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The allrounder has been named in Test squad after months out with back injury and hopes to help turn England’s fortunes around

Valkerie Baynes17-Jul-2019Georgia Elwiss is determined to mark her international return by helping England make a “special” comeback of their own when they face Australia in this week’s Test with the Women’s Ashes on the line.Elwiss, the 28-year-old allrounder who has played the past two WBBL seasons with Melbourne Stars, was named in England’s 13-strong squad for the four-day match starting at Taunton on Thursday after being sidelined for more than four months with a back injury.”Injuries are never nice and I think it’s just made me really hungry to be able to contribute to hopefully us pulling off something special for the rest of this series and regaining the Ashes,” Elwiss said.England trail Australia six points to nil after losing all three of their ODIs and must win the Test, worth four points, to remain in the contest for the Ashes with three T20s worth two points each to follow.Also read: ‘The beauty of the red ball is bringing it back to life’ – SchuttElwiss admitted it had been difficult having to watch her team rather than taking part after she felt pain while playing England’s one-day series in India in February and scans revealed a small stress fracture in her back, which then ruled her out of the tour of Sri Lanka, plus a home series against West Indies.”Unfortunately I had to get shut down for a fair few months, so I’m on the comeback trail now and fit and raring to go,” Elwiss said. “Hopefully I can contribute to the girls this week and bring some energy and bring something new to the dynamics of the team.”It’s been not very nice watching the girls out there playing while I’m stuck in the gym but I think that’ s made me really hungry to do everything really well and properly and diligently and so I know that now I’m back I’ll be back better than ever.”Elwiss has played two Tests, in the 2015 and 2017 Ashes, batting at No.4 in the latter where she made a second-innings 41 not out off 190 balls to help England hold out for a draw after Australia’s Ellyse Perry had notched an unbeaten double century.Also read: Perth glories inspire Cross to hit her markElwiss struck an unbeaten 44 batting at No.4 and 36 opening for England in a three-day tour match against Australia A, which finished on Sunday, and said while she enjoyed batting in the upper middle order, she was feeling good with bat and ball and was happy to do “whatever job is asked of me”.”I’ve got to break into the XI first and then see where we go from there,” Elwiss said. “The ODI series was disappointing. We need to remember that we’re not a bad team and we’re not actually that far away from the Australians.”They’ve played some good cricket, probably by their admission not the complete package in terms of their ODI game either. We’ve played some good cricket at times and I think we need to keep remembering that they’re humans as well and they’re going to make mistakes and we’re ready to pounce.”Elwiss comes into the England squad alongside youngster Kirstie Gordon and Katherine Brunt, the 34-year-old fast bowler who is a veteran of 11 Test matches. Brunt, who is no stranger to back injuries with disc problems that require ongoing management, returns having missed the third ODI against Australia after hurting her ankle while leaping in the air to celebrate taking a wicket in the second match of the series.Katherine Brunt turns her ankle celebrating the wicket of Meg Lanning•Getty Images

“We call her the grandma of the group – she hates it,” Elwiss said. “She’s got all the experience but she’s still got the heart and the drive and the fight of a 19-year-old coming in and that’s testament to her.”She’s played a lot of Test matches and a lot of Ashes Test matches. She’s been through a lot in her career and has got plenty of battle scars and things like that so she’s a great person to have around the group. She’s great for giving advice.”She does waffle on a lot so you have to pick your moments to get advice from her because you could be sat there for half an hour listening to her answer, but she’s great,” Elwiss added with a laugh. “She’s a great person to have around and she’s great with the youngsters because she’s always willing to offer that advice.”

Door not closed, says Ashley Giles after announcement, with Alex Hales given similar message after missing out

Andrew Miller20-Sep-2019Liam Plunkett has said that “disappointment is an understatement” after he was surprisingly overlooked in England’s list of centrally contracted white-ball players for 2019-20.Plunkett played a key role in England’s maiden World Cup triumph this summer, including three wickets in their victory in the final against New Zealand at Lord’s, and has claimed a total of 96 ODI wickets at 28.01 in the four years since the last World Cup in 2015, more than any other England white-ball seamer.However, at the age of 34, Plunkett has been considered by the ECB management to be past his prime as they begin to gear their white-ball squads towards next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia and ultimately the defence of their 50-over title in India in 2023, by which stage he will be 38.Explaining the decision at Lord’s on Friday, Ashley Giles, England’s director of men’s cricket, praised Plunkett’s contribution as a “fantastic servant” to the white-ball team, but pointed out that his pace had dipped in recent seasons and that a team with an eye to the future had a duty to prioritise a new generation of bowlers – not least Tom Curran, who was a non-playing member of England’s World Cup squad, and the Lancashire paceman, Saqib Mahmood, who is expected to be named in England’s T20 squad next week, for their five-match tour of New Zealand.”Plunkett has been … one of Eoin [Morgan]’s go-to men,” Giles said. “But moving into a new cycle of four years, before the 50-over World Cup and two T20 World Cups, he probably didn’t fit those future needs for the next 12-24 months, which is tough.”He’s one of the most physical men we have in our line-ups. He’s incredibly fit and strong, but in terms of the numbers, I guess his paces have been down a little bit for some time.”His best came in that role in the World Cup, and the World Cup final. He should be really proud of that achievement, and what they did as a team, but everything moves on for all of us.”Writing in his column after the World Cup win, Plunkett conceded he had “definitely” played in his last 50-over World Cup, but had vowed to “stick around in the game for a little longer”.He took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to express his disappointment at the decision, although he later clarified: “I am really happy for all the boys who got contracted. I am not having a pop at anyone just disappointed I didn’t get one.”Giles added: “We’re not saying that the door’s closed, but just in terms of the core of that team, which is where those contracts are offered, he probably just misses out. It’s difficult to be the person who puts that pen through the name, but that’s cricket.”Liam Plunkett acknowledges the applause of the crowd after finishing with figures of 3/42•Getty ImagesAnother player on whom the door is not closed is Alex Hales, despite being stripped of his white-ball contract in the wake of the positive tests for recreational drug use that led to his sacking from the World Cup squad.Hales has a prominent opportunity to make his case for an England recall on T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday, where Nottinghamshire take on the defending champions Worcestershire in the first semi-final.Joe Clarke and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who were stood down from England Lions duty following inappropriate off-field behaviour, were also given a clean slate as Giles cited the recent example of Ben Stokes to show that players who make career-threatening errors of judgement can earn themselves second chances.”The door isn’t closed on Alex, or certainly those other guys,” he said. “They’ve served whatever time they had to serve. It will come down to performance, and there is always an element of culture and team cohesion.”In the short term at least, Hales might find his path back to the England squad blocked by the captain, Eoin Morgan, who was scathing in his assessment of Hales’ character when explaining the reasoning behind his World Cup axing.”Eoin talked about that element of trust, and has there been enough time to make up for that?” said Giles. “Maybe, maybe not … that’ll come down to Eoin and the selectors, but the door is still open. He’s a fantastic T20 player and, you know, a mistake shouldn’t haunt you for life. As we’ve seen very good other example this year.”After a period of reflection in the wake of the World Cup win, Morgan recently confirmed that he was ready to carry on as England captain, a development that delighted Giles, especially given that the concurrent departure of the coach Trevor Bayliss would have left the white-ball squad rudderless in the interim.”We met about a month after the World Cup final, and he wanted some time to consider his future, which is just the way Morgs operates,” Giles said. “He’s very sensible, very logical. And thankfully, he rang me a couple of weeks after that, and said, I’m absolutely fully committed to going forward. And I’m looking forward to it, refreshed.”That first month was probably a bit of a haze for him anyway,” he added. “But he’s probably dried out a bit and come around, and I’m delighted. He is a fantastic leader of men in that dressing room. And with us losing Trev, it’s important we maintain some consistency and that leadership going forward.”Morgan’s role in moulding the England team post-2015 has been well documented. But Giles believes that, even if he is unable to take the side all the way to the 2023 World Cup (by which stage he will be 36), the groundwork already laid is such that Jos Buttler (or AN Other candidate) would be well placed to take over at shorter notice.”To give Jos that responsibility now, I think, is a lot for him, given he’s playing across all three formats. But is he a future leader? Quite possibly. And given where the white-ball team is, perhaps we can manage that transition better.”But just because we’re world champions, we can’t just keep doing the same stuff. When the new coach comes in, his relationship with the captains is going to be important. And we will need different things in both environments, because the white-ball environment is probably more mature in how they play their cricket than the Test environment. But both are really exciting opportunities.”

Arne Slot says he "would have loved" to have brought on Diogo Jota in a heartbreaking admission following Liverpool's dramatic 4-2 win over Bournemouth on Friday.

• Liverpool beat Bournemouth in season opener
• Slot wishes he could have subbed on Jota
• Fans pay emotional tribute to late striker

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Reds found themselves in search of a late winner after their two-goal lead was wiped out by a second-half double from Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo on the opening night of the 2025-26 Premier League season.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  In Liverpool's moment of need, Slot turned to Federico Chiesa and the Italy international repaid the faith, putting his side 3-2 ahead before Mohamed Salah added a fourth to seal all three points for the Anfield club. However, Slot admitted after the match that he wished he could have brought on Jota, 28, who tragically died alongside his brother Andre Silva, 25, in a car crash in Spain in July.

• WHAT SLOT SAID

  In an emotional post-match interview, Slot said: "Normally at 2-2 everyone knows which player I look to at that moment in time. I would have loved to bring in Diogo Jota, but I could not for terrible reasons. But tonight the fans and the players did what he did for us many times in the past."

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  Powerful tributes were paid before, during and after the match to Jota, whose family were in attendance at Anfield. Liverpool supporters in both the Kop and the Sir Kenny Dalglish stands formed mosaics which read 'DJ20' and 'AS30', while talisman Salah was moved to tears as he joined in a rendition of Jota's chant.

Netherlands were 167 for 5. They had never chased a target as big as 291 in ODI cricket. Fast forward to the 49th over and they were gifted the winning run off a wide

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2019

Zimbabwe came into this game after getting a proper beating. But nearly all of their key players stood up to change the narrative. Sikandar Raza played finisher to perfection, making 85 off only 68 balls and remaining unbeaten so that the effort of his team-mates higher up the order – Craig Ervine scored 84 and Brendan Taylor struck a fifty as well – yielded a solid total. At the innings break, 290 for 6 looked a winning score. And that perception only grew when Sean Williams too four wickets with his left-arm spin.Netherlands were 167 for 5 in the 33rd over. They had never chased a target as big as this in ODI cricket before. But fast forward to the 49th and they were gifted the winning run off a wide.Much of the recovery had already been done, with Roelof van der Merwe striking a composed 57 off 54 balls and the wicketkeeper Scott Edwards keeping pace despite scoring only three boundaries in his unbeaten 44. Eventually though that sixth-wicket partnership at nearly run a ball gave way to one that was pure mayhem.The Netherlands captain Pieter Seelaar came out with the equation reading 62 off 42 balls and completely broke the game. He faced only 15 deliveries but sent six of them to the boundary to ensure his team set a new national record.A big chase usually needs a good opening stand and Netherlands had that too. Tobias Visee, who will be opening the batting with Chris Gayle at the Global T20 Canada, batted in a matter befitting that as he whacked 41 off only 33 balls. His partner, Max O’Dowd who scored a half-century on debut on Wednesday followed it up with another, but when he fell to Williams, the game seemed to tilt towards Zimbabwe and the series was set to be shared 1-1.Then everything changed.

The opener added that they would be going hard on visitors Pakistan, keeping the points needed for direct 2021 ODI World Cup qualification in mind

Liam Brickhill05-May-2019Vital ranking points that could be crucial in deciding who qualifies for the women’s ODI World Cup in 2021 are up for grabs as Pakistan’s tour of South Africa kicks off with the first of three one-day internationals at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Monday.Hard-hitting opener Lizelle Lee is delighted with the consistent improvement of the team, and particularly the batting unit, and is cautiously optimistic of their chances against the visitors.Squads

South Africa: Sune Luus (captain), Nadine De Klerk, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee (wicketkeeper), Zintle Mali, Mignon du Preez, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Andrie Steyn, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt
Pakistan: Bismah Maroof (captain), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Jaweria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Rameen Shamim, Sana Mir, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wicketkeeper) and Omaima Sohail

“There is no better teacher in cricket than game time against good opposition,” Lee said. “We’re really fortunate to be getting more and more time out on the field. It really helps teams grow and ups the competitiveness of women’s cricket around the world.”When we go into game one on Monday, we’re going to go hard because we understand the importance of the World Cup and the points needed for World Cup qualification,” added Lee. “The way we are batting and bowling now and even fielding gives me confidence that we can do well in this series. We’re definitely going out to get those six points, we’re not going to hold back.”Right now, because we’ve played so much cricket we have a team that’s more confident in themselves and their abilities because we’ve been in enough match situations that we don’t panic when things don’t go our way – it’s the healthiest and most competitive that we’ve ever been as a national team.”Hosts South Africa are currently ranked fifth and visitors Pakistan sixth in the women’s championship, with just a single point separating the two teams. The eight-team championship provides the path for direct qualification for the World Cup for four teams, alongside hosts New Zealand.South Africa, on 13 points from 12 matches, would look to improve their points position in home conditions after their recent 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka, while Pakistan would be hoping to keep up the tempo after a 2-1 series win over the West Indies. They are also without captain Dane van Niekerk, who picked up a leg injury during Sri Lanka’s tour earlier this year, with Sune Luus standing in as skipper.Australia have assured themselves of a place in the World Cup as they are at the top of the table with 22 points from 12 matches while England, who have 18 points from 15 games, will get the chance to do so in a home series against the West Indies next month. India and New Zealand are second and third on the table with 16 and 14 points, respectively.There are also personal milestones at stake in the series for both sides. Seamer Marizanne Kapp is South Africa’s top-ranked bowler in sixth position, with an eye on a move into the top five. She is only 10 points behind India’s Shikha Pandey with 678 points. Just behind Kapp with 663 points is Shabnim Ismail in seventh position. For Pakistan, former captain Sana Mir could challenge for the top position among bowlers as she goes into this series in third position, just 12 points adrift of the top-ranked Jhulan Goswami of India.South Africa fought back with Sune Luus’ five-for•ICC/Getty ImagesThe hosts’ squad also includes a couple of fresh faces looking to make a strong impression. Wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta, who is back in the national set-up for the first time in two years, said she is both nervous and excited about her re-call.”I actually thought I got called to be told that I’ve missed out on the call-up, until he [Clinton du Preez, national convenor of selectors] told me that I’ve made it for the tour,” Jafta siad. “I thought it was just for the ODIs because previously, I only ever played ODIs so when he said I was in for the whole tour, inside I was like ‘finally all this hard work has brought me back here.’ It’s taken two years but I’m finally back. It was emotional.”This time around, yes there are nerves, which is good. If I wasn’t nervous I think I would be wasting my time, but at the same time, it’s not overshadowing my confidence.”After a promising spell in the national academy, 23-year-old Nondumiso Shangase could be in line for an international debut against Pakistan. Shangase was the first black African woman to score a hundred for KwaZulu-Natal, a team she also captains, achieving the feat against Mpumalanga in a provincial match last year. Success at provincial level saw her included in the academy intake – alongside the likes of Robyn Searle, Tumi Sekhukhune and Lara Goodall – and she could now be tested in one of the allrounder slots against Pakistan.”I was at Kingsmead practising (with the KZN women’s provincial team) when Clinton (du Preez) called me and told me that I’m gonna be part of the squad in both formats,” said Shangase. “I was so speechless. I froze, I didn’t say anything to him, I kept quiet. I was so excited and emotional. I even cried.””I didn’t think it was gonna happen so fast. I was aiming for maybe after this year’s national academy but I’m grateful,” Shangase added. “By the end of this tour, I’m hoping to be a better player than before. To learn a lot about my batting and bowling because I’m an allrounder and I want to take in as much as I can so that I can get another call-up.”

Michael Neser’s unbeaten 75 had earlier lifted Queensland well over 400 on a good batting surface

Alex Malcolm24-Feb-2019

Australia opener Marcus Harris fell agonisingly short of a second Sheffield Shield century of the summer to leave Victoria’s clash with Queensland evenly poised at stumps on day two.Harris was given out caught behind for 95 off the bowling of Mitch Swepson in the second last over before the close. He was bitterly disappointed having hit his pad with his bat as he defended from the crease but the umpire deemed the ball scratched his outside edge.”I didn’t hit it,” Harris said after play. “I hit my back pad. But it doesn’t matter.”It was the first time Harris had been dismissed in the 90s in his first-class career having struck 15 fours in a very fluent 155-ball innings. He was savage on anything straight as Queensland’s quicks overpitched on his pads on seven occasions.He did have some fortune early with two loose shots wide of off stump flying safely off the edge wide of the cordon. He also edged a ball on 55 at knee height through a vacant third slip.Harris, who had a lean Test series against Sri Lanka after impressing against India, put on 82 with Nic Maddinson after stands of 49 and 56 with Travis Dean and Will Pucovski respectively. Dean edged Michael Neser to slip for 26 while Pucovski looked very comfortable for his 22 before gloving a pull shot down the leg side off Mark Steketee.Maddinson finished the day 36 not out alongside nightwatchman Scott Boland with Victoria 257 runs behind.Earlier, Charlie Hemphrey fell seven runs shy of his fifth first-class century on a day of near misses. Victoria’s quicks starved him of scoring opportunities in the morning and he finally succumbed slashing and edging a wide one from Peter Siddle for 93.Neser proved a thorn in Victoria’s side making an unbeaten 75, his fifth half-century of the Shield summer. It was the first time he batted at No.7 in his career after pestering the Bulls coaching staff for an opportunity to move one spot higher in the order. He was very fortunate to survive an lbw shout on 38 when Siddle him on the back pad in front of off stump but the umpire gave it not out. The decision allowed Neser to help propel Queensland’s total well beyond 400.

Pakistan will hope to extend their T20I winning run to nine in a row having already sealed an 11th consecutive series victory

The Preview by Danyal Rasool03-Nov-2018

Big Picture

Pakistan have been pushed this T20I series, in a manner they weren’t against Australia, but no matter the challenge thrown at them, they seem to find a way in this format. The detractors are finding it harder to explain away Pakistan’s spell of dominance as a purple patch, a streak of good fortune, or a consequence of playing against weaker teams. They have now put Australia and New Zealand to the sword with the same ruthlessness that overpowered West Indies, Sri Lanka and Scotland, showing a versatility in the paths to victory this side can take. They have won tough, they have won easy. They have won by enormous margins and heart-stoppingly narrow ones. They have won batting first, they have won chasing. And now, with one to spare, they have won another T20I series, their 11th in a row.This one comes against the side that has tested them more in this run than arguably any other, both this week and in New Zealand earlier this year. Yet, they go into the final game in Dubai having won their last four against Kane Williamson’s men, and their last eight overall. Should they stick to their plans, they are well-fancied to come out of yet another series unblemished, their strength lying not just in the playing XI, but their overall depth. They might make the odd change to the fast-bowling unit, but in what is overall a very settled side there should be no overhaul for a dead rubber. With Pakistan having such a proud recent record to defend, there really are no dead rubbers for Sarfraz Ahmed’s team.Despite having lost one series within three days of the tour beginning, it is unlikely Williamson will be too disappointed with what his men have showed. There is plenty to suggest New Zealand have a lot to offer for the remainder of this tour, with the visitors always likely to mount sterner challenges in the longer formats. A win in the final T20I could well be a springboard to success in the games that follow, and with New Zealand having lost one game by two runs and the other by two balls, it isn’t a stretch for them to hope they can put one on Pakistan even if they cannot prevent them lifting the trophy.New Zealand have missed Martin Guptill’s big hitting at the top, with the young Glenn Phillips unable to complement Colin Munro quite as effectively. They have to work out how to make better use of the first six overs to relieve some of the pressure on Munro. It may see the captain promoting himself to open, with Williamson famous for his ability to pierce narrow gaps in the infield. There is a large discrepancy between Phillips’ T20I strike rate – 98.27 after nine innings – compared to the 134.20 he boasts in T20s overall, and if he is backed for a third game, he will need to bring his best to give his side the greatest chance to victory.

Form guide

Pakistan WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand LLLLL

In the spotlight

There are few more exciting players in Pakistan cricket than Fakhar Zaman, and yet, since his heroics in Zimbabwe, he has been going through a slightly barren limited-overs run. Either side of a successful Test debut, Fakhar has scored 105 runs in his last eight white-ball innings at an average of 13.13, numbers that sit uncomfortably with his deservedly elite status in the current Pakistan side. There is no particular reason you could put this down to except just one of those runs every cricketer will go through; after all, in his maiden Test appearance against Australia, he amassed 160 runs. But having returned for the second T20I from a slight niggle, Fakhar may be itching to make the sort of singular impact only he can. With the series won and the pressure off, it is an ideal opportunity, and if Fakhar is primed to grasp it, he could smash New Zealand out of the game very early on.While New Zealand have almost matched Pakistan in both games, the one area where the difference in quality is vast is the spinners the respective captains can turn to. While Sarfraz has a plethora of options the envy of any international side – think Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, perhaps even Shoaib Malik – Williamson is limited to Ish Sodhi and Ajaz Patel. There is a reason Sodhi is ranked among the top ten T20I bowlers, but his economy rate is higher than any of Pakistan’s quartet of spinners, and it was his 17-run over that put Pakistan on course on Friday. Add to that the inexperience of Patel, who after an impressive debut was indifferent in the second game, leaving Williamson to draw on three overs of Munro’s medium pace. If New Zealand are to seriously challenge Pakistan, Sodhi and Patel have to perform out of their skins in these conditions where spin matters so much, because so far, the gulf is evident.

Team news

It is unlikely Pakistan will make too many changes to a side so brimful of confidence. With the series sealed, Waqas Maqsood is set to make his debut.Pakistan: (Possible) 1 Babar Azam, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Asif Ali, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5, Mohammad Hafeez 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Shadab Khan, 10 Hasan Ali/Shaheen Afridi, 11 Waqas MaqsoodIt has been a bit of a surprise not to see Mark Chapman feature yet. He may be drafted in for the third T20I, should New Zealand decide to drop Phillips. Lockie Ferguson’s pace, too, may see him get a start ahead of Adam Milne, who despite looking promising, hasn’t quite hit the heights he may have this series.New Zealand: (Possible) 1 Colin Munro, 2 Glenn Phillips/Mark Chapman, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Tim Seifert (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Adam Milne/Lockie Ferguson, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Ajaz Patel

Pitch and conditions

Winning the toss and batting first seems to be the favoured formula at the moment, and there has been nothing to suggest the teams rethink that. As has been the case all series, competitive totals appear to nestle in the narrow strip between 145 and 155.

Stats and trivia

• Colin Munro’s strike rate of 162.00 is better than any player ever to have faced more than 250 balls in T20I cricket. The best performer in the Pakistan squad is Fakhar Zaman, with a strike rate of 142.12.
• Babar Azam needs 48 runs to reach 1000 in T20Is. Should he get there on Sunday, in his 26th innings, he will beat Virat Kohli (27 innings) as the fastest to the mark.

Chief operating officer Kevin Roberts has re-emerged as the most likely candidate to succeed James Sutherland when the Cricket Australia chief executive exits the role after 17 years.Little more than a week after it appeared that the race was down to CA Board director John Harnden and former Cricket New South Wales chairman John Warn, 46-year-old Roberts is now considered the name first in line amid a flurry of late jockeying for one of the most critical roles in the game. The final word will come whenever the lengthy and at times internally criticised succession process concludes.Sutherland’s replacement will inherit a freshly minted cultural review of CA as a whole, prepared by the corporate ethics expert Simon Longstaff, and also a review of the Australian men’s team following the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, helmed by the former Test opener Rick McCosker. The findings of both reviews are also in line for imminent release.CA’s chairman David Peever – who has the in-principle approval of the Board to continue in his role for another three years pending re-election by the state associations at the CA AGM in October – is a keen backer of Roberts. He also strongly hinted at an internal replacement on the day Sutherland formally announced his resignation in early June with 12 months’ notice.”This is an incredibly complex job, it has many dimensions,” Peever said at the time. “What we must do is find the best person for the role. While I don’t want to put any constraints around it, it is a Cricket Australia role, so we’re probably going to have a little bit of bias towards an Australian, and it is a role in cricket, so we’ll probably have a bias towards someone in cricket.”Before that announcement, CA Board director Bob Every had resigned in protest at Peever’s plans to remain as chairman, listing the succession planning for Sutherland among numerous reasons for his decision. “The list is long but in my opinion his handling of the MoU, the media negotiations, his ‘fake’ resignation and particularly his handling of succession planning for the CEO leave a lot to be desired,” Every wrote in an email, according to the .A former NSW batsman with two centuries for the state team to his credit, Roberts graduated to corporate roles with the apparel companies Adidas – a former CA sponsor and clothing supplier – and Colorado, before serving as the chief executive of 2XU. In late 2012 he, Peever and Jacqui Hey were jointly named as the first independent directors on the CA Board, after a historic governance change to convert the Board from a collective of 14-state appointed delegates to nine independent directors.He had appeared the heir apparent to Sutherland when he stepped down from the Board to become executive general manager for strategy, people and culture in late 2015, and was set the kind of task historically associated with CEOs-in-waiting when he was named as lead negotiator for the governing body in their pay negotiations with the Australian Cricketers Association.These talks, in which CA attempted to break up the fixed revenue percentage model at the core of all collective agreements between the Board and the players since 1998, degenerated into a full-blown dispute, and all players went without pay for nearly a month when the existing MoU expired at the end of June last year. Roberts appeared in a pair of videos attempting to sell CA’s preferred model, which replaced revenue sharing with a capped-bonus system, initially restricted to the top international players but then expanded to include domestic cricketers also. These pitches were not well received by the players.With an Australia A tour of South Africa cancelled and time ticking down to a Test tour of Bangladesh, Roberts was ultimately sidelined from talks with the ACA’s chief executive Alistair Nicholson, leaving the final compromise to be brokered by Sutherland and the team performance manager Pat Howard. Concerns about the possibility of the dispute stretching into the home Ashes summer compelled Australia’s then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to make a rare call to leaders on both sides of the divide.Nevertheless, Roberts has had increasing responsibility bestowed upon him, including a role as the CA executive commissioned to be the main contact for all the state associations. Shortly before Sutherland announced his impending exit, Roberts was promoted to the role of COO, a position that the longtime CEO had never previously entertained as part of CA’s structure.He is seen by his supporters as a dynamic executive, given to swift decision-making and support for strategic decisions in the realms of scheduling and funding to the states to grow participation numbers in particular. It is also believed that Roberts’ hard-line approach to the MoU was judged as vindicated by a CA internal review.Other interested candidates have at various stages included the NSW chief executive Andrew Jones, and the Western Australian Cricket Association chief executive Christina Matthews. Warn resigned from his NSW role and also his executive position at shopping-centre company Westfield earlier this year, with a vacancy also emerging for the role of chief executive for the SCG Trust. Harnden has been in parallel negotiations surrounding the possible extension of his tenure as chairman of the Melbourne Grand Prix Corporation.

Today’s countdown features a lone, all-powerful machine at the top, followed by nine outrageously powerful humans

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-201710. Kieron Pollard, 125 sixes in 97 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 38%There are not too many grounds in world cricket which Kieron Pollard cannot clear with his powerful forearms, and it is no surprise that he features on this list despite playing far fewer innings than most of the others. Pollard’s sixes are among the biggest in the tournament, and his match-winning contributions with both bat and ball have arguably made him Mumbai Indians’ most valuable player over the years.9. Yuvraj Singh, 133 sixes in 105 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 34%One of the cleanest hitters of his generation, Yuvraj has made it a habit of depositing cricket balls onto rooftops of stadia. Yuvraj’s ball-striking abilities, combined with a six-hitting map that extends across the entire wagon wheel, have produced some of IPL’s finest batting displays over the years.8. David Warner, 134 sixes in 100 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 24%‘Warner has repeatedly spoken about his philosophy of defending balls in his weak zone, and his ability to do so has been among the biggest changes in his game since he started off in the IPL. Earlier, his blistering starts would end with a rash shot while trying to accelerate. His ability to desist has coincided with some of his best six-hitting seasons, culminating in 31 sixes in 2016, when he led Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first IPL title.MS Dhoni and sixes go hand in hand•BCCI7. MS Dhoni, 140 sixes in 128 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 26%The hitter of the most famous six in Indian cricket history has, over nine seasons, built a reputation of taking games deep into the death overs and pulling the trigger right in the nick of time. While his strike rate has dipped over the past few seasons, he remains among the most reliable finishers in the format, with a knack of muscling the most effortless sixes across the park.6. Yusuf Pathan, 140 sixes in 122 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 30%Yusuf’s big-hitting abilities for Baroda earned him a spot in India’s squad for the inaugural World T20 in 2007. Since the beginning of the IPL, his career has come a full circle – first the realisation of his all-too-known potential, followed by a lengthy lull where he has failed to put together innings of note in the tournament. What has not changed, though, is his place as one of Indian cricket’s most merciless hitters of the ball, a fact reflected in his strike rate of 146.78, despite going through multiple middling seasons.5. AB de Villiers, 141 sixes in 109 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 26%De Villiers has excelled in multiple roles over nine seasons in the IPL – as a finisher first, followed by a deserved shift up the order, where he continues to plunder bowling attacks for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Among the most consistent conjurers of outrageous shots that come with a please-don’t-try-this-at-home warning, his six-hitting history – from 13 sixes in 21 games in 2008-09 to 37 only in the 2016 season – goes some way to explaining his rise as one of modern cricket’s most destructive batsmen.You can fill trucks with sixes when these two bat together•BCCI4. Virat Kohli, 148 sixes in 131 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 22%Warner once spoke about Kohli being a “conventional player, who knows he cannot be like Gayle or de Villiers”. The reference was in a positive context, with Warner praising Kohli’s ability to score across the field with proper cricketing shots, without needing to clear the boundary all the time. While this remains true – Kohli gets 35% of his runs from fours – Kohli’s record-breaking 2016 season meant he has now leapfrogged a number of ‘traditional’ six-hitters.3. Suresh Raina, 160 sixes in 143 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 23%When he hangs up his boots some day, one of the most lasting sights from Raina’s career would be him in a yellow jersey, playing one of his powerful flicks over midwicket, or lofting a barely believable six over the cover boundary. Raina has been among the IPL’s most consistent performers over the years, and this reflects in his place as the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer of all time.2. Rohit Sharma, 163 sixes in 138 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 25%At one point, during the first few seasons of the IPL, Rohit Sharma was known as the man who could pull off late-innings heists with feisty displays of six-hitting during tight chases. Since his move to Mumbai Indians, he has metamorphosed into a consistent opener, the position where T20s’ most impactful batsmen bat.1. Chris Gayle, 251 sixes in 91 inningsPercentage of IPL runs in sixes – 44%The title of Gayle’s autobiography, , apart from being a cheeky innuendo, is explained by jaw-dropping numbers in the game’s shortest format. An astounding 44% of his runs come from sixes, and despite having played 47 fewer innings, he has hit 54% more sixes than his nearest competitor on this list. All this despite suffering a dip in form during the 2014 season.

24-Aug-2016Tillakaratne Dilshan exposed his leg stump inadvertently and allowed a Nathan Lyon delivery to bowl him off his thigh pad•Associated PressSri Lanka, however, fought back through Kusal Mendis, who struck a run-a-ball 69•AFPDinesh Chandimal kept Mendis company for 21 overs and they added 125 for the third wicket•Associated PressThe stand was broken when Chandimal perished attempting to play against the turn and was trapped lbw by Adam Zampa•AFPZampa struck two more times, removing Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva to help Australia regain control•Associated PressBut Kusal Perera provided the innings with a late thrust during his half-century•Associated PressHe was supported by Angelo Mathews who scored 57 off 60 balls. They added 103 for the sixth wicket in 94 balls•Associated PressSri Lanka’s hopes of a strong finish were thwarted by James Faulkner’s hat-trick. They were bowled out for 288 with seven deliveries remaining•AFPThisara Perera struck first ball, shaping on away from David Warner who nicked to the wicketkeeper•Associated PressAaron Finch inside-edged a slog to his stumps in the bowler’s next over as Australia were reduced to 16 for 2•Associated PressSteven Smith tried to get the innings back on track, but gave a simple catch to mid-on. When he fell, he had scored 30 out of his team’s total of 41•Associated PressGeorge Bailey struggled to get going and plonked around for 46 balls for his 27•Associated PressWhen Moises Henriques was stumped off Seekkuge Prasanna, Australia were struggling at 118 for 5•AFPWade, however, held firm and struck a gritty half-century. He added 64 for the sixth wicket with Travis Head before sweeping a full toss to the hands of deep mid wicket•Associated PressSri Lanka, however, surged closer to a win as Wade and Head fell in successive overs, the latter dismissed by Mathews•AFPAmila Aponso quickly wrapped up Australia’s last two wickets to finish with returns of 4 for 18 in only his second ODI, sealing Sri Lanka’s 82-run win•AFP