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Imran Tahir six in the final over helps Surrey scramble to level the scores off the last ball

ECB Reporters Network26-Jul-2019Twelve days after his heroics in the World Cup final, Jofra Archer made a highly impressive return to action with two wickets as Sussex Sharks tied with Surrey in a Vitality Blast thriller at Hove.The 24-year-old showed no ill effects from the side injury which troubled him throughout the World Cup during four hostile overs, bowled in three spells at a cost of 21 runs, during which he picked up the wickets of Aaron Finch and Surrey’s top scorer Ollie Pope, who was dropped on 16, for 43.Fifteen days after removing him for a golden duck in the World Cup semi-final, Archer had Finch well caught on the square-leg boundary by Delray Rawlins. He returned in the 14th over with a superbly disguised slower ball to dismiss Pope, who had just hit four boundaries in an over off Danny Briggs and appeared to be guiding Surrey to victory.Archer had bowled in the nets under the supervision of England’s medical staff earlier in the day and could now be in the Ashes squad when it is named on Saturday.A 6000 sell-out crowd had given Archer a standing ovation when he went out to bat earlier in the evening and they were treated to a thrilling finale. Surrey looked favourites with 29 needed off the last five overs with five wickets in hand but Tymal Mills dragged Sussex back into contention when two searing yorkers accounted for Tom Curran and Ryan Patel in the 18th over.Then off the final ball of the 19th Rikki Clarke holed out to long-on leaving ninth-wicket pair Gareth Batty and Imran Tahir with the task of scoring 12 from the last over from David Wiese, who was bowling his only over of the night.Wiese conceded singles off the first two balls then Tahir stylishly uppercut a full toss for six. One run came off the next two deliveries, leaving Batty to score three to win off the final ball. He drove to long-on and the pair scrambled back for a second after Sussex missed with two throws at the stumps, either of which would have run him out had they been on target.Earlier, Sussex had finished on 144 for 8 which was something of a disappointment after skipper Luke Wright and Phil Salt had smashed 50 in the first four overs.Salt, dropped by Curran off his second ball when on nought, hit 27 off ten balls including successive sixes off Jade Dernbach. But the Sharks were never the same when he holed out later in the same over and it needed an unbeaten 76 from skipper Wright to get them to a competitive total.Sussex only managed six boundaries after the sixth over with Wright unable to go onto the offensive because wickets were falling too regularly at the other end. Veteran offspinner Batty had figures of 3 for 8 at one stage while only Ben Brown got into double figures. Wright hit 14 off Jordan Clarke in the 18th over and finished with 76 off 59 balls including a six and nine fours.

Tim Paine hinted that Australia wouldn’t hold back on the bouncer with his view that it was underused against India, but with their top six shuffled again, Sri Lanka may be in with a chance

Andrew McGlashan23-Jan-2019No one has been able to breach the Gabba fortress since West Indies in 1988, and Sri Lanka’s winless record in Australia does not suggest they can be the team. The visiting captain Dinesh Chandimal, however, hopes for a “miracle” as he chases his dream of securing a Test victory in the country.Sri Lanka have lost 11 of their 13 Tests in Australia but the vibe around the team is that they will never have a better chance of breaking their duck against a vulnerable home side who have again shuffled their top six.”It will definitely be a challenge for us,” Chandimal said. “If we can take this challenge as a batter or bowler, if you can give your best shot…we can do some miracle here. That’s what we want to do as a team.”If Sri Lanka are to make history, they will have combat a pitch which has proved too much for most touring sides over the last 30 years. There was a good tinge of green the day before the match, and allied with the day-night factor, there could be some testing periods for batsmen, although the previous floodlit Test at the Gabba, against Pakistan in 2016, included totals of over 400 for each side.”I hope it’s nice and fast, the usual sort of Gabba wicket,” Tim Paine said. “Hopefully there’s plenty of bounce and it’s good to watch.”There was also a strong hint from Paine that Australia wouldn’t hold back on the short stuff, with his view that it was underused in the series against India. Australia’s bowling tactics often came under scrutiny, especially in the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, with them unable to gain a single lbw for the quicks in the four matches but Paine believed that smart use of the bouncer could also bring the stumps into play.”Clearly we need to be hitting the stumps a little bit more than we were and it’s been spoken about, but I also didn’t think we used our bouncer as much as we would like,” he said. “When you are using your bouncer a couple of times an over and then when you pitch up it’s a bit more effective. We know the majority of the time we want to be hitting the top of the stumps a bit more, but there’s also a way to set that up.While Chandimal expected his batsmen to have their techniques challenged by the Australia quick bowlers, he was confident he had the firepower to respond in kind. “When you look at the pitch you can see a lot of grass on the wicket, but we have got really good fast bowlers who can bowl over 140.”He also wanted his batsman to take a leaf out of Cheteshwar Pujara’s book and force Australia’s pacemen back for multiple spells. Whatever balance of side Australia select, they won’t have more than three pace-bowling options, although Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were rested from the India ODIs with this series in mind.”Pujara made a difference, especially these days the weather is really hot here. They brought the Australian bowlers back for more spells. That’s what I think Pujara did, and after that it helped the other batters enjoy their batting in the middle. That’s one area I think we learned in the India-Australia series.”Chandimal drew on the memories of his Test debut against South Africa in 2011, when Sri Lanka secured their first victory in the country, in Durban. He scored two half-centuries in the match to play a key part in a 208-run win.”That was a really good memory. I made my Test debut against SA and we won that game and that was the first time we won a game in SA in their soil,” he said. “One of my dreams as a captain and player is to win a Test match here. But that’s not an easy thing coming here. You have to do a lot of hard work…that has to come from all 11 players for all five days. That’s what we are looking at as a team. It is a really good opportunity to make history and we just want to do that as a team.”

In the absence of their star allrounder Kamau Leverock, Bermuda collapsed from a strong position and never recovered

The Report by Peter Della Penna29-Apr-2018Peter Della Penna

Freddie Klokker’s unbeaten 108, coming on the back of left-arm spinner Bashir Shah’s excellent spell, propelled Denmark to an eight-wicket win over Bermuda in their WCL Division Four clash at the Royal Selangor Club.However, perhaps the day’s bigger news came at the start, when Bermuda left out star allrounder Kamau Leverock. The move came less than 24 hours after his expletive-laden public tirade at the team’s final training session at Kinrara Oval, before the start of the tournament.Bermuda had a solid opening stand without Leverock, after being sent in at the toss, as Okera Bascome fired away to 63 off 41 balls in an 81-run partnership with captain Terryn Fray.But by the end of the day, Leverock’s absence was telling, as Bermuda collapsed from 134 for 1 to 155 for 7. Though the top three each made solid contributions, only one other batsman made double figures subsequently. Shah crippled Bermuda with 3 for 17 in 10 overs, whereafter Charles Trott tried to resuscitate the innings with 36 off 45 balls at No. 8. Bermuda were eventually bowled out for 209 in the 48th over.Klokker opened the chase and stayed till the end, striking eight fours and a six. He shared an 89-run opening partnership with Zameer Khan (38 off 56 balls) before an unbroken 115-run stand with the new captain Hamid Shah (48 not out off 59 balls) took Denmark across the line with 49 balls to spare.

Seventeen runs in the 17th over took Barisal Bulls home in an otherwise balanced contest, leaving Comilla Victorians winless in the tournament

Mohammad Isam11-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Samuels’ 48 was the game’s highest score, while Mashrafe’s wicket-less four overs went for 21 runs•Raton Gomes/BCB

Barisal Bulls opened their account in this season’s BPL with a six-wicket win over Comilla Victorians, whose fight fizzled out during a fourth-wicket stand of 49 between Mushfiqur Rahim amd Thisara Perera, which sealed the contest. Comilla, the defending champions, remain winless and would be worried by a brittle batting line-up, though bowling seems to be their strength.Set 130 to win, Barisal opener Dilshan Munaweera struck two pleasing fours before getting caught at mid-off in the fifth over but Dawid Malan quickly restored the pressure with two boundaries in the same over. Mashrafe Mortaza and Nabil Samad then bowled six overs to give away just 26 runs, increasing the required run rate from 6.87 to 8.55. It resulted in Shamsur’s laboured 26-ball 16 ending up in the hands of long-on in the 11th over.Mushfiqur broke the boundary drought with a slog-swept six in the 12th over, before Malan edged his third boundary in the following over from Sharif, though he was immediately caught off the next ball at cover for 26. With Mashrafe finishing his spell (0/21) with Barisal needing 52 off the last six overs, Mushfiqur and Thisara Perera struck boundaries off Sharif and Tanvir. They wrested back control of the game when they struck one six each off Imad, who conceded 17 runs in the 17th over.Their fourth-wicket stand ended when Mushfiqur faintly edged Tanvir to the keeper, but he got them closer to the win with his 23-ball 33. Perera eased Barisal’s nerves with two boundaries in the penultimate over, completing the win with nine balls to spare.Comilla could have slipped further from 73 for 6 in the 14th over, if it wasn’t for the 38-run seventh-wicket partnership between Marlon Samuels and Sohail Tanvir.Samuels – who came to bat after both openers fell within 3.5 overs – was involved in the run-outs of Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Imad Wasim, and saw Liton Das and Nahidul Islam fall meekly. So he had to get Comilla out of trouble. He started off the seventh-wicket stand with two fours off Al-Amin Hossain and nearly blew Thisara Perera away with a straight hit.Tanvir got into the act with a whack over midwicket for his first six. Mahedi Hasan dropped him on 13 in the 18th over, a sitter that ended up hitting him on the face, before hitting the floor. After Samuels departed for a run-a-ball 48, Tanvir struck two sixes over long-on in the last over, his unbeaten 30 off 19 balls giving Comilla the late runs that often make the difference but this time ended in futility.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Afr

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2015BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Africa is “overhyped”. He has also expressed reservations over the views of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president and ICC chairman, that India cannot dominate the world body by virtue of its financial clout.

Have written to MEA for permissions to play Pakistan – Thakur

Anurag Thakur was non-committal on the resumption of bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan and said the matter was out of the BCCI’s hands, and that India’s Ministry of External Affairs would have to issue clearances.
“We play Pakistan in World Cup events. We played them in the 2015 World Cup, we’ll play them next year in the Asia Cup,” Thakur said. “We’ll play them in March in the T20 World Cup. So when you play them in multi-national tournaments, what stops you from playing them in a bilateral series?
“Mr Shashank Manohar met the PCB chairman in Dubai and both of them decided to play in Sri Lanka. For permissions and political clearances, we have written to the Ministry of External Affairs to give us the sanction. It is their call, whenever they take it.”
Thakur’s views now are markedly different to those in August when he had all but ruled out resumption of bilateral cricketing activity between the two countries.
Thakur, who is also a member of parliament from the ruling party, the BJP, said it was a tough decision for the government to make.
“When it comes to Pakistan, it’s not that easy to take calls,” he said. “Five years ago, social media didn’t play a role. Today you see a lot of reactions on social media, but you can’t go only by social media, you have to look at the interests of the nation,” he said. “I think diplomatic relations are also very important — whether you want to remain at loggerheads or you want to sit across the table and discuss things. We have been discussing cricket, trade, terrorism, PoK and Kashmir with Pakistan.”

Speaking at the earlier in the week, Thakur reiterated the observations of India team director Ravi Shastri and Test captain Virat Kohli that there were no problems with the pitches produced for the Tests against South Africa.”I think the debate on the quality of pitches is overhyped. When a match gets over in two days – maybe in some other part of the world, like Australia in three days – nobody raises that question,” Thakur said. “But when we see a lot of drawn matches, like in the last few years, we say nobody will come and watch Test cricket.”I have a question to ask about the Nagpur match. Ask any ex-cricketer, how many players from the two teams played a bad shot? Was there uneven bounce? No. Was there more turn than expected? Yes, maybe.”What is the criterion for a good pitch and bad pitch? Was the bounce uneven, were there injuries? The ICC has sent us a letter and we will soon reply to that. But I think there is nothing wrong if a Test match finishes on the fourth day or the third day. You should also look at the batting standards. Remember how [Rahul] Dravid, [VVS] Laxman played on these kinds of tracks?”Thakur maintained there was nothing wrong in exploiting home advantage and said the preparation of turning tracks wasn’t a worrying trend.”Nobody questioned the T20 and the ODI games. What about the pitches when South Africa won?” Thakur asked. “But when India won two Test matches, you start raising questions.”In many parts of the world such as Australia and South Africa, you will see much more bounce. In England, you will see more seam and swing. So how do you compare that? In India and Pakistan, you may see more turning tracks. That is the nature of our pitches, which we call home advantage.”Thakur also clarified that Manohar’s views on the ICC’s restructuring were personal. Manohar recently said the revamp was tantamount to bullying, and that he didn’t agree with the revenue-sharing formula that guaranteed India a significant chunk of the revenue. While his thoughts were endorsed by a section of the board’s members, there has also been considerable resistance. Thakur said there was nothing wrong in India receiving a larger slice of the financial pie.”The [BCCI] president said this in his personal capacity. He made it very clear that it was his personal opinion,” he said. “The Indian subcontinent contributes close to 70% of the ICC’s revenues. To take 21% of that is not much. That was the position with Australia and England earlier, and no one objected to it then. If this happens to India today, we shouldn’t object to it.”You have to understand that India plays a very, very important role in world cricket. It’s only India which has a stadium in virtually every state. The money we have been generating in the last so many years has been spent on the ground.”Thakur also said the larger interest of BCCI’s units would have to be looked into before arriving at a decision on Manohar’s proposals, which have already received support from boards like Cricket South Africa and Sri Lanka Cricket. The BCCI, however, will be keen to not ruffle the feathers of its own units. Senior administrator and Saurashtra Cricket Association president Niranjan Shah, who is known to be close to Manohar, had advocated a “middle path”, which would strike a balance between extending a helping hand to financially weaker boards and securing the monetary rewards the BCCI deserved.”We have to look at the overall picture and individual opinions could be different,” Thakur said. “I may disagree, but the final call has to be taken by the BCCI because it is not only in the interest of one association, it is in the interest of 30 units of the BCCI.”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2015

Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif took five wickets to set up a seven-wicket win for Pakistan over Zimbabwe in the series decider in Harare

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Harare05-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:26

Bilal Asif’s five-for rocks Zimbabwe

Pakistan cruised to a 2-1 series victory over Zimbabwe with a seven-wicket win in the third ODI at Harare Sports Club. Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif was the chief architect in the demolition of Zimbabwe’s batting line-up by Pakistan’s spinners, taking 5 for 25 as the hosts were bowled out for just 161. Bilal’s wickets prompted an extraordinary collapse with Zimbabwe losing 10 for 72 to ruin what had been a solid start from their openers. The only downside for Pakistan is that they remain in ninth place in the ICC ODI rankings as a result of the loss on Saturday.Operating from the City End of the ground, Bilal bowled his ten overs on the trot after being brought on in the 13th over by stand-in captain Sarfraz Ahmed – regular leader Azhar Ali sitting this match out with an infected foot. Openers Chamu Chibhabha and Richmond Mutumbami initially seemed to play the offspinner without much alarm, but when Chibhabha popped a simple return catch to the bowler, Zimbabwe’s spectacular implosion was set in motion.Sean Williams shuffled down the track to loft Bilal to wide long-on, but then seemed in two minds as he lunged forward at a flighted delivery and ended up chipping another tame catch to the bowler. Bilal took his second in the over by bowling a noncommittal Elton Chigumbura via the inside edge, and from then on Zimbabwe offered virtually nothing in the way of resistance.Sikandar Raza shuffled right across to the off side as he set himself to sweep, but exposed his stumps in the process and was bowled. When Tino Mutombodzi backed away and missed a cut off when the ball kept a touch low, Bilal had his fifth and Zimbabwe were 127 for 6 in the 31st over.There had been a completely different complexion to their innings in the midst of Chibhabha and Mutumbami’s opening stand. Chibhabha played with characteristic conviction off the front foot and took much of the early strike. He was into the 20s before Mutumbami had even faced his third delivery, and looked set for a 15th ODI fifty before falling to Bilal.His wicket broke an 89-run opening stand, and he was soon followed back to the pavilion by Brian Chari, who was lbw to Imad Wasim playing back when he should have been forward. Darting the ball in from round the wicket, Imad helped himself to two more wickets and in total Zimbabwe lost 9 for 65 to 18.5 overs of spin.Their collapse completely overshadowed a brave innings from Mutumbami. He was attacking from the outset and weathered a fearsome blow to the head from Mohammad Irfan, the ball knocking his helmet off his head, to register a career-best 67 before Irfan won their battle by having him caught behind. After his knock on the head, and a stinging blow to his wrist off Wahab Riaz, Mutumbami did not take the field in the second innings, with Chari filling in as wicketkeeper.The malaise in Zimbabwe’s performance today continued during Pakistan’s chase, which started before the lunch break due to the brevity of the hosts’ innings. John Nyumbu put Bilal down at slip in the second over, and he took advantage of the let-off with a quickfire 38 on either side of the interval as Pakistan cruised past 50.Bilal was eventually well caught by a diving Mutumbodzi at long-on. Mohammad Hafeez didn’t last long and Pakistan were 104 for 3 when Ahmed Shehzad was stumped for a 61-ball 32, but Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq faced minimal resistance in knocking off the remaining runs during their unbroken 58-run stand.

Tasmania got through the defenses of the New South Wales tail to complete a crushing innings victory over the visitors within three days in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-2011
ScorecardIn a top of the points table clash, Tasmania got through the defenses of the New South Wales tail to complete a crushing innings victory over the visitors within three days in Hobart.New South Wales resumed on 6 for 130, needing to score over 149 runs to make Tasmania bat again. The visitor’s lower order showed some resistance, with overnight No. 8 batsman Steve O’Keefe going on to score 46 – the innings’ top score.O’Keefe strung together fighting partnerships with Peter Nevill and Scott Coyte, but after the top order failed for the second time in the match, New South Wales were never going to make Tasmania sweat. The Tasmania bowlers produced disciplined spells, the pace trio of Luke Butterworth, James Faulkner and Adam Maher picking up three wickets each.Both teams were tied at the top of the points table on 32 points when the match began. With six points from this game, Tasmania move ahead.

The Tamil Nadu left-hand opener, has taken a major step towards national selection by being included in the Board President’s XI squad to take on the South Africans in Nagpur from Tuesday

Kanishkaa Balachandran02-Feb-2010He has a triple-century, hundreds on Ranji and Irani Trophy debuts, a quadruple-century opening stand, a 50-plus average after three first-class seasons and an IPL contract – all this before his 20th birthday. And now Abhinav Mukund, Tamil Nadu’s left-hand opener, has taken another step towards national selection by being included in the Board President’s XI squad to take on the South Africans in Nagpur from Tuesday.Abhinav was named in the squad to take on the touring Sri Lankans in the same fixture last year but the weather prevented him from actually playing. If he takes guard against South Africa, it will be his first knock against an international quality attack, and his survival skills and longevity at the crease will be put to test.The emergence of Abhinav, one of several newcomers starting to find their feet, coincided with – or perhaps was responsible for – the revival of Tamil Nadu’s fortunes on the domestic circuit. The team was in a rebuilding phase after losing a bunch of players to the ICL, and the prime indicator of that revival was the emergence of a strong top order featuring Abhinav and M Vijay.Shortly before the 2007-08 season, Abhinav toured Sri Lanka with the India Under-19 squad where he hit 399 runs in two matches at 99.75. He wasn’t handed a Ranji debut immediately. In fact he had to sit out Tamil Nadu’s first two games but on the morning of the third, against Karnataka, a team-mate’s misfortune gave Abhinav the break he needed.”Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that call-up at all. I was looking forward to another four days of rest when R Ashwin (the offspinner) pulled out with an injury on the morning of the match,” Abhinav told Cricinfo from his home in Chennai. “I came in at the fall of the first wicket and got off the mark with a boundary off the first ball. From then on, I was in the zone.”He has self-belief and youthful exuberance, and is willing to take risks but perhaps his most handy trait is that he’s tough to dismiss once he gets his eye in. He followed his debut hundred with another ton against Saurashtra and almost made it three in a row, falling for 96 against Himachal Pradesh.That streak was matched by Vijay, who hit a similar purple patch on his debut. The two have chemistry at the crease that has translated itself into massive partnerships, including 462 in their 2008-09 Ranji season opener against Maharashtra in Nasik. They were three short of the Ranji record when Vijay fell for 243.”We understand each other’s game very well,” Abhinav says. “We have similar styles, we like to settle down first before going for the big shots. We share a great rapport on and off the field.”Abhinav remembers the final moments of that triple-hundred vividly. “I never expected to get close to a triple,” he says. “I was dropped on 202 and by then was mentally tired. I batted till 247, expecting a declaration but the captain Dinesh [Karthik] gave me another 10 to 12 overs. From then on I just slogged.”That knock was like the pilot episode for a fantastic show that continued through the season, in which he scored 856 runs at 85.60, finishing fourth in the list of run-getters in the Ranji elite group. He also had a 100% conversion rate, going on to score hundreds on each of the four occasions when he crossed fifty. A ton in the Ranji ODI finals guided Tamil Nadu to the title and he began the next season with another century, in the Irani Trophy against Mumbai.That Abhinav took to cricket itself wasn’t surprising, given that his parents played the sport too. A regular on the school cricket scene, Abhinav took it up seriously only in his final year at school.Were his folks pleased with his career choice? “Well my mother found it difficult to digest,” he says. “She wanted me to study, which is natural in many families in the south, where there’s a stress on academics. I did find it hard mixing studies with sports.” He’s still trying to juggle between the two, now pursuing a Commerce degree on the side.He furthered his cricket education in 2009 when he won the Border-Gavaskar Scholarship to spend five weeks at the Center of Excellence in Brisbane. That stint not only tightened his technique but also introduced him to the life of a professional sportsman.”I learnt how to be self-sufficient in life. The facilities were amazing. It was a good experience batting against the Kookaburra ball, especially against the bowling machine. I also got good exposure against the short ball.”Like Gautam Gambhir, he’s a powerful cutter and driver of the ball off the front foot through the off side, and doesn’t mind the odd slash. Having been brought up on flat wickets, however, Abhinav is yet to be tested in conditions where the ball swings for considerable periods. A few A-team tours will do him a world of good, as will an opportunity against the South Africans. He says he’s received offers from clubs in the UK, but he’s yet to commit to them because of the upcoming IPL and the league season in Chennai. Another area he’s working hard on is his fielding. He feels his worth as a utility player may just give him more opportunities in Twenty20 cricket.With another Ranji season just ended, Abhinav already has noteworthy achievements jotted down on his CV. Frequent injuries have opened the doors to fringe players in India like S Badrinath and Sudeep Tyagi. At this rate, his name may crop up more often in selection meetings.

Brook came in for criticism during a relatively lean Test series against Sri Lanka but he has gas left in the tank after a long season

Matt Roller18-Sep-2024It tells you just how serenely Harry Brook’s international career has progressed that he came under scrutiny after averaging 30 in a series win. But by his own admission, Brook finds himself trying to avoid paralysis by overanalysis as he prepares to captain England for the first time at Trent Bridge on Thursday after his approach was questioned during Sri Lanka’s recent victory at The Oval.Brook made 19 and 3 in the final Test of the English season, having made between 32 and 56 in his first four innings of the series against Sri Lanka. If the scores were underwhelming, it was his manner at the crease that drew most attention: he grew visibly frustrated when Sri Lanka bowled wide outside his off stump, to the extent Michael Vaughan accused him of “taking the mick out of the game”.Related

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This has been a long season for Brook, who was England’s only ever-present across both June’s T20 World Cup and their six home Tests. He spent the three weeks between the West Indies and Sri Lanka series captaining Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, and will fly to Pakistan for October’s Test tour only three days after the fifth and final ODI of the Australia series.Brook seemed characteristically relaxed on the eve of his England captaincy debut at Trent Bridge, grinning through his pre-match press conference and laughing off the idea that he had ever craved leadership. He conceded that his Test summer had not quite gone to plan, but played down the suggestion that he was mentally drained after an intense season.”Because I wasn’t scoring the runs I wanted to, I probably was [feeling] a little bit [tired],” Brook said. “But if I’d have gone out and got two hundreds against Sri Lanka then I’d have been like, ‘I’ll just carry on’. But no, not really. I love playing cricket: I want to play as much as I possibly can. I do think breaks are important at certain times, but I was pretty chilled.”Obviously I didn’t do as well as I’d wanted. I want to get a hundred every innings, but it’s not going to happen, is it? Professional sport is not easy… I felt like I batted really well against West Indies and then didn’t play as well as I wanted to against Sri Lanka, but those things happen. You go away and think about it for a little bit, and hopefully come back stronger in Pakistan.”Harry Brook was in good spirits despite a long, busy season•Getty Images

Until the Hundred this year – where he oversaw five wins in six completed games – the majority of Brook’s captaincy experience came with England Under-19s, whom he led in 11 Youth ODIs, including five at the 2018 World Cup. Since then, he has played 50-over cricket only sporadically. Half of his 30 List A games have been full ODIs, and his record in them is underwhelming: 407 runs at 29.07, with three half-centuries.He will aim to keep things simple against Australia, batting at No. 4. “I’m just going to go out there and watch the ball as closely as possible,” he said. “If you have a few low scores here and there, you start thinking about different things and your technique and whatever. I’m just going to go out there, watch the ball as closely as I can and play on instinct.”Brook is only standing in as captain for Jos Buttler, who was with the squad on Wednesday as he continues his rehabilitation from a calf injury and will return for November’s Caribbean tour. “I might pick his brains here and there,” Brook said, “but he’s said I’ve got full rein to do whatever I want.”Buttler has challenged Brook to “identify those moments” in the field where he can change the game – something that Buttler himself has struggled with in ODIs. Brook showed signs of that instinct during the Hundred, and said that he would liberate his bowlers to make decisions: “Whatever you feel like doing, just do it. The only bad outcome is you could get hit for a boundary and the next ball could be a dot ball.”This ODI series is one of only three for England before February’s Champions Trophy, and the first since Rob Key announced that Brendon McCullum will take over as limited-overs coach as part of a “strategic restructure” of the senior set-up. The implication is that there will be greater convergence between formats, as evidenced by Ben Duckett’s promotion to open the batting on Thursday.Brook said that he has hardly spoken to McCullum, who has instead delegated responsibility to his Test assistant coach Marcus Trescothick. “It’s all going to merge into one at some point,” Brook predicted. “We want to go out there and entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers.”And after ending the Test summer on autopilot at The Oval, Brook hopes that this new challenge will prove reinvigorating. “I’ve only been here for two days, but the way the lads have gone about their business in training just seems so chilled at the minute. We’re all looking forward to going out there and having some fun.”