All posts by csb10.top

Cheteshwar Pujara, the India batsman, has confirmed his return to Trent Bridge for the final four Specsavers County Championship games of the 2017 season, as Nottinghamshire look to seal their immediate return to the top flight following last season’s relegation.Pujara recently returned from India’s Test tour of Sri Lanka – he made 309 runs at 77.25, including two centuries, in their 3-0 series win – and will be available for the home and away fixtures against Northamptonshire, as well as the matches against Worcestershire (at Trent Bridge) and Sussex (at Hove).He has already played an important role in Nottinghamshire’s march to the top of the Division Two table, scoring 223 runs at 44.6 in four matches at the start of the season, including 112 in the victory over Gloucestershire in late May.”The great thing is that he has already been in the squad this season and he fitted in so well both on and off the field,” said Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach.”He is a fantastic player, and since he has been away he has had a great time of it in the Test matches for India. So we are getting a guy who is coming back in form and for the team spirit, Pudji coming back in is a huge boost for everybody.”We have got two really big home games against Northants and Worcester, because it is a chance for us to put pressure on two sides that are up there with us.”Runs on the board at Trent Bridge is always a big influence and having a player of Test-match quality in Pudji is a real bonus.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball updatesCraig Ervine’s unbeaten 151 was his highest Test score, going past the 146 he made against New Zealand last year•AFP

The score was 38 for 2 when Craig Ervine came to the crease. Within 10 overs, Zimbabwe would slip further, to 70 for 4, on a track that already seemed to be spitting. But for the remainder of the day, Ervine resisted Sri Lanka’s spinners, and Colombo’s sticky heat, to drive his team to a strong position, and himself to 151 not out. The lower order rallied around him, No. 10 Donald Tiripano – in particular – contributing 24 to an as-yet unbroken 62-run stand. Zimbabwe ended the day at 344 for 8, when at one time, it appeared as if 200 might be a struggle.Sri Lanka were reliant – as ever – on Rangana Herath for breakthroughs, and though he had two wickets in his first three overs, could claim only two further scalps in his next 27. Dilruwan Perera had Sean Williams top edge a sweep to square leg, but was largely unthreatening – outstripped for menace even by Asela Gunaratne, who was expensive, but beat the bat and claimed two wickets. On a track as slow as this, Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Kumara were always going to struggle. The main positive for Sri Lanka, is that on the first day of Dinesh Chandimal’s leadership, they took all their chances, and fielded with uncharacteristic zest.Ervine was measured to begin with. It took him 13 balls to score a run, and his first 50 deliveries brought just 19. Then the offside strokes began to flow – drives to overpitched deliveries mainly, but soon, cuts as well. Steadily growing confident through the day, reverse sweeps eventually began to prove productive, paddles around the corner were increasingly deployed, and though the likes of Herath would beat his bat late into the day, the quicks did not trouble him at all.The hundred – the second of his career – came not long after tea, via a sweep off Herath. The maiden 150 was achieved in the penultimate over of the day. Along the way, Ervine had struck 13 fours – most of these on the off side – and a six over wide long on. The significant partnerships he was involved in, were many. There was an 84-run fifth-wicket recovery alongside Sikander Raza for a start, then a 65-run seventh-wicket stand with Malcolm Waller, which put Zimbabwe within range of a fine first innings total. The stand that hurt Sri Lanka most, perhaps, was the one he wrought with Tiripano – a brisk, busy association, during which Zimbabwe scored at almost four an over. Where at one point in the day, it appeared as if Zimbabwe would roll over, Sri Lanka know now that they are in a fight.The hosts would have had such different hopes for the day. Herath, introduced by Chandimal in the eighth over, struck with his third ball, as Regis Chakabva played all around a delivery that dipped near his feet, and would go on to hit the stumps. Not long after, Hamilton Masakadza – one of Sri Lanka’s tormentors from the ODIs – had popped a catch to short leg off the insede edge of the bat. Sean Williams attempted to counterattack Zimbabwe out of their early troubles, and wound up top edging a ball he tried to sweep against the turn, and Tarisai Musakanda, on debut, was the day’s only victim of seam bowling. He was originally ruled not out when Sri Lanka appealed for a catch off Lahiru Kumara’s bowling. Upon review, however, a faint edge was detected and that decision overturned. Musakanda’s 6 was also the only single-figure score on the Zimbabwe card, though no one apart from Ervine mustered a fifty. Raza and Waller came closest, hitting 36 apiece.Although it was clear towards the end of the day that Zimbabwe were en route to a score of around 300, Sri Lanka perhaps would not have expected Tiripano to bat with such skill. He has a first-class hundred to his name however, and if he can support Ervine further in the morning, Zimbabwe might turn this from a highly competitive score to a commanding one.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:31

Agarkar: Bengaluru is not a 180 pitch anymore

With half their Eliminator completed, Kolkata Knight Riders’ players must have sat in their dugout, cursing. Cursing the weather, the scheduling, themselves. They had won the toss and bowled excellently to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 128. Conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium were far from ideal to bat in, but only six teams had defended a 20-overs total of 128 or less in the IPL. All six instances had occurred in or before the 2013 season.And then it had rained, and rained some more.Were this match to be washed out, Knight Riders would be knocked out, since they had finished fourth on the league table and Sunrisers third. They had lost their last two matches and blown a massive chance to finish in the top two.Were the IPL’s playing conditions uniform across all matches, Knight Riders have been knocked out. But the playing conditions for playoffs allow for a five-over match to begin as late as 12.26 am – nearly four-and-a-half hours past the scheduled match start – and for a Super Over to be played as far into the night as 1.20 am.And so, three hours and 18 minutes after the rain had begun – a wait longer than most T20 games – Knight Riders’ batsmen began the task of following up their bowlers’ good work. Instead of 129 in 20 overs, they would now need to chase 48 in six.Panic set in. Knight Riders meddled with their batting order, and then lost three wickets in 1.1 overs. But a shortened second innings favours the chasing team in a most exaggerated manner. Given how they bowled, Sunrisers may have thought they could have pushed for a win in a full-duration game, but as it happened, Knight Riders strode home with four balls to spare, their captain Gautam Gambhir easing them past the early jitters with an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls.Knight Riders go short, Sunrisers fall shortThe Chinnaswamy of 2017 hasn’t been the Chinnaswamy of IPLs past: the average first-innings total during the league stage was 148. The pitch for the Eliminator wasn’t a belter either; it was full of cracks and dark spots, and proved, unsurprisingly, to be two-paced and grippy.Knight Riders’ spinners got the ball to turn sharply, which greatly exaggerated the difficulty of facing Sunil Narine in particular, and their seamers hardly gave the batsmen anything to drive. Of the 72 balls that Knight Riders’ three quicks sent down, 53 were pitched either short or short of a good length, with constant pace variations thrown in. Off those 53 short or shortish balls, Sunrisers scored 46. The short ball occasionally sat up to be hit – the pull was a productive shot for David Warner and Kane Williamson during a second-wicket stand of 50 in 46 balls – but short of good length proved almost impossible to hit: 18 balls, eight runs conceded.The Warner-Williamson partnership moved Sunrisers to 75 for 1 in 11.5 overs, which seemed a decent-enough platform on a far-from-straightforward pitch until both batsmen fell in the space of three balls. Williamson picked out extra-cover off a slower ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Warner was bowled playing across a Piyush Chawla flipper.Vijay Shankar flickered briefly to score 22 off 17, but there was little else of note from the middle and lower order as Sunrisers only managed 53 in their last 49 balls. Coulter-Nile finished with three wickets, and Umesh Yadav – who dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh – with two.A completely different gameGiven that the chasing team has ten wickets in both cases, getting 48 in six overs is an indisputably more straightforward ask than getting 129 in 20. Knight Riders still had to go out and get the runs. They opened with Chris Lynn, as always, and Robin Uthappa, for the first time this season. Lynn slapped Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s second ball over point to erase an eighth of the target, but top-edged to the keeper next ball. Yusuf Pathan, haring out of his crease for an impossible leg-bye, was run out next ball.When Uthappa picked out deep midwicket at the start of the next over, Knight Riders were 12 for 3. But they still only needed 36, with seven wickets in hand. It would only take a couple of boundaries to restore a sense of normalcy, and Gambhir produced them, top-edging Chris Jordan for six and putting Siddarth Kaul away for six and four off successive balls.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:42

Hogg: Kings XI need to get Shaun Marsh in

No side had chased down 189 to win an IPL game at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Having conceded 28 more than the average first-innings score at this venue, Kings XI Punjab needed their batsmen to pull off a heist. Instead, they sunk to 64 for 5 in the 11th over, with Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan and Hashim Amla all dismissed. From there on, it was a no-contest and Delhi Daredevils won their first home game of the season by 51 runs.Shahbaz Nadeem, the left-arm spinner, did the early damage by removing Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha. Amit Mishra used the Kotla surface well, and got rid of Maxwell for the fourth time in five innings. The Kings XI captain came in at No. 6 and fell for a duck. The final nail was though was hammered by Corey Anderson, who trapped David Miller lbw for 24 off 28 balls, to go along with a robust cameo earlier in the day. Axar Patel pocketed his highest IPL score of 44, but it was merely academic.Kings XI ‘Indians’ control first half
Daredevils have preferred to invest in young Indian batsmen to take charge upfront. Kings XI Punjab have done the same on the bowling front. This was therefore a contest within a contest.While Karun Nair was snaffled down the leg side for a duck, continuing his wretched form since scoring a Test triple century in December, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant wasted starts. With Daredevils reduced to 120 for 5 in the 16th over, it was left to Chris Morris and Corey Anderson to provide the final flourish.Until the last five overs, Kings XI had won the battle of the Indian players, with all of Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel and KC Cariappa among the wickets. But doing half a job is rarely good enough.Daredevils’ overseas players deliver
The platform was set by Sam Billings, who found 40 of his 55 runs on the leg side. He hit six of his nine fours in the Powerplay – all on the leg side – and his belligerence was crucial to Daredevils posting a massive total on a slow pitch.Billings was not the only batsman who defied the surface though. Anderson, who missed the previous season after going unsold, along with Chris Morris and Pat Cummins had great success muscling the ball in the slog overs. Anderson’s unbeaten 39 off 22 balls was particularly damaging for Kings XI. He came in at 103 for 4 in the 13th over and turned it into 188, with three sixes and a four in the last 12 balls of the innings.Aaron gamble fails
Varun Aaron had an IPL economy rate of 8.79 across 39 matches prior to this game and despite two average outings this season, he was persisted. His erratic lengths, often on the shorter side, were perfect for batsmen looking to exploit the shorter legside boundary.Billings hit Aaron for three successive fours in his first over – two pulls and a flick behind square leg. Then Iyer hit him for two fours in three deliveries soon after Nair’s dismissal. It meant Kings XI couldn’t build momentum despite getting wickets.Aaron conceded 45 off his four overs, with two wickets being scant consolation. Eventually Kings XI paid the price for conceding 68 off the last five overs.

Match facts

Rising Pune Supergiant v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Pune, April 22, 2017
Start time 16000 local (1030 GMT)2:46

Agarkar: Pune need Tiwary up the order

Head to head

This season: The two sides will be meeting for the first time in IPL 2017
Overall: Both sides have won one game apiece

Form guide

• Rising Pune Supergiant (Seventh): beat RCB by 27 runs, lost to Lions by seven wickets, lost to Daredevils by 97 runs

• Sunrisers (Third): beat Daredevils by 15 runs, beat Kings XI Punjab by five runs, lost to KKR by 17 runs

In the news

These two teams have been on opposite ends of the scheduling coming into the game. Rising Pune Supergiant have had a five-day break to rejuvenate themselves after a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will be playing their third game in six days.Pune will be buoyed by the performances of their Indian players – Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat – in their win over Royal Challengers that broke a three-match losing streak. Meanwhile, Kane Williamson’s exceptional knock at No. 3 in his first game of the season could mean more time on the bench for Ben Cutting. While Sunrisers are sitting pretty with four wins, they would do well to note their two losses have come away.

The likely XIs

Rising Pune Supergiant: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 MS Dhoni, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Dan Christian, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Imran Tahir, 11 Ankit SharmaSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Naman Ojha, 8 Bipul Sharma, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10, Rashid Khan, 11 Siddarth Kaul

Strategy punt

• Rising Pune have shunted Manoj Tiwary up and down the order. In their previous game, one of small margins, in Bengaluru, his 11-ball 27 at No.7 proved to be the difference of at least 20 runs to the team’s total. With MS Dhoni continuing to struggle, his strike rate of 87.14 is the worst among those who have faced 50-plus deliveries this season, the team management can perhaps push up Tiwary, who is striking them close to 161 per 100 balls this season, which is significantly higher than his career strike rate of 116, to No. 4.
• With three left-handers potentially in Sunrisers’ top five – David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh – Rising Pune could be better off continuing with Dan Christian, who offers slow variations in addition to his seam-ups, rather than packing their side with Adam Zampa to complement Imran Tahir in the legspin department.

Stats that matter

• Rising Pune haven’t been able to identify a complement of death bowlers to plug the runs from overs 16-20. That has resulted in them leaking runs at an economy rate of 11.95 in the last five, the second worst among all teams this season. At home, that number has gone up to 14.50.
• Dhoni has been far from fluent with the bat. He has had a strike rate in excess of 100 in just one of his five innings. A record holder for hitting most sixes – 104 – in the final five overs across ten editions, he has no sixes in the same passage of play this year.
• One of the finds of the tournament – Rashid Khan – has struggled against Indian batsmen for three successive games. After Robin Uthappa (21 off 12) and Manan Vohra (37 off 14), he was picked for 16 off seven deliveries by Shreyas Iyer in the previous game. He has conceded 140 off the 109 deliveries he has bowled to Indian batsmen.
• The average first innings score at Pune since 2015 is 175, which is the second-best after Chinnaswamy, among venues that have hosted a minimum of three matches.
• In the 10 matches at the MCA Stadium since 2015, six games have been won by the chasing side. That only once has a score of less than 180 been defended here shows why the surface can sometimes be taken out of the equation here.

Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKusal Mendis overcame a scratchy start to hit nine fours and two sixes in his 107-ball 102•AFP

The second ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was called off due to incessant rain in Dambulla. Play was called off at 8.45pm, an hour and 15 minutes before the cut-off time.It was an anti-climax after the game was shaping up to be an intense contest. Kusal Mendis’ maiden ODI hundred took Sri Lanka to a formidable 311, but Taskin Ahmed’s hat-trick in the last over capped off a fine last 10 overs for Bangladesh.Taskin first had Asela Gunaratne caught at mid-off off the third ball of the final over. Suranga Lakmal was the next to go when he holed out to midwicket. Nuwan Pradeep, having the unenviable task of keeping out the hat-trick, was bowled off an inswinging yorker.That meant Taskin was the fifth Bangladeshi after Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain and Taijul Islam to reach this milestone, which he celebrated with his typical spread-eagle celebration.A win for Bangladesh would have given them their first bilateral ODI series win over Sri Lanka, but that was always going to be tough given no side had ever chased down over 300 to win in Sri Lanka.That Bangladesh got into the game was thanks largely to a lower-order collapse from the hosts – they lost their last six wickets for 40 to end up at least 20 short of what they looked set to get. Mendis built the platform through two vital stands: 111 for the second wicket with Upul Tharanga and 83 for the third wicket with Dinesh Chandimal before the collapse.Tharanga, playing in his 200th ODI, steadied Sri Lanka after they lost Danushka Gunathilaka in the third over. He struck Mehedi Hasan, the offspinner, for two fours in the eighth over before leaning into a beautiful cover drive off Mustafizur Rahman in the 10th over.Mendis was scratchy to begin with, a healthy edge flying between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah at a wide slip position to reprieve him early on. Having scored just seven off his first 25 deliveries up until then, the boundary released the pressure. From there on, though, he was a different batsman.The control with which he was batting resulted in Tharanga slipping into the role of an accumulator. The pair raised the century stand and looked good for more, but Bangladesh had a breakthrough in bizarre circumstances. Tharanga, trying to steal a run after Mushfiqur half-stopped a Mustafizur beamer, was run-out for 65 at the bowler’s end through a direct hit from Mahmudullah at short fine leg in the 25th over.Mendis hammered the next ball, a free-hit, for a six and then reached his fifty with a boundary off the fifth delivery. Mustafizur conceded 20 off the over, with Sri Lanka showing no signs of slowing down. He reached his century in the 36th over, thereby raising the possibility of hauling his side close to 330. But the dismissals of Chandimal and Mendis in successive overs set them back.Mendis’ dismissal – taken off the rebound by Taskin on his followthrough – left Sri Lanka at 216 for 4 in the 38th over. Milinda Siriwardana and Asela Gunaratne then patched things together with a 55-run stand for the fifth wicket.Mehedi who dropped Siriwardana on 24 at midwicket had the last laugh when he bowled him in the next over. Gunaratne though continued to bring out his paddles and the big heaves to hit a 29-ball 39 to take Sri Lanka past 300 before Taskin took centrestage in the final over. However, rain had the final say.

ScorecardAlex Blackwell struck 65 to steer Australia’s chase of 254•Getty Images

Alex Blackwell struck a timely 65 to help Australia recover from a middle-order slide and chase down 254 against New Zealand in the second women’s ODI in Mount Maunganui. Blackwell’s knock followed on from Beth Mooney’s 57 at the top as Australia made 256 for 6 to win by four wickets and level the three-match series.Mooney helped Australia recover from the early loss of Nicole Bolton for 17 in the seventh over. She added 87 for the second wicket with her captain Meg Lanning. However, the introduction of 16-year old legspinner Amelia Kerr dented Australia’s chase. Kerr struck twice in her first over, the 21st of the innings, bowling Lanning for 44 and Elyse Villani for a first-ball duck. Mooney fell in the same fashion six overs later, as Australia slid from 109 for 1 to 138 for 4.But Alyssa Healy and Blackwell made sure the runs kept flowing and shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 81 off 85 balls. Blackwell, in her first game back from a hamstring injury, walked out to face the hat-trick ball, but managed to get off the mark straight away. “It’s never nice to face a hat-trick ball. I was just thinking about playing as straight as possible,” she said. “It was a bonus to score off the first ball, that settled me. I would have liked to finish not out.”Healy became Kerr’s fourth victim when she was caught and bowled in the 41st over for 36. Blackwell was caught behind with Australia 17 away from the target. Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner ensured her effort wasn’t in vain as they knocked off the remaining runs with 16 balls to spare.”We know it’s a really good wicket here and the outfield is exceptional, so 250 wasn’t something we were too concerned about,” Blackwell said. “I think we can continue to improve with the ball as well, but today was a much better effort.”Suzie Bates, the New Zealand captain, felt lapses in the field cost them. “I don’t think we fielded well today, it was probably our worst fielding performance this series,” she said.Bates showered praise on Kerr, who finished with 4 for 54 runs in 10 overs. “I probably left her a little bit late. For a 16-year old, you would think she’d be under pressure, but there is no such thing as pressure to her, she just wants to bowl. She knows her game and the game of cricket really well. She knows exactly what she wants to do and has pretty good control. She is going to be a massive star for us and she was a key bowler for us today.”Kerr, who dismissed Lanning with a googly, especially cherished that wicket. “She’s one of the best players in the world, and to get her with a googly is wow, it’s something I have been working on a lot,” she said. “The bowling coach told me to bowl the googly to Lanning, and luckily, it worked. And she is tough to bowl to, so I was glad I didn’t need to bowl to her for too long.”When New Zealand batted, after being asked to, Bates dominated the early going, and made 35 of the 55 runs her team had scored at the time of the dismissal. Amy Satterthwaite and Katey Martin joined hands for a third-wicket stand of 87. Once the association was ended, with the dismissal of Martin, the onus on building the innings fell on Satterthwaite. Perkins chipped in with 38 and helped Satterthwaite add 63 for the fifth wicket that pushed the score past 200.Satterthwaite hung on till the 47th over. She made 85 off 117 balls, falling 15 short of what would have been her fifth consecutive ODI century. New Zealand stumbled towards the end, losing two more wickets after her dismissal to finish with 253 for 8. Amanda-Jade Wellington took three wickets for Australia, but Perry, who opened the bowling, stood out in her short spell, finishing with 1 for 9 in four overs.

Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 58 in their 90-run defeat to Railways in Jaipur. Their chase began on a poor note – by the first nine balls of UP’s chase, seamers Amit Mishra and Anureet Singh had reduced them to 0 for 3. Sarfaraz Khan (18) and Rinku Singh (16) were the only batsmen to score in double-figures in an innings that lasted 13.3 overs. Earlier, Mahesh Rawat’s third successive fifty, an unbeaten 58 off 42 deliveries, carried Railways to 148 for 8. Coming in to bat in the fifth over, with the score at 33 for 3, Rawat held one end up, even as the other batsmen failed to build on their starts and support his effort. Praveen Kumar took the first three wickets to fall, conceding 18 in his four overs.Dishant Yagnik slugged three sixes in a 15-ball 32 to power Rajasthan to a match-winning total of 161 for 6 against Chhattisgarh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Three of Rajasthan’s top four got starts, but their run rate was still under seven an over when Yagnik walked in to join Tajinder Singh at the start of the 17th over. Yagnik and Tajinder (27* off 18) proceeded to add 50 for the sixth wicket in 23 balls, with Yagnik falling off the last ball of the innings.Chhattisgarh’s chase did not pick up any real steam early on, the first ten overs only bringing 65 for the loss of three wickets. Their No. 4 Shubham Agarwal scored 51 (44 balls), but found little support as they eventually ended on 136 for 7. Fast bowler Aniket Choudhary was Rajasthan’s most successful bowler, with figures of 3 for 21.

Australia’s selectors have pushed still further towards youth, ignoring Mitchell Marsh in order to draft his Western Australia team-mate Hilton Cartwright into the Boxing Day Test squad as all-round cover for a bowling attack heavily fatigued by their Gabba exertions.Cartwright, who had already been included in the Chappell-Hadlee ODI squad to face New Zealand but did not play, is an allrounder whose virtues have been pushed by the interim selector Greg Chappell in particular, as part of the developmental Cricket Australia XI that first played in the Matador Cup two summers ago.Last season he graduated to the Western Australia state side and performed strongly with the bat in the Sheffield Shield, something he has backed up this season to average 44.50 across 16 first-class matches. His bowling record is less notable, with a career tally of 15 first-class wickets at 41.93 and only four wickets at 74.75 in the current Shield campaign.

Test squad

David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers

However, the acting selection chairman Trevor Hohns emphasised the desire for a batting allrounder to take a place in the top six, a role Marsh has been unable to adequately fill over time. The decision also means the incumbent No.6, Nic Maddinson, could face the axe after three Test innings of 0, 1 and 4 in Adelaide and Brisbane.”The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an allrounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.”To do that, we wanted a batting allrounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill. We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood each bowled 56 overs during the win over Pakistan at the Gabba, which for both men was their biggest workload not only in a Test match but in any first-class game. Jackson Bird sent down 45 overs, his highest tally in a Test. As such, the selection shift away from an allrounder, which took place when Marsh was dropped following the first Test of the summer, has been rethought.”It depends on what sort of wickets you play on,” Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, said after the win in Brisbane. “You would have probably liked to have an extra bowling option in this game but we went with the six batsmen, four bowlers and they got the job done, albeit a lot of work into our quicks.”Should Cartwright become Australia’s 450th Test cricketer when the XI is confirmed for Boxing Day, it would mean an uncertain Test future for Maddinson. On debut at Adelaide Oval, Maddinson was bowled for a 12-ball duck by Kagiso Rabada, while at the Gabba he was dropped on 0, then caught behind for 1 in the first innings. In the second, he was caught hooking for 4 as Australia sought quick runs and a declaration.”We’ve had two pink-ball Test matches, so red-ball Test coming up and we know he’s a fine player,” Lehmann said of Maddinson on Monday, before Cartwright was added to the squad. “He’s just got to believe at this level. I actually thought he did a really good team thing the other day [in the second innings].”I know there was some talk in the commentary and media that he probably could have gone up the order and done that, but Steve’s really strong on keeping the batting order very similar. So he came in for two balls, tried to get the game moving as quickly as he could. So I disregard the second innings of this one, and we’ve got some red-ball cricket coming up, so I’m sure he’ll do okay.”Another member of Australia’s new-look side who will be keen to justify the faith of the selectors is wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who replaced Peter Nevill ahead of the Adelaide Test. The selectors preferred Wade’s batting fight down the order and although he scored two Test centuries in his previous incarnation in the baggy green, he has not made double figures since his recall.Wade’s work behind the stumps has also left a little to be desired. In Adelaide, he failed to move for a chance when Hashim Amla edged Mitchell Starc and first slip Matt Renshaw ultimately spilled the chance with his left hand. At the Gabba, Wade missed a stumping chance off Nathan Lyon when Sarfraz Ahmed had 31 in the first innings; he went on to make 59 not out. He also appeared to miss a possible catch when Yasir Shah tickled down leg off Starc late in Pakistan’s chase.”Obviously his batting ability, although he hasn’t got any runs at the moment,” Lehmann said when asked what Wade brought to the squad. “He’s been working pretty hard with that. And his energy behind the stumps. He’d like to keep better obviously, but I thought he’s improved his keeping out of sight in the last 12 to 18 months from where we were.”Peter Nevill is obviously a very good keeper as well. It’s a tight call whichever way you go. But Matthew’s got the chance to nail down the spot and we’ll see how he goes in Melbourne.”

Australia will host Sri Lanka in a Twenty20 international at Geelong’s Kardinia Park in February, after the ground was confirmed as the 11th venue in Australia currently accredited to host international cricket.Geelong, Melbourne and Adelaide have been named as the venues for three T20Is between Australia and Sri Lanka, to be held from February 17 to 22. The fixtures will all be played as double-headers, with the men’s games preceded by women’s T20Is between Australia and New Zealand.The decision to take international cricket involving Australia beyond the state and territory capitals is almost unprecedented. Test matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Cairns during the southern winters of 2003 and 2004 are the only other occasions when Australia have played official international matches outside the capital cities.Regional venues were used for some neutral games during the 1992 World Cup, while Launceston, Devonport and Townsville have also hosted official international matches that did not involve Australia. Kardinia Park – known as Simonds Stadium for sponsorship reasons – will be the 21st ground in Australia to host international men’s cricket.Kardinia Park had a taste of elite cricket last summer when the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades played a warm-up match there ahead of the BBL campaign. That game was followed a week later by West Indies playing a two-day practice match there against a Victoria XI ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.In order to meet ICC standards for the size of international venues, the pitch orientation at Kardinia Park has been altered to slightly off the square, for the traditional configuration at the ground meant some boundaries were too short. Cricket Australia’s chief executive officer James Sutherland said given the ground met requirements, he was pleased to take international cricket to Geelong.”We’re committed to taking the game to as many parts of the country as possible and we continue to work with regional areas around Australia on how we can make this happen,” Sutherland said. “Geelong proved its capability to host cricket last summer with a successful BBL exhibition match between the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades attracting more than 10,000 people.”We’re really looking forward to the people of the Geelong region and beyond packing out the stadium and supporting the women’s and men’s national sides.”Despite the off-field facilities at Kardinia Park being of high quality and the dimensions meeting international standards, the prospects of the venue being used as a second first-class ground for Victoria appear limited. Tony Dodemaide, the Cricket Victoria CEO, said the cost of installing drop-in pitches and preparing the multi-sport ground (home of AFL team the Geelong Cats) for cricket was more feasible for international games.As preparation for the T20I series, Sri Lanka will play the annual Prime Minister’s XI match as a T20 game on February 15 at Manuka Oval in Canberra.Cricket Australia has also announced that an agreement has been reached for Adelaide Oval to host an international cricket fixture on Australia Day every summer for the next five years. For some years the tradition was to hold a match in Adelaide on January 26, but in recent summers such a fixture had not always eventuated.”We’ve been working closely with the South Australian Government and SACA to secure marquee matches in the state long term and we’d like to thank both parties for their support,” Sutherland said. “We’re pleased to be able to announce today that Adelaide Oval will host an International Australia Day cricket fixture for the next five years.”