The big takeaways from the ICC’s new men’s Future Tour Programme from 2023 to 2027

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2022
More international cricket on the menu
Even as new franchise T20 leagues sprout up like mushrooms during the monsoon – the South African and UAE variety will debut in January – the ICC’s new FTP contains an increased number of international matches during the 2023-27 cycle. From 694 matches in the current FTP (2019-23), the 12 Full Members will play 777 international matches – 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is – in the next four-year period. And that’s not counting ICC tournaments, of which there is one every year (for the first time since the 2011-2015 FTP). Expect the country-versus-franchise debate to get much louder.More Tests, but not everyone
There are more Tests scheduled in this new FTP- 21 more in fact – than between 2019-23. But if you dig a little deeper that’s not necessarily cause for optimism for those worried about Test cricket’s health. Four of the nine countries that play the World Test Championship (WTC) are playing fewer Tests (England play six fewer Tests); if South Africa’s Test series with Australia had not been cancelled, they too would be playing less of the longest format in the new cycle. The big jump in the number of Tests in the FTP has come in large part from a big increase in the number of Tests that Afghanistan are scheduled to play (see below).Related

Jason Holder: 'I think we just need to support people'

Mathews says Sri Lanka not getting enough Tests, especially this year

President in control, cricket in chaos – the Bangladesh story

Shakib isn't thinking about winning Asia Cup, just wants 'the improvement graph going up'

CSA downsizes international commitments to make room for new T20 league

Bangladesh get busy
Who’s playing the most games in the new FTP? Not India or England, but Bangladesh. They have a whopping 150 bilateral international matches in the next four-year cycle. While there’s a growing murmur about the point of ODIs, Bangladesh are giving the 50-over format the most love by playing 59 matches. They’re also just behind the Big Three in the number of Tests (34).South Africa taking it easy?
On the other end of the busyness scale, you’ve got South Africa, who are playing only 113 bilateral internationals in the new FTP. That’s more than only Ireland and Zimbabwe. South Africa’s schedule contains the second-fewest T20Is (46), the fewest ODIs (39), and fewer Tests (28) than Bangladesh and New Zealand. In fact, in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, South Africa are not playing any series longer than two Tests (and they are currently top of that table and potential finalists). One reason for this could be that Cricket South Africa want to keep its international players completely free to play its new T20 League in January, and then there’s the two-and-a-half month IPL window, during which a lot of the top South African players will be in India.ESPNcricinfo LtdT20 windows for everyone
Another feature of this FTP is the number of windows that have been created for the T20 leagues of different countries. The biggest one is for the IPL. There is very little international cricket scheduled from the middle of March to the end of May between 2023 and 2027, so that the top players from all countries – minus Pakistan – can take part in the IPL. Other countries have different types of windows for their leagues. Australia have tried to minimise white-ball games in their traditional January slot so their own elite players can play the BBL; Bangladesh have kept each January free for the BPL; the ECB has a small window for the Hundred in August; CSA are doing likewise for their league; the PSL shifts its windows but has one every year; the CPL has August-September.Bad news for ODIs?
The T20 revolution only really took off once India embraced the shortest format with open arms after their victory in the 2007 T20 World Cup. So what does it mean for ODIs if 50-over cricket seems to be India’s least favoured format in the new FTP? India are playing only 42 ODIs in the 2023-27 FTP cycle, the second-fewest among the 12 Full Members, and they aren’t playing any series longer than three ODIs.More games between the Big Three
India, England and Australia will also see more of each other in the new FTP than they did in the current one. They had a total of 65 internationals – 27 Tests, 21 ODIs and 17 T20Is – scheduled between 2019 and 2023. In the next four-year cycle, they are down to play a total of 78 games: 30 Tests, 20 ODIs and 28 T20 internationals.Afghanistan’s Test revolution
Since their Test debut in India in 2018, Afghanistan have only played a total of six matches so far. They have got 21 scheduled in this next cycle, one more than Zimbabwe and only four less than Sri Lanka. It remains to be seen, though, how many of these 21 actually get played.

In this extract from his new book, the former Australia allrounder looks at sides that allowed players to thrive and those that hung a fear of failure over their heads

Shane Watson05-Nov-2022Winning The Inner BattleThere are environments where the leaders talk about how big this game is, how important this game is, and say, “If we lose this game we are out.” I have been in plenty of these team environments. There are also environments where leaders talk about how performance in this game will dictate selection, and that underperformance might lead to players getting dropped. I have heard from leaders of a number of teams that I have played in say things like, “Spots are up for grabs in the game” or “If you don’t perform, you will get dropped.”So guess what people are thinking in those environments? “Don’t lose. I really need to perform today. I need to score runs. We need to win. Don’t get out. Don’t bowl badly. Don’t stuff up, otherwise I might be gone.” All of these focus on results and fear of failure.These environments can work for a shorter period of time, where fear of failure can drive individuals to be ready to lock in for one very important game. But these environments are not sustainable at all as stress and anxiety builds up to a point where the whole team implodes and I have been a part of these environments on a few occasions too. The telltale signs are that everyone starts to only play for themselves, for their individual spots, and as long as they do enough to get picked for the next game, they are happy. This always leads to an incredibly toxic team environment where the enjoyment factor of playing the game that you love evaporates and it turns into every person for themselves. We should be doing all that we can to do the opposite of this, as the best and most successful team environments always have a fun and enjoyment aspect to them as a very important undercurrent to all that they do.Other environments I have been a part of are ones where there is a clear focus on the process and leaders ask the players to just bring the best version of themselves every time and to do it over and over again. They reiterate that if we all do this, we give ourselves the best chance of coming out on top. This is exactly what a championship mindset looks like!This is what made Ricky Ponting such a good captain. He always said to the team in the lead-up to big games that the team whose individuals do the basics better and for longer will be the team that will come out on top. It focused our minds on the process, on doing the basics, controlling the A factors.

After the retirement of Ponting and Hussey, the Australian team drifted significantly. Players, myself included, began to look over our shoulders. I wasn’t able to direct my thoughts to consistently bring the best version of myself into every performance

Paddy Upton for Rajasthan Royals built a process-driven environment that took all of the anxiety and stress out of a very pressurised tournament where performance and results were so important. The other team environment where this was done incredibly well was at Chennai Super Kings in the IPL under captain MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming. I never heard either of them say, “We need to win this game today”, or “If you don’t score runs today or take wickets, you will be getting dropped.”My second year with CSK really stuck with me. There was no chopping and changing in selection. In other teams I had been with, players were turned over constantly. If a player didn’t perform for a couple of games, selectors would think he wasn’t good enough and would replace him immediately. This meant that everyone started looking over their shoulders and thinking, “Gosh, if I don’t perform in a couple of games, then I could be gone too.”No matter who we are, we are always going to have times in our lives where we are in a “results-focused” environment. By understanding the mental-skills framework in this book, we know that this is the opposite of where we want to be mentally for us to be at our best both individually and collectively. We need to listen to what is being said by the leaders in this environment and we need to redirect their words ourselves to say, “I am not going to let their results focus influence the correct mindset I need for me to be at my best.” This can be much easier said than done when players are being chopped and changed from one game to the next without any rhyme or reason, apart from someone not performing in one game. But understanding this will be a powerful tool for you to use throughout your life to ensure a negative environment doesn’t infiltrate your thinking and pull you out of your high-performance mindset.I’ve been a victim of a negative team environment. After the retirement of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey, the Australian team drifted significantly. Pressure to perform began to affect confidence and consistency. Players, myself included, began to look over our shoulders. I didn’t have knowledge of the mental skills I needed to redirect my thoughts to the right things at the right times to consistently bring the best version of myself into every performance, instead of being overcome with fear and overwhelmed by a need for results, which saw my performances go downhill throughout that time. And this was all at a time where I was in my prime, performing really well in the IPL in an incredibly enjoyable, process-driven team environment. But as soon as I went back into this other environment, my kryptonite, my performances started to tank again and the enjoyment factor of playing the game that I loved evaporated very quickly.When Watson was able to let go of the negative mindset that gripped the team, he was able to play with freedom and the results automatically followed•Craig Golding/AFP/Getty ImagesMy last three months with the Australia T20 team from early January 2016 through to the T20 World Cup in India was another example of one of those environments. We played India in a three-match T20 International series, where the selectors picked a really big squad and chopped and changed the team significantly from game to game, and then this flowed on to a T20 series in South Africa before we headed to India for the T20 World Cup. The conversations and actions around the group from the leaders – that being the coach, captain, selectors – were consistent messaging like, “All spots are up for grabs if you want to play in the T20 World Cup” and “You need to perform in this game as you might only have one opportunity to press your claim.”As soon as I heard and saw this, I immediately acknowledged in my own mind what this ridiculous situation was creating. This time I opted out. I knew the importance of preparation and focus. The result was that I bowled as well as I had in T20 cricket for Australia, played one of the games of my life at the SCG as captain, and retired at the end of the T20 World Cup as the No. 1 T20I allrounder in the world.Surprise surprise, we lost to India in the quarter final knockout game. We left a few runs on the table and didn’t execute that well with the ball against an Indian team that had barely changed their XI from the first game that we played against them during the series in Australia, three months before.But the attitudes I saw in that T20 World Cup are everywhere. I saw it recently in a game of junior cricket. The result of the match was important as a place in the grand final was riding on it. A number of the parents had really built this game up as being a knockout game and had stressed to the kids how important it was to win to make the final. Then one of the calmest kids in the team went out to bat with two overs to go and one of the parents said, “Don’t get out, otherwise we will lose” as he walked out to bat. And guess what happened. This poor young kid ended up getting out, and because of all of the build-up of importance for this game by the parents and kids around him, the calmest child on the field lost the plot, throwing their gear everywhere in disappointment of letting the team down. It was so sad to see and something that should never happen if the parents around the team simply understood the fundamentals of how to create the optimal environment. Reinforcement of the correct mindset would then filter down to all of the young kids.It is so easy to allow the “live or die by results” environment to infiltrate your mindset and start to corrupt it. It is easy to start to move your thinking to fear of failure and how important it is to perform and get the results. But by understanding all of the mental skills in this book, you will be armed with all that you need to be mentally tough enough to create a super-strong cocoon around yourself, to just direct your thoughts to continually creating your optimal mental environment to bring the best version of you, no matter what team environment that you are in.We need to do all that we can in our power to help with creating the best team environment possible, so that individuals don’t have to feel like they are rebelling against the team leadership just to stay process-driven, to bring their best A game possible, game in game out. I’m convinced that more and more teams should be open to allowing players to manage their own mental and physical preparation. Everyone is different; everyone comes to know what best suits them; just as a lot of cricket is individual, so should a lot of the preparation be too. Understanding this will create so many more high-performing team environments, higher-performing individuals and most importantly, much more enjoyable team environments too, so that we never lose the fun and joy that we get playing the game that we love.Alex Malcolm, an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo, was involved in the editing of the book.

As the pandemic wreaks havoc in India, the IPL marches on. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but can the BCCI make it count for more?

Jayaditya Gupta25-Apr-2021On Sunday afternoon, as the captains of Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore waited for the toss, the commentator Ian Bishop put out this public service announcement: mask up, keep a safe distance, self-sanitise. The simple message, repeated several times during play, was the first high-visibility sign of the IPL as an institution addressing the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc in India.There have been occasional statements by commentators and some franchises on similar lines – mask up, stay safe – and some individual players have gone further. But this was the first time the IPL used the high-profile toss segment of its broadcast to spread this message, the recognition that outside the bio-bubble was a country fighting a desperate battle against the pandemic.India is currently in the grip of an especially vicious wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Countrywide, there are 300,000 new cases every day – the most by any nation since the pandemic first broke out last year – and the effect has crippled healthcare and allied services, even in Delhi, the national capital. Just for context, there have been 26,000 deaths since the IPL began on April 9.Related

• Delhi Capitals hold all the trumps but cornered KKR could yet spring a surprise

• RCB recruit Scott Kuggeleijn as replacement for Kane Richardson

• Sinking Sunrisers look for lift against rising Super Kings in Delhi

• BCCI reassures IPL teams: 'You are totally safe within the bubble'

• Australia suspends flights from India; Chris Lynn hopes for post-IPL charter home

The IPL’s tepid response till very recently has prompted the perception that it is a bubble within the bubble – that the entire system is cut off from the world outside to the extent almost of tone-deafness. This cannot be the reality, of course, because the players are in virtual contact with life outside and have had family and acquaintances affected by the virus. But it is the perception, helped by the silence emanating from the tournament itself.Indeed, it has led to a line of thinking that the IPL should be called off. That in a time of national tragedy as this is – and a tragedy that, by all estimates, will get worse before it gets better – sport is irrelevant, perhaps even disrespectful. This is not a time for light entertainment.That is debatable, because there are clearly takers for the IPL as entertainment or distraction from the surrounding grimness. Anecdotal evidence, perhaps, but I can hear the TV commentary from apartments around mine every evening, and I know of people – including one 80-year-old aunt – who wait for that match every day to offer some relief.Equally important, though, is to see the IPL as not merely a sporting activity, 22 men playing cricket under floodlights. It is an economic activity that brings in millions of dollars, which are then spread around the wider cricketing ecosystem and to the country at large. Think of hotel rooms occupied, chartered flights booked and the IPL gig economy – social-media teams, cameramen, commentators, security and catering and housekeeping staff, and all the people they support in turn – that keeps the wheels turning. A distressed economy needs whatever cylinders that can keep firing.Crucially, it is a well-managed bubble, as it was in the UAE last year; two weeks in, there have been positive cases, but largely before the tournament started. The lack of crowds and the caravan concept – two venues at a time, instead of teams criss-crossing through the tournament – make it easier to manage logistics.It is precisely this immense soft power, though, that the IPL needs to wield at this moment.

If you have beaten COVID-19, you have the power to save a life. #ProjectPlasma – A joint initiative by #DelhiCapitals and @FeverFMOfficial encourages you to donate your plasma.

And as @SDhawan25 says, let's defeat this pandemic with positivity #YehHaiNayiDilli pic.twitter.com/gCzH2FIsBh

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 24, 2021

There have been individual, perhaps oblique, statements. Royal Challengers Bangalore have a short public-service video about basic bio-safety protocols; on Saturday, Delhi Capitals released a message about plasma donation in the Covid-19 context. R Ashwin, who plays for them, has also been tweeting about plasma availability. Harbhajan Singh hasn’t merely expressed his anguish – he has helped set up a mobile testing lab in Pune and has retweeted some of the thousands of cries for help on social media, hoping his influence can open doors.

Everything coming to an END.. we are clueless..No one is to guide don’t see any light.. it’s getting dark.. people are dying.. someone care ? NO #COVIDEmergency #COVID19India #Covid

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 16, 2021

Even Shoaib Akhtar – the Pakistani bowler Indian fans loved to hate – issued a simple, heartfelt appeal for help.

India is really struggling with Covid-19. Global support needed. Health care system is crashing. Its a Pandemic, we are all in it together. Must become each other's support.
Full video: https://t.co/XmNp5oTBQ2#IndiaNeedsOxygen #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/vX1FCSlQjs

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) April 23, 2021

There is plenty more that the IPL can do even now – sponsor the distribution of N95 masks or sanitisers; setting up vaccine camps or announcing that some percentage of their income will go to a specified fund. And, easiest of all, using the big names – especially those on its payroll – to reinforce the same simple message.Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian to win an individual Olympic gold and now part of various high-level athletes’ commissions, spoke about this issue on Sunday. Writing in , he said the players should acknowledge the enormous privilege they enjoy to be able to play sport in these times. If he was BCCI president, he said, and “had the capability”, he would “give a large amount to do, say, the vaccination right or help out in any other way. This is one way to acknowledge that to conduct the IPL right now is a huge privilege and everyone should act responsibly.”The BCCI is famous for its ability to think on its feet, to change or create or tweak plans to suit the situation. It has responded with alacrity to many crises in the past, usually when cricket is under threat. This threat is far greater and more serious – it’s a country in crisis.

His numbers aren’t great but they are on the rise, and the transition to the higher levels could well happen soon for the allrounder

Himanshu Agrawal11-Oct-20222:57

Abhishek Sharma: “Captaincy has helped me mature”

Abhishek Sharma appears fidgety at first glance. As we speak, he constantly tosses a bottle from one hand to the other. His eyes wander, too. And he gestures with his hands a lot.But as we talk, it’s clear that there is great clarity of thought in the young man. He talks about his goals. One of them is to win titles for Punjab; Abhishek is one of the key players of the Punjab team, and was their captain in the last Ranji Trophy.Related

Abhishek Sharma shows his all-round prowess to prove that he belongs

Talking Points – Abhishek Sharma's backspinning legcutter

“Obviously, the ultimate goal is to play for India,” Abhishek says. “But I am also setting short, small goals for myself – like winning the [T20 Syed] Mushtaq Ali Trophy.”Abhishek started out as a left-arm spinner, like his father Rajkumar Sharma, a former cricketer. But his son’s multi-dimensional skills made Rajkumar work on Abhishek’s batting too.”Slowly, when he realised that I can bat as well – I must have been eight or nine – I started with batting,” Abhishek says. “My dad was the one who recognised my talent.” So we got Abhishek Sharma, the allrounder – a big-hitting lower-order batter who bowls accurate left-arm spin.But being a lower-middle-order batter in domestic cricket can be thankless. You are not always on the selectors’ radar, you rarely get enough balls to score big, and your failures tend to be amplified. But all those are things of the past now. Abhishek is now an opener for Punjab.Abhishek on Yuvraj – “When I look at the way I have been developing myself, I realise that his tips have been really helping me”•Abhishek SharmaIn his second first-class match for Punjab, he was batting alongside his idol, Yuvraj Singh. Before that, Abhishek had scored 94 on debut against Himachal Pradesh to earn plaudits from Yuvraj. Too tongue-tied then, Abhishek has struck an excellent rapport with Yuvraj since. These days, Yuvraj plays mentor to Abhishek and several Punjab players, even conducting camps and batting sessions in an unofficial capacity for them.”Yuvi knows me in and out,” Abhishek says. “When I look at the way I have been developing myself, I realise that his tips have been really helping me. Everything he tells me – starting from my stance, about [playing] short balls, my intensity throughout, and my strength – have helped me a lot.”And, like Yuvraj, Abhishek is clear that he wants to have an impact with the ball too.He has a good backspinning legcutter that leaves the left-hand batter, and he has been trying to expand his repertoire.”I have been working on variations because I think if I want to play all three formats, I need to work really hard on my bowling,” Abhishek says. “It was only last year that I started bowling with the new ball, and I felt really good. These were the factors I wanted to develop.”During this off-season – he was not a part of the India A side that faced New Zealand A and was also not selected for the Duleep Trophy or the Irani Cup – Abhishek experimented with a variation he learnt from a very successful offspinner.At Sunrisers Hyderabad, Abhishek had the chance to pick Brian Lara’s brains: “When someone like him has faith in you, you get that confidence”•BCCI”Two years back, Mohammad Nabi taught me a particular ball, which is almost like a swinging ball. I understood it, but wasn’t able to bowl it as well as he does,” Abhishek says. “So I have tried that, and I think I have been doing well. With the new ball, I am currently working on three or four variations, which I think will be very useful.”Batting and bowling aside, there’s also the captaincy factor – not to forget, he is just 22.Abhishek has led Punjab at age-group levels and also captained India Under-19 in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup. How different is it to lead the senior Punjab side?”It isn’t, because I had been playing with some players in the Punjab team right from our Under-16 days,” he says. “But you also have seniors in a top-level side. That’s where your challenge is: how do you handle them, and create that atmosphere? Captaincy made me a more mature batsman and leader.”And, like with so many youngsters these days, there are icons of the game all around, ready to help if asked. When he was part of the 2018 Under-19 World Cup-winning side, Rahul Dravid was the coach of the team. Last December, he had an opportunity to pick Brian Lara’s brains after he was brought on as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s strategic advisor and batting coach.

“Lara sir and I had a very good tuning too. We always talk about cricket, and when there is a match going on, we text each other to discuss how someone is batting”Abhishek Sharma

“Rahul sir always told me to trust myself,” Abhishek says. “He never asked me to change anything about my batting; he always wanted me to bat till the end. He is one of the most positive persons I have ever met.”What about Lara, who has now been appointed Sunrisers’ head coach?”He was calling every batsman for a one-on-one meet,” Abhishek says. “He asked me, ‘What was common between openers who have done well over the past two years?’ I said, ‘They are all good players who play good shots’.”But he actually wanted me to play 30-35 balls every innings. Whenever I went out to bat, he told me, ‘I’ll see you in the [Strategic] Time Out’. So that stuck in my mind. When someone like Lara sir has faith in you, you get that confidence.”Abhishek had a good IPL 2022 with the bat. His 426 runs from 14 innings – at a strike rate of 133.12 – were the most for Sunrisers.Abhishek says Rahul Dravid “never asked me to change anything about my batting”•BCCIOn a day-to-day basis, though, Abhishek doesn’t get to speak to Yuvraj or Dravid or Lara, but a close circle of friends and seniors he trusts for inputs.”One is Shubman [Gill, an Under-19 World Cup team-mate], another is our ex-player Sharad Lumba, and also Gurkeerat Mann,” he says. “Lara sir and I had a very good tuning too. We always talk about cricket, and when there is a match going on, we text each other to discuss how someone is batting.”Abhishek is now into his fifth season as a domestic cricketer, having started out as a 16-year-old. He is at a stage where he is ready to make the big leap. His close mates from those Under-19 days – Prithvi Shaw, Gill and Arshdeep Singh – have all gone on to represent the senior team. Abhishek, however, has found the transition tougher.After 13 first-class matches, Abhishek averages only 29, with a highest of 98. His List A numbers are slowly on the rise, even if not up there: an average of almost 31 after 30 innings. And while he looks forward to pushing them up this season, there is a much bigger goal on his mind already.”Holding the World Cup for my country – for sure!”There is some way to go for that, but holding aloft a major domestic trophy isn’t impossible. And it could be the start of many good things.

Men’s cricketers have long been household names in India. While there’s still a lot of work to do, the WPL, optimistically, brings the women one step closer to this

Zenia D'cunha03-Mar-2023A recent television advertisement for the Women’s T20 World Cup showed a lady asking a sports shop owner for the other Sharma’s cricket jersey when given one with “Rohit” printed on it. She’s laughed at for not knowing cricket and she responds with a photo of Deepti Sharma, also an Indian cricketer.The promo for the first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) follows a similar theme – ” [Your name will be on every tongue].”The idea is simple – cricketers have long been household names in India. It’s time this is extended to the women’s team as well. With the long-awaited WPL, set to begin in Mumbai on Saturday, we are, optimistically, one step closer.To women’s players to be included in the wider cricket consciousness. To their names being part of the cricket conversation so commonplace in India. To the gender-neutral “batter”, now recognised by even the keeper of the laws of cricket, being used regularly.Related

Upping her power game and getting the finishing skills right – Deepti eyes a higher gear

Opening act: Blue is the warmest colour as Harmanpreet, Mumbai carry WPL torch

Star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals look to get WPL juggernaut going

Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians in a power-packed contest to kick off the WPL

Mooney wants her Gujarat Giants side to take 'brave options' on the field

This inclusivity may seem basic for the women’s version of the high-profile IPL. But that’s the start.The money and media, team owners and sponsors are already here, but the big hope is for WPL to establish women’s cricket in the mainstream discourse of the sport.Away from the headlines and hashtags, into the heartland of India’s cricket crazy fan following. The ones that are often found analysing yesterday’s match, the ones that make memes about it, the kids who try to shadow bat and bowl while walking to school, or even the adults who critique believing they could have played better.It is these peculiarities that make the Indian cricket fan what it is. It is this that a daily, franchise-owned league can reach. So much more effectively and emotionally than the exhibition four-match Women’s T20 Challenge we had before.The usual benefits of having a top-tier T20 league at home are there for all to see, whether it’s the IPL or the Women’s Big Bash League. When Harmanpreet smashed her 171 not out against Australia to take India to the 2017 ODI World Cup final, the ripple effect quite literally changed the game in India. This trailblazer of an innings came after her highly successful first season at the WBBL.The same type of knowledge transfer and competitive experience will now be available at home for Indian players. The raw potential will get a finishing school that is not international cricket. There will be fresh ideas and experimentation that will only benefit in the long run.But for the players and the long-time followers of the women’s game, the WPL stands for so much more.It’s real, tangible proof that there’s scope and hope for women’s cricket to be part of the big time. That there is depth and talent in all corners of the country, something so often used as an excuse to delay this very league. That there is a market and monetary backing for the women too; another common argument against it. Three of the five franchises already have men’s IPL teams (and the other two own Pro Kabaddi teams), which means there is a ready fanbase there.

With the WPL, women cricketers will enter a mindspace beyond that of the ardent fan. If the WPL can capture even a fragment of the segment that the IPL occupies, inclusivity will turn into popularity.

And while providing this platform for the future of women’s cricket, the WPL will only raise the ever-growing profile of the game in the present.Beyond the big names – the Mithalis, Jhulans and Harmanpreets – how many Indian players are actually well known in India? Do people know their skill sets, their stories?That explosive opening batter Shafali Verma disguised herself as a boy to join the district team. That fast bowler Shikha Pandey was part of the Indian Air Force as a squadron leader.Both are internationals who’ve played World Cups, reached finals and have viral moments on field. (Go search for women’s cricket Ball of the Century on Google.)The average cricket-watching, news-reading folks probably know of them. But with the WPL, these players will enter a mindspace beyond that of the ardent fan. If the WPL can capture even a fragment of the segment that the IPL occupies, this inclusivity will turn into popularity.And these are just the internationals. The WPL features a variety of players who have fascinating stories. Sneha Deepthi is an active cricketer who is a mother to a toddler – quite a rarity in India. Sonam Yadav and Shabnam Shakil are 15 years old (and World Cup winners already). Jasia Akhtar is a 34-year-old domestic player from Kashmir who plays for Rajasthan.A giant of Indian women’s sport, Sania Mirza, has been named mentor of the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the WPL•RCBFor close to 22 days, these players will be on TV screens every evening, on phone screens all day, in advertisements and hoardings. Already the buzz is building up nicely, from the know-your-player videos put out by the teams to the big billboards. This is a whole new world for most of India’s women cricketers and their fans, on and off field. It’s exciting how much potential there is to explore.That we have the WPL in 2023, more than five years after a charge to the World Cup final revolutionised the game, means that Indian women’s cricket won’t need another 171 to find space in the main pages.There will be daily matches during prime time and regular coverage. There will be viral videos and constant content generation on social media. There will be quality, competitive cricket among the best in the world to reiterate that the women’s game has firmly established itself in the minds and market of cricket’s biggest ecosystem.The stage is set, the spotlight is here, the game is about to start.Now the onus is on the stakeholders to make this hard-fought opportunity count. The players need to put up consistent performances to show their asking for this chance was right. The organisers and owners need to ensure smooth functioning and promotion so this chance is maximised. The fans need to show up and support from stadium to streaming.It’s for everyone to remember – [this is just the beginning], as the WPL’s official hashtag goes.A five-team, 22-match WPL is certainly a step above the Women’s T20 Challenge, but there is a long way to go to create a culture and competition that makes this tournament a bona fide counterpart to the biggest T20 league in the world.

Seamer hoping her Test experience comes to the fore as England prepare to take on India

Andrew Miller14-Jun-2021With her ability to bang out a disciplined line and length for long spells at a time, Kate Cross is considered something of a Test match specialist when it comes to women’s cricket, although that is not quite the accolade that it really ought to be, given how infrequently the format ever comes around.Nevertheless, with 14 wickets at 14.92 in her three Test appearances, Cross has featured in half of the six
matches that England have played in the last decade, and she is hopeful that India’s renewed interest could help to revive the longer format, both internationally and at domestic level.”The format doesn’t come round often but it’s really special when it does,” Cross said on England’s first day of training at Bristol, two days out from the start of the Test. “We all get really excited when the whites come out, and we’re just looking forward to getting going on Wednesday now.”Obviously it’s very different to the white-ball game, but we try and embrace it as much as possible, because we know we’ve only got one opportunity to play a Test match this summer. We want it to be a good spectacle for people to watch, so that everyone buys into it, because we obviously wish we could play a bit more of it.”England’s last three Tests have all been against Australia, while India have not played the format since 2014. But Cross knows from past experience that a lack of familiarity need not hold back India’s talented line-up, having been on the losing end of their encounter at Wormsley that summer.Related

• Elwiss welcomes pressure as competition for Test spots heats up

• Stats – India in sight of most consecutive wins in women's Tests

• England wary of 'fearless' India ahead of Test learning curve

• 'We may not have much practice, but mentally we're prepared' – Harmanpreet Kaur

Cross recalled that England “probably went into that game a bit naively”, as India outplayed them to win by six wickets, with Mithali Raj’s half-century sealing a dominant display that had begun with bowling their hosts out for 92 on the first day.”We’d played more Test cricket than India had in the four or five years leading up to that, so I think it was probably a good leveller for us,” Cross added. “They came out and played really hard-fought cricket and beat us quite convincingly, actually. It just goes to show that, even though we don’t play the format a lot, there’s still nothing that you can take for granted.”The India series is the start of a busy summer for England’s women – certainly compared to their Covid-ravaged summer of 2020, when West Indies’ belated arrival in September allowed them to get back on the field for the first time since the T20 World Cup in Australia in March.With the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy already in full swing, and the maiden season of the Hundred fast approaching next month, Cross recognises that now may not be the perfect moment for England’s women to push for more red-ball cricket in their itinerary. Nevertheless, a strong showing in Bristol this week can only help the cause, now that the women’s game is getting more exposure across the board.”I’m a big advocate for [domestic red-ball cricket],” Cross said. “The longer format is where you learn the real skill of cricket, how to defend good bowling, and how to bowl for longer periods of time and be relentless with your line and length.

“You can’t use your saliva so you’ve got to find the sweatiest member of the team and use their sweat as best as possible. And that’s me. It’s always me!”Kate Cross on shining the ball

“I don’t think it would be a bad thing to play a longer format, whether that’s two- or three-day cricket domestic level.”Obviously in the next 12 months, it’s really important that we establish what we’ve got now, with the 50-over competition and the T20, and obviously the Hundred as well. But I’m quite positive about the fact that that it could potentially happen. Maybe in the next five years, we might get to a point where we can do that.”But I’ve always said our ratio of training to playing has been quite heavily weighted towards the training side, so it’s nice that we’ve actually got a lot of cricket to play and a lot of look forward to.”As for whether Cross gets to add to her three Test caps, she admitted to some nervousness about the quality within England’s seam ranks – with the old guard of Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole backed up by the likes of Tash Farrant’s left-arm angle, as well as the new kid on the block, Emily Arlott, whose four-wicket over for Sparks against Vipers last week propelled her into the reckoning.”It’s always a worry when you’ve got people working hard to take your spot,” Cross said. “But it’s great for the team, it’s great for our environment, and I think it just goes to show how important those regional contracts are now.”Both have been bowling really well,” she added. “Ems is a tall fast bowler, which you don’t see that often in the women’s game, so she hits a bit of a harder length than a lot of us do, which is exciting to see, she’s obviously got that extra bit of paceKate Cross runs in to bowl in the nets•ECB”Tash is very naturally good at swinging the ball, so that offers something different as well with the left-arm option, so it’s exciting to have those options in the squad.”I’m not sure what the team is going to be, but obviously to win a Test match you need the bowlers to stand up and take 20 wickets over four days, so hopefully we’ve got the depth in the squad to be able to do that.”Ultimately, though, Cross believes that her prior knowledge of red-ball bowling should give her an edge in selection – and jokes that the banning of the use of saliva means that she brings another important consideration to the team.”A good line and length in Test cricket is a good line and length in most cricket when you’ve got the new ball,” she said. “That’s where I’ve had success in Test cricket when I have played, because it’s about who cracks first basically. Who can be most boring for as long as possible, which is more often than not me.”The big skill with red-ball cricket is trying to get it to reverse from about 40 overs onwards, because nothing much happens with it after that,” she added. “You can’t use your saliva so you’ve got to find the sweatiest member of the team and use their sweat as best as possible. And that’s me. It’s always me!”

“Everyone was talking about my form, which I reiterated was not a thing I was worried about”

Matt Roller28-Oct-20214:00

Jayawardene: SL pace bowlers didn’t find right lengths

David Warner’s scores – 0, 2, 0, 1, 14 – in the month leading into the T20 World Cup and in Australia’s opening Super 12s game against South Africa made for grim reading – not that the man himself admitted to any concern.”I actually think people talking about my form is quite funny. I laugh at the matter,” he said on Wednesday. “I’ve played hardly any cricket. I had two games in the IPL and then warm-up games are warm-up games for a reason.”If Warner’s comments were bullish, he had a point: since the end of April, he had faced 29 balls at five different venues. In the spring, six innings had been enough for his IPL franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, to decide it was time to axe him as captain. Warner turned 35 the night before Australia’s second game at this tournament and the general consensus – despite a limited base of evidence – seemed to be that he was on the decline.Warner was clearly aware of the outside noise around his shortage of runs but has not let it affect it game – that much was clear from the third ball he faced in Australia’s cruise towards their 155-run target against Sri Lanka in Dubai. Rather than looking to play himself into form by soaking up balls, Warner recognised that the Powerplay was the best time to attack and seized upon his chance: he got down low to reverse-sweep Maheesh Theekshana, Sri Lanka’s fit-again mystery spinner, over short third, the first of ten boundaries in his innings of 65 off 42 balls.Related

• No longer a hitting machine, David Warner is now the smart-cricket guy

• David Warner turns to concrete pitches for batting rhythm

• Warner hits form as Australia ease to two wins in two

“I got criticised when I got out to Ashwin in the practice game playing the same shot,” Warner said afterwards. “We know which bowlers are bowling what, we know where the fields are and we know how to try and apply pressure. If it comes off, it comes off.”When they’re coming over the wicket, they’ve obviously got their carrom ball to come straight down the line. For me, it’s actually a low-risk shot to go with the spin and because you’ve only got two [fielders] out to protect, you’ve got to back yourself. It’s a shot that I favour. You’ve got to apply pressure and that’s how I start my innings against spin.”Warner enjoyed several early strokes of luck – the sort that may spark his tournament into life after a long run without playing many games. At the end of Theekshana’s first over, he survived a brief mix-up running between the wickets with Aaron Finch; a leading edge off Dushmantha Chameera skewed up and over short cover; an inside-edge off Lahiru Kumara flew past short fine leg.

Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the US. Match highlights of Australia vs Sri Lanka is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

But the moment that really made it seem as though Warner’s fortunes had turned came in the fifth over. Chameera dug a short ball in down the leg side and Warner mistimed his pull, getting glove through to Kusal Perera behind the stumps. The umpire was already raising his finger by the time the ball was on the floor, after a lapse in concentration and an inexplicable drop. “How did you miss that, Kusal Perera?” Russel Arnold sighed on commentary.From there, Warner was in his groove, pulling disdainfully through midwicket and running hard between the wickets when faced with a bigger leg-side boundary. Theekshana struggled with his lengths – his spell featured several drag-downs, evoking that of Varun Chakravarthy, a similar type of bowler, against Pakistan on Sunday night – and was punished accordingly, while Sri Lanka’s seamers were oddly reluctant to crank the pace up and found their slower balls crunched away disdainfully through the leg side.”Tonight, I had to obviously start fresh,” Warner said. “Everyone was talking about my form, which I reiterated was not a thing I was worried about. It was about going out there and starting well. That’s all we’re trying to do, apply pressure to the bowlers.”Crucially, Warner – alongside Aaron Finch, who raced to 37 off 23 balls – was able to get Australia off to a fast start in their chase. While Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka’s captain, would later reflect that they had been 20-25 runs short of par given the dew factor in a floodlit game, Australia knew that they would face a stern test against spin in the middle overs if they had started slowly. As a result – and partly thanks to the safety net of the extra batter they have brought into their line-up for this tournament – they attacked early, racing to 63 for 0 after the Powerplay and immediately removing any scoring pressure.””It was great to get out there in the middle and spend some time there, running between the wickets,” Warner said. “Little things like that just keep your mind ticking. Obviously in the last six to 12 months we haven’t played that much cricket so I haven’t been in those situations too often. It’s not so much about getting runs for myself, it’s about getting us off to a good start and we managed to do that.”Shutting the critics down? No, never. That’s the world of sport. When you ride the highs, you’ve got to ride the lows and you’ve got to stay confident, keep a smile on your face, and never let it get to you.”Warner had practised on polished concrete in the build-up to this game, reasoning that “when you’re practising on low wickets that aren’t great, it gets you into sticky positions in the games when you are on better wickets”. On a relatively flat Dubai pitch, there were glimpses of the power and timing that made him one of the world’s most destructive T20 batters for so many years.”It was shattering to see someone who did so much for a team be spat out like he was,” Shane Watson, his long-time team-mate, said on commentary, “but I’m so thrilled for him personally and for the Aussies as well.” If this turns out to have been the night he clicked back into gear, the rest of the country will echo those sentiments.

He has taken on a new role at this World Cup and been a vital part of Australia’s success

Deivarayan Muthu13-Nov-2021Marcus Stoinis’ massive biceps, broad chest and muscular physique in general remind you of the Incredible Hulk, the Marvel superhero. Stoinis himself thinks he looks like the Hulk when he flexes his biceps and chest in celebration after taking a wicket. However, Stoinis the batter – more precisely the finisher – had more looked like Bruce Banner since his breakout unbeaten 146, in only his second ODI innings against New Zealand at Eden Park in 2017.During that match Stoinis had stepped into bat at 54 for 5 in Australia’s pursuit of 287. He watched them slide further to 67 for 6 and would have single-handedly pulled off a coup if not for Kane Williamson swooping in from silly mid-on and running out No. 11 Josh Hazlewood for a duck. In an exhibition of explosive power-hitting, Stoinis blitzed 48 in a 54-run last-wicket stand, with Hazlewood contributing .It seemed like Australia had finally found their next big finisher. Stoinis could have become that finisher at various points – most notably Sydney 2018, and Nagpur 2019. However, he couldn’t quite get the job done.The 2019 ODI World Cup didn’t go according to his plan either. He feared that his tournament was over after a side strain ruled him out of Australia’s first two matches. He managed to return to action but scrounged only 87 runs in seven innings, with the injury also hampering his bowling. Stoinis was dropped from the T20I side after the 50-over World Cup, but he forced his way back in August 2020 after enjoying a prolific run with the Melbourne Stars at the BBL – although at the top of the order.Related

• Stoinis: 'Over the next three years I want to be the best finisher in the world'

• Wade: Stoinis' innings the turning point

• Old Scarborough friends Mitchell and Stoinis to take field as international foes

Had the T20 World Cup gone ahead as scheduled last year, Stoinis might not have even made the cut. A year on, Stoinis has helped take Australia’s men’s team to within one step of winning their first-ever T20 world title.The role of a finisher is arguably the toughest in T20 cricket and Stoinis has given himself a chance to succeed by failing multiple times.”You definitely do draw on your past experiences,” Stoinis said the day after the Pakistan semi-final. “Something that’s probably lucky looking back is I’ve played a lot of cricket, I’ve played a lot of T20 cricket and I’ve sort of built that scar tissue. I’ve failed in situations and I’ve been told I can’t finish a game; we’ve heard all these sort of things before.”I think you need to go through all sort of stuff and build that scar tissue, go and stand in the middle in a pressure situation. It doesn’t mean it’s always going to work, but I think I’ve definitely noticed the way that I do think through that situation has grown over the past couple of years.”Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade’s joy knows no bounds•Getty ImagesStoinis’ stint with Delhi Capitals as their finisher under coach Ricky Ponting has certainly contributed to his growth. At the death in IPL 2020 in the UAE, he struck at 10.21 an over that season, putting himself in the company of the likes of Kieron Pollard, AB de Villiers, Eoin Morgan and Ravindra Jadeja.Stoinis then injured his hamstring in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 and played just two matches. Another injury, another doomed World Cup for Stoinis? He didn’t let history repeat itself, completing three chases in three attempts. The only other time he batted in the tournament, he bagged a duck after Australia had opted to bat against England.When Stoinis reunited with his former Victoria team-mate Matthew Wade in the semi-final against Pakistan on Thursday, Australia still needed 81 off 46 balls. Stoinis changed the game when he clattered his Stars team-mate Haris Rauf for 13 in the 17th over. When Rauf dug one into the pitch, Stoinis rose tall and smote it over the midwicket boundary with the stillest of heads and smoothest of bat-swings. Next ball Rauf marginally missed his yorker and Stoinis held his shape again to belt it down the ground for four.The twin blows set the scene for Wade’s takedown of Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi as Australia pulled off a stunning win. According to Wade, Stoinis’ unbeaten 40 off 31 balls was the critical performance in the second semi-final.”It was pretty much just working with Wadey,” Stoinis recalled. “We were talking through one short boundary and one longer boundary. Certain bowlers he thought he could target, certain ones that I could target. And then in between, there’s the chaos that’s going on in your own head (laughs). So, just trying to stay calm and trying to keep each other calm. You are talking through your plans and making sure you’re really clear on what you want to do.”For years, Stoinis has only provided glimpses of the Incredible Hulk persona at the top level. If his recent finishing acts in the T20 World Cup are anything to go by, the transformation could be complete.

Questions were raised about his lean patch, and he answered them in his trademark style, with a career-best 115-ball 143

Deivarayan Muthu in Mohali10-Mar-20193:39

Dhawan on dealing with scrutiny: I cut down on my negative thoughts

Shikhar Dhawan is a West Delhi boy who lives in Melbourne with his wife and kids. But he’s a proper Punjabi at heart, who can’t resist dancing to the .Dhawan and Virat Kohli – another West Delhi and Punjabi boy – showed off their moves during a tour match against Essex in Chelmsford last year, with men playing the geeing them up further.Punjab’s favourite son Yuvraj Singh once poked fun at Dhawan for wearing flip-flops during a team photo shoot. However, Dhawan replied saying he can turn on the style with slippers too.Questions have been raised about Dhawan’s prolonged lean patch since the Asia Cup, and he answered them in similar style: a career-best 115-ball 143 against Australia in Mohali. His Test career had taken off at this very venue in 2013, when he broke Australia and records.The celebration was back again in Mohali, and so was the smile for Dhawan. Since the Asia Cup, he had managed 377 runs in 16 innings at an average of 25.13 and strike rate of 80.04 until Sunday. Time was running out for him: India had just two ODIs before the World Cup and KL Rahul was breathing down his neck.Dhawan, though, turned it around in signature style. Ninety off his 143 runs (63%) came via boundaries. When the show ended, Dhawan drew a standing ovation from a lively Sunday crowd and a pat on the chest from his incoming captain. The Bharat Army sent him off with chants of “Gabbar! Gabbar! Gabbar!”However, in the early exchanges, Dhawan had struggled against the left-arm angle and swing of Jason Benhrendorff. He scored just one run off the first 10 balls from the left-arm quick, but then laid into the other bowlers after riding out that spell.Whenever Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson overpitched it, Dhawan leant into punchy drives and pierced the packed off-side infield. Aaron Finch had deployed his men at backward point, cover-point, extra-cover, and mid-off, but Dhawan still found the gaps. That he shuffled from middle stump – as opposed to leg stump – allowed him to reach the pitch of the ball.Shikhar Dhawan acknowledges the applause of the crowd•Getty ImagesAfter seeing the full balls being dispatched to the boundary, Australia’s bowlers pulled their lengths back, but Dhawan was ready with the hook. That the short balls came fairly slow off the pitch and sat up to be hit also worked in his favour.And Australia were missing Nathan Coulter-Nile – the one bowler who could have pounded the deck and extracted something out of this pitch. Coulter-Nile had returned home on the eve of the Ranchi ODI for the birth of his second child.Dhawan motored to his fifty off 44 balls with a front-foot punch down the ground off Richardson. His partner Rohit Sharma started slowly – he was on 8 off 22 balls at one point – but soon settled into his shot-making stride with a majestic lofted straight drive for six off Behrendorff."Both of us couldn’t convert [the starts] in a few matches,” Dhawan told during the innings break. “Today we were communicating a lot, I told him [Rohit] ‘take your time, no worries, we can cover up for the scoring rate later.’ If you saw, both of us were in the 90s at the same time.”Rohit gradually shifted gears and even outscored Dhawan as the opening stand swelled beyond 150. Before the fourth ODI, India’s opening stand had averaged well below 40 in 2019; in the past five years they had averaged more than 40. Rohit and Dhawan remedied that stat and India’s recent top-order wobbles with a stand of 193.”He’s a class batsman,” Dhawan further said of Rohit. “It’s about saying the right things at the right moment. It’s good to see another 150 partnership at the top of the order. That’s been our strength for the past few years. [We] would like to keep it going.”While Rohit missed out on a hundred, holing out in the deep for 95 off 92 balls, Dhawan pressed on to bring up his 16th ODI century – and his first since the Asia Cup last year. After reaching the landmark, Dhawan went berserk, muscling six fours and two sixes within the space of 12 balls, including 14 runs off three consecutive balls off Behrendorff in the 37th over.In the previous ODI at this venue in 2017, Rohit had shellacked a double-century against Sri Lanka. Could Dhawan emulate his opening partner? Nope, he lost his shape while going for a heave and was bowled by Cummins.But a welcome return to form in the lead-up to a global tournament, where Dhawan elevates his game to a different plane, has put (some of) the doubts to rest.

After the day started with hosts’ plans thrown into chaos, it could not really have finished much better

Andrew McGlashan16-Dec-2021Things happened quickly before play started on the opening day in Adelaide. Australia needed a replacement captain and fast bowler. For large parts of the day the action in the middle unfolded at a more sedate pace but the hard work put in by David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, allied with a helping hand from England, set the foundation for Australia’s early stranglehold on another floodlit Test.Whereas the decision at the toss in Brisbane was a tricky one, here there was no doubt what the right thing to do was and the coin fell Steven Smith’s way which was probably a relief after the drama of the preceding few hours. Stuart Broad bowled well to remove Marcus Harris cheaply and caused David Warner some uneasy moments from around the wicket, but from then on England were blunted by the same partnership that thwarted their attempts for early wickets at the Gabba.It took Warner 20 balls to get off the mark; from 25 overs at lunch Australia were 45 for 1; by the second drinks break they were 77 for 1 off 40 overs; Labuschagne’s half-century would take 156 deliveries and despite being on 94 when the new ball was taken he could not reach three figures by the close. But the value of today could be seen tomorrow.”Today felt like I was in the right zone, playing my areas, and creating a bit of length to cut and pull because we were getting nothing,” Warner said. “It was one of those hard, grinding days so I think it was a big tick for us.”Related

• Smith, Neser and two unexpected roles

• Australia rise above Cummins chaos as Labuschagne, Warner grind England down

• Cummins out of second Test after Covid close contact

As with four years ago, it felt as though England bowled too short, although assistant coach Graham Thorpe defended their tactics. More than 200 deliveries were logged by ESPNcricinfo as short-of-a-good-length and another 35 were short. The 76 deliveries they did bowl full went at nearly a run a ball – and England’s bowlers often speak about wanting to control the run rate – but by not going full more often they removed a wicket-taking threat.”I felt as a team we bowled well enough in the first hour and a half to pick up three wickets,” Broad said during a drinks-break interview with the host broadcaster.Warner and Labuschagne are forming a formidable partnership. They now average 101.83 per stand – the second-highest for any Australia pairing to have batted at least 10 times together – bolstered by the 361 they added in the day-night Test on this ground against Pakistan in 2019-2020.Warner has grafted for his runs at the start of the series with a strike-rate of 55.10 compared to his career figure of 72.34. He was batting with the pain of his badly bruised ribs and popped some painkillers during his stay having had a local anesthetic before play but came through his reunion with arch nemesis Broad.”I was pretty close [to not playing] but unless I’ve got no leg I’m not not going to walk on the field,” Warner said. “Probably showed that last year [against India]. If I can get out on the park, I’ll do everything I can to do that. I was in a bit of agony… it doesn’t feel great but had a Test to play. There’s a series on the line and wanted to commit to that.”His first delivery created some excitement as Warner shouldered arms and the ball thudded into the pads, but he later explained one of the key differences to facing Broad in Australia was being able to leave on length. He became more expansive as the innings progressed against the older ball but his dismissal, smashing a short delivery to cover, was out of character for the restraint he had shown. However, he felt the short-ball strategy played into Australia’s hands.”Once you get a couple of boundaries away and they start leaking you’ve got to change tactics, but they obviously didn’t do that so could have worked into our plan a little and the ball gets softer,” he said.Labuschagne made England pay for dropping him on 21 when Jos Buttler grassed a simpler chance from a gloved pull than the screamer to remove Harris. A second life came his way on 95 when Buttler shelled a regulation edge off James Anderson. Themes of Australia tours past are rearing their heads.Labuschagne had skipped into double figures off nine balls but then did not add to his tally for the next 37. In that period he, too, was tested by Broad who beat him on four consecutive occasions early in his innings. His scoreless spell was broken by a risky back-cut off Ben Stokes which flew just wide of slip.In the night session, England’s persistence with the short ball nearly worked when Labuschagne got an inside edge onto his shoulder against Stokes but it landed safely and he also took a couple of blows on the arm. He batted himself almost to a standstill as the day drew to a close, and he should not have survived until the end, but it was an exhibition in resilience.Australia know there will be a chance to increase the tempo on the second day, with the temperature set to hit 36 degrees. If things go well they could be in position to exploit the last session with the new ball. After the day started with their plans being thrown into chaos it could not really have finished much better.