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Sydney Thunder coach criticises ECB for not asking him about ‘matured’ star’s conduct during BBL

George Dobell01-Feb-2021England’s treatment of Alex Hales has been described as “really unfair” by Shane Bond.Hales has not played an international match for almost two years after being deemed to have shown a “complete disregard” (in the words of Eoin Morgan) for England’s team values by failing tests for recreational drugs. Hales was also present on the night Ben Stokes was arrested in Bristol in September 2017 – Hales was not charged and Stokes was cleared in court of affray.Bond, the former New Zealand fast bowler, believes Hales is “being punished way too much”. As Hales’ coach at Sydney Thunder, Bond said he had “matured” into a “really good man” and suggested it was time for the England team to move on from the past.And Bond, who has formerly fulfilled a short-term stint as a bowling consultant with the England side, revealed no one from the ECB had been in touch to check on Hales’ behaviour; a situation he described as a failure of “due diligence”.”I’ve read a lot from the England camp about how it’s about trust issues,” Bond told Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “Well, if that’s the case, I want to know how they signed off on that because I’m still waiting for the phone call about how he’s going over here.”If you’re going to make it about trust then you need to do your due diligence and see what’s actually happening but he’s been here for two seasons and no one’s rung us from the ECB to ask how he’s fitted in and what he’s been doing.”I just think that’s really unfair because he’s being punished for something that happened nearly three years ago.”Lots of young men make mistakes but he’s learnt from it and grown up. He’s matured and he’s a really good man that is just being punished way too much.”Bond’s words come after Hales finished an outstanding BBL campaign. He is, at present, the competition’s highest run-scorer (he has 543; nobody else has reached 500), scorer of the highest individual score (110 made against Sydney Sixers), striker of the most sixes (30; the next highest is 25) and has the highest strike-rate (161.60) of anyone with 300 runs.Despite that, however, Hales has revealed he has had no contact from the England management. That left Bond calling for someone from the ECB to “just have the courtesy” of letting Hales “know what he needs to do” to win a recall.”How much longer will this go on, because it’s been nearly three years now,” Bond continued. “You’ve seen other incidents in the past where people have been forgiven and moved on so you’ve got to wonder if it’s down to personality clashes rather than actually about trust or whatever it may be.”What really disappoints me is that no-one from the ECB has given him any clarity about what he’s meant to do and how he can rebuild that trust.”He’s been a great servant to England cricket and is too good a player not for someone to just have the courtesy of letting him know what he needs to do. What’s been happening is really unfair.”

Visitors end fourth day with Mayers and Bonner in the middle, need 285 more for victory

Hemant Brar06-Feb-2021Stumps Three quick strikes from Mehidy Hasan Miraz left West Indies precariously placed on the fourth evening before Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers’ unbroken 51-run stand for the fourth wicket took them to 110 for 3 at stumps. West Indies require another 285 for victory but more realistically need to survive another day on a pitch that is offering both turn and bounce to spinners with the odd ball even keeping low.The star of the day, though, was Mominul Haque, whose tenth Test hundred helped Bangladesh set a daunting 395-run target. Continuing his love affair with Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium – the Bangladesh Test captain had 1056 runs at 75.42 in nine Tests at the venue before this game – Haque brought up yet another century, his seventh in 19 innings there. During the course of his 115, he also went past 3000 Test runs and overtook Tamim Iqbal as the leading century-maker for Bangladesh in the format.Liton Das also struck 69 as Haque and he added 133 for the fifth wicket, the only century stand of the Test so far, as Bangladesh declared on 223 for 8.Related

• Mominul Haque cements Test standing, one record at a time

• How Bangladesh's big boys helped Mehidy make his first Test century

• Mehidy Hasan makes the step in a time of plenty for Bangladesh

• Shakib Al Hasan being 'treated and reviewed' for fresh injury in his left thigh

• Taijul Islam: I had a bad first session, but recovered well later

Having survived a tricky seven-over period before tea, Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell showed positive intent in the final session. While Brathwaite treated each ball on merit, Campbell trusted his strokeplay and didn’t hesitate in sweeping spinners from outside off. Campbell had a slice of luck too when he feathered a scoop to the wicketkeeper but Bangladesh, having already burnt a review against Brathwaite, were hesitant to ask for another.Campbell couldn’t make use of the reprieve, though. The sweep, which had brought him three boundaries, led his downfall also when he failed to connect one against Miraz and was lbw for 23.Brathwaite used his feet well against the spinners before deploying hard hands to defend against Miraz, only to pop a bat-pad to short leg, where substitute Yasir Ali took a diving, one-handed catch to his left. Shayne Moseley didn’t last long either and became Miraz’s third victim when he went deep in his crease to defend only for the ball to keep low and trap him lbw.At 59 for 3, Bonner and Mayers came together. The two adopted contrasting approaches, with Bonner trying to bat out the day and Mayers keeping the scoreboard ticking, and it seemed to work. Mayers, who hit seven fours in his unbeaten 37, offered a chance on 28 when he miscued a lofted shot against Miraz. Mustafizur Rahman ran backwards from mid-off, got his hands to the ball, but could not hold on.In the morning, Haque looked much more comfortable than the third evening, when he had come in at 1 for 2 and had been peppered by the short stuff from Shannon Gabriel. That, in part, also had to do with the pitch slowing down further and offering very little to fast bowlers.Mominul Haque went past Tamim Iqbal to become Bangladesh’s highest century-maker in Tests•BCB

Gabriel, too, realised that. While 86% of his deliveries were short on the previous evening, he tried to mix it up today. In the first over of the day, after pushing Haque on to the back foot, he bowled one full. The batsman, though, was up to it and found the boundary with a perfect on-drive. Later, when Kemar Roach tried a short ball, Haque ramped him for another four.In general, though, both Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim preferred playing percentage cricket, dealing mostly in ones and two. Given the time left in the match, there was no need to take undue risks but one reason behind that could also be the unavailability of Shakib Al Hasan, who has been out with a left-thigh injury.Rahkeem Cornwall eventually broke the 40-run stand when he trapped Rahim lbw for 18. The batsman tried to cut a ball that was too full and too close to the stumps and was rapped on the pads. The umpires allowed the review even though it seemed the batsman was late to opt for it. A potential controversy, however, was avoided when replays found Rahim out.West Indies were strangely reluctant to turn to Jomel Warrican, especially when he was their go-to and most successful bowler in the first innings. When he was finally brought on, the left-arm spinner immediately found help from the surface. His fifth ball of the day pitched outside Das’ leg stump and spun past to beat the outside edge and brush the back thigh on its way to Cornwall at first slip. Soon after, he drew an outside edge but this time the ball fell short of Cornwall.Seeing Warrican getting assistance, Brathwaite deployed legspinner Bonner from the other end but he lacked control, and Haque took him for two fours in his first over. He then collected another four off Warrican and took his side to a commanding position along with Das.They extended their association after lunch and the stand was broken only when the duo looked for quick runs with an eye on the declaration. Das was caught at backward point while going for a reverse sweep against Warrican. Haque, meanwhile, holed out to deep square-leg off Gabriel. Warrican picked up two more wickets, of Miraz and Taijul Islam, before Bangladesh declared their innings.

Spinners share seven wickets as England stumble to 205 all out on first day

Alan Gardner04-Mar-20214:20

Bell: Siraj could be effective with the Dukes ball in English conditions

England fought the conditions, a well-tuned India attack, and the internal momentum of their own fading batting fortunes to try and stay in contention on the first day of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad. The best that could be said of England’s total of 205 was that it was more than they had achieved across two innings on the same ground last week; the worst, that there is no team more adept than India at making such hard graft look inadequate.Having won the toss and chosen to bat, there was no doubt that England had left runs on the table. Only Ben Stokes managed to fashion a half-century, and the highest partnership of the innings was 48. Since piling up 578 in benign conditions at the outset of the series in Chennai, England’s batsmen have yet to produce another fifty stand.Arguably things could have been worse. With Axar Patel continuing his fine debut series by claiming four more wickets – taking his tally to 22 at 10.81 – and Joe Root falling cheaply to the bristling Mohammed Siraj early in the day, England’s middle and lower order, strengthened by the presence of the recalled Dan Lawrence at No. 7, staved off complete collapse. James Anderson then struck with his third ball, Shubman Gill trapped lbw, to ensure that India had to plot a watchful course through to the close.England had drastically altered the balance of their side, picking an extra batsman and bringing back Dom Bess to support Anderson and Jack Leach – though the evidence of the first part of the day was that seam would play a greater part than it did in the day-night Test, as Siraj in particular probed away. Stokes took the new ball, for the first time in his Test career, before giving way to Leach, but Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara experienced few alarms as the shadows lengthened.Related

• As it happened – 4th Test, Ahmedabad, 1st day

• Archer ruled out of fourth Test by elbow injury

• Kohli: 'The defensive aspect of the game has fallen behind'

• Bess insists he's ready for fourth Test

Anderson’s immediate intervention during a spell of 5-5-0-1, and the fact that they managed to creep past 200 for the first time in six innings, perhaps gave England a little to feel encouraged about after heavy defeats in the previous two Tests. Again there were signs of turn on day one, though fewer puffs of dust than at Chepauk and without the lacquer-ish all sorts that made the pink ball so hard to combat.For the third time in four Tests, Root won first use of the surface, but despite positive talk about looking to find a way to score in these conditions, England were quickly in trouble as they slipped to 30 for 3. Patel’s mesmeric hold could not be broken, as he removed Dom Sibley with his second delivery after coming on in the sixth over – forewarned was not forearmed against Patel’s arm ball, Sibley playing for turn only to be bowled off his inside edge.It was two in two overs when Zak Crawley, who had just stroked four through mid-off, tried to come down once again but did not get to the pitch, lofting tamely to mid-off; Crawley has now been dismissed by the left-arm spin of Patel and Lasith Embuldeniya seven times out of seven on England’s tours of India and Sri Lanka.When the bustling Siraj jagged one back to rap Root on the back pad straight after the drinks break, England’s innings was threatening to go into another tailspin. But Jonny Bairstow overcame a jittery start, carving six fours before the lunch break as he and Stokes repelled all borders for a period. Stokes had faced 24 balls by the time R Ashwin was introduced to the attack, and he promptly pumped his 26th over long-off to signal that he would not go meekly.Axar Patel grabbed 4 for 68 in England’s first innings•Getty Images

With Virat Kohli happy to play a waiting game, rotating his bowlers regularly, it was again Siraj who provided the breakthrough shortly after lunch, winning an lbw decision against Bairstow that returned a verdict of umpire’s call on DRS. But Stokes had seemingly discovered his groove, seeing off his nemesis – of Ashwin’s initial eight-over spell, Stokes faced 41 balls (and soaked up 38 dots) – before he began to open up, slog-sweeping Washington Sundar for six, and then going to his fifty by reversing Patel for four.England, however, were left with a sense of what might have been. Stokes, Ollie Pope and Lawrence all showed flashes of what was needed to succeed, but India’s quality and depth presents an unrelenting challenge. Sundar found the right line with his offspin to befuddle Stokes, beaten by another non-turner to be lbw, and Ashwin removed Pope for the third innings in a row, Gill reacting smartly to an inside edge that went through the batsman’s legs before deflecting up off the back pad flap.Ben Foakes was lured into a furtive prod to slip by Ashwin, and although Lawrence struck several pleasing boundaries in reaching 46, he became Patel’s third victim after unsuccessfully giving the bowler the charge. With Bess trapped lbw in the same over, it required Leach and Anderson to pilfer enough runs for the last wicket to breach 200. Australia, watching on hopeful of an England win to edge out India for a spot in the World Test Championship final, won’t be booking their charter flight just yet.

The Kolkata Knight Riders captain also said the side’s spin attack is “one of the best” in the tournament this season

Sruthi Ravindranath31-Mar-20215:17

Eoin Morgan: Middle order versatility Knight Riders’ biggest positive

Eoin Morgan has said that he has progressed well enough to have a chance to play in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ season opener against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 11 after sustaining a hand injury that kept him out of the last two ODIs against India in Pune. Morgan, the Knight Riders captain, also called his side’s spin attack “one of the best” in the tournament this season, adding that they could make a huge difference especially on the turning tracks in Chennai, where they will be playing their first three matches.Morgan required stitches after splitting the webbing between his thumb and index finger while attempting to stop the ball during the first ODI last week. While he batted in England’s unsuccessful chase in the match, he declared himself unfit after taking part in a fielding drill at training last Thursday.Related

• Kolkata Knight Riders's fortunes hinge on new-look spin attack, old death-overs batting smarts

• Harbhajan 'will do what is required to succeed' for Knight Riders

“I feel a lot better than I did a week ago,” Morgan said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. “The plan moving forward is to remove the stitches tomorrow and continue to progress my batting in the coming days and fielding at the back-end of that. Given the time frame that I have available to me, it’s looking very good.”While the Knight Riders could not out-bid other franchises at the auction for big names this year due to their small purse, they managed to buy Harbhajan Singh and Shakib Al Hasan, for INR 2 crores and 3.2 crores respectively. The experience of Singh, who previously played for the Chennai Super Kings, and Shakib further bolsters their spin contingent, which has the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Pawan Negi (who was also bought at the 2021 auction) and Sunil Narine.”I think adding Harbhajan to our squad has strengthened us in a good way,” Morgan said. “When you look at our spin department as a whole on paper it’s one of the best in the tournament. You look at the options we have and the conditions we might play in, particularly in Chennai which notoriously can turn or at least raise the eyebrows of our spinners. I think it’s an area that I think if we play well our spinners would play well. Our squad is very well-rounded and in certain departments it is very strong.”The IPL is the biggest tournament in the world which has the best players. One of the challenges throughout is battle with injury and illness along the way. Whether you like it or not it happens throughout the season. Planning needs to be put in place to strengthen your squad in all areas. I think we did that in the auction.”The Knight Riders were left hurting last season majorly because of Narine and Andre Russell’s poor outings, and with Dinesh Karthik’s batting never hitting full tilt, they couldn’t settle down on their ideal XI and their batting order remained fluid. Morgan, who took over captaincy from Karthik after seven games, had a breakthrough season as a middle-order batsman, making 418 runs in 14 innings at an average of 41.80 and strike rate of 138.41, but there were questions if his batting ability was left underutilised because he was pushed down the order to play as a finisher.”One positive among all those was the versatility in the middle order and the flexibility to either promote Sunil or myself or DK [Dinesh Karthik]. The strength within that middle order. I think a lot of teams will not enjoy playing against us. So as it is one of the strengths of our side, we need to make the right call in when to play the best hand. That’s one thing we learnt from last year.”In the 2020 edition, the Knight Riders finished with 14 points, the same as the teams that finished third and fourth, but an inferior net run rate among the three sides consigned them to fifth place.”It is a supremely competitive tournament,” Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore said. “You reflect back and think of every single run that made the difference. Last year after we missed out on qualification on NRR, somebody pointed out to me that the difference was just about eight runs for the entire tournament. That’s how close the entire tournament is. It is a tribute to the quality of the tournament. We have to be on top of our game. The beauty of KKR is that we are always a contender. Hopefully some stars need to align in a long tournament like this. Hopefully we’ll go the full distance this season.”

Updates, colour and analysis with ESPNcricinfo’s match-day blog

Sidharth Monga16-Apr-2021