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Australia fielded a four-pronged pace attack, leaving out a fit Lyon for the first time since 2013

Andrew McGlashan12-Jul-2025Nathan Lyon’s shock omission for the final Test against West Indies at Sabina Park was based on “exceptional circumstances” created by the pink-ball day-night encounter, but Australia selector Tony Dodemaide admitted that Lyon had been disappointed by the decision.Aside from the three Tests he was injured for in the 2023 Ashes, Lyon has been ever present in the side since the 2013 tour of England when he was initially overlooked in favour of Ashton Agar. He claimed six wickets in Grenada leaving him one behind Glenn McGrath’s tally of 563 as the second-most for Australia in Tests.Dodemaide said the call “didn’t come naturally for everybody” but further examination of the limited data available from pink-ball Dukes matches, evidence from Australia’s training sessions, and the fact daylight goes quickly had persuaded them spin would play a limited role.Related

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• Could Lyon be left out for first time in 12 years?

“It’s something that wasn’t front of mind, certainly a difficult [decision], but we thought the exceptional circumstances justified having the four quicks so that we could rotate those guys and keep the pressure on,” Dodemaide said. “On a well-grassed surface and a hard surface with lots of night time play hours, that was the best way to win the game.”Dodemaide also referenced the 2018 pink-ball Test between West Indies and Sri Lanka in Barbados which was played with a Dukes and saw the spinners have very limited impact. However, for this match the home side recalled their frontline spinner Jomel Warrican in place of seamer Anderson Phillip. Overall in pink-ball Tests, Lyon has 43 wickets at 25.62.”But the key in here is it’s a conditions-based decision to go with the four quicks,” Dodemaide said. “What we found here with the limited data that we have on particularly the pink Dukes ball… [is] that it actually behaves a little differently to the Kookaburra one. It doesn’t go as soft.”The Kookaburra one tends to have a trough when it doesn’t move so much in those middle overs. That’s not the case with the Dukes one, the history tells us that, and that’s been our live experience when we’ve been here for the past couple of days in terms of the practice sessions that we’ve had. We’ve seen out here in practice the last couple of days that the ball does, big ball does a lot and it’s very difficult for the batters.”The last time Australia fielded an all-pace frontline attack was during the 2023 Ashes at Old Trafford when they left out Todd Murphy, using three frontline quicks alongside Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh. To find a four-pronged pace attack without a spinner goes way back to 2012 against India at the WACA.Lyon’s omission means he won’t be on the field for the 100th Test of his close friend Mitchell Starc, with the pair having featured in 94 Tests together.”They’re great mates,” Dodemaide said. “He’s disappointed because he wants to play every game. He’s a great competitor and he believes he can be effective in any conditions. But he’s a team man as well and understands the right thing for the team and he’ll do his best to support the guys. But it’s a one-off. It’s no reflection on performance for Nathan. It’s simply the best way we think we can win this game.”This is Australia’s first day-night Test overseas having won 12 of the 13 played at home. They were only able to get their hands on the pink Dukes balls when they arrived in Jamaica earlier this week and had one training session under lights.

Henriques, Silk fifties help Sixers chase down 134 with 3.4 overs to spare in Sydney derby; Abbott takes three for nine

AAP08-Jan-2023Sydney Sixers stalwarts Sean Abbott, Moises Henriques and Jordan Silk starred as their side moved to the top of the BBL ladder with a seven-wicket win over Sydney Thunder.Paceman Abbott spearheaded a strong Sixers bowling effort as they restricted Thunder to 133 for eight in their Sydney Smash derby at Sydney Showground Stadium.Sixers slumped to 25 for three after four overs, but middle-order linchpins Silk and Henriques took control of the game with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 109 off 75 balls.Silk (59 off 42) and Henriques (53 off 38) displayed their experience, working the ball into gaps for singles and hitting the occasional boundary when the Thunder bowlers erred.It was Silk’s first BBL 50 of the season and Henriques’ highest score in this season’s campaign.The win, which was achieved with 3.4 overs left, lifted the Sixers above the Scorchers to first, though Perth have two games in hand. Thunder, who lost for the first time five games, dropped to fourth on net run rate below Melbourne Renegades.Both innings started in a similar fashion in front of almost 21,000 spectators. Thunder crashed to 12 for three inside the first three overs, with all three dismissed batters trapped lbw.Sean Abbott gave Sydney Sixers early breakthroughs•Getty Images

A fourth wicket stand of 64 between Alex Ross (34 off 34) and Sam Whiteman (42 off 34) in his first BBL game of the season, revived the Thunder innings.The Sixers regained the initiative by taking 3 for 17 but some lusty late innings hitting from Ben Cutting (26 not out from 15 balls) boosted Thunder’s total.Abbott (3-9 off four overs) bowled 17 dot balls and boosted his haul for the season to 16, joint second-highest along with the Scorchers Andrew Tye and the Strikers Henry Thornton.Thunder needed quick wickets and like the Sixers struck three times in the powerplay.Captain and spinner Chris Green (2-29 off four) had Josh Philippe caught at slip in the second over and Cutting took a fine leaping catch at third man off Brendan Doggett (1-23 off four) to remove James Vince.Green then had the recalled Kurtis Patterson caught in the deep.English internationals Hales, Vince and Sixers paceman Chris Jordan were all playing their final game of this season’s BBL.The Sixers will regain Test stars Steve Smith and Nathan Lyon, while Thunder welcome back David Warner.

Dwarshuis injured on debut but Labuschagne leads fightback with ball then bat

Andrew Miller19-Sep-2024Australia 317 for 3 (Head 154*, Labuschagne 77*) beat England 315 (Duckett 95, Labuschagne 3-39, Zampa 3-49) by seven wickets It was a tale of two unconventional opening batters at Trent Bridge, both aggressive left-handers, both with a love of placing bat on ball, especially through anything remotely off-line or length. But where Ben Duckett’s innings ended tamely, on 95 from 91 balls, to open the door for a spirited Australia fightback, Travis Head’s powered onwards and upwards, to 154 not out from 129, and ultimately to a seven-wicket victory in the first ODI.That converted century, Head’s sixth in 66 ODIs and his second against England, was the fundamental reason why Australia overcame the odds, including a sickness bug that robbed them of a swathe of key names, not least Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc – two of the “big three” (alongside the absent Pat Cummins) without any of whose presence Australia had lost each of their last eight completed ODIs against England.The other reason was the resilience of their makeshift attack, stretched to eight personnel including four spinners once Ben Dwarshuis – fresh from bowling Phil Salt on his international debut – had been forced to leave the field after just four overs with a strained pectoral muscle.At the scene of their then-record pummelling in 2018, and with Duckett and Will Jacks proving once again what an invitingly flat pitch Trent Bridge can be, Australia had been bracing themselves for another huge chase at 213 for 2 in the 33rd over.But then, up popped the lesser-spotted legbreaks of Marnus Labuschagne, whose haul of 3 for 39 in six overs not only included the key scalps of Duckett and Harry Brook, both to looping return catches, but also lit a fire under Australia’s premier leggie Adam Zampa, who responded to a leaky first three overs with final figures of 3 for 49.Marnus Labuschagne struck in each of his first two overs•Getty Images

Matthew Short’s offspin also returned a maiden ODI wicket, and when Head served notice that this contest now belonged to him, by picking up Jacob Bethell and Adil Rashid with consecutive deliveries, England had been bowled out for 315 in a dramatic collapse of 8 for 102 in 17.1 overs. In total, Australia’s spinners claimed 9 for 190 in 30.4: it was a combined impact that England’s own spin cohort, led by Adil Rashid – who remains one wicket shy of 200 in ODIs – couldn’t come close to matching.Labuschagne, like Head, was only just warming up in that phase of the game. After arriving almost slap-bang in the middle of Australia’s chase, at 169 for 3 in the 27th over after Cameron Green had become Bethell’s maiden ODI wicket, there was almost no one better equipped to act as a foil to the now free-flowing Head. His pitch-perfect innings of 77 not out from 61 balls included the winning boundary off Jacks with a full six overs left unused, to cap an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 148 from 107 balls.This was the de facto reboot of England’s ODI fortunes, after their destruction at the 2023 World Cup and leaving aside a barely remembered campaign in the Caribbean in December. A new-look team, led for the first time by Brook, showed promise in patches, not least during Duckett and Jack’s 120-run stand for the second wicket from exactly 100 balls. But even while the going was good in the first half of their innings, Eoin Morgan in the Sky commentary box considered their approach to be no better than “measured”, the sort of damningly faint praise that suggested they ran the risk of being mown down by a more emphatic performance.So it proved, with Australia outgunning England by 10 sixes to eight, five from Head, and three from Steve Smith in a notably aggressive cameo at the top of the order. After the early loss of Mitchell Marsh, Smith’s commitment to attack pushed his team ahead of the rate at 69 for 1 after the powerplay, and allowed Head, with a run-a-ball fifty, to settle in for the longer haul.Head had a moment of fortune on 6, when Brydon Carse – in from the boundary at deep point – all but clawed down a replica of Ben Stokes’ “you cannot do that” epic from the 2019 World Cup. But the feature of Head’s early innings was a fascinating duel with Jofra Archer, making his first ODI appearance in 18 months. Armed with the new ball, Archer bowled a handful of unplayable deliveries, including a cutter that left Head wide-eyed with wonder, but he was also picked off for 53 runs in six overs, including a fabulous flick for six off the toes that obliged him to return the look of incredulity.Ben Duckett can’t believe what he’s done after falling for 95•Getty Images

For England, it was a case of what-might-have-been, not least for Duckett, whose self-admonishment was plain as day after he gave away an international century for the second time this month, after his 86 in the Oval Test against Sri Lanka.In his first opportunity to reprise that now-familiar opener’s role in ODIs, Duckett took particular toll of a nervy Sean Abbott, clubbing four fours in an over en route to a 49-ball fifty, meaning that Marsh was already searching for alternate bowlers, even before it had been confirmed that Dwarshuis had strained a pectoral muscle with an off-balance shy from the outfield.Zampa had been the scourge of England’s batting in their most recent ODI encounter, claiming 3 for 21 at Ahmedabad in the 2023 World Cup. However, Jacks thumped his second ball back over his head for six, and as the hundred stand came up in 86 balls, he’d leaked 27 runs in his first three-over foray by the end of the 19th.In his 100th ODI, however, Zampa couldn’t be kept out of the action for long, as Jacks drove on the up to cover, but by the time Brook had stepped into two superbly poised drives over cover for six off Short’s part-timers, England were ominously placed on 201 for 2 after 30 overs.Enter Labuschagne, for what seemed to be a speculative spell of legbreaks. However, his impact was that of a perfectly deployed secret weapon. With the fourth ball of his spell, he landed a googly that stuck just enough in the pitch to confound Duckett’s back-foot push, and he reached to his left to pluck the simplest of caught-and-bowleds. One over later, out came that googly again, and Brook this popped another mistimed push straight back to the bowler.Jamie Smith came and went for 23, caught in the deep two balls after Aaron Hardie at deep midwicket had been forced to sacrifice a chance in order to save the boundary, and at 256 for 5, England’s hopes of a 350-plus innings were back in the hands of their main men from the T20I series, Liam Livingstone and Bethell, who was making his second format debut of the week.Zampa, however, still had three overs up his sleeve, and no sooner had he returned to the attack, Livingstone chose to take him down. It was a suboptimal option. A huge thrash through the line skewed to Green at long-on, and the rest came meekly. Far too meekly, as it turned out.

Capitals have won two out of three matches and seem like a settled unit with most boxes ticked

Srinidhi Ramanujam21-Feb-20254:24

Deepti should have in-form players bat around her – Mithali

Who’s playing

Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, 7:30pm IST

What to expect: Warriorz searching for first win

UP Warriorz are yet to find their feet and will hope a change of venue brings a change in fortune, heading into the first reverse fixture of this season. They are also the only team without a win in WPL 2025. Under new captain Deepti Sharma, they haven’t been able to lock their XIs or their batting line-up. While there has been some individual flashes of brilliance – such as Kiran Navgire’s blazing fifty, Chinelle Henry’s death-over hitting and Sophie Ecclestone’s economical spells – Warriorz have not fired as a unit. They do not have a strike bowler (Saima Thakor was dropped after one game). Misfields and dropped catches have also hurt. The likes of Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath have also not fired in the middle order.On the other hand, Capitals have won two out of three matches and seem like a settled unit with most boxes ticked. Their middle order consisting of Annabel Sutherland and Marizanne Kapp has stepped up, their captain Meg Lanning has found her rhythm with a fifty against Warriorz in the last game and their pace attack has collectively taken 11 wickets in three matches.

Team news and likely XIs

Capitals are unlikely to change their winning combination which means they might still prefer Niki Prasad’s lower-order batting over Radha Yadav’s left-arm spin.Delhi Capitals: 1 Meg Lanning (capt), 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Jess Jonassen, 7 Sarah Bryce (wk), 8 Niki Prasad, 9 Shikha Pandey, 10 Arundhati Reddy, 11 Minnu ManiTahlia McGrath has had scores of 0 and 1 in the two matches and had an average outing with the ball too, picking up one wicket for 47 runs in 6.5 overs. Warriorz might bring in allrounder Chamari Athapaththu for the Bengaluru leg before she joins the Sri Lanka squad on a white-ball tour of New Zealand to bolster their batting.UP Warriorz (likely): 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Chamari Athapaththu, 3 Vrinda Dinesh, 4 Uma Chetry (wk), 5 Deepti Sharma (capt), 6 Tahlia McGrath/Grace Harris, 7 Shweta Sehrawat, 8 Chinelle Henry, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Kranti GoudCan Shafali Verma make a big score in Bengaluru?•WPL

Players to watch: Shafali Verma and Sophie Ecclestone

Shafali Verma smashed two half-centuries in four attempts at an impressive strike rate of 140.6 in the Bengaluru leg of WPL last year. Having hit 43, 0, 26 so far this edition, Shafali might be keen on converting her starts and making a big score at the venue again.Sophie Ecclestone has accounted for three of the seven wickets taken by Warriorz so far and has looked most threatening in the bowling attack. She has an economy of 5.87, and her spell in the powerplay will be crucial for Warriorz to make early inroads. Against Gujarat Giants, she had figures of 2-0-6-1 in the powerplay, but she was given only one over against Capitals where she leaked eight runs.

Key stats

• Capitals are the second-best bowling unit in the death overs (17-20) in WPL 2025 so far, having conceded 8.53 runs an over.
• Ecclestone and Deepti are the only Warriorz bowlers to have bowled their full quota of four overs each in both their games.
• Navgire’s 24-ball fifty against Capitals was the joint fastest by a Warriorz batter in WPL.

They were originally booked at a hotel 90 minutes from the cricket ground in New York

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2024Pakistan have made a change to their accommodation in New York, switching to a hotel closer to the cricket ground in Nassau County, where they will play two T20 World Cup group games on June 9 and June 11.Pakistan were originally booked to stay at a hotel about an hour and a half away from the venue. ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB took exception to the arrangement and arranged for the team to move to a hotel in Long Island, about a ten-minute drive from Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.Pakistan arrive in New York from Dallas on June 7 and play India at the venue two days later. The Indian team has been accommodated at a hotel about ten minutes from the ground, and have been in New York for more than a week, having played their warm-up match against Bangladesh and their first group game against Ireland at the venue.Generally at World Cups, hotel bookings are handled by the ICC working with the Local Organising Committee (LOC), a body that includes the host board. It is rare for teams to change hotels but given Sri Lanka’s experience during their stay in New York, arrangements have come under scrutiny.Sri Lanka were staying in Brooklyn ahead of their game against South Africa, 90 minutes from the ground. The logistical complications resulted in them cancelling their training session on the eve of the game to prevent fatigue. Ahead of their morning match, Sri Lanka were forced to start their day at 7am and ultimately succumbed to a heavy defeat against South Africa. Bowler Maheesh Theekshana called the scheduling and logistics “unfair” and Sri Lanka’s manager Mahinda Halangoda told ESPNcricinfo they had lodged an official complaint about their travel arrangements in this tournament.The PCB decided not to wait and raised concerns about their hotel being too far from the ground, insisting on a change in accommodation. The ICC eventually acquiesced to the request. Pakistan play India on Sunday 9 June, and Canada two days later in New York.

Promising young batter moves down the coast to Ageas Bowl for 2024 season

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2023Ali Orr has become the latest promising young Sussex cricketer to move on from Hove, after agreeing to join Hampshire ahead of the 2024 season, on a multi-year deal.Orr, 22, had been part of the Sussex set-up since the age of ten, and enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022 when he racked up more than 1500 runs in first-class and List A cricket combined, including three Championship centuries and a career-best 206 from 161 balls against Somerset at Taunton in the One-Day Cup.However, his opportunities were limited in 2023, in part due to a knee injury and a subsequent finger dislocation, and with Sussex missing out on promotion in the County Championship and as well as the knock-outs of both limited-overs tournaments, he has chosen to move on.”I am very grateful for the opportunity to play for Hampshire, it is a club I have always followed very closely,” Orr said. “I’m hoping I can contribute to the success of the club moving forward and can’t wait to get started.”Hampshire challenged for silverware across formats in 2023, reaching T20 Finals Day for a record tenth time before losing the One-Day Cup final by two runs to Leicestershire. The club also finished third in the County Championship after memorable victories over both title contenders, Essex and champions Surrey, in their final two games.Giles White, Hampshire Director of Cricket, added: “Ali has had an encouraging start to his career, he’s got a strong desire to win and I think he is an excellent fit for our squad.”During our discussions he impressed me with his determination to challenge himself and improve. He’s stepped outside of his comfort zone to join us and we are all looking forward to welcoming him to Hampshire.”Orr is the latest high-profile player to move on from Hove, following George Garton’s recent decision to quit his childhood club and link up with his former Sussex coach Mark Robinson at Warwickshire.”Sussex Cricket have agreed to the termination of Orr’s contract for him to make the move and will receive compensation from Hampshire for the switch,” a statement from the club read.”Orr had one year remaining on his contract and was seeking to renegotiate the terms with the Club, however with this not possible, he signalled his intentions to move elsewhere.”Everyone at Sussex Cricket would like to wish Ali all the best in his career moving forward.”

The loss, by a huge 98-run margin, has pushed LSG out of the top four with the playoffs not far away

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-May-20242:49

Narine has joined Russell on the ride to success – McClenaghan

Sunil Narine crashed 81 off 39 deliveries and Ramandeep Singh got only six balls to face and smashed 25 in those. In addition, Phil Salt, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Shreyas Iyer played aggressive innings. All of which meant that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) surged to 235 for 6 in their 20 overs, which in Lucknow – one of the lower-scoring venues in IPL 2024 – was always going to be incredibly difficult to surpass.The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) innings didn’t really take off. There was a 50-run second-wicket partnership between KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis, but even that went at too slow a pace (they took 33 balls) to cause serious problems for KKR. Once that stand was broken, the innings fell apart quickly, the last nine wickets falling for 67 runs, as the required rate ballooned out of control.Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana took three wickets each. Andre Russell took two. And Ramandeep claimed two catches, the first of which was one of the most spectacular of the season.Sunil Narine brought up his fifty in 27 balls•BCCI

Narine crushes it in the first 12 overs

Salt was the first aggressor, hitting 24 off the first nine balls he faced. But he was soon out for 32 off 14, and from then, it was the Narine show.Narine warmed up with five fours, then started getting the big hits going at the end of the fourth over, bludgeoning a Mohsin Khan short ball over deep square-leg, clubbing Krunal Pandya over deep midwicket not long after, and later thrashing Yash Thakur over the square-leg boundary. In the middle overs, he dealt almost exclusively in sixes, and by the end of his stay, he had walloped seven, to go with six fours. He holed out to long-off attempting another six off LSG’s best bowler Ravi Bishnoi, who was the only one to finish with an economy rate lower than 11.Ramandeep Singh celebrates after taking a back-tracking blinder•BCCI

Ramandeep plays a cameo to remember

LSG had a good period between overs 14 and 18, where they conceded only 45 while taking three wickets. Thanks to Narine, Salt and Raghuvanshi, with whom Narine shared a 79-run partnership, KKR were headed for a mammoth score. But the slight slowdown might have given LSG a foot in the door.Ramandeep pushed the total back into gargantuan territory in spectacular style. He took a two in front of square on the leg side to start with, bashed a six over cow corner second ball, bludgeoned one over long-on fourth ball, ramped a four over short third next, then thumped a full toss over midwicket to finish the innings. To recap, he went 2, 6, 1, 6, 4, 6.As if scoring at a strike rate of more than 400 wasn’t impressive enough, he also pulled off one of the catches of the season to get rid of Arshin Kulkarni. Speeding towards the boundary from point, he kept his eyes on a leading edge that had gone high into the air, and put in a spectacular dive to get his hands on a ball whose trajectory he did not seem like he would intersect. He took another catch at deep point later, to dismiss Rahul, the other LSG opener.Harshit Rana, on return from disciplinary suspension, sent back KL Rahul on his way to a three-for•Associated Press

And then LSG crumble

With a required rate of almost 12 set from the start of the innings, LSG were always going to struggle, given the quality in KKR’s attack. They scored 13 off the fourth over, bowled by Mitchell Starc, but then Narine came in with a four-run fifth over, and by the end of the powerplay, the required rate was up near 13.When LSG tried to hit out, wickets fell rapidly. At no point did they seem to have the measure of this chase. On a slow track, on which KKR’s slower bowlers were effective, Rahul’s wicket set off a collapse.

Peter Handscomb, who represented Leicestershire in the County Championship and T20 Blast this season, will extend his stay

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2023Ajinkya Rahane has pulled out of a stint with Leicestershire following his recall to India’s Test team. He was expected to link up with the team for the One-Day Cup next month, but will instead take a short break from cricket.India’s next World Test Championship (WTC) assignment, though, is only in December-January, a two-match series away in South Africa.Peter Handscomb, meanwhile, will extend his stay with Leicestershire as a replacement for Rahane, having already represented them in the County Championship and T20 Blast this season.Leicestershire explained in a statement that Rahane’s arrangement with the county had changed “due to increased international commitments”, which had not been factored into his plans. “[He] has now expressed his desire to take a break from cricket during August and September,” they said.Related

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Claude Henderson, Leicestershire’s director of cricket, said: “We are fully understanding of Ajinkya’s situation. He has experienced a hectic schedule in recent months, both in India and travelling with the national team, and we accept his wishes to recover and spend some time with his family.”We have been in constant communication with Ajinkya and accept how situations can change quickly in cricket. He is extremely grateful for our understanding and still hopes to play for Leicestershire one day.”Thankfully, we had planned for a situation like this, and we are delighted Peter is staying on with the team. He brings many qualities alongside his batting and wicketkeeping, including strong leadership, which is a massive help to Lewis [Hill] and the rest of the guys in our changing room.”Rahane was recalled to India’s Test squad for the WTC final against Australia and their subsequent series in the West Indies on the back of impressive form in the 2022-23 season of Ranji Trophy and in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. He was even appointed vice-captain for the tour of the Caribbean.Rahane gave a good account of his form in the WTC final with scores of 89 and 46, but could only manage 3 and 8 in his two innings against West Indies.Leicestershire’s One-Day Cup campaign starts with an away fixture against Surrey at The Oval on August 3. The competition clashes with the Hundred, meaning that most counties are without a number of first-team players.

“Realistically the word rest and rotated gets thrown around a lot but you never miss a Test if you are fully fit”

Andrew McGlashan28-Nov-2023Pat Cummins does not see a scenario where Australia’s all-format quicks are rested during the upcoming Test season after they showed their durability in getting through the 2023 Ashes and ODI World Cup.Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are expected to remain Australia’s first-choice Test quicks along with captain Cummins when the men’s season gets underway with the opening match against Pakistan in Perth on December 14.Overall Australia have seven Tests from mid-December to mid-March: three against Pakistan and two against West Indies at home followed by two against New Zealand. There are also a batch of white-ball matches in February.Related

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All three quicks have had spells away from the white-ball sides at various stages, including the ongoing T20I series in India, but Cummins can’t see anyone putting their hand up for a Test off.”You are always dealing with something as a bowler,” he said at the SCG where he was reunited with the World Cup trophy. “When your hamstring starts to feel then you feel a pain somewhere else, then you wake up the next day and it’s moved somewhere else.”Realistically the word rest and rotated gets thrown around a lot but you never miss a Test if you are fully fit. While over the last couple of years, we might have been rested from the odd game, the bulk of work we’ve been able to do is because of those small gaps. If we are fully fit we won’t be resting.”Cummins played all six Tests in England earlier this year (the WTC final against India and five in the Ashes) and was ever-present during the ODI World Cup. Starc, who was left out from the Edgbaston Test at the beginning of the Ashes and rested for one game during the World Cup, carried some niggles after his efforts in England but regained his best form for the knockouts in India.Meanwhile, Hazlewood, who had gone through a disjointed two years in Test cricket and has not played a full home summer since 2020-21 against India, played four out of six Tests in England and every game of the World Cup.Pat Cummins has been front and centre of Australia’s success this year•Getty Images

While Cummins’ position is obviously secure, not wanting a rest does not mean a guarantee of selection for others and there could be some tight calls to make during the season, not least whether Scott Boland can force his way back into the side at the MCG where he has such an outstanding record. There may also be an urge to unleash the uncapped Lance Morris at some stage while the ever-consistent Michael Neser will always push his case.However, speaking to , head coach Andrew McDonald indicated the Test side will always be selected with a view on the immediate challenge rather than an eye on the future which also bodes well for David Warner’s hopes of a farewell series against Pakistan.”I think they’re isolated series,” McDonald said. “I think every Test match you sit down as a selection panel and you work out your best team and go from there, that’s the bowling attack, the batting, the wicketkeeping, every decision is in isolation for each Test match and I think that’s the way Test cricket should be, pick your best team at that point in time.”There’s no doubt you will have a younger player from time to time that people will think needs to play or get exposure to play, but I think a lot of that always takes care of itself.”Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc have returned to bowling in the nets over the last couple of days as they begin their build-up to the first Test in Perth. They are all well attuned to heading into a home Tests season without red-ball matches under their belt.”It took a little bit to put the bowling shoes on for Joshy and I out the back here, but in a couple of weeks’ time we are in Perth,” Starc said. “As much as you want to enjoy the success of the World Cup and everything that comes with a hard tour of India, you quickly get into Test mode.”Mentally you take a few days and refresh but the mind and body know what time of the year it is and it’s time for five Tests. We’ve done it for a few summers now so nothing new for us. Preparation looks different every year but for Pat and I it’s a few sessions of bowling and maybe a few rounds of golf then off to Perth.”Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are reunited with the World Cup Trophy at the SCG•Getty Images

The fact that half the ODI World Cup-winning squad remained in India for the T20I series and the players who returned went to their home cities has led to a rather low-key celebration of Australia’s success over the past week. That continued with Cummins and Starc parading the trophy in front of the media and a smattering of Sheffield Shield supporters at the SCG. However, Cummins was adamant the scale of Australia’s achievement had been appreciated.”It’s been amazing back here in Australia,” he said. “I know it was a different timezone, but walking down the street everyone has been talking about the World Cup, everyone’s buzzing about it. There’s been no shortage of Aussie reception since we got back, it’s been a great week. Don’t think it was maybe the scenes you would have seen in Ahmedabad if India had got up, but it’s been pretty big.”Cummins and Starc also both reconfirmed they would be going into next month’s IPL auction with the tournament viewed as the ideal lead-in to the T20 World Cup in June where Australia have the opportunity to be the first men’s side to hold all three global titles at the same time.”To hold one trophy takes a lot but to hold them across formats really shows our amazing coaching group but also the squad of players,” Cummins said. “You can’t do that with 11 players, you need 25 really good players so it shows the strength of Australian cricket at the moment and the appetite of the guys to compete whenever they play. Everything takes a lot out of you but the guys keep rocking up and performing which is as pleasing as anything else.”

Welsh Fire united Pakistan pair Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf in a busy draft

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2023Thursday’s Hundred draft saw 30 men’s players picked across the eight teams, with Welsh Fire strengthening significantly after a winless 2022 season.Their new coach Michael Hussey used the first pick of the draft to select Tom Abell – after Tim David returned to Southern Brave via their Right-To-Match (RTM) card – then secured the services of Pakistan’s pace duo Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, as well as the all-round skills of David Willey.Domestic players proved particularly popular once again, with several leading overseas players including Babar Azam, Kieron Pollard and Trent Boult going unsold – in some cases, due to concerns over their availability.Each team will be able to sign two more players as ‘wildcards’ after the group stages of the Vitality Blast, as well as any replacement players that are required before the start of the Hundred on August 1.