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Shahid Afridi has joined Karachi Kings as “president”, according to the franchise

Umar Farooq07-Apr-2017Shahid Afridi has joined Karachi Kings as “president”, according to the franchise. He is likely to feature for the team as a player, too, in the third edition of Pakistan Super League in 2018, though this is yet to be confirmed; the PSL’s trading window ahead of the next edition is yet to open. Last month Afridi had announced on Twitter that he had left Peshawar Zalmi after two years with the franchise.ESPNcricinfo understands that Afridi is likely to be traded between Peshawar and Karachi as part of the formalities later this year. For now, Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Afridi had joined his franchise as president.Afridi had tweeted on March 25 that he was “announcing my end of service as president & player of Peshawar Zalmi Team due to my personal reasons”. He said it was “time for another” team. Following his tweets, Peshawar’s owner, Javed Afridi, told ESPNcricinfo that he was “clueless” in the matter. Later, it was learnt that Afridi had parted ways from the franchise over disagreements with the owner.”There are things that I don’t want to bring in media but Javed’s vision has changed with the time,” Afridi said on a TV show on Geo News. “I don’t want to become a hindrance to Javed’s goal and vision, because I have my own foundation and a lot of other things. So I can not fullfil his commitments and want to focus on my things as well. I wanted to announce it after the PSL final, but I had couple of commitments with Zalmi, so I waited for the right time.”Afridi, who is based in Karachi but was born in Khyber Agency, had talked about the importance of Peshawar Zalmi to his local region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a day before his Twitter announcment. “We have not created the Peshawar Zalmi team to play just a month’s cricket in the PSL and then sit at home,” Afridi had said. “Our work goes beyond the cricket field and we want to change the lives of the underprivileged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”Peshawar Zalmi won the PSL title in 2017, defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Afridi had missed the final with a finger injury that he picked up during the playoffs in the UAE. In all, in ten matches in PSL 2017, he had scored 177 runs at 25.28 with a strike rate of 173.52, and taken two wickets with an economy rate of 6.75. He had captained the franchise in the inaugural edition of the tournament, before handing over to Darren Sammy this year.

Karnataka have appointed two former batsmen from the state to lead the support staff for the coming season

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2017Former Karnataka batsmen PV Shashikanth and GK Anil Kumar have been appointed the state team’s coach and assistant coach respectively. The duo replaces the highly successful combine of J Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan.Shashikanth played 51 first-class games and scored 2397 runs at an average of 31.53, including four hundreds, before retiring in 1999. A former captain, Shashikanth also led a depleted Karnataka side to an Irani Cup title in 1996-97. The 43-year-old Anil Kumar, on the other hand, played five first-class games in a career spanning from 1998-99 to 2000-01. In 2014, he turned out for the Rockstars side in the Karnataka Premier League.The KSCA said their appointments were “unanimous decisions” of the board’s managing committee.”They (Shashikanth and Anil Kumar) have been coaches of various age groups of the state for more than a decade,” KSCA said in a release on April 26. “The KSCA also acknowledges the contribution of the former coaches Mr J Arun Kumar and Mansoor Ali Khan for their stint as coaches of the senior state team for the last five seasons.”Currently involved in the IPL as Kings XI Punjab’s batting coach, Arunkumar is one of the most successful coaches in the domestic arena. While he was eventually elevated as head coach, he and Mansoor were initially appointed as batting and bowling coaches respectively in July 2012 to replace K Jeshwanth. The duo did not have to wait long to taste success, as Karnataka bagged the treble of domestic titles – Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup and Vijay Hazare Trophy – in 2013-14 before repeating it the following season.In 2015-16, however, Maharashtra snapped Karnataka’s three-year unbeaten run as the defending champions failed to make the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy. Karnataka made the quarter-finals in the 2016-17 season before losing to Tamil Nadu, and finished on top of the Inter-State T20 League’s south zone table.

A multi-day intensive “summit” between negotiators for CA and the ACA has been discussed as a possible way of moving forward from the current pay dispute

Daniel Brettig09-Jun-2017A multi-day intensive “summit” between negotiators for Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) has been discussed as a possible way of moving forward from the current pay dispute, less than four weeks away from the June 30 expiry of the current MoU.Tentative talks between the board and the players have been going on for a little more than a week, in spite of continued public sparring taking the shape of fresh videos and graphics released by CA’s lead negotiator Kevin Roberts and subsequent ripostes by the ACA.While Roberts has met with the ACA’s legal counsel Joe Connellan and a mediation lawyer, John Whelan, who has been consulting for the players’ association, ESPNcricinfo understands that the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson and his CA counterpart James Sutherland have also spoken in recent days about ways to find progress.It was Sutherland’s letter to Nicholson on May 12, threatening to leave players unemployed if an agreement to CA’s terms was not reached by the end of June, that escalated tension between the two parties after six months of largely fruitless meetings, claims and ambit proposals.Apart from the major difference between the parties – CA’s desire to breakup the fixed revenue percentage model and the ACA’s equally strong intent to retain it – there have also been disconnects around how talks should be structured. CA has expressed a preference for starting the process by discussing many of the areas in which the two parties share common ground, allowing these details to be ticked off while building a better relationship dynamic with which to tackle the more difficult issues.However, the ACA is understood to prefer dealing directly with the fundamental differences between the parties to begin with, allowing for a shared position on revenue sharing to underpin and underline all subsequent talks. The players’ association is believed to have suggested getting the two parties together earlier in the process without either side bringing their respective pay proposals with them – a request that was not granted by CA.The prospect of a long-haul summit over two days or more, in order to thrash out many of the issues currently dividing the board and the players, has been raised between the two parties as one option to find a workable passage towards an agreement.A similar approach was taken earlier this week in concurrent pay talks between Australia’s rugby league governing body, the National Rugby League (NRL), and the Rugby League Players Association. The opposing sides devoted two days to intensive talks in Sydney, concluding the summit by releasing a joint statement to say talks had been “constructive” though plenty of work remains to be done.The announcement of a pay deal in the Australian Football League is also imminent, with the league and the AFL Players Association set to unveil a deal that will bring in elements of revenue sharing to their next collective bargaining agreement – something NRL players are also seeking. All Australian sports have looked towards cricket’s 20-year model as a way of balancing prosperity with a prolonged period of industrial relations peace.

England’s players open up on the “turbulent” circumstances that saw Charlotte Edwards retire after being removed from the captaincy in 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2017England’s players have discussed, for the first time, the “turbulent” circumstances that saw Charlotte Edwards retire after being removed from the captaincy in 2016.Mark Robinson, England women’s head coach, made the decision to shake things up after the team’s failure at the 2016 World T20, telling Edwards – still a world-class batsman and a pioneer of the game – she would not be part of his plans. Heather Knight was subsequently appointed as captain and went on to lead England to victory in the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday.Speaking before the final against India, Robinson said he believed he had made the right decision and that the team “had to go in a different direction”, having come to the conclusion that his players didn’t have enough belief.”I just knew it was right,” Robinson said. “When it’s that simple in your mind – and it wasn’t against Charlotte because Charlotte was still a very good player, but the team had to go in a different direction and we had to put things differently in place and it was something like 18 months before the next competition, this one. It was too long to wait and get through to before you start making changes.”During interviews to chart the team’s progress from the defeat in the semi-finals of the World T20 last year to their success at Lord’s, Jenny Gunn, the experienced allrounder who had been Edwards’ team-mate for more than a decade, said the decision to move on had come as a “bit of a shock”.Fran Wilson, one of the younger players who has enjoyed increased opportunities over the last 12 months, expressed similar feelings but felt Robinson’s call had been vindicated.”It was quite a turbulent time because Charlotte’s always been a part of the England team, as long as I can remember,” Wilson said. “So when it first all happened it was quite a big shock and probably affected the girls a little bit. But, I think in the long-run, what Mark Robinson has done has been really good for the team. That’s just testament to Robbo and the kind of faith he’s shown in all of us.”The change of leadership had immediate benefits, as England’s new opening pair of Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield flourished during a run-soaked series win over Pakistan last year. Beaumont, in particular, has thrived under the guidance of Robinson, and was named Player of the Tournament after finishing as the top scorer in the Women’s World Cup.Beaumont won her first cap under Edwards, in 2009, and they opened together on several occasions. She gave credit to Edwards for laying the foundations for England’s future success.”It was a tough month or so,” Beaumont said. “Charlotte has been probably quite a big influence on the first half of my career. She’s also a good friend. It was hard to see her go through that but she’s moved on into the commentary box with dignity. She can look back at her career knowing that she did a great job for England and left us in a good place.”

Ian Westwood, the Warwickshire opening batsman and former captain, has announced his retirement with immediate effect following a 15-year playing career

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2017Ian Westwood, the Warwickshire opening batsman and former captain, has announced his retirement with immediate effect following a 15-year playing career.Westwood, 34, was born and raised in Birmingham, and progressed through Warwickshire’s youth teams, making his first appearance for the club in the Under-11s before coming through their development of excellence programme to make his first-class debut against India A in 2003.He was part of the team that won the County Championship title in 2004 and was appointed as club captain in 2009. After stepping down the following year, he played a key role in Warwickshire’s County Championship triumph in 2012, and retires having played 159 first-class games for the club, scoring 16 centuries.The most recent of those hundreds came earlier this season, a fighting knock of 153 against Surrey at Warwickshire that helped to set his side up for a hard-earned draw in what has otherwise been a troubling Championship campaign. Four defeats in their first six matches have left them rooted firmly to the bottom of Division One.”Playing for my home county was all that I ever wanted to do as a junior and I am very proud to have enjoyed a 15-year career where I have been part of teams that have won the County Championship, and also captained the club,” said Westwood.”It has been a very difficult decision to retire, but this is the right time and I would like to thank the many people that have supported me throughout, particularly the players and coaches who I have worked with, club members and of course my family.”I’m now going to enjoy a period with my family, but certainly intend to remain in cricket and will be a regular visitor to Edgbaston to catch up with the lads and support the Bears.”Jim Troughton, Warwickshire’s first-team coach previously played with Westwood for 12 years, said: “Westy typified the character and professionalism needed to be a true Bear.”Opening the batting in Division One Championship cricket is a real test of skill and temperament and he has exhibited this throughout his career.”He has captained the club and been an integral part of our success over the last 13 years and he should be very proud of what he has achieved.”Ashley Giles, the club’s sport director, added: “Westy has given everything to Warwickshire CCC since he first wore the Bear and Ragged Staff. It has been an absolute pleasure to have worked with him as a player and captain.”It is a very brave decision to choose to retire at this stage of the season, but it is one that we fully respect and I am very much in favour of players leaving the game on their own terms, when they believe that it is the right time.”We thank Ian for his immense contribution to Warwickshire CCC and, given his love for the club, we certainly expect to see him at Edgbaston on a regular basis.”

With two batsmen heading to hospital and a bowler hobbling off, the last thing Northants needed was to come face to face with Riki Wessels at his most destructive

ECB Reporters Network29-Aug-2017Riki Wessels celebrates his century•Getty Images

A scintillating century from Riki Wessels has put Nottinghamshire in total command at the halfway stage of their Specsavers County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge.Fading light forced the players from the field before tea, with 37 overs remaining in the day, with Notts on 317 for 8 in their second innings, an overall lead of 389.Wessels remains unbeaten on 107, having reached his hundred from 77 balls, with 14 fours and three sixes. The former Northants man raced from 50 to 100 in only 21 deliveries and has shared in an unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 90 with Jake Ball, whose contribution is 10.Rory Kleinveldt (3-81) and Richard Gleeson (3-107) have each taken three wickets to try and keep Northants in the contest but Wessels’ knock, the 22nd century of his career, finally appeared to knock the stuffing out of a side that were handicapped, for varying times, by the absence of three key players.Samit Patel made 64 from 59 balls, setting the platform for Wessels’ brutal assault.

Wessels ‘exceptional’ – Wakely

Alex Wakely (Northants captain):
“We’ve been thoroughly outplayed on both days. It was an exceptional innings today from Riki Wessels. That’s as good a knock, especially in the situation, that you are going to come across. At the moment his two innings have been the defining moments in the game.
“The injuries have not been great for us. Me and Adam Rossington have both had x-rays. Touchwood, mine’s OK, I did it catching Alex Hales in the slips on the first day but Rosso’s doesn’t look too promising.”
Riki Wessels (Notts):
“The 10,000 first class runs is a nice milestone to tick off and to get a hundred with it just adds to the occasion and it is something I am immensely proud of. Batting at six seems to suit my game. I can come in and take it to the bowlers and put them under pressure.
“It’s always nice to get runs against Northants. There were some brutal comments thrown around in 2010 when I left but those people are no longer there and now I’ve got plenty of friends in the current side – but it’s still pleasing to get runs against them.”

After 20 wickets fell for 373 runs on the opening day it took just 13 deliveries of the morning session before that tally was increased, with Jake Libby edging Azharullah to third slip.Steven Mullaney became the first of three Notts batsmen to lose their off-poles to Kleinveldt, with Patel and Alex Hales also joining the list.Patel batted with the utmost freedom, reaching his 50 from only 42 balls before playing loosely, around a full-pitched delivery. Hales also seemed in the mood, caressing five boundaries in his 22-ball 25 before also having his stumps re-arranged by the South African all-rounder.Indian Test star Cheteshwar Pujara batted doggedly for 162 minutes in making 34, before being pinned in his crease, to fall to Azharullah for the second day running.Northamptonshire’s hopes of strengthening their position – and rekindling their promotion hopes – were damaged by a succession of unfortunate injuries, with captain Alex Wakeley and wicketkeeper Adam Rossington having to leave the action and go to hospital for x-rays on hand injuries – David Murphy took the gloves and picked up a catch, despite being given a torrid time as some uneven bounce began to show.Their resources were stretched even further when Ben Sanderson hobbled off the field with hamstring trouble after bowling five deliveries in a comeback spell.
Gleeson picked up the wickets of Chris Read, Brett Hutton and Luke Wood in the mid-afternoon gloom but that only fired Wessels up to produce another blitz against his former county.He scored 158 against them at Trent Bridge in 2014, their last championship visit, and made 146 in their one-day meeting in Nottingham last year. This time he had the satisfaction of passing 10,000 career runs early on, before launching an all-out assault on the tiring attack.He celebrated his third championship hundred of the season by clubbing the next ball from Kleinveldt for his fourth maximum, seconds before the umpires intervened and called an early halt to proceedings.

The Global T20 League will find a dedicated block in South Africa’s cricket calendar which is set to accommodate three touring countries before April 2018

Firdose Moonda04-Sep-2017South Africa’s six domestic franchises will compete in all three formats – including a T20 event – in the 2017-18 summer, which will be headlined by the inaugural T20 Global League.To accommodate for the privately-owned glamour competition, there will be no domestic cricket for almost two months, between October 26 and December 20, while the T20 Global League is played. In that time, all South Africa’s national players will be available, but their likelihood of featuring for their franchises has been reduced by a packed international calendar that sees them hosting Bangladesh, India and Australia.The domestic season begins with a round of first-class fixtures which start on September 19, nine days before the Test series against Bangladesh begins on September 28. Four more rounds of first-class cricket will be played before the format takes an extended break until February 8. That means South Africa’s cricketers will be without immediate long-form practice before the Test series against India. Dates are yet to be confirmed but that series is expected to start in January 2018 and CSA are considering other opponents to fill the gap over Boxing Day.India are understood to want at least two tour matches before the series, which could delay the traditional New Year’s Test, but will provide an opportunity for some South African players to get back into the red-ball mindset after six weeks of T20 cricket.The T20 Global League will be played from November 3 until December 16, after which the domestic one-day cup will kick off. It will run from December 20 until February 4, and will follow the usual format of a league round, semi-finals and a final.The second-half of the first-class competition will be played between February 8 and March 11, by which time South Africa will be involved in a four-Test series against Australia which will also coincide with the franchise T20 tournament. From March 14 to April 15, the six franchises will compete in two sets of round-robin matches against each other, semi-finals and a final.For the second season in succession, the T20 competition is set to be played without a sponsor. In the 2015-16 summer, courier company RAM put their name to the event which was broadcast internationally for the first time. It was marred by a corruption scandal which saw seven players, including former internationals Alviro Petersen, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Gulam Bodi, banned for between two and 20 years, for their roles in attempting to fix matches. RAM did not back the competition in 2016-17 and it was played with CSA’s sole funding. It appears that will be the case again in 2017-18.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 187, falling to a 32-run loss in Abu Dhabi, as Pakistan recovered from 101 for 6 to take a 2-0 lead in the series

The Report by Danyal Rasool16-Oct-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
0:52

Babar Azam’s stellar ODI run

Babar Azam’s seventh ODI hundred combined with a sublime all-round performance from Shadab Khan saw a listless Sri Lanka slump to their ninth consecutive ODI defeat. They lost by 32 runs, although the margin would have been much greater but for a fighting hundred by Sri Lankan captain Upul Tharanga; no one else scored more than 22. Sri Lanka were on top in the first quarter of the match, having reduced Pakistan to 101 for 6, before Azam and Shadab put together a gritty 109-run stand to propel Pakistan to 219.

Tillakaratne rues batting collapse

Batting coach Hashan Tillakaratne rued Sri Lanka’s collapse in their chase of 220 in the second ODI, but was hopeful the team could turn things around in the remaining three matches. “It has been very difficult and disappointing,” he said, after they crashed from 79 for 3 to 187 all out in the second ODI. “I thought we could have chased down that target and bounce back by winning the game. But still series is open and we need to rectify our mistakes and come back strongly.”
Sri Lanka’s middle-order collapse was triggered by legspinner Shadab Khan, who dismissed Dinesh Chandimal, Milinda Siriwardana and Akila Dananjaya for single-digit scores. In the Test series, it was 31-year old Yasir Shah who had troubled them, and Tillakaratne acknowledged the batsmen need to work on this area of their game. “We have been practising to face leg-spinners and hopefully we will put up a good show in the third game,” Tillakaratne added

It was a particularly grave indictment on Sri Lanka’s batting display that they were not in the chase for most of their innings, despite what was, by modern standards, a modest target. The batsmen didn’t find many answers to the relentlessly accurate spin trio of Shadab, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik, on a surface on which runs were especially hard to come by. Tharanga was handed at least four chances during the course of his hundred. The chasm between the sides appeared so wide that Pakistan could afford to be that generous and still bowl Sri Lanka out for 187.With Sri Lanka’s current ODI plight and Pakistan’s bowling prowess, Sri Lanka weren’t expected to make light work of the chase on a slow surface. Sri Lanka lost two early wickets – Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis – and consumed plenty of dot balls in attempting to absorb the pressure, as if surviving a tricky Test match session. Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne added a scratchy 40 runs off 72 balls, and when the latter was eventually dismissed, the asking rate had already climbed to close to 5.50.The rut set in straight after as the spinners knocked the wind out of the chase. Five wickets fell off the next 33 balls. Shadab took a wicket in each of his first three overs, getting prodigious turn with both his legbreak and googly.Jeffrey Vandersay was involved in a 76-run, eighth-wicket stand with Tharanga, who found his range towards the close of the game, looming as the last line of defence against Pakistan taking a 2-0 lead in the series. Shadab was also taken for boundaries and his immaculate length started to waver as Sri Lanka narrowed the gap between runs required and balls remaining.Pakistan could have established a near-impregnable position far earlier had they been less charitable in the field. Tharanga had lived a charmed life; he was dropped three times. That wasn’t the end of his fortune either, he was also given out caught before being overturned on review, and survived another review for lbw. He was trapped right in front later in his innings, but Pakistan ran out of reviews.As the asking rate came down and Sarfraz began to panic, berating his players almost every delivery, Pakistan broke through with 51 runs still to get, Vandersay holing out at deep square off a Rumman Raees slower ball. Lakmal was then run-out following a mix-up with Tharanga. It was fitting, in this frenetic contest, that the game ended via another run-out as Tharanga became the first Sri Lankan batsman to carry his bat through.The first innings had effectively boiled down to a contest between Sri Lanka and Azam after another top-order collapse. Ahmed Shehzad poked and scratched around while Fakhar Zaman also struggled for timing. Zaman was the first to go, Lahiru Gamage angling the ball across Zaman, whose outside edge flew to a wide slip. Shehzad joined him three overs later, driving a wide delivery from Suranga Lakmal straight to point.Lakmal and Gamage were once again terrific with the new ball, getting sufficient movement. Mohammad Hafeez broke the shackles with a glorious six back over Gamage’s head, but edged the next ball – gently seaming away – to the keeper.As Malik and Imad Wasim also fell cheaply, Azam continued to show signs of his quality and composure as a batsman. He held the innings together instead of letting the pressure of the situation get to him. Seemingly oblivious to the collapse around him, he guided the lower order, establishing a magnificent, match-changing partnership with Shadab.There were no slog overs, no pinch hitting. Just mature, calm batsmanship by a pair whose combined age is less than that of recently-retired skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. The singles came freely and easily, and twos were routinely pinched. If the opportunity presented itself, the occasional boundary was struck, too, but not if a risk had to be taken.Not until the first ball of the final over, anyway, when Azam tried to clear long-on with a tired heave. His job had been done, and he left the bowlers with enough room to do theirs. That, usually, is a winning strategy for Pakistan, and so it proved yet again.

A new opening colleague for Warner every summer is becoming a tradition in Australian cricket and Cameron Bancroft comes to the role with strong credentials

Brydon Coverdale21-Nov-20171:30

‘I can forge my own reputation’ – Bancroft

First it was Phillip Hughes. Then it was Ed Cowan. Then Chris Rogers. Then Joe Burns. Then Shaun Marsh. This year it looked like being Matt Renshaw, but instead will be Cameron Bancroft. This is the roll call of batsmen who have started Australia’s Test summers as David Warner’s opening partner; Rogers is the only man to have done so more than once. A new opening colleague for Warner every summer is becoming a tradition in Australian cricket.Renshaw may be unlucky to have been dropped following an encouraging start to his Test career, but Bancroft certainly comes to the role with strong credentials as a foil for the destructive Warner. If patience is a virtue, no player in Australia in recent years has been as virtuous as Bancroft. In 2015, he occupied the crease for a remarkable 797 minutes in compiling 211 for Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield game against a strong New South Wales attack.And after entering this summer fresh from a 512-minute double-century for Gloucestershire at the tail end of the county season, Bancroft carried his bat for 76 and then scored 86 in the second innings against a New South Wales attack boasting Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. Then he followed up with another double-hundred next game against South Australia.

“I certainly think I can get better at concentrating and batting for long periods of time,” Bancroft said on Tuesday. That seems a near unattainable goal. In the recent game against New South Wales, Bancroft was involved in every delivery for the first three and a half days of the contest: wicketkeeping, carrying his bat, wicketkeeping again, and then nearly reaching a century as opener in the second innings.”Most of us were in his ear the whole game,” Hazlewood said this week. “He’s a good fighter, I guess, and he’s put the runs on the board this summer, and in previous summers.”Warner’s observations of that Shield match were that Bancroft was technically sound and knew his own game well. “He looks very complete in the nets,” Warner said. “I’ve been very, very happy with what I’ve seen of him.”This is not the first time Bancroft has been within touching distance of a baggy green. In 2015, he was chosen in Australia’s squad for the Test tour of Bangladesh when Warner was injured. Bancroft would have opened alongside Burns on that trip, but the tour was postponed for security reasons. An inconsistent stretch of form followed for Bancroft, who admits that at times he can be too intense, too focused for his own good.”It was difficult, I just wanted it so badly,” Bancroft said. “I wanted it so badly and I wasn’t patient enough. It took me a little while just to sit back and kind of go, this is where I want to go, just got to trust it … I can get a bit tense and try a bit too hard at times. I think over the last five years of my career it’s been something I’ve had to learn and develop.”Having that work ethic and that intensity is a really good thing and a really positive thing in the right times but learning when those times are, that’s part of the challenge of being a professional cricketer and it’s probably taken me a lot of time to learn about it.”Bancroft was “stitched up” (in the words of Warner) this week when told jokingly that new players in the team have to make a speech at dinner; Bancroft did so without hesitation. But one task he won’t have to be tricked into is fielding under the helmet at short-leg. Typically, that position is thrust upon the newest member of the side, but Bancroft has made short-leg his own specialist spot.”At the start, I just did the role because I was the youngest player in the [Western Australia] side,” he said. “Then I took a couple of really good chances and I thought about it and thought, there’s probably no-one really in the world who sits there and thinks ‘I want to be really good at this’. I remember a couple of years ago at the cricket academy I worked really hard on it and set myself a goal to be really good in that position.”There’s a lot of luck involved, or reaction. I think wicketkeeping helped – my ability to stay low and things like that … I have fun doing it. I feel like you’re always in the game, and I love the prospect of being able to make a difference to the game by taking a catch or even stopping a run that gets flicked and it hits you or something. It’s a challenge that I embrace.”

Life as an understudy wicketkeeper on an Ashes tour can be humdrum, but Ben Foakes made good use of his opportunity for England Lions in Brisbane

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2017Keaton Jennings and Ben Foakes made an impression for England Lions in Brisbane as England’s head coach Trevor Bayliss and batting coach Mark Ramprakash looked on before heading to Adelaide to prepare for the second TestJennings, who has switched from Durham to Lancashire to try to restate his England credentials, scored 89 from 148 balls and shared a second-wicket stand of 144 with Foakes, who like his Surrey team-mate Tom Curran was drafted into the Lions team from England’s Ashes squad in search of match practice.Foakes, understudy to Jonny Bairstow, whose strange headbutt greeting to Cameron Bancroft has given the Ashes one of its stranger headline stories, shared wicketkeeping duties with Lancashire’s Alex Davies at Allan Border Field as the Queenslanders made 396 for 9 on the first day.He then stroked 67 from 94 balls, batting at No 3, to continue the excellent batting form that had been a feature of his 2017 county season.

Westley heads home

Tom Westley was due to return home from the England Lions’ tour of Australia on Wednesday in expectation that he will need an operation on finger injury on his left hand.
Westley, who was omitted from England’s Ashes tour party after a five-Test run last summer, had been due to bat first wicket down for the Lions in their clash with Queensland Select.
Instead, he is heading for Leeds where he will have a second scan and any surgery that proves to be necessary.

“Obviously I’ve been netting a lot out here so it was nice to get out in the middle, share a stand with Keats and get a few runs,” said Foakes.”When you come out as back-up keeper you know your game time is going to be limited, but it’s still been special to be out here,” he added.”We had three days of hard work in Brisbane when I thought we played pretty well, and although it slipped away in the end, hopefully Adelaide will be a good place for us to come back.”Jennings declared the Lions innings on 250 for five, in the hope of setting up a last-day run chase and there seemed every chance of further batting opportunities as Queensland powered to a lead of 344 at the close with eight wickets remaining.