Joe Root doesn’t think there are any major concerns with the fitness of James Anderson and Moeen Ali that will keep them out of action in the second game of the Ashes which is starting this weekend.
The limited-over specialist England player, Eoin Morgan, has penned a deal with the Australian Club Sydney Thunder. He will be playing for them in the next Big Bash League season.
Morgan is the second big overseas name signed by Sydney Thunder. The club has already had the retired South African cricketer Jacques Kallis in its ranks.
Playing with Kallis is not going to be a new experience for Morgan by any means. He has rubbed shoulders with the legendary cricketer before in the Indian Premier League.
However, he seemed excited at the prospect of playing alongside the 39-year old again.
Speaking to the reporters after being unveiled as the latest Thunder signing yesterday, Morgan said, “When you think about genuine all-rounders, nobody comes to your mind that, you can say, is better than Jack. He is pure gold not only because of what he can do on the field himself, but, also because of what he passes on to the young players in the team.”
When Morgan was asked if he is aware of all the drama that is happening in English Cricket right now due to the autobiography of the former player Kevin Pietersen, the Middlesex man said, “Well, the only thing I can say about Kevin is that his contribution to the England team is as big as anybody else over the years. I will always remember him as one of England’s best and I think the others should also remember him the same way.”
However, Morgan did not support Pietersen’s claims of poor England dressing room environment.
The left hander said, “As long as I was in the test squad, I did not feel any such thing. We were winning most of the times and everything was fine.”
It will be interesting to see what spin combination the Indian think tank goes with in the first One Day International match against England that will be played in Bristol.
Normally, India goes with the duo of Ashwin and Jadeja irrespective of the conditions, but, there’s word around that the uncapped leg spinner Karn Sharma, who has been included in the Indian team for the first time, has made quite a good impression on the team management and he might be playing come tomorrow.
Karn has not been a huge performer in domestic circuit in India, but, in the last two editions of the Indian Premier League, he has bowled really well. He was pretty decent for the India A side on the recent tour of Australia as well.
The thing about Karn is that he is a leg spinner who bowls quite fast and turns the ball too. There have not been that many spinners in the game who have had this potent combination. Anil Kumble was a fast leggie, but, he didn’t use to get that much of spin off the surface. He was more dependent on his variations like flippers and googlies and all.
Karn might not be as versatile as the legendary Kumble, but, he gets fair amount of turn at the speed of around 90 kph which is very handy especially in limited-over cricket where the batsmen look to go after you most of the times.
Also, the English players have been traditionally weak against the leg spinners. Shane Warne has been very successful against them and so has been Stuart McGill, another Aussie. So, it would be worth it to give Karn a go.
Karn has 49 wickets to his name in 25 first class matches.
Ishant Sharma’s bowling spell in the second session of the third day in the ongoing Trent Bridge test match was a treat to watch. The tall, lanky young man bowled some absolute peach in that spell to get India on the driving seat.
Yes, the ball was reversing a bit, but, still, right lengths had to be hit and Ishant did that perfectly. He bowled fraction fuller than he normally does and extracted a lot from the wicket. His deliveries were coming in sharply for the right handed batsmen and a few of them were going straight as well.
The Delhi quickie got Robson out with an in dipper and then he bowled a middle stump delivery to Ballance which didn’t go away after pitching. The Yorkshire left hander was playing for that away going ball and thus, he couldn’t make the connection. The ball wrapped on his pad and the umpire’s finger was up straightaway.
Ishant then got Bell out as well with a beautiful delivery. He bent his back and made that ball rise from a length. Bell wanted to play a cut shot on that, but, after realizing that it was bouncing a bit too much, he tried to take his bat away. The ball, however, somehow kissed a part of the bat and went into Dhoni’s gloves.
In the last session of the day, Ishant looked a bit tired though and that’s understandable. He had done a lot of bowling in the first two sessions.
Ishant would be the key for India on the last day of the match as well. India, in all likelihood, would bat at a quick rate in the second innings and put England back in later tomorrow.
However, the first thing that the Indian bowlers will have to do on the Saturday morning is to separate the Root-Anderson pair which frustrated them a lot in the last hour of the third day.
The England Cricket Team will take on West Indies in the first match of the One Day International series at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua on Friday.
Stuart Broad would be captaining the Three Lions in the match and he would like to get his team off to a winning start.
It’s only a 3-match series. So, losing the first game means you are under huge amount of pressure going into the next two and no team would want to be in that situation.
So, both the teams would go hard at each other in Friday’s game and thus, it’s likely to be one heck of a contest.
The stadium might not be totally full and the reason behind that is the absence of the West Indies superstar Chris Gayle who injured himself again while playing against Ireland last week. However, a decent number of people are expected to turn up.
On the place of Gayle, it’s Dwayne Smith who will open for West Indies. He is also a very attacking batsman, but, not as much as the Jamaican left hander.
As far as England is concerned, it would be interesting to see the composition of their top order. They are without Alastair Cook and Ian Bell. So, they will have to go with an entirely new and inexperienced opening pair.
England does have some experience in the middle and lower order though with Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara there.
It will also be a test of the captaincy skills of Stuart Broad. He has captained England in the T20s, but, that’s a different format.
The Antigua pitch has helped the slower bowlers in most of the matches so far and it probably would behave in the same manner this time around as well.
The captain of the England cricket team, Alastair Cook, wants his players to pull their socks and come up with something special in the third test match against Australia which is going to start from tomorrow at Perth.
England is down by 0-2 in the series and they have an uphill task in their hands now. If they have to retain the Ashes, they will have to win 2 out of the next 3 test matches.
Cook was clearly looking pressurized while talking to the reporters in the pre match press conference earlier today.
The English skipper said, “We haven’t been at our best so far in the series and that is really disappointing. But, now, we can’t afford to put up another poor performance.”
“Captaincy is not an easy job. You are always under the scanner as a captain, but, you need to be up for the challenges and that’s what I am doing. I am ready for the upcoming game and I will try everything that I can to pull things back for us.”
England had included two spinners in the XI in the last test match as the Adelaide pitch was dry and was expected to assist the slow bowlers, but, on a quick and bouncy surface at Perth, there is no chance of them doing that. One of the two spinners would certainly be dropped.
England might also leave out both of them and go into the Perth test match with an all pace attack.
When asked about the possibility of both the spinners being sidelined, Cook said, “Selection is always difficult when you are losing games. You have to make some tough calls. As far as going with an all pace attack is concerned, it’s definitely possible.”