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Lalchand Rajput is not surprised that he has been appointed cricket manager of the Indian team for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship to be held in South Africa in September. “My name has been doing the rounds each time a coaching role in any capacity has been discussed in the recent past, but it is an honour to get this opportunity”, Rajput said from Kandy, where he is the coach of the India Under-19s, playing their second Test of the series.Though he was yet to officially receive the news from the BCCI, Rajput said he was looking forward to the challenge. “I’ve been doing very well as a coach,” said Rajput, whose name was doing the rounds when the board was thinking of appointing an understudy to the coach of the national team.With the board’s head-coach hunt yet to take full flight, and Chandu Borde, the current cricket manager in England, considered unsuitable for the fast-paced environment of Twenty20, there was not much competition for Rajput. The highly regarded Chandrakant Pandit is coach of the India A side currently touring Kenya but what might have turned the balance in Rajput’s favour would be his coaching pedigree, especially his success as the coach of the Under-19 team, with whom he is yet to lose a series. In the past year, since his appointment, the team have won in England (Test series 1-0, ODI series 3-0, Pakistan (Tests 2-0, ODIs 4-0), New Zealand (Tests 1-1, ODIs 2-1) and now Sri Lanka (the triangular one-day series featuring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh U-19s; they are leading 1-0 in the Tests).Rajput, a former India and Mumbai opener, has had coaching stints with Mumbai and Assam and is currently also the director of coaching at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. “I have had a good rapport with youngsters in my various coaching roles so that would help me blend in easily with the Indian team.”India are yet to pick up the nuts and bolts of Twenty20 cricket. That’s something Rajput acknowledges. “We have not played enough of Twenty20 but at the same time Indians are quick learners so that gives me the confidence.” Unlike during the World Cup in the Caribbean, where the Indians were among the favourites, Rajput and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was appointed India’s Twenty 20 captain, have to work their way up in South Africa.Though it’s a daunting task, Rajput has a clear vision. “It’s a different ball game; it is really for young legs and you have to be involved always as every ball is important, so the focus and intensity should be good all the time. That will be the most important aspect we need to work on.”Even if India lack Twenty20 specialists, unlike the other teams, Rajput feels it’s a balanced side. “It looks a good all-round team with the right blend of some seniors and juniors. We have good strikers and the right set of youngsters to face the demand of the game.”Rajput has faith in his captain, who, he feels, has the ability to bolster spirits with his own hard work. “Dhoni is honest [and] has a very good work ethic, which will be a factor from the team’s point of view. He is a strong-willed person who doesn’t give up easily and you can see that in his batting, which will help him lead by example.”With little over a month left before the start of the tournament, Rajput has already set his agenda: “Running between the wickets and fielding are two key areas that will form the focus of the training.”

Luke Ronchi did not register for the Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions for fear of looking like “a tool”, but when Mumbai made him a late offer he jumped at the chance. The Western Australia wicketkeeper, who has not yet represented his country, this week understood just how massive the IPL is when he attended a dinner party at the home of the world’s fifth richest man.Mukesh Ambani has a net worth of $43 billion and is the head of Reliance Industries, and he also owns the Mumbai IPL franchise that Ronchi is representing. At Ambani’s mansion this week Ronchi chatted with his captain, Sachin Tendulkar, and other members of his team including Shaun Pollock, and later said he was thrilled to get the offer from Mumbai.”It was an amazing call to get, because when you see all the big names putting themselves in the first auction, you think you’ll steer clear of all this sort of stuff because it was more for the international players,” Ronchi told the . “Once I got that phone call, I got fairly excited about it; what it’s going to do for world cricket and how it could possibly change my life as well.”It was an amazing experience to meet [Ambani]. He is one of the richest men in the world, I think. He’s got a massive house. We sat on a grassed area near his pool, he had a big screen set up to show some stuff and we all just sat around at tables chatting to each other and meeting some important people, I guess, from Reliance and from the Mumbai Indians.”It was quite an experience for Ronchi, who does not hold a Cricket Australia contract but is almost certainly the country’s No. 2 wicketkeeper behind Brad Haddin. His explosive batting is the main reason Mumbai chased him – Ronchi owns the fastest century in Australia’s domestic one-day history, a 56-ball effort – but his glovework to the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga will also be important.In his first game on Sunday his Bangalore opponents could include big names such as Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, as well as familiar faces like Cameron White and Ashley Noffke. “Playing with and against amazing players, and we’re going to be on TV in front of millions of people, they are the main things,” Ronchi said. “There is a massive buzz around the place.”

Tasmania 9 for 131 (Birt 37*) beat Victoria 158 (Hussey 50, Doherty 4-18) by one wicket on D/L method
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Tasmania crept home to end Victoria’s plans for domestic domination as they lifted the FR Cup after a mostly wet and extremely tense afternoon in Hobart. The one-wicket victory earned the home team’s third limited-overs trophy and it was sealed following a gripping chase, which was originally 159 before being cut to 131 by the weather.Bryce McGain almost snatched the game from Tasmania with 3 for 11 from five immaculate overs, but the legspinner’s cool was matched by Travis Birt’s calm. Birt’s glide for three off the first ball of the final over ensured a great escape and sparked celebrations of relief at Bellerive Oval.After a rain break at 19.4 overs the sunshine of the morning returned and a comfortable Tasmania assignment of 42 off 68 balls became more difficult when Mark Divin cut McGain to point and Xavier Doherty charged unsuccessfully two balls later with 22 still needed. Brett Geeves added to the stress – he thought he was out lbw twice – and after a useful stand he departed with four to win before Brendan Drew edged twice in two balls to Adam Crosthwaite, who pouched the second attempt to the roars of his team-mates.Victoria wanted only one wicket but Ben Hilfenhaus navigated the two balls necessary to give Birt the strike for the final over. Throughout the crisis Birt kept his head and his 37 off 37 was the best innings of a see-sawing contest.”We’ve been fantastic all year, although this was not our best game,” Dan Marsh, the Tasmania captain, said before accepting the FR Cup and a cheque for $96,000. “But we bowled magnificently, and fantastic batting at the end got us over the line. Thanks, Birty.”Irritating rain, which caused three breaks in the second innings, and an afternoon temperature around 13C did not help the approach of Tasmania, who originally appeared desperate to conquer the small total quickly. As hosts they had the advantage if the match was abandoned before 20 overs, but they wanted to win it properly and the attitude kept Victoria’s interest as regular breakthroughs came.Dane Anderson thrashed 15 from a Dirk Nannes over, which included a pulled six, and then fell in the next trying to loft Clint McKay on 25. Michael Dighton (19) and George Bailey (7) also slipped to aggressive miscalculations against McKay, who gained 3 for 42. Things started to get exceptionally tight for the first time when Marsh jumped across his stumps and was lbw to Shane Harwood, leaving the Tigers at 5 for 76.A superb all-round bowling performance from Tasmania limited the powerful Victoria to 158 in 37.3 overs after Cameron White won the toss. Geeves started the problems with three early wickets and Hilfenhaus and Doherty cleaned up once the dangerous stand between David Hussey and Andrew McDonald was extinguished.Despite the early dominance, the Tigers were fearful with Hussey at the crease and he was the main reason the Bushrangers were able to stay for so long on a pitch the fast men enjoyed. Hussey, who belted a 60-ball century on Wednesday, waited ten balls before opening with a six over midwicket, one of two in his 69-ball innings, and remained in control despite some tricky patches.However, when he cut Doherty behind point to Hilfenhaus on 50 any hope of a big total was gone. McDonald had already departed to Hilfenhaus for 35, slicing to third man after a fortunate escape from a catch in the slips on 8, and Crosthwaite became the first of Doherty’s four victims when ruled to have edged behind.After Hussey and Harwood fell in consecutive overs Victoria had lost 4 for 19 and the innings closed with Nannes failing to offer a shot to Doherty. He captured 4 for 18 off 6.3 overs while Geeves had 3 for 28 and Hilfenhaus 3 for 32.”They were outstanding, especially Geeves early,” Marsh said. “Then for Ben to come back and get us those two wickets, it showed he’s back to his best form.”The home team started strongly as Hilfenhaus wobbled the ball and his partner Geeves caused problems with his short deliveries. Brad Hodge (9) was a key wicket for the Tigers and when he pushed away from his body to Birt in the gully Geeves and his team-mates were ecstatic.Tasmania’s mood improved further next ball with White nicking a fierce lifting delivery, leaving the Bushrangers at 4 for 47. McDonald survived the hat-trick and then started the recovery work in an 80-run stand with Hussey that was not enough. White, who admitted the better team won, will have to wait until next month’s Pura Cup for another opportunity to earn a second trophy for the season.

A second, even glitzier edition of the Stanford 20/20 tournament, to be seen by millions worldwide, gets underway under lights at billionaire organiser Allen Stanford’s cricket ground in Coolidge.The Cayman Islands, coached by former Trinidad and Tobago captain Theo Cuffy, and the fully-professional St Lucia side, prepared by former West Indies coach and player Roger Harper, will bowl off a five-week competition that comes in the midst of the regional first-class season.The Carib Beer Series has been suspended after three rounds to accommodate 20/20, a move which has been lamented by Colin Murray, Carib’s representative, and West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan. They argue that the timing is all wrong with Test series against Sri Lanka and Australia approaching.But the arguments against the timing are not being bought by two Windies legends. Andy Roberts, the former fast bowler and current selectors, says: “It is not a valid argument, it’s a cop-out.” Explaining his position, Roberts asked rhetorically: “Why is it that in the 70s and 80s West Indies dominated all forms of the game? Why is it Australia dominate both one-day and Test matches and nobody is saying the one-day form is having a problem with their Test cricket?”It all has to do with our thinking. And that’s what we need to develop in our players, the ability to think on their feet. It is an advantage that you are constantly playing cricket. You are playing every day, so you must psychologically become better at what you do.”Roberts’ old new ball partner, Michael Holding, also dismissed the opposition to the tournament’s timing. “One thing I will say about that, it’s not the first time, and I don’t think it will be the last time that it will be happening when you see one tournament starting, breaking and then resuming after a period of time, and I don’t want to start intimating why now we are getting complaints. But I will say again, it is not the first time it has happened and, more than likely, it won’t be the last.”Going further, Holding said the mixing of the longer and shorter formats of the game was not necessarily a bad thing. “What has happened in international cricket is what you would hope-they would play all limited overs cricket first and then Test cricket, or all Test cricket first and then limited overs cricket. When in an ideal world you can afford to do that, that is great, but if you cannot you afford to do that, things have to be changed a little bit, to suit one thing or the other. Cricketers should be able to adapt.”

Scorecard

Jamaica suffered a blow to their title ambitions as Barbados completed a 17-run win at Kensington Oval shortly before lunch on the fourth day. Jamaica, who led by 90 on the first innings, needed 201 but were bowled out for 183 after resuming on 133 for 4.Tamar Lambert (46) and Brendan Nash’s (37) fifth-wicket stand of 72 was ended in the third over when Nash was caught behind off a loose drive, the fourth of Pedro Collins’ five wickets, and he completed his five-for three overs later when Carlton Baugh Jr was given leg-before swinging across the line. In the next over, Dave Bernard Jr was also lbw playing back to left-arm slow bowler Sulieman Benn to leave Jamaica 147 for 7.While Lambert remained there was hope, but he was removed by Fidel Edwards, caught at slip chasing a wide one, and although Jerome Taylor helped inch towards the target, he too perished to Edwards. Man-of-the-Match Collins finished with match figures of 9 for 108.Chris Gayle, Jamaica’s captain, was deeply critical of the umpiring. “If you look at some of the decisions that went against us, it was really terrible for sports and the game, and it was just blatant,” he said. “It is not good for the game. It is also not good for people leaving this level and going to international cricket, and then it is something totally different, so we are not really happy about the outcome.”It cannot continue happening like this year in, year out. Jamaica always seem to have it tough, and decisions always seem to go against us. Basically, once we are playing away from home, it always seems to be tough for us, and it was the same thing last week when we played Trinidad & Tobago. We came out on top then, but this time, it was not in our favour.”
Scorecard
A sixth-wicket stand of 60 between Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin helped steer Trinidad & Tobago to a three-wicket victory over the Windward Islands. Chasing 185, T&T slid to 118 for 5 before the pair came together. Bravo hit three fours and a six, while Ramdin, who was out with seven needed, chipped in with four fours. With one run required, Reyad Emrit was caught behind but T&T crept across the finishing line. Shane Shillingford (2 for 58), NelonPascal (2 for 35) and Deighton Butler (2 for 35) did the early damage, while Amit Jaggernauth with his 12 for 133 in the game, was named Man of the Match.
Scorecard
Guyana had to settle for a draw after the last day of their game against Combined Campuses & Colleges was abandoned because of persistent rain. Not even the excellent drainage system at the National Stadium at Providence could help, and umpires and the two teams agreed to call off the game just after tea although the outfield showed few effects from the constant downpour.

Harbhajan Singh said the dropped chance off Misbah-ul-Haq was “crucial”, as India had hoped to bowl Pakistan out by the end of the day. He also said he felt the side possessed the batting to overhaul “any target” despite history suggesting otherwise.”If we had taken Misbah’s catch [he was dropped by Jaffer when on one] , maybe we have could taken around eight or nine wicket or even got them all out,” Harbhajan said at the end of the day, during which he finally made an impression on this Test. “It was a very crucial catch. But it is no use pondering on it… Sometimes catches do get dropped and sometimes brilliant ones are also taken. No one does it deliberately. Instead we must move forward and focus on the fourth day’s play.”Never have India chased more than 190 at this venue – only West Indies, in 1987, and England, in 1972, have managed more than 200 – but Harbhajan sounded optimistic. “We still have a good chance,” he said. “The wicket is playing much better now. As you might have seen when their opening partnership was taking place, we were wondering whether it was the same wicket. It seems like getting better and better.”Yesterday, you might have seen some balls keeping low, but today it was coming on to the bat nicely. Hopefully it remains as it was today or get better and I think we should be able to chase anything. We are very happy to get five wickets in the last session. Anil Kumble bowled well and once again brought us back into the match with those two crucial wickets.”Harbhajan had gone unnoticed in Pakistan’s first innings and took some time to make a mark today. Did he feel he was under-bowled? “I can only come to bowl if I am asked to do so [by the captain],” he said. “We always try to bowl well in partnerships, so sometimes you need to work out which combination works well. So I think whatever he [Anil Kumble] has done, he has got it right. But yes, which bowler would not like to bowl a long spell.”It was only in the third session that he transformed into a threat, dismissing Mohammad Yousuf with a delightful offbreak first up. “When I bowled from that end, it was my first long spell in the match and luckily I got a wicket with my first delivery. And when you take a wicket off the very first delivery, it gives you confidence and you bowl positively. I knew it was just a matter of time before I get to bowl. And I was just thinking that whenever I get to bowl, I will do well and I am glad I was able to take crucial wickets.”

A group of cricketers banned from playing domestic cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for having participated in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) will wait on a board committee’s decision before fighting the ban in court.Imran Farhat, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Taufiq Umar, Shabbir Ahmed and Azhar Mahmood were all banned by the board after they appeared for different teams late last year in the ICL. Of the group, however, Inzamam has retired while Azhar Mahmood is a regular performer in the English county season.Farhat and Umar are affected immediately, as they would in normal circumstances be appearing for Habib Bank (HBL) in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy final from Monday. “We filed a petition through our lawyer Imran Qureshi in the Lahore High Court to get a stay order against the decision because we wanted to play for HBL.”But after the judge deferred the decision till Monday, we reconsidered our option of going to court and decided to wait for the governing board’s decision,” Farhat told .”We can now afford to wait for the governing board’s decision regarding the matter as we also have enough time before the Pentangular Cup which is scheduled to start next month. Therefore we have advised our lawyer to act accordingly,” Farhat added.The Pakistan board had earlier referred its decision of banning the players to the governing board, which is expected to take up the matter in its next meeting on January 25 in Karachi.

Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of India’s selectors, has given the Indian board (BCCI) a “categorical assurance” that he will no longer write columns for any publication.The BCCI had decided to serve a show-cause notice on Vengsarkar for defying an official gag by continuing to write his weekly column and giving an interview to , a Mumbai-based newspaper, but will not take any action after Vengsarkar’s statement.The matter was resolved during the first day’s play of the Feroz Shah Kotla Test between India and Pakistan. “Vengsarkar had a long meeting with president Sharad Pawar and other top BCCI officials and he was now given a categorical assurance that he would no longer write columns,” Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president, told PTI.Initially, the BCCI had threatened to issue a show cause to the Vengsarkar for continuing to defy the ban as his columns appeared in a Marathi paper, , and Hindi daily, . There was speculation that Vengsarkar may even quit his post, but that is not the case now.

Brett Lee has completed an outstanding year by winning his first Allan Border Medal despite missing the entire World Cup with an ankle injury. Fittingly, in a season when he took over from Glenn McGrath as the spearhead of Australia’s attack, Lee became the first bowler since McGrath in 2000 to claim the major award.He also took home the Test Player of the Year title, while Matthew Hayden was named the One-Day International Player of the Year. Lee finished with 125 votes in the Allan Border Medal count, ahead of Hayden on 107 and last year’s champion Ricky Ponting on 64.It was Lee’s first time on the stage at the medal ceremony since 2000, when he was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. He said it was a thrill to be taking such an important role in the side following the disappointment of missing the World Cup triumph.”I’m really enjoying that leadership role,” Lee said. “It sits a bit funny with me being called the strike bowler or the main bowler because it’s a team effort. I actually thought missing 19 matches I was absolutely no chance. That was a very hard time missing the World Cup, watching it on TV was very hard.Lee said the medal was a pinnacle after the low of his lengthy spell out of the team leading up to the 2005 Ashes. “I spent 19 months on the sideline carrying the drinks,” he said. “But to appreciate the good times you have to go through the bad times.”In a year that was dominated by coloured clothing – Australia only played six Tests during the voting period – Lee polled in all but one Test. His 12 votes in the Test count put him five ahead of Hayden (7), while there was a traffic jam for third, with five players grabbing three votes.There was no question that Lee was the star in the longer form of the game during a summer when Australia equalled their own world record of 16 consecutive Test victories. He was named Man of the Series in both the Sri Lanka and India contests and finished with 40 wickets during the voting period, at the average of 20.58.Against Sri Lanka he collected 16 wickets at 17.56 in two Tests, while in the four India games he grabbed 24 victims at 22.58. Lee’s success was not limited to Tests and he picked up 30 ODI wickets at 21.70, however his injury meant it was not surprising that he finished 11th in the one-day count.Hayden ended up with 24 votes, ahead of Ricky Ponting on 19, and there was a three-way tie for third, with Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist and McGrath all on 14. Hayden’s award capped a terrific return to the one-day arena after he lost his spot following the 2005 tour of England.In his first series during the voting period, Hayden belted an Australian-record unbeaten 181 in the Chappell-Hadlee Series in New Zealand, and things improved from there. He was the leading scorer at the World Cup in the Caribbean, making 659 runs at 73.22, and a blistering 66-ball century against South Africa was a highlight.A productive ODI tour of India followed and Hayden finished the 12-month period with 1462 runs at 56.23. He made four centuries and six fifties and he said he was “fully stoked” to win the award after he was not part of the one-day team in mid-2006. His World Cup began with serious injuries to both feet but he said that was never going to stop him help Australia defend their title.”Fifteen months out from the tournament I looked to be in deep trouble, not looking to play one-day cricket again,” he said. “I had a deep fire in my belly. A couple of broken feet at the start of a tournament is perhaps not the way you want to start. It was just a lot of work getting back into that side, and from that moment on I don’t think broken feet were going to stop me.”

Australia have not yet officially retained the Ashes, but it already seems a matter of “when” not “if” after England’s challenge wilted in the heat on day two in Adelaide. Ben Stokes battled defiantly, facing 151 balls and batting for more than four hours for his unbeaten 45, but the captain found few allies on the burning deck as England were left staring at a hefty first-innings deficit amid ever-diminishing hopes of keeping the series alive until Christmas.Stokes had asked for his players to “show a bit of dog” in their bid to make an improbable comeback from 2-0 down, but England were all too easily brought to heel by an Australia side with more than enough pedigree, despite the absence of Steven Smith and Josh Hazlewood. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon both made an immediate impact on their return to the XI – Cummins taking 3 for 54 in his first competitive outing since July’s tour of the Caribbean – as England were rounded up without much fuss on what looked like the perfect day for batting.Their one minor victory came in keeping Mitchell Starc wicketless for the first time in the series; though, as he had started off proceedings by thumping a flurry of fours to bring up his second half-century in as many games, with Australia merrily adding 45 runs to their overnight 326 for 8, that could only be claimed as a partial success.Ollie Pope throws his head back after dismissals in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide•Gareth Copley/Darrian Traynor via Getty Images

There was more Snicko aggro, too, with both sides making their frustrations with the technology clear. England were aggrieved at Chris Gaffaney, the third umpire, giving Jamie Smith out caught behind off Cummins on the evidence from Real-Time Snickometer, following the controversy around Alex Carey’s non-dismissal on day one. Smith had survived moments before in bizarre circumstances, with Gaffaney determining the ball had come off his helmet, despite TV pictures suggesting contact with the glove, as Australia argued (although whether the ball had carried to Usman Khawaja at slip or not was a different matter).Related

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Joe Root was also reprieved, with Gaffaney unconvinced that an inside edge on to pad had reached Carey’s gloves on the full. None of which detracted from the fact that England had seemingly torpedoed their own hopes once again with another flaccid batting display as temperatures approached 40C in Adelaide.A sloppy start with the ball, which led to a heated exchange between Stokes and Jofra Archer even as the latter was on his way to securing a first Test five-for since 2019, was compounded by England losing their top three in the space of 15 balls before lunch. Root was then dismissed for the 12th time in Tests by Cummins – nobody has had more success against England’s key batter – and the innings fell away after a 56-run stand for the fifth wicket between Stokes and Harry Brook.Archer did manage to stick around alongside Stokes to the close, putting on the second-longest partnership of the innings, though Australia’s lead was still above 150 and England faced the prospect of batting last on a surface that’s expected to break up in the heat.The suspicion at the end of day one was that Australia had left plenty of runs on the table, despite Carey’s maiden Ashes hundred taking them beyond 300. England needed to make good on the promise of runs, that anticipation only sharpened by Starc striking five boundaries in 12 balls as Australia’s tail wagged to good effect. Archer was leaky but removed both Starc and Lyon on the way to a third five-wicket haul against Australia.Nathan Lyon picked up two wickets in his first over•AFP/Getty Images

England’s openers made a solid enough start, though Ben Duckett rode his luck early on. Already Australia were showing a greater propensity to bowl with the discipline required on a baking morning, and Cummins made the breakthrough with a fine delivery that straightened and bounced to graze the shoulder of Zak Crawley’s bat through to Carey.Much had been said about Lyon’s absence in Brisbane after he had only bowled two overs in the victory at Perth. He came into this game one wicket behind Glenn McGrath’s tally of 563 for Australia, having sat there since July when he was also omitted for the Jamaica Test against West Indies. But within the space of six balls, he had drawn level with and then overtaken McGrath to go second on the all-time list for Australia.Ollie Pope’s dismal record against Australia only got worse as he chipped tamely to midwicket, before Duckett was removed by a jaffa that pitched on middle and turned past a defensive prod to hit the top of off.Jofra Archer finished with 5 for 53•Getty Images

At 42 for 3, England were already feeling the glare of the southern sun. Australia thought they had got Root early, too, when reviewing for a caught-behind of Scott Boland. But although replays confirmed he had edged the ball, Gaffaney concluded that it had bounced on its way into the gloves.Root did not last long after lunch, however, as Cummins lured him into poking at one defensively in the channel. Brook was more measured, after his “shocking” dismissals in the first two Tests, but showed flashes of aggression – skipping down to lamp Boland all the way for six over cover, and thrashing Starc to deep backward point to bring up the fifty stand with Stokes.He survived being given out caught down the leg side off Lyon on 44, technology this time backing up the belief that he hadn’t hit the ball – but only added one to his score before being dislodged by Cameron Green’s second legitimate delivery, another pearler that reversed just enough to catch the outside edge.Stokes had buckled down at the other end, facing 35 balls before scoring his first boundary and adding only two more in an innings of monk-like self-abnegation that at least saw England fight to the close. He scowled furiously from beneath his helmet peak when Smith was told to go, despite more uncertainty surrounding the synching of Real-Time Snickometer, his mood only darkening as Boland removed Will Jacks and Brydon Carse in quick succession. Stokes has produced his fair share of miracles in an England shirt; it may need another to keep this Ashes campaign alive.