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Rassie van der Dussen falls short of maiden Test hundred as South Africa fold on fourth day

The Report by Valkerie Baynes27-Jan-2020Nine wickets for the match to Mark Wood propelled England to an emphatic 191-run victory and 3-1 series triumph against South Africa inside four days at the Wanderers.Wood’s conquering of adversity – and England’s for that matter – on this tour gives them huge cause for optimism, but the hosts’ view of what lies ahead remains obscured by mountains every bit as imposing as their 466-run target for victory in this match.While England could enjoy the return of one of their key strike weapons to his best and the emergence of several youngsters with decade-long careers beckoning, South Africa’s rebuilding prospects have been hit by structural turmoil, issues with depth and low confidence, which has to be near rock-bottom after losing two consecutive home series for the first time in 70 years.Wood, playing back-to-back Tests for the first time since 2017, claimed a rare double by contributing 53 runs and nine wickets to play a pivotal role in the result and be named Man of the Match in an incredibly popular choice given his battle to even be playing here.Wood added 4 for 54 to his first-innings 5 for 46 – the second five-wicket haul of his Test career – as England comfortably accounted for the home side in the end, despite some resistance in the form of Rassie van der Dussen, who fell two runs shy of his maiden Test century and put on a 92-run stand with Faf du Plessis for the third wicket.As straightforward as England’s win ultimately was, the Test was not without tension with du Plessis becoming involved in an altercation with several England players, which included him making physical contact with Jos Buttler that could land him in hot water with the match referee. That was after the retiring Vernon Philander was fined 15% of his match fee as his verbal conflict with Buttler spilled into a second chapter.With uncertainty remaining over du Plessis’ Test future and Philander playing his final international match, South Africa stand to lose experience with only the greenest of green shoots appearing.While van der Dussen’s display with the bat, reaching his third half-century of the series in just his fourth Test, Beuran Hendricks’ five-for on debut and Anrich Nortje’s five-wicket haul in England’s first innings should all have given South Africa hope – and they may yet prove to – the overwhelming feeling was that there is just so much work to be done.In contrast, England were led by the likes of Man of the Series Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Stuart Broad offering a nurturing core to youngsters Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Dom Bess, the latter missing from this side which boasted a five-pronged pace attack. And with James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Rory Burns to return from injury, the depth is there that South Africa seem to be lacking.It was Archer’s absence, only settled on during the warm-ups in the first morning in Johannesburg when he aggravated an elbow injury, that brought Wood to the fore.Despite concerns over his ability to back-up after Port Elizabeth, his first match in six months, Wood produced in consecutive innings at the Wanderers, too.South Africa openers Pieter Malan and Dean Elgar started strongly enough, negotiating the first hour without worry. It was Chris Woakes who made the breakthrough after drinks when he tempted Malan to send an outswinger to Stokes at second slip. Elgar was out in similarly soft fashion, spooning a return catch to Stokes.Du Plessis and van der Dussen then came together, sparking South African hopes of reaching a fifth day, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the pair with van der Dussen withstanding a testing spell from Woakes and du Plessis getting into that heated exchange after he was struck by a ball thrown in from the outfield.Du Plessis fell first for 35 to a Stokes delivery that kept low and ricocheted on to his stumps off the toe of his bat. Having been hit on the chest by a Wood bouncer, van der Dussen was dispatched two runs short of his hundred a short time later when his attempted drive popped up to Broad, who was stationed for the catch at short extra cover.Broad sent down a gem to the recalled Temba Bavuma, who gloved the ball to Buttler behind the stumps and walked despite the umpire looking unmoved. Once Broad had Dwaine Pretorius caught cheaply hooking to deep backward square, Wood was back in the game.Wood had Philander out, strangled down the leg side for an anticlimactic end to his final Test, drew an all-too-typical smash from Quinton de Kock who found the safe hands of Woakes at mid-off and then another leg-side strangle dismissed last man Nortje after Hendricks had been run out.England’s struggles with illness at the start of the series, when a virus affected most of their touring party, and the 107-run loss in the first Test seemed so long ago as they looked towards their tour of Sri Lanka in March with the luxury options of resting players, further exposing the newer ones and picking their squad to suit the conditions. South Africa, meanwhile, must surely be asking, “Where do we go from here?”

Majority of staff to be stood down on 20% of pay until July; executives and a skeletal staff on 80% of their salaries

Daniel Brettig17-Apr-2020Savage 80% salary cuts and stand-down orders for all but a handful of Cricket Australia staff until the end of the financial year were forced partly by demands from banks, for the governing body to drastically scale back its costs in order to be considered for an A$200 million [US$126.5 million approx.] line of credit.Last October, at its AGM, CA reported cash reserves of A$26 million [US$ 16.4 million approx.] plus an additional A$90 million [US$56.9 million approx.] committed in equity investments, numbers that have been hit severely by market downturns and have served to hurt the board’s financial position as it deals with the banks.CA is also closely monitoring the health of its major broadcast partners and, by extension, cash providers Fox Sports and Seven, with daily discussions between the organisations about how to progress. At this point, Fox and Seven have maintained their regular payment instalments to CA, as part of a six-year, A$1.18 billion [US$ 746.1 million approx.] broadcast rights deal signed in 2018.CA has been seeking A$200 million in credit from the banks for some weeks, with these latest measures devised partially to help convince financial institutions that the board and its management have done all they can to pare the business down to critical functions out of season.There has been considerable dismay among some CA staff as they digested news of the stand downs and salary cuts over the past 24 hours, after chief executive Kevin Roberts had previously indicated that the organisation would largely be able to absorb the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated financial downturn “into the business”.”We’ve been assured we’ve just got to make sure we come up with some really constructive feedback on how we can save some money going forward, but the expectation at the moment is that CA as a business can absorb this,” national women’s team coach Matthew Mott had said last month. “Obviously the longer it goes on, it’s going to put more pressure on everyone.”I haven’t got a crystal ball, I don’t know how long this is going to last, nor does anyone, but in the short to medium term we’ve been assured that we’ve got enough equity and agility within the business to be able to absorb it, and we just need to be smart and pretty clinical about how we prepare and get our players ready.”ALSO READ: ‘It would be a strange feeling’ – Alex Carey on possibility of closed-door T20 World CupSome staff have been mystified as to how CA only have enough cash plus reserves to pay 20% of wages until end of June when they weren’t spending in that time, still getting broadcast instalments and have saved cash on cancelled tours to New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh and a likely postponement of a tour of England.CA insists that staff have been kept in the loop about decisions and the potential need for stand downs even though the organisation was gifted the chance to tackle the virus at the very end of its home season, in contrast to Australia’s winter football codes and also the English and Indian boards facing delays to the northern summer and the IPL, respectively.Nevertheless, CA has a range of expenses that generally hinge on year-to-year revenue from the regular cricket programme, including annual distributions to state associations that in some cases are in wildly contrasting positions. The South Australian Cricket Association has been among the worst hit due to its Adelaide Oval lease agreement and reliance on football revenue, while other states such as New South Wales are believed to be better off.Roberts told staff via videoconference on Thursday that the vast majority of them would be stood down on 20% of pay until July, with executives and a skeletal staff retained on 80% of their regular salaries. Staff were informed late on Friday afternoon about who would stay and who would be stood down, with handovers to take place next week.It is believed that further discussion of CA’s likely scenarios to return to work in July will also be shared with the staff next week, with variations in the number of employees and contractors coming back on board to depend on how numerous issues related to coronavirus have progressed.At the same time, CA is in discussions with the Australian Cricketers’ Association about contracts and various measures inked into the MoU signed in 2017 that afford male and female players a fixed share of Australian Cricket Revenue.”It only happened yesterday, don’t think I’ve spoken to any of my team-mates about it. We know the ACA and CA are talking and they are obviously going to have the best outcome for the players and the partners as well,” allrounder Ashleigh Gardner said on Friday. “All we know is that CA have to announce the next contract list by April 30 which isn’t too far way. Once that happens we’ll probably know what’s happening for the next season but until then that’s the only details we’ve got.”

Club consider life-membership scheme to ensure smooth progress of redevelopment work at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff06-May-2020Kumar Sangakkara will be invited to serve a second term as MCC president, in light of the current postponement of the club’s activities.Sangakkara, the first overseas president of MCC, took office on October 1 last year, and recently participated in a successful club tour of Pakistan, his first return to the country since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in March 2009.Presidents of MCC have traditionally only served 12-month terms, although during the First and Second World Wars, Lord Hawke (1914-18) and Stanley Christopherson (1939-45) both served for longer periods.The proposal will be voted on at the club’s AGM on June 24, where the club will also consider raising funds through a new life membership scheme, in order to keep the redevelopment of the Compton and Edrich Stands on course during the Covid-19 pandemic.In a letter to its membership, Guy Lavender, the secretary and chief executive, insisted that MCC – which is currently debt-free – was “not in crisis, or dire financial jeopardy”, but warned that “proactive and early decision-making is required” to respond to the implications of the virus.Lord’s had been due to host two Tests this summer, against West Indies and Pakistan, in addition to a number of other high-profile contests including the final of the inaugural season of the Hundred, which has now been postponed until 2021.ALSO READ: Lahore attack taught me a lot about values: SangakkaraHowever, with all cricket postponed until July 1 at the earliest, and given the current focus on playing behind closed doors in bio-secure environments, it seems unlikely that Lord’s, with its central-London location and no on-site accommodation, will be able to host any major matches this year.With its losses expected to run into tens of millions of pounds, MCC is determined to avoid a situation that impacts on the £50 million redevelopment work that got underway last year, and when completed will increase capacity at Lord’s by 2500 seats to 31,000.The life-membership scheme has previously been adopted in 1926 and 1996 to fund the redevelopments of Lord’s Grandstand, and is expected to cost between £7,000 and £80,000, depending on age of the applicant.MCC also confirmed that they will not be refunding annual subscription fees to its existing membership, which comprises 18,000 full members and 5,000 associates, who pay up to £600 for full access to Lord’s facilities, having waited in most cases for close to three decades for the privilege.In his letter, Lavender confirmed that the committee had taken the decision reluctantly, adding: “subscriptions are the bedrock of the Club’s finances, critical to ensuring we weather the current storm. Ultimately, you own the Club and I hope that in that context you will be understanding of the position the Committee has felt it needed to take.”

Still no movement on club cricket, in wake of Prime Minister’s comments in Commons

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2020The ECB has confirmed that the delayed 2020 county season will get underway on August 1. However, there is still no update on the status of the recreational game in England and Wales, despite reports that the government was preparing to give the sport the go-ahead for a return in early July.As yet, there is no confirmation of which formats will be played in the truncated county season. With the Vitality Blast sure to be restored as the most financially important form of domestic cricket, the first-class counties were recently split 14-4 as to whether to play Championship or 50-over cricket as well, and a revised fixture list will be released following a meeting in early July.”It is a significant step for our game that we are able to approve the start of the men’s domestic season for 1 August and one which will be welcomed by everyone connected with County Cricket,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive.”It follows extensive consultation between the 18 First-Class Counties, the Professionals Cricketers’ Association and ECB and has only been achievable thanks to the significant hard work that continues to occur as we prepare for a domestic season unlike any the game has faced before.”Harrison added that the first priority throughout the discussions had been the “safety of our players, staff and officials”, and that government guidance would “continue to shape our planning and preparation”.In preparation for the official start of the season, Durham and Yorkshire have announced they will contest a two-day red-ball warm-up at Emerald Headingley on July 27 and 28, behind closed doors, and with a live stream for club members. Last week, Surrey and Middlesex confirmed their own plans for a similar fixture at the Kia Oval.The ECB have also committed to ensuring that some form of women’s domestic cricket is able to take place this summer in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, but added that it “may differ from the planned rollout of the new women’s elite domestic structure”.ALSO READ: ‘Clubs are desperate for cricket, just to stay alive’ – Mark WoodLast week, 25 domestic retainers were announced across the eight regions that comprise the new-look women’s domestic scene.The first season of the Women’s Hundred has already been postponed until 2021, but subject to a final decision on recreational cricket from the UK Government, the Vitality Women’s T20 County Cup could still form part of the 2020 calendar.”Planning for the return of the women’s domestic game remains ongoing, but our commitment to women’s domestic cricket is unwavering and we look forward to sharing further news shortly,” said Harrison.”Our strong preference is that the women’s new elite domestic structure starts this summer and we will work hard to ensure that happens. For this to be achieved, brand new infrastructure still needs to be rolled-out, alongside imperatives we need in place when playing competitive cricket during a pandemic.”Our first choice remains to do everything we can to start this year and build on the fantastic momentum in the women’s game. In the event that proves impossible, we will explore other options for play to enable our women’s players to enjoy competitive domestic cricket in 2020.”We will continue to work closely with both the men’s and women’s domestic game to ensure necessary safety measures are in place to protect the wellbeing of everyone involved.”The ECB remain optimistic of confirming the return of recreational cricket in the near future, in the wake of comments from the prime minister, Boris Johnson, that a cricket ball is a “natural vector of disease”, but in the meantime Ben Stokes has echoed Mark Wood’s call last week for an immediate reinstatement.”For club cricket to be put back but pubs back open on Saturday is a bit strange to comprehend,” Stokes said. “I know that people are absolutely desperate. I have friends who play in the leagues in the north East and Cumbria who are just dying to get back out on the field.”Everybody needs something and for people who love cricket they are just desperate to get back on the field and start playing. The quicker that happens the better. I just don’t really see why it can’t happen, especially when you see the other things that are allowed to happen.”

England incumbents should ‘relish challenge’ of Ashes tour in 2021-22, says former captain

George Dobell27-Jul-2020Andrew Strauss believes Dom Sibley and Rory Burns are “made of the right stuff temperamentally” to form a long-term opening partnership for England.Sibley and Burns recorded England’s first century partnership in a home Test since 2016 during the third Test against West Indies at Emirates Old Trafford. And with both men having now made two Test centuries and helped England return to a stage where they are beginning to score 400 again quite regularly – they have done so four times since Sibley joined the team in November; before that they had only managed it once from the start of 2018 – Strauss believes the team are “closer to sorting the batting conundrum” than for some time.”I think Sibley and Burns at the top of the order are made of the right stuff temperamentally,” Strauss said. “They’ve both got quite quirky but very effective games. And, as we all know, if the openers do their job then it makes it so much easier for the players coming in down the order.”When I cast my mind back to the time I was director of cricket, there was frustration that the Test team seemed to take one step forward and one step back. We weren’t making the progress we wanted, particularly with top-order batting. We’re closer to sorting the batting conundrum than we have been for some time. I think that is a big tick.”ALSO READ: Stuart Broad is at the top of his game – StraussStrauss captained the side as one of England’s openers the last time they won an away Ashes series in 2010-11, but was also at the top of the order for the 5-0 whitewash on the previous tour four years earlier. He rated the challenge of succeeding in Australia as the toughest of his career but, while recognising the next tour in 2021-22 would represent “a significant new challenge” for Burns and Sibley, he suggested they would be “relishing” the experience.”A lot of opening batsmen say playing in England is the hardest challenge they had,” Strauss said. “If you are English, we’re more used to it and it’s a bit more in our comfort zone.”For me, the biggest challenge was Australia. There are two reasons for that. The first is, the extra bounce is very hard to deal with, especially when the ball is new. And secondly, the Kookaburra ball does tend to swing quite a lot for the first 10 to 15 overs. After that it obviously gets much easier.”I remember that 2006-07 tour and getting out twice pulling in that first Test and thinking ‘Oh my God, I can’t pull the ball, what other shots have I got to play in Australia apart from the cut?’ You start second-guessing your technique straight away and on that tour, once you did get in, you also had Shane Warne to contend with down the line.”You have really got to dig deep and just find a way through the first 10 overs or so when you feel so much is to the advantage of bowlers. But if get can get through that, you’re in a great position to get a big score.”It’s a significant new challenge for those guys. Burns showed some fantastic technique and ticker against Australia last year. I thought he played brilliantly in that [home] Ashes series; probably the pick of the England batsmen if I’m honest.”Sibley’s method of getting across the stumps and getting into the channel works well in most circumstances. He might have to be careful about the potential to be caught down the leg side or at leg slip in Australia.”But he will work that out and they will be relishing the challenge of doing that.”

Richardson pulls out due to the impending birth of his first child

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2020Royal Challengers Bangalore have named legspinner Adam Zampa as a replacement for fellow Australian Kane Richardson for IPL 2020, which kicks off on September 19 in the UAE. It is understood that Richardson has pulled out of the tournament due to the impending birth of his first child.Zampa’s entry bolsters a spin attack that already includes India internationals Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi and the uncapped Shahbaz Ahmed are the other spin options in the Royal Challengers squad.”We are disappointed to not have Kane’s skills with us this IPL as he certainly on top of his game,” Mike Hesson, Royal Challengers’ team director, said. “However once we found out Kane and Nyki’s baby was due during the IPL, it’s an exciting time and we were fully supportive of Kane wanting to be at the birth of the first child. When looking at our squad for UAE conditions we felt it was an opportunity to bring in another quality legspinner in Adam Zampa to provide cover for Chahal and also give us extra options if conditions suit spin as expected during the tournament.”This will be Zampa’s second IPL franchise; he had previously played for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, taking 19 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 7.54. The haul included 6 for 19 – the best IPL figures by a spinner.Zampa, who had listed his base price at INR 1.50 crore (AUD 276,000), was earlier unsold at the December 2019 auction. Both Zampa and Richardson are currently in the UK for three T20Is and three ODIs against England. The tour ends on September 16, three days before the start of IPL 2020.A regular in Australia’s limited-overs squads, Zampa had an impressive BBL 2019-20, picking up 20 wickets in 12 matches at an economy rate of 7.20 for Melbourne Stars. At Royal Challengers, he will line up alongside his ODI captain Aaron Finch and the uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Phillipe.

Former Redback going home as head coach, but with sights set far and wide in the sport

Valkerie Baynes02-Oct-2020Jason Gillespie doesn’t believe he’s done with county cricket, having made his coaching home there for the best part of a decade.Gillespie flies out of the UK on Sunday, bound for his true home of South Australia after adding the role of Redbacks head coach to his existing job at the helm of the state’s BBL side, Adelaide Strikers. And while he is relishing the prospect of leading the team where his playing career began, there is a sense that his coaching career path has more twists and turns ahead.”I don’t think county cricket has seen the absolute last of me because I still feel somewhere down the track there’s going to be another little stint for me,” Gillespie told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a great game, it’s a great system and it’s something I’d love to have another go at at some point in the future.”But for me for now I’m pretty excited and pretty energised about the opportunity to coach South Australia in conjunction with the Adelaide Strikers.”Off-field, the opportunity to be at home full-time was a little bit of a carrot, but ultimately the opportunity to work in my home state and help South Australia perform better and help individual players at South Australia improve was too big a carrot to resist.”Gillespie’s introduction to coaching back in 2010 was an eye-opener. Travelling to Kwekwe in Zimbabwe to coach MidWest Rhinos, he has told of seeing players who would risk missing training because they were stuck in bank queues waiting to take out their pay, and of his wife making the team sandwiches because there was no food prepared for them at lunch.He had a stint as bowling coach with Kings XI Punjab in the 2011 IPL before heading to Yorkshire, leading them to promotion from Division Two of the County Championship in 2012 and then to back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. Gillespie left Yorkshire at the end of the 2016 season, after narrowly missing out on a third title in a row, and was appointed head coach of Sussex in 2018.Gillespie said he would have loved to have coached Zimbabwe had an opportunity arisen while he was there, but acknowledged that, given the political climate, he would be far more uncertain about going there now.He has also had his appetite whetted for coaching in franchise cricket but, having signed with South Australia for the next three years, he hopes his latest tenure will be extended.ALSO READ: Spinners sink Sussex as Jason Gillespie reign ends meekly“That’s where I see myself in the next little period,” he said. “But I certainly do see myself at some point either coaching internationally or coaching in the franchise systems throughout the world.”Gillespie was one year into a fresh deal intended to keep him at Sussex until 2022, when he decided to return to South Australia.He can have a slightly less rushed journey to the airport after Sussex were eliminated from Saturday’s Blast Finals Day – or Sunday’s reserve day, as is looking increasingly likely due to the weather forecast – when they lost their quarter-final to Lancashire on Thursday.His appointment with South Australia comes after a high-performance review recommended that the Redbacks and Strikers be brought under the guidance of one head coach.The Strikers have reached the BBL finals three times, including winning the title in 2018, since Gillespie became coach in 2015. During the same period, the Redbacks have fallen from Sheffield Shield finalists in 2016 and 2017 to the bottom of the table.Gillespie must serve a 14-day isolation period upon returning to Australia under Covid-19 travel rules, meaning he will miss the Redbacks’ first Sheffield Shield match of the season against Western Australia, starting October 10.Tasked with mirroring the success of the T20 team in the four-day competition, Gillespie can take some lessons away from Sussex. They reached the Blast finals in the first three years that he was head coach and improved from eighth to fifth in the One-Day Cup South Group. But they dropped from third in 2018 to sixth the following year in Division Two of the Championship and finished bottom of the Bob Willis Trophy South Group with just one win in five matches.Gillespie highlighted the captaincy, batting and glovework of Ben Brown and the development of quick Ollie Robinson and teenage off-spinner Jack Carson as high points of a disappointing team performance in the four-day game.”I’ve loved my time at Sussex,” Gillespie said. “We’ve had some challenges, there’s no doubt about that. The one-day and T20 sides, we progressed really nicely.”Four-day cricket, it has been a bit of a disappointment. I saw promise in 2018, I thought in my first year we made some strides, but last year it was quite a disappointing year for various reasons and if I had my time again I might have done one or two things a bit differently. But the positives out of the four-day stuff has been more certain individuals stepping up and performing well.”

ESPNcricinfo’s updates from the 23rd match of IPL 2020, in Sharjah

Alagappan Muthu09-Oct-2020