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The two openers scored centuries while the fast bowler picked up a five-for to lead Central Districts to a victory by an innings and 86 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2017Central Districts held sway of their match from the moment the coin came down in their favour. They chose to bat, put up a mammoth total, with their openers and No. 3 providing 325 of their 498 for 7 declared, and used scoreboard pressure to buy themselves a win over Canterbury by an innings and 86 runs.George Worker and Greg Hay set the ball rolling, scoring 111 and 140 respectively. And when the third-change bowler Tim Johnston broke through their partnership with the score on 188, the record-breaking Brad Schmulian came out and threatened the score a century to back up his double on debut last month. He fell 26 runs short, but had set up Central Districts to dictate terms for the rest of the game.The bowlers played their part as well, allowing only three Canterbury batsman – Michael Pollard (62), Cole McConchie (56), Cam Fletcher (50) – to reach fifty in two innings. Seth Rance picked up a five-for to ensure his side gained a whopping 304-run lead and Blair Tickner took the reins after the follow-on was enforced, picking up 4 for 41. It was Canterbury’s second loss of the tournament, and totals of 194 and 218 suggests their batsmen had succumbed fairly meekly.

Matt Rawnsley, the former left-arm spinner, will be named as the replacement for Tom Scott at New Road

George Dobell and David Hopps28-Dec-2017Matt Rawnsley, a former Worcestershire player and businessman, is poised to be announced as the new chief executive of Worcestershire.ESPNcricinfo understands that Rawnsley has won the role ahead of other shortlisted candidates including Vikram Solanki, a former captain and past chairman of the Professional Cricketers Association, and an assistant coach at Surrey.Rawnsley, 41, made 100 appearances as a left-arm spinner for Worcestershire across all formats between 1996 and 2002.But it is his subsequent business experience which also attracted Worcestershire. Rawnsley has been a director since 2013 of the Barnes Group (UK) Ltd. The engineering company is based in Evesham, and deals in the production of industrial and aerospace consumer products and springs.Rawnsley inherits a county in a state of flux, not to say tension, following the departure of the director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, after a 33-year association with the club.Rhodes was sacked following an internal investigation into his failure to report the arrest of Alex Hepburn on suspicion of rape in early April; he did not inform the club’s management until the player was charged in November. Rhodes was driven by what he saw as his duty of care towards his own player and even negotiated a new contract for Hepburn at the club.As part of the fallout, Rawnsley is expected to gain more powers than his predecessor as CEO, Tom Scott. Worcestershire members will decide at the annual meeting on March 22 whether to accept proposals that the CEO has overall responsibility for the club’s affairs, rather than be on the same level as the director of cricket, as is the current set-up.Such uncertainty is not ideal for a county that won promotion to the first division of the Specsavers Championship in September, but which has yo-yoed between the two divisions for the past decade.Worcestershire, among the smaller first-class counties, have made a profit for six successive seasons and became a successful breeding ground for players under Rhodes.Rawnsley faces many challenges in continuing that trend and in further developing a New Road ground which lies on a flood plain of the adjacent River Severn.

Half-centuries from Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla led South Africa to a dominant position before a late collapse brought India roaring back to life

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Jan-20181:07

Cullinan: It’s a hardworking pitch for both batsmen and bowlers

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter all the talk of the pace and bounce of the Highveld, Centurion ended up providing India the most subcontinental conditions they could have expected on this tour. The skies were blue, the pitch was brown, and R Ashwin bowled the bulk of India’s overs.That could have been the extent of India feeling at home. For the first 80.4 overs of the day, South Africa’s batsmen had pitched tents on this flat, friendly surface and pinned family photographs onto the canvas. Aiden Markram had fallen narrowly short of a hundred, but Hashim Amla looked all set to stroll past that milestone, and South Africa were 246 for 3.And then, Centurion 2018 turned into Kolkata 2010. Amla and Alviro Petersen had scored centuries that day, only for South Africa to collapse from 218 for 1 to 296 all out, in a typically Eden Gardens post-tea collapse.Here, South Africa lost three wickets for the addition of five runs, two of them to run-outs, and India, out of nowhere, were back in the game. They hardly deserved to be: Ashwin and Ishant Sharma apart, their frontline bowlers had been poor.Deserve, however, has nothing to do with Test cricket; a few overs is all it takes, sometimes, for a match to swing 180 degrees.It began, as it often can, with a moment of brilliance on the field. Amla got on his toes, rode the bounce of a short ball from Hardik Pandya, and tucked it gently into the on side. Faf du Plessis called for one, and Amla, after a moment’s hesitation, responded. That moment was enough; Pandya sprinted across in his follow-through, swooped on the ball, spun around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler’s end. Amla was gone, for 82.In walked Quinton de Kock, a left-hander. Ashwin, from round the wicket, greeted him with a quick-turning offbreak in the channel outside off stump. New to the crease, de Kock pushed at it without really moving his feet and edged to slip.All the swirling excitement and anxiety of the moment got to Vernon Philander, who ten minutes earlier would not have expected to put on his pads. A bunt into the leg side, and a mad dash to the other end despite his captain yelling at him to stay put cost him his wicket. South Africa were 251 for 6 and India flooded the stump mic with yelps of delight.For most of the first eight-ninths of this day, India’s voices had been muted. The first four South African wickets had added 85, 63, 51 and 47, indicative of an attack that seldom applied pressure from both ends, and a top order that batted with a great degree of comfort.Playing only his seventh Test innings, Markram passed 50 for the fourth time, and looked a natural fit at this level. Taking guard on off stump, he stood tall and stood still at the crease, making no trigger movement and as a result remaining perfectly balanced. Time and again India’s seamers slipped in the full, straight lbw ball in vain; Markram’s head refused to fall across to the off side, and he punched and drove handsomely through the V, the area wide of mid-on proving particularly productive.When the quicks dropped short, he punished them with punches and slaps through the covers and, on one occasion, a dismissive pull. The Saturday crowd at Centurion got to see all these shots frequently, since the fast bowlers, Ishant apart, kept feeding him boundary balls.Jasprit Bumrah showed control with the new ball, but sprayed it around in all his subsequent spells, while Mohammed Shami, much like day one in Cape Town, was wayward and below top-pace with the new ball. Just when he seemed to be finding some rhythm and reverse-swing around an hour after lunch, Shami went off the field, looking a little under the weather. India’s team management later clarified it was a “mild headache”.Bounce apart, there wasn’t a whole lot of help for the seam bowlers, and perhaps this was why India went in with Ishant ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had picked up 4 for 87 and 2 for 33 in Cape Town. Ishant responded impressively, coming on as first change and testing Dean Elgar’s footwork and judgment with his angle, a bit of seam movement, and a fullish length that drew the left-hander forward.Having fought his way through this spell, Elgar survived a testing period against Ashwin just before lunch, getting beaten twice in 10 balls, with India unsuccessfully reviewing for caught-behind on one occasion. Soon after lunch, Elgar stepped out and drove Ashwin back over his head – perhaps the shot of an anxious batsman looking to hit his tormentor off his length – but the next time he tried stepping out, he didn’t reach the pitch of the ball and ended up stabbing a catch to silly point.This was India’s best period of play all day, with Ashwin finding dip and bounce at one end and Ishant bowling tightly at the other. These two couldn’t keep bowling forever, however, and South Africa soon returned to free-scoring ways, with Amla turning the clock back with the wristwork on his flicks and back-foot punches. It took a change of angle for India to effect their next breakthrough, Markram edging Ashwin behind when he went around the wicket. The ball, angled across Markram, didn’t spin back as much as he expected, but it was the length that did him, pinning him awkwardly to the crease – rather than going neither forward nor back, he was trying to do both at the same time – and making him jab away from his body.AB de Villiers was busy right from the time he came in, unveiling the reverse-sweep to pick up a boundary off Ashwin when he was still in single figures, but there was a touch of looseness to his game as well. A jab away from his body at Bumrah resulted in an inside-edge that nearly trickled onto his stumps, and when he tried the same shot against Ishant after tea, he chopped on for 20. The ball had begun to keep low every now and then and this was a shot he could have avoided.At that point, though, South Africa were still in too dominant a position to worry unduly. Amla was looking at his serene best, putting Shami away disdainfully when he kept dropping short in a brief post-tea spell, driving Ashwin against the turn with a twirl of his wrists, and, on 79, keeping out a shin-high shooter from Bumrah as if it was a perfectly normal delivery. Just when he looked set to coast to a century and beyond, however, a moment’s hesitation brought India roaring back to life.

With the equation reading 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand, Lahore Qalandars should have won this game easily; but they didn’t, and Andre Russell’s hitting downed them in the PSL’s first ever Super Over

The Report by Danyal Rasool02-Mar-2018In a nutshellLast night’s billing for the contest between Peshawar and Quetta as the game of the tournament looks horribly premature now. In a T20 contest that had more ebbs and flows than most Test matches, Islamabad United edged out Lahore Qalandars, after dragging them, against all logic, into a Super Over – the first in the PSL’s history. Chasing 16 in the Super Over, Andre Russell smashed 10 off the last two balls off the hapless Mustafizur Rehman, the six to seal it cruelly going over Brendon McCullum’s head at long on to put his side on the brink of elimination.This was a match that highlighted how low Lahore Qalandars’ confidence had dipped after beginning this season with three losses. If ever a game was set up to be a stroll to kick things off, it was this for Lahore, requiring just 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand. But there was a sense of unease to it, as Agha Salman, who scored what then seemed a match-winning 48 – holed out to fine leg. As McCullum hung on, playing an uncharacteristic knock that began as sensible but ended up with him having lost all rhythm, it increasingly began to look like he was the man that stood between Lahore and another implosion. After he was run out in the final over, it looked like Lahore had indeed blown it, before an unlikely six by debutant Salman Irshad took them to a Super Over. Victory, however, was still elusive.Islamabad began poorly, with Lahore’s decision to open the bowling with Fakhar Zaman proving inspired. He struck in the first over, and it wasn’t until Hussain Talat – batting far too low at number eight – came in that the innings picked up any momentum. He smashed an unbeaten 33 off 21 to ensure they crossed 120, with every run worth its weight in gold a couple of hours down the line.Where the match was wonSimply put, in the head. With the Qalandars needing 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand, this game didn’t look like becoming the classic it ended up being. But from the moment Agha Salman was dismissed, jitters began to sweep through the Qalandars. Their lack of batting depth was a concern, exacerbated by everyone that came in after failing to so much as reach double figures. The run rate slowly began to creep up and the pressure on McCullum grew, with Lahore struggling to put the game to bed whenever opportunities arose. Before you knew it, Lahore were eight down with seven required off the final over. It should never have come to this.The men that won itHussain Talat gave Islamabad a total to defend, but from thereon, Mohammad Sami and Andre Russell took over. Sami was superb during his four-over spell, targeting the stumps at pace, not allowing McCullum to free his arms. It was particularly impressive since Sami’s is exactly the kind of bowling that McCullum thrives against. What was more, Sami found his lengths in the Super Over, where, even though he conceded 15, it was a score they could chase down. That was thanks to Russell, who, back from a year out, still remembered how to hold his nerve under pressure to clear long-on and nick the game off the final delivery.The decisionMcCullum may go down as the pioneering captain of the T20 generation, but did he balk at a big decision in the Super Over? Sunil Narine had conceded 10 runs in his four overs while Mustafizur, usually exceptional, had an off day, giving away 39 in his allotment. It appeared straightforward who to hand the ball to for the Super Over, but McCullum, perhaps – just perhaps – didn’t fancy a spinner up against Russell. He gave the ball to Mustafizur, who didn’t quite find his lengths, wasn’t brave enough to attempt the yorker, and bowled a wide off the fourth delivery. Maybe that’s overanalysing it, but Lahore, having lost all four of their games and on a six-run losing streak overall, should expect some of that from the media and their exigent fans.Where they standLahore are firmly at the bottom of the pile, with no wins or points from four games. Islamabad United have 4 points, joint with Peshawar and Quetta. Karachi and Multan occupy the top two slots after their game was washed out today with 7 and 5 points respectively.

Friday’s raid on the Cape Town stadium was the third such instance since 2015, according to the Western Province Cricket Association

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-2018Armed robbers raided Newlands on Friday, smashing the glass doors of multiple suites at the Cape Town stadium and making away with TVs, liquor and other items. This was the third time since 2015 that the ground had been hit by robbers, according to a Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) release.The raid began shortly after midnight, according to the WPCA, when a woman approached security personnel at Gate A and asked for directions to a nearby church. She returned five minutes later, only this time she was joined by three accomplices who jumped the fences, apart from “more than 15 other men”, some of whom had guns. They forced the security officials to provide them keys to the Presidential Suite.The raid lasted less than an hour, and ended with the robbers making away with the stolen goods in three vehicles.”The South African Police Services are busy with an extensive investigation into the event and we will also reassess our security measures, including the possibility of having more cameras installed,” the WPCA statement said.”As an Association we are disturbed by the robbery and will do our utmost with the help of the South African Police Services to get to the bottom of this and try and prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident. We will seriously look within our budgetary constraints to improve our security situation at the stadium.”Whilst it is truly appalling for this type of robbery to take place at our iconic cricket stadium where we have enjoyed some wonderful memories this past season, we are thankful that the security guard caught up in this crime was unharmed. He has been offered the necessary counselling in order to help him recover from this ordeal.”

Cricket Australia picked the players with a focus on the Women’s World T20 in November, and recent performances

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2018Bowlers Kristen Beams and Lauren Cheatle have lost their contracts as Australia focus their efforts on the Women’s World T20 in November. Another contributing factor was recent performances, which helped Sophie Molineux, Delissa Kimmince and Nicola Carey have make their way into the 14-player list for the first time. All three players were part of Australia’s tour of India where they beat the hosts 3-0 in the ODIs and beat England in the final of the T20I tri-series that followed.

CA Women’s contract list 2018-19

Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jessica Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Meg Lanning, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

“The National Selection Panel had a firm focus on the World T20 in the West Indies later this year when selecting the contract list, with players rewarded for world-class performances,” national selector Shawn Flegler said.”The elevation of Nicola Carey, Delissa Kimmince and Sophie Molineux is an indication of how they are viewed by the NSP, having all impressed during Australia’s recent tour of India and domestically across the summer.”Allrounders Molineux and Carey earned their caps during the recent India tour, while 28-year old Kimmince made her international debut in 2008 against New Zealand.”Sophie is a Victorian product of the female pathway and the NSP believes she is a long-term player for Australia and provides another spin bowling option with the ability to bat in several positions.””Delissa and Nicola have similar all-round roles within the team and have both performed well when given the opportunity. They have both been on the cusp of selection for a while and it is good to see them rewarded with a contract.Flegler insisted that it wasn’t the end of the road for the out-of-contract players. “Several players, including Kristen Beams and Lauren Cheatle from last year’s contract list have missed out but they will still be considered to play for Australia with strong performances.”Lauren has had to overcome various injuries over the last couple of years, which has hampered her ability to perform at her best,” Flegler said. “She has been selected in the women’s NPS alongside a number of exciting young fast bowlers and there’s no doubt her best is yet to come.”CA has also named a 13-player National Performance Squad, which includes a number of youngsters, who will be training under High Performance coach Leah Poulton at the Bupa National Cricket Centre.Women’s National Performance Squad 2018: Lauren Cheatle, Piepa Cleary, Josephine Dooley, Erin Fazackerley, Heather Graham, Saskia Horley, Belinda Vakarewa, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham, Tahlia McGrath, Maitlan Brown, Annabel Sutherland*, Rachel Trenaman*.

There isn’t too much wrong with either Mumbai or Daredevils’ personnel or squad balance, but a number of big names from both sides are yet to fire

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Apr-20183:35

Dasgupta: Rohit needs to give himself some time

Big Picture

Two games each, two losses each. It doesn’t mean too much given the length of an IPL season. Mumbai Indians have come back from worse starts and gone on to win titles, and both they and Delhi Daredevils can tell themselves their results so far do not fully reflect how they have played. Mumbai have lost two excruciatingly tight games, one of which they had no business losing. Daredevils could say they got on the wrong end of DLS in their last match.But the table simply says both teams have played two and lost two. Both teams need to start winning, ASAP.There’s nothing in the personnel or balance of either side to suggest they can’t do this, but some of the biggest names from both sides are yet to fire this season. We could, therefore, be one Glenn Maxwell or Rohit Sharma innings, or one Jasprit Bumrah or Trent Boult spell, from seeing their respective teams shoot up the table.One of these two teams, however, will lose Saturday’s game, their third in a row, and that – for all of Mumbai’s past escapades – will be a hard place to rebound from.

In the news

Hardik Pandya missed Mumbai’s last match; he did not travel to Hyderabad having suffered a twisted ankle earlier. He has not regained 100% fitness yet and did not train full tilt on Friday evening. He bowled for under 20 minutes in the nets and batted for a marginally longer duration, taking throwdowns from batting coach Robin Singh and a few others; that means his participation on Saturday is still in doubt.

The likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Hardik Pandya/Ben Cutting, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Mitchell McClenaghan/Pradeep Sangwan, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mustafizur RahmanDelhi Daredevils: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Colin Munro, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Chris Morris, 7 Vijay Shankar, 8 Rahul Tewatia, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Trent BoultESPNcricinfo Ltd

Stats that matter

• Mumbai have won four of their last five matches against Daredevils, and have won five of their six meetings at the Wankhede overall
• Rahul Tewatia has been among this season’s best-performing under-the-radar players. He has only picked up one wicket, but, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, has conceded 12.95 runs less than par over the course of his eight overs so far. Only Sunil Narine (22.46) and Rashid Khan (15.64) have done better.
• Mumbai’s top three haven’t yet hit their stride this season, which explains why they have the worst Powerplay run rate (7.75) of all eight teams so far.
• Since the start of 2015, Evin Lewis has a strike rate of 123.7 against left-arm pace. In the same period, he has scored at 137.7 against offspin and at a 150-plus strike rate against all other kinds of bowling. It will be interesting to see how he goes against Trent Boult, whom he is yet to face in T20 cricket.
• Glenn Maxwell, on the other hand, has relished batting against all of Mumbai’s left-arm seamers. In all T20s, he has scored 15 runs off five balls against Pradeep Sangwan, 37 off 15 against Mitchell McClenaghan, and 13 off four against Mustafizur Rahman – all this while only being dismissed once.

Strategy punt

In their opening match against Kings XI Punjab, Daredevils batted first and sent out a top four of Munro, Gambhir, Iyer and Shankar. Against Rajasthan Royals, their top four consisted of Maxwell, Munro, Pant and Morris. They were forced into this since they had to chase a revised target, but how dangerous did that line-up look compared to the first one?This, perhaps, could be a front-loaded blueprint for the rest of their season, with perhaps Morris held back for the slog overs; and Gambhir playing the role of a firefighting No. 4 or No. 5 in case Daredevils lose early wickets, and remaining happy not to get a hit if the power-hitters really get going.

Fantasy pick

Batsmen have been in control against only 27 of the 47 balls (57.45%) they have faced from Mustafizur Rahman so far this season. It suggests the left-armer is back to his best in terms of his control over his length and variations, and all that rhythm makes it likely he’ll earn valuable fantasy points on Saturday too.

This was Taunton at its finest – an engrossing finale watched with time-honoured angst by spectators emotionally wedded to the culture and history of the county game

David Hopps at Taunton12-Jun-20181:55

Somerset chase down Notts to top Division One

ScorecardSomerset moved to the top of the County Championship on a thoroughly absorbing day at Taunton as they dislodged the previous leaders, Nottinghamshire, by six wickets with just over an hour to spare. For much of the day, it felt a lot closer. This was Taunton at its finest – an engrossing finale watched with time-honoured angst by spectators emotionally wedded to the culture and history of the county game.Ageism is never more rife than when people discuss the relevance of the Championship, the facile not to say disparaging assertion that many of its spectators are dying out rather overlooking the fact that they are being reliably replaced by those of us growing older by the day. It is a curious analysis that derides a game because of the age of those who watch it rather than the talent of those who play it. Such nonsense is rarely addressed because those who have had actual experience of old age are likely to be too dead, or too weary, or too wise to state the obvious.The man on the mobility scooter seemed to have got it about right as Somerset’s batsmen went about their business. “Their spinners look more dangerous than ours,” he observed before careering off under the stand at a speed that might have been pushing it in M5 roadworks.Hampshire’s James Vince had thwarted Somerset at Taunton a month ago by batting throughout the final day for an unbeaten double century, an innings of great responsibility which nevertheless was followed by the loss of his England place.But this surface had a better balance, showing some signs of wear late in the game, and by enforcing the follow-on, with a first-innings lead of 258, Somerset’s young skipper Tom Abell had risked a fourth innings chase against the turning ball, with both Matt Carter and Samit Patel carrying a growing threat.Suitably, it was Abell, though, who saw Somerset home in a spritely post-tea stand of 87 in only 17 overs with Steven Davies for the fifth wicket. Marcus Trescothick, the Grand Old Man, recovering from injury, had been following the final throes on the Somerset chat forum, and announced to all and sundry with nine still needed that he was going for a cider: nothing like beating the rush. As for Abell, he has matured impressively into a captaincy that last season asked so much of him that it might have broken lesser individuals.Matt Renshaw also bade farewell to Taunton with another accomplished innings, following up his first-innings century with an accomplished 61 before Carter had him caught at slip, pushing forward. Nobody has made more first-class runs than Renshaw in 2018 and Somerset have benefited hugely from the ball-tampering tomfoolery which saw him step in as an emergency replacement for his fellow Australian, Cameron Bancroft: sandpaper boy replaced by the polished kid, a player who might soon replace him in Australia’s Test side.Renshaw does have three away Championship matches left before the departs for an Australia A tour of India and it is here, beginning with matches against fellow title contenders Surrey and Essex, that the season will reach a critical point. Whether Somerset are capable of finally winning that first title will be a lot clearer then.It took an hour for Somerset to dislodge Nottinghamshire’s last two wickets, suggesting the target of 248 was eminently achievable. Matthew Milnes was refused a good lbw shout against Renshaw, and Ed Byrom fell to Steven Mullaney, but it all felt like a precursor to the intervention of spin.Renshaw was fortunate, on 42, to clear deep mid-on as Patel bowled with no luck – he also turned past the outside edge on several occasions – but generally he possessed a certainty that insisted while he remained a Somerset victory was inevitable.He certainly goes about matters in a more relaxed fashion than another Australian much treasured in these parts, Justin Langer, whose four seasons at Somerset terrified them into high standards of organisation and discipline; a man with horror movie eyes. Now Australian coach, he would do well to look at Renshaw, although Renshaw would be well advised not to look straight back.George Bartlett batted with some panache in a second-wicket stand of 96 in 28 overs, but Carter bowled him off his bat and boot as he attempted a forcing shot to leg and then added a third wicket on the stroke of tea when he had James Hildreth caught at short leg – a wicket that Patel might have felt he deserved as he beat the outside edge more than once and would have had him lbw were it not for a faint edge. At 163 for 4, with 85 still needed, the game was far from settled.The manner in which Abell and Davies came out after tea suggests a county high on confidence, planning and spirit, rattling on at a run a ball. Three consummate boundaries in an over from Abell broke the game. The man on the mobility scooter was nowhere to be seen, but it is a fair assumption that he careered home happy.

The top two ODI teams in the world will look to this series to sort out any issues ahead of next year’s World Cup

The Preview by Varun Shetty11-Jul-2018

Big Picture

If England’s long-term ODI project needed one last tryout ahead of next year’s World Cup, there can hardly be a better dress rehearsal than facing cricket’s other formidable ODI team at home. There’s a plethora of staggering batting and bowling numbers around both England and India, but the larger picture is that this is a contest between No. 1 and No. 2, with the possibility that those positions could be either one’s by the end of the series.For now, it is England, with their explosive openers and robust middle order who come in as the better-ranked side. They have lost only four of the 21 ODIs they have played in the last 12 months, with the most recent string of those wins coming in the 5-0 thrashing they handed to Australia.Those would be grounds to be favourites against any other team, but as the T20I series – with largely the same players – showed, the competition is likely to be neck to neck and winning will depend on how the teams maneuver crucial short phases, the kind that are expected to belong to match-winners.And there’s no shortage of those on either side. England’s batting depth narrowly edges India, but the visitors have their bowling sorted more than the hosts, as evidenced in their domineering series wins against South Africa in the limited-overs series earlier this year.On flat surfaces, both these teams can be destructive. What will we see when they take on each other on England’s characteristically flat surfaces? One can only predict that whatever it is, it won’t be dull. What’s more? We’re back to Trent Bridge, where England scored a record-breaking 481 less than a month ago.

Form guide

England WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WWLWW

In the spotlight

Virat Kohli is rarely outside of the spotlight, but there is tremendous significance in this tour for him on a personal front. While his numbers in England are up there – an average of 52.46 in 19 games – he hasn’t done well against England in the country – an average of 32.33 in 10 games. You’d bet on him doing better than that average considering his three centuries in six innings this year, but there is the possibility that India could look to solve their No. 4 dilemma by dropping their captain into that slot like they had during the T20s. In ODIs, he last batted there in October 2015: will Kohli risk that move in his pursuit to win every session of the tour?Jonny Bairstow has made a century against every team he has faced this year, and is currently top of the charts with 864 runs in 16 innings. His opening partner, Jason Roy, has made three ODI hundreds this year and is the only other international batsman to make more than 700 runs in the format. Both of them have been striking at greater than 100, and have struck a combined 174 fours and 45 sixes between them. With Jasprit Bumrah out of the ODI series and Bhuvneshwar Kumar battling a stiff back, how the openers do against India’s inexperienced pace line-up can set the tone for how the middle order tackles the wristspinners.Virat Kohli and Eoin Morgan pose with the trophy•Getty Images

Team news

Ben Stokes is expected to come straight back into the England XI after missing the Australia series. Alex Hales should make way for him, especially given he has injured his side. Dawid Malan was called up as Hales’ cover, and his availability will be reviewed on a game-by-game basis.*England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood/Jake BallBhuvneshwar Kumar is doubtful for the opening ODI after he was rested for the final T20I in Bristol due to a back injury. He went to the ground on a day of optional training but did not participate in any warm-up exercises or net sessions. Rohit Sharma said that Bhuvneshwar was “fine” but a final decision would only be taken on match day. Siddarth Kaul, who had a hit in the nets, could take Bhuvneshwar’s place and accompany Umesh Yadav in the pace attack.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 KL Rahul, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik/Suresh Raina, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Siddarth Kaul, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch conditions

The temperature continues to stay in the early twenties. It’s the middle of a long, dry summer in England and there are no signs that it will end tomorrow. It should suit perfectly for a run-fest on the same ground that produced the highest ODI score last month, even though the same strip is not going be used.

Stats and trivia

• England have a win-loss record of 46-19 since the 2015 World Cup; India are the only team that comes close, with a 39-19 record in the same period
• MS Dhoni is 33 runs away from 10,000 ODI runs

Quotes

“India have been a really strong team in this format for a long time. They won last time they came over here. I know it was a very different side they played against but it is a really good marker to see where we’re at.”
“When you’re playing on pitches like this, you want to bat second. This team likes chasing down targets. I’m sure England would like the same. We’ve noticed the last series they played here, it was high scoring. This very ground was where they scored 480 runs. I’m expecting nothing less than a high-scoring series.”
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Slow over rates – a cause for delayed matches – will lead to a net run rate penalty, affecting a team’s chances of progressing in the league

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2018The CPL is set to undergo two major changes in its playing conditions this year. Slow over rates – a cause for delayed matches – will be dealt with severely, as teams failing to bowl their overs within the allotted time frame will be given a net run rate penalty, affecting their chances of progressing in the league.The stipulated time to complete 20 overs in the CPL is 85 minutes, plus any additional time the umpires deem fit due to delays in play. Should a team fall short by one over, a deduction of 0.05 from their net run rate will be the resultant penalty. For every additional over the team falls short of completing, they will face a penalty deduction of 0.10 from their net run rate.The other amendment in playing rules is the introduction of a coin toss to decide which team bats first in the event of a Super Over. Earlier, the team that batted second in a tied match would automatically be the one to bat first in the Super Over.”We work hard each year to ensure that playing conditions are making the competition as fair as possible while also keeping the spectators and viewers at home entertained. We feel both of these changes will help with both of these goals,” Michael Hall, the tournament operations director for CPL, said.The CPL commences on August 8, with trophy holders Trinbago Knight Riders taking on St Lucia Stars in Port-of-Spain. The final will be played on September 16 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad.