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Uncapped Mumbai quick Shardul Thakur has been picked in the 17-member squad for the four-Test tour of the West Indies in July-August

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-20166:46

Agarkar: Shardul Thakur selected at the right time

Uncapped Mumbai quick Shardul Thakur has been picked in the 17-member squad for the four-Test tour of the West Indies in July-August. The squad also includes fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has not played international cricket since March 2015 due to injuries. Virat Kohli will captain the team, while Ajinkya Rahane has been named vice-captain.Apart from batsman KL Rahul, none of the other players in the squad are part of the limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe immediately after the IPL in June. The series in West Indies is India’s first Test assignment since the home Tests against South Africa in October and November. India’s selectors made only two changes to that squad – fast bowler Varun Aaron and allrounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann were left out.Thakur had two strong showings in successive Ranji Trophy seasons. In 2014-15, he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker, alongside R Vinay Kumar, with 48 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 20.81. He followed that with 41 wickets in the 2015-16 season, the highest for Mumbai, to help the side clinch its 41st Ranji Trophy title. Overall, Thakur has 133 wickets in 37 first-class matches at an average of 27.53. He was also part of the India A squad that played four-day matches at home against South Africa A and Australia A last year.Shami has not played international cricket since the 2015 World Cup semi-final against Australia and he later revealed he had bowled through the tournament while battling pain from his knee injury. Despite that, he picked up 17 wickets in seven matches in the tournament. Following a surgery, Shami made a return to competitive cricket, playing two matches each in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Shami was picked for the ODI and T20I tour of Australia in January but was ruled out after suffering a Grade-2 hamstring injury. The injury also forced him to miss the Asia Cup T20. Shami retained his place in the World T20 squad but bowled only in the two warm-up matches, against West Indies and South Africa.India have plenty of pace-bowling options for the tour of West Indies, with Ishant Sharma, Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Thakur in the squad, along with allrounder Stuart Binny. Their spin bowling line-up comprises R Ashwin, legspinner Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja.India’s squad for the four-Test series against West Indies•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The Pakistan Cricket Board has sought the advice of a neurologist to further examine the batsman Umar Akmal, who spent a night at a hospital after a seizure on the flight to Jamaica last Wednesday

Umar Farooq21-Aug-2013The Pakistan Cricket Board has sought the advice of a neurologist to further examine the batsman Umar Akmal, who spent a night at a hospital after a seizure on the flight to Jamaica last Wednesday. Akmal, who was playing in the Caribbean Premier League at the time, was asked by the PCB to return to Pakistan and was subsequently ruled out of the limited-overs leg of the Zimbabwe tour.”It is one in a series of steps that the PCB will be undertaking in assessing the medical problem that occurred to Umar Akmal while he was in the West Indies,” the PCB said in a statement. “Umar Akmal is Pakistan’s asset and it is important that all necessary measures are taken so that the PCB is assured that he is available to play for Pakistan without posing any risk to his health”.Until yesterday, Akmal did not admit to suffering any illness and asserted that he was fully fit for national selection. ESPNcricinfo understands that the PCB withdrew his selection as a precautionary measure, going by the initial medical report.The board declared Akmal “medically not fit” and replaced him with the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.”Apparently Umar looked fine but he has been asked to go through a complete medical examination to reassess his condition,” PCB doctor Sohail Saleem said. “We were concerned about his health when informed about his medical condition in the West Indies so we have decided to engage a neurologist for detailed advice.”Neurologist Dr Saad Shafqat said Akmal needn’t worry. Two cricketers, Jonty Rhodes and Tony Greig, didn’t let epilepsy affect their international careers.”If the MRI is clear then there will be no problems, it will be controlled,” Shafqat told . “At Umar’s age epilepsy is light and we don’t take it as a serious disease.”Pakistan’s limited-overs leg of the Zimbabwe tour runs from August 23 to 31. The first Test begins September 3, but Akmal was not picked in the Test squad.

Jeetan Patel, the New Zealand offspinner, has said his side can ‘fight’ and come back in the Hyderabad Test

Abhishek Purohit in Hyderabad24-Aug-2012Jeetan Patel, the New Zealand offspinner, has said his side can “fight” and come back in the Hyderabad Test despite needing another 133 runs to avoid the follow-on with all the specialist batsmen dismissed.”We have got the opportunity tomorrow,” Jeetan said. “Face the music, and fight – what we know the best. The best thing about the Kiwi cricketers is we know how to fight. We have been in a lot of situations where we had to fight. Tomorrow is a good chance for the guys to get back in.”While Jeetan was hopeful of a comeback, R Ashwin, his India counterpart, said the home side would have an eye on enforcing the follow-on if New Zealand were to get dismissed early tomorrow.”With respect to how the wicket is behaving and it being a little bit cloudy, I think we should be looking to bowl twice and get the job done,” Ashwin said.The pitch did not deteriorate much on the second day but there was a lot of bounce and some turn for the India spinners. Patel said New Zealand were expecting the pitch to behave the way it did. “I think the wicket has changed a little bit. But it’s still slow and low with the seamers. It is taking more turn, probably a little more than we expected, such as an under-prepared wicket, and we expected that.”Despite knowing that, New Zealand could not handle the Indian spinners, losing Martin Guptill to Ashwin’s first delivery and Brendon McCullum to Pragyan Ojha’s third ball. Ashwin and Ojha claimed all five New Zealand wickets to fall today. “It is disappointing. It’s as simple as that,” Jeetan said. “They bowled some good balls and we nicked them. That is what happens in cricket. It’s tough. It was always going to be a hard tour for us bowling first up on a wicket that does not help you.”Not that Jeetan did badly when he bowled. India usually target the opposition spinner, but Jeetan was difficult to get away, and ended with 4 for 100 in 41 overs. Bowling to a 6-3 on-side field right through, he restricted run-scoring opportunities, and three of his four wickets came when batsmen tried to hit out. With Daniel Vettori being New Zealand’s lead spinner, this is only Jeetan’s 14th Test since making his debut in 2006, and he spoke about making the most whenever he got the chance.”There aren’t too many opportunities when I get to play Test cricket, so when I do, I got to put my hand up. I want to contribute and get wins for us. Obviously, getting a four-for is nice but I will have to get more than that to get us over the line.”Jeetan said he had a made a few adjustments, both technical and mental, and was now enjoying his game more. “A couple of years ago, I made a couple of changes to my action and my mental approach to the game is different now. I’m trying to enjoy a lot more the moments that I play as opposed to looking at it as if it is my last moment. That sort of mental attitude has put me in the forefront of what’s happening rather than what has happened. Getting an opportunity in county cricket [for Warwickshire] was very good for me. I needed four months of just bowling as many overs as I could.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale19-Aug-2011

Match facts

August 20, Colombo
Start time 1430 (900 GMT)Lasith Malinga took five wickets in Sri Lanka’s comfortable win in the 3rd ODI•AFP

Big Picture

A lot has changed in Australian cricket over the past 24 hours but one thing remains the same: the team is in Sri Lanka trying to win a one-day series. The players have been briefed on the Argus report, which has resulted in Andrew Hilditch and Greg Chappell being removed from the selection panel, and the captain and coach being made selectors. Chappell remains in Sri Lanka with the side, and will pick the team for Saturday’s match. It might be difficult for the players to retain their focus amid such turmoil, but given how impressive Sri Lanka were in the third match, they will need to shut out all distractions.Tillakaratne Dilshan and his men found a spark to keep the series alive in Hambantota, and victory in Saturday’s game in Colombo will level the series. The teams met at this venue during the World Cup but the match was washed out. The pitch had offered plenty of spin on that occasion, which should give the hosts some confidence.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLWL
Australia LWWWW

In the spotlight

Lasith Malinga’s five-wicket haul in Tuesday’s victory was overshadowed by Upul Tharanga’s century, but it was just as impressive. At his best, Malinga is fast, accurate, and gets late swing that means a batsman cannot afford to play the wrong line. He will be a key weapon throughout the rest of the series.Doug Bollinger has been in excellent form for Australia so far in this series, having taken taking eight wickets at 13.87, yet he’s not part of the squad for the Test matches coming up after the one-dayers. He has used his pace, bounce and angle to great effect in the first three games, and was easily Australia’s best bowler in the loss in the third match. Bollinger might not exactly be able to bowl himself into the Test squad, but if he keeps his form up, he’ll have every chance of being the first backup if any of the bowlers break down in the longer format.

Team news

Sri Lanka might have won the third ODI, but not all members of their team have pulled their weight, and three men have been dropped from the squad. Of those, Dinesh Chandimal was the only one who played in the victory, and his axing should mean Chamara Silva retains his spot. The uncapped legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna has been rushed home from England, where he was playing for Sri Lanka A.In Hambantota, Sri Lanka played just the one specialist spinner, Ajantha Mendis, with Jeevan Mendis playing a supporting role. But with the action shifting to Colombo Dilshan said in the pre-match press conference they would play two spinners. He also said Prasanna could be handed a debut though he will be competing for a spot with Suraj Randiv. Dilshan admitted Sri Lanka may consider dropping Jeevan Mendis since they had given him plenty of opportunities, and he has not produced with either bat or ball in the series.Angelo Mathews has been ruled fit after missing the third game.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Suraj Randiv / Seekkuge Prasanna, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Lasith Malinga.Australia’s main concern surrounds the out-of-form Brad Haddin, but with no other gloveman in the squad, they have no option but to retain him. One possibility would be to bring Shaun Marsh in to open and push Haddin down the order, perhaps squeezing out Steven Smith, who has delivered little with bat or ball so far in the series. But Australia are loath to tinker, and a more likely scenario if the conditions are suitable would be a straight swap of the allrounder John Hastings for Smith, with Haddin to stay at the top.Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Michael Hussey, 6 David Hussey, 7 Steven Smith / John Hastings, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Xavier Doherty, 11 Doug Bollinger.

Pitch and conditions

The Hambantota pitch didn’t offer as much assistance to the spinners as might have been expected, but expect the ball to turn in Colombo. Dilshan said the track looked slow.

Stats and trivia

• Kumar Sangakkara will play his 300th ODI, the sixth Sri Lankan to reach the milestone.
• Upul Tharanga needs one more century in 2011 to equal the Sri Lankan record for most ODI hundreds in a calendar year for the second time. The record is jointly held by Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya, who made five each in 2006.
• Australia fare better under Michael Clarke when he loses the toss. They’ve lost four of nine ODIs when he’s won the toss, and only three of 21 games when he’s lost the toss.
  

  Quotes

  “The difference between the other teams and the Australians is if you take their fast bowlers, they have speed and ability to swing the ball and, more than other teams, they pose a massive challenge.”
  “We know that if we can make inroads in their top order, we’ve got a good chance.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Julien Fountain as the specialist fielding coach for the national side until the end of the 2011 World Cup

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2010The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Julien Fountain as the specialist fielding coach for the national side until the end of the 2011 World Cup. He will begin his stint with the squad after arriving in Dhaka on Thursday.Fountain, who has previously worked as a fielding coach with the England, Pakistan and West Indies teams, looked forward to the prospect of coaching a young side. “I am really looking forward to joining Bangladesh in their search for World Cup 2011 success. Bangladesh are a young side who have proved that they are capable of beating the best sides in the world on their day.”I honestly believe that as one of the host nations, Bangladesh are a really strong contender, and with the right preparation, who knows what they are capable of achieving,” Fountain said.Fountain represented Somerset Under-19s when he was only 15 years old before taking an interest in baseball. He was a part of the British Olympic baseball team before returning to cricket as a coach. He took over as the West Indies fielding coach in 1998 and recently expressed interest in a second stint with the Pakistan team.

Allrounders Aaron Hardie and Matt Short have also been named alongside Alex Carey

Andrew McGlashan12-Jan-2025 • Updated on 13-Jan-2025Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been named in Australia’s squad for the Champions Trophy after been ruled out of the upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka.Cummins, who will captain the team, is on paternity leave for the birth of his second child, but it was also revealed last week that he was to undergo scans on a troublesome ankle he carried through the India Test series. George Bailey, the chair of selectors, said they were awaiting the outcome of the scans but with the ability to freely amend the squad for the next four weeks there was no imminent rush to make a final call.Related

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“I want to give him a little bit of space at the back end of the Border-Gavaskar; obviously baby pending,” Bailey said. “We’ll work through that with Pat and obviously the selection panel and the medical team…but I know he’s very keen.”Hazlewood, meanwhile, hadn’t quite recovered in time from the calf injury that ended his series but should be able to take his place in the one-day side.Allrounders Aaron Hardie and Matthew Short, the latter who scored a 54-ball 109 for Adelaide Strikers two days ago, have also been included in the 15-player squad.Hardie is not currently bowling for Perth Scorchers in the BBL due to injury while Josh Inglis is also recovering from a calf strain he picked up while sub fielding during the Test series.Nathan Ellis has tipped out the likes of Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett to be the fourth pace bowler behind the big three.”This is a balanced and experienced squad with the core having been involved in the previous one-day World Cup, the West Indies series, last year’s successful tour of the UK and the more recent Pakistan home series,” Bailey said. “It offers a variety of options for touring management depending on opposition and the conditions that may present in Pakistan.”Alex Carey also finds a spot after making a successful return to the ODI side against England last year with scores of 74 and 77 not out having previously lost his place after one game of the 2023 World Cup. He could play as a specialist batter, as he did once in the England series, but also provides wicketkeeping back-up for Inglis.Adam Zampa is the one frontline spinner but will be supported by Short and Glenn Maxwell.Among younger players who featured against Pakistan earlier in the series, where Australia lost 2-1, Jake Fraser-McGurk has not made the cut amid an extended lean run which has included a top score of 26 in eight innings for Melbourne Renegades. Cooper Connolly, who was selected for the Sri Lanka Test tour, also can’t find a space.Australia will play a one-off ODI against Sri Lanka on February 13 before heading to Pakistan and discussions remain ongoing as to whether there will be another warm-up game. They are grouped with England (February 22), South Africa (February 25) and Afghanistan (February 28).The first semi-final will take place in Dubai on March 4 with the second in Lahore on March 5 following confirmation of the hybrid model due to India not traveling to Pakistan. The final will be on March 9, in either Dubai or Lahore depending on whether India qualify.

Australia squad for Champions Trophy

Pat Cummins (capt), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

The position had been vacant since December 2022, when Ramesh Powar was removed as part of BCCI’s “restructuring module”

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2023Amol Muzumdar, the former Mumbai batter, has been named head coach of the India women’s national team.”This is a huge responsibility and I look forward to working closely with talented players and providing them with the right preparation and guidance to excel,” Muzumdar said in a BCCI statement. “The next two years are extremely important as two World Cups are scheduled in the period. Together with the coaching and support staff, we will look to tick every box and give ourselves the best chance to succeed.”The statement added that the three-member cricket advisory committee of the BCCI had interviewed the shortlisted applicants for the position and unanimously recommended Muzumdar for the role.The position had been vacant since December 2022, when Ramesh Powar was abruptly removed as part of BCCI’s “restructuring module” two months ahead of the T20 World Cup in South Africa. Since then, Hrishikesh Kanitkar has been in the top job in an interim capacity, overseeing the team for the home T20I series against Australia in December last year, the tri-series in South Africa, the T20 World Cup earlier this year as well as the Asian Games, in which India won the gold medal, in September. Former India bowler Nooshin Al Khadeer was the interim head coach during the white-ball tour of Bangladesh in July.Muzumdar has been an active coach since he called time on a 21-year first-class career during which he became one of the highest run-getters in the Ranji Trophy. Following 15 years with Mumbai, he moved to Assam in 2009 and later to Andhra.He amassed 11,167 runs from 171 first-class matches with 30 centuries, but never got the chance to represent India. He went on to win eight Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai.After his retirement, he has coached age-group sides at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy, has been at the helm for Mumbai, and has been part of the coaching staff at Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, and with South Africa during their tour of India in 2019.

The six-team tournament begins in the UAE with Sri Lanka taking on Afghanistan on August 27

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2022India and Pakistan will play each other for the first time since the 2021 T20 World Cup when they face off in the Asia Cup on August 28 in Dubai, a day after the tournament begins with Sri Lanka taking on Afghanistan. Bangladesh open their campaign against Afghanistan on August 30 in Sharjah.The fixtures of the 2022 Asia Cup, which will be played in the T20 format ahead of the T20 World Cup in October, were announced on Tuesday. India, Pakistan and the team that wins the qualifying tournament comprise Group A, while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are in Group B.All matches will start at 6pm local time, with ten games in Dubai and three in Sharjah.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The qualifying round of matches to determine the sixth team will begin on August 20 in Oman. The teams competing for a place in Group A – along with India and Pakistan – are UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong.In the main draw, each team will play the other two in their group once, and the top two teams from each group will enter a Super 4 round that starts on September 3. The teams in the Super 4 round will play each other once, with the top two sides qualifying for the final on September 11.India are the defending champions of the Asia Cup, which was last played in 2018 in an ODI format. India had won the title by beating Bangladesh in a last-ball thriller in Dubai.This edition of the Asia Cup was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka but it was moved to the UAE last month because of the ongoing economic crisis in the island nation. SLC will continue to be the official hosts of the tournament, although it is being played in the UAE.”Considering the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka, the ACC after extensive deliberation has unanimously concluded that it would be appropriate to relocate the tournament from Sri Lanka to the UAE,” the ACC president Jay Shah had said. “Every effort was made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation. The UAE will be the new venue while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights.”

Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, said long-term fitness of the fast bowler was the priority as he also has further treatment on his elbow

Andrew Miller30-Mar-2021Jofra Archer’s participation in this year’s IPL will be decided later this week, following a bizarre incident prior to England’s tour of India, in which he dropped a tropical fish tank in his bath and suffered a cut middle finger on his right hand.The incident occurred at Archer’s flat in Hove in January, and although the finger healed sufficiently for him to take part in both the Test and T20I legs of the tour, the England management decided it would be prudent to investigate the wound properly after he flew home ahead of last week’s ODIs to undergo treatment on a long-term elbow injury.Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, told the BBC’s Tuffers and Vaughan show that Archer had undergone a successful operation on Monday, and confirmed that the reports about the nature of the injury were true.”This is going to sound like an awful conspiracy and I can see what’s going happen on Twitter as soon as I say this,” Giles said. “But, yeah, he was cleaning at home. He’s got a fish tank. He dropped the fish tank, cut his hand, and he’s been in surgery today.Related

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“He’s come out of it well. It was managed through India, he was treated when he arrived and it wasn’t an open wound on that finger. It didn’t stop him playing, but given he came home for an injection on his elbow, he went to a specialist because the finger was still a bit stiff.”They’ve operated and I think they found a small fragment of glass still in attendance. It obviously healed but there was part of the fish tank still in his finger. So, it was the right thing to do. We’ve got a clear window to do it as well. We wish him the best for his recovery but it’s true, it’s not a conspiracy.”Archer, who has a £800,000 contract with Rajasthan Royals, was named MVP at the most recent tournament in November, but was already due to miss the start of this year’s event, which gets underway on April 9, because of his elbow complaint.Jofra Archer managed both an elbow and finger injury in India•BCCI

The issue, which is not believed to be directly related to the elbow fracture he sustained on last year’s tour of South Africa, caused Archer to miss the second and fourth Tests of England’s 3-1 series defeat. Though he played in all five T20Is of their subsequent 3-2 loss, he required a cortisone injection to make it through the series, and underwent another round of treatment on his return to London.”At the front of our minds is making sure that Jofra’s fit and available to do what he does best, which is bowl quick and enjoy his bowling,” Giles said. “His elbow injury certainly stopped him from doing that, and through the T20 series, that condition worsened and he couldn’t play without some form of pain relief.”You have to manage these things carefully, because it’s a bit like his finger actually, it seems like a small thing, but his middle finger on his right hand is pretty important when you’re a fast bowler.”With a busy England schedule looming, the ECB and the Royals are expected to make a swift decision over Archer’s availability for the IPL. England’s itinerary includes five Tests against India and an Ashes tour of Australia next winter, as well as the T20 World Cup in India, for which Archer will be an integral part of their plans.”We need to manage the elbow carefully,” Giles said. “We’ve got a really good medical team. We don’t know what’s going to happen yet in this next couple of months. But our priority is to get both of these things right and get him back on the field.”Clearly, with what he does, there’s a lot of energy that goes through that area,” Giles added. “We need to try and manage it as conservatively as possible, because this is a really important area of the body for Jof.”We need to look after him first and foremost, but I’m pretty confident that he’ll be fine, he’ll be back as soon as he can.”

England coach says New Zealand’s tactics on a flat pitch may be the way to compete

George Dobell in Mount Maunganui23-Nov-2019Chris Silverwood conceded England – and their strike bowler, Jofra Archer – were “on a learning curve” in overseas conditions after a tough day in Mount Maunganui.Silverwood, England’s new head coach, saw his team take just two wickets in an entire day’s cricket and concede what may prove to be a crucial first-innings deficit with power for New Zealand to build on their 41-run lead on the fourth day. Archer, despite much pre-series expectation, finished wicketless.But while he acknowledged his team had endured “a tough day”, Silverwood insisted they “can take pride” in the efforts they had put in and that such experiences were all part of the learning experience. And he reminded supporters that Archer was playing just his fifth Test and his first overseas and that both he and his captain, Joe Root, were learning how to use his skills in such circumstances.”The spirit is good and one thing we can take pride in is we worked really hard,” Silverwood said. “The wicket is fairly flat and slowed down during the day We know we have done a shift in the dirt. It’s been hard work and we can be proud of it. I thought we showed a great attitude and put a lot of effort into it today.”It’s a learning curve for us. How do we take 20 wickets abroad? This is part of the process and we’re building from it. We’ll be talking about using new methods going forward. It’s a constant build.ALSO READ: Watling whittles away at England’s resolve“Jofra is still very young in his Test career. Jofra’s learning about himself and the game of Test cricket and equally Joe is learning to captain him as well. From a holistic point of view we’re growing together, really.”Jofra is learning ways to operate when he’s out there and the one thing we know he has is a ferocious bouncer.”It may be, Silverwood suggested, that England can learn from New Zealand’s tactics. Certainly their bowlers seemed more adept at tempting the batsmen into errors, though whether that is a reflection on England’s batting as much as New Zealand’s bowling is debatable.”I was watching how the New Zealand boys bowled on that wicket,” he said. “I was watching the tactics used and what we can learn from them. We can take them and try to implement some of them.”Look at how Tim Southee bowled. He held his length very well. At times he hung the ball wide of the stumps and made us go to him. We tried that. We almost tempted some shots out of their guys but on a flat wicket you have to go through ideas and you have to give those ideas time to work.”Silverwood also accepted that England’s catching had to improve. Here Ben Stokes’ dropping of BJ Wating at slip on 31 off the bowling of Root proved particularly damaging.”We’ve got to face into this,” he said. “You’ve probably seen on the morning before play that we are doing a lot of catching. We know that we’ve got to try to get better and we’re trying very hard to do that. I think the more we practice, the better we’ll get.”Despite England’s struggles, Silverwood had no criticism of the pitch.”I think it is a good wicket for Test cricket,” he said. “It’s been a good, hard-fought day. And we don’t know what the next two days are going to be like. It could end up a very good Test wicket but we’ll see in the next two days, won’t we?”