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Ashleigh Gardner put in another all-round display while Grace Harris continued with her big-hitting heroics as Australia thumped India by 54 runs to seal a 4-1 series win at the Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday.After Gardner and Harris propelled Australia to 196 for 4 – the highest total in this series – India’s batting line-up crumbled for 142, as Heather Graham claimed a hat-trick in just her third T20I for Australia.Deepti Sharma hit a half-century to take India to a respectable total at a time when a more embarrassing defeat looked to be on the cards.Gardner, Harris onslaught
India started well with the ball, getting both openers out in a powerplay that also saw Renuka Singh bowl a maiden over to Australia’s stand-in captain, Tahlia McGrath. McGrath, however, came back strong and helped Australia kick on, before being stumped off Shafali Verma in the eighth over. Australia were 67 for 4 when the in-form Ellyse Perry fell in the 10th over, holing out to long-on off Devika Vaidya’s legspin.However, like in every match in this series, a big partnership derailed the hosts’ hopes. It was Beth Mooney and McGrath in the first two games, Perry and Harris in the third and then Perry and Gardner in the fourth. On Tuesday, it was Harris and Gardner, who added 129 runs off 62 deliveries for the fifth wicket.They started their onslaught in the 13th over, when Gardner hit Anjali Sarvani for four consecutive boundaries. Australia hammered 112 runs in the last eight overs, including the 19 that came off Sarvani’s.Gardner toyed with the fielders, finding the gaps with regularity, hitting 11 fours and a six. Harris, on the other hand, was less interested in where the fielders were and more in clearing the rope. She hit four sixes and six fours en route to her first T20I half-century.India were not helped by the poor fielding, gifting Australia runs from overthrows on three different occasions. And a rare dot ball in the death overs from Renuka also slipped past Richa Ghosh for four byes.Heather Graham picked up a hat-trick•BCCI

Graham, Gardner rattle India
Chasing a mammoth 197, India hit their first roadblock in the first over, when Smriti Mandhana flicked an innocuous delivery from Darcie Brown straight to Harris at forward square leg.Struggling to accelerate, the hosts lost Shafali soon in the fifth over as Gardner teased her with a flighted delivery outside off that she hit straight to Annabel Sutherland in long-on.Harleen Deol, who didn’t get to bat in the last game, was promoted to No. 3 with India opting to rest Jemimah Rodrigues for the match. Deol upped the tempo with a few quick boundaries, including a square drive behind point off the first delivery she faced.However, a mix-up with Harmanpreet Kaur brought an end to her knock of 16-ball 24 and India lost wickets in regular intervals after that run-out. Harmanpreet was trapped lbw by Sutherland before Gardner returned to get rid of the big-hitting Ghosh to leave the hosts at 70 for 5 in the 10th over.Gardner finished with figures of 2 for 20, identical to the last game, to cap off another brilliant all-round display that saw her win both the Player-of-the-Match and Player-of-the-Tournament awards.Meanwhile, Graham, introduced to the attack in the 13th over, ran through the lower middle order with a fine hat-trick. Vaidya was her first victim, deceived by a slower ball and stumped as she went forward to play at it. Her second wicket was a length ball outside off that nipped back in to crash into the stumps to send Radha Yadav back to the hut.While Australia’s innings took off in their 13th over, India’s chase all but ended there.Graham was taken off the attack after that, and she came back to bowl the final over, castling Renuka to complete her treble. She was not done yet, as she had Deepti hole out at long-off with the final ball of the match. She returned figures of 2-0-8-4.In between the two overs that Graham took her hat-trick, Deepti once again put her finishing skills on show, scoring 53 off 34 balls, including eight fours and one six.

Australia allrounder Cameron Green defied a fractured finger that will rule him out of the Sydney Test next week with an unbeaten half-century on the third day at the MCG.It was confirmed on Wednesday morning that scans on Green’s right index finger had revealed the small fracture after he was struck on the finger by Anrich Nortje while batting late on day two and was forced to retire hurt.The injury means he won’t be able to bowl again in Melbourne and will also miss his BBL stint with Perth Scorchers in a bid to be fit for the Test tour of India in early February.Related

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However, he was able to resume his innings and walked in at the fall of the seventh wicket then forged a 117-run stand with Alex Carey, facing 177 deliveries before Pat Cummins declared. Though he occasionally removed his hand from the bat he did not seem in significant discomfort.”I actually didn’t think he was going to walk out the race today,” Carey said. “But to see him put on a brave face, bat beautifully and allow me at the other end to bat as well…allowed us to put on a really good partnership.”However, his injury was a blow to Australia’s bowling stocks in the MCG Test, particularly after Green took a career-best 5 for 27 to bowl South Africa out for just 189 on the first day.Green’s injury also creates a headache for Australia’s selectors ahead of the Sydney Test. Mitchell Marsh had been the back-up allrounder in the Test squad for the last 12 months, including the Ashes and tours to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but he is currently unavailable as he recovers from ankle surgery.Aaron Hardie has been on Australia’s radar since last year’s Sheffield Shield final•Getty Images

It does open the door for Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie, who has been on Australia’s radar since his breakout performance in last season’s Sheffield Shield final. He also performed superbly for Australia A during the winter tour of Sri Lanka and played in the Prime Minister’s XI, which was effectively an Australia A side, against West Indies in November.However, Hardie’s Shield form did tail off following an excellent allround match against Queensland at the WACA in October, although he has started the BBL well for Perth Scorchers, including making 55 against Sydney Sixers. Another option the selectors could consider is recalling Michael Neser and bat him at No. 7, which he does in Sheffield Shield cricket, as part of a five-man attack with Carey moving up to No. 6.Mitchell Starc is also carrying an injury to the middle finger on his left hand after injuring it while fielding on day one. There are reports he has suffered ligament damage, but it has not been confirmed by CA.Starc was clocked about 140kph in his opening spell in South Africa’s second innings before the rain came although the injury was causing him discomfort and he was regularly wiping away blood.Australia already have a bowling cover for Starc if, as expected, he is ruled out of the Sydney Test with Josh Hazlewood and Lance Morris currently with the squad. Head coach Andrew McDonald hinted on SEN radio that Starc’s injury may present an opportunity for Morris. There is a possibility they could add a second spinner to the squad ahead of Sydney given the SCG pitch has been very spin-friendly this summer. Mitchell Swepson was the incumbent second spinner, having played four Tests in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but there has been talk of Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Todd Murphy threatening the pecking order ahead of the India tour.If Australia don’t pick another allrounder to replace Green, they will have to consider whether to play six batters and five bowlers, or seven batters and just four bowlers. Marcus Harris, a specialist opener, is the only spare batter currently with the squad. A middle-order player such as Peter Handscomb could also come into the mix.Marnus Labuschagne had a decent bowl in the nets on the morning of day three before rain interrupted the warm-ups. He was working on his seam-up bowling with Australia’s stand-in bowling coach Andre Adams. Steven Smith was also bowling some off and legspin.

Ben Duckett says that he is committed to taking every available opportunity to represent England across all three formats, after crediting the laissez-faire attitude of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in the Test team for his successful return to international cricket this winter.By his own admission, Duckett, now 28, “probably wasn’t ready for international cricket” back in 2016-17, when he made his Test and ODI debuts on England’s tours of Bangladesh and India. Seven years later, however, he’s so relaxed about the experience, he was even able to prepare for last week’s return to the white-ball set-up by spending a couple of days “on a sun lounger” in Dubai.That brief stint of R&R came as the Test squad disbanded after their thrilling one-run loss to New Zealand in Wellington, which was also Duckett’s first defeat in five appearances since his recall for the Pakistan tour in December. In that time he has averaged an impressive 56.44 at the top of the order, and was enthusiastic about carrying that same mindset into this week’s first T20I against Bangladesh in Chattogram.”It’s ridiculously different,” Duckett said of his experience in the Test set-up. “The way that they make everyone feel is something that I never thought would be the case in Test cricket. It’s almost like you’re playing a friendly, you’re actually going out and playing a Test match and it’s that relaxed, and that’s how you’re going to get players to perform at their best.”The first thing Baz said to me in Pakistan was: ‘Just enjoy it, you’re going to get a good run’. To hear that as an opening batsman before your first Test back makes you not nervous and you can go out there and play your way rather than looking for a score.”And I think the big thing in that dressing-room is – whatever the noise is outside that dressing room, no one cares. It’s everything in that dressing room and almost you’ve got that backing, it feels like there’s a squad of players now that seems like they’re going to keep for a little while, especially while things are going well. Previously, you’re fearing for every single game, if you get no runs, you might get dropped the next game.”Duckett took a similarly phlegmatic attitude to his innings of 20 from 13 balls in England’s six-wicket loss in the first T20I. “I tried to stick to my strengths. It went all right and then I missed one,” he said.”The one thing I’ve been lucky with is, because of how I play, it doesn’t really change throughout the formats. You see these guys who are whacking the ball out of the ground and then they’ve got to go and play Test cricket and it’s a massive difference, where my mentality in all three formats is to see ball, hit ball. And now against spin, sweeping it both ways in all formats – and I’ve got the full backing from all of the squads.”I’ve matured as a cricketer,” he added. “It’s realising what works for me, understanding what my strengths are. Seven years ago I might have tried to hit Shakib [Al Hasan] for six over long-on, now I know all I have to do is hit the ball in front of square leg and it’s four runs. The small taste I had back then, I was very young and probably wasn’t ready. I think that comes with age and most batters are at their best when they get to the age of 28, 29.”Related

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Duckett is one of only four England players to have featured in all three formats this winter, and it’s been quite the round-the-world trip – encompassing campaigns in Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and now Bangladesh – which is all the more reason why he had no qualms about dropping everything for a week and lying low with his girlfriend in the UAE between red- and white-ball campaigns, rather than fretting about the challenge of switching formats.His long wait for a second chance with England was also a key factor in his decision to opt out of the big-money opportunities on the franchise circuit this winter – including the on-going Pakistan Super League, which caused a number of England’s players, including Alex Hales, to withdraw their availability for the Bangladesh series.”I spoke to someone a month ago about people resting and pulling out of stuff,” he said. “For me, the focus is on the chance to play all three formats for England. And that’s going to be my focus for as long as I’m in the squad.”Don’t get me wrong, if I’ve got a month next winter and I get offered a lot of money, I’m probably going to go and play in it, as most of us would. But you can play all these leagues around the world in a few years’ time, right now I’m solely focused on playing as much for England as I can. That break I had was potentially a good thing for me, and it’s made me so hungry now to take every single chance I get.”

During a Rolling Stones tour of Australia, legendary drummer and noted cricket enthusiast Charlie Watts followed the well-worn trail of many tourists in Perth. He had his photo taken in front of the WACA ground.”He was on the corner outside of the ground taking a photo because he didn’t think he would be allowed in,” chuckled WA Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.The rather amusing anecdote underlines the global reverence of the WACA, the old warhorse entrenched in cricket lore due to its fast and bouncy pitch which has conjured some of the sport’s most visceral images.”The name is our unique selling point of the ground and the thing that makes it world famous,” Matthews said. “The name and what’s happened out in the middle is something that you can’t buy. They’re the things we’ve got to protect.”Related

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During the recent Men’s T20 World Cup, many visitors and international media members trekked the Matagarup Bridge linking the shiny 60,000-seat Optus Stadium to East Perth, where the WACA is located.What they saw was an ageing ground undergoing a major redevelopment with the renowned Prindiville Stand demolished and the grass banks under the iconic scoreboard now resembling a construction site.The WACA is set to transform into a multi-sport community facility, marked by a public swimming pool, playground and café, while boasting 10,000-15,000 seats for events.The project was initially pegged at AU$115 million, but has blown out due to increased construction costs since the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing war in Ukraine.About $32 million is still needed, Matthews says, with the funds hoping to be derived from the Western Australian government’s budget, which will be handed down in May.If all goes to plan, the redevelopment will be completed by the backend of 2025 – one year after the initial timeframe.On the field, Western Australia is having remarkable success•Getty Images

“I’m pretty confident we’ll get there. If we don’t, we just have to review it,” Matthews said. “It would be a genuine community destination that happens to have as its foundation first-class cricket.”Even though parts of the ground are an eyesore, the WACA has continued to host men’s and women’s domestic cricket while several matches of the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup were played there.But men’s international cricket and the Big Bash League have not been held at the WACA since 2017-18 and there has been uncertainty over whether Test cricket will return to the venue.Matthews confirmed that higher-profile Tests involving England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and possibly Pakistan would likely be permanently fixtured at Optus Stadium with others set for the redeveloped WACA.But carving out a perennial date in the calendar has proven difficult for Perth with Tests since 1997 having been played in every month from October-February.It’s in contrast to the other major cities which have built a tradition around their Tests to create consistency and become a drawcard for fans.”There are three Tests that have significant stakes in the ground; Sydney has New Year and the Jane McGrath day, Melbourne has Boxing Day and Adelaide is the first-choice day-night match,” Matthews said. “Brisbane and us kind of just float…although Brisbane often starts the Test summer.”We want a bit more security around our Test. Is there something we can do so the people of Perth know they are going to something more than just a cricket match? What does our Test stand for?”Matthews believed mid-December was the optimal time for a Perth Test match with WA Cricket pushing to host Pakistan next summer during that slot.”We strongly believe that having the Test match before Christmas is ideal for us,” she said. “Given the route [to Perth] from England and other places…and then off to the east coast for Boxing Day and New Year [Tests], it’s practical.”Then people will have an understanding that ‘okay, this is when your Test is on…somewhere in December before Boxing Day’.”Just a tick over 40,000 fans attended the first Test at Optus Stadium between Australia and West Indies played in late November-early December.Attendances were disappointing for last November’s West Indies Test•AFP

The underwhelming turnout for Perth’s first Test match since 2019 was due to a myriad of reasons, including what appeared a lack of marketing ahead of the summer’s opening Test.”Other than our membership base, we have nothing to do with the Test other than when they [Cricket Australia] ask us for assistance in rolling something out,” Matthews said.”We believe that if we can be given more freedom to run the Test, we could probably get a better result for Cricket Australia. That’s not to mean we go rogue, but it becomes embedded in our planning process.”Every year there’s a national marketing campaign, and it’s very generic. We think there needs to be something specific for Perth to talk about why people should come to international cricket.”Matthews missed the Test match amid a month’s leave after a taxing period, which included a spate of board resignations and unrest emanating from several WA legends.The findings from an external inquiry into the resignations, which included former Test players Graeme Wood and Mike Veletta, will be handed to the board soon.Tensions also erupted last year over a proposal to erect statues of legendary quick Dennis Lillee, women’s trailblazer Zoe Goss and a 19th century team of Aboriginal cricketers.”There’s no doubt that, if you want to call it an old guard, [they] probably want things done differently. The question is – what do they want differently and how do they want it done?” Matthews said. “I can’t think of any area that we’re not excelling in. We still had a 90% retention rate in members this year. So that tells you people are on board, not against what we’re doing.”There’s no doubt that the ruckus of the past six months has come from the older demographic. But it’s not the majority view.”Matthews, who played 20 Tests and 47 ODIs from 1984-95, wanted to attract more females to WA Cricket’s membership base.”We have a low percentage of female members because of the model of buying a membership and a guest card,” she said. “Historically, men bought memberships and the guest pass was for ladies.”I think that’s a challenge for us as to how we get more women to commit to being a member, not a guest of a member. We want everybody to come to the cricket, not just traditionalists.”Matthews hoped to continue defying her critics in a role she has held for more than a decade.”It would be negligent of me to move on while we’re still trying to embed the development,” she said. “We’re trying to maintain this ground as a really important part of the WACA’s history and have it seen across the world as a modern facility.”

The PCB is set to incur an estimated loss of PKR 200 million (USD 1.2 million approx) in term of gate revenues alone following the postponement of the PSL’s semi-finals and final, and the matches that were played in empty stadiums, and a loss of a further USD 3 to 4 million from not staging the remainder of Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh in April. Despite these blows, the PCB’s financial health is still sustainable for the next 12 to 14 months, according to its CEO Wasim Khan.Since March 16, all professional cricket in Pakistan has come to a halt in the light of growing concerns around the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic that is sweeping the globe. After the PSL, Pakistan was set for another month of home domestic and international cricket, with the Pakistan One-Day Cup and the final leg of Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan. Amid all this, Pakistan’s five-year broadcasting deal and the kit sponsorship were about to end with the PCB preparing to seek out new deals; this means the board will not lose anything financially from their existing commercial deals.Pakistan only had away tours to play in the five months after the scheduled end of their home season, with their next domestic season due to start in October, and their next home international series set for December. This has given the PCB a bit of breathing room. The board has shut down cricketing operations at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore, asking players and coaches to remain at home with all upcoming courses suspended infinitely. The board’s offices are shut as well, with employees working from home.How long this shutdown will continue is uncertain, but the PCB is hopeful that it will have sufficient funds to survive by the start of its next round of home fixtures.”For now our financial grounds are fine, and obviously we just had a PSL, and the losses we incurred were from gate receipts and sponsorships,” Wasim said. “I was roughly calculating that it could be around the 200-million-rupee mark in terms of gate receipts that we actually lost on our revenue. This is something we will have definite numbers for in the next couple of weeks, and we will provide the details of where we made the greatest losses.”So we are in a fortunate position in the fact that the only immediate loss we have is the the Bangladesh series. We lost three to four million dollars because we are not playing the Test and and ODI. Apart from that we have two things: one, our shirt sponsorship is up for taking, so we are not losing money on that, and we are looking for a new sponsor, and secondly, our broadcasting rights are ending and the Bangladesh series was the last of the Ten Sports deal that we currently had.”We are moving on to negotiate and looking for new deals and we are very fortunate in the fact that we don’t have home cricket and international’s cricket until we move on to the Asia Cup and Zimbabwe in October. Our finances are okay but like any other country if this continues for another 12 or 14 months, then we will start to see a real challenge in our finances. So for time being we are absolutely fine.”The next domestic season faces significant changes, with the PCB working to decentralise its domestic stakeholders, forming six independent provincial and city associations. It had already implemented the new structure last year with six teams playing every format in the country, abolishing the old structure with departments playing first-class cricket. The PCB is exploring a plan to squeeze in another tournament, allowing departments to return to the fold.Administratively, the PCB over coming months is likely to implement a constitution for the provincial boards to form their management committee, which will have its own departments – accounts, finance, marketing, HR, audit, selection, coaching staff. The entire model will be detached from the PCB to work independently with the PCB not retaining any direct role in the decision-making of each regional team. Before this, the PCB had been directly involved in funding and running cricket operations in each region, and last season alone had spent over PKR 1 billion (USD 6.3 million approx) in doing so.

Jos Buttler admits that he cannot continue to be picked on “potential” alone at Test level, after being retained in England’s squad for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka despite an off-colour showing during the recent Test series in South Africa.In the midst of an otherwise upbeat run of performances from England’s new-look Test team, Buttler’s form was a notable exception. He mustered 115 runs in seven innings, with a highest score of 29 – a run that evoked a similar collapse in red-ball confidence on the tour of UAE in 2015-16, after which he played just three more Tests in the next three years.And in the wake of England’s 3-1 series win, there was inevitable speculation about Buttler’s future as a Test cricketer – especially given his integral importance to England’s white-ball fortunes, both in winning last year’s World Cup on home soil and in challenging for three more titles in the next three years: back-to-back 20-over World Cups in Australia and India this winter and next, before the defence of England’s 50-over title in 2023, by which stage he may well be the white-ball captain.Buttler himself, however, insists he still has the drive to succeed in Test cricket, which he describes as “the best form of the game”, and says that, despite a Test record that now comprises a solitary century in 73 innings, at an average of 31.74, he retains the “massive self-belief” required to become a world-class player across all three formats.”I’m too old now to get picked on potential,” admits Jos Buttler•Rajasthan Royals

“I’m very committed to Test cricket,” Buttler said. “It’s the best form of the game, it’s the hardest form of the game. That’s what makes it – when you have good moments – the most rewarding. You want to be a part of that.”My performances may have meant that decision would be taken out of my hands. But fortunately for me I’m on the tour [to Sri Lanka] and really excited about it. I enjoyed the last tour there that we won back in November 2018. I’ve got good memories from that tour and looking forward to going back.”Though he finished the South Africa tour on a relative high, with a 23-ball fifty in England’s series-clinching victory in the third T20I, Buttler acknowledged that his form throughout the tour had not been where he wanted it to be. However, he insisted it was an “easy assumption” to put that down to any sense of a post-World Cup hangover.Instead, he insisted that the challenge of “managing your energy” was something that all the world’s top players had to get their heads around as they seek to make the most of their finite years at the top level of the sport.”Definitely a lot went into the World Cup, not just that summer but for four years,” Buttler said. “Probably the realisation of it coming together and achieving that, it confuses you a little bit – that’s been your clear cut-off for a long time, then that’s done. So you’ve got to quickly reassess.”But at the same time, I maintain I just haven’t played as well as I’d like and that’s through decision-making, probably.”There’s no let-up in Buttler’s 2020 schedule. He sets off for Sri Lanka with the Test squad in early March before linking up with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL immediately after the conclusion of the second Test in the first week of April. Then he returns to England for three Tests against West Indies in June, by which stage the inaugural season of the Hundred will be coming into view. Further international engagements against Australia and Pakistan will complete the English summer, by which stage the T20 World Cup will be looming large. It promises to be a lot of chopping and changing if Buttler truly believes he can compete on all fronts.”I think trying to manage your energy, it’s actually a real skill of the best players around the world,” he said. “Learning how to peak at the time you walk to the middle is a massive skill that comes with experience, but you can learn that from watching guys go about it and trying to work out how you do that authentically for yourself.Jos Buttler drives over long-off•AFP

“Of course you need to find breaks in your schedule, because your mind is your biggest asset, and you need to make sure you can bring that to the best place when you turn up to games of cricket. But there’s a crop of guys who are the best players in the world and they’re the best players across all the formats.”I’ve got massive self-belief in myself, and a lot of it is about fulfilling potential,” he added. “I’m too old now to get picked on potential but I feel that I haven’t got to the level I know I can get to, and that’s a big driver for me. That’s my aim every time I turn up to practice, to try and get better and try and reach that level I am capable of. I’ve always maintained that belief.”Instead of the prospect of any outright rest, Buttler believes that a change will do him just as much good, and said that the chance to cut loose in the recent T20I series came as a “big relief” after a run of ten Tests in a row against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.ALSO READ: Buttler’s opening gambit leaves T20 top-order unclear“I love T20 cricket and it allows you to go out without as many consequences and you can take more risks and move the game on,” he said. “To play in that white-ball team again was great because that is the most fun team I have played in for a long time, so that was a great change up.”I can’t think of any times I’ve played well in Test cricket and gone out and been really aggressive in the way I do in the white-ball game,” he added. “In white-ball cricket it might look like risky shots but it doesn’t feel like a risk because of the way you break down the probabilities of the game.”The same is the case in Test cricket, it is about risk management I think. And it is about managing your time when you are waiting to bat. You’ve got to be aware of what is going on in the game but it is about saving energy as well.”Maybe if I look back to when I first lost my place in the Test team, I probably listened to too many people,” he added. “Everyone’s got an opinion on how you should play, and if you’re not good with how you manage that, you can confuse yourself, which I certainly did four or five years ago.”Maybe in South Africa I did that a little bit in terms of, after the first game, thinking I’m going to come out and counter-attack. When actually, you’ve just got to play the situation in front of you and react best and, as an individual, play how you see best according to that. I maybe didn’t do that as well as I would have liked.”The main skill, and the biggest one that I do well when I’m at my best, is making sure that when I walk out to bat I access being in my zone, whether I’ve been waiting for six hours or just have a 10-minute turnaround in a T20.”When I walk out to bat, if I’m in the best frame of mind, that allows me to perform. And looking forward to Sri Lanka. I will try and do more of committing to my way, whether it’s trying to block 1000 balls or slog 1000 balls. If that’s what I want to try and do, I’ll do it.”