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Career-best 114 has hosts in box seat but needing big bowling effort to force victory

ECB Reporters Network14-May-2022Worcestershire 368 and 59 for 1 (Libby 17*, Lakmal 1-19) trail Derbyshire 565 for 8 dec (Dal 114*, Masood 113, Guest 77, du Plooy 62, Thomson 54) by 138 runsA career-best unbeaten century from Anuj Dal put Derbyshire in complete control of the LV=Insurance County Championship match against Worcestershire at Derby.The all-rounder made 114 from 177 balls before Derbyshire declared on 565 for 8, their highest ever score against Worcestershire, and a lead of 197.Leus du Plooy scored 62 and Alex Thomson 54 while 18-year-old left-arm spinner Josh Baker took 3 for 150 in 44 overs.Worcestershire were left with 16 overs to negotiate and they lost Ed Pollock to Suranga Lakmal before closing on 59 for 1, some 138 runs behind.They had reeled Derbyshire back in the previous evening so it was vital they kept up the pressure from the start of play but a dropped catch in the third over of the morning handed the home side the initiative.Luis Reece was on 22 when he skied Josh Baker into the covers where Pollock circled under the ball and then dropped a simple catch.It was a big moment as Reece and du Plooy proceeded to bat for another nine overs, adding 41 more runs, before the second new ball broke the stand.Worcestershire had delayed taking it for six overs, a decision which looked even more puzzling when the first delivery from Charlie Morris lifted and moved away to have Reece caught behind.By the time Ed Barnard trapped du Plooy lbw with a full-length delivery, Derbyshire were only two runs behind and Dal and Thomson turned that into a healthy lead with a seventh-wicket stand of 78 in 26 overs.Worcestershire’s attack got little out of the pitch although Baker bowled with control in only his 10th first-class game and deserved better figures.It was an impressive performance from a young bowler who eight days ago was being dispatched to various parts of New Road by Ben Stokes.Before this game, he had never bowled more than 30 overs in an innings so he can look back on this day with some satisfaction when he celebrates his 19th birthday on Monday.It was Baker who broke the stand, having Thomson lbw as he played back but Dal and the tail put Derbyshire firmly in the box seat.Sam Conners stayed with Dal for 15 overs before he was stumped charging Baker in the last over before tea and Derbyshire piled on the runs in the final session.When Dal pulled Ben Gibbon for four, it was the first time in Derbyshire’s history they had posted two scores of 500 or more in a season at Derby.Dal cut Gibbon for his ninth four to reach his second first-class century and with Ryan Sidebottom, batting with a runner because of a calf injury, added 72 before the declaration cameAlthough Derbyshire were a bowler down and the pitch remains a good one for batting, Worcestershire have to overcome scoreboard pressure to save the gamePollock took three fours from the first over by Conners but was comprehensively bowled when Lakmal cut one back in the sixth over.Derbyshire were unable to make further inroads and with Sidebottom out of action, will need a big effort from Lakmal and the rest of the attack to force victory on day four.

A day earlier, Naseem had to visit the hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2022Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah has tested positive for Covid-19, one day after it was announced he had contracted pneumonia. He has, however, been released from hospital, and the PCB said he was “feeling better.”Naseem is the second person in the Pakistan camp during the current series against England to have contracted Covid-19, a week after an unnamed member of the support staff tested positive. On that occasion, the individual did not travel with the squad to the National Stadium Karachi for the second T20I, and there were no delays to the game.Naseem spent Wednesday night in hospital after the pneumonia diagnosis, and the PCB announced their in-house medical panel was monitoring him. That, followed by the positive Covid-19 test, rules him out of the final two games of the ongoing series against England. However, the PCB said Nadeem would isolate at home for two days and then be available for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand*, which is due to get underway in Christchurch on October 7 as preparation for the World Cup.The Pakistan squad leaves for New Zealand on October 3 to play a T20I tri-series also featuring Bangladesh, with the final on October 14. They then depart for Australia for the World Cup, where, after a pair of warm-ups – including one against England – they play their first group game in Melbourne on October 23 against India.Naseem featured in the first match of the current series against England, and also played a full part in the recently concluded Asia Cup. In the absence of Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is also currently ruled out with injury, he had taken over the left-armer’s responsibility up top as Pakistan’s premier new-ball bowler.Afridi, who has been undergoing treatment in London for a knee injury, is expected to be available for Pakistan for the World Cup.*2100 GMT – This story was updated with information from a PCB statement

Experienced Australian has worked in county cricket, Sheffield Shield and the Big Bash

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2022Matt Mason has been appointed as England Women’s fast bowling coach.Mason, 48, has coached extensively in the county game as well as his native Australia, and joins after leaving his current position as bowling coach with Warwickshire. He will be charged with developing a clutch of young quicks coming into the national team, including Issy Wong, Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp, following the retirement of Anya Shrusbole and Katherine Brunt’s decision to focus on limited-overs cricket.The ECB is currently hunting for a new head coach for the women’s team, after Lisa Keightley opted against extending her contract. Her assistant, Tim McDonald, looked after the bowlers previously but departed from his role after the Commonwealth Games.”I am really excited about taking on this role and I can’t wait to get started with England Women,” Mason said. “There are only a handful of jobs I would have left Warwickshire for, this is one of them. I had no intention of leaving the club, I loved my time there, but when this opportunity came up I felt I had to take it.”I’ve never coached at international level before, it’s an exciting prospect and I don’t know if such a chance would ever arise again in the future. I’m looking forward to meeting the group, getting to know everyone and hopefully helping drive the team forward to on-field success.”Mason began playing in Western Australia but spent most of his career with Worcestershire, taking more than 400 wickets for the county. He retired in 2011, having already started to work for the club as a coach, and subsequently took on similar roles with Leicestershire, Western Australia and Perth Scorchers.Mason, who only joined Warwickshire in April, was highly rated for his work with a number of young Australian bowlers. The Edgbaston club said they had already started the process of looking for a replacement.Jonathan Finch, director of England women’s cricket, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have secured someone of the calibre of Matt. He was a very strong candidate for the role and we’re looking forward to seeing what he brings to the England Women’s cricket team.”It was important that we recruited someone with a track record of working with and improving a group of fast bowlers at elite level. Matt will play a central role in developing current and future England bowlers, and we are excited by the leadership he will bring to fast bowling across the women’s game.”We’re in the process of recruiting a head coach and Matt will be a valued part of that person’s coaching staff, bringing great expertise and experience in the field of fast bowling.”I would also like to thank Warwickshire CCC in allowing Matt to make the move to his new role so quickly.”

Allrounder admits absence from five-Test tour is ‘fair decision’ given overseas record

Cameron Ponsonby11-Dec-2023Chris Woakes has said that he is “at ease” with being left out of England’s Test squad for India, with the all-rounder describing it as “a fair decision”.After spending a decade fighting the reputation of being a home specialist, Woakes has given in and joined the groupthink. Woakes at home, good. Woakes away, bad.It is just four months since Woakes won the Compton-Miller medal for man of the series during The Ashes, but rather than the award teasing him into flogging a 34-year-old bowler’s knee in India for five Tests, it has instead assured him of his value to England in home conditions and the fact that when West Indies and Sri Lanka arrive for Test cricket in 2024, his will be one of the first names being considered.”It’s mixed emotions,” Woakes said, a day out from the start of England’s five-match T20I series against West Indies. “Whenever there’s a Test squad announcement, you’re always desperate to be in it. But at the same time, at my age, with my away record – particularly in the subcontinent – I feel like it’s a fair decision.”The topic of Woakes the home phenomenon vs away pedestrian is well rehearsed. With the ball, an average of 21.88 in familiar conditions is paired with an average of 51.88 when overseas. There have been moments when the trend looked to be broken, with impressive performances in New Zealand in 2019 and South Africa in 2020, but overall, the exceptions have proved the rule.The low point came in the Caribbean 18 months ago, when the omission of James Anderson and Stuart Broad saw Woakes promoted to the role of opener. Three Test matches brought just five wickets, an average of 48.80 and an operation.”I tried to bowl my heart out and really struggled with my body,” Woakes said, reflecting on the trip and the hope that missing certain England tours will extend his career by a number of years. “My knee was sore at the time, I ended up having surgery after that and I missed six months of cricket.”I wouldn’t want that to be the same case going to India, bowling on tracks which are unresponsive to my type of bowling; slamming the front knee down at 34 is not really ideal when I want to play a lot of white-ball cricket moving forward. It’s different when that’s just your sole focus but when you want to play all forms, it makes it a wise decision.”Woakes didn’t go as far to say he’s happy to be considered a home-specialist, with his inability to crack cricket overseas something that will remain a point of frustration in what has otherwise been a quietly decorated career – and he still hopes to be considered for selection when England tour more seam-friendly nations such as New Zealand. But in the modern day where workloads are there to be managed and white-ball World Cups come around every year, it makes life for Woakes simpler, if not better.”I’ve said that in the past and it’s not through lack of trying, because in the white-ball game my away record is almost probably better than my home record. So it’s not just purely those conditions, but with the red ball, I have found it a little bit difficult. So frustrating, but at the same time, it’s not through lack of effort.”Related

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The positives for both Woakes and England in the current situation is that England get the best of Test Woakes, the best of white-ball Woakes around the world – and Woakes gets to have his paydays too.In January, rather than tour India, he will travel to the ILT20 to play for Sharjah Warriors, the competition which spurred England into multi-year central contract action after Mark Wood was offered £400,000 to play for the Dubai Capitals.”We had conversations about where my best cricket is likely to be played moving forward and naturally in Test cricket, it looks likely to be at home. It doesn’t mean to say that when there’s not subcontinent tours that I won’t be available. But I feel at ease with the decision, if that makes sense. The communication was good, I know where I stand so it’s fine by me.”Woakes’ focus is now on the five T20I matches ahead of him, with England’s preparations for the T20 World Cup to be hosted in the Caribbean and the USA well under way. The 2024 World Cup will be Woakes’ seventh for England – but at 34, he has no intention of declaring it his last.”I think it would be stupid for me to look any further than this series, that’s the way I’ve always tried to approach the lead-ups to World Cups. As we’ve seen in the past, players can get left out at the last minute.”We’re in the thick of a series which is going to be quite important for us going forward with the T20 here in six months. You naturally need to focus on that. But as you said I haven’t retired from ODI cricket and the next ODI stuff for England isn’t until September….the call isn’t mine but I’ll do everything I can to be available for selection.”This series against West Indies will also see the launch of the ICC’s stop-clock trial, where teams will need to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed. Failure to do so on three occasions will lead to a five-run penalty.”I think it’s a good idea,” Woakes said. “I know it annoys you guys when we’re a bit slow. But when you’re out there in the middle, the game does feel fast. Even though at times guys might be taking drinks or swapping gloves and things, but the game does feel pretty quick. But naturally we’re in the entertainment business and we need to make sure that the viewers are happy as well.”

“That’s why you pay big money to big-game players,” Tom Moody says of Starc’s second-ball wicket of Travis Head

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-20241:33

‘That’s why you pay big money for big-game players’

Mitchell Starc has had a patchy IPL 2024, but he brought his experience and nous of playing in “some big games and big occasions” when it mattered by running through the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) top order in Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad.Starc bowled three overs in the powerplay and sent back Travis Head off the second ball of the game, and Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed, the last two off consecutive balls in the fifth over.”I guess I have played a fair bit of cricket so I have been fortunate enough to play in some big games and some big occasions,” Starc said between innings on the official broadcast after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had stopped SRH for 159. “Nine months ago [in the ODI World Cup final] we were here in front of a full stadium. It was nice to get the team off to a good start that we needed [today].Related

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“We know the powerplay wickets are very important. The way Sunrisers take on the powerplay, they have sort of matched us throughout the season in terms of getting off to good starts. It was great to get powerplay wickets and I think our bowling group was fantastic throughout.”Starc got the ball to seam from the outset and struck with his second ball, castling his Australia team-mate Head with one that shaped back in sharply. Vaibhav Arora then sent back Abhishek Sharma for 3 as SRH lost their big-hitting openers inside two overs. Starc bowled his third over inside the powerplay and first removed Reddy with a short-of-a-length ball that the batter skied with an attempted pull, and then hit Shahbaz’s middle pole off the inside edge.But Head’s wicket was one that Starc enjoyed the most, and one he wants to keep in his “back pocket”.”I might keep that one in the back pocket for when he starts to give me some niggle and I have to pull it out on him,” Starc said. “He’s been phenomenal through the tournament. But we knew he was going to be a big wicket.”Obviously Abhishek for them at the top as well. That partnership has been key for them, so to get both of them pretty cheap was great and we got set on our way today.”After the match, and after Starc had won the Player-of-the-Match award, Ravi Shastri brought up the fact that Starc had pulled his length back a bit in the early overs. “Yeah, spot on. Particularly with the way Trav and Abhishek have been playing throughout the series, they like the width [and to] free their arms,” Starc said. “So if we can get that ball swinging and keep it in line with the stumps and bowl a really hard length, which we really did in the powerplay, and that really got into their middle order…”Starc’s delivery to remove Head left Tom Moody impressed as well. “Class from Starc. We know that he has had a difficult three-quarters of the tournament, but that’s why you pay big money to big-game players,” he said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show.On asked about the conditions, Starc conceded there was dew, which started to appear about halfway through the SRH innings. He said he expected the surface to get better to bat on in the second innings.”There is certainly dew now. It started to pick up through probably halfway through our innings. The wicket has got a bit skiddier. There is some swing. Our spinners found a way to be effective and take wickets,” Starc said. “The wicket is going to get a little bit better just with the dew and the bit of skid but in turn, it is also going to swing a little bit.”

The two boards have agreed to add an extra match to the original schedule

Andrew McGlashan07-Dec-2024Australia will play three Tests on their tour of West Indies next year after the two boards agreed to add an extra match to the original schedule.It will be the first time the two sides have faced each other for three Tests or more since 2015 and the first time in the Caribbean since 2012 when Australia won 2-0. The series will be the first in the next cycle of the World Test Championship for both teams, which brings a minimum requirement of two Tests.The previous series between the teams played in Australia earlier this year finished 1-1 after Shamar Joseph inspired West Indies to a seven-run win at the Gabba. It was West Indies’ first victory over Australia in 21 years.Initially reported by newspapers, the extension of the Test series was confirmed by Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley on Saturday.”I am really glad that is going to manifest,” he told radio. “We’re still waiting for an official announcement from the West Indies Cricket Board around precise dates and precise locations but it will be a three-Test series which is obviously big.”It’s another great opportunity. The World Test Championship prescribed that we needed to play two, at least two. But really, for the fans and for the players, you don’t want to be stuck in the position when it’s one-one and everyone is feeling unsatisfied.”Hockley, who will step down in March and be replaced by Todd Greenberg, has previously stated a preference for a minimum of three Tests in a series. “We’ll keep advocating and championing that. Really advocating for three-Test series as an absolute minimum,” he said earlier this year.ESPNcricinfo understands that Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica are possible locations for the three matches which are expected to take place from late June. On the current Future Tours Programme, the schedule also includes three ODIs and three T20Is.Australia are in the race for a place in this year’s WTC final which will take place at Lord’s from June 11-15.

Dutch discovering that “good cricket in patches” not enough to upset the big teams

Firdose Moonda09-Oct-20231:07

McClenaghan on the mistakes Netherlands made with the ball

It is “only two games in” to the World Cup, as Colin Ackermann noted, but concerns that Netherlands may be overwhelmed by the quality of the opposition at this tournament are already emerging after big defeats.Make no mistake, the Dutch have not disgraced themselves in any way – far from it – and they’ve had their moments in both games. But their ability to keep the pressure on is under the spotlight.”We’ve played some good cricket in patches, we just haven’t put together enough phases where we dominate,” Ackermann, top-scorer against New Zealand, said after the 99-run defeat. “We need to put together all three phases of the game to win.”This is going to be the challenge for Netherlands throughout this tournament, and they know it. They’ve already come through a World Cup Super League, where they played series against five of the teams they will face at this World Cup, and lost them all. In the aftermath, they said the learnings from those defeats helped them at the qualifying tournament, where they beat a Full Member (West Indies) and qualified ahead of two others (Zimbabwe and Ireland). But now that they are at the big dance, they can see that it will take more than what they did in Harare three months ago to cause similar upsets.Related

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For a start, they seem to be setting up their game incorrectly in choosing to chase in both their matches. Fielding first, without the kind of potency of attack that some of the teams at this tournament have, means they are chasing the game – literally – all the time. If they are given the opportunity to decide what to do in future games, they may want to consider setting the target, even if the opposition attack is intimidating, in order to establish a different kind of control.In this match, though, Netherland were banking on putting New Zealand under pressure early on, as they did with Pakistan. “Against Pakistan we took three wickets in the powerplay and pegged them back pretty well,” Ackermann said. “It didn’t work out that way today for us. I think we probably were looking to follow the same blueprint.”And even in the Pakistan game, it only worked briefly. Netherlands had Pakistan 38 for 3 inside the first 10 overs before a 120-run partnership between Mohammed Rizwan and Saud Shakeel laid the platform for the lower order. Against New Zealand, it took 12.1 overs before the Dutch got the first wicket and they then allowed New Zealand to score at more than six runs an over throughout the middle period.Colin Ackermann made 69 off 73 balls•ICC/Getty Images

Netherlands missed Logan van Beek, especially because Ryan Klein does not have the same pace, and stuck to their tactic of opening with a spinner, something which only Afghanistan have also done at this tournament. Again, it seemed a tactic that was as premeditated as bowling first and Ackermann all but confirmed that. “Aryan Dutt poses a massive threat with a new ball on these wickets,” he said. “He poses a big threat for the left-handers up front. We saw today he got three maidens in the first three overs. It’s all about match-ups for us.””Match-ups” and “blueprint” are the kind of tactical buzzwords you hear on commentary and analysis shows and occasionally in team meetings but from the noises other teams are making, they also talk about being adaptable and flexible and that vocabulary was not present in Ackermann’s post-match press conference. Perhaps he just wasn’t asked about it. But for argument’s sake, if Netherlands are not thinking a little out of the box, now is a good time to start, because the big teams will keep coming and they will have to find ways to compete more evenly with them.It’s still far too early to come to too many conclusions about the way Netherlands will go in this tournament, and a common trope is that they are bound to upset someone, but to do that small improvements are needed quickly. In chasing big scores, they have yet to properly challenge and they understand that if they are in the same situation again, they can expect it to be just as difficult.”Sometimes you’ve got to try and take it as deep as possible, but then the rate keeps climbing. These bowlers do make it difficult for us,” Ackermann said. “They’re not just going to give us easy boundaries in the middle overs. We lost by 100 runs today but I think we just gave them too many runs. We shouldn’t have chased 320. Maybe 280 – 290 would have been a decent chase today. We needed to set a firm base.”And that suggests improvements with both bat and ball are needed before Netherlands next game, against South Africa in a week’s time.

Harry Brook the unlikely inspiration with the ball as home side lose 5 for 28 during evening session

Alan Gardner27-Feb-2023After the marathon, get ready for a sprint. England shot off in now-familiar style in pursuit of a series-sealing victory at Basin Reserve after New Zealand’s rearguard, underpinned by a doughty 26th Test hundred from Kane Williamson, had ended in a calamitous collapse on the fourth evening.Williamson’s efforts during an innings that spanned more than seven hours at the crease had put New Zealand in a position where they could hope to set England a target well in excess of 300 – all the more remarkable given they had been made to follow on 226 runs in arrears. But Harry Brook proved an unlikely inspiration with the ball and Jack Leach mopped up the tail as New Zealand’s last five wickets went down for the addition of 28 runs.Set 258 to win on a pitch which had become increasingly placid through the course of days three and four, England reached 48 for 1 at the close. Zak Crawley was the man to fall, having played another attacking cameo, madly hacking five boundaries in his 24 off 30 before having his stumps disturbed by a pinpoint offcutter from Tim Southee.Related

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England had shaved 39 off the target by that point, and then sent out Ollie Robinson as a quasi-nighthawk, who unsuccessfully attempted to slog-sweep Michael Bracewell’s offspin in the final over the day. The requirement of another 210 runs with nine wickets standing is unlikely to daunt a side that has made a speciality of rip-roaring fourth-innings chases while winning 10 of their last 11 Tests.For New Zealand, who showed tremendous fight through the efforts of Williamson, Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell, as well as Tom Latham and Devon Conway on day three, there remained the possibility of becoming only the fourth team in history to win a Test having been made to follow on.Having made steady progress through the first two sessions, losing just two wickets along the way, New Zealand’s innings was thrown off kilter by the appearance of Brook, English cricket’s golden boy, to bowl some wobbly seamers. He quickly proved to have a golden arm, as the final ball of his third over brought a maiden Test wicket – that of Williamson, for a seemingly ironclad 132.Brook’s gentle mediums succeeded where England’s two most-prolific Test wicket-takers had failed, as Williamson attempted to leg glance only for a review to pick up the faintest of tickles through to the keeper, Ben Foakes.Harry Brook appeals for the wicket of Kane Williamson•AFP/Getty Images

England picked up a second wicket out of nowhere shortly after, as Bracewell was guilty of failing to run his bat in coming back for a third. Ben Stokes, limping for much of his day in the field, had gamely given chase out to deep midwicket and fired in a throw, with Foakes demolishing the bails one-handed as Bracewell coasted through the crease.Southee was unable to repeat his first-innings heroics with the bat, top-edging a swipe at Leach to point, and Matt Henry fell in the same over via an edge to slip. Blundell, having become a bewildered onlooker following the end of his 158-run stand with Williamson, then attempted to throw the bat only to skew an outside edge to slip ten runs short of his hundred. After toiling for 61.3 overs, Leach suddenly had a five-for – the first by a spinner in a Test in New Zealand since Keshav Maharaj in 2017.The story of the day until then had been Williamson, who overtook Ross Taylor to become New Zealand’s leading Test run-scorer during an innings that showcased all of his minimalist qualities. He was given able support by Mitchell and Blundell, the latter helping to subject England to a second wicketless afternoon session in a row as New Zealand switched from looking to erase their deficit to remorselessly building a lead.Having flicked the fourth ball of the morning through midwicket to go past his longtime former team-mate Taylor, Williamson was content to bob along at his own pace, playing with soft hands and barely giving up anything resembling a chance. The closest England came to dislodging him was an attempted stumping off Leach, but although Williamson had dragged his back foot out of the crease, his reflexes were quick enough to get a toe over the line as Foakes whipped off the bails.The former captain was joined in the trenches by Blundell, who made his sixth 50-plus score in 11 innings against England. His innings, inevitably, was the more skittish, as England ran through a range of tactics to try to unsettle the pair – including James Anderson bowling round the wicket with the keeper up and four men catching in a leg-side ring.Nothing was successful until Stokes belatedly turned to Brook, although a short-ball ploy almost brought the wicket of Blundell on 30, but his firmly struck pull was grassed by Anderson at backward square leg.England began the day with a still-new ball to aid their efforts and Robinson struck early to remove Henry Nicholls, with New Zealand still two runs from parity. Mitchell then boshed his way to a run-a-ball 54, a frenetic innings that saw him target Anderson with a series of front-foot mows and reach his fifty by hoisting Leach into the stands at long-on, before top-edging an ungainly hack at Stuart Broad to end a 75-run stand with Williamson.Nicholls had flirted with danger throughout his innings, and was eventually held in the slips at the fourth attempt by the juggling Brook – from whom there turned out to be more magic to come.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, is getting misty eyed, dreaming of the days when umpires made their judgments without technology. But Ricky Ponting is a big supporter

Peter English at the Gabba28-Nov-2009The new decision review system is only a week old and already Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, is getting misty eyed, dreaming of the days when umpires made their judgments without technology. But Ricky Ponting is a big supporter, thinks it makes the game better and wants it to stay.Gayle sent both his lbw decisions to the third umpire at the Gabba – Ben Hilfenhaus hit his back leg each time – and they were so hard to argue against that it seemed like a waste of the two unsuccessful challenges a team is given each innings. During the match the ICC’s system achieved its aim of not letting any awful mistakes through, but after his side’s innings-and-65-run defeat Gayle said he would prefer no replays were involved.”I’m not a big fan of it,” he said after play. “I need your help, I hope you can change it for me.”It might be the winners writing the history, but Ponting felt everything worked well and the umpires did a great job. “It’s always going to be good for the game, whether or not every one is right is irrelevant I guess,” he said. “We end up getting more correct decisions made.”In the first innings Gayle was 31 when struck right in front by Hilfenhaus and the captain deliberated before using up the review. On Saturday West Indies were in the third over of their follow-on when Gayle called on it again, this time not playing a shot to an inswinger. It was slightly higher than in the first innings and similar to the height of Shane Watson’s lbw on the opening day. “It doesn’t matter what I think,” Gayle said, “the umpire’s decision still stands.”He would like the system to be unwound, something which is as unlikely as West Indies fighting back to take the series 2-1. “Technology is part of the game, sometimes there are mistakes even with the technology, that’s why I’m not a big fan of it,” Gayle said. “Might as well just go out there with two umpires in the middle, they either get it wrong or right.”Mitchell Johnson’s caught-behind in Australia’s innings appeared not out and Adrian Barath, who scored a brilliant 104 as West Indies were dismissed for 187 to end the game, was given out to an lbw that Hawk-Eye had brushing leg stump. In both instances the third umpire sent the call back to the on-field umpire, as per the conditions, due to no conclusive evidence that the original judgment needed to be overturned.”Without the system, that’s the decision they would have made anyway, so I think that is a good sign,” Ponting said. “You look at one like Mitch’s in our first innings, the decision was made that was out. It was probably inconclusive on the replays if it was out or not out, but you stick with the decision because that’s the way it would have been without the system anyway.”Gayle will still try to get the most out of the challenges in the remaining two games of the series and beyond. “We have to deal with it,” he said. “It’s there, use it. Hopefully it can be in our favour, maybe next time it will be in our favour.”

The entire South Africa squad was retested on Friday evening following the confirmed case

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2020The South Africa squad has returned a full set of negative Covid-19 results, meaning the ODI series against England will start on Sunday after the tour was thrown into doubt by the positive test that was announced shortly before the first ODI was due to start in Cape Town on Friday.”Cricket South Africa (CSA) is pleased to announce that the entire Proteas team has returned negative results from the COVID-19 tests that were conducted yesterday evening in Cape Town,” a CSA statement said on Saturday morning.The entire South Africa squad was retested on Friday evening following the confirmed case which brought into question the safety of the biosecure bubble both teams are in. CSA said it had looked into the possibility of a breach at the team hotel and was satisfied protocols were being followed.If there had been further positive cases emerge from this latest round of testing it is highly likely that the tour would have been called off.”There is a cause for concern and England has expressed a concern. England are questioning the confidence they have in the bio-secure environment and rightfully so,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said on Friday. “If there has been a player who tested positive in the last week, they have cause for concern and we respect that concern.”This test surprised us because we have confidence in the integrity of the bio-secure environment. Further tests indicate that this is a more recent case that occurred within the bio-secure environment. So clearly there seems to be some kind of breach which we have investigated in great detail to try and determined where this happened.”The matches will now take place on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, with England flying back to the UK on Thursday.South Africa’s first attempts at hosting cricket in a biosecure environment have so far encountered several setbacks. Two players, understood to be Andile Phehlukwayo and David Miller, tested positive in the build-up to the T20I series, and the team’s intra-squad warm-up match had to be cancelled.A third positive result when the squad was tested before the ODIs led to the postponement of the opening match an hour before it was due to start, and raised the possibility of the tour being abandoned.CSA has confirmed that the player who tested positive on Thursday was removed from the squad and not retested. No replacement has been called up, leaving South Africa with 17 players to select from for the three ODIs.