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Jack Leach claimed a five-wicket haul•Getty Images

It says a lot about why Warwickshire are in their present predicament that after Jonathan Trott (804 Championship runs) their next most successful batsman is Keith Barker, their 30-year-old opening bowler.Granted, Barker is more technically proficient with bat in hand than most in his trade. Accomplished enough to be regarded as an allrounder, Barker has averaged around 500 runs and 50 wickets every year since he became established in the Warwickshire side and his contribution this year has been in line with that, although he is a little behind on wickets.He went to 536 runs with his half-century here, his sixth of the season. Yet he is the only Warwickshire player, other than Trott, to get even halfway towards a thousand. Ian Bell has managed just 388 in Division One, fewer than wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose and offspinner Jeetan Patel.Barker, in fact, has passed 50 as many times as Trott – and this was a particularly worthy effort in the circumstances, following the departures of Trott, Bell and Ambrose in consecutive overs against Jack Leach’s left-arm spin.The dismissal of that once prized trio left Warwickshire 40 for 5 in reply to Somerset’s increasingly formidable-looking 282. But Barker shared partnerships of 53 with young Matthew Lamb and 49 with Chris Wright, which were enough to ensure that his side avoided the follow-on, even though they may not dodge defeat. He had one significant slice of luck on 33, when Steven Davies failed to pull off a routine stumping, but that apart he dealt with Leach and Dom Bess better than anyone on this pitch of extravagant turn.Indeed, it was Barker’s resistance that persuaded captain Tom Abell to give Craig Overton a second spell he may have thought would not be required. It was Overton who dismissed Barker in the end, before ripping out Wright’s middle stump. He went off with figures of 4 for 33, having earlier removed both openers to catches in the slips in a new-ball spell that was comfortably the most impressive contribution among the seamers on both sides.Barker, though, was in some pain at that stage, having been moving gingerly for an over or so, periodically stopping to flex his back. He did not emerge when Somerset began their second innings, although happily a rubdown was all that was required.Bell, facing the possibility now of completing an English summer without a century for the first time in 15 years, perished for 14 on this occasion, although to be fair to him it was to a ball that would have done for most batsmen, spinning sharply from well outside leg stump. Bell prodded at it and Marcus Trescothick, standing well forward and almost square at second slip, took a good catch.No such excuses could be forwarded in defence of Trott, who drove to a precisely placed short extra cover, or Ambrose, who carved straight to backward point. Lamb succumbed to a moment of extravagance, too, in the end, although he had at least been vigilant for an hour or so.Bess, who possibly deserved more for his 17 overs, spun one past Patel’s bat to pick up his solitary wicket and Leach made Sunny Singh his fifth victim, Davies taking the chance to atone for his earlier error.Warwickshire have been short of much to be positive about in this match. There is a sense that relegation will be not so much likely as inevitable should they lose – and it is difficult to imagine that they will not from this position.They can at least enthuse to a small degree about Singh, their tall Indian-born left-arm spinner. Somerset, already in a position of strength after Davies and Abell had put on 85 for the fifth wicket, lost their last six wickets for 66, shared equally between Patel and his 21-year-old apprentice.Singh, the first professional cricketer to emerge from the Cricket Foundation’s Chance to Shine scheme, finished with 5 for 72. He had the luxury of a pitch more helpful than most he will come across and the added benefit of being an unknown quantity at this level, yet two five-wicket hauls in his first five first-class matches bodes well.A lack of emerging talent has been as much a factor as the rising age profile of their established players in Warwickshire’s demise. Perhaps Singh is one to buck the trend.Ryan Sidebottom removed the two rookies in the Somerset top order when he dismissed Eddie Byrom and George Bartlett with consecutive balls but Trescothick and James Hildreth ended the day looking ominously well set.

Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell has altered his bowling technique, shortening his delivery stride to generate more dip and drift, ahead of the tour of Bangladesh. He has done so in a bid to strengthen his case as the squad’s fourth genuine spin-bowling option, behind Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar.”I’ve shortened my bowling stride a little bit to make sure that I’ve got that drop on the ball and that I’m getting the shape that I actually want,” Maxwell said at Australia’s training camp in Darwin. “It’s obviously one of my skills that I can bring to the side, and something that’s going to help me try and nail down that No. 6 position, having that extra string to my bow.”Maxwell is Australia’s incumbent No. 6 after his comeback century against India in Ranchi in March – his first Test since 2014. However, Maxwell bowled just six overs in two Tests on spin-conducive surfaces in that series.”I could understand why I wasn’t bowling at certain stages,” Maxwell said. “I suppose coming into this tour, I’m hoping that I can show that I’ve put a lot of work into my bowling and I can get that opportunity.”Australia are likely to go in with two specialist spinners and Maxwell, but could consider the option of three genuine spinners if the pitches favour spin from the outset. To open that spot, Maxwell’s Victorian team-mate Peter Handscomb could be asked to keep wicket. Matthew Wade is the designated wicketkeeper in Australia’s squad for Bangladesh.”I guess it’s an interesting one. I was doing some white-ball keeping for Yorkshire in England as well,” Handscomb said. “Ultimately I’m happy to do it if it’s good for team balance, if it opens up another position for a batter or a bowler to come into the side. But first and foremost I’ve always said that batting is my No.1.”In the tour of India earlier this year, Handscomb scored 198 runs in four Tests at an average of 28.28, including a match-saving 72 not out in the third Test in Ranchi. “I felt really good in India, obviously, like I said, getting starts, getting into the game, and then just not converting as many times as I would have hoped to.”

Talks to end the pay war between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) have continued despite an inflammatory intervention of CA chairman David Peever.Progress between the two parties, led by the chief executives James Sutherland and Alistair Nicholson, was seemingly put at risk by a Peever column in the in which he attacked the ACA and repudiated reports questioning his motives.But ESPNcricinfo has confirmed that Sutherland, Nicholson and their respective negotiating teams did not break off from their efforts to end an impasse now damaging both sides of the dispute.It was against the backdrop of renewed talks that Peever underlined just how deep the divide between the two parties is.In his column – the first time his views have been made public – Peever defended what he felt was “a very generous offer” made to the players and hit out at the way in which CA has been depicted in recent weeks.”It includes healthy pay increases for male players,” he wrote, “A more than 150 per cent increase in pay for female players and gender equity in both pay and conditions, along with a share of any surplus for all players and major increases in other support and benefits.

The ACA’s response to Peever

“The timing of Mr Peever’s column is disappointing because it does nothing to further any progress that we are trying to make.
“It is almost two weeks after CA have forced the players in to unemployment and is refusing to back pay them, despite the players training for free.
“The ACA don’t apologise for holding CA to account or for asking the hard questions on behalf of our members that must be answered for the betterment of cricket.
“The imputation that the players and the ACA are sabotaging the game is wrong. We are currently talking with commercial and broadcast partners and are offering them a way through this. We have kept these stakeholders abreast of the issues in the negotiations, and the importance of them to the players.”

“The ACA has responded by not only rejecting that proposal (and recent concessions) out of hand, but by launching a campaign of such sustained ferocity that anyone could be forgiven for thinking CA was proposing the reintroduction of slavery.”Not content with that level of overreaction, the ACA has gone much further, refusing to allow players to tour, threatening to drive away commercial sponsors and damage the prospects of broadcast partners, lock up player intellectual property into its own business ventures, and even stage its own games. It’s a reckless strategy that can only damage the game and therefore the interests of the ACA’s members.”Peever’s words reaffirm the strength of feeling between the sides but they appear on the back of a meeting between James Sutherland and Alistair Nicholson, the chief executives of CA and ACA respectively, which also signals the urgency with which both sides want to resolve the dispute.CA wants to break up the fixed revenue percentage model that has been a part of all MoUs between board and players since 1998. The board argues this will allow it to spend more money at grassroots level. The ACA want to keep the existing model because, they feel, it protects the interest of domestic and women cricketers.”CA and the state and territory associations are responsible for the health of the entire game, not just the elite level where more than 70 per cent of the game’s total revenue is presently directed,” Peever wrote. “We also have a responsibility to ensure that a fair share of the game’s resources is directed to other levels, including junior and grassroots cricket, where it is most sorely needed.”Peever strongly denied that “CA has been motivated by some extreme industrial relations agenda, supposedly imported from the mining industry” – in which he has previously worked.”It has been fabricated by those seeking to portray cricket as an industrial relations battleground, and pushed out to undermine CA’s case for modest but necessary changes to the player payment model.”The suggestion that CA’s push to modify the player payments model has nothing to do with genuine issues facing the game is an insult to everyone involved at CA, including other members of the board.”Peever is known to be an advocate of industrial relations reform and is often remembered for a blunt speech about the employee-employer relationship while he was managing director at Rio Tinto. He stressed, however, that he did not have any ill will towards the players body.”Any claims that I hold contrary views are untrue. Those repeating the myth point to a speech I made years ago in a completely different context. In that speech my message was that businesses should be able to engage directly with employees and that unions should be able do their job in representing the best interests of their members without attempting to expand their mission into the realm of management. It’s an uncontroversial view shared by all reasonable people. In most situations, employees actually demand direct engagement, not the other way around.”

Joe Root has praised a “fabulous” team performance as he started his reign as England captain in almost perfect fashion at Lord’s.”Everyone has played their part this week,” Root said after England completed a crushing 211-run victory. “It might not have been a six-for or a fifty, but there were crucial periods where guys showed character.”Everything I asked of the lads, they were very open to and responded to it. I wanted us to be proactive, to stay ahead of the game and when there was an opportunity, to take responsibility. Everyone at certain points did that and it’s important we continue to do that if we are to take this side forward.”England have already named the same 12-man squad for the second Test at Trent Bridge, which begins on Friday. Barring injury to any of the seamers – and the fact they were barely used in the fourth innings and have an extra day off now suggests they should be fine – an unchanged team is expected. While it would be unusual for England to play two spinners at Trent Bridge, they would argue they are playing only one – Liam Dawson – with Moeen Ali picked as a batsman.In truth, England’s surplus of allrounders – Chris Woakes will be pressing for a recall before the end of the series – leaves them with something close to a luxury position to fill as they see fit. At Lord’s, they could have chosen a legspinner, a specialist keeper, another batsman – perhaps a specialist in the top three – or even a match-winning but potentially unreliable seamer such as Mark Footitt.As things stand, they have chosen to go with Dawson. Though few would claim Dawson is the best spinner in England – he may well not be the best at Hampshire – he offers a good all-round package topped by his ability to offer his captain control in the field, a trait that complements England’s seamers, while his presence also alleviates any expectation upon Moeen to fulfill a holding role. It’s not ideal and it won’t always work as well as this, but as this was the first time two England spinners claimed 14 wickets in a home Test since 1972, it can only be considered a success.Root credited the presence of his two key allrounders – Moeen and Ben Stokes – for giving his side enviable depth with bat and ball.”That’s the great thing about our top seven,” Root said. “We have two really good bowling options with Moeen and Ben and that’s a real luxury.”There were two obvious standout performers in England’s win: Root and Moeen.Root’s batting was a level above anyone else’s in the match. He enjoyed some fortune in scoring his first 20 runs, but he took advantage in ruthless fashion. Before this match, Root had converted only one of his last seven Test half-centuries into a three-figure score but the captaincy seemed to add an edge to his game: a hunger; a determination to push on and register a match-defining total. While he modestly referred to his form as “nice” afterwards, it is telling that Moeen was the only other man in the match to reach 70.The statistics relating to Moeen are staggering. Having reached the double milestone of 100 wickets and 2000 runs in fewer Tests than Sir Garry Sobers, et al, on the second day of this match, he subsequently claimed the first 10-wicket haul by an England spinner at Lord’s since Derek Underwood in 1974 and the first by an England offspinner since Roy Tattersall in 1951. He also became the first England player to claim a 10-wicket haul and score a 50 in the same Test since Ian Botham in 1980. While Shane Warne was never able to earn a place on the Lord’s honours boards, Moeen – who has often been referred to as a part-time bowler by Warne – now does.These are great names and significant achievements. While nobody – least of all Moeen himself – would claim he was a spinner in the class of Underwood or Warne, or an allrounder in the class of Botham or Sobers, he has developed into a very valuable player nevertheless. The bowling average has moved below 40, the batting above 35 and there’s no reason why they should not continue to improve.Liam Dawson may not be the best spinner in England, but fills a key holding role for Joe Root’s England side to balance the bowling unit•Getty Images

Here, partly as a result of his work with Saqlain Mushtaq – for whom he dedicated this performance – he showed ever more cunning in his variations of pace. The delivery which bowled Temba Bavuma was significantly quicker than those that preceded it. At one stage, he threatened to equal Wasim Akram’s record of a wicket in six consecutive overs before falling one short.Rather typically, he described some of the attention surrounding his achievements as “embarrassing”, though he did concede that the match represented “the best all-round performance of my career.””Maybe in India I was trying to fire the ball in a bit,” Moeen said. “I learned a lot from that tour. My natural pace is quite quick anyway. Here I had a different mindset and I was trying to attack the batsmen more. It’s nice to do this at Lord’s. It means a lot.”There were other important contributions. Jonny Bairstow’s second-innings half-century shut South Africa out of the match, while some of his keeping was outstanding. The diving take down the leg side to dismiss Heino Kuhn was the most eye-catching moment, but the wicket of Kagiso Rabada – an edge held off an attempted cut – was impressive too. The hard work he has undertaken with Bruce French and others is clearly starting to pay off. A debut for Ben Foakes, which really might have been quite close a week or so ago, suddenly looks distant.And, as 19 wickets fell on the fourth day, the value of England’s obdurate batting the previous evening became more apparent. Alastair Cook, one of only two men to reach 35 in the third and fourth innings, made the most valuable contribution. But Gary Ballance’s second-innings 34 and Keaton Jennings’ 33 were worth more than a quick glance at the scorecard might suggest. Root reckoned they were “worth double.”There is a caveat to all this. South Africa, it has to be said, made some basic mistakes with their catching, their use of the DRS, the over-stepping of the bowlers resulting in no balls and, most of all, their batting against spin. It is improbable they will play as badly at Trent Bridge.But this was pretty much a perfect start for Root and his team.

India’s campaign for Champions Trophy has begun under a cloud of discontent within the dressing room with the captain, and possibly a few other senior players, expressing a lack of confidence in their head coach.Speculation had been rife ever since the BCCI chose not to automatically extend the tenure of Anil Kumble as the head coach, choosing instead to advertise the position, and it has now emerged that the decision was made following feedback from Virat Kohli about Kumble’s coaching method, which he is said to have described as “intimidating”.Kumble’s year-long contract expires at the end of the Champions Trophy. The development comes at less than an ideal time for India, with their first match in the Champions Trophy, against arch rivals Pakistan, just days away.It is understood that Kohli relayed the sense of discontent to the BCCI’s top office bearers as well as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) before the team left for England. He is also understood to have spoken to Sourav Ganguly, who is part of the cricket advisory panel which has been tasked with deciding the coaching option.The players’ concerns are thought to centre mainly around Kumble’s man-management skills. In the words of one official familiar with the details, Kumble has been conducting himself like a “headmaster” at a school. Such an approach, the official said, “had not gone down well” with the players who are used to a more relaxed dressing room. Some players – not the bigger personalities like Kohli or MS Dhoni – have felt “a bit intimidated” by Kumble’s approach.Such has been the approach, the official said, that some of the injuries that have ruled players out during Kumble’s tenure were not strictly cricket related. “Kumble was pushing hard. The bulk of them [injuries] are non-cricketing injuries. One of the players was stressed out. So the team is not a happy lot.”What has surprised the BCCI is that Kumble has failed to read these concerns. The official said that the reason Kumble has been successful was because “the team has been successful” playing cricket mostly at home. “The way the cricket set-up works in India is the coach is not the king. So the coach has to understand that.”Based on the player feedback, the BCCI decided that the time to “change” had come and the “best” way to move forward was to put in place an advertisement inviting fresh applications. The official admitted that the timing was not ideal – the advertisement went out on the day Indian squad arrived in London to defend the Champions Trophy, and applications for the job close on the eve of the tournament opener – but he said the process had to followed.The most telling public comments came from Kohli, who said last week he did not find anything untoward with what the BCCI was doing. “The process has been followed every single time the similar way in Indian cricket for the past so many years is what I know,” Kohli said at his first media briefing upon landing in England. “Even the last time the post was up for a change the same procedure was applied. With the term being one year, the procedure is being followed in the same manner. I don’t see anything very different from what has happened in the past. That is something the board has recognised. They want to follow the same pattern.”Kohli was equivocal in his response to the success India have had under Kumble. “When you have results come your way, the contribution is from every part of the team,” he said. “It is not from a single source to say the least. Everyone works hard equally if not more than the other person.”Kumble has not yet spoken publicly about the situation. He is, however, bound to be disappointed considering India have only lost one series in any format under his charge: the two-match Twenty20 series in Florida against West Indies last August. Kumble has also been front and centre in talks with the BCCI over enhancing the contracts not just of the national team’s players but also domestic players and Indian coaching staff.The situation also puts three other Indian legends in an awkward position. It was only last June that Kumble was nominated by the three-man cricket advisory panel comprising his contemporaries, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman; Kumble wasn’t in the original shortlist of candidates the BCCI had finalised because he had no formal coaching experience. But it was at the panel’s insistence that he was put in. And now they have to go through the process again; it isn’t yet known if Kumble will go through the process again. Ganguly is currently in England, doing television commentary for the official broadcaster of the Champions Trophy.At the time of Kumble’s appointment, the BCCI made out the contract for only a year saying that would give Kumble time to prove his coaching credentials. The former BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said that a review would be carried out after one year. Incidentally, Ajay Shirke, who was the BCCI secretary last June, had said that when the review was done, Kumble should find himself in the “driver’s seat” considering India were playing a long home season comprising 13 Tests and a couple of ODI series. Kumble might not be holding the steering wheel anymore.

Derbyshire 309 for 4 (Thakor 130, Godleman 95) beat Northamptonshire 307 for 7 (Levi 109, Cobb 56, Thakor 3-39) by six wickets
ScorecardShiv Thakor starred with bat and ball as Derbyshire secured an impressive victory•Getty Images

Shiv Thakor delivered a superb all-round performance as Derbyshire celebrated a club record one-day run chase to beat Northants by six wickets in the Royal London Cup match at Derby.Thakor scored 129, his first limited-overs century, after taking 3 for 39 and shared a second-wicket stand of 168 in 28 overs with Billy Godleman who made 95.Derbyshire reached 309 for 4 with eight balls to spare in reply to Northants’ 307 for 7 which was built around Richard Levi’s 109 off 107 balls and Josh Cobb’s 56.Northants had looked on course for a bigger total when Cobb hit three sixes in a 49-ball 50 as they took advantage of some inconsistent bowling but Derbyshire regrouped and managed to exert some control despite Levi’s impressive striking.Thakor bowled intelligently from the city end and although Levi deposited him into the back row of the stand, the powerful South African never quite inflicted the damage he threatened at one stage.After Cobb was bowled behind his legs and Rob Keogh drove to short extra, Levi and Alex Wakely took the visitors past 200 before the skipper failed to clear long-on.When Jeevan Mendis went for 18 in the 40th over, a score of well over 300 looked on against an attack missing three frontline bowlers but Derbyshire kept their discipline and although Levi reached his century off 104 balls, Northants had to scramble to pass 300 after he miscued Thakor to deep midwicket.Derbyshire had never successfully chased over 300 in a limited-overs game but Northants also had key bowlers missing and Godleman and Ben Slater played with authority to put on 71 in 11 overs before Slater was beaten by Ben Duckett’s throw from cover.Godleman took consecutive fours from Miles Richardson who was playing his first one-day game for Northants and with Thakor batting aggressively from the start, Derbyshire took a firm hold on the contest.Northants’ bowlers had failed to take a wicket in the previous game against Warwickshire and they looked increasingly unlikely to breakthrough as Godleman and Thakor scored freely without taking risks.The 150-stand came up in 26 overs and Thakor celebrated his century which came off only 86 balls with the first of three consecutive fours off Steven Crook in the 38th over.Godleman looked certain to complete his second one-day hundred against Northants but Keogh found some extra bounce to have him caught behind in the 39th over.Derbyshire had thrown away winning positions last season but although Thakor was run out when he was caught off a no-ball , they eased home to condemn Northants to a second defeat in the competition.

Virat Kohli has tweeted a clarification on his post-match comments in Dharamsala, where he had said he wouldn’t be calling the Australian players his friends “ever again”. On Thursday morning he tweeted that he was referring to only a “couple of individuals”, and that his comment had been blown out of proportion.Before the four-Test series had begun, Kohli had spoken warmly about his friendships with all of the Australian players, saying: “I’m really good friends with all these guys off the field. I know them really well, but I know where to draw the line of friendship. When you step onto the field, I could be playing against my big brother it wouldn’t matter.”When once again asked about his equation with them off the field after the series, Kohli had said: “No, it has changed. I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure. As I said, in the heat of the battle you want to be competitive but I’ve been proven wrong. The thing I said before the first Test, that has certainly changed and you won’t hear me say that ever again.”The series had featured several high-intensity moments, both on and off the field, the biggest of which came after the second game in Bengaluru. In the post-match press conference there, Kohli had said Australia captain Steven Smith had looked to his dressing room for help in deciding whether to refer his lbw decision, and Australia had been doing the same previously too. That prompted both boards to come out strongly behind their teams, before the ICC said no one would be charged – neither Australia for a DRS protocol breach, nor Kohli for his allegations – and asked the teams to move on; the BCCI filed an official appeal after that, but withdrew it hours later.Smith, who had termed his action in Bengaluru as a brain fade, had said before the third Test that Kohli’s comments on Australia breaching DRS protocols more than once in the series were “completely wrong”. After the series ended, he said he was disappointed with the BCCI for airing on-field exchanges between Ravindra Jadeja and Matthew Wade through a video clip on its website, while also apologising for letting his own “actions falter a little bit throughout this series”.

Match facts

March 4-8, 2017
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)4:26

Chappell: Matter of how long Australia can maintain confidence

Big Picture

It was no surprise that a spinner took 12 wickets and was Man of the Match in the first Test in Pune. Nor was it a surprise that the winning captain scored the only hundred of the match. It was not even particularly surprising that the Test was over in two and a half days. What was surprising – flabbergasting, even – was that the spinner was not R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja but Steve O’Keefe, the captain was not Virat Kohli but Steven Smith, and the team with a 1-0 lead after less than three days of play in this series was not India but Australia.”The pressure was off us, wasn’t it? Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0. That can’t happen anymore.” Never a truer word was spoken than those from Smith after the Pune Test. But if it was true that the pressure was off Australia in that match, it is no longer the case in Bengaluru, where the expectations on Australia will be high. Not only did they beat India in Pune, they dominated in all aspects of the game. They more than doubled India’s total in each innings, the spinners were more effective, their catching was sharper, even their use of the DRS was more assured.Pressure was on Kohli’s mind after the match, too. “How badly we batted in the first innings is the main reason why we couldn’t get back into the game,” he said. “We put ourselves under a lot of pressure.” The intensity will only increase in Bengaluru, where Australia are in the unexpected position of being able to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by the halfway point of the series. Kohli’s men must find a way to turn around their fortunes quickly, or else an ignominious fate awaits them.So, was Pune an aberration? What surprises will Bengaluru have in store? It is the only venue in this series that has hosted Test cricket before, and it is a ground at which past Australia teams have enjoyed success. Much speculation has surrounded the nature of the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the lead-up to the match, especially given Australia’s triumph on the dry, spinning surface in the first Test. What will be in it? Sharp spin? Reverse swing? Piles of runs? It should be fun finding out.

Form guide

India: LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WWWWW
1:16

Will India bounce back?

In the spotlight

Last time India hosted Australia in a Bengaluru Test, back in 2010, Cheteshwar Pujara made his debut. On Australia’s next Test tour of India, Pujara destroyed the visitors in Hyderabad with 204 and a monstrous triple-century partnership with M Vijay. And he began this home season well, with three straight half-centuries against New Zealand and then hundreds in the next three Tests against New Zealand and England. But since then, Pujara’s season has quietened down a little, and India would desperately love for their No. 3 to return to his best in this match, at the venue where his Test career began against this same opposition.Steve O’Keefe was Man of the Match in Pune for his twin 6 for 35s, but on a very difficult batting pitch Steven Smith stood head and shoulders above any other batsman with his 109. Only two Australians had previously made second-innings hundreds in Tests in India: Mark Taylor and Damien Martyn. Not only that but Smith’s effort lifted him into truly elite company on the ICC’s all-time batting rankings; only five batsmen have ever achieved ratings points higher than Smith’s current level: Don Bradman, Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs, Ricky Ponting and Peter May. He will enter the Bengaluru Test with a batting average of 60.34 – not bad for a bloke who started as a legspinner batting at No.8.

Team news

Hardik Pandya has a shoulder niggle and is not in contention, but the remainder of India’s squad is available for this Test. It remains to be seen whether the selectors give the same XI another chance after their disappointing performance in Pune.India (possible) 1 KL Rahul, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Jayant Yadav, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.Australia announced an unchanged XI on the eve of the second Test, retaining Mitchell Marsh, whose bowling services were not exploited in Pune.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Matt Renshaw, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Steve O’Keefe, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

There has been so much discussion and speculation about the pitch that India’s coach, Anil Kumble, got fed up during his press conference in the lead-up to the Test. “Can we move on? It’s only 22 yards, it won’t be different here,” he said. Both teams expect a better batting surface than in Pune, but it will still be dry and should take plenty of turn.

Stats and trivia

• Smith needs 112 more runs to reach 5000 in Tests. Should he do it in his first innings in Bengaluru, he will be the equal third-fastest to the milestone alongside Garry Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and Matthew Hayden, and behind only Don Bradman and Jack Hobbs.
• India have beaten Australia only once at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, while Australia have won there twice and the teams have played out two draws. India’s win, though, did come in the most recent of those five Tests, in 2010.

Quotes

“The way we played last week was such a positive sign. It was a difficult wicket and we showed them we can compete in those conditions. And more importantly, we probably showed ourselves as well.”

Ed Cowan, the former Australia Test batsman, has declared the new Dukes ball being trialled in the Sheffield Shield this season should be seriously considered for use as the Test match ball of choice down under.Having smashed it for an innings of 212 for New South Wales against Victoria at the MCG over the past two days, Cowan paradoxically praised the Dukes – a version of which has been specially devised for use in Australian conditions – for offering more help to the bowlers.That much was seen later on day three of the match when Trent Copeland and Sean Abbott swung it prodigiously to help the Blues put the Bushrangers under immense pressure with one day of the match remaining. Cowan told ESPNcricinfo the balls had stood up on a pair of diverse pitches at the MCG and also last week in a second XI match he played at Geelong.”I think the Dukes is a far superior cricket ball to the Kookaburra in terms of the quality of contest between bat and ball,” he said. “They certainly stay in shape, they’re harder for longer, they consistently swing, there’s a little bit there for the bowlers all day if you’re good enough to bowl well, but you can get some runs if you’re disciplined with the bat.”From Australian cricket’s point of view I’d love Cricket Australia to look really hard at using Dukes balls in Test cricket in Australia because I think the quality of the ball is superior. I’ve been lucky enough to play a bit of cricket in England and use the Dukes a bit. I’ve always found you just have to be really disciplined on the front foot, particularly day one or two of a four-day fixture, you can’t bully the ball off the front foot through the off side.”You’ve got to play the ball late, respect the ball when they pitch it up and really wait for the bowler to come to you. It doesn’t change your plan too much at the top of the order but I certainly think those overs 50-80 with a Kookaburra ball, where a batsman can really dictate terms and hit bowlers off a good length, you can’t get away with a Dukes and that keeps bowling sides in it for longer.”Considering how the Dukes ball kept the bowlers in play even after it’s been used for 50 overs, Ed Cowan hopes Cricket Australia consider it for use in Tests too•Getty Images

The Victoria stand-in captain Cameron White has wondered at the point of using the Dukes in Shield matches where most likely contenders for the 2019 Ashes are otherwise engaged, but Cowan noted the trial had offered a competitor to Kookaburra the opportunity to show its wares. The traditional manufacturers of Australian cricket balls have been heavily occupied with developing a pink ball for day/night Test cricket in recent times, and is believed to be eager for CA feedback on how the red version can be improved.”I know CA brought it in under the public guise of preparing for 2019 – I don’t know whether politically they’re trying to put some pressure on Kookaburra,” Cowan said. “But regardless of whether you’re playing in Shield rounds and might go on an Ashes tour, I think they’ve actually fallen over a better cricket ball to use in Australian conditions.”We used it in a second XI game last week in Geelong on a very different wicket and it held up beautifully and swung consistently. It responds to overhead conditions well. I think it’s good to have some competition in town because the Kookaburra balls have been poor in domestic cricket for a couple of years now.”Among the bowlers, the South Australia seamer and recent 12th man for Australia Chadd Sayers said the Dukes was a ball that rewarded the pacemen provided they could control its swing early on. “It was hard to control early with the lacquer on the ball but the ball stays harder for longer which is great for a bowler,” Sayers said after the first innings of SA’s loss to Western Australia at Glenelg Oval.”A few swung down the leg side, which wasn’t supposed to happen. You’ve just go to find a way to make the ball work in your favour, which I think we did eventually. It probably took us five overs to work out what was going on.”Cowan’s innings was watched by the interim selector Greg Chappell, a noted advocate of youth. Both men have had disagreements with each other in the past, before Chappell helped remodel Cowan’s approach to batting following his ejection from the Test team in 2013.”We have had an evolving relationship and a positive one,” Cowan said of Chappell. “We’ve had our moments of disagreement, but he has a great view of the game and needs to be respected. As a selector there’s obviously a general feel of picking youth that has its merits if the young guys are good enough.”I’m still a fan of the best Test and one-day team being picked for every game, but it’s good to see young guys get an opportunity if they deserve it, I think that’s the key. Greg has a great mind on cricket, a great technical eye and Australian cricket is very lucky to have such a fine servant.”

Sam Billings has put his name up for a flexible position in the England batting order in the one-day series against India, and has also expressed a desire to provide the team with a back-up wicket-keeping option to Jos Buttler. Reputed to be among England’s best players of spin bowling, Billings, batting at No. 3, made the right noises with a 93 to help England gun down India A’s 305 with three wickets in hand in their first warm-up match on Tuesday.Billings is also coming into the tour on the back of good T20 form, having made three 40-plus scores for Sydney Thunders in the Big Bash League. However, with Joe Root and Ben Stokes set to take the field for the first ODI in Pune on January 15, he is likely to find himself out of the playing XI. Not that he is about to wallow in self-pity.”You cannot afford to be disappointed or feel sorry for yourself,” he said after the match against India A at the Brabourne Stadium. “It is a professional sport at the end of the day. Joe Root is one of the batsmen in the world – top-three without a doubt.”It is a great thing for English cricket, isn’t it? A strong squad makes the team even stronger on a long tour. With the Champions Trophy coming up, the bigger the squad, the stronger the squad, the better.”Since his international debut in June last year, Billings has turned out for England in 13 limited-overs games but only once has he batted higher than No. 6. While he scored 62 opening the batting in Chittagong, he has for the most part jostled for a middle-order slot with Jonny Bairstow, who is also higher up the pecking order as a stand-by wicket-keeper. Billings, however, doesn’t believe batting at No. 7 was his easiest route into the side.”Not necessarily. In Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to open. That’s the great thing; we have got a really strong side, 1 to 11,” he said. “We have Liam Plunkett sitting out, Jonny Bairstow sitting out as well. I just try to offer as many options as I can to the team and the squad – whether it is with the bat, with the gloves, whether it is opening the batting, or batting at six or seven, finishing off the innings.”I will still work as hard as I can in all aspects of my game. If something happens to Jos, I want to be able to come in a back-up keeper as well, and be one of the best fielders I can as well. At the end of the day, I just try to show people what I can be in a different role to what I am normally accustomed to.”In a series where spin is expected to play a big part, Billings believed he would be able to call on his experience of playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL last year. “Ashwin and Jadeja – two of the best in the world, so it is about combating them as best as we can,” he said.Billings expressed delight at the chance to work with Rahul Dravid in his role as Daredevils’ mentor. “My footwork against spin definitely improved just in the six weeks, I would say, working with Rahul Dravid, one of the best players ever to play the game. It was an amazing experience, one I’d like to have again.”Billings admitted his 93 against India A wasn’t his most fluent innings, but was comfortable with how he had worked out the conditions. “It is a different role from what I am normally accustomed to today. We lost a couple of wickets. Every time I started to try and get going, I had to tone it down again,” he said.”It is about manipulating the spin as much as hitting boundaries – rotating the strike with those fine sweeps, just trying to disrupt the bowler and the fields that they set. It is just about getting used to the pitches, very different from Australia from where I came from.”