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Holes in England’s batting leave Joe Root facing “the biggest challenge an England captain will ever have” in attempting to win the Ashes in Australia, according to Andrew Strauss.Strauss, the last England captain to lead his country to success in Australia in 2010-11 and currently director of England cricket, believes Root has “a great chance” but accepts that question marks over the top-order batting leave “some vulnerabilities”.As a result, he feels it is essential England start the tour well, and says it is vital that the more inexperienced players are fully aware of the challenges – on and off the pitch – that await them.”It’s the biggest challenge an England captain will ever have,” Strauss said. “That is why, if you are able to win, certainly for me it was my greatest moment as an England captain.

Strauss on:

The England bowling coach: “We have our coaches in place for the Ashes. When we announce the Ashes touring team we will announce the coaching staff that surrounds them.”
A pre-Ashes bonding camp: “In 2010-11 it was really important, but in 2013-14 it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. This team is already in a good place. So there will be no camps in the month off. It’s been an incredibly long summer and we have an incredibly long winter ahead of us, so we want them to get away from cricket for a bit and spend some time with family.”
The next pay deal: “The current deal ends in September 2019. My intention is to ensure English cricketers are well paid, so that people will look up to those big names and say, ‘I want to play cricket as opposed to another sport’. I don’t anticipate it being a hugely antagonistic negotiation.”

“A lot of the challenges are off-field. You are living in this incredible bubble for a long period of time. Everything is directed towards you as England captain in terms of being responsible for what’s happening on the pitch.”The preparation work both before you arrive in Australia and in that first month in Australia is absolutely crucial. We need players arriving there who have done all the hard yards off the pitch, prepared themselves in terms of what is to come with short bowling, in terms of conditions in different parts of Australia and physically they are in a good place. That’s crucial in those hot conditions.”The reality is there are two teams with really strong assets and some vulnerabilities. Our challenge is to start the tour well. If we start well, hit the ground running and some of those guys who have not played a lot of Test cricket get an early score, then I think we are in a great position to win.”Strauss’s reservations over England’s prospects are founded on their failure to establish a settled batting line-up. Not only have England struggled to find a new opening partner for Alastair Cook since Strauss’s own retirement in 2012, but there are two other places unfilled in the top five.”The concerns I have are the concerns most people have, which is we haven’t been able to establish a team where 11 players are fully established,” Strauss said. “There are two or three places up for grabs, which is never ideal, and our consistency hasn’t been what we want.”I’d be lying if I said we were going to Australia with absolute clarity on what our best XI is. We’re just not in that position at the moment.”While Strauss defended the selection of the side over recent months, he accepted that, in several cases, players’ form had declined after a decent start in the England team. Keaton Jennings, Sam Robson and Adam Lyth all made centuries in their first two Tests, for example, while Gary Ballance enjoyed a prolific start to his Test career before running into difficulties.”There has been a bit of a trend with a lot of those players,” he said. “They have proved they are capable of playing at that level and can score runs but the issue for a lot of them is that their form has dropped off after an initial high. We have to ask ourselves why is that the case?”Maybe it is technical, maybe it is mental. So can we do more to prepare them for the off-field stuff around Test cricket, such as the attention, expectation, media and pressure because that plays a part in this as well.Andrew Strauss’s victory in Australia in 2010-11 was his greatest achievement as England captain•PA Photos

“I would resist any narrative that says we have been chopping and changing. Most of these guys had a good length in the team and would hold their hand up and say it wasn’t a bad decision to remove them for a bit. I think the reality is that the secret to a long England career is not how good you are, it is how consistent you are and those guys have not been consistent enough.”Strauss also revealed that, over the next 12 months, England will use international T20 games as an opportunity to take a look at more fringe players.”Part of our long-term planning for the 2019 World is to use the next 12 months as a way of introducing some more people into that team environment,” Strauss said. “We don’t just want the same 14 or 15 to be playing cricket for England over the next two years.”Given that there is no T20 World Cup, we see T20s as a way of introducing more people into that environment. In the South Africa T20s you will have noticed Tom Curran, Mason Crane, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone came in. We will probably be doing something similar over the next 12 months.”He also hinted that England players will once again be released to play in the IPL and reiterated his view that, if players such as Jos Buttler decide to pursue a future as white-ball specialists, it was “not an unhealthy thing”.”We have to accept the IPL is a unique case,” Strauss said. “The potential pitfalls of not allowing our players to play in it are big. We have to accept that is going to be a constant moving forward and there is huge benefit in our players going out there and playing as well.”There are advantages to having specialist players for formats. The international schedule makes life difficult for players playing all formats and we overcome that by having more specialist players. So, from our point of view, the separation between the teams is not an unhealthy thing.”From an individual player’s point of view it is 100 percent their own decision what they want to do with their career and the last thing we would ever say to a Jos Buttler or Alex Hales, or anyone, is ‘there’s no chance of you playing Test cricket again’.”That’s a choice they have to make and we will select our teams based on who we think are the best 13, 14 or 15 players for that format. What we are not going to do is select a Jos Buttler on an Ashes tour just to prevent him becoming a one-day specialist. That would be the wrong way to think about that.”Strauss maintained that England “have to be happy” with their progress in white-ball cricket, but admitted that failing to win the Champions Trophy was “a missed opportunity”.”In terms of white-ball cricket we have to be happy with the progress made,” he said. “We’ve moved from an average of losing more white-ball games than we win to winning over 70 percent of our ODIs over the last 12 months.”But I do think the Champions Trophy was a missed opportunity because the confidence that comes from winning a global event is massive. We headed into that semi-final with every reason to expect to win that event. We shouldn’t take anything away from the way Pakistan played that day: they outplayed us, and there are some lessons for us to learn about knock-out cricket.”

One tour, three formats, three series wins. For Chandika Hathurusingha, it has been the ideal start to his tenure as head coach of Sri Lanka.Speaking on his side’s return home from Bangladesh, a content Hathurusingha cited good communication, tactical flexibility, and a relaxed environment as key elements in Sri Lanka sweeping every trophy on offer. Now, his concentration has shifted to cultivating a strong squad that can compete in various conditions.”We want a big pool of players for us to compete against different countries and different opposition, depending on their limitations and strengths,” Hathurusingha said. “All the players get an equal opportunity and they will definitely know where they stand when it comes to selection.”With me, I don’t think you will see the same team too often. Of course the players that perform have the assurance of their places in the team, but will always try and see the best combination that can win games. It’s not that we’re trying to play with just eleven players for the next two years.”Jeevan Mendis provided prime example of this policy in action. Drafted in after three years out of the national setup, he had an immediate impact, picking up two wickets in his first over.”We know his talent, and coupled with his recent domestic record we knew we wanted a player with Jeevan’s qualities,” Hathurusingha said. “It depends on the opposition, depends on the conditions, and what we want to achieve. It’s all about flexibility with the team and we have communicated to the players as well, and they all know what their roles are. That’s how it’s going to be going forward.”Thisara Perera too has benefited from Hathurusingha’s clear tactical instructions. After an inconsistent period, the allrounder found fluency on the tour to Bangladesh, scoring 134 runs in five ODIs at an average of 44.66 and a strike-rate of 154. He also picked up five wickets. His destructive side was on display in the T20Is, where he struck quickfire cameos of 31 and 39 not out.”Thisara had come back to the national side after a while, and so we spoke to him a lot about his role. We also changed his training methods a bit. We all knew how talented he was, but he just needed to harness that better. We are now seeing what he’s capable of. I think he still has room to improve, and room to contribute, but it all depends on the roles and opportunities that he gets.”Hathurusingha was also pleased with Sri Lanka’s fight on the tour after they were beaten by both Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at the start of the ODI tri-series in January.”We knew we had the capability to come back. The opposition played really good cricket in the first two games and we took time to get used to the conditions. We also got a few things wrong tactically, but we came and corrected it in the next few games,” Hathurusingha said.”The biggest help was the environment, which was good for the players. The coaching staff also helped a lot. We also communicated a lot with the players on their concerns and views, we tried to get them to focus on their cricket and perform without worrying too much about the outcome.”Sri Lanka’s next assignment is the Nidahas Trophy, where they will face a wounded Bangladesh and an in-form India in a T20I tri-series. Hathurusingha is looking forward to the challenge. “We can definitely go and compete with bigger teams, but in cricket you can’t guarantee results. What we can assure and try to aspire to, is to try and get better every time we train, every time we play, and try to do our best. As long as we play to our potential I’m happy, because the more we play to our potential, more often than not we will win.”

Hundreds from opener Sanjay Ramaswamy and professional Ganesh Satish ensured Vidarbha stretched their first-innings lead to 258 against Punjab on the second day in Mohali.They put on 178 for the fourth wicket before thirties from Apoorv Wankhade and Akshay Karnewar took the score beyond 400. While Ramaswamy was dismissed by Pargat Singh for 161, Satish remained unbeaten on 126. Left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma – who was part of the India Under-19 squad that toured England earlier this year – picked up 2 for 110. On the opening day, Punjab had crashed to 161 all out in 42.2 overs.Bengal took strong strides towards an outright win against Chhattisgarh in Raipur. After piling up 529 for 7 declared, they reduced the hosts to 62 for 5 with fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Ashok Dinda sharing the first four wickets. Offspinner Amir Gani claimed the other wicket to fall, after which Manoj Singh and Abhimanyu Chauhan took Chhattisgarh to stumps without any further damage.Earlier, Sudip Chatterjee, who began the day on 58, completed his tenth first-class hundred and his second in two matches. While Manoj Tiwary (36), who was playing his 100th first-class match and Wriddhiman Saha (27) did not build on starts, Anustup Majumdar and B Amit made fifties to set up the declaration. Shami and Dinda then amplified the advantage with the new ball. Ashutosh Singh, however, counterattacked, hitting 51 of the side’s 80.Himachal Pradesh‘s openers Priyanshu Khanduri and Ankush Bains hit hundreds each in a 237-run stand to pave the way for a 101-run first-innings lead against Goa in Dharamsala. Both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession, but cameos from Paras Dogra (21) and Nikhil Gangta (32*) took the side past 350.Darshan Misal was the only Goa bowler to concede less than three runs an over. On the first day, medium pacer Pankaj Jaiswal picked up four wickets to bowl out Goa for 255.

Jos Buttler top-scored for England in the opening ODI at Seddon Park, but two fumbles behind the stumps aided New Zealand’s path to a final-over victory. Between well-matched sides, Buttler conceded that England need to be better at converting those chances into wickets.Buttler’s first mistake gave Tom Latham a life on 47, a thin edge down the leg side off Adil Rashid, then late in the chase he couldn’t cleanly glove a stumping opportunity that would have dismissed Tim Southee first ball – the delivery after Ross Taylor was stumped – and left Mitchell Santner with the less secure support of Ish Sodhi and Trent Boult to try and secure victory.He also failed to gather a return that would have run out Colin de Grandhomme, but that didn’t prove costly – save for the one extra run – as de Grandhomme fell to Ben Stokes next ball, the moment when the returning allrounder appeared to be winning the match for EnglandButtler, though, wasn’t the only culprit with Jonny Bairstow spilling a chance – albeit a tough one – in the deep off Latham, although again the cost was minimal as Latham fell next over. However, in a game decided with just four balls remaining every run mattered. England’s ground fielding also became a touch ragged during the latter part of the chase, although the dew may have been a factor.”I think we can be sharper in the field,” Buttler said. “I think we were a little bit sloppy for our standards – especially on small grounds like that, defending the boundary and shot-stopping in the ring obviously highlights it because the ball runs away. That’s an area we need to improve. We missed a few chances as well. To try and create wicket-taking opportunities when two good players get in in a partnership in one-day cricket, the half-chances we need to try and take them.”Buttler’s innings – 79 off 65 balls – did not include the late onslaught that is so often a feature of his game, and was witnessed with such impact at Sydney last month. That was largely due to the skill of Southee and Boult in the closing overs, with Buttler saying he felt back to somewhere near his best after a scratchy T20 tri-series.Southee, who Buttler spent two years with at the IPL as part of Mumbai Indians, made smart use of slower deliveries which, coupled with a sluggish pitch, meant the batsman had to do all the work. Southee only erred once to costly effect against Buttler in his final three overs, dragging down the first ball of his last over which was deposited for six, but otherwise didn’t go for more than a single against him at the death.”It’s quite a fun battle having spent a lot of time with someone who knows the strength of your game, but I’ve also tried to read his game and stuff like that,” Buttler said. “But he bowled really well and it’s something I’m very aware of – sides try and take pace off to me.”That’s the name of the limited-overs game: always staying one step ahead.

Ben Stokes, the England allrounder who is currently under police investigation for his part in a late-night brawl in Bristol last month, has been dropped by his kit manufacturer, New Balance.The company issued a statement on Wednesday saying his behaviour “does not match our brand culture and values” and that his contract, worth an estimated £200,000 a year, had been terminated. The announcement came shortly after Stokes had tweeted an apology for a separate incident, in which he apparently mocked the disabled son of British celebrity Katie Price, and with his involvement in the Ashes increasingly uncertain.While the ECB has said Stokes will not travel to Australia until his legal issues are resolved – he was arrested but has not, at this stage, been charged – it remains unclear whether he will be part of the group gathering in Loughborough for a training camp from next Tuesday.The camp is likely it to involve some fielding practice – the potential loss of Stokes further weakens England’s close-catching – as well as discussion on what to expect in Australia and some bowling with the Kookaburra ball.New Balance provides Stokes with branded equipment, from bats to boots. In a statement, the company said: “New Balance does not condone behaviour by our global athletes that does not match our brand culture and values, and therefore we have ended our relationship with Ben Stokes, effective October 11, 2017. We will not provide further comment.”Shortly after the incident in September, which saw Stokes held overnight by Bristol police, a TV ad by brewer Greene King featuring the player drinking in a pub was pulled.Ben Stokes’ Twitter apology•Getty Images/Twitter

Stokes has also issued an apology after appearing to mock Harvey Price. A video of him impersonating Harvey, who suffers from autism, ADHD, Prader-Willi Syndrome and blindness, circulated shortly after Stokes’ arrest.He has now publically expressed his regret and, having admitted he should never have acted in such a way, accepted that he behaved “foolishly”. In a statement on Twitter, Stokes said he had contacted both Harvey and Katie Price personally and offered to get involved in their attempts to reduce online bullying.”Earlier this year I was a shown a clip of Harvey being asked on Loose Women how he responds to internet trolls,” Stokes wrote. “I loved Harvey’s directness with his responses – he said what most of us think but perhaps aren’t brave enough to say, let alone on live TV.”I foolishly attempted to copy the clip after I saw it a few times. I should never have done this and I am so sorry. It was absolutely not my intention to offend Harvey, Katie or anybody else.”I have written to both Harvey and Katie to say sorry and prior to this offered to meet in person at the end of last month with a view to also getting behind their petition about online bullying. I do hope I can put this right.”

Do you find those dull middle overs of T20 too much? Well, turn your attention to the UAE this week for the inaugural Ten10 league. Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, sees the tournament as potentially ‘ground-breaking’ and a possible route for a further push to take cricket into the Olympics.Morgan is among the marquee players signed for the competition which will take place from December 14 in Sharjah, the ground which holds the record for hosting the most one-day internationals. The 10-over-a-side matches will last 90 minutes and include two-over Powerplays.The debate around cricket and the Olympics has rumbled on for a long time. The case for advancing the game to larger audiences in new markets has been tempered by the reluctance of some of the major cricket boards to relinquish any control, while the conditions attached by the IOC have been prohibitive, even before practical issues have been addressed, such as a lack of infrastructure in countries where the game is less extensively played.T20 had at least provided a format that, time-wise, could be more feasible than one-day cricket – and even beach cricket has been throw around as an idea – but Morgan believes T10 could be an even better vehicle.”I think T10 could be something you could potentially propose to an Olympic committee,” Morgan told ESPNcricinfo. “When you look at T20 game, it goes for a little bit longer, so if you are talking about playing a role in the Olympics then you’d probably have ten teams or more and that would probably last five or six weeks, but a 10-over league could be done in about eight days which could be right.”Cricket has seen shorter formats – for example the Hong Kong Sixes – but in terms of retaining the eleven-per-side element of the game, this is as brief as the game has ever gone without the intervention of the weather.”I think we have reached a limit, I think T10 is as short as the game can go but certainly there is huge potential for a T10 game,” Morgan said. “It’s 90 minutes, very exciting entertainment and exposing the game to different people around the world who would not come and watch one-day or T20 cricket.’In the first tournament there will be multiple matches played in the course of a single day, so for fans who choose to see more than one match, it will remain more than a 90-minute commitment at the ground. The Sharjah ground is often the best attended of the UAE venues when Pakistan play their international matches in the region.”It will be interesting to see how well we sell the game,” Morgan said. “We still have to create a good product and also put on a good show around it for those that buy tickets. Everyone has a part to play but it’s potentially ground-breaking if it goes well.”With just 60 legal deliveries available in a T10 innings, can we expect any player to score a century in the course of the tournament? “Well, Shahid Afridi is playing and he had one off [37] balls so if you hog the strike, maybe,” Morgan said.

Australia’s vice-captain David Warner was involved in a heated exchange with a spectator as he walked off the ground after his dismissal by Kagiso Rabada on day two of the third Test in Cape Town.In the latest unsavoury episode of an eventful tour, Warner responded to his individual baiting from the spectator in scenes reminiscent of Merv Hughes’ infamous confrontation with a fan at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in 1994, for which he was given a suspended fine by the then Australian Cricket Board after bashing his bat against the barrier the spectator was behind.Warner’s exchange was less violent but more prolonged, immediately after he had lost a gladiatorial bout with Rabada. Bowled by Rabada after a frenetic innings of 30 from 14 balls in which he struck the Proteas spearhead for 4-4-4-6-4 in the five balls before his dismissal, Warner found the middle-aged male spectator waiting for him as he commenced his walk from the boundary to the Australian dressing room, greeting him with sarcastic applause and plenty of words.As the verbal barbs continued, Warner stopped to respond to the spectator, who was seated in the Members enclosure of the Western Province Cricket Club, before a security guard moved to intervene. Nevertheless the pair kept on exchanging words as they made their way up the stairs on either side of the fence separating the players from spectators – the incoming batsman Usman Khawaja walked past the two adversaries on his way to the middle.Australia’s security manager, Frank Dimasi, subsequently made his way down to the area and spoke with both the security guard and the spectator. Warner’s “baiter”, who was the guest of a member of WPCC, was later ejected from the ground. Several fans were also kicked out of Newlands for singing songs about Sonny Bill Williams. Numerous members of the Australian side, in addition to Warner, had been subjected to abuse from spectators concerning their wives and partners while in the field at Newlands during South Africa’s first innings.Australian touring teams have long acknowledged that they receive some of their harshest treatment from spectators in South Africa, although up to this point Warner’s tour had involved more exchanges with opponents than fans.In Durban he was captured on CCTV cameras exchanging words with Quinton de Kock, then responding angrily to the response from the South Africa wicketkeeper and needing to be physically restrained by team-mates as he climbed the stairwell at Kingsmead. That incident saw Warner fined and handed three demerit points under the ICC code of conduct, meaning he is one further disciplinary infraction away from a ban. De Kock was also fined over the episode, albeit on a lesser charge.Warner has alleged that his aggression was sparked by de Kock making personal remarks about his wife Candice. Between first two Test matches, offensive masks were distributed by fans in reference to her brief bathroom encounter with the rugby league player Sonny Bill Williams years before she and Warner became a couple. Two Cricket South Africa officials, Clive Eksteen and Altaaf Kazi, have been suspended by the home board after allowing fans wearing the masks to be admitted to St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and then posing with them for a photograph.

Australian cricket’s wide open broadcast rights future will be underlined when the Twenty20 triangular series is split across free-to-air and pay television broadcasters because its conception took place after the soon-to-expire current deals were inked in 2013.While Channel Nine will air the first three matches of the tournament between Australia, England and New Zealand in Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne, Fox Sports will be the only network airing the remaining matches on the other side of the Tasman, including the tournament final at Eden Park in Auckland on February 21.Viewers in Britain will also face a somewhat disjointed broadcast arrangement, with BT Sport to air the matches in Australia and Sky Sports to take over for the New Zealand leg. This reflects the deal struck by BT last year to air all televised cricket played in Australia, whereas Sky retain the rights to matches played in New Zealand.Fox Sports’ broadcast of the pointy end of the series beginning in Australia may be part of a pre-existing deal, but it is a harbinger of the future, as the subscription television carrier is likely to be a key player in the next round of broadcast deals as both Nine and Ten look to retain cricket’s popular place on their networks while also trying to find ways to balance the growing cost of the rights. Official meetings with interested parties are set to begin this week after plenty of less formal discussions in the corporate hospitality areas of Ashes and Big Bash League venues over the past two months.Five years ago Cricket Australia, led by their general manager for media rights Stephanie Beltrame, was able to generate genuine competition for the rights to the game for the first time since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket breakaway. Ten, then desperate for high rating content after a string of failed shows, put in a A$500 million bid for the rights, forcing Nine to match that figure including a commitment to fund CA’s nascent digital arm to the tune of A$40 million.Ten then took the rights to the then unknown quantity of the Big Bash League for A$20 million a season over five years, a figure that is now seen as a huge win for the network, which was recently refinanced by the American broadcasting giant CBS. Conservative estimates for the BBL and WBBL have the tournament doubling in season-by-season value, with the prospect of more games being added to the calendar and more made of the finals series.Getty Images

However, both networks are thought to be looking for ways to balance the value of the rights with their mounting cost, with Fox Sports looming as a likely option to add financial heft to the deals. At the same time the pay TV operator is eager for cricket, having lost a significant part of its summer programming when CA awarded the BBL to Ten without giving Fox Sports the opportunity to bid – so important did the governing body deem the goal of free-to-air audiences for the tournament.Though some analysts have suggested that Fox Sports would require a significant exclusive component of cricket to sign on, the network would also find the ability to sell any simulcast matches on an “ads free” basis, as it does for events such as Australia’s home rugby union internationals and major AFL fixtures. At the same time CA would be hesitant to place too much of the game behind a paywall, mindful of how cricket’s English audience has shrunk over the past 13 seasons, irrespective of the rich bounty paid for the UK domestic cricket rights by Sky.James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, has said that any future deal with Fox Sports would have to suit the wider interests of the game. “They’ve always been heavily involved in cricket, but they’ve invested in overseas cricket more so than domestic cricket,” Sutherland had said earlier this month. “They started the BBL the first two years, they’ve supported our domestic one day competition and did a very good job when they were partners there.”The question mark now is how much do they want, what do they want and what are they interested in. While we understand they may be interested, it is then a matter of how that fits with everything else. Clearly the observation I’d make right now is that cricket’s blessed to have all of our valuable content on free-to-air television and two partners in Nine and Ten who do it in their own special way and both attract huge audiences and are extremely professional and care a lot about their production of cricket.”We’re in a really good position, hopefully the product is still sought after by them and others as well.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAFP

Afghanistan began their historic tour of India with a dominant performance against Bangladesh, crushing them by 45 runs in the first T20 in Dehradun. The clinical display went along expected lines as their big-hitters Mohammad Shahzad, Samiullah Shenwari and Shafiqullah got them to competitive 167 for 8 in 20 overs. That set it up for the usual suspects – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman – to do their thing and dismantle Bangladesh, as they were bowled out for 122 in 19 overs.Having broken the back of the chase, Rashid snaffled an excellent catch – diving to his left and grabbing Abu Jayed’s slap overhead with both hands – giving Afghanistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. It was a complete performance from Afghanistan, characterised by a clinical bowling performance that didn’t give Bangladesh any chance of chasing down the total.Bangladesh began a tough chase on the wrong foot. Tamim Iqbal paid for indecision – caught between sweeping and defending Mujeeb’s first ball of the innings – to be pinned in front of middle and off. Shakib Al Hasan struck two fours, before poor shot selection, against the turn of Mohammad Nabi, cost him his wicket in the fourth over.Liton Das looked slightly more accomplished at the crease. During the course of a 20-ball 30, Liton treated the crowd to a sweetly-timed cut, a switch-hit, and a soaring six over long-on. But after he fell to Nabi, to a questionable decision in the eighth over, Bangladesh imploded against Rashid Khan.Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman fell off his first two balls, in the 11th over, when the game was still in the balance; Mushfiqur missing a reverse sweep, and Sabbir caught clueless against a quick googly. Mosaddek Hossain struggled for 23 balls before holing out in the deep to give Rashid his third wicket.The rest of the Afghanistan attack, too, played a part in reining in Bangladesh. Shapoor Zadran, like Rashid, took three wickets, but leaked 40 runs in his four overs. Nabi took two wickets, and Mujeeb and Karim Janat took one each.Earlier, Mohammad Shahzad and Usman Ghani got Afghanistan off to a sound start, putting on 62 runs for the first wicket. Ghani struck the first six of the game in the fifth over, but after yet another over went without a boundary – five out of 8.2 at that stage – Rubel Hossain snuck past a desperate attempt at a slog and pegged his leg stump back.Shahzad, too, struggled to get going after the Powerplay overs. He was dropped by Shakib, off his own bowling, at the start of 12th over, and ended it by reverse-sweeping him straight to point. He had made 40 off 37 balls, with five fours.Mahmudullah’s double-strike in the 14th over, where he dismissed Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi, left Afghanistan with the tough task of rebuilding the innings with six overs remaining. But Bangladesh gave away the advantage in the last four overs.First, Mahmudullah dropped Samiullah Shenwari in the 17th over at the long-on boundary, before Shenwari swatted Abu Jayed for two sixes and as many fours in the following over. He fell off the last ball of the same over, but his 18-ball 36, with three fours and as many sixes, had revived Afghanistan.Shafiqullah started with a six off the first ball he faced, before hammering Abul Hasan for two more in the last over. He fell off the next ball, and even though Afghanistan lost two more wickets in the last over, Rashid Khan’s last-ball six gave them a strong finish.Afghanistan took 62 runs off the last four overs, with Mahmudullah, despite his two-wicket over, never returning to bowl.

Whatever Cameron Bancroft envisaged when he imagined the first press conference of his career as a Test cricketer, it surely wasn’t this.His excellent debut, in which he scored 82 not out to help Australia to a 10-wicket victory, was all but forgotten as he was besieged by questions about the incident involving Jonny Bairstow in Perth a month ago.It was, at times, surreal stuff. Asked to define “on a scale of one to 10” what sort of a headbutt he received from Jonny Bairstow, he found himself using the memorable phrase “I’ve actually got the heaviest head in the Western Australia squad; it’s been measured.”A series of England press conferences had brought only more confusion. The more they (Bairstow, Joe Root and an utterly bemused Trevor Bayliss) insisted “we’ve made it quite clear”, the more the truth was shrouded in a fog of vague platitudes that begged more questions than they answered. They might as well have got David Blaine to talk to the media. It was, for the most part, like trying to get a straight answer from a politican.

Root rejects Warner punch comparison

Joe Root urged onlookers “to be careful” not to equate the Jonny Bairstow incident to the one involving David Warner four years ago.
Root, who was punched by Warner in a Birmingham bar during the 2013 Champions Trophy, insisted the Bairstow incident had been “blown out of proportion” and that there was “nothing there”.
“We need to be careful not to make a big deal out of something that’s not there,” Root said. “I can see why people would think that is similar to the Warner incident on the surface. But these are two very different instances and we have to be very careful that we don’t fall into that trap. These two instances are definitely not the same.
“It’s obviously disappointing that we have given them something to bring up. It’s come up on the first day Australia have had a good day on the field, four weeks later. If it was a big deal it would have come out a lot earlier, and we need to be careful not to make a big deal out of something that’s not there.”
Root also admitted that England were partially responsible in letting the game slip by failing to set a match-defining first-innings total. At 4 for 246, they had the foundation for a large score but instead managed only 302.
“When you get to 250 for four you want to make 400,” Root said. “That was probably the difference between their innings and ours.
“One guy went on and made a big hundred for them – and credit to him, he played exceptionally well – and then we had them seven down and would like to have bowled them out a bit quicker. There were little chances that cost us.”

But Bancroft is an uncomplicated, old-fashioned, straight-talking Aussie. And, without too much fuss, he let the light flood in. Australia won the first Test on and off the field.This, it transpires, is what happened: a few hours after England landed in Perth on October 29, several of the squad went out for drinks. There was no curfew and they were accompanied by security officers.At some stage during the evening, a few members of the England squad and a few members of the Western Australia squad bumped into each other (no pun intended). With mutual friends and shared experiences to discuss, they had a few drinks.Bairstow, like an over-excited puppy, greeted Bancroft with a well-meaning but clearly inappropriate butt which connected with the side of Bancroft’s forehead. While Bancroft was surprised – “It was really weird and random. I expected a handshake or hug, not a headbutt” – he was not offended or threatened. At no stage was the action interpreted as aggressive and the two carried on chatting and drinking.It is a version of events that has, more or less, been accepted by Bairstow.It came to light on Sunday after some dialogue was picked up by stump microphones. The Australia team brought it up in the belief they could disconcert Bairstow when he came out to bat. It worked like a charm, too. He was caught at third man attempting an uppercut.Not for a moment should anyone conclude that the Australian on-field talk represents their genuine belief that Bairstow assaulted anyone. It was, as Steve Smith, admitted a tactic. “We were just trying to get into his head,” Smith said. “And I think it worked.” They didn’t, they insist, intend for it to leak into the media. Though you get the impression they are not too concerned that it did. England’s discomfort will delight them.Wait there, you’re thinking. Bairstow said hello with a headbutt?Well, yes. Not an especially violent one and certainly not one meant to hurt, but yes, he did. In a clumsy, macho, possibly even jet-lagged way, he did. Like a “jock”, as they might say in the US. It is an almost inexplicably strange greeting, it is true. Unless, perhaps, you are a stag.Perhaps you have to know the characters involved to understand. Those who do – the media and players see a lot of each other these days – describe Bairstow as a well-meaning, likeable but perhaps slightly socially awkward fellow. Think of Alan Partridge trying to fit in with “the blokes” in the episode entitled “Watership Alan” (“I had breakfast; didn’t even wash my hands. Cos I’m a bloody bloke”) or James Fleet’s character, Tom, in attempting to emulate the gentle wit of Hugh Grant’s best man’s speech and inadvertently causing great offence (“When Bernard told me he was getting engaged to Lydia I congratulated him because all his other girlfriends were such complete dogs. Although may I say how delighted we are to have so many of them here today”).Nobody involved in this situation – not Bancroft, Bayliss or Bairstow – thinks there was any malice involved. It would be odd if any of the rest of us reached a different conclusion.Bairstow will probably be embarrassed by this episode for some time. “Just don’t say hello to me,” someone shouted at him in mock horror in the hotel lobby on Monday. He greets harder than Audley Harrison hits, after all. But really, apart from providing material for some gentle teasing for years to come (he’ll be the butt of jokes, you would imagine), this incident doesn’t amount to very much. Bairstow, who shook hands with every member of the Australia squad and backroom staff after the match, will not be disciplined and should surely be allowed to move on.Jonny Bairstow explains his side of the story•Getty Images

There is a more serious element, though. Bayliss, as laid back an England coach as there has ever been, was clearly seething at the fact such an incident had – albeit briefly – destabilised his team. Within a couple of minutes, he used the words “stupid”, “dumb” and “extra dumb” to describe the off-field behaviour of some of his players in recent times. He couldn’t give a damn what they get up to in their spare time, just so long as they don’t do anything that could, in any way, compromise their on-pitch performance.And, the way he sees it, this episode helped Australia dismiss Bairstow in England’s second innings – he played a poor, flustered shot – and increased the media pressure on his squad. It has fuelled allegations there is a “drinking culture” within the squad – an allegation with which few of those of us who travel with them agree – and increased the level of scrutiny and pressure which will stalk them with its long lens.The result? England may move a step closer to a siege mentality they have done well to avoid in the aftermath of the Stokes incident. They have, until now, continued to mingle and mix and enjoy the many delights of this wonderful country. It would be a shame – a self-defeating shame, probably – if they were to put up the shutters and stop embracing all that life offers here. Month upon month of hotel room living is not the definition of professionalism; it encourages insularity and brooding and staleness. As Bob Dylan put it: too much of nothing makes a man mean.This England side has been admirably open in recent times. They have posed for every selfie and accepted nearly every media request. The culture has been more relaxed, happier and lighter and, surely as a direct consequence, less plagued by the mental health problems that had a significant impact on the 2013-14 Ashes tour. It would be a shame if an odd incident like this – not much more than shaking hands with a girl who expects a kiss on the cheek or knocking over a glass of wine at a wedding – were to spoil it.