Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow can bat away their costly dropped catches as England look to assume control of an evenly-poised third Test at Headingley.
The Yorkshire pair each put down two chances on the opening day, with Root’s spillage of Mitch Marsh on 12 especially expensive as the recalled Australia all-rounder went on to make a run-a-ball 118.
Mark Wood took five for 34 with his breakneck pace as Australia were all out for 263, with Root and Bairstow unbeaten at stumps as England, 2-0 down in the five-match series, closed on 68 for three.
Much has been made of how Bairstow might react after his controversial stumping at Lord’s but he will be hoping his bat can do the talking as it did so emphatically did during last year’s golden summer.
What they said
Four years on from his most recent Test appearance – when he declared “most of Australia hate me” because of his inconsistency – Marsh might be feeling the love even more after his rescue-act. Called in because of a niggle to Cameron Green, the 31-year-old flayed his third Test hundred – all of them have come against England – and chipped in with the wicket of Zak Crawley for good measure.
Butter-fingered England
England’s subpar fielding in this series has frequently been cited as the major difference between the two sides – and there were another four dropped catches on Thursday. Bairstow can be forgiven for being unable to reel in a tough chance when Steve Smith was on four but the England wicketkeeper put down an easier chance down the leg-side when Travis Head was on nine. Root then put down regulation catches with Marsh on 12 and Alex Carey on four before slamming the ball into the turf in frustration at himself after holding on to Head. In total, the lackadaisical efforts cost England a whopping 158 runs.
England grateful for five-star Wood
Fitness concerns precluded Wood’s involvement at Edgbaston and Lord’s but he was worth the wait after dealing almost exclusively in speeds upwards of 90mph here, topping out at 96.5mph. He ended his first spell by flattening the leg stump of Usman Khawaja while he wiped out Australia’s lower order to finish with his first five-wicket haul at home. Every ball he bowled was an event with none of Australia’s batters looking comfortable against him. Wood has been a must-have overseas but this display summed up what a handful he can be in any conditions and why England are desperate to keep him on the park.
Headingley boo-boys
Emotions have been running high so there was some anticipation – and maybe a little trepidation – at how Headingley’s Western Terrace crowd would react. One of the liveliest and noisiest stands in the country made their presence felt by booing Australia captain Pat Cummins at the toss, while Carey was serenaded with ‘stand up if you hate Carey’ when he was batting. They seemed delighted by Cummins getting a two-ball duck and Carey being sconed on the helmet by Wood – even if the pair’s days ended better. Given they were at the forefront of the controversial Bairstow stumping at Lord’s, how they were received in Leeds is no surprise. The pantomime jeers of Smith and David Warner seem to have returned as well, harking back to how they were welcomed in England in 2019 after ball-tampering bans. Overall, though, any nerves at tensions potentially boiling over appear to have been unfounded.
Warner’s unsweet 16
Stuart Broad has enough time to climb to the top of this list with a possible five more innings at Warner, for whom retirement might not be able to come soon enough. The Australia opener’s latest downfall to his nemesis came when he was persuaded to push away from his body with the ball kissing the edge and carrying to Crawley, who pouched a chest-high catch at second slip.
Robinson squashed?
Ollie Robinson’s relatively quiet series continued as he went wicketless in his first 11 overs before trudging off the field after sending down just two balls of his 12th before tea. An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesperson confirmed a back spasm had curtailed his day. As for whether he will be able to bowl in Australia’s second innings, watch this space.
Ramharack stars with four wickets as West Indies clinch thriller against Pakistan in first T20I
West Indies sealed a thrilling one-run win in the first women's T20I against Pakistan in Karachi. The visitors posted 122 after a disciplined bowling performance from Pakistan, which was spearheaded by Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal. But West Indies' bowlers responded in kind, shackling the Pakistan innings and turning the chase into a nervy one that went to the death. In the end, it would boil down to two runs off the final delivery, but Shamilia Connell beat the bat, and Shemaine Campbelle behind the stumps effected the run-out.
In the first of five T20Is, West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first as they looked to continue their 100% record in Pakistan on this tour. But on a pitch that gripped under the lights, it was Pakistan who started stronger as Iqbal struck of the second ball to send the talismanic captain Hayley Matthews back for a duck. Diana Baig, the most economical of the Pakistan bowlers, trapped Campbelle behind soon after to leave West Indies wobbling at 14 for two. The partnership between Qiana Joseph and Stafanie Taylor that followed did steady the ship, but Pakistan never quite let them get going.
A pair of valuable cameos - both Chedean Nation and Chinelle Henry scored 13 off 9 balls - helped West Indies tip over the run-a-ball mark, but Pakistan would have felt they had a slight edge at the halfway mark.
That advantage was bolstered by a dynamic innings from opener Sidra Ameen, whose 17-ball 23 put Pakistan ahead of the asking rate by the end of the powerplay. But losing both her and Gull Feroza within four balls of each other without adding to the score brought West Indies roaring back into it, and when Karishma Ramharack cleaned up Ayesha Zafar after a stilted innings, the visitors had edged ahead. But Pakistan captain Dar's 24-ball 27 saw Pakistan seize the advantage again as the game balanced on a tightrope throughout the innings.
It all came to a head in a dramatic final over, with Connell bowling. When Najiha Alvi smacked the penultimate ball for an exquisite inside-out cover drive for four, Pakistan appeared, for one final time, to be sneaking home. But a dot ball would follow, and as Pakistan hearts were broken, West Indies' streak held firm.
West Indies 122 for 9 (Joseph 34, Taylor 30, Sana 3-24) beat Pakistan 121 for 8 (Dar 27, Ramharack 4-15) by one run
IPL: Bairstow century gives Kings stunning win over KKR with record run chase
Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten century to lead Punjab Kings to a magnificent record Indian Premier League run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders.
England batter Bairstow scored a stunning 108 not out off 48 balls with nine maximums as the Kings somehow chased down a victory target of 262 with eight balls to spare at Eden Gardens.
Bairstow was helped by Shashank Singh, who smashed an unbeaten 68 from 28 deliveries with eight maximums of his own in a remarkable display of hitting.
Hosts KKR thought they had done enough for victory when a fast start from Phil Salt (75 from 37) and Sunil Narine (71 off 32) set them up a huge total of 261-6, but the Kings battled back to earn a famous triumph.
Data Debrief
This astonishing IPL 2024 campaign has already seen Sunrisers Hyderabad twice break the record for the highest innings score in the competition and now the Kings have made more history by recording the biggest chase ever seen in T20 cricket.
This was Bairstow’s second IPL hundred, more than five years after he registered his first while playing for SRH in 2019, and it has given the Kings just their third victory of the season to snap a four-game losing streak.
Reviving cricket's spirit: new JCA president Bennett focused on rebuilding sport from its foundation
“If you really want to kill whatever you do, start from the top going down.”
Those words by newly-elected Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Dr. Donovan Bennett, just about declared that he is armed with a vision and a no-nonsense approach to not only change the narrative of the country’s governing cricket body, but also to rebuild the sport from the youth level up.
Bennett, who has a passion for cricket, revealed plans for the journey ahead with optimism that he can lead Jamaican cricket into a new era of greatness, after he dethroned Wilford ‘Billy’ Heaven 67 to 30 during the JCA’s Annual General Meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Thursday.
Interestingly, Bennett, was a long-serving vice-president to Heaven, who led for over a decade, but said he was forced to challenge for the presidency due to the state of Jamaica’s cricket, and the resounding response from delegates justified his decision.
Though a bit surprised by the margin of victory, Bennett believes his proven track record at the youth level was what convinced delegates to vote in his favour, denying Heaven a fifth-consecutive term.
“I suppose because of my work at the youth level. I must say, I was quite successful for a very long time, and if we're going to rebuild Jamaica's cricket, then we've got to start at the bottom and work our way up. So, I think the voters think that they needed somebody who have a proper knowledge of cricket and how to administer it,” Bennett said.
With well-known administrators Fritz Harris and Dr Akshai Mansingh as his vice presidents, Bennett intends to waste little time rolling out his ambitions for the future of Jamaican cricket. His first order of business was to focus on rebuilding the sport from its foundation –the youth.
“If you start a building and you build from the top downwards, you're going to have problems. There's only one profession where they start from the top and go to the bottom and that is a gravedigger. So, if you really want to kill whatever you do, start from the top. So, we're going to start from the bottom. We are going to start at the Under-13 level, our first task would be to start building from there,” he declared.
“Because if you build the Under-13 and you build it properly, then the following year, you will have Under-15 cricketers, and the following year you'll have Under-17 cricketers, and it goes along like that. There's also another gap in that pyramid. Just below the top of the pyramid, we have an Under-23 gap, when players leave the Under-19 level, sometimes they get lost because there is not an Under-23 level to absorb them and to keep them going in the game. It's not going to happen in one year. It's going to take time, but if you do it properly, before you know it, you will have guys who are winners for you,” Bennett explained.
Bennett's approach to youth development is owing to the fact that the country's current crop of senior players, have had very little success in recent times. As such, he and his team are ready to hit the ground running, with the assistance of others, to steer cricket down the right path.
“I understand the enormity of the task at hand because things are at a very low level right now, but as I told my supporters and my friends that, I can't do it alone, and it's going to take the effort of every cricket loving person to get this thing going. No one of us or no few of us can rebuild cricket in Jamaica. So, it's going to be a process of working with and consulting with all the clubs and parishes. We've got to rebuild that relationship between the clubs and parishes because the JCA is a reflection of the clubs and parishes. So that's where I think we need to go,” he added.
For Bennett, the implementation of plans, which were shelved by his predecessor, will also take priority on his to-do list. However, with the JCA currently strapped for cash, he is hoping to access funds from Cricket West Indies (UWI) to cushion the shortfall.
“There are a lot of good plans lying at the JCA. The problem with the JCA has been implementation and getting the funding in place to get these programmes working. So, we need funding, and we need proper implementation. So, the effort has to be there, and the money has to be there. So let us not fool ourselves. If we don't have money, we can't do anything,” Bennett noted.
He continued: “I think one of the problems that the past administration had is that they didn't get funding because they didn't go and ask for it. We are going to go there and we're going to ask for it, and I'm sure that with the proper presentation and proper plans being drawn to be presented to sponsors, that we will get sponsorship.
“And I have significant goodwill at CWI level. I mean, I represent Jamaica there, and I have tried my best to be respected and understood by the majority of the directors there, so I expect cooperation at that level. Right now, the CWI owes Jamaica a lot of money, and I am sure that we will get that.”
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