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ScorecardJoe Denly’s double hundred transformed the match•Getty Images

Joe Denly demonstrated immense powers of concentration in the sweltering heat with a career-best double century to steer Kent into a position of strength on day three of the Specsavers County Championship clash with Worcestershire at New Road.The 31-year-old batsman resumed on his overnight 69 and batted for a total of nearly eight hours in scoring 227 out of 474 all out to leave Worcestershire a 399 target. His marathon knock surpassed his 206 not out against Northampton at Wantage Road last season.It rescued Kent from the real possibility of losing inside three days, after they had lost their sixth wicket shortly before lunch when their overall lead was only 129.Now they will have high hopes of pushing for victory tomorrow with Pakistan wrist spinner Yasir Shah the ace up their sleeve on what is still a good wicket for batting.It was a cruel turnaround for Worcestershire who had strong hopes of a win that would revive their promotion challenge against the side in second place.On the longest day of the year, Denly’s superb knock must also have felt never-ending for the wilting Worcestershire attack which stuck gamely to its task but was gradually worn down in the soaring temperatures.It was his second century in three Championship matches and has giiven Kent a strong platform to test the resolution of the home side in the top three promotion battle.He was given excellent support by keeper Adam Rouse (68) in a stand of 149 in 39 overs – a Kent seventh wicket record in matches against Worcestershire.Denly had batted for a total of 468 minutes, had faced 320 balls and struck 24 fours and five sixes when he finally holed out to Ed Barnard at long off against Joe Leach.It had been a different scenario at the start of the day after Worcestershire skipper Joe Leach had bowled an impressive opening spell which yielded two wickets.Joe Weatherley had not added to his overnight score when he was caught at second slip by Daryl Mitchell and then Darren Stevens shouldered arms and was trapped lbw.Denly went to three figures in the grand manner with a six over long on off Moeen Ali.When Will Gidman drove at John Hastings and nicked through to Ross Whiteley at first slip, Kent were in a position of some discomfort at 205 for 6.But then Rouse proved a willing ally for Denly and the pair flourished with the former reaching a determined half century off 105 balls.A wicket did not fall in the afternoon session until the last ball before tea when Rouse popped a Moeen delivery up to short leg.There was no respite after the resumption for Worcestershire as Matt Coles clubbed 39 and Yasir Shah 27 in stands of 54 and 41.Denly’s double ton came up off 299 balls with 23 fours and three sixes and a two off Josh Tongue brought him his new career best.Worcestershire openers Daryl Mitchell and Brett D’Oliveira negotiated five overs in reaching 16 for 0 by the close.

ScorecardRiki Wessels saw Notts home•Getty Images

Durham are in danger of becoming the doormats of the north group in the NatWest T20 Blast after Nottinghamshire wiped the floor with them. Notts won by nine wickets with four overs to spare at Chester-le-Street against an inexperienced side who, after five games, remain on minus four points.Being obliged to start with that four-point deficit cannot have helped the morale of a side shorn of five players from the team which reached last year’s final.All out for 123 with 11 balls unused, there was no attempt to exert pressure as 18-year-old debutant Liam Trevaskis was asked to bowl the first over and Alex Hales hit the left-arm spinner for two fours.When Durham’s T20 skipper Paul Coughlin came on for the third over Hales twice drove him straight down the ground. With 15 coming off the over Hales set about finishing it as quickly as possible, only to be bowled for 44 when going down the pitch to Trevaskis in the seventh over.There were already 69 on the board and Riki Wessels was able to continue his good form by coasting to an unbeaten 49. Brendan Taylor finished the match with a six over long-on off Ryan Pringle to finish on 33 not out.Any chance of a contest looked remote from the moment Durham slipped to 8 for 2 after ten balls. They were briefly revived by Graham Clark with 41 off 27 balls, but from 54 for 2 Durham slipped to 65 for 6 with Samit Patel picking up three wickets.On the day he was awarded a full contract until the end of the 2019 season, Cameron Steel cut the first ball of the match, from Patel, for four. But after adding two singles he lifted left-arm seamer Luke Wood’s first ball to extra cover.Paul Collingwood was moved up to No. 3 but fell for nought, skying a pull off Wood to backward square leg. Clark cut, pulled and drove three fours in taking 15 off the first five balls of a Jake Ball over, only for Michael Richardson to bottom edge the sixth into his stumps.Patel was recalled and had Clark caught behind when aiming to leg. Jack Burnham’s fierce drive to extra cover was well held above his head by Dan Christian then Stuart Poynter played all round Patel’s next ball.Coughlin and Pringle could afford few risks but did well to add 39 before Pringle pulled Steven Mullaney straight to deep backward square. Smart work by Mullaney saw Coughlin run out and Barry McCarthy stumped by Tom Moores off Ish Sodi before last man Chris Rushworth lofted to mid-off.It was a tame end to a stuttering innings, leaving Nottinghamshire with a simple task to complete their third successive win.

Luke Ronchi hit a rapid half-century to put Leicestershire on their way•Getty Images

Leicestershire completed a second win in two days to put themselves firmly back in the hunt for quarter-final qualification, beating Yorkshire by four wickets with two balls remaining.A spectacular half-century from New Zealand international Luke Ronchi, hit off just 19 balls and including seven fours and three sixes, set the Foxes on their way, and although they lost wickets regularly in an increasingly nervy reply, Colin Ackermann’s unbeaten 58, made off 47 balls, saw them cross the line in the final over.”The batting was outstanding. Luke Ronchi has been unbelievable for us, and although Ackermann has had a bit of a lean patch over the last few games, he showed what a class player he is,” Leicestershire’s captain, Clint McKay, said.”I think the bowlers fought back well towards the end, though I was a bit disappointed with how we went about our work in the field earlier in their innings, we weren’t at our best. But the boys keep bouncing back, and to keep it to 182 when it looked like they were going to get over 200 was a great effort.”Remarkably, it was their first victory at home in the competition this season, with their previous five wins all coming away from the Fischer County Ground. Their two remaining fixtures see them face Derbyshire at home next Thursday, before they travel to Trent Bridge to play Nottinghamshire the following evening.Yorkshire, who arrived with their spirits – and chances of qualification – lifted by beating Roses rivals Lancashire at Headingley the previous evening, must now beat Northants at home on Thursday, their final group fixture, to have any chance of qualifying.Yorkshire’s total was based on an explosive 75 from Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the right-hander’s best T20 score since joining Yorkshire from Worcestershire, made from just 40 balls.Placement and timing was the key, particularly through the off side, in a 30-ball half-century which included ten fours. Two maximums followed, muscled through wide midwicket off Callum Parkinson, but the young left-arm spinner had his revenge when he deceived and bowled Kohler-Cadmore in the last of his four overs, his 14th wicket in the competition this season.Their other major contribution was made by Shaun Marsh, whose half-century came seven balls more slowly, with four of his seven boundaries cut behind square on the off side. Having been 129 for 3 off 14 overs, a total of 200 looked well within their capabilities, but tight Foxes bowling, notably from Matt Pillans, and an unexpectedly effective four overs from occasional offspinner Aadil Ali, took some of the pressure off the Leicestershire batsmen.Ronchi’s wonderfully clean hitting reduced it further – the highlight an uppercut six high over third man off David Willey – and although he slog-swept Azeem Rafiq to into the hands of Jack Leaning on 57, Ackermann’s sensible innings ensured Leicestershire got over the line.Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale: “It was a real blow to lose this match. I felt on this occasion it was our bowlers who didn’t perform as well as they should, we bowled too many four balls. We knew Ronchi was the danger man, and he duly got them off to an explosive start. I was actually pretty pleased with our score, but giving away too many boundaries cost us dearly.”We’ve played some good cricket in the competition but we’ve not put it together in both disciplines consistently enough.”

If this is to be James Foster’s last summer as a professional, Essex’s wicketkeeper and former captain will go out on a high note he barely believed possible. Foster, 37, is out of contract at the end of the season and, although he has been offered another year, Essex’s unexpected Championship victory could yet prove a fitting finale.Back in Chelmsford after Essex’s celebrations had begun the night before in Birmingham, “Fozzy” was feeling a little fuzzy. He is understood to be weighing up a one-year contract but is already looking ahead to the next stage of his career. This year, he has been involved with coaching Scotland and MCC Young Cricketers, while continuing to combine playing with his role as the cricket professional at Forest School in Walthamstow.Capped by England at the age of 21, Foster is regarded – along with Chris Read – as one of the finest keepers of his generation. With 800 dismissals in first-class cricket for Essex, he is second only to Brian Taylor in the club’s history. Although he began this season out of the side, with Adam Wheater given his chance behind the stumps, Foster fought to win back his place and was part of the XI that sealed the title – an achievement he considered the crowning success of 17 years with Essex.”Without doubt, coming right at the back end of my career,” he said. “Purely from a selfish point of view, I’m absolutely delighted to have won a County Championship. Every year you see these other sides winning and you think, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to be in that position’ and now we’ve finally done it.”Foster had experienced promotion three times before with Essex, swiftly followed on each occasion by relegation, and he admitted that he had not been expecting to become a Championship winner at this stage.”Honestly probably not, getting towards the back end of my career and we’ve played a lot of Division Two cricket. The handful of times we’ve been up in Division One we’ve come straight back down, so I guess you kind of thought maybe it would never happen – but I’m absolutely delighted it has, the way we’ve performed this season. It probably stemmed from the beginning of last season, winning Division Two but to do this, absolutely thrilled.”Foster is one of four England players in the squad, alongside Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Tom Westley, while others such as Jamie Porter and Dan Lawrence have been tipped for international honours. However, with only Nottinghamshire in 2005 previously having claimed the title the year after being promoted, Foster said Essex’s success had taken him by surprise.”We’ve always had the talent here, we’ve had some seriously good players … But doing it this year, it kind of hasn’t really sunk in, it’ll probably start to when we’ve actually got the trophy in our hands in a couple of weeks. It’s a lot of hard work but the amount of games we’ve won this year, it’s kind of bizarre really. It’s a difficult thing to do, winning four-day games, and we’ve won so many of them.”We’ve just rolled with it really, we’ve gone from game to game, trying to keep our processes, trying to keep it very simple and it’s kept working. As a lot of people will understand, you get on that roll, you get that real belief and when you get into tricky moments, you believe you can come out of it.”James Foster won his place back in the Championship side•Getty Images

Foster pointed to Essex’s opening fixture, at home to Lancashire, as a key moment in their season. Having conceded a 160-run lead, they were then set 478 to win in four sessions but hung on for a draw six wickets down thanks to Lawrence’s unbeaten 141.”You actually look at our first game of the season, we could have easily lost that. But I think that gave us a lot of belief, it was a phenomenal knock by Daniel Lawrence, 140-odd not out, ultimately I think that was massive for us. Then we had a really good draw at Lord’s early in the season, when we were backs against the wall again, then we started to win and we got that momentum going. Boys have performed exceptionally well, not just one or two, everyone’s put their hands up.”Having been captain under the previous coach, Paul Grayson, during a run of five seasons in Division Two, Foster had praise for the current combination of Ryan ten Doeschate and Chris Silverwood, who have overseen four-day titles in consecutive years.”They’ve been brilliant, they’ve formed a really good partnership,” Foster said. “They work really, really well together. I think they both bring their own style and stamp their own authority on the side, but ultimately they’re both very relaxed. Chris believes in fearless cricket – it’s a lot easier said than done, to perform. Behind the scenes has been very good but ultimately delivery on the pitch is testament to the players.”If Foster does decide to retire, it will be as one of Essex’s most distinguished servants. Bopara, in particular, was pleased that the club’s longest-serving player had been rewarded with silverware. “I’m really happy for everybody at this club, especially the older boys, they’ve been here a long time,” he said. “Fozzy, especially, I’m very happy for Foz. We should enjoy this for the next few weeks.”

Ben Raine is a combative soul, a sort of Ben Stokes type without the England caps, the headlines and the penchant for street theatre. Almost single-handedly, he has challenged the notion that Northants are about to pip Nottinghamshire for promotion and that Leicestershire are condemned to a winless season.Raine played age-group cricket with Stokes at Durham. Even on such days like this, he will probably insist that he would love to be compared to him. He struck 59 to prevent a rout and then took four wickets to invite hopes of a transformation beyond belief. Hopefully he followed up with an early night and a cocoa.Until Raine’s intervention, it had taken less than 17 overs for two facts to be gleaned from an extraordinary first session at Grace Road: firstly, Leicestershire, barring miracles, were likely to endure a winless season, and Northants’ promotion challenge was still very much alive.Or, as their former England batsman Ben Duckett neatly put it on Twitter, as he missed the match through injury: “COME ON THE CHUBSTERS!”After little more than an hour of coming and going, Leicestershire were 26 for 7. You don’t want a home match in late September, with the toss regulations as they are, when you are adrift at the bottom of the table.Leicestershire avoided a historic low as Raine rallied but even he could not entirely offset a day that ended with Northants leading by 71 with two wickets remaining. But he certainly irritated a side that had anticipated far greater riches.Now for the arithmetic, sort of. Northants, third, have Nottinghamshire, in second, in their sights. A Notts win would end Northants’ challenge, but Notts are in disarray at Hove. If Notts escape with a draw, that will probably suffice for them. If Notts lose and Northants beat Leicestershire, the Chubsters are First Division-bound.This, it should be stressed, is the same Northants side which Peter Moores, the Notts coach who has led the county to both limited-overs trophies, and who had reason to anticipate a treble only a few weeks ago, would issue with lifestyle sheets and impose punishment runs if they were ever caught watching The Great British Bake Off. This is also the Northants side which, according to the analysis favoured within the Test match counties, supposedly just concentrates on T20 and doesn’t care two hoots for the Championship. There’s that theory gone then.Leicestershire’s flimsy resistance will doubtless attract criticism. Their very name invites greed among some business types who just want to close them down and divide out the proceeds. Their recent record is not much of a case for the defence. But the ground itself is much improved – quietly attractive on a decent autumn day – and there is a yearning for self-improvement. What’s not to like?What was not to like was Leicestershire’s batting, even allowing for a humid morning during which the ball swung persistently, if not extravagantly. From the moment that Michael Carberry was struck in front by Ben Sanderson’s outswinger, they were up against it, Sanderson and Richard Gleeson going on to take five wickets apiece.The debutant, Sam Evans, got the most savage delivery – one from Gleeson that jagged back ferociously to take the inside edge – Ned Eckersley and Aadil Ali missed inswingers from Sanderson to be lbw and Mark Cosgrove played on as he drove at a full-length ball from Gleeson. Add Lewis Hill’s curious walking shot and the best delivery of the lot, which left Neil Dexter to uproot his off stump as he played to leg, and 26 for 7 it was.One of Duckett’s fellow chubsters, the veteran South African allrounder, Rory Kleinveldt, had given Northants a fighting chance of promotion when he took a career-best 9 for 65 against Nottinghamshire at Wantage Road last week. Kleinveldt must have sensed a further bounty on a bowling morning at Grace Road, but perhaps he was over-ambitious because he was stretching gingerly in the warm-ups and then broke down with a side strain after only 11 deliveries.That left Northants’ resources under strain – Luke Procter, on loan from Lancashire, was third seamer and was to bowl four overs for 27 as Raine joined Zak Chappell in a facesaving stand of 68 for the eighth wicket. No repeat then of Leicestershire’s 25 against Kent in 1912, their lowest Championship score, or more recent embarrassments – 34 against Essex on a dodgy park pitch at Southend or 43 against Worcestershire last season.Things might have been worse for Leicestershire. Raine was dropped on 15 at second slip by Richard Levi, off Gleeson, and Chappell should have been comfortably run out on 5, only for wicketkeeper David Murphy to fumble a gentle throw from the bowler’s end.Northants looked solid shortly after tea, 90 runs to the good, Procter and Rob Newton well set. Raine removed them both, Procter for 82, had Simon Kerrigan lbw for nought, second ball, and ensured no act of courage from Kleinveldt, whose appearance at No 9 lasted four deliveries. Not for the first time, he looked full of competitive edge.Poor lad. All his career, Raine has probably wants to be compared to Stokes and it had to happen on a day like this.

Stuart Broad has dismissed the suggestion that James Anderson is suffering from an injury, despite questions around his deployment by England on the third day at the Gabba.Anderson bowled 29 overs in Australia’s first innings – more than any other seamer – including a final spell of six overs. But rumours that he was suffering from some sort of injury continued throughout the day after he was seen grimacing just before lunch, when he appeared to take a pill brought on by the 12th man, and did not bowl immediately afterwards, with England hunting Australia’s last three wickets.But that, according to Broad, was more of a tactical issue than anything and no reflection of any fitness concerns. Anderson bowled a three-over spell with the second new ball, having delivered an initial four-over spell with the first new ball, in an attempt to ensure he remained fresh throughout the Test.

The Anderson conjecture

Anderson’s state of health certainly brought speculation from BT Sport commentators.
Graeme Swann: “It doesn’t look good for me, I think he is injured. I hope he’s not, obviously from an England point of view, but it’s just the way he was holding his side tentatively. I hope it’s just a knock he got in the first innings batting that has just got a bit tight at the end of the day. But it doesn’t look right for me.”
Adam Gilchrist: “He took a blow when he was batting on the right upper arm. He is grabbing his left side, he went and had a drink and a tablet of some sort. He’s got some taping on his right shoulder. He was on and off the field, not exactly sprinting after it. That is not the look of a comfortable man there who is meant to be leading this attack.”

“I don’t know where this mystery injury has come from,” Broad said. “He’s just bowled 30 overs for 50. I’ve spent the whole day with him and he’s not moaned or said he’s sore or injured. There’s nothing I know about.”Obviously it was quite hot work out there and we had to rotate the bowlers a little bit. It was a bit of a plan with Joe Root for us to bowl three-, four- or five-over spells to ensure we were always hitting the pitch hard.”If you do get a bit tired and into your sixth or seventh over on these pitches and you float the ball up, you get hit.”Broad also offered reassuring news on Root, who sustained a crushing blow on the helmet after he was hit by a Mitchell Starc bouncer late on in the day as England battled to erase a 26-run first-innings deficit.”It’s always worrying when you see someone hit on head,” Broad said. “But he’s passed all the concussion tests and tests with the doc. I’m sure he’ll be taking the field tomorrow fine.”

Seamers Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami have been recalled to the Indian ODI squad that has been picked for the six-match ODI series in South Africa. Virat Kohli, who who was rested from the team’s most recent limited-overs assignment, against Sri Lanka, returns as captain of the 17-member touring party.Kedar Jadhav, who suffered a hamstring injury in early December and has not played any cricket since, has also been picked. Thakur too had a problem with his shoulder recently, leading to his missing Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final on December 7 and both players are expected to be on the park very soon to prove their match fitness. “Shardul will be playing shortly. In fact, he will be playing from the first of January,” chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said. “Kedar will be playing the T20 matches shortly. Basing on the report we have got from the physio, we have taken this call [to include them in the ODI squad].”

India ODI squad

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
In: Virat Kohli, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur
Out: Washington Sundar, Siddarth Kaul

The series begins with the first of six matches in Durban on February 1. Batsman KL Rahul and the senior spin pair of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continue to miss out after the selectors felt Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel deserved an extended run following their good performances in the last few months.Prasad hastened to add it was not the end of the road for Ashwin and Jadeja, who last played an ODI in June-July. “We keep repeating this. We have been consistent with Chahal and Axar,” he told reporters in Mumbai. “With every game game they have been improving a lot. They should be given an extended run since they are doing very well. It is a unanimous decision. When we picked these three boys, we wanted to increase the bench strength in the spin department. Today, we have five-six quality spinners that are aiming for these slots.”R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were made to wait even longer•BCCI

When asked about how Ashwin and Jadeja could thrust themselves back into contentions in limited-overs cricket, Prasad said: “We have enough domestic matches. They have played enough cricket and have enough number of wickets under the belt,” he said. “[The] only issue is we have tried these guys [the young spinners] and time and again they are winning games for you, so it makes sense to continue with these guys for some time.”Prasad also sympathised with Rahul’s omission despite being among the runs in the T20Is against Sri Lanka where he smashed 61 and 89 in the first two matches. However, he is being considered only for the opening spot, and India are already very well equipped with Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane.”Definitely we were discussing on that point also,” Prasad said of Rahul. “The class and the form he is in, it’s really unfortunate that he is missing out. Right now, I think those boys who are already there in the squad have done well, so it makes sense to continue. Maybe in times to come, KL will definitely [get a look in]. We will try and see that he will be fit into different options. So, probably after this series we will have to think about that.” Asked if the player had a say in where he wanted to bat, Prasad said the player had every right to express his preference, but it was up to the selectors to identify what was good for the team.Explaining the rationale behind a 17-member squad, Prasad and his panel wanted to try out different players before settling in on a core squad. And on naming it more than a month before the start of the series, he said: “Three points I will like to bring across: announcing one month before helps them to prepare physically or mentally for the demands of the game. The ODI specialists will have sufficient time to prepare. Second point, they may go a bit early to acclimatise. Third point is logistics. Makes it easy.”MS Dhoni talks to chairman of selectors MSK Prasad•PTI

Prasad identified the limited-overs series in England as a rough deadline for firming up India’s core squad ahead of the 2019 World Cup and said new players would be tried out in the T20Is in South Africa. The selectors’ aim is to develop specialist squads for each of the three formats. “Probably from England series, that’s where we will have a core team,” Prasad said. “Maybe we will fix up on a certain number and focus on that. We will definitely pick new boys for T20Is. I would also like to say we are moving towards that direction – specialists for different formats of the game. We are targeting that we should be No.1 in all three formats. We are No.1 in Test format, No.2 in ODIs and maybe No.4 in T20I series. After this T20I series, we don’t know, maybe we could go to No.2 spot.”Prasad also more or less confirmed that MS Dhoni would continue to be India’s No.1 wicketkeeper going into the World Cup. “I think he remains as the number one wicketkeeper in the World, and day in and day out we have been seeing, even in the current T20 series (against Sri Lanka) the stumping that he does, the caught-behinds that he takes are phenomenal, there is no comparison. I don’t see any wicketkeeper, who is even closer to him in world cricket, forget Indian cricket.”We are grooming some new wicketkeepers in India A tours. More or less we have fixed up [our] mind till the World Cup and after that at later stages we will start grooming some of those wicketkeepers in India A tours. Let me tell you frankly that still those boys are not up to the levels that we have expected. We will still keep giving them chances in the India A tours and see that they are nurtured.”

Frustration at the result in Brisbane and irritation at the contrivance behind the Jonny Bairstow headbutt incident should give England “extra fire” in Adelaide, according to James Anderson.Anderson, England’s vice-captain, admitted his side were “not good enough” at capitalising on good opportunities in the first Test. But he felt the frustration at failing to seize those chances and the irritation at Australia’s tactics should “galvanise” England.”We were very frustrated with the way the game finished in Brisbane,” Anderson said. “But we played some really good cricket. We started really well over the first three days. We had our noses in front at times but we just weren’t able to capitalise.”Being 240 for 4 and then being bowled out for 300 is not good enough. And then having them 200 for 7 and not finishing off the tail is not good enough. We know we have to be better in those situation.”That’s why it’s frustrating for us. But it’s something we can really build on and take extra fire from. The experience of having been there in those situations and not capitalising on them will help us going into the next few Tests. Hopefully we will make a point of pushing them home if we do get into them again.”Admitting he had not experienced an Ashes soap opera “quite as bad” as the Bairstow incident – with Australia mocking outrage at his odd greeting to Cameron Bancroft a month previously – Anderson said England had to stick together and not allow themselves to be distracted.

James Anderson on…

The curfew:
“It is not like we are party animals out till three every night. We are here to play cricket and win a Test series and we are focussed on that.”
Sledging:
“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed. When someone is trying to get under my skin in all walks of life it makes me more determined to succeed. They were fairly quiet for the first few days when we were doing well. It was only on the fourth day when they became vocal.”
Pace:
“We are not going to become 90 mph bowlers, so we have to try and work out ways of getting wickets with the attack we’ve got. Here – with a pink ball and lights – is somewhere we can use our skills that will really suit our bowling attack.”
Steve Smith:
“He was the difference between the teams in Brisbane. You almost have to take him out of the picture when you’re bowling because if you watch what he’s doing, it distracts you from where you want the ball to go. Hopefully more pace in the wicket might help us.”

“The Ashes always seem to bring things up off the field,” he said. “There is always something that crops up and they waited until they were ahead in the game to do it.”It’s down to us to really focus on the cricket. We’re here to win an Ashes series. We’re not bothered about a war of words with the Australians, we just want to outperform them.”We have a really tight group of players who really get on well and are trying to win a big Test series.”We don’t need an extra incentive, but if we did it will give us that. It has probably brought us closer together as a group. If anything it will galvanise us as a group.”We want to stick together as a group and perform well on the field. We’re enjoying each other’s company. We’ve got a really nice group of lads and a good team spirit, but the most important thing is how we do on the field. We did it for three days in Brisbane and it has to be longer here.”Anderson didn’t bowl in the nets on Thursday. While that is slightly unusual – he tends to bowl two days before a game and do little, if anything, the day before – he insisted he was fit.”I’m not sure where the rumour about my fitness came from or who made that up in the commentary box,” he said, referring to persistent rumours that he was injured mid-way through the Brisbane Test. “I’ve been absolutely fine. I got hit on the shoulder while I was batting but apart from a little bruise, there is nothing serious. Certainly nothing that’s going to stop me playing.”A more pressing concern for England was the fitness of Moeen Ali. He also didn’t bowl at training on Thursday – though he batted for nearly the entire three-hour session – in an attempt to give his spinning finger every opportunity to heal before the Test starts on Saturday. While what was once a cut has scabbed and blistered nicely, there must be a concern that the rigours of bowling will again rip it open.There is little thought of him missing the game, though. While he was comprehensively out-bowled by Nathan Lyon in Brisbane, his ability to bat and the fact that England’s only other spin option is a 20-year-old legspinner suggest he will retain his place even if it means he has a slightly reduced workload.Moeen Ali had a long bat but didn’t bowl during England’s net session•Getty Images

Neither he or the England management are especially concerned about his bowling in the first Test. While he played down the extent of the finger injury after the game – he said he simply bowled poorly – the truth is the cut badly impeded him. He felt that, had he bowled in the first innings of the match on a surface that was tacky, he too would have gained sharp turn but that the cut prevented him from putting the necessary revolutions on the ball.Craig Overton was one of those who did impress at nets on Thursday. Bowling a wonderfully nagging length, he troubled several batsmen and can have done his chances of selection no harm. Despite being dismissed for a duck in each of the three innings he has had on tour so far, he might also provide just a bit of fibre to a tail that was blown away by Australia’s pace and hostility. It remains likely, however, that England will stick with Jake Ball in the hope that conditions in Adelaide are more to his liking.Meanwhile Anderson revealed that, during England’s second innings in Brisbane, he had questioned the umpires over the number of short balls being bowled at England’s tailenders.”I don’t know how seriously they take that and I don’t know what constitutes dangerous bowling,” Anderson told the BBC. “It was mentioned to Marais Erasmus in the last game but he didn’t seem to think it was too bad. We’ll have to prepare for some more short stuff.”I was batting with Jake Ball in the second innings and Pat Cummins bowled two short balls over shoulder height. There was a third very close that wasn’t given and I questioned when does it get dangerous. He said he was happy with it at the time. It’s down to the umpires. We have to plan to get a barrage, which we are.”It’s very clear how they will attack us. We saw that with the fields they set to the tailenders and what they bowled at us. It’s our job to get in the nets and figure out ways of combating that. We have to find scoring options, ways of defending yourself and ways to stay at the crease if you’re with a batsman. Every run is crucial out here and we know we’ll have to get some runs down the bottom if we’re going to have success.”

A recovering Mitchell Starc is a strong chance to return to Australia’s team for the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG, though he would be doing so over the objections of the former spearhead Glenn McGrath, who believes the left-arm quick should only resume bowling when he is “100% fit”.Having failed to recover from a bruised heel in time to take part in the Boxing Day Test, Starc bowled off his full run for about 30 minutes in the SCG nets on Tuesday, and is clearly eager to front up on his home ground alongside fellow New South Welshmen Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. The captain Steven Smith, meanwhile, took a rare day off the nets due to some back soreness but is expected to be fine to play.

SCG Pink Test marks 10 seasons

When Glenn and Jane McGrath founded a breast cancer charity in 2005, they intended to raise awareness about the affliction and also to help ensure sufferers were afforded as much support as possible. The first “pink” day three of the SCG Test followed, and in 2018 the Jane McGrath foundation marks 10 years of that day.
“Great to be back here and to think 10 years have gone by is amazing,” McGrath said. “The SCG was my home ground, my favourite cricket ground in the world, so anytime I get to come out here is pretty amazing. But to be the Sydney Pink Test as we call it now makes it that much more special and for 10 years to have gone past is incredible – each year it seems to get bigger and bigger. The way the cricket community has got together and supported the foundation is amazing, I think we’ve got 119 McGrath breast care nurses, supporting more than 160,000 individuals and families going through breast cancer.”
The foundation’s fundraising goal for this match is A$1.3 million equivalent to the employment of 10 full-time breast care nurses over 12 months, who can provide support for 1000 individuals. This year’s events will also feature a “pink picnic” at the Sydney Football Stadium for those unable to get into the SCG, with the cricket to be played on a big screen, and pink picnic rugs and a hampers provided.

With nearly two months between this match and the first of Australia’s tour of South Africa, Starc has the opportunity for a break in between, even if he is named in the squad for the ODI series against England. The announced is due on Wednesday. McGrath, who was famously averse to any sort of resting or management during his long and durable career, said he would prefer to see Australia be cautious with Starc, given the niggardly nature of heel injuries and the looming South African assignment.”You want him playing but you want him at 100% and you want to make sure next series he’s ready to go at 100%, so if Starcy’s not 100% I’d be tempted to rest him, unfortunately for the Sydney public,” McGrath said. “They want to see him performing on his home ground and he wants to be out there as well, but you’ve got to think ‘ok, South Africa’s important’, so we’ll wait and see.”As a player you want to play every game, you really only think about the next game and do whatever you can to get through it. When you’ve got important series, South Africa coming up, Australia have won this series here, he’s such an integral part of the Australian line-up. I think they missed him in Melbourne more so bowling to the tail, because the pace and the lengths he bowls, he can clean up a tail pretty quickly.”The SCG strip, part of a natural wicket block as opposed to the MCG’s drop-in surface, is another factor for the selectors, as its extra live grass may be more helpful to Jackson Bird, who had little joy when replacing Starc in Melbourne. How much the wicket is shaved and whether it dries out much more ahead of Thursday’s coin toss will also determine whether Ashton Agar becomes a serious chance to join Lyon in a dual spin attack.Cummins, who is expected to play his first Test on his home ground, said Starc’s heel was showing good signs in that it had not worsened at all since the first time the left-armer experienced pain, as opposed to the more serious ailment Cummins had suffered during his 2011 Test debut in Johannesburg. But he agreed that it would not be wise to risk Starc’s ability to take part in South Africa.1:34

Starc confident he’s going to play – Cummins

“I’d say that [South Africa] is probably the big concern. If it was really bad that’s I guess what would keep him out,” Cummins said. “But it’s different to me. He can walk around. Each time I kind of bowled a spell it got worse and worse. The way he was saying, it was almost worse in the first innings and stayed the same for the whole Perth match.”And the last couple of weeks it’s definitely got a lot better. So it’s definitely different to what I had. By the end of my match, or even the first innings, I could hardly walk. It’s like anything. It’s a bruise. If you keep smashing it, it will get bigger and bigger. But he says it’s in a good spot now. I think if he doesn’t think he can get through this match he wouldn’t play but we’ll find out in the next couple of days.”Starc joined Cummins, Hazlewood, Bird, Smith and his deputy David Warner for a conference in the middle of the SCG before training, in which the subject up for discussion was swinging the ball. Both conventional and reverse swing are likely to factor in Sydney, and Cummins said the assistant coach David Saker had been at pains to discuss taking care of the ball to ensure it would be capable of doing both.”We were actually just talking about swinging the ball and the keys,” Cummins said. “Obviously for bowlers our major tool is the ball, batters the bat. It’s about getting our message the same, which side to shine. It’s kind of sometimes a decision of ‘when do we start shining it one side or the other to get it reversing’ and things like that. I thought both teams did it pretty well in Melbourne.”He also assuaged concerns that the Australians needed Starc to be playing in order to take 20 wickets. “We’ve seen Birdy out the back there he’s bowled beautifully on this wicket and all season in the Shield and taken lots of wickets,” Cummins said. “So I think he’ll fit in pretty seamlessly and here at the SCG. Hopefully there’s a bit more spin for Gazza [Lyon] and we saw how important the first couple of games were when the ball spun, how damaging he can be.”I think we’ll be fine, we’ve got Mitch Marsh in as well. The good thing about our group at the moment is we can all get up for a big spell and it feels like anyone can bowl that big spell that can crack a game open. It doesn’t feel like there’s one spearhead.”For his part, McGrath said he was not in favour of allowing fielding teams more latitude in terms of deliberate bounce throws to encourage greater reverse swing, a practice both teams were warned about by the umpires at the MCG. “You try to look after the ball and get it swinging on pitches like in [Melbourne] where there’s nothing happening,” he said.”Sometimes in India where the pitches are quite flat. But I think conditions in India are a little more abrasive anyway. Not sure how I feel about that. If that [bounce throwing] happens naturally fair enough, but if it’s intentionally throwing it in the deck any chance they get, I think there is a bit of a line there.”

Craig Overton has been drafted into England’s one-day squad for the forthcoming ODI series against New Zealand, after Liam Plunkett was ruled out with a hamstring injury.Overton, 23, was selected for his Test debut against Australia during the Ashes, and made a strong impression in two appearances before being ruled out of the series after sustaining a fractured rib while batting in the third Test at Perth.He has never yet played in England’s limited-overs set-up. In 2015, Craig and his twin brother Jamie were called up to the one-day squad but did not feature against New Zealand. Last year, he was included in the T20 squad against South Africa, but was overlooked for a debut in a three-match series that included a fixture at his home ground in Taunton.”Obviously it’s really good news for me,” he said. “It’ll be great to get out there before the Test series starts and it’ll give me the chance to get in a bit of practice and hopefully I can get selected for some of the one-dayers.”I’ve been in a few one-day squads before and it’s really nice to be in one again. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a game and it’ll be a great experience because I’ve never been to New Zealand before. I’m really looking forward to it.”Plunkett made his return against New Zealand in Wellington earlier this week but aggravated the problem he first suffered in the ODI in Sydney last month. He has been diagnosed with a grade one tear and, unlike when he stayed with the squad after the injury in Australia, he will now be heading home.