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Fast bowler admits age may be slowing his recovery after recurrence of knee issue

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2025Mark Wood has cast doubt on his availability for the third Ashes Test and admitted concerns that, at 35, his body is no longer coping with the rigours of bowling 90mph/145kph.Wood had surgery on his left knee after hobbling out of England’s Champions Trophy campaign in February, and the series opener in Perth was his first Test match in 15 months. He bowled 11 wicketless overs across the match but was sent to a specialist after reporting more pain and has been wearing a knee brace since arriving in Brisbane.Speaking to Channel 7 at the tea break during the second Test at the Gabba, Wood suggested he was unlikely to be in contention for the Adelaide Test, which starts on December 17: “I think there’s a chance there, but more realistically, it’s probably more Melbourne and then [Sydney] after that… I need to get out of this [brace] first to get moving around.”Related

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Wood said that he has had painkilling injections in his knee since the first Test, and suggested that age is catching up with him. “Throughout my career, I’ve tried to show resilience and keep coming back and keep trying to push it where I can bowl faster and faster, but I’m getting older now.”I don’t know if my body’s not coping with it as well [as it used to] but I’ll keep trying. That’s something I pride myself on, to keep running in for the team and be a good team man. I’m hoping I can get this right and can charge in again.”I’m trying to just get through day-to-day at the minute. Later in the series is what I’m aiming for, but I can’t do that much at the minute. I’ve had a couple of injections, resting up, and slowly but surely, running [will] start soon, then back into bowling.”It’s more mentally difficult than physically. You’ve got to try and build it back up and come back again, and that’s probably the more difficult thing.”Ben Stokes, England’s captain, said on the eve of the Brisbane Test that Wood would do “everything” possible to remain in contention for selection in this series: “We’ve got a lot more time to go on this tour, and we’ll just see how things play out with that.”

He also reveals how moving around the crease has helped him, a skill he developed during the last LPL

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Sep-2023If Sri Lanka had aimed too high in their Super Four game against Bangladesh, they could have ended up with a sub-par score. These are the thoughts of Sadeera Samarawickrama, the star of Sri Lanka’s batting innings, who struck 93 off 72 balls.Across the match, Samarawickrama was the only batter to make more than 20 at more than a run a ball. But he lauded Pathum Nissanka, who hit 40 off 60, and Kusal Mendis, who made 50 off 73, for setting the foundation.”When Pathum and Kusal were batting, the pitch seemed a bit slow and they did really well,” Samarawickrama said. “If they had taken risks at that point and got out, maybe I would have got out cheaply too. But because they took the game a little deeper and gave us some momentum, I found it easier too.Related

• Sadeera 93 trumps Hridoy's 82 as SL start Super Four with close win

• Struggling with bat, Shanaka leads Sri Lanka to victory with ball

“When I saw the pitch, we talked about how this wasn’t a 320 pitch – it’s a 250 surface. Even that you just have to get in the last eight overs or so. If we had gone too hard early, we might have been out for 220. So what I tried to do after getting a start was to get the team to 250.”Samarawickrama, who made his Sri Lanka debut in Tests in 2017, has clearly worked on his white-ball batting since then. On Saturday, he frequently shuffled towards off stump to access the leg side, and backed away to leg to hit through off – often behind point.These were skills he had developed and used in last year’s Lanka Premier League, he said. In that tournament, he was second on the run-scorers chart, with 294 runs and a strike rate of 131.25. It was that performance, in fact, that had launched him back into the conversation as an international player.”Moving around the crease is something that I started in the LPL last year – playing with the bowler’s mind and figuring out how to put pressure on him,” Samarawickrama said. “However the pitch plays, I have to back my strengths, one of which is to back away and hit. It’s something I learned with a lot of hard work, so I back myself to do that.”Sri Lanka have now also won 13 ODIs consecutively, second only to Australia, who had won 21 in a row.”When you play as a team, your own performances are lifted,” Samarawickrama said. “If we had lost, my performance today wouldn’t be highlighted either. If the top order isn’t doing well, the middle order gets it done. If the middle order can’t do it, the top order has scored runs. We’re playing as a team.”

Labuschagne overcame back soreness to make patient 45 before Clayton’s unbeaten half-century and McDermott’s unbeaten 46 saw Queensland home against South Australia

AAP and ESPNCricinfo staff18-Feb-2024Assured innings from Marnus Labuschagne, Jack Clayton and Ben McDermott helped guide Queensland to a seven-wicket win over South Australia that keeps alive faint hopes of a berth in the Sheffield Shield final.The Bulls defied two days of play dominated by the ball – and some batting struggles of their own in recent matches – to ease to South Australia’s target of 206 with seven wickets to spare at the Adelaide Oval.Labuschagne (45), Jack Clayton (54 not out) and Ben McDermott (46 not out) played contrasting innings, McDermott’s a breezy cameo to see the visitors home after Labuschagne batted with supreme patience earlier in the day.It was only the second win from eight Shield matches for Queensland this season, but it was enough to mathematically keep them in the hunt for a top-two finish with two games still to play.The Redbacks had lost 5 for 18 on Saturday after putting themselves in a dominant position following paltry first-innings totals from both teams.Alex Carey’s 90 at least gave them 205 to defend, and when Matthew Renshaw popped his pull shot straight into the air early on day three the hosts were right in the mix.But second-gamer Angus Lovell (35) and Labuschagne steadied before the Test No.3 broke the shackles with three boundaries and a six over mid-off inside two overs. He did battle some back tightness, receiving treatment from Bulls physio Martin LoveHe, like Lovell, fell attempting a pull shot, but the Bulls still cruised to victory a dozen overs after the tea break.

England’s No. 3 is still a teenager and has benefited from managing her schedule better

Valkerie Baynes12-Jul-2024The day Alice Capsey turned 18, she walked towards a pod of journalists, delighted that she no longer needed a chaperone during interviews.She’d been doing these – accompanied – for a while and her team, Oval Invincibles, had just pulled off the highest successful run chase in the Women’s Hundred to defeat Northern Superchargers at The Oval after the men’s teams had played the curtain raiser.As eager and comfortable as she was on that night almost two years ago, it’s easy to forget she is still a teenager now and to overlook how the sheer volume of cricket she has played since took a “toll” on her. Since July 2022, Capsey has played a staggering 93 top-level T20 matches. As a result, she hasn’t played regional cricket this season, opting to focus on playing for England and, when she’s not, taking a break from cricket.Related

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Speaking in Canterbury after her career-best 67 not out off 60 balls secured victory for England in a nervy third T20I against New Zealand, Capsey revealed that she felt in a much better place than she had over the past year and just how hard it had been to reach that point.”I’ve been kind of under the spotlight for the last three years and it’s taken its toll a little bit, especially over the last year,” Capsey said. “So I really have taken a step back this year and gone, ‘What’s going to be the best option for me to go onto the pitch and perform?’ Prioritising myself a little bit more… not listening to the outside noise as much and really focusing on what matters to me as a person and as a cricketer and what’s going to make me the best cricketer for this team.”Capsey enjoyed a breakout season during the inaugural Women’s Hundred and was part of the first England A squad to tour Australia during the Women’s Ashes at the start of 2022, earning her senior call-up for the Commonwealth Games later that year. Since then, she has become a fixture at No. 3 in T20Is and played in franchise tournaments around the world while floating round the middle order in 17 ODIs.But her half-century against the White Ferns to help England to a 3-0 lead in their five match T20 series on Thursday was her first fifty in the format since last August. Her highest score in the 11 innings she played in between was 31 – made against Pakistan in May – and sat alongside a string of scores either in the 20s, or in single figures. Her highest score in ODIs is 44, also reached during Pakistan’s recent visit. In her two other ODI innings this English summer, she was unbeaten on 39 and 35 against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively.All of these numbers serve as a reminder that Capsey is still a young player learning her craft, and suggest she is figuring out what works for her at the right time.”For someone of my age, I feel really experienced within T20 cricket and I feel really comfortable with my role at No. 3,” she said. “I know that it’s not going to come off every time and I know that there’s going to be critics about how I go about the game. But on nights like these, it is just about going big and really securing the win.Capsey has played a high volume of T20, including at the WPL•BCCI

“I missed the regional cricket this year. I have played so much cricket and I thought the best way to actually perform for England and get myself in the best positive space to be able to perform was to have a little break. We’ve obviously got huge winter and playing for England and performing for England is my main priority. Playing the amount of games I have, I’ve been exposed to a lot of different situations, which is just going to help me as a batter but as an allrounder. Then, obviously on the flip side, it’s a hell of a lot of cricket.”Taking time off between international series appears to be paying dividends, with a T20 World Cup in October, followed by an away Ashes series, then a 50-over World Cup in India in 2025.”As much as I probably haven’t played the amount of cricket that I have in the past couple of years, I feel the most calm and controlled I’ve felt in a very long time,” Capsey said. “I feel really calm, I know what my options are and yeah, I just feel really confident and it’s amazing that if you’re in a good head space that you then take it onto the pitch and feel a lot better about yourself.”Jon Lewis, England’s head coach, said recently that he’d like Capsey “to be one of our best top-five batters” in ODIs, while recognising that her schedule is currently focused on the shorter format. He has also been keen to deploy her part-time offspin, albeit in a side spoilt with spin-bowling riches in the form of left-armer and world No.1 Sophie Ecclestone, legspinner Sarah Glenn and offspinner Charlie Dean.But, as shown in fielding an experimental line-up missing captain Heather Knight, opening batter Danni Wyatt and seamer Lauren Bell, England are all about exploring their options ahead of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.”We’ve been spoken to by the coaching staff before the series, saying that there will be a bit of chaos thrown in front of us, a few different situations about how we adapt to it,” Capsey said. “The performances are showing we are getting the results, but I think as a group we’re really calm with the different changes and we all feel like, especially from my point of view, I feel like it doesn’t matter who’s in the team, we can all just go out in there and play with freedom and play to our strengths.”I’d love to bowl, but I stand no chance with those three,” Capsey added. “They perform day in, day out and when I do get the opportunity, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to make the most of it, but if I’m not having to bowl, then they’re doing their job and we’re probably winning more games than we’re not.”

Spinner played key role in 2018 title but has been overlooked since 2021

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2024Offspinner Amar Virdi has been released by Surrey, having been overlooked throughout their run of three consecutive County Championship titles.Virdi, 26, claimed 39 wickets in Surrey’s Championship-winning season in 2018, and was at the time considered to be a future Test prospect, having featured for the England Under-19 side in 2016 and 2017. He was part of England’s training bubble during the 2020 Covid-19 season and toured the subcontinent at the start of 2021 as a reserve for series against Sri Lanka and India.On his first-class debut in May 2017, he made history by joining Sam Curran, Ryan Patel and Ollie Pope to form the first quartet of teenagers to play for a county since World War 2, and only the fifth in history.But unlike his contemporaries, all of whom have gone on to become fixtures in Surrey’s first XI, Virdi’s opportunities have waned in recent years, with Surrey tending to prefer a batting allrounder such as Will Jacks or Dan Lawrence to carry their spin burden.He spent the latter part of the 2024 county season on loan at Worcestershire, where he took 14 wickets in four matches, including a five-wicket haul against Hampshire in September, but a permanent move is understood to be unlikely. Previously he had been on loan at Somerset in 2022, with his most recent Championship outing for Surrey coming in September 2021.”Having been a part of the club since I was 11 years old, I will look back on my time at Surrey with great fondness and I have some incredible memories of playing for the club,” Virdi said.”Winning the 2018 County Championship was a personal highlight and it was incredible to be part of the team that brought success back to the club after many years.”Having had a tough couple of years at Surrey with selection and pitches, I still believe I have a huge amount to offer the game as shown in my recent loan stint at Worcestershire and I’m looking forward to whatever the next step is in my playing career.”Alec Stewart, Director of Cricket, added: “It’s always tough letting a player go from the club and especially when that player has been in our set up from a young age. With the balance of our bowling attack we’ve used in the Championship in recent years which has brought us great success, Virds hasn’t been able to find a way into the starting eleven.”I firmly believe his bowling has a lot to offer another county and hopefully he will find a new home where he can show case his talents and further his career. I will do everything possible to help him find a good solution.”In the meantime, on behalf of everyone at Surrey CCC, I would like to thank Virds for the service he has given and we should never forget the impact he had when winning the 2018 County Championship title.”

Suzie Bates will lead the side in Sophie Devine’s absence while Amelia Kerr will miss the series because of the WPL

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2025New Zealand have picked a young uncapped trio of Emma McLeod, batter Izzy Sharp, and left-arm seamer Bree Illing for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. The squad of 16 also sees the return of Georgia Plimmer after recovering from a bone stress reaction in her hip which had sidelined her since November.Hayley Jensen, meanwhile, makes a comeback since last playing for New Zealand two years ago, after a successful domestic season.The experienced Suzie Bates will lead the side in the absence of full-time ODI captain Sophie Devine, who is on a well-being break and her T20I successor is yet to be named. Amelia Kerr will also miss the series as she is in India representing Mumbai Indians at the WPL.The uncapped trio has come through the New Zealand Under-19 squads, with McLeod, 18, having just played her second Under-19 T20 World Cup, and Sharp, 20, the captain from the first tournament that was played two years ago. McLeod was picked after she tallied 300 runs for Central Districts in the ongoing domestic one-day competition, where she averages nearly 43 with two half-centuries.Illing, also 21, has been a regular wicket-taker for Auckland in the same competition, and is third on the charts with 19 wickets at 21.10 apiece. Illing was among the stars for Auckland in the T20 Super Smash before that, finishing with an impressive economy rate of just 5.44 along with eight wickets. She had also been picked for New Zealand A last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Emma, Bree and Izzy have been identified by Major Association and NZC coaches as players who have the desired competencies and skillsets to be effective in international cricket,” head coach Ben Sawyer said. “Emma’s been in good form in the HBJ Shield and her ability to hit through the off-side and run well between the wickets is really valuable.”Izzy impressed us with how she attacks spin, which is something that will come in handy this series.”The way Bree attacks the stumps and swings the ball back into the right-hander is really important in the international game.”Plimmer returns after last playing the ODI series in India in November, that followed immediately after New Zealand’s T20 World Cup victory in Dubai. Wicketkeeper-batter Polly Inglis receives her second call-up after being picked for the India tour although she’s yet to make her international debut. Otago’s Bella James is also in line to make her T20I debut, having made her ODI debut against Australia in December when Plimmer and Lea Tahuhu had missed out with injuries.Tahuhu (hamstring) and Rosemary Mair (elbow) are still battling injuries and Molly Penfold had been recently sidelined for at least three months because of a knee injury. While Mair is expected to be fit for the Sri Lanka T20Is starting March 14, Tahuhu is expected to make it in time for the Australia T20Is from March 21.Sawyer further said the games will be good to gain experience against spin keeping in mind the ODI World Cup in India in October this year.”Sri Lanka’s a tough opposition with a number of world-class spinners,” he said.”We will try different combinations this series, and I’m looking forward to seeing players adapt to different roles. It’s an opportunity to test batters in different positions, and try different bowlers opening up and at the death.”The ODI squad will get together on March 2 in Napier following the HBJ Shield final on Saturday. The ODI series begins on March 4 in Napier before moving to Nelson for two more games on March 7 and 9. The T20Is will be played on March 14 and 16 in Christchurch and on March 18 in Dunedin.

New Zealand Women ODI and T20I squads for Sri Lanka

Suzie Bates (capt), Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing (ODIs only), Polly Inglis (ODIs only), Bella James, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair (T20Is only), Emma McLeod, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe (ODIs only), Izzy Sharp (T20Is only)

Barbados Royals stay rooted to the bottom of the table after their third loss in four games

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2025

Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran put on a match-winning stand•CPL T20 via Getty Images

Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran led a clinical chase as Trinbago Knight Riders brushed aside Barbados Royals by seven wickets in Tarouba to rise to the top of the CPL 2025 table. Chasing 179, Munro set the tone with a typically aggressive 67 while Pooran finished the job in style with an unbeaten 65, wrapping up the target with 13 balls to spare. With three losses and a no-result in four matches, Royals are bottom of the table.The foundation of the chase was laid early, as Munro and Alex Hales added 55 for the opening wicket inside the powerplay. Munro, who was the early aggressor, raced to his half-century off just 30 balls. Even after Hales fell for a 14-ball 19, off the final delivery of the sixth over, the momentum remained firmly with Knight Riders.Related

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Pooran started off in a brutal fashion, launching an attack against both pace and spin. His unbeaten 65 came at a brisk pace, studded with boundaries and calculated risks towards the end of the chase. The highlight was him hammering Rovman Powell for three consecutive sixes in the tenth over.Royals briefly kept Knight Riders quiet, conceding just 20 runs between overs 10 and 14, but it didn’t shift the momentum.Pooran and Munro added 93 for the second wicket, off just 54 balls, before the latter was run out in the 15th over. But by then, the equation was down to a run-a-ball 30 and Kieron Pollard ensured there were no hiccups, smashing two sixes and a four in his nine-ball stay. The winning runs came in the 18th over, sealing a dominant performance.Earlier, Royals posted 178 for 6, a total that looked competitive at the halfway mark but ultimately proved well below par. They began cautiously after losing Quinton de Kock early but were steadied by a 56-run stand between Brandon King and Kadeem Alleyne. King chipped in with a 23-ball 29 while Alleyne made 41 off 37.Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for Barbados Royals with 45 off 22 balls•CPL T20 via Getty Images

Once King fell, Sherfane Rutherford’s late surge – 45 off 22 – offered Royals some hope. He began with a four off his second ball against Andre Russell, and then took McKenny Clarke for a four and a six in the following over. He smashed two more sixes, off Mohammad Amir in the 16th over, before the fast bowler dismissed Alleyne.From 105 for 2 at the end of 14 overs, Royals accelerated with 73 runs in the final six overs. Captain Powell was particularly merciless against Ali Khan as he scored 23 runs off him in the 18th over, which included three sixes and a four.Russell and Amir were the standout bowlers for Knight Riders. Russell picked up 3 for 37 while Amir’s 2 for 35 ensured control through the middle and death overs.The win puts Knight Riders in a commanding position at the top of the table while Royals are left needing a spark to reignite their faltering campaign. St Lucia Kings are also on eight points alongside Knight Riders, but occupy the second spot owing to an inferior net run-rate.

Mitchell Santner had a starring role against Netherlands while Sri Lanka will hope to recover from their South Africa drubbing

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-20231:25

McClenaghan: Ravindra could bat at No. 4 upon Williamson’s return

—Fixtures | Squads | Points table | Tournament Index

Top Story: Five-star Santner and New Zealand’s batters make it two in two

New Zealand’s innings started with three maidens in a row but ended with them bashing 50 off the last three overs, courtesy Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry, which propelled them to 322. Netherlands started the chase slowly and never shifted gears as they folded for 223, as New Zealand further consolidated their position at the top of the points table after making it two in two.Player-of-the-Match Santner, who clubbed an unbeaten 36 from 17 balls with the bat, then grabbed 5 for 59 with the ball, and in the process became the first New Zealand spinner to claim a five-for in a men’s ODI World Cup. He varied his pace consistently on a spin-friendly pitch – exactly the trait which makes him threatening – as the highlight of all his wickets was that of Scott Edwards’.Full report

Match analysis: New Zealand’s problems of plenty

Rachin Ravindra has had a memorable start to the World Cup•ICC via Getty Images

New Zealand came into the tournament with only 12 of their 15-player squad available for the first game, with Kane Williamson and Tim Southee recovering from serious injuries and Lockie Ferguson suffering back stiffness. By the time they play their next match, on Friday, they should have all 15 players available and the performance against Netherlands could help them decide who to pick.Let’s start with the obvious: when captain Williamson is ready for competitive cricket, he’ll slot straight back in at No. 3, which would ordinarily leave room for only two of Devon Conway, Will Young and Rachin Ravindra. All three have put good numbers on the board at this tournament, Young becoming the latest to do so. He came back from a second-ball duck against England to score his sixth half-century this year and third in six innings, making a strong claim to continue as an opener.Read the full analysis from Firdose Moonda

News headlines

• Former England captain Eoin Morgan has played down Jofra Archer’s hopes of featuring in any part in the World Cup as he continues his comeback from long-term injuries.
• India opener Shubman Gill will again be absent from their next match against Afghanistan as he continues his recovery from dengue.
• Steven Smith hopes Australia can learn lessons from their opening defeat against India where they were tied in knots by the spinners.