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Fast bowler backed after injury setbacks, and will stay with club at least until 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2022Toby Roland-Jones will stay with Middlesex at least until the end of 2023, after signing a contract extension that will take him into his 13th year with the club.Roland-Jones has endured an injury-plagued few years, including a knee cartilage injury that took four months out of his 2021 season, following back and shoulder problems that had limited his involvement since 2018.However, he reaffirmed his importance to Middlesex with a five-wicket haul against Derbyshire on his first-class comeback in September, and with Richard Johnson having been appointed as the club’s new head coach, Roland-Jones will remain a key part of their plans for the coming seasons.”I am absolutely delighted to commit to Middlesex Cricket for the next two years,” Roland-Jones said. “I feel hugely fortunate that my passion for the club and the game continues to grow, as it has since the day I joined, back in 2010.”The excitement and potential in this squad gives us every opportunity to return this club to the level it should be at, and I look forward to playing any part I can to make that happen.”With the appointment of Richard Johnson as First Team Coach yesterday, we have a high-quality coach returning to the club, and someone who has previously worked with and helped so many of our players in the earlier parts of their careers. I know the players can’t wait to get started under him, and I’m sure he returns as eager as we all are to bring the club success.”Related

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• Middlesex chairman criticised after claiming football 'is more attractive' to Black people

• Stuart Law sacked as Middlesex head coach

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• Shaheen Shah Afridi joins Middlesex for 2022 season

Roland-Jones has made a total of 224 appearances for Middlesex across all three formats of the game, with a total of 545 wickets. His debut for the club came in 2010, when he picked up two five-wicket hauls in eight appearances, and in 2015, he made his maiden first-class hundred against Yorkshire at Lord’s.His place in club folklore was secured in the final match of the 2016 season, when he claimed a hat-trick against Yorkshire to secure the County Championship title. His final wicket completed a ten-wicket haul, and took his tally for the season to 54 at 28.22.The following year, Roland-Jones made the first of his four Test appearances, claiming five wickets on debut against South Africa at The Oval, but his hopes of starring in that winter’s Ashes were curtailed by the diagnosis of a stress fracture in his back.Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s head of Men’s Performance, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to agree this extension to Toby’s contract. He is a huge character in our dressing room, a great influence to the rest of our group, and a key player for us on the field.”We saw at the back end of last season what he is capable of as a player, just like we have witnessed for many seasons beforehand, and I am certain that we’ll be seeing much more of that over the next two seasons.”

“Every opportunity we get to play together is vital now to try and find our mojo again,” says England coach ahead of Sunday’s India game

Matt Roller27-Oct-20232:53

Have England failed to plan well for this World Cup?

Matthew Mott accepts that his position as England’s white-ball coach will come under pressure with his side on the brink of an early World Cup exit, but said he is “fully determined” that he and captain Jos Buttler can turn things around in the future.Mott was appointed on a four-year contract in May 2022 and Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, made clear to him that he would be judged on results at World Cups rather than bilateral series, where England have routinely rested first-choice players.He oversaw their success at the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, sealing England’s legacy as world champions in both white-ball formats. But after four defeats in their first five group games in India this month, England’s semi-final hopes are merely theoretical and Mott’s role will be scrutinised.Related

• England balancing act leaves them staring into World Cup abyss

• England's woes weigh heavy on Jos Buttler, the captain

“Jos and I are incredibly aligned and united,” Mott said after England’s latest defeat, an eight-wicket thrashing by Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. “Rob Key has been an amazing support to us [but] when you lose tournaments like this, everyone’s under scrutiny; everyone’s place will be questioned.”I’m fully determined that we can turn this around. I’ve got great faith in Jos: he’s hurting now and he’ll be feeling like there’s a lot on him. I certainly feel like I could have done things a lot better. But I’ve been in the job 18 months: we’ve won a World Cup and lost a World Cup. I think I’ve shown the capability that I can coach this team.”Buttler said on Thursday night that he retains “a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader” despite England’s results, but conceded that his future lies in the hands of the ECB. “If you’re asking if I should still be captaining the team, that’s a question for the guys above me,” he said.Mott is used to coaching at World Cups with high expectations after seven years with Australia’s women. Under his leadership, they won one 50-over World Cup and two T20 World Cups – though were also shocked by West Indies in the 2016 T20 final, and India in the 2017 50-over semi-finals.”I think, having experiences from the past where I’ve had tournaments like this, I’ve shown an ability to be able to turn things around,” Mott said. “So that’ll have to happen pretty quickly. But yeah, what will be, will be.”Matthew Mott•Getty Images

England travelled to Lucknow on Friday ahead of their next fixture against India on Sunday, for which they are massive underdogs. “[They] are probably raging favourites at the moment,” Mott said. “That’s an opportunity to restore some pride and confidence in the group, and every opportunity we get to play together is vital now to try and find our mojo again.”After picking a side comprising 11 players aged 30 or over for the first time in their ODI history against Sri Lanka, England will consider making changes again on Sunday. All four of the squad members who did not feature on Thursday – Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse and Sam Curran – are aged between 24 and 28.Mott did not commit to using young players for the rest of the World Cup, despite widespread expectations that England will overhaul their ODI set-up after this tournament. They still have four group matches to play, with fixtures against Australia, Netherlands and Pakistan after Sunday’s clash with India.”We’ll just try and keep picking our best side for the conditions – as we’ve tried to do all the way throughout,” Mott said. “What we need to get our heads around is restoring pride… that is our first priority at the moment: to make sure we come out and give India a good scrap, and hopefully perform a lot better than we have.”Brook was left out in favour of Liam Livingstone against Sri Lanka, but is England’s third-highest run-scorer of the tournament and one of only four batters to reach 50 in an innings. Asked specifically about his omission, Mott said: “Harry Brook is going to be a world-class player in all three formats.”We picked what we thought was the best balance for this and certainly after losing those wickets, the deeper batting line-up gave us a chance. We thought we could keep throwing punches through the back-end but it wasn’t to be today. Harry will have an amazing white-ball future: he’s a special player.”

Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed says they were not able to apply themselves and click at the right time

Umar Farooq10-Oct-2019Misbah-ul-Haq has been welcomed into his dual position of head coach and chief selector with a 3-0 whitewash in the T20I series at the hands of a second-string Sri Lanka side. That has left Misbah and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed “clueless” with “lots of questions to answer”.Pakistan have been No.1 in T20Is for nearly two years now and losing this series at home, where they don’t play too often, will hurt them further. Both Misbah and Sarfaraz answered questions at the post-match press conference about what went wrong since Mickey Arthur left.”It’s an example for us the way they have beaten us in every department,” Misbah said. “They won the games in almost one-sided fashion leaving us in tatters and with lots of questions to answer. We played very poor cricket and definitely it’s my responsibility but I am still thinking what really happened because these are the same set of players that have been playing for long and made the team No. 1.”When asked if the loss was because of a strategy change in the dressing room since Arthur left, Misbah said: “I haven’t done anything in the last 10 days that could have deterred anything. If you want to put responsibility on me you can but in this brief time since I took charge how big a difference could I created with my coaching. The strategy was simple: to cash in on the Powerplay and later go all out in the last five overs. These are the same players who took Pakistan on top [in the T20I rankings] but in this series they were not able to execute things well with the bat, ball and while fielding.”These reasons may not comprehend properly how a top-ranked side can slide so quickly against a Sri Lankan team without their top players. But when Misbah was asked again, he got sarcastic.”Maybe I did something? Probably I made our right-hand batsmen switch to left-handed batting or maybe made our right-handers bowl with the left arm or vice-versa? In terms of strategy, nothing really has changed but I am thinking what went wrong.”Sarfaraz came to the rescue of his coach and brushed aside any change of strategy or thought process in the T20 format.”Everything is the same [in our planning] but the difference was our performance on the ground,” Sarfaraz said. “We were not able to apply ourselves, we didn’t click at the right time, we were not able to clinch the key moments. We shouldn’t have let them cross the 150-mark but we did, we did not capitalise in the middle overs, we dropped catches…so all this played a part.”Whether it’s the last management or this, our message [to the players] was clear and almost the same. It’s then the responsibility of the captain and players to deliver at the ground. But we didn’t perform. There are good and bad days for almost everyone but we have to learn quickly from this. We have to regroup and stand together again and it will be good if we get our momentum back as soon as possible.”Pakistan have had a prolific run in the last two years in T20Is, winning 21 of their 29 matches with a win-loss ratio of 2.6, the best among teams that have played at least 15 matches in this period. Babar Azam, the No. 1-ranked batsman in T20Is, has played a crucial role in Pakistan’s form in these 24 months by scoring 858 runs in 22 innings with a stellar average of 47.66 and strike rate of nearly 127.But his lack of form, combined with Fakhar Zaman’s, while opening in this series dented Pakistan’s chances of getting off to dominating starts as Babar scored 27, 3 and 13 in their opening stands of 0, 9 and 13.In the third T20I on Wednesday night, Fakhar was bowled on the first ball of their 148 chase before Babar and Haris Sohail steered the innings but they managed only 35 runs together in the Powerplay. Babar was later caught behind for a 32-ball 27 and Sohail brought up half-century off 46 balls but their asking rate kept climbing, leaving much of the work for the lower order. Pakistan were left to score 54 runs off 29 balls when Sohail fell for 52 and they eventually fell short by 13 runs.”It’s not that they (the top-order batsmen) were being selfish, they were unable to adapt to the slowness of the pitch,” Misbah explained. “They were trying to hit but weren’t able to which led to more dot balls and frustration. Babar wasn’t able to time the ball in all three innings.”It’s unfair to say that both (Babar and Harris) were playing for themselves. Their position in the team is not uncertain and nobody is challenging their positions at the moment. It was Sri Lanka’s good bowling which never allowed our batsmen to adapt properly. A big factor has been the impact of their wristspinner (Wanindu Hasaranga). We didn’t pick his googly whereas they played our spinner nicely and batted well.”

Both England and Pakistan could make changes as the teams head south with the series square

The Preview by Alan Gardner10-May-2019

Big Picture

What did we learn from the 19 overs of play possible at The Oval on Wednesday? Jofra Archer took another step towards breaking into England’s World Cup squad – and even his rivals for a spot were impressed by an opening spell of 4-2-6-1 that saw him regularly push up past 90mph. Liam Plunkett, who conceded Archer was “obviously a class act”, made a small point of his own by removing Pakistan’s best batsman, Babar Azam, though his pace still appeared slightly down.For Pakistan, the old-fashioned approach of their top order remains a worry. With Fakhar Zaman pinned down and nicked off by Archer the first time he tried to free his arms, there were few signs of Imam-ul-Haq, Babar and Haris Sohail trying to put the bowlers on the back foot – notwithstanding the fact England had won a good toss and conditions required a bit of sizing up early on.But the series is yet young, and still all square after the rain teased and toyed with those at The Oval for several hours before the umpires decided the ground would not be fit for even a 20-over thrash under floodlights. The World Cup summer is yet to warm to the occasion but the good news is that drier weather is expected over the coming week or so.The truth, of course, is that neither team learned too much in south London, as the clock ticks down towards the May 23 deadline for finalising those 15-man World Cup squads. With Moeen Ali and Jason Roy returning to fitness, Joe Denly and James Vince might find their chances limited; Pakistan have Shoaib Malik back, which will likely change the balance of their side, and Mohammad Amir still desperately hoping to make his World Cup case. But the first order of the day in Southampton is for clear skies.Jason Roy aims a reverse sweep in the nets•Getty Images

Form guide

England WLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LLLLL

In the spotlight

At the start of the season, Jason Roy was fielding almost as many questions about his chances of involvement in the Ashes as the importance of his role in trying to land a first World Cup for England. Since then, Roy has only batted three times, with a top score of 35 not out, having returned from the Caribbean in March carrying a hamstring strain, then suffering a back spasm while batting in the Royal London Cup. Mindful of how he fell out of form kicking his heels at the IPL two years ago, leading to a poor Champions Trophy, England are keen to get him back playing and scoring runs before facing South Africa in their World Cup opener.With the ball doing a bit and a pitch to assess, Imam-ul-Haq‘s unbeaten 42 off 68 before the rain ruined things at The Oval was eminently respectable – plenty of time left in which to potentially kick on, after all. But the sense is that too much conservatism at the top is holding back Pakistan in ODIs. Since the 2017 Champions Trophy, only Afghanistan have batted more slowly in the opening 10-over Powerplay than Pakistan, and a scoring rate of 4.29 is almost two full runs behind England. Imam averages 56.90 in 25 ODIs, which is hard to argue against, but his strike rate of 79.40 is well out of step with the modern game.

Team news

England have Moeen and Roy available again, after rib and back injuries respectively, and they are set to come straight back in for Denly and Vince, bringing the XI back up to something like full strength. Mark Wood is expected to play in the third ODI at Bristol on Wednesday.England: (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Chris Woakes, 11 Liam Plunkett.Malik has returned to join up with the Pakistan squad after a 10-day break for personal reasons. He could step straight into the starting XI, possibly at the expense of Asif. Mohammad Hafeez is back in the nets after a thumb problem, though may not be considered, while Yasir Shah could come into contention if the pitch is dry and receptive to spin. Amir will be hoping to keep his place and get on the field this time.Pakistan: (possible) 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt/wk), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Mohammad Amir/Yasir Shah

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Ageas Bowl is usually hard and flat for limited-overs game, and this looks set to be a biscuit-coloured belter. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur suggested it was drier than The Oval, so spin may play more of a role. Overnight rain could be a problem and there is a small chance of showers through the day, but the sun may force its way through, too.

Stats and trivia

• Eoin Morgan is set to draw level with Paul Collingwood on 197 as England’s most-capped player in ODIs.
• The last time these teams met in Southampton, in 2016, England won comfortably on DLS; Pakistan were victorious then years before that, thanks to a Younis Khan hundred.
• Although England’s winning run in bilateral ODI series came to an end with their recent draw in the Caribbean, they have not been beaten over a distance since January 2017.

Quotes

“We know he’s a very, very good bowler though and a highly skilled bowler. And he’s going to get an opportunity here to put his name forward. We’ll see at the end of the series where we are with that.”

Roy makes international comeback too as England stretch player pool to be able to have a squad in place for the Tests in Pakistan

Matt Roller25-Oct-2022James Vince and Sam Billings have won recalls to England’s ODI squad for a three-match series in Australia, which takes place immediately after the men’s T20 World Cup.As revealed by ESPNcricinfo earlier, Jason Roy will make his return to international cricket after a lean English summer led to him losing his spot in the T20I side and his ECB central contract, while there is no place for Alex Hales who is now seen as a T20 specialist.

Fixtures

November 17 – 1st ODI, Adelaide
November 19 – 2nd ODI, Sydney
November 22 – 3rd ODI, Melbourne

Neither Vince nor Billings has played an ODI since July 2021, but both have impressed in their recent 50-over opportunities. Vince’s last ODI innings brought his first England hundred to complete a clean sweep over Pakistan, while Billings has been unfortunate to miss out on recent selection after averaging 56.00 in his eight ODI innings since 2020.Olly Stone also won a recall, having last played an ODI in October 2018, and will fly out to Australia along with Billings, Vince and Roy in the coming weeks. Chris Jordan will stay with the set-up after the World Cup and will come into contention to win his first ODI cap since February 2020.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Luke Wood is the only uncapped player in the squad. He went on the tour to the Netherlands in June but did not play, and is due to travel to Australia this week as a reserve after Tymal Mills replaced Reece Topley in the full squad for the World Cup.Dawid Malan, Wood’s team-mate in the Hundred, has been recalled after being left out of England’s home ODIs this summer. Liam Dawson, a regular feature in England squads because of his versatility, could win only his fourth ODI cap and his first since 2018.The series, which does not form part of the World Cup Super League, will stretch England’s player pool considerably. By November 17, the day of the first ODI in Adelaide, the squad for their Tests in Pakistan in December will be in Abu Dhabi, along with a 15-man Lions training group and three fast bowlers who are recovering from long-term injuries.As a result, several leading white-ball players are not involved in the ODI series. Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Mark Wood will travel to the UAE straight after the World Cup – along with Ben Stokes, who has retired from the ODI format – while Ben Duckett, Will Jacks and Joe Root were not considered for selection because of their involvement in the Test squad.

Rajasthan will meet Tamil Nadu in the first semi-final on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2021Bihar’s spirited fight was extinguished by a much-experienced Rajasthan, who became the fourth semi-finalist at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. They will play Tamil Nadu, last year’s runners-up in the first semi-final on Friday, with Punjab clashing against Baroda later that evening.Victory was set-up by Mahipal Lomror, who smashed an unbeaten 37-ball 78 at No. 4 to inject momentum and respectability to Rajasthan’s batting show. Openers Bharat Sharma and Ankit Lamba made 38 apiece too, as Rajasthan posted a competitive 164 for 5 after Ashok Menaria elected to bat.Lomror, who equalled his previous best of 78, steered the innings after the openers fell in quick succession. He smashed five fours and as many sixes, after coming in to bat in the 10th over.Bihar opted to preserve wickets in the first half and then attempt a heist. They were helped along the way by Babul Kumar (24), Mangal Mahrour, who finished unbeaten on 68 off 58 balls and Vikash Yadav (27 off 17 balls)They got into a position from where they needed 45 off the last three overs with a set Mahrour looking to do the unthinkable, but perhaps they left themselves with a little too much to do.Khaleel Ahmed, the left-arm pace spearhead, conceded only eight off the penultimate over to leave Bihar with 27 off the last over, which was a tad too many. They eventually fell short by 16 runs.However, Bihar will take back with them the experience of having come through a tough qualifying pool, winning all their five games in the league phase. They may just wonder if they left things for a little too late on the flight home.

Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, believes Rory Hamilton Brown, the 22-year-old Sussex allrounder, has the ‘charisma and intelligence’ to lead Surrey to the top of English cricket

Cricinfo staff15-Dec-2009Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, believes Rory Hamilton-Brown, the 22-year-old Sussex allrounder, has the ‘charisma and intelligence’ to lead Surrey to the top of English cricket.Hamilton-Brown, who is currently with England’s Performance Programme squad in South Africa, moved to Sussex from the Oval in 2008 but Adams, who joined Surrey after the 2008 season, is hoping to attract Hamilton-Brown back to London when they talk on Wednesday.”We’ve got sell him the vision,” said Adams to Surrey TV. “The journey that we have begun here which we hope will be a very special one. I want Surrey to go back to the top of English cricket, that’s what I’m doing here.”After a difficult first year in charge in which Surrey won just one of their 16 Division Two Championship matches and culminated in captain Mark Butcher’s retirement, Adams said the club needs a leader who can inspire and galvanise the squad as the club moves forward and claims that ‘Surrey lad’ Hamilton-Brown is the man to do so.”We need a new captain who really brings the players together and if you look at the guys out there currently, there’s not a massive list. Rory’s name came right at the very top. I know the lad, he’s a super talented cricketer and he’s a Surrey lad first and foremost.”He’s had 85% of his cricket through the Surrey system and a couple of years at Sussex, he’s developed exceptionally well and the time is right for me and him to come together and formulate a partnership which will take Surrey back to where it needs to be – the top of English cricket.”Hamilton-Brown would become the youngest captain on the county circuit and would have to manage the famously volatile temperament of star-batsman Mark Ramprakash. Yet Adams believes the English game can be too conservative and points to the example of Graeme Smith, who got the South African captaincy at the age of 22, to show what can be achieved.”Captains are born. You need charisma and intelligence and the ability to get people to follow you and Rory has that,” said Adams.”One of the problems of English cricket is that we’re too steeped in tradition, When we’re presented with an opportunity like this we tend to rule it out. But look at Graeme Smith – he captained South Africa at 22, look at Cameron White, now in Australia’s one-day team – captained Victoria at 20.”

The BCB is expected to make the announcement this week, with Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz also in the running

Mohammad Isam08-Aug-2023The BCB will unveil Bangladesh’s new ODI captain later this week after the board president Nazmul Hassan has spoken to the candidates. Shakib Al Hasan is reportedly the first choice though Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are also contenders.The board couldn’t finalise a name during the emergency meeting on Monday because it wanted to take the candidates’ views also into consideration. The squad for the Asia cup has to be announced by August 12, which leaves the BCB only three more days to reach a decision. Shakib is presently in Colombo; Litton has only just returned to Bangladesh after playing the Global T20 Canada; and Mehidy is in Dhaka.Hassan had said in a recent briefing that appointing Shakib as the ODI captain would be an “easy decision”, but ESPNcricinfo understands it isn’t as straightforward. Shakib is already Bangladesh’s Test and T20I captain, and it is not known whether he wants the leadership in all formats.Related

• Tamim out of Asia Cup with back injury, steps down as ODI captain

• Tamim Iqbal reverses retirement decision

“After our emergency meeting today, the board has entrusted the president to discuss the matter with the captaincy candidates by August 12,” Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s cricket operations chairman, said. “The president will hear about who will lead in which format, and whether that player agrees with it or not. We want to hear it from the candidates what they feel about captaining the red and white-ball teams.”We want to appoint a captain for the Asia Cup. We have to submit the team for this tournament by August 12. We have time till September 5, which is the deadline for World Cup squad declaration, to talk about the World Cup captain. We need to hear what the new captain will say. We will announce the team in the next couple of days. We will announce the captain too.”Bangladesh are likely to name a 22-member preliminary squad for the World Cup by August 12, which will include all the players going to the Asia Cup, which begins on August 30.The ODI captaincy remains vacant because Tamim Iqbal resigned on August 3, following his withdrawal from the Asia Cup owing to a back injury. He hopes to be fit in time for the ODI series against New Zealand that begins on September 21 and the ODI World Cup that follows.His resignation came less than a month after he reversed his emotional decision to retire from international cricket. He had retired on July 6 but the following afternoon, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina requested him to change his decision and he agreed. It was thought at the time that Hassan’s comments to a local media outlet, in which he questioned Tamim’s professionalism and fitness, had triggered him into retiring hastily.

Another command performance from England’s talisman will be lost amid Newlands’ scorecard details

George Dobell at Newlands07-Jan-2020We live in an age when analysts believe almost everything can be measured. Win-rates, strike-rates, heart-rates, economy-rates… you name it, someone can put a figure on it.And there’s no doubt such statistics can provide insight and illumination. But not everything that counts can be counted.So it is with Ben Stokes. He finished the Cape Town Test with the unremarkable figures of 3 for 69 with the ball and 119 runs between his two innings with the bat. Decent, for sure. But unremarkable.But anyone who was lucky enough to be at Newlands in recent days – and on Tuesday, in particular – will know they saw a special performance by a special cricketer at the peak of his powers. And they will know, too, that figures don’t just mislead: they lie and cheat and try to sell you double-glazing.The point is this: Stokes was magnificent in Cape Town. With bat and ball and in the field, he produced performances that contributed heavily to England’s first win at this ground since 1957. And while our sport can sometimes seem unhealthily preoccupied with personal statistics, it should never be forgotten that this is a team game. So while some players – quite a lot of players, really – always have an eye on their average or personal milestones, Stokes is interested only in the team dynamic and the result.Consider his second innings here. Stokes thrashed a half-century in 34 balls. That means Ian Botham is the only man to have hit one in fewer deliveries for England (albeit with the caveat that the number of deliveries was not always counted). More importantly, it meant England were able to build on Dom Sibley’s foundations and set up a position whereby they could declare. Bearing in mind that they achieved this victory with just 50 balls left in the match and Stokes’ input seems more important than ever.You can’t play that sort of innings if you are worried about your average. You can’t think of reverse-sweeping seamers and spinners alike if you have any thought in your head other than accelerating your side’s innings. You don’t get caught at long-on if you are eking out the runs required to bring up a century.He was no less impressive with the ball. You could make a strong case to argue that Stokes is, at this stage, one of the best swing bowlers available to England. Just consider his performance at Trent Bridge in 2015 when, with James Anderson absent, it fell to him to fulfil the role of swing bowler. He responded by moving the ball in and out at pace for figures of 6 for 36.Equally, you could make a case to argue that he is England’s most hostile bowler. True, he has never quite generated the pace of Mark Wood in St Lucia or Jofra Archer at Lord’s. But, day in, day out, when those two are either injured or struggling to find their mojo, it is Stokes who responds to his captain’s call to ensure the batsmen aren’t too comfortable at the crease. Take his performance in Colombo in 2018, when he complemented the spinners by bowling long, fast spells (all four of his wickets in that match came from short balls) that ignored the risk of leaking runs. Not all bowlers are prepared to embrace that equation.Ben Stokes drives over the on-side•AFP

In the second innings here, Stokes did not come on until the 40th over. By then, the pitch had died and the ball offered nothing. He was England’s seventh-choice bowler. And yet he bowled as fast as anyone in the match (regularly over 90mph) and somehow found some life – and not a peaceful life, but a hellish, hate-filled life full of searing pace and rearing bouncers – to discomfort everyone who faced him.It will be his final spell, the spell that clinched the match, which draws attention. But his spell on the fourth evening – seven overs of wonderfully hostile bowling which brought no personal reward – really stood out. At a time when the batsmen had started to look ominously settled, he offered threat and peril. And who can measure whether his unsettling spell led, in part at least, to Zubayr Hamza’s tentative prod at Anderson shortly afterwards?And then there’s that final spell. The stats tell us it can be measured in terms of its three wickets for the cost of one run in 28 balls. What they don’t tell us is that, by then, Anderson was broken, Stuart Broad and Sam Curran were looking impotent and that the spinners were required at the other end. They don’t tell us, either, that Stokes had decided that he wasn’t going to relinquish the ball until the job was done. That, when the pressure was at its greatest, he was the man who wanted to be in the thick of the action.This was a spell that brought back memories of that Leeds game. In that match, Stokes had second-innings figures of 24.2-7-56-3. Which again look decent but unremarkable. Until you realise it was achieved in a single spell split only by stumps on one night and four balls from Archer before he suffered an attack of cramp.There was a revealing moment in that match. In the fourth innings, he reached his century with 37 runs still needed for victory. “I didn’t really care,” he said afterwards. “Personal milestones mean nothing.” And you believed him. Because he didn’t celebrate at the time or give it all away immediately afterwards. He had his eyes set only on the win. Only after that was achieved did he celebrate.ALSO READ: ‘Stokes is a golden nugget’ – Joe RootThe great disadvantage Stokes has as a bowler is that he does not have himself as a catcher in the slips. Here, in the first innings, he claimed a record five catches; no England player (other than a keeper) has held as many in an innings; no player from any country (other than a keeper) has held more. Truly, Stokes could catch Moriarty, Blofeld and Lord Lucan.Nobody should be surprised by any of this. When the World Cup was slipping away, it was Stokes who delivered. When the series against Australia was all but lost at Leeds, it was Stokes who delivered. And when Root had nowhere to turn in Cape Town, it was Stokes he trusted and Stokes who delivered. There are, basically, two types of cricket lovers: those who appreciate what a fine player Stokes is. And idiots. It speaks volumes for the worthlessness of the ICC rankings that he is placed third in their Test allrounder rankings.As Stokes was the first to point out after the match, the most pleasing aspect of this performance, from an England perspective, was that the whole team contributed. Yes, some players – Dom Sibley and Anderson – registered personal milestones which will jump out from scorecards when people review them in a hundred years. And yes, shortly after that, the inputs of Ollie Pope, with his first-innings half-century, Root, with his second-innings runs, may gain a nod of appreciation.But then there’s the likes of Zak Crawley, who held a couple of vital catches, Broad, who moved Anderson to leg slip and trapped Rassie van der Dussen there with his next delivery, Joe Denly, who claimed the two left-handers, Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock, with his legspin aimed into the foot-holes, Dom Bess, who allowed England’s bowlers to rotate and recover in the first innings and Curran, who took a couple of key wickets from nowhere. There were countless other cameos, too. All contributed.But most of all there was Ben Stokes. And what the analysts won’t be able to measure is the way he makes the man next to him want to perform better; the way he makes the man next to him retain belief when logic suggests it should be waning; the way he inspires and leads and keeps going when others are wearied and broken.Forget the stats. You can’t measure love or loyalty or most of the things that really matter. It’s more that their veracity becomes apparent to us at times of need. Ben Stokes is a great team player. There’s no higher praise than that.

Rebecca Burns replaces the batter in New Zealand’s T20I squad, with Georgia Plimmer retained as cover for ODIs

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2022Batter Brooke Halliday has been ruled out of the remainder of the limited-overs series against Bangladesh due to a hand injury. Opener Rebecca Burns has been called into the squad for the remaining two T20Is. Georgia Plimmer, who was originally selected for the T20Is only, will remain with the squad as batting cover for the three ODIs that follow.Halliday was struck on the hand during Northern Districts’ Hallyburton Johnstone Shield loss to Canterbury Magicians last weekend, and a scan this week revealed a fracture that will require four to six weeks of rehabilitation.New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyers said they had initially thought her knock was a “minor one”, and that the team was hoping for her return for the third T20I and the ODIs. However, the scan on Friday “showed up worse than first expected”.”We’re clearly disappointed for Brooke,” Sawyer said. “She’s a big part of this team – and the batting group in particular – but we know she’ll be applying her hard-working attitude to her rehabilitation, and will be available as soon as possible. There’s a lot of cricket coming up over the next few months – most notably the T20 World Cup next year – and we’re confident she’ll be back in time.”With the replacement Burns’ reputation being of an aggressive opener in domestic cricket, and with the T20 World Cup scheduled for February 2023, Sawyer said that Burns is someone “they want to have a look at” in the lead-up to the global event.”Rebecca possesses strength and power at the top of the order, and we want to see if she can work within our plans leading into the World Cup,” he said. “She’s shown over the past few seasons that she has the ability to score runs quickly in the powerplay, and can swing momentum rapidly in her team’s favour.”Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Jess McFadyen, who was unable to take part in New Zealand’s thumping of Bangladesh in the first T20I due to illness, is still being assessed.The second T20I takes place in Dunedin on Sunday, with the final game scheduled for Queenstown for Wednesday.