Lyon has become a major threat for India, taking nine of his 16 wickets off defensive shots. Sweep could be a lower-risk option to put pressure back on him

Sidharth Monga in Melbourne24-Dec-20183:58

WATCH – Ashwin, Jadeja and Rohit train ahead of Boxing Day Test

There was a time when everybody used to be surprised when a spinner did well against India, leave alone a humble offspinner. However, there is no surprise right now who the highest wicket-taker in this series is. He is Australia’s most successful bowler against India, and the world’s second-most successful spinner against the same opposition, known for their batsmanship against spin. Nobody has dismissed Virat Kohli as many times as he has. That he is fit and performing is proving to be a big advantage for Australia. Nathan Lyon, with 16 wickets at 19.43 each, is currently the most threatening bowler in the series.India’s batsmen – under fire anyway – once again have questions asked of their techniques against spin. While it is true that spinners like Moeen Ali feed off the pressure created by their seam bowlers at home – they have much better numbers against India at home as compared to in India, where they should ideally do better – Lyon has now been troubling India both home and away.That nine of Lyon’s 16 wickets this series have come off defensive shots in what can’t be classified as dream conditions for spin is a matter of big concern if you are India’s batting coach. That combined with low strike rates of batsmen against Lyon means two things: the defensive technique is not what it should be, and that they don’t have enough low-risk attacking options. Not only is Lyon taking wickets, he is bowling beautifully in one spot when the wickets are not coming. Those who have managed to score at a strike rate of over 50 against him have not been able to bat long enough, which points to the high-risk game Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma have had to play against him. The fact that others – even Kohli – haven’t been able to force mistakes from him points to lack of attacking options too.One of those attacking options was seen in the nets on Sunday, three days before the start of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. When batting against spin, Kohli played a succession of sweeps. Perhaps he was just toying with the idea, and we might not necessarily see him play that shot often, but there seems to be an intent to attack spin. Even Cheteshwar Pujara lofted spin in the nets on one occasion on Monday.The sweep remains an interesting option, though. Traditionally Indian batsmen have prided themselves on not needing the sweep: they are either right forward or right back, playing the ball either before it turns or after it has turned. The sweep has been considered the weapon of the less proficient. Yet, it is an effective shot. When played well, it not only plays with the bowler’s rhythm, it also makes the fielding captain defend more scoring zones, removing an attacking fielder.R Ashwin and Nathan Lyon share a laugh•AFP

In this series, Lyon has been swept or reverse-swept only 23 times, which is once every five-and-a-half overs. On the last trip here, when Lyon averaged 35 against India, he was swept or reverse-swept 92 times, once every two-and-a-half overs. Even when Lyon toured India last year, India swept or reverse-swept him once every three-and-a-half overs.India’s relationship with the shot has been sporadic. On two consecutive tours of England, they went to the shot in the nets only after Moeen Ali had troubled them. Trailing 2-1 in 2014, they tried it only before the finale at The Oval. Those who were present in England this year talk of how the Southampton defeat sent them to the shot in the nets at The Oval.India have trained hard to face spin although what Lyon does is difficult to replicate in nets. That quality of bowling with that much overspin is not readily available. Still India have tried to simulate the conditions, creating artificial rough; once Kohli batted at the edge of a pitch at the SCG nets with Sanjay Bangar, the batting coach, throwing balls down diagonally into some rough there. Kohli has been practising the sweep in the nets since Adelaide, but he has not played a single sweep against Lyon. Perhaps he doesn’t feel he is ready with it yet, which makes it a risky option as opposed to his against-the-turn cover-drive, which he used to good effect in the first innings in Perth.In this series, even R Ashwin, who has played only one Test, has been swept or reverse-swept only nine times, which makes it once in almost 10 overs. Seven of those shots have been played by a lower-order batsman, Lyon himself. So perhaps the conditions – both Adelaide and Perth strips had appreciable bounce in them – make the sweep a risky option. Perhaps, by sweeping Lyon more often than Australia have swept spin, India have been proactive but just haven’t been able to find a way.Melbourne should bring India more scoring options against Lyon, especially with less bounce from the pitch to aid his overspin. We might just see more sweeps. Whatever they do, India will need to find a way to attack Lyon. Even if Lyon is not a wicket-taking threat, India can’t afford to let him hold one end up, which gives the fast bowlers time to recover and take turns from the other end. One of Lyon’s big successes this series has been that Australia’s fast bowlers have fewer overs in their legs, which allows them to play an extra batsman. With the reputation they have against spin, India should not be allowing that to happen.

Steyn walked off in the first hour of play, clutching the same shoulder he’s had surgery on

Liam Brickhill12-Jan-2019South Africa ended the second day of the Wanderers Test with a 212-run lead, but it wasn’t without its fair share of drama. The hosts were given an injury scare when Dale Steyn left the field inside the first hour clutching his shoulder.Although Duanne Olivier, who did a little extra bowling in Steyn’s absence and was rewarded with 5 for 51, insisted that Steyn was “perfectly fine”, but the sight of him leaving the field will have caused some palpitations in the South African camp.If fully fit, Steyn is a key member of South Africa’s pace arsenal as they look to wrap up a 3-0 win. However, with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock at the crease and three more days remaining, Olivier suggested South Africa had not yet decided as to how much bowling Steyn might do in Pakistan’s second innings.”I don’t think we’ve thought about it, too far ahead,” said Olivier. “He went off to get a bit of treatment, and he’s perfectly fine.”Steyn, 35, had left the field around 40 minutes after the start of play, having bowled five overs first up. He worked up good rhythm in those overs, topping 146kph, but appeared to show some discomfort in his right shoulder during his fifth over, and left the field immediately after completing it.His frustration was readily apparent as he punched the advertising boards in the Wanderers tunnel as he left the field, but he was back on before lunch, and even bowled two more overs. That would suggest the injury is not too serious, but that it has occurred on the same shoulder that underwent surgery in November 2016, is cause for concern.While Steyn went wicketless in Pakistan’s first innings, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada both struck and Olivier starred with his third five-wicket haul of the series. His latest five-for took his tally for the series to 21, which is a record for South Africa against Pakistan, surpassing the previous record of 20 set by Steyn.”I’d take it any day,” Olivier said of the record. “I just try to enjoy every moment, commit every ball and just have fun. To be leading wicket-taker, I’m very happy about that. It’s awesome to bowl at the Wanderers. Any fast bowler would be happy to bowl here.”Olivier has settled into the ‘enforcer’ role laid out for him by coach Ottis Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis, once again putting his short ball to good use. It was even his go-to delivery after he had removed Babar Azam and Faheem Ashraf with consecutive deliveries to find himself on a hat-trick. The plan didn’t work, but Olivier nevertheless went on to claim his fifth wicket and helped to wrap up the innings. “I was trying to go with a bouncer, but it obviously didn’t go to plan,” he said. “It was too wide. It happens.”I don’t mind it,” Olivier said of the enforcer role. “Every bowler is different. I don’t mind bowling short, and it’s been going well so far. On a different wicket, I wouldn’t bowl like that. At the Wanderers, you don’t really need to bowl that short. There’s enough bounce in this wicket. At Cape Town, you had to go a little shorter, and at SuperSport Park it was a little up and down which made it difficult for the batsmen.”His performance helped South Africa to recover from an uncharacteristically sloppy start in the field, with ive catches, a stumping and two run-out being missed. “It is frustrating from a team point of view, but it happens, it’s cricket,” said Olivier. “We just needed to re-group and move on as quickly as possible, not dwell or think too much about it. The drinks break came, a bit of a break for us, and just tried to do the same as we’ve done before.”

Umpire Dar turned down their appeal for lbw on the basis that they had taken too long to ask for it. But the commentators suggested that only 13 seconds had elapsed

Liam Brickhill13-Feb-2019An apparent DRS timing error may have cost Sri Lanka a wicket on the first morning at Kingsmead.Two balls after he had Dean Elgar caught behind in his first over of the day, Vishwa Fernando rapped Hashim Amla on the pads to spark a confident appeal for lbw. Umpire Aleem Dar was unmoved, and after a short discussion Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne asked for a review – but Dar turned down the request on the basis that the visitors had taken too long to ask for it.Section 3.2.2 of the ICC’s Test playing conditions stipulate that: “The total time elapsed between the ball becoming dead and the review request being made shall be no more than 15 seconds,” and “If the on-field umpires believe that a request has not been made within the 15 second time limit, they shall decline the request for a Player Review.”According to the commentators on the SuperSport broadcast of the game, only 13 seconds had elapsed when Karunaratne asked for the review, and the TV umpire Ian Gould would have been in charge of timing the 15-second interval between the ball going dead and the review time limit.”The bowler’s end umpire shall provide the relevant player with a prompt after 10 seconds if the request has not been made at that time and the player shall request the review immediately thereafter,” read the playing conditions. Dar made no visible prompt to Fernando or the Sri Lankan players at the 10-second mark as SuperSport’s cameras followed him on the field of play.Had they been able to take the review, Sri Lanka would have had South Africa wobbling at 0 for 2 as replays showed that Amla would have been out lbw.Shortly afterwards, the umpires were into the action once again when Amla made a late move to leave a ball from Suranga Lakmal and ended up sliding a catch to Kusal Mendis at second slip off the face of the bat.The catch looked clean live, but Umpire Richard Kettleborough called for a TV review, giving a soft signal of “not out”. Replays showed that the ball had lodged straight into Mendis’ hands, and the soft signal was thus overruled by Gould.”If that is given not out, well, I’m walking back to the Caribbean,” said Michael Holding on SuperSport’s television commentary as replays of the catch were shown on the screen.”The Test match has not started well for the umpires,” he said. “First, 15 seconds reduced to 13, and now a soft signal of not out when it was clearly out.”

England’s women made it five wins out of five on their tour of Sri Lanka, after easing to another untroubled eight-wicket win

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2019England women 109 for 2 (Jones 36, Wyatt 37) beat Sri Lanka women 108 for 6 (Brunt 2-31) by eight wickets
England’s women made it five wins out of five on their tour of Sri Lanka, after easing to another untroubled eight-wicket win in the second T20I in Colombo.After their 3-0 clean sweep in the ODI leg of the tour, England ensured they wrapped up their second trophy of the trip with a match to spare as well, after restricting Sri Lanka to 108 for 6 in their 20 overs.The spoils were shared around, with five different bowlers claiming a wicket, and Katherine Brunt claiming a brace to finish with figures of 4 for 31. Freya Davies, who opened the bowling with Linsey Smith, didn’t pick up a wicket but set the tone for England’s performance with four economically delivered overs conceding just 15 runs.Sri Lanka started their innings with resolve, adding 45 for the first wicket in seven overs as Chamari Atapattu and Imalka Mendis laid something of a foundation.But Nat Sciver struck with her first delivery to bowl Atapattu for 24, before Shashikala Siriwardene and Mendis fell to Sophia Dunkley and Heather Knight in consecutive overs to keep the run-rate in check.In reply, England wasted little time in getting ahead of the requirement. Amy Jones, in a fine vein of form, added 79 in 7.2 overs with Danni Wyatt before Wyatt was stumped off Siriwardene for 37.And when Jones fell to the same bowler with 19 runs needed, Tammy Beaumont and Sciver knocked off the final requirement with 37 balls to spare.

They need to win both their remaining games to retain a chance of qualifying, while RCB need a miracle

The Preview by Ankur Dhawan29-Apr-20195:32

Kartik: Oshane Thomas has been a good enough replacement for Archer

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There’s a sense of deja vu as Royal Challengers meet Rajasthan Royals, although the roles have reversed from last year. For one, this is a home game for Royal Challengers. As things stand, it could be they who snap the thread by which the visitors’ playoff hopes hang. Not that Royal Challengers don’t stand a mathematical chance of qualifying themselves, but it’d require the kind of miracle that’s more suitable for fantasy fiction.Royals are coming off back-to-back wins, the first time they have been able to do so all tournament, and encouragingly, they have achieved this without Jos Buttler (both games), Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer (both didn’t feature in the second win). The loss of Steven Smith’s leadership is nigh, but not just yet. Their power and touch players alike should enjoy the true surface in Bengaluru, quick bowlers Oshane Thomas and Varun Aaron may not detest it either, and Shreyas Gopal should feel at home. However, they can’t afford leaking runs through sloppy fielding as they did against Sunrisers at home, and despite a player-of-the-match performance last match, Jaydev Unadkat’s dependence on cutters could be tested here.What Royals need is two straight wins; over a team that’s virtually out of contention and perhaps as a result with less to play for, and then over Delhi Capitals, who might have their guard down having already qualified for the playoffs. They shouldn’t expect any favours from either team, and will also need to keep an eye on their net run rate, should they end up tied on 14 points with other contenders.Of course, Royals’ best-case scenario would be to win both matches, and to hope that Sunrisers, Kings XI and Knight Riders all finish on 12 points each, rendering net run-rates irrelevant.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore: lost to Delhi Capitals by 16 runs, beat Kings XI by 17 runs, beat Super Kings by 1 run
Rajasthan Royals: beat Sunrisers by seven wickets, beat Knight Riders by three wickets, lost to Capitals by six wickets

Previous meeting

Both teams came into the contest winless and it was Royals who had points on the table at the end of it, as Shreyas Gopal spun a web around the Royal Challengers batting line-up. With healthy contributions from their top four, Royals, chasing 159, got over the line with one ball to spare.

Likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Heinrich Klaasen/Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Gurkeerat Singh, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yurzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep SainiRajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Liam Livingstone, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Sanju Samson (wk), 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Oshane ThomasSanju Samson flicks•BCCI

Strategy punt

• Marcus Stoinis’ demotion to No. 7 in the match against Delhi Capitals was surprising and arguably impacted the eventual outcome. He averages 71 and has a strike rate of 154 at No. 4 this year, his best in any position. He also finds the boundary once every four balls in this position. Royal Challengers would do well to elevate him.
• Since IPL 2017, Sanju Samson has scored at his slowest against offspin and legspin with a strike-rate of 117. The frequency with which he finds the boundary against these two types of bowling is also his lowest at 12.1 and 9.8 respectively. This suggests that Royal Challengers could have the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar bowling to him in tandem.

Stats that matter

• This will be Steven Smith’s 50th match as captain in all T20s.
• Yuzvendra Chahal needs two wickets to get to 100 in the IPL.
• Virat Kohli needs one win to bring up 50 wins in the IPL as captain.
• Ajinkya Rahane needs 14 runs for 5000 runs in T20s

Cooke reaches career-best 161 while Root chimes in with 98 to send Gloucestershire packing

ECB Reporters Network30-Apr-2019Chris Cooke’s career-best List A score of 161 guided Glamorgan to a 74-run Royal London One-Day Cup victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol.The 32-year-old South African smashed 12 fours and 8 sixes in an exhilarating 127-ball innings, sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 234 with Billy Root, who contributed 98 to a Glamorgan total of 331 for seven after winning the toss.In reply, Gloucestershire slumped to 26 for 4 as Marchant de Lange claimed three early wickets. They were eventually dismissed for 257, Jack Taylor top-scoring with 75 from 70 balls and de Lange claiming 3 for 41.Both sides face the prospect of elimination from the competition before the knock-out stage. It was only Glamorgan’s second win in six matches, while Gloucestershire have three victories from the same number of games.Cooke and Root transformed the visitors’ innings after they had struggled to 53 for 3 in the 13th over. David Lloyd was unlucky to be run out at the non-striker’s end when bowler Ryan Higgins got a fingertip to a Jeremy Lawlor straight drive.Lawler was caught at deep cover off the left-arm spin of Graeme van Buuren and when Marnus Labuschagne was caught behind down the leg-side off Chris Liddle, Glamorgan looked in trouble.Patience was needed to assess the pace of the pitch. Both Cooke and Root showed that quality in spades as they took the score to 137 for three after 30 overs.The two batsmen than cut loose, adding 101 runs in the next ten overs. Cooke reached a 66-ball half-century with a six over fine-leg off David Payne and Root soon followed.Billy Root attempts an acrobatic shot•Getty Images

Cooke launched two more big sixes in moving to a century off 99 balls and then needed only a further 21 deliveries to reach 150, passing his previous best List A score of 137, made against Somerset at Taunton in 2012.He finally fell for the third highest score ever by a Glamorgan batsman in one-day cricket to an unusually expensive Benny Howell, bowled attempting a ramp shot. The 234-stand with Root, a Glamorgan record for the fourth wicket in List A games, had occupied fewer than 33 overs.After a couple more wickets, Root, who had lost little in comparison to Cooke, was run out attempting a second run from the last ball of the innings. He had faced 103 balls, hitting nine fours and a six.Glamorgan’s total looked well above par and so it proved as Gloucestershire’s top order were rushed into some rash shots. Lukas Carey removed Gareth Roderick, caught at point in the first over, while the impressive de Lange, working up good pace, accounted for Miles Hammond, Benny Howell and James Bracey.Chris Dent was bowled by a slower ball from Graham Wagg, pushing forward, for 30 and, at 62 for 5, Gloucestershire looked beaten.Taylor and van Buuren, the two batting stars of the win over Somerset on Sunday, added 34 before the latter was caught behind for 41, edging an attempted pull off Wagg.Labuschagne’s leg-spin accounted for Ryan Higgins, caught at long-off for a brisk 38, while Tom Smith fell to a catch at fine leg off a long-hop from off-spinner Root, the bowler’s first List A wicket for Glamorgan and only his fifth in total.Taylor went to a 56-ball half-century with two sixes off successive balls from Dan Douthwaite and Payne batted well for his unbeaten 36, but it was too little too late.

He is expected to feature in six of their final seven red-ball matches starting June

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2019India offspinner R Ashwin will join Nottinghamshire for the second half of the county season. Ashwin will replace Australia’s James Pattinson as Nottinghamshire’s overseas player at the end of June and is expected to feature in six of their final seven red-ball matches.His stint will start at home against Essex on June 30, followed by matches against Somerset and Surrey. He will miss the away fixture against Yorkshire but will return to play against Kent, Warwickshire and Surrey.”I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories,” Ashwin said. “I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started.”ALSO READ: Ajinkya Rahane scores hundred on debut for HampshireThis will be Ashwin’s second stint in the county circuit. In 2017, he had played four matches for Worcestershire to take 20 wickets at an average of 29.15, and scored 214 runs at an average of 42.80.”We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell said. “Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options.”As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well. We’ve seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition.”Ashwin will be the second Indian to play county cricket this season. Ajinkya Rahane had signed for Hampshire earlier and started his season with a century on Wednesday, against the team Ashwin has signed for.

Announcement comes following the BCB’s monitoring and assessment of the security situation in Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2019Bangladesh’s planned tour of Sri Lanka at the end of July will go ahead, though marginally behind schedule, Sri Lanka Cricket announced via a statement on Monday.The confirmation had been on hold since May, when, in the wake of the terror attacks across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday the previous month, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had said that it would need to monitor the security situation before taking a decision.”We are concerned about the scenario,” BCB chief executive Nizam Chowdhury had said on May 7. “We will take advice from our foreign ministry and the Bangladesh High Commission in Sri Lanka.”We are also likely to hold talks with the SLC during the Asian Cricket Council meeting later this month.”The decision to go ahead with the tour is likely to have been taken after a great deal of thought on the part of the BCB, given the terror attacks in Christchurch in March, where some Bangladesh players had come perilously close to being caught in the middle of a shooting incident. That tour of New Zealand had been immediately called off with two matches still to play. It is understood that the BCB has assessed security risks ahead of this tour and the close monitoring is what caused the delay in the confirmation.”We have done our security assessment and we wanted to play all the games in Colombo,” Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s media director, told ESPNcricinfo, adding, “we are ready to go ahead with the tour.”The series will comprise three ODIs, the first on July 26, instead of the original date of July 25. The following two ODIs will now be played on July 28 and July 31 respectively, before Bangladesh depart on August 1. All three ODIs are day-night fixtures and will take place in Colombo.

Ashes results tend to define the careers of England’s captains and coaches: if Root leads England to successive series defeats, they will have to contemplate a change

George Dobell in Leeds21-Aug-2019If Joe Root required any reminder – and he almost certainly doesn’t – over the extent to which Ashes results tend to define careers in English cricket, he will have received it on Tuesday with the news of Mark Robinson’s sacking as England’s women’s coach.It did not matter that, just two years ago, Robinson oversaw his side’s World Cup success. And it did not matter that, in all likelihood, no coach in history could have led his England side to victory over that Australian side in the recently-concluded women’s Ashes series; there was simply a chasm of quality between them.What mattered was that England lost the Ashes and that they lost it by some distance. All the promise of recent times was forgotten.Root’s England side could soon be in a similar position. Put simply, having won none (and lost six) of the previous eight Tests between the sides, they have to win two and lose none of the remaining three Tests if they are to reclaim the Ashes. And if they fail to do so, it will be Root’s second successive series loss following the defeat in the Caribbean. Perhaps more importantly, it would be Root’s second successive Ashes series loss as captain and England’s first at home since 2001.It may be that Trevor Bayliss’ impending departure – his contract ends in September – buys Root some time. Bayliss could be, in effect, the sacrificial offering required should Australia retain the Ashes. But the stain on Root’s captaincy record would be lasting. As Robinson discovered, you can go from tomorrow’s man to yesterday’s in the blink of an eye.There are two significant areas for optimism for England and for Root. The first is that, in Leeds, Australia will be without Steve Smith. He is, quite clearly, the best batsman involved in the series so his absence is a serious blow for Australia and a huge opportunity for England.The second is that, in Jofra Archer, England have a special asset: a genuinely fast bowler with the skill, body, action and ambition to suggest he should have a long and successful career. Young people don’t come with guarantees, but Archer really does appear to have the world at his feet.Archer is a lottery win of a cricketer. He offers masses and changes much. But English cricket would be deluding themselves if they took much credit for him. That’s not to decry Sussex’s contribution. The club made Archer feel valued and have, no doubt, aided his development. But the fact is he arrived in the UK as an outrageously talented young man who had developed through the Barbadian cricket scene. His availability to England is an enormous slice of good fortune that should not be allowed to hide the faults – the broken fast bowlers, the absence of top-order batsmen, the paucity of spinners – in the English game.For the reality of Root’s reign as captain – 30 Tests and counting – is that England have made almost no progress. They remain dangerous, certainly, and victory in Sri Lanka was an admirable achievement. But the search for an opening batsman to replace Andrew Strauss – let along Alastair Cook – goes on; the search for a No. 3 or No. 4 to replace Jonathan Trott goes on.And while Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler have enjoyed fine moments, their scores of late hardly offer the return their promise suggests we should expect. Put simply, it seems reasonable to expect a side blessed with the likes of Root, Buttler, Anderson, Ben Stokes et al. to be placed higher than No. 4 (and it may be No. 5 if they lose this series) in the Test rankings.Jonny Bairstow is two years older than he was when Joe Root was appointed as captain – but is he really two years better?•Getty Images

Let’s be clear: this is not entirely Root’s fault. He is not responsible for the lop-sided county schedule, the embrace of all things white-ball or the absence of the basic red-ball skills – the patience, the denial, the technical ability – that used to proliferate in the county game.But he does have to take some responsibility. He is England captain. This is his team. If he is unhappy with any aspect of the preparation, selection, coaching or ethos, it is within his remit to change it. And the fact is that, on his watch, the batting order might as well be picked out of a hat and his side are persisting with an opening batsman who everyone knows would be better suited to the middle order.For while England ended their Caribbean tour with the coach insisting they had learned valuable lessons – notably that the spine of the team, from No. 4 to No. 8, was a strength that should not be tinkered with – they have done almost nothing but tinker ever since. The No. 8 has gone, the No. 4 is a No. 3, the No. 6 is a No. 5 and the No. 7 might well be at No. 6. The England management insist it’s not chaos, but it’s starting to look as if it might be.ALSO READ: Miller: England’s batting maelstrom squanders another opportunityFurthermore, Root has been one of those advocating the “positive” mindset that all too often veers into recklessness – remember him saying “you don’t win games by batting long periods of time” in the Caribbean? – and increasingly appears to be a cover for a lack of defensive technique.Most of all, Eoin Morgan’s shadow is starting to loom over Root. For while Morgan seized a failing team and, with a combination of vision, bravery, consistency and unwavering determination, moulded them into world champions, Root has taken charge of an exciting group of cricketers and allowed them to drift. They should be two years better; most of them are simply two years older.That lack of progress applies to Root as much as anyone. He hasn’t made a first-innings century as captain since August 2017 in just his fifth game at the helm. Since then, he has only made one – the second-innings century in Kandy – in a live rubber. England cannot afford such decline in the returns of their best batsman. If the evidence suggests the captaincy is compromising his run-scoring ability – and it is starting to do so – England may have to consider the possibility of a change.All of which makes this a vital game for Root’s England. He remains the natural leader of this side and a man with many positive qualities. And alternatives aren’t especially obvious. But as Robinson’s demise has reminded us, Ashes results tend to bookend the careers of captains and coaches. England really do need a victory in Leeds.

At 43, Stevens is the second-oldest player to score 200 and take five wickets in an innings in a first-class match after W.G. Grace

ECB Reporters Network19-Sep-2019Kent 482 for 8 dec (Stevens 237, Billings 138, Olivier 5-108) and 337 for 7 dec (Billings 122*, Robinson 97) beat Yorkshire 269 (Fisher 47*, Milnes 5-87) and 117 (Stevens 5-20) by 433 runsDarren Stevens claimed a five-wicket haul as Kent put the finishing touches on a record-breaking 433-run victory over Yorkshire at Headingley and kept alive their hopes of finishing third on the County Championship Division One table.Yorkshire, chasing a target of 551 – a world record had they achieved it – started day four in tatters at 44 for 6, and they were bowled out for 117 shortly before lunch.It was Kent’s biggest victory in terms of runs in their first-class history and Yorkshire’s heaviest runs defeat. It was also the fourth-heaviest in the history of the County Championship.Kent claimed a maximum 24 points from their fifth win of the season and moved up to fourth on the table, two points behind third-placd Hampshire. The two sides meet for a final-round clash at Canterbury next week.Yorkshire’s fourth defeat of the campaign yielded five points and saw them slip from third at the start of the week to fifth. They are 10 points behind Hampshire, having suffered their second successive defeat, and end the season against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. All final-round fixtures start on Monday.Stevens, with four wickets overnight, claimed his fifth in the second over of the morning when he had Tim Bresnan caught behind. In claiming his 50th Championship wicket of the season. Felllow Kent seamers Matt Milnes and Harry Podmore also reached the 50-wicket mark for the season in Yorkshire’s first innings.Top-scorer Jonny Tattersall and Matthew Fisher held Kent up by sharing 35 inside 17 overs before Podmore had the latter brilliantly caught behind one-handed diving to his right by Ollie Robinson as Yorkshire fell to 81 for 8. Another spell of defiance came as Tattersall and Duanne Olivier united to put on 35 runs before Daniel Bell-Drummond bowled the latter.That wicket came as lunch was extended in an attempt to finish the game, and it was when Bell-Drummond had Tattersall caught at second slip for 41 in the next over.A number of notable records were posted in this match.Stevens’ 237 on the first day helped him become only the fifth player in history to score a double hundred and take 10 wickets in first-class cricket beyond the age of 43 after Stevens took 10 wickets in last week’s win at Nottinghamshire. W.G. Grace is on that list, as is former Kent allrounder Frank Woolley, who achieved the feat in the 1930s.Stevens, aged 43 years and 142 days, is the second-oldest player to score 200 and take five wickets in an innings in a first-class match. Grace is the oldest having done it for Gloucestershire in 1895 aged 46 years and 303 days. Here, Stevens finished with 5 for 20 from 18 overs in the second innings and claimed match figures of 7 for 70 from 38.”I’ve just seen that (stat on W.G. Grace), only because Mitch (Claydon) was taking the mickey saying we look pretty similar,” Stevens said. “I was very tired this morning, and I was praying for that early wicket. Luckily it came. To be fair, I was pretty done in after that spell last night, 13 overs. But the early wicket got me going.”I can’t really put it into words. If you’d have asked me at the start of the season, I would have said that I’ll have a decent year, but not like this.”It was a bit frustrating early season with a few catches going down, and it didn’t really happen with the bat. Then, the last part of the summer has been pretty special. A lot of hard work’s gone in, and it’s starting to pay off now.”Stevens shared 346 with captain Sam Billings in the first innings to help Kent recover from 39 for 5 to 482 for 8 declared, their partnership being the highest for the sixth wicket at Headingley.Billings hit 138 and 122 not out, becoming the first man to score two hundreds in a Championship game at Headingley and the first Kent player to post two hundreds in the same fixture since Martin van Jaarsveld did it in 2008.