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MI Emirates, the Mumbai Indians-owned team in the UAE’s ILT20, have announced their roster of non-UAE [overseas] players, headlined by old favourite Kieron Pollard, and Trent Boult, who opted out of a New Zealand central contract on Wednesday to spend more time with his family and focus on T20 franchise cricket.The league has allowed the six participating franchises to pick as “direct acquisitions” up to 14 overseas players for their line-ups – with up to nine allowed in the playing XIs. For MI Emirates, the 14 are Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran and Andre Fletcher (from the West Indies); Boult (from New Zealand); Imran Tahir (from South Africa); Najibullah Zadran, Zahir Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi (from Afghanistan); Samit Patel, Will Smeed and Jordan Thompson (from England); Brad Wheal (from Scotland); and Bas de Leede (from the Netherlands).Related

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While Pollard has been a one-team man in the IPL, turning out for Mumbai Indians every season since starting out with them in 2010, Boult was traded to Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2020 season by Delhi Capitals and went on to play a starring role in their title run. He picked up 25 wickets that season, second only to Jasprit Bumrah’s 27, and was the Player of the Final as Mumbai Indians won their fifth title. Bravo and Pooran have also represented Mumbai Indians in the past.”I am delighted with our dynamic group of 14 players that will be part of our #Onefamily and represent ‘MI Emirates’,” Akash M Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio, the owners of the franchise, said in a statement. “We are glad to have one of our key pillars, Kieron Pollard continue with MI Emirates. Joining us back are Dwayne Bravo, Trent Boult and Nicholas Pooran.”On Thursday, the franchise owned by the same group in the yet-to-be-named South African T20 league – MI Cape Town – had announced their pre-signings for the inaugural edition, to run more or less concurrently with the ILT20. That list reads: Rashid Khan, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Dewald Brevis.The MI Emirates team will be based in Abu Dhabi. The local UAE players will be added to the squad in the near future.

Rehan Ahmed scored a superb maiden century to save Leicestershire from defeat in the LV=Insurance County Championship match against Derbyshire at Derby.The England Under-19 allrounder decorated the last day of the season at the Incora County Ground with a breathtaking 122 off 113 balls to provide a memorable finale to a miserable season for Division Two’s bottom club.It was also a record-breaking performance as he became the first Leicestershire player to score his first hundred and take his maiden five-wicket haul in the same match. The 18-year-old was well supported by Lewis Hill who scored 60 off 157 balls and shared a fourth wicket stand of 163 in 35 overs with Ahmed.Harry Swindells, with 48, and Tom Scriven, (30), added a further 70 and although Sam Conners celebrated his county cap by taking his 50th Championship wicket for the summer, Leicestershire were 86 ahead at 405 for 7 when rain consigned the game to a draw with 20 overs remaining.Derbyshire probably sensed the chance of an early finish when Ben Aitchison struck in the fourth over of the morning. Sam Evans had driven the fast bowler square to the boundary but the next ball drew him into playing and Wayne Madsen held a low catch at second slip.Leicestershire’s top order had collapsed in the first innings but Ahmed joined Hill to provide another impressive demonstration of his talent.After a frenetic start, Ahmed settled in to bat with controlled aggression, playing shots all around the wicket to reach a brilliant hundred. An upper-cut for six off Aitchison was one of the memorable shots in a maiden fifty which came off 60 balls and he needed only 39 more to reach three figures.There were no signs of nerves as he waltzed down the pitch after lunch to deposit Leus du Plooy’s left-arm spin over the long-off boundary and he dished out the same treatment to off-spinner Alex Thomson. Another six off Thomson took him to 99 and the next ball he drove through the covers for his 12th four to reach three figures in only his third first-class match.Ahmed is now in the distinguished company of former England allrounder Phillip DeFreitas who was the last Leicestershire player to score a century and take five wickets in an innings in the same game, in 2003 against Sussex at Grace Road.It was the first time it has been done in a first-class game between the two counties at Derby since Derbyshire’s Garnet Lee made an unbeaten 107 and took 5 for 31 in 1928.Ahmed drove Thomson for a fifth six but in the next over he skied a slog-sweep at du Plooy and Luis Reece ran in to take the catch at mid-on.Hill had played a valuable supporting role but he fell to the second new ball when he tried to cut Aitchison and was caught at first slip.Conners beat the bat numerous times before he struck twice in consecutive overs, having Scriven caught behind pulling before Swindells dabbed the fast bowler into the gloves of Brooke Guest. But the light was fading before rain swept in just after 4.30pm with Derbyshire finishing fifth in Division Two while Leicestershire end the season without a Championship victory.

Sydney Sixers made it two from two early in their WBBL campaign after an all-round display led by Suzie Bates’ sizeable contribution with the bat, another half century for Ellyse Perry and a superb performance from Sophie Ecclestone.After Alyssa Healy fell in the fourth over, charging a slower ball from Darcie Brown having not found her rhythm, Bates and Perry added 131 for the second wicket in a stand that lasted until the penultimate ball of the innings.The pair never quite fully cut loose, but after Sixers ended the powerplay on 1 for 24 there was a steady build throughout the innings with the ninth over going for 15 and the 13th 16 runs. Bates had been 23 off 30 balls before latching onto Amanda-Jade Wellington’s second over.Perry’s 58 off 44 followed her 55 off 48 in the opening match against Brisbane Heat while Bates, against her former club, made her first major contribution with Sixers. Darcie Brown’s bowling stood with 1 for 20 from four overs including 14 dots. Ash Gardner faced just one ball and launched it for six.Deandra Dottin gave Adelaide Strikers a rapid start to the chase with 25 off 16 balls with three sixes before being well caught at mid-off against Ecclestone.Ecclestone then produced a direct hit from mid-on to run out the well-set Laura Wolvaardt and in her next over with the ball was rewarded for some nice flight when Tahlia McGrath drove to cover to swing the match decisively Sixers’ way.The asking rate continued to rise and the loss of Bridget Patterson and Mack in the space of three balls left far too much to do for the lower order.

Richard Thompson, the ECB’s chair, has valued the Hundred at over £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) after confirming the ECB has received an offer for its newest competition, and anticipates others will be in the offing.Thompson suggested that reports of the offer, initially revealed by Sky News as a £400 million bid from Bridgepoint Group, were “exaggerated”. The London-listed buyout firm was supposedly interested in a 75% stake in the competition, which seems unworkable at present given Thompson’s insistence that any agreement would have to ensure the ECB retained overall control of the competition. He also confirmed the first-class counties were keen on the reported figure.Speaking in Rawalpindi on Saturday having arrived to take in England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years, Thompson, who took up his post in August, could not go into details but reiterated the need to consider any proposal with English cricket’s best interests at heart.”We have received an offer, and I can’t comment on the actual offer,” he said. “I would not be surprised if there are other offers. There’s a feeding frenzy in broadcasting rights of tournaments at the moment, so that reality of more interest in the game is bound to materialise. I’m determined we’re not going to be opportunistic about this, we’re going to be strategic. The tournament’s only two years old. Clearly there’s a value in it, and we expected there to be interest. Let’s see how things play out.”We understand there’s value in the tournament and teams, there’s lot of other untapped value in the game that goes beyond the Hundred as well. We shouldn’t fixate over one thing. What we won’t do is be opportunistic. We’ll think things through, and understand that we won’t sell the game short. Lucknow Super Giants, one team in the IPL sold for a billion. One team. That should establish a benchmark of value. I think we’ve got a long way to go before we do something. If offers want to be made, they will be made.”We can’t disclose what was in the offer, but it wasn’t what it appears to be,” he added. “We’ll continue to talk to the county chairs about this, and if this was an absolute game-changing offer that would wipe out the debts of English cricket, of course we would look at it. But it isn’t.”I don’t think people are giving money away at the moment, so I’d be surprised if someone came along with an offer you’d have to stop the press for and reflect on. But who knows?”Team ownership is the most likely first port of call for investment, and IPL owners are circling having bulked their portfolios with investment in other franchise competitions, such as the CPL, IT20 and SA20. One connection regularly mooted is between Mumbai Indians and Oval Invincibles, especially after Mukesh Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians, attended a Hundred match in the 2022 season along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who is an owner in Major League T20 having supported cricket’s expansion in the US.Thompson, previously a Hundred-sceptic when chair of Surrey, has been open to private investment since taking the post. But the importance of the ECB remaining in control of its product is vital, not least for county cricket and the summer at large.”I think the point is we’re the only country that plays in the northern hemisphere [during summer],” Thompson said. “I think the ECB would need to think very long and hard if we were to sell four or five weeks of the English summer to a third party. We all know how precious the schedule is at the minute. To look at the tournament and think we would sell four or five weeks of the summer would be a huge decision to take.”Incoming CEO Richard Gould, we opposed the Hundred for two sets of reason. I’m not going to be a hypocrite. We’ve come in and seen the success. It’s reached audiences the Blast wasn’t reaching, people are talking about Alice Capsey the way they would not be doing if she hadn’t made the impact she made on the Hundred, and women’s cricket wouldn’t have broken through the way it has. And we’re getting unsolicited offers in two years. So all these things mean we’ve got to take a competition like this very seriously.”Clearly it’s created a lot of tension in the sense that one of the reasons I opposed it in the first place was because I could see three domestic competitions, more international cricket, was causing so much challenge in the schedule – a fourth isn’t going to make matters easier.”That’s absolutely what has played out, and we need to find a way of somehow working with four competitions, where the Hundred doesn’t succeed at the expense of the Blast, one doesn’t cannibalise the other, and they can co-exist together. That’s going to take some doing, but we’ve got to find a way, because the Hundred is here to stay. We’ve signed that deal to 2028, and people are making offers. It’s creating an impact in two years that we didn’t expect to happen, but it’s also created some challenge and stress as well.”

Looking ahead to the 2024 World Cup and standing in as T20I captain for three games against Sri Lanka for now, Hardik Pandya’s message to his young team is clear: “go out there and express [yourself], we’re going to back you to the core.”Hardik takes over captaincy in the absence of regular leader Rohit Sharma, who will take back captaincy for the ODIs. Even though it’s not clear yet who India’s captain at the next T20 World Cup will be, Hardik assessed India’s situation in T20s by saying that there was nothing wrong with their approach in the lead-up to the tournament.India had adopted a new approach in the format when Rohit took over captaincy and Rahul Dravid became the new head coach: they started getting much quicker off the blocks in the powerplay, Rohit himself changed his approach at the top, and most of India’s batters were batting with an intent of scoring faster. Except that in Australia, the bounce and pace was not to India’s liking, and they went back to their old template of setting a base and then building on it.Related

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“You see, I think before the [T20] World Cup, I don’t think we did anything wrong,” Hardik said in Mumbai, a day before the series opener against Sri Lanka. “Our template, approach, everything was the same. Yes, in the World Cup, things did not go how we wanted. And I think our approach was not the same – what it was before the World Cup. What we have noticed and told the boys is that just go out there and express [yourself], which they will do. And it’s up to us that how we back them.”What we have said is that we’re going to back you to the core. All the players have that support from my side that I’m going to back them to the core. Who are here, these are the best cricketers in the country, that’s the reason they are here. So, I have to make them believe that, which is a fact as well. For me, it’s important that how can I make them feel that they’re the best of their business. And if I can get that thing done, and can get that confidence in them, then I don’t think that they will have any problem in international cricket. I think they will flourish and have amazing careers ahead.”Hardik echoed Rohit’s words from a year before the 2022 World Cup when he and Dravid had given their players “assurance of going out and expressing” themselves. With the next T20 World Cup only a year and a half away, Hardik did not go into the team’s plans in detail but said there was not much time to experiment for now as there are only six T20Is before IPL 2023.

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“Obviously, the plans are set. We are looking to play in a certain way, which we will,” Hardik said without elaborating. “Before IPL only six games are there, so we don’t have much time to do a lot of things but going forward we will keep creating new plans and see which are the plans which are working for us. And going forward just make sure everyone gets ample opportunities and just that on the right time when needed just see what we need to do.”Being the hosts and 3-0 winners of the last time these two teams played a bilateral T20I series – in early 2022 in India – Hardik implied they had an upper hand in home conditions, and wasn’t looking to settle any kind of score after their loss to eventual champions Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup.”No, we’re not looking to settle anything [after the Asia Cup loss],” Hardik said with a smile. “We want to play good cricket. Yes, we will make them feel like we’re in India, don’t worry about that, I assure and promise you they will feel that they’re playing an international team and that too India in India. So from my boys and my side, we’re going to be clear. We don’t need to go and sledge them, our body language is enough for them to feel a little intimidated which we will do, I promise you.”India will field a new-look squad with Suryakumar Yadav the vice-captain in T20Is, and several senior players either unavailable or rested. Three uncapped players – Rahul Tripathi, Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar – also have a chance to make their international debuts.

Australia quick Josh Hazlewood will fly home after being ruled out of the final two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar series while doubts remain about David Warner’s fitness for the remaining matches as Australia mull further changes to the squad following their loss in Delhi.Hazlewood was unavailable for the first two Tests due to Achilles tendonitis. He was replaced by Scott Boland in the first Test in Nagpur before Australia chose three spinners and just one pace bowler in Delhi. Meanwhile, Warner was substituted out of the Delhi Test with concussion but he also suffered a hairline fracture in his left elbow from separate blows while facing India’s Mohammed Siraj.Australia coach Andrew McDonald confirmed that Hazlewood would head home to continue his recovery of the Achilles issue while Warner will be closely monitored over the coming days. There are hopes he can play in the last two matches but a decision will be made by the medical staff.”Josh Hazlewood out, he’ll be going home,” McDonald said on Monday.”[Warner]’s still sore at the moment. We had a meeting just before discussing through this. We’re in no rush to make any decisions at this point in time around Davey. Just seeing how that settles, how functional that is.”It will be basically how sore and how functional it is as to what decision we make with him and then the length of the injury. There’s some talk the length of injury could be anywhere between a week plus depending how that settles down. There’s a bit of unknown there. I’ll leave that to the medical team and they’ll inform me once they know.”There are fewer concerns about his concussion as there are nine days to recover before the third Test, which should be enough time for Warner to pass the mandatory protocols.If Warner’s elbow isn’t fit then Travis Head is likely to open in Indore having made an excellent 43 in the second innings in Delhi. If Warner is fit then Australia’s selectors have some tough decisions to make.”If Dave’s unavailable it would make perfect sense,” McDonald said. “We did discuss before coming over here that if we were to lose an opening batter that Trav would be one we’d look to put up there. We feel in the subcontinental conditions that he can get off to the fast starts which he showed.”We don’t see [Head] as an opener in all conditions, more subcontinental and in other conditions back to the middle order.”Related

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Captain Pat Cummins has flown home for family reasons in between the second and third Test but is expected to return to lead the side in Indore.McDonald revealed that there could be further changes to the squad but they are unlikely to fly anyone in unless Warner is ruled out, given they currently have 18 players with the squad in Delhi and a 19th in Mitchell Swepson, who will possibly fly back for the third Test, after heading home prior to the second Test for the birth of his first child.

Green, Starc expected to be fit for Indore Test

Mitchell Starc at a training session in Delhi•Getty Images

Cameron Green is expected to be 100 percent fit for the Indore Test having come very close to playing in Delhi. He only missed because doubts remained about whether his broken finger had recovered enough.”He was close,” McDonald said. “It’s building the confidence. He had the setback in Bangalore, a little setback batting in Bangalore where he had some jarring and there was a fair bit of discomfort in that finger. If he didn’t have that, I think the second Test was real. But it probably just delayed it those few days. And we contemplated him as a concussion sub as well. So that was another discussion. But we felt like if he wasn’t right to go at the start then what was a couple of days. We’re better off loading up for the third Test match and in a good frame of mind.”Mitchell Starc is also set to be fit for the third Test having been available to play in Delhi. Like Green, it was only doubt on the recovery on his finger tendon injury and the decision to pick three specialist spinners that meant Starc didn’t play. Starc’s lower-order batting is also a consideration as McDonald conceded India’s lower-order batting has been the difference in the series so far.Todd Murphy is also carrying a side niggle and will have a few days’ rest between the second and third Test but McDonald was confident he would be fully fit for Indore.

Agar, Morris might be sent home

Ashton Agar has slipped down the pecking order in Australia’s Test side•Getty Images

There is a potential Ashton Agar could be sent home to play some Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup cricket for Western Australia prior to the ODI series as he has become surplus to requirements. Agar started the tour as the second-choice spinner and looked set to play in Nagpur but has been plagued by confidence issues with Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann both debuting while Agar carried the drinks. Lance Morris is another who could be sent home having come as a spare fast bowler on tour. Australia will not play three fast bowlers plus Green as an allrounder in the final two Tests and may not even play two specialist quicks in the final two Tests having had some success with three spinners in Delhi.Without naming Agar or Morris specifically, McDonald confirmed there was a chance one or two players could return to Australia to play some domestic cricket with Green and Starc becoming available to play.”We’re working through that. It won’t be form as such but there’s cricket going on back home,” McDonald said. “And with a few players now becoming fit and available, are we carrying too many? That’s probably a question. So we’ve got to be clear on what we want to achieve in the next two Test matches in terms of the structure of the team. Once we get our heads around that, there’s an opportunity for players to be playing cricket back home and we value that.”

Maxwell unlikely to be called up for India Tests

McDonald was asked about the possibility of Glenn Maxwell being called up to the Test squad after he made his Sheffield Shield return for Victoria on Monday in Melbourne but he poured cold water on that prospect.”He’s played one game,” McDonald said. “What did he get, 5? He played club cricket and got 61. We’ll see how we go. We’ve got the one-day squad that we’ll announce, if he gets through everything that he needs to then he’ll be a starter for that one-day series. Anything forward of that will be discussed.”

Wellington did the double at Basin Reserve on Sunday, with both the Firebirds (men’s team) and the Blaze (women’s team) securing the 20-over Super Smash titles. The Firebirds are also the reigning 50-over Ford Trophy champions, having defeated Otago in Dunedin in 2018-19.Fast bowler Hamish Bennett, who had starred in that final, was at it in the Super Smash final, his 3 for 34 thwarting Martin Guptill and helping the Firebirds defend 168. Bennett, who now holds both domestic white-ball titles, could well make his T20I debut against the visiting India side next week.Auckland Aces’ New Zealand internationals Guptill and Colin Munro had given their team a sound start in pursuit of 169 by adding 33 for the opening stand in four overs. But one run and three balls later, Bennett had Munro tickling one behind, and TV umpire Ashley Mehrota ruled the opener out although Munro wasn’t pleased with the decision, suggesting that he hadn’t touched the ball.Then, immediately after the powerplay, Jimmy Neesham marked his return from a quadricep injury when he had Glenn Phillips dragging a catch to deep square-leg for a run-a-ball 7. Neesham combined with left-arm fingerspinner Rachin Ravindra and Netherlands international Logan van Beek to pin down the middle order. All three bowlers conceded just one boundary each, sharing five wickets between them.Guptill, though, stood tall even as the Aces sank to 104 for 5 and then 113 for 6. Guptill, who was on 23 off 22 balls by the end of the powerplay, set his focus towards taking the chase deep. He brought up a 45-ball half-century in the 16th over, when he slapped seamer Ollie Newton behind point four.Auckland now needed 59 off 29 balls, with the in-form Bennett still with one over in his bag. Van Beek, too, did some significant damage, getting three wickets, including two in one over. Guptill gave Auckland more hope when he lined up the returning Bennett in the 18th over and thumped him over midwicket for six. However, Bennett responded strongly, getting Guptill to hole out for 60 off 53 balls. Van Beek produced a game-changing moment, pulling off a stunning hokey-pokey catch at the edge of the deep-midwicket boundary. A fierce whip from Guptill seemed destined to fly over the boundary… until van Beek himself took flight and caught the ball at the edge of the rope. He then lost his balance and jumped beyond the rope, but had the presence of mind to toss the ball into play and retrieve it in the end.It was only fitting that Bennett and van Beek closed out the game for the Firebirds. The two men had moved north from Canterbury, playing crucial hands in the Firebirds’ third T20 title victory.Earlier, it was Black Cap-in-waiting Devon Conway who had set up the win, with a 37-ball 49 at the top. Conway lit up the Basin by crunching beanpole quick Kyle Jamieson for three fours in the first over of the game, including a drilled cover-drive. Michael Pollard, the other opener, wasn’t as fluent at the other end, and was dismissed by left-arm quick Mitchell McClenaghan.Conway continued on his merry way and lashed left-arm fingerspinner Mark Chapman for back-to-back boundaries to push the Firebirds to 80 for 2 in ten overs. McClenaghan then returned to the attack and had Conway splicing one to extra cover, where Craig Cachopa pulled off a blinding one-handed catch. Conway capped the season as the top run-getter, with 543 runs in 11 innings at an average of 67.87 and strike rate of 145.18.The South Africa-born top-order batsman will qualify to play for New Zealand soon, just before the T20 World Cup, but coach Gary Stead is already so impressed by him that he called him into New Zealand’s winter camp last year.Jamieson nailed his yorkers and mixed it up his hard lengths at the death while Munro gave little away with his cutters and rollers as the Firebirds’ innings threatened to spiral out of control. However, charming cameos from a fit-again Neesham (22 off 13 balls), captain Michael Bracewell (23 off 17 balls), and van Beek (15* off eight balls) ensured they reached 168. Van Beek, in particular, was the only Firebirds batsman to get the measure of McClenaghan, taking him for 11 off four balls. Bennett and van Beek then made that total look a whole lot bigger with the ball and in the field, thrilling the home crowd.Sophie Devine set up the victory with a quick half-century•Getty Images

Sophie Devine sets up victory in seven-over shootout
Sophie Devine was in complete control after poor weather meant only a seven-overs-a-side contest would be possible in the women’s final.Devine and Rachel Priest dealt in boundaries to start with, the first 20 runs coming in fours, to take Wellington to 20 after two overs. Once Priest fell, Devine switched to smashing sixes, hitting three in the fourth over of the innings, bowled by Anna Peterson, and reached her half-century in just 22 balls. She couldn’t carry on, though, Bella Armstrong sending her back for a 23-ball 54. Though only eight runs came off the final over, Wellington had a strong 81 for 2 on the board thanks to their captain.Devine came back to bowl a fine first over, conceding just five runs, and that set the tone for the Auckland reply, as they struggled to find the boundaries, lost wickets, and could only manage 45 for 5, going down by 36 runs.

With a decision around whether the 2021 Women’s ODI World Cup goes ahead in New Zealand expected in the next couple of weeks, Australia captain Meg Lanning has acknowledged one of the issues will be whether all teams will be able to have adequate preparation due to Covid-19.While New Zealand has led the way in coping with the pandemic, and Australia has done well albeit there are now worries over the second wave, a number of countries either already qualified or hoping to be involved are currently far more severely hit.The qualifying tournament, which had been set for Sri Lanka in July, was postponed in May although ESPNcricinfo understands that if the World Cup still goes ahead, the plan would be to stage the qualifiers in the UAE during November.As things stand there remain three spots up for grabs in the World Cup, between Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan, West Indies, Ireland, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, USA and Netherlands.”It’s something the ICC will have to weigh up in whether the tournament goes ahead,” Lanning said. “Will every team in the competition have the opportunity to prepare adequately for a World Cup? There are still a few teams that have to go through the qualifying process so I’m not sure how that will pan out.”There’s a few more decisions to be made around it rather than whether it can just go ahead or not. It’s a pretty difficult position to be in, but as a player you want things to be as equal and fair as they can be heading into a big world tournament and I’m sure the organisers will make sure that happens.”It had been hoped that India would be able to travel to England for a tri-series also involving South Africa but the BCCI has said that won’t happen although there is belief South Africa will still tour.While Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to play each other in late September, and India are due to tour Australia in January, there is no other women’s cricket currently in the calendar.New Zealand’s trip across the Tasman is due to include three T20Is, all play in Sydney, followed by three ODIs played across Townsville, Cairns and the Gold Coast in Queensland.”The planning is for that to still go ahead as scheduled, there needs to be flexibility around things if they change but from what I’ve heard still planning for that to happen which is really great for the players to look forward to and an end point to pre-season,” Lanning said.

Sri Lanka fancy their chances chasing “anything around or below 300,” on a wicket that is “playing really well,” at St George’s Park, according to former captain Angelo Mathews.Though he acknowledged South Africa, at 221 ahead with seven wickets in hand, have the advantage, Mathews brought fighting talk to the third day’s post-play press conference, with Sri Lanka looking for a win to keep themselves in contention for next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final.”We are not giving up. Obviously they are in front of us, but if we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow, we can still push them back,” Mathews said. “And if we can, you know, get through the new ball, if we can push them back into second and third spells and make them tire a little bit, then we have a chance.”Related

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• Paterson, Bavuma and Stubbs put SA in driver's seat

The highest score successfully chased at Gqeberha was 271 by Australia, 27 years ago and that sort of history may not be of much use to either side.Instead, the evidence of the last three days is that it remains good for run-scoring which has given Sri Lanka hope that they can tackle a big chase.”It’s playing pretty well. It’s just the odd one, keeping low and taking off, but it’s playing pretty well. There’s something always for the seamers and also a couple of balls also turned,” Mathews said. “It’s a good, even wicket and even contest with bat and ball on this wicket so it’s a great wicket to play on.”Likewise, Sri Lanka’s batters have acquitted themselves fairly well so far. The 42 all out aside, Sri Lanka have batted well on this tour, scoring 282 in their second innings in Durban and reaching their fourth highest total in the country, 328, in their first innings at St George’s Park.Marco Jansen has been nothing but trouble for Angelo Mathews and the other Sri Lanka batters this series•AFP/Getty Images

What they may regret is that that could have been much higher. At 242 for 3 overnight, they were eyeing a first-innings lead but Mathews conceded Sri Lanka were “unable to capitalise,” because of a “couple of good balls.”Mathews was on the receiving end of the first of those: a snorter from Marco Jansen that kicked up off a length and brushed the glove as he tried to fend it off. Jansen continued to generate good bounce thanks to his height and is the series’ leading wicket-taker, with an innings to come in which Sri Lanka will have to be especially cautious.”The ball is coming off six foot nine or something. Obviously, he gets bounce on any wicket,” Mathews said. “The Durban wickets also, he got a lot of bounce. We couldn’t really handle him in the first innings of the Durban Test. And also here he keeps troubling our batters. We played him pretty well this time around, but still he keeps troubling us. We need to come up with some more plans to try and combat his bounce. That’s what’s worrying: the odd one takes off on a good length as well because of his height.”Jansen aside, Sri Lanka will have to contend with Kagiso Rabada, who was South Africa’s best bowler on the second day but only got one wicket, and Dane Paterson, high on confidence after his first five-for and operating on a pitch suited to his style of play.”He [Paterson] reminds me of Vernon Philander. It’s really hard to score off him, and he’s just landing it on the spot consistently. So, yes, there’s a lot of hard work to put in, but yeah, we are willing to do that.”Sri Lanka also have fond memories of a successful chase at this venue. They hunted down 198 with eight wickets in hand five years ago. While that may sound like a doddle, Sri Lanka resumed the third day on 60 for 2 after 19 wickets fells on the second day.Kusal Mendis, who is in this team too, scored an unbeaten 84 off 110 balls to seal a series win. That can’t be done this time, but Sri Lanka could square the contest 1-all and keep themselves in the running for the WTC final.If they lose one of their three remaining Tests, including this one, in this cycle, they will be depending on several other results to go their way. Their last series of the cycle is against Australia at home early next year.

Savage 80% salary cuts and stand-down orders for all but a handful of Cricket Australia staff until the end of the financial year were forced partly by demands from banks, for the governing body to drastically scale back its costs in order to be considered for an A$200 million [US$126.5 million approx.] line of credit.Last October, at its AGM, CA reported cash reserves of A$26 million [US$ 16.4 million approx.] plus an additional A$90 million [US$56.9 million approx.] committed in equity investments, numbers that have been hit severely by market downturns and have served to hurt the board’s financial position as it deals with the banks.CA is also closely monitoring the health of its major broadcast partners and, by extension, cash providers Fox Sports and Seven, with daily discussions between the organisations about how to progress. At this point, Fox and Seven have maintained their regular payment instalments to CA, as part of a six-year, A$1.18 billion [US$ 746.1 million approx.] broadcast rights deal signed in 2018.CA has been seeking A$200 million in credit from the banks for some weeks, with these latest measures devised partially to help convince financial institutions that the board and its management have done all they can to pare the business down to critical functions out of season.There has been considerable dismay among some CA staff as they digested news of the stand downs and salary cuts over the past 24 hours, after chief executive Kevin Roberts had previously indicated that the organisation would largely be able to absorb the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated financial downturn “into the business”.”We’ve been assured we’ve just got to make sure we come up with some really constructive feedback on how we can save some money going forward, but the expectation at the moment is that CA as a business can absorb this,” national women’s team coach Matthew Mott had said last month. “Obviously the longer it goes on, it’s going to put more pressure on everyone.”I haven’t got a crystal ball, I don’t know how long this is going to last, nor does anyone, but in the short to medium term we’ve been assured that we’ve got enough equity and agility within the business to be able to absorb it, and we just need to be smart and pretty clinical about how we prepare and get our players ready.”ALSO READ: ‘It would be a strange feeling’ – Alex Carey on possibility of closed-door T20 World CupSome staff have been mystified as to how CA only have enough cash plus reserves to pay 20% of wages until end of June when they weren’t spending in that time, still getting broadcast instalments and have saved cash on cancelled tours to New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh and a likely postponement of a tour of England.CA insists that staff have been kept in the loop about decisions and the potential need for stand downs even though the organisation was gifted the chance to tackle the virus at the very end of its home season, in contrast to Australia’s winter football codes and also the English and Indian boards facing delays to the northern summer and the IPL, respectively.Nevertheless, CA has a range of expenses that generally hinge on year-to-year revenue from the regular cricket programme, including annual distributions to state associations that in some cases are in wildly contrasting positions. The South Australian Cricket Association has been among the worst hit due to its Adelaide Oval lease agreement and reliance on football revenue, while other states such as New South Wales are believed to be better off.Roberts told staff via videoconference on Thursday that the vast majority of them would be stood down on 20% of pay until July, with executives and a skeletal staff retained on 80% of their regular salaries. Staff were informed late on Friday afternoon about who would stay and who would be stood down, with handovers to take place next week.It is believed that further discussion of CA’s likely scenarios to return to work in July will also be shared with the staff next week, with variations in the number of employees and contractors coming back on board to depend on how numerous issues related to coronavirus have progressed.At the same time, CA is in discussions with the Australian Cricketers’ Association about contracts and various measures inked into the MoU signed in 2017 that afford male and female players a fixed share of Australian Cricket Revenue.”It only happened yesterday, don’t think I’ve spoken to any of my team-mates about it. We know the ACA and CA are talking and they are obviously going to have the best outcome for the players and the partners as well,” allrounder Ashleigh Gardner said on Friday. “All we know is that CA have to announce the next contract list by April 30 which isn’t too far way. Once that happens we’ll probably know what’s happening for the next season but until then that’s the only details we’ve got.”