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South Africa reduced West Indies to 97 for 7 after Joseph picked up his third five-wicket haul in his first Test at home in Guyana

Firdose Moonda15-Aug-2024Shamar Joseph enjoyed the perfect homecoming with a five-for on his international debut in Guyana until Wiaan Mulder’s career-best 4 for 18 all but stole the show on a spicy surface at Providence Stadium. In total, 17 wickets fell, the most in a day of Test cricket at this venue, albeit in a small sample size of just three matches. There was swing through the air, seam movement and decent carry which has put the series-decider in fast-forward.In stark contrast to the slowness of the Trinidad Test, which was also pockmarked with rain interruptions, the action took place in overdrive under blue skies in Guyana. Despite both captains’ desire to bat first, it was a day for the bowlers, especially fast bowlers, who bowled 68 of 82.2 overs and took 15 wickets. Only one batter – Jason Holder – in the top six of either side scored more than 30 and it was a record 10th-wicket partnership for South Africa against West Indies of 63 between Dane Piedt and Nandre Burger that gave the visitors the advantage.There was movement through the air and off the seam from the outset which Aiden Markram experienced when he edged the third ball of the Test past third slip, after he opened the scoring with a cover drive off Holder. At the other end, Jayden Seales repeatedly brought the ball back into the left-handed Tony de Zorzi, who left a sizable bat-pad gap and was bowled in the fourth over.Joseph was introduced in the seventh over and started dangerously. He got appreciable inswing and then had Markram misjudge the length and leave the ball, only to knock over the off stump. That was Joseph’s first wicket on his home ground. Two balls later, he had Temba Bavuma trapped in the crease as a slightly shorter delivery hit the South African captain low in front of the stumps to dismiss him for a second-ball duck. South Africa went to the first drinks break on 20 for 3.Shamar Joseph picked up five wickets in his first Test at home in Guyana•Gallo Images/Getty Images

David Bedingham hit the first boundary off Joseph when he flayed him behind point for four but Tristan Stubbs had a much harder time getting off the mark. He faced 19 balls before he got his first run. By then, he had survived an lbw appeal off Joseph that was adjudged high and edged Seales just short of Holder at second slip. As his innings grew, Stubbs continued to keep the slips in play and West Indies in the hunt. And he wasn’t the only one who gave West Indies a glimpse into the lower order.Bedingham flirted with danger when, on 11, he hit Jomel Warrican over mid-on. Three fielders converged on the chance but no one could get there. In the next over, Stubbs, who had reached 26, was drawn forward by Holder and edged to Warrican at slip but he fell over trying to hold on. If Holder was irritated at the missed opportunity, it did not last long. In his next over, Stubbs reached for an outswinger and was well caught by a leaping Kavem Hodge at third slip, 10 minutes before the lunch break. South Africa were 64 for 4 at the interval.Joseph resumed after the break and was convinced he had Bedingham out in his second over with a ball that jagged in and beat the inside edge. Kraig Braithwaite reviewed but Bedingham survived on umpire’s call. Four balls later, Joseph made sure there was no doubt when Bedingham drove at a full ball and was caught behind.West Indies were into the last recognised pair and separated them in the next over with a peach from Seales that forced Wiaan Mulder to play and found his outside edge. Kyle Verreynne could have been out off the next ball when he edged Sealed to gully but was dropped. Two balls later, Joseph beat Keshav Maharaj for pace and bowled him, then Rabada was cleaned up by Seales, and when Verreynne played on off Joseph, West Indies could celebrate for all kinds of reasons.Joseph had completed his third Test five-for, and first at home after a tough tour of England, and celebrated by blowing kisses to the sparsely populated stands. South Africa were 97 for 9, and in danger of being bowled out for less than their lowest score against West Indies: 116.But Piedt had other ideas. He took South Africa over 100 with a cover drive for four and tactically West Indies eased off. They brought on Gudakesh Motie, he dropped it short, and Piedt pulled him for four, then hit him down the ground for six and through the covers for four more. In frustration, West Indies reviewed two chances off Piedt in Holder’s next over: one an lbw appeal that was clipping leg on umpire’s call and another where the impact was outside the off stump. It didn’t help that Joseph left the field with a cramp and wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva gave the gloves to Tevin Imlach after suffering a finger injury. Depleted in personnel terms, the hosts seemed sapped.Nandre Burger and Dane Piedt added 63 for the final wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Piedt and Burger took South Africa past 141 – their lowest Test score in the West Indies – as the second session was extended with West Indies in search of the final wicket. It came 17 minutes after the scheduled tea break when Burger missed a length ball from Motie and was given out lbw to give West Indies’ premier spinner his first wicket of the series.Buoyed by the bonus runs, South Africa took to the field with wickets on their mind and believed they had one off the third ball. Rabada beat Braithwaite’ inside edge and hit him above the knee roll and Bavuma reviewed only to see the ball missing the stumps. But the wait for a breakthrough did not last long. Left-armer Burger, in his third Test, set Mikyle Louis up with a series of away-swingers and then landed one on a good length to beat the outside edge and bowl the West Indian opener.Keacy Carty took a liking to the outswing and took three fours off Burger’s next two overs, prompting the early introduction of the third seamer, Mulder. Not often regarded as an out-and-out strike bowler, Mulder made the case for a rethink when his second ball squeezed between Braithwaite’s bat-pad gap and removed the West Indian captain. Impressive became excellent when Mulder took a stunning catch off his own bowling in the next over – a one-handed grab to the right – to dismiss Alick Athanaze and then found swing to entice a drive from Hodge, who was caught at third slip.With only three seamers in South Africa’s XI, Burger was brought back on at Rabada’s end and struggled to get his line right as he directed the ball down leg. Bavuma put a leg slip in place and Carty hit the next ball straight to Maharaj at a shortish midwicket to leave West Indies 47 for 5.Things could have got a lot worse in the next over when Holder was given out lbw off Mulder but reviewed successfully with ball tracking indicating it was missing leg. Mulder got his fourth anyway, when Da Silva edged him to second slip. Holder took the fight to South Africa, hit three fours in four balls and shared a 41-run stand with Motie, which could have ended the day on par. But Maharaj had the last say on the day when Motie missed a sweep and was given out lbw, to leave West Indies 63 runs behind with only three first-innings wickets in hand. Day two promises more drama.

The India captain says the side were “not great with the bat” in Lucknow, but having hung around to give his bowlers something to work with, he knew they could “do magic”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-20231:46

Pujara pleased to see Rohit bring out the sweep

For the very first time in this World Cup, India had to set a total. And, coming up against England in Lucknow, they were off to a rocky start at 40 for 3 in the 12th over. From there, as per their captain and Player of the Match Rohit Sharma, it was vital for him to use all his experience on a challenging pitch and “bat to the situation”.”It’s just not about going and playing my shots, when you have that much experience you’ve got to use that experience and do whatever is necessary for the team, and it was at that point in time necessary for me to take the game as deep as possible and create that partnership and get to a decent total,” Rohit said after the game.He had raced away to 17 off 11 in the first two overs after England put India in, but as England repeatedly broke through at the other end, he cut back, easing his way to 29 off 40 before he would hit his next boundary – in the 14th over on his way to 87 off 101, which set India up for a 100-run win.That margin of victory might be as convincing as they come, but Rohit felt India had left a lot of runs out on the field. He had done the initial repair job with KL Rahul, putting on a stand of 91 for the fourth wicket, and then adding 33 more in partnership with Suryakumar Yadav before falling 13 short of a hundred. From there, England chipped away regularly, tying India down to 229 for 9.Related

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“I still felt like we were 20-30 runs short once we finished,” Rohit said. “The new ball was a bit challenging and then obviously as the game went on the ball got softer, it was not easy to rotate strike. But we said in the middle that we’ve got to keep digging in, keep digging in and then, finally, you know we got to a decent partnership there, but like I said we were 20-30 runs short towards the end.”Regardless of the conditions, Rohit said some of India’s issues came down to their batters being loose. Shubman Gill was bowled by a good one from Chris Woakes – albeit driving a touch airily – and then Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer were poor in their shot selection, offering up catches, the former for a duck. After their repair work Rahul and Rohit, and then Suryakumar too, were caught going for the big shots.Rohit Sharma kept India on track despite early losses•ICC via Getty Images

“We were not great with the bat today, losing three wickets in the first powerplay isn’t the ideal situation but when you are in a situation like that all you are looking to do is create that long partnership, which we got. But then couple of guys threw it [away] at the end, including myself,” Rohit said. “But at that stage all I was thinking was to be positive and the balls in my areas I wanted to put it away. That’s how you put the pressure back on the bowler and the opposition as well but, yeah, when you look at the overall picture, I thought we were 30 runs short there.”Those lost runs were quickly forgotten as India quickly carved up England’s line-up, pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah doing the early damage. Rohit was all praise for his attack: “With the experience that our seamers have now, you know you can always rely and bank on it that they could come good and get you those crucial breakthroughs and that is exactly what our seamers did. They exploited the conditions well and I thought they put the ball in the right areas to create that doubt in the batsmen’s minds.”Asked by Michael Atherton at the post-match presentation if India’s is the best-rounded attack in the tournament, Rohit said: “We’ve got a good balance. A couple of good spinners and the seamers have a lot of experience playing in these conditions and, yeah, if I look at the overall options I have in terms of bowling, there is a fair bit and with experience as well.”So you know when you have a bowling line up like that, it’s very important that the batters put the runs on the board, give them something to work for and then rely on them to do the magic.”And magic they did, rolling England over with 15 overs to spare to keep India unbeaten at the top of the table and consign the defending champions to their fifth loss in six games.

A blow-by-blow account of Pat Cummins’ record-breaking fifty against Mumbai Indians in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2022ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Pat Cummins’ 14th over•Getty Images

Pat Cummins’ 15th over•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Kelly took four wickets in Scorchers’ defence of 196

AAP11-Jan-2022Top-order runs proved the difference as Perth Scorchers took down Melbourne Stars in Thursday afternoon’s BBL clash in Geelong.In a GMHBA Stadium-record BBL total, the Scorchers made 3 for 196 batting first and were always in front throughout the chase, holding the Stars to 9 for 149. Beau Webster did his best for Stars, carving seven fours and two sixes in an impressive 63.The runs flowed instantly for Scorchers with opener Nick Hobson, playing his first BBL game since 2019, looking classy with 46 off 36 balls including six fours.But the real fireworks came from Laurie Evans and Ashton Turner; Evans clubbed 69 off 46 balls and helped himself to five huge sixes, before captain Turner sped to an unbeaten 47 off just 26 balls.Remarkably, the wrong batter took strike following the 10-over drinks break and it paid accidental dividends for Scorchers, with Evans hitting two sixes in an over that went for 18 runs. It provided a huge lift for the Scorchers, who took 117 off the second 10 overs.All Stars’ bowlers lacked impact, with only Haris Rauf taking multiple wickets.Problems struck almost immediately in Melbourne’s chase as Matthew Kelly knocked over Nick Larkin with his first ball, but Webster and Joe Burns steadied things up and were 1 for 57 after seven.As they looked to even the contest, Kelly drew a top-edge from Burns and dismissed him caught and bowled for 20. Plenty fell to returning star Glenn Maxwell but he sliced one from Peter Hatzoglou and went for 5, leaving Stars 3 for 69 at halfway,Webster brought up his 50 in 38 balls but the required run-rate crept up above 14 runs an over, and he holed out deep on the off side for 63 with his wicket signalling the end of Stars’ resistance.The red-hot Joe Clarke, who came in off the back of four straight 50s, batted down the order citing fatigue but only made 17. Kelly finished with the impressive figures of 4 for 25.

Wicketkeeper claims six catches for Tasmania 2nd XI facing South Australia in Hobart

Andrew McGlashan21-Nov-2021Three days after resigning as Australia’s Test captain, Tim Paine made his return to playing as he bids to be part of the upcoming Ashes series with a tidy display behind the stumps.The Tasmania 2nd XI match against South Australia, at Lindisfarne Memorial Park in Hobart, attracted significantly more interest than would normally be the case. This fixture had been part of Paine’s comeback plan from neck surgery before the drama of last week – his initial return in a club game at the weekend was washed out – and will be his first game since early April.He had the keeping gloves on initially with Tasmania bowling first and bagged six catches, some particularly agile, and now it’s a case of how he reacts to the workload. Away from the fallout of the text message scandal, there is a form and fitness debate for Paine to answer – especially now he is back in the ranks as a player. His turn with the bat, where he is listed at No. 5, will come on Tuesday.Paine spoke briefly with local TV as he arrived at the ground. “It’s been a long while, I haven’t played since last year, so I’m looking forward to it,” he told before adding about his injury, “Yeah fine, no complaints, so good to go.”Cricket Tasmania high performance manager Simon Insley said: “Whenever you go through challenging times you want to be around your mates and do what you do best. He’s an exceptional cricketer and he wants to play cricket and get ready for the Ashes. He wants to show signs of good form and show that he’s ready for selection. We all know Tim Paine, he is a very determined individual.”The Cricket Australia board said they were satisfied for Paine to remain available for selection and he has insisted he wants to be part of the England series. The Ashes had been viewed as a potential end-point for Paine’s Test career before the latest developments.Related

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“I see that as the ultimate high, to be able to finish your Test career after winning an Ashes series in Australia,” Paine said in an interview with the . “That’s the dream. That’s what I want to do.”Todd Greenberg, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, said that Paine’s availability for the Ashes was a key part of the negotiations that took place ahead of him standing down. In a statement on Friday, the ACA had expressed their disappointment that Paine had felt the need to stand down as captain.Tim Paine makes his playing comeback on Monday (file photo)•Getty Images

“We think he must be available for selection, then ultimately that’s an issue for the selectors,” Greenberg told SEN radio. “That was made clear to him and to us by Cricket Australia last week. I hope he is picked, and he plays an incredibly strong Ashes series.”If Paine was unable to get through the fitness side of his comeback following the disc surgery he had in September, Alex Carey would be the likely replacement in the Test side. Carey is part of the Australia A squad which will also be in Brisbane alongside Josh Inglis.When the Ashes squad was named on Wednesday morning, Paine was the only keeper named in the main 15-player squad even though the timelimes that emerged around his resignation suggested the situation was likely well advanced at that stage.Following the 2nd XI match, Paine is due to link up with the Australia squad in Queensland ahead of the intrasquad match which starts on December 1 and will provide the final preparation for the first Test at the Gabba.

“It’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-20201:05

Kohli and Rahane are like chalk and cheese – Warner

Last time when India toured Australia, there was a lot of on-field chatter between the players but David Warner says this time Australia may adopt a different approach. Instead of engaging Indian players in verbal volleys, they will try to keep their emotions in check and fight it out on skills.However, he also hinted that once Virat Kohli leaves after the first Test, to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, and Ajinkya Rahane takes over the captaincy, Australia may re-consider their strategy.”For me, personally it’s about getting in the contest, so that’s basically when you’re out there, you’re trying to feel for something,” Warner said. “Last summer, I was coming off the back of the England tour, so I really had to knuckle down and try and concentrate as much as I could, and try and get into a battle out there and contest with the opposition. I managed to find that in a different way and it worked, and for me, it’s about trying to find that balance again when I’m out in the middle.”[It’s] different this year. We start with a white-ball series against India, generally the other way around, which is going to be exciting, and Virat is only playing seven of the ten games, so for us, it’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill.”But how will he react if Indian players have some words to say to him?”I’ll always draw from that, mate. To try and get engaged, that’s the way they like to play as well. We saw that last time when we toured India. They really engaged us like that. We’re learning over time and trying not to engage in that. Probably try and reverse the effect by trying and ignoring it, trying to take it on board and using it against them by using your bat. It’s probably something I’ve learnt over time. And you don’t know the effect it can have on your team-mates as well. You’ve got to be a bit more humble in that respect.”Obviously with Virat missing, and well done to him to go home and be by his partner’s side for the birth of his first child… he’s a great guy, Jinks [Rahane]. He’s calm and very measured in his approach. He’s got a very good cricket brain. When you take Virat out of there, I don’t want to say this the wrong way, but he’s obviously passionate, aggressive, he plays with that fight when you’re out there.Virat Kohli and David Warner exchange words•Getty Images

“Jinks is calm, collected, measured. It’s like chalk and cheese with two of them two and as a player to try and engage him on the field, as we’re talking about engaging, and getting into that contest as players, we obviously got to think about how to do that especially with Ajinkya as captain. The great thing from India’s perspective is that you’ve got three if not four very good players who could captain the team at any time. With him, he’ll bring a calm and measured approach with his nature.”While Kohli will not be available for the last three Tests, India will be without Rohit Sharma for the white-ball leg. Sharma is currently recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during IPL 2020 and has been included only in the Test squad.Warner believes Sharma’s absence is a big loss for the visitors, but at the same time, he also thinks the visitors have got enough in-form replacements.”He’s a big piece of their team they’re going to be missing, but they’ve got great in-form guys, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank [Agarwal],” Warner said. “These guys played in the IPL, so you’ve got guys in good touch and great talent and depth in Indian cricket to take that position of Rohit. He’s a big hole in their team up the top, but you’ve got guys who can replace him who are in form that will do a good enough job, if not better, as we saw in India.”Warner himself had a successful outing in the IPL despite a slow start to the season. In the first ten games, he scored 335 runs at a strike rate of 124.07. It was then he decided to open up his front leg and give it a whack. The next six matches brought him 213 runs at 155.47.”Yeah, definitely,” he said when asked if he would continue in the same aggressive manner in T20Is. “What do you want to see? 100 off ten overs or something? . In the one-day stuff, I’ll still come out and play the way I normally do. There’s probably going to be no change to that. And the T20 stuff is what people saw there.”To answer the question, of how I played at the backend of that tournament, we had to play that way on those wickets. You couldn’t just play yourself in. You had to take on that first six overs against the new ball. Here in Australia, it’s a bit different in 50-over cricket, you can still play the normal way you do and I think I showed that last year, the way I played against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I played pretty much the same way as I did during the backend of that IPL. I won’t be changing my game and will go out and tackle it the way I always do.”There’s obviously a risk element but there’s a cricket smarts element to it as well. For myself, it’s about getting off to a good start and taking calculated risks in that middle-overs period if we’re talking about 50-over games. For me, it’s about making sure that I’m batting as much as I can and at a good strike rate as well.”

New Zealand last got their hands on the trophy in 1999

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2020New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is putting a positive spin on the two-week quarantine period that her team will have to undergo on their tour of Australia. Devine said the isolation will allow the players to spend time together ahead of the limited-overs series starting September 26, and said they were “in a really fortunate position” to be able to get back on the park so soon.”It’s one of the silver linings of this trip,” Devine told NZC just before New Zealand departed for Australia. “It’s not very often that we get to go on an overseas tour and have two weeks preparation leading into the first game. It’s normally a week.”This will be the first time that both teams will play any competitive cricket since the T20 World Cup in March. While men’s international cricket resumed two months ago with West Indies touring England, this marks the first occasion of a top women’s series taking place since the coronavirus-induced pause in world cricket.”We’re really excited to be spending time as a wider group of 17 players… as we’ve been stuck indoors for the last couple of months,” Devine said. “We now have to be at our best to beat the Australian side in Australia.”Australia are the current holders of the T20 World Cup, but Devine put the sides on the same page, with neither having played competitive cricket in the recent past.”Though the lockdown has been different on either side of the Tasman [Sea], none of us have played cricket for quite a while,” Devine said. “So I think it’s a really nice opportunity for us to go out there and hit the Aussies hard.”Australia have dominated bilateral ODI contests against New Zealand over the last two decades, with New Zealand having last won the Rose Bowl (the trophy for ODI series between the two teams) in 1999.”The aim is to certainly to bring back the Rose Bowl,” Devine said. “It’s been close to 20 years now [since] we’ve had it on our side of the Tasman, so that’s going to be a massive motivation for us to go out there and pinch the Rose Bowl back.”

The India batsman is set to play for Kings XI Punjab in the upcoming IPL season

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Aug-2020India batsman Karun Nair has successfully recovered from Covid-19 and is set to travel with the Kings XI Punjab team to the UAE next week to take part in the IPL. ESPNcricinfo understands Nair tested positive for the coronavirus recently, but tested negative on August 8.It is understood Nair went into self-isolation for more than two weeks before clearing the test. Nair will now undergo three further tests as part of the protocol the Kings XI management has laid out for the contingent travelling to the UAE. Only those who clear the testing process will board the flight on August 20. Nair will be part of a small group in Bengaluru that will board a charter flight that will pick up a wider set of players and staff from Delhi.Nair has played 14 games for Kings XI across the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons, scoring 306 runs, including two fifties, at a strike rate of 134.80.Nair is the first high-profile Indian cricketer to have had Covid-19. The pandemic has severely affected India, which has had more than 2 million cases so far, the third-highest total globally behind the USA and Brazil. The pandemic has led the BCCI to shift the 2020 IPL season to the UAE.Nair is the second person associated with the IPL to have been affected by Covid-19 after Rajasthan Royals announced on Wednesday that their fielding coach Dishant Yagnik had tested positive for the coronavirus.The IPL has laid out rigorous, mandatory testing processes including multiple tests and a week-long quarantine period upon reaching the UAE before teams can start to train. Also, as per the local government norms, any person entering the UAE would need to carry a negative test result taken in the previous 96 hours.

Foakes’ half-century rallies Surrey from 38 for 3 but they still trail by 156 runs

ECB Reporters Network04-Jun-2019A classy 57 by Ben Foakes stood out in testing batting conditions on a weather-affected second day at Guildford, in which Surrey reached 188 for 5 in reply to Somerset’s 344.Only 36.2 overs were bowled before bad light and rain cut short proceedings from shortly after 2pm until 5.30pm, when a further 18.4 overs were possible, but Foakes’ half-century rallied Surrey from the depths of 38 for 3 in a fourth-wicket partnership worth 81 in 22 overs with Scott Borthwick.Borthwick’s two and a half hours of resistance eventually ended, after a 118-ball 36, in that tricky final session when he nicked a push-drive at a ball from Craig Overton. All-rounder Ryan Patel, however, contributed a punchy 40 not out from 69 balls, as sunshine warmed the early evening’s play, while Will Jacks hung on to remain unbeaten on 13.Foakes hit ten fours in a fine 70-ball effort, before edging the pacy Jamie Overton to keeper Steven Davies two overs before the players left the field 5.2 overs into the afternoon session. Overton had figures of 2 for 20 from 6.2 overs when the players left the field but Patel took three fours in an over off the fast bowler when play resumed – two thumping square cuts and a rasping extra cover drive – to spoil his figures somewhat.The Overton twins and Jack Brooks had all earlier struck with the new ball in the day’s opening hour, after Surrey had resumed their first innings on 0 for 0. Overcast conditions encouraged a five-pronged Somerset seam attack but Mark Stoneman started brightly, hitting three offside fours and a pick-up six off Craig Overton.After reaching 21 from 22 balls, though, left-hander Stoneman played no stroke at a ball from Brooks which swung in wickedly late to pluck out his off stump.Burns, who laboured for 39 balls to make just 2, then drove loosely at Craig Overton to give Marcus Trescothick a sharp catch at second slip and Dean Elgar soon joined his captain in the pavilion when he was out for 1 to Jamie Overton’s first ball of the match.Having replaced his brother in the attack, Overton swung a good length ball back into Elgar’s pads and won the leg-before appeal. It was also his first ball in championship cricket this season for Somerset, although he took six wickets in the second division for Northamptonshire late last month during a short loan spell.Foakes counter-attacked with some high-quality strokes, including one powerful pull for four off Jamie Overton and, later, there was another meaty pull to the boundary when Jack Leach’s left-arm spin was introduced just before lunch.Borthwick, by contrast, was more circumspect in the testing conditions but he did drive Tim Groenewald through extra cover for four with a flourish in the morning session.On 23 when bad light and then rain intervened, he hit one more lovely cover driven four off Brooks before being dismissed, leaving Patel and Jacks to make sure Surrey did not lose another wicket before stumps. Craig Overton, who finished the day with figures of 15-8-26-2, was the pick of Somerset’s bowlers.

Sri Lanka’s No. 3 also said they wouldn’t have crashed if they had played to a better plan

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo24-Nov-2018Sure Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid were bowling aggressively either side of tea, but did Sri Lanka’s batsmen really have to play the attacking shots they did? Could they not have hunkered down, left the deliveries that weren’t on target, and seen out that testing passage of play?If you are wondering something along these lines after watching Sri Lanka lose their last eight wickets for 67 runs, you are not alone. Sri Lanka’s No. 3, Dhananjaya de Silva, who made 73 before the collapse, has asked the same quesitons. It was de Silva’s wicket, with the score on 173, that had precipitated the almighty fall.”When we were 173 for 1 and then I got out, I don’t think the others were able to take the game forward as much as they could have,” de Silva said. “When they tried to attack us, we went to our attacking shots. I don’t think that was a good option at the time.”Among those who fell playing attacking shots were Angelo Mathews, who edged a hook to the wicketkeeper, Niroshan Dickwella, who was caught down leg trying to glance Stokes to the boundary, and Kusal Mendis, who tried to pull out of a late cut against Rashid, but managed only to send the ball off the face of the bat to Stokes at slip.”Our batting was very weak. But even more than that they bowled really well with a plan. They dried up the boundaries and bowled aggressively. If we had played to a better plan, we wouldn’t have crashed like this.”Poor “option-taking” has been a buzzword for Sri Lanka right through the series, in which batsmen who have got themselves in on tough pitches have failed to contend with the various challenges England’s attack has posed. Sri Lanka’s coaches have tried to hammer in lessons about playing to the situation over the past few weeks, but this wisdom has not been absorbed, de Silva said.”Taking the wrong option at the wrong time is what has cost us. The batsmen should put a price on their wicket. When you play Tests, you have to spend time and try and tire out the opposition. Then only the runs start to come. We have to think about all of that. The batsmen have to come up with those solutions themselves. No matter what someone else tells us, it’s the batsmen’s own mistake. They have to figure it out.”