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A quiet break from cricket, after two high-quality Tests that were in the spotlight for several wrong reasons, has given the South Africa opener time to think about his faltering batting

Firdose Moonda19-Mar-2018The two things Dean Elgar has enjoyed most about the last seven days is the silence and the chance to reflect on two highly competitive games of cricket, away from the sideshows that have surrounded them.”There’s been so much noise that people have actually forgotten there is such a great Test series happening between two strong and competitive teams. The backroom noise is hindering what has been quite an exciting Test series,” Elgar said, as South Africa resumed training after a week’s break ahead of the third Test against Australia at Newlands.The match starts on Thursday, which has effectively meant a 10-day period for the teams to get away from each other, and on the evidence of the first two Tests, they needed that. Everything from the stairwell saga to the send-offs has been laced with aggression and intensity. Those close to the Australian camp have gone as far as to say the temperature of this series has been hotter than recent Ashes’ contests and the South Africans, usually a passionate but not overly petulant lot, have also turned on the heat.Elgar, one of the pricklier characters in the squad, admitted he has also got involved. “There’s been a lot of niggle. It comes from both sides. It’s what you expect when you are playing against quality opposition. The intensity should be there. That’s what makes the format exciting,” he said. “I’ve been on the receiving end of it and I have also been one to give it out a bit, in all the right measurements.”The “right measurements”, as Elgar put it, have been debated throughout this series and, so far, no one can provide a recipe as to what those might be. Steven Smith has, on several occasions, insisted there is a line his team does not cross while Faf du Plessis has endorsed chirping as good for the game but said he would not advocate swearing. And then there’s the physical side of things. From David Warner needing to be physically restrained in the episode with Quinton de Kock, to the shoulder brush between Kagiso Rabada and Steven Smith, Elgar is right when he said this series is less about cricket and more about contact.A tweet on Vernon Philander’s account went as far as to suggest simulation could even come into the picture, but the message was deleted a few ours after it was posted and Philander claimed his account was hacked. And so the silence Elgar was enjoying might have been broken in the middle of the break, when it suddenly emerged that there may be a new flashpoint.Though very little has been made of the post on Philander’s account and the subsequent backtracking from it, that could change. Cameron Bancroft has already suggested Australia will use the tweet to try and unnerve the seamer on his home ground; the same venue where he played a major part in bowling them out for 47 in his debut Test series in 2011.AFP

Elgar suspects it will take more than that to get under Philander’s skin. “He’ll take it in his stride like Vern does. He is quite a relaxed human being but on the field he is as competitive as anyone else,” Elgar said. “He is going to expect that they are going to come out and say something to him on the field, and I am sure he is going to be prepared for that.”Philander might have other things to think about than what the Australians have to say. Should South Africa be without Kagiso Rabada – whose appeal hearing against a Level 2 charge extended to over six hours today – Philander will lead an attack that will likely include the retiring Morne Morkel and the inexperience of Lungi Ngidi. South Africa will have to find a way to take wickets without their leading bowler.Though the players have tried not to become preoccupied with the Rabada proceedings, they understand losing him would be a big deal. “As players, we are just trying to isolate ourselves away from that situation. We know we don’t have any influence over what has happened or what can happen. It would be nice to put it behind us,” Elgar said. “Having KG [Rabada] in our side is massive for us. It’s massive for the game, massive for the format, because KG is an extremely special cricketer. But we do know there are rules. We respect that. If he is good to go for the third Test, it will be awesome for us and awesome of the game.”In the meanwhile, Elgar would like to concentrate on his own game and on finding the form that had him finish as the third-highest run-scorer in Test cricket last year. Elgar’s 2017 included 1128 runs from 12 Tests at 53.71 with five centuries, but he has only managed 285 runs from five Tests this year at 31.66.He accepted that “it was always going to be difficult to follow-up on what was a very good year”, but would like to start contributing more, especially because of his returns so far. He was dismissed in single-figures in both innings in the first Test and the second innings of the second Test; his only score in double-figures so far this series was a stubborn 57 in Port Elizabeth. “I feel that I am batting nicely. I am getting through all the tough parts and then I am letting myself down with silly, stupid, uncharacteristic kind of dismissals,” Elgar said. “I know it’s not what the team requires, our team requires me to try bat out a day.”His half-century, which took five hours and six minutes to score, used up most of a day and helped lay a platform for South Africa to take a match-winning first-innings lead in Port Elizabeth. But on either side of that knock, Elgar has twice been caught and bowled by Nathan Lyon and desperately wants to change his record against the spinner.”I have handled him quite [badly],” Elgar said. “Like I said, silly dismissals that are uncharacteristic of me. In the past I have handled him quite well. He has developed his game massively in the last two years, and I will just be mindful of that and still trust my defence against him.”And hope for some more peace and quiet before the series resumes.

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has also confirmed that Lungi Ngidi, who had flown back to South Africa following the death of his father, has rejoined the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-20181:36

Deepak Chahar could be out for a couple of weeks – Fleming

Chennai Super Kings fast bowler Deepak Chahar could be out of action for at least two weeks with a hamstring strain sustained during Saturday’s match against Mumbai Indians in Pune.Chahar pulled up injured after bowling the first ball of his third over. He left the field after that delivery and did not return for rest of the match. Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the injury during his post-match press conference. “He (Chahar) has had hamstring injuries in the past, he has a pretty good idea when he is in trouble,” Fleming said. “Conservatively, it’s probably a couple of weeks, which is a bit of a blow.”Fleming also confirmed that Lungi Ngidi, who had flown back to South Africa following the death of his father, has rejoined the squad.Chahar has played in all seven Super Kings matches so far this season, and has picked six wickets at an average of 25.50, including a match-winning 3 for 15 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He is also one of only two Super Kings bowlers with an economy rate of less than eight an over.

Stand-in captain backs Khawaja to bounce back from back spasm; hopeful of Cummins return at Brisbane

Tristan Lavalette22-Nov-2025

Travis Head made a flying start to Australia’s fourth innings•Getty Images

Still in a whirlwind following a frenetic first Ashes Test, skipper Steven Smith was non-committal over whether Travis Head would continue to open the batting after his 69-ball century powered Australia to a crushing eight-wicket victory at Perth. Head opened the batting for the first time in a Test innings outside of South Asia, replacing Usman Khawaja who had spent some time off the ground in England’s second innings due to back spasms.His elevation, after Marnus Labuschagne had been given the task in the first innings, proved a game-changer and he smashed 123 off 83 balls to knock England’s all-out pace attack off the lengths that had proved so effective on the opening day.The opening positions have been a cause for concern for Australia for some time. With Khawaja, 38, under pressure and Jake Weatherald posting scores of 0 and 23 in his debut, there could be a push for Head to take the role on an ongoing basis in this series.”Let’s just digest this first, the last couple of hours have been pretty incredible,” Smith told reporters after the match. “It’s probably too early to say anything on that, but what we just witnessed was quite incredible. I’m glad to have been in the house to see it.”We didn’t like how things functioned in the first innings with Marn going up top and me batting three. So Trav took it on and played one of the great Ashes knocks.”Related

• Khawaja's back issues to be examined as Australia float flexible batting order

• Smith given out after Real Time Snicko confusion; 'correct decision,' says Taufel

• Head: 'It's not going to get much bigger than this'

• Bareknuckle Baz-brawl produces Ashes all-nighter for the ages

• Travis Head's 69-ball ton secures remarkable two-day win for Australia

Khawaja was forced off the field during England’s second innings in a recurrence of back spasms he first experienced on day one. He was fit to take the field on day two, but felt further pain after stretching high for a ball that flew above him in the slips.”He was reasonable this morning. I actually thought it was his knee at one point,” Smith said. “Fortunately, it was the same thing [back spasms]. He [Khawaja] said before that it’s probably one of the best back spasms he’s ever had given the circumstances [of Head’s century].Smith said the circumstances around Khawaja’s ill-timed absence in the field in England’s first innings, making him ineligible to open the batting, was a “little frustrating”. Khawaja eventually batted at No.4 and was dismissed for just 2.”Wasn’t ideal, it all happened pretty quickly,” he said. “I got told, I think just before we got the last wicket….that he needed to be on the field to go and bat.”I think that’s why we landed where we landed yesterday [with Labuschagne opening]. Today we had a little bit more time to go through it and work it out.”I mean, those things can happen in the game. No one’s fault. Move on.”Much like Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg, Smith defended Khawaja’s decision to play golf prior to the Test match. “He’s not moving particularly well in there, the old fella, but his preparation was the same as it’s been for every Test match I think that he’s played,” he said.”There was nothing out of whack there by any stretch. Unfortunately, he just pulled up a bit lame early in the game. That happens when your back goes.”I’ve been there myself when your back seizes up and it’s not a nice place to be. So I can feel his pain right now.”Offspinner Nathan Lyon had very little to do in the match, bowling just two overs in the seam-friendly conditions. But he did cop a blow to his hip while batting and was visibly wincing in the field.”He’s got a few bruises, keeps showing them off. He’s tough though, he’ll be fine,” Smith said.There has been no update on quick Josh Hazlewood amid fears that he might miss the entire series with a hamstring injury. But Pat Cummins has revealed that he’s a chance of returning for the second Test in Brisbane starting on December 4, as he progresses well from a lower back injury.”It’s on track and pulling up pretty well. [I’m] half a chance for the next game,” Cummins said on the Fox Sports broadcast. “I’m pretty hopeful and it’s probably better than it was a few weeks ago.”

The fast bowler did not think the early exit was the lowest point of his career, but admitted that he had slipped up with his execution during the tournament

Sharda Ugra at Lord's24-Jun-2019Having taken just six wickets in seven games at an average of 50.83, Kagiso Rabada has been far from the spearhead South Africa had expected him to be at the World Cup. The fast bowler has admitted that his performances at the tournament have only been “okay”.”These [World Cups] are the tournaments you really want to stand out in… In this tournament I would have like to have done better,” Rabada told reporters on Sunday, after South Africa’s exit-confirming loss to Pakistan at Lord’s. “I have just done okay. I think there have been times where we have been really unlucky, and some times where we have kind of let ourselves down.”Rabada, who is playing in his first World Cup, said he would not call the early exit the lowest point in his career, which began in the aftermath of South Africa’s heart-breaking semi-final defeat in the 2015 World Cup. “I wouldn’t say it was the lowest point in my career – this is what comes with the game. All of us, we don’t go to a game looking to lose. We go to a game prepared. We try to prepare, we do our analysis, and we come in with a good mindset.”He however cited his own case in failing to bridge the gap between planning and on-field performance.”Execution is just one thing that you know that has been a question mark for us, and especially for myself at times,” he said. “And you can’t just do okay.”Rabada said he had at times tried to “take it it upon myself to really stand up. I thought I played just okay. I don’t think it’s the lowest point. The next time this happens, it’s a challenge really to come out on top.”In comparison to his captain Faf du Plessis, whose media briefing was marked by the heaviness of his team’s failure, Rabada’s response to the defeat against Pakiatan reflected his relatively baggage-free World Cup experience and the fact that he was not the man carrying the load of the team’s leader.Of the match against Pakistan he said, “I think Pakistan turned up and we didn’t.” South Africa’s bowlers, he added, had slipped up at key moments in the match. “I think we knew we had them in the field and we let it slip and then they outbowled us. They got our batsmen out.”According to Rabada, the fourth-wicket partnership between Babar Azam and Man of the Match Haris Sohail – 81 in 11.2 overs – was “where they really got momentum with their batting, and I think their bowlers really bowled well to restrict our batters, so I think we were just outplayed, simple as that.”The defeat was to give to Rabada “plenty of learnings and that’s how we play this game. It’s not easy.”He then spoke not as a philosophical young man dealing with defeat but a young cricketer grappling with the lessons he had been given by the game. “As much as you want to be at the top. you’ll never find it smooth sailing. It’s extremely tough. When you are playing out there you experience all of this. And all these feelings, highs and lows, and that’s what comes with it.”South Africa’s last two World Cup group matches, dead rubbers as far as they are concerned, are spread over the next ten days, the first against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street on Friday, June 28, and then Australia in Manchester on July 6.So while Rabada did say that “the key is to bounce back and plan forward and stay positive”, he will find the empty time on his hands far tougher to deal with than he realised today. Just ask du Plessis.

BCCI hasn’t specified which selectors are going to be replaced

Shashank Kishore22-Aug-2025The Ajit Agarkar-led senior India men’s selection panel is set to have two new members, with the BCCI inviting fresh applications for the positions via a press release on Friday. Applicants have until 5pm IST on September 10 to apply.It isn’t immediately clear which two zones will have new selectors. No member of the current panel has, however, exceeded the cumulative five-year-period rule that’s in place.With Agarkar’s contract set to run until the 2026 T20 World Cup and Ajay Ratra only recently inducted (in October 2024), it’s likely two of SS Das (Central), Subroto Bannerjee (East) and S Sharath (South) will be replaced.Having been appointed chairman of the junior panel in 2021, Sharath was promoted to the senior selection committee in 2023. Das, meanwhile, briefly served as interim chairman of the senior panel in the wake of Chetan Sharma’s ouster.Das was subsequently replaced in the role by Agarkar, who is likely to remain chairman, with his contract having been extended until the end of next year’s T20 World Cup in February-March. Bannerjee, meanwhile, joined the panel in early 2023.The new applicants must have been retired from playing at least five years ago, and must have played a minimum of seven Tests or 30 first-class matches; or ten ODIs and 20 first-class matches. Additionally, they shouldn’t have been part of any cricket committee of the BCCI for a cumulative five years.The women’s selection panel is also set for an overhaul, with the term of the Neetu David-led committee ending in September. The squad for the women’s ODI World Cup, which David & Co picked earlier this week, was their last assignment.As things stand, Shyama Shaw is the only one likely to remain, having come on board only in 2023. The other members of the panel who will have to relinquish their roles are David, Aarti Vaidya and Renu Margrate. Currently, there is no woman selector representing the South.There’s also likely to be one change in the junior selection panel currently headed by former Karnataka wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu. The other members of that panel are Ranadeb Bose (East), Harvinder Singh Sodhi (North), Pathik Patel (West) and Krishen Mohan (Central). Naidu was brought on board as chairman in 2023 when Sharath earned a promotion to the senior panel.

News from around the counties in the 2019 Championship season

David Hopps27-Jun-2019Assumptions that Reece Topley’s cricketing career is over appear to be premature. There is at least a possibility that he will revive his professional career with Sussex in this summer’s Vitality Blast as he tries to pull off a remarkable recovery against the odds.Topley has suffered four stress fractures to his back in recent years (two separate breaks that then reoccurred) and has not bowled a ball in competitive cricket since last July but following brief periods training with the Melbourne Renegades and Middlesex, he has pitched up at Hove.”Reece has had some injury issues over the last 12 months and there was no guarantee that he’d ever play again,” said Sussex’s head coach, Jason Gillespie. “So we came to an arrangement whereby, with no pressure at all, he could come here, do some training and build his bowling back up.”We’ve got the gym and we’ve got medical support and we said that if he was in a position to play some cricket later in the summer then we would explore that possibility. It’s very early days, he’s just building himself up and he’s going to play a little bit of club cricket but if he’s fit and firing, we know what a fine bowler he is.”Topley is a free agent since leaving Hampshire after playing only 21 games in three years. Just to fulfil even a white-ball contract last season he had to inject a hormone in his stomach daily and once a month had an anaesthetic in his spine. But England Lions still took a look at him before he broke down and his 10 ODIs and six T20s for England are a reminder of his potential.Sussex have kept faith with another left-arm quick, Tymal Mills despite a back condition that restricts him to T20 only. Mills’ life was changed with a £1.4m IPL deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2017, but he went unsold in the subsequent seasons and had a disappointing Blast campaign in 2018, taking only seven wickets in nine matches.***Another player once billed as possessing England potential has an uncertain future, at 27. Less than three months ago, Adam Riley was talking optimistically about how the retirement of James Tredwell and flatter Division One surfaces might give his offspin more of an opportunity at Kent. But after taking only two expensive wickets in two Championship matches, he has left the county by mutual consent.Riley was mentioned in despatches in the general panic about English spin-bowling resources when Graeme Swann abruptly retired during the 2012-13 Ashes series. He broke through as Kent’s first-choice spinner in four-day cricket in 2014, taking 48 wickets in 15 County Championship appearances, and made his England Lions debut against South Africa A in Bloemfontein in February 2015.But England spin specialists tried to quicken his pace through the air and he was plagued by attempts to tweak his action.***Surrey’s Tasmanian head coach Michael di Venuto was flummoxed briefly at a members’ forum this week when he was asked whether Jason Roy should open for England in the Ashes. “Do you want the answer from me as Jason’s coach or from an Australian point of view?” he replied.That answer pretty much gave away his thoughts, but di Venuto proceeded to articulate them anyway. “If I was England, and I am certainly not, I think the captain [Joe Root] should put his hand up and bat at No 3 and Jason would be a very good No 4 in Test cricket,” he said.”I get where they are coming from – he is an exceptionally talented cricketer – but opening in Test cricket is extremely different to opening in one-day cricket. People make the comparison with David Warner, when Warner has been opening all his life. Jason is a middle-order player.”Di Venuto thinks England should heed what he described as “the Aaron Finch experiment.” Finch, who will return to Surrey for the Blast this season, underlined his quality as a white-ball opener on Tuesday with his World Cup hundred against England. But he averaged a modest 27.80 in five Tests going in first against Pakistan and India last winter.”The results could be the same,” Di Venuto warned. He would certainly be surprised if both Roy and Finch, whose World Cup form has also encouraged Ashes speculation, won the opportunity to open the innings when August comes around***This should have been the summer that Joe Clarke’s transfer to a big county helped him catch England’s eye ahead of the Ashes. Instead he has three ducks in his last four games and a top score of 29 in that time and Nottinghamshire are adrift at the foot of Division One without a Championship win for a year.The fallout is still evident after a court case in which Alex Hepburn, a former Worcestershire team-mate, was found guilty of oral rape and jailed for five years in April. Clarke was not on trial, and neither was another former Worcestershire batsman, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but they were both named at Worcester Crown Court as fellow members of a WhatsApp messaging group which boasted about sexual conquests. The judge called the sexual contest “pathetic, sexist and foul”.Now the ECB has charged both Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore with bringing the game into disrepute, and England are in no rush to forgive.There is always a question about when it is appropriate for a sport’s governing body to play the role of moral arbiter. But sports stars are role models whether they want to be or not and the ego-centric environment of professional sport clearly needs an element of intervention. Few will chide the ECB for taking this particular matter further and for the players to understand that would be a further stage towards redemption.***Warwickshire will feel they deserve a good result against Essex next month after long hours spent finding a venue for the Championship fixture between the sides. Ironically, the outcome announced this week of switching home and away meetings was their first-choice solution when a clash of scheduling with the World Cup became apparent last year.Edgbaston will host a World Cup semi-final on July 11 and it is reserve venue for the final three days later, meaning the Essex game from July 13-16 must be staged elsewhere. Warwickshire were told initially that a swap with Essex was not possible and even asked about giving up reserve status for the final on the basis that it almost certainly won’t be needed.Eventually, they chose Worcester as an alternative home, only for the latest heavy flooding of New Road to leave the ground unfit. So, with no other plausible option, what might well be viewed the best solution will prevail after all: July 13-16 at Chelmsford, September 10-13 at Edgbaston. Assuming, that is, Chelmsford avoids fire, plague or pestilence over the next three weeks.Meanwhile, Surrey have reiterated their position to the ECB that The Oval should be used for part of the county’s 50-over competition next season, even though it is a venue for The Hundred in the same calendar block. “We will make sure we are not thrown out for the entire time period,” Richard Gould, the chief executive, said.

The last assignment for Justin Langer’s team before the two finalists are decided is a trip to play the Proteas in 2021

Daniel Brettig20-Jun-2018

Australia’s FTP schedule*

2015-2019
Tests 43
ODIs 58
T20Is 24
2019-2023
Tests 39
ODIs 47
T20Is 45
*excludes ICC tournaments

Australia’s hopes of reaching the inaugural Test World Championship final are set to hinge upon their ability to atone for the disgrace of this year’s tour of South Africa, with the 2021 return trip to play the Proteas looming as the last series for Justin Langer’s team before the two competing teams are decided.Currently placed third in the ICC’s Test rankings, the Australians face three away trips and three home series over the initial two-year cycle, starting with the 2019 Ashes tour of England and ending with the journey to South Africa. A visit to Bangladesh in early 2020 is the other away tour, while there are home series against Pakistan and New Zealand (2019-20) and India (2020-21). An inaugural Test against Afghanistan is also scheduled to take place at home, immediately prior to the India series.Given their present ranking and the fact that all teams will start equal going into the start of the Championship cycle, Australia are likely to be in the mix for a place in the final entering the South Africa series, providing exactly the sort of context and third-party interest among neutral nations that the game’s governing bodies and broadcasters have been seeking.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the new Future Tours Program and the Test and ODI league structures now meant that the Australian summer would effectively be limited to five home Tests a season and somewhere between eight and 12 limited-overs matches. New Zealand (2019) and South Africa (2022) are set to return to Boxing Day Tests at the MCG for the first time since 1987 and 2006 respectively.”It looks like five Test matches per summer is the staple diet of Test cricket. In terms of white-ball cricket, ODIs or T20I, there’ll be eight to 12 white ball matches per summer at home,” Sutherland said. “By natural extension, six of those matches will be ODIs as part of the one-day league, the remainder will be T20 matches.”What we are trying to do by design with T20 internationals is to play more matches when the cycle allows and when the cycle has us leading into ICC T20 events so we’re managing as best we can to increase the volume of T20 cricket in and around the World T20. Who we play against in Tests and one-day cricket there’s little flexibility now. That will be worked through in this model – when we play and how much cricket we play or how long each series is is a matter for bilateral agreement between the two countries.”Our preference is to play Tests at home in that traditional Test-cricket period which would encompass the Boxing Day and New Year’s Test matches. In 2022-23 South Africa have agreed to play Test matches over that Christmas-New Year period in Australia.”The cap of Test matches at five a summer creates a conundrum around the allocation of Tests to venues beyond the traditional centres of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. In the forthcoming summer there are six scheduled, with Canberra’s Manuka Oval making its five-day debut for a fixture against Sri Lanka in February. Hobart has also been a common recipient of the sixth Test of a summer, but may now find its opportunities reduced to white-ball formats.Two bilateral Tests against Afghanistan – there is also an away match in the calendar preceding Tests against Pakistan in the UAE in early 2022 – mark a significant addition to Australia’s footprint, being the first new nation they have played since Bangladesh in 2003. Sutherland explained that the 2020 match would effectively serve as a warm-up to the India series to follow, after Australia committed to a T20-heavy diet of matches around that year’s global event. The increase in T20Is in the schedule is the most noticeable change from the previous 2015-2019 cycle.”I would imagine the Afghanistan Test match would be a prelude to a warm-up if you like to that Test series against India, noting that that off-season we won’t have had any Test cricket. There’ll be a long break from Test cricket,” Sutherland said. “If you think about that summer in 2020-21 we still have only five Test matches – four against India and one against Afghanistan. It’s a big summer of cricket, and the World T20 and matches in that summer will be played at all venues. Hobart has got matches and Canberra has got matches as well – it will be shared around.”

Seamer Codi Yusuf will also be playing his first Test when South Africa face Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Saturday

Firdose Moonda27-Jun-2025At 22 years old, Dewald Brevis has already experienced the highs of being in the spotlight as a burgeoning superstar, the lows of being labelled not good enough, and the feeling that comes with a fresh start.Brevis was relatively fresh off the 2022 Under-19 World Cup, where he was the leading run-scorer and Shukri Conrad was the coach, when he was picked in South Africa’s T20I squad for a series against Australia in 2023. It was seen as the fast-tracking of a prodigious talent, who may even have parachuted into that year’s ODI World Cup squad. But Brevis was dismissed playing aggressive shots for scores of 5 and 0 in the first two matches against Australia and was dropped for the third game. That was the end of the experiment, and Brevis was not considered for the national side again, until now.”That moment being there, and then being left out for a few years, that was quite tough. But I was young as well,” Brevis said from Bulawayo, where he is set to make his Test debut against Zimbabwe on Saturday. “I’m grateful for how I handled that, and the people I had around me. It made me much more hungry for the game and to perform. I knew what I had to do and I put in the work and I kept believing.Related

• Debutant Pretorius, Bosch lead South Africa's dominance

• Pretorius, Brevis to debut as SA renew Test ties with Zimbabwe

• Conrad confident Maphaka can be 'main dog' in SA pace attack

• Glimpse into SA's future: Young squad set for Zimbabwe

“To be able to return and it being in the Test side, that’s very special. For me, it’s the pinnacle format. You can play all the leagues, you can play T20 and 50-over cricket, but there’s something about Test cricket. That’s really the ultimate.”One of the ways Brevis dealt with things was by accepting that he would have to do the hard yards in the domestic system, away from the glare of expectation. Since 2023-24, in two seasons of the first-class competition, Brevis averaged over 44, quietly collected four hundreds, and proved himself patient enough to play the long game – literally and figuratively.At the same time, Brevis has also shown what he is capable of in the shorter formats – emphatically. He smashed 162 off 57 balls in a T20 against Knights in 2022. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the One-day Challenge in 2023-24, and the second-highest in 2024-25. He was the title-winning finisher at the SA20 earlier this year, scored two fifties in six innings at the IPL, and also got a deal with Hampshire for the T20 Blast.Now Brevis hopes to combine what he has learnt on the largely forgotten fields of the first-class game and the spotlight of T20 leagues to make good the potential he showed three years ago, also under Conrad.”I just want to be the same guy that plays all formats. I’m not really trying to make any big changes,” he said. “It’s all about watching the ball and just being true to myself. The key fact is we all know you have to bat longer. In order to bat longer, you have to take it ball by ball and not change the way you play a ball. So I’m not going to change anything.”Brevis will debut alongside Lhuan-dre Pretorius, another prodigy who was South Africa’s leading run-scorer at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup, and Codi Yusuf, who is at the other end of the spectrum. At 27, Yusuf could be considered a late bloomer who started as a batter and then started bowling spin, until a net session changed his mind.”In high school, one of the guys hit me out of the nets,” he said. “I went to fetch the ball, and I said, ‘Guys, I’m gonna run in and just bowl pace.’ I ran in, bowled pace and hit the guy. I was like, ‘I’m not going to bowl another ball of spin from this day onwards’, and that’s how it happened.”This county season, Codi Yusuf took 17 wickets at 20.94 in four matches for Durham•Getty Images

Yusuf’s career meandered through the semi-professional ranks at Mpumalanga before he moved to Lions. Over the last two seasons, he has been their leading seamer in the first-class competition. Yusuf finished ninth on the wicket-takers’ list in 2023-24 and joint-fifth last summer, along with Lutho Sipamla. The benefits of working with bowling coach Allan Donald were clear to see.”He doesn’t do a lot of technical stuff with me, but he definitely helps the way I think about the game and approach it,” Yusuf said. “This past season, I’ve taken on a little bit more of a leading role. I play with my heart, and try to work as hard as I can and be ready for the opportunity when it comes.”In the last few months, several opportunities have come for Yusuf. He enjoyed a stint in first-class cricket for Durham, for whom he took 17 wickets in four matches at 20.94. “Bowling with the Dukes ball in English conditions is quite different to bowling in South Africa,” he said. “I took a lot of learnings out of that.”He also met one of his heroes, Ben Stokes and, by coincidence, will wear the same number as him – 55 – on his national shirt. “I just gave a few numbers, and I’m quite happy it’s 55,” he said. “I look up to Ben Stokes, and I see he’s number 55 as well. So I’m happy about that.”

“England’s attacking cricket always gives you an opportunity to induce mistakes in them”

Danyal Rasool05-Oct-2024Pakistan vice-captain Saud Shakeel echoed his coach Jason Gillespie’s comments about Pakistan’s game plan, saying his side were looking to use England’s aggressive tactics against them in their three-Test series. England’s reputation for playing high-risk, high-reward cricket under current coach Brendon McCullum means Pakistan are sniffing an opportunity to draw them into making mistakes, according to Shakeel.”England always play attacking cricket, and that always gives you an opportunity to induce mistakes in them, and to use their mistakes to stay in the game,” Shakeel said at a press conference in Multan.Shakeel, who was Pakistan’s second-highest scorer during their series against England in 2022, said Pakistan would draw inspiration from that tour, despite England ultimately beating the hosts 3-0. “The last series we played against England, there were times we were quite close to winning, such as Rawalpindi and Multan, but we couldn’t finish it off.”Related

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It was in Multan, where the first Test starts Monday, that Pakistan ran England closest last time, with Shakeel almost steering his side home. Needing 355 for victory in the fourth innings, Pakistan were securely placed at 290 with half the side still to bat, and Shakeel on 94. But two wickets from Mark Wood on the stroke of lunch ended Pakistan’s resistance, with England ultimately edging to a 26-run victory.The idea of exploiting England’s mistakes is not exactly novel. Most recently, Sri Lanka managed it with relative success in their three-Test series in England, winning the third Test after inducing England collapses in each innings. Pakistan’s ability to execute such a plan, though, is far from guaranteed, given recent struggles with both bat and ball, badly exposed by Bangladesh.Saud Shakeel finished as Pakistan’s second-highest run-scorer when they last played England•AFP/Getty Images

“We’re struggling with the bat from time to time, and unable to convert starts into huge scores,” Shakeel said. “That’s a point of concern. The series that’s over is now in the past. Admittedly we didn’t play well there. Our focus is on what’s ahead.”But we don’t follow any particular style playing cricket, we play according to the requirement of any situation, which gives us flexibility.”Pakistan have been trying to carve out their own identity, something new head coach Gillespie has tried to nail down. In July, he told ESPNcricinfo he wanted his side to find a style of cricket “authentic to Pakistan”, admitting he didn’t yet know what that was.Earlier this week, he told the that Pakistan would look to “hang in there, keep being disciplined” and “strike at the right moments”, suggesting the quest for an identity is temporarily being shelved in the hunt for the results Pakistan have been starved of.”The strategy is often decided on the spot depending on how England play,” Shakeel said. “Reverse swing may also come into play depending on the weather and the pitch [that is] prepared. If a team is being aggressive, it can be easy to get sucked into their style of play and over-attack. If they’re attacking, and we just let them make their mistakes, that might work out better for us.”

Indian allrounders Krunal Pandya and Nitish Rana were sought after by RCB and RR

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-20242:04

Moody: Curran poses a left-hand conundrum with bat for CSK

Bhuvneshwar Kumar emerged as the most expensive player sold in the early bidding on day two of the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) buying him for INR 10.75 crore (US$ 1.28 million approx.).Fast bowlers were in high demand with Deepak Chahar going to Mumbai Indians (MI) for INR 9.25 crore ($1.10 million approx.), Akash Deep to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 8 crore ($0.95 million approx.), Mukesh Kumar to Delhi Capitals (DC) for INR 8 crore ($0.95 million approx.), pace-bowling allrounder Marco Jansen to Punjab Kings (PBKS) for INR 7 crore ($0.83 million approx.), and Tushar Deshpande to Rajasthan Royals (RR) for INR 6.50 crore ($0.77 million approx.).RCB and RR also went up against each other for Indian spin allrounders, with RCB snapping up Krunal Pandya for INR 5.75 crore ($0.68 million approx.)and RR getting Nitish Rana for INR 4.20 crore ($0.50 million approx.).Related

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A large number of players were unsold in the early bidding, including established IPL names like Shardul Thakur, Kane Williamson and Ajinkya Rahane. There were no takers for Prithvi Shaw either, despite his base price being only INR 75 lakh. On day one, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow were among the high-profile players to go unsold.Records were broken on day one of the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah, when PBKS first bought Shreyas Iyer for INR 26.75 crore and then LSG bought Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore, making them the most expensive players in the history of the league.