Alastair Cook comes hard at English batsmen, says they can't handle mental pressure

Tim Paine backs Marnus Labuschagne to be future Australian captain

Aussie Test captain Tim Paine feels that Marnus Labuschagne has exceptional natural leadership qualities and tipped him to be a future captain for the national team. Ever since making his debut against Pakistan in 2018, Labuschagne has taken giant strides in the international level and is currently the 3rd ranked Test batsman. “I think he’d be a good (leader),” Paine told reporters from Brisbane. Marnus is a great thinker of the game. He’s a good team man, he’s got so much enthusiasm for his team and the game,” he added. Labuschagne has been an animated character on the field and his childlike enthusiasm has been there for everyone to see. Paine feels that the stylish right-handed batsman will play a bigger role for the national team in the coming future. “In terms of our cricket team improving and Marnus evolving, I think in the next couple of years we’ll definitely see him take the step up,” he added. “He’s got some real natural leadership ability and if that’s harnessed and helped, I think he’ll be a great captain,” Paine said. After taking over as the Test skipper of the Australian team following the sandpaper gate in 2018, Paine has led the side well. Despite the return of Steve Smith and David Warner, he has been kept as the skipper despite his indifferent form with the bat and glove. Following Australia’s defeat against India at home, there were reports that some of the Australian players were not happy with Langer’s coaching style. However, Paine backed his coaching style and said that the former opener did a good job in difficult times. “We had a team review at the end of the Indian series which is pretty common practice in professional sports. He (Langer) had been doing a good job at a difficult time," Paine said.

Shubman Gill or Mayank Agarwal? VVS Laxman picks Rohit Sharma's partner for WTC final

Since he made his Test debut on the tour of Australia in 2018, Mayank Agarwal was India’s first-choice opener in Tests until the middle of the last series against Australia, where his vulnerabilities were exposed regularly by Australian pacers. When Rohit Sharma recovered from injury, Indian team management valued the then current form and dropped him from the side and persisted with the newcomer Shubman Gill, who had batted with confidence against the trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Gill jumped in the pecking order with every game in the series and more or less established his claim for an opener’s slot in the side after an explosive 91 at the Gabba in the series decider. However, just as Agarwal’s journey stuttered after reaching the point of becoming an established opener, Gill too suffered a similar fate in the home series against England. He struggled against the reverse swing of James Anderson and left ar spin of Jack Leach to leave India and himself vulnerable. His failings in the Test series against England has reignited the debate on who among him and Agarwal should be Rohit Sharma’s partner at the top of the order against New Zealand in the World Test Championship final. Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman too backed Shubman Gill to open with Rohit Sharma in the WTC final to retain continuity in the team selection for an all-important clash. On Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show, Laxman said that Gill should be persisted with for the ‘continuity’ in team selection and the ‘character’ he had shown in the Gabba Test against Australia to set up a series win for Australia. However, he said that the team can’t overlook the contribution of Mayank Agarwal, who performed at his best in the home series against South Africa to keep the side ahead in the Test Championship points table.

WTC Final | Ageas Bowl curator prepares pitch with pace and bounce, but weather can play spoilsport

Just as the possible team combination of both India and New Zealand for the World Test Championship final, the expected weather and pitch conditions have gathered enough attraction. Both sides have enormous depth in their squad and there seems to be more than enough options available to filed suitable playing XI for whatever conditions will be on offer. Virat Kohli-led India have not been a pace-reluctant side in the recent past and can unleash an all-pace attack if it will be an absolute green top and the script is similar for the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand, who have been spoilt for choices in terms of picking their best pacers in the playing XI. However, if the pitch will be flat in nature, India would be compelled to play at least one of Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja in the all-important clash and for New Zealand, Ajaz Patel would get the nod ahead of Mitchell Santner if the conditions will not demand a pace-only bowling lineup. The curator of the Ageas Bowl, Simon Lee, has said that the pitch will have pace and carry in it that will allow a fair contest between bat and ball. He said that being a cricket fan he would like to have an enthralling contest that will force cricket lovers to avoid missing even a single ball. However, he said that the pitch will not have excess seam movement in it to make the contest ‘one-sided’ in the favour of bowlers. "For me personally I just want to get something out that has some pace, bounce and carry in the pitch. It can be a hard thing to do in England as the weather doesn't help us most of the time, but the forecast in the build-up is good with a lot of sun, so we are hopeful that we'll get some pace and a hard pitch without over-rolling it and killing it, Lee told ESPNcricinfo. "Pace just makes red-ball cricket exciting, I'm a cricket fan and I want to produce a pitch where the cricket lovers have to watch every ball in case they miss something, be that some class batting or an amazing spell of bowling. A maiden over can be quite exciting if it's a battle of skill between both bowler and batter. So, yeah, if we can get some pace and bounce in the pitch, but not too one-sided towards seam movement, we'll be happy." The weather forecast for Southampton is however not looking bright and shining as there is more than 30 per cent chance of rain on the first day of the WTC final followed by 20 per cent across the next two days. The forecast for the fourth and fifth looks better on the BBC Weather channel. The ICC has approved a reserve day for the final and has also ruled that both India and New Zealand will share trophy in case of the match ending in a draw.

Faf du Plessis suffers 'some' memory loss, thanks people for support while recovering

Faf du Plessis has suffered a concussion and ‘some memory loss’ in the aftermath of a nasty collision with his Quetta Gladiators teammate Mohammed Hasnain in a Pakistan Super League match against Peshawar Zalmi. Faf du Plessis took to his Twitter account to share his health update to the world. He was immediately taken to a hospital after he and Hasnain had barged into each other while trying to stop a David Miller’s short from going past the boundary rope. Faf could not take further part in the game and Peshawar Zalmi went to register a big win over the Gladiators. The PSL 2021 resumed in the second week of June after the tournament was postponed in wake of rising Covid-19 cases in biosecure bubbles of various franchises.