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In what was undoubtedly the most delightful press conference of the tour, Anthony Martin presented his rainbow personality.

Sriram Veera14-Jun-2011Anthony Martin is an original. In what was undoubtedly the most delightful press conference of the tour, Martin presented his rainbow personality. Passionate. Sentimental. Humourous. Serious. Emotional. Slightly off his rocker. Naïve. Sincere. Fresh. Utter fun.It started with the most rollicking understatement of the tour and it also had an over-the-top, theatrical, warning in the middle. “It [his four-wicket haul] feels good. I may not show it on the outside but I feel very good inside, you know,” he said. Not show it outside? Seriously? Really? Martin was bouncing in joy. Happiness exploded from him. It was almost infectious.You would think characters like Martin don’t come any more in this day and age but here he was, parading his colourful character. It didn’t feel like a performance; he was just being himself.”No-one comes here and destroys me on my pitch,” he said. “This is my pitch. I don’t care who they are. I am here to destroy whoever I play against. I am so glad that I did it against India, the world champions.”There was no trace of arrogance. The way he said the words you couldn’t even accuse him of being pompous. Neither were they meant to be humorous. It was light hearted sure but it appeared he meant every word of it. Yet, no one could take offence.He is sentimental. A local journalist asked him about the impact of his mother. “Sometimes just to speak about my mom I want to shed tears. She has always looked out for me. She supports me all the time. She was in the crowd today with my daughter and girlfriend.” Sentimentality gives way to humour without any warning. “I am not married,” he says with a laugh. “I might not ever. I may also.””I don’t like losing. That ‘L” word is not in my vocabulary. Only Love and Lord. Not Losing”•Associated Press

Now, he was on a roll and it appeared he couldn’t have stopped himself, even if he tried. “I am sorry that Sachin and Sehwag weren’t here,” he continued. No-one had brought up those two names. “I have played against Sehwag one time before. I took a catch off him and he didn’t want to move. He stood on the pitch, leaning on his bat and I was celebrating. I went all around the park.” Laughter.That game was back in 2006. It was where Martin’s confidence grew and a cricketing career took the next step. “I took the wicket of Rahul Dravid, caught at slip. I took another left-hander , don’t remember his name. I took two wickets for not much. After getting those wickets I told myself I can play international cricket. I have seen Dravid on TV destroying attacks all over the world and he came here and I destroyed him. He hit a four first ball and then gone! So I tell myself I can play.”He might come across a fun eccentric character but he is a severely passionate and hard-working man. He used to be a fast bowler in his under-15 days but an accident injured his back and he couldn’t bowl fast anymore. So he tried off spin but the under-19 coach in Antigua told him he had to try something else since they had two established offspinners. “I said ok. I switched to leg spin … I had to find something to stay in the game. I used to warm-up with legspin when I was a pacer and so I tried my hand at it.”His uncle was his chief mentor of his life. As he puts it his unique way, “My uncle didn’t tolerate any crap. He was always serious. If you notice I am always serious too. I don’t make jokes when the game is going on. When it’s on my only friends are my team-mates.”Antigua is where he grew up and he was disappointed not to play in the fourth ODI. It spurred him on. “I went back to the hotel and thought the coach didn’t think fit for me to play. I tell myself that whenever I get the opportunity to play I am going to show that I deserve to be there in the eleven.”More motivation was also at hand. “I didn’t want the whitewash or the Indian wash!” He ended the press meet with more delightful gems. “I don’t like losing. That ‘L” word is not in my vocabulary. Only Love and Lord. Not Losing.”

Claude Henderson re-established Leicestershire’s authority with two key wickets in five balls after Surrey had battled their way back in the match

05-Jun-2010

ScorecardClaude Henderson re-established Leicestershire’s authority with two key wickets in five balls after Surrey had battled their way back in the match between the bottom two sides in the County Championship second division at The Oval. Surrey slumped from 110 for 1 to 160 for 6 at the close and now face the prospect of following on on a pitch offering increasing turn.Their prospects had seemed far better when they claimed Leicestershire’s last five wickets for 22 in six overs after lunch, restricting them to a total of 479. And although Arun Harinath was then caught at second slip off Harry Gurney’s fourth ball, Steven Davies and Mark Ramprakash put on a century stand for the second wicket.Davies completed a half-century off 62 balls, but slow left-armer Henderson had already gained psychological successes against Davies and Ramprakash before bagging their wickets. First Davies, who hit 13 fours in his 69, turned Henderson to short square leg, Jigar Naik picking up a sharp catch.Younis Khan took a fortuitous single off his first ball, almost playing on in the process, and Ramprakash (30), edged the last ball of the over to slip. Surrey lost their fourth wicket with the score on 125 when Nathan Buck tumbled low to his left to pull off a brilliant return catch and get rid of Younis.Henderson, who had Rory Hamilton-Brown dropped at slip before he had scored, matched Buck’s effort to get rid of the Surrey captain 10 minutes from the close and in the next over Gareth Batty fell to a catch at short leg.Proceedings had been far more mundane early on, particularly during a first session in which Leicestershire added 104 to their overnight 337 for 4, losing only Jacques du Toit for 81. Tom New, who survived a tough chance to Davies behind the stumps when he had made 27, went on to complete a low-key 50 off 143 balls, and was well supported by Naik in a sixth-wicket stand of 98 in 34 overs.Jade Dernbach, the unlucky bowler when New was reprieved, could count on little assistance from a typically placid Oval pitch, but Surrey’s leading wicket-taker varied his length intelligently to finish with 5 for 87. Naik and Henderson were both bowled by full-length balls while New, who went into the 90s with only his seventh four, attempted to hook Dernbach’s next ball and gloved it to Davies. Offspinner Batty then wrapped up the Leicestershire innings with a sharp caught-and-bowled to dismiss last man Gurney.

Australia’s opener bided his time against Scotland before playing his part in the well-timed surge

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-20244:16

Finch on Australia’s six drops: They were uncharacteristically sloppy

This year, Travis Head has been flaying powerplays. Against Scotland, who bowled excellently in the opening six overs in St Lucia, it was a little different.Head wasn’t exactly slow; after the fielding restrictions, he was 24 of 20 balls – a strike-rate of 120 – having needed nine balls to find his first boundary. But before Saturday’s innings, his powerplay strike rate in 2024 had been 173.78.It wasn’t until he had reached a 45-ball fifty that Head really flicked the switch, taking Safyaan Sharif for three sixes in four balls only broken up by a wide which all-but assured Australia would get over the line.Related

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Head was delighted to go about his innings in a slightly different style, the pressure eased on him when Marcus Stoinis arrived in the middle and immediately found the boundary.”There’s going to be times when it’s going to be done different ways,” Head told reporters. “So pleased I was able to spend some time out there, get the job done, put us in a position and help us win, and have that partnership with Stoin. It’s not always going to be as fluent and not going to be as fast a start. Sometimes it might be slower and we might have to do it a different way. I feel like I can do that and tonight I showed that.”Travis Head had a quieter powerplay that has become the norm•Getty Images

Australia have huge confidence in their ability to change gears during an innings with the power the middle order possesses in Stoinis, Tim David and Matthew Wade. Glenn Maxwell is yet to find form, but should he fire that adds another dimension.A large surge has twice been on show in the T20 World Cup: against Oman they amassed 84 in the last six overs, led by Stoinis, then against Scotland made a demanding 89 off 37 balls look relatively comfortable.”You’re going through the gears and working out where you can do it,” Head said when asked about timing the Scotland pursuit. “It naturally happened today with Stoin. He was playing beautifully and I was playing that role with him where I stay out there as long as I could, knowing that hopefully my chance would come.”But with so much power, anything is possible in the last seven, eight overs. We got to a stage where it was time to go, and we’d kept the powder dry, and we were able to accelerate through the back end.”Australia will return to St Lucia to play India in their final Super Eight match. That will follow meetings with mostly likely Bangladesh in Antigua and Afghanistan in St Vincent. The selection of Ashton Agar against Scotland was with an eye on him likely having a role during the Super Eight in conditions that have favoured spin, especially at Arnos Vale.

Hoggard and Bresnan accused of making repeated racist remarks during time at club

Osman Samiuddin01-Mar-2023The ECB opened the long-awaited, much-delayed Cricket Discipline Commission’s racism hearings by laying out its case against, among others, former fast bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan.On the opening day of hearings at the International Arbitration Centre in London, the ECB accused Hoggard, Bresnan and John Blain of repeatedly making racist remarks while at Yorkshire. The trio were accused of directing words and phrases such as p***, “you lot”, “Rafa the K****” and “Fit p***” at players including Azeem Rafiqand Adil Rashid, as well as Azeem’s sister Amna, on a number of occasions over the course of a decade from 2008.All three strongly deny the charges.In all, the ECB has charged six players, including Michael Vaughan, Richard Pyrah and Andrew Gale, as well as Yorkshire. Five of those charged have refused to attend the hearings. That added a procedural but surreal feel to matters on the opening day, where Azeem appeared three times on the witness stand for the ECB only to not face any questioning either from the ECB or the three-person CDC panel.The charges stem from allegations made by Rafiq. According to the ECB, in an initial response to the charges, Hoggard, who withdrew from the process in February, admitted having used the term “Rafa the K***” and “p***” but denied racist or discriminatory intent. He could not recall the exact occasions when he used the terms. Hoggard was also accused of using “you lot” with reference to Rafiq and other players of Asian origin but denied racist intent. As a consequence, Hoggard admitted in part to having breached ECB directive 3.3 – on prejudicial and discriminatory behaviour.The accusations against Bresnan are based on his alleged use of the term “the brothers” when referring to players of an ethnic minority, to using “you lot” and “fit p***”. These are all said to have taken place between 2009 and 2018. In his initial response to the ECB, Bresnan denied being in breach, admitting that he did use the first two terms but not in a way that was in breach of directive 3.3. In that response, Bresnan denied using the third term altogether.As part of its evidence against Bresnan, the ECB referred to an allegation of bullying against Bresnan that was upheld in the Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) report from August 2021. That report was based on one of the first investigations into Rafiq’s allegations of racism at Yorkshire and has never been released in full. In a summarised version that was released, seven of Rafiq’s 43 claims were upheld.Yorkshire have admitted to all four charges laid against them and will not appear at the hearing. The mishandling of the SPB report was one of the charges the ECB laid against the county. Another emerged last week in the admission by Yorkshire that it had deleted emails or documents related to the Rafiq case in or around November 2021.Blain, the former Scotland cricketer, was accused of having used the term “p***” during pre-season training at Headingley in April 2010 and, non-specifically, on other occasions while at Yorkshire in 2010-11. Blain denied the incidents in his initial response to the ECB. In their evidence, the ECB referred again to the SPB report which they said upheld the allegation that Blain used the term “p***” against Rafiq.As a result of the absences, the first day developed into a frictionless one. The ECB’s lead counsel Jane Mulcahy KC would detail the board’s case against each defendant, a couple of witnesses – including Rafiq – would be called up and simply be asked to confirm their witness statements were correct and authentic. The panel, having read those statements, had no questions and because the defendants didn’t appear, had nobody to question.Related

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That will change with the expected appearance of Vaughan on Thursday, the only one of the six individuals charged to be appearing. Vaughan has been accused of having said “There’s too many of you lot” at the start of a T20 game in June 2009 to four Asian-origin or Asian players in the Yorkshire team that day. He has denied the charge.The ECB did, however, take the opportunity to “correct a number of misrepresentations” about the disciplinary process, in light of the withdrawals of the defendants. Pyrah had said he had not been questioned by the ECB on the charges, which the ECB said was “false”. They detailed communication with him on the matter. Similarly, they refuted Bresnan’s claims to have been charged without being spoken to by pointing to a transcript of an interview with the ECB.Adil Rashid, currently in Bangladesh with England’s ODI team, is also expected to appear as a witness via video call. The ECB’s cases against Gale and Pyrah are also still to be heard.”The non-attending Respondents have referred, both in these proceedings and in public, to Mr Rafiq’s allegations not having been appropriately challenged,” Mulcahy said. “Of course, by withdrawing from these proceedings, the Respondents have denied themselves the opportunity to challenge Mr Rafiq’s allegations themselves.”The hearing is expected to end on Tuesday next week, though the CDC’s judgment is expected at a later date.

Lucknow will host the first T20I now and Dharamsala the next two. The two Tests will be played in Mohali and Bengaluru

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2022The BCCI has announced the revised dates and venues for Sri Lanka’s tour of India, which will comprise three T20Is and two Tests. The tour begins with the first T20I in Lucknow on February 24, with the other two being back-to-back matches in Dharamsala on February 26 and 27.This will be followed by the first Test in Mohali from March 4, before the tour concludes with a day-night Test in Bengaluru starting March 12. Both Tests will be a part of the second cycle of the World Test Championship.Originally, the tour was scheduled to begin with the T20I series followed by the Tests, but as reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier, the BCCI decided to change the sequence. This was done after SLC’s request to allow a smoother bubble-to-bubble transfer of their T20I squad, which will have concluded a series in Australia just four days ahead of the first T20I against India.Another change was in the venues. Initially, the first Test was to be played in Bengaluru and the second in Mohali, while the T20Is were to be held in Mohali, Dharamsala and Lucknow. Now ending the tour in Bengaluru facilitates the visiting Sri Lanka side with a direct flight to Colombo.This will only be India’s third day-night Test at home – they hosted Bangladesh in 2019 and England in 2021 – and their fourth overall, the same number as Sri Lanka. Both teams have won two and lost one of their three day-night Tests so far.

Against all the odds, England completed their full schedule of 18 international fixtures this summer

Andrew Miller17-Sep-2020Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, says that his team should be proud of their role in ensuring that the show went ahead this summer, despite their disappointment at losing out to Australia in a thrilling finish to the men’s international season on Wednesday night.Against all the odds, England completed their full schedule of 18 international fixtures this summer, thanks to the ECB’s innovative use of bio-secure environments at Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl, as well as the players’ willingness to subject themselves to lengthy periods in isolation.And for that reason, Silverwood believes that the bigger picture must take precedence over the minutiae of England’s three-wicket defeat in the decider at Old Trafford, a result that deprived them of a clean sweep of trophies this summer, and ended the world champions’ five-year unbeaten run in home ODI series.”We look back with a lot of pride to be honest,” he said. “It’s always disappointing to lose. But if you put it in perspective, you go back to April when we were all wondering if we’d get cricket on, to actually play a full international calendar and to be taking part in some fantastic games is nothing short of exceptional.”I think a lot of credit needs to go to all those people involved in that whether that be players, staff, ECB, the hotels, grounds – everybody involved who has made this happen because it’s been absolutely fantastic. I think cricket as a whole has won.”ALSO READ: Aussies burst England’s bubble on long road to 2023England looked to have won as well, when Australia slumped to 73 for 5 in reply to a daunting target of 303, a situation that appeared to worsen when Alex Carey, on 9, holed out to third man, only to be reprieved when the third umpire signalled that Jofra Archer had overstepped.From that point onwards, Carey and Glenn Maxwell wrested control of the contest, each posting centuries in a magnificent record-breaking stand of 212 – albeit with a few further slices of luck, notably when Jos Buttler reprieved Maxwell on 44.And though there was another late surge of belief from England, as they prised out both men to take the contest into the final over, they would this time be made to pay for their errors. Mitchell Starc duly finished the game with the same aplomb as he had begun it, cracking 11 not out from three balls to go alongside his two-in-two at the top of England’s own innings, to seal the series with two balls to spare.”We won’t be getting too down about it,” Silverwood said. “There are things we can work on – fielding is one thing we’ve started pushing coming into this series and we need to continue to work on that because we can always improve.”But it was a hard-fought series to be honest, two good teams going at each other and it’s provided some really entertaining cricket. We’ve seen some exceptional individual performances in there and we saw an exceptional partnership between two players and they won the game for them. Sometimes you’ve got to say well done to the opposition.”A further positive for England came in the challenge provided by Old Trafford’s surfaces, which were a far cry from the belters on which England honed their hard-hitting strategies ahead of the 2019 World Cup.In spite of the 2-1 defeat, England’s skills with bat and ball held up well in conditions that were similar to those they might face in India in 2023. However, as Silverwood acknowledged, a certain degree of ruthlessness was lacking, perhaps understandably, given both the summer’s strange circumstances, and the obvious comedown from the highs of 2019.”I think the passion is there, the desire is still there, so I think it will come from within,” he said. “The wicket for the first two games was a difficult wicket, it’s not the type of wicket we’re used to playing on with our expansive game. So that was a different challenge for us.”It certainly wasn’t through any lack of effort or passion, but I don’t think we have performed at our best,” he added. “There’s a few more gears in there for us and we’ve got to continually strive to improve and keep pushing the boundaries because the last thing I want is for the guys to go into their shell.”I want them to come out of it more. If we get pushed, we want to push back harder, we want to break records. It’s what these guys do, they don’t know what limits are, so we’ll just keep trying to create an environment where they feel they’ll break records.”In the medium- to long-term, however, that environment may have to be very similar to the one that the players have just endured. For as Silverwood acknowledged, there is no obvious end in sight to the pandemic, and no certainty as to whether their winter tours of South Africa in December and India and Sri Lanka in the new year will be able to take place as scheduled.”There’s quite a bit up in the air but we’re hopeful,” said Silverwood. “We’re learning every day of how we deal with Covid and hopefully if we continue to do that, we’ll play. But [the bubble] has been successful here and if we can do it so can other countries. Getting cricket on everywhere around the world is what we all want.”

After decimating Pakistan with their bouncer barrage, the West Indies captain said you can plenty more where that came from

Melinda Farrell at Trent Bridge31-May-2019West Indies intend to continue their aggressive bowling tactics after Andre Russell’s early short-ball barrage sparked a Pakistan collapse at Trent Bridge.Russell’s three-over spell proved crucial, his brutal bouncers claiming the wickets of Fakhar Zaman and Haris Sohail and exposing Pakistan’s middle order early. It was clearly a pre-meditated plan and one that Jason Holder suggests will be repeated throughout the World Cup.Pakistan were clueless against the short stuff that West Indies’ dished out at Trent Bridge•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I think our style was just to be aggressive,” Holder said after the match. “We just want to be aggressive with whoever we’re playing against. It’s just something that we need to do in order to pick up wickets.”I think with the modern-day game, if you are not picking wickets up throughout the innings you’re going to struggle to contain teams. So, we just want to be aggressive even if we give up a few runs up front, trying to get wickets. One of the things we’ve spoken about in the recent past is just trying to have that mindset to take wickets because if you’re not taking wickets you’re going to struggle.”ALSO READ: Russell confident of fitness ahead of Australia clashSuch was the force of the West Indies pacemen that they scythed through Pakistan’s line-up in just 21.4 overs. Sheldon Cottrell performed his wicket-taking salute after a leg-side strangle of Imam-ul-haq, Holder picked up three wickets, and Oshane Thomas picked up 4 for 27 in a memorable World Cup debut.”Yeah, he’s been excellent,” Holder said. “The last game he got five wickets and then he comes and follows it up with four wickets here today. It was great to see him running in and bowling fast. That’s one thing we ask of him, just to be aggressive in those middle overs, as I said before. He’s working out quite nicely for us. It’s just a matter for us to be consistent with it, and at times not get carried away with it in terms of overdoing it.”But yeah, credit to him. He’s been outstanding so far, and he’s definitely created a buzz throughout the entire team.”ALSO READ: ‘When I see fear in the batsman’s eyes, it pumps me up’ – Oshane Thomas interviewThomas, though, credited Russell with creating that buzz around the bowlers at Trent Bridge, encouraging the debutant to keep up the short-pitched attack.”Andre Russell led the way, bowling aggressive and fast,” Thomas said. “The Pakistani guys didn’t like it. So I just picked up where he left off really – [the rules allow] two short balls every over, so use them.””The guys were sitting back. Russell was bowling short so I think the short ball – we had a good plan and executed well. It’s a good move going forward for us.”West Indies’ next opposition – Australia on June 6 – will likely provide a different challenge, their batsmen more accustomed to fast, short-pitched bowling. But Holder will take encouragement from the all-round discipline displayed by his attack.”Yeah, I was pleased with the discipline,” Holder said. “Outside the aggression, we need to be following up on our deliveries and building overs quite nicely. One of the things we always harp on about in the dressing room is what are we bowling outside of the aggressive balls, whether it be a short bowl or if you’re going up there for a yorker or whatever it may be, you’ve got to follow up with some other deliveries. It’s just about stacking overs nicely together and building some pressure.”

Captain thanks team’s supporters as Afghanistan battle back from brink of elimination with typical resilience

Liam Brickhill in Harare23-Mar-2018Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai dedicated his team’s win over Ireland “to all the people of Afghanistan back home who supported us”. Afghanistan’s five-wicket victory over Ireland in the final Super Six match of the World Cup qualifying tournament secured their place at the 2019 World Cup in England.”I can’t express how happy they will be back home,” said Stanikzai. “Because everyone likes and supports this game back home. We didn’t even have a 10% chance to qualify after the first round, but after some support from people back home, the prayers of the people of Afghanistan, all the messages we received, all the messages on social media, it was not just the dream for our guys, but it was the dream of all Afghanistan as well. I can’t express how important it was for us, and for Afghanistan, to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. We especially want to dedicate this game to all the people of Afghanistan back home who supported us.””It was the dream of every senior player to qualify for the World Cup, because they knew it may be their last World Cup,” said Stanikzai. “So it was a dream for them, and it’s come true. You can see the joy in their celebrations, and they deserve it, the way they played. We are very happy.”Afghanistan made a disastrous start to the qualifying tournament, losing their group games to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong. They were without the belligerent presence of Mohammad Shahzad at the top of the order and behind the wicket after he was handed a two-match suspension after falling foul of the match referee during Afghanistan’s defeat to Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. They were also without their captain, Stanikzai, who had to undergo an emergency appendectomy soon after the squad’s arrival in Zimbabwe. Stanikzai said that his side were no strangers to hardship, or to the come-from-behind campaigns that have marked their ascent in world cricket.”If you look at the history of Afghanistan in qualifying tournaments, in the beginning we have struggled in the initial rounds of previous tournaments as well,” said Stanikzai. “This time unfortunately I got an operation for appendicitis, and I was much needed by the team, but in the second round I came back, the morale was up, and they knew, really knew, how important each game was for us. We had, somehow, hope. Especially before the UAE-Zimbabwe game. After that game, we knew our chances were increased, and now we’ve done it. I’m really happy with how the guys bounced back, it’s a great achievement. “Stanikzai returned to lead the side to a win over UAE earlier this week, and played a vital hand today with a quickfire 39. He reached the boundary repeatedly in his innings, despite being in obvious discomfort following his operation.”I’m not feeling that well, not 100%. I only had my operation two weeks ago. I still feel pain inside, especially when I was playing big shots. It was very hard for me to control. But this is us, we are the youngsters, we have to fight and sacrifice for our country. And that’s what we did. And I have done it. When the country needs me, I will be there. I will forget about the pain or whatever, the operation, and I’m proud that I have done this, my little contribution to my country.”Afghanistan’s win today ensured that they will take part in their second World Cup, but Stanikzai insisted that participation alone was no longer enough for his quickly developing team.”We would like not only to participate in the World Cup, but to perform and to even beat more countries because we’re not an Associate any more. Now we have to win because the higher you go, the higher the expectation.”Definitely we will accept that challenge.”

A round-up of all the west zone matches of the inter-state T20 competition on February 1, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2017Deepak Hooda struck the third fastest T20 century in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to helped Baroda beat Gujarat by 15 runs and register their first win in the inter-state T20 competition.Hooda struck three fours and nine sixes in his 51-ball 108 to fire Baroda to 201 for 8. A majority of those runs were accrued during the course of a third-wicket stand of 119 with Vishnu Solanki (42). Three Gujarat bowlers picked up two wickets each: Ishwar Chaudhary was the most economical among them, taking 2 for 12 off four overs.Gujarat lost openers Dhruv Raval and Priyank Panchal in the space of three deliveries in the fourth over. When Manprit Juneja fell for 20, they were 61 for 3 in 6.2 overs. Rujul Bhatt (34) and Chirag Gandhi (56) briefly kept the chase alive, but the asking rate spiraled beyond 10 runs an over when Tushar Arothe sent back Bhatt in the 15th over. Rohit Dahiya struck an unbeaten 11-ball 29 to eventually reduce the margin of victory. Gujarat finished on 186 for 7.Mumbai recovered from 74 for 5 in the 13th over to overhaul Saurashtra’s 175 for 6 with two balls to spare and five wickets in hand in a thriller. Abhishek Nayar, who struck an unbeaten 76, helped bring the chase into the realms of possibility. He was aided by Shashank Singh, who made 47 not out off 22 balls, in a 102-run stand for the sixth wicket to help Mumbai remain unbeaten.Saurashtra, who elected to bat, were driven by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 42-ball 47 that bailed the team out of a precarious 53 for 3. Sheldon Jackson made 30, while Rajdeep Darbar struck 37 off just 24 balls before retiring hurt to give the innings a flourish in the end overs. Saurashtra batsmen were particularly harsh on Prathamesh Dake, who conceded 55 off his four overs.

Steve O’Keefe appears set to play the third Test against West Indies, although Sydney’s questionable weather forecast could yet scupper his bid to add to his solitary Test cap

Brydon Coverdale30-Dec-2015Steve O’Keefe appears set to play the third Test against West Indies, although Sydney’s questionable weather forecast could yet scupper his bid to add to his solitary Test cap. Australia’s coaches and medical staff will monitor the fast bowlers over the next two days, with Peter Siddle’s ankle problem the main concern after he bowled only nine overs of 88.3 in West Indies’ second innings in Melbourne.Siddle will need to prove his fitness by bowling in the nets in the coming days and if he struggles, Victoria fast bowler Scott Boland could make his debut, but the greater likelihood is that O’Keefe would be used in a twin spin attack with Nathan Lyon. Even if all the fast bowlers are fit there is a strong chance that O’Keefe will play, given what the selectors have seen from the SCG this summer.”In the games we’ve been watching it’s been spinning, so I would say more than likely it’ll be two spinners,” coach Darren Lehmann said on Wednesday. “But until we get there – and the weather, there’s a bit of weather about – so we’ll have to sum that up probably closer to day one I would think, before we make a decision. Obviously we’ve got to wait for all the fitness on the quicks as well.”The last time Australia played two spinners in a Sydney Test was arguably the 2011 Ashes Test, when Michael Beer debuted and Steven Smith was used as an allrounder batting at No.7. However, leaving aside Smith’s legspin, the last time Australia fielded two specialist spinners at the SCG was in 2006, when Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill worked in tandem against South Africa.The forecast indicates rain on the first three days, which might be the key factor hampering O’Keefe’s chances of playing his second Test, after debuting against Pakistan in Dubai last year. However, O’Keefe’s 17 Sheffield Shield wickets at 24.64 this summer make him an appealing prospect, and Mitchell Marsh’s increased pace and wickets at the MCG allows the balance.”That certainly helps the scenario, the way he bowled,” Lehmann said of Marsh. “I thought he was fantastic yesterday. It allows us to really still play three genuine quicks and allows us to play two spinners. That’s a real option for us … looking further ahead to subcontinent conditions [Test tour of Sri Lanka in 2016] we need to make sure we’ve got two spinners up and running.”It is unlikely that Australia will know their likely XI until the day before the Test, with the squad travelling on Thursday and optional training sessions on Friday and Saturday meaning the fast bowlers might not work until match eve. Siddle is the major question mark in the pace attack, given Smith was reluctant to use him often in the second innings in Melbourne due to the pain in his ankle.”He’s an important player for us, but we’ve got to make sure he’s ready to go,” Lehmann said. “As you could see he went off the ground a few times and saw the doctor, so very painful. But again we’ve just got to weigh that up and see how he pulls up over the next couple of days. He’d have to bowl for a start, to make sure he’s all right. If he doesn’t bowl then it’s going to be a struggle for him.”One thing Australia’s selectors will not be doing is experimenting for the sake of it, despite the fact that the Frank Worrell Trophy has already been retained. Lehmann insisted that no players would be rested, with Josh Hazlewood expected to play unless there are any physical reasons that he would be unable to get through the five days of a Test.”I think we’ve done that [experiment] in the past, we’ve tried a few things in the last Test [of a series] and come unstuck,” Lehmann said. “So with a young group you really want to keep playing the way you’re playing and keep building on the confidence. As long as they’re all fit and ready to go they’ll play.”Fitness will not be the only area in which the fast bowlers are monitored over the coming days at training in Sydney: expect the coaching staff to be watching closely for no-balls in the nets. After James Pattinson twice thought he had Carlos Brathwaite dismissed on day three, only to be called for front-foot no-balls, Josh Hazlewood made the same mistake and was denied the wicket of Darren Bravo on the fourth day.”We were all disappointed and we spoke about it the night before with James doing it twice,” Lehmann said. “It’s not good enough from a bowling group, they know that, we know that. So we’ve got to put things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen during a game again. That’s getting it right at training, they were creeping up a little bit in the nets. They understand that. No one means to do it, but certainly the basics we need to get better at.”