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South Australia went from struggling to avoid the follow-on to putting late pressure on NSW thanks to key performances from Alex Carey, Wes Agar and Brendan Doggett

AAP02-Nov-2022South Australia have pried the door open for a potential Sheffield Shield comeback against NSW, claiming three late wickets before stumps on day three to keep all results alive.Struggling to avoid the follow-on at one stage when they slumped to 8 for 229 in reply to NSW’s 5 for 389 declared, the Redbacks managed to scramble their way to 311.Wes Agar then struck twice and Nathan McAndrew once to leave NSW 3 for 35 at stumps, still with a lead of 113 and with both teams able to press for a win heading into the final day.Ultimately NSW were left to rue Moises Henriques putting Brendan Doggett down at first slip on two before he made 49 as part of an 80-run ninth-wicket stand with Ben Manenti. At that point the Redbacks still needed 6 runs to avoid the follow-on.”It could have gone either way, that gets taken and who knows where we are this afternoon,” Doggett said. “But we managed to make the most of the situation and get ourselves in the position to win this game.”The late revival will also have put a smile back on captain Travis Head’s face, after his lean run to start the summer continued in Wollongong. He was caught at first slip for 8 on Wednesday when he swung hard at a wide ball from Liam Hatcher and toed it to Henriques.It means the Test incumbent’s run of scores to start the Shield this summer stands at 76, 6, 5, 0 and 8, while also failing to pass 50 in three one-day games.Head has credits in the bank and is by no means under pressure to hold his spot for Australia’s first Test against West Indies in Perth on November 30.The left-hander was player of the season in last summer’s Ashes win, hitting two centuries and averaging 59.5 while batting at No.5. But he would no doubt like to find some runs before the start of this summer’s Tests, after also enduring tough tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier this year.Head will either feature in up to two more Shield games before the first Test or potentially link up with Australia’s 50-over team for a three-match series against England.After Head fell in the midst of a collapse of 4 for 56, Alex Carey looked superb for SA, cover-driving Liam Hatcher for four three times in one over before going caught behind trying to hook the quick.Agar had earlier provided the morning spark for the Redbacks as nightwatchman with his maiden first-class half-century, before he swept Nathan Lyon to a man in the deep on 57.

Ash Gardner: “We are really confident of being able to set any type of score and chase any down”

Andrew McGlashan07-Jul-2022Australia will look to push their boundaries in the T20 game with the format dominating the schedule over the next eight months, starting with the historic Commonwealth Games appearance at the end of July then building towards the defence of their T20 World Cup in South Africa in February 2023.The team, under new interim head coach Shelley Nitschke following Matthew Mott’s departure for the England men’s white-ball job, get back on the road next week when they head to Ireland for a tri-series involving the hosts and Pakistan which will provide preparation for the Games in Birmingham.While there has been significant change in the coaching staff – Ben Sawyer has also moved to coach New Zealand – the playing group remains the same as the one which secured the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. Australia’s dominant performances in that competition, where they went unbeaten and capped it off by scoring 356 for 5 in the final against England, were another example of how they have pushed themselves to new levels and it’s something they want to continue.Related

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“We’ve certainly spoken about it,” allrounder Ashleigh Gardner told ESPNcricinfo. “We haven’t really come to conclusions on what that total is that we are looking at, but I think 160 in most games, five or six years ago, would win you pretty much every match, where now because the women’s game has grown so much, 160 is a good total but it’s also chaseable.”I think we are probably looking at that as a minimum then if we try to push the boat out for 180 and be really clear how we want to chase those totals as well. With the side we have, we are really confident of being able to set any type of score and chase any down.”Shelley Nitschke has taken over the head coach role from Matthew Mott, but Australia’s overall philosophy is unlikely to change too much•Getty Images

Since January 2018, Australia have an average scoring rate of 8.37 when batting first in T20Is (which for a full 20 overs would equate to 167) while overall their figure is 7.90 runs per over. They twice scored 226 in that period (against England and Sri Lanka) and in the last T20 World Cup final they made 184 for 4 against India, but perhaps just as significant was their chase in the first Ashes T20I against England in January when they hunted down 170 with three overs to spare.”It’s something we have spoken about as a group and also within our skill groups as well, in terms of how do we get that little bit better and push the boundaries that little bit more than we have in the past,” captain Meg Lanning said. “We have got a couple of things we have been working on both as a team and individually as well.”It is going to look and feel slightly different with Shell in charge as opposed to Motty. But both [have] similar messaging in terms of how we want to play the game, take the game on, we certainly want to go out there and be aggressive and play with a lot of freedom.”On a personal level, Gardner is looking to tailor her game to the big challenges ahead which is two T20 prizes and the need to rejuvenate Sydney Sixers in the WBBL after missing the finals for the last three seasons.”Within in the Australia set-up it’s more like an enforcer role, whether it’s late in the innings, or to break open the game, or put the icing on it,” she said. “How I execute it each game will be different with the situation, but it’s about just having a really clear and simple mindset in those roles. They are quite challenging at times because people expect a lot of you to score boundaries as soon as you get out there.”The squad has had two training camps in Brisbane leading into heading overseas which has been a chance for everyone to settle in under Nitschke’s watch. A permanent appointment will not be made until later in the year although she remains the favourite.”I know the type of people who will probably apply for the job. Many coaches would want to be associated with our team because of how successful we’ve been and the players in there,” Gardner said. “Shell’s a great candidate as well, I’m really excited for her over this next little period, just being able to be the head coach with no real pressure of those job interviews and things like that. Hopefully we can put on some good displays of cricket for her and showcase what kind of coach she is.”And there’s the chance for a bit of history. “I know [the Commonwealth Games] is not something anyone thought they’d probably ever be involved in,” she said. “It’s going to be quite a cool experience to go over there and be part of Team Australia, and it not just be the cricket world but the whole sporting nation.”

Overton has a hand in ruining both batters’ days but Surrey falter in response to hosts’ 512

ECB Reporters Network27-Sep-2022Keaton Jennings and George Balderson both narrowly missed out on personal landmarks but Lancashire are sitting pretty at the end of a rain-effected day two of this final match of the County Championship against title winners Surrey.Jennings fell agonisingly short of double century after he was dismissed lbw by a brilliant Jamie Overton inswinger for 199 before Balderson was the last man out four runs away from his maiden first-class century.But after reaching 512 in their first innings, Lancashire took five Surrey wickets for 123 to put them firmly in the box seat at a damp Emirates Old Trafford.The day began full of anticipation for Jennings, who needed just 10 runs to reach 200 and become the first Lancashire player to hit three double tons in a season since Frank Watson in 1928. But Overton produced a vicious delivery which swung into Jennings’ pad to leave the opener out for 199 and Lancashire 430 for 6.Balderson, meanwhile, passed his personal-best first-class score of 77, but when Tom Hartley was bowled by an excellent turning delivery from Dan Moriarty for seven, it became clear holding on to partners might be a problem.Hartley was replaced by Tom Bailey whose free-scoring style was easy on the eye but probably not on Balderson’s nerves. When Bailey charged down the wicket and holed out to Kemar Roach at mid on off Moriarty for 22, Balderson was in the 90s with only Will Williams and Matt Parkinson left to help.In the end Williams lasted 15 balls for his seven before edging Cameron Steel to Rory Burns at slip leaving Balderson to decide he couldn’t trust Parkinson as the young allrounder opted instead to try and hit Moriarty out of the ground and succeeded only in finding Overton at deep midwicket for an excellent 97.Moriarty finished with 5 for 163 and Steel 3 for 65 but the spinners’ figures were the only real highlights in a lacklustre bowling display from the visiting champions who are perhaps suffering a little for motivation after last week’s celebrations.Batting for a solitary over before lunch, Surrey continued after the break with Burns and Ryan Patel instantly on the back foot when faced with Bailey’s accurate opening spell.Bailey would claim his 50th wicket of the season soon after when Patel edged to Jennings at second slip for 19 before Burns fell to Will Williams in the next over as the New Zealander got one to jag back and hit the skipper’s off stump.Surrey were 37 for 2 and that quickly became 38 for 3 after Jamie Smith was trapped in front by Bailey who was putting the seal on an excellent season with the ball.The prize dismissal of Hashim Amla came courtesy of Balderson who shrugged off his disappointment at missing out on a century by dismissing the South African for 29 with Jennings pouching another sharp chance at slip.A succession of showers and subsequent breaks late in the day made for an even harder session for Surrey’s batters and Williams struck again when he cleaned bowled Tom Curran for 11.It was left to former Lancashire player Jordan Clarke and Steel to see things through to the end as Surrey closed on 123 for 5 still trailing by 389.

Glenn Maxwell has been suspended for disciplinary reasons for the second time in a year after Victoria sanctioned him for failing to appear at a recovery session following the Bushrangers’ victory against New South Wales on Sunday

Daniel Brettig19-Oct-2015World Cup-winning allrounder Glenn Maxwell has been suspended for disciplinary reasons for the second time in a year after Victoria sanctioned him for failing to appear at a recovery session following the Bushrangers’ victory against New South Wales on Sunday.Like other Cricket Australia-contracted players in Sydney for the Matador Cup, Maxwell was booked in for a day of media duty for rights holders on Monday, and said that he thought he was thus free of any commitments before then. However the Bushrangers’ new coach David Saker insisted Maxwell should have been at the recovery session and duly suspended him from the game against Tasmania on Tuesday. Maxwell will be available for the Elimination final on Friday if the Bushrangers qualify.”I understand that I broke team rules by missing recovery and I have accepted the consequences,” Maxwell said. “It was an oversight on my behalf where I thought I had a free morning before some Australia team commitments. I’m extremely disappointed to be missing a game, but I will continue to do everything possible to help the Bushrangers win the Matador Cup.”Saker said Maxwell’s standing as a senior player in the Bushrangers squad was a factor in his penalty. “We’re disappointed that Glenn let down his teammates and missed a recovery session this morning,” he said. “We have high expectations of all our players and as a senior player, Glenn should be taking a leadership role. As a result he will not be playing in tomorrow’s match against Tasmania.”In July, Maxwell was left out of the team for Yorkshire’s final Twenty20 fixture for behaviour the coach Jason Gillespie described as “unprofessional”. “It was just unprofessional behaviour and I don’t wish to add anything further,” Gillespie had said. “It has been dealt with and we have moved on and the slate is clean. As soon as the decision was made, we cracked on.”Maxwell was a part of the Australian Test squad for the postponed tour of Bangladesh and has hopes of breaking into the five-day team on a more regular basis this summer.

Further setback for England seamer as time runs out to press his Test case

Andrew Miller26-May-2022Ollie Robinson’s hopes of an imminent Test recall have hit another setback, after he was forced to withdraw from the County Select XI to face the touring New Zealanders at Chelmsford on Thursday, having reported stiffness in his back during the pre-match warm-up.Robinson, one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, made his Test debut almost exactly 12 months ago, against New Zealand at Lord’s, where he overcame an off-field furore surrounding his historical offensive tweets to claim seven wickets in the match and cement his status as one of the best English-style seamers in the game.He went on to claim 28 wickets at 19.60 in his maiden home season, and proved that his style could be effective overseas as well with 11 more at 25.54 in England’s Ashes campaign. However, doubts about his fitness began to surface on that tour, and having sat out the Sydney Test, he bowled just 19 overs across two innings in the series finale at Hobart after succumbing to a back spasm.Jon Lewis, England’s bowling coach, called him out following his first-innings breakdown, stating that “we’ve been pretty frank with him. And now it’s up to him to go and do the work.”But, having been selected for England’s three-Test tour of the Caribbean – nominally as the attack leader following the controversial omissions of James Anderson and Stuart Broad – Robinson suffered a recurrence of his back spasm during England’s solitary warm-up in Antigua, and did not play any part in the series.Upon his return to England, the start to Robinson’s county season with Sussex suffered numerous disruptions, including a tooth infection that delayed his first appearance until the visit of Middlesex in early May. Although he impressed with five first-innings wickets, a bout of food poisoning then disrupted his next appearance against Leicestershire at Grace Road.He bowled one over in the first innings, and just seven on the third day, including four overs of offspin. He had a better workout for New Zealand’s subsequent tour game at Hove, bowling 18 economical – albeit wicketless – overs in a rain-affected contest.But, having already been omitted from England’s squad for the first two Tests of the New Zealand tour, and with the Vitality Blast now dominating the county schedules, Robinson now has a solitary Championship game, against Glamorgan in Cardiff from June 12, to press his case for inclusion for the third Test at Headingley, which begins on June 23.”Ollie felt a bit of stiffness in his back while he was warming up this morning before the game,” Richard Dawson, the ECB’s pathways coach who is overseeing this match. “We had a chat and felt as a precaution that it was sensible for him to sit out this match. We’ll assess him and move forward from there.”In his absence, Middlesex’s Ethan Bamber was called into the Select XI squad as cover, and made an appearance in the afternoon session, with the match’s non-first-class status permitting both teams to rotate their players.

Zimbabwe Cricket has signed an eight-year deal with Total Sports Marketing (TSM), a Bangladesh sports marketing agency, to obtain the marketing rights and live television coverage of all of Zimbabwe’s home international matches

Enock Muchinjo19-Aug-2015Zimbabwe Cricket has signed an eight-year deal with Total Sports Marketing (TSM), a Bangladesh sports marketing agency, for the marketing rights and live television coverage of all of Zimbabwe’s home international matches.The agreement, which both parties claim to be a “zero-cost deal” as of now, was signed in July and could conceivably end ZC’s partnership with Indian firm Ten Sports, whose parent company Taj Television holds the television rights for Asia and the Middle East. Due to their association with Essel Group, an Indian conglomerate company said to be eyeing an extraordinary takeover of world cricket, Ten Sports have fallen out of favour with cricket authorities.Only last month, India’s tour of Zimbabwe was initially called off due to the unresolved issues between the BCCI and Ten Sports, though the tour eventually took place after crunch talks after the two boards worked out a deal.Moinul Chowdury, the TSM’s chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo that his company was ready to operate at a loss until Zimbabwe started attracting significant corporate interest. Chowdury claims that ZC saved at least $2.5 million in television production costs when the country hosted India and New Zealand over the last two months. He added that the board retained the $3.8 million in revenue generated from the India series alone.”The ZC leadership convinced me to invest and I’m confident that around 2016-2017 we will start operating at a profit,” Chowdury said. “Zimbabwe was the only Test nation that was meeting its own television production costs and it took a huge toll on the board. They’ve shown us a good blueprint, and we are happy to be in business with them.”ZC interim chairman Wilson Manase said under the deal, Zimbabwe are guaranteed at least 50 days of home international cricket in all three versions of the game until the 2023 World Cup.”Under the FTP, we were supposed to play just 58 ODIs outside the ICC tournaments. That was going to decrease our chances of improving rankings. The onus is now on us to make ourselves marketable and repay the confidence and faith shown in us by TSM,” Manase said.

Pakistan’s collapse in Abu Dhabi was a throwback to the bad old days that have been conspicuous by their absence since Grant Flower became their batting coach

Umar Farooq21-Oct-2015Since January 2014, Pakistan’s batting average is 43 in Tests, the best among all teams. Pakistan’s batsmen have scored 30 Test hundreds, also more than any other team in this time span. In their last Test before this England series, against Sri Lanka in Pallekele, Pakistan had their highest successful run chase.These have been the features of Pakistan’s batting over the past two years. Pakistan’s defining feature might have been the batting collapse, and it returned with a vengeance in Abu Dhabi, but its frequency has reduced drastically. Their average score between 2012 and 2014 has risen by more than 50%.In Pakistan, coaching is never fully understood and often has been a victim of subjective criticism. The force behind a player is rarely appreciated. But Grant Flower, Pakistan’s batting coach who joined the set-up 18 months ago, has had an evident influence on the batsmen.”At the start I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was quite apprehensive,” Flower said. “But it has become exciting and I get to work with some great players with great records.””So far it’s been a good record. We have made big scores recently and we were lucky to get away with a draw the other day. If there is any rocket science that I have done with that I am not aware of it. So it’s the basics, they practice hard, hitting a lot of balls in the nets which gives them a lot of confidence, and the most important thing is fitness.”Pakistan have made a huge investment in fitness during this period with extensive summer camps, and performance and fitness-based contracts. “When you are fit you make better decision at times when you are under pressure, and that helps mental toughness for batting long periods of time.”It’s all about little sacrifices off the field. It’s not just me, it’s the fitness person Grant Luden, Brad Robinson the physio has done a good job, and then there is Waqar and Mushi [Mushtaq Ahmed]. The good thing is everyone offers something a bit different so it’s not just a boring voice in the dressing room.”Pakistan, during the time of isolation from playing international cricket at home, have seen a generation of batsman growing up without playing at home. They only get a chance for development when they are picked up at national level. Flower hoped the advent of domestic T20 can help bring useful experience for the longer format.”Cricket not being played in Pakistan is not really helping the country,” Flower said. “I hope things are going to be more stable in the coming years and perhaps PSL happening next year will get the players a lot more experience, which can be really a plus for not only players but for the country.”The national player playing for the country is almost technically ready. Most of the things are covered and in place. It’s really uncommon that they are fundamentally wrong but a lot of fine-tuning is required.”Everyone is always learning but a lot of cricket is played in the mind and the mental aspect can take precedence, not always technical. You have to encourage positive thoughts.”Flower said that senior players like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan being around eased the pressure, though there were some players such as Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal whose potential can also bring challenges.”They have got flair and being a coach I want to enlarge it and explore it. As long as the basics are covered, you never want to take flair out of the players. They are exciting players, they think differently about the game and it would be boring if everyone in the world was the same.”Having Misbah and Younis around takes a lot of pressure away from me. Most importantly they are role models and I respect them a lot. They are not only great players but also great human beings. But everyone has got a different personality.”I think Ahmed and Umar are still finding out about their game but they are willing to learn and willing to listen and have a bright future for Pakistan. It can be challenging working with them, but after all they are very exciting at times and match-winners on a given day so you don’t want to discard them.”If players are scoring runs they know they will stay in the side, but no one has the divine right to play for their country.”

The allrounder does not expect similar pitches for the T20 World Cup despite the volume of cricket in the UAE

Andrew McGlashan08-Aug-2021Dan Christian has seen most things that T20 cricket can throw up, so when he says conditions in Dhaka have been unlike anything else he has played in it stands up to scrutiny.With one match remaining, the Bangladesh-Australia series has a run rate of 5.86 – the slowest in a series of three matches or more. In the fourth match, 104 was nearly defendable and looked like it would be when Australia were 65 for 6 despite Christian having monstered 39 off 15 balls, including five sixes in an over against Shakib Al Hasan, in one of the shrewder moves Australia have made on tour when promoting him to No. 3.”They don’t compare to anything I’ve faced in my career,” Christian said. “These are as difficult conditions as I’ve seen for T20 cricket – 120 is like 190, it’s an extremely difficult place to try and bat. We’ve seen all the spinners and even the seamers, as soon as they start bowling slower balls it’s really, really hard work. It’s holding in the surface, gripping and turning and it’s a big ground as well. It’s certainly been different cricket but in terms of getting into rhythm or any kind of flow it’s been pretty hard.”There’s certainly been things we can take out of these games from a batting perspective. You have to be so precise in your plans in these conditions. It probably doesn’t get more difficult than that at any level around the world than facing that kind of bowling here.”Related

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He did not believe that conditions at the T20 World Cup in the UAE will come close to this despite the volume of cricket that will be played across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah with the IPL taking place in the month before the tournament.”I don’t think they’ll be anything like it, ” he said. “Say, somewhere like Sharjah where you get a bit of dew at night time and it’s a small ground, so 220 can be a winning score. Maybe at Dubai or Abu Dhabi they’ll be a bit slower but they are still 170-180 wickets normally…there’s an IPL before the World Cup, so there might be some worn tracks but think they are pretty used to getting them back up.”Australia bowled 12 overs of spin during the fourth match with Ashton Turner completing his full allotment alongside Ashton Agar and the recalled Mitchell Swepson. There is an argument to say it could be even more, although Josh Hazlewood and Andrew Tye were also effective with a lot of cutters and changes of pace.While admitting he has a vested interest, Swepson, who took 3 for 12 in his first outing of the tour, certainly sees scope for Australia having three frontline spinners at their disposal.”I definitely think it’s something that should be considered, especially somewhere like here,” he said. “We’ve seen them play three spinners. I might be a little bit biased here, but certainly something that I think could work for us as well. Fingers crossed that might eventual but we’ll have to wait and see.”Both Christian and Swepson are pushing to make the final World Cup squad, so their performances last night were timely. Christian, recalled for this tour after a gap of four years due to the various opt-outs from the squad, has played six of the nine T20Is so far across the West Indies and Bangladesh. Though he was unable to get Australia home in chases in the first match against West Indies and the third game against Bangladesh, on two occasions he has played his part in victory: an unbeaten 22 in St Lucia and then the firecracker 39 on Saturday.”It has been a little stop-start for me but that’s the nature of the format and role that I play, generally coming in towards the end and bowling some overs in the middle,” he said. “I’ve loved being back in the team, representing my country again, it’s been awesome, and from a cricket perspective I’ve just got to keep training well and preparing as well as I can. When that opportunity arrives hopefully I can grab it.”Swepson has had even less opportunity to shine and, after an expensive outing in West Indies, he took advantage of tailor-made conditions to cause Bangladesh’s middle order plenty of problems.”It can be difficult to gauge sometimes where you are at when you are just bowling in the nets, so last night was a good confirmation of where my bowling is at,” he said. “I got that one game in St Lucia and it didn’t quite pan out how I wanted it to so last night was that reassurance that the ball is still coming out well.”

Australia A needed just 51 minutes on the fourth day to complete a dominant 10-wicket win in Chennai and wrap up a 1-0 series win

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai01-Aug-2015
ScorecardGurinder Sandhu cleaned up India A’s lower order to finish with 4 for 76•K Sivaraman

The senior Australian team faltered against England in the third Investec Test at Edgbaston but the Australia A team romped to a ten-wicket win to complete a 1-0 series victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Chasing 61, openers Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja ran down the target in 6.1 overs.

Khawaja lauds bowlers

Australia A captain Usman Khawaja toasted the team’s success, which was built on a collective effort.
“Very happy. I haven’t been part of a team here that had come to India, won a four-day game,” Khawaja said. “It was really good win. Credit to all the guys for doing well in Chennai in the heat.”
While Cameron Bancroft’s 150 led the batting charge, Steve O’Keefe and Ashton Agar took nine wickets overall. Gurinder Sandhu also impressed with his offbreaks: each of his four wickets in the second innings came through spin. Khawaja also lauded the seamers for disciplined bowling, which had allowed the spinners to make the incisions.
“Bancroft batted beautifully, that kind of stuff wins games for you,” Khawaja said. “The bowlers have been excellent throughout both games. The fast bowlers have put pressure, the spinners have taken a lot of wickets, but without the fast bowlers doing hard work, I don’t think that would have been possible.”
Motivated by the slow pitch, Khawaja said he had started with spin from both ends on the final day. Sandhu then ripped through the tail with three wickets in a decisive spell that read 3-2-2-3.
“I know the wicket was turning and it was tough work yesterday [for the batsmen] and we would get out wickets with spin. G [Sandhu] bowled well and at the other end Steve O’Keefe bowled really well too. Fortunately, it worked out and we got the wickets quickly.”

At the end of the third day, Australia A captain Usman Khawaja had said: “It is pretty simple from my point of view.” It turned out to be simple, so much so that the visitors needed only 51 minutes to wrap the game up with over two sessions to spare.India A, who had begun the day at 267 for 6, added only seven runs to their overnight total before being wiped out for 274 in 88.3 overs. Gurinder Sandhu, who opened the attack on the final day, bowled three overs of offspin and took as many wickets to run through the tail.Shreyas Gopal was the first to depart as Sandhu generated alarming bounce with his fifth ball, having the batsman lob the ball to Bancroft at forward short leg for a duck. Varun Aaron raced down the track and was stumped for 1 before Baba Aparajith was also foxed by the extra bounce.Aparajith had received a lifeline when he was dropped on 29 at forward short leg off left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe but could not convert his start into a substantial contribution. He was caught by Khawaja at backward short leg after adding one more run.India A’s innings ended when O’Keefe had Shardul Thakur tamely chipping to mid-off. Each of Sandhu’s wickets in the second innings came through offspin while O’Keefe finished with four of his own.Khawaja and Bancroft batted with purpose and intent, again. Khawaja laid down the marker when he ventured down the track and whipped Pragyan Ojha’s fifth ball over mid-on for six. The next ball was firmly reverse-swept to the third-man boundary. Khawaja also banished Pragyan Ojha to deep midwicket with a powerful slog-sweep while Bancroft showed off his adept footwork like he did during his 150 in the first innings, which had set the game up.Bancroft put the seal on a thumping win when he came down and launched Pragyan Ojha over long-off, which summed up Australia A’s domination throughout the second unofficial Test.

Andre Russell will not play in Kolkata Knight Riders’ crucial match against Gujarat Lions in Kanpur on Thursday

Nagraj Gollapudi17-May-2016Andre Russell will not play in Kolkata Knight Riders’ crucial match against Gujarat Lions on May 19. The 28-year old allrounder limped off the field midway through the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday with a suspected injury to his left leg; he did not travel with the squad that reached Kanpur on Tuesday evening.Russell is the tournament’s third highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps, and Knight Riders’ fourth highest run-scorer with 188 runs. He bowled 2.3 overs against Royal Challengers and left the field twice, first midway through the Royal Challengers innings and after bowling three deliveries of the 19th over. In the penultimate over, Russell was helped off the field after he tumbled for the third time in his follow-through.With Knight Riders needing to win both their remaining matches to confirm a place in the playoffs, they will hope Russell can regain his fitness as soon possible. The medical staff is monitoring his injury and a definitive prognosis is likely in the coming days.Knight Riders have 14 points from 12 games and have to face Lions away and Sunrisers Hyderabad at home. They are among four teams with a positive net run-rate (0.28) and can make the knockouts even if they do not win any more matches. In that case, however, Knight Riders will have to depend on other teams’ results going their way as well.