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Andrew Symonds believes his lack of form for Queensland will not stop him contributing to the Test team if he makes the starting line-up for next week’s first Test against New Zealand. Symonds has been named in a 13-man squad for the Gabba Test and if he plays it will be his first time back in the baggy green since the tour of the West Indies this year.He has completed a two-month Cricket Australia rehabilitation programme, which followed his axing from the squad in Darwin when he went fishing instead of attending a team meeting. The selectors have shown faith in Symonds despite his disappointing Sheffield Shield efforts in the past month, when he has scored 80 runs at 13.33 in three games.”I earned the right to wear my baggy green cap, and I lost that through my own stupidity, so now hopefully I can regain it and wear it with distinction,” Symonds told . “Bear in mind, I wasn’t dropped from the side for form but I’ll be doing my best to get myself back into batting form. Some of the wickets we’ve played on have been very difficult.”Symonds was an automatic selection in the No. 6 spot in Tests until his fishing trip and Shane Watson took the role for the recent tour of India. Both men have been named in the 13-man Gabba squad and the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said Symonds’ lack of domestic runs would not be held against him.”We’re selecting a great player, we don’t think he had anything to prove,” Hilditch told the . “We picked the side on the basis that we were really happy with Shane Watson in India. He’s got to cement a spot in the top six.”Shane we see as a top-six batter doing some very valuable bowling for us, which he did in India. [He] exceeded our expectations really; he bowled really well, so we are very happy with his performance. He deserves to be in the squad, whether they both play together we’ll decide up there.”One member of the group will be released from the squad on Tuesday although that is more likely to be one of the fast bowlers, probably Peter Siddle. The exact makeup of the starting 11 might not be decided until the morning of the Test, which begins on Thursday, and Symonds knows he is no certainty to play.”I’m only in the 13 at this point, too, though, that’s still playing on my mind a little bit,” Symonds said. “I don’t know what the balance of the team will be, so I suppose closer to the day and maybe even the morning of the game, depending on the weather and what the balance of the team will be. I’ve got a nervous wait to go yet.”Symonds has averaged 72.40 in Test matches in the past 12 months and Australia could have used his consistency in India, where they went down 2-0 and lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Symonds said it was tough being at home in Queensland, where he could do nothing to help his colleagues.”It did hurt, watching the boys go through what they went through in India, and there were a couple of times where I was sitting there and I wanted to be the next in to bat,” Symonds said. “Hopefully, to be back will be a great feeling because it did hurt me deep down inside to be out of it for a while there.”

Sri Lanka have been fined for their slow over-rate in the T20 Canada final against Pakistan in King City on Monday. Sri Lanka clinched the title with a five-wicket win but were penalised for being two overs short of the target.Match referee Jeff Crowe docked 10% of the match fee of each Sri Lankan player, with Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, giving up 20%. Each player is fined 5% for every over short, while the captain is penalised twice the amount. Sri Lanka cannot appeal the fine as the ICC rules state the match referee’s decision.

Australia’s fast bowlers believe patience will be the key on long, hot days in the field during the upcoming Test series in India. None of Australia’s bowlers have played a Test in India and while the focus has largely been on the selection of a spinner, Australia will be looking to the pace trio of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson for the majority of the wickets.”Patience is definitely going to be a word that we will be using through the whole Test series,” Lee told the . “I just think the key to bowling over here, going on what you read and what you hear from past players, is to be nice and patient.”We are up against world-class batsmen, we are up against wickets that aren’t going to be conducive to fast bowling, and the weather is going to be really hot. We have to try as a team to block all that stuff out and just really focus on the way we know, to be nice and patient.”Although he was overlooked throughout the 2004-05 tour of India, lack of experience is not an issue for Lee, who has 289 Test wickets and will almost certainly jump to fourth on Australia’s all-time list during the trip. With Johnson battling for form, Lee’s major support could come from Clark, who said he would be aiming to bowl straight to suit the conditions.”The wickets become harder to bat on,” Clark said. “They don’t bounce, there is no pace in them and they don’t carry. Lbw and bowled become a really useful mode of dismissal, rather than just caught. In Australia a lot of the guys get caught behind the wicket. Bowled and lbws are a big way of getting out over here.”The three main fast men will probably have support from the allrounder Shane Watson, who is preparing for a likely return to Test cricket three years after his most recent Test. However, a viral fever has laid Watson low this week and he is in doubt for the final tour match, which starts on Thursday.

Bangladesh are ready to step into the Champions Trophy if any teams pull out of the tournament, according to the coach Jamie Siddons. Siddons’ side replaced Australia when they postponed their tours to Pakistan earlier this year and Bangladesh were also part of the Asia Cup, which was staged in Karachi and Lahore in June and July.Ninth in the world rankings, Bangladesh could slip into the eight-team Champions Trophy if a re-shuffle is required. “I think we’re free to play if it happens but, personally, I can’t see it happening,” Siddons told the Age. “We’ve been called to Pakistan recently to fill in for the Aussies and we’ll do it again if we get invited.”The state of the Champions Trophy remains undecided as Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa wait on an ICC ruling on the event, which is due to start on September 12. A final decision on the venue of the contest is due after an ICC meeting on Sunday.Bangladesh are currently in Australia preparing for a three-match one-day series starting on August 30. They lost their first warm-up against the Australian Institute of Sport, but earned a three-wicket victory in Wednesday’s match in Darwin.

Thomas Odoyo, the Kenya allrounder, is wary of the favourites tag that his team carry into the World Twenty20 qualifiers, in Belfast next week, with the main prize of a place in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. Kenya, who are grouped with Netherlands and Canada, have been playing warm-up games in England which Odoyo said are providing “the real platform from where we can deliver our best performance.”All the same, the side were thrashed by a club team in Surrey during the week, although they bounced back to beat Guernsey the following day. But Odoyo said the pre-tournament matches are helping with acclimatisation: “Let’s not forget that we are coming from Africa where the weather is hot.”It is good to be considered as favourites but I have always preferred an underdog’s tag because I don’t want to carry avoidable pressure on my shoulders,” he added. “But it is good to know that people consider us a team to be reckoned with and I hope we come out with flying colours.”Kenya are seeded second behind hosts Ireland, but are expected to win owing to their additional international experience. They have nearly three times as many ODIs under their belts than the other competitors vying for the two, or most likely three, places up for grabs at next year’s World Twenty20 in England.The two finalists will automatically qualify, while the third place, to be decided by a play-off, is dependent on Zimbabwe Cricket ratifying a decision taken by its officials during ICC Annual Conference week, to step back from the tournament.Nevertheless, for all of Kenya’s superior number of ODIs, their experience of Twenty20s has been limited to four matches, two in the lead-up to the last World Twenty20, in South Africa last September, and two in the tournament itself. Since then they have been relying on getting hints and tips from watching other international sides on television.”Although we didn’t perform well [in South Africa], we learnt plenty of things,” Odoyo said. “It was a new format for all of us and since then we have followed and tried to learn from watching most of the Twenty20 matches that have been played across the globe.”They also learned the importance of mental toughness. “Since Twenty20 cricket is played at a fast pace, the mindset has to be sharp to cope with the proceedings and that’s where it can sometimes become mentally tiring.”Odoyo also highlighted the importance of this tournament for the development of the game in Kenya. “Every international tournament or match we play only helps Kenya cricket. While the team gets stronger and tougher, more youth get attracted to the sport that helps to increase the pool of players.”Steve Tikolo will lead a side which includes 11 players who participated in the World Twenty20 in South Africa.

Kolkata Knight Riders were languishing at seventh position, with just two wins from seven games, when a fierce outbreak of Covid-19 halted IPL 2021 in India. The UAE leg, though, saw a change of fortunes. Stitching one win after another, they not only qualified for the playoffs but are now in their first final since 2014.After Knight Riders’ win against Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2, team mentor David Hussey was all praise for captain Eoin Morgan, opening batter Venkatesh Iyer and head coach Brendon McCullum for leading the revival.”I think the break in the halfway stage of the IPL definitely helped,” Hussey said at the post-match press conference. “But I truly believe that Morgan is captaining really well, he’s marshalling the troops, he’s tactically very clever. The bowling changes have been spot on. I think that’s contributed to our success this time around.”Venkatesh Iyer is just a class player at the top. He is tall, a Stephen Fleming clone I believe. He has got a big future in the game.”It’s unheard of what he [McCullum] has actually done here. It’s remarkable. We were seventh in the table and not playing great cricket, and he’s just turned it around. He has given everybody a fresh lease of life. He’s freshened up the place. Everybody’s happy, everybody’s smiling, and he should take a lot of credit. I know he won’t because he’s a very humble man, but he should take a lot of credit for what he has been able to accomplish in this part of the IPL.”Of the three, Iyer’s contribution has been the most quantifiable one. He is the team’s highest run-scorer in this phase, and on Wednesday, he once again dazzled with a 41-ball 55 on a difficult pitch, while Shubman Gill played second fiddle with a run-a-ball 46. But according to Hussey, it was Gill’s cover drive on the first ball of the chase that “soothed the nerves” in the dressing room.”Everyone knows he [Gill] is going to be a ten-year veteran of Test match cricket, one-day cricket and T20 cricket for India,” Hussey said. “It’s just how he gets there and how quickly he gets there. What he does is he gives the whole batting group a lot of confidence the way he goes out there. Just seeing him strike the first ball to the cover boundary soothed the nerves among the boys in the dressing room and the dugout. And everyone knows he’s just such a classy player, intelligent player and I, for one, am just looking forward to seeing him grow as a cricketer and as a person.”Kolkata Knight Riders were languishing at seventh with two wins in seven games ahead of the UAE leg•BCCI

For the final against Chennai Super Kings, Knight Riders will head to Dubai, where dew has played a big role so far with teams winning the toss opting to bat second to take advantage against a wet ball. Hussey had an interesting solution to make it a level playing field.”I’m hoping the groundsmen spray the ground beforehand so that both teams get a fair and equitable game whether you bat first or bowl first. It’s going to be a huge issue but we’re just gonna execute our skills under pressure and who knows. We are really well planned and really well measured so if we plan well and execute well, hopefully we come out on top.”Another worry for Knight Riders could be the form of their middle-order batters. In 15 innings, Morgan has had ten single-digit dismissals, the most for any batter in a single IPL season. Dinesh Karthik, meanwhile, has scored only 91 runs in seven innings, at an average of 18.20 and a strike rate of 122.97, in the UAE leg. But Knight Riders are not losing their sleep over that.”I’m not concerned because they’re all classy players,” Hussey said. “They know how to play. It’s just the difficult nature of the pitches that we’ve been playing on, it makes the middle-order players sort of stand out. They’re not getting their strike rates to 200, they have to knuckle down and maybe go at a strike rate of 110 to 120.”But we’ve got full confidence in Morgan, Dinesh Karthik and Shakib going into the next game. They’ve done it countless times for their countries and in the IPL, so [we are] not concerned. We go to Dubai full of confidence and you just never know what’s gonna happen.”In Dubai, Knight Riders could also consider replacing Shakib Al Hasan with Andre Russell, provided the latter recovers in time from his hamstring injury.”Andre Russell’s tracking nicely, I think,” Hussey said. “He was bowling before the game today. So I think he might be in the mix [for the final]. I will have to discuss it with the medical staff first, but he has been doing all the practices, training lots before games.”Fortunately, we have got an unbelievable medical team here. The physios work around the clock, so if anyone’s going to get him up, it’s going to be the medical staff. Knowing Dre, he will be desperate to play too. Hopefully, he does get up because he’s one excitement machine.

Pakistan will not tour Bangladesh this year as per schedule; the PCB said the series has been postponed indefinitely by mutual consent. Pakistan was to play two Tests, three ODIs and a T20I series in Bangladesh in July and August.”We had spoken about the possibility of hosting them [Bangladesh in Pakistan] this year,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan told ESPNcricinfo. “Pakistan have now toured Bangladesh twice without them reciprocating, and we feel we cannot tour Bangladesh for the third straight time. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the tour, and will explore another window in the next year or so.”Bangladesh last toured Pakistan in 2007-08, for a five-ODI series. Since then, Pakistan have toured Bangladesh twice, in 2011-12 and 2015. The PCB had invited Bangladesh for a two-match T20I series this year, only for the BCB to rebuff the invitation.On Pakistan’s last visit to Bangladesh in 2015, the PCB had reportedly taken US$ 325,000 and justified it by saying the series had “technically” been Pakistan’s home series. This year the BCB rejected all such proposals to share revenue, though it was open to playing at a neutral venue if necessary.The PCB, however, was not keen on that option. It is understood the Pakistan board feels that hosting teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the UAE – its adopted home – is not financially viable.Relations between the Pakistan and Bangladesh boards have been sour in the past. During the Zaka Ashraf regime, the PCB had stopped communication with the BCB and barred its cricketers – who had already been auctioned to various teams – from featuring in the Bangladesh Premier League.Bangladesh were the fourth team – after West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka – to refuse to travel to Pakistan in the last two years. Nevertheless, the PCB is looking to build on hosting an incident-free PSL final in Lahore in March by inviting a team of international cricketers to play a T20 series in September. However, even the PSL final – touted a success – was marred by Quetta Gladiators’ entire foreign contingent deciding against travelling to Pakistan for the final.In another development, members of the ICC board were briefed on the security situation in Pakistan. According to Shaharyar, Giles Clarke, the head of the ICC task force on Pakistan, confirmed that Lahore would host a World XI in September.”We wanted to share the series between Lahore and Karachi but since the security assessment was focussed on Lahore only, it was decided to restrict the series to Lahore for now,” Shaharyar said. “The presentation about the PSL final was well received and all members understand that the World XI tour will further pave the way for major international cricket in the country. They were supportive overall and we are looking forward to host some of the top players of the world.”

In 2015, Zaheer Khan had announced that he would retire from all forms of cricket after the ninth IPL season. Two years on, he’s set to lead Delhi Daredevils again in their quest for their maiden title, in the tenth edition. Zaheer hasn’t played a competitive game for a year, but believes a shift in roles – from being the leader of the bowling group to one who will play the supporting act – will help him ease into the demands of the shortest format.”It’s very difficult to not play any match and then to turn up here and play the whole season. I look at it as a challenge. I stick to my routines along with discussion I have had with my trainers and physios,” he said. “The process remains the same. I picked up the ball around December, got into it slowly and here I am now, ready to take on another IPL season.”Every time I get on the field, the excitement comes back. It’s the right dose of cricket for me at this stage of my career. I have supreme fast bowlers who will take the pressure off me. I’m not playing the lead role, but just the support role. I’m playing the role I enjoy the most. This is my way of giving back to the game.”Among the “supreme fast bowlers” he referred to are Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada, two of their latest acquisitions, and Mohammed Shami, who Zaheer confirmed was “fully available.”Cummins, earlier part of Kolkata Knight Riders, will start the tournament on the back of two intense Tests against India, while Rabada, in his first IPL stint, is coming off a full series with South Africa in New Zealand. “It’s good to have a bowling captain for starters,” Cummins said. “It’s easier to adjust to the T20 format from Tests than the other way round.”Zaheer was also hopeful that a young batting unit that was empowered to deliver under crunch moments in the past steps up in the absence of two high-profile players in Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy due to injuries.”We’ve always believed in youngsters and the potential they have. If you look at last season’s squad, you’ve got someone like Karun Nair, who has a triple century at the Test level,” Zaheer said. “Shreyas Iyer has made his mark, he’s part of the Test team. These youngsters are no longer youngsters, they’re seasoned campaigners now. That is the strength of DD this year.”You’ve got an Indian batting line-up [also having in their ranks Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant] which is more experienced and know more about of their roles. The squad is settled. We’re sitting pretty despite JP and Quinton’s unavailability. If you look at all the squads, you will find players who are missing out because of international duties and injuries. We’re prepared for the uncertainties.”Highly regarded in Indian cricket circles as a bowling mentor, Zaheer also explained the need to have fast bowlers playing as much cricket as possible, when asked if an entire IPL season could bring about injuries and fatigue to India’s fast bowlers, Umesh Yadav in particular, after undergoing heavy workloads during the course of India’s 13 home Tests.”When I was playing, I preferred to play more and more. When you’re in rhythm, you can maintain that,” Zaheer said. “You can maintain workloads at practice. Someone like Umesh, who has played all season, he isn’t going to realise when 20 overs are done. That’s the beauty of bowling fitness. With all the bowlers who’ve been playing Tests and some level of cricket, it will be easier in terms of bowling fitness. The more you bowl, the better you will get. I’ve always endorsed match practice is the best practice.”