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While Sri Lanka Cricket is in government-imposed limbo, the national selection committee has lobbied the government to appoint Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva and Roshan Mahanama as cricket consultants for the board.Jayawardene, though, has already announced he is uninterested, citing the ineffectiveness of previous official committees he has been a part of. The others have not yet responded to the request.*The selectors’ request was deftly timed; generally, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are kept at arm’s length by the board – the pair constantly critical of the self-interest they believe is rampant in Sri Lanka’s cricket administration. But with the board temporarily defunct, and with the government now essentially running cricket in the country, the selectors have seen an opening to get them involved in officially shaping the nation’s cricket. Mahanama and de Silva, who also have at times had a strained relationship with SLC’s elected officials, have in the past voiced ideas on how cricket in Sri Lanka might be improved as well.In addition to getting those four on board as general consultants, the selectors have also requested that Muttiah Muralitharan be brought on board as a spin-bowling consultant.Jayawardene’s objection to being part of a consulting committee was down to negative experiences. He tweeted:Previously, Jayawardene had also devised a provincial domestic cricket structure focused on long-term growth, only for that plan to be scrapped when the board headed by Thilanga Sumathipala was voted in.Moreover, there is a question as to whether there is enough time for these proposed consultants to make any tangible impact. Board elections may be held sometime over the next few months, after which – depending on who is voted in – the likes of Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Mahanama may be unwelcome once more. The “special advisory committee” Jayawardene referred to, had submitted official reports to the sports ministry with recommendations on how SLC must be restructured. Little, however, has come of that work.Sports minister Faiszer Mustapha, who was officially informed of the selectors’ requests on Wednesday, initially appeared amenable to the idea of appointing these players in the roles the selectors have suggested. He also said that he would like to see the SLC constitution changed, but had not offered anything concrete on how it should change, or when.*The story was updated with Jayawardene’s response.

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked in the India Under-19 squad for two four-day matches in Sri Lanka in July.A left-arm quick, Arjun, had been picked in the Mumbai Under-19 one-day side for the JY Lele invitational tournament in September last year. He also bowled in the nets in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test between England and South Africa in 2017, sending Jonny Bairstow off with an injury scare when he struck him on the toe with a yorker. Arjun also bowled in the India nets during the home series against New Zealand last year.However, he did not find a place in the one-day squad that will play five games against Sri Lanka. The four-day squad will be captained by 18-year-old Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who had scored two half-centuries, including one on debut, in as many matches for Delhi during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.”We are happy on Arjun being selected in Indian under-19 team. It is an important milestone in his cricketing life. Anjali and I will always support Arjun in his choices and pray for his success,” Sachin told The one-day squad will be led by 16-year-old Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Aryan Juyal, who had played two matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year and was part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team in January.Seventeen-year old left-arm spinner from Gujarat Siddharth Desai was picked in both squads. He also made his first-class debut in the 2017-18 season and was named the Man of the Match in his first two matches, taking nine and eight wickets against Kerala and Haryana respectively. He currently has 29 wickets from five first-class matches and three scalps from as many one-day matches.Atharwa Taide, also picked in both squads, was the captain of the Vidarbha Under-19 team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year. He led them to their maiden title with a marathon knock of 320 off 483 balls in the final against Madhya Pradesh.

Despite Pakistan overcoming Zimbabwe to secure their place in the tri-series final, their captain Sarfraz Ahmed was vocal in the criticism of his bowling attack. “The bowling was not up to the mark,” he said shortly after guiding his side to a seven-wicket win. “They have to work hard.”Sarfraz had been a loud and, at times, stroppy presence behind the stumps during Zimbabwe’s innings. The very first ball of the day seemed to set the tone, as Sarfraz let rip with a fearful ear-bashing at Fakhar Zaman when he was slow off the mark from midwicket, allowing Zimbabwe opener Cephas Zhuwao to get off the mark. There wasn’t much let up thereafter.But Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up on a particularly cold winter’s day in Harare. “Yeah, he’s the kind of person who does that sometimes,” said Zaman. “But he’s very good at getting us up on the field. We’re used to it and he’s our captain. And well, it works for us and it worked today.”Sarfraz also had some fiery words for his bowlers, ticking Shadab Khan off during an over when Solomon Mire hit him for two big sixes. Mire took the attack to Pakistan’s bowlers, and Zaman admitted that Zimbabwe had scored 20 to 30 more runs than they thought was par on this pitch.”We were expecting 130 to 140 on this pitch, but Mire played a very good innings,” Zaman said. “We knew that we have a very deep batting lineup – we have Shadab at no. 9 – so we were confident we could chase it.”As it turned out, Pakistan’s lower order wasn’t needed as Zaman and Hussain Talat cracked forties before Sarfraz finished things off with an ice-cold, unbeaten 38. While his tongue-lashing geed them up, Sarfraz’s batting was the picture of limited-overs sangfroid and provided a different sort of a lesson to his team. Zaman said that spending time under Sarfraz had helped him improve his own game, particularly in T20 cricket.”In the start in T20 I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Zaman said. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Pakistan’s win means they are assured of a place in Sunday’s final, though they have a dead rubber against Australia tomorrow. Bucking their recent trend in short-format cricket, Australia have won two in two in this tournament and they were buoyed by an opening victory against Pakistan which included Billy Stanlake’s 4 for 8.”We’ll just keep it very simple [against Australia],” Zaman said. “[Stanlake] bowled really well in the last match but every day is a new day. We’ll play him well.”

After his Player-of-the-Match performance in the 2019 ODI World Cup final, Ben Stokes guided England through a tricky chase to win the 2022 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan. Stokes scored his first T20I fifty to lead England to glory in Melbourne, and former New Zealand captain and current Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming called him a “champion under pressure” who is “forging a career where he is there at key moments.””He’s [Stokes] a big presence, he’s a big personality and he’s a big winner,” Fleming said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show. “And that’s pretty key ingredients when you talk about a good to great player.”Related

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“What he is doing is forging a career where he is there at key moments. He has won Test matches on the last day single-handedly, he was there today. He has been in some unbelievable battles and you’d back him most times to win them. So his temperament is so tested, and it comes through every time that you’ve got to say he’s a champion under pressure. And there’s not many that really rise to that occasion or on that occasion as much as he seems to do.While there were questions over Stokes’ role in this England T20 line-up at the start of the tournament, he ended up playing a crucial innings in a must-win group game against Sri Lanka to qualify for the semi-finals. And in the final England were 32 for 2 when Stokes walked in to bat in the fourth over. Even as he saw Jos Buttler depart two overs later, Stokes formed partnerships with Harry Brook and Moeen Ali to ensure there was no slip-up in the chase of 138. He remained unbeaten on 52 off 49 balls.”He [Stokes] gets into that position where he is the main man and everyone around him feeds off that,” Fleming said. “You saw at the end what it meant to those other players as they ran out. They were really dependent on him being there and doing that job and he has done it yet again for England.”Dawid Malan, who usually plays the anchor role for England, missed the semi-final and the final of the World Cup with an injury and former Australia allrounder Tom Moody said that his absence may have ended up helping Stokes’ game.”I think that what Stokes did today is exactly what Malan has done for this England side for the last 2-3 years,” Moody said. “He has created that real nice balance where he can play that measured innings with the power around him. They’ve got natural power-hitters that are prepared to go after it and back themselves when they are given clear roles. But when they are stacked up with Stokes and Malan at 3 and 4, it nearly cluttered that middle order when they had that depth and power that they had.”So I think if anything, it’s really unfortunate for Dawid Malan to have the injury, the timing of that injury. But it just created that open space for Ben Stokes to be Ben Stokes the T20 cricketer.”

India batter Shubman Gill is open to batting in the middle order in limited-overs format and emphasised the importance of reducing dot balls in T20 cricket by relying more on rotating strike against spin. While Gill has been a regular in India’s Test setup, he is yet to make his T20I debut and is on the fringes of the ODI squad. In the absence of the first-choice top-order players in Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, Gill opened the batting with Shikhar Dhawan in seven of the nine 50-over matches he played this year against West Indies, Zimbabwe and South Africa.”I believe that the fewer dot balls you play in T20s, the better your strike rate will be”, Gill told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Punjab’s preliminary quarter-final match against Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “Almost all batsmen have the same boundary percentage, but the ones with fewer dot balls have a higher strike rate. In T20s, you need to know what the bowler is trying to do. Those who bowl in a set way, you can dominate them.Related

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“My game all-round is very good and I rotate the strike well against spinners. So even if I get a chance in the middle order, I am ready for that. If they [the team management] are looking at me in the middle order, then I am ready for it. When I scored that hundred in Zimbabwe, I was batting at one down, I didn’t open. So one down or two down, whatever the team needs, I am ready.”Gill also reflected on his maiden county stint with Glamorgan, where he scored 244 runs, including a century and a half-century, in three matches. He said that a good start cannot be taken for granted in England, unlike in India.”In England, you have to concentrate all the time,” he said. “In those conditions, sometimes you feel you are set, but one spell can throw you off. It’s not like that in India. Here once you reach 40-50, there is a pattern to bat. There is no such pattern in England. You could be batting at 110 and are still not set. No matter what score you are on, you have to be careful [on] every ball.””You get a different type of confidence when you do well in red-ball cricket”•Getty Images

Gill has only played one of his 21 Test innings as a non-opener. In order to get more opportunities in the Indian Test side, he is willing to move down the order, too. While he is confident of his technique in red-ball cricket, Gill is aware of his concentration wavering when he is in flow.”The red-ball format is very important to me,” he said. “You get a different type of confidence when you do well in red-ball cricket. I am ready to bat wherever there’s a vacant spot in the side.”I don’t think there is anything wrong with my technique. When your concentration is disturbed, or you relax a little bit, and then if a good ball comes, you miss it. I think it always happens with me that I am batting well and then I get out.”There is no phase where I get out after I am constantly beaten. I think it [dismissal] is because of lapse in concentration. When a batsman is struggling, he is more alert. With me, sometimes it’s the other way round. I fail to keep my concentration going when I’m batting well.”

Allrounder Pooja Vastrakar has become the latest India women’s player to commit to the WBBL, signing with Brisbane Heat.Vastrakar caught the attention of WBBL clubs with her outstanding performances on India’s tour of Australia late last year and followed that up with some excellent performances with both bat and ball in the women’s 50-over World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year.Poonam Yadav played for Heat last season and Smriti Mandhana has also previously played in Brisbane but played for Sydney Thunder last season. India’s women have had a lot of success in the WBBL with Harmanpreet Kaur named player of the tournament last season.Heat coach Ashley Noffke was delighted to have signed Vastrakar.”Pooja is an outstanding athlete,” Noffke said. “She bowls with sharp pace, can find the boundary with the bat down the order and is an absolute jet in the field.”We’re very pleased to welcome her to the WBBL and are excited about the experience we can offer her. She’s certainly a player of the future for India and one that we expect can make a difference for the Heat this summer.”Vastrakar is in India’s Commonwealth Games squad but will miss their opening clash with Australia on Friday after contracting Covid-19 before leaving India.Vastrakar joins New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr as Heat’s second overseas player for the coming season.Brisbane Heat WBBL squad: Jess Jonassen (capt), Amelia Kerr (NZ), Pooja Vastrakar (Ind), Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris, Laura Harris, Mikayla Hinkley, Ellie Johnston, Charli Knott, Georgia Redmayne, Courtney Sippel, Georgia Voll

Derbyshire 306v (du Plooy 82, Came 78, Dal 56, Rushworth 3-60) and 214 for 9 dec (Madsen 58, Raine 5-43, Trevaskis 3-81) drew with Durham 223 (Jones 87, Conners 4-55) and 176 for 5 (Trevaskis 42*)Durham’s Liam Trevaskis and Paul Coughlin denied promotion hopefuls Derbyshire victory in a dramatic end to the LV=Insurance County Championship match at the Incora County Ground.The sixth-wicket pair batted through the final 17 overs to steer Durham to a fighting draw after they had been set 298 in 87 overs. Trevaskis faced 57 balls for an unbeaten 42 and Coughlin was 19 not out off 53 as Durham closed on 176 for 5 from 53 overs.Mark Watt took 2 for 37 in 13 overs but Derbyshire could not force the win that would have taken them to second in Division Two.Durham paceman Ben Raine claimed two more wickets to finish with 5 for 43 in 22 overs before Derbyshire declared on 214 for 9. Derbyshire had batted on for seven overs, adding 29 runs for the loss of Anuj Dal and Nick Potts before the declaration came.With showers forecast in the afternoon, they needed to make early inroads but Michael Jones again started positively, taking three fours from the second over from Nick Potts. Jones had scored 24 out of 26 when he tried to leave a ball from Ben Aitchison and got a bottom edge into his stumps.Aitchison should have had a second when Sean Dickson on 11 edged him low to first slip where Watt spilled the chance at the second attempt. But Derbyshire had a second breakthrough in the next over when Scott Borthwick played across a low dipping full toss from Conners and lost his middle stump.At lunch, Durham required a further 237 in 67 overs but their hopes took another blow when Dal removed Dickson. The allrounder thought he had the opener caught behind earlier and when Dickson missed a big swing and lost his off stump, he gave him a loud and visible send-off.Durham’s chances now rested with Nic Maddinson who drove Watt for consecutive fours before rain stopped play for 20 minutes with the loss of five overs.When play resumed under threatening clouds, Watt broke through in the first over when Maddinson pushed forward at a ball that went on with the arm and was caught behind. Watt struck again in his next over, tempting Jonathan Bushnell into a drive which he edged low to Wayne Madsen at slip.It was now a question of whether the rain would stay away but as the players were leaving the field for bad light, a storm broke over the ground, holding up play for two hours.The umpires decided the match could resume at 4.50pm, which gave Derbyshire 17.1 overs or 103 balls to take five wickets. And there was drama immediately with Coughlin put down at second slip on 1 as he pushed forward at Watt.Trevaskis and Coughlin showed application and good judgement to frustrate Derbyshire who, with seven overs left and the light deteriorating, were unable to use their pace bowlers. With spinners on at both ends, Derbyshire had every fielder in a catching position but the pair stood firm and the home side called off the hunt with one over remaining.There was a touching finale as the players and coaching staff applauded umpire Nick Cook off the field in his last appearance at Derby before he retires at the end of the season.

Glamorgan made good progress on a rain-ruined first day against Sussex in their push for promotion from Division Two of the LV= County Championship.Eight points behind second-placed Middlesex at start of play and needing a win to give them a chance of finishing in the top two, they progressed at more than five runs an over in the 41.2 overs possible at the 1st Central County Ground, reaching 221 for 3.Indian batter Shubman Gill led the way with an unbeaten 91 off just 102 balls while skipper David Lloyd, fresh from his triple hundred against Derbyshire last week, scored 56 against an anodyne Sussex attack.Skipper Lloyd bucked the recent trend at Hove by batting first when play began an hour late because of morning rain. His decision was quickly justified as Glamorgan made serene progress on a flat pitch.Brad Currie was the pick of the Sussex attack and took two wickets but the home side, who haven’t bowled an opposition out twice all season, struggled to back him up.Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashfraf, who is playing the final game of a three-match trial before Sussex decide whether to sign him for 2023, was withdrawn after bowling three wayward overs for 21 runs with the new ball.At the Cromwell Road end Currie was much more effective and he broke through in his fifth over when Eddie Byrom was surprised by a ball that left him off the pitch which he edged to wicketkeeper Charlie Tear for 21.Gill and Lloyd put on 57 in 12 overs between further stoppages either side of lunch with few alarms with Lloyd, who scored an unbeaten 313 in his last Championship innings, passing fifty for the sixth time this season. It was a surprise when left-armer Sean Hunt went round the wicket and thudded the ball low into his pads as the batter played half-forward. Lloyd’s 56 came off 64 balls with six fours and two sixes.Sam Northeast became Currie’s second victim when he edged an outswinger which Tom Alsop caught low at first slip with the total 151 in only the 27th over.Even with the floodlights on, Gill and Billy Root had little trouble in adding a further 70 runs in 15 overs before the players came off again 20 minutes after tea because of bad light. Gill, strong on the front foot and dismissive of anything short, has so far hit two sixes, including an effortless pick-up over mid-wicket off Currie that was the shot of the day, and 11 fours. Root is unbeaten on 17.Umpires Paul Baldwin and Tom Lungley held two further inspections before calling play off at 5.15pm but Glamorgan will feel it has been a productive day.

Allrounder Mitchell Marsh has declared himself fit to bowl in a much-needed confidence boost for Australia, whose T20 World Cup title defence is on the line against Sri Lanka at Optus Stadium on Tuesday.While fellow favourites India and England started their campaigns with statement wins, albeit in contrasting fashion, hosts Australia are on the back foot after a thumping 89-run opening defeat to New Zealand at the SCG.It has meant Australia’s net run rate is already an eyesore and winning their remaining four games might not be enough to get into the semi-finals given the cut-throat nature of the tournament.Having finally recovered from a lingering ankle injury, Marsh should add much-needed versatility for an Australian attack still reeling from a pummeling by rampant openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway.Related

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He has not bowled since the Zimbabwe ODI series in August, playing as a specialist No. 3 batter in the lead up matches and against New Zealand.”I’m available to bowl. I love preparing as an allrounder and making sure I’m in the game the whole time,” Marsh told reporters in Perth on Monday.His seam bowling will provide another option for skipper Aaron Finch in the powerplay after Australia leaked 65 runs against New Zealand. To balance the attack, Finch prefers utilising an allrounder – either Marsh, Marcus Stoinis or offspinner Glenn Maxwell – in the opening six overs.Against New Zealand, Stoinis, who himself had only recently returned from a side strain, conceded 10 runs in the fourth over as Finch only used five bowlers with Maxwell strangely overlooked on an SCG pitch that gripped as the game wore on.”I think with me bowling, it gives us that added flexibility of myself, Maxi or Stoin can get four overs out. And we can bowl anywhere,” Marsh said.After such a disastrous start to their title defence, question marks continue to hover over Australia with Steven Smith and young allrounder Cameron Green, who replaced the injury Josh Inglis, on the outside looking in.Mitchell Marsh would be a valuable bowling option for Aaron Finch•AFP

But Australia are expected to back the same line-up, packed with big-hitters, as they attempt to lift off the canvas much like they spectacularly did 12 months ago in the UAE.In the aftermath of Saturday’s defeat, spinner Adam Zampa said Marsh attempted an ice breaker in the team’s dejected changing rooms by saying: “Perfect, this is right where we wanted to be – backs against the wall”.While a smiling Marsh doesn’t recall the quip, jokingly saying he was “thrown under the bus” by Zampa, he did believe it was an approach worth adopting.”We don’t really have a choice,” he said. “The nature of the tournament…you lose one game, your back is up against the wall and we know what’s in front of us. It’s just really important to stick together.”Even though Perth has experienced inclement weather in recent days, fortunately not impacting the tournament, there is no forecast for rain on Tuesday with the Optus Stadium pitch expected to again be bouncy and fast.England speedster Mark Wood bowled the fastest spell recorded in T20Is during Saturday’s game against Afghanistan, whose batters consistently holed out on the deep square boundaries on a ground with the same dimensions as the MCG.Marsh tipped Australia quicks Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to bowl rapidly. “We’ll certainly have an aggressive approach. We know that the three big bowlers when they get going, theý’re very hard to stop,” he said. I think certainly after the other night we’ll see a big response from them.”Even though Optus Stadium, which essentially mimics the WACA’s iconic pitch, has characteristics perfectly suited for quicks, spinners can be effective in the middle overs by bowling back of a length, stymying batters on the vast square boundaries.England’s high-octane batting order was tied down by Afghanistan’s spin-heavy attack as they made hard work of chasing 113, which they reached with 11 balls to spare.After being stunned by Namibia in their opener in Geelong, Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka have steadily improved with three straight wins led by legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga who has taken nine wickets at an average of just 9.78 in the tournament.”He’s obviously a very good bowler and someone we’ll have to counteract,” Marsh said of Hasaranga, who has taken 10 T20I wickets at 16.40 this year against Australia in five matches over two series in Australia and Sri Lanka.”Hopefully spin doesn’t play a huge factor at Perth Stadium and we can really attack them [Sri Lanka’s spinners]. We play spin very well in Australian conditions.”After Sri Lanka, Australia face England at the MCG which is still probably heaving after last night’s epic game between India and Pakistan.England allrounder Sam Curran has lit fuel to the high stakes contest by saying he wants to put Australia in a “tricky position”.Marsh, however, said Australia’s focus was solely on Sri Lanka. “That’s all that matters to us,” he said of the clash expected to attract around 25,000 fans to the 60,000-seat stadium.”Hopefully we play well, get past that and then move on to England.”

India are set to host Australia for a five-match T20I series starting December 9. All five games in the 11-day tour will be played in Mumbai, with the DY Patil Stadium hosting the first two games before the action shifts to the Brabourne Stadium for the next three. The series recommences both teams’ lead-ups to the Women’s T20 World Cup next February.

Schedule

Dec 9: 1st T20I, DY Patil Stadium
Dec 11: 2nd T20I, DY Patil Stadium
Dec 14: 3rd T20I, Brabourne Stadium
Dec 17: 4th T20I, Brabourne Stadium
Dec 20: 5th T20I, Brabourne Stadium

For Australia, this could be the first series where they will miss regular captain Meg Lanning – who opted to take an indefinite mental-health break – following their Commonwealth Games title win, which was where these two teams last met. With Rachael Haynes announcing her retirement, Australia don’t currently have a captain. Alyssa Healy was named vice-captain and with Lanning’s return still not confirmed, Healy could take over the reins for this tour.The Australian players will come into the series on the back of the Women’s Big Bash League, which will conclude on November 26. While some of the Indian players including Pooja Vastrakar and Jemimah Rodrigues decided to play in the WBBL, the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana pulled out to manage their increasing workload.The series will mark India’s return to the international circuit after their win against Sri Lanka to complete a successful Asia Cup campaign in October. They are scheduled to tour South Africa in the second half of January for a tri-series featuring West Indies, in the build-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.Australia last toured India for a limited-overs series in 2018 where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 in ODIs before overcoming India twice in the tri-nation women’s T20 series.