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Jackson Bird will become Australia’s 431st Test cricketer on Boxing Day against Sri Lanka after the coach Mickey Arthur confirmed the left-armer Mitchell Starc would be rested

Brydon Coverdale24-Dec-2012Jackson Bird will become Australia’s 431st Test cricketer on Boxing Day against Sri Lanka after the coach Mickey Arthur confirmed the left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc would be rested. The decision means the only remaining uncertainty around Australia’s side is the fitness of the captain Michael Clarke, who will be given until the morning of the match to prove himself ready, after batting in the MCG nets on Monday.Bird, 26, will share the new ball with Peter Siddle and his strong record in Melbourne, where he has taken 14 first-class wickets in two matches, indicates he should be suited to the conditions. However, there will be extra pressure on Bird given that the man he is replacing, Starc, collected 5 for 63 in the second innings of Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka in Hobart and remains fit and will be left out only because of workload concerns.Starc, 22, is expected to return to the side for the Sydney Test, and his rotation out of the team means Bird, Siddle and Mitchell Johnson will share the pace duties in Melbourne. Arthur defended Australia’s decision to rest Starc, who has taken 14 wickets in the past two Tests, and said it was made with the goal of ensuring he will remain fit for Australia’s busy upcoming schedule in 2013.”That’s a real tough decision to make,” Arthur said. “It’s a tough conversation with Mitch and he took it very well. He’s clearly very disappointed and I wouldn’t expect anything other than that. We’ve just got to look and see the amount of cricket that we’ve got going forward. Mitch is integral to that.”Mitch is our one quick bowler who plays in all three forms of the game. He starts in all three forms of the game. It is tough on Mitch but hopefully he misses one Test to make sure that we don’t have another injury and that there’s a lot of longevity with that decision and he’s ready to go in the one-dayers, he’s ready to go for the tour of India and he’s ready to go for the Ashes.”Arthur said he was confident Bird could handle the pressures of Test cricket given the way he had risen to first-class cricket since making his debut last summer. Bird, who plays for Tasmania having moved from New South Wales to gain greater opportunities, is a consistent bowler who works on a nagging line and length.”When he went down to Tassie he has bowled unbelievably well, he’s taken 50 wickets last season and well on the way, leading wicket-taker in the Shield this year,” Arthur said. “He brings line and length, he brings pressure, he swings the ball out, he brings some nice pace. He’s got all the attributes of a quick bowler. We’ve got a lot of faith in Jackson. At the start of the summer we had a list of bowlers that we wanted to keep fresh and keep ready to go and Jackson was one of them.”Bird spent Monday morning working hard in the nets, where all eyes were on Australia’s captain Clarke, who continued his recovery from a hamstring injury. Clarke faced 15 minutes of throwdowns from the assistant batting coach Stuart Law and then spent about half an hour facing the bowlers, including Johnson, Nathan Lyon and John Hastings, who is not part of the squad, and he also jogged between the wickets to test his running.Australia will not make a decision on whether Clarke leads the side or hands the reins to the vice-captain Shane Watson until the morning of the match, and while Arthur said he was happy with Clarke’s progress, he also indicated that the upcoming workload would need to be taken into consideration. The decision will be made based on advice from Clarke and the team physio Alex Kountouris.”We’ll give the skipper as long as possible,” Arthur said. “That might only be on the morning of the game. He’s clearly improving. Whether or not that gets it over the line I’m not sure. But we’ll give him right until the very last before we make that call.”I’d love Michael Clarke captaining the team in a Boxing Day Test match with a series on the line. He went far better today than he did yesterday and I suspect he’ll go far better tomorrow than he did today. It’s a 50-50 call. We’ve got to be mindful as well, much like the Mitchell Starc decision, of the amount of important cricket that we’ve got coming up. We’ve got to be intelligent with the decision we make. But if I was a betting man I’d bet on Michael Clarke leading the team out on Boxing Day.”Dean Jones, the former Test batsman and batting coach of South Australia, has been on hand at the MCG over the past couple of days, working as a mentor to the batsmen in the same way that Allan Border, Greg Blewett, Tom Moody and Matthew Hayden have earlier this summer. Jones spent plenty of time with Clarke in the nets on Monday and said while he was impressed with the captain’s work, the test would be running between the wickets in a match situation.”[He was ] absolutely superb, I couldn’t fault him at all,” Jones said. “He ran a bit between the wickets and he was good. He’s going to take it until the last minute I think, but batting wise he was fine. [But] with the soft surrounds around the pitch, if you bat first and you’re running between the wickets, you get into a situation where there might be half a chance of a run-out, you put your spikes in and you see what happens there. I’m bullish the way he is. He looked really good in the nets. Better than yesterday.”

Manzur Ahmed, the chief executive officer of Bangladesh Cricket Board and a former national cricketer, died on January 10 in Dhaka

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2012Manzur Ahmed, the chief executive officer of Bangladesh Cricket Board and a former national cricketer, died on January 10 in Dhaka. He was 55.BCB officials confirmed the news at a programme organised ahead of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament. Manzur was originally scheduled to attend the programme.A wicketkeeper-batsman in the 1980s, Manzur was appointed as the BCB CEO in September 2010. Earlier, he had served as the CEO of the Brunei Darussalam Cricket Association since 2005, following stints as an executive member and development manager of the association. He was also a member of the Asian Cricket Council’s executive board.”The news of Manzur Ahmed’s sudden passing away has shocked everyone at the ICC and our thoughts and prayers go out to members of his family and friends,” ICC chief Haroon Lorgat said. “Mr. Ahmed was a respectable person and clearly loved the game of cricket. He will surely be missed by all of his family, friends and cricket colleagues. His sudden passing away comes as a personal shock and reminds me of the value of time and good relations. I had closely worked with him during the organizing of the ICC cricket World Cup 2011.””I have lost a brother, a friend, a confidante and a fellow cricketer with whom I have enjoyed many fine days on and off the field,” ACC chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq said.

New Zealand wrapped up the Twenty20 series 2-1 with a nine-run win in a low-scoring match at Hove

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill02-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Suzie Bates was Player of the Series as leading scorer from either side with 94 runs in three games•Getty Images

New Zealand wrapped up the Twenty20 series 2-1 with a nine-run win in a low-scoring match at Hove. After the despair of their narrow defeat in the World Twenty20, New Zealand have fought hard in this series to bounce back after losing the first game and looked a jubilant outfit when an accurate final over from the impressive Sophie Devine sealed the result, and the series, for them.New Zealand knew they would have to scrap to defend a sub-par 124 for 8 after opting to bat first, but England’s tactics allowed them to re-group in the field and once Sarah Taylor had been castled by Nicola Browne wickets fell at regular intervals. England had been favourites before the second innings got underway, but without pressure to score quickly from the outset they dug themselves into a defensive hole with some overly-cautious batting.After the snail-paced start, Charlotte Edwards began to find some fluency but then chipped Devine to Browne at cover for a-run-a-ball 19 in the ninth over. Claire Taylor then fell to an ugly smear that looped gently to the same fielder to leave England struggling at 46 for 3 in the 11th over. Her dismissal triggered a middle-order collapse as two balls later Laura Marsh flashed Devine straight to Kate Broadmore, who then rattled Jenny Gunn’s stumps as three wickets fell in the space of seven balls.England had recovered from a similarly dire position in the second game at the Rose Bowl, but their chase never recovered today. Danielle Wyatt showed some hustle in her 17-ball 16, but with the run-rate climbing too many risks had to be taken and when she and Lydia Greenway fell in the 17th over to offspinner Lucy Doolan England were as good as buried.Though Doolan and Devine had been in the wickets with the ball, it was a team-effort in the field that sealed the win and it had been a similar story when New Zealand batted. Aimee Watkins and Suzie Bates – who top-scored again today and was named Player of the Series – laid the platform with a patient 50-run opening stand that gradually gained momentum.Though Danielle Hazell ran through New Zealand’s top three in an inspirational display of slow bowling, Browne and Devine picked up the mantle with an aggressive 28-run partnership that took up only 16 balls and seized back the momentum for the visitors. The experienced pair of Nicky Shaw and Katherine Brunt – who topped 75mph with the ball – pegged back New Zealand’s charge, but despite the narrowness of the eventual winning margin the visitors were in control for most of the game.

Scott Boland is the reserve fast bowler in a 13-player squad to face India in Perth

Andrew McGlashan09-Nov-20242:20

Malcolm: ‘McSweeney could be a future captain if he finds his feet’

Nathan McSweeney will open the batting for Australia in the first Test against India in Perth having won the race to partner Usman Khawaja while Josh Inglis has been included as the reserve batter in a 13-player squad.McSweeney had firmed as the favourite for the vacant role in recent weeks and though he couldn’t convert two starts against India A at the MCG – where he made 14 and 25 on a tricky pitch opening for the first time his first-class career – he has been preferred ahead of specialist openers including Marcus Harris who does not even make the squad.Related

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“I’ve been able to perform pretty consistently over the past couple of years in Shield cricket. I feel like my game is constantly getting better and improving,” McSweeney said. “I feel like I’m playing probably the best cricket I have. It’s nice to spend some time in the middle against India A in Mackay and here at the MCG and feel like my game’s ready.”McSweeney was only given the word by national selector George Bailey after the end of the second A game at the MCG. “There’s been a lot of talk about it, didn’t really know until I finally got the word, still probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” he said. “Getting a lot of nice messages. Very lucky and grateful for the opportunity.”One of those messages was from Marnus Labuschagne, who has been a mentor to McSweeney from his days with Queensland and with who there are often comparisons.”That was a nice phone call to Marnus last night as well. He’s super chuffed for me, and I’m thankful for his knowledge and the way he’s helped me through the start of my career,” McSweeney said. “At times I probably look similar, and I like to think I’ve got my own way of playing, but definitely using Marnus as a resource, that’s been very helpful for me.”Despite just one match at the top of the order, there is confidence McSweeney is ready for the role. “He’s a player whose growth is on a great trajectory, a very organised, composed player at the crease who has a game that will suit Test cricket,” Bailey said.For McSweeney, very little changes. “Other than walk out one position earlier than I normally do, my prep is the exact same,” he said. “I trained with the new ball batting at three, and you can be in there in the first over of the game.”As expected, Scott Boland takes his place as the back-up quick bowler behind captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for the first Test at Optus Stadium which begins on November 22.The decisions taken by the selectors follows their recent mantra of picking the best six batters rather than focusing too heavily on the positions they traditionally occupy. The vacancy at the top of the order arose after the decision to move Steven Smith back to No. 4 following his four-Test stay earlier this year after the retirement of David Warner.Overall in first-class cricket McSweeney averages 38.16 with six centuries in 34 matches but over the last two years that average rises to 43.44 with all his hundreds coming during that period. In a sign of his standing among the selectors he was handed Australia A captaincy before he led his state, South Australia.Harris looked to have made a strong case for selection with a hard-fought 74 in the first innings against India A in Melbourne but it wasn’t enough to return him to the Test fold. Sam Konstas sealed victory in the match with a fine innings at No. 4 but after early-season excitement with his twin hundreds against South Australia it has been decided it is a little too early for the 19-year-old. Cameron Bancroft’s horror run of form meant he drifted well out of contention but Bailey insisted he and Harris remained in the selectors’ thoughts.”It’s a tough one because whenever the information is first given it potentially feels hollow that they’ve been overlooked again,” Bailey said. “But as I said its just to be really clear to them that not being selected is not us saying that we don’t think you aren’t a good player, we just have to make a decision on who is going to fit the role best and at the moment we think that’s Nathan.”Inglis’ selection is something of a left-field decision but rewards him for being one of the most in-form players this season with two Sheffield Shield hundreds. His credentials were lauded by New South Wales Greg Shipperd last month who said he should be in contention to open. Bailey played that down but did say he could play a role this season and that opportunity is now a step closer. He also provides wicketkeeping back-up for Alex Carey.Inglis will captain Australia for the first time later on Sunday in the deciding ODI against Pakistan and then in the three-match T20I series meaning he will link up with the Test squad after those matches are complete.

Australia squad for 1st Test vs India

Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc

He believes this West Indies unit includes a number of match-winners who can bring home another world title

Nagraj Gollapudi01-Jun-2024After two disappointing T20 World Cups, where they failed to qualify for the semi-finals in 2021 and progress past the first round in 2022, Nicholas Pooran believes that West Indies are now ready to “redeem” themselves. With this year’s edition being co-hosted by the West Indies, Pooran said that the squad is hungry to rekindle that “special feeling” Daren Sammy’s men had experienced when they won the title in 2012 and 2016.”Coming back in here after two years, everybody wants to get that special feeling we had when we won those two T20 World Cups,” Pooran told ESPNcricinfo from his home in Trinidad. “I feel like everybody wants that moment again. They want to be a part of that winning feeling. Doing it in front of our fans is even more special.”Pooran replaced Kieron Pollard as West Indies’ white-ball captain in May 2022, but by November he had stepped down, a decision Cricket West Indies took as part of a review immediately after the 2022 World Cup failure. Rovman Powell leads them now. At the 2022 T20 World Cup, which was played in Australia, West Indies won just one of their three matches in the first round, crashing out as Zimbabwe and Ireland progressed ahead of them.Related

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Pooran, 28, said both him and several members of the current squad have moved on since. “We all have grown as players, as team-mates as well,” he said. “When we played in Australia where we didn’t qualify, everyone was hurt. I resigned [from] captaincy after that as well. Everyone was hurt. But we are no longer that group of guys.”We all know what’s at stake here. We all know that we have an opportunity to obviously redeem ourselves, make our cricket fans in the Caribbean and our cricket fans all over the world proud of us [and] happy. This time around we are much better players as well. Most of our guys that play franchise cricket, they understand what is needed to be a professional as well.”Pooran was among half-a-dozen players from West Indies’ World Cup squad of 15 that didn’t feature in the recent three-match T20I series at home against South Africa, which they won 3-0 under the captaincy of Brandon King. The other five players who had missed that series were Andre Russell, Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Alzarri Joseph and Sherfane Rutherford.Pooran was impressed with how West Indies, despite the absence of the senior players, were “fighting” to perform and win.”If you just look at the series we played against South Africa, a few guys were missing, but we were able to win that series 3-nil,” Pooran said. “You saw the performances, you saw that guys are fighting and that’s really important. We may win, we may not win, but what’s more important for me, as a senior player as well, is that we need to give it 100% on and off the field.”It’s not about us, it’s about our team, 100%. It’s important for me to continue to share that message: that it’s not about me or ourselves. It’s not about us at all. It’s all about what we can do for this team to be successful in the end.”Rovman Powell and Andre Russell lend depth to West Indies’ line-up•Getty Images

‘West Indies have numerous match-winners’

While announcing West Indies’ T20 World Cup squad in early May, batting great Desmond Haynes, who is presently the chief selector, pointed out that they were capable of winning the title. Sitting next to Haynes, the head coach Sammy said West Indies had 15 X-factor players. Along with Sammy, this current West Indies unit has two players – Russell and Johnson Charles – who were part of the T20 World Cup triumphs in 2012 and 2016. West Indies are now looking to become the first team to win a T20 World Cup at home.While Pooran will clearly be one of the key batters in the middle order, West Indies have more firepower with the likes of Powell, Russell, Hetmyer, Rutherford and Shepherd making them one of the most destructive batting line-ups in the tournament. Russell, in particular, comes into this in top form – both with bat and ball – having helped Kolkata Knight Riders win their third IPL title.Pooran said the presence of Russell, who had returned to the West Indies T20I fold last December after a long hiatus, would no doubt sprinkle positivity across the dressing room. “He’s a winner. He wins T20 games,” Pooran said. “He wins tournaments and whenever you have that experience in the dressing room, it helps a lot, especially in a World Cup. Experience is key.”West Indies, however, are not just about Russell. Pooran stressed that West Indies had a number of other match-winners.”We have Rovy [Powell], we have Hetmyer, we have Rutherford, we have Sheppy [Shepherd],” Pooran said. “These guys have been doing brilliantly for themselves and for their franchises and for West Indies in the last 12 months. And I even think that takes a lot of pressure off Russell as well. It definitely takes a lot of pressure off me.”Pooran cited the example of the third and final T20I against Australia in Perth this February which West Indies won by 37 runs, despite losing wickets in a heap in the early exchanges.”I remember that last game in Perth. We were struggling, we were probably 70 for 4 [79 for 5],” Pooran recalled, “and we scored 215 [220 for 6]. Russell and Rutherford scored 70 apiece [71 and 67 respectively]. They just tore Australia’s bowling apart. Just to have these guys … makes you not worry that much.”In saying that, every single individual still has to do their jobs. But the beauty about our team is that we have players that, on their day, they can win a game for you in T20 cricket. That’s what you want. We have numerous match-winners on our team.”

Things appear to be coming together nicely for England but a couple of selection questions remain

Andrew Miller13-Oct-2022

Big picture

Momentum is loosely aligned to confidence, but it’s a broadly nonsensical concept in professional sport – after all, if you’ve allowed yourself to live by it, presumably you’ll be obliged to die by it too. Sure, winning is all very well, but sometimes knowing where you went wrong is every bit as important. Take Aaron Finch’s blunt post-match comments in Canberra, where he pinpointed Australia’s “sloppy” fielding for the eight-run defeat that left them 2-0 down going into what is now Friday’s dead-rubber against England.Who knows where that momentum would be headed now, had Australia’s butter-fingers not offered up three clear-cut chances in the midst of Dawid Malan’s and Moeen Ali’s crucial 92-run stand for the fifth wicket. Or if Tim David hadn’t walked across Sam Curran’s leg-stump yorker with the game at his mercy in the 18th over of the chase.So with just over a week to go until the start of their respective T20 World Cup campaigns, here we are – with England’s rebooted white-ball team now boasting back-to-back away series wins after a blank home summer, and Australia seemingly in a scramble for their own readiness after a pair of untimely setbacks.Related

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And yet, as the Aussies know all too well from their own exploits in the UAE 12 months ago, history is bunk, especially in the T20 format. On that occasion they went into the World Cup with a troubling litany of setbacks stretching back five series and 18 months, through losses to England, India, New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh – and even then they got panned by eight wickets, and with 50 balls to spare, by a Jos Buttler masterclass in the group stages in Dubai. What happened thereafter, however, rather scotched any notion of prep.Certainly the team that Australia put out for the Canberra defeat was not far from the side that they would wish to take into their opening fixture against New Zealand on October 22. Ideally they’d like Glenn Maxwell to find a semblance of form, and for their big-three seamers – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – to prove a touch more incisive than their collective analyses of 2 for 110 in 12 overs, but there’s not a lot that they would seek to improve personnel-wise, even after this latest loss.It is England, by contrast, who still have a few key decisions to nail down. In particular, the Ben Stokes question, which looms over every aspect of their build-up. He’s scraped together a grand total of 17 runs from 20 balls across two innings, and his dismissal on Wednesday – a wild heave at Adam Zampa in a match situation that probably afforded him time to build into his innings – did little to dispel the swirling doubts about his role.But then, up he popped with an economical display in a rare new-ball role, followed by a first-ball breakthrough at the start of his second over, and by the time he’d pulled off the evening’s most startling feat of athleticism – a stunning one-handed boundary-save at long-off – his thirst for the action was once again self-evident. If finding a place for a man like Stokes is your major concern … well, it’s the proverbial “good problem to have”, isn’t it?

Recent form

Australia LLWWL(last five completed T20Is, most recent first)

England WWWWLGlenn Maxwell walks off after another low score•Getty Images

In the spotlight

So, momentum eh… what does Glenn Maxwell make of that phenomenon? He barely played a shot in anger at the last T20 World Cup – at least, not until the final, when his unbeaten 28 from 18 balls powered Australia over the finishing line against New Zealand, after he had contributed a grand total of two boundaries to their previous six tournament fixtures. Such are the reasons to believe he’ll be alright on the night this time around too, even though his slump in the past few months has been every bit as eye catching. He’s managed 51 runs in 61 balls since the start of June, and a gruesome 16 from 33 in the past month – in which his 8 from 11 against England on Wednesday was his highest, joint-longest and fastest-paced knock in six attempts. As Stokes might attest, No. 4 can be a tough berth to nail in this format, but unless Steven Smith gets a final chance to find his own form, Maxi’s pedigree may yet be trusted to tough this one out.Twelve months ago, Sam Curran was sitting in the Sky Sports studio, watching his team-mates pursue glory without him while he nursed a stress fracture in his back – an injury that was still hanging over him at the start of the English season when he was limited to 10 overs in his first three Championship matches of Surrey’s season. Now, with a love of the limelight that he has previously displayed for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, Curran has pounced on an opportunity to be England’s missing link in the middle order – a bowler with deceptive versatility who has sent down 31 of his 32 available overs in Pakistan and Australia this winter, for a world-class haul of 12 wickets at 19.33 and an economy rate of 7.48. His left-arm line has always been a challenge, particularly his deceptively steep bouncer, but Curran seems to have added extra pace since his injury – his game-changing yorker to Tim David was timed at 137kph. His batting hasn’t yet fired, but the threat he poses is undeniable, and his place in that first-choice XI is surely now indisputable.

Team news

The XI played on Wednesday was widely considered Australia’s starting side for the World Cup. They may give them another run, but also there’s a chance they will rotate again. Although he passed his concussion test, David Warner may be given the night off after his heavy landing near the boundary on Wednesday. Kane Richardson could be worth another outing before the real thing starts – his cutters may suit a somewhat sticky Canberra surface – Josh Inglis has not played since the India tour and there remains some uncertainty over the status of Ashton Agar.Australia (probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood/Kane RichardsonChris Jordan lost his central contract earlier this week, and – whisper it – maybe he’s close to losing his banker status as England’s go-to death bowler. Curran’s death overs in recent weeks have been exceptional, as have Reece Topley’s, while Chris Woakes – who is likely to get another warm-up outing here – offers a wise head at the crunch too. With Mark Wood also itching for another trot before the main event, it will be instructive to see if Jordan gets another chance to find his form on Friday, as he battles back from his long-term hand injury. On the batting front, Liam Livingstone must be nearing full fitness after his ankle injury, and while England originally earmarked this week’s Pakistan match as his comeback game, there may be a temptation to test-drive him sooner, especially with Stokes not yet firing, and with the series already in the bag.England (probable) 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 David Willey, 11 Adil Rashid.

Pitch and conditions

The surface wasn’t a road for the opening game with free-flowing strokeplay not easy from the outset. It made the quality of Malan’s innings stand out and also David’s striking. The weather forecast isn’t promising with heavy rain set to sweep through the capital, although there remains some hope that it will clear through in time for the game. There shouldn’t be problems with drainage.

Stats and trivia

• Moeen Ali, who will be playing his 65th match, needs 13 runs to reach 1,000 in T20I cricket.
• Glenn Maxwell (still) needs one six for 100 in T20Is. His last six in the format came in Pallekele on June 11

Quotes

“We are probably ready to go, I think. Maybe just in a holding pattern now for another two games. Sort of feels that way in the camp. We know our game pretty well in Australia.”
“When the big games come, he’ll score runs and that’s what you want from your gun players. Ben offers so much even if he’s not scoring runs: he opened the bowling [in the second T20I] and bowled really well and he was brilliant in the field.”

The opener played two Tests when he was far from fit but is confident ahead of his comeback for New South Wales

Andrew McGlashan03-Mar-2021David Warner has conceded that he rushed back too soon during the Test series against India following the groin injury he suffered during the ODIs. Warner made himself available for the last two Tests in Sydney and Brisbane when he was clearly significantly hampered by the injury and it has since meant another lengthy rehab.Speaking on commentary last week, Warner said how he expected to feel the effects of the injury for up to nine months but will make his return to action this week for New South Wales – firstly in the one-day competition before the Sheffield Shield against South Australia – and is confident he won’t do any further damage.Related

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“I made the call to play those Test matches, felt like I needed to be out there and help the guys,” he told reporters at Sydney airport before flying to Adelaide. “Looking back in hindsight I probably wouldn’t have done that, where I am with the injury it put me back a little bit.”If I’m thinking about myself I probably would have said no, but I did what I felt was best for the team and me being out there opening the batting was I felt the best thing for the team.”Warner added that the injury, which involved a tear in the abdomen plus two in his groin, was “horrible” and that he’d “never felt anything like it” but the stint on the sidelines has allowed him to spend time with the family – although even what he was able to do with his children was restricted by the injury – and given him the chance to reflect on where his career stands.Australia won’t have any more Test cricket until late in the year, unless England win the final Test against India to allow them to sneak a World Test Championship final berth, but Warner still faces a busy period of white-ball action following this spell in domestic cricket for New South Wales.He will head to the IPL in early April and after that Australia are scheduled for a white-ball tour of West Indies although this has yet to be confirmed. Warner recently secured a deal for the Hundred in England, which runs for a month from mid-July, then Australia are set to have tours of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before the T20 World Cup in India in October which follows directly into the next home summer that includes a five-Test Ashes series.Warner has previously spoken about potentially reevaluating his workload around the three formats but currently has his sights set on the 2023 50-over World Cup in India which follows back-to-back T20 World Cups – the second of which will be hosted in Australia in 2022 – and is eager to play as much Test cricket as possible.”I’m not thinking about the end date at all, for me it’s about the 2023 World Cup,” he said. “We’ve got a good foundation with the white-ball team, we’ve got a good opportunity to play that and win in India. The core of the team with the age group it will probably be the last for a few of us. Then obviously it’s a given that you have to call it time unless you are going to play to 41 – it’s time for the new guys to come through.”From a Test cricket point of view I’d love to play as long as I can. We’ve got a lot of cricket coming up in that context after this year so for me it’s about staying fit and healthy and trying to manage my family time with cricket.”

Maxine Blythin says she has received huge support on the cricket field and in everyday life

Valkerie Baynes26-Nov-2019Maxine Blythin, the transgender cricketer who was recently named as Kent Women’s Player of the Year, has revealed she was shocked by the negative reaction towards her.Blythin, who was born with a condition that meant she failed to go through male puberty as an adolescent because her testosterone levels were too low, won the award in late September without major fanfare. But when controversial columnist Katie Hopkins responded negatively on Twitter earlier this month, it sparked a raft of vitriol on social media against Blythin.While the furore did not necessarily surprise Blythin, it was all the more shocking to her given the support she had received from friends, family and many in the cricket community.”From obviously reading media stories you know that that kind of mentality is out there,” Blythin told Sky Sports. “There are people who just don’t like you because you’re different or you don’t fit into their binary norms that they see.”You get a lot of hate mail, some more extreme than others. It’s probably the hardest thing, I think, for someone like me to experience because because it’s someone saying, ‘you are not valid, I get to decide who you are, not you’, without any understanding of the biology behind it, the science behind it, and just in general how your brain works.”My friends have all been accepting. My family, with some time, were very accepting. At work I’ve never had any issues, on the sporting field, not a single comment, no issues. In just general life, going to the shops, going anywhere, not a single issue at any stage. I’ve just been living my life being a normal human, going to work, going to the shops, paying taxes.”Blythin paid tribute to Kent captain and England opener Tammy Beaumont, who was quick to throw her support behind Blythin in a series of Tweets aimed at Hopkins, including one which said: “Personally I’m proud to call her my team-mate and my friend. So please attempt [sic] don’t speak for me or my ovaries.”Blythin said she had spoken with Beaumont since to tell her how much she appreciated her support.”Having someone who openly shows her support despite knowing what backlash you could get from it, from people who just don’t know anything about the story, anything about biology, anything about who I am or what I’m doing, is very brave of Tammy and something I appreciate a lot,” Blythin said. The story did raise more nuanced debate surrounding possible physical advantages Blythin may possess over other women competing with or against her, especially that she is more than six feet tall. As an opening batsman, she helped Kent win the Women’s County Championship this year, finishing her debut season as the county’s third-highest run scorer.Asked whether she had any physical attributes which might prove to be an advantage, Blythin said: “Nothing particularly, only the differences you get in humans in general.”There are girls in my team who are a lot stronger than I am, there are girls with longer arm spans than I do, girls with bigger hands than I do, just in my own team, never mind the teams I play with or against. I’ve just got some naturally good bits, ie. tall is beneficial for some things, but I’ve got very thin arms.”In my family I’m not considered abnormal. I’ve got a tall dad, a tall mum. I’m quite normal sized for my family. My sister is pretty tall as well.”While the ECB’s playing regulations allow Blythin to play women’s cricket simply by identifying as transgender, she would have to meet the ICC’s more rigorous standards if she were ever selected to play for England, which includes a limit on testosterone levels. However, she said she would welcome the opportunity if it came along.”If I was invited to, it would be the biggest privilege of my life,” she said. “Speaking to people who have played at that level, even if it’s just for one game, it’s one of the biggest occasions of their sporting lives. I’d 100 percent say yes. I’m not expecting it but I would say yes.”Blythin also has a condition called gender dysphoria, where a person experiences discomfort or distress because their biological sex does not equate with their gender identity and she remembers feeling that way “before I can remember other memories”.”The first thing I can remember as a kid is thinking that way,” Blythin said. Throughout my adolescence, my childhood, I always had that feeling of being different but without the way to articulate, without the knowledge to know where I stood.”Back then, parents weren’t given that kind of information, that kind of story was not easily accessible. You didn’t have trans role models, you didn’t have anything like that, so being able to articulate who you are was not easy.”Describing her experience of gender dysphoria, Blythin told Sky: “It’s a feeling of disgust, a really hurtful feeling … my best way is to ask what makes a man. If you come back and tell me it’s what’s in your trousers, you’ve not grasped what being a man is.”You have to look inside yourself and really think. Now, imagine you’re a man in a woman’s body – but you’re still thinking about what makes you who you are. To then have that body stare back at you in the mirror… that’s the easiest way to explain it.”Asked to describe herself, Blythin said: “A woman, simple as. I always have felt that way, I’ve always wanted to articulate it as such.”

CSA is concerned about WPCA’s administrative and financial affairs as well as possible disruption caused by a big construction project at the ground

Liam Brickhill27-Sep-2019Newlands might lose hosting rights for the 2020 New Year’s Test between South Africa and England. Cricket South Africa has raised concerns about the Western Province Cricket Association’s administrative and financial affairs, and the potential disruption caused by a massive construction project currently underway at the ground, with CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe saying, “We are worried as CSA that Newlands may not be able to host the New Year’s Test.”An report on Thursday said that the association is in significant financial strife and in danger of missing out on the hosting of the marquee event as it continued its attempts to raise money for building developments at Newlands, and there are signs of a troubled state of affairs in the organisation’s administration.”We are concerned with the finances of Western Province, so as CSA we want to understand some of the decisions they have taken and what their plans are in terms of moving themselves out of the hole they have put themselves in,” Moroe explained. “They may not be able to [host the New Year’s Test] but I’d like to think that with us sitting around the table and working together as the mother body and the affiliate partner that we ensure that the Test match stays there and we are ready to host it.”The WPCA has not held its annual general meeting this year, and last week CSA announced that it had appointed an administrator to take over the administrative, governance and financial affairs of WPCA “until all these respective functions have been placed on a satisfactory footing”.In February, the WPCA announced a R750 million (approx. US$50 million) upgrade to Newlands that would see the construction of four new office blocks on the site, as well as refurbishments to the Western Province offices and President’s Pavilion at Newlands. South African financial services and investments group Sanlam was to have taken on 51% of the costs, with WPCA covering the other 49%.”This is a journey that started around ten years ago and the main purpose of this journey was the sustainability of cricket,” Cape Cobras chief executive Nabeal Dien had said at the time. “I don’t think we would have gone into this, and neither would Sanlam, unless we saw a viable outcome.”However, last week CSA suspended the WPCA board, appointing former chief executive Andre Odendaal as an administrator, with Odendaal due to present monthly progress reports as CSA takes a hands-on approach to the WPCA’s affairs.”CSA will exercise its rights until such time that it is reasonably of the opinion that the WPCA administrative and financial affairs are being conducted according to best practice and that the association can assure equity partners and stakeholders that projects currently underway will unfold as planned,” said CSA President and board chairman Chris Nenzani.CSA is clearly unhappy with WPCA’s progress, and the fate of the marquee New Year’s Test fixture is set to be decided at a meeting between CSA and the WPCA next week.”This includes getting the City of Cape Town involved and there’s a big construction project going on there,” Moroe said. “There’s the concern of safety as fans are concerned. The construction is going to disrupt a little bit in terms of how the Test match is generally hosted‚ but there’s a figurative and literal hole that needs to be filled.”From a security perspective‚ we need to adhere to all the requirements and all involved have to be safe. We also need to uphold the ICC’s hosting standards and make sure that the English also feel safe in coming to the grounds and that we can cater for all the spectators because we are expecting quite a big number of English supporters.”Newlands has hosted the New Year’s Test 21 times since South Africa’s readmission into international cricket in 1991, with the last one played against Pakistan from January 3, 2019.

Claydon to join Sussex next season after seven years with Kent

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2019Veteran seam bowler Mitch Claydon will leave Kent for Sussex at the end of this season.Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie said the 36-year-old Claydon would bring a wealth of experience to his squad. “We have been looking to secure an experienced seamer for the short term to add depth to our bowling stocks and Mitch fits the bill perfectly. His experience and knowledge will be valuable in our dressing room.”He is an important part of our plan for our seam bowling department. We are also seeking a younger, more long-term signing to complement our current bowling stocks.”Originally from Sydney, Claydon used his British passport to join Yorkshire, where he played alongside Gillespie in 2006. Claydon moved to Durham, where he was part of the Championship-winning sides of 2008, 2009 and 2013. A successful loan stint at Kent in 2013 led to a seven-year association with the club, where he was reunited with Gillespie in 2017 when the latter became an interim assistant coach.Having helped Kent win promotion to the Championship’s top division in 2018 and reach the final of the Royal London One-Day Cup the same year, Claydon was not offered a contract extension beyond this season.Claydon said: “After playing with Dizzy in my first year in England and spending time with him when he was with Kent, I’m really excited to be playing under him again. I still feel as though I have plenty to offer and look forward to hopefully putting in some match-winning performances for Sussex.”I’d like to give a huge thank you to all my coaches and team-mates over the past seven years at Kent. I’ve made memories and friends for life in the Garden of England.”Kent Head Coach Matt Walker said Claydon had been “an outstanding servant” to the club. “He’s also produced some great performances for us, whether that be in red-ball cricket or at the death in limited-overs formats. He’s been a real match winner for Kent on the field and a true champion off it. He’ll be hugely missed.”