Michael Neser and Mark Steketee’s brisk 64-run stand left the game evenly poised at the end of day two in Canberra after Nathan Lyon took four wickets

The Report by Alex Malcolm17-Nov-2018Mark Steketee celebrates a wicket with his teammates•Getty Images

A four-wicket haul from New South Wales spinner Nathan Lyon was overshadowed by a stunning rear-guard from Queensland duo Michael Neser and Mark Steketee to leave the game evenly poised at the end of day two in Canberra.Queensland looked in danger of giving up a significant first innings lead when Lyon had Jimmy Pierson stumped to leave the Bulls 7 for 146.But Neser and Steketee unleashed a vicious counter-attack. The pair put on 64 in just 11 overs to tick the total past 200. Neser struck 10 fours in his 62 before falling caught and bowled to Lyon. He has now scored three consecutive Shield half-centuries. Steketee hammered four sixes and two fours in his 41 before holing out at deep midwicket off Pat Cummins.Earlier, Marnus Labuschagne made a compact half-century as he continued to push to retain his spot in the Test side. He cruised to 52, with six fours, before chopping on off Cummins. Matt Renshaw was one of Lyon’s four wickets, edging behind trying to force square off the back foot for just 21.Blues openers Nick Larkin and Daniel Hughes made it to stumps to give New South Wales a lead of 52 with 10 wickets in hand heading into day three.

A round-up of all the action from the latest round of matches in the 4-Day Franchise Series

Liam Brickhill08-Nov-2018Results summaryCape Cobras succumbed to their first defeat of the season at Boland Park in Paarl, losing to Lions by 186 runs. Cobras captain Dane Piedt opted to field, but Wihahn Lubbe’s second successive century in the competition, and fifties from Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen underpinned a strong first innings for Lions, who reached 337 despite Dane Paterson’s 5 for 86. Lions were missing Beuran Hendricks, who is on a one-match suspension after throwing the ball at an opposing batsman during Lions’ last game against Titans, but put in an excellent all-round display with the ball in his absence to bowl Cobras out for just 138. Nicky van den Burgh’s second-innings 83 left Cobras with a target of 433, and though they briefly rallied through a 122-run stand between Pieter Malan and Jason Smith, Lions wrapped up a big win on the final day. Cobras hold onto their position at the top of the points table despite the defeat, but Lions have solidified their second-place position and could catch up in the next round.In Kimberley, a fourth-day collapse by Warriors handed Knights a 284-run win – their largest-ever victory in franchise cricket. While Knights’ batsmen made the most of the conditions, with Grant Mokoena narrowly missing out on a ton in the first innings, and wicketkeeper Keegan Petersen making scores of 82 and 103 not out before a second innings declaration, Warriors struggled with the bat throughout the match. They were bowled out for just 134 in their first innings, offspinner Tshepo Ntuli doing most of the damage with 4 for 58, and in their second, collapsed from 145 for 1 to 205 all out. Warriors might have had hopes of saving the game when openers Edward Moore and Gihahn Cloete negotiated the first 20 overs, but Ryan McLaren and Duanne Olivier ripped through the rest of the order after both men fell, sharing seven wickets to secure Knights’ second win of the competition.Vaughn van Jaarsveld’s second hundred of the season helped Dolphins secure a draw against Titans at Kingsmead. Dolphins had begun their second innings having to overturn a 195-run deficit to make Titans bat again, after they had crashed to 186 all out in their first innings and then been at the receiving end of a committed batting display from Titans’ lower middle order. Eldred Hawken made a career-best 84 not out from No. 9, while there were also fifties for Jonathan Vandiar and captain Shaun von Berg as Titans reached 381. Van Jaarsveld’s century allowed Dolphins to erase their deficit, and after he fell for 133, Dolphins’ tail showed some mettle to push their lead to 107 before the captains agreed on a draw with a possible 10 overs remaining.The next round of the 4-Day Franchise Series will take place at the end of December as there is a break in the domestic franchise season for the Mzansi Super League, which starts on November 16 and runs for a month.On the national radarWhile van Jaarsveld’s hundred formed the backbone of Dolphins’ rearguard, they also had Keshav Maharaj to thank for their draw against Titans. Maharaj top-scored in their first innings with 76, and added a crucial 23 in the second to shelve any thoughts of a late push by Titans. In between, he also did the bulk of the bowling for his team, sending down 43 out of the 104 overs in Titans’ only innings, and taking three wickets. Dean Elgar made a five-ball duck in the same game, and apart from his century in the last match, he has yet to make an impact with the bat for his franchise this season, with a string of preceding single-figure scores.Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen have been enjoying rather more success with the bat. Both men made fifties in Lions’ first innings against Cape Cobras, while van der Dussen also made 41 in the second and now has 381 first-class runs at 63.50 this season.Vernon Philander was not named in Cape Cobras’ XI for this round of the 4-Day Franchise series, but his absence is not injury-related. He and his wife Mandy are expecting their first child to be born this week.Top performersWhile both of their teams ended up on the losing side, this was a good week for fast bowlers Dane Paterson and Anrich Nortje. Both men picked up six-fors in the previous round, and both followed that up with five-wicket hauls this week, Paterson taking 5 for 81 for Cobras and Nortje picking up 5 for 51 for Warriors. Paterson’s returns helped him keep his place at the top of the competition’s wicket tables, with 26 scalps at 18.26, while Nortje is not far behind him, with 24 wickets at 21.04.

Rangpur Riders’ captain elected to bowl and gave Comilla Victorians no respite, knocking over their to four batsmen with the score not even past 20

The Report by Peter Della Penna08-Jan-2019How the game played outA bad start quickly turned ugly for Comilla Victorians, who failed to adjust after a wonky Powerplay on the way to being bowled out for the fourth lowest first-innings total in six editions of the Bangladesh Premier League. Rangpur Riders are now responsible for dishing out three of the four worst maulings, and on this occasion it was their captain who meted out the heaviest punishment.Mashrafe Mortaza backed up his decision to field first at the toss by striking thrice in his first three overs to put Comilla under heavy pressure. Rather than hold one of his overs back for the end of the innings, Mashrafe opted to go for the jugular of Comilla’s lineup. It paid off as he claimed his opposite number Steven Smith in the seventh, capping off an unbroken four-over spell with a wicket-maiden to leave Comilla reeling at 18 for 5. Rangpur never let up.Turning points

• Ravi Bopara’s sensational over the shoulder catch sprinting back from point to dismiss Imrul Kayes in the fifth showed Rangpur were on top of their game
• Shahid Afridi kept Comilla’s faint pulse going at the crease but two balls after surviving a chance at long-on spilled over the rope for six, he failed to make the most of a second life and slashed a catch to Chris Gayle at short third man
• Nazmul Islam pulled out his imaginary bow and arrow to shoot out the tail with three wickets, ensuring Mashrafe’s spell wasn’t wasted

Star of the dayNo looking past Mashrafe. After his recent success on the political campaign trail, he turned in his T20 career-best, claiming a who’s who of domestic and foreign stars: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Evin Lewis and Smith. Tamim fell on a flat drive to mid-on while the other three perished miscuing skied drives, indicative of a slightly stop-start pitch.The big missRangpur’s only major misfire on the day was a comical one as Sohag Gazi demanded Mashrafe burn their only review in the fourth over for a supposed lbw appeal on a quicker ball that hurried Lewis off the back foot. Replays showed Lewis smashing the ball straight out of the middle of the bat to cover.Where the teams standRangpur join Dhaka Dynamites at the top of the table on four points, although they have played one more match than Dhaka. Comilla sit even with Chittagong Vikings in third place with two points, though Vikings have a game in hand.

ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary charts a Kemar Roach demolition job

Andrew Miller24-Jan-2019England had gone to lunch on the second day at Bridgetown on 30 for 1 in reply to West Indies’ 289, apparently well set in their first innings of the tour. But, waiting for them on the resumption was a pumped-up Kemar Roach, who served up an astonishing spell of five wickets for four runs in 27 balls to leave England in utter disarray at 48 for 6. Here’s how the meltdown unfolded on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary.11.5 Roach to Burns, OUT, bowled him! The change of ends works for Roach as Burns gets half-forward, but allows the ball to wriggle off the angled face of the blade, down into the crease and into the off stump! That’s a massive boost for West Indies, and both of England’s openers have gone without much to show for their day
RJ Burns b Roach 2 (26b 0x4 0x6) SR: 7.6913.3 Roach to Bairstow, no run, outside off, and that’s a beauty! Nothing you can do with those, rising on off stump, nipping off the seam, and skimming past the edge13.4 Roach to Bairstow, FOUR, crunched down the ground! That’s strong biffing, the weight is on the back foot, but Roach overpitches, so he just leans forward and momentum does the rest!13.5 Roach to Bairstow, OUT, ping, next batsman please! Wow, that’s a stunning riposte! On off stump, climbs sharply off the seam, crashes into Bairstow’s elbow, then down into his timbers! Welcome back old school England top-order, we’ve missed you!
JM Bairstow b Roach 12 (17b 1×4 0x6) SR: 70.58ESPNcricinfo Ltd

15.4 Roach to Stokes, no run, beauty! Tight once again and passing oh-so-close to the timbers. Good leave from Stokes, but the fact that he can trust the bounce proves that there is plenty in the deck15.5 Roach to Stokes, no run, ooh, drawn into a nibble this time! Slightly wider and caught in two minds19.4 Roach to Stokes, OUT, Pinged on the pads and up goes the finger! Stokes was right back on the stumps, but this could have been sneaking over … England review … no issue with the no-ball … no bat involved as it crashes into the back leg … trimming the bails! Wow. England are in freefall!
BA Stokes lbw b Roach 0 (17b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.0019.5 Roach to Ali, OUT, plucked on the boundary’s edge for a first-baller!! This is just incredible! A scorcher from Roach, takes Moeen completely by surprise as he flicks a loose defensive bat across the line… a massive top-edge spirals down to Joseph at fine leg, who reverse-cups his hands to claw the ball back and keep himself in play at the same time!
MM Ali c Joseph b Roach 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.0019.6 Roach to Foakes, no run, outside off, no hat-trick, but what an over! Bridgetown is leaping. I swear it was mostly England fans in the crowd, but the home support are making themselves known!21.1 Roach to Buttler, OUT, banged in short, and there goes another! This is mayhem! Short and fast, tight to the body and bruising the edge of a defensive blade! Roach has five in the blink of an eye, and …well, this is extraordinary! England are a rocking, rolling, Roach-ridden mess!
JC Buttler c †Dowrich b Roach 4 (14b 1×4 0x6) SR: 28.57

Our ball-by-ball commentary tracks England’s reliance on streaky first-day runs

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2019England’s chastened cricketers attempted to mend their ways after being asked to bat first at Gros Islet. But, though a run rate of two an over suggested a determination to dig in and wait for their chances, the actual runs that they scored in the first session-and-a-half told a different story. Here are the first ten occasions on which the ball crossed the boundary, as recorded on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary. Not all of them were quite as intended …8.5 Roach to Jennings, FOUR, dropped! Jennings turned into an S, feet going one way, hands another as the ball bends away to take the shoulder of the bat… but Chase puts it down at third slip! Burst straight through the hands18.2 Paul to Burns, FOUR, pitched up and swinging, Burns drives and edges wide of fourth slip! Flashes and gets away with it… England’s second boundary of the day, picked up via a second edge through the cordon27.1 Gabriel to Denly, 5 runs, on the back foot, thumped firmly into the covers, and that is a disastrously bad shy at the stumps! No-one backing up and Gabriel shrugs futilely as the ball whizzes to the rope! Hetmyer the culprit. That’s four more he’ll need to score later28.1 Roach to Denly, FOUR, short, wide and wafty! Denly picks up four, but not in a convincing fashion. Almost too wide to reach, like his debut dismissal, and toe-ended through point to the rope29.5
Gabriel to Denly, 5 wides, wild and leg-sided! The only mercy about that delivery is that Dowrich wasn’t penalised with byes. He got a glove to it but that was way off target30.3 Roach to Denly, FOUR, wider on the crease, speared into the pads, and tickled very fine. Denly starting to enjoy his innings now after a dour start35.6 Gabriel to Buttler, FOUR, a wild flashing drive, and dropped by second and third slip combined! Another revolting fling of the bat outside off from Buttler, scuppered by the outswing, and well, where was the 6’8 Jason Holder when his team needed him?37.6 Gabriel to Buttler, FOUR, squeezed off a thick outside-edge. This has been a manic 20 minutes. In the air for a while, but safe enough in the circumstances. England need a stiff drink … which is opportune …38.1 Paul to Root, 5 wides, oops, he’s swung that one too far, well down the leg side and giving Dowrich no chance40.1 Paul to Root, FOUR, schwing and pinged! Classical cover drive from Root, that sashays silkily away to the rope… Possibly the first boundary in front of square today

Essex batsman set to play for MCC in Abu Dhabi curtain-raiser, knowing it’s all up for grabs this summer

Andrew Miller15-Mar-2019It’s all up for grabs at the top of England’s Test batting order. Yet another series has come and gone – this time a 2-1 defeat in the Caribbean – with none of the incumbents making a definitive case for retention going into this summer’s Ashes.Tom Westley knows that feeling well. It’s been nigh on two years since Westley made the last of his five Test appearances in the summer of 2017. In nine innings against against South Africa and West Indies, he managed a solitary half-century at an average of 24.12 before being dropped for that winter’s Ashes campaign.But, having this week celebrated his 30th birthday on Essex’s pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi, Westley has not given up hope of earning himself a second chance at Test level – especially with nearly four months of county cricket in which to hone his form before England’s next Test engagement, against Ireland on July 24.”It’s quite exciting, not only for myself but a lot of county cricketers,” Westley told ESPNcricinfo. “If an individual scores three, four, five hundreds early in the season, they are going to be spoken about to play for England. That’s everyone’s goal, and my goal personally is to play for England again, but the only way to do that is to score those runs.”Two years older and wiser, Westley has vowed that – whatever comes to pass – he will be truer to his own game this season than he was when he last got his opportunity with England.”I just really regret not scoring more runs,” he said. “There are a few technical things that I thought they would make me a better player. I changed my stance a little bit; I thought would help my balance. I changed my back-lift. Not huge changes, but things that I felt were important in order for me to be more successful at international level.”Actually, in hindsight, I should have worked on what I was good at, and increased the intensity and the preparation around that, to elevate the player that I was by 10 percent, rather than try and be someone that you’re not.”You end up taking two or three steps back and only one step forward, rather than actually going through the difficulty of working on what you’ve already got and improving that to take the step forward.”One obvious strength of Westley’s going into his Test debut was the quality of his leg-side play, but in attempting to make himself a more rounded off-side player, he recognises that he perhaps blunted some of his effectiveness.”It was actually explained to me quite nicely by Paul Farbrace,” he said, “whether you are playing at club level or first-class cricket, you are the same player, but you try and improve by 5 or 10 percent because the standard increases, and it was quite refreshing to view it like that.”At the end of the day, you don’t really need to have every shot in the book. I mean, look at players like Jonathan Trott, a very
strong leg-side player, KP, Mark Waugh. Pietersen was not a big cutter of the ball, nor is Trott, but they have strengths in other areas and their strengths were good enough at international level to be successful. I think it’s more having that sort of mind-set and honing those skills in order to succeed.”Tom Westley helped England towards their target•Getty Images

Talking of mind-set, Essex are set to benefit from the long-term return of one of the toughest players of his generation, with the newly-knighted Sir Alastair Cook set to play the entire first-class season for the club following his retirement from international cricket.”He’s hardly spoken about it!,” Westley joked about Cook’s encounter with the Queen last month. “It’s an honour for him to be knighted, but it’s an honour for us to have him back here full time now, because his impact on the squad goes a long way. He’s an England and Essex legend, so adding someone like that to the squad; it’s always going to help.”Having won the league in 2017, he was a huge part of that; his runs in the early part of the season really set us up. So hopefully he can continue where he left off for England and score bucket-loads of runs for the county.”Would Westley himself be picking Cook’s brains in his bid to regain England recognition?”I’ve been asked that a lot in recent seasons,” Westley said. “He can’t score runs for you and he even said that to me. We sat down before I made my debut and I asked him if he had any bits of advice. He said ‘not really, you’ve got to where you’ve got to because you are good enough, you’ve scored the runs to be here but only you can go out and score runs now for yourself’.””It’s so true because if you strive for bits of secret information – what’s the elixir? The answer? – you’ll never find it. The only way you’re going to achieve that is scoring runs consistently. He’s banged on about that for a long time can’t see anything changing. I’d be disappointed if he now says learn a new shot.”Westley will get his first crack at scoring those vital first-class runs in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month, when he plays for MCC against the Champion County, Surrey, in the season’s curtain-raiser, alongside his fellow Essex players Dan Lawrence and Sam Cook.The conditions may be somewhat different to what will be awaiting back home at Chelmsford, but the opponents are very familiar – given that Westley made a century against Surrey at The Oval in the final match of last season, to set up what turned out to be an incredible one-wicket victory, as Surrey battled back from being bowled out for 67 in the first innings to take the game right to the wire.”They were the team to beat last year and we managed to beat them, so hopefully we can start the season strongly,” said Westley. “I think they’ll admit we controlled the game for most of it, but we made it very, very difficult for ourselves to win. But it was a fantastic game of cricket for the neutral and the spectator, and it was nice to beat them. It’ll go a long way towards us trying to beat them again in 2019.””Places are not nailed down in [England’s] top three, which gives a lot of hope for us county cricketers who want to play for England.”The selectors have been very good; say with [Rory] Burns for instance, he definitely deserved his chance last year because of the weight of runs he scored in the county game.”And picking Joe Denly in the winter gives every 30-plus cricketer hope that, if you do work out your game a bit later or do fantastically well, then you do have the opportunity to potentially play for your country.”That’s very important because it gives everybody hope and a nice pathway. You don’t just feel that no matter what you do your time’s gone.”

Nabi tweeted in support of Asghar Afghan, saying the team had ‘gelled really well’ under him

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2019The biggest names in Afghanistan cricket globally, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, have taken to Twitter to oppose the captaincy changes of their side, saying the timing was not correct, with the World Cup just around the corner.This was in response to the Afghanistan Cricket Board removing Asghar Afghan as the captain from all three formats, naming Rahmat Shah (Test), Gulbadin Naib (ODI) and Rashid (T20I) as the new leaders.Nabi tweeted in support of Afghan, saying the team had “gelled really well” under the veteran, who had taken over the reins from Nabi, and Rashid called the decision was “irresponsible and biased”. Rashid, named captain of the T20I side and vice-captain to Naib for ODIs, was even more scathing in its criticism.”With all the respect to the Selection Committee, I strongly disagree with the decision as it is irresponsible & bias,” he tweeted. “As we have @cricketworldcup in front of us, Captain #MAsgharAfghan should remain as our team Captain. His captaincy is highly instrumental for team success. With just months to go for such a mega event like World Cup, changing the captain will cause uncertainty and also team morale will be affected. @ashrafghani @afgexecutive @hmohib.”The reason given by ACB chairman Azizullah Fazli for the change in captaincy ahead of the World Cup was to “introduce change in leadership” in order to compete better against nine Full Members in the global tournament.The change in captaincy is the latest in a series of moves involving the highest levels of the ACB, which – given the senior positions involved – have raised suspicions of interference from outside cricket. A few months ago, the entire top brass of ACB, including the chairman Atif Mashal and CEO Shafiqullah Stanikzai were removed from their posts suddenly, and Azizullah Fazli was given total powers as the board chairman. The removal of Stanikzai was especially surprising as he had led the management since 2014, and oversaw a period of great success for the national team, including Afghanistan earning Full Member status in 2017.

South African Kolpak player claims 5 for 24 to shackle the Outlaws

ECB Reporters Network01-May-2019A five-wicket haul by Worcestershire all-rounder Wayne Parnell led his team to a five-wicket win against Nottinghamshire, who surrendered their unbeaten record in this season’s Royal London Cup.South African Parnelll, who has signed a three year contract as a Kolpak player with Worcestershire, returned his best List A bowling figures in England of 5 for 24 as the Outlaws were restricted to 121 for 9 in 32 overs at Blackfinch New Road with Paul Coughlin having to retire injured.Three of Parnell’s wickets came in one over with his three previous five-wicket hauls in List A cricket all achieved in his native country, including his career-best 6-51.But it was a disciplined performance by the entire Worcestershire seam attack which included Pat Brown, the bowling star of last year’s Vitality Blast triumph, for the first time in 2019.Tom Fell followed up his first half-century of the season against Warwickshire at the weekend by hitting an unbeaten 48 as the Rapids triumphed with 24.5 overs to spare.Victory reinforced Worcestershire’s hopes of securing a place in the knockout stages in a competition where they have topped the North Group for the past two years.Nottinghamshire elected to bat and handed a List A debut to Lyndon James, who replaced Ben Duckett after his England call-up to face Ireland on Friday.But they never recovered from losing three wickets for 31 runs to the new ball pairing of Charlie Morris and Brown. Former Worcestershire batsman Joe Clarke was undone by a Morris delivery which cut back and James departed for a duck as he tried to whip Brown through mid wicket and was lbw.Morris collected a second scalp when Jake Libby nicked an away swinger through to ex Notts player Riki Wessels, who was deputising behind the stumps for the ill Ben Cox.Parnell then took centre stage with his treble wicket maiden just when Chris Nash and Samit Patel appeared to be steadying the Notts innings at 58 for 3. Patel (12) pulled the first delivery to Ross Whiteley at deep square leg and the third and sixth balls beat the defensive pushes of Steven Mullaney (0) and Tom Moores (0) who were both bowled.Nash offered the only prolonged resistance, striking Worcestershire’s stand-in captain Brett D’Oliveira for six over long off.But Notts’ problems heightened as Coughlin (11 not out) drove Parnell to mid off and suffered a hamstring injury completing a single. He had to be stretchered off.Nash completed an excellent half-century off 66 balls with six boundaries but then pulled the next delivery from Daryl Mitchell straight to Fell at square leg.Parnell then wrapped up the innings with Matt Carter holing out to mid-wicket and Jake Ball nicking to first slip.Wessels began as if he intended to finish the game in double quick time against his former county until he was lbw for 18 to Luke Wood.The paceman, who spent part of last summer on loan at Blackfinch New Road, then bowled Australian Callum Ferguson in the first appearance of his second spell with Worcestershire.Mitchell (20) holed out to mid off after Patel entered the attack and D’Oliveira (0) was run out in a mix-up with Fell after turning the same bowler on the leg side.A similar sort of misunderstanding between Fell and George Rhodes saw the latter depart in the same manner for five after failing to beat Mullaney’s throw from square leg.But some typically lusty blows from Whiteley in partnership with Fell saw the Rapids over the finishing line by mid-afternoon.

The India quick bowler on how MS Dhoni motivated him before the hat-trick ball against Afghanistan

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2019As Mohammed Shami ran in to deliver the hat-trick ball in the final over against Afghanistan, he had MS Dhoni’s words in mind. Afghanistan had begun that over needing 16 with three wickets in hand, and were now nine down, needing 12. Only one Indian – Chetan Sharma – had taken a World Cup hat-trick earlier, in 1987. This was Shami’s chance to join an elite club. And he did it by nailing a perfect yorker on the base of leg stump. Mujeeb Ur Rahman backed away and swung blindly, only to miss it, and saw the stumps flattened.”The fewer you have to defend, the more issues you face in executing, but knowing I had Jasprit Bumrah bowling [the 49th over] from the other end was good,” Shami said soon after the match. “The hat-trick feels very special, that too getting it in a World Cup is a big deal. Before I bowled the last ball, I had MS Dhoni’s advice in my mind. He told me, ‘World Cup hat-tricks are rare, just bowl a yorker. This is your chance.’ That’s what I did.”WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – Fall of wicketsIt was a moment Shami may have not envisaged a year ago. In June 2018, his central contract was withheld amid allegations of domestic violence by his wife. Then, there was a battle with his own body owing to niggles, even in the aftermath of an ankle surgery that saw him spend nearly a year on the sidelines.When he finally regained fitness, he had put on a few kilos and even failed the mandatory yo-yo test. His pace dropped and he wasn’t on the selectors’ radar as far as one-day selection was concerned. There were question marks over his immediate future.Shami hit the gym and focused on his diet in an effort to reduce weight. Gradually over time, the selectors brought him back into the mix for the ODIs against West Indies at home in October. Since then, there has been no looking back.In March this year, Shami’s improved fitness and work ethic even had Kohli awe-struck. “The way Shami has come back into the white-ball set-up after his Test performances, have never seen him so lean before. He has lost five-six kilos. He’s running in and bowling so well,” he said at the time. “He’s hungry for wickets.”Looking back, Shami reflected on his improved diet as a big factor in his bowling rejuvenation. “This journey towards fitness has taken me two years,” he said on Sunday after taking the hat-trick. “I was heavy after the injury, I used to feel tightness in my knee after long spells, so I knew I had to do something extra if I had to play for a longer time.”I have cut down on my food, I follow a diet and people laugh about it when I tell them that. It’s not strict but I avoid stuff doctors tell me to. I don’t eat sweets or bread, it has helped me a lot.”Getty Images

On Saturday, his four-wicket haul and his bowling partnership with Bumrah was pivotal in India’s 11-run win over Afghanistan that helped them remain unbeaten in the competition.”I had 16 to defend thanks to your efforts,” he told interviewer Bumrah in a chat on “I knew it gave me a chance to do something. It was also after a long time that we were bowling in tandem.”The start of Shami’s final over seemed nervy as Mohammad Nabi clubbed him to the long-on boundary. Then with 12 to defend off five balls, he first had half-centurion Nabi, whose innings he described as “irritating”, hole out to long-on before nailing two perfect yorkers to get rid of Aftab Alam and Mujeeb to seal victory.”I felt the irritation when Nabi was batting, but we knew if we got him out, the match was ours,” Shami said. “He was the only one capable [of winning it in the final over]. We didn’t want to show our weakness in the face of his irritation. We just wanted to be aggressive and show intent.”Shami later revealed that bowling short to Afghanistan in the middle-overs had been part of India’s plan, one that fetched them the key wickets of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi, who fell to Bumrah. “It was a much better wicket in the first innings compared to the second,” he observed. “The plan was to not bowl too full. They were a little doubtful with the bouncers, so the plan was to mix up our lengths with bouncers.”

Nottinghamshire batsman apologised to county team-mates after 21-day recreational drugs ban

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2019Alex Hales has said he wants to put the “mistakes of the past” behind him, and issued an apology to his Nottinghamshire team-mates following his 21-day ban for recreational drug use.Hales was deselected from England’s World Cup squad as a result of the ban, with captain Eoin Morgan citing a “complete breakdown of trust” for his omission from the final 15-man squad.But speaking as part of Nottinghamshire’s video preview for their upcoming T20 campaign, Hales revealed that he had apologised to his county team-mates and admitted that he had let them down.”As soon as I walked back into the changing room, around the guys, I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said. “Everyone has been unbelievable. I just wanted to apologise to them, for everything that happened.”I got the point across that I had not just let myself down, I’d let down family, friends, team-mates – so I had to get that off my chest, I had to tell the guys how I was feeling.”I wanted to let them know I was 100 percent focused on the cricket now, [that] I wanted to move forward and put those mistakes of the past behind me.”Nottinghamshire have stuck by Hales publicly throughout the incident.After the news broke, the club issued a statement which said it was “in the best interests of all concerned for him to get back to playing cricket for Nottinghamshire as quickly as possible”, despite his actions falling “way short of the behaviours the club expects from any of its staff”.At the Caribbean Premier League draft in May, Hales twice declined to comment when asked about his deselection, and his only public comment had been via a statement from his management company which said that he was “devastated”.But Hales did admit he had his sights set on an England recall in time for the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020, and has retained his central contract which runs until the end of the summer.”It’s how it has to be, to be honest,” he said. “I can’t change what’s happened – all I can affect is what’s going to happen. I’m just trying to look at it in as much of a positive way as I can, just have to crack on and try to make the most of hopefully a few more years in my career.”They [Notts] asked me if I was ready to play, and I just couldn’t wait to get back out there to be honest, that’s all I want to do, is play cricket.”Hales was picked for Nottinghamshire’s final group game and their semi-final defeat in the Royal London Cup, scoring 36 and 54, and will open the batting in their Vitality Blast campaign which starts next Thursday.Nottinghamshire’s progress in that competition – and they are favourites with the bookies to regain the crown they won in 2017 – will determine Hales’ participation in the CPL, where Barbados Tridents chose him with the first pick of the draft.Following that, he has expressed interest in playing in the Big Bash, and has a year to run on his contract with Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League, though will hope to be involved in some of England’s white-ball internationals this winter (3 ODIs and 3 T20Is in South Africa, and 5 T20Is in New Zealand).