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Chris Rogers returned to haunt Gloucestershire as Middlesex stole a crucial march in the race for a Clydesdale Bank 40 semi-final place.

22-Jul-2012
ScorecardChris Rogers scored his first one-day century for Middlesex•Getty Images

Chris Rogers returned to haunt Gloucestershire as Middlesex stole a crucial march in the race for a Clydesdale Bank 40 semi-final place.Needing victory to take charge of Group A, Gloucestershire instead suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival, a result which casts doubt over their qualification hopes.So often a thorn in Gloucestershire’s side during four seasons spent with Derbyshire, Rogers, the 34-year-old Western Australian, dominated proceedings at the College Ground, clubbing his way to a consummate hundred and sharing in a match-winning unbroken stand of 218 with Dawid Malan as Middlesex chased down a victory target of 215 with 9.3 overs to spare. The result saw them move above Netherlands to assume leadership of the group.None of Gloucestershire’s bowlers was spared as Rogers made 122 runs from 102 balls to register his first one-day century for Middlesex, smashing 18 fours and a six in the process. Malan proved equally uncompromising, cutting and pulling his way to a chanceless 89 from 81 deliveries with seven fours and four sixes to put Middlesex in control of the group.Rogers and Malan’s partnership was the highest for the first wicket in any one-day match for Middlesex, surpassing the 210 posted by Paul Weekes and Ed Smith against Northumberland at Jesmond in 2005.Insufficient though it was, Gloucestershire’s total of 214 for 8 was built around Dan Housego’s enterprising innings of 68 from 67 balls. Having spent four years on the staff at Middlesex without playing a single one-day game for them, Housego, a 23-year-old right-hander, no doubt felt he had a point to prove.His decision to leave Lord’s and return to Gloucestershire several years after graduating from their Academy has at long last afforded him an opportunity to establish himself as a regular selection in all forms of the game. Highly motivated, Housego certainly enhanced his burgeoning reputation on a two-paced Cheltenham pitch, timing the ball impressively during stands of 67 in 14 overs with Benny Howell and 60 in seven overs with Alex Gidman for the third and fourth wickets respectively.He helped Gloucestershire rebuild their innings following the early loss of New Zealanders Hamish Marshall and Rob Nicol and then accelerated on his way to a CB40-best score, aided by seven fours and a huge six over extra cover off Irish leg-break bowler Paul Stirling.Gidman proved even more destructive, twice hoisting Neil Dexter over mid-wicket for big sixes in a whirlwind knock of 27 from 23 balls that had a 4,000-plus crowd on their feet. But Gidman skied a catch to square leg off Gareth Berg and Housego departed soon afterwards, held at long-on in the act of driving Stirling to leave the score on 153 for 5 in the 30th over.Ian Cockbain and Ed Young picked up the cudgels in a stand of 48 in six overs for the sixth wicket, but the home side’s progress again faltered in the face of some accurate and hostile bowling at the death from England star Steven Finn and fellow paceman Tony Roland-Jones.Having accounted for overseas debutant Nicol with the new ball, Finn returned to clean bowl Young for 19, finishing with 2 for 27 from eight overs, while Roland-Jones dismissed Cockbain for 31 and Jon Batty in similar fashion to return figures of 3 for 24 and outshine his more illustrious team-mate.

Former Nottinghamshire seamer Jack Blatherwick also joins Lancashire

George Dobell13-Nov-2020Luke Wells has signed for Lancashire on a two-year deal.Wells, a top-order batsman who was tipped for England recognition not so long ago and has 18 first-class hundreds to his name, was somewhat surprisingly released by Sussex at the end of the season.Wells finished the 2017 season as the club’s highest County Championship run-scorer, averaging 64.60 in the competition that year. But he was unable to sustain such form over the next couple of seasons – he averaged in the mid-20s – and was not selected for a single Bob Willis Trophy match in 2020, with Sussex picking a developmental side. Having hardly played limited-overs cricket in recent years – he averages 11.60 in the List A game and just 3.60 in T20 – Wells found his old-school, obdurate style of batting a little out of a fashion at Hove.For Lancashire, however, that may be just what is required. While the club gained promotion back into the Championship’s top division at the end of 2019, they could not manage a single first-class century in 2020 and finished third in the North Group of the Bob Willis Trophy.The scheduling of the Hundred could also favour him. With the tournament set to be played at the same time as the domestic List A competition, he could well have another opportunity to impress in the white-ball game. There was a time, not so long ago, when his legspin was seen as a useful tool in limited-overs cricket; in the 2018 season, only four men bowled more deliveries for Sussex in the Royal London One-Day Cup.”Luke’s record in first-class cricket speaks for itself,” said Paul Allot, Lancashire’s director of cricket. “He is a skilled batsman who values his wicket and has the ability to bat long periods of time. The opportunity to sign a player of his quality does not come around every day and was one we could not pass up on.”Lancashire have also announced the signing of former Nottinghamshire seamer Jack Blatherwick on a two-year-deal, following the retirement of Graham Onions and with Toby Lester released at the end of the season.Blatherwick played a number of times for England Under-19s in 2017, but struggled for game time at Trent Bridge, making only five first-team appearances.

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, has said his playing career looks to be over

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2012Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, has said his playing career looks to be over. Gilchrist, who retired from international cricket in 2008, captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL title in 2009 and took over the leadership of Kings XI in 2011. The defeat against Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala on Saturday, he said, was his last game, and added he would consider a full-time coaching role with Kings XI if offered; he’d been carrying the dual responsibility of captain and coach/mentor this season.”I would say I’ve played my last game of cricket just there,” Gilchrist said after the match. “I’ll go away and have a think about it and talk to the franchise. If the franchise is still keen to keep me involved as coach, which is a role I’ve really enjoyed, I find that I still enjoy being around the group. To be honest I didn’t miss the cricket that much.”I loved the fact that I could play the last couple of games, but I didn’t have the horrible desire that I was missing out. There isn’t that fire burning in my belly quite like it used to. I have to think about it but I just feel I won’t be playing.”Kings XI were shut out of contention for a place in the playoffs after they were beaten in their final league game by Daredevils. Gilchrist missed nearly a month of the IPL action this season due to a hamstring injury. “To miss the playoffs was disappointing. But there were some positives, especially the performance of some of the domestic players. Mandeep Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Parvinder Awana… They’ve all done well and the exciting thing is that there’s still scope for them to learn, improve, develop and make that adjustment to the next level.”Gilchrist has played 67 IPL games, scoring 1775 runs at 27.73 and a strike-rate of 140.20. He’s scored two centuries and 10 fifties. Of his IPL experience, Gilchrist said: “The IPL will feature prominently in my memories of cricket. To come with a team that was last the previous year and win the title was very special (Deccan Chargers). One of the great memories of my cricket career was at this ground last year — that partnership (206 against Royal Challengers Bangalore) with Shaun (Marsh). So yeah, it has been a great experience.”

Given the short-term IPL franchise deals on offer, the BCCI authorities are looking to lay down bidder-friendly conditions to help the bidders recover as much money as they have invested

Amol Karhadkar18-Oct-20151:44

Kalra: Will investors be interested in short-term bids?

After considering a variety of options, the BCCI has finally identified the road ahead for the next two seasons of the IPL at its working committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. Bids have been invited for two new teams but they will be in existence only for the next two years. IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla confirmed the new teams will make way for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals when their suspension ends in 2018. Shukla though was noncommittal about whether the IPL will be a 10-team or an eight-team competition from 2018.”The working committee had made four recommendations, out of which one recommendation has been accepted by the committee,” Shukla said. “That the two vacant spots should be auctioned for two years. After two years we will decide whether we should go for two more franchises or we should confine ourselves to eight teams only.”However, given the short-term deals on offer, questions are already being raise over whether investors will be interested although BCCI authorities are confident that they will lay down bidder-friendly conditions to help them recover as much money as they have invested. As an incentive to the bidders, the BCCI is also likely to recommend that 12 players from the suspended franchises be split between the two new teams before the player auction.While the BCCI statement issued after Sunday’s working committee meeting did not elaborate on the specifics of the new bidding process, Shukla said details like the base price for the bids and the cities that can be bid for will be worked out over the next three weeks and finalised at the AGM on November 9.”The tender document will be prepared and it will be approved in the AGM on November 9. And then the tenders will be released,” Shukla said, adding that the bidders will have the final choice on which city they want to represent. “Whoever is the highest bidder will get the franchise and it is up to them to decide which city they prefer.”Ahmedabad, the adopted home of Rajasthan Royals, is out of contention as a host city since the Motera stadium, the home of top-flight cricket in the city, is being renovated. Jaipur, the original home of Royals, is unlikely to be included in the list of eligible cities since the Rajasthan Cricket Association remains suspended by the BCCI. Chennai’s fate will depend on the outcome of the Chennai Super Kings owners’ litigation against the two-year suspension.Shukla said that the interest of players from both the suspended franchises “will be protected”, but didn’t elaborate on it. ESPNcricinfo understands that the players contracted with the two will be put into the annual auction pool after six players from each are allotted to the new owners on the basis of lots. The BCCI feels such a move would ensure balance of the two new teams and ensure star appeal for both to allow the new owners to recover their money in a short period.The remaining 35-odd players will be put into the auction pool and will be up for grabs for all eight franchises. However, it is understood that the BCCI will ensure that all the players who were on the suspended franchises’ roster in 2015 will be available to them once again when the suspension lifts in 2018.This means that the big auction scheduled for 2017 could be pushed back by a year to 2018, when the two new teams are scheduled to make way for Super Kings and Royals.While the base price for the franchise bids is being worked out, according to an IPL insider, it will be “much lower” than in 2010 when two new teams were inducted at a high price. “We will try and ensure that the new owners will recover the money they put into the IPL for two teams,” he said.At the inception of IPL, the base price for teams was $50 million. While the ownership was in perpetuity, the franchise fees were fixed for 10 years. In 2010, the base price rose to $225 million for a ten-year period. However, in 2012, when Deccan Chargers was resold to Sun TV’s owners for five years, it was sold at Rs 86 crore per year, less than a half of the 2010 base price.

Another lbw decision for South Africa’s Alviro Petersen has brought whispers at Glamorgan, his previous county, that his vulnerability has been exposed. After a rain-hit draw between Yorkshire and Essex, England’s bowlers will take note.

David Hopps at Headingley22-Apr-2012
ScorecardAlviro Petersen in action for Glamorgan last year. His old county think he is especially vulnerable to being lbw•PA Photos

Sometimes patterns can be discerned in the most rain-hit of matches. Another lbw decision for Essex’s South African Alviro Petersen encouraged whispers from his former club, Glamorgan, that his record proves he is particularly vulnerable to this mode of dismissal: England seam bowlers will take note.After all the grumblings about how the counties are allowing South African players to warm up before the Test series, few stop to consider that any bowlers worth their salt will be passing their findings around the county circuit. Petersen might not be batting himself out of form, but playing himself out of the series.Yorkshire lived up to their promise of a positive approach to their cricket this season by setting Essex a generous target on the final day of the Division Two championship match at Headingley only for the game to peter out into a draw because of rain.Yorkshire’s captain, Andrew Gale, asked Essex to make 262 in 74 overs and they were soon struggling as Ajmal Shahzad fired out openers Billy Godleman and Petersen lbw with only seven scored. Petersen, according to sources at Glamorgan, his county last season, is vulnerable to lbw decisions — England seam bowlers will take note.At 26 for two in 11 overs, heavy rain began to fall and a couple of hours later the game was abandoned as a draw. Yorkshire could talk contentedly of how an enterprising declaration was influenced by their new coach, Jason Gillespie, but it all lacked substance as the miserable April weather continued.Shahzad showed more consistency than in a first innings where ill luck had been matched with wayward moments. He had Petersen lbw well back in his crease then in his next over removed Godleman in identical fashion.Yorkshire entered the final day on 144 for two, leading by 191, and Essex claimed a wicket off the first ball as Joe Sayers aimed a cut at David Masters and was caught behind for 45 off 127 balls with five fours. It was no bad thing Sayers had scored 45 from 45 overs the previous evening, excessive caution, however much one might talk of anchor roles, confidence-building innings and stability.Gale and Jonny Bairstow showed more enterprise as Yorkshire added 70 in 12 rain-interrupted overs. After including three boundaries in his 24, Bairstow hit a ball from Smith to Adam Wheater at deep square leg and Gale would have departed for 31 had the substitute fielder, Charl Willoughby, held a straight forward chance at long-off. Gale had reached 48 from 52 balls with two fours and two sixes when he declared.

Original tour had to be postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak in March

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2020England’s cricketers will play two Tests behind closed doors in Galle in January, following a period of quarantine in Hambantota, after the schedule for their rearranged tour of Sri Lanka was confirmed by the ECB on Wednesday.The tour, which is England’s penultimate series in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, had to be postponed in March following the escalation of the Covid-19 outbreak, which caused the abandonment of that original tour midway through England’s warm-up game in Colombo.The details of the rearranged trip, for which bio-security and travel protocols have been agreed, was subject to some speculation in recent weeks, with the ECB having to postpone their original confirmation of the arrangements on December 2 due to the need for further ratification from Sri Lanka’s ministry of health and Sri Lanka Cricket.The squad will arrive in Sri Lanka on January 2, on a chartered flight from London to Hambantota in the south of the island, where they will be permitted to train and prepare for five days from January 5-9 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.ALSO READ: England cleared to fly home from SA after confirmation of false positivesThe first Test will take place between January 14-18, with the second Test following on January 22-26 before the squad departs from Hambantota the following day.England’s Test squad is expected to be confirmed in the coming days, and comes in the wake of the abandonment of England’s white-ball tour of South Africa, due to concerns about the bio-secure integrity of the team hotel in Cape Town.One absentee from the squad may prove to be Rory Burns, who indicated in an interview last week that he may skip the tour to attend the birth of his first child. Jonny Bairstow, who last played a Test in South Africa 12 months ago, is a likely inclusion, having already withdrawn from his BBL deal with Melbourne Stars.Jofra Archer is another player who may be rested from the Sri Lanka series, having spent most of the preceding five months in bio-secure environments during the English summer, the IPL and the T20I leg of the South Africa tour, while Ollie Pope’s availability is unclear following an operation on his shoulder.Speaking in the wake of the South Africa tour abandonment, Ashley Giles, England’s team director, re-iterated that player welfare was the board’s primary concern in the current climate, adding that mental health screening would be factored into forthcoming selections, with a tour of India also coming up in February and March before the impending return of the English season and the 2021 IPL.”These are very difficult environments, you are away for long periods, it is tough for everyone and those layers of bio-security just add a different level of anxiety,” Giles said.”These guys have been living in bubbles for long periods of time and their mental health and well-being is the absolute priority for us. If we consistently say that’s the most important thing for us, when we’re tested we can’t move away from that.”Sri Lanka are due to arrive in South Africa next week, ahead of the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. With the tour due to finish in Johannesburg on January 7, only a week before the first Test against England, officials at SLC are understood to be concerned about the implications if a Covid outbreak does impact on the England visit, which is vital to the board’s finances.However, an ECB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo that there had been no consideration given to an extended quarantine period between the two tours.The series will be the first international cricket staged in Sri Lanka since West Indies toured in March 2020. Bangladesh had been due to travel for a three-Test series, but the tour was repeatedly postponed.England in Sri Lanka, fixtures:1st Test: January 14-18
2nd Test: January 22-26

Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron has been elected president of the WICB, after he beat the incumbent Julian Hunte 7-5 during the board’s annual general meeting in Barbados

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2013Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron has been elected president of the WICB, after he beat the incumbent Julian Hunte 7-5 during the board’s annual general meeting in Barbados. Cameron’s running mate, Emmanuel Nanthan of Dominica, is the new vice-president; he beat Barbados Cricket Association president Joel Garner 8-4 in the election.Cameron, 42, was nominated by the Jamaica Cricket Association and seconded by the Windward Cricket Board. He has been a WICB director since 2002 and served as vice-president during Hunte’s tenure as president, which began in 2007.”It was a long process and I travelled the length and breadth of the Caribbean, from Kingston, Jamaica to Georgetown, Guyana to be able to address the concerns of our stakeholders,” Cameron said after his election. “As we take over the reins of the WICB, we assume responsibility with very lofty goals in our minds and the understanding of the reason we are here and what everybody in the region is looking forward to us being able to accomplish.”In my presentations to the territorial boards, I spoke about building on our immense talent, increasing the revenues in the sport and, above all, uniting the region through the game of cricket. We must find creative ways of dealing with the challenges that will confront us from time to time.”Nanthan joined Cameron in thanking outgoing president Hunte for his services to West Indies cricket over the last six years. “He is my friend and has been for a number of years,” Nanthan said of Hunte. “He is to me a hero, coming from the Windward Islands, and I am proud of the way he presided over the WICB during a difficult time and now the baton has been passed on.”I am fortunate to be part of the new team chosen to advance the development of West Indies cricket. In accepting the baton, what I believe we are offering are two fresh pairs of legs to continue the work, so that one day we too can pass on the baton to someone else to take the game that we all love and cherish further forward in this region.”To be able to begin this work, it will be incumbent on us to reach out to every nook and cranny in the region including the private sector to rally with us. It is not about the past, nor who won and lost this election, but bringing the people of the region together, mobilisation and strengthening behind a common cause. We know the Caribbean well and from time to time we know there will be disagreements, but we plead with the people of the region to agree to disagree with us when this happens so that we can move forward.”

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has said allrounder Thisara Perera could establish himself in the Test side, if he can replicate the bowling form he showed in Saturday’s ODI against Pakistan with more consistency

Sa'adi Thawfeeq10-Jun-2012Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has said allrounder Thisara Perera could establish himself in the Test side, if he can replicate the bowling form he showed in Saturday’s ODI against Pakistan with more consistency.”With the talent he has got and the way he bowled [on Saturday], there’s no doubt he can be a regular Test player,” Ford said. “His work ethic is good and he knows the areas he has to improve on. I am sure, with the many years he has got ahead of him, he will become a very effective Test player.”He is a still a young man and hits the ball extremely hard. He is working harder on his ball-striking ability. [Here] he showed the best control he has shown with the ball since I have been involved with the team. That’s something the bowling coach has worked hard with him upon, and he has got better and better.”If it was Perera’s 6 for 44 that won the match for Sri Lanka, it was Dilshan’s unbeaten 119 off 139 balls that set up the total that allowed Perera to apply pressure on Pakistan. That, Ford said, was a well-paced innings. “What he [Dilshan] did was to work hard through the new ball [phase], and then he was able to capitalise in the later stages of the game.”He worked extremely hard on that knock and that laid the foundation for us to get the total we eventually got. He had to work hard as the Pakistan attack one of the best in world cricket. This one is going to be rated as a special knock in his career.”Sri Lanka had lost the first ODI by six wickets, after scoring 135 for 8 in the rain-affected, shortened game. Following that performance, Ford said, Saturday’s show was commendable.”The cricket that we played was superb. We were obviously down and disappointed with what happened the other day. There was lot of chatting and thinking done during the last two days, and the hats off to the guys for the character they have shown.”

“Sometimes we do feel there’s no sense of purpose if we don’t have competitive cricket or any international series, even domestic”

Annesha Ghosh21-Sep-2020India ODI captain Mithali Raj feels that the national team’s players have been grappling with “anxiety” and a lack of “sense of purpose”. This comes even as the players look for any “competitive cricket or any international series, even domestic for that matter” in the Covid-19-affected world.India, runners-up at the T20 World Cup in Australia that ended in March, have not regrouped since, with the BCCI pulling out of the tour of England in July-August and the country’s Covid-19 caseload now second-highest globally.Besides, although the Indian board had announced that a three-team Women’s T20 Challenge would be held in the UAE between November 1 and 10, ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI is still some way from finalising overseas participants for the competition. The fate of the proposed bilateral series against South Africa and West Indies, too, remains unclear, with the postponement of the 2021 ODI World Cup further shoving India women’s international calendar into uncertainty.”There’s been this anxiety about what’s the future, what the future tournaments are because right now we don’t know for what we’re training,” Raj told moderator Lisa Sthalekar during an ICC virtual discussion. “There needs to be a purpose. Before, we used to plan for any international series if it is an away-going [tour], so players would accordingly prepare. And if it’s a home series we prepared accordingly, but now we don’t know why we train.”So, sometimes we do feel there’s no sense of purpose if we don’t have competitive cricket or any international series, even domestic for that matter.”Having retired from T20Is in September last year, Raj’s last international appearance came in November during the ODI series against hosts West Indies. She was due to play the knockouts of the inter-state senior women’s one-day league for her domestic side Railways in late-March but the Covid-19 pandemic put paid to that.While top-level women’s international cricket will return on Monday – hosts England take on West Indies in the first of five T20Is in Derby – Raj said that resumption of training has thrown up new challenges for the Indians.”But one positive is that things are slowly improving in terms of access to the facilities; but again, there are a few changes in terms of all the training facilities work on time slots. Like, earlier, we would just walk in and start batting and we would have some good 10-15 net bowlers and we could bat for one to two hours,” she said. “But, now, you have to go in during the time slot you’re given, and maybe the net bowlers are reduced to just two or three of them. So these are the changes as current players we’re accepting. But I think [we’re] having an optimism that at some point we’ll have matches, and that’s why all of us are still into our fitness training trying to keep up to the standards before we were in the lockdown.”As such, women’s cricket in India has had several issues since the end of the T20 World Cup. The national team has been without a selection committee since the world tournament, the competition also officially marking the end of their long-time manager Trupti Bhattacharya’s tenure. Saba Karim’s departure as the board’s general manager (cricket operations) in July further meant India women are without both an administrative as well as a managerial pointsperson. The tenure of their head coach, WV Raman, who was appointed on a two-year contract in December 2018, is also nearing its close.Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana pose before the 2019 edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge•PTI

While the announcement of the T20 Challenge in August promised game-time for both the centrally contracted players as well as many others, it ruled out at least four top-flight India internationals from the upcoming Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. By extension, the availability of several international stars, especially those from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England, for the T20 Challenge has been rendered close to impossible.When asked if India’s contracted players had concerns over the seclusion that life in a biosecure bubble brings with it, Raj said that flexibility and looking after the inexperienced crop of players, including Shafali Verma, is the need of the hour.ALSO READ: Cricket for some, not for all – where does the women’s game stand?“Since we are contracted players, that’s our job, so being in the biobubble – if that’s what gets us going in terms of the matches – I think as players we are okay with being in the bubble and training and preparing ourselves for the game. Somewhere we need to do a little bit of adjustments to get the matches going,” Raj said. “As far as the mental set-up is concerned, we did have a few sessions with a sports psychologist: talking to the players, as a team [too], we were on calls. Those things do help [because] as seasoned, as senior players we understand how to tune ourselves. But the most important thing in the current situation is the young players or the players who are in the age-groups, who’ve just made their debut. For them it’s even more important to settle their anxieties and anxiousness they develop thinking about their future.”If you’re a young player, you’d definitely want to know, ‘I just made it into the Indian team; what’s the next opportunity I will get?’ These are questions that the young players usually go through. Not everyone still has access to training facilities… Again, how do you prep such young players? That’s where the support staff and sports psychologist and come into play, to give them a lot of positivity and keep their hopes us [so that] they keep training.”Raj said while logistical challenges facing the BCCI remain a concern as far as ensuring playing time for its women cricketers go, physical reassembly of the players is paramount to ensuring India Women’s return to action.”I believe so [that things need to be changing]. We do have regular calls with the BCCI officials to see what we can plan in the future. Then again, a lot of these itineraries depend on the situation in the country. Like, in India, there are still a lot of cases; we are actually on the rise in terms of cases, so it’s very difficult for the board to again get the girls going because all of us come from different parts of the country and there are some amount of risks involved in travelling.”Getting so many girls to have a camp is something the BCCI is looking into, trying to organise if they can. It may be a series or some sort of a camp in terms of fitness, so that the girls regroup again. It is very important; I understand that’s there’s been a good four or five months’ gap since the T20 World Cup in March and now we’re into September.”We have been in touch with the support staff and players on calls. But we sort of gel only when we meet. And I’ve seen that the WBBL is happening on time, but with some rules and regulations which is paramount. West Indies are in England for a series. Let’s see how these things get on. Probably that will give us some idea of organising an international series in the coming months for India.”

With four Sheffield Shield matches over the next month, Labuschagne is looking forward to getting back in the groove

Daniel Brettig07-Oct-2020If Marnus Labuschagne’s conscious mind will be grappling with the likes of Peter Siddle, Riley Meredith and Jackson Bird in the opening Sheffield Shield round from Saturday in Adelaide, his deeper thoughts have already turned to how India’s pacemen will seek to end the golden run he has enjoyed in Test matches since last year’s Ashes series.While Labuschagne has played one Test against India, batting No. 3 at the SCG in January 2019, that match arrived before his blooming as an international batman after taking full advantage of the county cricket finishing school with Glamorgan later that year. Since then, Labuschagne has cracked 1249 runs in nine Tests at 83.26, with four centuries, to sit third on the ICC rankings.Those performances have not only seen Labuschagne elbow his way into Australia’s ODI team, meaning he travelled to England for the brief recent limited-overs tour, but also placed an outsized target on his back for bowlers across Australia and around the world. Shield jousting, with four matches to be played, will give Labuschagne the chance to get into the sort of groove he occupied before memorably entering the Ashes as a concussion substitute for Steven Smith at Lord’s and never looking back.ALSO READ: Mitchell Swepson: ‘I loved being thrown the ball to win the game for the team’“For me personally it’s about getting better and coming up with really trying to think about how they’re going to attack me, what they will do to try to get me out and how I will counter that. If I keep trying to do the same thing, I think fundamentally the same thing is going to work, but you want to make sure there’s going to be new ideas and new plans,” Labuschagne said. “If that’s the short ball or if that’s having a few more catchers on the leg side or hanging it wider on the off side, whatever their plans are going to be.”I think it’s important as a cricketer that you’re one step ahead and you’re trying to understand what they’re going to do and how they’re going to attack you. I love the contest – I want to score runs and they want to get me out. [Shield sides] are going to come up with plans, they’ve played against me for the last four years and they understand how I play, so they’re going to come prepared and I think that’s the exciting part, you have to be one step ahead and be really clear on how you want to play the game.”A hyperactive character at the best of times, Labuschagne’s hotel room confinement in England and then Adelaide upon the squad’s return has seen him wake up early to watch plenty of IPL fixtures, as he began to think about the prospect of dealing with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, to name two.Marnus Labuschagne pulls behind square•Getty Images

“I think you’re subconsciously thinking about it, thinking about how their bowlers bowl, especially now you’re locked in and you watch a bit of the IPL in the morning and you look at how their bowlers are bowling,” Labuschagne said. “It kind of makes you think about what they’ll do, how Bumrah will bowl, what Shami will do, what those guys will do. Maybe it’s more of a subconscious thing, so you’re not necessarily thinking about it directly, but it’s turning over in the background, what you might do, what plans they might have for you.There had been concerns that the Shield would be drastically cut back or even shelved amid the difficulties created by Covid-19, but Cricket Australia’s staging of the early rounds of the season in Adelaide, at venues including Glenelg Oval and Karen Rolton Oval, will be highly valuable for the likes of Labuschagne and also the Test captain Tim Paine, who will lead Tasmania against the Bulls from Saturday. It’s a contrast to the lead-up for players taking part in the IPL, who will likely get just one red-ball game in Australia before the Tests begin.”I’m a big fan of the four games in a row,” Labuschagne said. “I think that’s really helpful for that momentum and rhythm with your batting. You actually get to play game time continuously. That really helps and aids that development and that ability to keep scoring runs. Hopefully that can propel you into a really good Test summer. You’ve just got to take it a game at a time. You can’t get too distracted and too ahead of yourself and trying to build momentum.”I definitely think it’s slightly harder [coming back from the IPL] but we’re so used to it nowadays being able to change format to format. It might take them a couple of training sessions to get the feel of it, but I think it will turn over pretty quick and guys will get into the rhythm of things very quickly. That’s the nature of games these days. The schedule is so cramped, there’s so much cricket on you have to be able to shift from white ball to red ball and red ball to white ball simultaneously.”As for tackling the fishbowl existence of biosecure hubs at home and away, Labuschagne admitted some days were easier than others. “Any day I get out and get to go train is a good day. Hit balls, catch some balls in slips or have a bowl, I think they’re the really enjoyable days for me,” he said. “I think some of the tougher days are when we weren’t allowed out for the whole day, they were tough, you’re in your room and doing different things but you can’t get out and about and move around.”There was no fresh air or outside so you almost got a bit claustrophobic sometimes. But all in all we were very lucky with our quarantine in Adelaide, they were very good to us, and we were lucky enough to keep training and doing gym and running and those sorts of things. I’ve tried to listen to a fair few podcasts. I’ve been listening to a few of Joe Rogan’s podcasts, must try to keep yourself occupied to be able to learn. That’s what I tried to do in isolation and a bit of gym. I’ve got a heap of gym equipment that I travelled with so I’m doing a bit of gym in my room and things like that.”