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Northamptonshire claimed their first major trophy since 1992 by winning the Friends Life t20 with a thumping defeat of Surrey in the final at Edgbaston.

George Dobell at Edgbaston17-Aug-2013
ScorecardDavid Willey made the fastest half-century of the season before taking a hat-trick to seal a memorable evening•Getty Images

Northamptonshire claimed their first major trophy since 1992 by winning the Friends Life t20 with a thumping defeat of Surrey in the final at Edgbaston.Having won just three of their last 27 T20s before this season, dating back to their quarter-final defeat in 2010, Northants went into the campaign as rank outsiders. But there was nothing fortunate about this success.After winning seven of their 10 group games – by contrast, they won just one out of 10 in 2012 – they produced commanding performances in the quarter-final, semi-final and final against clubs which, on at least two of those three occasions, boasted significantly larger playing budgets.Indeed, this final pitted Northants – one of the smaller counties with a turnover of around £3.4m a year – against Surrey, the undisputed financial giants of English cricket, with a turnover that was £23.8m last year.But this was far more than a heartening tale of an underdog enjoying their moment in the sun. For so long a county sliding into irrelevance, Northants are providing a fine example of what can be achieved by smaller counties with sound financial management, astute coaching and a refusal to accept a place among the also-rans. Having changed their coach, captain and chief executive in the last 18 months, Northants have also changed the culture of their club. It is surely more than coincidence that David Ripley, who took over as coach in August 2012, was a member of the Northants side that won the NatWest Trophy in 1992.Whereas Northants used to be a cosy club content with its own mediocrity playing in front of dwindling numbers of spectators in a weary ground, they are now a club demonstrating the enduring value of team spirit, unity of purpose, wise recruitment and the development of local talent. Here, in front of a fine-spirited crowd and on an excellent T20 surface, they played cricket bursting with confidence and joy, reflective of a side enjoying their game and each other’s successes. Here they completely outplayed Surrey.David Willey will, quite rightly, take the plaudits. A product of the club’s own system – his father, Peter, was a stalwart of the club for two-and-a-half decades – Willey not only thrashed the fastest half-century of the season, but also claimed a hat-trick to finish the game. Aged 23, his form has recently won England Lions recognition and, with England looking for a left-arm seamer to replicate the role once performed by Ryan Sidebottom, it may not be too long before he goes a step further.But this success was built around an innings that contained three half-centuries. After Willey, only opening the batting due to a wrist injury sustained by Kyle Coetzer in the semi-final, Cameron White and Alex Wakely added 107 in 56 balls to take Northants to the highest total in an English T20 final. Bearing in mind that the innings was reduced to 18 overs by rain and that is some achievement.Northants actually started relatively sedately. Perhaps taken aback by Zafar Ansari opening the bowling with his left-arm spin, Northants scored only one off the first over and six off the second.But a break for rain instilled new urgency. Willey, who scored only one from his first four balls, then thrashed 50 from his next 15 to reach a 19-ball half-century. It was a blitz that included 20 off one Jade Dernbach over – “I don’t particularly like the bloke,” Willey said by way of explanation, “he made an idiot of himself out there” – and 17 off another from Azhar Mahmood.Even when Willey was out, slicing to deep cover, Wakely, the team captain and another product of the club’s own system, took up the challenge, pulling strongly and reaching his 50 off 25 balls. While White was, initially at least, more cautious, he accelerated in the dying overs and completed his own 39-ball 50 with a six off the final ball of the innings.Surrey’s bowling wilted in the face of such an assault. Two international seamers conceded 108 in eight overs as Mahmood, so frugal in the semi-final, was plundered for 53 in four overs, while Dernbach, offering a variety of full-tosses and half-volleys in an oddly off-colour performance, went for 55. Perhaps the damp conditions rendered it tough to grip the ball, but it was a disappointing performance in the field from Surrey.They never threatened to go close in pursuit. While Glenn Maxwell hit an aggressive 29, the required run-rate demanded greater risk-taking than Northants’ well-disciplined attack would allow. Having stuttered to 70 for 4, Surrey lost their last six wickets for 22 runs including their final four without the addition of a run. In the end, it was a rout.But, amid the rubble of a chastening defeat, Surrey should take some confidence from their journey to the final. After a grim 18-months, this was a step in the right direction and suggested that brighter days lie ahead.This was a good day for English cricket, too. In front of a good-natured, full-house crowd and on a pitch ideal for such a high-profile encounter – full of runs and offering encouragement to good batsmen and good bowlers – it was a day that showcased talent and provided a fine advertisement for T20 cricket.

A slow pitch, a slow outfield and rain after tea combined to undermine Durham’s plan to achieve the victory that would make them odds-on to clinch the title

Jon Culley at Derby13-Sep-2013
ScorecardScott Borthwick became just the third Durham-born player to make 1,000 runs in a Championship season for the county•Getty Images

Scott Borthwick defied a slow pitch, a slow outfield and rain after tea to become only the third Durham-born batsman to pass 1,000 runs in a season. But the conditions combined to undermine Durham’s plan to achieve the victory that would make them odds-on to clinch the titleWhen Borthwick reached 44, he had something to celebrate on a personal level, despite the frustrating situation for his side. He became the first home-grown Durham player since Paul Collingwood in 2005 to have achieved the milestone and only the third Durham-born batsman to do so in the county’s history, the other being Gary Pratt.His success rewards Durham’s decision to promote him to No. 3. Borthwick was a top-order batsman with bowling a secondary skill in the early part of his career and he opened for England Under-19s before switching his focus towards developing his legspin, only to find he was being required less frequently in that role.”At junior levels I was always a batter who bowled a bit,” Borthwick said. “As a legspinner you don’t get many opportunities, especially at The Riverside where you can’t get the ball out of the seamers’ hands.”That was the idea of going up the order, to give me a chance to contribute more and help the team by scoring runs. It has given an extra dimension to my game.”His 89 drove Durham along but at a very sluggish rate. The cricket was uninspiring to watch, the scoring remaining steadfastly below three runs per over, but Durham appeared content to grind their way towards a position from which they would at least avoid defeat, stepping up the pressure on Yorkshire to do better.With so few opportunities left now for Yorkshire to claw back their lead, Durham are not exactly dismayed at the prospect of a draw. If the match at Hove has the same conclusion, Durham might even extend their lead.That would depend on their claiming not only a third but a fourth batting point, which would be a tall order. But parity with Yorkshire this week and maintaining their 14 and a half-point advantage with two matches to go would suit them nicely, although having themselves bowled out Sussex twice for little more than a hundred each time last week, their confidence in Ed Joyce’s team resisting Yorkshire cannot be particularly high.

Footitt turns down new deal

Derbyshire fast bowler Mark Footitt has rejected the offer of a new contract at the Racecourse and wants to talk to Surrey about a move to The Oval.
Footitt, the 27-year-old left-armer who is also believed to be on the radar of his first county, Nottinghamshire, has enjoyed his best season, both in terms of fitness and wickets, after undergoing a back operation last winter.
His tally in first-class matches this year is 40 wickets and he has 55 in all competitions.
Karl Krikken, Derbyshire’s head coach, confirmed that Footitt had turned down their offer of a new deal but remains hopeful that he will stay.
“We want to keep Mark,” Krikken said. “He has bowled really well this year. This is his first real period of sustained fitness and as a left-arm seamer who bowls at a decent pace he is very useful. But we know there is interest from elsewhere. He has told us he wants to speak to people.”

Durham had hoped to give themselves a chance of winning, which they would have seen as possible, certainly, had they been able to push on towards a lead upwards of 180, perhaps, and unleashed Graham Onions and company to prey on Derbyshire’s last-day nerves in their battle at the other end of the table.At 227 for 2, such a scenario looked within their scope with Scott Borthwick and Will Smith making cautious but steady progress against Derbyshire’s disciplined bowling. Mark Footitt’s pace, combined with the consistency of Tony Palladino and Tim Groenewald, made them work hard for every run.Yet at just the moment, after putting on 159 together, that Borthwick was beginning to eye up his fourth century of this year’s Championship and Smith his third, both departed in the space of eight overs.Borthwick, facing Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s leg spin, swiped at a full toss and was caught at mid-on for 89, bringing to an end an innings spanning four hours. Smith, who had batted longer still for his 81, shaped to cut but changed his mind when he realised the ball Footitt had for him was not suited to the shot. He failed to get his bat out of the way and edged to second slip, where Tom Knight, fielding as substitute for the injured Richard Johnson, took a fine catch, diving to his right.”The plan was to have batted big and got a lead maybe of a couple of hundred,” Borthwick said. “But the ball was not coming on as well as we hoped it would and it was hard to score. Then I hit a full toss straight to mid-on and Will got a good one from Footitt.”A draw would not be a bad result, though, and if we can get to 300, maybe 350, the extra points would be nice.”

On their tour to the west and the south-east of the country, Delhi Daredevils managed to bury the ghost of 11 straight losses. But back in Kotla, they face another equally discomforting spectre

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria19-Apr-2015

Match facts

Monday, April 20, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:12

Agarkar: Two consecutive wins will help Delhi

Big picture

On their tour to the west and the south east of the country, Delhi Daredevils managed to bury the ghost of 11 straight losses. But back in the Kotla, they face another equally discomforting spectre. Daredevils have lost their previous eight games at their home venue, a sequence that stretches back to 2013. No wonder then that while the teams from other big cities – Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata – have built up strong fan bases, Daredevils are still waiting to connect.The inclusion of Yuvraj Singh, therefore, was not just based on cricket, it was perhaps thought to be the hook for fans. That hook is yet to work, but the signs are encouraging. Daredevils’ young Indian openers have quietly racked up more than 100 runs each, the legspinning duo of Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra is a constant threat, and the batting is yet to show it’s full colours. The only vulnerability at the moment seems to be in their pace bowling, and with Mohammed Shami ruled out, it is most likely to be that way throughout the tournament.Kolkata Knight Riders have no such problems. The defending champions are well served with Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav up front. However, the most interesting aspect of their start to this season is the lack of dependability on Sunil Narine, who has been economical, but has managed just one wicket.

Watch out for…

Daredevils’ opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer may be the least illustrious among all teams, but over the course of the three matches, they have proven to be one of the most stable ones. There might have been an inclination in the Daredevils team management to bring Quinton de Kock at the top, but that can wait now as the two Indians have not only been able to give good starts, they have also picked up a half-century each. Agarwal, then, also made a match-winning impact in the field with a brilliant save on the boundary.With 25 wickets in the 2012 IPL, Morne Morkel, then playing for Daredevils, was the leading wicket-taker. It was his pace, bounce and his partnership with Umesh, who had picked up 19 wickets, that helped Daredevils top the table at the end of the league stage. Morkel has already picked up five wickets this season and would look for a happy homecoming at the Kotla

Stats and trivia

• In seven out of their previous eight matches at the Kotla, all of which they have lost, Daredevils have batted first
• Mishra is the most-successful bowler on the ground. He has taken 25 wickets, of which 20 have been for Daredevils. Umesh and Morkel, with 24 and 21 wickets respectively, are the next two in the list
• There have been 45 IPL ducks at the Kotla, second only to the Wankhede in Mumbai, where 58 batsmen have been dismissed without scoring

Gloucestershire pace prospect Craig Miles claimed 5 for 61 as Lancashire were bowled out for 275 on a compelling first day of their Second Division match at Bristol

ECB/PA07-Jun-2015
ScorecardGloucestershire pace prospect Craig Miles claimed 5 for 61 as Lancashire were bowled out for 275 on a compelling first day of their Second Division match at Bristol.The 20-year-old seamer took his wicket tally in the competition this season to 29 and received good support from Matt Taylor after the hosts had won the toss in sunny conditions.Despite solid half-centuries from Karl Brown and Steven Croft, Lancashire were 190 for 7 at one stage before useful late order contributions from Jordan Clark, Tom Bailey and coach Glenn Chapple, who blasted 29 not out from 13 balls to ensure a second batting point.Gloucestershire suffered a blow when wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick had to be taken to hospital for x-rays on a damaged hand. Geraint Jones, the former England keeper, took over the gloves in the afternoon session.By the close the home side had slipped to 15 for 2 from ten overs. Lancashire opted to go into the game without a specialist spinner, preferring to give the evergreen Chapple a first outing of the summer, and by the close must have felt they had edged the day.Miles and Taylor set the tone for a disciplined Gloucestershire bowling effort, both conceding only six runs from six-over spells with the new ball, a period that saw Paul Horton caught at gully off Miles for four.Alviro Petersen helped Brown add 45 before falling lbw for 20, advancing down the pitch to try and clip Taylor through the leg side. Ashwell Prince quickly followed, bowled by Miles for a single. Opener Brown moved to a watchful half-century before he also had his stumps disturbed by Miles, playing off the back foot.Alex Davies was leg before to a full ball from Taylor for 11 and James Faulkner fell to a poor shot for nine, caught behind chasing a wide one from Miles.Croft produced some of the best batting of the day, easing to a half-century off 68 balls, and looking in little trouble until he was pinned lbw on the back foot by Miles with the score on 190.Tea was taken without addition to the total before Clark and Bailey produced a useful eighth-wicket stand of 49. They looked set to take Lancashire through to the new ball until Benny Howell struck twice in the same over. The medium-pacer had Clark caught behind driving and then induced a poor shot from Kyle Jarvis, who miscued a catch to cover and departed for a duck.Out stepped Chapple to face the first over with the second new ball. The 41-year-old took three boundaries off it to dent Miles’ figures and bring up the 250.Bailey was bowled by Taylor to end the innings, having made a valuable contribution, and Gloucestershire were left with a tricky period to negotiate before stumps. They lost both openers, Chris Dent, caught behind off Jarvis for two pushing forward defensively, and Will Tavare lbw to Bailey for four.

Glenn McGrath believes Mitchell Johnson “has to play” the first Test of the Investec Ashes series and that he can “reopen the scars” he inflicted in England during the last series in Australia

George Dobell29-Jun-2015Glenn McGrath believes Mitchell Johnson “has to play” the first Test of the Investec Ashes series and that he can “reopen the scars” he inflicted on England during the last series in Australia.Remarkable it may be to those who witnessed Johnson destroy England in Australia barely 18-months ago – when he claimed 37 wickets in the five Tests at an average of 13.97 – his place in the team for the first Test in Cardiff was suggested to be not entirely secure in the early stages of the tour.Equally remarkably for those who saw the high standards reached by Ryan Harris in recent Ashes series, he is likely to struggle to make the first Test XI after missing the West Indies tour. Nothing better illustrates Australia’s fast bowling strength.But, as far as McGrath is concerned, Johnson is a “lethal” bowler and “can’t be left out”. Not only does he feel Johnson has developed into a more dangerous bowler than the one who has rarely fired on previous Ashes tours, but he thinks the psychological damage inflicted by Johnson in Australia gives him an advantage.”The way he finished that last series in Australia was incredible,” McGrath said. “He was player of the series without a doubt.”There will be a lot of scars from that and if Johnson can get off to a good start here it will just reopen those scars. He will just power through.”The first Test is a big game. If Johnson can have a good game and intimidate he is going to be lethal.”They can’t leave him out. Just because of the way he dominated in the last series and the way he bowled with good heat against Kent. If he starts the series well he won’t stop.”He hits the seam and if he hits the seam he is going to be very effective. When he came here last time his arm was lower and he wasn’t hitting it so much.”If he does well it will have a big effect on the rest of the team. It will really lift everyone. Test cricket is a psychological game and if you start well you go from strength to strength.”‘I think everyone expects me to make a 5-0 prediction and I’ve dug a hole for myself over the years. If I say anything else they’ll think I’m not confident.’•Hardy’s

While McGrath remains an admirer of Harris, he suspects Australia will go into the first Test with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood as the first choice seamers and said he would prefer Shane Watson to Mitchell Marsh in the allrounder position.”Harris is a quality player,” he said. “But you don’t want to leave out either Starc or Hazlewood and you have got to play Mitchell Johnson. So maybe they leave Rhino out.”Hazlewood will enjoy the English conditions. I loved playing here with the Dukes ball. I think I averaged two wickets a Test more than elsewhere. He is the type of bowler who hits the deck and can swing the ball and he does it from a high action. I think he will really enjoy it.”And I’ve always liked Watson. I think he has so much potential. He’ll get given the opportunity to start and I want to see him go out there and perform.”McGrath predicting a whitewash has become a familiar pre-Ashes ritual. And he has not disappointed this time, either, though he did offer a few caveats. “When we came over here and we were playing pretty well there was never a 5-0 series win,” he said. “But this could always be the first. I think everyone expects me to make a 5-0 prediction and I’ve dug a hole for myself over the years. If I say anything else they’ll think I’m not confident.”But what may be more surprising is his suggestion that there should be a crackdown on sledging; at junior level at least. While insisting that the media tended to overplay the amount of verbal abuse occurring in Ashes series, he did concede that the behaviour of international sportsmen is often mimicked in clubs and playgrounds.”To see kids sledging is totally wrong and should not be allowed,” he said. “Unfortunately kids do copy what they see on TV. Sportsmen have a role to play as role models.”But if I’m sitting there blaming someone on TV or sportsman for the way my children are playing then I’m not accepting responsibility and think that’s pretty poor. For me as a parent I’m the role model for that child and the way they play the sport – have to take responsibility.”It should never get personal or abusive. I didn’t have any chat until I was well into my first-class career.”But to be No. 1 you have to play hard. That isn’t necessarily sledging. It’s as much about body language than what you say. I don’t want to see a bunch of robots and a bowler clapping a batsman after he’s been hit for four and saying good shot. Just play it hard and tough. That is why the umpires are there and the match referee is there.”

Liton Das shared an 82-run stand with Shakib Al Hasan to help Bangladesh build a 78-run lead, but South Africa’s openers, Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl, all but wiped that away

The Report by Firdose Moonda23-Jul-2015

Scorecard and ball-by ball details 2:07

Isam: Bangladesh have made for intriguing viewing

Liton Das scored his first Test fifty and shared an 82-run stand with Shakib Al Hasan to help Bangladesh build their biggest lead, 78, against any team when batting second, but South Africa’s openers, Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl, all but wiped that away. They reached the close of a curtailed day unscathed and just 17 runs behind, with enough time, weather-permitting, to set a target.South Africa may regard this as their best day so far. Despite the Shakib-Liton partnership, Bangladesh’s last four wickets fell for 15 runs as Dale Steyn found his bite with the bouncer and finished one short of the 400-wicket mark. Then, the South African openers batted with more ease than their entire line-up did in the first innings and grew in confidence, especially against the spinners, to negate the advantage Bangladesh gained.The hosts’ day began energetically as Mushfiqur Rahim tried to make the most of the old ball. He took on Steyn and was successful until the fast bowler rapped him on the pads with a length ball, and asked for the review after Umpire Joe Wilson wasn’t convinced it was out. Replays showed the ball was going on to hit middle stump and Steyn had made his first incision in the series.South Africa took the new ball one over after it became available, and tasked Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel with picking up wickets. When neither could, Steyn was brought back, with Simon Harmer operating at the other end. Although Harmer found turn, he was at times too short and both Shakib and Liton were comfortable taking him on. They became even more comfortable after they secured the lead with Liton’s pinpoint drive off Steyn before lunch, and South Africa then had another spinner, JP Duminy, operating after the break.Shakib reached his highest Test score against South Africa and had a half-century in sight, so went for a glory shot off Harmer. But what he hoped would be a full-blooded pull turned into a top-edge to give Duminy a comfortable catch at short midwicket and leave Liton with the tail.Mohammad Shahid offered strong support when he took 18 runs off Harmer’s next over, all in boundaries. The first was a fortuitous outside edge; the next three meaty blows over mid-off, midwicket and straight down the ground. His fun only lasted ten more deliveries. After belting Vernon Philander through cow corner, Shahid tried to slog but van Zyl took a good catch at midwicket.Liton was more cautious and displayed maturity and class. His cover drive off Morkel was the most elegant stroke across the two-and-a-half days of hard grind of either side. There was nothing quite as stylish to bring up his half-century – it came with a single to the leg side off the 101st delivery he faced.Later, in the same over, his innings ended. Liton was caught in his crease by a sharp offbreak and inside edged the ball onto his pad. Quinton de Kock took the catch and broke the stumps at the same time and umpire Richard Kettleborough had to check for a clean catch, which replays showed it was.South Africa could see the end when de Kock appealed for a caught behind off Taijul Islam off Morne Morkel but Umpire Wilson gave it not out and it stayed that way on review, so Steyn was brought back. And it was with a vengeance. He banged it in short, hit Mustafizur on the helmet as a warning and then had Taijul caught at gully and Mustafizur Rahman at point to end Bangladesh’s innings, and give South Africa a chance to put pressure on Bangladesh for the first time.Elgar and van Zyl took that opportunity. They negotiated a tricky 40 minute period before tea, which included facing a spinner, Taijul, first up and then, Mahmudullah and Shakib, with caution and then knuckled down in a shortened third session. Bad light ended play after 50 minutes but not before both Elgar and van Zyl showed their ability to handle spin better. Unlike the first innings, when South Africa’s batsmen were often stuck in the crease, they moved their feet and looked for gaps in the field. They found the method worked but it will have to keep working if South Africa want a winning target.

How much does Australian cricket believe in Pat Cummins? So much that he has been sent to England to replace Ryan Harris, when his last first-class match was two years ago

Daniel Brettig13-Jul-20151:07

‘Couldn’t be happier with where I am’ – Cummins

How much does Australian cricket believe in Pat Cummins? So much that he has been sent to England to replace Ryan Harris, when his last first-class match was two years ago and then back another two years to his previous appearance in a red-ball fixture.That game was of course the 2011 Johannesburg Test, when Cummins was parachuted into the side for Harris of all people. He bowled like a genius in a seven-wicket performance that helped Michael Clarke’s team to a dramatic victory, which squared the series and erased some of the embarrassment of being bowled out for 47 in Cape Town a week before.It was all so long ago that the selection panel that chose Cummins for the tour consisted of Andrew Hilditch, Greg Chappell, Jamie Cox and Clarke himself – times have changed. So has Cummins’ action, after injuries including stress hot spots in his heel that emerged during that Test, a torn side on his one previous visit to Lord’s in 2012, and a pair of back stress fractures that have compelled the assistant coach Craig McDermott to remodel his bowling action in order to alleviate the stress placed on his now 22-year-old body.So is Johannesburg still relevant? Cummins thinks it is. “Back then I hadn’t played a first-class game for about six months and certainly the few days leading in I was really nervous,” he said. “I didn’t know whether I was going to swing the ball and things like that. But when I played I kind of surprised myself. Bowling now in the nets and a few centre wickets in Brisbane, I feel pretty confident.”I haven’t played a lot of red ball but I have still played a lot of Twenty20s and one-dayers and been bowling a lot. In terms of my body I feel 100% confident, the last month or so I have just been bowling with the red ball trying to rediscover swing and all those things that come with a first-class match and I have been really happy with where I am. I haven’t been put in a game yet but if a game comes up I am feeling really confident.”For now Cummins is definitely behind Peter Siddle in the order of preference, but with Siddle a likely starter at Lord’s ahead of the ginger Mitchell Starc, it would only take one more fast bowling injury to pit Cummins into the Investec Ashes furnace. His confidence springs from long bowling stints in India during the IPL. Cummins was a reserve paceman for Kolkata, coached by none other than Trevor Bayliss, and logged 30-40 overs a week in the nets.”Rod said going over to India to keep bowling through the IPL and make sure you are ready to go in case anything happens,” Cummins said. “During the IPL I didn’t play that many games, so there was lots of net time,” he said. “We would go down an hour or two before the start of play and bowl on the field for seven, eight, nine or 10 overs.”I wanted to make sure I was bowling plenty of overs before anything did happen. There were big days and small days, probably 10 or 12 overs, anything more takes a bit too long, but when you bowl that three or four times in a week you end up bowling 30 or 40 overs in a week, which is quite a bit.”In England, Cummins now finds himself taking advice from numerous wise heads, including Harris and Mitchell Johnson, who overtook McDermott’s Test wickets tally in Cardiff and is now being jokingly referred to as the “new bowling coach”. Harris’ counsel has been of particular value.”It’s good that he’s stayed on and been around a couple of net sessions and just had a few talks about little things he’s tried that works, especially over here in England where he’s played beautifully,” Cummins said. “Just little things, how he moves the ball and what he does and doesn’t have to try and do and just little things that mean I don’t have to learn on the job.”Given how little he has played, and how Cricket Australia have managed him, it is understandable that Cummins yearns for another chance in a Test match. “I love I guess the contest of backing up three, four, five days in a row and swinging the ball and building up spells,” he said. “The little contests I find probably the most enjoyable.”The “little contest” Cummins now finds himself tossed into is the Ashes. There is every chance he will be needed to reprise Johannesburg before the tour is out.

England slumped to 107 for 8 in response to Australia’s 481 after incisive bursts from Peter Siddle, Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon

The Report by David Hopps21-Aug-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFor Australia, The Oval has so far staged the Alternative Ashes. If Australia prosper here, it will not be just a consolation victory, it will be the Ashes as they imagined at the airport check-in that might unfold: Steven Smith striking a Test hundred to belie his air of innocence, Michael Clarke directing affairs with an air of contentment and Peter Siddle producing threatening seam-bowling spells fuelled only, cricket folklore will have it, by a steady diet of bananas.Instead, as Australia know only too painfully, it has not turned out like that. England, they will grouse, have rigged the pitches. After all, how can you trust a nation that just across town at the Barbican toyed with having Benedict Cumberbatch speak Hamlet’s soliloquy at the beginning of the play? Something is rotten in the state of England, they will say and, if it had not been, the Ashes would have been theirs. Friday at The Oval proved it.There has not been anything approaching a close match in this unpredictable series and, with England still 175 runs short of avoiding the follow-on with only two wickets remaining, there is unlikely to be one here. Neither side has been able to fight back when under pressure. Some will blame one-day cricket. Non-stop schedules might also have a bit to do with it. It has been a series of exciting cricket and tired minds.Everything witnessed at The Oval – indeed, in London once Australia’s victory at Lord’s is taken into account – has made England’s imaginings that they might force a 4-1 Ashes win impossible to credit. Faced by a daunting Australia total of 481, England’s assembling of 107 for 8 was feeble in the extreme, the captain Alastair Cook still left with one half-century in the series, Jos Buttler destroyed by a routine offspinner and Adam Lyth, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes all surrendering to disorganised hooks and pulls.Lyth’s Ashes series sees him 105 for 8. He has looked overawed at this level. His maladroit pull to mid-on from Siddle’s second ball was one of his worst dismissals of the series. His Test chance might have come and gone.This is not a quick pitch, quite the opposite, but it has dried fast, the Australians have enjoyed the sun on their back and it will be warmer still on Saturday, approaching a stultifying 30C. Storms, though, are threatening later in the Test – if there still is a Test. There probably won’t be.Australia, in hindsight, will rue selection decisions during the series. Siddle, so routinely overlooked that he feared he might never play another Test, gave them control; Mitchell Marsh, illogically left out at Trent Bridge as Australia relied on only four bowlers, took 3 for 18 and would have taken four had he not overstepped when having Mark Wood caught at the wicket shortly before the close. There is a no-ball epidemic in Test cricket and umpiring attitudes have caused it.Steven Smith brought up his 11th Test century•Getty Images

Smith, an Australia captain-in-waiting, had prepared for his elevation to the job in satisfying fashion as his 11th Test match hundred helped Australia to a first-innings total of 481. It felt like a position of authority even before Smith and his eighth-wicket partner Mitchell Starc embarked upon a stand of 91 in 16 overs, Starc’s clean-hitting half-century coming with perfunctory shrugs at the ease of it all. When Smith dragged on a wide one from Steven Finn, ending a stay of 143 from 226 balls, England, it turned out, were broken, as doomed as Hamlet in the face of his sea of troubles.Series over? Can’t win the match? Faced by such truths, England collapsed. From 60 for 2, they lost six wickets for 32 in 11 overs; good bowling combated by witless batting. That after much talk before play of: “Bowled well first day, sunny day for batting, happy with how things have gone.”Cook, the one England wicket to fall before tea, will point to the sharp turn immediately found by Nathan Lyon, an offspinner of gathering reputation, pitching leg and hitting off. Lyth followed, no ryhtym to his batting, a shadow of the batsman Yorkshire know.It was Ian Bell’s departure, off bail removed as Siddle seamed one away, that first communicated to England the challenge they faced. It was the loss of Joe Root, freshly installed as the No. 1 batsman in the world, the player who has had the happy knack of disguising their deficiencies, that probably caused them to lose heart: 6 in 39 balls, most un-Root-like these days, ended with Australia’s successful review when Snicko revealed a faint edge.Bairstow and Stokes opted for attack and both fell to cross-batted aggression against short balls; in between, Buttler was unhinged by both dip and turn as Lyon crashed one through the gate. Moeen Ali survived but was struck on the helmet by Johnson. Broad’s duck, a third for Marsh, added to the melee, unsurprisingly so because he had only bowled five laborious overs in the day and looked like a man whose Ashes work was as good as done. He blows hot and cold but considering his workload he can be forgiven for that.How quaint seemed England’s ambitions for the second new ball, only two balls away when Australia resumed at 287 for 3. They took four wickets in the morning, but two fell to Moeen in the last over of the session, Peter Nevill to a sharp leg-side catch by Buttler, and there was to be no kick-on after lunch as Moeen and Stokes were struck around by Starc and fleeting thoughts of dragging themselves back into the Test floated into the London skyline.Smith’s 11th Test hundred came 20 minutes before lunch when he hurried through for a single to mid-on off Moeen. It was a far cry from the confident manner in which he reached his first Test hundred on this ground two years before – a six over long-off against, would you believe it, Jonathan Trott.Strikingly, all 11 of Smith’s hundreds have come in the first innings, his average surpassing 70, twice as high as in the second innings. He has scored them home and abroad and with this century, more so than on his debut hundred, he will feel he has begun to address the challenge of English conditions.Voges, as ever, looked confident through the leg side, but Stokes trapped him lbw for 76 with a decent inswinger. It might have been two wickets in two balls, as Smith, on 92, flayed at a short, wide one from Finn, only for the bowler to find that his feet had been as inaccurate as the delivery, landing the wrong side of the line by about six inches.Many do these days, the umpires entirely oblivious until a wicket falls. Umpiring standards have been high in this series – justification enough, the ICC will say, to concentrate on the business end, but it has gone far enough. Draw the line – preferably where it is drawn already.

Should Sussex avoid defeat against Yorkshire, who already possess a lead in excess of 300, they may celebrate as if the pennant itself had returned to Hove and its sea-scented air

Paul Edwards at Headingley24-Sep-2015
ScorecardAndrew Gale has kept Yorkshire businesslike after the Championship has been won•Getty Images

For much of this game Sussex’s cricketers may have thought that Hampshire rather resembled Charles II in that they were taking an unconscionable time a-dying. Their insurance as they fought for parity against a powerful Yorkshire team at Headingley was that their rivals seemed to be finding it even more difficult to overcome Nottinghamshire. And they may have kept in the forefront of their minds the simple truth that if Hampshire did not win that match at Trent Bridge, they were relegated.Then, at just after three o’clock on the penultimate day of the season, those delicate equations began to change. As Nottinghamshire’s second-innings wickets fell to the pace of Fidel Edwards at Trent Bridge, Sussex surely realised that they may have a great deal of serious batting to do on the final day, albeit that they need only a draw to avoid relegation.On a day when 19 overs were lost to prolonged midday showers, Yorkshire extended their overnight 58-run lead beyond 300 and Andrew Gale could contemplate the possibility of his side achieving an eleventh County Championship victory. This would establish a new record for the 16-match format and it would make a fitting end to a season when honours and compliments have been lavished on Gale’s fine team like Christmas presents on a spoilt child.Nottinghamshire had runners-up prize money to play for but the attraction of mere lucre did not appear sufficient incentive for Chris Read’s players as they left Hampshire needing 200 to win and seemed to accommodate their opponents’ rapid progress towards that goal.None of this can have soothed Sussex’s players but they still battled manfully both to contain and to dismiss Yorkshire and by close of play they had succeeded to the extent that the home side were 298 for 9, a lead of 301 with a little power to add on the final morning of the season.Ed Joyce’s bowlers offered few free gifts on the third day of this game but the pitch had eased rather. They were also met with stern resistance from most of Yorkshire’s batsmen, but particularly from Gale, whose innings of 67 off 131 balls took him past a thousand County Championship runs for the season.Gale is a skilled mechanic of a batsman: he knows the tucks and drives that work for him and he does not worry about the shots he cannot play, the acceleration he does not possess. His innings currently suggests a measure of permanence, so it was almost a surprise when he fell into the trap set by Joyce and clipped Chris Liddle to Chris Jordan at leg gully just after tea.Sussex’s piece of rather smart cricket ended a 168-minute innings which had begun 15 minutes into the morning session after Gary Ballance had bottom-edged a ball from Steve Magoffin on to his stumps when playing a cramped and rather ugly cut. Eleven overs later Adam Lyth was dismissed in similar fashion for 39 by Lewis Hatchett and Jonny Bairstow strode out to join his skipper with the score on 123 for 3.The pair added 67 either side of the rain break and their 79-minute stand afforded one the opportunity to compare the styles of the two batsmen who have scored over a thousand Division One runs for Yorkshire in 2015.Gale, as has been suggested, is a trifle functional but mightily effective. Bairstow has developed into a batsman of glittering quality this season and one does not need to support England to hope that he will soon make a Test hundred. At Headingley, Chester-le-Street, Edgbaston and Scarborough, runs have flamed from his bat, their rapid acquisition helped by a more refined defence.Bairstow is now rarely bowled but he frequently demoralises bowlers. He has had a quiet match against Sussex – he was leg before to Jordan for a mere 36 on Thursday afternoon – but he still ends 2015 with a total of 1108 Championship runs in 12 completed innings at an average of 92.33. For many spectators, his batting has made the summer special, a coat-hook of memory by which it can be recalled.Bairstow was out just as wickets were falling in Nottingham and his departure was soon followed by those of both Leaning, a fine player who has had an indifferent couple of months, and Gale. The tension increased as the consequences of failure for Sussex became even more apparent. Had Hampshire lost, it did not matter how Sussex performed. Now it seemed certain that it was going to matter a very great deal.Gradually Adil Rashid, who made 21, and Tim Bresnan, who was unbeaten on 50 at the close, increased Yorkshire’s lead.The contest will be rejoined on the final morning of the season. The weather forecast is good and Sussex’s batsman will have to defy the best attack in the land. The prize on offer will not be a golden goblet but the quite invisible reward of mere survival. But should Ed Joyce’s players succeed in their goal, they may celebrate as if the pennant itself had returned to Hove and its sea-scented air.

Chris Cairns has received a warning from Mr Justice Sweeney, the judge presiding over his perjury trial in London, after repeatedly failing to give straight answers during a tense cross-examination from Sacha Wass, QC, the crown prosecutor

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2015Chris Cairns has received a warning from Mr Justice Sweeney, the judge presiding over his perjury trial in London, after repeatedly failing to give straight answers during a tense cross-examination from Sasha Wass, QC, the crown prosecutor.After restricting himself to one-word answers to his own lawyer, Orlando Pownall, during his first day in the witness box on Tuesday, Cairns was today told by Justice Sweeney to stop “making speeches” as he struggled to respond to Wass’s line of questioning.Opening her cross-examination, Wass asked Cairns, who denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, if he agreed that he had been “a most unfortunate individual” to have had so many former team-mates and acquaintances giving sworn testimony that he was a match-fixer.”Because,” she continued, after Cairns had failed to answer the first question, “if you’re telling the truth, you’ve been accused of match-fixing not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions. Do you think it’s unlucky to be accused on three separate occasions of something you haven’t done?”Pressing for a yes or no answer, and pointing out that “reasonable sane people” don’t generally make spiteful allegations without a reason, Wass repeated the question several times, adding: “Perhaps if you answer the questions rather than think about where they’re going.”When asked if he was trying to make the cross-examination last for weeks and weeks, Cairns replied, “Certainly not, I’d rather be at home with my family.”In the course of the three-week trial, the court has heard from – among others – Cairns’ former team-mates, Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum, both of whom allege that he approached them to get involved in match-fixing, and Vincent’s ex-wife, Eleanor Riley, who claimed he had attempted to calm her fears about her then-husband’s activities by saying “everyone’s doing it”.He said of Riley’s testimony that it was a “conversation we never had”, and when asked by Wass why McCullum, who is currently preparing for a Test series in Australia, would fly all the way to London just “to stitch you up”, Cairns replied: “Brendon is doing what’s best for Brendon.”Cairns was then quizzed on the subject of the US$250,000 retainer he had been paid by VJ Dimon, an Indian diamond-trading company based in Dubai. Cairns said that the money had been owed to him for promotional work, rent and relocation costs, but Wass replied: “I’m going to suggest the money they were paying you was a reward to you for fixing cricket matches.”She then pointed out that the company had arranged a visit to Dubai for Cairns, Vincent and Daryl Tuffey, the three players implicated in his match-fixing operation. “You were given a short holiday by your pay masters,” she said.Cairns argued that his involvement in the diamond trade was a legitimate step into life after cricket and pointed out that he had obtained a diploma from the Gemology Institute of America after undergoing a three-month course in polished stones in Bangkok.Asked whether he had asked his former employers to give evidence on his behalf, Cairns replied that everything that had happened to him in the intervening years had made him “toxic”. It is difficult, he said, to “get people to come along and support me”.”Your business with them was match fixing,” Wass said, “and the last thing they’d want to do is come to court.”The trial continues.