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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:35

Fernando: No-ball scare gave Mendis focus

How sweet homecomings can be. Having failed to score 300 in any of their six Test innings in South Africa, Sri Lanka rode Kusal Mendis’ suave 166 not out to a score of 321 for 4 on the first day in Galle. Along the way, Mendis signed up Asela Gunaratne for a sidekick, forging with him a dominant 196-run fourth-wicket stand, of which Gunaratne’s share was 85.This Galle pitch deserves a first-innings total of at least 400, so although Sri Lanka’s position is strong for now, it is certainly not an unassailable one. Bangladesh, though, will rue their falling away towards the end of the day. Their first three hours had been disciplined and energetic, the quicks squeezing a little movement from a reluctant surface in the early overs, before the spinners dealt almost exclusively in tight lines and lengths at their initial introduction. Their initial reward for this stretch of good bowling was a scoreline of 92 for 3, but then their pep waivered. The last dismissal came after several hours, not long before the close of play.

Mendis-Gunaratne’s record

• 2 Centuries for Kusal Mendis at home from nine innings. Mendis scored 176 against Australia last year and is currently unbeaten on 166. This is also his third first-class century.

• 166 Runs scored by Sri Lanka from 35 overs in the third session of play. Mendis scored 86 of those runs.

• 196 Runs added by Gunaratne and Mendis – the highest fourth-wicket partnership for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh

That late scalp was well-deserved by Taskin Ahmed, though – he was Bangladesh’s most consistent operator through the day, and it was appropriate that he have at least one scalp to show for his toil.Mendis’ innings was not without its flaws, but the mistakes came in the early going. He was assured through the middle of the day, and by the end: sublime. The worst shot had been his first. Mendis flashed at a short ball outside off stump from Subhashis Roy, to send an under-edge to the keeper. Bangladesh were celebrating and he was trudging off when the umpires sought to run a no-ball check, with replays showing the bowler had overstepped. Though visibly relieved, the experience was enough to scare Mendis into early reticence – only 22 came from his first 60 balls.There had been a little juice in the pitch in the early overs, too – a modicum of sideways movement, and just a hint of zip off the pitch. When this disappeared in the day’s relentless heat, Mendis began to prosper. First he parsed the mild spin of Shakib Al Hasan and the moderate turn of Mehedi Hasan. He then withstood Taskin’s intense second and third spells. Eventually Subashis tried to unsettle him with a short-ball assault, but though the occasional bouncer beat his hook shot, and another ball took the splice of his bat, he retained his wicket, and soon enough, began to score off the rib-high balls as well. As always with a good Mendis innings, there was that flicked on-drive, but on this occasion it was the swat-pull that defined his progress through the middle of the day. His first fifty took 101 deliveries but, in the company of Gunaratne – who was also scoring smoothly – Mendis hit his second off 64 balls.As the day grew long, and Bangladesh began to visibly wilt, Mendis only grew more dominant. He slinked down the crease to hit Shakib over long-on in the 76th over, then slog-swept Mehedi over deep midwicket soon after. He sailed past 150 in the final overs of the day. This innings was not nearly as impressive as his maiden ton – 176 against Australia last year – but he has, nevertheless, already displayed a thirst for big hundreds.Gunaratne, his partner for 43 overs, rarely appeared troubled at the crease, and was quick to punish anything short. Against the spinners he deployed his favoured sweep and reverse sweep. He glided to a half-century in 85 balls, and rarely failed to find gaps to release the pressure when a few dot balls had built up. This was his third fifty-plus score in five Test innings.Before Gunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal had produced a long, fruitless stay at the crease. It was not tortured exactly – the ball rarely beating his bat or causing him strife – but it was unambitious in the extreme. Why he embraced this ultra-conservative approach is unclear, particularly as he had just clattered 190 off 253 against the same attack in the tour match last week. Whatever the case, he only succeeded in taking time out of the game. Midway through the afternoon, a sudden burst of energy overtook him: he attempted to flay Mustafizur Rahman through the covers, then tried to slash him a little squarer next ball. The first shot was mistimed, and yielded no run. The second attempt sent a thick outside edge directly to gully, who gobbled up the catch. Chandimal ended with 5 runs to show for 54 balls and 71 minutes at the crease.The first session had been Bangladesh’s best, as Subhashis, Taskin and Mustafizur delivered impeccable spells to corner Sri Lanka into conservatism. Subhashis had made the first incision, darting a ball back off the seam to rattle Upul Tharanga’s stumps. Mehedi had Dimuth Karunaratne cutting too close to his body to make the second breakthrough. Sri Lanka were 61 for 2 at lunch, and there seemed a chance, at that stage, that their unusual decision to field only six batsmen for this Test would immediately hurt them.Mendis ensured that would not be the case.

David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has expressed confidence that the India-Pakistan match will take place in Dharamsala as scheduled on March 19 despite there being security concerns over the venue. Richardson was speaking in Delhi on Monday, even as a two-member team from Pakistan visited Dharamsala to assess the security arrangements for the World T20.”As of now all the plans as scheduled are on track. In the worst-case scenario, if something happens we will have to go back to the drawing table. But as of now that’s not on the cards,” Sridhar said in Dharamsala.Richardson addressed concerns around Dharamsala and Delhi, a venue that has had severe administrative problems. He was confident that scheduled matches could proceed at both venues.”Challenges in respect to those two venues, they are there,” Richardson said. “But we are dealing with those problems. The venues were decided a year back and all arrangements are in place to stage the matches at those two venues.”These challenges have reasons not through the fault of the BCCI or the ICC. But the fact is that we are dealing with these and we are confident that the matches will proceed at those two venues. The Indian government has shown a commitment to make sure that adequate security measures are in place at all the venues for all the teams.”According to a PTI report, Federal Investigation Agency Lahore director Usman Anwar and PCB chief security officer Azam Khan arrived in India via the Wagah border and left for Dharamsala on Monday. Their report will have a crucial impact on whether the PCB clears its men’s and women’s teams for travel to India on March 9 for the World T20.The Pakistan government had initially granted the PCB permission to play in India, but the board decided to put the visit on hold until they were guaranteed foolproof security. The PCB’s move was prompted by the Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh expressing his state government’s difficulty in providing security for the India-Pakistan match.

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.”

Umar Akmal, the Pakistan batsman, believes he can revive his Test career despite not having played the format for nearly six years.Akmal, 26, had made his Test debut at the age of 19 in 2009. He scored a century in his first innings but did not make another one in his next 15 Tests and was not picked again in the format after September 2011. He had scored 1003 runs in 30 innings, with six half-centuries, and averaged 35.82.Akmal was of the opinion that his batting style was suited to the way Test cricket is played presently. “I still wonder what I did wrong and where I went wrong to be dropped from Test side,” Akmal said in Dubai, where he is playing for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL. “They only dropped me saying that I am not suitable for Test cricket because I don’t hold back, which is required in Tests.”But the approach to playing Test cricket has changed over the years. Now teams score 350 or so in one day and matches hardly go into fifth day. I was playing the very same brand of cricket, which was actually evolving at that time, but I was dropped because I play fast and not the conventional way. Was that my mistake? If so, then the whole world has now adapted this modern form of cricket in Tests as well.”Around 2010 and 2011, Akmal’s form dipped and subsequently he began to make headlines for discipline problems. His limited-overs form began to suffer as well and he has only two centuries in 105 ODI innings and eight half-centuries in 77 T20I innings. His flashy shot selection was a point of much debate. Akmal’s duck against Peshawar Zalmi on Sunday was his 24th in the format – the most in T20 cricket.Akmal, however, said that his position in the batting order adversely impacted his ability to play long innings and score big. He preferred to bat up the order but was kept in the lower middle, often having to play the low-percentage role of aggressor towards the end of an innings.The recent 1-4 defeat in Australia was Akmal’s first ODI series since the 2015 World Cup. He made 131 runs with a high score of 46, having batted one innings at no. 5 and four at no. 6.”I am not careless, just playing my natural game,” Akmal said. “If I am asked to score ten per over then what you expect from me? Should I play for myself, score at five, and let the run rate mount on my team? No, I rather go out, play big, and try to achieve my team’s requirement. And we all know where I play [in the batting order], at which number. People often compare me with other batsmen but why don’t people realise that the number I bat at is critical and there is the burden of extra responsibility.”I still try to help my team out of pressure situations by pushing back the opponent, but sometimes I am not able to do so. But my intentions are clear that I want to play for my team according to the requirement and will play my shots.”Another issue is Akmal not satisfying the PCB’s standards of fitness, on which there has been greater emphasis over the last three years. At his previous assessment, Akmal was weighed at 91kg and his fat-level reading was 115.6 – anything over 100 is considered high. Akmal, however, defended his fitness levels.”If you talk with different players around the world, some are slightly bulky and some are smart in physique, but that doesn’t mean weight defines their actual fitness,” Akmal said. “I don’t remember going off the field in a game, or conceding a second run. I am energetic in the field and my running between the wickets is fine as well.”So what exactly do you expect from me? To be smart and thin, why? I can quote you many examples in which those players are theoretically fit but cannot even clear the circle. I have a natural body and if I try to reduce it I may lose my strength for power hitting.”

Kagiso Rabada, the South Africa fast bowler who will miss next week’s second Test at Trent Bridge, is said to be “heartbroken” to have let down his team, according to his team-mate Temba Bavuma, after he was served with an automatic suspension by the ICC for accumulating four demerit points.Rabada earned one demerit point for swearing at Ben Stokes after dismissing him for 56 in England’s first innings, on top of three he already had for a shove on Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella in an ODI in January.”KG is quite an emotional character,” said Bavuma. “The way he acted – he didn’t act like that on purpose. He was aware of the consequences. It was just in the heat of the moment. He is quite heartbroken as he feels he has let down the team.”On the thorny issue of sledging, Bavuma added: “It’s something I have had to endure from schoolboy cricket days. I see it as part and parcel of cricket.”There’s a fine balance that needs to be achieved. You don’t want it to be completely taken away but you still want the respect of the game to be there. A balance needs to be achieved.”The ICC’s code of conduct has come under scathing criticism from former South Africa captain Graeme Smith who disagreed strongly with the decision.Though Smith understood the sanction was based on collective, not isolated incidents, he did not think the expletive uttered by Rabada, which was picked up on the stump mic, should have been punished that harshly.”It’s ridiculous,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “No-one wrote about it, no-one spoke about it. It was only because it was on the stump mic that it’s become a thing.”The incident occurred on the opening day of the first Test at Lord’s when Rabada dismissed Stokes and told him to “f*** off”, something Smith thought was not serious enough to earn Rabada another demerit point.”It could have been handled better. I don’t think it was aimed at Ben Stokes. I just think it was out of frustration. If it wasn’t picked up by the stump mics he wouldn’t have been done,” Smith said on .”There is obviously a line that the ICC have drawn and we need to stay on the right side of it,” said England’s James Anderson.”When I watch games, I like having the stump mic there. It’s the players’ duty to be aware that is there and they turn it up quite loud sometimes.”

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.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:22

Chappell: Umesh Yadav has been a hero this season

Australia’s batsmen froze in the spotlight of the opportunity to press for a series-sealing victory over India, leaving the hosts needing a mere 87 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on day four in Dharamsala. The surprise for the hosts and source of regret for the visitors was that wickets to pace, not spin, dictated the course of the day.Starting their second innings 32 runs behind, Australia lost David Warner, Steven Smith and Matt Renshaw while still in deficit and were ultimately rounded up for a measly 137. Only Glenn Maxwell offered any prolonged resistance, the rest stuck in quicksand against Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.Umesh and Bhuvneshwar in particular made a mighty impact, making the new ball kick, jump and jag in such a way that Warner and Renshaw were utterly spooked, while Smith’s series ended with an attempt to assert himself that ended with a misjudged pull shot and scattered stumps. Ashwin and Jadeja were then left to separate Maxwell and Peter Handscomb before mopping up the rest.Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha had earlier put together a priceless partnership to push India into the lead before Australia struck in the minutes before lunch. As had been the case in Ranchi, India’s seventh-wicket stand was a thorn in Australian sides, lifting the hosts from an overnight deficit of 52 to an advantage of 18 before the visitors were able to find a wicket. Jadeja’s innings maintained his up surge not only as the world’s No. 1 ranked bowler, but also as a batting talent.He had solid support from Saha, who was fortunate to still be at the crease given Matt Renshaw’s drop off the bowling of Cummins on the second evening. It was ultimately Cummins who ended the stand by coaxing Jadeja to drag onto the stumps, before also claiming Saha with a spiteful bouncer that the wicketkeeper gloved into the outstretched right hand of Steven Smith at second slip.These wickets feel either side of O’Keefe finding some turn in his first over of the session to defeat Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with Smith claiming the catch. He had refrained from using O’Keefe while Jadeja was at the crease, a measure of the respect Australia had for the left-hander’s potential to score quickly.Australia thought they had a wicket with the first ball of the morning, when Cummins angled across Jadeja and there was a noise as the ball passed the bat. The umpire Marais Erasmus raised his finger instantly, but Jadeja reviewed just as fast. Replays showed the bat had brushed his back pad rather than the ball, the decision reversed.With the ball still new, it swung and bounced disconcertingly at times, requiring all of Jadeja’s skill to keep down. Saha proved an effective partner, and the scoring rate rose dangerously for an Australian side conscious of not giving up too much of a lead. At the same time, Smith and his bowlers were straining for wickets, as evidenced by an ambitious referral for lbw against Saha by Josh Hazlewood off an inside edge, and also a preponderance of niggling chatter between bowlers and batsmen.Not for the first time, Cummins took it upon himself to generate something, and did so by going around the wicket to Jadeja after he had hooked a pair of short balls in his previous over. Jadeja’s middle stump was knocked back, and he was soon to be joined by Bhuvneshwar and then Saha.Steven Smith’s sensational series with the bat ended at 499 runs•Associated Press

Kuldeep Yadav added a pesky few runs with the last man Umesh before Nathan Lyon returned to the bowling crease. He had Kuldeep caught at deep backward square leg on the sweep with his first ball. That gave Lyon a deserved five-wicket haul, and left the touring batsmen to contemplate the best way to build a lead.They would have expected a few difficult overs from the pacemen but not the fusillade fired down by Bhuvneshwar and Umesh that did for Warner, Smith and Renshaw. Warner was struck one stinging blow on the shoulder by a Bhuvneshwar short ball that climbed sharply, was dropped for a second time in the match by Karun Nair, and did not get far enough across his crease to avoid edging Umesh the following over.Smith seemed intent on domination, sending his first ball to the boundary behind square leg then lining up Bhuvneshwar’s short and full deliveries. But his attempt to carry on brought a miscalculation and an ugly drag onto the stumps – Smith finished the series with a laudable 499 runs but the sense of an unfinished last innings.Renshaw’s dropped catches and cheap first-innings dismissal had conveyed something of fatigue on his first overseas tour having played so maturely earlier in the series. Now he fiddled at an Umesh delivery he may have left at another time. Australia were three down and still a run in deficit.For a time, Handscomb and Maxwell appeared capable of forging a major stand. Maxwell was the aggressor and Handscomb the accumulator, and the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep was withdrawn by Ajinkya Rahane after being effectively neutralised. However in the final few minutes of the session, Ashwin found Handscomb’s outside edge with an offbreak that jumped without turning, then Shaun Marsh – beset by a back injury – bunted lamely to short leg.Maxwell loomed as the key to Australia’s chances when the evening session began, and after Wade evaded an early lbw appeal and referral, Maxwell was given out to Ashwin when he tucked his bat behind his pad. The review showed umpire’s call for both impact with the pad and projected path towards the stumps.Cummins and Wade then tried to steady the innings, but became trapped into scorelessness in a way that meant the Australian lead did not appreciably grow relative to the time they spent at the crease. So when Cummins fell to Jadeja, the lead was still well short of 100, and it remained there through the swift dismissals of O’Keefe and Lyon.Finally Wade showed more intent in Hazlewood’s company, until the paceman was deceived twice by Ashwin. The first occasion seemingly to a catch at second slip, but replays showed M Vijay had grounded the ball and so the players returned to the middle for another two balls, this time to see the umpire Ian Gould’s finger raised for an lbw.Vijay and KL Rahul were left with six overs to the close. They negotiated them with a level of comfort that underlined not only how well Umesh and Bhuvneshwar had bowled, but also how Smith’s Australians had squandered the sort of chance they had been fighting to have all series.

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.”

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.

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.”