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Batsman departs Yorkshire in search of career pick-me-up in the south east

David Hopps24-Aug-2019Jack Leaning will leave Yorkshire for Kent at the end of the season to attempt to resurrect a career that has lost impetus since he was deemed to be one of the most promising young players in the country.With Kent’s Division One future all but assured, and with a strong challenge in the Vitality Blast once again underlining their T20 credentials, Leaning has decided to leave a county that he has been with since he was 10 years old.His departure continues a Yorkshire reshaping over the past year which has brought mixed results, with a top-three place in the Championship not masking the inadequacies of the club’s limited-overs cricket.Leaning’s absence from the T20 side was therefore particularly galling as Yorkshire’s middle order has persistently looked to be one of the weakest in the country. Despite a career strike rate of 131 and average of 28, he has played only two matches – managing 39 from as many balls to go with a wicket in Friday’s victory over Durham.His Championship form has long been under scrutiny. Kent will envisage improvement on an average of 30.46, considerably below what was expected when, somewhat surprisingly, he was named as the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Player of the Year at 21. Capped at Scarborough in 2016, this summer he made a pair there against Surrey and the look in his eyes suggested he would be better elsewhere.Kent’s director of cricket Paul Downton said: “Jack’s talents across all formats of the game show that he is a versatile and intelligent cricketer. He will add significant depth to our batting unit.”Neither would it be a surprise if Kent uncovered Leaning’s potential as an offspinner. He has only 18 wickets in all competitions, but he is a big turner of the ball and has been undervalued by Yorkshire in such a role.”I think it’s at the right stage of my career to have a little bit of a change, and hopefully it all works out to be a positive one,” Leaning said. “It’s a big move lifestyle-wise, and that did cross my mind at first. But since then, all that’s come back to my mind is excitement as opposed to any nerves.”He would not be the first player to leave Yorkshire and rebuild his career elsewhere. Alex Lees, another batsman to win the CWC Young Player award, and has had moderate success in his first season at Durham.”I leave Yorkshire with nothing but fond memories,” Leaning added. “I’ll be giving it my all towards the end of the season, and there are still two bits of silverware on offer if things go well for us.”Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon said: “He’s been a great model professional during his time here and has been part of two Championship-winning teams.”He’s had a good career, but hasn’t played regular first-team cricket. At this moment in time, the opportunity to play first-team cricket is exactly what he needs. We thank him for representing us with pride and wish him every success.”

However, the Cricket West Indies president was personally quite satisfied by security arrangements in Lahore for the final match of the World XI series

Umar Farooq16-Sep-2017Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron said it was a “challenge” to convince the West Indies players that it was safe to visit Pakistan. Cameron was on a two-day trip to the country to watch the final T20I of the World XI series, an event which the PCB hopes will convince other nations to send their teams for international tours.”I have enjoyed my two days in Pakistan,” Cameron said in a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. “As Najam [Sethi, the PCB chairman] said, we’ve been talking about this for some time and have our own challenges back in the West Indies. We’re only 5 million people, and as you heard there was recently a hurricane passing through our islands as well. But my challenge is to convince the players that it’s safe enough. It’s our duty to help as well. I felt that if I came over here to show that it’s safe enough that would go some way in convincing the players. InshAllah [God-willing] in November, we’ll be here.”This is the second time PCB has approached West Indies to tour, after they refused to travel to Pakistan in March upon receiving security advice from the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). In the report then, FICA warned that the risk level in Pakistan remained “at an extremely elevated state” and that “an acceptable level of participant security and safety cannot be expected or guaranteed”. It had also discouraged players strongly from travelling to Lahore for the Pakistan Super League final.But things have improved since, as ICC’s chief executive officer David Richardson noted at a press conference on Wednesday. The security arrangements were overseen by international security consultants. The ICC bore the cost of the security advisors and have agreed terms to assist the PCB for every series they host in Pakistan from hereon in.But Cameron also explained that the matter may not necessarily be in his hands, with the board not having the final say over whether its players tour a particular nation. “We’ve had the security team here for the final of the PSL and they’ve seen these matches as well,” he said, when asked if FICA could be convinced. “Here, Pakistan’s board makes decisions [regarding where to tour]. My board’s a little bit different, with the WIPA [West Indies Players Association] also having a big say. We have to respect their decision.”We want to ensure that when the players come over, everyone actually wants to come and enjoy the experience, and we don’t want to be seen to be forcing anyone. We’ve had Darren Sammy here and Samuel Badree and they’ve loved it. Sammy’s on his second trip and I think that will also convince the players that it is safe to come.Cameron also gave the security arrangements in Pakistan a personal vote of confidence. “From what I believe I’m very convinced. The hospitality has been great, and the security has been first-class, and from where I stand right now, everything looks good.”

An XI with ten batsmen should have given South Africa enough resources to chase 290 but it may have done the opposite, according to AB de Villiers

Firdose Moonda22-Feb-2017An XI with ten batsmen should have given South Africa enough resources to chase 290 but it may have done the opposite, according to AB de Villiers. The captain was irked by the top order leaving too much for their team-mates to do in Christchurch and allowing New Zealand to level the five-match series.”It was always the plan to play a lot of batters and bat nice and deep but the red flag was always that the top order would take it a bit easy and feel like it’s okay to get out a bit early, which unfortunately cost us the game today,” de Villiers said.South Africa made three changes to the team that snuck past New Zealand in Hamilton on Sunday by bringing in the fit-again David Miller to replace Farhaan Behardien and two seam-bowling allrounders, Dwaine Pretorius and Wayne Parnell, for Kagiso Rabada, who is nursing a knee niggle, and Tabraiz Shamsi. That meant only Imran Tahir would be considered a liability in terms of run-scoring and even though they had been set a tall target, it was not impossible to reach it, even with a few early losses.Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis were dismissed but Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and de Villiers all got in but could not get South Africa ahead of the required run rate. South Africa needed to get more than six of an over in the early stages itself and then required more than seven from the end of the 31st over and more than eight runs an over after de Villiers was dismissed in the 39th over. He blamed himself, along with the other set batsmen – particularly de Kock – for not having more staying power.

“I thought something was broken”

AB de Villiers brushed off concerns of an injury – he had gone down early in the game when fielding. In the sixth over, de Villiers dived in an attempt to stop a single from Kane Williamson and needed some on-field treatment when he did not get back up. But, after continuing to take full part in the game, he has passed himself completely fit.
“It’s not an injury anymore,” he joked. “It was on my intercostals, lower ribs, on the right. My arm got stuck under my body and it was sore for a minute. Slowly but surely [the pain] started fading away which meant that there was nothing serious, not broken. The minute it happened I thought something was broken, but it was just a hard fall. I am getting old.”

“We bat to 10 but the top five and top six still have to take the responsibility to be there at the end and two of us got in – Quinton and myself – and not one of us took it through. If one of us was there at the end, it would have been a different result,” de Villiers said.De Kock was on 57 when he followed a Trent Boult delivery down the leg side and sent it to square leg while de Villiers under-edged a Boult bouncer when he was on 45 to leave South Africa on 199 for 6, needing 91 runs from eleven-and-a-half overs. Having pulled off a heist in Hamilton, and with their allrounders on hand, South Africa would still have believed anything was possible and as Pretorius’ innings developed, that hope strengthened. “We had hope until the last ball,” de Villiers said.Although South Africa lost Pretorius on the final ball of the penultimate over, they could still have won the match with 15 needed from six balls but it quickly became clear that was not going to happen. Andile Phehlukwayo, the hero from Hamilton, turned down singles, perhaps because he did not want to give Tahir the strike, but left the boundary hitting too late. But de Villiers defended Phehlukwayo’s tactics and said the 20-year-old played the situation as he should have.”I felt Andile had the ability to clear twice in that over. That was the plan. Southee bowled a fantastic over there so credit to him and to Boult for those last few overs. They landed their yorkers really well, they had good plans in place so credit to them but that was definitely the plan, for Andile to clear the boundary twice and to take all the strike. He played it perfectly,” de Villiers said.Ultimately, de Villiers could not be too unhappy with the way South Africa fought, especially because their newer players are starting to step up. In the first ODI, Phehlukwayo was on the right side of the plan, in this one, Pretorius’ half-century showed his promise. “It is great to see them play with confidence and with a bit of freedom. It tells a story about our culture within the team – the guys are really freed up and they feel they can just watch the ball and enjoy the cricket out there. They are fully backed by all the older guys and the management so the guys come in, they feel confident and free to do whatever they want and to express their talent,” de Villiers said. “I was pretty impressed with some of the younger guys today. I thought Dwaine also bowled really well for us. I think the depth looks really good and the future looks bright.”But for now, South Africa have been presented with their first proper setback since October last year, when their winning streak began. They racked up 12 ODI wins in a row before being beaten and although they will welcome being challenged ahead of the Champions Trophy, they will not enjoy the reason they were defeated. “They handled the pressure better than us and that’s why they won the game,” de Villiers said.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the SLC president, has called for boards to market Test cricket more vigorously, and suggested four-day Tests as a step towards increasing the excitement around the format

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-20162:32

Two-tier Test cricket plans shelved

While expressing differing views on the ICC’s decision to withdraw the proposal for two-tier Test cricket, Full Member boards welcomed the discussions opened up at Wednesday’s chief executives’ meeting on ways to sustain the longest format of the game. Thilanga Sumathipala, the SLC president, called for boards to market Test cricket more vigorously, and suggested four-day Tests as a step towards increasing the excitement around the format.”[Withdrawing the two-tier proposal is] a very wise decision as far as SLC is concerned,” Sumathipala said. “It’s going to give us more time to revisit and to see how, while we are maintaining our top 10 Test-playing nations, we could allow emerging Test-playing nations to join, while making sure that the tournament effect is taking place. We’re going forward together in this. I’m happy with the new line of thinking, and I’m happy we are not pursuing the seven-five two-tier system.”

ACB ‘very disappointed’ over shelving of two-tier plans

Afghanistan Cricket Board CEO Shafiq Stanikzai hit out at the ICC’s decision at its chief executives’ committee (CEC) meeting to withdraw the proposal for two-tier Test cricket, saying that the Afghanistan cricket team had nothing left to prove to the cricket world.
“We are very disappointed,” Stanikzai said. “I don’t think there is anything left to prove to the cricketing world to let them know that we are ready for Test cricket. It is ACB’s prime objective and dream to become a Test nation and obtain a full membership. But, indeed, this will give us more energy to do well and keep proving ourselves that a new cricketing powerhouse is coming to the cricketing globe.”
Stanikzai had earlier made the case that Afghanistan was ready for Test cricket, pointing to their sterling record in the Intercontinental Cup, a first-class competition for Associate teams, in which Afghanistan have 14 wins, four draws and only one loss.
Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, attended the CEC meeting as the Associates’ representative.

Explaining SLC’s opposition to the two-tier system, Sumathipala spoke of how hard Sri Lanka had fought to achieve Test status.”Test status was a hard-earned status for us,” he said. “We were ICC champions in 1979. We’ve played more than 100 years of cricket – Test status didn’t come to any of us overnight. We gained it through sheer hard work. The game has a challenge to face, but we should look at the economic and commercial side of things.”Sumathipala emphasised the need to engage and entertain fans, and suggested that four-day Tests were a better idea to enhance the appeal and commercial viability of the longest format.”Our thinking is that we need more effort to sustain Test cricket in the decades to come,” he said. “We have to invest into the game. We have to bring some fan-engagement programmes where we can keep interest going. Sustainability is in the hands of the fans. They need to have entertainment in following the game.”The floodlit, pink-ball Tests have been somewhat successful. We can improve from there. We can play four-day cricket, starting on Thursday, which allows the games to come to a climax over the weekend, when people can watch. Then after three days’ travel and rest, the players can start the next Test on a Thursday as well. They can play 95 or 100-over days. There’ll be more excitement. There will be interest and commercial viability. That’s what we believe.”The BCCI has consistently opposed the two-tier proposal, and its president Anurag Thakur reiterated his view that splitting the game into two divisions would hurt smaller boards.”I am thankful to the members of the ICC who understood our viewpoint and agreed to take this proposal off the table,” Thakur told . “As one of the key stakeholders in world cricket, BCCI would continue to have an inclusive approach and ensure that everyone’s interests and the growth of cricket isn’t compromised.”We want to grow the game and take it to new pastures and will not allow any step which can shrink the popularity and development of the game.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, had urged boards to look at the “big picture” of the two-tier proposal, and see it as a means to bring more structure and context to Test cricket. While the proposal was shelved, Sutherland was confident the discussions initiated at the meeting would pave way for an “improved model” for bilateral cricket.”Cricket Australia welcomes the progress made in discussions with other member countries in Dubai this week,” he said. “The workshop provided a forum for all views to be heard and discussed – and for members to work together to build an improved model for bilateral cricket played between nations. More important than anything, we are confident that the additional structure and context proposed for each of the three formats will significantly enhance cricket’s offering to fans across the globe.”Our thoughts on the need for change are well known and we are optimistic that all member countries are open to meaningful improvements that will support an even more successful and sustainable future for international cricket.”Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB chief executive, has been one of the primary opponents of the two-tier system. He thanked the ICC for taking it off the table.”We are delighted we could convince other members of the negative impact it would have on Bangladesh cricket,” Chowdhury said. “I thank them for understanding our situation. I also want to thank the ICC management for organising this workshop. The two-tier system is off the table, and we will now discuss the future structure of cricket in the coming days.”ESPNcricinfo understands, meanwhile, that the PCB had been in support of the two-tier proposal, in a bid to add context to their bilateral agreements with various countries. The board also believed the system would have given Pakistan increased opportunities to play competitive series against strong teams, and that this would have heightened interest in Test cricket back home. With bilateral series against certain teams not attracting lucrative broadcast deals, the PCB had hoped a two-tier system would have helped raise the commercial profile of Test cricket.

Denesh Ramdin has been suspended for two ODIs, and fined 100% of his match fees, for claiming a catch off Misbah-ul-Haq during the game against Pakistan at The Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2013West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin has been suspended for two ODIs, and fined 100% of his match fees, for breaching the Code of Conduct when he claimed a catch off Misbah-ul-Haq during the Champions Trophy game against Pakistan at The Oval.Ramdin has decided not to appeal the decision, a West Indies team spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo, which means he will miss their last two group matches against India and South Africa.*”This is regarded as a serious offence as it is the responsibility of all players to act in the spirit of the game,” ICC match referee Chris Broad said. “I hope Mr Ramdin has learnt his lesson from this incident and that we will not see such behaviour by him or any player in the future.”The incident took place in the ninth over of Pakistan’s innings, when Misbah bottom-edged a Kemar Roach delivery to Ramdin. The wicketkeeper initially appeared to have caught the ball but lost control of it as he fell forward, and it slipped out of his gloves on to the grass. Instead of bringing his mistake to the notice of the umpires or his team-mates, Ramdin returned the ball to the square-leg umpire and joined his team-mates in the celebratory huddle.Square-leg umpire Nigel Llong, however, alerted the third umpire and the replay revealed the chance had been dropped. Misbah, who was on 0, was called back and went on to hit an unbeaten 96.Misbah had said that Ramdin’s actions were not in the spirit of the game. “What can I say about that?” he said when asked about the catch. “I think he should have told them what happened, but I don’t know what he was thinking at that time. I would not be very happy if my wicketkeeper did that. If we don’t know anything, then it’s fine, but if you know clearly that it’s not a catch, you should not claim that because it’s not in the spirit of the game.”West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo, however, had defended Ramdin, saying the wicketkeeper did not act deliberately. “Unfortunately, he did not catch it,” Bravo said. “He’s a very honest player, and as I said, history shows if you check the records that we don’t have any stigma or negatives around us as a team. We have been true in our cricket careers and history has shown that we play the game in true spirit of the way it should be played. I don’t think we did something like this deliberately.”The charge – under article 2.2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game” – was laid by the on-field umpires Steve Davis and Llong, third umpire Tony Hill and fourth umpire Richard Kettleborough. Ramdin had pleaded not guilty and attended a hearing adjudicated by Broad on Monday.*1915 GMT This article was updated to mention that Ramdin was not going to appeal the ban and fine.

A round-up of the fourth day’s action of Group C matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2012
ScorecardGoa’s batsmen proved equal to the challenge of batting out almost the entire day to salvage a draw against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur. The bulk of the scoring was done by their import, Manvinder Bisla, the Man of the Match in this year’s IPL final, who struck a crucial 90. Jharkhand’s performer of the day was also a player who hit the headlines in the play-off phase of the IPL this season, Sunny Gupta, who was surprisingly picked by Delhi Daredevils in a knock-out match against Chennai Super Kings. The offspinner Gupta took six of the eight wickets to fall, with left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who tops the Ranji wicket-charts this season, taking the other two. Their efforts weren’t enough to quell Goa, though, who had five batsmen besides Bisla making more than 20, and by the final hour Goa were safe. Jharkhand are in second place with 10 points after three games, and Goa have four after two.
ScorecardTripura mounted a brave effort in trying to surmount Services’ massive first-innings score of 563, but fell short to concede first-innings points in Agartala. Tripura have never scored 500 before but came mighty close thanks to a battling century from Abhijit Dey, whose previous highest first-class score was 37. He had support from Manisankar Murasingh, with whom he added 79 runs for the seventh wicket and by tea, Tripura still had a chance – 90 runs behind with three wickets in hand. However, quick bowler Shadab Nazar, playing his third first-class game, pretty much killed off Tripura’s chances by getting Dey bowled, and then striking off the next ball as well. Tripura wound up on 484, and had to be content with one point, while Services get three to move up to seven points and a share of the third spot.
ScorecardAmol Muzumdar completed his second century of the match on a dull final day against Himachal Pradesh in Nadaun, where Andhra took three points for the first-innings lead. It was Muzumdar’s 25th Ranji hundred, only behind Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Wasim Jaffer among active players. Andhra batted for nearly half the day before declaring, when the target had already been pushed to 390, leaving Himachal the job of batting out around 50 overs. There was some brief excitement as Himachal lost four early wickets before Varun Sharma and Amit Kumar calmly played out the remaining overs. The bright spot for Himachal on the day was medium-pacer Rishi Dhawan picking up his fifth five-for in 18 matches. Andhra and Himachal both have seven points after three matches.
ScorecardBoth of Kerala’s overnight batsmen, Abhishek Hegde and VA Jagadeesh, went to complete centuries on the final day of the game where there was little at stake against Assam in Malappuram. Kerala, having conceded the first-innings lead, had to force the pace and they scored at nearly four an over, but the 65 overs their bowlers had was not enough to bowl out Assam on what was still a flat track. Opener Pallav Das hit an unbeaten 92, and left-arm spinner K Sreejith took five though there was no real chance of an outright result. Assam continue to top the table with 16 points after three matches, while Kerala have two points from two games.

Peter Siddle, who will replace the injured Ryan Harris in Austalia’s line-up in Colombo, will look to bowl fuller lengths against Sri Lanka, as opposed to his usual short-pitched fare

Daniel Brettig in Colombo15-Sep-2011Australia’s captain Michael Clarke believes Peter Siddle can overturn his habit of bowling short, built up during his four years in international cricket, and revert to the fuller length he needs to be a dangerous fast bowler against Sri Lanka in the third Test in Colombo.Admired as a hard-working, hostile paceman, Siddle has not always been an example of subtlety, and was often used by former captain Ricky Ponting as an enforcer in the vein of Merv Hughes. In Sri Lanka such methods could lead to long, draining stints in the field against the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, in his 100th Test, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan.To that end, Australia’s pacemen have employed a disciplined line and a fuller length against the hosts, looking for edges, lbws and to have them bowled, with conspicuous success. However the absence of Ryan Harris means it will be Siddle who now has to look for swing and seam, rather than the bounce and intimidation with which he has generally preferred to take wickets.”All of our bowlers have been working on their length since they’ve been here,” Clarke said. “That’s something that Craig McDermott [Australia’s bowling coach] has certainly made very clear – with the new ball we needed to be bowling fuller, we needed to be giving ourselves a chance, and Sidds [Siddle] has done that.”I’ve watched him bowl at every net session he’s had and he’s definitely improved his length. I think there were a few reasons why he didn’t perform how he would have liked in the practice game [Siddle went wicketless]. He’s had two weeks since then to train with Stuart Karppinen [the fitness coach], who has made it very clear he wanted him fitter and stronger, and to bowl a lot more in the nets to work on his length.”Rhino [Harris] has got the ball to come back in and he’s bowled blokes through the gate, got lbws. Sidds can swing the new ball away, but one of his greatest strengths and what he does naturally is bring the ball back in off the pitch to the right-handers or take it away from the left-handers.”Clarke, however, did not rule out a shorter-pitched attack from Siddle and Mitchell Johnson, given the right circumstances.”The other thing Sidds has is, he can bowl 150kph and can crank it up. If there’s not much in the wicket he’s got a very good bouncer so he can push the batters back,” Clarke said. “It brings in other ways to take wickets as well. Not only can Mitch bowl at good pace, but Sidds can as well, and if there’s not much in the wicket there might be a few more bouncers than we’ve seen [so far].”Johnson, too, has something to prove, having struggled for wickets and rhythm in the series. Unable to produce the inswing of his pomp, Johnson has concentrated on angling the ball across the right-handers. But he is yet to bowl the sort of hair-raising spell that has kept him in the Australia team, as an occasional matchwinner, since his debut against Sri Lanka in 2007.”I think Mitch’s role has been similar throughout the on- dayers and the Tests,” Clarke said. “There hasn’t been much swing around, but he’s got extra pace and being left-handed brings in variation [to the attack]. If there’s swing around he can swing the ball in, but he’s also got a beautiful angle to take it across the right-handers whether it is reversing or not.”It also gives us the option for somebody to reverse the ball into the left-handers. Mitch has just got to keep doing what he is doing. I thought he bowled really well in the last Test without much luck – a few balls bounced short of me at second slip, there were a few play and misses. I think everybody needs to continue to do what they’re doing. We spoke about discipline and execution, and it is going to take every single one of us doing that at the highest level to have success in this Test match.”

David Warner has signed with New South Wales for three years to end the chances of a move interstate

Cricinfo staff09-Apr-2010Two days after missing a Cricket Australia contract, the opener David Warner has signed with New South Wales for three years to end the chances of a move interstate. Despite being a fixture of Australia’s Twenty20 side, Warner is not a first-choice Sheffield Shield player for the Blues and appeared in two 2nd XI games during the summer.There had been talk Warner, 23, would leave the SCG in the hope of gaining more first-class action but he has decided to stay at home. “It’s great news,” he said. “I am very much looking forward to continuing my playing career at NSW. I have played all my junior and senior cricket here and I would like to perform well for my home state.”Warner doesn’t want to remain pigeon-holed as a limited-overs star and hopes to be part of the New South Wales tradition of producing “great cricketers”. Dave Gilbert, New South Wales’ chief executive, said Warner has a very promising future.”We are obviously thrilled to have secured his services for the next three years,” Gilbert said. “His performances over the past 18 months in limited-overs cricket have been exceptional and, at times, stunning. He is determined to make his mark in the longer form of the game and Cricket NSW will provide him with the necessary support to achieve his aims.”In the Sheffield Shield over the summer he scored 89 runs in three games and 195 in eight FR Cup appearances. It is in the shortest form that he excels and his strike-rate was an amazing 232.87 in five Twenty20 domestic fixtures, which came after he helped the Blues to the inaugural Champions League trophy in India. He is currently with Delhi in the IPL and has signed with Middlesex for their Twenty20 Cup campaign in England.

Chris Gayle proved not only that his passion for the five-day game still runs deep, but he also positioned West Indies for a victory charge

Alex Brown at Adelaide Oval07-Dec-2009The man who seven months ago predicted the demise of Test cricket has gone far to sparking its revival. By carrying his bat through an attritional fourth day in Adelaide, Chris Gayle proved not only that his passion for the five-day game still runs deep, but also positioned West Indies for a victory charge that would capture the attention of the world and the imagination of the Caribbean’s long-suffering fans.Gayle has been demonised for his controversial views on Test cricket and typecast, not without reason, as a Twenty20 mercenary. Strike action and a series of 11th-hour arrivals ahead of major international matches prompted many commentators to wonder whether his commitment was to West Indian cricket, or the Allen Stanfords and Shah Rukh Khans of the world. Even the West Indies chief executive, Ernest Hilaire, expressed reservations over his suitability as captain.But over 411 sweat-soaked, muscle-cramping, concentration-sapping minutes, Gayle confirmed his desire to lead West Indies through this darkest of periods. His unbeaten 155 on a testing wicket was a triumph of patience and determination – traits many had forgotten he possessed – and went far to demystifying the Australian attack before the eyes of his young, eager team-mates.”That innings from Chris was unbelievable,” the coach David Williams said. “It’s very difficult scoring on that track and it was evident in the way Chris played. He doesn’t normally play like that. But he had to conserve his natural play and try and stick around. We know that scoring is very difficult on that wicket.”Gayle set the tone for a West Indian revival when, barely an hour after Australia had sealed an innings and 65-run victory at the Gabba, he called a team meeting that stretched long into the night. Rather than allow the disappointment of defeat to fester within the playing group, Gayle and the team management outlined a blueprint for success that emphasised the need for more accountability among the batsmen and greater leadership from the team’s veterans.The difference in the tourists was evident from the opening session in Adelaide. A resolute first innings batting performance was supported by a superb bowling effort, in which Gayle displayed a gambler’s flare for field placings and bowling changes. West Indies’ responded positively to their captain’s adventurous tactics, and Gayle provided further cause for optimism with an inspired second innings century that might just prove the catalyst for the breaking of their nine-Test losing streak on Australian soil.Gayle has played more prolific, fluent and explosive innings over the course of his 84-Test career but few as important in the context of the match and the general state of the game in the Caribbean. By curbing his innate need to dominate at the crease, he produced a substance-over-style innings that should serve as inspiration to his team-mates, and made plausible a victory that barely a week ago appeared improbable in the extreme.”That’s Chris, he plays his game very seriously,” Williams said. “He’s a very determined guy. Look back at Chris over the past year or so, he’s played extremely well in the Test matches that he’s played. It’s just a matter of leading the guys the right way.”Caribbean fans have experienced too many false dawns to lose themselves completely in this moment, but after the year that’s been, they at least have cause for positivity. Win, lose or draw, Gayle and his team have proven they possess the competitive desire and raw talent to compete with the world’s best. And that is a cause for celebration in itself.

Lloyd Pope claimed four wickets, including three in an over, as Sydney Thunder collapsed

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Legspinner Lloyd Pope (4-22) and quick Jamie Overton (3-26) led a strong bowling night for Strikers, with regular wicket-taking ensuring Thunder couldn’t get set in a stuttering innings.In comparison, Short looked unstoppable from the moment he strode into the middle, quickly showing the sort of form that’s seen him smash six half-centuries in nine innings.Such was Short’s dominance, he deposited two enormous sixes out of the Manuka Oval precinct, while No. 3 Jake Weatherald was in similar touch with four sixes in his unbeaten 47.Things could have been different for Thunder, with David Warner dropping a difficult catch offered by Short off the first ball of the innings.Short praised his team’s ability to hit their straps at the pointy-end of the competition.”We made it pretty hard for ourselves the last few games obviously having to win the last four or five to keep our hopes alive,” he told reporters. “Very happy with the boys, we hit form at the right time and I’m looking forward to next week. We were at the bottom of the ladder at some stage there, to turn that around and get the wins and make the finals, it’s a real credit to the boys.”Short’s remarkable batting form, which has earned him a call-up to the Australian ODI side, is sure to be a trump card for Strikers in finals.”I’ve always put a big emphasis on starting the tournament well, getting a bit of momentum early on and rolling through, which I think I did pretty well,” he said. “The challenge was to sustain that which I haven’t in the last couple of years, I’ve finished tournaments pretty poorly. I’m pretty proud of being able to go on with the tournament and the start I had.”Batting first, Thunder opener Alex Hales looked to take the game away from the Strikers, but legspinner Cameron Boyce produced a perfect leg-break that gained an edge to turn the match on its head.Contributions lower down the order from skipper Chris Green and Matt Gilkes helped the Thunder build a somewhat respectable score, before they were bowled out with four balls to spare.Top-order players Warner, Cameron Bancroft and Ollie Davies all fell cheaply. Spinner Pope did his part in cleaning up Thunder’s tail, including bowling Green and Nathan McAndrew in consecutive balls. He didn’t get his hat-trick but settled for the next best thing, knocking over Liam Hatcher a ball later.