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Smith’s 71 and Green’s 52 builds Australia’s lead to 254 with three wickets in hand on tricky batting surface

Andrew McGlashan05-Jul-2025A pristine innings from Steven Smith and Cameron Green’s first half-century at No. 3 put Australia in control of the second Test in Grenada on a day limited to 58.3 overs by three rain interruptions, a lethargic over rate and latterly bad light. However, regular breakthroughs after tea kept West Indies in touch although the surface remained a challenge for batters.Smith, playing with the lingering effects of the compound dislocation he suffered in the World Test Championship which requires him to wear a splint on his right little finger, barely put a foot wrong during an innings studded with classy drives. There was general shock, not least from Smith himself, when he fell lbw to Justin Greaves for 71 shortly after tea – the DRS confirming ball had struck pad first – leaving the series still waiting for its first century.Greaves became the somewhat unlikely figure to keep West Indies’ hopes alive when he then had Beau Webster edge to a lone slip. After a third shower briefly suspended play, Travis Head was cleaned up by Shamar Joseph, defeated by the angle from round the wicket, leaving Alex Carey the key figure in terms of how many more Australia could add. After the second day’s play, Roston Chase said West Indies would be confident chasing anything under 200 – they are now going to need considerably more than that.Related

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• Hard work done but no pay day for Green as questions linger

There remained regular signs of uneven bounce – Green received a delivery early on which scuttled for four byes – but the ones that shot low were either not straight or were able to be kept out. As had been evident on the first two days, batting became more manageable as the ball got softer which added to the importance of the 93-run stand between Green and Smith in taking the sting out of the attack.Green, who had done the hard work in the first innings but couldn’t take advantage of being given a life, brought up his first half-century as a Test No. 3 with a perfect straight drive. However, he was again left furious when he chopped on next ball, dropping his bat to the ground in anger before trudging off.Overall, though, it was a step in the right direction. He nearly fell for West Indies’ short ball plan when he top-edged short of deep square leg, but he defended solidly and waited for anything with a hint of width to put away through the off side.Cameron Green got to fifty the ball before he was dismissed•Associated Press

Australia had resumed on 12 for 2 after a difficult finish to the second day where Jayden Seales removed both openers. Progress from Green and nightwatcher Nathan Lyon was sedate before a 40-minute rain break. Shortly after the resumption Lyon edged to third slip where John Campbell, who has had an indifferent time in the field, clung on with a juggle.Lyon had joked in a pre-play interview that Smith thought he should retire to let him bat straightaway. Smith, whose preparation for returning to the side included a session a New York batting cage, received a brutal first ball from Alzarri Joseph which took the glove of his injured hand but he looked in the zone from the off.Smith did well to keep out a delivery from Anderson Phillip that kept low, from which point on he limited his trigger movements to remain stiller at the crease. He collected back-to-back boundaries off Shamar Joseph – a straight drive and one through the covers – as his game looked in top working order despite the recent lay-off.When the ball got soft, West Indies went for a bouncer strategy with, at times, three on the leg-side rope, a deep third and a short leg but Smith was rarely bothered by it. While variable in bounce, the pitch does not have great pace which made a bouncer-barrage hard work although it may have been in part to try and get the ball changed.Smith’s fifty came up from 79 balls with a leg glance and he greeted the introduction of Greaves by stepping out of the crease and clubbing him straight down the ground. Chase’s offspin was then sent straight for six as Australia sensed a chance to cash in on their hard work.After Green’s dismissal, Head came out and threaded his first delivery through the covers with a rasping drive. Another crisp drive, this time off Greaves, took him into the 20s at better than a run-a-ball. He went down a gear after tea amid the loss of Smith and Webster before falling late in the day. But Carey was swiftly into his work and Australia’s bowlers will hope he can given them a cushion of another 50 runs.

England quick takes cues from how home attack went about their work

Matt Roller24-Sep-2022If you ever need a reminder of Pakistan’s fast-bowling culture, a quick glance at the honours board of five-wicket hauls in ODIs at Karachi’s National Stadium provides it. The first three names engraved read as follows: Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar.Mark Wood’s name is not on that list just yet but his first outing in Pakistan was enough to set tongues wagging in the way those greats used to, as he nudged 156kph (97mph) on the broadcasters’ speed gun. Waqar and Wasim were close at hand, waxing lyrical on commentary about his express pace.”They are guys I grew up watching,” Wood said. “I look up to them a bit so if they give you any praise, you know you must be doing something right. I value their opinion. It seems like this country produces a lot of fast bowlers and when you look at the pitches, their skill level has to be really high to get wickets and they’ve got that deadly pace as well. They have a mystery about them that makes them deadly.”Wood spent the first two games of the series on the sidelines as England take a cautious approach to his comeback from double elbow surgery, but found himself studying Pakistan’s modern-day crop of fast bowlers in a bid to pick up some insight into how to bowl on the low, skiddy surfaces that have been served up.Related

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“I feel that when teams come to England, they’ll look at how our bowlers bowl and learn,” he said. “You get a feel for bowling the right length and I noticed that the Pakistan bowlers were getting a lot of wickets ‘bowled’ from lengths that would not be a ‘bowled’ length in England. It was back of a length, and the ball was skidding through.”I knew my length could be half a yard shorter and it would still cause problems. I literally tried to whack the wicket as hard as I could from back of a length and some were going through hip-high, some were going through head-high. Last night, I could really let it fly and my margin of error was a little bit bigger because of that.”Wood has kept a close eye on Haris Rauf in particular. “He’s someone that’s my height, my pace, skiddy,” he said. “And he has an excellent slower ball. His arm-speed for his slower ball is very good and that’s something I’m not good at and would like to get better at. Maybe I’ll chat to him and see if he’s willing to share some secrets.”His first wicket on his return was Babar Azam, caught on the deep-third boundary by Reece Topley while slashing at a second successive short ball. It was his first wicket since cleaning up Lanchester CC’s Cam Metcalfe when he made an unsuccessful attempt at a comeback in club cricket for Ashington in July, and his first in an England shirt since dismissing Kraigg Brathwaite in the Antigua Test in March.Babar Azam was given the hurry-up by Wood•Getty Images

“Mo [Moeen Ali] told me: ‘I need you to be aggressive here,'” Wood said. “We’d spent the game before not bowling any bouncers. That was it. I let it fly. I was trying to bowl fast, really. It could have gone either way: they could have smacked me, but we got a couple of wickets. I just tried to charge in and make something happen.”The wicket prompted pin-drop silence from a sold-out crowd. “I was cheering so I didn’t notice,” he said, laughing. “It was loud, proper loud. Babar just walks out to warm up and they go mental. It’s crazy for us English people because obviously it’s not our main sport but here, it is. It means so much to so many people here.”Wood is 32 but a relatively inexperienced T20 bowler – Friday night was his 41st game in the format – and is still teaching himself how to stay “level” after games. “When I have a bad day, I’m disappointed, but I’m not, like, down in the dumps, he said. “If I had a good day then, look, it’s a good day, but I could easily have gone for runs.”He [Babar] could have cut that for six and all of a sudden, I’ve gone for four and six in my first four balls and I’m under pressure. I loved it. I enjoyed it so much, being back out there for England and I felt really happy to get them wickets. If I can bowl quickly and try and help the team that way, that’s what I’m going to try and do.”Wood is unlikely to play in Sunday night’s fourth T20I, suggesting that he arrived in Pakistan expecting to feature once in Karachi and twice in Lahore as England look to ensure he arrives in Australia fit and fresh ahead of next month’s World Cup. He admitted that he felt “rank” after his four overs on Thursday night and the next challenge will be backing his performances up.He hopes to be part of the Test squad that will tour Pakistan in December, having had a taste of the McCullum-Stokes era when he trained with them before the third Test against South Africa, and will take a red ball in his kitbag to Australia. “If they want me, I’ll be ready to go,” he said.

India batter says Sachin Tendulkar’s message is ‘special’ after equalling his world record

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-20231:29

‘Ridiculous!’ – Anil Kumble marvels at Virat Kohli’s ODI numbers

“I had this sense of ‘it’s going to be something more,’ today rather than ‘it’s just one more game in the World Cup.’ I did wake up with that excitement, yes,” Virat Kohli said after his match-winning 101 not out off 121 balls against South Africa in Kolkata, on his 35th birthday, an innings that brought him level with Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 49 ODI hundreds.”It was a big game,” Kohli said after winning the Player of the Match award. “We were probably playing the toughest team in the tournament that we had played so far, to be honest. They played some amazing cricket. There was this motivation of wanting to do well for the team. Because it happened on my birthday, people made it a bit more special for me. I had this sense of ‘it’s going to be something more today’ rather than ‘it’s just one more game in the World Cup’. I did wake up with that excitement, yes.”Related

• Kohli vs Tendulkar: A comparison of their 49 ODI hundreds

• Kohli on equalling Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds: 'It's stuff of dreams'

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After Kohli completed his 49th hundred, Tendulkar posted a congratulatory message on the social media platform X, saying: “Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!!”When asked about Tendulkar’s message and his achievement, an emotional Kohli said, “it’s all too much to take in right now.””Tendulkar’s message is quite special. For me, it’s all too much to take in right now, to be honest, to equal my hero’s record in one-day internationals is something that’s a huge honour for me. I know that people like comparisons, I am never going to be as good as him. There’s a reason why we all looked up to him. He’s perfection when it comes to batting. I am trying to do my best, trying to win games for my country. He’s always going to be my hero regardless of what happens. It’s a very emotional moment for me. I know where I come from, the days that I watched him play on TV. So to stand here and get this appreciation from someone like him means a lot to me.”

England’s spare batter hits 135 off 125 as Essex seize their moment to set up a victory push

Paul Edwards12-Jul-2023
Just before play was due to begin at Stanley Park yesterday it was noticed that the stumps were missing.There were probably moments over the next eight hours or so when Lancashire supporters wished that nobody had bothered to find the bloody things. Even more usefully, perhaps, the locals might have hoped that the rain which delayed the start of our day’s cricket for 45 minutes and then interrupted it briefly in mid-afternoon would hose down for something like 36 hours. Anything to prevent them having to watch their side collapse like a detonated block of flats and then offer as bad a session of outcricket as they have produced all season.Essex, though, are the sort of team who seize on such weaknesses like peckish piranhas. Their seam attack exploited Lancashire’s batting frailties magnificently to earn a first-innings lead of 137 and the last third of the day featured a quite savage assault on Keaton Jennings’ dispirited bowlers and demoralised fielders by Dan Lawrence, the spare batter in England’s Ashes squad who leaves for Surrey at the end of the season.Capitalising gleefully on the home side’s weakness, Lawrence hit nine sixes, losing at least three balls in the adjoining park, reaching his third century with his fifth maximum and hitting four more of the rascals before perishing in the final over of the day when Jennings caught him at long-on for 135, clubbed off 125 balls.Related

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At the other end, Doug Bracewell had hit four sixes in his 61 not out and the pair had added 106 in one ball short of nine overs, but Bracewell will be no more than a footnote to this day’s cricket. The headline writers will be thinking about Lawrence, Essex supporters will be wondering if their side can seal a fourth win of the season and Lancashire followers will be hoping for shelter from the storm.Cricket, however, is rarely so accommodating and the locals’ slumber will be tortured by Essex attack’s merciless demolition of Lancashire’s first innings. Hindered by the Kookaburra ball, which appears to be disliked throughout the county game, but aided by cloudy skies, Tom Westley’s quicker bowlers went to their work with a rare will.Having successfully negotiated the newish ball and reached 76 for 1, Lancashire lost eight wickets for 45 runs either side of lunch and it took Phil Salt’s six over square leg to help them avoid a follow-on that Essex might not have enforced in any case. Sam Cook took four of the wickets but Paul Walter also removed three in eight balls just before the first interval. There were times when the speed of the cricket would have defeated the scribble on the scorecard but Lancashire did not provide such accessories for the third day of this game. It was very prescient of them.Lancashire’s coaches should not be so forgiving. Essex’s seamers bowled with the ruthlessness of men who sensed an opportunity to establish a match-winning advantage and some of the Lancashire’s top order had to be worked out by their opponents. Jennings, for example, pushed at a delivery from Cook which nipped away and went via the edge to Matt Critchley at second slip.Other dismissals were almost entirely the batter’s own work. Among the latter group was Dane Vilas, who pushed his second ball into the off side and called Josh Bohannon for a risky single but was well beaten by Bracewell’s direct hit from the covers. Both Rob Jones and Tom Hartley nicked catches when feeling for balls well outside the off stump. And the innings ended on a note of farce as Tom Bailey ducked away from what he believed to be a beamer from Cook, only to see the ball lollop into his stumps.Dismissed for 145 and already well behind in the game, Lancashire’s bowlers then enjoyed their only decent half-hour of the day. Having been caught at slip for a four-ball duck in the first innings, Nick Browne padded up to Bailey’s third ball of the second dig was sent on his way for a pair. It is doubtful whether the opener will nurture fond memories of Blackpool or, indeed, of Bailey’s bowling.

Bangladesh needed to chase down the target of 116 in 12.1 overs, but didn’t seem to push hard enough considering a place in the semi-finals was at stake

Mohammad Isam25-Jun-20241:53

Tamim: ‘Bangladesh should’ve gone for the chase’

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said his team gave up pushing for a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals after they lost three wickets in the first three overs of their chase against Afghanistan in Kingstown.After restricting Afghanistan to 115 for 5 in the final Super Eight game, Bangladesh needed to win in 12.1 overs to go ahead of Afghanistan and Australia on net run rate and qualify for the semi-finals from Group 1 along with India.”The plan was to try [to win in 12.1 overs] if we get a good start in the powerplay,” Shanto said after the match. “We thought that if we don’t lose early wickets, we could take the chance [to go for the semi-finals]. When we lost three wickets, we had a different plan. We wanted to see how we could win the game. The middle-order didn’t take good enough decisions, which is why we lost the game today.”Bangladesh slipped to 23 for 3 in 2.5 overs and their subsequent slowdown sparked outrage among their fans, who could not fathom such an approach from a team that had a chance to qualify for the semi-finals.Former captain Mashrafe Mortaza said in a post on Facebook that Bangladesh shouldn’t have thought about merely winning against Afghanistan. “Litton’s intent and the non-strikers’ silence suggests that there was no clear message for the batting unit. Even if there was a message, it changed every one or two overs. It ended up with the decision to try to just win the game.”Today should have been just about winning in 12.1 overs. There was no other way of thinking. Everyone would have understood if they got bowled out for 50. If we had won this game, we would have lost to our conscience. This was not like ten other matches. We could have made history today.”Related

• Bangladesh exit T20 World Cup as they entered, timidly

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• Afghanistan storm into maiden World Cup semi-finals; Australia knocked out

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Bangladesh were in the hunt at 75 for 5 at the end of the ninth over. Towhid Hridoy had struck Mohammad Nabi for two fours in the eighth over before Litton Das hit Rashid Khan for two more fours in the ninth. Forty-three runs to get in 3.1 overs was tough but not impossible, but then Mahmudullah played out a Noor Ahmad over with five dot balls and just one attacking shot that yielded a boundary. Rashid took two wickets in the 11th over to end Bangladesh’s chances of progressing to the semi-finals.”We wanted to win the match. It was the initial plan,” Shanto said. “When we saw 115 runs on the board, we had a plan to win in 12.1 overs. The batting group made a lot of poor decisions. It is frustrating and disappointing. We wanted to win this game. We had the chance in our grasp. We couldn’t take it.”Litton remained unbeaten on 54, carrying his bat as Bangladesh were bowled out for 105 in the 18th over to confirm Afghanistan’s place in the semi-finals at Australia’s expense.Bangladesh had made another tactical blunder by holding back Hridoy, arguably their best batter in this T20 World Cup, to No 6. Sending in out-of-form batters like Soumya Sarkar over Hridoy was costly but Shanto said the team wanted to have a left-right combination in the middle. “We mixed up the batting order because we wanted to keep left-right combination. There was Litton in one end. They had a lot of variations in their bowling. Everyone was clear, they knew we would do this.”Bangladesh’s net run rate situation need not have been this dire had they shown more urgency in their previous Super Eight game against India. Chasing 197 on a good batting pitch in Antigua, Bangladesh had managed only 146 for 8 in response. Tamim Iqbal, an expert for ESPNcricinfo, and Shakib Al Hasan had criticised the team’s attitude and tactics, dropping Taskin Ahmed to not showing intent in the powerplay.”We gave our 100% against India,” Shanto said after Bangladesh’s loss to Afghanistan. “We picked the extra spinner in Mahedi, who bowled well. We should have scored a few more runs on that wicket [in Antigua]. We didn’t utilise it properly. The scenario would have been different had we batted better [against India].”Shanto signed off by apologising to the Bangladesh fans for letting them down. His last word at the press conference in St Vincent was “sorry”. Bangladesh’s fans, however, deserve more than a perfunctory ‘sorry’ from their captain and the team management.

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

• Colin Munro: 'If you don't score, it's not the end of the world'

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.