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A positive start by Michael Clarke and a late surge by Tom Cooper helped Adelaide Strikers beat Brisbane Heat by 31 runs at the Gabba

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A positive start by Michael Klinger and a late surge by Tom Cooper helped Adelaide Strikers beat Brisbane Heat by 31 runs at the Gabba. The win took the Strikers to second place while Heat are languishing at the bottom. Captain Klinger led the way with an unbeaten 53, building useful stands with opener Daniel Harris followed by Callum Ferguson. He batted steadily, striking seven fours in his 53. He fell in the 13th over with the score on 91, and Cameron Borgas followed in the 16th over with the score on 124. Cooper, though, gave the innings more impetus at the death, in the company of Johan Botha. The pair added an unbeaten 42 in 25 balls to take the Strikers to 166.Matthew Hayden got the chase going with a couple of early boundaries but the Heat chase never really threatened, as the Strikers picked up wickets at regular intervals. Seamer Kane Richardson dismissed the openers, going for just two runs in his two overs, while Brendan Drew and James Muirhead also took two wickets each. The highest score in the innings was 35, and that came from No.8 Steve Paulsen. It took 18 overs for Strikers to bowl out their opponents.

South Africa wrapped up the series 3-0 with two matches still to play with another ruthless performance against Zimbabwe, winning by 157 runs in Franschhoek

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2011
ScorecardSouth Africa wrapped up the series 3-0 with two matches still to play with another ruthless performance against Zimbabwe at the Bridge House School in Franschhoek. In the absence of regular captain Keaton Jennings, who had scored half-centuries in each of the first two matches, the rest of South Africa’s batsmen took up the mantle and took their team to a score of 293. Thereafter South Africa’s spin duo of left-armer Prenelan Subrayen and legspinner Lionel Vaaltyn ran through Zimbabwe’s line-up, taking eight wickets between them as the visitors were bowled out for 136 in 40.3 overs.James Price, who scored 98 in the first match of the series, was the only one of South Africa’s top seven who scored less than 25 as everyone contributed to the total. After Price and his fellow opener Quinton de Kock were out, Regardt Verster and Johan du Preez put together 96 in quick time. The scoring-rate dipped between the 25th and 40th overs, but Vaaltyn’s 38 off 25 balls and captain Shaylin Pillay’s quick-fire 20 picked it up again and South Africa reached the biggest total of the series so far.Zimbabwe were given a brief moment of hope of at least putting up a fight when Godwill Mamhiyo and Kevin Kasuza put together 63 for the second wicket. But Vaaltyn and Subrayen dismantled the rest of their line-up. Vaaltyn struck first, removing Kasuza and then getting two more wickets, and Subrayen ran through the lower-middle order and tail as Zimbabwe surrendered meekly.

A round-up of the third day’s action of the third round of the WICB Four-Day Competition 2009-10

Cricinfo staff25-Jan-2010Spinners Shane Shillingford and Rawl Lewis picked up four wickets each to help Windward Islands seal a nine-wicket win over Combined Campuses and Colleges in Barbados. CCC began the day with two wickets down and still 90 adrift of their deficit but, barring a determined 71 by captain Floyd Reifer and 34 from wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton, there was little competition from the others as their side was bowled out for 198, a lead of just 70. Reifer and Walton added 54 for the seventh wicket but the spinners tore through the line-up. Devon Smith, who scored a century in the first innings, followed up with a crisp 44, ensuring victory was achieved in just 12.5 overs and with a day to spare.The Windwards and the CCC both have 12 points now but the Windwards have
only played two matches to the CCC’s three. CCC host Guyana at this same venue next Friday while the Windwards head a few miles south to Kensington Oval where they face Barbados in an historic day-night encounter.Nikita Miller put Jamaica squarely on top against Guyana in St Philip, grabbing six wickets to skittle the opposition out for just 166 and secure a first-innings lead of 263. Jamaica imposed the follow-on and Dave Bernard proved Guyana’s nemesis in their second innings, grabbing three wickets and effecting a run-out to leave them at 161 for 4 at stumps, still 102 adrift. The highlight for Guyana on a disappointing day was Assad Fudadin, who top scored in their first innings with 39 and hit a half-century in the second before being dismissed. Guyana’s effort in the second innings was an improved one, with three of their top and middle order batsmen going past 30. However, they failed to convert them into substantial scores to cripple the possibility of a fightback.”I am happy with the way we played over the last few days,” said Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert. “We completely outplayed Guyana. The hundreds from Wavell Hinds and Carlton Baugh jnr really set us up well, and our first innings total of 429 over five sessions was the perfect start to the match for us.”We talked to a few of the Barbadian players, and they told us that the pitch would be slow and would turn a bit, so it was surprising to see them win the toss and put us in to bat. Knowing Guyana through the years, they always pack their sides with spinners, so I thought that they would have batted first, and then bring their players into play over the last few days of the game.”Barbados retained the advantage against Trinidad and Tobago at the Kensington Oval. Ryan Hinds, who began on 111, finished on 139 but legspinner Imran Khan’s best first-class haul of 7 for 71 limited Barbados’ lead to 115. T&T were in trouble in their reply, as a three-wicket burst from Pedro Collins had reduced them to 98 for 4. But Justin Guillen, their opener, fought hard, smashing 134, his best first-class effort. Guillen was involved in a 138-run fifth-wicket stand with Denesh Ramdin, who made an unbeaten 94 and remains the key to T&T’s fortunes heading into the final day. Trinidad finished the day on 299 for 7, just 184 ahead and will need much more to pose a challenge.

Paceman impressed on Test debut against Australia in 2024

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2025Ben Sears, the New Zealand fast bowler, has signed for Yorkshire for the 2025 season, and will arrive in time for their second County Championship game of the season, against Worcestershire at Headingley.Sears, 27, has impressed with his raw pace for New Zealand, including in his only Test to date, against Australia in 2024, when he claimed five wickets at Christchurch, including 4 for 90 in the second innings. He had previously made his T20I debut against Bangladesh in 2021.He will be joined at Headingley by his fellow New Zealand quick Will O’Rourke, who has signed for the T20 Blast, while the club has also drawn comparisons with his compatriot, and former Yorkshire overseas player, Lockie Ferguson.”I can’t wait to get over to Headingley and start playing with the guys,” Sears said. “Some of the signings made already are exciting and I hope I can add to that.”It’s important to set the tone early in any season. We have some big games in that first block, and I’ll be ready to get the team off to the best start possible.”Head Coach Anthony McGrath said: “Ben is a real talent who can get some extra bounce when he bowls. In that early section of the year when pitches can be greener or slower, he’ll be a real handful and I’m excited to get him over and start working with him.”Gavin Hamilton, General Manager of Cricket added: “To attract such talented bowlers like Ben to the club is testament to the lure of Yorkshire across the globe. Ben is an exciting talent and will provide the squad with an extra element that will be crucial this season.”We’re thrilled he has signed and look forward to welcoming him to Headingley in April.”

Maia Bouchier set for run at opener as England name squads for upcoming white-ball series

Valkerie Baynes03-May-20240:54

Lewis’ World Cup message to dropped Dunkley

Sophia Dunkley must rediscover her rhythm and find her best cricket if she is to break back into the England side for this year’s T20 Women’s World Cup after being left out of the squad for home white-ball series against Pakistan.Dunkley was overlooked for both T20I and ODI squads for Pakistan’s visit, which starts with the first of three T20Is in Birmingham on May 11. Tammy Beaumont was only named in the ODI squad after regaining her T20I spot temporarily during the recent tour of New Zealand, where Maia Bouchier excelled to secure her place in the top order.Jon Lewis, England Women’s head coach, said Dunkley and Beaumont were still “very much in the conversation around who should be playing in the top three” at the World Cup, which – along with the No. 7 spot – remain the key places up for consideration ahead of the tournament in Bangladesh.”The message I have sent to Sophia is that I’d like to see her back playing her best cricket,” Lewis said. “When she’s playing her best cricket, she’s one of our best cricketers.Related

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“We’ve decided to try and give her the space away from the bigger limelight in terms of the Pakistan series in both ODI and T20 cricket to go and find some rhythm, go and find the rhythm of batting, get back to your best and then come back to us and see if you can make an impact again in international cricket.”I still have a really strong belief that Sophia’s got a big future playing for England. I think her talent is as incredible. She just needs a little bit of space to get back to her best cricket and work out how to cope with the situation she’s being put in.”Dunkley didn’t play in England’s last series at home, against Sri Lanka at the end of the 2023 summer, but subsequently toured India and New Zealand.In nine T20I innings since scoring a half-century against Australia in Birmingham last July, Dunkley has reached double-figures just three times and has not passed 32. She has played just one ODI since the Women’s Ashes, scoring 1 against New Zealand in Hamilton last month.Beaumont played her first T20Is in New Zealand since losing her spot following the 2022 Women’s Ashes, scoring 15, 19 and 37 before moving aside to accommodate Danni Wyatt’s late arrival from the WPL.”What I was really keen to do with Tammy and Dunks in particular was not to carry them around as spare batters, to give them the opportunities to play regional cricket and play some cricket rather than sitting on the bench as two experienced players,” Lewis said, adding that he was impressed with what he had seen from Beaumont upon her T20I return in NZ.England Women’s squads vs Pakistan•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Maia pushed her case more than Tammy at that point, and I think Maia deserves, from the performances she put in New Zealand, to hold onto her spot.”Having batted in the middle-order during limited England appearances over the previous two years, Bouchier was first promoted to open during Sri Lanka’s visit, where she scored a 65-ball 95 in the third ODI in Leicester.But it was during England’s 4-1 T20I series win in New Zealand that she made her claim at the top of the order. She batted at No. 3 in the first three matches, scoring 43 not out, 12 and 71, then made 91 from 56 balls after being promoted to open for the fourth match.”Maia has always been incredibly talented,” Lewis said. “The bit that I suppose Maia has struggled with in the past is putting regular big scores together. She’s starting to understand how to build bigger innings. The work that we’ve done with her in particular is around controlling emotion and controlling herself in the game and thinking tactically about how she’s going to play.”We haven’t done any technical work with Maia because my belief is her technique is really sound. It’s more around the mental approach to the game. She’s been working incredibly hard around that part of her game and she’s been working incredibly hard in training around how to train her brain to do things for longer. Now we’re seeing the benefit of that.”You combine that with a batter scoring runs and in good form and learning how to build innings and play at the right tempo and then you’ve got a crackerjack cricketer, and hopefully she can continue the form that she was on in New Zealand.”Maia Bouchier stamped her claim on a top-order spot•Getty Images

Left-arm spinner Linsey Smith kept her spot after returning to the England T20I line-up for the tour of New Zealand following an absence of nearly five years. She took one wicket from her two appearances there and now has eight wickets from four appearances in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy to sit joint-third on the competition list.Freya Kemp, who suffered a stress fracture in her back at the end of 2022 and a subsequent flare up, will play as a batter only after being chosen in the T20I squad but England hope to have her bowling and available for selection as an allrounder by the World Cup.Quick Issy Wong remains on the outer after irregular appearances for England amid some rhythm issues of her own.”She’s shown real improvement from where she was during last summer, and she’s working incredibly hard on her game,” Lewis said. “My view on Issy is that she just needs a period of time playing consistently and performing consistently to earn the right to come back into the England team.”Young cricketers, batters and bowlers, their form fluctuates and we are supporting her in and around her bowling. I am hopeful from what I’ve seen over the start of the summer that there’s some improvement there, but I still think she’s got a little way to go to show that she can play at this level consistently.”England identified a weakness batting against spin during last year’s visit by Sri Lanka, who upset the hosts by winning their T20I series. Lewis responded by holding training camps in Mumbai and he was pleased with how his team put what they had learned into practice during their 2-1 T20I series win against hosts India in December.Amid an increasingly packed schedule, England will head to Abu Dhabi to prepare for the T20 World Cup.”We’ll try and recreate, as best we can, conditions that we will face,” Lewis said. “Bangladesh is a pretty unique place to play cricket and unfortunately in India at that time of year, the places where the wickets are particularly similar, it is rainy season, so we won’t be able to get into India to do that.”I’ve been impressed with the way the girls have been trying to develop their game. We know it’s going to be a big part of that competition and we’re talking about it and we’re working on it and we’re trying to improve our game against spin. In our series against India, and in the T20 series against India in particular, I thought we showed some real signs of improvement there. Very different conditions in New Zealand, and at times we played the spinners very, very well, so I think there is progress.”Fitting in another block of overseas preparation before the tournament will likely mean that the vast majority of players heading to the World Cup don’t won’t travel to Ireland for three ODIs and three T20Is in September.”We’ll use the depth of our squads to play those games,” Lewis said. “It’ll be a real challenge for sure, but we’ve got 21 contracted players. There’s always players that miss out on World Cup selection and there’s always players that are pushing for selection underneath.”At some point we have to try and work out where our highest priority areas are and how do we fit all those things into our schedule so we’ll be trying to balance that and balance everyone’s workload and balance everyone’s preparation through that period.”England Women T20I squad: Heather Knight (capt), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith, Danni WyattEngland Women ODI squad: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt

The Nepal legspinner is currently out on bail but facing charges of sexual coercion of another person

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2023Sandeep Lamichhane has been included in Nepal’s playing XI for their CWC League 2 tri-series opener against Namibia.Lamichhane, by far Nepal’s most recognised cricketer, is currently out on bail, though facing charges of sexual coercion of another person. But his return to international cricket was on the cards after Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) lifted its suspension of the player and included him in a training camp ahead of the series. Something that didn’t go down well with sections of the population in his country, who organised protests in Kathmandu and called for a boycott of the tri-series, being held in Kirtipur.Both Namibia and Scotland have also issued press statements that have hinted at – but stopped well short of expressing – unease over the selection.CAN announced the squad on Friday. Two days before that, Cricket Scotland had said it was “aware of the reports regarding the legal status of Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane, ahead of the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 Qualifiers”. “As a governing body, and as a squad, Cricket Scotland stands firmly against all forms of abuse, which have no place in modern society,” it said. “The player’s availability for these games is a matter for the Cricket Association of Nepal and the ICC to consider.”Their counterparts at Cricket Namibia said that the board “strongly opposes all forms of gender-based violence, discrimination and abuse”.When Lamichhane’s suspension was revoked by CAN, the board’s general manager Britant Khanal told ESPNcricinfo that it was on the condition that Lamichhane would “respect the limitation prescribed” by the court that granted him bail in January this year. If Nepal were to travel outside the country, Lamichhane’s participation would depend on whether the court gave him permission for it or not.Lamichhane was taken into custody after he landed in Kathmandu in October last year, responding to an arrest warrant issued against him in September. At the time of the warrant, Lamichhane was participating in the Caribbean Premier League for Jamaica Tallawahs.His suspension was revoked after he was granted bail by court, on the condition that he could not leave the country until a verdict had been reached in the case.Nepal squad: Rohit Paudel (capt), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Gyanendra Malla, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sundeep Jora, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi, Sandeep Lamichhane, Gulshan Jha, Bhim Sharki, Surya Tamang
Travelling reserves: Aarif Sheikh, Pratish GC, Shyam Dhakal, Arjun Saud

England Lions batter tees off with unbeaten 51 from 19 to take centre stage

Aadam Patel22-Nov-2021In a match which featured established internationals like Eoin Morgan, Mohammad Hafeez and Andre Russell, it was instead the uncapped Tom Kohler-Cadmore who was the man to watch with a blistering unbeaten 51 off 19 to seal an emphatic win for Deccan Gladiators over Delhi Bulls.Alongside Tom Banton (44 off 21), another among an array of English batting talent, the pair put on 100 in 39 deliveries to drive their side home in front of England’s white-ball captain, Morgan.For Dwayne Bravo and Delhi Bulls, it was a first defeat in the Abu Dhabi T10. Despite becoming the first team to get bowled out this season, they still managed to set a challenging target of 113 for Gladiators.Kohler-Cadmore went into the chase on the back of scores of 6 and 7 and he attributed his match-winning knock, which included three fours and five sixes, to a conversation he had earlier in the day with Mushtaq Ahmed, the Gladiators coach.”I had a great chat with Mushy today, he just gave me a shed load of confidence and told me to trust myself from ball one and that’s exactly what I did,” Kohler-Cadmore said.After the opening pair navigated the initial two overs of the powerplay with relative comfort, Bravo turned to another England man, Adil Rashid, in the hope of making a breakthrough. Kohler-Cadmore instead had other ideas.Related

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How better to make a statement than to take one of England’s most prized assets for 25 runs in an over, with Morgan given a front-row seat to witness the onslaught?Rashid was smashed for four consecutive sixes by Kohler-Cadmore: three wonderful shots over midwicket and one straight back over the bowler’s head. By the end of the third over, the Gladiators were 53 without loss and had almost halved the target. It was as emphatic a statement as you could make.”I’ve faced Rash a lot in the nets, especially back home, so it was only going one way or the other,” Kohler-Cadmore said. “Either he was gonna get me out or I was gonna get him. Thankfully, it went my way.”The chance to get one over his Yorkshire team-mate was certainly sweet, but Kohler-Cadmore was still full of praise for Rashid. “For me, to be able to learn and play with someone like him – because he’s world-class and he shows it every time he performs, especially in an England shirt – it’s awesome to learn from someone as good as him,” he said.T10 is a format of the game that doesn’t allow for any time to settle in and Kohler-Cadmore underlined how that helped his approach. “It’s probably the simplest format because your intent is to hit every ball for six anyway. Even when someone like Rash deceives you, you’re still swinging in this format, so you might get an inside edge or an outside edge and get lucky. In fact, it’s quite a simple game as opposed to when it’s longer, it’s perhaps slightly harder.”As he and Banton continued their assault at the Zayed Cricket Ground, the television crew decided that it would be a good time to interview Andy Flower, the coach of the Delhi Bulls. “He’s a beautiful batter and he’s great to watch, just maybe not so much when you’re on the other side,” Flower said of Kohler-Cadmore’s assault.In 2019, it was Flower who informed Kohler-Cadmore that he had been stood down from England Lions duty after details of misogynistic WhasApp conversations emerged at the rape trial of Alex Hepburn. The Yorkshire batter was indefinitely suspended from all England-related selection and subsequently fined.He was remorseful and apologetic for his actions and it is fair to say he has made strides forward since then, not least by volunteering to speak at a PCA rookie camp where around 50 newly signed professional cricketers heard his tale as part of an induction into the game.Suspension served, an England cap is still something that has evaded Kohler-Cadmore till now. He toured with the Lions in Australia in early 2020 and was part of England’s 55-man training squad last summer. And he has spent the past year representing Yorkshire and Northern Superchargers, as well as Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and starring in the T10.The hunger is undoubtedly still there and innings like this can only help when knocking on the door of an England white-ball setup that is notoriously tricky to break into.A quarter of the way into the tournament, the Abu Dhabi T10 is turning into a bit of a show for the English talent out in the UAE. Team Abu Dhabi, led by Liam Livingstone are yet to taste defeat, with Livingstone unsurprisingly hitting more sixes than anyone else thus far, and a devastating 63 not out off 28 from Phil Salt secured their fourth win out of four against the Chennai Braves.On Sunday, a rescue act from Jamie Overton and Danny Briggs got them over the line in a thriller, before Will Jacks and Benny Howell smashed 72 in four overs to give the Bangla Tigers their first win. Morgan himself took Bulls home with 26 off 12 later in the day.Tymal Mills was also back in action, making his first appearance since a thigh injury ended his involvement in the T20 World Cup, and he impressed with figures of 2 for 12 for Gladiators – which included the scalp of Morgan – before Kohler-Cadmore got to work.

With IPL and The Hundred in limbo, leading overseas players might be available for an LPL

Andrew Fidel Fernando and George Dobell20-Jun-2020Sri Lanka Cricket is looking at starting up a T20 league in August, even as uncertainty continues to cloud inbound tours from India and Bangladesh.Various SLC boards have tried repeatedly to get a major T20 tournament off the ground and failed. But with Sri Lanka having managed the Covid-19 crisis better than many other nations so far, SLC believes it has an opportunity this year to safely host a tournament with significant foreign involvement, while other leagues are struggling to draw overseas talent.SLC CEO Ashley de Silva is understood to have written to other boards about the prospect of a Lankan Premier League (LPL), while foreign players have also been approached.Tournament planning, though, remains in its very preliminary stages, with no official announcement having yet come from the board. At present, SLC is working on the theory that LPL may feature five teams and could last a little over three weeks. It could start around mid-August and go into early September, but its feasibility will not only depend on corporate and sponsor interest – SLC has already called for expressions of interest – but also on the viability of the other series scheduled.It is also trying to get India over for three ODIs and T20Is each and Bangladesh over for three Tests, while also hoping to host the Asia Cup in September.ALSO READ: India tours to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe called offThe one strength that the board is banking on is that from August, foreign players, support staff and broadcast personnel will not be required to undergo a long quarantine upon arrival in Sri Lanka. Instead, they will just be required to return two negative Covid-19 results – one shortly before boarding their flights in their respective countries for which a certificate must be produced and another soon after arriving in Sri Lanka. And while new arrivals will be quarantined during the testing and result process, it is not expected to take more than 24 hours.An SLC official confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that government approval had been granted not just for a potential LPL, but also for the India, Bangladesh and Asia Cup tours. The official described the tentative plan for the LPL as “ambitious”, but said the board was moving ahead with the hopes of putting a tournament together in the space of about two months. Sri Lanka’s own top players are likely to be in match condition, with residential training camps having begun in Colombo from the start of June.SLC, though, has never had success hosting a premier league-style tournament. The board has tried at least six times and only once managed to actually get a tournament going – the 2012 Sri Lanka Premier League, which was sparsely attended and later attracted allegations of corruption.There is a chance that with the likes of the IPL and The Hundred in limbo due to Covid-19, leading overseas players are likelier to make themselves more available for an LPL. However, SLC is still some distance from getting a tournament together.

Pucovski, who has faced his own struggles for runs since he was picked in the Australian Test squad against Sri Lanka, played patiently to keep the visitors in the middle throughout the day

Daniel Brettig21-Mar-2019Will Pucovski returned to the runs as Victoria established a narrow first innings lead over South Australia on day two of the Sheffield Shield match at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide.Replying to a mediocre 260 from the bottom-placed Redbacks, the table leaders made hard work of it for much of the second day, after the captain Travis Dean’s grim run of scores continued when he played around a straight delivery from the fit-again Chadd Sayers to be lbw early on.Pucovski, who has faced his own struggles for runs since he was picked in the Australian Test squad against Sri Lanka without making his debut, played patiently with support from Seb Gotch and Matt Short to keep the visitors in the middle throughout the day.Sayers was persistent and economical for the hosts, receiving some belated reward when he found a way past Chris Tremain and Jon Holland with consecutive balls in the day’s closing overs.

The Cricket Australia chief executive has given Australia’s short-ball barrage the green light and says it is up to the umpires to intervene if they think play is becoming too dangerous

Daniel Brettig23-Dec-20171:32

‘Targeting tail-end a genuine tactical ploy’ – Bird

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has given the Test team’s fast bowlers the green light to carry on their concerted short-pitched attack on England’s tail, leaving it up to the game’s neutral umpires to intervene if they think play is becoming too dangerous relative to the skill of the batsman on strike.As one of the game’s most senior administrators, Sutherland signs off on any changes to Test-match playing conditions through his role on the ICC chief executives committee, while Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann also sits on the cricket committee where the laws and conditions under which the game is played are frequently discussed.Though the former England captain Mike Atherton has suggested that the umpires should be more proactive in ensuring that less capable batsmen were not unduly exposed to excessive short-pitched bowling, Sutherland said he saw no problem with pace bowlers searching for weaknesses in the techniques of all batsmen, via short balls or other means, as part of the balance between bat and ball.”I don’t think there’s anything new about fast bowlers attacking tail enders where they show an area of vulnerability. I think that’s all part of the game,” Sutherland said at a CA family day outside the MCG. “What’s also part of the game and the playing regulation and the laws and what have you, that’s up to the umpires to do. I certainly don’t have any problem with fast bowlers attacking batsmen and trying to get them out.”Following the death of Phillip Hughes, after he was struck freakishly on the side of the neck by a bouncer in 2014, Sutherland helped set the terms of reference for CA’s own review, and also attended the New South Wales Coronial Inquest at which it was determined there had been “no malicious intent” in the use of short balls to Hughes on the day he was struck. Before that inquest handed down its findings, Sutherland had spoken of the need to balance the fabric of the game, including the use of bouncers, with safety concerns.”You’ll see in the brief terms of reference we gave David Curtain that we needed to draw a line about the laws of the game and to have some perspective around that,” Sutherland said in May 2016. “You can make the game of cricket a lot safer by playing with a tennis ball, but that’s not how Test cricket has been played and it would obviously be a very different game.”We’re not wanting to go there, but we do need to find the right balance in the circumstances to not compromise the way the game’s played and not compromise the way in which the players are best equipped to show their skills.”Pat Cummins, who has bowled much of the short stuff delivered by Australia’s fast men at the England bowlers, pointed out that it was well known in international cricket that bowlers on all sides are going to “cop it” from their opposite numbers and it was a case of learning to deal with the angle of attack being chosen.”I think they’re all pretty competent batters,” Cummins said. “Stuart Broad’s got a Test match hundred and Anderson’s got an 80-odd so Starcy [Mitchell Starc], Hazlewood, Birdy [Jackson Bird] and I, we know we’re going to cop it as well so we spend lots of time in the nets working on it, working with the coaches and talking to other players about how to best defend it. I think I’ve copped about 50 so far this series so we get back as much as we dish out.”You’re always concerned when someone gets hit in the head, but once you find out they’re ok I think it’s part of cricket, hopefully it will always stay part of cricket. It’s one of the thrills of bowling fast, trying to unsettle the batsman when the pitch might not have sideways movement or swing, so hopefully it stays around our game.”For us, Plan A is always how can we get the batsmen out and at the moment for a few of their guys we think that’s our best chance of getting them out for the least amount of runs. Until that changes our plans will play pretty solid.”James Anderson has spoken of the experience of being struck on the helmet by Cummins in the closing stages of the Perth Test, and also countered that he did not think the difference in pace between the two teams had been as large a factor in the series as many have observed. Instead, he felt the Australians had benefited from some poor England shot selection.”I don’t know if you’ve ever been messing around with mates and someone slaps you on your ear, it’s kind of a real shock,” Anderson told the BBC. “You’re obviously not expecting to get hit on the head but you’ve got that split second where you know it’s going to hit you. It’s not ideal. It’s happened to me a few times in my career. We’re very fortunate in this day and age that the helmets are such high quality. I turned my head and just braced for impact … I had a bit of a sore jaw for a couple of days.””It’s not necessarily the pace but where the ball is and the plans they’ve had have worked well. Even me as a No.11, you get used to that pace. I honestly don’t think the pace has actually caused us any issues. If you look at our dismissals, we sometimes haven’t necessarily got out to the good balls.”