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The pair were named in court during the rape trial of former Worcestershire team-mate Alex Hepburn

George Dobell02-May-2019Joe Clarke and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the pair of highly rated England Lions batsmen, have been informed they will not be considered for selection until further notice.Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore were named during the trial of Worcestershire allrounder Alex Hepburn as members of a WhatsApp group that exchanged disrespectful messages about women in what the judge described as a “pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible”. Hepburn was jailed for five years earlier this week having been found guilty of rape.While neither Clarke or Kohler-Cadmore were charged – the judge clarified in his summing up that Clarke “did nothing wrong” on the night of the attack – it is understood the ECB was concerned by the content and tone of the messages. The ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission is currently deciding whether to bring a case against either man and has informed them they will not be eligible for selection – either for the full England team or the Lions – until those deliberations, or the subsequent disciplinary proceedings, have reached a conclusion.The ECB withdrew Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore from the Lions squad to tour India earlier this year for the same reasons.Clarke’s current suspension is particularly pertinent. He has started the 2019 season in fine form – he made 112 and 97 not out on Championship debut for Nottinghamshire and is currently averaging 53.16 in this year’s Royal London one-day competition – and might well have been in line for selection for the ODI in Dublin on Thursday.England are without several first choice top-order batsmen, either through injury or being rested after the IPL – while Alex Hales was dropped after failing a drugs test – so have recalled the likes of Ben Duckett (averaging 28.80 in the Royal London Cup) and Dawid Malan (averaging 34.60). Had Clarke been available for selection, there is a strong likelihood he would have won a call-up.Hepburn, Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore were all team-mates at Worcestershire at the time of the rape in April 2017. Clarke joined Nottinghamshire at the end of the 2018 season, while Kohler-Cadmore left for Yorkshire midway through 2017. Steve Rhodes, who was Worcestershire’s director of cricket at the time of the crime, was sacked for not reporting Hepburn’s arrest to club officials in a timely manner and stood down from his position as England coach for the Under-19 World Cup.

Liverpool-raised batsman thwarts top-topping Lancashire on final day at Aigburth

Paul Edwards06-Jun-2019
As far as playing for Lancashire is concerned Liverpudlians have had to walk alone. Only ten cricketers either born or raised in the city have made over 20 first-class appearances for the county since 1900. It is a figure which compares most unfavourably with the heartlands of Lancastrian cricket such as Westhoughton or Accrington. One of that dectet, though, is Paul Horton, so perhaps it was fitting that his 49 runs played a leading role in deciding the outcome of this game.Less fitting, of course, was that he did so wearing Leicestershire’s colours but Horton is a professional to his fingertips and after being released by Lancashire in 2015, he has given his very best for a county which clearly prizes his services.And yet, as this game drifted towards a draw it was impossible to forget that Horton learned his cricket down the road at St Margaret’s High School; or that he first played recreational cricket at the tearfully beautiful Sefton Park club, which is only two miles from Aigburth; or that in Lancashire’s treasured title-winning summer of 2011 Horton joined his team mates in sprinting from the grand old green-and-white pavilion to acclaim famous victories against Yorkshire and Hampshire. He may be Sydney-born and his accent remains stubbornly antipodean but Merseyside has long been Horton’s .None of which counted for much this afternoon as Horton defied Lancashire and his former colleagues offered their inimitably frank commentary on his technique. Leicestershire’s captain expected nothing less, of course; he has been round most of cricket’s blocks and understands the informal rules of his chosen trade. He will probably have taken the comments as a compliment that he was doing his job in preventing Lancashire taking the wickets they needed to secure their fourth win in five games.But if Horton’s 189-minute vigil was the centrepiece of this gentle and glorious day, Leicestershire’s draw was testament to their collective effort in resisting Lancashire’s attack for 94 overs on a day when the Aigburth pitch offered oodles of turn and variable bounce.Only 146 runs had been scored and Leicestershire had not even cleared their deficit by the time Neil Bainton flicked off the bails just after six o’clock. But that didn’t matter a damn. What counted was that having been 150 for 7 in the middle of the third afternoon Leicestershire had lost only eight more wickets in the next 138.4 overs. Head coach Paul Nixon is building a team in his own image and they will nobody’s patsies over the next four months.Of course the cricket was slow. The ice-cream man gave up the struggle for custom at 2.40 and his van pulled out of the ground in search of a younger clientele. It returned over an hour later in the vain hope there had been a sudden influx of sweet teeth. There had not. The scene moved so gently it could have been painted: by Renoir.There were some exotic statistics. Liam Livingstone’s second-innings figures were 36-17-40-1, his one victim being Horton, who chopped a quicker ball onto his stumps. Livingstone’s match analysis was 63-26-85-3; his labour as his side’s main spinner was prodigious and it was properly praised by Nixon after the game. Livingstone wheeled away for most of this last day from the Pavilion End; partly as a consequence Lancashire’s over-rate was 18 in excess of the minimum requirement, which may well be some sort of record.Four wickets fell in the day. The first was that of nightwatchman Callum Parkinson, who had batted 216 minutes in the match when he edged Richard Gleeson to Livingstone at slip in the early afternoon. The final two, those of Hassan Azad and Neil Dexter, were taken by Steven Croft and Graham Onions in a last hour when Lancastrian hopes were suddenly raised. But Azad had batted for 177 minutes and Dexter for 88. They had done their bit.Before that last act of a great drama Lancashire’s cricketers had still appealed whenever they could, although they did so more to maintain their interest in proceedings than in much hope their requests for leg-before or caught-behind might be granted. Gleeson clapped a long succession of balls from Livingstone, who mixed off-spinners with the odd leggie. Fielders, as fielders will, encouraged their bowlers to go “Bang-bang”. But Lancashire rarely went “Bang” on this last day. Instead they took 13 points for the draw and now lead Division Two by 11 points. They have been easily the best team in the second tier during the early part of the season.At the end of a tough contest Leicestershire’s cricketers sought to get away from Liverpool without great delay. Among them was the 20-year-old debutant, Harry Swindells, who had batted well on Wednesday and may think this game more or less the best thing in the world. And also among them was Paul Horton. He is 36 and he may have played his last county game at Liverpool.

They have conceded more runs in the field than they have saved in this World Cup, but Pakistan are finding ways around that

Osman Samiuddin in Birmingham25-Jun-2019Pakistan have dropped 13 catches so far in this World Cup. At Edgbaston on Wednesday they continue their fight to stay in contention for a semi-final spot. New Zealand – this might surprise you if you haven’t watched them closely – have dropped 12 catches. At Edgbaston on Wednesday, New Zealand can win and guarantee themselves a semi-final spot.Pakistan dropped six catches against South Africa at Lord’s and won the game comfortably. New Zealand dropped more than a few against West Indies at Old Trafford and scraped home. Let’s then phrase this as respectfully and gently as possible, that the old chestnut that catches win matches is little more than a neat but vapid rhyme. Of course catches can win matches, just as a million other things, big and small, can. Wickets for example; runs too; also umpiring calls.No team over the years has fought harder to prove the fallacy of this saying than Pakistan, rarely more so than at Lord’s on Sunday. Because even when Wahab Riaz dropped Quinton de Kock in the very first over of South Africa’s chase – a strange, awkward attempt to crocodile-cup a catch while diving at mid-on that didn’t need crocodile-cupped hands – little about the way the moment played out suggested it would prove costly.For one, Pakistan’s ground fielding was as sharp as it has been at any stage in recent memory. Inside the circle, balls went straight and clean into hands, not dribbling out. Even Mohammad Hafeez, always a safe catcher but never an especially athletic mover, was proving difficult to get past.Through the innings Pakistan fumbled just four balls in the outfield, according to ESPNcricinfo data. In terms of runs saved in the field over the course of the innings, Pakistan’s fielding saved four runs and conceded four runs, a net runs saved total of zero.That might not sound spectacular but it was one of their better performances in a tournament in which they have, in total now, a net run saving of -9 (the idea being that this figure should be a high positive). That puts them joint third-poorest in the tournament, alongside Sri Lanka, behind Afghanistan and also – surprisingly – India (-11 runs saved in this reading).But what was important was that each time a catch was spilled against South Africa, Pakistan didn’t unravel in the field. They maintained their standards, even after dropping Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller twice in two balls. It’s difficult to pinpoint why it should be that way, that a team can drop six catches in the field and yet still maintain a high standard of ground fielding.Mickey Arthur has consistently said it comes down to attitude, that more than a discipline like batting and bowling, it is an attitude. “We can’t do more,” he said before their game against India. “We’ve worked the boys incredibly hard. Fielding is an attitude. Batting and bowling is something that you can’t really control because you’re up against somebody else. Fielding, you can control. You can control your attitude in the field.”One relation could be to the bowling, that if a side bowls well, the fielding generally – not always – follows. Pakistan did bowl well against South Africa – their first all-round solid bowling performance in the tournament – and the fielding responded. They have not bowled well consistently in their other games and the fielding has dipped. This is, it should be pointed out, perhaps an empirical over-simplification.The drops themselves are difficult to explain, for an international sports team that presumably practices this on a near-daily basis. After South Africa, Arthur was striving for an answer as desperately as anyone else. “That’s the million-dollar question. We train and we train and we train, and we’ve put in massive amounts of work. That’s something we’ll be exploring again in the next couple of days because we can’t be dropping that many catches and expect to beat teams.”In one sense though, you could write off Lord’s as a freak occurrence as far as the dropped chances go – one, two, even three opportunities happen often enough but Pakistan nearly doubled their dropped chances tally for the tournament in one game. Three of the chances fell to one player – Mohammad Amir, who isn’t a fielder for prominent positions but has been a fairly safe catcher on the rare occasions when called upon for it.It could be, as Azhar Mahmood pointed out, just one of those days. “If you drop a catch once, then if you’re thinking about it and the ball comes again… we speak often of how the ball just gets after you, it follows you all day some days. That is what happened [with Amir] – but if you have that confidence that if it comes to me again I will take it then it makes a difference.”

Kent stumble to second defeat in three after hosts’ seamers apply the squeeze

ECB Reporters Network07-Aug-2019Kent Spitfires suffered a jolt to their previously excellent Vitality Blast South Group campaign with a five-wicket defeat by Gloucestershire at the Bristol County Ground.The visitors could post only 125 for 8 after losing the toss on a slow pitch, Daniel Bell-Drummond contributing almost half the runs with 62. There were two wickets each for David Payne, Chris Liddle and Andrew Tye.In reply, Gloucestershire reached 131 for 5, winning with 7 balls to spare, Jack Taylor and Benny Howell seeing them home. Fred Klaassen claimed 2 for 15 and Hardus Viljoen 2 for 30.”It was an important toss to win because Kent didn’t know what a good score would be on that pitch and 125 wasn’t enough,” said Howell.”It was tough to hit through the line on that wicket, but we knew that if we kept the required run-rate under control, which wasn’t too difficult, we could reach our target.”Kent scored only 33 from their six-over powerplay, losing Zak Crawley for a first-ball duck, caught at midwicket off the fifth delivery of the match from Payne and Ollie Robinson, who holed out to deep midwicket in the fourth over, bowled by Liddle.Several other balls in the air just eluded fielders as the Spitfires batsmen, Bell-Drummond apart, failed to come to terms with deliveries sticking in the pitch.Gloucestershire employed their familiar tactics of taking pace off the ball in the middle overs through Benny Howell’s bag of tricks and the left-arm spin of Tom Smith. Together they ensured the halfway point was reached with Kent becalmed on 51 for two.Heino Kuhn broke the shackles with a swept six off Smith. But when he attempted to hit Howell over wide long-on he only found the safe hands of Tye and departed for 23.Mohammad Nabi, on three, was next to loft a catch, Michael Klinger brilliantly accepting the chance off Liddle, running away from the pitch as the skied ball came over his shoulder at midwicket.Gloucestershire’s excellent fielding continued when Jack Taylor ran out Alex Blake for two with a direct hit sprinting in from deep cover as the batsmen attempted a second run.Only Bell-Drummond showed the necessary degree of patience, moving to 50 off 48 balls, with four fours. But wickets continued to tumble at the other end and when he fell to Tye in the final over the Spitfires’ total looked well below par.Soon Gloucestershire’s batsmen were having their own problems with the pitch, Miles Hammond and Klinger, who could make only five, falling attempting boundaries in the powerplay, which ended at 42 for 2.There was no pressure to play big shots. But James Bracey perished to one, caught at cover for 22 off Nabi, who came on for the seventh over.At 58 for 3 in the ninth over, Gloucestershire had to exercise a degree of caution. That became even more the case when Ian Cockbain, on 15, picked out cover with a mistimed shot off Fred Klaassen to make it 73 for four.Ryan Higgins lofted only the game’s second six over deep square off Hardus Viljoen and Taylor followed suit with a big hit over cow corner from Nabi’s last ball, which saw him finish with one for 26.Higgins then drove a catch to mid-off to give Viljoen his second wicket. But Kent simply did not have enough runs to defend and three Howell boundaries in succession off the 17th over, sent down by Milne, ended any doubt about the outcome.Howell then ended the game with a six and claimed the man-of-the-match award.

Having made 154 to give New Zealand a chance of winning a rain-afflicted Test, he now has a stunning four scores of over 150 in his last eight innings

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo25-Aug-2019Tom Latham is in the form of his life, in Tests. Having made 154 in the first innings to give New Zealand a chance of winning a rain-afflicted Test at P Sara, he now has a stunning four scores of over 150 in his last eight innings. Although his team has had a light Test schedule over the past two years, the opener has put up impressive numbers. He averaged 45.70 in 2017, 59.81 the next year and is now on 78.80 in 2019.”I probably am in [the form of his career] if you look at the numbers,” Latham said after his hundred in Colombo. “It’s nice when you get to play a few series in a row, and we had that back home, and we had that back home. We’ve got a bit more Test cricket coming up at home, so hopefully my form continues.”I think it’s just a mindset. There’s time when you’re put under pressure where you might feel you want to score, but it’s about trying to wear the bowlers down and get them coming to your scoring areas. I have been in the position where I’ve been under a little bit of pressure, but it’s nice to come out the back end of that. If those tough times come again, hopefully you can look back on these sorts of times, and try reflect on what went well.”Although often rated as one of New Zealand’s best players of spin, Latham had had a modest series in the UAE last year, making a top score of 50. However, here, on a pitch taking significant turn here, he overcame a somewhat tetchy start to eventually play out 251 deliveries, putting on a 143-run partnership with BJ Watling.”I’ve been in these kinds of conditions before in the likes of India, but to stick to a good plan over a long period of time in the heat and humidity was really good. The main thing was to build those partnerships with the guys and be in the position we are now.”Sri Lanka have got spinners who turn it in, and who turn it away, so it’s about nailing down a plan around which shots are low percentage shots against certain spinners, and to be able to do that over a long period of time was very nice.”Realistically, New Zealand are the only side capable of winning this Test, with a lead of 138 and five first-innings wickets still in hand. More rain tomorrow could wipe out the final wisps of hope for a result, but Latham said New Zealand still believe they have a chance.”The ball’s definitely still turning on this pitch. With the new ball it does tend to nip around a little bit. There’s definitely enough in there for the bowlers. If we can apply enough pressure over a long period of time on Sri Lanka, then hopefully we can get those early wickets. On these sorts of surfaces things can happen quickly. Hopefully we can get a couple in a hurry.”

Richmond Mutumbami’s fight in vain as Zimbabwe collapse in a heap

The Report by Liam Brickhill18-Sep-2019With their backs up against the wall, Bangladesh cruised to a 39-run win over Zimbabwe in a sweltering Chattogram to book their place in next week’s tri-series final. Put in to bat by Zimbabwe, Bangladesh’s 175 for 7 was built around a 78-run fourth-wicket stand between Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim. While Zimbabwe did well to hold Bangladesh back when they had been poised to score many more, they showed no such application with the bat in their chase. Brendan Taylor fell for a duck in the very first over, Zimbabwe stumbled through the Powerplay, and an eighth-wicket partnership of 58 between Richmond Mutumbami and Kyle Jarvis was their only combination of any substance as Bangladesh took full control.Mahmudullah’s sixesMahmudullah spanked five sixes in his 62 – only one less than Zimbabwe managed in their entire innings. Liton Das had cracked two of his own to lead Bangladesh’s charge in the Powerplay, taking 21 off an over from young left-arm spinner Ainsley Ndlovu, but when he, debutant Najmul Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan fell in the space of 17 deliveries, the momentum was transferred back to Zimbabwe. Mahmudullah ensured it didn’t stay that way for long, stepping out to biff the very first ball he faced over long-off for six.While Mushfiqur Rahim kept things ticking over at the other end, five overs later Mahmudullah was at it again. Sean Williams was slogged over long-on, just past the outstretched fingers of Tino Mutombodzi in that position, and soon afterwards it was Mutombodzi who was on the receiving end, with a floated legbreak flayed over long-off for Mahmudullah’s third six.By then, the fourth-wicket stand had passed fifty, the innings had been well and truly set up, and Mushfiqur joined the party by slog-sweeping a Chris Mpofu slower ball for a six of his own. He was out soon afterwards, but Mahudullah wasn’t done yet, raising Bangladesh’s 150 in the 18th over, and his own half-century three balls later with his fourth maximum via a muscular pull off Mpofu. He saved his best for last, with six No. 5 coming off a delivery from Mpofu that was only slightly too full, a low, dipping full toss being lifted cleanly over fine leg.Full tosses do the trickWhile Mpofu’s full toss disappeared over fine leg, Kyle Jarvis found that the delivery worked rather well for him. He reverted quickly to the full toss as his stock delivery when he came back into the attack in the 18th over, bowling four in a row to keep Afif Hossain and the marauding Mahmudullah to just six off the over.He used the same tactic in the final over of the innings, and the tactic bore dividends. Jarvis dished up a full toss that was only under waist height to Mahmudullah, who aimed for the stands beyond square leg and a sixth six, but could only pick out Williams near the boundary. The next ball was an action replay, Mosaddek Hossain swinging a high full toss straight out to Regis Chakabva at deep midwicket, and all of a sudden Jarvis was on a hat-trick. But instead of sticking with the seemingly deadly full toss, Jarvis reverted to length, Mohammad Saifuddin clipping the hat-trick delivery to midwicket for two and then swatting the last ball, a bouncer, to midwicket for four to boost Bangladesh’s total.Disarray in the PowerplayFaced with a challenging chase, Zimbabwe were hunting quick runs, but what they found was quite the opposite. Tied down for four runless deliveries in Saifuddin’s opening over, Brendan Taylor aimed a wild swipe at the fifth and skied a simple chance to Shakib at mid-off. Three balls (and just two runs) later, Chakabva picked up the second duck of the innings.The run rate was hobbled at under three an over when Shafiul Islam, playing his first T20I for almost two years, hurried Williams’ pull to have him easily caught at midwicket with his very first ball. Though Hamilton Masakadza found his range with a couple of characteristically meaty strokes, and Mutombodzi swiped Mustafizur Rahman over long-on for six, Zimbabwe ended the Powerplay at 34 for 3, the required rate above 10 and their chase going nowhere fast.A debut to remember It came as something of a surprise when Aminul Islam was picked to make his T20I debut having never bowled in a domestic T20. Yet it proved a debut to remember for the 19-year-old, as he picked up a wicket with his third ball as Mutombodzi looked to plonk him over long-off, but could only get the ball as far as Najmul in the deep.Aminul’s next wicket was even more memorable. Masakadza, almost twice his age, seemed to be the only batsman in Zimbabwe’s top order to have settled, but he was undone by some flight and dip from the young legspinner. Masakadza missed a sweep and was struck plumb in front. By the end of his spell, he had 2 for 18 and Zimbabwe were as good as sunk.

The Sri Lanka captain carried her team to their highest T20I total and scored the first century for her side in the format

Andrew McGlashan at North Sydney Oval29-Sep-2019Australia women began their international season with an expected victory as Beth Mooney scored her second T20I hundred, but the story of the day belonged to visiting captain Chamari Atapattu, who produced a brilliant 60-ball century to rekindle her liking of Australian bowling, as runs flowed at North Sydney Oval.Mooney’s 113 off 61 balls was the cornerstone of Australia’s 4 for 217 – their second-highest T20I total behind the 3 for 226 against England women a few months ago during the Ashes. Mooney added 72 for the first wicket with Alyssa Healy (43) and 115 off 60 balls for the third wicket with Ash Gardner (49) on a ground with enticingly short boundaries, which Gardner cleared four times.Sri Lanka did not threaten the target but Atapattu, who scored 178 when these two teams last met – at the 2017 World Cup – played a breathtaking innings. This was only the second time she has passed fifty in her T20I career, as she thrashed Australia’s attack to all parts, in turn carrying Sri Lanka to comfortably their highest T20I total.One of her six sixes laid claim to be the shot of the day, when it landed on the roof of the stand over long-on and she reached her century – Sri Lanka’s first in T20Is – with a powerful shot down the ground off Delissa Kimmince, celebrating with an emotional leap and gestures towards her team’s dugout. Atapattu knows she has to lead from the front and this was a mighty statement.Getty Images

Batters have long wanted to roll up the North Sydney Oval pitch and take it with them. Today was no different. Mooney’s century, brought up with a crunching cover drive off her 54th delivery, made her just the fourth player to score two T20I centuries in the women’s game alongside her captain Meg Lanning, England’s Danielle Wyatt and West Indies’ Deandra Dottin.The only surprise of Australia’s innings was a rare low score for Lanning, who was given lbw for 1 when sweeping at Oshadi Ranasinghe during the one brief period when Sri Lanka had a modicum of control.After Lanning had handed coin-toss duties to Healy following her recent poor record (which worked well), the tone was set with the first over of the innings which went for 11 runs with Mooney collecting a brace of early boundaries. Healy was soon off and running as well, playing particularly strongly down the ground, with Australia ending the Powerplay on none for 64.Against the run of play, Healy departed when she skied another attempt to go down the ground and Ranasinghe steadied herself under a good catch. Between overs seven and ten, Sri Lanka managed to keep a lid on things, conceding 30 runs in the four overs, but it was a brief period of consolidation by Australia. During this time, Udeshika Prabodhani pulled out of her run-up three times when she saw Mooney attempting to lap the ball, and also threatened to run out the non-striker backing up.Gardner slotted away her first six in the 11th over and Mooney went to her half-century off 33 balls before taking three fours in a row off Atapattu. She went one better than that in the 15th over, with four consecutive boundaries off Sugandika Kumari, and a misfield then allowed her to get to three figures. Mooney’s career-best of 117 was in sight when she fell at the start of the penultimate over, and the next over saw Gardner fall one short of a half-century when she picked out long-on.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Mooney continued to have a big say in proceedings when her direct hit ran out Yasoda Mendis in the third over. Tayla Vlaeminck, who generated impressive pace, then struck in her first over when Anushka Sanjeewani gloved behind.Atapattu played magnificently, however, dominating a third-wicket stand of 76 with Hansima Karunaratne, and she celebrated her fifty by depositing Georgia Wareham over long-on for six. In the space of 11 deliveries, Atapattu collected four sixes with some of the cleanest striking of the day. She was eventually yorked by Megan Schutt. Atapattu walked off the field with pats on the back from the Australians, nothing less then she deserved.While Australia were never in danger of losing, the match certainly gave them something to ponder for the series ahead. For Sri Lanka, who had not played for six months and had one match to prepare for this series, their captain has shown them what is possible against the best team in the world. It was a stirring spectacle.

The key performances from Saturday’s WBBL action, which included two last-ball finishes

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2019A remarkable innings from skipper Jess Duffin guided Melbourne Renegades to a five-wicket win in a last-ball thriller against Hobart Hurricanes at Junction Oval.The Renegades had slumped to 3 for 12 in the chase of 151, having lost international stars Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt in the space of three balls. But Duffin took control, making 75 from 49 balls with eight fours and four sixes. She shared in a 42-run stand with Josie Dooley, who contributed just 8, before putting on 78 with Courtney Webb. The pair reduced the equation to 20 off 20 when Duffin fell. Webb was out to a superb return catch by Nicola Carey in the last over, but Georgia Wareham and Maitlin Brown scrounged the three runs needed from the last three balls to win the match.Earlier, Corinne Hall had made an excellent unbeaten 50 in a key 82-run stand with Fran Wilson (45) to help Hobart overcome a poor start to post 5 for 150.Perth Scorchers bowler Heather Graham held her nerve to secure a two-run win in another last-ball thriller at Karen Rolton Oval to deny Bridget Patterson stealing victory for the Adelaide Strikers.The home side had been set 174 to win after England batter Amy Jones and Australia captain Meg Lanning smashed half-centuries during a 141-run opening partnership. Jones finished with 80 from 58 balls while Lanning made 64 from 50.Amy Jones sweeps fine•Getty Images

The game looked beyond the Strikers’ reach when Sophie Devine was bowled by Nat Sciver for 58. The Strikers needed 42 from 20 balls after that, but Patterson nearly pulled off a miracle. She made her highest WBBL score, clubbing six fours and three sixes in her 60.Graham had 11 runs to defend in the final over. She had Lauren Winfield dropped first ball before Patterson pulled her through square leg for a boundary. Graham conceded just two singles from the next three balls leaving Patterson with four to win from the last. She couldn’t find the rope and was run out trying for a second.A disciplined bowling display from the Brisbane Heat helped them defeat Sydney Sixers for the second time this season at North Sydney Oval.Just a week after their record-breaking partnership, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry were both dismissed cheaply in the powerplay. Sammy-Jo Johnson bowled Healy with a peach while Perry was adjudged lbw to a ball that darted a long way off the seam from Delissa Kimmince.Johnson delivered her four overs for just 11 runs and Jess Jonassen bagged 2 for 20 from her four overs as the Sixers struggled to 7 for 123.The Heat cruised to victory in the chase, winning with 19 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. Jonassen top-scored with 33 in a superb all-round effort but there were even contributions from the Heat’s top five.

The visitors have most bases covered with their batting, but their bowling is need of a lift against a strong India line-up

The Preview by Saurabh Somani21-Dec-20194:40

The Shami factor and the holy trinity of the WI batting

Big picture

This is the second successive bilateral series at home in which India have come to the deciding ODI with the series still even. The last time it happened, against Australia, India ended up losing.Is a repeat likely? Perhaps not, given India’s strength in the 50-overs format, but it’s not out of the question. West Indies showed in the first ODI that when their batting and bowling come together, they are a side hard to stop.India have had injury issues with their bowling attack, but the batting wears an extremely powerful look. Shreyas Iyer has settled in as a No. 4 who can explode if coming in late, or rebuild if early wickets have fallen. With Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav to follow, Iyer has become the link between an irrepressible top three and a power-packed finish.Sheldon Cottrell leaps into his action•BCCI

West Indies also have most bases covered with their batting, but their bowling has the tendency to fall apart under pressure. To be fair, when a batting line-up like India’s gets going in familiar conditions, any attack will be under pressure. The best way to counter that for West Indies will be early wickets.

Form guide

India WLWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LWWWW

In the spotlight

Two matches, five balls, four runs, two dismissals. This is alien territory for Virat Kohli, especially in ODIs, and especially against West Indies. He set the scene on fire in the T20Is, but he has barely given spectators enough time to settle down from applauding him to the crease when he has been walking back. Cricket odds don’t work in this fashion but it will take a brave, possibly foolhardy, person to bet against Kohli making a big score in this match. Despite the two failures in this series, he is averaging 71.66 at a strike rate of 97.06 against West Indies.He’s coming into this match on the back of becoming an IPL millionaire, but Sheldon Cottrell had a below-par outing in the second ODI, though he was quite brilliant in the opening game. His first spell there read 5-3-12-2, the wickets being of KL Rahul and Kohli. His left-arm angle, changes of pace, and ability to move the ball off the pitch make him a consistent threat.Virat Kohli watches the ball intently•BCCI

Team news

India lost Bhuvneshwar Kumar to injury earlier, and are now without Deepak Chahar too. Their replacements are Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini. India’s choice of playing XI will depend on whether they want to go with three seamers or three spinners. If they pick only two seamers, Saini will have to beat Thakur to make it to the XI. He was impressive for Delhi in the recent second round of the Ranji Trophy, while Thakur wasn’t particularly penetrative in the second ODI.India (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Shardul Thakur/Yuzvendra ChahalWest Indies need a lift in their bowling, but they might want to keep faith in the same attack that did duty in the second ODI. One of the swaps possible is bringing back legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr for left-arm spinner Khary Pierre, but Walsh Jr didn’t seem to have his captain’s confidence in the first ODI, when he bowled only five overs. And considering India plundered 387 in the second ODI, Pierre’s economy rate of 6.88 across nine overs was commendable.West Indies (probable) 1 Ewin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Keemo Paul, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Khary Pierre, 11 Sheldon Cottrell

Pitch and conditions

The last ODI at this ground was played nearly three years ago, and it was a very high-scoring one. India made 381 for 6 and England responded with 366 for 8. There haven’t been List A matches at the ground since March 2017, though in the domestic T20s earlier this year, the scoring rates, in general, were not high.Iyer said on the eve of the match that the pitch will be “really fast” in the second innings and the dew factor will play a “massive role”.

Stats and trivia

• The last time India lost two consecutive multi-game bilateral series at home was back in April 2005, when Pakistan beat them 4-2, with West Indies having won 4-3 in November 2002 in the bilateral series before that.
• India haven’t played Chahal and Yadav together in a game in a while, but the stats when they do play together are pretty good, with India having a win-loss ratio of 2.66. They have won 24 games and lost just nine, with one no result.

England’s No.3 has come through a tricky start to his Test career and is beginning to know his game

George Dobell10-Jan-2020If there is one man who embodies the character of this new England side, it is, perhaps, Joe Denly.A year or two ago, Denly’s occupation of the crease – his resilience, his determination, his resistance – may have been used against him. It would have been characterised as demonstrating his limitations. Of failing to put the pressure back on the bowler. Of lacking positivity. It’s not so long ago (May 2013) that a crushing victory over New Zealand achieved in four days (the first day of the Leeds Test was lost to rain) resulted in a torrent of criticism after the perception that England had, for a while, batted too slowly.Times have changed. There has been, among other things, a realisation of England’s limitations and a weariness at being bowled out as a team for the sort of scores that Steve Smith, as an individual, would be disappointed to achieve in each of his own visits to the crease.Denly has been part of that change. He has not, as yet, gone on to register the major personal score that would win accolades, but he has worn down bowlers, worn off the shine and helped build a foundation for those that follow. Since his Test debut, only three men in the world have faced more deliveries – they’re quite a trio – although everyone in the top dozen of that list has a higher average. He is, at this stage, more ‘best supporting actor’ than ‘actor in a leading role’.