Nissanka rewarded for consistency, gets maiden Test call up for Sri Lanka

Joe Root suggests sweeping structural changes in County Cricket after India debacle

In wake of a series loss in India where he saw his teammates and himself undergoing a serious trial by Indian spinners, England skipper Joe Root has suggested sweeping changes in the structure of the English County Cricket. The changes, Root believes, will bring a significant change in the attitude and mindset of players who are rising through the ranks of County Cricket and are on tier way to represent England on the international stage. He advocated the preparation of pitches less conducive to pace bowling and the uses of surfaces that will allow all players to have a chance with the ball and also bat. He said curators should focus on preparing pitches that can allow players to play well and extend games to four days where spinners can also come into the picture. He went on to say that producing such pitches, will allow players to bat on flatter surfaces after oppositions’ score of 450 runs or more while spinners will learn to bowl in different conditions in the first and second innings where the level of help off the pitch will vary significantly. "I do think that there are areas of county cricket that can be improved - quite easily as well. They need to find ways of making games last four days, giving spinners the opportunity to bowl and learning to bowl at different stages of the game. They need to learn to hold the game in the first innings if it's not spinning and things are not in your favour so they can give the seamers some respite. Then they need to be able to attack and to really deal with that pressure of trying to bowl a side out,” Root said in the post-match conference after a series loss to India. "It's not just spin, it's seam as well, and the batting group. For example, you want guys to come into this environment of Test cricket and have that knowledge of what it's like to go out in the second innings and know the opposition have 450 on the board. "They need to be able to ignore that scoreboard pressure, put it to the back of their mind and get a score. And to go beyond another team's score to make sure you're massively in the game when it comes to the second innings. "It's the same with the seamers. You want them to have a range of skills that can exploit flat wickets. Can they change their angles round? Can they go up and down the gears in terms of pace? Have they got a five-over spell in terms of short-pitched bowling?" Apart from the nature of pitches, Root also advocated the change in the system of awarding points in County Cricket. Currently, teams get a whole 16 points for each outright win, while a draw fetches them mere five points. Such a gulf in rewards tempt county teams into producing pitches that produce results, but Root sees it differently and believes that this aspect of the game does not allow batsmen or bowler into growing skills to bat or bowl for long hours. He insisted that a draw must be made appealing for county teams if England have to develop pacers who can bowl long spells on flat pitches, and batsmen who will be hungrier for runs having accustomed to spending long hours at the crease in domestic cricket. "If draws are more appealing, because of the amount of points on offer, it might improve our situation slightly. They're all the things that will improve the game and Test cricket for England in the long run if the games go longer,” Root added. This is not the first instance when Root has openly said about the sweeping changes the county cricket needs to make in order to produce prepared talents for English cricket. Earlier last year, Root advocated the use of Kookaburra balls—which all other countries, except England use in Test cricket. England use Duke balls in their home conditions and it has a pronounced seam that does not get lots for a long period fo time and assist seamers in extracting swing in the air and seam movement off the pitch. Root said that bowling with Kookaburra balls, which lose the hard seam very early, will enable England seamers with an opportunity to learn on overseas tours where they will be needed to bowl with older balls without a pronounced seam. “I would like to see a few big changes in county cricket to benefit the Test team. There are things we won't be able to change, like when the games are going to be played. That is going to be a struggle with the Hundred coming in and T20 Blast not moving. But things like using the Kookaburra ball for half a season. It is a flat seam, does not stay as hard for as long, so our bowlers get used to bowling with something that does not do as much. Batters get used to that style of cricket, which can be slow and attritional at times,” Root had said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. England lost the four-match Test series against India although they had made a great start to the series defeating India in the first Test. India replied with three strong performances from spinners on surfaces conducive to spin bowling as England batsmen could not cope with the spinning balls from the hands of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.

Rishabh Pant learning quickly, will break MS Dhoni's records as wicketkeeper: Kiran More

There is no stopping of praise for Rishabh Pant after a successful series both behind and in front of the stumps against England. Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More has said that Pant will break records fo MS Dhoni, not as a batsman, but also as a wicketkeeper. He said more and more Pant will play on Indian pitches, more improved he will become behind the stumps against spinners. “You learn every day. You learn by keeping on different pitches with varying soil types. You learn by keeping to the best spinners and pacers in the world that India have at the moment. You have to learn by observing. He will break MS Dhoni’s records. If you don’t learn, you will be found wanting. With experience, Pant will go a long way,” More said in an interview with news18.com. More was also critical of the Indian team management for overlooking the overall package Pant brought to the table for his apparent inadequacies behind the stumps. He said the team management could not take a call on Pant even after the left-hander lad from Delhi established himself in overseas conditions, instead of backing him to improve his shortcoming with the gloves. “I have always wondered why Pant was not played in India earlier. Pant did very well in England in his maiden appearance (15 catches in 3 Tests). He did very well in Australia in 2018-19 (20 catches in 4 Tests including 11 in a Test, the best ever by an Indian wicketkeeper). But, when they played in India, he was not allowed to keep wickets,” More added. “I wondered why a person who does well in England and Australia, and wins Tests for you and is a proven match-winner is not tried in India. Unless and until he plays on Indian turning tracks, he is not going to learn. This time, he got an opportunity to play. Once he plays on turning tracks, only then will he learn. He is only 23 years. If you don’t allow him to keep wickets in India and only play him abroad, his growth is only going to drop.” Pant was instrumental in India’s comeback after the loss in the first Test of the series. He was equally brilliant behind the stumps and took some very good catches along with stumpings as the pitches were conducive to spin bowling.

Rampant New Zealand annihilate Australia in a lopsided decider

New Zealand comprehensively defeated Australia in the series decider at the Westpack Stadium in Wellington to clinch the five-match T20 series by a 3-2 margin. As the scoreline suggests, the series was closely fought between the two sides looking to try various team combinations on the road to the World T20 scheduled for later this year. New Zealand had made a brisk start in the series, winning the first two matches convincingly. But a tremendous Australian resurgence meant that the series was stretched to the final game. New Zealand needed players to turn up at the top of their marks with the series at stake (2-2), the players put their hands up to put Australia under pressure right from the start. The hosts were given a modest total of 143 to chase and clinch the series, but with Australian bowlers running riot in the last couple of games, the onus was on the faltering batting line up to see the Blackcaps through the finishing line. The hosts made a change in the batting order promoting Devon Conway to open the batting while Tim Seifert was shifted down the order. The decision to combine Conway and Martin Guptill must have baffled the Australian camp. The move paid off well for the hosts, and the duo started teeing off after taking some balls to settle their eyes in. Ashton Agar was handed the new ball by Finch in search of some spin available in the last game, but Guptill was in good enough form and mood to not allow him into a rhythm. The left-arm spinner was punished for his inaccuracies from his second over and the Blackcaps were up and running in the chase. The two Richardsons—Jhye and Kane were brought into the attack one by one, but the latter was treated by an in-form Guptill who punished him for being either too full or too short in the penultimate over of the only powerplay. The newest entrant into the talent-rich pool of the Australian pacers—Riley Meredith has been impressive all series with his consistent pace, but Finch needed some wickets out of him in the powerplay to shift the game towards Australia. The young man failed to put pressure on batsmen as Devon Conway took a liking to him and deposited him for a boundary and a six to end a perfect powerplay for the hosts. Adam Zampa was introduced into the attack after the powerplay on a pitch that had little grip and bounce, but the treatment dished out to him was not any different from others. If Australia were not concerned by Guptill’s way of batting up until that point, Zampa’s next over brought a carnage for them. Guptill started the over with a signature no-look shot that landed at the roof of the Westpac Stadium and followed it by another no-look slog sweep and a big six down the ground to bring up a superlative fifty from just 33 balls. Guptill came into the series with questions marks over his fitness and lack of runs for a prolonged period of time. Not only did he pass the fitness test, but he also repaid the faith of Williamson and Garry Stead in matches that followed. The innings in the decider would give him confidence and ease the nerves of Kiwi think tank going into the T20 World Cup. Guptill's batting partner today, Devon Conway was rewarded with a promotion given the poor returns from Seifert. He was calculative in his batting but never for once slowed down after he got into his groove. With the openers not playing any false shots, Finch was running out of options and once again looked towards Meredith. The Hurricanes bowler took the white ball in the 12th over and dismissed both Conway and Williamson on back to back deliveries. Williamson, in particular, was once again hurried by the speedster, something that has emerged out to be the theme in this series. However, the task was steep for the tourists as the required run rate was already cut down to size by the opening partnership of Guptill and Conway, and whatever left was completed very competently by Glenn Phillips who made no fuss about the pressure of series-decider. Earlier, Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to put the runs on board with a revamped batting order where the vice-captain Matthew Wade was shunted down the order after four failures in the series for an enterprising and exuberant Josh Philippe. The move though did not pay off immediately for the tourists as an accurate Trent Boult had done his homework on Philippe’s shuffling across to the off side and trapped him plumb with the one coming in. Although the first part of the revamping did not work, Matthew Wade’s shift to number three worked well both for him and the team as the left-hander found some rhythm going from the first few balls he faced. Along with Finch, Wade started the resurrection work for Australia with some crisp shots over the in-field. The batsmen were finding boundaries periodically but were not dominant enough to put real pressure on the bowling attack. The hosts knew the Australian captain and vice-captain was not taking the game away from them, however, there was an imminent threat of onslaught in the later half of the innings. Realising they were not going at a rapid rate and lack of momentum with the bat, Finch called time on his cautious batting and put the leg spinner Ish Sodhi to the sword in his second over, and hit him for two boundaries. Sodhi was economical in his first over and it prompted Finch to attack him, and the spinner was lucky enough to see the back of the Australian skipper with a short one that deserved to be punished. At the halfway point, Australia were 74/2 and it was a perfect platform for the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis to go big and put a real bug score on the scoreboard. However, inconsistency and Maxwell remained best friends as the all-rounder found a fielder stationed on the square leg boundary off a full toss from Mark Chapman. Here, one thing that needs to be mentioned is how Kane Williamson marshalled his troops with the series on the line. Playing with five proper bowlers in the game (Sodhi, Santner, Boult, Southee and Neesham), captain Kane did not give the ball to Neesham. He rather chose to give a couple of overs to rookie Mark Chapman and wicket-keeper Glenn Phillips. The move worked and the lack of pace completely halted the Aussie momentum. Despite the pressure, Wade worked through the Kiwi bowling and got boundaries whenever options were available. Trent Boult was brought back in the 15th over and dismissed Wade with a knuckle ball to push Australia significantly back from the path of a big score. Stoinis was keeping his shape and Australia in the game with periodic hits over the boundaries, but Sodhi’s best for the night was yet to come. The leg spinner came back in his third over and accounted for both Stoinis and Ashton Agar to crush all the hopes of an Australian big score in the series decider. However, one has to say that it is quite rare that back to back full tosses are miscued by quality batsmen in the world. Mitchell Marsh was left to do it all alone, and he could not become a hero for the Aussies to save them from the prospect of not having too many runs to put New Zealand under pressure. For his fantastic 77 with the bat in an all-important series decider, Martin Guptill was adjudged Man of the Match while consistent good performances with the ball across the five-match series earned Ish Sodhi Man of the Series award.

Covid-19 may push WTC finals between Ind-NZ out of Lord’s

The World Test Championships might not be played at the iconic Lord’s Stadium in London. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is said to be in a discussion with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to finalise the venue for the June event. Quoting ICC sources, The Times of India wrote that the ICC are not banking Lord's to be the venue for the Test Championship finals. "The ICC’s medical board after discussions with ECB advisers will come to the final conclusions,” the report stated. “The ICC could go the way of ECB and might host the final at one of the two venues used by ECB for the English summer last year,” the source told TOI. In such circumstances, out of the two venues in Manchester and Southampton, the latter has a greater preference because of the huge presence of the South Asian community in the area and ICC planning to allow some amount audience for the game. Southampton cricket boss Rod Bransgrove confirmed to Cricbuzz that the availability of Ageas Bowl had been discussed by ICC. "I can't give much information apart from the fact that there has been discussion about it," he said. "I can say we have been asked to stage it and also inquired if Southampton is available. I don't know if anything has been finally decided as yet," Bransgrove added. Indian team clinched the remaining spot for the final of the inaugural edition of WTC after defeating England 3-1 in their four-match home Test series. The Virat Kohli-led team will meet New Zealand, which finished second on the WTC Points Table at the end of the two year’s window from 2019 to 2021. The final was initially slated to be played at Lord’s, but pandemic has now changed the course of the event. The match is scheduled to be played between 18-22 June.