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Kolpak-returnee quick opens up on his time away from the national team and the thrill of potentially making the XI against India

Firdose Moonda23-Dec-2021Duanne Olivier was so confident he would not play for South Africa again that when he signed a Kolpak deal in 2019, he framed his Test cap. So, what happens if baggy green No. 94 is needed later this week?”I am going to have to ask if I can get a new one. Otherwise I need to break the frame,” Olivier said, from South Africa’s bio-bubble in Centurion three days before the Boxing Day Test against India, which should mark Olivier’s comeback.Although he is still bashful about his chances of being in the starting XI, with Anrich Nortje out through injury and Olivier leading the first-class wicket-charts, he is all but certain to play.When, and it is when and not if, he does, Olivier is going to be battling butterflies, just like he always does. “I am a nervous person when it comes to playing. Wherever I play I am always nervous. If it’s my first over, I am very nervous,” he said. “I’ll have different feeling this time. will be different feelings. Maybe it might be similar to a debut because I haven’t played for three years. It will be interesting to see what the nerves will be like but I’m sure, if I am selected to play, I think my nerves will be shot through the roof.”Related

• New-look Olivier carries same old threat for South Africa

• Covid-19 after-effects, hamstring niggle forced Duanne Olivier to sit out Centurion Test

• What will new-look South Africa's starting XI against India look like?

• Meet the quicks: South Africa's fast bowlers for the India series

• Elgar: 'Not nice to see our coaches get lambasted for things'

Olivier will partly be worried about performance in a big series against a team that is “not No. 1 for no reason,” he reminded. “It’s massive series. They (India) haven’t won here, so they want to come and win here and for us, we don’t want that to happen.”And he will partly be concerned about what South Africans still bitter from his decision to leave think. “I know people will have mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day, it’s okay. You handle that and you deal with those pressures or the criticism that comes with that.”But the one thing he does not have to worry about are the feeling of his team-mates, some old, many new, who are more than happy to have him.Earlier in the week, South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar said he’s be happy to have anyone who is in form, in the squad. “I want our best opportunity to win matches and win series, and in order for that, you need to make tough calls on bringing people back, for instance. I was very keen to have him back,” Elgar said. “There’s no bad feelings about what’s happened in the past. I want to win cricket matches for South Africa, I want to win series for South Africa, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got 100% backing when it comes to that in our change room. It’s nice to have him back.”Except that it’s not exactly the same Olivier who has returned. “You can see that he’s a different cricketer to what he was the first time he played for us,” Elgar said. And that’s a good thing. “Obviously with his trip away from South Africa, he’s learnt a lot, he’s played a lot of cricket in the UK, so he’s bringing a lot of knowledge and experience back into the change room, which is something that we need at the moment.”Olivier himself feels like someone else, as a person and a cricketer. “Firstly, I am more mature and a bit more grown up,” he said. “And from a cricketing point of view, I do genuinely believe I am different. The UK helped me a lot in perfecting that fuller length that every bowler wants to bowl. For me, it was quite difficult because it can come across floaty and I wasn’t that consistent. I am still working on it and I am not going to get it right every single time but the three years I spend in the UK helped me immensely, just the way I approach my game. I can still go short if I want to, but at the end of the day, the games dictates that. People thought I only bowl short and fair enough, I did that but now I feel like I have a different element to my game.”Duanne Olivier celebrates a wicket during his stint with the English county Yorkshire•Getty Images

A fuller length has long been talked about as the key to success on the Highveld, where two of the three Tests will be played, and especially at the Wanderers, Olivier’s new home ground, albeit that the temptation is to bowl short. But Olivier has seen for himself that fuller is better. In adjusting his lengths, he has been rewarded and taken 24 of his 28 wickets this summer at the Wanderers, including both five-fors. He hasn’t yet played at SuperSport Park, the venue of the first Tests, but it will be similarly seamer-friendly, with the promise that someone will take the series lead.”It looked like there was a bit of grass, green grass on it and I assume they will probably take a little bit off. I reckon probably a touch slow on day one but it’s always a wicket that speeds up and the game moves forward,” Olivier said. “And there has always been a result. I don’t know when last a Test match, even a four-day game, there was a draw.”The last drawn Test in Centurion was in 2009, against England, and there have only been three drawn Tests at the venue in 26 matches, all against the same opposition. South Africa have beaten India both times they played them at this venue and will hope history repeats itself as they seek to rebuild as a Test outfit, gain points on the World Test Championship table and begin to turn the page over two years of upheaval – two years Olivier missed.But he did not entirely escape the goings-on in this cricketing landscape and he is well aware of the importance of this contest in the broader context of South African cricket. “If we come out on top, it will mean a lot for South Africa in general, for Cricket South Africa and for players, because it’s like a make-or-break series for players,” he said. “If you do well against a top team in the world, it says something.”For me, it’s probably the biggest series I will play so, if selected, there will be those pressures. We’re playing against world class players but at the same time, it’s an exciting challenge. Like, I’ll need to bowl to (Virat) Kohli. It will be tough, but it’s exciting. We’ll be bowling to probably the top four batters in the world. It’s like making a statement to them. We are here to compete. We are not just going to roll over. For me, that’s very important: throwing the first punch, to know that you are here, you are present.”Perhaps as long as that punch doesn’t have to be through the glass frame to retrieve his Test cap.

Derbyshire narrowly fail to avoid follow on and ship six wickets before close

ECB Reporters Network29-May-2021Dillon Pennington produced his career-best performance with the ball as Worcestershire closed in on victory after enforcing the follow-on against Derbyshire on day three of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at New Road.The paceman bowled a series of excellent spells from the New Road End and was rewarded with figures of 4 for 44 from 19.4 overs. Club captain Joe Leach, Ed Barnard and Alzarri Joseph all picked up two wickets as Derbyshire were bowled out for 270 – despite a fine unbeaten 81 from Matt Critchley – in reply to Worcestershire’s first innings total of 421.Leach asked the visitors to bat again 151 runs in arrears half an hour before tea and they ran into trouble with Pennington again shining with three wickets as they closed on 112 for 6.Worcestershire’s bowlers were backed up by some razor-sharp catching.Derbyshire resumed in the morning on 91 for 3 and Pennington’s excellent opening spell brought him the wicket of debutant Ben McDermott. The Australian T20I international drove hard at a delivery which he edged to Daryl Mitchell at second slip.Madsen completed his half-century off 127 balls with seven fours but added only one more run before Barnard ended his innings with Mitchell holding onto his second catch of the day.Fynn Hudson-Prentice gave Critchley good support during a sixth wicket stand of 56 in 14 overs. But Leach ended the resistance of Hudson-Prentice on 25 when he mistimed his drive and was caught by Jack Haynes at third slip.Critchley completed a 67-ball half century soon after the resumption when he pulled Leach for his eighth boundary.Pennington came back into the attack and his first delivery saw Alex Hughes caught behind for 25. Joseph trapped Ben Aitchison lbw via a low full toss and then bowled Sam Conners as he backed away to leg.Pennington wrapped up the innings when Dustin Melton was pouched by Fell at first slip – and he was back amongst the wickets when Derbyshire followed on.Cox pulled off a superb one-handed catch low to his right after Pennington found the edge of Brooke Guest’s bat on 7.Leus du Plooy needed 30 balls to get off the mark before collecting two boundaries in an over from Joseph. But he picked up a key wicket when Derbyshire captain Billy Godleman edged another catch – this one head high – to Mitchell.Spin was introduced via Brett D’Oliveira and he enjoyed a success with Du Plooy using his feet but only succeeding in providing a low return catch.Pennington’s sixth wicket of the match came when McDermott looked to work the ball to leg but went leg before. He was then indebted to a spectacular catch by Fell at first slip to dismiss Critchley.It became 93 for 6 when Hudson-Prentice went back to D’Oliveira and chopped onto his stumps

Jess Jonassen’s 63 not-out off 29 balls extended Brisbane Heat’s lead at the top of the WBBL table

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2019Adelaide Strikers‘ Sophie Devine continued her scintillating form in the WBBL with an unbeaten 63, her third straight unbeaten half-century, fifth in a row and sixth this season, to make short work of the modest 113 chase against Sydney Thunder in Wollongong. With 475 runs, Devine is second on the run-scorers’ list, behind Brisbane Heat’s Beth Mooney. After opting to bat, Thunder saw only one of their batters strike at over 100 – captain Rachael Haynes struck 33 off 27 – as their top order could only take them to 2 for 72 after 15 overs. They managed only two more fours after that but relied on singles, doubles and a few extras to score 40 in the last five overs and post 4 for 112. Megan Schutt finished with an economical 4-0-15-0 and Devine struck once to end with 4-0-21-1. Devine then opened the batting with Suzie Bates for a stand of 53 in under 10 overs to set the tone for the chase. Thunder took three quick wickets – two of those by Nida Dar – but Devine’s blows and the modest total meant the Strikers were home with five balls to spare.Nicola Carey’s unbeaten 55 and Belinda Vakarewa’s four-for helped Hobart Hurricanes to their first win in eight games, and their third win this season, as Sydney Sixers lost by five wickets with 10 balls to spare at the North Sydney Oval. Having elected to bat first, Sixers had their top four batters dismissed cheaply within the first six overs by Vakarewa. Tayla Vlaeminck then dismissed Maddy Darke for a duck to leave Sixers reeling at 5 for 30. Marizanne Kapp fought back with an unbeaten 40-ball 55, helping the hosts past 100, making a 56-run stand with Lauren Smith (23 off 31 balls) and a 35-run stand with Dane Van Niekerk (17 off 9 balls). In the 134-run chase, Hurricanes’ top three batters fell early to Kapp and Stella Campbell. But Carey then took charge, playing cautiously as she brought up her half-century off 45 balls. Chloe Tryon joined Carey for a 48-run sixth-wicket stand, and with the requirement reduced to eight runs off 12 balls, Tryon hit two sixes in the 19th over to seal the chase for Hurricanes.Half-centuries from openers Amy Jones (70) and Meg Lanning (68*) headlined Perth Scorchers‘ 150 chase and helped them seal victory with nine wickets and five balls in hand against the Melbourne Stars at the Junction Oval. Scorchers are now placed fourth with 12 points, ahead of Melbourne Renegades who lost to Brisbane Heat in the first match of the day. Jones and Lanning nearly earned a 10-wicket win but their stand of 147 came to an end when Jones edged one to wicketkeeper Elyse Villani for her 70 off 55 balls with nine fours. Natalie Sciver hit the winning runs on the next ball, with Lanning unbeaten on 68 off 59. Earlier, the Stars saw a half-century opening partnership between Villani (59) and Lizelle Lee (24). No. 3 Mignon du Preez also chipped in with 38 off 22 to take them past 100 but their middle order couldn’t capitalise on the start to help them past 150. Medium-pacer Samantha Betts dismissed Lee, du Preez and Annabel Sutherland to finish with 3 for 21.Getty Images

Jess Jonassen’s sparkling 63 not-out off 29 balls extended Brisbane Heat‘s lead at the top of the WBBL table with a six-run win against the Melbourne Renegades at the Junction Oval. Renegades gave the visitors a scare as they needed 21 from 12 balls, and later 15 off the last over, but they lost three wickets in the last four balls, including two run-outs, and fell short to remain on ten points. Heat got a stable start courtesy of opener Maddy Green’s 32 off 31 before Jonassen walked out at the halfway mark, at 57 for 2. Wickets fell around her but Jonassen propelled the run rate from under six to over 7.5 per over by smashing six fours and three sixes. Heat collected 42 off the last three overs, with five fours and two sixes from Jonassen alone to post a strong 5 for 153. Renegades got a promising start with Danni Wyatt’s 40 off 18, but once she holed out to deep midwicket off Amelia Kerr in the eighth over, the hosts found it tough to stay on top of the chase, with only two more batters able to score at more than run a ball. Jonassen finished with 1 for 27 from her four overs to be named the Player of the Match.

The organisers have said that they are in the process of establishing and operating a new franchise that will be based in St Lucia for CPL 2019

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Aug-2019St Lucia Stars have been axed from the Caribbean Premier League, and the franchise will not be participating in CPL 2019 as the Stars. On August 7, CPL Limited terminated the participation agreement between it and the Royal Sports Club, LLC, the entity that operated the St Lucia franchise.While announcing the decision via a media release, the CPL didn’t elaborate on the reasons behind the termination. The release did say that CPL were “in the process of establishing and operating a new franchise to be based in St Lucia that will participate in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League.”Jay Pandya, the chief executive and owner of Royal Sports Club LLC and Global Sports Ventures based out of Pennsylvania, expressed his disappointment with the CPL’s decision in a statement to ESPNcricinfo.”We completely disagree with the CPL press release and will be working to address any issues the CPL may have in an appropriate manner and forum,” Pandya said.ESPNcricinfo understands the franchise had several outstanding payments, which was one of the reasons behind its axing.The 2019 season is scheduled to begin on September 4.The Stars had never won CPL, with their best finish coming in 2016, when they finished third on the table, but lost in the Eliminator to Trinbago Knight Riders. In 2018, they finished fifth among the six teams, with seven points from ten matches. They had several star players on their roster in 2018, with Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Rahkeem Cornwall among the local stars, and David Warner, Niroshan Dickwella and Mitchell McClenaghan among their overseas players.This year, they bagged Lasith Malinga and Fawad Alam in the draft as their main overseas players.

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Saurabh Somani12-Nov-2018

The 18-year old legspinner picked up five wickets in only two overs to ensure Afghanistan beat Ireland by 17 runs in a rain-shortened match and furthered their record-breaking winning streak

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Ireland’s middle order could not handle Rashid Khan’s clever changes of pace•Peter Della Penna

Twelve little balls of legspin. How much damage could it really do? Well, it could change the fate of a T20I, vault the practitioner to the greatest of heights and protect a proud winning streak that seemed all but dead. Before Rashid Khan, no one had ever taken a five-wicket haul in as little time as two overs in Twenty20 international cricket. The record, though, was merely a byproduct of his ability to vary pace, prey on the pressure the Ireland batsmen felt and then toss up the hit-me ball, which invariably turned out to be a googly that bamboozled everyone. The slogs came, the stumps were broken, the rest became history.Afghanistan came into the match with nine straight wins in the shortest format. It was already a world record, but their hopes of pushing it to 10 took a major hit when heavy rain lashed across the Greater Noida Sports Complex. With only the pitch and the bowler’s run-ups under covers, the majority of the outfield took on a lot of water and it was testament to the ground staff that the match even restarted. Ireland had been 65 for 2 in 6.1 overs when the weather intervened, which put them 12 runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score considering the target was 185. Then the rain stopped.And Rashid went to work. He hoodwinked Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson with wrong ‘uns in his first over. His next one was a triple-wicket maiden and it simply trampled upon all the hope Ireland had of levelling the three-match series. Their target was revised to 111 in 11 overs – or 46 runs to win off the remaining 29 balls. It was a tough ask but perhaps some of the senior batsmen should have taken a little time to get themselves set again. Instead, they chose to hit out as wildly as the tailenders who would follow and 65 for 2 became 93 for 9 in what could well have been the blink of an eye.All of that made for excellent viewing for opener Najeeb Tarakai. He had hammered 90 off 58 balls to become the only man not named Mohammad Shahzad among in the list of top six scores by an Afghanistan batsman in T20Is. Spending two hours on the sidelines watching the showers lash across the ground wouldn’t have been pleasant for him after driving his team from the doldrums of 12 for 2 in the third over to 175 for 6 by the time he was dismissed in the 20th. It was his first half-century in the format, including seven fours and five sixes, and most importantly, it turned out to be match-winning effort.

Bangladesh have dropped Taijul Islam and brought in pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain in their 14-man squad for the first two ODIs against England, which will be held in Mirpur on October 7 and 9

Mohammad Isam02-Oct-2016Bangladesh have dropped Taijul Islam and brought in pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain in their 14-man squad for the first two ODIs against England, which will be held in Mirpur on October 7 and 9.Left-arm spinner Taijul bowled decently in the first two ODIs against Afghanistan last week, but he took only one wicket in his 20 overs. He brought control to the Bangladesh attack but was not as penetrating. He was replaced by left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain, in the third ODI, who took three wickets.Al-Amin’s return was slightly predictable after he was not included against Afghanistan despite doing well for Bangladesh earlier this year. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin had said at the time that his fielding was an issue.But with Rubel Hossain being dropped before the third ODI against Afghanistan, there was always the need for a pace bowler who had variation to partner Mashrafe Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed.Squad for first two ODIs: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt)., Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Mosharraf Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed

Craig McDermott has moved to clarify assumptions about James Pattinson’s action, including the contention that Pattinson abandoned two years of adjustments to claim five wickets in the Hobart Test

Daniel Brettig16-Dec-2015James Pattinson’s mentor Craig McDermott has moved to clarify assumptions about his pupil’s bowling action, including the contention that the 25-year-old abandoned two years of adjustments in order to claim five wickets in the second innings of the Hobart Test against the West Indies.While Pattinson did struggle for rhythm in the first innings and found himself delivering the ball from an arm position that reduced his chances of gaining any movement through the air or off the wicket, McDermott said there was still plenty of evidence of the adjustments they had made together during his 5 for 27 on the third and final day.Changes to Pattinson’s action had been devised to ease pressure on his back, which has been the subject of multiple stress fractures over his five years around the Australian team, and were as much about foot position as arm and wrist. McDermott noted that Pattinson’s back foot is now much more side on at the point of delivery and thus in sync with his waist, back and shoulders. The adjustments to his arm path made for a much more rhythmic performance on day three.”In a transition from an old action to a new action, sometimes in competition your body will want to go back a little bit to the way it was,” McDermott told ESPNcricinfo. “That happened in the second innings a little bit, but it was more about Patto jumping in a straight line through the crease and going towards the target with his body and getting his arm path down a little bit below the perpendicular and his wrist behind the ball all the time.”The bottom half is still different. Sometimes his back foot gets a bit more front on down the wicket, but generally he’s travelling pretty well. We tried to get his back foot as far towards 90 degrees as we possibly could to start with, knowing that when you get back into competition mode it’s always going to creep back the other way. He’s anywhere between 30 and 45 degrees at any one stage so it’s not too bad.”Pattinson had stated that he hoped to find a middle ground between his old ways and new ones, with the added benefit of now having an older, more mature body to cope. However, McDermott counselled that given a history of multiple stress injuries, Pattinson needed to be aware of the risks inherent in his former methods – the pair will continue their work together when McDermott travels to Melbourne ahead of the rest of the team on Monday.”Every bowler is different, but Patto’s had a number of stress fractures and even at the age of 25 he’s probably had more than someone like Mitchell Starc who’s had one,” McDermott said. “He’s got to be careful, old stress fractures sometimes don’t heal 100%, a bit like with Pat Cummins at the moment, after about a month his were still not healing that well, so he’s put in a brace just to make sure that does restrict his movement.”Patto’s still got to be careful even at his age, just because of the amount of stress fractures he has had in the past that he may not get a new one but you can always open an old one, which may not have healed as strong as some of the other bone matter has. I don’t think it’s right to compare Patto’s body with Mitchell Johnson’s body or with Mitchell Starc’s body, everybody’s differently made up.”Nevertheless, McDermott agreed that once a player is in the Test team, the last thing they should be doing is thinking too intricately about their bowling action. For this reason, he kept his advice simple and to the point between innings, much as the captain Steven Smith also did.”There were a couple of things I spoke to Patto about the night after the first innings,” McDermott said. “One was ‘don’t think too much about it, just really bowl the ball’, and the other thing was ‘try to get your arm path down a little bit, because if it’s up too high it is very hard to get your wrist behind the ball’. They were the only two things I spoke to him about the night before.”His first wicket in the second innings if you look at the slo-mo, it’s very good as far as the seam position and all of that sort of stuff goes. There’s still some variation in that with him, but everything’s coming along pretty well. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, as we’ve discussed since then. But some wickets will give him confidence.”In the absence of Starc, who underwent his ankle surgery on Tuesday night, McDermott said that Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile were both well equipped to be Australia’s impact bowlers over the next four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand, with Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle providing the steady counterpoint.”I think Patto’s one of those and Nathan Coulter-Nile’s got the ability to do that as well,” he said. “Josh is really starting to hone his skills with his lengths, Sidds does what Sidds does, nothing changing there. Certainly leading into the next two Test matches and New Zealand, those guys stand us in pretty good stead.”

PK Dharma, a Tamil Nadu cricketer, has died at age 20, in what police say could be a case of suicide

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jun-2012PK Dharma, a Tamil Nadu cricketer, has died at the age of 20. Police say they suspect it to be a case of suicide.Dharma, who has played two List A matches for Tamil Nadu, was found hanging in his house in Chennai on Sunday afternoon, according to reports. The day before, he’d played a three-day Tamil Nadu Cricketers’ Association first-division final for his club, Globe Trotters, against Vijay CC at the Chidambaram Stadium.”He was a promising youngster who turned into a fine allrounder,” Sridharan Sriram, who has played for India and is captain of the Globe Trotters team, was quoted as saying by . “We [team members] didn’t know much about his personal life, but this was an extreme step. It is a sad moment for us all.””I have seen his development over the past five or six years. In these days of the IPL and the opportunity that it offers to domestic cricketers, I was expecting Dharma to make a mark for himself,” former Tamil Nadu batsman M Senthilnathan, who is the Globe Trotters coach, said.Dharma, who made his List A debut in February 2011, made it to the limited-overs team after an injury to L Balaji. “I was injured and he replaced me,” Balaji, who led Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy last season, said. “I haven’t played alongside him but from whatever I have seen of him, the boy had promise.””He was an upcoming player, this is very unfortunate and a loss to Tamil Nadu cricket,” Kasi Viswanathan, the TNCA secretary, said.

Jonathan Trott has described England’s batting in the Galle Test as “a sin” but struggled to pin down reasons for the slump

Andrew McGlashan in Colombo01-Apr-2012Jonathan Trott has described England’s batting during the first innings in the Galle Test as “a sin” but has struggled to pin down a reason why a batting line-up that was so prolific only a few months ago is now consistently faltering.England, who must now win in Colombo to draw the series, were bowled out for 192 in 46.4 overs to concede a crucial first-innings advantage of 125 to Sri Lanka as their batting failed for the fourth time in a row.Criticised for being too defensive at times during the series against Pakistan in the UAE, this time the strokes of some England batsmen in Galle bordered on the reckless as they continued to struggle to find a suitable tempo for batting in Asia.It has been a rapid fall from grace for a batting line-up that had become accustomed to making 500-plus regularly while the individual batsmen were gaining a reputation for the ‘daddy’ hundreds that Graham Gooch used to have cause to talk about. From the start of the 2010-11 Ashes to end of the home series against India last summer they had scored six double hundreds and another four scores in excess of 150.By comparison in 2012, Trott’s 112 in the second innings in Galle was England’s first hundred of the year. “We’ve lost a lot of wickets in clusters,” Trott said. “In the past if we’ve lost two early wickets then guys have been able to steady the ship and we’ve been able to get through sessions pretty unscathed.”But we’ve had bad sessions with the bat and getting bowled out in 40-odd overs was a bit of a sin. The wicket was pretty good and we should have capitalised. It’s no lack of effort on any par, it just hasn’t worked out for us.”Defeat meant that Trott was not able to savour his hundred – one of the finest of his career – despite him showing England that run-scoring was possible with patience and shrewd shot selection.”To get a hundred is satisfying, but to get one and win always makes it sweeter,” he said. “I was pleased by how I felt, I wasn’t all that tired at the end of the innings, I just wish I could have batted a bit more. If I’d have got 140, 150 who knows what might have happened.”And, according to Trott, there was no magic formula to his success. “I just played normally. I didn’t try going in with any pre-conceived conceptions. I had a bit of luck early on and rode it. You certainly need a bit of luck in these conditions with a lot of catchers round the bat… you need the ball to bounce in the right areas.”Trott also took a swipe at the media for, as he saw it, fuelling an unnecessary debate about Andrew Strauss’ position in the team. Strauss has averaged 25.50 since the start of the previous home season and has just two hundreds since July 2009.”When someone is not scoring as may runs as they would like or expect of themselves it is highlighted by you guys [the media]. I’m sure it will have a similar impact as it did when Alastair Cook came through his little slump. I’m surprised you guys haven’t learned from that.”Steven Finn, Strauss’ Middlesex teammate, hoping for a place in England’s attack in the second Test, was equally supportive on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.”I don’t think there’s any question that he won’t be in charge throughout the summer and beyond,” he said. “He’s a great captain, everyone here’s backing him and this is something that just hasn’t come up within the team because no one in the team believes it’s valid. Straussy will score runs and that’s that.””Straussy leads from the front. He’s an exceptional leader, he’s a levelling person. When we have our highs we don’t ride them too high and when we have our lows we don’t ride them too low. And that’s what a great captain does, I think.”