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The England pair shared a third-wicket stand of 127 after two early wickets had given Essex a sniff of forcing a result

ECB Reporters Network14-Apr-2019Essex 448 (ten Doeschate 130, Lawrence 93) and 0 for 0 drew with Surrey 395 (Patel 100*, Jacks 88, Foakes 69, Siddle 6-104) and 324 for 6 dec (Burns 98, Pope 69, Jacks 54, Harmer 5-88)
A third-wicket partnership of 127 between Rory Burns and Ollie Pope, and a second half-century of the match by Will Jacks, guided Surrey to a draw against Essex at Kia Oval in the first match of their Specsavers Championship title defence.Burns fell for 98 and Pope was dismissed for 69. but with Jacks following up his first-innings 88 by thumping two sixes and six fours in a solid 54, Surrey batted out the final day to reach 324 for 6 declared – an overall lead of 271.Essex offspinner Simon Harmer plugged away for much of the day to finish with 5 for 88 from 36 overs. It was Harmer who had Pope caught at square leg, Burns taken off the face of his bat at silly point, Ben Foakes stumped for 19 as he advanced down the pitch and, after tea, Jacks well held at the long-on boundary two balls after he had completed his fifty with a six launched in a similar direction.Rikki Clarke remained unbeaten on 25, with Tom Curran keeping him company on 22 not out and hitting Tom Westley’s offbreaks for two driven sixes and then a cut four from what proved to be the last three balls of the innings. Surrey’s declaration enabled them to bowl one over at Essex, who didn’t score a run or lose a wicket in their second innings before hands were shaken, thus avoiding an over-rate points deduction.Resuming their second innings just 15 runs ahead at 68 for no wicket, Surrey lost both Mark Stoneman and Ryan Patel inside the first quarter-hour of play. But Burns and Pope, though not without some early alarms, soon began to take the attack back to the Essex bowlers and had reached an unbeaten 88 and 61 not out respectively by lunch.Stoneman had added just a single to his overnight 34 before being bowled off the inside edge by Peter Siddle in the morning’s second full over and, in the next over, fellow left-hander Patel was dismayed when, on 1, he mishit a pull at a short ball from Harmer to midwicket where Nick Browne took a leaping catch.At 71 for 2, Surrey were suddenly under a little bit of pressure, and Pope had made just 5 when he survived a concerted appeal for leg-before by Harmer, after going back to a quicker ball. Pope, however, was soon skipping down the pitch to drive Harmer through extra cover for four and, with eight fours and a six pulled off seamer Matt Quinn, the 20-year-old raced to a 60-ball fifty.Burns, who started the day on 34, also batted with fluency on a still-sluggish surface and, when he was fourth out, the England Test opener had faced 166 balls, hitting 13 fours. Pope’s sparkling innings, meanwhile, occupied just 80 balls with a six and 11 fours in total.Surrey, who had hit 395 in their first innings, took 11 points from the draw, while Essex – who replied with 448 – should be happy to have banked 13 points after being defeated by Hampshire in the opening week.

Josh Cobb in to face Sussex after skipper falls ill on arrival at ground

Jon Culley21-May-2019Alex Wakely, the Northamptonshire captain, has withdrawn from his side’s County Championship match against Sussex and been replaced with a concussion substitute after suffering a head injury at home.The 30-year-old Wakely was taken ill before play on the second morning, telling medical staff at the club that he had hit his head on a low beam at his home. An assessment on the ground detected signs of concussion and determined that he could take no further part.Northamptonshire have been given permission to replace Wakely in the team with a concussion substitute, in this case Josh Cobb, who has been cleared to take Wakely’s place as a batsman, although he will not be allowed to bowl.David Ripley, the county’s head coach, said: “Alex actually drove to the ground this morning as normal but was sick after he got here and it was clear he was not well.”He explained that he had banged his head on a beam last night and after an examination by our medical staff it was decided he was showing signs of concussion. He has not gone to hospital but clearly we are monitoring his condition to see how he progresses. His welfare has to come first.”We were not sure we would be allowed a substitute as the injury did not happen during the game but the regulations do allow it and after we had spoken to the Sussex captain it was agreed that Josh Cobb could take his place.

Middlesex extend lead to 352 in pursuit of first win after much of the day lost to rain

ECB Reporters Network29-May-2019Captain Dawid Malan extended his overnight score to 124 as Middlesex attempted to make up for lost time on a rain-shortened third day in the Specsavers County Championship clash with Worcestershire at Blackfinch New Road.Steady rain, drizzle and latterly bad light meant only 21 overs were possible with play not getting underway until 4.45pm. But Malan and his team-mates had sufficient time to add 92 runs for the loss of four wickets as they stepped up the pace in the bid to clinch their first Championship win of the season.Middlesex extended their overall lead to 352 as they closed on 287 for 6. They resumed on 195 for 2 with Malan unbeaten on 107 and Nick Gubbins 82.Malan signalled his aggressive intentions by cover-driving the first ball of the day from Charlie Morris for four. Gubbins pulled the same bowler for six with the ball hitting the tiled roof of the ladies pavilion and rolling into the guttering.A late cut for four by Gubbins off Morris brought up the double-century stand with Malan in 51 overs. But Morris had his revenge in the same over when Gubbins on 91 drove into the hands of Riki Wessels at backward point. His 167 ball knock contained one six and 12 fours.New batsman Steve Eskinazi departed in the next over when he inside-edged a Josh Tongue delivery through to keeper Ben Cox. Morris collected a second scalp – his 25th of the campaign – when James Harris when for a cut and provided Cox with another catch at 241 for 5.Malan moved onto 124 before his fine knock was brought to an end by Ed Barnard in his first over of the day. The left-hander aimed to hit Barnard over the top but only picked out Ross Whiteley who held onto a sharp catch at cover. Malan faced 173 balls and struck 17 boundaries.John Simpson straight drove Worcestershire captain Joe Leach for six as he and Toby Roland-Jones added a further 36 runs before bad light ended play three overs early.

India likely to stick with their XI from the West Indies game, but Eoin Morgan hints at bringing back Jason Roy for crunch clash

The Preview by Shashank Kishore29-Jun-2019

Big picture

Three weeks ago, you might have well looked at June 30 and locked it down as a clash for the top two spots. India are right up there, one of the top two spots very much in their sight, but England have run into trouble.Back-to-back losses to Sri Lanka and Australia have left England looking frantically for their wallet while the world is at their party, the one they promised to make a grand, big-scoring spectacle. Asking someone else to pay would be too embarrassing, even though Pakistan and Bangladesh would gladly do the needful. They need to find it – their mojo, really – soon, which means beating India and New Zealand in what is potentially a week that will be a real test of their ‘new’ England claims.England might gamble on the not-yet-100% Jason Roy and Jofra Archer. There is the risk of losing them later in the tournament, but Eoin Morgan has clarified that they would be fielded only if the risk is short-term, and not long-term. Roy has missed three games because of a hamstring injury, while Archer has been slightly down on pace because of a side strain. The paceman was present at training briefly on Saturday, perhaps because the team management didn’t want to exert him.As for India, they may be unbeaten, but their batting, after Virat Kohli at No. 3, looks slightly unsettled. Vijay Shankar is under pressure to keep his place, but Kohli believes “he is close to playing a defining knock”. Perhaps a sign that Vijay will get at least another game. Considering India play Bangladesh on the bounce, the coaching staff also spent considerable time with Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik, the back-up batsmen, in the nets in the lead-up to the England game.Then there is the question of team balance. Mohammed Shami’s rip-roaring form means he should be a shoo-in, which Kohli said without quite saying at the pre-match press conference. This leaves their lower order without the insurance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar at No. 8, leaving the tail beginning at that number. It will be interesting to see if they take the aggressive route by continuing to persist with the same five-bowler theory or try and find ways to bring in Ravindra Jadeja, which may possibly need them to separate the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, or leave out Kedar Jadhav. It’s a tricky call better made now than in a knockout game.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: LLWWW
India: WWDWW

In the spotlight

The “people are waiting for us to fail” response to Michael Vaughan (and others) on Twitter has brought attention on Jonny Bairstow. While he has received support from former captain Nasser Hussain, the only way to get out of the sticky wicket is by scoring runs. As such, Bairstow has had a decent tournament without getting to wow level. Scores of 27 and 0 in his last two outings, clubbed with the possible return of Roy after a two-week break, puts the onus on Bairstow to drive the innings against arguably the tournament’s best attack.Vijay Shankar hasn’t had a shocker of a tournament as scores of 15*, 29 and 14, along with a couple of wickets against Pakistan, indicate. However, when you have Pant and Karthik waiting in the reserves, every opportunity matters. Vijay has exhibited good technique and maturity. The Kemar Roach delivery that got him may have troubled most others, while the lbw call against Afghanistan could have gone either way. All said and done, there’s nothing like the backing of a solid hit and a score to present your case and with the firm backing of his captain, Vijay would be itching to do just that.

Team news

James Vince is set to make way if Roy plays. England (possible): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Mark WoodIndia are likely to remain unchanged, unless they want to tinker with the line-up to fit Jadeja in. India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit BumrahEngland might risk fielding Jason Roy against India•Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

New Zealand rued leaving out legspinner Ish Sodhi on what what many experts likened to a fifth-day Edgbaston track against Pakistan. However, the surface for Sunday’s game is a fresh one. England’s director of cricket and former spinner Ashley Giles reckons this will be the “best batting pitch of the tournament”.

Strategy punt

• Since July 2015, MS Dhoni’s strike rate against legspin is a poor 58.05. This tournament, that number has come down to 39.29 over the 28 deliveries he has faced against them. And against offspin this tournament, he strikes at 33.33. There couldn’t have been an easier memo for England: get Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid on while Dhoni is looking to get in.
• Jadhav’s economy of 5.16 against left-handers is a tad better than the corresponding numbers against right-handers. England have three left-handers in the middle order – Ben Stokes, Morgan and Moeen. As such, Jadhav hasn’t been needed much, but should India find themselves challenged, he may not be a bad option for Kohli.

Stats and trivia

• The chasing side has won each of the last five completed ODIs at Edgbaston.
• The only kind of bowling Morgan averages less than 40 and strikes at less than 100 against since 2017 is left-arm fast. India don’t have one this tournament.
• Since 2017, 75% of Jos Buttler’s 50-plus scores have resulted in England wins. For Morgan, that number stands at 90%.
• India have taken nine wickets per match on an average, the best among the ten teams in this World Cup. Their average of 24.7 is also right up there.
• Shami has eight wickets in two games, including a hat-trick, but his record against England is poor – 12 wickets in ten games with a wicket every 37 balls, his third-worst bowling record against an opposition.

Quotes

“I sort of recall the Champions Trophy final we played here against India. It was a complete away game. We had a number of fans in the ground, but the noise the Indian fans make with horns makes it that much louder. So yes, tomorrow will feel like an away game.”
“Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] is recovering very fast. When he gets fit, it’s going to be a bit of a headache for us to see what we’re going to do, but we’ll take the best call for the team at that moment, and I’m sure everyone will understand.”

“My captains expect me to take wickets. I tried my best all through my career. I hope all the young bowlers do this as well.”

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jul-2019The ball is curling late. It had come down straight for nearly 80% of the pitch. But then, suddenly, as if by magic, it started swinging in. The batsman is in trouble. He tries to block it but ends up losing so much of his balance that he basically falls face first onto the pitch. Tamim Iqbal is down. His stumps are shattered. And Lasith Malinga runs up to his team-mates with one of his hands up and a smirk on his face. It wasn’t a smile. It was a smirk. As if he was showing the opposition, his team-mates, his fans and even his critics that he still had it. He still had the most devastating yorker in world cricket.But that is now history. Malinga’s ODI career is over. And he finished it in style too, with a wicket off his final ball. Now he wants the younger generation to take over. The 35-year old doesn’t just want them to be good bowlers. He wants them to be strike bowlers. And above all else, he wants them to be match-winners.
“My captains expect me to take wickets,” he said during the post-match presentation. “I tried my best all through my career. I hope all the young bowlers do this as well. Because just surviving in cricket, I don’t think anyone can go far. You have to be a match-winner. That’s what I’m looking forward to in the future. These young bowlers have to get match winning performances and people have to tell that’s a match winning bowler. We have a couple of guys, they have the ability, we have to look after them.”Malinga finished with excellent figures of 3 for 38, but just like he wanted, there was plenty of support from the other end. Nuwan Pradeep, one of the country’s best line bowlers, finished with three wickets as well and Lahiru Kumara, making a comeback after not being picked for the World Cup, showed improving control along with his raw pace.The other thing that was on Malinga’s mind was to win. Sri Lanka’s ODI form has been up and down over the last four years and the fast bowler wanted to change it at all costs.”I think whether I’m retiring or not, winning is very important. We are a young team and we are looking forward to win. These days we haven’t had the momentum to get wins.”There are still two ODIs in this series against Bangladesh but Malinga felt it was the right time for him to step aside.”I’ve played the last 15 years for Sri Lanka. Really an honour to play and really happy to play for these people and for all the crowd that’s been behind me. I feel this is the time I have to move on because we have to build for the 2023 World Cup and that’s why I realised, okay, my time is up, I have to go.”

Unbeaten eighth-wicket stand between Lakmal and Dickwella keeps Sri Lanka in sight of parity after 12-wicket day

The Report by Shashank Kishore15-Aug-2019Stumps Ajaz Patel hasn’t had the bowling opportunities he’d like when back home, but when he’s been called upon overseas since his debut late last year, he’s generally been a machine that delivers sharp-spinning deliveries mixed with dollops of drift and subtle changes in lengths.On surfaces like in Galle that offer bite, he can be more than a handful, as Sri Lanka found out on Thursday. His second Test five-for triggered a slide, Sri Lanka slipping from a comfortable 143 for 2 to 227 for 7 at stumps. They still trail New Zealand by 22, leaving the Test wide open after a pulsating 12-wicket day.The usually flamboyant Niroshan Dickwella battled against his own instincts at times to occupy the crease and finish the day with an out-of-character 39 off 74 balls. Suranga Lakmal, who swung the game away from New Zealand early in the morning with a magnificent spell of 4 for 15 in 5.2 overs, held fort for 79 minutes to make 28 not out. They combined to add 66 in 24.1 overs to frustrate New Zealand’s spinners, who at one stage looked like they would give their batsman a bigger cushion to work with.Kusal Mendis’ dismissal with the tea interval four minutes away started the slide. He is solid when he wants to be, but often has a tendency of playing a shot or two too many at inopportune moments. He didn’t score a single boundary after drinks in the second session and significantly slowed down after a bullet train-like start. This approach earned him a well-deserved half-century, but looking to blast Ajaz’s teaser through cover, he nicked to the slips and New Zealand, who at that point were probably starting to wonder if they would be staring at a deficit, were back in the game.Then the other Kusal – Perera – got in and three quiet deliveries later, attempted to cut a short ball from Trent Boult, except this one got big on him and cramped him for room as the ball lobbed to point. He was gone for 1. Suddenly, a game where neither side appeared to have conceded the advantage to the other swung in New Zealand’s favour; Sri Lanka committing the same mistakes New Zealand did – losing wickets in clumps – on the opening day against spin.Then came the wicket of half-centurion Angelo Mathews, who was done in by a fine cocktail of drift, dip and turn from Ajaz. Reaching out to drive one that wasn’t quite there, only to see Ross Taylor lap it up at slip.Suranga Lakmal was among the wickets on the second morning•Getty Images

These moments of madness came on the back of a solid middle session for Sri Lanka where Mathews and Mendis stonewalled New Zealand’s spin threat. In a 20-minute passage on either side of drinks, Sri Lanka found scoring tough, managing just eight runs in ten overs. Mathews met the ball with a full forward stride, but there was a sense that he may have been going into his shell. Then came two long hops off Tim Southee, which he hit for boundaries to break the shackles. The first of the two was a short ball thumped through point and the second a neat little tuck off his hips to the fine-leg boundary. Now, all revved up, he turned ultra-aggressive when he lofted Mitchell Santner over long-off, and cleared the ropes despite not hitting it well. But, by then, the stranglehold New Zealand seemed to have built around the Sri Lankans after reducing them to 66 for 2 had eased.Towards the end of the session, Kane Williamson, perhaps realising the importance of this stand, brought back Boult for a crack after a first spell of five overs that went for just seven. This didn’t make much of a difference as he struggled to move the ball or cause much ruffle, forcing Williamson to alternate between Will Somerville and Ajaz, and the move worked as they scythed through the lower order to leave Sri Lanka gasping, until they were saved by the Dickwella-Lakmal stand.In the morning, New Zealand unravelled rather dramatically in the face of an excellent Lakmal spell after resuming on 203 for 5. Lakmal claimed the prize wicket of Taylor for 86 with his first ball of the morning, and then went on to deliver a spell that yielded 4 for 15, as New Zealand lost their last five wickets for 46 runs. Attempting a cut to a short-of-a-length Lakmal ball close to his body, Taylor gave a straightforward edge to the wicketkeeper. Santner didn’t last the first half hour either, shouldering arms to a Lakmal indipper that would have gone on to clip the stumps had it not struck pad.With both recognised batsmen out early in the day, it was up to New Zealand’s tail to provide some sort of resistance, but only Boult succeeded for any reasonable length of time, hitting a six and a four on his way to 18 off 22 balls. He eventually holed out trying to hit Lakmal for another six down the ground, before No. 11 Ajaz was out lbw first ball, attempting a leg-side flick. New Zealand’s innings wrapped up soon after drinks.Sri Lanka had 13 overs to bat out before lunch, and in that time lost opener Lahiru Thirimanne. After the interval, they lost Dimuth Karunaratne, who played back to a quicker delivery from Ajaz to be lbw. The stage was set for the middle order to step up, and though Mendis and Mathews did their job, the stumble came on cue, leaving the Test in the balance.

Opening batsman was on track for a thousand-run Championship season before ankle injury

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2019Ricardo Vasconcelos has signed a new five-year contract with Northamptonshire.Johannesburg-born opener Vasconcelos still had two years remaining on his previous contract but has penned the new deal to secure his place at Wantage Road until the end of the 2024 season.”It was an easy decision for me to stay here.” said Vasconcelos “Northants took a chance on me and picked me out of South Africa, so it was a no brainer for me to be loyal to the club that gave me a chance to live my dream.”Vasconcelos, 21, first appeared for Northamptonshire as a non-overseas player – he has a Portuguese passport – against Pakistan in 2018 before making his County Championship debut against Leicestershire later that year. He was on track for a thousand-run Championship season before an ankle injury ended his campaign early. At the time, he had amassed 750 runs at an average of 46.87 for the season.”The club has really shown ambition this year with some top-class overseas signings so hopefully that ambition pays off and we can get promoted and continue to improve in Div One next year.” Vasconcelos said.”The injury is coming along well, I’ve started walking again now so this is where the hard work starts, I guess, but I’m prepared to put in the work and come back stronger and fitter than ever for what hopefully will be a really good season for us in Division One next year.”I’ve been working hard to get back fit and I’ll be playing some club cricket in South Africa over the winter to make sure I’ve got some cricket under my belt before the start of the new season.”Northamptonshire are third on the County Championship Division Two table with three rounds remaining.

The left-arm spinner had trouble bowling the right line but, after a chat with Faf du Plessis, all that changed

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2019George Linde is a rookie who was dropped into a Test match in India like emergency rations, and in his first ever outing, he’s had to be South Africa’s lead spinner and deal with batsmen of the quality of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Not to mention a six-obsessed Umesh Yadav. How is that for a tough initiation?

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Still come the end-of-day press conference, Linde – who replaced the injured Keshav Maharaj in Ranchi – was pinching himself to figure out if the whites he was wearing were all real.”Yeah, it’s been lessons. I didn’t expect to play Test cricket, well in this series,” Linde said. “I obviously didn’t expect to come back to play the Test series. So when I got the call-up, I was quite nervous but luckily I had a few days to just settle and then today a few lessons to learn, especially there at the end. But if you’d told me I’ll take four wickets on my debut, I’ll take it any time of the year.”The 27-year old left-armer finished with 4 for 139 from 31 overs, figures that took a beating as India searched for quick runs towards the end of the second day’s play in Ranchi. But Linde was happy to take it because not too long ago, he was back home in South Africa. He had been with the squad during the T20Is as well and had been part of the A team that had visited India in August to get a measure of the conditions but Maharaj has been the team’s lead spinner in red-ball cricket and Linde has had to wait a long time to get his chance.George Linde celebrates his maiden Test wicket•Associated Press

He didn’t start well though. “Before the Test, we did say don’t get it on the legs, which I did a few times yesterday,” Linde said. “It’s not easy to bowl here. Have to bowl a bit straighter line, especially to their batsmen. In South Africa you can bowl a bit wider because there’s more bounce but here…”Linde understood he was in trouble and went to the South African backroom staff to sort it out. “Last night I was in [South Africa video analyst] Prasanna’s room and we just went over a few clips just to see what I can do better, where I can improve. Also me and Faf [du Plessis] chatted at the end of the day about me getting just a bit closer to the wicket [at the point of delivery] and just trying to bowl middle and off [line]. You don’t really want to get on the legs because they’re very good on their legs. So today I tried to be on off stump, challenging their inside and outside edge.”Taking the advice he received on board, Linde proved to be South Africa’s best bowler, responsible for four of the six Indian wickets that fell on the second day in Ranchi. He used turn and bounce to have Ajinkya Rahane caught behind and conversely the straighter ball to trap Wriddhiman Saha. He even created a chance to get rid of Rohit Sharma in his very first over of Test cricket, but the fielder at short leg, Zubayr Hamza, dropped a very difficult catch.”You know those catches, they stick or they don’t Unfortunately it wasn’t our day. It was Rohit’s. He played well so, well done to him.”South Africa gave away 497 runs after being on the field for more than 100 overs again and that weariness affected their opening batsman. Both Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock were bounced out after which rapidly fading light put an early end to play with the score 9 for 2.”Bad start,” Linde said, “Not the way we wanted it to go but tomorrow is another day. We need to be positive, the guys are smiling in the changing room. So we are ready for tomorrow.”

He cited his inability to continue amid “various pulls and pressures” within the organisation

Press Trust of India16-Nov-2019Rajat Sharma has resigned as president of Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) on Saturday, citing his inability to continue amid “various pulls and pressures” within the organisation.The veteran television journalist was appointed in July last year, after winning the elections at the annual general meeting, beating former India allrounder Madan Lal to the post.”The cricket administration here is full of pulls and pressures all the time. I feel that vested interests are always actively working against the interest of cricket,” Sharma said in a statement.”It seems that it may not be possible to carry on in DDCA with my principles of integrity, honesty and transparency, which I am not willing to compromise at any cost.Sharma was part of the BCCI general body meeting when the elections took place on October 23 in Mumbai. DDCA secretary Vinod Tihara had opposed his appointment to represent the state association at this meeting, writing to BCCI electoral officer N Gopalaswami that Sharma had been illegally nominated by the Apex Council, but Sharma received unequivocal support from the board’s executive committee to attend the meeting.”In my endeavour though I faced many road blocks, opposition and oppressions, just to keep me from discharging my duties in fair and transparent manner, however, somehow I kept moving ,” Sharma said. “That’s why I have decided to call it a day and hereby tender my resignation to the Apex Council from the post of president, DDCA with immediate effect.”

Australia coach impressed with his work ethic, hunger for batting and the confidence he’s derived from county stints

Daniel Brettig27-Nov-20191:36

Marnus Labuschagne has a great work ethic and hunger – Justin Langer

Justin Langer describing Marnus Labuschagne as among the most “coachable” players he has been involved with does not sound particularly special unless it is placed in the context of the vexed role for coaches over cricket’s long history.Unlike the football codes or numerous other sports, coaches have never quite held the same rarified place as the final decision-maker or mentor for many cricketers. They have instead served as an adjutant to the captain, meaning that most times members of a team take their cues from how their playing leader deals with the coach himself.When Langer first debuted for Australia, Bob Simpson was a powerful figure. Between 1987 and 1994, Simpson also held the role of a selector, a dual position that was dismantled at the request of the next captain, Mark Taylor.Under Taylor, Simpson and his successor Geoff Marsh held a much more subordinate role, and the teams of Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke were more or less definitively run from the captain’s chair until Clarke’s authority was diluted by Darren Lehmann in 2013.Since then the coaches have held more authority, and Langer is now arguably more powerful even than Simpson was. So his description of Labuschagne is a key to understand the kinds of players who will find favour in Australia’s’ teams in 2019 and beyond.”We talk about coaching players, there are no more coachable players than him,” Langer said of Labuschagne. “Probably the most heartening thing is his relationship with Steven Smith, the best player in the world. They spend time, they talk cricket. They love it. Literally all they do is talk cricket. They eat together, they have breakfast and lunch together. They have coffee together. They have dinner together talking cricket.”Neil D’Costa has been a huge influence, he does work with Matthew Maynard. He does great work with Queensland Cricket. That’s another part of being a modern day cricketer, you’re all over the place. You don’t just have one port of call. But they have all been good influences on him, there is no doubt about. But equally, their relationship. They bat No.3 and No.4 together. To bat with him in the middle and spend time with the best player in the world and an ex-captain. You could not have a better education than he is getting at the moment.”He’s had a chance to go and play at Glamorgan and play county cricket and in that time he scored four or five hundreds and played a lot of cricket, it’s something we always had the luxury of doing as young Australian cricketers – playing county cricket – even playing club cricket in England during the winter. The best practice is playing games of cricket, the more you can play, the more you learn and hopefully the better you get. He is playing a lot of cricket. He loves the game so I see benefit in that as well.”Marnus Labuschagne takes in the applause•AFP

The other cricketer who has demonstrably moved ahead of contemporaries by being more willing to listen and learn than they are is Cameron Bancroft, some might argue too much so in the case of his role in the Newlands scandal. Langer recalled how Steve Waugh, in his role as a team mentor during the Ashes this year, first observed Labuschagne and Bancroft at training in Southampton, where neither were any certainty to make the final squad.”When Steve Waugh came to the Ashes and we had that first training session at Hampshire and he’d been out of the cricket loop for some time, straight after the first session he said ‘who are those couple of guys over there’,” Langer said. “I said ‘that’s Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Bancroft’, he got this look on his face and said ‘that’s the future of Australian cricket, isn’t it’.”He could see it within watching three hours of his first training session for a long time. The point is you have to use everything. You use the data, use the numbers, use the analogies of what people are like and use what you see as well. People like Marnus, you see someone with incredible work ethic, incredible hunger to get better, very coachable and incredible energy. He brings so much to the team, not just batting and bowling, you have got to weigh up all those sorts of things. Sometimes you get it right sometimes you don’t.”Labuschagne has made a quantum leap in 2019 by finding a way to smooth over the final rough edges of his batting technique, giving him the tools to make the most of an insatiable appetite for runs and time in the middle. It is a step that Bancroft, despite a better record at first-class level, is yet to make in Tests, despite clearly know that he needs to be better at bring his bat down straight down the line of the ball, avoiding too much of a movement across his crease and a susceptibility to lbw.”It’s confidence. He went to Durham and scored a lot of runs there. That’s why he was selected for the Ashes basically,” Langer said. “Not only did he have a good game in the Australia v Australia A Hampshire, but he also had a very good lead up. If you have a look at his numbers for Durham leading up to it, that’s why he was selected. And he’s got out some freaky ways this year. He has got out a leg slip three times in a row in Shield cricket. I haven’t seen guys get out like that three times in 25 years, let alone three in a row.”That is probably weighing on him. All I can go on is what I have seen in the nets and see what he’s been doing with Hicky. He has played some beautiful straight drives, some cover drives in the Australia A game. We’re all a work-in-progress. Every player is. The day you retire, it is a relief because you’re not a work-in-progress anymore. He will keep chipping in. like Marnus he brings so much energy to the game and to the group. That’s why he is in the squad.”Simpson, of course, jettisoned plenty of cavalier cricketers in favour of agreeable roundheads in the late 1980s: Greg Ritchie, Tim Zoehrer and Wayne Phillips to name three. Langer has also shaved down his squad over his first 18 months as coach, and will be giving his preferred choices plenty of time to prove themselves worthy. Labuschagne already has, and for Bancroft it is a matter of time until he gets another chance to do so.