England continued their costly habit of unforced batting errors at Lord’s as they gifted control of the second Ashes Test to Australia.
The home side were knocked over for 325 on a deflating third morning, 91 behind, having apparently taken charge at 188 for one midway through the second evening.
While a host of England’s leading batters were the authors of their own downfall, Australia’s more pragmatic approach saw them reach 81 for one at tea, defying tricky conditions to stretch their lead to 171.
The successes of the ‘Bazball’ era have been built around an ultra-positive ‘no regrets’ policy, but the manner of several dismissals over the past 24 hours may push that rule close to the breaking point.
After Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root fell on their swords during an adrenaline-fuelled bouncer battle on Thursday evening, England lost their last five wickets for 47 in the morning session. Harry Brook reached 50 but gave up his wicket with a wince-inducing swat at Mitchell Starc, while Jonny Bairstow hacked a rare full ball straight to mid-on.
With Australia spinner Nathan Lyon on crutches with a serious calf injury, Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad even managed to give part-timer Travis Head two wickets in an over during a dispiriting passage of play.
The tourists rubbed it in by building their lead with some careful top-order batting as the ball started to nip around under the floodlights, with James Anderson dropping Usman Khawaja on 19 to compound matters.
Khawaja, player of the match in his side’s victory at Edgbaston, was 45 not out at tea with Josh Tongue responsible for the solitary wicket of David Warner.
England began the day 138 behind on 278 for four, diminished by their losses to the short ball but still well placed to push for a lead of their own. Instead, they were rocked by the dismissal of Ben Stokes to his first ball of the day.
Having curbed his attacking instincts during a responsible knock late on day two his reward was a fine welcome delivery from Starc, angled across the left-hander and lifting as it left the bat. Stokes (17) angled the bat towards midwicket, Cameron Green took the catch and England’s best-laid plans were already up in smoke.
Australia offered no respite, Starc and Pat Cummins bowling with hostility and repeatedly threatening Brook and Bairstow with deliveries that reared up off the pitch. Brook, resuming on 45, was hit on both glove and helmet before bringing up his half-century but that was as far as he got.
Faced with a fiercely difficult contest he tried to slog his way out of trouble, backing away to leg and attempting to swat Starc down the ground. Brook has made his name as a free spirit in the middle order but as the ball popped up to cover it was a soft and unedifying way to go.
After an hour’s play England had added just 33 for two and things were only getting worse, Bairstow reaching 16 before hacking Josh Hazlewood to mid-on, eyes lighting up at the long-awaited chance to drive.
Australia’s ruthless streak was out in force now, Green rattling Broad’s grille with an 86mph lifter that left the England physio assessing his jaw. England’s fight had gone and they lost the next three wickets in seven balls, Head having Robinson caught on the charge then trapping Broad lbw before Cummins made short work of Tongue.
Warner and Khawaja saw off six overs before lunch, nudging the lead past 100 off the last ball of the session. Conditions in the afternoon offered some cause for English optimism, with clouds overhead and the floodlights switched on.
But while their four seamers worked away diligently and beat the bat on a series of occasions, Australia were digging in. When the chance did come, Khawaja pulling Tongue’s second ball to midwicket, Anderson struggled to pick it up and saw it burst through his hands for four.
The hunt went on as they ground out just 69 runs in the session, but when the lively Tongue had Marnus Labuschagne given lbw for three, DRS ruled that he had been hit outside the line.
Broad had two huge appeals against Labuschagne in the final over, close calls on caught behind and lbw, but Stokes wisely opted not review either.
CWI's Lead Selector Haynes confident in T20 World Cup squad- “We’ve got a team that can win this World Cup”
CWI Lead Selector, Dr. The Hon. Desmond Haynes, believes the squad that has been selected to represent the West Indies at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup set for June 1-29 in the Caribbean and the USA can replicate the performances of the region’s title-winning squads in 2012 and 2016.
“This is a very good time in West Indies cricket. I believe that we’ve got a team that can win this World Cup and I feel damn good about this,” Haynes said in a Friday press conference announcing the squad.
“We’ve had preparations for the last year. The majority of the players, we had them involved and they were very successful. This is a very exciting time for us and I would hope that everyone in the Caribbean and all the West Indies fans support us because this is our best chance,” he added.
Also on hand at Friday’s press conference was West Indies Men’s ODI and T20I head coach Daren Sammy who also expressed confidence in the squad ahead of the tournament.
“We’ve known how to select winning teams. We’ve done it before and I think, as a selection group, we’re really excited about it,” Sammy said.
“It’s an exciting time and this preparation did not start now. It started from the last World Cup in Australia. What we’ve been able to do throughout the last year as a T20 group, the players we’ve exposed, has brought us to this moment and I think we’re about to knock it out of this world,” he added.
Two of the standout names in the 15-man squad were pacer Shamar Joseph and Shimron Hetmyer.
Joseph made his Test debut during the recent tour to Australia and became a worldwide phenomenon when he took a seven-wicket haul in the final innings despite an injured foot to give West Indies a dramatic eight-run win at the Gabba in the second Test. It was West Indies' first Test win in Australia since 1997.
This will be his first opportunity to represent the West Indies in the T20I format. He’s currently getting his first crack at franchise T20 cricket as he is a member of the Lucknow Super Giants in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
“You really can’t question Shamar Joseph’s skills. We saw him in Australia. We were looking at someone up front to bowl in the first powerplay and we think he ticks that box for us,” Haynes said.
Hetmyer is making his return to the squad after being left out for the tour of Australia. Haynes said it was a tough time deciding whether to pick Hetmyer or Kyle Mayers.
“It was a very close decision between Kyle and Hettie but we look at it from the point of view that we wanted the extra batsman to be one batting down the order,” he said.
Since the start of Daren Sammy’s tenure as head coach, he has always placed an emphasis on the importance of roles in a successful T20 outfit.
He believes that this 15-man group has covered all the necessary bases.
“We are ready. When you look at role definition from the group we’ve selected, I think we’ve come up with the best combination to help us win this World Cup.
The hosts will open their campaign against Papua New Guinea at Providence in Guyana on June 2.
Full squad: Rovman Powell (C), Alzarri Joseph (VC), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
Shamar Joseph in as West Indies announces 15-member T20 World Cup squad
There were no real surprises, as West Indies announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
The Darren Sammy-coached squad to be led by Jamaican Rovman Powell includes all the usual suspects, with rising fast bowling sensation Shamar Joseph being the only fresh face to the T20 unit.
West Indies, a two-time champion, having won the tournament in 2012 and 2016, will contest Group C of the global showpiece alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, and two ICC Associate teams, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
The Caribbean side is scheduled to kick off its title charge against Papa New Guinea on June 2, in Guyana.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until 25 May, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.
More to come...
Squad: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosain, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
"We are where we want to be": Spooner pleased with response at box offices despite early glitches
Despite some early glitches at Kensington Oval’s box, in Barbados, Philip Spooner says things remain on the up where ticket sales for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is concerned.
Spooner, the tournament’s global media operations Manager, acknowledged the early problems, but said efforts were made to rectify the issues, as cricket fans flocked the venues to secure tickets for the highly-anticipated June 1-29 tournament, to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
To celebrate 30 days to go to the start of the tournament, box offices were opened on Thursday until the end of the event across the six host locations -Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua Recreation Ground; Barbados: Kensington Oval; Guyana: Guyana Cricket Board Office; Saint Lucia: Daren Sammy Cricket Ground; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Commercial Centre, and Trinidad and Tobago: Queen’s Park Oval and National Cricket Centre -in the West Indies.
“We apologise to the members of the public for the challenges that they faced, but we are very happy to see people coming out because it shows the level of interest, and this is a tremendous first day of operations.
“People want to be part of this event and they are participating meaningfully. We are very happy about that. We will put everything in place that needs to be put in place for our customers, our fans, who are the biggest supporters of the games,” Spooner said in an interview with Barbados Today.
“So far, the atmosphere has been amazing; there has been a lot of attention to the tournament globally, it is literally out of this world. We had the launch of the amazing anthem and the music video with Sean Paul and Kes, two of the best and most visible global artists in the region. We are very happy with that aspect of how things are going. The preparations of the fields and pitches have also been good, obviously, there is still work to be done as we are a month away, but we are where we want to be,” he added.
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