The England pace bowler claimed Somerset’s second hat-trick of the match as they completed a hefty innings victory to secure second place

ECB Reporters Network26-Sep-2018
ScorecardCraig Overton picked up a hat-trick as Somerset rounded off an impressive season with an innings victory over Nottinghamshire in their final Specsavers County Championship match at the season.Overton’s feat came just a day after his county team-mate and captain Tom Abell had picked up a hat-trick in Nottinghamshire’s first innings.The home side had begun the third day at Trent Bridge on 115 for 3 but within 10 minutes had been reduced to 119 for 6, thanks to Overton’s three-in-three burst.Notts rallied but were unable to survive the opening session, being bowled out before lunch for 184, leaving the west country side to celebrate victory by an innings and 146 runs.Left-hander Ben Slater, who had passed 1000 first class runs for the season during the earlier part of his innings, nicked the ninth ball of the day to Marcus Trescothick at second slip for 49.The next two deliveries were identical to each other, as right-handers Samit Patel and Riki Wessels both edged into the waiting hands of Trescothick – who became the first outfielder since GJ Thompson of Northants in 1914 to take three consecutive catches.For Craig Overton it was a second first class hat-trick, after his exploits for MCC against champion county Middlesex in Abu Dhabi last year.”Obviously it was my first over and I sent down a couple of looseners, then it came out alright and I got going with the first one,” he said. “The one to the left-hander [Slater] swung a bit and nipped away. Then it was the right-handers [Patel and Wessels]. I always enjoy bowling to right-handers if it’s swinging. The one to Riki bounced a little bit and caught the top of the bat on it’s way to Tres. Then I was away on a long run to celebrate.”Notts, who knew they were already safe from the drop into Division Two, showed some fight as Ben Duckett and Tom Moores resisted for almost an hour before Duckett was given out lbw to Lewis Gregory, who then had Luke Wood caught behind for 4.Josh Davey, who took 3 for 20, completed the formalities. He had Moores caught behind for a dogged 17 and then pinned Matt Carter lbw for 22, which included a huge pulled six off Craig Overton.Somerset’s victory also confirmed their status as Division One runners-up, and they will be playing Notts again next year, who narrowly survive over Lancashire, having picked up one more victory than the Red Rose.”We didn’t play well enough and there will be frustrated members out there. We’re frustrated about it because we have had a tough six weeks to finish the season,” Peter Moores, the Notts head coach, said. “Our goal was to stay in Division One and we’ve done that. I look back over the whole 18 months and we’ve won two trophies, got promotion and had a couple of cup quarter-finals, we’ve had highs and we’ve had tough days and today was a tough day.”We’ve had a small staff and picked up injuries and come up short this week but all credit to Somerset and the way they played.”

Fast bowler seeks sustained run of match fitness ahead of England’s five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Oct-2018Mark Wood hopes that a new lengthened run-up could be the secret to a sustained run of match fitness, as he prepares for the start of England’s five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.Wood’s ability to generate sharp pace from a short and explosive run-up has been a key reason why he has been considered a point-of-difference bowler in recent seasons, but it has also contributed to a spate of injuries, not least in his troublesome left heel, on which he has undergone numerous bouts of surgery.And now, with the World Cup looming next year, and his fitness restored after another interrupted summer, Wood hopes that a longer, smoother run-up could lead to a longer and smoother run in the England team.”It’s something I’ve worked on in the second half of the season in England and brought it here,” Wood told . “It’s a trial, something I can go back to if I want to do the step-back run-up.”I spoke to Kevin Shine, the head bowling coach, and Chris Silverwood, who’s out here, and said that off my short run-up I felt I was having to force it all the time. That meant I was putting more stress on than I needed to, having to ramp it up to get my top speed.”So pushed my run-up back, so that it felt like I could cruise into it a little more and look for more rhythm, rather than trying to be at the top end all the time, and putting more stress on my body.”Wood hasn’t had much of a chance to put any stress on his body just yet, however. England have faced monsoonal conditions since their arrival in Sri Lanka, and their planned two days of practice in Colombo was reduced to a single contest against a Board XI. It did at least give the bowlers an inkling of how the pitches might behave come the start of the series.”We’ve had a lot of rain so far. Some days are red hot, sweaty humid conditions, and quite nice to bowl in and there are some days when it’s rained a lot and it’s coming from the ground up. It’s different conditions to deal with.”The pitch didn’t feel as subcontinental like as you might think,” he added. “It’s subtropical here in Sri Lanka, not like India or the UAE. It’s more humid and a lot greener than you might expect. The one-day wickets have had a bit of tennis-ball bounce and have swung a bit for England for three or four overs, so we have to use that to our advantage.”Thanks to their plethora of allrounders, England’s one-day squad is packed with seam-bowling options, which means that Wood envisages being used in short, sharp bursts to conserve energy and mix up the modes of attack.”It is ridiculously hot, so coming from a seam bowling point of view, it’ll be two or three overs, smash it as hard as you can, then get off. The spinners are the ones who are going to attack here, but that new ball is key for us. If we can get wickets up front when it’s doing a bit, that’ll be brilliant, but if not, we’ll sit in, try to dot up and make it hard, then let the spinners attack from the other end.”Reverse swing is a traditional factor in Asian conditions, but Wood said that England may need to adapt their methods to obtain the contrast between the rough and smooth sides of the ball to unlock that particular weapon.”Being quick through air will be key with reverse swing, but this ground at Dambulla looks lush and green, so I’m not sure how much reverse there’ll be. But the Sri Lankans tend to wet one side of the ball, and keep it smooth. They know better than anyone in their own conditions, so maybe we can take a leaf out of their book.”

Jack Leach finished the series as England’s equal-leading wicket-taker but it was the moment of brilliance in the field that gave him most pleasure.

George Dobell in Colombo26-Nov-2018Jack Leach has described his run-out of Kusal Mendis on the fourth afternoon in Colombo as “the best moment” of his career to date.Leach finished the series as England’s equal-leading wicket-taker – he and Moeen Ali both claimed 18 – but it was the moment of brilliance in the field that gave him most pleasure.That’s probably understandable, too. Leach is a sound fielder but his direct hit from deep backward square leg – every bit of 50 metres from the stumps at the non-striker’s end – was sensational.Leach initially seemed just a little slow to reach the ball played towards him by Roshen Silva. But, alert to the situation and heeding his team-mates’ calls to throw to the other end, Leach threw with admirable power and left Mendis well short with a direct hit.It was an inspired piece of fielding, for sure, and drew comparison with Ben Stokes’ run-out of Dimuth Karunaratne in Pallakele and the excellent work Keaton Jennings has been doing at short leg as key moments that have made the difference between the teams.It was an important moment, too. Mendis, who had made 86, appeared to be batting Sri Lanka back into contention in the third Test, adding 102 for the fifth-wicket with Roshen. England were starting to look just a little flat and just a little nervous.”I would love to say I’ve been working on those long-distance throws but I’d be lying,” Leach admitted. “I’ve never done anything like that and actually think it was the best moment of my career so far.”My towel at the back of my trousers wasn’t quite in properly so, just before the ball came to me, I quickly threw it to the boundary. And then suddenly it looked like they were going to run two and I thought ‘oh no! I’ve conceded two here and I shouldn’t have done that.'”So, I just launched it towards the stumps and thought ‘that’s going to hit’ and luckily it did. So I was a bit lucky, really. It was a big moment.”Leach admitted he was close to exhaustion by the end of the game. The burden of bowling more overs than any other England bowler in the series, in back-to-back Tests and brutally hot conditions, was starting to take its toll, so he confessed his primary emotion upon taking the final wicket was simply relief that he could return to the air-conditioned dressing room.”I’m absolutely knackered,” he said. “I thought it was hot during the first two Tests, but then I got to Colombo and was like ‘maybe it wasn’t that hot [before].’ Because it turns out Colombo is proper sweaty.”Sri Lanka pushed us all the way. After the tea break Joe Root threw me the ball and I had to get the body going again. So I was just happy to get that wicket and get off the pitch.”It has tested me physically, definitely. None of the guys are used to this so it is even more special that we could put in good performances to get the win.”At the moment I just don’t want to play cricket ever again, I’m so tired. But I’ll give it a couple of weeks and then I’ll be keen to get back in the gym and work on some things that I feel I can get better at and get myself ready for the Caribbean if I’m picked.”He needn’t worry about selection. His is certain to be in the tour party and has a decent chance of winning selection even if England play only two spinners in some games in the Caribbean. And, even though he stresses that “everyone contributed” to the team’s success, he does accept he has had “a great trip”.”It is a huge thrill to come out here and take wickets on spinning tracks,” he said. “There have been ups and downs, but to come out on top with a 3-0 result is amazing.”It has been a great trip for me. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot through winning games, which is how you want it. But I also think I need to keep getting better so this tour will really help me.”Everyone has contributed: Stokesy’s run-out in Kandy and his spell of bowling here; Keaton’s fielding at short leg. Little things have made a big difference. And the way the batters have played has been something special. Rooty asked us to be brave with the bat and we’ve done that. It’s special result. I’m just glad to have been able to play my part and be involved.”

He will link up with the squad ahead of the Boxing Day Test in Christchurch, having signed a contract that will expire at the end of 2019 World Cup

Madushka Balasuriya08-Dec-2018Steve Rixon has been appointed Sri Lanka’s fielding coach in their lead-up to the 2019 World Cup, Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed. He will link up with the Sri Lanka squad on December 24, ahead of their second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch.The move for a new fielding coach has long been mooted, with Sri Lanka head coach Chandika Hathurusingha having grown visibly frustrated at his team’s propensity to squander potentially match-winning opportunities on a nearly game-by-game basis.These frustrations were brought to a head during the recent home series against England, when the visiting side’s consistent game-changing excellence in the field only served to exacerbate Sri Lanka’s deficiencies.In Rixon, Sri Lanka have hired one of world cricket’s pre-eminent fielding specialists. He was most recently credited for Pakistan’s stark fielding improvements during his stint as fielding coach there, while prior to that he had worked as Australia’s assistant coach and also coached New Zealand – both stints coincided with the sides becoming among the best fielding outfits in the world.He has also coached domestic teams in Australia and sides in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League and the Indian Premier League.Rixon will officially take over duties ahead of the Boxing Day Test, having signed a contract that will expire at the end of 2019 World Cup in England.Outgoing fielding coach Manoj Abeywickrama will remain with national side for the duration of the first two Tests in New Zealand to oversee the transition, after which he will return home to take up a position in the Sri Lanka A set-up.

He didn’t return to bat after tea on the fourth day with Sri Lanka facing a fight to save the Test and the series

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Christchurch29-Dec-2018Sri Lanka’s chances of saving the Christchurch Test was dealt a major blow after Angelo Mathews pulled up lame late in the second session on day four, with apparent hamstring trouble.Although not out, he did not take the field after tea, and will undergo scans at some point in the day before it is decided whether he can bat again in the match. At first glance, however, the injury appeared fairly serious.Mathews was batting on 14 off 38 balls when he drove Trent Boult through mid-off and called partner Dinesh Chandimal through for two runs. Halfway through jogging the second run however, Mathews pulled up and began to hobble on his right leg, then clutched the back of his left thigh as soon as he had crossed the popping crease.He was treated on the field and continued to bat, but was seemingly unable to put much weight on his left leg through final overs of the second session. He literally hopped a single – using his right leg exclusively – before hobbling off the field at tea.Sri Lanka manager Jeryl Woutersz confirmed that a “hammy” was suspected, and that he would be “sent for scans” before a further prognosis was made.Mathews has had recurring injuries in his hamstrings and calves over the past two years, and had missed entire tours because of them. He had only just returned to the bowling crease for the first time since January 2017, delivering four overs in the first Test in Wellington, as well as in the ongoing Test.A hamstring tear now, would not only keep him out of the forthcoming limited-overs series against New Zealand, they could also put him in doubt for the Tests against Australia, which begin in late January.Sri Lanka’s World Cup plans could be affected as well, after team management had hoped he could start bowling a few overs in one-day cricket before ramping up the workload in the months approaching next year’s global tournament, in June.Mathews has been Sri Lanka’s best batsman in New Zealand, and had made 120 not out off 323 balls in Wellington to help save that first Test. For now, it seems unlikely that he will have the chance to repeat those heroics in Christchurch.

Wickets with the new ball and a squeeze in the middle overs helped Comilla Victorians restrict Chittagong Vikings to 116 and go top of the table with seven-wicket win

The Report by Varun Shetty29-Jan-2019
How the game played outComilla Victorians exploited the conditions to great effect and then chased down a meager total with little trouble as they climbed to the top of the table. On a day of rain delays and collapses, Victorians didn’t even need the batting services of Evin Lewis, who had made an unbeaten ton on Monday, as they chased 117 with 2.2 overs to spare. Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 54 steered them.After rain had delayed the toss, Mushfiqur Rahim elected to bat in overcast conditions. Mohammad Saifuddin struck straightaway with two balls swinging the same way – one into the left-handed Shadman Islam, who was lbw on review, and one away from right-hander Yasir Ali who was caught at cover – to reduce the Vikings to 3 for 2. Rahim found himself out there in the third over, and was out nicking Wahab Riaz to the wicketkeeper in the fifth. With their most slid player gone, and only 17 on the board despite the presence of Mohammad Shahzad, Vikings had plenty to do after another spell of rain had cut the game down to 19-overs-a-side.But partnerships were hard to come by as Victorians imposed their bowling might to restrict Shahzad’s strokemaking before running him out, and kept any middle-order partnerships from developing. Shahid Afridi’s 2 for 10, following from his 3 for 27 on Monday, squeezed them in the middle overs and only Mosaddek Hossain’s unbeaten 25-ball 43 could keep them from holding. Mosaddek’s innings was full of improvisations on a surface where hitting through the line was difficult. Vikings took 24 off the last two overs, through Mosaddek’s two fours and two sixes, but 116 was not a sufficient total.Turning points

• The toss. Imrul Kayes said he was happy at the toss, because he had wanted to bowl. The damp pitch, dim light, and overhead conditions suited Kayes’ pace trio well and they didn’t allow Vikings a strong base
• Shahzad’s run-out. The opener had laboured to 33 off 35 and had his eye in when Mosaddek sold him down the river by calling for a second run and leaving him stranded with a change in mind. This was in the 13th over

Star of the dayBatting conditions eased out after the first innings, but Tamim Iqbal’s second fifty of the season still needed some work. The opener, who began the tournament with four single-digit scores in six innings, was patient as he got in. As he built a stable base for Victorians, he also got Shamsur Rahman to open up and up the rate as the pair put up 65 for the second wicket.The big missThisara Perera came on to bowl after most damage had been done, but the end-overs specialist couldn’t close the innings off, going for 22 in his two overs.Where they standThe win vaults Comilla Victorians into first place with 14 points in ten games. Chittagong Vikings had the chance to do this as well, but for now they remain tied in second with Rangpur Riders, on 12 points in ten games. Their net-run-rate, however, is negative.

Western Australia roll over for 147 in their second innings to go down by an innings and 51 runs

Alex Malcolm26-Feb-2019A five-wicket haul from Steve O’Keefe helped New South Wales to an innings victory over Western Australia despite another defiant innings from Cameron Bancroft.O’Keefe took 5 for 52 in 33.2 overs on a crumbling Bankstown Oval surface to bowl WA out for 147 in their second innings with more than hour left on the final day.

Bancroft’s feat

He faced a total of 621 deliveries across two innings
Fourth instance of a batsman facing 600-plus deliveries in a Shield game
Steve Waugh holds the record – 649 balls for NSW v Queensland in 1996
Bancroft held the previous WA record too, having faced 567 balls v NSW in 2015
He is the only one to face 550-plus balls in a Shield game twice
He scored 52.58% of WA’s runs in the game; the highest ever when they have batted twice

But Bancroft did cause the Blues a headache. The WA opener faced 263 balls for 86 runs as he stonewalled the New South Wales charge to victory while his teammates collapsed at the other end.The Warriors had slumped to six for 98 before Bancroft finally found an ally he could bank on in Joel Paris. The pair put on 47 in 22 overs and weathered a difficult period against the second new ball.Bancroft reached 620 balls for the match without being dismissed, having faced 358 of them in the first innings for his 138 not out. He did have a fair amount of luck to stay alive before O’Keefe finally found the kryptonite on the 621st. He spun one sharply past Bancroft’s outside edge in the 90th over of the innings and the opener was stumped by Peter Nevill as he overbalanced.WA only lasted ten more balls after that. Trent Copeland dismissed Paris in the next over before O’Keefe took the last two wickets with the first two balls of the 92nd over to complete his five-for.Earlier, WA’s top order found some unusual ways to get out in their efforts to save the game. Josh Inglis and Hilton Cartwright both fell to the part-time leg spin of Jason Sangha. Inglis was caught at cover driving on the up, while Cartwright fell in bizarre fashion when he pulled a long-hop into Nick Larkin at short leg and the ball ricocheted off the fielder’s body and popped straight up in the air for Sangha to complete the catch.New South Wales are on second spot on the Sheffield Shield table with their third win of the season.

Chennai Super Kings cruised to their second victory in as many games – even if it did go down to the final over

The Report by Liam Brickhill26-Mar-20193:16

Why Lamichhane would have been a threat in Delhi

This encounter was billed as one between the youthful exuberance of Delhi Capitals and the vast experience of Chennai Super Kings, and the result added substance to the suggestion that T20 is not necessarily a young man’s game. Shikhar Dhawan’s fifty kept Delhi ticking after they opted to bat in their first home match of the season, but they unraveled to Dwayne Bravo at the death and their 147 for 6 never looked like it was enough despite the slowness of the track at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Shane Watson’s rapid 44 put Super Kings well ahead of the asking rate, and by the time the paterfamilias himself, MS Dhoni, walked in, they needed under five an over. Dhoni took it deep – at one point calmly patting away five dots in a row – and let the game go into the final over before Bravo sealed Super Kings’ second win in two, and sixth victory out of eight matches at this venue. Chahar reins them in On a pitch that historically favours spinners even more strongly than even the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the scene of the season opener, Delhi might have been looking to get after Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur as the potential weak links in an otherwise impregnable attack. A spring-loaded Prithvi Shaw spanked three fours in a row in Thakur’s first over, but by the end of his opening spell, Chahar had more than repaired the damage.As he had done on Saturday night, Chahar bowled all four up front and maintained control throughout, sending down 12 dot balls and striking the vital blow when he cramped Shaw for room and a spliced pull was caught at midwicket. By the time Chahar was done at the end of the seventh over, Delhi’s run-rate was a modest 6.85, and with Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja and Bravo to come, any attempt to up the rate would not be an easy one. Dhawan anchors On a slow, slightly variegated pitch that made fluent strokeplay difficult, Delhi needed someone in the top three to dig in and bat through if they were to set a defendable total. Dhawan got the job two-thirds done with a 47-ball 51 – his 33rd IPL fifty – that set up the innings before Delhi were reined in by Bravo and co. at the death. Sensing the need to bat deep after Shaw fell early, Dhawan used the crease well, going deep or making room to change the angles and open up scoring options in the field. He also picked his moments to attack, swiping back-to-back boundaries off Tahir and then repeating the treatment in Bravo’s first over.But Dhawan’s dismissal was the fourth in eight balls as Delhi misfired at the death. He then missed a tough chance at slip off Ambati Rayudu’s edge in the very first over of the chase, bowled by Ishant Sharma, and then let a pull from Kedar Jadhav burst through his hands as Super Kings marched inexorably to victory later in the evening.Shane Watson pulls with power•BCCI

Bravo’s comeback While Chahar had bowled his four on the trot up front, Dhoni chose to use Bravo’s overs all in one go at the other end of the innings. No one has taken more T20 wickets than Bravo’s 483, and 84 of these dismissals have now come during the last five overs in the IPL – second only to Lasith Malinga’s 96. He is a master tactician during this period, and his 3 for 33 held Delhi back after they had ended the 15th over with a platform set at 118 for 2.On a pitch Bravo called “two-paced” during the mid-match interview, his changes of pace and variations in line and length brought the dismissals of Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram and a set Dhawan in the midst of Delhi’s collapse to 127 for 5 in the space of one-and-a-half overs. Bravo’s eventual returns were all the more impressive given the way he had started his spell, having leaked 17 runs in his first over. Watto wins the war With the first innings having demonstrated the need for top-order solidity, Watson v Rabada was set up as a key battle as Delhi desperately hunted an inroad into an experienced line-up. The spark between the two was lit in Rabada’s first over, when Watson backed away into a bouncer as the South African quick focused on two lengths: at the boot or at the head. Watson glanced a 150km/h yorker for four and top-edged a bouncer to further rile Rabada up, and at one point the two engaged in what looked like a heated exchange. As much as he tried to force the issue, Rabada’s pace was defanged by the slow track and he just couldn’t break through.It’s the middle overs that Watson dominated last season, striking the ball at over 200 after the Powerplay in overs 7 to 15, but this time around he did the damage in the Powerplay. By the time he fell, stumped off an Amit Mishra ripper, the required rate was well under a run a ball and with the resources at Super Kings’ disposal, it looked like the rest of the chase would be a doddle. Dhoni time The questions about Dhoni’s starting against spin might have grown a little louder had he edged his first ball to slip, rather than over him and away for four. Super Kings needed 50 from 58 when Dhoni entered, numbers which seemed almost too easy for a player of Dhoni’s legendary vintage in white-ball chases. When no further boundaries had been hit seven overs later, Dhoni might have been the only person at the Kotla who wasn’t starting to get a little edgy, but just as things were starting to get tight again, Dhoni did as Dhoni does, slashing Keemo Paul through cover and shellacking Mishra over wide long on as though he’d had planned it all this way. Graciously, he left it to Bravo to hit the winning runs, but remained not out at the end for the 39th time in a successful IPL chase.

Replacing leg-spinner Adil Rashid for third ODI, Denly has a chance to prove his worth as a back-up option

George Dobell13-May-2019Why is Joe Denly playing on Tuesday?England are keen to test the bench strength of their World Cup squad. He was named in the 15-man provisional squad but, with him having played only one ODI this decade (though he was named in the side for the rained-off match at The Oval), there is still some doubt as to whether his leg-spin bowling is up to the level required. So England have rested Adil Rashid – who is certain to play in the World Cup – and given Denly this opportunity to see what he can do.So he’s on trial?That’s one interpretation, certainly. Though England might stress that he is simply being given some game time with a view to providing Eoin Morgan more information about how to use him. But, yes, this probably is a big game for him. It’s not as if he’s the first England player to go on trial in Bristol.Wasn’t he a batsman when he first played for England?Yes, he was. He played nine ODIs and five T20Is as an opening batsman in 2009. He did OK, too, with two half-centuries in those ODIs. He made his Test debut as a batsman over the winter, too, making 69 in the final Test against West Indies. It’s still the stronger part of his game and he could well come in at No. 3 in the Ashes. He’s scored more than 11,000 first-class runs and taken just 62 wickets. He does have an unwanted record as a batsman, though: he was out first ball on his first-class debut, T20I debut and IPL debut. He was actually out first ball in both his first two T20I games.So when did he start bowling?He has always bowled a bit. But it was only really in the summer of 2018 – by which time he was 32 – that he bowled the volume of overs to be taken seriously. He claimed 23 first-class wickets that season – his best tally before that was eight – with another 14 in List A cricket. He started to establish himself in T20 leagues, too, and now has valuable experience in the BPL, PSL, BBL and IPL to draw from. He claimed 20 wickets in England’s domestic T20 tournament last summer and claimed 4-19 – the best figures of his career in any form of cricket – when recalled to the England T20I side in Sri Lanka at the end of 2018.Sounds great.Maybe. The concern is that, in his entire career, he has taken just 22 List A wickets in England and Wales. The rest of them have come overseas in conditions which may suit his bowling more and against opposition some way below that anticipated in the World Cup. Denly is, without doubt, a good batsman and fine utility cricketer. There’s just some doubt as to whether is bowling is up to going into an ODI with his captain requiring a minimum of six or so overs from it.So his is a bold selection?Yes. Ed Smith, the head selector, played with him at Kent at the start of Denly’s career and has always rated him. He is clearly the driving force behind the selection, but James Taylor and Trevor Bayliss are full of praise for his all-round virtues, too. And with Smith encouraged by his recall of Jos Buttler to England’s Test team a year ago – it is hard to remember now, but it was a somewhat contentious decision at the time – he may be confident in trusting his instincts more than ever.
How has Denly looked so far?He batted quite nicely in the T20I in Cardiff. He hasn’t bowled that much. But he started his spell in Cardiff with two long-hops that were thrashed for six and was taken off after one over. He did claim a maiden ODI wicket in Dublin, but it came when Ben Foakes completed a stumping off a leg-side wide. But that’s the point, really: he’s in the squad as a spin-bowling all-rounder having delivered just 30 balls in his entire ODI career. England really need to find out far more about his bowling at this level.Who could replace him?The most like-for-like option would probably be Liam Dawson. He’s enjoying a great season in the Royal London One Day Cup – he’s seventh in the wickets tally table and has the best economy rate of bowlers to have delivered a minimum of 40 overs – and, until he suffered a side injury in Sri Lanka was in the squad anyway. Bayliss suggested a few days ago he could yet be called into this series for the last couple of games.Do England need three spinners in their World Cup squad?Good question. The current thinking of the team management is that they don’t require seven seamers (including Ben Stokes) in their squad, so they might as well try and cover a few other bases with the inclusion of a spin-bowling all-rounder. Denly, they argue, doesn’t just offer spin-bowling cover: he offers cover for a variety of batting positions and is a fine fielder almost anywhere. They are also aware that, while sides can call-up replacements in the event of injury, the players released cannot be recalled. So they don’t want to be in the position where they have to release Moeen Ali or Adil Rashid for the entire tournament just because they can’t bowl in a couple of games. For that reason, they seem pretty keen on having that spin-bowling back-up.What about Joe Root?Yes, he does offer another spin-bowling option. Last year he delivered 10 overs for 44 runs in an ODI against Australia and his career economy-rate – 5.80 – is respectable. But he has bowled two overs in England’s 13 most-recent completed ODIs. It doesn’t appear they rate his bowling especially highly.So one of the seamers will have to miss out?That remains the likely scenario, but it’s not absolutely certain. The fact that Jofra Archer has been given time off to spend at home is revealing: you don’t give a man fighting for his place time off. He looks certain to be included in that 15-man squad now. Tom Curran might be the most vulnerable of the seamers now, but he will have a chance to impress on Tuesday and did well with bat and ball in Dublin.
If Dawson is still a selection possibility, shouldn’t he be playing now?Maybe, yes. But that’s why this game is so important. Denly is going to be asked to bowl on a good wicket with short boundaries. If he does well, his place in the squad is probably guaranteed. If he has an absolute shocker, Dawson could be called up before the weekend.That sounds a bit tough on Denly.It does. But the World Cup is going to be played, on the whole, in such demanding, high-pressure circumstances. Bowlers are going to have to find a way to contain batsmen on these fine batting pitches and Denly will have to be able to cope with such pressure. David Willey was put under similar pressure at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday and came through well. International sport is a tough, competitive business.

Captain describes final selection meeting as “toughest decision” but stands by the 15-man squad that will launch campaign on May 30

Andrew Miller21-May-2019Eoin Morgan says that the process of whittling England’s World Cup squad down to the final 15-man party was “the toughest decision I’ve ever been a part of”, but believes that he personally, and his team as a whole, have never been better equipped to make the big calls, having grown together in the four years since the 2015 campaign.Speaking at the launch of England’s World Cup kit in East London, Morgan admitted that his team’s final approach to the tournament had not been entirely smooth – with Alex Hales’ expulsion from the squad for a second failed drugs test providing a particularly unwelcome distraction in recent weeks.However, with England making a seamless readjustment in Hales’ absence to beat Pakistan 4-0 in another record-breaking run of batting form, Morgan feels that the team has come through a significant stress test of its culture. Looking ahead, he backed his players to find further ways to keep winning in the event of any more disruption during the course of the tournament.”I wouldn’t say it’s been smooth, I’d say we’ve been better equipped at dealing with anything that’s cropped up, certainly as a group,” said Morgan. “For me as a captain, being more experienced, and having been through four years of being captain, our prep and planning has been excellent and the guys have responded to that by performing on a consistent basis, probably more so for last two years than first two.”Asked if the Hales situation was the sort of crisis that would have derailed past England World Cup campaigns, Morgan admitted: “Yeah, it probably would have. It’s something I’ve never come up against before.”However, he also explained that the team management had put in place contingency plans for similar incidents, meaning that they had not been caught entirely on the hop when the news of Hales’ indiscretions were made public.”We hadn’t planned exactly for that, we’d planned for instances when the [team] culture had been tested or individually we’d been tested,” Morgan said. “There’s still loads of things that we’ve planned for that might continue to crop up throughout the World Cup.”Our values as a team include the words ‘courage’, ‘respect’, and ‘unity’, symbolising the three lions on our cap, and taking that cap forward across all three formats and all squads.”ALSO READ: Dobell: Focus on fringe players shows how far England have come“Over a period of time, everyone can relate to it on and off the field. For some people it may only be words, but for us as international cricketers, travelling around all the time, the one thing that’s constant right from the beginning of your journey is your cap. It’s a gentle reminder of how much responsibility you have, and the privileged position you are constantly in to make the most of that.”That shared journey made this week’s decision to cut Joe Denly and, especially, David Willey from England’s final 15 particularly tough, but having been given the casting vote in the selectors’ deliberations, Morgan was able to defend the “logic of the decision and the balance of the squad” that resulted in Jofra Archer and Liam Dawson being called up in their places.”It was the toughest decision I’ve ever been a part of, certainly with this group,” said Morgan. “To leave two guys out, one who has been around for the last four years and been a big part of everything we’ve done on and off the field, and the other is an exceptionally talented cricketer. It’s unfortunate for those who missed out but it was the right call.”Morgan added that he wasn’t able to feel any great sense of relief at having made the cut, given that the contributions of both players had required “the time and dedication” to do them justice. However, he was able to reiterate to both the point he made at the presentation ceremony in Headingley last week, that the nature of a six-week tournament would almost certainly throw up the possibility of a replacement being called upon.”We had a conversation last night,” Morgan said, “explaining the fact that there are nine group-stage games and the fact that we have four fast bowlers, and one of them is likely to get injured. It happens.”And I had the same conversation with Joe. We haven’t had many injuries in the batting department for a long time, so we need to plan for everything, given that they might come into play straightaway, so they need to be prepared for that.”Asked if England were playing “fearless” cricket in the wake of their 4-0 series win over Pakistan, Morgan actually felt that his team had reined in some of the more overt aggression that had led to a few rare but notable mishaps in recent years.”I wouldn’t say that we feel fearless, probably two years ago we felt more fearless, because we were quite young in our growth as a team,” he said. “We’ve had two more years’ experience on top of that, and we are better at coping and adapting to scenarios and recognising different situations throughout a game. I wouldn’t say that’s fearless.”The team’s single biggest disappointment of the past four years, the Champions Trophy semi-final defeat against Pakistan in 2017, was an example of where England had been derailed in the recent past.”One of the biggest learning things that came out of that was that it probably came a little bit early for us,” he said. “We probably didn’t realise how good we were and how poor we were on slow wickets. Since then, we’ve improved our play at both home and away, and on wickets that don’t necessarily suit our planning.”Overall, however, Morgan said that he was simply itching to get started. “We are pretty close to our starting XI, barring a couple of pitch minor adjustments,” he said. “If the game was tomorrow, it would be better for us than seven or eight days’ time. Our preparation against Pakistan was as good as anything we could have hoped for. To perform like we did is extremely encouraging.”