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Shardul Thakur throws spotlight on crammed Ranji Trophy schedule after hitting game-changing ton against Tamil Nadu in semi-final

Shashank Kishore03-Mar-2024India allrounder Shardul Thakur has called for longer breaks between Ranji Trophy games to facilitate better recovery and preparation for players, keeping in mind the lengthy nature of the competition. Mumbai, for example, would’ve played 10 first-class games in under 10 weeks should they reach the final.Shardul termed the current schedule – where teams have had just three days between games – as “difficult” with schedules getting “tighter and tighter.””If boys keep playing like this for two more seasons, there will be a lot of injuries across the country,” he said after hitting a maiden first-class century to rescue Mumbai from 106 for 6, as they went on to open up a 207-run lead with one wicket remaining.”Next year, they [the BCCI] have to re-look at it, and give more [of a] break. When I remember playing Ranji Trophy back in the day, good seven to eight years back, [the] first three games used to have [a] three-day break, and then it was [a] four-day break, and knockouts were played [with] five-day breaks.”With the IPL window only getting bigger, the BCCI has had to force-fit all senior men’s competitions over a smaller window than usual. This has led to several prominent first-class cricketers lamenting privately about the relevance of tournaments such as the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy, the zonal first-class and one-day competitions, which open the domestic season.Injuries aside, teams have also had to grapple with travel fatigue because of this short window. Gujarat, for example, had their flight to New Delhi cancelled the following day after their home fixture against Karnataka in Ahmedabad.Then on the second day, their onward flight to Delhi was delayed, and when they finally arrived in the capital, they were stranded in the airport overnight. It meant driving amid heavy fog to Chandigarh on the third morning which left them with no net sessions prior to the game, which was eventually fogged out.”Now this year, we have seen that all the games have been played [with a] three-day gap. It is extremely tough on domestic players to expect them to play ten games in a row with just three-day gap if [a] team makes it to the finals.”Also, when nine teams were in the group [in the old format], one team would get a break in [the] round-robin system. Now with only eight teams being in one group, everyone plays each other, so that [extra] break has gone now.”Thakur cited Mumbai’s example, while explaining how it was particularly gruelling on fast bowlers. “Yeah, 100% because Mohit [Avasthi] also had an injury in the sixth game.” Avasthi was rested by Mumbai from the league stage contest against Chhattisgarh, believed to have developed a hamstring-related issue.”He played five games in a row. He had a huge workload because Tushar [Deshpande] was also selected for India A,” Thakur said. “He was not available. Dhawal [Kulkarni] was playing alternate games looking at his age and workload. Royston [Dias] is fairly new.”He [Mohit] operated a lot in those first five games, and then he had an injury so he had to miss a game. I think that is because there is not enough spacing between the games.”Tamil Nadu captain and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who has led his side into Ranji Trophy knockouts for the first time in seven years while also crossing the 50-wicket mark this season, agreed with Thakur.”A few players feel the same thing,” Sai Kishore said. “Fast bowlers are extra tired because you travel on one day. For me, I don’t train much because of the three-day thing. I bowl directly match-to-match, so the load on my body is fine. I don’t strain myself in training pre-match. I am managing myself that way, but it should be harder for the fast bowlers.”

The home side piled up a massive 431 for 2 then Cooper Connolly bagged figures of 5 for 22 as South Africa collapse to a record defeat

Firdose Moonda24-Aug-2025

Cameron Green made his maiden ODI hundred from just 47 balls•Getty Images

Centuries from Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and a maiden ODI hundred from Cameron Green, off just 47 balls, took Australia to their second-highest ODI total, behind their 434 for 4 against South Africa 19 years ago.But there was no repeat of that match, as South Africa were bowled out for 155 and slumped to their heaviest defeat by runs by 276 runs to finish the series 2-1 winners. The consolation win meant that Australia’s record of never being whitewashed in an ODI series at home intact and completed their second-biggest ODI victory.While Australia’s seamers found movement under lights to blunt South Africa, the second innings belonged to Cooper Connolly. At 22 years and two days old, he became the youngest Australia to take a five-for in ODIs and the first Australian to do so since March 2023. He also finished with the best figures by an Australian spinner in the format.Related

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All three matches in the series have been won by the team batting first, and all by big margins. In Mackay, it was noticeable how much more the ball did under lights and that difference in conditions prompted Marsh to bat first for the first time in 22 tosses. He would have been even happier with the way Australia responded to his call.After being bowled out for under 200 in the first two matches of the series, Australia showed they meant business when Marsh and Head shared in Australia’s fourth-highest opening stand of 250. They batted together for 34.1 overs which still left plenty of time for Green to score the second-fastest ODI hundred for Australia after Glenn Maxwell. In the process, Australia also became only the second side in which the top three all scored centuries in an ODI innings.The other team to have achieved that feat was South Africa against West Indies, a decade ago at altitude in Johannesburg. Australia’s trio of hundreds came on the Queensland coast, on a used but flat pitch, and against a weakened South African attack.With Kagiso Rabada out of the series with an ankle injury and Lungi Ngidi rested, South Africa lacked discipline upfront and struggled to rein Australia in at any stage. Kwena Maphaka, playing in just his third ODI, gave away 73 runs in six overs, Wiaan Mulder was at his most expensive with 93 runs scored off his seven overs and only Keshav Maharaj conceded at under six runs an over.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Maphaka and Mulder took the new balls against an Australian pair who showed no mercy. When they raced to 41 without loss after four overs, returning captain Temba Bavuma had to introduce spin early. While Maharaj and Aiden Markram’s first overs were boundary-less, the pause in power hitting was only temporary.Head brought up fifty off 32 balls and at that point had scored twice as many runs as Marsh, and only faced 10 more balls. It looked as though Head would race to a hundred before Marsh reached fifty but the Australian captain got there when he drove Corbin Bosch square off his 50th delivery.Head’s hundred came off 80 balls, with a single from Muthusamy and his signature helmet-on-bat celebration, fitting of the significance of the moment. Head last scored an international century 25 innings ago in all formats.The Head-Marsh partnership grew to 200 by the 28th over, and was Australia’s first double-century stand since the 2023 World Cup, when Maxwell went wild in their victory over Afghanistan. Six overs later, their stand reached 250 as Head took 19 runs off Markram. With 150 and beyond in his sights, it seemed Head could do no wrong but he couldn’t clear long-off against Maharaj.Travis Head celebrates his 80-ball century•Getty Images

In the over after his dismissal, Marsh reached his hundred, from 105 balls. He was also set for more but top-edged a slog-sweep off Muthusamy and Ryan Rickelton ran from behind the stumps to square leg to take the catch.Australia promoted Green ahead of Marnus Labuschagne and gave him a licence to thrill. By the time Maphaka was brought back in the 43rd over, Green had his eye in. He brought up fifty off 28 deliveries when he hit Maphaka over midwicket for six, in an over that cost 20. Maphaka’s day got worse when he dropped Carey on 29.Green then launched a magnificent assault on Muthusamy and sent him for a hat-trick of sixes to enter the 80s having declined a single to retain the strike. Twin sixes off Mulder put him on the brink and then Green reached his hundred with two off Bosch. He finished unbeaten on 118.Carey iced the cake by reaching his 13th ODI half-century off 37 balls. The third-wicket stand between Green and Carey was worth 164 off 13.3 overs, at a scoring rate of 12.14 and Australia added 126 runs off the last 10 overs.Faced with a daunting target, South Africa’s start was always going to determine how things went and it was badly. Markram’s struggles outside the off stump remain and he nicked Sean Abbott to second slip in the second over. Rickelton has also had a difficult tour and handed Connolly a catch at midwicket to depart for 11.Cooper Connolly celebrates removing Dewald Brevis•Getty Images

In the next over, Bavuma, whose approach was aggressive as he reached 19 off 10 balls, advanced on Abbott, swung and chopped on. By the nine over, Tristan Stubbs was also dismissed, caught at cover off Xavier Bartlett. From 50 for 4, 431 was a world away.Tony de Zorzi and Dewald Brevis shared in South Africa’s best partnership but de Zorzi played a poor shot and was caught at midwicket when he tried to pull Connolly over the inner ring. Brevis looked the best of the South Africans, especially with his two sixes off Adam Zampa, but holed out to long-off on 49 to give Connolly a second wicket.His next two came courtesy of spectacular catching by Labuschagne at long-on. He caught Wiaan Mulder low off the turf running in, and Bosch when he dived full length and avoided the boundary rope.While Connolly had the fielders to thank for his earlier wickets, his fifth came through a clever piece of bowling. He drew Maharaj forward with a flighted ball, beat him as he slogged across the line and Josh Inglis did the rest. Zampa took the final wicket in the 25th over, as South Africa were bowled out with more than half their overs remaining.

A scorching spell from Starc restricted the visitors to 203, but Rauf nearly stole the game away

Alex Malcolm04-Nov-2024It was the full Pakistan experience at the MCG, a ground where they have so much great history. They were hopeless, then thrilling, then hopeless, then thrilling. And then Australia won, without much conviction. But they did what they do thanks to a sizzling spell from Mitchell Starc and yet another nerveless chasing masterclass from the ice-cool captain Pat Cummins in the face of what looked like a match-winning three-wicket haul from Haris Rauf, heroics with bat and ball from Naseem Shah and some crafty captaincy from new skipper Mohammad Rizwan.The 25,831-strong crowd looked sparse in the gargantuan MCG. But it sounded like 100,000, and it felt like it was in Lahore, as Pakistan fans drowned out the locals to help keep their side in the game. But there was only so much they could do, as Pakistan found a way to lose despite being on the brink of one of the great ODI heists.Chasing just 204 after Starc took 3 for 33 from 10 overs, including three maidens, Australia slumped from 139 for 3, after Steven Smith and Josh Inglis were in control, to 155 for 7 on the back of Rauf’s raucous burst. That became 185 for 8 when Sean Abbott was run out, after he had nearly run out Cummins. But skipper held firm, as he had at Edgbaston, Mumbai, Kolkata and Christchurch over the past 18 months.Related

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His 32 not out won’t go down as his most memorable, but it was the equal of any of his best innings in Australian colours. It was vindication too for his decision to have laser eye surgery in the winter to fix his vision, and some extensive batting work in Sydney with Australian batting consultant and well renown coach Trent Woodhill.Australia’s chase began poorly with the new opening duo of Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk both falling inside the first four overs.Fraser-McGurk’s 16 was particularly frantic. But Smith was calm and settled into a stereotypical groove. Any fears on his Test form could well be allayed given how well he handled some excellent fast bowling on a quick pitch.Australia could have been 55 for 3 when Inglis was dropped by Irfan Khan at gully. Naseem got one to rear from a length and catch the edge but Irfan could not hang on flying high to his right.That looked like it might have been the last chance. Barring an edge between the keeper and wide slip trying to glide a ball, Inglis was imperious. Coach Jason Gillespie’s four years coaching against Inglis in Australian domestic cricket had not translated to his four-pronged pace attack avoiding dropping short to the West Australian. It cost them three sixes and two fours.Haris Rauf burst through Australia’s middle order•AFP

After an 85-run stand, Smith made an uncharacteristic error. He slashed a cut off Rauf straight to backward point to be out for 44.Pakistan’s insistence on going short to Inglis paid off when he nailed another pull shot off Shaheen only to see Irfan run a long way to hang on to an outstanding catch in the deep.Rauf, a Melbourne Stars favourite, then had the Pakistan fans in raptures as he cranked up the speed and Australia lost 3 for 0. Labuschagne top edged to deep third, undone by extra bounce. Maxwell nicked the next ball to Rizwan and Australia were 139 for 6.Aaron Hardie and Abbott steadied briefly but it was fleeting. Hardie fell trying to back away and cut a ball from Mohammad Hasnain that hit the top of middle.Enter the skipper for another salvage job. It was unconventional as it always is. He was bombed with short balls. But he keep scoring and kept surviving. Abbott was run out when Cummins pushed for a third. But he was there at the end yet again when the winning runs were scored to break the hearts of all those who don’t bleed green and gold.Earlier, Australia set up the win with the ball. Most of Pakistan’s batters, with the exception of Babar Azam who made a classy 37 off 44, were exposed on a fast and bouncy MCG pitch after being sent in having come straight from the low spinning Test pitches of Multan and Rawalpindi last month. Rizwan top scored with 44 off 71 balls while Naseem made an outstanding 40 off 39 with four sixes from No. 9 to ensure Australia was at least chasing more than 200.Starc and Cummins, fresh and in rhythm ahead of a big summer, put on a show in front of a very pro-Pakistan crowd. Starc’s 140kph thunderbolts accounted for Saim Ayub on debut and Abdullah Shafique.The pair were opening the batting in ODI cricket for the first time after averaging just 8 as a pair in 12 Test innings together. Their international average dropped to 7.61 when Ayub chopped on trying to drive on the up.Shafique looked like he was batting in a Test match. He defended, ducked and weaved on his way to 12 from 26 before failing to get his bat out of the way of a rising delivery from Starc wide of off as he tried to sway inside it.Mitchell Starc removed Pakistan’s openers•Getty Images

Babar and Rizwan settled but never accelerated. Babar looked in fine touch but felt the pinch of the slow-moving scoreboard. He tried to create a scoring option off the back foot to Adam Zampa but picked the wrong length and lost his off stump.Cummins welcomed Kamran Ghulam to Australia with a brute of a delivery. The whites of his eyes popped as Cummins’ 142.7kph bouncer reared at his throat. He got his hands up in time but could only glove it to Inglis.Rizwan’s sluggish rearguard began to pick up steam when he hooked Starc into the stands at fine leg. But he fell to Labuschagne trying to sweep a wide legbreak only to get a top edge onto his helmet that popped up to Inglis.Some late hitting from Naseem, Shaheen Afridi, and Irfan Khan, in the mould of the man who had presented his debut cap in Wasim Akram, lifted Pakistan from a dire position at 117 for 6 to 203.Naseem and Shaheen showed the type of intent that Pakistan’s top order could have used, launching five sixes between them after the entire top seven had contributed one, before Shaheen was castled by Starc for 24 off 19.Naseem feasted on spin, launching Zampa into the stands twice and Maxwell once. But Naseem also launched Sean Abbott over deep midwicket. He holed out to mid-off to end the innings. Had he batted until the end, it might have been enough.

Durham opener stars on second day of tour game but CAXI openers made inroads in chase

ECB Reporters Network15-Jan-2025Cricket Australia XI 176 (Hearne 106, Cook 4-15) and 97 for 1 (Ward 39*, MacMillan 11*) need another 164 runs to beat England Lions 223 (Davies 54, Gannon 5-27) and 213 (McKinney 94) Durham’s Ben McKinney fell just short of a century for England Lions, as a Cricket Australia XI took control of their four-day encounter at the Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane.On a day when wickets continued to tumble, with 12 falling in all, the 20-year-old McKinney stood tallest to strike a composed 94 as the Lions were bowled out for 213 in their second innings.The home side reached 97 for one at the close, needing another 164 runs on day three to seal victory. Tim Ward was unbeaten at the close on 39 from 80 balls, having added 77 for the first wicket with Jayden Goodwin.Sonny Baker had earlier wrapped up the CAXI first innings without addition to their overnight 176. He dismissed centurion Lachlan Hearne with his first ball of the day to finish with four for 43, as the Lions took a 47-run lead. Sam Cook, who ran through the top-order yesterday, finished with four for 15.A youthful Lions batting line-up, featuring nine players aged 22 or under, were then unable to fully capitalise on their advantage aside from former Under-19s captain McKinney.The left-handed opener reached his half-century with a textbook cover drive to the rope but had been left with the tail when he pulled Gabe Bell and was caught on the boundary just short of his century. Last man Cook made a handy 23 from 19 balls as he and Baker added 28 for the last wicket. The CAXI wickets were shared around, with Bell and Charlie Anderson claiming three apiece.Bashir claimed the only wicket of the home side’s chase when Goodwin, son of former Zimbabwe and Sussex batter Murray, was trapped lbw on the back foot by Bashir for 35. Raf MacMillan was 11 not out at the close.

India had plenty of positives to take from their warm-up game; Bangladesh not so much

Karthik Krishnaswamy01-Jun-2024Having endured a difficult IPL season on multiple fronts, Hardik Pandya served up a reminder of his elite all-round skills as India warmed up for the T20 World Cup with a 60-run win over Bangladesh in New York.Hardik scored an unbeaten 23-ball 40 and took 1 for 10 off his first two overs before conceding 20 in his third. But it was heartening for India to have their main allrounder influence the game as he did, in conditions – the pitch was two-paced and the outfield slow – that helped his bowling but not necessarily his batting. The other headline acts came from Rishabh Pant, who retired out after scoring a breezy 32-ball 53, and Arshdeep Singh, who took two wickets in a spell of incisive new-ball swing.

No Kohli, no Jaiswal either

Virat Kohli only landed in New York on the eve of this match, so it was expected that he wouldn’t play the warm-up fixture. It wasn’t expected, though, that Yashasvi Jaiswal – the other candidate to open alongside Rohit Sharma – didn’t play any part either. India opened, instead, with Rohit and Sanju Samson.It could have been an audition for first-choice wicketkeeper. On the day, Samson scored 1 off 6, and was lbw in the second over to a Shoriful Islam in-ducker. There seemed to be a chance that this ball may have gone on to miss leg stump, but DRS was not in use so Samson had to go.

Pant fires at No. 3

Pant replaced Samson, and proceeded to play the most fluent innings of the day. India were 33 for 1 in five overs when he began their acceleration with three sixes off Shakib Al Hasan in the sixth. He hit four fours and four sixes in all, and targeted the area behind the wicket with aplomb, using the reverse-sweep and his trademark no-look scoop over short fine leg to telling effect.Pant kept wicket too, rather than Samson, and by the end of the day it seemed fairly certain that he would take the big gloves on Wednesday, when India begin their tournament proper against Ireland.Arshdeep Singh took two wickets with the new ball•ICC via Getty Images

Allrounder watch

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik were the other major contributors to India’s total of 182 for 5, scoring a combined 71 off 41, while Shivam Dube, who batted between them at No. 5, struggled with the conditions. Dube swung at the spinners repeatedly, but only made one true connection, a massive six over wide long-off, while scoring 14 off 16.Then, having only bowled just the one over in 14 games during the IPL, he proceeded to bowl three here and pick up two wickets, though Bangladesh were already 42 for 5 when he came on.Ravindra Jadeja batted at No. 7, but Axar Patel, India’s other left-arm fingerspinner, bowled before him and picked up a wicket. It remains to be seen which of the two feature in India’s first XI, or if they go with both and leave out the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav.India play three of their four group-stage games in New York, and if conditions remain broadly similar, they may be able to get quite a bit of bowling out of their four allrounders – Hardik, Jadeja, Axar and Dube.

Arshdeep vs Siraj

Jasprit Bumrah is the first name on the bowling end of India’s team sheet, but who partners him with the new ball? On this day, Arshdeep made a serious case for himself, swinging the new ball prodigiously and getting Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das out in Test-match manner.Mohammed Siraj was excellent too, getting the ball to behave awkwardly from a hard length, and dismissing Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto with one such delivery that cramped him for room. On the evidence of their displays here, India will have a hard task picking just one of these two, assuming they go with two frontline quicks and Hardik as the third seamer.

Problems for Bangladesh

For Bangladesh, who came into this match on the back of a shock series defeat to USA, the result reinforced major worries going into the World Cup, chiefly their long-standing lack of power-hitting. India hit ten sixes in their 20 overs, and Bangladesh just one. Of the four batters who faced at least 10 balls in their chase of 183, only one – Mahmudullah, who top-scored with a 28-ball 40 – went at above a run a ball.Mahmudullah also bowled two tidy overs and dismissed Rohit, and took the catch of the day to send back Dube, sprinting to his right from long-on and juggling the ball expertly while stepping out of and then back into the field of play. All in all, it was a good day for the 38-year-old.Bangladesh suffered an injury scare when left-arm quick Shoriful left the field five balls into India’s final over when he attempted to stop a straight hit from Hardik and took a painful hit to his left hand. The extent of his injury wasn’t clear by the time the game ended.The margin of India’s victory, however, may have been inflated by the resources available to the two teams. India’s quicks did the bulk of their early damage, picking up four wickets between them to reduce Bangladesh to 41 for 5. Bangladesh, however, only bowled five overs of genuine pace – and one of gentle medium-pace from Soumya Sarkar. This was because they rested both Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman, both of whom could have caused India problems on this pitch.

England captain named Player of the Match after putting himself through 24 overs in India’s second innings at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-20252:32

Stokes: I was going to decide when I stop bowling

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, admitted he had taken himself to some “dark places” with his bowling workloads but said “nothing was stopping” him as he embarked on two lengthy spells to help drag his side to a 22-run victory over India on the final day at Lord’s.Stokes was named Player of the Match after taking five wickets across 44 overs – the third-most he has bowled in a Test, and the most since 2019 – to go with innings of 44 and 33 with the bat, as well as the crucial run-out of Rishabh Pant in India’s first innings.On the third evening, he received an instruction from England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, to call it quits after a seven-over spell, with the team management still wary about protecting Stokes’ fitness after hamstring surgery over the winter.Related

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But he again pushed his body to the limit on Monday, resuming his over from the previous evening and bowling a further 9.2 overs during the morning, which included the wicket of India opener KL Rahul. He followed up with a ten-over spell after lunch, eventually dislodging Jasprit Bumrah after a dogged 35-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja for the ninth wicket, as England sought to confirm victory and a 2-1 lead in the series.The Lord’s Test was also the second of back-to-back matches, with just a three-day turnaround from India’s win at Edgbaston, where Stokes bowled 26 overs. In the first Test, at Headingley, he sent down 35 overs and spoke afterwards about how hard it was to recover.”I have taken myself to some pretty dark places before. Today was… but look, bowling to win a Test match, if that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what does,” he said, speaking to Sky Sports at the post-match presentation.”With what today was, what was on the line. Yesterday [Saturday] was a bit different. You know, there was still more cricket to be played. And, you know, pulled myself off there. I mean, to be honest, I was absolutely cooked [on day three] as well. But again, today, you know, game was on the line. Nothing was stopping me [carrying on].”Ben Stokes appeals for KL Rahul’s wicket•Getty Images

Although Stokes hinted at a return to form with the bat, Lord’s extended his run without a Test fifty to ten innings. He is now averaging 29.18 in 20 Tests since his last hundred, at Lord’s during the 2023 Ashes, but said that his ability to impact games with the ball meant he had little time to dwell on his batting returns.”I’m an allrounder. I get four opportunities in a Test match to be able to influence the game. And one of the great things about being an allrounder is that if one thing doesn’t quite click, you’ve got an opportunity with the other. And that’s how I look at it.”Obviously, I would like to be scoring more runs at the moment, but as soon as I’ve got my whites on out there on the field, all my thoughts flip over to bowling. And that’s the great thing about being an allrounder, that you don’t really have a chance to sort of worry about anything. And everyone knows, I’ll always put in as much as I possibly can.”Jofra Archer took two crucial wickets in his opening spell•Getty Images

Stokes offered particular praise for Jofra Archer, playing in his first Test since 2021. Archer claimed match figures of 5 for 105 in a display of sustained hostility that regularly pushed the speed gun above 90mph/145kph. On day five, six years on from his heroics in the ODI World Cup final, he made the first breakthrough with the key wicket of Pant, and Stokes said he had backed Archer to do something special.”Yeah, part of the reason I went with Jof this morning, six years ago now to the day. He played a major role and I had a feeling he’d do something special and crack the game open. A bit of discussion, Brydon [Carse] had an amazing spell [last night], but I had a gut feeling that Jof’s going to do something in his first game back.”Speaking afterwards to Sky, Archer said that the long periods he experienced in rehab due to back and elbow problems between 2021 and 2024 were made all the more worthwhile by the taste of victory at Lord’s.As well as his involvement in the World Cup final, when he bowled the Super Over as England’s men lifted the trophy for the first time, Archer made his Test debut on the ground during the 2019 Ashes. However, he had not played a Test since February 2021 before his comeback against India, enduring a four-year absence from red-ball cricket while road-testing his body in the limited-overs formats.0:55

Manjrekar: Stokes always makes things happen

“I only played one other Test at Lord’s, but you know, the last one was just as special as this one,” Archer said. “A lot of rehab, a lot of training, but it’s moments like this that make everything worth it.”I feel the hardest part is playing cricket for the last year-and-a-half and then still having training, talking about workloads, and ‘bowl today, don’t bowl tomorrow’, stuff like that. That would probably be the hardest part, because some days you think that you’re ready, but you never know if you’re ready or not until you do it. But the safer way is the best way. So I’m not too fussed. This surely, surely is worth it.”On day two, Archer struck with his third ball on returning to the Test side, having India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal caught at second slip, and celebrated by sprinting away to square leg, where he was enveloped by his team-mates.”Guess I was a little bit emotional,” he said. “It was a long journey. I can’t tell you the amount of keyboard warriors that I had to put up with for the last three to four years as well. I told myself that I was going to try my best not to be [emotional] and when [Jaiswal] nicked it, and it went to Brooky [Harry Brook], I think all of that just went through the window. The joy, the whole crowd, the Long Room yesterday, I’ve never seen it like that ever in my life. So it’s just moments like this that made the rehab all so much worth it.”Archer also revealed what was behind his send-off for Pant on the final day, having removed the batter’s off stump from the ground. “It wasn’t a proud moment,” he said. “I just told him to charge that. Honestly, this morning, I was struggling a little bit, the ball just kept coming out full. One of the full ones, he just charged, and it p****d me off a bit. When the [wicket] ball nipped down the slope, honestly I was so grateful for that.”

MI New York fell three runs short in an MLC 2025 contest of major twists and turns

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2025If Finn Allen’s record-breaking 51-ball 151 made the opening game of MLC 2025 memorable, the second of the season matched it for excitement, with two teams – whose better-known siblings have waged many battles at the IPL – playing out a thriller that had as many twists and turns as a 40-over contest can possibly have.Chasing 186 for victory against Texas Super Kings, MI New York looked out of the contest, then roared right back, then lost their way, found it again, but then stopped three runs short as Daryl Mitchell, who had triggered the previous turning point in the game, bowled a last over of yorkers and slower deliveries to concede just five to the ninth-wicket pair of Tajinder Singh and Naveen-ul-Haq.It was a special comeback from TSK, as they turned the result their way despite MINY needing 27 from 20 balls with six wickets in hand.Monank Patel made a 33-ball fifty•Sportzpics for MLC

The chase had started direly for MINY with the with the scoreboard reading 32 for 3 after the powerplay. It wasn’t a huge chase, but you wouldn’t want to lose Quinton de Kock and Nicholas Pooran, as well as Agni Chopra, that soon. But that is what happened thanks to Adam Milne and Noor Ahmad. The innings needed rebuilding, so Monank Patel, the No. 3, and Michael Bracewell, possibly MINY’s best bowler earlier, took it upon themselves to do that.They needed to steady the ship first, which they did, only one four – hit by Bracewell – came between Pooran’s dismissal and the end of the seventh over. But then a little impetus was needed, which came as they scored 11, 16, 15, 14 and 17 in the next five overs. And suddenly it was even stevens – 76 needed from 48.Monank had gotten to his half-century, off 33 balls, by then, and Bracewell looked good to join him at the mark, but Milne’s reintroduction provided the next twist in the tale, though it really was Faf du Plessis’ wicket more than anyone else’s. Milne bowled short outside off, Bracewell gave it a thwack, du Plessis leapt and plucked the ball out of the air one-handed at wide mid-off.