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“You not only want to be physically fresh but, as captain, you want to be mentally fresh as much as you can”

Tristan Lavalette16-Nov-2022As he prepares to take the reins of Australia’s ODI team amid a gruelling schedule marked by a World Cup less than 12 months away, Pat Cummins said prioritising being physically and mentally “fresh” was behind his decision to skip next year’s IPL.Now, juggling Test and ODI captaincy, Cummins calculated that he would be playing more than 100 days of international cricket over the next 12 months.”I really do love playing in the IPL, but just looking at the schedule, the decision was pretty easy,” Cummins, who was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders team, told reporters on Wednesday. “You not only want to be physically fresh but, as captain, you want to be mentally fresh as much as you can to make decisions.Related

• Cummins opts out of IPL with eye on Australia's heavy schedule

• Newly-minted T20 champions England gear up for Australia ODIs

“Straight after the IPL, there are six Test matches, hopefully we make the World Test Championship final. I was totally depleted after the last Ashes (in England) in 2019, so I just want to be going there as fresh as I can be.”Having recovered from a bout of gastroenteritis, Cummins will start his ODI captaincy against England on Thursday in Adelaide. The three-match series has been derided as being inconsequential, coming as it does just days after England lifted the T20 World Cup trophy, and with Australia having home Test series against West Indies and South Africa coming up before a hectic 2023 highlighted by Test tours of India and England.While the series has predictably flown under the radar, it effectively kickstarts preparations for the 2023 ODI World Cup for Australia against the reigning champions.”The last 12-24 months, there has been a big focus on T20 cricket and I think that focus now shifts to ODIs with a World Cup in 12 months’ time,” Cummins said. “To challenge ourselves against the current title-holders and probably the most in-form team around the world, there’s a lot to play for.”Cummins revealed that Mitchell Starc would start with the new ball against England after the left-armer was dropped for Australia’s must-win T20 World Cup match against Afghanistan in Adelaide. Starc had been shifted away from the new ball after he leaked 14 runs in the first over of Australia’s costly opening loss to New Zealand.”He will take the new ball. He’s really positive. I hope he knows his value,” Cummins said of Starc. “He’s been fantastic, especially in ODI cricket. He’s a huge player for us.”Having replaced Aaron Finch in the hot seat, Cummins didn’t foreshadow many drastic changes in leadership style in a role he will fulfil until at least the World Cup.”When I took on this role, it was campaign-focused; there are a dozen ODIs until next year’s World Cup and we will see how that goes and make a decision after that,” Cummins said. “I don’t think you will see too much change from what Finchy brought to the squad around his captaincy. I hope I can provide an environment where the players can all go out and express themselves.”

Sydney Thunder secured a playoff berth with the win, while Melbourne Stars finished bottom

Tristan Lavalette25-Jan-2023Sydney Thunder survived a wobbly chase to secure a BBL finals berth after a tense three-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars at the MCG.The finals positioning came down to the last match of this riveting regular season with Thunder needing a win to leapfrog Hobart Hurricanes, who had pushed into the top five after a remarkable two-run victory over Brisbane Heat earlier in the day.Eerily similar to that game in Launceston, it went down to the wire after a nervy Thunder almost botched their chase of 120.But Thunder, who have been up and down all season, did enough in a see-saw of a contest to claim fourth place and will host an elimination final on Friday against fifth-placed Heat.It ended another underachieving season for Stars, who finished bottom of the ladder with just three wins.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Thunder stumble over the line

Chasing a low target, Thunder had early wobbles with David Warner’s run of low scores continuing after being undone by extra bounce from quick Luke Wood.Warner lasted just three deliveries and has made just 63 runs from five innings since his long-awaited return to the BBL. He is likely to have one more chance to better those returns at elimination final.Thunder were boosted by the return of batter Jason Sangha, who was out for five weeks due to a broken collarbone. But Sangha couldn’t get going and was stumped off a sharp delivery from spinner Adam Zampa.Thunder kept losing wickets and appeared to be headed for the same fate of Heat earlier in the day. But a hard-hitting 28 off 18 balls from Daniel Sams and composed batting from skipper Chris Green and Nathan McAndrew got Thunder over the line and into the finals.

Zampa gives it his all

Zampa has had a rough season after taking the Stars’ captaincy reins from injured Glenn Maxwell. But he remains their talisman and did his very best to thwart Thunder’s finals hopes. He enjoyed a spinning MCG surface and turned the match by outfoxing Alex Ross and Sams to leave the contest in the balance. It wasn’t a flawless effort with Zampa dropping a sitter to reprieve Green on 1 in what proved a costly missed chance. The Stars did what they could to fight all the way to the finish and perhaps in that respect they made it a reasonable send off for coach David Hussey.Adam Zampa celebrates dismissing Jason Sangha with Marcus Stoinis and Joe Clarke•Getty Images

Qadir shines, Sandhu injured

Thunder vindicated Green’s decision to bowl after a disciplined performance from the attack. They bowled well in partnerships from the get go to shackle last-placed Stars, who appeared to be going through the motions in what was a dead rubber for them.Legspinner Usman Qadir, the son of legendary Pakistan spinner Abdul Qadir, stole the show with a three-wicket haul. He bamboozled Stars’ struggling batters with flighted deliveries and combined well with Green, who was typically miserly to finish with 2 for 19 off four overs. Qadir has proven a reliable part of Thunder’s attack after being drafted into the squad for injured spinner Tanveer Sangha.The team’s hierarchy will be well pleased with the performance of the attack after seamer Gurinder Sandhu limped off the ground with a suspected calf injury having bowled two overs. He appears in major doubt for Friday’s final.

Stoinis’ struggles caps tough season

Marcus Stoinis’ season might have been doomed from the start when he fell first ball in the opening game against Thunder shortly after contracting Covid-19. He made just 14 runs in his next three innings before finally rediscovering his belligerent best with a couple of powerful half-centuries. But a hamstring injury derailed his momentum and Stars’ season was basically shot when he returned.Stoinis was hoping to at least end things on a high and find some form before he heads to the UAE’s ILT20. He targeted Qadir in the sixth over and clobbered a six down the ground but couldn’t repeat the dose later in the over to hole out. It summed up a disappointing season for Stoinis, where nothing seemingly went right and he finished with just 190 runs at 23.75 from nine matches.

Focus on Lord Patel’s role as chairman, as CDC hearing enters concluding week

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2023A new dossier of evidence has come to light that is expected to cast doubt on the validity of Yorkshire’s guilty plea at the ongoing racism hearings, amid claims that Lord Patel – the outgoing chair – was unduly influenced by the ECB during his time in the role.Following negotiations with the ECB, Yorkshire pleaded guilty to four amended charges, as opposed to the original six levelled against them, and as a consequence, chose not to be represented at this month’s hearings at the International Arbitration Centre in London.One of those four charges related to the “the deletion and destruction of documents” pertaining to Azeem Rafiq’s claims of institutional racism at the club, with Yorkshire’s original statement on the matter claiming that this act had occurred in a “time period prior to the appointment of Lord Patel”.According to the Daily Mail, however, evidence has emerged which casts doubt on this claim, with senior officials at the club insisting that the documents in question were still in Yorkshire’s possession in March 2022, more than four months after Lord Patel had taken over as chair.In response to the claims, Yorkshire issued a fresh statement on Sunday evening, in which it did not deny that the data deletion had taken place, but stopped short of specifying when.”Subsequent to the appointment of Lord Patel on November 5, 2021, it is understood that certain documents and emails created prior to his appointment – and relating to the allegations of racism and the club’s response to those allegations – were unable to be located,” the statement read.”We engaged independent specialists to investigate and we are informed that their conclusion was that emails and documents, held electronically by the club and in paper copy, had been irretrievably deleted from both servers and laptops and otherwise destroyed.”The hearing, which is due to be concluded this week, resumes in a private session on Monday prior to the closing speeches from the lawyers, including those acting for Michael Vaughan, who is the only person facing charges who has chosen to defend himself.Related

• Yorkshire admit liability on racism charges as Richard Pyrah pulls out of process

• Yorkshire plead guilty to data deletion in wake of racism allegations

• ECB lays out case against Yorkshire defendants as CDC hearing begins

• Vaughan regrets 'disgusting' tweets but denies making 'you lot' comment

On Friday, Lord Patel’s relationship with the ECB came under scrutiny from Christopher Stoner KC, Vaughan’s lawyer, particularly in light of a recent interview with the Eastern Eye, in which Patel claimed his decision to dismiss 16 members of Yorkshire’s back-room staff in December 2021 had come after “the ECB urged him to get rid of people”, but that “when the going got tough the ECB didn’t back him”.Meena Botros, the ECB’s director of legal and integrity, denied any knowledge of the ECB “urging Mr Patel to take action and sack those individuals”, but was pressed on the board’s ability, as the sport’s regulator, to remain independent of the actions taken by its member counties.”That’s just not what happened, is it?” Stoner asked. “It is what happened,” Botros replied.The issue of the data deletion has not yet been raised in the proceedings. However Vaughan, who appeared as a witness on Friday, told the hearing: “Whatever happens, this has a terrible look on the game.”He continues to deny Rafiq’s claim that he told a group of four Asian players, “there’s too many of you lot”, ahead of a Yorkshire fixture in 2009.”The comment I have been alleged to have said is a comment where a team-mate would not be able to perform to their maximum, and that’s not what I’m about,” Vaughan said.

KKR’s new opener Jason Roy set them up for a total of 200 by smashing 56 off 29 balls

Sreshth Shah26-Apr-20232:02

Dasgupta: You need guts to bowl in the situation that Suyash did

It took Kolkata Knight Riders eight games to finally produce a cohesive team performance. They excelled with bat and ball, and were the better team in the field too, as they achieved only their third win of the season. It was the perfect way for them to start the second half of the league stage, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore for the second time in the season.KKR’s win was set up by their new opener Jason Roy, who laid the base for their total of 200 by smacking 56 off 29 balls. Nitish Rana pumped 48 off 21 to keep the momentum going through the middle overs, and Rinku Singh (18 off 10) and David Wiese (12 off 3) put on the finishing touches.RCB’s chase, though, was on while Virat Kohli was out there. He scored 54 off 37 to keep them on course. However, regular wickets from Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell kept pegging them back, and RCB eventually ran out of gas and fell 21 short.

Suyash, Varun pull it back for KKR

Kohli and Faf du Plessis hammered 30 runs in two overs from Vaibhav Arora and Umesh Yadav to start the chase, forcing Rana to bring on spin in the third over. He chose to go to his least experienced spinner – Suyash Sharma – ahead of Sunil Narine and Varun, and was rewarded with du Plessis holing out to long on second ball.While Kohli kept finding the boundary, he failed to find support in the powerplay with Shahbaz Ahmed falling lbw to Suyash, while Glenn Maxwell holed out off Varun. With RCB three down in the powerplay, Kohli and Mahipal Lomror stabilised the chase by running hard and taking on Sunil Narine.Jason Roy gave KKR a fabulous start•Associated Press

Rana then went back to Varun, who had Lomror caught in the deep, and when Kohli was superbly caught on 54 by Venkatesh Iyer, diving to his left at deep midwicket in the 13th over, KKR were decidedly ahead in the contest. The dismissals of Wanindu Hasaranga and Dinesh Karthik in the space of four balls ensured RCB had no way back and Kohli, who was standing in as captain for du Plessis once again, said they had “gifted” the victory to KKR.

Rana makes RCB pay

Kohli’s scathing post-game comments were largely because of RCB’s fielding. They put down a tough caught-and-bowled chance off Roy, but it was the two reprieves that Rana received that really cost RCB. According to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index the two drops, by Mohammed Siraj in the 13th over and Harshal Patel in the 15th, cost RCB a total of 29 runs.

Roy fined for breaching Code of Conduct

KKR opening batter Jason Roy has been fined 10 percent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. It appeared that he hit the bails with his bat after he was dismissed by Vijaykumar Vyshak. He admitted to the Level 1 offence, where the Match Referee’s decision is final.

The first chance came when Rana was on 5 off 5 deliveries and then second when he was on 19 off 12. He ended up scoring 48 off 21 balls. Rana’s innings included three fours and four sixes and it allowed KKR to wrest the momentum after sluggish innings from N Jagadeesan and Venkatesh.

Roy sets Knight Riders up

It was Roy’s innings, however, that set the tone for KKR’s night. After struggling for runs from their opening partnership all season, KKR finally had a strong start and it was all Roy. He smashed four sixes in the fifth over from left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed to power them to 66 for 0 in the powerplay.So even though Vijaykumar Vyshak dismissed N Jagadeesan and Roy in the same over, KKR had a platform to build on, and this time Rana and the rest ensured that it was not wasted.

Mumbai did the simple things right to get to within two wins of a sixth title, while LSG lost the Eliminator for the second season running

Alagappan Muthu24-May-20231:30

Manjrekar: Bowlers like Madhwal are gold dust

Look out, Ahmedabad. Mumbai Indians are coming. The five-time champions put on a clinic to rout Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday night and march into Qualifier 2. They are now two wins away from lifting a trophy they might soon trademark.Akash Madhwal was the star of the show, picking up the joint-best figures by an Indian in IPL history – 5 for 5 in 3.3 overs. He might have taken more but Super Giants kept running themselves out in ridiculous ways. One was the result of a collision, it ended their best batter’s stay at the crease, Marcus Stoinis gone for 40 off 27. Another had both players at the same end.Super Giants fell from 74 for 3 to 101 all out in a chase of 183.

Mumbai’s boundary bash

Mumbai do the little things right. They saw the opposition opening the bowling with spin and exploited the fact that only two men are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan hit four fours in the first three overs – all just placed into gaps behind point and past fine leg because they knew that would be enough. These were the conditions that were supposed to stop the biggest hitters in the IPL. But they didn’t. Mumbai cruised to 98 for 2, the third-highest 10-over score in Chennai this year. They hit 15 boundaries in this period.2:08

Moody: ‘Naveen has three versions of the slower offcutter’

Naveen intervenes

Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav were not just clearing the boundary, they were spraying the second tier. This season, a few teams have experimented with three openers in their line-up. They come into play when there’s an early wicket. They stay in the hut when there isn’t. Mumbai are one of these teams and it helped them keep a very healthy tempo. They were on course to clear 200.That’s when Naveen-ul-Haq came on and did the simple thing right. At Chepauk, everybody needs to take pace off. Including the fast bowlers. After getting bashed for a first-ball six in the 11th over, he slipped in a legcutter to Suryakumar and had him caught on the straight boundary, and two balls later, an offcutter gripped in the pitch and bowled Green through the gate.Naveen, the Afghanistan quick, celebrated each of his four wickets by putting his fingers in ears, perhaps a response to the hate he’s received on social media for his part in the blow-up with Virat Kohli earlier in the tournament.1:19

Manjrekar: ‘Brilliant move to have Wadhera come in as Impact sub’

The impact of the Impact Sub

Mumbai had gone in a batter light in their bat-first XI. The logic was that if they needed the guy, they would sub him in for someone who was already dismissed.Which is exactly what happened. Nehal Wadhera walked in as Suryakumar’s substitute to face the last 21 balls of the innings.If they hadn’t needed him, they might have brought in an extra spinner to help defend whatever total they got. Mumbai kept both options open. It’s a fun way to use the Impact Sub. It’s not formulaic.Wadhera played a massive role. He came in at a time when Mumbai had managed only 30 runs in the previous 4.2 overs. And he smashed 23 off 12, including two fours and a six in the final over.

Madhwal stands tall

Madhwal went to Mumbai for INR 20 lakh. Money extremely well spent.He wasn’t part of Plan A. An entire month had gone by before he played his first game, and there he went for 37 runs in three overs. Two of them were at the death.Madhwal has bowled 129 balls this season. Fifty-one of them have been in overs 17 to 20. A rookie has been bowling 40% of his deliveries in the hardest phase of a T20 game while maintaining an economy rate of 7.5. Only one fast bowler has done better (min 18 deliveries) and he belonged to the opposition – Mohsin Khan.Madhwal’s biggest impact in this game, though, came in the middle overs when he picked up two wickets in two balls, including an absolute peach from around the wicket, angling into the left-handed Nicholas Pooran and nipping away off the pitch to have him caught behind.Seventeen dots in 21 balls and five wickets for five runs. Nobody had done this much damage in the entire history of IPL playoff matches. Most teams wouldn’t be able to recover from losing bowlers of the class of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer.Mumbai aren’t most teams.

Dan Mousley returned career-best figures as the final margin flattered Yorkshire

ECB Reporters Network22-Jun-2023Birmingham 180 for 7 (Yates 66, Benjamin 45) beat Yorkshire 176 for 8 (Mousley 4-28)Birmingham Bears put one foot in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast with a nervy four-run win over stumbling Yorkshire Vikings as the North Group leaders defended a 181 target at Headingley.Birmingham won for the eighth time in 11 games on the back of opener Rob Yates’ 66 off 51 balls and Dan Mousley’s career best 4 for 28 from four overs of offspin in Yorkshire’s 176 for 8, including three David Wiese sixes in the last over as Henry Brookes just about defended 27.England’s Ashes hopeful Chris Woakes returned an excellent 2 for 22 from four overs.Vikings have now lost their last three games – six defeats in 12 – and they must now win their last two fixtures to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.Birmingham should have posted more than 180 for 7 having elected to bat, but they lost regular wickets during the second half of an innings ultimately held together by left-handed Yates.Chris Benjamin also made 45 off 27 from No. 3, while Yates was run out off the last ball of the 20th over. Dom Bess with 1 for 16 from three overs and seamer Wiese’s 1 for 26 from four stood out for Yorkshire, who were sloppy in the field – both on the ground and catching.Yates was dropped on 50 moments after reaching his second fifty of the campaign in 38 balls.The Bears had a bright start checked when Alex Davies on 15 steered seamer Matthew Revis’s first ball to short third – 37 for 1 in the fifth over, which became 50 for 1 after six.Yates and Benjamin settled for a couple of overs before the latter, in particular, put his foot down.Benjamin hit five fours and a straight six in the ninth and 10th overs combined off Revis and leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, taking the score to 92 for 1 at halfway and him into the forties.However, just short of a half-century, he drilled Jordan Thompson to mid-off, leaving the Bears at 97 for 2 and starting a bit of a collapse.Glenn Maxwell pulled his second ball for a huge six onto the Headingley Lodge hotel’s top tier. But the Australian’s fireworks were only brief as he was bowled for 21 trying to get funky against Revis.And wickets continued to fall. Mousley was run out following a mix-up with Yates before Ed Barnard and Jacob Bethell holed out off Dom Bess and David Wiese, leaving the score at 164 for 6 in the 18th.Yates was strong on both sides of the wicket, pulling his only six over square-leg.But the Bears weren’t able to put themselves in the unassailable position they perhaps should have done.Yorkshire also made a bright start to their innings, with Dawid Malan and Adam Lyth taking leg-side sixes off Brookes – in for rested Hassan Ali – in the second over.But Malan holed out to deep cover off Maxwell’s offspin and James Wharton edged Woakes to slip in the next two overs – 32 for 2 after four.Lyth looked good for 34, and so did captain Shan Masood for 21. Both played some eye-catching shots. But Yorkshire’s recent Achilles heel has been batters failing to build on starts.So when they both fell in successive overs – Lyth caught at short third off Mousley’s third ball and Masood bowled by a beauty of a googly from left-arm wristspinner Jake Lintott, Vikings fans were fearing the worst at 73 for four in the 11th. Mousley trapped Jonny Tattersall lbw in his next overBut home hopes were raised as all]rounders Thompson and Revis powerfully turned the tide. Thompson was strong to leg, while Revis hit particularly well down the ground in a brisk 54 stand.They took the target to a still unlikely 41 from three overs at 140 for 5. However, Woakes returned to get Revis caught at deep square-leg for 32, conceding only two off his last over and paving the way for a comfortable run to the line for the Bears.Mousley’s third wicket was Thompson brilliantly caught at long-on by a diving Jacob Bethell for 34. He also bowled Bess to leave Brookes with breathing space in the last, though it got closer than it should have thanks to Wiese’s lusty late attack with 20.