sit at No. 8 in division one of the County Championship with one win in eight games.

Hosts ended Day 2 with a 185-run first-innings lead, with Jayasuriya bagging 5 for 102 for visitors

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2024In their only tour match ahead of their three-match Test series in England, Sri Lanka face a fight to save the game after conceding a heavy first-innings deficit to an inexperienced Lions team in Worcester.Sri Lanka were bowled out for 139 in just 43.5 overs on Wednesday, with no batter reaching 30 and Gloucestershire’s Zaman Akhter taking 5 for 32, the second five-wicket haul of his first-class career. Lions took a six-run lead heading into the second day after losing four wickets on the first evening, three of them to Prabath Jayasuriya’s left-arm spin.But by the time rain brought the second day to an early finish, Lions had secured a first-innings lead of 185. Hamza Shaikh, the 18-year-old Warwickshire batter on first-class debut, made 91 from No. 4, sharing a 104-run stand for the seventh wicket with Kasey Aldridge, the Somerset allrounder, who himself made 78.Related

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Jayasuriya finished with 5 for 102 from his 31.2 overs, with Kasun Rajitha taking 2 for 51 from 19. But Lahiru Kumara, who has not played a competitive match since June, was expensive, leaking 92 runs from his 18 overs and dismissing only tailender Ajeet Singh Dale.Lions are fielding an under-strength side, with two first-class debutants in Shaikh and Farhan Ahmed, whose elder brother Rehan has played in all three formats for England. The ECB have only pulled one player – Josh Hull, who has made two appearances for Manchester Originals – out of the Hundred, which features most of the country’s best young players.Sri Lanka have not played a Test since their tour to Bangladesh earlier this year, which ended at the start of April, and most of their squad have not played any first-class cricket since the domestic four-day tournament finished in early May. Vishwa Fernando, who is not playing against Lions, took 12 wickets in two appearances for Yorkshire in June.Sri Lanka’s 18-man squad will travel from Worcester to Manchester after the tour game ahead of the first of three Tests against England, which starts on Wednesday at Emirates Old Trafford. They will be joined in Manchester by former England batter Ian Bell, who has been recruited as a batting coach for the series to provide local knowledge.

Extra seamer will play regardless as England balance the here-and-now with the upcoming Ashes

Andrew Miller14-Dec-2024England will make a late decision on Kate Cross’s fitness for the one-off Test against South Africa in Bloemfontein, but have opted to play an extra seamer either way, as thoughts begin to turn to their upcoming Ashes challenge in January.Cross, England’s senior seamer, bowled just five balls in Wednesday’s third ODI at Potchefstroom before leaving the field with a back spasm. She will attempt to bowl in the nets on Saturday, but if she’s not deemed fit enough to take part, Ryana MacDonald-Gay – who was drafted into the Test squad as cover – will make her Test debut, with Sophia Dunkley set to miss out among the batters.Speaking on the eve of the contest, captain Heather Knight admitted her team had to balance their desire to cap a successful tour of South Africa against the challenge that awaits in Australia. And Cross, who was instrumental in England’s Ashes Test win in Perth in 2013-14, remains a key part of that consideration.”We’ll have to wait and see,” Knight said. “Obviously, she went down in that first ODI, and it’s pretty rare to see Kate in that much pain. So we’ll have to see how that reacts. She’ll try and have a little bowl today, try and get a couple of spells in, and then we’ll make a call based on what we think is best for the team.”Obviously we’ve got a huge amount of cricket coming up as well, so that’s going be at the forefront [of our thoughts]. Kate’s such a key player for us in one-day cricket and Test cricket. We want to give her the biggest chance, because she’s so desperate to play Test cricket, but we feel like our seam bowlers are going to be so important over the next month, so we want to really look after them.”So, “I don’t know” is the honest answer, but if she doesn’t play, we’ll obviously miss her.”The upcoming Test will be South Africa’s first on home soil in 22 years, and Knight – who still considers the format to be her favourite despite the scarcity of opportunity – said her players were all excited at the prospect of “pulling the whites back on”. The challenge of switching mindsets from white-ball to red-ball cricket, however, would be the biggest factor for the coming four days.Related

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“From my own experiences, I absolutely love playing red-ball cricket,” Knight said. “It’s such a test, such a challenge, and something that I love doing … the mental challenge, the repetition of skills, adapting to so many different situations that you might face. I absolutely love it.”But honestly, in the build-up to the Test, everyone was like, ‘right, what do I do, how do I learn? How to develop?’ Picking a team is pretty hard, just because you’re going on minimal information, from white-ball cricket or from a Test match that was maybe a year ago.”So it’s quite hard thing to prepare for. Mentally, it’s about getting clarity around how you’re going to play. I don’t think that should differ hugely from your one-day mindset, it’s just doing things for a little bit longer and managing situations that change in a game a little bit better.”You have to be okay sometimes with not scoring, and having to soak up pressure for a little bit longer. But also I want the girls have that mindset that, when we get a chance to really put the pressure back on the opposition, can we move the game forward at a rate of knots?”The two teams last faced each other in a Test match at Taunton in 2022, where Marizanne Kapp made a brilliant 150 to set her team up for a hard-fought draw.”She’s certainly high-class, she’s a key player for them,” Knight said. “We have our plans to try and get her out. Laura [Wolvaardt]’s got potential to bat long and score some big runs as well, so she’s another key player. We want real clarity about how we want to go about it, then it’s about adapting to how they’re playing the game in the moment as well.”Despite the proximity of the Ashes, where the Test will be held for the first time at the vast MCG, Knight insisted England’s focus was all in the “here-and-now”.”We’re totally focused on this Test match. It’s been in the calendar, and it’s something that the girls have highlighted that they really want to play in and really want to do well. Any chance to play a Test match is really cool.”We’ve had one eye on the Ashes throughout this series and trying to prep for that, whilst also not looking too far ahead and doing what we need to do to have some success. And obviously we’ve had huge success on this tour. It’s been a brilliant trip for us, a really successful tour. We’ve had loads of learnings as well, and things we can fine tune before we go into the Ashes.”