Club hierarchy turn focus to matters on the field as threat of further sanctions looms

David Hopps30-Mar-2023It felt like Groundhog Day at Yorkshire. The morning sun flooding through the windows. Darren Gough and Ottis Gibson, director of cricket and head coach respectively, standing side by side, stoutly regarding the county season with optimism even as potential bankruptcy and ECB sanctions hang over Headingley.Is this the loop that Yorkshire will be cursed to follow forever because of the imbroglio involving Azeem Rafiq and the racism allegations that – for all the enquiries and statements, all the hurt and half-truths, all the raised voices, broken friendships and folded arms, all the worms under the stones, all the media polemics, all the lawyers’ honeyed words and all the administrators’ and politicians’ capacity for self-preservation – still haunt the club? Will it never end?Gough sticks his chest out and insists that Yorkshire’s players are in a much better place this time around. Gibson sticks to cricket. If he is a political man, he hides it well. He builds a positive dressing room atmosphere without fanfare. His priority is a cricketing one – his number one wish, a bank of 10 pace bowlers so everybody is not exhausted by midsummer.Related

Yorkshire admit liability on racism charges as Pyrah pulls out of process

Rafiq, Vaughan, Yorkshire: a race reckoning

Farbrace's Sussex challenge: 'No reason why we shouldn't be pushing to get promoted'

Bairstow requests wicketkeeper role at Yorkshire to aid Ashes bid

Arthur 'excited' to rekindle Pakistan relationship in dual role with Derbyshire

Last year, as Gough and Gibson began their salvage operation, was all about crisis management. Condemnation thundered down. An exodus of players was averted, no mean feat as many were confused and hurt by the mass sackings deemed necessary by the former chair, Lord Kamlesh Patel, but Yorkshire were relegated in the Championship thanks to a stunning win by Warwickshire on the final day. The aim is to bounce back at the first attempt, but swingeing ECB points deductions could hamper those ambitions.Is it fair for a new regime committed to positive change to be punished for the perceived failings off the old? It is a good question.”It’s hard to speculate what the ECB are going to say,” Gough said. “I think the frustration is clear to see as we are going into another season. I just hope we’re not here next year and saying that we are still waiting.”Last year we were in this same situation when we thought something was going to happen and it didn’t, it dragged on and now here again this year, it’s an ongoing process. Nobody has any idea when it’s going to be announced but the players understand it and are in a better position to take whatever comes out.”As Phil Connors, trapped in a sequence of repetitive days, despaired in the movie : “There is no way that this winter is ever going to end as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow.”The beast’s shadow in this case is Yorkshireness, in its least attractive forms, both as it is perceived and as it exists. To remove that shadow needs not just total commitment to a more enlightened and diverse future – because much of that is already happening – but the proclaiming of a new vision whenever the chance presents itself. In the words of Tanni Grey-Thompson, Yorkshire’s acting chair, at least week’s annual meeting, retaining the conviction that “Yorkshire can lead the way” when it comes to opportunity and diversity and that a new Board assembled to promote change “have to stay true to our values” however grave the financial crisis.Baroness Grey-Thompson, one of Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes, a cross bench peer in the House of Lord’s and patron, trustee and chair of infinite charities and commissions, would make a good Yorkshire chair, not that she wants the job. For one thing, she does not have millions in the bank (or if she does, she is not telling). She estimated in her preamble to the accounts that Yorkshire need £3.5m in extra funding by October to remain a going concern. “This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do,” she told the AGM.

“We’ve put things in place. The club is in a better position. We were all disappointed last year that we were relegated, nobody more than me”Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s director of cricket

All this means there is little time for The Vision Thing with Yorkshire around £20m in debt, awaiting the ECB disciplinary ruling, and with an embattled chief executive, Stephen Vaughan, having to dismiss suggestions that Yorkshire are so close to administration that they are wrongfully trading. It’s even harder to think about the cricket, but that day needs to come and quickly.Which brings us to Colin Graves, a saviour in some eyes after his millions staved off Yorkshire bankruptcy 20 years ago, a man with more than a hint of groundhog about him to others. Now Graves is no longer chair of the ECB, he is less chary about referring to the Graves Trust’s long-term loan as money. After all, allegations of conflict of interest no longer apply. Yorkshire need to find £500,00 to repay the Graves Trust by October with the balance of the £14.9m due in October 2024.He has reportedly offered Yorkshire preferential terms to repay his loan over the next four years if they reappoint him as chair. For Yorkshire’s most trenchant critics, and a few more besides, this would be for the county to take refuge in the past at precisely the time it must look to the future.Vaughan, in his first year as chief executive, is said to be exploring as many as 30 possible alternatives for funding, but if those alternatives are not available or simply not appealing (and there is a huge danger here of leaping from the frying pan into the fire) then Graves might well return in the autumn. Interviews of the candidates should be finalised in about a week.Vaughan told those at the AGM that “it will feel worse before it gets better”. The membership is in flux, too, the sense of a culture war painfully evident. Membership has fallen from 6,000-plus in 2022 (itself a historic low) to around 4,000, although there are 27% new members and this is the time of year when membership traditionally rises.A potentially global brand is also a damaged brand and the current uncertainty surrounding county cricket’s future does not help.Vaughan has a good track record in promoting equality and diversity and he understands bankruptcy too – he was CEO of Wasps RFC when they went into administration last September.”The finances, the ins and outs of it, you’ll have to talk to the CEO,” Gough said. But at the club’s media day, Vaughan was nowhere to be seen. What ire he showed at the annual meeting, he had reserved for the media – probably the only bunch of people who Yorkshire still feel they can regard as “you lot” and get away with it.Jonny Tattersall will captain Yorkshire in Shan Masood’s absence•Getty ImagesThe commitment of this new Yorkshire set-up to extending opportunity into minority-ethnic and deprived communities should not be doubted. Jonny Tattersall, who will step in as captain in Shan Masood’s absence at the start of the season, is just one person who has been coaching free of charge in his downtime as he studies for a Level 3 certificate. But development pathways are expensive and take time to bring results. An ECB fine could cripple that investment and stymie the progress that they want to see.The high-spending regime overseen by Lord Patel deserves scrutiny. If Wayne Morton, the county’s former head of the medical team, wins his case in the High Court for wrongful dismissal then Yorkshire’s legal costs will rise to around £2m. A whistleblowing hotline, plus costs to develop an equality and diversity plan, burned another half a million. With 23 of the 55 cases still active, the spending will not end just yet. Somebody, somewhere has made a killing.Meanwhile, Gough and Gibson think cricket. “We’ve got eight new hybrid practice pitches, a new ground manager, we’ve made players signings, got a nutritionist, sports psychologists, done everything to make this team good,” Gough insisted.”I’ve employed 22 people – I think I’m pretty good at that now. I don’t think it will fall apart because we’ve put things in place. The club is in a better position. We were all disappointed last year that we were relegated, nobody more than me – I was absolutely distraught.”We put a lot of love into it last year, a lot of work, but there was a lot of hurt going around, a lot of negative energy from everywhere and it affected everyone at this cricket club. We’ve created a positive atmosphere. The players understand the job we’ve got to do and they are in a much better place this year to accept whatever comes.”It is Yorkshire vs Leicestershire next Thursday. Forecast: 14C, light cloud with a gentle breeze.

He is the poster boy for all formats of cricket. If only we could have watched him turn out for the WTC final at The Oval

Mark Nicholas05-Jun-2023Last Monday night, when Ravi Jadeja turned the ball off his toes to win the IPL, one door closed for a while and another opened. Nothing quite consumes the game like the ten-team, two-month IPL marathon. A 41-year old wicketkeeper-batter out of Ranchi, dressed in yellow and flying the flag not of India but of Super Kings from Chennai, lifted the trophy for the fifth time to an ecstatic reception – testament, surely, to a game that has a bit of everything for everyone and a whole lot of love.Of all the cricketers who sparkle, to this onlooker at least, MS Dhoni has led the way. The sum of his parts has been greater than the whole. At once aesthetically thrilling and grittily effective, he has won many a game from nowhere, and lost a few too; he shells the catches that don’t much matter and snaffles most that do; he inspires the young and backs the old; always he answers the inevitable questions but somehow keeps his counsel. Have you ever really known what MS was thinking? Imagine the poker player he might have been.Dhoni captures the essence of cricket without ever becoming its slave. One minute he is an unpredictable ride, the next a sure-footed compadre. He is cool, classy and at times crazy; he is creative and yet practical; he can bat hectic and keep wicket messy, but hands down, he is the go-to guy. Once a ticket collector on the railways and now among the most admired cricketers in a land teeming with them, I’ve spent hours watching him and rarely focused on much else. Of late, only Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have made me do that.Related

• Why Australia could have the advantage in the World Test Championship final

• Winners of WTC final between Australia and India to take home US$ 1.6 million

• WTC final: Ponting wants India to play Kishan and Suryakumar for 'a little bit of X-factor'

• Dhoni vows to return for another IPL season if his body allows it

• Nathan Lyon: 'I've never conquered this game of cricket and never will'

Cricket is for young and old; slim and less so; athletic and not so; myriad backgrounds, abilities and ambitions. Cricket comes in all shapes and sizes, formats and interpretations. It is no better or worse over five days at the Sydney Cricket Ground than 15 minutes in the schoolyard: it is just cricket, the game of bat and ball that appeals variously to those fortunate souls who have let it into their lives.Cricket is frequently difficult and mainly frustrating but pleasure can come when least expected, from a single or sudden moment that changes a game. It requires instinctive skills every bit as much as method and relies on eye and commitment. It is fragile. One minute you have it, the next it is gone. Cricket is played out on the edge of nerves, examining character like no other. No one has known this and applied it so well – over a 20-year-career, we should add – than the winning captain of Chennai Super Kings.

Dhoni captures the essence of cricket without ever becoming its slave. One minute he is an unpredictable ride, the next a sure-footed compadre. He is cool, classy and at times crazy; he is creative and yet practical

To take this a tad further and explain where it is going, Dhoni averaged 38 with the bat across 90 Test matches, in which he has also caught batters 256 times and stumped 38 . In one-day internationals – 350 of them – these figures are 50, 321 and 123 – wondrously symmetrical for a man who was anything but symmetrical.It is an amazing career portfolio. In everything, which includes captaincy, he amazes and delights. I think back to him marching to the wicket in Test cricket – shoulders back, big strides, long hair flowing – to “helicopter” fours and sixes to all parts. How we marvelled at the unbridled joy he brought to a format of the game more often identified with the long grind.Like Adam Gilchrist, the one wicketkeeper-batter who stands clearly above them all in the stats ratings, Dhoni has been a forebear to the style of cricket England now play – the game without fear. For if you discard fear, you have the perfect launchpad, no? Fancy hitting the ball like it doesn’t matter, because in the end, there’s the truth: it doesn’t really matter. That’s MSD, the man with no apparent fear; the man who transcends the formats, sticks with the rough and ready origins of his god-given talent and looks his opponent in the eye in search of the first to blink.This past week the England players began their summer of six Test matches with a one-off against Ireland. It was an important occasion for both the aspirational and improving Irish team – if in the end a rather dispiriting one – and for Ben Stokes, who has the Ashes to fill his dreams but Ireland to see where it’s at.Cricket matches between England and Australia were first played in 1877 and have long had a visceral quality that affects the supporters of both sides every bit as much as they do the players. India-Pakistan matches would still have the same feel, but sadly, they remain at the gate.Virat Kohli vs Australia: a contest you can’t look away from•Getty ImagesPretty much the whole of India has been gripped by the progress of their IPL teams since the start of April; now England will spend seven weeks in thrall as five matches are played between old enemies who give no quarter in their quest for a little urn. It was ever thus and is more so when the rivalry appears balanced and the outcome impossible to predict. In 2005 the England captain, Michael Vaughan, said that he didn’t sleep for six weeks. Arguably it was the greatest series ever and held the country alive to the tune of this strange old game that sleeps for a while and then bursts into life with a kind of magic.Good judges, at least most of those outside India, are worried about losing this magic. The extraordinary advance made by the franchised short formats threatens the longer forms, and now that Saudi Arabia seems to be in the mix, terrifies traditional thinkers. If the Saudis buy up all the good players, the question is how can Test cricket survive the exodus forced upon the game by a free market? And, of course, LIV golf is the way in which the question points.Strong leadership is essential to chart the course ahead; protection and regulation are required to ensure that the game retains its appeal within the principle of a broad church. Regions such as the Caribbean, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand need money (which is not to mention the Associate nations, who feed from crumbs). Without it, their players are ripe for picking. Down the track, there won’t be many countries left to play Test cricket against India, England and Australia – the Big Three – because, elsewhere, the cash will have run out and the players gone.Equally, the governing bodies and subsidiary associations of those outside the IPL need compensation. Not legally, because that’s close to impossible to apply, but morally. If you keep producing and then sustaining players at club, county, provincial and state level, who are traded around the world for millions of dollars and occupied abroad for nine months of the year, you will eventually shout “Enough!” It should be a given that the game takes care of its own.

I’ve been knocking on the door that holds the throne
I’ve been looking for the map that leads me home
I’ve been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone
The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone
– Bruce Springsteen, “We Take of Care of Our Own”, 2012

India’s contribution to cricket’s modern progress is without compare. The Test team is all-in, the IPL is genius, and the power of television and streaming platforms quite incredible. But is it right to say that the three powerhouses of the world game deserve, respectively, more than 50% of revenue without adding that they receive it at the expense of many others who struggle to survive? The ICC should be on a mission to level up, reduce inequality and work with India to nourish cricket’s global reach. Right now the ICC operates as an event-management company, eager to keep its head down and nose clean. The game needs empathy, which can only be found from within.

Cricket is frequently difficult and mainly frustrating but pleasure can come when least expected, from a single or sudden moment that changes a game. It requires instinctive skills every bit as much as method

Meanwhile, Test cricket takes centre stage, which does not yet mean the Ashes. The final of the World Test Championship begins at The Oval on Wednesday, where it all began in 1882. The “Demon” Fred Spofforth bowled out the Poms cheaply and the English game was pronounced dead by the Sporting Times of London before being buried by the rest. A lot has happened since. Cricket is mainly unrecognisable from those early days and the riches now on offer beggar belief.Thankfully the battle between bat and ball remains much as it ever was; so too the private duels between players who know each other well but beaver away in search of an advantage. Virat Kohli versus Australia is a show of its own; Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill against the Australia new ball will demand close attention. Without Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian fast bowling looks one-dimensional. It is unlikely the Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, will both play, especially as there is a nip forecast in the London air. Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne take some shifting; Usman Khawaja and Travis Head some containing. Cameron Green lit up a few IPL nights and from such glory comes confidence amongst the big boys.Shorn of Bumrah and the recovering Rishabh Pant, India look a little less compelling and this makes the Australians marginal favourites. One imagines The Oval will hum to the sound of thousands of Indian fans who come to the altar and pay their respects in the only way they know how, through the worship of their cricketers. If only Dhoni was playing!What we know is that were he playing, he would adapt from the needs of last Monday to the demands of this Wednesday morning and the days that follow. Dhoni has played all formats of cricket with his mind running smoothly though the gears. After months of T20 where the game dictates almost every move, we now return to the five-day version, where the player has to think for himself. In Test cricket you make the play, in T20 you react to it. It is the reason we become absorbed: that patient wait to see who breaks from the pack and who is left treading water.Only the strong survive this examination. It is the unique selling proposition of Test match cricket and not to be underestimated in the growth of a talented player. Without it, a part of the DNA is missing.Dhoni has been a perfect example, a man for all seasons with a fast and flexible mind. He is a poster boy for all forms of cricket as entertainment and well illustrates that the lessons learned in one will always enhance the adventure in another. A proper hero.

Young captain earns rewards after steering tight-knit team to memorable win at Trent Bridge

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Sep-2023Lewis Hill has been at Leicestershire for the last 16 years, earned his first professional contract in 2014 and stepped up as club captain this season. If anyone has a full scope of the ups and downs of the county, it’s him. A player who pushed to realise a dream that has, up until now, been punctuated by crises rather than glory.As he sat at a table within the depths of Trent Bridge, Metro Bank One-Day Cup winners’ medal around his neck, guffawing through every answer in his post-match press conference, his joy was infectious, even uncomfortable. While his team-mates were bouncing off the dressing-room walls after a remarkable two-run victory over Hampshire to seal their first trophy since 2011, Hill was almost physically fighting to suppress his emotions to find the words to contextualise the proudest day of his career.He was able to, of course, summoning similar levels of composure that he had displayed in the field as Leicestershire defended their 267 for 7. It was a total built off the back of a remarkable unbeaten 117 from Harry Swindells, and 60 from Sam Evans. Hill’s own 42 should also be registered, stemming the flow after the top-order had been blitzed to leave them 19 for 4 inside seven overs.It helped that Hill’s words were merely variations of a speech he had been giving behind closed doors for a while. Promises made to the squad that had now come to fruition.”I kept saying at the start of the year that we could do something special with the group of players that we had,” Hill said. “We have done that.”We have pictures at Grace Road of T20 Blast wins, and we said at the start of the year: ‘Guys, let’s get up there; 20 years on, when you come to come to watch Leicestershire County Cricket Club, you see the people who won a trophy for the club.’ That means a lot.”Leicestershire’s wall of champions will now get an overdue update, with this group emulating the Blast winners of 2004, 2006 and 2011, while becoming the first team since 1985 to bring a List A trophy back to this corner of the Midlands.Leicestershire celebrate after Josh Hull closed out victory off the final ball•Getty ImagesThat Hill was in this position, not just a winning captain but captain outright, is down to a malaise all too familiar with Leicestershire. A winless County Championship campaign in 2022 was followed by Callum Parkinson declining a contract extension – he departs for Durham at the end of this summer – and brought a change in leadership. Maybe Hill was chosen because he was already a popular figure, maybe because – as per those who know him – he is an empathetic soul, but this season has carried an unfamiliar optimism, even after the departure of head coach Paul Nixon in July.Leicestershire are still just about in a promotion push, though they will rely on other results to go their way in the final two rounds. They came within 16 runs of a successful chase of 499 against Sussex last week, which would have been their fourth Championship win of the season. It would have also repeated their trick in 2023’s Division Two opener when they pulled off a bumper fourth-innings victory over Yorkshire – the first time they had triumphed in a first-class match at Headingley since 1910. Suddenly, a county regularly mooted as an irrelevance, always first for the chop in any blue-sky thinking into the future of the domestic game, were fighting back.”I just wanted to be myself through the whole summer,” Hill said of his approach to leadership. “It has been a lot of man-management because I think that is how you get the best out of your players. We stuck together – obviously we had a bit of a hiccup in the middle of the year – but we really stuck together while the outside world kind of pelted at us a little bit.”To stick together the way we have, I’m really proud of every player, and I’m really pleased for not just the players but everyone associated with Leicestershire – members, supporters, people who have worked there – to see some success. I am really happy that they can see us do this.”It’s worth exploring the man-management element of all this. Leicestershire only lost once in the group stage but were dealt a blow when Peter Handscomb, their leading run-scorer, returned home to Australia after helping them over the line in the semi-final against Gloucestershire. Evans, the designated next man in, having already made two appearances in the competition, knew last week that he would be replacing Handscomb in the final.By contrast, Swindells was only made aware of his call-up on Friday after Matt Sailsbury picked up a hamstring injury. And after deliberating with coaches Alfonso Thomas and James Taylor, Hill reckoned he could cope with just the four seamers and Colin Ackermann’s offspin, and figured giving Swindells the gloves could ease his own workload. It proved an inspired decision and, of course, damn lucky, which is not to detract from Hill’s game-management. Some of cricket’s greatest captains have fortune on their side.Leicestershire have sealed their first List A title since 1985•Getty Images”Do you know what, it’s one of the best innings I’ve seen live,” Hill said of Swindells’ century. “To come in under that pressure, to have not played a game in the competition. Like, to play like that – him and Sam Evans – was absolutely outstanding. And they deserve all of it because they train hard, and I’m over the moon for them.”I don’t have words for it really. To come in and do what he did is a testament to his character, his skill level. It speaks to everything about him; he trains hard. He is a cracking individual on top of being a really fine player. He is a Leicester lad as well, so I’m sure it means as much to him as it does to me and a few others.”Not keeping wicket allowed Hill to pull the strings more effectively in the field. Hampshire botched their chase at crucial junctures, with errors from experienced heads in Ben Brown, Joe Weatherley and Liam Dawson. But the pressure sustained in the ring and well-placed catchers in the deep – in particular setting fine leg back for the Dawson ramp-shot that ultimately clinched the game midway through the final over – was a feather in Hill’s cap. And, of course, those of his attack.Josh Hull was the standout – literally at six-foot-seven. The left-arm seamer was identified during the winter as a unique talent. “This guy has got something good,” Hill recalled himself saying aloud in the off-season when watching the 19-year-old in the nets. That “something” came to the fore at the death.Having removed Hampshire’s own impressive youngster Tom Prest for 51 earlier in the piece, Hull held his nerve for the final over to concede just five when eight was needed. It was all the more impressive given his penultimate over – the 48th – had been taken for 14 to swing the game Hampshire’s way. He finishes the campaign with 17 wickets at 24.23 from nine matches, with an economy rate of 5.45, and a few extra admirers after pushing the speed-gun into the late eighties during a televised game.”He has played loads of games this year, and he didn’t have his best day with the ball until the final few overs, but to come back and bowl like that and to have clear plans like that – he told us what he was bowling, and that is what I want in a young bowler, and he executed really well. I’m really proud of him.Related

Ackermann, Hill combine to keep Leicestershire promotion hopes alive

Swindells century saves the day as Leicestershire seal One-Day title in final-ball thriller

Dawson seven-for demolishes Warwickshire as Hampshire reach Metro Bank final

Handscomb, Mulder guide Leicestershire to first county final since 2001

“I have never seen a guy who takes information in so young, so quickly and so well. Honestly, I think he has a massive future ahead of him. He has a cool head on his shoulders, a fantastic family that supports him and has done a lot for him early in his career, driving him around. He is definitely one to watch in the future.”Difficult decisions were made, too, such as leaving out Parkinson and Rehan Ahmed – one of the most talented youngsters going in English cricket – which could have come back to haunt Hill but didn’t. This success was as much about nurturing homegrown talent and arms around shoulders as assuming a more ruthless approach.And if the club are to shed the “little old Leicestershire tag”, it will be through bloodying the noses of the established forces on the field rather than cosying up to them off it. Even in the shadow of the Hundred, the manner of this One-Day Cup run has earned some much-needed respect and given them an extra chip to play in recurring discussions over their merits as an organisation within English cricket.”I’ve been at Leicester for eight or nine years as a professional, starting when I was 16,” Hill said. “I have seen some of the darker times at Grace Road, so it was great to see good times returning – the way we’ve played cricket this year, and this trophy, shows that we’re going the right way. Teams like Leicestershire are needed in county cricket.”

Australia captain and his team hold their nerve in the face of a ‘Bazball’ onslaught on the field and ‘boring’ taunts off it

Andrew McGlashan21-Jun-2023Pat Cummins started and finished the Edgbaston Test with boundaries. The first cracked off the middle of Zak Crawley’s bat as England made their intentions clear, but it was the last which decided a pulsating match as his thick edge down to deep third, palmed over the rope by Harry Brook, gave Australia a heart-stopping victory that appeared to be beyond them a little more than an hour earlier.It isn’t that Cummins doesn’t do emotion on the field – he can be as pumped as anyone taking wickets, as he showed with the key scalps of Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes on the fourth day – but there was something more about the roar, leap, bat throw and fist-pump that followed those winnings runs.This game had taken everyone involved (on and off the field) to the wire. Cameron Green looked on with his head buried in his top. Fans of both sides struggled to watch. Only when that final delivery bounced into the boundary markers at 7.21pm, after a delayed start on the eve of the longest day of the year, was it finally clear there would be no more twists.Related

• Khawaja: 'My favourite match ever in my life'

• 'Losing sucks' – Execution to blame for England at Edgbaston, not Bazball

• Headingley redemption for Cummins and co at Edgbaston

• Australia's thrilling chase, Usman Khawaja's marathon batting

• Ben Stokes 'emotionally beat up' as Pat Cummins savours epic Australia win

As morning broke in Australia, the result was, perhaps unsurprisingly, being proclaimed as one of the team’s greatest. Yet even when the immediacy of it all dies down this is a match – and victory – that will stand the test of time.A team playing a fast game had been trumped, just, by a team playing the long game. That is not to say that Australia have found the solution to ‘Bazball’ – things could look very different again after the Lord’s Test – but they did not get drawn into trying to match their opponents. “Boring, boring, Aussies” came the chant from the Hollies Stand as Usman Khawaja ground out his runs on the fourth afternoon. A couple more wickets and Australia’s approach may have been viewed differently, but this is a tough cricket team and they dug as deep as they have ever had to.Adaptability has been a hallmark of them over their successful World Test Championship run. They weren’t perfect, but having billed the Pakistan tour as a “15-day marathon” they won the series in the final session (yes, England won all three of their Tests playing an entirely different style). In Sri Lanka they took a Test on a bunsen and even in India, where they had got it wrong to start with, they avoided a meltdown and secured a famous victory in Indore. Now they are 1-0 up in an away Ashes.

“You just need that belief that you can win from anywhere…that belief that anyone is a match-winner and you can be the guy to step up and win. When you are in the backyard as a kid, you wish to be in these moments and going out there in the middle of an Ashes series.”Pat Cummins

Australia’s opening-day tactics at Edgbaston came under the spotlight – Cummins began with a deep point, Nathan Lyon with four fielders in the deep – when they appeared happy to defer to England’s inevitable aggression. They certainly didn’t make the running, but neither did they allow England to completely run away.”We are a fairly stable team and we know what we need to do to be at our best and will keep doubling down on that,” Cummins said.Then on the final afternoon, there was a period against Joe Root and Ben Stokes operating with the old ball where the scoring almost froze. Alex Carey tried to change the tempo but rifled a drive back at Root who held the stinging catch brilliantly in his follow-through. At that point, Australia needed 54 with two wickets in hand. On the fourth evening, Lyon had said he hoped he would not have to strap on the pads, although added he “would give it a crack” if he had to.England delayed taking the second new ball and Cummins seized his moment with two sixes off what became the final over of Root’s spell. Suddenly it was 37 needed; still plenty with Josh Hazlewood to come, but carefully the pair whittled it down although had Stokes held a stunning catch running back off from square leg offered by Lyon the game was probably done. Such were the margins. Lyon’s princely off-drive against Stuart Broad felt like a big moment. “I looked at him, he walked past and said ‘nice shot Garry!’ Think he was happy,” Cummins said at the presentation.Successful fourth-innings chases of significant size been rare for Australia (that is often because they have dominated games from the start, especially at home) and this was their highest since the 310 for 8 against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011 which just so happened to be Cummins’ debut. The then 18-year-old, who had earlier taken a six-wicket haul, finished unbeaten on 13, swinging the winning runs through midwicket off Imran Tahir. It would be another six years before Cummins played another Test.”I actually did think back to my debut,” he said. “At one stage, batting out there with Nathan I was imagining him in the sheds praying like he was on my debut.”Pat Cummins had his best Test with the bat•AFP/Getty ImagesThere had been promise in Cummins’ batting earlier in his career. After 18 Tests he was averaging 21.12 with two half-centuries but that has steadily slipped. However, this has been his finest game with the bat – his first-innings 38 helping narrow England’s lead to just seven while overall it was the most runs he had contributed in a Test – and if it’s the signs of a longer-term revival in his run-scoring it will add a valuable component to a strong Australia side at No. 8 or 9.As well as the large chase, there was also the narrow win. While comparisons with 2005 are inevitable – “I think we were all about 10 years old,” Cummins joked – for the pair at the crease when it ended this offered some redemption for Headingley in 2019 when, in the field that time, Cummins and Lyon were central to the drama that unfolded around Stokes’ great innings.”Think it’s huge,” Cummins said. “You just need that belief that you can win from anywhere…that belief that anyone is a match-winner and you can be the guy to step up and win. When you are in the backyard as a kid, you wish to be in these moments and going out there in the middle of an Ashes series.”The result was also significant for the lack of runs contributed by Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith – just 35 across their four innings, the lowest in a win. Having spent so many hours bowling against Smith in particular, that will sting England. It may yet prove decisive over the five Tests that Australia have the best opener and best spinner on either side.However, for all the analysing and deep-diving that will be part of this series, perhaps the most fitting final word on its first chapter should go to the Player of the Match, Khawaja who spent all but 25 overs on the field. “Not going to lie, I was absolutely s***ing myself for the last five minutes there,” he said. “It’s so heart-wrenching. An unbelievable game.”

Winning Tests in England isn’t easy. Australia won three and lost two out of six. But if “Ashes tend to define eras or legacies”, Cummins’ team fell short

Andrew McGlashan01-Aug-2023Less than two months apart, Australia’s two presentation ceremonies at The Oval were distinctly different. From the celebrations with the World Test Championship mace and players grinning from ear to ear, to a much more muted holding of a replica Ashes urn behind the “Series Drawn” banner as had been the case in 2019, some smiles looking a little less natural.The first thing to say about Australia’s two months in the UK is that it certainly hasn’t been a failure. Winning Tests in England is a mighty tough ask. Pat Cummins’ team managed three in a row. The first against India gave them the global crown and rubberstamped them as the best Test team in the world, the next two put them 2-0 up in the Ashes.It would prove a vital cushion and not one to be brushed aside because of how events transpired. England did all they could to win three in a row, but Australia had put them in that win-or-bust position by taking the key moments at Lord’s. Lyon’s vital hand, then huge absenceIn Birmingham, the match was so nip-and-tuck that the final twist did not come until Nathan Lyon was dropped by Ben Stokes with 37 needed in the match-winning partnership with Cummins.In the second Test, they were much the better team for large periods, finding a way to win without Lyon by luring England into the trap against the short ball and then holding their nerve against Stokes’ onslaught following the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow.Related

Warner, Green, Marsh and other questions for Australia

Ball change had 'a significant bearing' on Oval result, says McDonald

Andrew McDonald: 'Two-Test series should be put on the back burner'

Did the teams catch up after the Oval Test? Yes, at a nightclub, Stokes clarifies

Injured Cummins to have left wrist assessed in the coming days

But then the mood started to change. Over an extended period of three Tests, the injury to Lyon always shaped as a telling factor. Meanwhile, a shoulder injury to Ollie Pope, and Stokes’ admission that he couldn’t bowl, forced England into rebalancing the team. If those two events had not happened, would Chris Woakes have played at Headingley?Either way, after Mitchell Marsh’s stunning comeback century revived Australia in Leeds, they then had England 142 for 7 at lunch – still 121 behind. Mark Wood, having bowled rockets with the ball, smashed 24 off eight balls and Stokes got England just about level. Later that same day, Moeen Ali was handed the wickets of Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.Australia were dealt a rough hand batting during a tough third-evening session after rain and were duly nipped out by England’s quicks. They fought gallantly to defend 251 but there was too much resting on Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Although not quite as tight as Edgbaston, it was another match of narrow margins.However, there was nothing tight about Old Trafford. Australia fluffed their lines with the bat in the first innings – something that would be a theme for the latter part of the series – with five of the top six making between 32 and 51. They were then obliterated by England’s batting in a manner rarely seen of an Australian side. Then it rained for the best part of two days, although Labuschagne made an excellent century. That meant Australia couldn’t lose the series.”It’s a bit of a strange one,” Cummins had said. “As a group [we’re] proud that we’ve retained the Ashes but it’s off the back of not our greatest week. It feels like it’s good to retain the Ashes, but we know we’ve got a fair bit of work to do for next week… we want to win it to make sure we win it outright.”Nathan Lyon’s injury always shaped up as a telling factor in the Ashes•AFP/Getty ImagesDropped catches cost AustraliaAnd so to The Oval. For the first time on the tour, the coin fell in Cummins’ favour and he inserted England on an overcast day. Then Australia dropped five catches. Most crucially was Alex Carey’s off Harry Brook when he was on five. England reached 283 which, overall, left both sides reasonably happy. But Australia could only manage 12 more as the pattern of unconverted starts haunted them again. By the end of the series, five England batters averaged over 40 compared to just two (Usman Khawaja and Marsh) for Australia. Although Smith and Labuschagne managed a century apiece, England’s overall success against them was significant.England were back in the lead after one over of their second innings. Australia showed spirit to ensure it didn’t entirely run away from them, but Bairstow and Joe Root built a big advantage. In the end, the target was 384. Then David Warner and Khawaja added 135 before the rain came. Warner’s final Ashes innings ended against a new nemesis – Woakes from over the wicket for the fourth innings in a row – but even after Khawaja and Labuschagne had also fallen, Smith and Travis Head brought the requirement down to 120 with seven wickets in hand.However, Moeen lured Head into a drive, Woakes kept finding the outside edge and, finally, Stuart Broad (from around the wicket, of course, to the left-handers) closed out the series and his career.Away Ashes proves elusive againIt all means that there will be a generation of Australian cricketers added to those who won’t have won an Ashes series in England. There is no shame in that, but this time it was there for the taking.We know for certain that Warner won’t be back. You can all but certainly add Smith and Khawaja to that, along with Starc (who was named Australia’s Player of the Series, four years on from playing just once). Lyon has spoken about trying to keep going for another four years but it will be a big ask. Josh Hazlewood feels like an unlikely candidate at 32. Even at 30, Cummins could be a borderline case. They are all outstanding cricketers with plenty on their CVs, but an Ashes series win in England would have been an added gold star.Four years is obviously a long time for any team. England are also entering a new era, not least in a bowling attack where the youngest in the last two matches has been 33. For Australia, their more immediate decisions will need to come later this year. They will start firm favourites in their home season against Pakistan and West Indies – although it is to be hoped that the makes it to Perth, Melbourne and Sydney – but a transitional phase will begin, and how it’s managed will be vital.Warner’s desired end date of January at the SCG is known. He is clinging on and may have done enough to get those three more Tests, although there is time for that to change by December. Regardless, Australia will hope that Khawaja has a couple more years in him to manage the changeover in opening batters.Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green will be expected to play key roles when Australia transition•Getty ImagesWhile no one else has signalled imminent plans to retire (Smith, again, shut down rumours during the Oval Test) there will need to be an eye to the future. One aspect to consider is whether they can introduce a younger member to the pace attack, at least occasionally, to ensure there is some experience when a permanent gap appears. The other interesting dynamic that has now appeared is between Marsh and Cameron Green; the former could start the home summer ahead in the pecking order. They will hope to have Lyon back but will need to keep nurturing Todd Murphy.Australia just short of their legacyAustralia began 2023 with a trifecta of huge Test challenges ahead of them: an away tour in India, the World Test Championship final, and this Ashes. India slipped away after a dramatic collapse in Delhi, but a few months later they were toppled for the mace. Heading into the England series, Cummins had reluctantly acknowledged “whether we like or not, Ashes tend to define eras or legacies”.In their last two away Ashes series, Australia have won four Test matches. That’s as many as they had achieved in the previous four tours from 2005 to 2015. England rarely lose series on home soil, but Australia have now held the Ashes since late 2017.As Cummins and Stokes came together at the end of an epic series – perhaps one of the greatest ever – the consensus was that 2-2 was the fair result. But there was also the feeling as the presentations went on, that one captain stood on The Oval outfield, at least in that moment, felt a little more ebullient than the other. And it wasn’t the one holding the urn.

Chase’ all-round knock in vain but St Lucia Kings bounce back against Barbados Royals

Rvel Zahid21-Aug-2023It’s truly a delight to watch cricket in the Caribbean. There’s always a buzz in the air, and spectators are filled with with the DJ helping out here and there. The jam-packed stadiums and carnival-like atmosphere create a spectacle like no other. ESPNcricinfo brings you the events of note from the first week of the brand-new season of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

King sizzles, Royals bounce back

Brandon King was the star of the show in the tournament opener with an 81-run blitzkrieg that got the reigning champions Jamaica Tallawahs off to a winning start after the team managed to post 187. In reply, St Lucia Kings’ Roston Chase played a lone hand, taking the game into the final over, but he ran out of steam in the crucial moments. Chase also slowed things down with the ball after Tallawahs got off to a flier in the powerplay; he foxed three batters with his canny offspin.Imad Wasim was the pick of the bowlers for Tallawahs. One of the most sought after T20 cricketers, Wasim had a fabulous outing, prising out Faf du Plessis, Raza, and Melius. But in less than 24 hours, the du Plessis-led Kings made a strong comeback and routed Barbados Royals by 54 runs in a lop-sided affair.Related

• Elbow injury cuts short Faf du Plessis' CPL season

Cornwall’s first-ball run-out

Kings elected to bat against Royals in their second match and their power-packed line-up ensured they didn’t falter again. A 201 target was set for Royals on the back of du Plessis and Sean Williams’ 46 and 47, respectively. Royals got off to the worst possible start. Rahkeem Cornwall was slow off the blocks – because there was a fumble at short fine leg, without which the players might not even have thought about a single – but he kept being slow even after Chris Sole recovered the ball. A direct hit followed at the bowler’s end and from that mishap onwards, Royals just never seemed in control.

Tonight's @BetBarteronline magic moment is the run out of Rahkeem Cornwall that set the Saint Lucia Kings off on a fantastic PowerPlay! #CPL23 #SLKvBR #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport #BetBarter pic.twitter.com/HgDtLWTjmK

— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 18, 2023