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“It’s about winning.” With those three words, uttered 24 hours after being named England Women’s head coach, Charlotte Edwards set out her mission to turn an underperforming team into World Cup contenders within six months.Effectively dispensing with the ‘inspire and entertain’ mantra introduced two years ago by her predecessor, Jon Lewis, Edwards wasn’t afraid to tread into territory that makes some other coaches squeamish. Similarly, she was forthright about the need to hold players accountable for their fitness.”They’ve had this mantra of entertaining and inspiring over the last little bit, and I think it’s probably just changing their focus,” Edwards told reporters at Lord’s on Wednesday. “It’s bottling that entertaining and that aggressive approach, but for me, it’s about their game smarts and their game awareness about winning.”I’m under no illusions. I’ve come into this role, it’s about winning. I think coaches are sometimes too scared to say we want to win. That’s our job. My job is to win games of cricket, and I think it’s how we go and do that now.”That looks different on each given day and I just want to create some intelligent players who win games of cricket for England, and that’s going to be how I’ll go about stuff over the next few weeks, and try and instil that within the players.”Lewis lost his job following the 16-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia in January, which followed a shock group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup last October.Those results brought into question the fitness of some players in the squad, particularly when compared to the fiercely athletic Australian team.”My first week is actually profiling next week, so I’m going to judge for myself about where the team are with their fitness,” Edwards said. “I will make the players more accountable for fitness, so that’s something I’m going to do.”But there’s many aspects to this and I think the results from the winter, although 16-nil, I know that we are closer to that than what that scoreline suggested. I wouldn’t have taken on this role if I didn’t think that, in six months’ time, we could win a World Cup in India. I think we’ve got the playing group to do that.”We’ve got a lot of hard work and we’ve got a lot of honesty in that time before then, but I’m really confident that, given some time with this group, that we can turn things around very quickly.”England’s standards collapsed over the winter, particularly in the T20 World Cup in Dubai•ICC/Getty Images

The Ashes proved the final straw for Lewis and Heather Knight, who lost her job as captain, although she will remain available for selection as a player, following a sweeping review into the team’s performances.There had been a sense that Edwards would be reluctant to coach a team containing a core of players she had led as England captain until her retirement in 2016, but she welcomed the opportunity, feeling that enough time had passed.Edwards has stepped down from head coaching roles with Mumbai Indians, Sydney Sixers and Hampshire to fully focus on the England job, having won eight titles in five years at franchise and domestic level.”The great thing now is I’ve worked with them a lot in all the franchise competitions that I’ve worked in,” she said. “They’ve seen a very different person from Lottie the captain to Lottie the coach.”I think I’m a much better coach than I was captain, if I’m honest. There’s been enough time now between me playing with them all and I’m thoroughly looking forward to it. I’ve had some lovely messages from the players over the last 24 hours and I’m just super excited to get there on Monday.”Among Edwards first tasks’ will be to appoint a new captain, which she anticipated doing sooner rather than later after linking up with the team, saying she had a clear idea of her No.1 contender.Related

• Lauren Winfield-Hill joins Essex on loan from Yorkshire for Blast

• Lamb puts England credentials on show as Edwards looks on

• Charlotte Edwards offers ECB help with Ashes whitewash review

• Where it went wrong for Jon Lewis and where to now for England Women

• Knight's inglorious exit exposes limits of England women's evolution

In terms of the coaching role, Edwards was the standout candidate, with Clare Connor, Managing Director England Women’s Cricket, confirming that she was appointed without “the normal sort of open-recruitment process” that would be used for a coach at that level.That means the ECB ignored its own pledge to adhere to the Rooney Rule in recruiting head coaches. Under the rule, at least one applicant from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds are to be interviewed.Connor also revealed that, as a result of the review, the ECB would set out in the coming days to recruit a national selector for the first time since the women’s game became professional in England and Wales. That would feed into a commitment to foster greater links and communication with domestic teams.Centrally contracted England players are expected to be available for the first seven rounds of the domestic 50-over competition, starting on April 19, with a strong emphasis on performance for selection in those games.Jon Lewis and Heather Knight paid the price for England’s poor showing this winter•PA Images via Getty Images

She also said players’ physical, mental and overall preparedness to compete at the highest level had been examined.”All of that professional standards, we’ve had some really good feedback on,” Connor said. “The domestic game we got feedback from, and from some notable figures in the world game as well.”Going back to our criteria and the appointment of Lottie, no one knows better what those professional standards need to be now. She’s seen it around the world. We’ve seen it for ourselves, obviously, during the Ashes in the starkest sense.”The pace of change in women’s cricket, it’s been fast and it’s been demanding. I think we’ve supported players well through those last few years. I think one of the things around the professionalisation is making sure that we’re challenging as well as being supportive.”That’s our role, to support players, but also challenge them and support them for successful times, and to perform under pressure.”Edwards believes that a focus on performance at domestic level as a benchmark for national selection will go some way to addressing the England team’s shortcomings in pressure situations, as laid bare in their error-strewn T20 World Cup defeat to West Indies and throughout the Ashes.With home series against West Indies and India this summer before the 50-over World Cup in India from late September and a home T20 World Cup next year, getting that aspect of the game right is crucial, with Edwards putting a strong emphasis on improving in the 50-over format.”We’ve got a lot of young players who, for me, haven’t played enough cricket, so I want them to experience playing more cricket, being put in those situations time and time again and earning your England cap,” Edwards said.”The door is not shut to anyone and that’s going to be a strong message coming out today, but hopefully starting with the county season, that’s going to be a really positive thing.”I’m not going to talk too much about the past. For me it’s all about the future and what I see is that we’ve got a really talented squad and I think we’ve got some of the best players in the world, some really talented high-potential young players, which I’m looking forward to working with.”

Barely 24 hours after 202 was chased down easily on the opening night of WPL 2025, a target of 165 proved to be tricky on the same pitch for Delhi Capitals, who got over the line on the last ball against Mumbai Indians for a two-wicket win. It came down to 30 from 18, 10 from six, two off the last ball and eventually a matter of centimetres as Arundhati Reddy put in a dive to make her ground that turned out to be the winning runs.Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Niki Prasad will remember her WPL debut for taking DC within touching distance. She held the chase together in the end with her 35 off 33 and started the last over with a four when they needed 10 to win but holed out when the equation was two off two.The game otherwise saw collapses in both innings after blazing knocks from the frontline batters. Nat Sciver-Brunt led MI to a respectable total with her unbeaten 80 off 59 and Harmanpreet Kaur blasted 42 off 22, but they soon lost 7 for 35. Shafali Verma’s 43 off 18 set the tone for the chase to hammer away 60 runs for DC in the powerplay, but they soon lost four wickets for 16 runs that made the equation far more tense and took it down to the last ball.Niki Prasad guided Delhi Capitals late in the chase•WPL

The three contentious run-outs that weren’t

As the match got closer and closer with DC losing wickets, there were three run-out decisions that all went to the third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan, and those decided the game. The first came in the 18th over when Shikha Pandey was given not out on her first ball, which resulted in DC getting a bye. No part of Pandey’s bat seemed inside the crease when the LED wicket lit up, but the third umpire gave it not out, basing her decision on a later television frame in which the bail was visibly dislodged.The second came in the next over when DC needed 16 from eight. Radha Yadav was given not out when she ended up bouncing her bat off the ground while diving in; the bat was in the air when the wicket lit up but the umpire, again, was heard going by when the stumps were visibly broken. Radha then smashed the next ball for a six and brought the equation down to 10 off the last over.The last instance was on the last ball of the game, when DC needed two off two. Reddy put in a dive while trying to complete the second run and the stumps lit up when the bat seemed to be on the crease line but the third umpire gave it not out again and it sparked off celebrations for DC.

Shafali swings the powerplay in DC’s favour

Shafali came out all guns blazing even as Shabnim Ismail made Meg Lanning look clueless against her outswingers and beat her six times in 12 balls before eventually knocking over her off stump. Shafali, at the other end, tore into Saika Ishaque with a belligerent hit for a 22-run over. She followed a big six over the covers with four consecutive fours, three of which raced to the off-side boundary and one straight back over Ishaque’s head. Shafali then took Hayley Matthews for 15 runs in the last powerplay over with two fours and a six although she mis-timed one in the same over to midwicket.

Two WPL debutants hold their nerve for DC

Two balls later Lanning fell when Ismail got a fourth straight over and it soon became four wickets in four overs when Jemimah Rodrigues was dismissed by Amelia Kerr and Annabel Sutherland missed a shooter from Sciver-Brunt. When DC thought the partnership between Alice Capsey and Prasad of 33 was bringing them back on track, Capsey found Ismail at long-on and DC were in trouble, still needing 56 off 31 with five wickets down.The match turned again when another WPL debutant, Sarah Bryce, also punished Ishaque and then followed an edged four off Sciver-Brunt with a six on the leg side. Bryce soon fell though, for 21 off 10, but Prasad held her nerve to chaperone the lower order into the last over before it went down to the last ball.Sarah Bryce whacked 21 off 10•WPL

Pandey’s swing and Sciver-Brunt’s class

Pandey made a stellar start to her WPL campaign with some delicious inswing into both right and left-hand batters. She struck twice in her first spell; first in the first over when she made Matthews edge to slip for a duck and four overs later she knocked over Yastika Bhatia’s leg stump in a frugal spell of 3-0-8-2.The other bowlers were not spared so much though. Capsey leaked 19 runs in an over, with Sciver-Brunt showing her dexterity by placing the ball perfectly in the gaps for boundaries. She dabbed one late off Capsey on off, she scooped Reddy on leg, and she unleashed powerful pulls to help MI to 41 for 2 in the powerplay.

Harmanpreet throws the hammer

Harmanpreet often starts slow and then suddenly flicks her switch on in T20s, and on Saturday this happened in the eighth over. Once she carved Radha over cover-point for four off a no-ball, Harmanpreet launched the free hit for a six over long-off to make it an 18-run over. Next over, she picked Reddy for a six over long-on in a 15-run over but the assault didn’t last too long.After back-to-back fours off Sutherland on the off side, Harmanpreet smoked a six over the midwicket rope to reach 8000 T20 runs and followed it with another four over point. But when she went for another slash outside off, she handed a catch to Prasad; nobody else would hit a six in the remainder of the MI innings.Nat Sciver-Brunt brought out many shots•WPL

Sciver-Brunt the lone woman standing

Sciver-Brunt had also struck eight fours by then to lead MI past 100 with Sutherland’s 20-run over. Sciver-Brunt reached fifty off 36 balls to keep MI in touching distance of 10 an over with seven overs to go and seven wickets in hand.MI, however, slipped and didn’t even last all 20 overs; they lost wickets in nearly every over from thereon. Kerr was run-out at the non-striker’s end when Minnu Mani deflected a ball off her own bowling, S Sajana edged a slower one to the keeper, Amanjot Kaur yorked herself against Capsey to lose her stumps, and there were two more run-outs as the tailenders tried to give the strike to Sciver-Brunt at the death. When she did get strike, she used her power to despatch the older ball and finished with her highest WPL score.

Cricket Australia contracted fast bowler Jhye Richardson will undergo shoulder surgery this week which will end his summer, despite Perth Scorchers still being in contention to play finals, with the aim of being fully fit for the 2025-26 Ashes series.Richardson, 28, has already had two surgeries on his right bowling shoulder since initially dislocating it while fielding in an ODI in March of 2019. His last shoulder surgery was in 2020 but he has had multiple dislocations since, including while celebrating a wicket on his Sheffield Shield return in November.Richardson did get through that match, which was his first first-class match in 12 months, but had to ban himself from high fives due to his shoulder instability. He has had a number of other injury issues including undergoing hamstring surgery last summer.Related

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• Wickets, injury, wicket: Jhye Richardson's dramatic Shield return

Fielding has been a major issue for Richardson ever since his first dislocation in 2019. He was previously a livewire in the field but has since been limited in the outfield because of his inability to throw. He has bowled balls to the keeper from the outfield or underarmed from in close and has not been able to dive having suffered multiple dislocations when doing so. He also dropped a catch in Scorchers’ loss to Sydney Sixers, in part due to his hesitation in trying to get his arms above his head quickly.But even with that injury, Australia’s selectors decided he was fit enough to be added to the Test squad for the fourth and fifth Tests against India in Melbourne and Sydney although he didn’t play. He was not selected for the Test tour of Sri Lanka with Australia opting to take Sean Abbott as the third pacer alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood unavailable.Richardson has only played five of Scorchers’ eight BBL matches due to his inclusion in the Test squad. Scorchers currently sit fifth on the table and could still technically play in the finals despite having lost their last three matches.Jhye Richardson could only low-five due to his shoulder issues•Sarah Reed – CA / Getty Images

But it is understood that a decision was made on Richardson’s surgery a week ago and CA announced it just a day out from Scorchers’ next match against Sydney Thunder.”After careful consideration and many discussions with my medical team, I’ve made the decision to undergo shoulder surgery to improve stability and reduce the risk of future injury,” Richardson said in the statement.”For the past few years, I have been limited by my shoulder in the field and know how increasingly important it is to be capable to back up my teammates. While it’s a tough call, especially as it means I won’t be able to finish the season with the Scorchers, this is the best option to set me up for a strong and healthy return to cricket.”The timing of the surgery is crucial to ensure I have the best possible build-up, including Shield cricket leading into next summer. I’ll be giving everything I’ve got to the rehab process, determined to come back as the best version of myself.”

Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, says English cricket must not apologise for attracting the world’s best men’s players, as he faced down claims from the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) that Thursday’s upheaval to the Hundred’s pay structure for the 2025 season will only benefit overseas players.Top salaries in the men’s Hundred will rise from £125,000 to £200,000 (a 60% increase) and £100,000 to £120,000 (20%) for the second tier. However, the other four salary bands, which cover all but four players in 15-man squads, will receive hikes of between 3 and 5%.The announcement was greeted with disdain by the PCA, with interim-chief executive Daryl Mitchell stating he was “extremely concerned” at how the changes had been pushed through. Having been part of initial talks on how the injection of money would be spread across the board for the upcoming competition, Mitchell believed Thursday’s news reflected “a severe lack of communication and consultation”.Tymal Mills and Sam Billings, two players who have been ever-present since the Hundred’s inaugural season in 2021, took to X to voice their concerns. Billings, who captained Oval Invincibles to successive men’s titles, said: “Remarkable how a category gets a 60% increase yet most others get under 5%… Who has come up with this???”Speaking on Friday in Hamilton ahead of England’s third and final Test against New Zealand, Gould admitted he was taken aback by the PCA’s criticism, stating it was “not what I want to hear”. However, he held an unapologetic line about lifting the top brackets to court the best talent in the world, arguing that the dissenting voices had come from a “small section of male players”.”I don’t accept that,” Gould said, when asked if the top pay packets are almost exclusively reserved for overseas talent. “Because that band also includes central- and potentially contracted (England) players, so you’ve effectively got through that top band. And so, no, I don’t accept that at all.”Competition from overseas leagues, including Major League Cricket in the USA, has been a factor in the ECB’s approach to top-tier salaries, with Pat Cummins admitting to ESPNcricinfo that he hadn’t considered the Hundred when signing a lucrative four-year deal with San Francisco Unicorns last year.”This is a global market. We want the best players, irrespective of nationality. If you’re the best player, you’ll be paid the most,” Gould added. “You only have to look at the IPL and the differential and the spread. And if you look back over the last couple of years, we haven’t had as many of the best players in the world that we wanted in the men’s. We want more, and we’re not going to be apologetic in terms of our ambition to get them here.”Once we’re there, then the money is much easier to spread it throughout the squad. It is a very, very competitive market for a very small number of players, and we are not going to be pushed aside on that. We are going to compete, and we have to compete because we need the best players playing in our competition.”Gould also countered the PCA’s suggestions the ECB are guilty of widening the gender pay gap between the men’s and women’s competitions, citing market forces. While the top women’s bracket has increased by 30 percent, they will be earning three times less than their male counterparts. Next year, the difference in pay will have risen from £75,000 to £135,000.In 2022, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) called for gender pay parity in the Hundred by 2025. The ECB pushed back on the timeframe as unrealistic in its response to the report, which Gould reiterated.”The gap has got bigger because of market dynamics,” he said. “That wasn’t a recommendation we said we could deliver on and we have been very up front on that. We have seen a significant increase in the salaries we have been able to put into the women’s game.”I’m really looking forward to the point that every county club in the country now has a women’s team. You know, I think in five years’ time, we’ll look back and go, ‘How did it take us this long?’ But I think that’s a really, really significant step for us.”Related

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• PCA criticises ECB for lack of consultation on Hundred pay increases

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• ECB plans wage hikes, increase in overseas player limit

• Equity sale in the Hundred could be delayed beyond 2025 – Vikram Banerjee

Relations between the ECB and PCA are at an all-time low with disagreement over Hundred salaries following dissent over an issue regarding a new, more stringent No Object Certificate (NOC) policy.A group of domestic players have been blindsided by what they deem as legislation that restrict their earning opportunities. Those hamstrung by the new regulations are ones who have red-ball commitments written into their existing county deals.Though no NOCs have been rejected yet, with 80 handed out to male players in 2024 so far, a group of around 50 cricketers have floated the prospect of strike action in the form of boycotting the 2025 Hundred.Gould accepts there is nuance to the latest NOC stance, particularly for white-ball players with ad hoc agreements with their clubs. Tom Curran, for instance, has been on a white-ball contract with Surrey since 2022, but made two County Championship at the end of the 2024 season as the club negotiated other absences.Nevertheless, Gould believes the updated measures will “protect the sanctity” of county contracts. He also hopes a boycott does not come to fruition.”That may have been discussed on a call with with a variety of representatives, but I’ve heard nothing in that regard and I sincerely hope that’s that’s not the case.”

New Zealand vs Pakistan

Dubai, 6pm local time

New Zealand squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.Pakistan squad: Fatima Sana (capt), Muneeba Ali (wk), Aliya Riaz, Gull Feroza, Iram Javed, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Tasmia Rubab, Tuba Hassan, Najiha Alvi.Tournament form guide: New Zealand recovered from a heavy defeat against Australia and registered an important eight-wicket win against Sri Lanka to remain strong contenders for the semi-final. As for Pakistan, they started their campaign with a win against Sri Lanka but slumped to defeats against India and then Australia.News brief: Thanks to Australia’s win over India, all New Zealand need to do is beat Pakistan to qualify for the semis. Their confidence will be boosted by Georgia Plimmer finding form as well as Amelia Kerr being among the runs and wickets. While the target of 116 they chased down against Sri Lanka was a modest one, it was a case of the batters bouncing back after being bundled out for 88 against Australia. They have resources to go in with six bowling options whether they persist with Fran Jonas or bring back Jess Kerr.Fatima Sana (in front) should return to the Pakistan XI•ICC/Getty Images

Pakistan will be buoyed by the return of their regular captain Fatima Sana, who returned to the UAE after going home upon her father passing away. However, Diana Baig, one of their strike bowlers, has been ruled out with a calf injury and Najiha Alvi, her replacement, could be in with a chance to play.Player to watch: Rosemary Mair, with six wickets in three games, is the second-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand going into the game. She went wicketless against Sri Lanka but bowled 14 dots and conceded at only 4.25 an over. She has dismissed key batters like Alyssa Healy, Harmanpreet Kaur and has been used both as a new-ball bowler and a first-change bowler. Sana was dearly missed in Pakistan’s game against Australia and is key for their prospects although they only have an outside chance of qualifying for the semis. Sana has scored at a strike rate of 153 and has taken four wickets with the ball, apart from leading the team competently.

Mumbai Indians are set to retain their four major Indian players – Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav – along with Tilak Varma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.With those five capped players retained, MI can use their one right-to-match option only on an uncapped player at the auction. While the individual amounts for each of their retained player is yet to be ascertained, MI will lose at least INR 75 crore from their purse of INR 120 crore, or more if they have paid a higher aggregate amount to the five.MI had a disappointing IPL 2024, finishing at the bottom of the league under the leadership of Hardik, who was traded in from Gujarat Titans and replaced Rohit as captain. Hardik was regularly booed at various venues last season as fans expressed their displeasure at the change of leadership, but he bounced back from poor personal form with significant contributions during India’s successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. However, Suryakumar was preferred as India’s T20I captain after that tournament once Rohit retired from the format, even though Hardik had captained India in T20Is for much of 2023.Related

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ESPNcricinfo has learned the MI management had a chat recently with their senior players on the plan going forward before agreeing on retentions.October 31 is the deadline by which the ten franchises have to submit their lists of retained players to the IPL. The teams have been allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the mega auction before the 2025 season, of which a maximum of five can be capped internationals and two can be uncapped players. While the IPL has set minimum deductions from the auction purse for each player retained – INR 18 crore for the first player, INR 14 crore for the second, INR 11 crore for the third, INR 18 crore for the fourth, INR 14 crore for the fifth, and INR 4 crore for an uncapped player – the franchises are free to pay more or less than those amounts to their retained players.

In his first outing as a red-ball bowler in Asia, Will O’Rourke was a menace. In his first spell, when the pitch was at its bounciest, he was rapid – sometimes breaching 140kph, and generated uncomfortable bounce from his six-foot-four-inch frame.His first Test wicket in the continent came from a bouncer, with experienced opener Dimuth Karunaratne so shaken by the deliveries O’Rourke had bowled to him previously, that he fenced at one he could have left, and edged it to the wicketkeeper.Pathum Nissanka, a centurion in the last Test innings he played, barely 10 days ago, was dismissed by an even better ball, a rapid, yorker he brought his bat down too late on, and which ended up rattling his stumps.Related

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Often foreign seamers struggle in their first outings in dry conditions. O’Rourke crushed it.”Me and Tim Southee as the pace bowlers have the role to be aggressive and bowl quick and unsettle people – that’s what we’ve talked about with coach Gary Stead and bowling Jacob Oram,” O’Rourke said.In his first five-over spell, O’Rourke took two wickets for 26.”A lot of the talk going into the game was maybe that the pitch was a little bit flat and a little bit slow. We probably wanted to have a bat first. But we had a bowl, and Tim and I were getting good carry, so the communication was to run in hard and hit the deck hard. I probably scattered it around a bit more than I wanted to, but when I hit the right spot I was lucky enough to get a few edges.”O’Rourke’s third wicket was especially impressive. Not only did he get one to rise sharply to smack Angelo Mathews on the index finger late in the first session, causing Mathews to retire hurt at the time. But when Mathews – frequently a good player of fast bowling – returned to the crease, O’Rourke got his wicket with another short, sharp delivery, one that a seemingly muddled Mathews fended at from a bad position.”It’s very special being this early on in my career bowling to legends like Angelo Mathews,” O’Rourke said. “One ball maybe jumped and caught him on the finger and unsettled him a little bit. It’s special to be able to bowl to greats like him and lucky enough to get his wicket at the end.”O’Rourke, in his third Test, is also reveling in having Southee as a mentor. Southee has bowled several memorable spells in Sri Lanka, including in Galle on the morning of the second day in a 2012 Test. Southee also averages an impressive 18.46 against this opposition.”It’s been awesome having Tim as captain. Having another fast bowler as captain who has done as much for the game as he has – it can only be a good thing for a young guy coming through. Getting him at mid-on, or even third slip when he comes over and gives you a wee pointer – that’s a big part of our team and a big part of helping me out.”

Former Australia opening batter Matthew Hayden is against the idea of Steven Smith playing as a Test opener. Hayden believes Smith should bat where he has scored most of his runs, suggesting moving him to a “completely different position” is “crazy”. Hayden, Australia’s most prolific opener in Tests before David Warner went past him in December 2023, believes that the top three positions need to be “protected” in Test cricket.”The rationale that [national selector] George Bailey gave was correct in so far as that he was choosing his best top six batsmen,” Hayden said on the sidelines of the CEAT cricket rating awards in Mumbai, of Australia’s batting plans. “Now, you can’t argue with Steven Smith, he is averaging 65 [57] in Test-match cricket…. 32 Test-match hundreds.”But, the role of an opening batsman compared to a middle-order batsman is very different. And it didn’t take long to discover that when you get into challenging conditions, like they faced in the first series outside of Australia, which was in New Zealand, that opening the batting is very difficult.”Smith played as an opener for the first time in his Test career earlier this year. First, during the two home Tests against West Indies and then in New Zealand for another two games. In those eight innings, he was out for 12 or less on five occasions and scored just one half-century – the unbeaten 91 in Brisbane – at an average of 28.50. In comparison, he averages 67.07 from No. 3 and 61.50 from No. 4.Related

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• Hayden: Hard to say who has the edge in Border-Gavaskar Trophy

“I, personally, as I said at the time, was on record saying that I didn’t like changing,” Hayden added. “I think it’s crazy to think that you have the world’s best-in-class batter in a certain position. And then you change to a completely different position. For a few reasons, I think that’s crazy. Firstly, why? Such a gun in that position, such a coveted player.”And then it also is not a great nod to the first-class set-up, which is very much in the Australian culture, been driving great results towards key roles, be that any one of the roles – wicketkeeping, batting, spinners, fast bowlers, opening batters. So the [batting positions of] one, two and three is a category which needs to be protected in my opinion. It sets up play.”If Australia do move Smith back down the order, they will have to look for a new partner for opener Usman Khawaja. Since Warner’s farewell Test at the SCG at the start of this year, Smith and Khawaja have opened in all of Australia’s four Tests, and moving Smith out of the opening slot would mean giving that position to an inexperienced batter. Has that second opening slot been a concern for Australia after Warner’s departure?Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja have been the Australia openers since David Warner’s retirement•Getty Images

“Yes, it is. It is,” Hayden said. “For the first time, it doesn’t feel as secure. David Warner gave a great service to Australian cricket. He gave a service that was extremely competitive, wonderfully dynamic. He really took that legacy that I’d created through the 2000s to a new level, strike rates in excess of 80 [70] and gave great momentum to the top order, which otherwise is quite a conservative, very good, but very conservative batting line-up. So I think he’s an enormous loss in terms of how do you replace him.”Clearly, they’ve gone in the direction of Steven Smith and thus far, whether they continue with that strategy, time will tell. And we have guys like [Cameron] Bancroft that are always in the pipeline, Matt Renshaw is in the pipeline.”Bancroft, when you look at his form in England, has been excellent, but that’s domestic cricket. It’s not the Border-Gavaskar-type cricket so a bit of a few things to really prove from that engine room in Australian cricket, which has been challenged right now with David’s absence.”Smith himself has said recently that he has “no idea” about his batting position for the India Tests, and that a decision would be made after Australia’s white-ball tour of the UK starting September 4, where they play a T20I series against Scotland before three T20Is and five ODIs against England. “I’m happy anywhere and I’ll bat wherever for the team,” Smith had said. Both Cummins and Bailey have also recently hinted that Australia are likely to go with the same top six as their last four Tests to begin their Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign.

Charith Asalanka is the new captain of the Sri Lanka men’s T20I team. The news was confirmed when Sri Lanka Cricket announced the 16-man squad to face India in a three-match series starting July 27.Asalanka, who takes over from Wanindu Hasaranga after the latter had stepped down from the role earlier this month following a six-month stint, is no stranger to captaincy, though. He had led Sri Lanka in two T20Is on the tour of Bangladesh earlier this year when Hasaranga, the captain at the time, was serving a suspension. He has also captained the Sri Lanka Under-19s and, most recently, led Jaffna Kings to the LPL title, after having taken over the reins from Thisara Perera at the start of the season.The other big news is the return of the 34-year-old Dinesh Chandimal to Sri Lanka’s T20I fold. He last played a T20I back in early 2022, but his form in the LPL this year, where he struck 287 runs across eight matches at a strike rate of 168.82 – far above his career strike rate of 123.03 – opening the innings, made a strong case for his inclusion. But with one stalwart entering another made way, with Angelo Mathews, now 37, left out of the squad despite also having had a good time in the LPL.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Included is another surprise inclusion, the uncapped Chamindu Wickramasinghe. The 21-year-old allrounder from Kandy, who has been putting in time at the MRF Pace Academy in India, caught the eye of selectors following a breakout LPL campaign this past month. A right-arm seamer who can also bat, he showed great maturity for his Dambulla Sixers franchise lower down the order, picking up seven wickets across eight games while also scoring 186 runs at a strike rate 131.91 – including two clutch fifties. His rise is all the more remarkable seeing that he went unsold during the LPL auction, but was signed by the Dambulla franchise after their forced ownership change had offered up the opportunity to bring in unsigned players.There are also returns for Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando and Binura Fernando, but this means there’s no room for Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dilshan Madushanka.Madushanka’s omission might be the most surprising of the lot, but it’s also the position in which Sri Lanka now have the most depth. While his 21 wickets at the 2023 ODI World Cup might still be relatively fresh in the memory, he didn’t play a single game at this year’s T20 World Cup, and he picked up just two wickets over six games for the Dambulla Sixers in the LPL.Replacing Madushanka in the squad is Binura Fernando, largely on the back of an excellent LPL outing. The 29-year-old left-arm quick has been in the Sri Lankan system for quite some time now – he made his debut back in 2015 – but consistency eluded him, primarily down to a poor injury record. This year, though, has been a watershed moment, as an unencumbered Binura took the LPL by storm, his clever variations helping him pick up 13 wickets across eight games at a miserly economic rate of 6.81. Equally, he put his body to the test, ending the season having played four games across five days.Binura Fernando picked up 13 wickets from eight matches in LPL 2024•Getty Images

Two others staking their claims on the back of a solid LPL season are Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando. The former, like Wickramasinghe, found his way to the Dambulla franchise belatedly having initially gone unsold in the auction, which itself followed a surprise exclusion from Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup squad. But Perera grabbed this fresh opportunity with both hands, crashing 296 runs across eight games at a strike rate of 169.14 – this included two fifties and a maiden T20 century, all at the top of the order.As for Avishka, after the disappointment of missing out on the T20 World Cup amid healthy competition in the top two spots, he made the No. 4 role his own to help Jaffna Kings to the title. Across 10 LPL innings he struck 374 runs at a strike rate of 162.60, including five fifty-plus scores. He ended the season as the third-highest run-scorer, and might have even topped the charts had he got an opportunity to bat in the final.The rest of the side comes through as expected, with Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Dunith Wellalage and Wanindu Hasaranga completing a strong batting line-up.Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Wellalage will be the primary spin-bowling options with support from the ambidextrous Kamindu if needed. The seam-bowling contingent shows good variety with two slingers in Nuwan Thushara and Matheesha Pathirana, Binura’s left-arm seam and Dushmantha Chameera’s right-arm pace, while Shanaka and Wickramasinghe can also roll their arm over when called upon.

Sri Lanka squad for T20I series vs India

Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Janith Perera (wk), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando

Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of the Duckworth-Lewis (later Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) method to determine results in rain-affected cricket matches, died on Friday, June 21 at the age of 84.The original method, devised by English statisticians Duckworth and Tony Lewis, was first used in international cricket in 1997 and was formally adopted by the ICC as the standard for setting revised targets in truncated games in 2001. In 2014, it was renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis and the modifications made to the system by Australian statistician Steven Stern.Duckworth and Lewis were both awarded MBEs in June 2010.The DL method replaced the rain rule that was used previously to calculate targets in interrupted matches, most infamously during the 1992 ODI World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa in Sydney.Duckworth was a consultant statistician with the ICC until 2014.”Frank was a top statistician who was respected by peers as well as the wider cricket fraternity. The DLS method that he co-created has stood the test of time and we have continued to use it in international cricket more than two decades after its inception,” Wasim Khan, the ICC general manager – cricket operations, said in a press statement. “Frank’s contribution to the game has been immense and the world of cricket is poorer with his death. We send our condolences to his family and friends.”