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The last time an Australian Test tour took on the trajectory of the current Ashes series, starting with a victory before beginning to fall away, the response of a tiring and weakening team desperate for victory was to resort to the infamous, obvious cheating of Newlands.With pressure compounding fatigue, a performance culture wearing away at weary minds and bodies, and anger at how circumstances and failings had conspired against them, that Australian team lost its way in the most awful and spectacular manner, while the rest of the world took the opportunity to raise a host of accumulated grievances.Australia’s current captain Tim Paine and vice-captain Pat Cummins were both part of that group, and in the deep anguish and frustration of Headingley, Ben Stokes’ heroics and all, there was acknowledgement that this time around, a different and better path must be taken. And that, for all of the difficulties of the past 18 months, there are now far more members of the team able to step away from events in the middle and remind everyone that this is, after all, a game.”Someone like Matt Wade, he’s been out of the side for two years and one of the first things he said this morning [before the final day] was, ‘if we win or if we lose, you turn up on the building site and no one knows’,” Cummins said. “So I think it’s a good reminder that it’s not the be all and end all. One lesson we learnt from Lord’s probably on that night where we were really close to ripping the game open, we got really emotional and almost just wanted it too much, so I was really proud how everyone stayed quite level this game.”When we bowled them out for 67 or they got a partnership we were quite even. I think it’s the sign of a pretty confident squad. Painey’s been brilliant. He walked straight into the change room and said it’s one-all, it’s all good, two more matches to go. Bowlers, him as a captain, everyone makes decisions and you reflect after the game and think, what could I have done differently?”When you look at it – a couple of catches, maybe a run out, but when a batsman comes out and scores a hundred like that, hitting sixes from an offspinner out of the rough so cleanly, you’ve just got to say well done. Someone’s had a day out, we’ll be right.”Marshalling the bowlers, Cummins agreed that there were a few moments to ponder. Not least some profligate bowling with the second new ball, having imposed enormous pressure on England for over after over leading up to it. “That was one thing we spoke about was with the new ball,” he said. “Obviously you feel like you’re more in the game with wickets but that wicket almost felt like a one-day wicket or an Indian wicket where with the new ball it’s a double-edged sword.”If you’re not absolutely perfect you can go for runs and I think if we reflect on that half-an-hour, they might have got 30 or 40 runs pretty quickly. But other than that I thought we were brilliant. We’ll have a look at that but the second new ball sometimes is a different ball game to the first new ball.”I think the most pleasing thing for us, one, we bowled really well, but as you said I feel like we’ve got really good plans and processes to all of them. Ben Stokes obviously had a day out today and was probably playing more like one-day cricket towards the end there but we saw yesterday they batted for 70 overs and kept them to two runs an over and always felt like we were in the game. All three games we’ve been in a match-winning position so we know how to do 99 per cent of it. Hopefully we can get over the line in the next one.”Ben Stokes survives an lbw appeal•Getty Images

The approach taken by Paine to spread the field for Stokes all the way through his match-winning 76-run stand with the last man Jack Leach (contribution: one run) has been a source of some consternation in the wake of defeat. Paine has admitted that he should at least have spoken more with the bowlers about maintaining attacking lines and lengths with that field, rather than taking it as a sign to effectively put the cue in the rack against Stokes and only try to dismiss Leach. Cummins admitted that such fields tended to put any bowler into white-ball mode.”Unfortunately yeah it is [like one-day cricket],” he said. “When the wicket’s like that and the ball’s still hard, it didn’t feel like it was going to swing or seam so as a bowler your options are you’re hopefully going to still snick him off so you’ve got the slips out there but other than that just trying to limit the damage. He’s faced almost 200 balls and when he started going he’s at the top of his game so it’s certainly hard work but we still had our chances. Obvious thing is the wicket got better and better the longer the game went on. I would have liked to score a few more runs myself.”Runs will more than likely be available from a welcome avenue at Old Trafford, via the return to fitness and selection of Steven Smith. Cummins said that Smith had remained very much involved in the game since he was ruled out through concussion, making his impending recall all the more welcome. “I know last week at Lord’s he said he was screaming at the TV from his hotel room watching the final hour,” Cummins said.”This game we were right on top and we’ve got the world’s best batter coming in for the next one so it’s great. I think from all reports he’s going to play the tour match next week. What has he got? 100-odd, 100-odd and 90-odd so it’s going to be great to be back.”Cummins had one more crucial involvement, firing in the return to Nathan Lyon that, had he held it, would have seen Leach run out with Australia triumphant by a single run. Here, once again, was a reminder why the refreshed Australian approach, forged out of the infamy of Newlands, should serve the tourists well at the pointy end of this Ashes series. “I probably didn’t help him out with the throw there, it could have been a bit better,” Cummins said. “But yeah, like everyone, you just want to win so desperately and the emotion gets to everyone slightly differently.”Gaz obviously wears his heart on his shoulder so we’ve got to get around him. But I think the next ball he bowled after that was three reds [for lbw] so on another day he’s the match-winner. It’s that fine line, if you lived and died by a win and a loss you’d be out of this business pretty quickly.”

Middlesex claimed five wickets in a rather dramatic evening session at Emirates Old Trafford as they sought to inflict a first Championship defeat on the soon-to-be crowned Division Two champions Lancashire.Having spent the first two days of this match recovering from 34 for 6 to make 337 in reply to the home side’s 259, Dawid Malan’s bowlers had restricted the home side to 289 for 8 when bad light ended play 11 overs early. That gives Lancashire a lead of only 211 and it all but completed a second fine fightback by Middlesex after a day the first two sessions of which had been dominated by the batsmen.Miguel Cummins ended the day with figures of 4 for 50 but Ethan Bamber took two vital wickets with the new ball while Lancashire’s best contribution was made by Keaton Jennings, who was dismissed for 97 for the second time this season when he chopped a ball from Nathan Sowter onto his leg stump. Jennings’ dismissal ended his 127-run stand with Liam Livingstone and was the first of five Lancashire wickets to fall in 13 overs as the home side declined from 253 for three to 282 for 8.In the morning session a career-best 34 by Saqib Mahmood had enabled Lancashire’s batsmen to wipe out their 78-run first-innings deficit during a relatively quiet two hours’ cricket. Mahmood hit five fours before he was caught behind when playing forward to Cummins but his was the only wicket lost on a pitch which seemed to be flattening out after a first day in which 16 wickets fell.Lancashire’s domination continued during the second session when the only batsman dismissed was Josh Bohannon, who was lbw to Toby Roland-Jones for 28, having helped Jennings put on 51 for the third wicket .When he was three short of what would have been his first Championship century of the season, Jennings fell to Sowter, a dismissal which changed the course of what is proving to be the best game of Championship cricket seen at Old Trafford this season.Bamber had Livingstone caught behind by Simpson two overs after taking the new ball and then trapped Lancashire skipper Dane Vilas leg before for only two in his next over. Rob Jones fell to Cummins for 16, caught in the gully by Sowter, and when Tom Bailey was pouched by Malan at second slip for only four, Lancashire were faced with the prospect of defending a fairly modest target on the final day if they wished to defend their unbeaten record in Championship cricket.

Australia’s spearhead Pat Cummins will be spared the long haul trip to Perth and back to rest his body ahead of the Test series against Pakistan, which has been confirmed as the starting point for Andrew McDonald as the national coach Justin Langer’s senior assistant.The decision to rest Cummins may well open the way for Sean Abbott to play his first international in more than five years, as Australia look for a victory at Perth Stadium on Friday evening to close out an unbeaten six matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where so far only Sydney rain and arcane playing conditions have prevented a clean sweep.A shift of Australian thinking from T20 back to the looming Test match assignments against Pakistan (two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide) and New Zealand (three Tests in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney) have been underlined by the news that McDonald is now clear to commence his role alongside Langer for the Gabba Test later this month, after concluding his duties with Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.Lengthy negotiations among multiple parties have been required to allow McDonald the freedom to take up the national team role while also upholding pre-existing contracts to coach the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and Birmingham in The Hundred, the first such instance of CA allowing a national team assistant coach to wear more than one hat. It was also confirmed on Wednesday that Victoria assistant coach Lachlan Stevens will move into an acting head coach role for the remainder of the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup following McDonald’s departure.

Test spots remain undecided

Australia coach Justin Langer has said the next round of Sheffield Shield and the Australia A game against Pakistan will play a key role in shaping the final decisions over the Test squad.
Travis Head’s century in the recent round of matches has helped his cause as he aims for a recall and he will line-up alongside Usman Khawaja, Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson.
“I’m hoping someone starts banging really hard on the door,” Langer said. “Travis played well. I thought the way Matthew Wade played was excellent in winning the game for Tasmania. Cameron Green, can we slide him in the top four. He’s got a very bright future. I watched him bat yesterday – I know how well he can bowl, he’s a good young kid.
“I keep maintaining there is so much talent in Australian cricket we’ve just got make sure we get the combinations right and make sure we get the people that are ready to go for this Test series.”

As Langer’s senior assistant, McDonald will fill the role left by David Saker at the start of the year when he resigned after the home Tests against India and Sri Lanka, also meaning he is likely to take primary responsibility for helming tactical discussions among Australia’s bowlers.Graeme Hick remains as the team’s batting coach and Sridharan Sriram as a spin bowling and batting assistant, while the head of national teams Ben Oliver is eager to ensure a good degree of fluidity for other specialist roles to be taken on a short-term basis, as seen with the use of Ricky Ponting and Adam Griffith (World Cup), Steve Waugh and Troy Cooley (Ashes) and Michael Hussey and Ryan Harris (T20I series) alongside Langer this year.A comfortable victory over Pakistan in Canberra on Tuesday evening, underpinned by Steven Smith’s deft innings to smooth over the loss of early wickets in the chase, has further demonstrated how Australia are developing role clarity for their T20 team. Smith took complete control of the pursuit, providing a reminder that in the brief phase in which he has previously played in the Australia T20I side as a specialist batsman rather than a speculative wrist spin bowler, he showed an aptitude for being the “clean up man” if early wickets fell.Across nine matches in 2015-16, Smith returned 263 runs at 32.87 and a strike rate of 135.56, before bowing out of T20I duty to provide brief periods of rest between his many Test match and ODI commitments. “If you look at my batting record in T20 internationals, it’s not crash hot,” Smith said. “I guess you have to bear in mind … early in my career I was batting No. 8 or 9, coming in and slogging, facing half a dozen balls tops. It’s never easy so it’s going to affect your record at some point.”I don’t doubt my ability. I know the tempos of the game … and I’ve played a lot of cricket now. I may not be as strong as some of the other guys but I use placement and timing. The white ball usually flies off the bat particularly when it’s brand new. If you’re timing the ball well you get value for your shots most places.”If you’re chasing you weigh up the situation and what you need and what you need to go at, which bowlers you want to target and just work out the maths in your head and that’s chasing. Batting first you have to sum up conditions and how the wicket is playing, what you think a good score is and who is in the opposition, all those sorts of things. I’ve played a lot of cricket now, I’m pretty experienced and my role in this team is to fix it if the top don’t come off.”

Mushtaq Ahmed has promised to “revive” the form of Yasir Shah, who has been released from Pakistan’s squad after being left out of the XI for the first Test against Sri Lanka.Mushtaq, the former Pakistan legspinner, is with the PCB as a consultant, contracted to work with spinners at all levels, from age-group to national team, for 120 days over a 12-month period. Yasir will work with Mushtaq at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, and rejoin the Pakistan squad ahead of the second and final Test in Karachi, which begins on December 19.Yasir has endured a slump in form of late, picking up four wickets at an average of 100.50 on the recent tour of Australia, while conceding close to five runs an over. In his last Test series before the Australia tour, in South Africa in 2018-19, he picked up just one wicket at an average of 123.00.In the last Test Pakistan played before the South Africa tour, against New Zealand in December 2018, Yasir became the fastest bowler in history to 200 Test wickets, breaking the 82-year-old record of fellow legspinner Clarrie Grimmett.Mushtaq believes all Yasir needs to get back to his best is a shot of confidence.”He is not applying himself properly and with a legspinner you always have to be patient,” Mushtaq told ESPNcricinfo. “He has forgotten the process he used to follow while running in to bowl each ball. He has been impatient to regain his form as quickly as possible, and trying too hard to take wickets. He is pushing himself to live up to the expectations, and it is unfair that people suddenly started to doubt him, and he isn’t getting a lot of support either.”We shouldn’t doubt our best bowler, who has taken 200-plus wickets for his country. He has been winning games for us and you cannot just write him off on the basis of what he has done in Australia. Sometimes it’s about form, and sometime it’s about pitches that aren’t really helping you, but a good bowler remains a good player. You can’t judge him merely on the basis of two games. He is good as ever, but needs to be given confidence, and I am going to help him revive himself and make a strong comeback.”Mushtaq Ahmed watches from the balcony•Jon Buckle/PA Photos

Mushtaq reckons that the bulk of his work with Yasir will be on the mental side of his bowling.”I have good chemistry with him and he is a good listener,” Mushtaq said. “I know three days aren’t enough as far as coaching is concerned, but all I have to do is fine-tune him, and take the negative thoughts out of his mind. He probably started doubting himself, and his mindset dragged a bit.”There are rough patches in everyone’s life, but you don’t leave your best cricketers behind. You have to stick with them and trust them. There are few technical aspect I am going to speak to him about, [such as] him being in a hurry all the time. He needs to calm himself down and just reassess himself. I am confident that he will be different when you see him next.”Pakistan chose to do without a spinner in Rawalpindi, and picked four fast bowlers instead. The decision to leave Yasir out was one of many left-field selections that Pakistan have made recently under Misbah-ul-Haq, who serves as both head coach and selector. With rain making only 91.5 overs possible across the first three days of the Test, it hasn’t really been possible to assess the merits of the selection.Pakistan’s quicks have recovered well after a poor first session to keep Sri Lanka to 282 for 6, but with so much time lost to rain, it may not be possible to tell if they would have missed a spinner on a wearing fourth- or fifth-day surface.

Joe Root, Joe Denly and Dom Sibley posted half-centuries to open England’ s tour of South Africa with a first-day score of 309 for 4 against a Cricket South Africa Invitational XI in Benoni.Root backed up his previous innings of 226 in the second Test against New Zealand a fortnight ago by top scoring for England with 72 off 86 balls on day one of two at Willowmoore Park before he retired not out. With Denly and Sibley also retiring not out after reaching 60 and 58 respectively, England were effectively seven wickets down at stumps as Zak Crawley closed unbeaten on 28 accompanied by Sam Curran, who was not out 18.ALSO READ: Returning Anderson in ‘great place’ – SilverwoodEngland will bowl on Wednesday, when they hope to have the services of Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, who were feeling unwell on Tuesday.Rory Burns, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow were out to soft dismissals in the teens on Tuesday, while Ollie Pope was out lbw for 20.Denly made the most of surviving a dropped catch when he was on 28 and Sibley showed no ill effects after being struck on the helmet towards the end of his innings, which lasted more than three hours. The pair put on a 103-run stand, which Sibley thoroughly enjoyed, having not had the chance before after falling for 22, 12 and 4 while opening in his only three Test innings to date, on the recent tour of New Zealand.”It’s the first time I’ve batted with Joe,” Sibley said. “I didn’t make it long enough in New Zealand. We complement each other quite nicely.”Burns and Sibley put on a chanceless 37 runs in the first hour before Burns threw away his wicket, taking on left-arm seamer Stephan Tait and top-edging a hook to fine-leg.Root set about scoring quickly and finished as he began, taking 16 runs off the final over he faced, including a last-ball slog-sweep for six.”He played well, he’s coming off a double hundred in New Zealand so he looks in good form, so hopefully he continues,” said Sibley, who was content to come off after reaching his fifty despite not having had as much batting time as he would have liked during the two Tests he has played so far.”It’s all part of warm-up games, making sure everyone gets enough time in the middle,” he said. “You can’t really beat time at the crease so I was happy with the amount of time I got out there especially after having a couple of days in the nets.”Dom Sibley is struck on the head by the ball•Getty Images

Sibley’s disappointing returns in the New Zealand Tests followed a century in a warm-up match and prompted him to spend time with Warwickshire batting coach Tony Frost and freelance consultant Gary Palmer making “little tweaks” to his technique before flying out to South Africa.”Nothing major, just getting back to what I was doing well in the summer for Warwickshire and hitting past mid-on, which I did well today, so I was pleased with that,” Sibley said. “I felt balanced, so that’s good. I want to peak at the right times and hopefully that happens.”I’ve only had three innings and I think especially in the first innings I felt good, I felt at home, and then in the second Test match I probably put myself under a little bit too much pressure to get a big score. I’m just going to play my game, stick to my strengths and be nice and chilled out there.”I’ve got to start getting some scores and stuff but hopefully Boxing Day will be my day so hopefully I play.”Buttler was dropped at slip on just five but he offered a repeat chance to depart for 15 while Bairstow’s return to England’s red-ball side following his omission for the New Zealand Tests ended when he smacked a rank full toss to mid-on.England will play one more tour match, a three-day fixture against South Africa A starting on Friday, before the first of four Tests starts on Boxing Day.

AB de Villiers has confirmed he is considering “throwing his name in the hat” for an international comeback at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year following constructive talks with the new leadership in South Africa.Late last year captain Faf du Plessis revealed conversations had already begun about whether de Villiers could return following his retirement in May 2018. Now de Villiers has said “hopefully I’ll be involved as well pretty soon” having been encouraged by the appointment of former team-mates Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith as coach and director of cricket following major upheaval in Cricket South Africa.”There’s a lot that needs to happen before that becomes reality, I would love to,” de Villers told reporters after making his BBL debut for the Brisbane Heat on Tuesday. “I’ve been talking to Bouch, Graeme Smith and Faf back home. We are all keen to make it happen, it’s a long way away still and plenty can happen – there’s the IPL coming, I’ve still got to be in form at that time. I’m thinking of throwing my name in the hat and hoping everything will work out.”It’s not a guarantee, I don’t want to disappoint myself or other people, so for now I’m just going to try and keep a low profile, play the best possible cricket I can and we’ll see what happens towards the end of the year.”ALSO READ: de Villiers feeling ‘some of the best form of my career’South Africa’s assistant coach Enoch Nkwe was open to the possibility of de Villiers joining the dressing room. “I am not 100% sure but AB’s commitment to South African cricket especially in MSL, we keep seeing him fully committed to these type of leagues which still shows that if we are to need some sort of experience like that, we could actually call him up and I am sure that he would be someone who would love to do it for South Africa.”Nkwe, however, added that de Villiers wouldn’t just walk back into the team and that he may need to play some matches leading up to the T20 World Cup. “I’m sure that if he shows interest he will be involved in some of the series that we will be playing. We will wait and see if he interested or not. It’s always good to have some sort of experience and I am sure from personal life experience in the last year or two that he has gained outside of playing international cricket, that will be immense for the environment. And also for South African cricket but let’s wait and see once those decisions have been made.”De Villiers had attempted to engineer a return for last year’s World Cup but the selectors decided he had made his pitch too late and it risked disruption to the side. South Africa ended up having a torrid World Cup where they never threatened to make the semi-finals.The fact that three former team-mates are now at the helm of the men’s team appears to have paved the way for far more positive discussions.”It doesn’t mean everything is going to be sunshine and roses but it’s definitely a lot easier and feels comfortable, the language that’s being used and the feel everyone has at the moment in South Africa about the cricket,” de Villiers said. “They are my friends, I played 10-plus years with them, so we’ve been through a lot and great to have them involved again. Hopefully I’ll be involved as well pretty soon.”Last month, du Plessis said: “People want AB to play and I am no different. Those conversations have been happening for two or three months already: what does it look like, how does it look over the next year, and that’s where it starts.”

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