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Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur has warned the tourists that a West Indies trip at the conclusion of a demanding and successful summer should not be regarded as an end-of-season holiday

Daniel Brettig12-Mar-2012Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur has warned the tourists that a West Indies trip following a demanding and successful summer should not be regarded as an end-of-season holiday.As the ODI squad adjusted to the vast time difference between Australia and the Caribbean, Arthur said that any complacency after a home Test series victory over India and a subsequent triangular ODI series final success against Sri Lanka had to be weeded out of the team ahead of Friday’s first match.Among other challenges, Arthur also pointed to the unfamiliarity of West Indian conditions and also the prevalence of new faces in the hosts’ squad as reasons for the visitors to be wary over the next seven weeks.”There’s three things we really need to guard against,” Arthur told . “One is attitude and complacency because we’ve come off a really good summer so we need to guard against that.”We’re in conditions that are very different to Australia so that’s something we’re going to need to get used to very, very quickly. Then the third one is an unknown opposition. Our preparation time is going to be so important to us. We can’t compromise on our preparation time.””An unknown opposition does present a lot more challenges,” Arthur said. “They can certainly hit you hard up front and we could be chasing our tails for the rest of the series. We’ve got the week now to make sure in all disciplines we’re right and ready to go come Friday.”Australia’s training schedule will begin with a sharp fielding session on Monday, before the team settles into its plans and tactics for five limited overs matches. Arthur is working closely with the acting captain Shane Watson, and said the allrounder had so far surpassed his expectations.”Shane’s been really good. He has been outstanding,” Arthur said. “I think he’s led very well, he’s led with authority which has been really good. I think he’s almost performed above expectation in that area which is great.””If things happen to Clarkey we want to have a really good and able vice-captain who can take over. He’s also a vice-captain playing all forms of the game. Shane’s doing that and can give a huge amount of support to Michael through the Tests and ODIs and to George Bailey through the Twenty20s.”One man not participating in the early matches of the series will be James Pattinson, as he recovers from a muscle strain. Though Pattinson has been afflicted by a foot ailment and now a buttocks problem in quick succession, Arthur said his preference was for young bowlers to train hard and learn to deal with the fact that injuries were a necessary evil of fast bowling.”I would bowl him every day of the week if I could and let him loose … the more for him the better,” Arthur said. “I feel the same for all the younger bowlers. I think we’ve got to live with the fact that bowling is a real tough gig and guys are going to break down. We’ve just got to get them ready to go again after that.”

A round-up of the action from the first two quarter-finals of the 2010-11 Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2011Rahul Dewan’s century led Haryana to a 95-run victory over Uttar Pradesh in their quarter-final at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. Haryana elected to bat and Dewan and lost his opening partner Sandeep Singh early, but Sunny Singh gave him company in a 101-run partnership, and then Nitin Saini got a quick 56 not out, as Haryana reached 286. Dewan batted till the 46th over and scored 114. UP’s reply got off to a shaky start as they slumped to 18 for 2. Rohit Srivastava tried to consolidate and scored 38, but the innings never got going. Wickets fell at regular intervals in the middle overs and then Amit Mishra wiped out the tail to finish with figures of 4 for 29.Kumar Deobrat took Jharkhand to victory against Mumbai in a closely fought match at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore, securing a semi-final berth for his team. Deobrat’s unbeaten 66 helped Jharkhand recover from 115 for 6 in chase of Mumbai’s 213. He put together a 74-run partnership with Shahbaz Nadeem, and did not panic once Nadeem was out for 46, completing the job for a three-wicket win. Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer chose to bat and justified that decision by scoring 102 off 106 balls. But there was little contribution from anyone else and Mumbai ended up being bowled out in 44. 5 overs. The modest total proved to be challenging though as two wickets apiece from Abhishek Nayar and Rohit Sharma put Jharkhand in trouble. Deobrat came to their rescue, and consigned Mumbai to defeat. It has been a disappointing season for Mumbai who also exited the Ranji Trophy at the quarter-final stage.

X-rays have confirmed that Graeme Smith does not need surgery for his fractured finger

Cricinfo staff19-Mar-2010X-rays have confirmed that Graeme Smith does not need surgery for his fractured finger, and the South Africa captain is confident of recovering in time for the World Twenty20 starting at the end of next month.Smith has had plenty of finger injuries over the past few years, and the latest one has ruled him out of the remainder of the IPL. He broke the middle finger of his right hand while taking a catch in Rajasthan Royals’ match against Delhi Daredevils earlier this week. “Just left the doc, good news don’t need surgery, 4 weeks in a splint,” he said on his Twitter page on Thursday.South Africa’s team manager Mohammed Moosajee confirmed Smith was expected to be back at full fitness in four weeks. “Graeme will have a further X-ray on Tuesday to make sure his recovery is on track,” he said.This is the second finger injury Smith has picked up in little more than a month. He had hurt his little finger on the left hand during the build-up to the Eden Gardens Test in February, which kept him out of the one-dayers against India.

This marks an increase of almost four times the money awarded in the 2022 World Cup, which had an overall pool of USD 3.5 million

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-2025The upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup will have a prize pool of USD 13.88 million. This marks almost a fourfold rise from the previous ODI World Cup, held in New Zealand in 2022, which had an overall pool of USD 3.5 million, and also marks a significant increase from the USD 10 million pool for the Men’s ODI World Cup in India two years ago.This World Cup, the 13th edition, will have the highest prize money for the winners of a women’s global tournament: USD 4.48 million, a 239 percent increase from the USD 1.32 million awarded to Australia in 2022. The runners-up will receive USD 2.24 million – an increase of 273 percent in comparison to the USD 600,000 England won three years ago. The losing semi-finalists will receive USD 1.12 million each – up from USD 300,000 in 2022 – while the group-stage participants are guaranteed to earn USD 250,000.For each group-stage win, teams will earn a further USD 34,314. At the end of the group stage, the teams that finish fifth and sixth will be awarded USD 700,000 each, while those who finish seventh and eighth will earn USD 280,000.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Our message is simple, women cricketers must know they will be treated on par with men if they choose this sport professionally,” Jay Shah, the ICC chair, said in a statement. “The uplift [in prize money] underscores our ambition to deliver a world-class ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup and to inspire the next generation of players and fans. Women’s cricket is on a remarkable upward trajectory, and with this step we are confident the momentum will accelerate.”This edition of the World Cup will take place in India and Sri Lanka from September 30. Though the opening match of the tournament, between India and Sri Lanka, is less than a month away, tickets are yet to go on sale. However, the ICC has said that tickets are expected to go on sale online this week.The tickets for the 2022 World Cup were available six months ahead of the tournament.

Scorchers and WA 50-over title-winning captain heads back to Durham for a third season after recovering from his knee injury

Alex Malcolm05-Apr-2024Western Australia batter Ashton Turner is headed back to Durham to play a third straight season in the Vitality Blast following his stint in the IPL with Lucknow Super Giants.Turner, 31, has not played since knee surgery during the BBL ended his Australian domestic season in December but he is currently with LSG in the IPL although he has not been called into the XI due to their strong overseas contingent.But he is set to be a key part of Durham’s Blast campaign having played 22 matches for them across the last two seasons, scoring 408 runs at 34.00 with a strike-rate of 153.38 in the middle-order.Related

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Turner is one of the very few T20 middle-order specialists in Australia and has been a popular player at both Durham and Manchester Originals in the last two England summers. Both Durham and Originals have strong WA connections with Turner’s former WA team-mate Marcus North the director of cricket at Durham and former WA keeper-batter Ryan Campbell the current coach. Turner’s former Perth Scorchers captain Simon Katich is the current Originals coach.Turner’s quality as a middle-order batter and leader is highly valued at Durham and North said he was delighted to have him back.”It is great to news to have Ashton returning to Durham this season,” North said. “During his two spells at the club, he has demonstrated vital leadership skills and fits into our dressing room very well.”He is a proven leader and run scorer having captained the Scorchers and Western Australia to multiple championships in recent years. I look forward to him returning to the club in May.”Turner has captained Scorchers to two BBL titles and WA to three Marsh Cup (Australian domestic 50-over) titles in the last five years. His absence from the BBL through injury had a major impact on Scorchers’ failure to claim a BBL three-peat.He has played nine ODIs and 19 T20Is for Australia, with his most recent international coming against South Africa during a three-match T20I series last year.

India will sweat on Axar Patel’s fitness, and hope to bounce back after letting victory slip from their grasp on Sunday

Mohammad Isam06-Dec-20223:37

Jaffer: India should bring in Axar, if he is fit

Big picture

Beating India in successive ODI series at home will be a high mark for Bangladesh, who will take an unassailable lead if they win the second ODI on Wednesday. Their one-wicket win in the first ODI made for compelling viewing, and the 51-run tenth-wicket stand between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman reinforced just how dangerous Bangladesh are at home.They won from an improbable position, however, and India will rue the chances they gave the last-wicket pair. They might also look to rethink how they went about their batting. Given how tricky the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium was to bat on, and given that their total of 186 almost proved a winning one, India might look at some of their dismissals – two came off reverse-sweeps, and two off pulls against Ebadot Hossain’s extra bounce – and wonder if they may have been better served batting out the 50 overs. KL Rahul, who top-scored with a 70-ball 73, suggested that 230-240 would have been a good score on that surface.India packed their side with four allrounders and while most of them bowled well, three of them fell for single-digit scores. One match is perhaps too small a sample to draw conclusions from, but there is a chance India could look to shore up their batting with another specialist in the middle order.Bangladesh have issues to worry about too. They went 104 balls without hitting a boundary at one stage of the first ODI, and all that pressure contributed to their collapse from 128 for 4 to 136 for 9. If the pitch on Wednesday is a similar one, their batters may need to come out with clearer plans regarding their scoring areas.Their bowling, however, was impressive. Mustafizur, Ebadot Hossain and Hasan Mahmud forced the batters onto the back foot, literally and figuratively, and Shakib Al Hasan made skillful use of the natural variation on offer to bag five wickets. Mehidy was also effective inside the first powerplay. If they can put on another collective display on Wednesday, India might find it difficult to get back into the series.

Form guide

Bangladesh WWLLW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
India LLWWL

In the spotlight

Mohammed Siraj was a bright spot in India’s inexperienced bowling attack on Sunday, bowling with lively pace and extracting a bit of movement to take three wickets. Siraj has only played 14 ODIs, but he’s shown the skill across phases to lead a pace-bowling attack that is without Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. If there is help for him on Wednesday, expect him to continue posing problems to Bangladesh’s batters.After the first ODI, Mehidy Hasan Miraz said it didn’t seem like Litton Das was leading the ODI side for the first time. For a cricketer of his stature, Litton hasn’t captained a lot in major domestic or franchise cricket, but he has caught the eye with his tactical nous and maturity. He is undoubtedly the leading batter across formats for Bangladesh in 2022, particularly in ODIs where they are without regular captain Tamim Iqbal. The challenges are getting bigger for Litton, though, and he’ll want to lead the way with bat and in the field as Bangladesh look to press home the advantage after taking a 1-0 lead.Shakib Al Hasan was the most impressive cog in a collective bowling display in the first ODI•AFP/Getty Images

Team news

Bangladesh are unlikely to break their winning combination for the second ODI. Russell Domingo, their head coach, said on the eve of the match that the team management wouldn’t risk Taskin Ahmed, despite his having mostly recovered from the back issue that he sustained during a Bangladesh Cricket League match in late November.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 2 Litton Das (capt), 3 Anamul Haque, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Afif Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Ebadot Hossain.India may want to add a batter to their line-up for the second ODI. Ishan Kishan, Rahul Tripathi and Rajat Patidar could be up for selection in that case. It is not yet known if Axar Patel has recovered from the rib injury that kept him out of the first ODI. If he has, he is likely to replace Shahbaz Ahmed. Shardul Thakur suffered cramps in the opening ODI but is fit for Wednesday, Dhawan confirmed.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Kuldeep Sen.

Pitch and conditions

Spin will continue to have a major role in the second match in Dhaka, and the fast bowlers will have uncertain pace and bounce to exploit if the pitch plays like it did on Sunday. Both sides will probably look to bowl first despite the 12pm start as dew remains a factor in the evening.

Stats and trivia

• In the opening match of India’s last ODI series in Bangladesh in 2015, Mustafizur Rahman took a five-wicket haul on debut. This time he went wicketless in the series-opener, but his 10 not out ended up being a match-winning effort.
• Shakib and Ebadot made it the fourth time that two Bangladeshi bowlers took four or more wickets in an ODI innings. It was the second occasion on which a fast bowler was involved in the combination.
• If Virat Kohli scores 21, he will become the second visiting batter to score 1000 ODI runs in Bangladesh. Kumar Sangakkara heads that list with 1045 runs. Kohli’s 979 runs have come at an average of 75.30 and a strike rate of 99.59.

Quotes

“The guys were ecstatic. Very happy. Rightfully so. It was a fantastic win for us. But come today, it’s done. We have had a good long chat. We have to take the positives and learnings from the last game. We have to try to improve in every department tomorrow because we know it will be a tough game.”

England seamer has torn right calf muscle, Anderson also an injury doubt

Andrew Miller11-Aug-2021Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the remainder of England’s Test series with India after tearing his right calf muscle.Broad underwent an MRI scan in London on Wednesday, which revealed the tear, suffered when he appeared to slip during a light warm-up jog ahead of training at Lord’s on the previous day.Saqib Mahmood has been called up to England’s squad as cover ahead of the second of five Tests starting at Lord’s on Thursday, and could be in line for a surprise debut with James Anderson also an injury doubt.Anderson missed training on Wednesday morning, and ESPNcricinfo understands he is suffering from a tight quad. The decision was precautionary, but it could leave England without both of their senior seamers heading into the second Test. He did appear for a ten-minute work-out on the main square later in the afternoon, bowling at half-pace though without apparent discomfort, with bowling coach Jon Lewis and the medical staff in attendance.Broad, 35, will miss what would have been his 150th Test after he was unable to put weight on his left foot. If both England seamers are ruled out, it would be only the second home Test to feature neither Anderson nor Broad since 2007.Related

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Broad’s injury comes after a fallow first Test in which he went wicketless in India’s first innings before finding a better rhythm second-time around, claiming KL Rahul’s wicket on the fourth evening before rain washed out an intriguing final day. He currently has 524 wickets at 27.84 in his 149 Tests to date, placing him sixth on the all-time Test wicket-takers list.”Things can change so quickly,” Broad wrote on Instagram. “During the warm-up, I jumped a hurdle, landed a bit awkwardly on my right ankle, then the next step felt like I’d been whipped by a rope as hard as you can imagine on the back of my leg. All so innocuous. Season over and gutted to miss this India Test series but a huge focus on Australia now.”Going to take my time, no rush, baby steps and be the fittest I can be heading out there. Big focus is my brain. I’ll be watching every ball from my sofa hoping to see runs and wickets in the glorious Lord’s sunshine.”Mahmood, who impressed for England’s white-ball squad in the recent series against Pakistan, was set to link up with the squad at Lord’s on Wednesday. Moeen Ali is expected to return to the side to provide England with a spin option, while Mark Wood – unused in the first Test – is likely to join Ollie Robinson among the frontline seamers, with Sam Curran set to be retained in a more conventional allrounder’s role. That would leave Mahmood and Craig Overton, the Somerset allrounder, as fast-bowling cover, with one of the two replacing Anderson in the event he is ruled out.Chris Woakes (bruised heel) and Ben Stokes (personal reasons) are also unavailable for the second Test, leaving England facing the prospect of fielding a second-choice seam attack. Either way, with Jofra Archer now ruled out until after this winter’s Ashes and Olly Stone confirming on the BBC on Tuesday that he is unlikely to return to bowling for six months after his latest stress fracture, Mahmood now seems increasingly likely to make his Test debut at some stage this summer, with a view to testing his readiness for a role in Australia.Saqib Mahmood is back at Lord’s with the England squad after being called up as cover•PA Photos/Getty Images

He claimed nine wickets at 13.66 in England’s 3-0 series win in the ODIs against Pakistan in July, after being called up as part of an emergency squad following a Covid outbreak in England’s original party, and retained his place for the subsequent T20I series, where he picked up a further four wickets at 28.00.He has since been one of the star bowlers in the first season of the Hundred, with five wickets at 22.40 for Oval Invincibles, though now looks set to miss their final two group games as they push for a play-off berth.England have also announced that their offspinner Dom Bess will return to Yorkshire to compete in the Royal London Cup, after being released from the Test squad following Moeen’s inclusion.

The India pace-bowling allrounder says no need to make “superfluous” changes, instead have patience with the evolving women’s players

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2020India pace-bowling allrounder Shikha Pandey has become the latest in a long line of cricketers to offer views on whether women’s cricket needs any tweaks – like smaller balls or shorter pitches – to help it further flourish and attract more fans. In a series of tweets, Pandey on Saturday said “most of the suggestions” to alter the women’s game were “superfluous”.”Please, don’t compare women’s sport, women’s cricket in this case, with men’s sport. We need to see it as a different sport altogether… A sport that 86,174 spectators turned up to watch on March 8, 2020 and several million watched live on their television sets,” she tweeted, referring to the record crowd at the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup between Australia and India at the MCG in March. A mainstay of the Indian attack that finished runners-up both at the 2017 ODI World Cup and the recent T20 World Cup, Pandey wrote, “Reducing the size of the ball is fine, but as Ian Smith suggested, it only works if the weight remains the same. This will allow for bowlers to grip the ball better – more revs for the spinners – and hits will also travel further (not be the case if it is light).”As for reducing the length of the pitch from 22 yards, Pandey said: “An Olympic 100m female sprinter doesn’t run 80m to win First place medal and clock the same timing as her male counterpart,” she wrote. “So the whole ‘decreasing the length of the pitch’ for whatever reasons seems dubious. Also, it almost definitely takes the double-headers [with the men’s teams] out of question.”Instead of “tinkering with rules or the very fabric of the game to attract an audience”, Pandey said, “Growth can be achieved by marketing the sport well.”She also advocated more technology in the women’s game. “Why not have DRS, Snicko, Hotspot, all of the technical acumen and live broadcast for every game that we play anywhere in the world.” Potential changes to the women’s game, such as using a shorter pitch and a smaller ball, were suggested by New Zealand captain Sophie Devine and India batter Jemimah Rodrigues in a recent webinar conducted by the ICC. Then, in a series of interviews by ESPNcricinfo last week, the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Rachael Haynes, Lea Tahuhu, Kate Cross and Nida Dar had also laid out their views on the debate.”If it [the act of proposing tweaks] is about bringing it [women’s cricket] aesthetically closer to the men’s game, I don’t think that’s the right way to go about it. The women’s game is a good product that’s continuing to evolve & make its own mark,” Haynes said.ALSO READ: Should the women’s game use a shorter pitch and a smaller ball?Tahuhu pointed out that “if you’re having to prepare two-sized pitches, then you lose out the opportunity to host double-headers with men, while Mandhana added: “Although I feel women’s cricket is exciting as it is… reducing the length might make it interesting from the viewer’s perspective.”Cross and Dar emphasised that better infrastructural and monetary investment and more publicity on the part of the media is the ideal way to the take the women’s game forward. “Having the WBBL, the KSL, the Hundred or a women’s IPL – that’s the kind of change the women’s game needs,” said Cross, while Dar wondered, “How about publicising the matches rigorously on social media and mainstream media? … Give players more incentive to raise the standard of the game and things will get more entertaining.”

Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj played strong hands with the bat to take home side to a seven-wicket win

The Report by Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai25-Feb-20195:12

‘Rectifying a small flaw has made a huge difference’

Pacers Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami foiled England’s plans of “creating history” – winning a bilateral ODI series in India for the first time – with sizzling four-wicket hauls, which helped set up a 162-run chase for India. With Smriti Mandhana scoring 63 and captain Mithali Raj chipping in with a quick 47 not out, India then romped to a seven-wicket win to earn two more ICC Women’s Championship points and also take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.England captain Heather Knight opted to bat in the morning at Wankhede Stadium with the objective of “getting some good runs on the board” following their botched chase on a grassy pitch at the same venue in the first game three days ago. That didn’t happen, and it was chiefly down to Pandey and Goswami, who became the first pair of Indian pacers to take four-wicket hauls in a women’s ODI.
Goswami and Pandey bowled in tandem for the whole of the Powerplay like in the last game – they had left England at 27 for two then, this time it was 31 for three after ten overs. They bowled a combined total of 45 dot balls along the way.ALSO READ: Mithali Raj calls for age-group World CupsHaving played second fiddle to Goswami in the series opener, the younger Pandey took centre stage with a career-best 4 for 18 on this occasion, accomplished over two spells of seven and three overs, each worth two wickets.In an incisive opening spell of swing bowling, Pandey struck with her sixth ball as opener Amy Jones flicked a nip-backer straight to Ekta Bisht at square leg. Goswami, later named the Player of the Match, made further inroads with the movement she got off the pitch, forcing Sarah Taylor to play on in a bid to drive a wide delivery.Knight fell next, chipping a full and wide delivery from Goswami to short cover. Goswami went off the attack after that, with spin introduced in the form of Deepti Sharma, but Raj stuck with Pandey, who proved the decision right by eliciting a top edge from Tammy Beaumont that was pouched by Deepti at the square-leg boundary with a dive forward.Natalie Sciver goes down the ground•Getty Images

At 44 for four in the 14th over, it was going away from England, but their punt of dropping Danielle Wyatt for Lauren Winfield paid off to some extent. Winfield muscled four fours in her 49-ball 28 as she put on 42 runs with Natalie Sciver. But after she holed out in the 28th over, caught by Mandhana off Poonam Yadav, England lost their way.In the first game, they had lost their last seven wickets for 25 runs. It wasn’t as bad this time, but they still lost five wickets for 26 runs, going from 93 for four to 119 for nine.Little, however, seemed to deter Sciver, who charged down the track against both the spinners and the quicks while also shuffling around the crease to plunder runs behind the wicket. She added 42 runs with No. 11 Alex Hartley – the highest tenth-wicket stand for England. But with 39 balls left in the innings, it was all over for Sciver as Goswami returned to beat her attempt at playing a paddle sweep and trapped her in front. Her 109-ball innings, studded with 12 fours and a six, added a semblance of respectability to England’s total, but there was always a feeling that it wouldn’t be enough to trump India.India’s chase didn’t begin smoothly either, as Jemimah Rodrigues fell for a ten-ball duck, mistiming a flick off Anya Shrubsole to midwicket in the second over.But it was all India after that as Punam Raut, who replaced Harleen Deol in the XI, took India past 50 with a steady – if slow – 65-ball 32 in the company of Mandhana, who looked more like her fluent self this time than in the previous game.Raut received a reprieve along the way on 26 when Sciver dropped her off her own bowling, but it didn’t cost England much, the batsman falling to Georgia Elwiss thanks to a lightning-quick stumping by Sarah Taylor. With the dismissal, Taylor became only second woman to complete 50 stumpings in ODIs after India’s Anju Jain.The second-wicket stand was worth 73 runs, and Mandhana then teamed up with Raj to take India past the three-figure mark in the 26th over with the asking rate well in control.Mandhana, meanwhile, hit the occasional boundary, including the one that took her to a 15th ODI half-century. The two added 66 runs in 14 overs before Shrubsole sent Mandhana back with a yorker. The target was only 22 runs away at that point, though, and Raj finished off the job with Deepti by her side, ending on an unbeaten 69-ball 47.

All the talking points from the third day at the Wanderers, which was marked by inconsistent bounce and batsmen getting hit on the body

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg26-Jan-2018

• The trigger to take the players off was the third ball of the ninth over of South Africa’s second innings. Nineteen minutes before scheduled stumps, the umpires decided to go off as a Jasprit Bumrah delivery hit Dean Elgar on the grille of his helmet. The pitch had had exaggerated bounce and seam from the start, but on day three various batsmen took blows on the body.
• The first official conversation regarding the condition of the pitch took place during the tea break on day two. Both team managers said they were briefed that it could get difficult to handle once the new ball was taken. India’s innings ended with the first ball of the second new ball, but South Africa had to start their innings against the new ball. Elgar was hit four times on the body during the eight-and-a-half-overs that were bowled.
• India have made it clear both to the match referee and the media that they want to continue playing. South Africa have told the match referee that they won’t comment on whether they feel the pitch is safe or not. However, they have also said they will continue to play should the match referee deem the pitch safe.
• As of now India stand in a dominant position in the match, having set South Africa 241 to win and taken one of their wickets early in the final innings. Their batsmen took more than a few blows to the body, but continued batting.
• “This is the wicket prepared… We also batted on it… We can’t complain about this wicket… Our aim is to play this Test, and our aim is to play… We all knew when we came to South Africa that we would get wickets like this,” said Sunil Subramaniam, India’s manager.
• South Africa coach Otis Gibson said his team had not asked for such a pitch. All they had asked for, according to him, was pace and bounce. He also said they have not complained about the conditions or expressed a desire to not continue even once.
• In the end, the officials have decided to carry on with the match as scheduled. More than 10,000 tickets have been sold for the fourth day’s play, which will be the first weekend day of the Test. None of the first three days have brought more than 8018 spectators to the ground.