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From an obsession with fitness to fixing bad habits, Stokes’ return to form with the ball is a boon for England

Vithushan Ehantharajah30-Jun-20252:38

Is Stokes’ bowling workload a worry?

In the lead-up to the first Test against India at Headingley, several adjectives were doing the rounds around the England camp. “Freak” and “beast” were among them, with the odd curse word thrown ahead of them for dramatic effect.It is rare that anything in an England training session elicits such a strong reaction. But two days out from the curtain raiser of this five-match series, Ben Stokes had bowled an 11-over spell.That volume of bowling so close to a Test match is unheard of, just two balls shy of the amount he had bowled against Zimbabwe a month earlier. Those sessions are generally about tapering into the grind of five days. Not for, say, going full tilt, at consistent pace and widening the eyes of those watching on.Related

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Stokes has always set the standard in training. Since the start of the year, following an operation on his second right hamstring tear in six months, he has also set himself new standards. Having put in the work behind the scenes, this was about getting overs back into his legs ahead of his second competitive match of 2025.The fruits of that intense labour were clear for all to see in Leeds. Stokes bowled 20 overs in the first innings, taking 4 for 66 across three spells of six, seven and seven. The 15 in the second innings – 1 for 47 – was split five, six and four.Throughout it all, he was England’s most threatening bowler. Across both sets of quicks, he produced the most swing, averaging 1.453 degrees, ahead of Chris Woakes (1.118), Brydon Carse (1.074), Mohammed Siraj (0.899), Jasprit Bumrah (0.895) and the rest. The average speed clocked in at 83.9mph, with a high of 88.9mph. All without even a hint of discomfort.”He was incredible,” said Chris Woakes, who managed just one wicket in 43 overs last week. “Without him having played a load of cricket leading into the Test match, for him to come in and do what he did and hit his straps at good pace… I thought he was amazing.””On a good pitch, he looked threatening every time he came on – with newer ball or older.”I think what you saw last week was he was incredibly consistent with what he was trying to do. His relentlessness and his energy on the ball was as good as I’ve seen for a long time. So that’s a good sign for us and for him.”Ben Stokes gets stuck into England training at Edgbaston•PA Photos/Getty Images

It was instructive that Woakes, as the leader of the attack, lauded the way Stokes took charge. “We all know what Stokes is capable of, but it’s great to have your leader being able to grab the ball like that and showing you the way sometimes.”This bowling iteration of Stokes has not been around for some time. Indeed, the man himself has sought reminders as to just how effective he was, and could be again.On the eve of the first Test, Stokes revealed he uses the 2020 Cape Town Test as a visual guide to the rhythm he wants to feel again. A late, three-wicket spell on the final day blew away South Africa’s tail to take England to victory. Stokes was flying off the back of a legend-making 2019, at the peak of his powers. That Test he averaged 86.4mph with the ball, with a few deliveries clocking in just over 91mph.None of that has been taken for granted, and the man himself sees no reason why he could not return to those heights. That he has opted out of The Hundred this season is a concession that, aged 34, he will have to park other forms of the game if he is to eke out what is left of himself as a top-tier Test quick.There is an alternate universe where Stokes was not pushed down the all-trades path and became a premier seam-and-swing bowler. Throughout his Durham Academy years, he was often the quickest in a cohort that included Mark Wood. There have even been a few Tests, such as 2017 at Lord’s against South Africa, when Stokes was the quicker of the two.Barring a useful growth spurt gave him that “hard-length trajectory”, Stokes’ craft has been honed through his own graft and experimentation, which has not dimmed.He picks up things quickly, such as the wobble seam that James Anderson taught him last year, even if he does not feel comfortable bringing it out just yet as it still feels weird in the hand. During the previous Test, he served up a couple of dipping slower balls to Rishabh Pant that he had workshopped in advance. The left-hander seemed suitably impressed, particularly with the first, which caught him by surprise, even if he did negotiate them well.A combination of England’s backroom staff have assisted his rebuilding effort: assistant coach Paul Collingwood and lead bowling coach Neil Killeen more involved with the skills, with Pete Sim (physical preperation coach) and Ben Davies (men’s physiotherapist) monitoring the physical side of things. But most of the grind has been lonesome, with Chester-le-Street as his usual base.Allowing that work to be both intense and regular has been the knee surgery Stokes underwent in November 2023. In turn, bad habits have been unpicked.Having played through the pain (unwisely at times), he developed two issues. One was that he could not really work on skills or new tricks because of the need to recover from match to match. The other was developing unwanted kinks due to having to overcompensate for the knee which, while putting strain on other parts of his body, also saw him lose a few strengths.The biggest strength he seems to have reclaimed is his braced front leg. Stokes used to take pride in it, often zooming in on side-shots of his action to show it off to the other quicks.That left leg began bending as the knee deteriorated and became ill-equipped to cope with 10-times Stokes’ bodyweight upon landing. As such, Stokes lost pace, which he tried to make up for with his run-up. Since the start of January 2022, only Kagiso Rabada (113) has bowled more front-foot no-balls than Stokes (82). It’s worth noting Rabada has bowled 184.2 more overs than Stokes during this period.Even pre-existing bad habits began to fester. After spells not bowling, Stokes has a knack of curving his approach to the crease, resulting in a conflict between his upper and lower body.He runs in, moves out towards cover, before jumping in the direction of fine leg. Nothing is aligned and the wrist not quite behind the ball. It usually takes a few sessions to sort that one, but when Stokes was unable to get them in the bank, he just had to deal with it. In turn, he lost the effectiveness of his late inswinger, a vital weapon in his armoury. He ended up developing a less effective one by leaping to the left and cantering his arm to try and bend the ball back in.Ben Stokes claimed 5 for 113 at Headingley•Getty Images

All of these now seem like yesterday’s problems. For the first time in five years, Stokes has started a series on solid foundations.”I can’t remember the last time I was able to work so hard on just technical stuff of bowling in particular,” Stokes said before the series, citing the fact the last few years have been mainly spent on keeping his loads up rather than fine-tuning. “To be able to do some really, really good technical work and getting myself back to sort of where I feel like I was before I had my injuries is really good, because there was naturally quite a few changes that crept into my action.”Alongside a “new” knee and reinforced hamstring has been a hyperdrive with his conditioning. Stokes is never one to do things by halves and this is the latest focus of his addictive personality.When he got into golf, he invested in the best clubs. His gaming obsession led to a set-up to rival those of professional eSport teams. Even cutting down on his alcohol consumption led him to investing in a company that specialises in alcohol-free drinks.Now, fitness is the new obsession. Beyond the tell-tale signs of such a fad – the Whoop watch, monitoring his steps, the Instagram reels of gym sessions replete with unenthusiastic voiceovers – has been a striking streamlining of his physique, reducing the strain on joints and improving suppleness.”You can see the physical state he’s in, he’s in really good condition,” Woakes said. “The injuries that he’s had, he’s probably just doubled down on his fitness to make sure he is in the best shape possible to be able to lead this team at his best.”

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That, ultimately, is what drives Stokes. Not explicitly the desire to be the best bowler he can be, or the fittest he can be, but being the best possible leader for his team.There is plenty at stake in this critical period of his Test captaincy, with the challenge of India and Australia ticked off by next January. Stokes’ availability throughout it all is integral to England’s hopes across both challenges as an allrounder to help balance an XI and provide for a bowling attack that requires his gumption as much as his guidance.Ahead of this week at Edgbaston, it is worth recalling England’s victory over India here back in 2018. Then, Stokes was the quickest bowler in both innings, eventually finishing the match with a spell not unlike his South Africa blitz two years later, taking 3 for 15 in 4.2 overs.That is the next frontier for Stokes, the bowler, to reclaim. Headingley showed the skills and durability remain. Rediscovering the fire and fury of old will take a little longer.

Speculation about surprise comeback had been rife, but ultimately Australia opted for discretion

Andrew McGlashan04-Dec-2025Pat Cummins became a genuine option for a recall in Brisbane over the past week as he surprised everyone with the speed of his recovery. However, Australia’s selectors ultimately decided there was too much risk attached in playing a bowler whose overs would still need to be managed, but are very confident in him being ready for Adelaide.Chair of selectors George Bailey said his panel had not been “playing silly buggers” in leaving Cummins out of the squad but refusing to officially rule him out of contention in the lead-up to the second Test. However, he did admit a hug between Cummins and Andrew McDonald during a pitch inspection on Wednesday had been “for laughs”.Bailey said that there had been no expectation of Cummins being available when the group was selected but it became a realistic prospect as he ramped up his training in Brisbane, which included two spells on Monday and his first bowls on back-to-back days.”We weren’t playing silly buggers with him not being in the squad and in the mix. But I think once we got up here, saw his training, got as much of the background medical information as well, it became a live possibility,” he said. “Then it was just working through the permutations of what would that look like in terms of the amount of overs, what would it look like going forward from that as well.Related

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“I don’t think we thought he was going to be as close, it really changed through the week. Then risk tolerance became the conversation around what could he take on. Yes, he could have played. There would have been some restrictions around the overs and then obviously just the permutations [around that].”There was also consideration into what bringing Cummins back for this Test could mean going forward, and the added pressure it could leave on the rest of the attack. “Being in a really controlled environment [in] the nets where you can be really structured around the breaks and how you want it, then it’s just that risk of maybe going into a game,” Bailey said. “There’s some things you can control and probably some things that do get taken out of your control.”Meanwhile, Bailey said that the selectors had not got to the stage of debating whether Usman Khawaja would retain his place for the Gabba because he had never been passed fit to play. Khawaja batted on Tuesday before being ruled out of the Test the following day, having not recovered from the back spasms he suffered in Perth. He returned to the nets on Thursday. Travis Head, who made 123 in Australia’s chase in the opening match, will continue in the opening role during the second Test.”He hadn’t got his back back to baseline,” Bailey said. “And if you’re not back to the starting point then it’s obviously a heightened risk. There’s obviously your own performance, but when you’re injured and you feel like you’ve let the team down, I think that was something he was just conscious of; if it happened again, it would be an awful feeling. So sitting this one out buys time.”For now, Head is not being locked in at the top beyond this Test, and there has even been discussion of having in-match flexibility to batting orders.”We’ve gone into this series so far very much with a Test-by-Test focus,” Bailey said. “I imagine we’ll get another look at it here and see what that looks like and see that combination. We can cross that bridge [and] make that decision as and when we need to make that decision, but it’s an interesting one. What’s the threshold now for it to be a specialist opener, what’s that look like?”

Somerset opener peels off boundaries during century stand with James Rew

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay08-Sep-2025Somerset’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore hit a typically aggressive half-century against his old club as only 42 overs were possible on the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One match with Yorkshire at Taunton.The home side had reached 155 for 3 after losing the toss when a thunder and lightning storm engulfed the Cooper Associates County Ground at shortly after 2pm, Kohler-Cadmore having made 76 and James Rew 54 not out. George Hill claimed two of the wickets.Heavy rain left the outfield saturated. Umpires Rob Bailey and Mark Newell inspected at 4.30pm, but decided conditions were not fit for play to resume.Yorkshire’s decision to field first looked set to reap dividends when Hill struck twice in the opening ten overs of the match. Archie Vaughan edged through to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and departed for 10 with the total on 20. Then Tom Lammonby played down the wrong line to a ball angled into him and saw his off stump sent cartwheeling.That was as good as it got for the visitors in the morning session. Rew overcame a scratchy start, while Kohler-Cadmore was not afraid to advance down the pitch to seam and spin alike in moving to a 55-ball half-century.Twice the former Yorkshire player lofted ex-Somerset offspinner Dom Bess back over his head for six as he and Rew took the total to 114 for 2 off 30 overs at lunch. The shortened afternoon session saw Rew bring up his fifty, off 91 balls, with eight fours.Kohler-Cadmore took one chance too many when advancing to a delivery from Jordan Thompson and edged a sharp shoulder-high catch to Hill at first slip to make 147 for 3. He had faced 110 balls and extended his boundary count to 11 fours and two sixes.Tom Abell made a watchful start and only eight more runs were added before the first crash of thunder sent the players to the pavilion with black clouds closing in.

South Australia have pulled off a final-ball, two-run win over Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield, in one of the tightest games in the competition’s history

AAP09-Dec-2024South Australia have pulled off one of the most remarkable wins in the Sheffield Shield’s 132-year history, beating Tasmania by two runs on the final ball of the match in Hobart.Tasmania required four runs from the final ball to successfully chase down 429 for a dramatic victory.Riley Meredith hit the ball to deep cover where Ben Manenti fielded it, but he came back for a second appearing to forget that a draw was a possible result and was run out after batting partner Lawrence Neil-Smith had sent him back. The last-ball wicket allowed South Australia to claim the equal-tightest Shield victory ever in terms of runs, in a match that went past 6pm on the final day. Making the victory even more remarkable is the fact that Tasmania had looked in the box seat to claim the win, before losing 4 for 4 from the final nine balls of the match.The win put South Australia top of the table, while Tasmania are now last.After Tim Ward’s 142 had appeared to put the hosts in a position where they could not lose the match, Mitch Owen and Brad Hope gave them a real chance of victory on Monday.Owen blasted 53 from 39 balls, while Hope made 69 in a 72-run partnership that lasted just 10 overs. Hope was eventually caught on the boundary trying to hook Wes Agar, but with Owen firing the Tigers still looked a chance.Tasmania required 62 from nine overs, 44 from six, and then seven from six balls after Owen hit Nathan McAndrew deep over the mid-wicket rope.But when Owen was caught on the long-on boundary a few balls later and Matt Kuhnemann was out first ball, South Australia were back in the game. With seven required from the final over, Gabe Bell was bowled by Agar for a duck before the final-ball madness ensued.Tim Ward celebrates his second Shield century•Getty Images

The earlier stages of the day had also been full of drama, with Ward’s century his first since his maiden Shield ton in October 2021.With Jake Weatherald and Jordan Silk each hitting 65 for the Tigers, Ward struck 16 boundaries in his knock, including a cracking cover drive off Agar to bring up his ton.But the left-hander was caught up in one of the more bizarre moments of the game in the middle session. With Tasmania flying in the chase, South Australia resorted to short-ball tactics to try and slow the momentum.Ward ducked a bouncer off Henry Thornton, scratched out his guard and walked out of his crease in scenes reminiscent of the Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s last year.Much like Alex Carey last July, SA’s wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen threw down the stumps.On this occasion the appeal was denied, with umpires having seemingly decided over had been called.

Surrey-based team become first to be sold off in ECB equity sale, as giants of IPL secure winning bid

Matt Roller and Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jan-2025Mumbai Indians owners Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) are set to buy a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles after winning a virtual auction on Thursday afternoon. RIL will enter into a period of exclusivity which will see them negotiate agreements with Surrey, the ECB and their financial advisors before completing the purchase.Reports on Thursday night suggested that Knighthead Capital, the US-based hedge fund, were the successful bidders in the process for Birmingham Phoenix. Knighthead, who bought Birmingham City Football Club in 2023, are investing heavily in the city, including the development of a new ‘sports quarter’. This would be their first foray into the cricketing world.RIL’s winning bid for the Invincibles was understood to value 100% of the franchise at £123 million, implying they will pay just over £60m for its 49% stake. The ECB declined to comment and are not expected to confirm successful bidders – or valuations – until next week. Both Surrey and Warwickshire declined to comment.ESPNcricinfo understands that RIL saw off competition from a Silicon Valley tech consortium (involving the chief executives of Google, Microsoft and Adobe), and private equity firm CVC. The Invincibles, two-time defending champions in the men’s Hundred and two-time women’s champions, are the first team to be sold in the final round of the ECB’s sales process.The deal will see two heavyweights of their respective markets coming together: Mumbai Indians are widely seen as the most powerful IPL franchise, while Surrey are the richest English county club. The Invincibles will become the sixth team run by RIL, after Mumbai Indians (in both the IPL and WPL), MI New York (MLC), MI Cape Town (SA20) and MI Emirates (ILT20).RIL, owned by the Ambani family, were widely linked with buying a stake in London Spirit, the Hundred team based at Lord’s, but moved their focus towards the Invincibles as the sales process went on. Host venues were given the option to sell some of the 51% stake that they will be gifted by the ECB as part of the privatisation process, but ESPNcricinfo understands that Surrey have held firm on their stance that they will retain their controlling shares.Related

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Chairman Oli Slipper told the Surrey’s members last month that the club “must and will retain the controlling stake” in the Invincibles, and that they had been “totally transparent” with prospective investors that this represented a “clear red line” for them. Slipper has previously proposed renaming the team as ‘Surrey Invincibles’ though RIL will likely have a say in any future rebranding.CVC, who own Gujarat Titans in the IPL, were also believed to be in the sale process for a stake in Birmingham Phoenix but appear to have missed out on both of the first two teams sold. The tech consortium, meanwhile, will be in the mix for a 49% stake in London Spirit on Friday but face competition from Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG (the owners of Lucknow Super Giants), Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer, and Cain International. A minority stake in Welsh Fire will also be sold on the same day.ESPNcricinfo revealed details of the final-round process on Monday, which sees prospective investors enter a sealed bidding process (if two bidders remain) or a live auction (if three or more remain). Stakes in Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers and Trent Rockets will be available next week, with Southern Brave – who are being treated as a unique case by the ECB, since hosts Hampshire are privately owned by GMR – the final team up for grabs.The ECB believes that funds raised from the sale of stakes in the eight Hundred teams will “future-proof” county cricket for the next 20-25 years. The revenue from the sale will be split between the 18 first-class counties, MCC and the recreational game in England and Wales.The Hundred’s fifth season is likely to look similar to the previous four, with the ECB treating 2025 as a transitional year. The tournament’s fixtures were announced on Wednesday, with the season due to run from August 5-31 and thereby avoiding a clash with Major League Cricket.

India sealed their closest-ever Test win in terms of runs as Siraj picked up a five-for

Andrew Miller04-Aug-2025A dank, grey morning in South London, a packed crowd at the Kia Oval, and 53 of the most extraordinary deliveries in Test-match history… all of which culminated in the inevitable, indefatigable redemption of Mohammed Siraj, whose gut-busting five-wicket haul trumped a very different, but every bit as heroic, intercession from England’s incapacitated Chris Woakes, in one of the greatest climaxes in all of Test history.Twenty years ago, on this very day, the legendary Edgbaston Ashes Test of 2005 got underway, but even that match’s breathless two-run finish paled against the agonising drama that spanned a solitary hour of play of this, the 25th and final day of another all-timer of a Test series. By the end of it all, India had landed their closest victory in Test history, by six runs. Their players were doing a lap of honour in front of a sea of their jubilant fans, grins beaming out from their battle-weary bodies, safe in the knowledge that they had earned every drop of the acclaim.Related

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This final act had been forced upon the series by the chaotic thunderstorm that had ended the fourth day early, arguably to England’s benefit in that moment, given the hot vein of form that Siraj had located to drag the contest, kicking and screaming, back in India’s direction after Harry Brook and Joe Root had, at one stage, threatened to rampage to their target of 374.With one last burst of Lee Fortis’ heavy roller before play, and with the potential for Siraj and his crucial sidekick Prasidh Krishna to resume with an adrenaline hangover, England were arguably favourites when play resumed, with 35 runs needed and three (and a half) wickets in hand. When Jamie Overton duly cracked two fours from Prasidh’s first two balls of the day – the latter, admittedly, very streakily past his leg stump – that equation was in danger of being settled in a matter of minutes.Siraj, however, was not letting this one slip. Of all the extraordinary moments in the course of five breathless Tests, nothing had threatened to have a more lasting legacy than his own crestfallen face-palm at deep fine-leg on the fourth afternoon, in the moment that he stepped on the boundary triangle to turn a regulation top-edge from Brook into a momentum-shifting six.2:02

Harmison: Woakes put his career on the line by coming out to bat

Coupled with his cruel luck with the bat in a similarly tense finale at Lord’s, it was an error that had drawn Siraj’s heart ever more fervently onto his sleeve. It had been his mission to make amends every step of the way of his exhausting 30.1-over effort, and the deliverance would prove to be exquisite. The winning moment came with a pinpoint yorker to uproot Gus Atkinson’s off stump, as he swung lustily once more – knowing that Woakes, his left arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder in the field, could not be asked to do more than just be there. However, that snapshot hardly scratches the surface of the drama he ignited.Siraj’s final act began with 27 runs left to defend, and England’s most likely matchwinner, Jamie Smith, in his sights on 2 not out from 17 balls. Right from the get-go, he located that crucial old-ball movement, and got his pace cranked up into the high-80s in the process. But, with Smith inevitably itching to get this done quickly – as is the Bazball ethos – Siraj cunningly kept his line wide, forcing the batter to come looking for his drives, and duly hitting paydirt with his third ball of the day – a palpable nick through to Dhruv Jurel that the umpires, under extraordinary pressure themselves, took upstairs to double-check.In an instant, the momentum lurched violently in India’s direction, and Atkinson, the new man, might have gone first ball as he was squared up by Siraj’s tighter line only for the ball to reach KL Rahul on the half-volley at second slip. At the other end, Overton’s long levers – which have attracted the interest of England’s white-ball teams in recent years – were stymied by six men back on the rope, one of whom, Ravindra Jadeja, pulled off a tigerish stop at deep cover to save a priceless boundary as Atkinson drove Prasidh firmly.3:49

Bangar: Series result proves India is growing in stature

Siraj, however, was still the main man. With the old ball still talking, a big inswinger crunched into Overton’s pad as he was pinned on the crease, and it was the voracity of the appeal that prised the crucial decision. Umpire Dharmasena waited an eternity before deciding that the appeal was worthy… and Overton’s desperate review duly confirmed that the ball would have been clipping leg stump.Moments later, umpire Ahsan Raza was similarly convinced by the inswinger, as Josh Tongue was pinned by Prasidh, but this time his review was clearly shown to be missing leg. In his next over, however, Prasidh didn’t need the umpire’s assistance. A piledriver of a yorker burst through Tongue’s defences for a 12-ball duck, and at 357 for 9, the die was cast for an extraordinary contest to receive an immortal climax.This was a match that burgled plotlines from a host of memorable predecessors – not least Trent Boult’s boundary-catch-that-wasn’t in the 2019 World Cup final. But now, 40 minutes into the day’s play, out strode Woakes, one arm completely encased by a sling beneath his jumper, charged with the task of hanging in there as best as he could, as Atkinson attempted to hack away the 17 runs still needed for victory.1:19

Sanjay Bangar picks his moment of the series

Sixty-two years have elapsed since Colin Cowdrey did likewise at Lord’s in 1963, returning to the crease with a broken arm, with England six runs from victory and with one wicket still standing. In those less chaotic days, David Allen opted not to go for broke against Wes Hall with two balls of the match to come, and Cowdrey was not required to do more than lean on his bat. Woakes, on the other hand, had a significantly more torrid role in store.The onus, though, was on Atkinson to score the runs. Two balls into Siraj’s next over, he connected magnificently with a launch across the line, as Akash Deep – in off the rope in the deep – could only palm the ball across the rope as he leapt in vain to intercept. Three air-shots ensued, whereupon – from the last ball of the over – Woakes hurtled off for a bye to the keeper, his arm bouncing out of his sling in the process, leaving him wincing in agony as umpire Raza helped swaddle him back into position.There was no respite, however. “Two!” was Atkinson’s instant call one ball later, as he found rare space in the deep off Prasidh to take the target into single figures. And though he could not make further inroads from the next four balls, the sixth was a gift, tight and full on the stumps, and a calm nudge to mid-on to keep the strike once more, and take England to within one blow of tying the scores.Siraj, however, wasn’t letting this cause slip now. In he hurtled for one final effort ball. Back went Atkinson’s off stump as he swung for the hills once again. Out came Siraj’s “siu” celebration as his team-mates swamped him in adulation. Off went the celebrations all across a nation that had no doubt come to a standstill on an otherwise nondescript Monday afternoon. So ended one of the most breathless hours ever witnessed in 148 years and 2598 Tests. And one of the most compelling series in living memory.

India haven’t had a perfect game yet, and they head into Vizag bracing for a battle of resilience

Vishal Dikshit08-Oct-20254:10

Two wins in two, but scratchy start for India?

Big Picture

When close to 800 runs were scored between India and Australia 10 days before the start of the World Cup, this tournament was being billed as the biggest run-fest of them all. But since then, we have seen South Africa bowled out for 69, India suffer two collapses, the 275 mark breached just once, and even Australia collapse to 76 for 7.The action now moves to Visakhapatnam, the fourth venue of this World Cup, where the Indian team held preparatory camps in the lead up to the tournament, and where five women’s ODIs have been played before, the last in 2014, but none involving South Africa. They arrive here after contrasting results in their first two games, but they have the personnel in terms of batters, spinners and quicks to adapt to whatever the damp conditions in Visakhapatnam throw at them.India’s first two wins were far from their “perfect game,” as Jemimah Rodrigues put it on Wednesday, and with this fixture, they head into a 10-day period of big clashes against South Africa, Australia and England, which could well decide their fate in this home World Cup. South Africa were the ones who had knocked India out of the semi-final race in the last ODI World Cup but they have since been beaten 5-0 by India, including the three ODIs last year in India and the two in the Sri Lanka tri-series earlier this year.With some rain around in this city too, both teams will be desperate to continue their winning ways.Related

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Form guide

India WWLWL (last five completed matches, most recen first)
South Africa WLLWW

In the spotlight

Between them, Tazmin Brits and Smriti Mandhana have scored nine of the 29 centuries this year by players from teams in this World Cup. Brits’ five are the most centuries in a calendar year, with Mandhana right on her heels with four. Mandhana, meanwhile, has played five innings more than Brits’ 11 this year and has 959 runs against Brits’ 749. And if Brits recently became the fastest to seven ODI hundreds (in 41 innings), Mandhana had recently smashed the second-fastest ODI century, against world champions Australia.Thursday will see a clash of not just two of the most prolific ODI openers but batters in recent times, who have been rewriting one record book after another. While Brits’ 101 against New Zealand got South Africa their first points, India will hope Mandhana follows on Brits’ footsteps having started the tournament with two low scores.3:04

‘South Africa can’t afford to drop points from here’

Team news

India were without Amanjot Kaur for the Pakistan game because of a fever and she will likely be back for this game, having bowled and batted in the nets at length on Tuesday evening. How they slot her back is the question because her replacement Renuka Singh bowled tidily with the new ball and sent down a maiden to finish with 0 for 29 from her 10 overs. India will also wonder if their five-bowler strategy will be good enough against a side that scored 234 in under 41 overs a few days ago. The only way to add a sixth bowler is by dropping a batter, which isn’t straightforward at all.India (possible): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Prtika Rawal, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Amanjot Kaur, 9 Sneh Rana, 10 Shree Charani, 11 Kranti GoudSouth Africa may not feel the need to change their winning XI from the New Zealand match in Indore although conditions in Visakhapatnam may not be as flat. But the pressure is mounting on Anneke Bosch at No. 5 who has scores of 0, 6 and 10 in her last three ODIs, and South Africa have so far kept out pace-bowling allrounder Annerie Dercksen, being seen as Marizanne Kapp’s successor.South Africa (possible): 1 Laura Wolvaardt (capt), 2 Tazmin Brits, 3 Sune Luss, 4 Marizanne Kapp, 5 Anneke Bosch/ Annerie Dercksen, 6 Sinalo Jafta (wkt), 7 Chloe Tryon, 8 Nadine de Klerk, 9 Masabata Klaas, 10 Ayabonga Khaka, 11 Nonkululeko Mlaba

Pitch and conditions

There was a brief shower two days before the game and a slightly longer spell the day before, but neither too threatening to pose a threat of a washout on game day. There are some spells expected on Wednesday afternoon too, but not as bad as the one in Colombo for Australia vs Sri Lanka. While keeping with the theme of the other venues of this World Cup these two teams have played at – Indore, Guwahati and Colombo – Visakhapatnam is going to be muggy too, with temperatures capping in the early thirties, but could feel a lot worse. Rodrigues said on match eve a score around 270-odd could be competitive at this ground.Richa Ghosh was in a cheerful mood during India’s training session•ICC via Getty Images

Stats and trivia

A round-up of the final day’s action of the first round of matches in the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy Plate League

Cricinfo staff06-Nov-2009

Group A

Scorecard
Pankaj Singh picked up 7 for 64 during Assam’s chase as Rajasthan put aside their off-the-field troubles to take full points in Guwahati. Madhur Khatri dealt Assam the first blow on the final day, sending back Dheeraj Jadhav for 16, with the hosts needing 294 to win. That opened the gates for Pankaj, who repeatedly dented Assam – an even better showing than his 4 for 44 in the first innings. The right-arm fast bowler was unstoppable as none of the batsmen managed to convert their starts, with Parvez Aziz top scoring with 45. Assam captain Amol Muzumdar had reason to celebrate though, becoming the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, courtesy his 25 in the second innings.
ScorecardAkshay Wakhare’s five-for might have come too late as Goa held on to first-innings points against Vidarbha in Nagpur. The offpsinner ran through the Goa top and middle orders before they declared on 203 for 8 in their second innings. First-innings centurion Saurabh Bandekar was the top scorer for Goa with 40 off 53 balls. The target of 340 was near impossible to achieve as Jayesh Dongaonkar and captain Alind Naidu saw Vidarbha through to the end of the day’s play at 83 for 1.
Scorecard
Debabrata Chowdhury’s half-century ensured crucial first-innings points for Tripura against Jharkhand in the drawn-game in Ranchi. Chowdhury added 44 to his overnight score of 34, taking Tripura’s first-innings total to 438 – a narrow lead of seven. Opener Siddhartha Sinha gave Jharkhand a solid start in their second innings with 76 and they finally took stumps at 167 for 3. Jharkhand would look to make-up for the lost points when they take on Vidarbha on November 10.

Group B

Scorecard
Girikina Prasad’s five-for ensured Andhra grabbed first-innings against Kerala. Continuing from their overnight score of 208 for 6, Preambhastn Prem and Padmanbhan Prasanth battled valiantly, as the seventh-wicket stand yielded 82. Prem surrendered to Prasad nine short of his fifty, and the offspinner then proceeded to take out the last two batsmen to end with a well-deserved 5 for 100. Sitting pretty on a lead of 106, the Andhra openers, Hemal Watekar and Prasad Reddy, saw out the remaining 11 overs in the day without trouble.
Scorecard
The runs continued to flow in Indore as the Haryana openers made merry after they had ensured first-innings points against Madhya Pradesh. Resuming on 364 for 7, still 182 behind Haryana’s mammoth first-innings total, Sanjay Pandey’s patient 46 only delayed the inevitable. He was the last wicket to fall, with the last three wickets contributing 70. Ahead by 112, Rahul Dewan and Ankit Rawat chose to extend Haryana’s domination, smashing 133 and 100 respectively. While Dewan scored 20 fours during his 171-ball innings, Rawat managed nine fours and three sixes during his knock. The unbeaten 244-run partnership was the perfect icing to the three points Haryana gained.

Naim has been recalled while seamers Taskin and Mustafizur have returned to the squad, having recovered from injury

Mohammad Isam04-Jul-2025Bangladesh selectors have dropped Najmul Hossain Shanto in one of the five changes to T20I squad for three-match series against Sri Lanka later this month. Shanto was part of the squad for their previous T20I series against UAE and Pakistan in May, but featured in only one of the six matches.Shanto had an underwhelming 2024, where he averaged 18.84 in 21 T20Is, with just a single half-century. In contrast, he fared better in 2023, scoring 218 runs in ten innings at 31.14 average, and a higher strike rate of 119.78. Having stepped down from the T20I captaincy in January this year, he now finds himself out of the squad entirely.Left-handed opener Mohammad Naim has been recalled in Shanto’s place, among four other changes in the bowling unit. Naim, who has played 35 T20Is, has returned back to form during the 2024-25 domestic season. He was the highest run-getter in both the BPL and NCL T20s, finishing on 827 runs at an average of 37.59 average and a strike rate of 140.40, including a century and six fifties.Pace duo Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman have also returned to the squad, having recovered from injury and featured in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Mohammad Saifuddin has earned a recall as well, marking his return after more than a year.The 28-year-old fast bowler was overlooked for last year’s T20 World Cup after a disappointing performance in the T20I series against Zimbabwe in May. He subsequently took a two-month break from cricket in August. Since returning, Saifuddin has picked up 37 wickets across the BPL and DPL– Bangladesh’s premier white-ball competitions.Shoriful Islam, who suffered a groin niggle during the second T20I against Pakistan in May, has been retained in the squad. In the spin department, there’s another shuffle, with Nasum Ahmed replacing Tanvir Islam. The ongoing switch between left-arm spinners suggests the selectors are still undecided on their preferred option for the white-ball formats.Bangladesh will play the three T20Is on July 10 in Pallekele, July 13 in Dambulla and July 16 in Colombo.Bangladesh squad: Litton Das (capt, wk), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mohammad Saifuddin.In: Mohammad Naim, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad SaifuddinOut: Khaled Ahmed, Tanvir Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto

Quadricep tear could force her to miss eight of Sydney Sixers’ 10 league games

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2024New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr has been ruled out of the remaining two ODIs against India after tearing her left quadricep muscle. Kerr picked up the injury during the opening game on Thursday, which India won by 59 runs, and is expected to take approximately three weeks to recover. She will not be replaced in the ODI squad.This also puts her WBBL participation in serious doubt for Sydney Sixers with the tournament set to start on Sunday. Amelia was a big-name pre-signing for Sixers as a platinum-category pick and could miss eight of Sixers’ 10 league games even if she recovers in three weeks.An NZC release stated Amelia was taken for scans on Friday morning, which revealed a grade-one quadricep tear, and that she would return home on Sunday to start her rehabilitation.”We’re really gutted for Melie,” New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer said. “Injuries are always a challenging time for a player and we know how disappointed she is to not be able to play these games.”Everyone knows how much of an integral part of this team Melie is so we’ll certainly miss her but we’re wishing her a speedy recovery.”Soon after playing a pivotal role in New Zealand’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps, Amelia was New Zealand’s best bowler in the opening ODI too, taking 4 for 42 before scoring an unbeaten 25 off 23 in the chase. The remaining two ODIs are on October 27 and 29, also in Ahmedabad.Amelia’s absence could hurt New Zealand’s hopes of climbing the Women’s ODI Championship table, where a top-six finish will ensure direct qualification for the ODI World Cup in 2025. New Zealand are currently placed sixth out of 10 teams and will next play Australia in December.