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Tim Southee will lead New Zealand in the one-off T20I as regular captain Kane Williamson has been rested

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2019Less than 24 hours after he smashed five sixes in an over on his ODI return, allrounder Jimmy Neesham was recalled in New Zealand’s T20I squad for the one-off T20I against Sri Lanka on January 11 in Auckland. The 13-man squad also saw the return of Mitchell Santner, who recently returned to action with impressive performances in the Super Smash competition, New Zealand’s domestic T20 tournament.Tim Southee will lead New Zealand in the T20I, with regular captain Kane Williamson rested. Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme have also been rested, leading to a maiden call-up to the squad for Scott Kuggeleijn, along with the recall for Neesham and Henry Nicholls, who recently struck a career-best 162* against Sri Lanka in the Christchurch Test.”It’s nice to have the luxury of freshening-up a few of our key guys following a long tour of the UAE and a fast transition into the home summer,” selector Gavin Larsen said. “That presents a great opportunity for the likes of Henry, Scott and Jimmy – who have all been performing strongly for their respective teams recently and deserve their chances should they come.”Tim did a really good job leading the side against Pakistan and the West Indies last season and he’s got a nice mix of proven performers and some fresh faces to work with.”We’re delighted to welcome Mitchell back into the BLACKCAPS environment and he’s shown in his performances for the Knights in the BK Super Smash that he’s ready for international cricket again.”Santner had been out of action for over nine months because of a knee surgery he underwent in March, and returned to domestic cricket for Northern Knights last month. Neesham last played a T20I against January last year against Bangladesh and had played against the visiting India A side in two 50-over matches last month. He smashed a 13-ball 47* and snaffled three wickets on his return to the ODI side in Mount Maunganui against Sri Lanka on Thursday.Kuggeleijn, who has played two ODIs, is yet to make his T20I debut and has been among the wickets for Northern Districts in all three formats. Nicholls had also been out of New Zealand’s T20I plans after last playing the format in November 2017 in India.Adam Milne and Corey Anderson weren’t considered for selection as they continue to regain full fitness. An NZC release stated Todd Astle’s rehabilitation was progressing well and he would return for Canterbury in the “near future”.Batting coach Craig McMillan will coach the side for the T20I, since head coach Gary Stead is taking a short break before the Indian series.Squad: Tim Southee (capt), Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor.

While KL Rahul was left out after not playing a single ODI against Australia, Shikhar Dhawan returned after he had sought leave to be with his ill wife

Arun Venugopal14-Oct-20171:48

Chopra: Unfair to drop KL Rahul

Shardul Thakur and Dinesh Karthik have made their way back into the ODI squad for the three matches against New Zealand starting October 22 in Mumbai. Shikhar Dhawan, who had sought leave for the Australia ODIs to be with his ill wife, also returned to the 15-man squad.KL Rahul, who was in the squad for the ODIs against Australia, was left out. India’s frontline spinners in Tests – R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – were also not part of the squad which meant the spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel was retained. Jadeja had earlier been named a replacement for Axar, who had sprained his left ankle, for the first three ODIs against Australia but could not find a place in the XI given the performances of Kuldeep and Chahal, before Axar returned for the last two ODIs.In the pace department, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were left out from the squad after both of them played only the fourth ODI against Australia in Bengaluru. While Umesh picked four wickets for 71, Shami went wicketless and conceded at more than six runs per over as Australia amassed 334 runs. Their omission means Thakur joins Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar among the quicks.Karthik’s selection, according to a BCCI official, was a reward for his consistent performances lately. In his most recent international games – a T20I and an ODI against West Indies in July – he scored 48 and 50* respectively. Karthik also finished with the second-highest aggregate in the Duleep Trophy behind Priyank Panchal, with 291 runs at an average of 72.75, including two centuries. Karthik is currently a part of the Tamil Nadu side that is playing Tripura in the Ranji Trophy.With Rishabh Pant not among the runs recently – he had an underwhelming series with the India A team in South Africa and didn’t exactly set the stage ablaze in the Duleep Trophy – Karthik has jumped ahead of him in the queue. In fact, Karthik, who plays as a specialist middle-order batsman for India in limited-overs cricket, was also preferred to Rahul, who didn’t get a game against Australia after a poor tour of Sri Lanka.”Karthik’s inclusion is a reward for the runs he has been scoring,” the official told ESPNcricinfo. “There is no particular reason [behind Rahul’s omission] because Ajinkya [Rahane] has done well as an opener. He (Rahul) will play Board President’s XI or the Ranji Trophy. What’s the point in him just being in the squad and not playing? We will see how it goes [as far as his batting position is concerned]. Because, as of now, this is the best combination.”We are trying to rotate everybody. We are open to different combinations and options. DK instead of Rahul in the middle order is also a part of the process.”The official also said Pant would be better equipped to succeed once he found some form with the bat. “When somebody comes into the team, if he comes with a lot of runs, he will come with better confidence and will have a better chance of doing well,” he said.Thakur’s selection, too, appears to be a part of the selectors’ rotation policy. After having been a part of the India squad on a few occasions, Thakur made his international debut during the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in August. While he picked up only one wicket from two games, he bowled well for the most part and didn’t do much wrong. Thakur also picked up six wickets from the two four-day matches he played against New Zealand A and finished with two wickets in the 50-overs leg.Meanwhile, an ODI call-up continues to elude Shreyas Iyer despite his impressive run of form. While he racked up scores of 140*, 90 and 37 in his most recent List A games against South Africa A and New Zealand A, he has also scored two fifties and a century in his last four first-class innings against the same opponents. With several middle-order contenders like Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Karthik, Iyer might have to wait a little longer.Squad Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.

The Cricket Association of Nepal, which was suspended by the ICC over government interference, has a good chance at being reinstated following a meeting between prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and ICC chief executive David Richardson

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2016The Cricket Association of Nepal, which was suspended by the ICC over government interference, has a good chance at being reinstated following a meeting between prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and ICC chief executive David Richardson.After discussions which took place in Kathmandu on Sunday, it was decided that CAN would form an advisory group to review its constitution then conduct fresh elections as per that constitution.”Nepal is an important member with huge potential. It is important for us to work out a roadmap for its reinstatement,” Richardson said.Although Nepal have been allowed to keep playing in ICC competitions – and had even made a fine debut at Lord’s – their ICC funding had been cut and there has been a leadership vacuum with CAN and Nepal’s National Sports Council in a court battle over who should run cricket in the country.ICC’s chairman of Associates Imran Khwaja, who was also at the meeting, said: “I’m confident everything will be worked out smoothly and the country’s cricket will benefit immensely in the coming years.”

For Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Tuesday’s judgement was far worse than the franchises expected and the initial reaction was to hunker down, close ranks and reflect on the situation rather than react

Arun Venugopal14-Jul-2015For Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Tuesday’s judgement was far worse than the franchises expected and the initial reaction was to hunker down, close ranks and reflect on the situation rather than react. Speculation abounded in the absence of any official comment from either franchise, including rumours that suggested the franchises might be up for sale, but it seems whatever decisions are to be taken will be done after consideration and not in a knee-jerk manner.As the initial shock wore off concerns shifted to the huge hit the franchises’ brand identity would have taken. The immediate impact of Super Kings’ suspension, for instance, was felt in the stock market as India Cements’ share price dipped in the afternoon. Later in the day Aircel, one of Super Kings’ key sponsors, said in a statement that it was “reviewing our position in the matter [its association with the team].”One senior Super Kings official, however, said they had not once entertained thoughts of giving up the team. “You know, we have worked very hard to nurture the team over eight years,” he said. “Besides, will anyone even come up to buy the team now? We will never sell the team.”The official swiftly dismissed as rumour news of Super Kings appealing against the order. “All that you have been hearing and reading are rumours,” he said. “We haven’t taken any decision and neither will we arrive at anything without consulting our in-house legal counsel. We will be sitting down to discuss this in a day or two. The pros and cons of an appeal will have to be considered. We are not in a hurry.”The official, however, admitted that the outcome was “shattering.””We were trying to brace ourselves for this as everyone was talking about a possible suspension. But we didn’t expect to be suspended for two years. In that way, it has been very disappointing,” the official stated.The Royals management, meanwhile, were nervous ahead of the announcement in the morning, but slipped into a huddle soon after. It is understood they, too, are in consultation with their legal team to study the different aspects of the order.”I thought we would get away,” one Royals source said. “I don’t know whether it was the heart thinking or my head. So, the suspension was a bit of a shock.”The biggest impact, as the Super Kings official said, would be on the brand identity. George John, manager, marketing and operations, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, said it was too early to speculate on how much the team will be hurt on the sponsorship front. He, however, said sponsors had not abandoned them even in the wake of the 2013 spot-fixing scandal that saw top Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan being arrested.”We have never had any problem with our sponsors,” John told ESPNcricinfo. “They have always stood by us. They know what we stand for.”Brand consultant Harish Bijoor felt while the reputation of the two teams had corroded, advertisers and broadcasters were unlikely to pay a huge price. “They are all fair weather friends,” Bijoor said of advertisers and broadcasters. “Their money is totally protected, their contracts are reasonably waterproof to protect themselves against these things. Contracts are clean and sharp. The only people who suffer are the two franchise owners.”Please note that the recommendations are that these two teams don’t play for two years. It’s quite likely that many of the stars of these teams are likely to be figuring in other teams. Two or three teams, theoretically, might come into the IPL. End of the day, the net count of the matches will remain the same if not go up. Nobody loses except the franchises.”Bijoor said it was the end of the road for both Super Kings and Royals as brands, “even if not legally.” “Brands have morality elements. The real custodian of the brand is the viewer. The problem is this brand is not like EPL. It is not as old as a Manchester United is, or as old as a Chelsea is. And loyalties are portable. People will take their loyalties to a new brand. At the end of the day, nobody is wedded to a team as much as to a [MS] Dhoni or a [Suresh] Raina or a [Rahul] Dravid.”He suggested that the teams re-brand themselves if and when they come back into the league, either after the term of suspension or after a change in ownership: “Brands enjoy positive karma and negative karma. This is a bit of negative karma as far as these brands are concerned. Changing the name, the ownership, the entire ethos and putting together a set of corporate governance laws will change that. It has to be an amalgam of many things. It’s a brand restructuring guy’s delight.”

Simon Taufel, the recently retired Australian umpire, will give the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture this year. He will be the first umpire to do so.

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2013Simon Taufel, the recently retired Australian umpire, will give the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture this year. He will be the first umpire to do so.Taufel became the most respected umpire in the world after standing in his first Test match aged 29 in 2000. He was named umpire of the year five successive times from 2004 to 2008 and stood in 74 Tests, 174 ODIs and 34 international Twenty20s – the last of which being the World T20 final in October.He will be the third Australian to deliver the lecture, this year on July 24, following Richie Benaud in 2001 and Adam Gilchrist in 2009, and the third non-international cricketer after Christopher Martin-Jenkins in 2007 and Desmond Tutu in 2008.”Simon Taufel has been one of the most respected umpires in world cricket for over a decade,” MCC president, Mike Griffith, said. “I am delighted that he has accepted the club’s invitation to give the thirteenth lecture.”He will offer a unique insight into how the spirit of cricket preamble practically translates within the modern game. As a member of the MCC laws sub-committee, the club already benefits from his vast knowledge and experience to help tackle the key issues surrounding the game’s laws. I am very much looking forward to listening to him address the current areas of contention in the sport.”Taufel said he was initially shocked to be asked: “I am delighted, honoured and humbled to be able to participate in such an important cricket event – I look forward to representing umpiring in this fine tradition and all that Lord Cowdrey stood for.”The spirit of cricket Cowdrey lecture began in 2001 in memory of the late Lord Cowdrey, a past president of MCC, who, together with another former president, Ted Dexter, was the driving force in having the spirit of cricket included as the preamble to the laws of the game.Previous lectures have been delivered by Kumar Sangakkara, who, in 2011, was the youngest person to do so, former England captain Geoffrey Boycott and West Indian great Clive Lloyd.

A round-up of the second day’s play of the seventh round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2011Group AFor the second day in a row, eighteen wickets fell at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. With two more days to go, Saurashtra brightened their hopes for a knockout berth by setting a target of 247 and then reducing Railways to 97 for 6.Railways, reeling overnight at 71 for 8, could only add a further ten runs in their first-innings. Subsequently Saurashtra, sitting on a comfortable lead of 94, failed for the second time in succession as they mustered a meagre 152, but the target set seemed to be enough going into the third day.With the exception of Ravindra Jadeja, who played late to top score with 45, the visitors showed the same lack of application as that of the Railways’ batsmen. Luckily it did not hurt Saurashtra so much as Kamlesh Makvana ripped apart the Railways’ batting order in their second innings with his fastish offbreaks, which fetched him his fifth five-for in first-class cricket. There was not much hope for Railways when senior batsmen like Sanjay Bangar and Shivakant Shukla gave away their wickets by charging out to Makvana.The Railways coach Abhay Sharma, however, didn’t blame the nature of the pitch for the slew of wickets. “Some of our batsmen played bad shots. I don’t think the curator is responsible in any way. When you have a three-day gap between two matches, a curator could have hardly done anything,” Sharma said. “In northern India, it’s difficult to water the pitch as it might remain wet and also you can’t just use the roller on a dry pitch.”Orissa were staring at a big first-innings deficit as they ended on 76 for 6 in reply to Rajasthan‘s 423 in Jaipur. Robin Bist’s unbeaten 127 and Puneet Yadav’s 63 were instrumental in Rajasthan getting to an imposing score. The pair added 124 for the fifth wicket before Yadav was caught behind by Alok Mangaraj. The 24-year-old Bist, originally from Delhi, continued till he ran out of partners, hitting 16 fours in his knock. This is his fourth century in five matches for Bist, who at 829 runs is the top run-maker of season so far. Basanth Mohanty finished with 4 for 104.Rajasthan’s Pankaj Singh then made early inroads with the ball before Sumit Mathur, instrumental in Rajasthan’s victory against Saurashtra last week, took three wickets in five overs to leave the visitors in trouble. With Orissa still adrift by 347 runs, the defending champions would like the enforce the follow-on and try and go for an innings victory to get the bonus points and keep alive the chance of a knockout berth for second year in a row. If they do manage to do that, Rajasthan would have to thank Bist a lot. “This has been my best season in Ranji Trophy. Before this season, I had just one Ranji century. Now, I have five,” Bist told the at the end of the second day’s play.Wasim Jaffer became the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy and, along with the belligerent Suryakumar Yadav, steered Mumbai past Punjab‘s first-innings total during a typically elegant knock. Punjab toiled all day but were blunted by Mumbai’s ultra-defensive approach in the first session, and later by Jaffer’s and Yadav’s aggression. With Saurashtra and Rajasthan in strong positions in their games, Punjab’s chances of making the quarter-finals were slim. Read the full report here.The second day’s play in Shimoga followed the course of the first, as Uttar Pradesh mirrored Karnataka‘s batting effort to finish 39 runs short of the first-innings lead, with four wickets standing. Like their Karnataka counterparts on day one, UP built a solid base in the morning, only to lose wickets in a clump in the lead-up to tea. Like Stuart Binny on the first day, Mohammad Kaif battled through the slump, before stalling it with a dogged seventh-wicket stand. Read the full report here.Group BTamil Nadu strengthened their position against Madhya Pradesh in Chennai, with Dinesh Karthik scoring 156 – his second century in as many games – to take the team to 486. The hosts then consolidated their position by sending the vistors’ top order comprising Naman Ojha, Mohnish Mishra and Devendra Bundela – essentially the MP batting’s engine-room – back to the dressing room in no time.Earlier Karthik was bold in his strokeplay, despite having only the tail for support. Yo Mahesh, M Rangarajan and L Balaji all frustrated the MP bowlers, while Karthik went from strength to strength. After the debuant Amarjeet Singh failed to latch on a hard-hit return catch when Karthik was on 89, the former Tamil Nadu captain progressed to make 156. For MP, Ishwar Pandey finished with 4 for 123 off nearly 40 overs. Zafar Ali, the MP opener, witnessed three partners depart before stumps, leaving plenty for the visitors to do on the third day to match TN’s score.Gritty half-centuries from Sourav Ganguly and Anustup Majumdar put Bengal well on course to take a first-innings lead against Baroda at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. It was an eventful day for Ganguly who started the morning by wrapping up the Baroda innings while he finished with figures of 3 for 1. But Bengal were in for a rude jolt when they were wobbling at 98 for 4, which included the wicket of Manoj Tiwary, who had scored a century in each of his previous three matches. Bengal lost their opener Jayojit Basu to the left-arm seamer Gagandeep Singh, before Firdaush Bhaja had Arindam Das caught in the slips. Shreevats Goswami’s boundary-filled 38 came to an end when he nicked Gagandeep to the keeper. Gagandeep struck again when he had Manoj Tiwary caught at cover.Luckily Ganguly found a stable partner in Majumdar and the paired added vital 93 runs for the fifth wicket before the former Indian captain retired hurt due a left hamstring pull. Till then, Ganguly had 60 runs to his credit including nine fours. Majumdar, who ended the day unbeaten on 71, added a further 73 with Laxmi Shukla before stumps.Gujarat just about managed to take a slender first-innings lead of 21 runs against Haryana in Surat. Resuming on 46 for 1, the Gujarat top order showed an appalling lack of discipline and application, with no one managing even a half century. Luckily for the team, Pratharesh Parmar and Manprit Juneja showed some resistance, adding 63 for the fifth wicket, to help Gujarat to match Haryana’s score. For Haryana the job was done by India legspinner Amit Mishra and the debutant offspinner Jayant Yadav, as the pair took three wickets apiece to peg the hosts back. The other debutant, Mohit Sharma, took two wickets.Haryana erased the deficit of 21 by ending the day on a healthy 61 for no loss. If Gujarat lose this match, they would be relegated to the Plate division. And with the pitch aiding the spinners, a result seems likely. “The match is wide open and any target above 250-275 is going to be difficult to chase in the fourth innings on this ground with the wicket taking spin,” Jayendra Saigal, the Gujarat coach, said. “Our batsmen did not do justice to their talent today.”

New Zealand’s one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions, before Gautam Gambhir collared them again

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga04-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
M Vijay was not at his most fluent, but barring that India had few worries in Vadodara•AFP

New Zealand’s one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions in Vadodara. Zaheer Khan, coming back after injury, and Munaf Patel swung and seamed the ball all right, but New Zealand will look back at how unremarkable their response was. With the pitch easing out in the afternoon, Gautam Gambhir made the chase look ridiculously easy, becoming only the eighth captain to score centuries in back-to-back ODIs.From the time he won the toss and put New Zealand in, Gambhir hardly put a foot wrong, keeping his perfect captaincy record and India’s unbeaten home season intact. New Zealand’s openers gifted their wickets, the middle order went into a shell, and even though James Franklin and Nathan McCullum added 94 for the eighth wicket, it was never going to be enough. Not with Gambhir making room and peppering the off side with drives and cuts, bringing up his fifty in 30 balls, out of India’s 64 then.Watching Gambhir bat, the struggle New Zealand went through early in the morning seemed far away. Brendon McCullum, making a comeback himself, laid out a welcome mat for Zaheer, guiding a widish delivery straight to second slip. Martin Guptill ran himself out soon after.Between those dismissals, Williamson set the template for the day. His front foot went across to the first ball he faced. It swung in enough down the leg side to be called a wide, but Williamson had fallen over trying to correct the movement. Neither Williamson nor Ross Taylor could get rid of that tendency during their short stays. Taylor’s wicket, though, came in a tame fashion as he tried drive Zaheer on the up. The shot was played away from his body, and an inside edge ensued.Taylor’s No. 4 position has been a matter of debate, with arguments that he should take more responsibility and bat at No. 3. Williamson’s inability to counterattack only seemed to highlight that notion. For the third game running, he got off to a slow start, and did little to hit Munaf off his plan.Munaf loves to bowl back of a length, just outside off, and wobble the ball slightly either way. He tends to get a bit rattled when somebody uses that predictability to come down and hit him. In this series, though, no one has come close to doing that. And once Williamson allowed Munaf to do what he wanted, that lbw call seemed a matter of time with the batsman regularly falling over.Modern captains tend to go into the containment mode once the 15th over ends irrespective of how many wickets they might have got. Gambhir, who had put New Zealand in, was refreshingly old-school. When he saw R Ashwin turn the first ball, he set Test-match fields for Scott Styris and James Franklin. Yuvraj, at leg slip, soon came into action taking a sharp low catch to send Styris back. Daniel Vettori did a B McCullum, guiding Yusuf Pathan straight to slip for another sharp catch for Yuvraj, who later returned to leg slip to get rid of Gareth Hopkins too.Having fallen behind the over-rate, though, Gambhir omitted to use four of Zaheer and Nehra’s overs. Facing part-time spinners on a pitch that had eased out a bit, Franklin and N McCullum had little trouble building a partnership. It was almost as if Gambhir was not concerned at all by their stand.The way he turned out with the bat, Gambhir need not have worried either.After having been at the wrong end of Gambhir’s off-side play in Jaipur, New Zealand tried to cramp him up, and found that Gambhir was equally adept at scoring through the on side. He flicked the second ball he faced fine for a boundary. In Kyle Mills’ next over, he picked the gap between mid-on and midwicket. In Mills’ next, Gambhir started making room and went into his favourite off side. He capitalised on the correction on the next delivery, moving to 23 off 11.Andy McKay got the same treatment: wide ball, four; too straight, four; wide again, four. With time, Gambhir’s favourite chips over extra cover and midwicket came out too. He might have seemed to slow down after reaching his fifty, but he took only 58 further deliveries to get to the hundred.M Vijay didn’t struggle like he did in Jaipur, but had to stay content with being the lesser partner in the opening stand. And like he did in Japiur, Virat Kohli came out and scored a half-century in the company of his captain as India cantered home.

Plays of the day from day four of the third Test between South Africa and England at Cape Town

Andrew McGlashan in Cape Town06-Jan-2010Complaint-watch
The most eagerly anticipated part of the day wasn’t the start of play, but what South Africa would do having “raised concerns” about the ball on the third evening. They had until play began to make an official complaint, but word came through that they weren’t going to take it to the next level and left it in the hands of the match referee. The ICC later confirmed they wouldn’t be taking further action and a 16-hour news story was quickly coming to end. The lingering ill-feelings are unlikely to go away as quickly.Take your time
It was not in England’s interests to get too many overs in during the morning session so that South Africa had less opportunity to pile up their lead. After aiming for wickets in the first hour it soon became an exercise in delaying the declaration and England’s bowlers certainly did their bit. One Stuart Broad over took six minutes, while James Anderson used up seven for the over that became the final one of the session. In all, the morning included just 24 overs when there are meant to be 30. England clearly had a tactic, but it left the spectators short-changed. And on this occasion the bowlers couldn’t blame the heat.Duminy breaks free
When JP Duminy walked in South Africa’s lead was already very comfortable, but the pressure was firmly on the left hander. The last three balls he’d faced in the series had brought his downfall and he was on a king pair. That was survived with a solid forward defence and slowly he began to find his timing. He managed to break free with a six over mid-on off James Anderson, but he still had problems with short balls targeted at the body. Those 36 runs will have made him feel better, but only time will if they save his spot.Cook stranded
Duminy, though, could have pulled off a key breakthrough for his team when he had the chance to run out Alastair Cook on 45. Andrew Strauss defended towards backward point and for some reason the opening pair decided there was a run available even though the ball was going almost straight to South Africa’s best fielder. Cook had no chance of making his ground, but even though Duminy took aim he couldn’t hit a single stump from side on…however, in the end it didn’t prove too costly.Pulling up short
As Cook and Strauss completed their first hundred opening stand since the first innings of the Lord’s Test against Australia and South Africa were starting to wonder where a wicket was coming from. Cook had been playing the pull with authority during his innings, but then tried to connect with a ball that wasn’t quite short enough and got a spiralling top edge that was swallowed by Mark Boucher. Cook didn’t give his captain a glance and just turned on his heels.Daryl’s latest shocker
The Umpire Decision Review System has had its critics, but by and large it has been a success in this series. And during this match it has overturned two howling errors, which is just what it was introduced for. The umpiring in the last three Tests has been very impressive, but Daryl Harper has lowered the standards in this game. Yesterday he gave Ashwell Prince out when he missed the ball by a foot and his second shocker was not spotting Kevin Pietersen’s inside edge that saved him from an lbw. Pietersen immediately asked for the review which confirmed the large chunk of wood involved, although Pietersen was soon stone-dead to Dale Steyn. At least the system works.

England coach suggests white-ball captain suffered from formats not being prioritised

Danyal Rasool28-Feb-20255:09

Who will England’s next white-ball captain be?

Sat alongside his departing captain Jos Buttler, perhaps it was telling the first emotion England coach Brendon McCullum voiced was sadness rather than pride. As Buttler announced he was quitting as England’s white-ball captain, expressing his own disappointment at the way events had panned out, McCullum’s initial reaction was to offer sympathy for Buttler and how much he had invested into a role that hasn’t quite worked out.McCullum suggested that was down to the circumstances Buttler had to lead his side in, rather than any shortcomings in his captaincy itself. Even as England struggled in white-ball ICC events since winning the 2022 T20I World Cup, Buttler often found himself leading sides on bilateral tours that weren’t close to full strength.On an ODI and T20I tour of West Indies late last year, sandwiched between Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand, none of England’s all-format players were part of the squad. Against Australia in September, Joe Root was rested after a busy Test season, while a number of players, including Root and Mark Wood, sat home while England toured West Indies at the tail-end of 2023. England lost all three ODI series.Related

• Buttler goes down with the ship as England journey comes full circle

• All-but-through SA hope to pile more misery on out-of-contention England

• Jos Buttler quits as England's white-ball captain after Champions Trophy exit

• Decline and fall: England face up to scale of ODI rebuilding job

McCullum appeared to allude to those circumstances as he spoke of England’s next white-ball captain, and his desire to avoid putting him in similarly unenviable circumstances. “That’s something Keysy [Rob Key] and myself and the ECB are trying to ensure, that we give every format the most amount of attention that we possibly can,” he said. “It’s a tricky balancing act at times.”McCullum has been Test coach since 2022, and had his pick of players for that format. But with all three formats now falling under his stewardship, he hinted that full availability for Test cricket may no longer be as set in stone in future.”Looking back even on these most recent series, you’d argue that you could rest some players for some Test series and try and balance things out across formats,” he said. “Give us a couple of weeks to work things out and digest what’s unfolded here, work out what areas we’ve been short in and done okay in, work out the structure of how we want to do things moving forward. We’ve got a couple of months before our next assignment, so there is a bit of time to work that out.”McCullum kept returning to the theme of Buttler’s captaincy, and how he felt it would be remembered more kindly than raw results might suggest. He said Buttler had set a solid foundation for his replacement, comparing it to the health of the England Test side following Joe Root’s resignation as Test captain in 2022 after a series of indifferent results.2:16

McCullum: England fans deserve to see better results

“I said to the boys tonight in the team room sometimes it’s not necessarily the time that you’re in the post and the results that you get during that time. The impact you have in leadership positions can be felt after you left the post, and I’m sure that’ll be the case. I think Joe Root was a classic example of that with the Test captaincy. He was able to at least hold the fort to a degree under incredibly trying circumstances, and then the uplift of performance when Stokesy [Ben Stokes] took over sort of followed from that, and hopefully it’ll be the same across the white-ball teams whenever we decide on who that person is going to be.”The ECB had hoped linking up Buttler with McCullum, two preternaturally attacking white-ball players, would help unleash England’s white-ball potential in the way managed by Eoin Morgan following the 2015 World Cup. However, with results spiralling, England and McCullum have been criticised for what has come to be seen as a simplistic approach, not necessarily suited to the skillsets of the specific players England’s white-ball sides have at their disposal.McCullum pushed back against that notion firmly, pointing out the close margins England had missed out by this tournament. “We’ve had our opportunities and played some okay cricket,” he said, “and both games we could have won, and then we’re sitting here and talking about something slightly different. I genuinely believe we’ve got immense talent in English cricket across all forms.”If anything, we are lacking confidence. There’s a perception out there that we’re a happy-go-lucky, arrogant type of team. We couldn’t be further from that. These guys are too hard on themselves, they’ve got immense talent they are desperate … to perform. That’s actually stymying the ability of us to get the performance we want. They care too much. That’s not a bad thing. They’re just desperate to perform and do right by all those who support the team, and support them. Until we get to the stage where we’re able to still handle walking out there and playing, without wearing disappointment so heavily, then we’re always going to stymie ourselves. That’s our job over the next little while.”While Harry Brook is the favourite to succeed Buttler, McCullum said England had not decided on a successor. While that is partly because, in McCullum’s words, Buttler’s resignation “came a little sooner than expected”, he felt it also spoke to the characters in the England side.”There’s some really good leaders that have developed,” McCullum said. “That’s the mark of Jos’s captaincy, he brought on other leaders within the group. They’re not necessarily seasoned players, but they are young guys who have got good cricketing knowledge and he’s encouraged them to learn and develop as leaders. Whoever we settle on, we’ve just got to make sure we’re giving them the right support so that we can improve our performances.”