Faf du Plessis set to represent Peshawar Zalmi; Kieron Pollard to miss PSL playoffs

Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan will also skip the tournament with England scheduled to play T20Is in South Africa

Danyal Rasool02-Nov-2020Faf du Plessis is the highest-profile new name drafted in for the playoff stage of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 to be played in Karachi, with the former South Africa captain set to represent the Peshawar Zalmi.A number of players originally part of the squads of the PSL franchises that made the last four remained unavailable due to international commitments. As a result, the PCB has drafted in multiple fresh names to take the count of foreign players who will arrive in Pakistan, to 21. Out of these, 13 are from England and South Africa, while Tamim Iqbal also remains a notable inclusion, with the former Zalmi opener to pad up for the Lahore Qalandars this time.Alex Hales was suspected to have contracted Covid-19 during the PSL’s original schedule in March this year, something that remained unconfirmed until the tournament was called off. However, it had led to the playoffs being cancelled just an hour before they began, though Hales is set to return to the tournament for the Kings this time. He will be joined by team-mate James Vince, though Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan will be unavailable, with the pair due to take part in England’s T20I series in South Africa.The knockout stage, though, has reverted to the playoffs format, which means four matches will be played instead of three as was decided in March, when the PSL had shortened the format in a bid to conclude it earlier with the Covid-19 pandemic beginning to take hold. That means the Multan Sultans will play the Kings with the winner directly qualifying for the final, with the loser to battle for the second spot in the final against the winner of the Qalandars and Zalmi game.”I am very excited to join Peshawar Zalmi for the playoff stage games of HBL PSL 2020,” du Plessis said. “I have fond memories of playing in Pakistan when I toured with the ICC World XI in 2017 and I am sure this experience, although different due to Covid-19, will be a memorable one as well.”Among the other notable misses will be Kieron Pollard, with West Indies’ tour of New Zealand clashing with the PSL. Pollard is the player du Plessis has replaced, while Sherfane Rutherford has slotted into the Kings squad for Jordan.The playoff games have been scheduled from November 14 to 16, with the final on November 17.The squads
ESPNcricinfo Ltd

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

New South Wales depart early for Sheffield Shield after Sydney Covid-19 cases

Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon are part of the squad for the defending champions

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2020Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon are part of New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield squad that will depart earlier than planned for the hub in Adelaide following a return of Covid-19 cases around Sydney.On Wednesday, three new cases of community transmission were confirmed ending a 12-day run of zero cases outside of hotel quarantine in New South Wales.There is currently an open border between New South Wales and South Australia so Peter Nevill’s squad will head into the Shield hub on Thursday to avoid any potential tightening of restrictions.The defending champions do not start their campaign until October 22 with their first-round match against Victoria pushed back to mid-November due to the need for Victoria’s players to undergo 14 days quarantine in Adelaide.While it is yet to be confirmed how many games Starc will play ahead of the international season, which is due to begin in late November, coach Phil Jaques was hopeful than Lyon would be available for all the Shield matches in the first block of fixtures.Starc, Lyon and Sean Abbott recently completed two weeks quarantine in Adelaide following their return from the limited-overs tour of England but were able to train at Adelaide Oval during that time.Chris Tremain, who moved from Victoria over the winter, is included in the squad as is 18-year-old legspinner Tanveer Sangha.”At times when you win a Shield, there can be a little bit of complacency within the camp, I’ve seen it in teams I’ve played in, but I certainly haven’t seen it at all through this whole off-season,” Jaques said.”There continues to be a real hunger to keep improving and take our cricket to the next level. [During the preseason] we were operating in groups anywhere from four up to full squad training, but changing weekly, so the guys have had to be really adaptable throughout the preseason.”I can’t commend them enough for how adaptable they’ve been to get a really good body of work done and be as prepared as we are.”New South Wales squad Peter Nevill (capt), Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Daniel Solway, Jason Sangha, Matthew Gilkes, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain, Nathan Lyon, Liam Hatcher, Harry Conway, Jack Edwards, Tanveer Sangha

England tour has green light from South African sports ministry

England are due to travel to South Africa on Monday to begin 10 days in quarantine

Firdose Moonda15-Nov-2020England’s tour to South Africa remains green-lit by the country’s sports ministry, even as the minister, Nathi Mthethwa, is closer to intervening in the game’s governing body.A highly-placed source told ESPNcricinfo that the six-match white-ball series, which is scheduled to start on November 27, will be played “for the sake of the players and the cricket-loving public,” but that does not mean Cricket South Africa is off the hook. Instead, there remains a strong chance of Mthethwa using the National Sports and Recreation Act to step in at CSA (which could include withdrawing funding and stripping them of their status as a nationally representative body) if the members’ council does not recognise the interim board. The members’ council and interim board are due to meet imminently, where a final decision could be taken.ALSO READ: Appoint board or face sanctions – Mthethwa to members’ councilEven if the members’ council fail to recognise the interim board, as has been their stance so far, ministerial action may not result in the England tour being called off. England are due to travel to South Africa on Monday to begin a 10-day quarantine. All matches will be played in a bio-secure environment in the Western Cape, with fixtures at both Newlands and Boland Park.The series will be the first in South Africa since the country went into lockdown in March and the first international action the South African men’s team have had for more than seven months. They are also due to host Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan and could travel to Pakistan in the 2020-21 season, and it’s those fixtures that may be under threat if the members’ council does not comply with the sports minister.Mthethwa was forced to turn his attention to CSA after months of administrative issues which came to a head when the organisation refused to comply with instructions from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), who asked for the board and executive to step aside while SASCOC conducted an inquiry into CSA’s affairs. SASCOC, which is a legislatively created umbrella body under whom all South Africa’s sports federations operate, then referred the matter to the ministry.The CSA board has since stood down but the members’ council, a body made up of the 14 provincial affiliate presidents, remain in place and have refused to recognise a nine-member interim board which Mthethwa was at the helm of convening. Instead, the members’ council believe they are in charge of the game. CSA are in a state of crisis, with financial losses looming, important negotiations over their new broadcast deal on the horizon and they are still operating under an acting CEO. The interventions by SASCOC and now Mthethwa are aimed at stabilising the organisation.

Sams credits Ponting's advice for batting boost

The lower-order hitter made a stunning half-century to lead Sydney Thunder to victory over Brisbane Heat

Alex Malcolm15-Dec-2020Daniel Sams believes his work with Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting is part of the reason for his extraordinary career-best batting performance in Sydney Thunder’s remarkable win over Brisbane Heat in Canberra on Monday night.Sams had never scored more than 42 in 35 innings in T20 cricket and had only struck 12 sixes in his career prior to Monday’s match. But he smashed 65 not out from 25 balls with seven sixes to steal the game from the Heat after entering with the Thunder in all sorts of trouble at 5 for 80, needing 99 runs from 56 balls.Sams revealed post-match that his stint in the IPL under Ponting had been vital for his batting.”It was unbelievable,” Sams said. “I obviously grew up watching Ricky playing pull shots and hitting the ball everywhere. It was awesome to be able to get some work with him. He really instilled some confidence in me, and we just worked on a couple of technical things that have obviously worked for me.”It was basically just trying to keep my hands up earlier and just getting into a little bit of a better position, a little bit more powerful, so I can access more of the ground.”Ponting was commentating on the match for and explained what they had been working on when Sams arrived at the crease.”He’s been working very hard on his batting, Daniel Sams,” Ponting said. “He is a very, very powerful hitter of the ball. He hits the ball as far as anybody. He’s been working on a few things in his back lift. Not letting his bat drop down too low after the ball has been released, trying to give himself a little bit more time to get a good solid swing on the ball.”Ponting’s words were prophetic as Sams then plundered the first of seven sixes over deep square leg.Sams’ performance was even more remarkable given in his last 26 T20 innings, following his previous career-high of 42 against the Melbourne Stars in January in 2019, he had made just 107 runs at an average of 5.09 and a strike-rate of just 87.70. He only reached double-figures five times in that stretch with a highest score of just 18, and he had registered six ducks, including a first-baller against the Stars in the opening game of this season.”I think it was just more the mental game,” Sams said. “I know that, without it sounding bad, that I’m good enough at this level with my batting.”I think I just wasn’t switched on mentally and I let the occasion [of the opening game] get the better of me. And it was kind of the same last game, trying to hit a (six) first ball.”So just giving myself a chance, take it deep, that gives me the best opportunity to get the guys over the line.”Confidence is a really funny thing. One of the things I’ve been working on is to keep my confidence nice and level and not let my confidence from my performances shoot up or shoot low, just trying to stay nice and level and that way I’m able to come into every game feeling the same about it.”Sams is trying to take the same attitude to his bowling. Last year’s leading wicket-taker in the BBL was rewarded with a T20 international debut against India at the SCG recently. He claimed Virat Kohli as his first international wicket but came crashing back to earth when he was asked to bowl the final over the match with India needing 14 runs to win. Hardik Pandya thumped him twice into the stands to end the match with two balls to spare.”With that particular instance, he’s the best in the world,” Sams said. “My first game, he was better than me at the time. I can 100 per cent live with that. I gave it my best shot and I’ll just learn from that. It was an amazing experience, I had so much fun with that.

Alex Hales 'being punished way too much' – Shane Bond

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.”

Mehidy Hasan Miraz's three-for keeps Bangladesh in front as West Indies chase 395

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.

Axar Patel, R Ashwin combine again to undo England's batting graft

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

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  • 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.

Eoin Morgan recovering well from injury to play in Knight Riders' IPL 2021 opener on April 11

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.”

As it happened – England vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Lord's, 3rd day

All the updates, news and stats from day three of the first Test at Lord’s

Alan Gardner04-Jun-2021*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local

4.35pm: Play abandoned

And with one final squelch, they’ve pulled the plug. The umpires came out for a good look around, but it seems too much rain has fallen even for the Lord’s drainage to cope with. We’ll try again tomorrow, with 98 overs to be bowled from 11am. The English summer of cricket has well and truly landed, folks.

4.15pm: Tick tock

Okay, let’s stay patient. Seems like there’s not a whole lot of rain around, though equally no sign of the groundstaff out in the middle. If we can still theoretically get going by 6pm, then the covers probably need to be peeled off by 5pm. So we’re heading towards decision time.There have only been two full-day washouts at Lord’s since 2001, but they’ve both come in the last three years – India in 2018 and Australia 2019. Can 2021 be saved from a watery grave?

3.25pm: Splish, splash

Still coming down at Lord’s, and presumably tea will not be moving from its usual slot. There’s a filthy great patch of rain over London and the southeast on the radar that’s now almost moved through… But if skies haven’t cleared in the next half an hour or so, you’d have to think they’ll be close to applying the mercy blow. Which would be rubbish, because this game is intriguingly poised.

2.45pm: All filler, no killer

Happy 30th birthday to Ben Stokes. Who remembers that rain delayed the start of the 2019 World Cup final? Not quite as much as we’ve had today, mind.

2.20pm: Be more Neil Wagner

If Neil Wagner tells the ball to get over the rope, you know it’s happening.

2pm: Cats, dogs, etc

The covers were on throughout the third morning•AFP/Getty Images

If this was anywhere else but Lord’s, you’d think they might have called it now. The rain is coming down steadily, and you could probably find Nemo in one of the larger puddles forming on the edge of the square. However, there’s still a chance it’ll brighten up in an hour or two, and *Lord’s Drainage Klaxon* the groundstaff will have things mopped up and ready to go by 5pm.

1pm: Lunch

Let’s get all meta and embed a self-referential tweet, because why not? There is a whole heap of not a lot happening here, though the rain may have slackened off a touch. Lunch was officially kept to 1pm, so the players will banging their cutlery on the tables by now, demanding chow. Hopefully Devon Conway will take his overloaded plate off to sit below the away dressing room honours board and look smug.If it’s actual you’re after, then old faithful, the County Championship, is your best bet. Contrary to rumour, stumps in the ground doesn’t automatically cause a summer downpour here in the UK.

12.15pm: And the band played on

Still very dreich and drear at Lord’s – though, on the plus side for Kane Williamson, the players will probably be let loose on the catering pretty soon.Do tweet us using the #LiveReport hashtag with your best idle pastimes and wet weather bantz, by the way, since doom-scrolling is all we’ve got right now. Strikes me there’s something familiar about the fella modelling Nottingham Forest’s new kit, but I can’t quite be sure…

11.30am: Southee speaks, we listen

Tim Southee appeals for the wicket of Rory Burns•Getty Images

Tim Southee had a chat with Sky before, ahem, play this morning. As you would imagine, he had plenty of praise for Conway, who score more than half of New Zealand’s total – but suggested the fact their innings fell away after England dug out Henry Nicholls gave them hope that there was a bit in the surface for the bowlers, especially against batters new to the crease.”His [Conway’s] innings was incredible when you look at the rest of the innings. We needed someone to go big and he was the guy to go big. Henry Nicholls [also] showed once you get in [you could score], and they formed a crucial partnership, we were just over 100 for 3 and the game was teetering on the edge and they were able to put a partnership together.”Yes we probably didn’t kick on through the middle and lower order as we would have liked but I think that shows as well that, if you get in you can make runs, but if you can break that partnership and open up an end it is tough to start on. So hopefully we can capitalise on that this morning, with two guys that are in and forming a nice partnership – but we know if we can break that and put some pressure on the guys coming in, it’s not that easy to start on.”Obviously, there’s been no chance for the New Zealand seamers to have a crack so far, but you’d imagine that a bit of weather around won’t harm their chances of breaking the Burns-Root stand and getting a look at England’s green middle order.”We started nice with the two early wickets but we’ve got two guys now that are set. If you get in, you can get used to the pace of the wicket and go big, like Devon did. So as a bowling group, we know we’re going to have to execute our plans for a long period of time and when we do make that breakthrough hopefully we can make the most of that and grab a couple of wickets at a time. We know it’s not going to be easy, we saw a little bit of variable bounce yesterday afternoon so hopefully we can exploit that.”Keep it simple, there’s talk about when the clouds are around here the ball tends to a little bit more [so] it’s just about putting the ball in the right areas for long periods of time, asking questions for long period of time. Nothing changes from our point of view, we’ve just got to do it better for long. I think we did it okay at times yesterday but it’s about being better for longer as a group and hopefully we can make some early inroads.”

11am: Nothing to see here

The covers are firmly in place at Lord’s, where sadly it is hosing down right now. We all know about the legendary drainage, but given the forecast it would be a surprise to see much in the way of play this morning. Is it too much to say that the sight of a crowd huddling in the stands while it rains is a comforting one, after last summer’s behind-closed-doors fare? Probably… But anyway, here are some reheated Devon Conway stats to keep you going for now.

10.30am: Morning call

Hello and welcome back to the #LiveReport, with the Lord’s Test limbering up for what could be a pivotal day. England had to battle in the shadow of Devon Conway’s double-bubble debut ton, slipping to an uneasy 18 for 2 before the two most-experienced members of a youthful batting line-up made sure they got their hands dirty. Rory Burns and Joe Root kept New Zealand’s vigorous and varied attack at bay until the close on day two, but will have to restart this morning in their attempts to set up the England first innings. Or, at least, they will have to restart at some point – when that may be looks a little uncertain, with rain falling steadily in the capital and a delayed start in prospect.

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