All posts by csb10.top

Joe Denly’s compact unbeaten half-century dug Kent out of trouble and left their vital LV=Insurance County Championship tussle with Warwickshire finely poised at the halfway stage.Trailing by 60 on first innings, the visitors closed the second day at Edgbaston on 198 for 4 – 138 ahead – with Denly unbeaten on 70. Kent were in peril at 105 for 4 but the former England batter joined forces with Jordan Cox (40 not out) to add an unbroken 93 to keep their side in with a chance of a vital victory in a contest between the two sides just above Division One’s bottom two.In the morning they bowled Warwickshire out for 225 with the impressively pacy Navdeep Saini taking 5 for 72 on his debut. Four of the Indian’s wickets were among seven catches in the innings for wicketkeeper Sam Billings. It was Billings’ second haul of seven, though the Kent record remains eight (Steve Marsh v Middlesex at Lord’s in 1991).Sam Hain defied discomfort from a sore back to lead Warwickshire’s batting. He was last to fall, for 99, as the home side acquired a lead that was useful rather than commanding.During an overcast morning, Warwickshire made bitty progress as Hain battled to cajole runs from the tail. As Kent’s refurbished seam attack plugged away manfully, the last four wickets were all snaffled by Billings. Danny Briggs edged Matt Henry and when Henry Brookes and Craig Miles nicked Saini, it was left to No. 11 Olly Hannon-Dalby to try to escort his team to a batting point and his partner to 100. The former happened but the latter did not as Hain bottom-edged a cut at Matt Milnes.Second time round, Kent again started falteringly and lost both openers before the deficit was erased. Ben Compton edged Hannon-Dalby to third slip and Zak Crawley chipped Will Rhodes to mid-wicket.Daniel Bell-Drummond collected 27 from 44 balls but fell lbw to Hannon-Dalby and when Craig Miles hit Jack Leaning’s off-stump with a beauty, Kent were 105 for 4 – just 45 ahead.Denly and Cox played with composure and patience to first stabilise the innings and then accelerate gently against the softening ball as the pitch appeared to start to flatten. Denly continued his return to form by reaching 50 in 92 balls and celebrated with a straight six off Briggs. Cox batted impressively for the second time in the match and that the sixth-wicket pair stayed intact to resume in the morning tilted the balance of power in this fluctuating contest narrowly Kent’s way.

Sanju Samson has replaced the Covid-struck KL Rahul in India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against West Indies due to begin on Friday. Wicketkeeper-batter Samson was already on tour having been part of the ODI squad as well.Rahul, India’s first-choice opener in the shortest format, has been on the sidelines, recovering from surgery for a sports hernia, since the end of the IPL in May 2022. He was expected to be back in action for the T20Is against West Indies, but caught the virus and was advised a further period of rest.India have plenty of top-order options available and have even begun experimenting with Rishabh Pant as opener alongside the captain Rohit Sharma.Samson has played 14 T20Is for India spread across seven years. With his eye-catching strokeplay, he has always been on the fringes of the national squad, but has recently been getting a lot more chances, especially with several of the senior players being rotated out on account of workload management.Samson was part of the team in Ireland last month, where he made his maiden T20I fifty. His strike rate of 132.39 over the course of 218 T20s is seen as an asset with India trying to play a more aggressive brand of cricket in preparation for the World Cup in Australia in October.

At once elegiac and urgent, September’s cricket suits the benign deceptions of autumn. For some players and nearly half the first-class counties, the shape of their seasons is clear. All that is left is personal pride and the hope of taking a couple of victories into the winter. For other cricketers, Nottinghamshire’s amongst them, there is the prospect of glory and the achievement of ambitions nursed since November.Steven Mullaney’s team began this match needing ten points to guarantee promotion and 22 to win the Second Division outright, so it was only to be expected that Mullaney would ask Worcestershire to bat on a morning when a pale sun did nothing to pacify a greenish New Road pitch. And nor was one taken aback when Nottinghamshire’s seamers took five wickets in the morning session, thus leaving their side well-placed to establish a match-shaping advantage. This, though, is the chameleon season. It begins with summer’s generosity before ending in grasping darkness. “In the edges of days, in the confluence of tides, in the unclear lapping and lap-backing of the between-seasons is autumn,” wrote Horatio Clare. “It can be obvious, a salute of blazing foliage, or disguised, slipping in behind distractions.”Nottinghamshire’s advantage was obvious enough when the afternoon session began but it would be more than four hours before they enjoyed another success and by the time Brett D’Oliveira’s attempted drive gave Jake Ball his third wicket and Tom Moores his third catch the nature of this day had changed utterly. D’Oliveira’s 85, his first score over fifty in red-ball cricket since June, and his 169-run stand for the sixth-wicket with Gareth Roderick had shown us this would be a very different match from that which Mullaney’s bowlers surely envisaged during a morning in which they were hungry, their slips were ravenous and the outfielders were chasing down balls as though their October golf depended on it.There was nothing fortuitous about Worcestershire’s recovery. The fall of Ed Barnard to the ball before lunch might have prepared home supporters for further reverses in the afternoon but D’Oliveira and Roderick had none of it. They played themselves back in, adjusted to the easing conditions and before long Roderick was easing the ball through the leg side while D’Oliveira shaped his drives or cuts through point. Liam Patterson-White bowled his slow left-arm tightly albeit without great threat and it said something about the changing balance of the innings that Mullaney needed a spinner at all.Though Patterson-White extracted more lift from the New Road pitch than the batsmen appeared to expect, nothing disturbed the Worcestershire pair and one noticed with a start that the home side had collected a second bonus point before their visitors. Mullaney took the second new ball he surely thought he wouldn’t require and gained rapid dividends, first with the dismissal of D’Oliveira and then when Brett Hutton had Matthew Waite lbw for 5.But the evening ended with Roderick unbeaten on 91 and New Road resplendent in the golden light of a late autumn afternoon. Such an conclusion seemed absurdly unlikely when one recalled a morning when the sun was barely apparent and there was a hint of amber in the trees on Bromwich Parade. It was a bowlers’ day for all money and one doubts Mullaney hesitated long before placing a wager on his seamers. They offered early returns, too.Ed Pollock tried to get off the mark with a massive drive at a wide delivery from Ball but only inside-edged the ball onto his off stump. Two overs later, Ball took his second wicket when Azhar Ali feathered a lifting delivery to Moores two balls after collecting his only boundary with a nick through the slips. Half an hour later, Dane Paterson brought one back off the pitch and collected his 50th wicket of the season when the ball thumped into Jake Libby’s pad.Worcestershire’s batsmen struggled on, often by tickling the ball to the unoccupied fine-leg boundary. The only member of top order not to need that resource was Jack Haynes, whose cover-drives off Ball and Paterson were the most felicitous of the session. But having hit five boundaries in his 38, Haynes came half-forward to Mullaney’s fourth ball of the morning and was well caught by Moores, who was standing up. Having been inserted, D’Oliveira might have accepted 99 for 4 at lunch but Barnard’s defensive shot to Paterson’s last possible ball of the morning edged a catch to Matthew Montgomery at second slip. A few Worcestershire supporters lunched gloomily, little guessing the late-season riches that were to follow.

The BCCI stands to lose between US$58-116 million from its share of the ICC’s central revenue pool as a result of the tax imposed by the Indian government on the global cricket body for hosting the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup in India. The marquee event is scheduled to be played in India in October-November next year.”It is to be noted that any tax cost incurred by the ICC for the 2023 event in India will be adjusted with the BCCI’s share of revenue from the ICC,” the BCCI said on Thursday in an update sent to its state associations. In the two-page document, seen by ESPNcricinfo, the BCCI outlined the estimated financial hit it is likely to incur in the absence of the ICC securing a full tax exemption from the Indian government for staging the tournament in India, the first men’s global cricket event in the country since the 2016 T20 World Cup.Related

• ICC threatens to shift 2021 T20 WC from India over tax issues

• Why BCCI wants more time on 2021 T20 WC venue decision

• BCCI, ICC broker peace over revenue-sharing model

The tax exemption has been part of the host’s agreement the BCCI signed with the ICC in 2014, when three men’s events were awarded to India: the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2018 Champions Trophy (later changed to 2021 T20 World Cup, which was moved to the UAE and Oman) and the 2023 ODI World Cup. As per the agreement, the BCCI was “obligated” to help the ICC (and all its commercial partners involved in the tournament) secure the tax waiver.The tax waiver has been a contentious issue every time a global cricket event has been held in India. In 2016, the BCCI said in the note, the ICC deducted “nearly $23.5 million” from the central revenue pool after the Indian government had charged Star India*, which owns rights for ICC events, 10.92% in taxes.The BCCI has challenged the ICC on that at the global body’s disputes tribunal. Even as it awaits a final decision from the tribunal, the BCCI has said it had opened discussions with India’s finance ministry to “deliver a tax exemption or a tax solution” for the 2023 World Cup.The BCCI was originally meant to secure such an exemption 18 months before the event. It said that it had asked ICC to extend the deadline to May 31 this year from April, which was the original timeline.”At the start of this financial year, the BCCI had advised the ICC that in line with the tax order for the 2016 event, it was expected that a 10% (excluding surcharges) tax order could be obtained as an interim measure for the 2023 event within the required timeframe,” the BCCI said in its update. “The ICC has now received a 20% (excluding surcharges) tax order for its broadcast revenue for the 2023 event from the tax authorities in India.”In the note the BCCI listed the ICC’s broadcasting income from next year’s World Cup in India at an estimated $533.29 million. The BCCI said the “financial impact” it would suffer for a 10.92% tax order on that would be around $58.23 million (the BCCI’s note listed the figure as $52.23 million, which appears to be an error given the percentages listed), which would more than double to roughly $116.47 million if the tax component were to be 21.84%, as desired by the Indian government.This amount, whatever it finally is, will be deducted from the BCCI’s share of ICC’s central revenue pool, which over the course of the current rights cycle (2016-2023) amounts to roughly $405 million based on ICC’s overall earnings for the period estimated at $2.7 billion.The BCCI said it remained “hopeful” of a solution as it is engaging at the “highest level” in the Indian government. “The BCCI is currently working with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India and have represented against this 20% (excluding surcharges) tax order at the very highest level and are hopeful that a 10% (excluding surcharges) tax order would be forthcoming shortly.”*

Pace bowler Glenton Stuurman is out of South Africa’s upcoming Test series against Australia with an abdominal muscle strain. He will be replaced by Lizaad Williams in the squad.Stuurman, who has played two Tests for South Africa, away in New Zealand in February and at home against Bangladesh as a Covid-sub in April this year, picked up the injury during a domestic first-class game for Warriors over the weekend. It will keep him sidelined for six weeks.Williams has also played two Tests for South Africa, both against Bangladesh this year, picking up three wickets. In the domestic first-class competition, where he plays for Titans, Williams picked up six wickets to bowl his side to an innings win against Knights last week. Over the English summer, he had played for county Northamptonshire. He was also part of the South Africa white-ball squad that played in England in July, though he didn’t get a game.All South Africa’s Test players, with the exception of Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje will play at least one red-ball domestic match before the series in Australia. Bavuma has been given time off following a torrid T20 World Cup campaign, Rabada’s workload is being managed, and Nortje was given a No-Objection Certificate to participate in the Abu Dhabi T10 competition which runs from November 23 to December 4.South Africa play a tour game in Australia, against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane, from December 9 to 12. The first Test kicks off at the Gabba on December 17, before the Boxing Day and New Year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. The series is key to South Africa’s hopes of making the next World Test Championship final.Updated South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (capt), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo.

South Australia wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen made a vital 90 before Joe Burns celebrated his 100th Sheffield Shield match by helping Queensland take charge of their clash with South Australia in Adelaide.Neilsen saved South Australia from a horror start to post a first innings total of 240, Burns went to stumps on day two on 49 not out with Queensland 2 for 88 in reply.The right-hander looked in complete control on a difficult Adelaide Oval wicket, batting through an extended final session of a day regularly interrupted by rain.Without a substantial score in Queensland’s past three games, Burns played nicely all around the ground in a crucial last three hours of play.It came as he and Bryce Street put on 52 for the first wicket, before Thomas Kelly took one of the catches of the summer to remove Sam Truloff late.After Truloff went back to Nathan McAndrew, Kelly reacted by diving to his left and taking the ball one-handed to send the right-hander on his way for 15.Earlier, Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett had continued his fine start to the match when he had Nielsen caught behind for 90 in the key wicket of the Redbacks’ innings.After Bartlett took three wickets early on day one to leave the hosts 5 for 25, Nielsen was the man to stand up and lead the fightback for South Australia.Nielsen combined for 60-run stands with Ben Manenti and McAndrew for the seventh and eighth wickets, with McAndrew finishing 46 not out, before edging Bartlett just after lunch on Monday.Bartlett’s effort came with Queensland missing Mark Steketee and Michael Neser to Prime Minister’s XI duties, with both teams also without their Australian Test and one-day stars.”With the likes of Nes and Stek out, it was nice to chip in and get a few early ones for the boys,” Bartlett said after his 4 for 64.”A theme for us bowling first this year, the new ball has been really crucial.”There’s still a lot of time in this game and a lot of work to be done for us, but we’re in a good position now.”South Australia are without a win after four rounds of the Shield, while Queensland sit second with two wins, a draw and a loss.

Tahlia McGrath has become the new No. 1-ranked batter in women’s T20Is, just over a year after her debut in the format, after her impressive knocks in the first two matches against India in Mumbai.McGrath, who made her T20I debut in October 2021, has already cemented her place in the Australia top order across formats. In T20Is, she has scored 485 runs in ten innings at an average of 121.25 and a strike rate of 149.69 so far. In the first T20I against India in the ongoing series, she scored an unbeaten 40 off 29 balls in Australia’s win and followed it up with a 51-ball 70 in the second game, which ended in a Super Over loss. She has jumped up three places, overtaking team-mates Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney, and Smriti Mandhana, to become the fourth Australian and 12th overall to top the table. Australia now have five batters in the top ten in that list.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

Among the other batters to gain in the latest rankings update were Sophie Devine, Shafali Verma and Alyssa Healy, who have moved one spot up each to fourth, sixth and eighth respectively. Mandhana, currently No. 3 on the table, has gained 11 rating points to reach a career-best 741 points following her 79 off 49 balls in the second T20I.Among bowlers, Sarah Glenn has gone up one spot to No. 2, and Katherine Brunt has also gained one spot to go to No. 6.Meanwhile, in ODIs, Ellyse Perry has gone past Hayley Matthews to once again become the No. 1 allrounder. Perry had claimed the top ranking for the first time in February 2017 and has spent 1787 days at the top, the fourth-most behind Karen Rolton (2725), Enid Bakewell (2611) and Stafanie Taylor (1947).Among ODI batters, Suzie Bates went up five places to 17th after scoring an unbeaten 93 in the first ODI against Bangladesh. On the bowling front, Charlie Dean has moved up two places to 16th while Jess Kerr went up two places to 19th.

Big Picture

UP Warriorz have Sophie Ecclestone to thank for bailing them out of troubled waters for two games in a row now. Wins that seemed tough – first in a low-scorer against Mumbai Indians, and then in a tall chase against Gujarat Giants – have catapulted them into the top three.Even if third-placed Warriorz lose against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, they are certain to play the Eliminator, thus giving them a shot at the final; but if they beat Capitals, it will force a three-way race for the top spot if Mumbai happen to lose their final match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, Warriorz are so far behind both Mumbai and Capitals on net run rate that it is near impossible to catch up in just one game.That said, they would have probably settled for third if you had asked them last week, which saw them suffer their third loss in four games despite starting the season with a win.Over to their opponents. Capitals have come storming back to steal the top spot that seemed destined to be Mumbai’s when they had raced to five straight wins. But two losses in a row for Mumbai have opened the door ajar. In sending Mumbai on a tailspin by chasing down 110 in just nine overs last night, Capitals are in a position where a win in their final group game could vault them straight into the final provided Mumbai either lose their final match, or win it but don’t cross Capitals on net run rate.But Capitals could finish atop with a loss too, though they wouldn’t want to enter the playoffs devoid of momentum. Capitals further stand to gain if Royal Challengers bring their A game to beat Mumbai.Warriorz would dearly love for their Indian batters to turn up and strike form. Devika Vaidya, Kiran Navgire and Deepti Sharma have all struggled lately, but their lack of runs have been compensated by contributions from Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath.Capitals, though, have no such worries. Meg Lanning is the highest run-getter of the tournament so far, while Shafali Verma’s destructive game that seemed to have deserted her during the T20 World Cup has given them the turbocharge up top; her strike rate of 189 is clearly the best for any batter with at least 200 runs in the tournament. To add to that, Marizanne Kapp has been scoring runs and picking wickets for fun, Alice Capsey has lent batting muscle in the powerplay, and Jemimah Rodrigues has provided a calming influence in the middle order.Then there has been the ever-reliable Jess Jonassen who has been around to play a role similar to what Michael Bevan did for Australia all those years ago – bail the team out of trouble time and again. This is a well-rounded batting unit high on confidence.Arundhati Reddy’s bowling was applauded after the win against Mumbai Indians•BCCI

Players to Watch

With scores of 12, 8 and 1 in her last three innings, Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy has hit a rough patch. But she has the reputation of being a big-match player. As the Eliminator nears, there couldn’t have been a better chance than this to roar back into form and carry the confidence of doing so against a gun bowling attack.Don’t let the raw numbers fool you. She may have just two wickets in five games, but Arundhati Reddy had a rhythm to her bowling that Lanning applauded unprompted after the win against Mumbai. Reddy also appears to have cranked up her pace, and seemed menacing with her nip-backers during her spell of 1 for 10 in three overs in that match.

Possible XIs

Delhi Capitals: 1 Meg Lanning (capt), 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Alice Capsey, 4 Jemimah Rodrigues, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Jess Jonassen, 7 Taniya Bhatia (wk), 8 Shikha Pandey, 9 Arundhati Reddy, 10 Radha Yadav, 11 Tara NorrisUP Warriorz: 1 Alyssa Healy (capt, wk), 2 Devika Vaidya, 3 Tahlia McGrath, 4 Kiran Navgire, 5 Grace Harris, 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Sophie Ecclestone, 8 Simran Shaikh, 9 Anjali Sarvani, 10 Parshavi Chopra, 11 Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Stats and Trivia

• Among teams that have finished in the top three, Capitals’ pace bowler Shikha Pandey’s ten wickets is the most among seamers in the competition.
• Harris’ strike rate of 170.07 is third best in the competition among batters who have made at least 200 runs, with Sophie Devine second with a strike rate of 175.
• Ecclestone’s economy of 6.21 is the best among those who have picked up at least ten wickets this season

Big Picture

Delhi Capitals will host Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, five days after their scrappy encounter in Hyderabad. There is a lot in common between the two teams. Both are struggling at the wrong end of the table at the start of the second half of the league stage, separated only by net run rate. These are two teams that are trying desperately to breathe some life into their misfiring batting lineups.Capitals and Sunrisers have scored the least runs in the league stage this year, and that has been at the heart of their problems.In their last meeting, Capitals scrambled to 144 after Washington Sundar ran through them with a three-wicket over. But despite Mayank Agarwal laying down a solid platform, Sunrisers were suffocated by Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav and their ploy to take the chase deep did not play out.Related

• Harry Brook's struggle to prove he belongs in the IPL

• Hamstring injury rules Washington Sundar out of IPL 2023

Capitals, after losing their first five games, have won their last two and will be buoyed by Mitchell Marsh finding some rhythm at the top, with an aggressive 15-ball 25 in the last match. But they still need to find a fix for the second opening spot.After a string of low scores, Prithvi Shaw was dropped against Sunrisers, but Phil Salt, his replacement at the top of the order, edged behind off the first ball he faced. But opening is a more natural role for Salt, who was tried in the middle order against Kolkata Knight Riders, and Capitals will hope that given a string of games, he fires at the top.Sunrisers have struggled to find an opening combination as well. They started the season with Mayank and Abhishek Sharma at the top, before sending Harry Brook up to open after he struggled to find his groove in the middle order. Apart from his century against Knight Riders, Brook has failed to fire. And to accommodate Brook at the top, Sunrisers have juggled Mayank and Abhishek up and down the order, and are yet to settle into a solution.

Recent results

Delhi Capitals: WWLLL (Last five matches, most recent first)Sunrisers Hyderabad: LLLWW

Team news – SRH lose Washington Sundar for the season

Allrounder Washington, who put on his best performance of the season against Capitals, has since been ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury.

Toss and impact player strategy

Mukesh Kumar bowled an excellent final over to help Delhi Capitals win their last game•Associated Press

Delhi CapitalsDelhi Capitals are likely to stick to the same team that won against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, with Sarfaraz Khan starting if they bat first and being replaced by Mukesh Yadav and vice versa if they bowl first. If they bowl first, Ishant Sharma could also be the player going off for Sarfaraz.Probable XII: David Warner (capt), Phil Salt (wk), Mitchell Marsh, , Manish Pandey, Aman Khan, Axar Patel, Ripal Patel, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Sunrisers HyderabadWith Washington out injured, Sunrisers may replace him with an out-an-out batter in Abdul Samad or untested allrounder Vivrant Sharma. If they bat first, T Natarajan could be the player to make way for Rahul Tripathi, as he did in the last game.Probable XII: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, , Aiden Markram (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad/Vivrant Sharma, Marco Jansen, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik,

Stats that matter

• Capitals have won their last four matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but in Delhi, Sunrisers have won four of the last five games between the two teams
• Capitals (17) and Sunrisers (29) are at the bottom of the list of sixes hit in IPL 2023
• David Warner’s strike rate of 71 against Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the lowest among all bowlers he has faced at least 40 deliveries against in T20s

The big question

As Steven Smith struck his 31st Test hundred against India on day two of the World Test Championship final at The Oval, England vice-captain Ollie Pope could only but admire the Australian’s class.Ominous signs ahead of the Ashes? No doubt. But for a player with a Test average of 59.55 in these conditions – now 61.60 – who has 11 centuries against England, the hosts did not need a reminder of Smith’s qualities ahead of next week’s first Test at Edgbaston.”He loves batting in England,” Pope said. “It’s obvious he knows these conditions, knows his game inside out. So there’s a lot of respect for him.”The 121 against India was Smith’s fourth century across eight innings in England. The previous seven of that sequence came during the 2019 Ashes, when he struck a remarkable 774 runs at an average of 110.57.Even with the 2-2 scoreline, the gap between the two sides four years ago was Smith-sized. As such, there are plans afoot to avoid a repeat.Though Ben Stokes has preached about England solely focussing on themselves and carrying forward their expansive methods, plenty of analysis has gone into combatting Smith this time around. The onus seems to be on matching the batter’s unorthodoxy with similar tactics with the ball and around field placings.”There’s also a lot of talented bowlers in our changing-room who have worked out ways we can challenge him – both edges as well,” Pope said. “So, I think that’s probably going to be the main thing for ourselves. Can’t say too much but there’s probably slightly different plans this time.”He’s been an amazing player for a long time and had a lot of success in all different conditions. But what we’ve been good at as a team is we’ve used different approaches, not necessarily hitting the top of off the whole time in getting wickets and finding ways to get 20 wickets in a match, whoever’s batting.”Steve Smith is a highly-skilled batter and scores a lot of runs. But I think, for him, we might be looking at even quirkier ways to challenge him, test him out and make him as uncomfortable as we possibly can to try and get his wicket.”There is hope England’s style itself might prove a distraction. Speaking last month, Stuart Broad relished the idea of Smith dancing down the track and chipping to long-on through enticing him into some Bazball of his own.Smith dismissed that notion altogether. But the logic of upsetting the rhythm and comfort of a batter who thrives on doing this in his own way, and at his own pace, is sound.”That’s exactly the bubble that we’ve got to try and get him out of,” Pope said. “He’s got his routines – his slightly longer routines – before he faces each ball, and he won’t be ready until he’s done all those routines. And that’s, again, what’s made him successful is that stubbornness.”We know exactly how he’s going to operate, how he’s going to want to score his runs and he’s not going to move from that during this five-match series whether he scores runs in the first two or three matches or not. It’s just knowing how he’s gonna approach it and try and sit and negotiate that as best as we can.”Ollie Pope won the match award for his double-century against Ireland at Lord’s•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Even with the focus on taking out Smith, Pope could not help but state his admiration for a rival. Particularly one who has his game down to a tee.It is a state of being Pope is reaching. The 25-year-old believes his batting is “a lot better” than it was when he last played Australia on the 2021-22 tour. Pope averaged just 11.16 across three matches in the 4-0 defeat, and looked set for a spell out of the team coming into the 2022 summer.But with Stokes taking over as captain and preaching a more positive approach, reinforced by head coach Brendon McCullum, Pope has thrived at No. 3. A maiden double-century last week against Ireland was his third three-figure score under Stokes, taking his average to 43.25 since the last summer. The career average after 36 caps is now a healthier 35.27.He hopes that upward trend continues over the next couple month. And it will be no surprise if he takes a few cues from Smith given how highly he regards Australia’s No. 4.”Watching him go about his stuff other than when it’s against us, I really enjoy watching him bat,” Pope said. “I find it intriguing the way he does his angles and the way he changes his trigger for different bowlers – the way he negotiates different challenges in different conditions.”From a pure cricket fan point of view, he’s someone I respect. A player who averages 60 in recent times in Test cricket – it’s amazing what he’s done. I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a fellow batter.”Hopefully he doesn’t score too many against us. But what he’s done in however long since his debut has been seriously impressive.”Ollie Pope was speaking on behalf of Radox, the Official Shower Gel of England Cricket #FeelRefreshedWithRadox