PAKISTAN opener Ahmad Shahzad has been taken from the field in an ambulance after a nasty mid-pitch collision in his side’s memorable three-run victory over the West Indies in Port of Spain.

Shahzad, attempting to pick up the ball and effect a run-out, found himself in a world of pain when he slid to ground and was clobbered by West Indies’ Chadwick Walton midway through the home side’s unsuccessful chase on Thursday.

The 25-year-old copped two knees in the back and was in obvious pain as he writhed around on the ground.

An ambulance was summoned and he was taken from the field wearing a neck brace.

After receiving medical attention, he returned to take part in his team’s victory which was secured on the back of another stunning bowling performance by Shadab Khan.

Set a relatively modest target of 133 to level the series following a six-wicket defeat in the opening match in Barbados, the hosts were restricted to 8-129 for eight to suffer their fifth consecutive T20 loss to the visitors.

Pakistan now hold an unbeatable 2-0 lead ahead of the final two matches at the weekend back at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.

In the wake of an impressive senior international debut at Kensington Oval, Shadab snared 4-14 with his mesmerising mixture of leg-breaks and googlies to stymie the West Indies quest.

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His most important strike came on the last delivery of his four-over allotment when he had Marlon Samuels caught at the wicket for a top score of 44.

Samuels’ imperious strokeplay, reminiscent of his two matchwinning performances in World T20 finals, looked to be taking the home side to the target before he was undone by the confident 19-year-old.

“Getting Samuels was important for us to have a chance of winning,” said Shadab after collecting his second straight man-of-the-match award.

“This pitch had more bounce and encouragement than in Barbados so I am really looking forward to the final two matches.”

The home side were not without luck, it must be said, as batsman Evin Lewis found out.

The 25-year-old thought he would get home safely when he set off for what should’ve been a simple single after pushing a ball to mid-on.

But after dropping his bat in a bit to avoid a collision with fielder Shadan Khan, and leaping out of the way, the batsman incredibly found himself run out from a direct hit.

Despite having leapt past the stumps and having his bad grounded behind the line — though not in Lewis’ possession — video replays concluded he was out.

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TEST cricket rarely surpasses Australia’s recently completed series in India and marks a whole new chapter for our national team.

CHAPTER 1: IN THE LINE OF FIRE

STEVE Smith finds sleep hard to come by during a Test match. We know this because he told the Dalai Lama. Just 10 hours per match, he reckons, across Australia’s recent tour of India. One in which his side ultimately failed, but grew in stature to a degree few outside the team themselves had believed credible beforehand.

A decent proportion of that meagre total during the second Test in Bangalore probably came on the first night. Smith’s side — ‘the worst Australian team ever to tour India,’ as they had been dubbed pre-series — were on top. Not just on top, absolutely pummelling the no. 1 Test playing nation. In their own back yard. If restfulness was ever to settle over the Australian captain during the tour, it was then.

A thrillingly improbable first Test win in the bank, the tourists had just skittled India inside a day for less than 200 for a third straight innings. Nathan Lyon had taken 8-50. The spin bowler ripping through a celebrated line up to record the best figures by a visiting bowler in these parts.

Coming to the ground that morning Smith may have been light on sleep, but could be forgiven for thinking he was dreaming. And then the mood changed. Dramatically.

Australia’s openers, Matt Renshaw — on his first overseas tour — and David Warner — no lover of subcontinental conditions — had steered the team to 0-40 at the close. Everything was going to plan. Australia’s plan, that is, not the one scripted for a callow team ripe for decimation at the hands of the all-conquering hosts.

Coming to the ground that morning Smith may have been light on sleep, but could be forgiven for thinking he was dreaming. And then the mood changed. Dramatically.

On an already cracking, bone dry deck, India’s bowlers themselves suddenly woke up. And started to breathe fire. With spin from one end and pace from the other, sharp turn on offer for the former, up and down bounce for the latter, Australia were to feel the full force of a wounded animal raging against the dying of the bright light of their erstwhile supremacy against all comers.

What unfolded in the first session of that day’s play was the kind of beautifully brutal arm wrestle only Test cricket at its very best can produce.

Tension and drama dripped off every over, every delivery. A blitzkrieg of attacking energy washed over the batsmen, wave upon wave crashing against their defences. Warner was powerless to resist and fell, Smith taking his place.

In a series that saw shifts in momentum as a near daily occurrence; where honest conflict between old foes sometimes tipped over to outright war; in which heavy words were lightly tossed; where heroes stood up and villains, too, had their day, what happened in that morning was the whole sprawling tumult of a battle royale distilled in to two hours of the most compelling cricket witnessed in recent years. Mighty India asserting their dominance; a young Australian side learning something profound about themselves under extreme pressure; and, for a time at least, proving more than equal to it.

In the big, brash era of Twenty20 cricket, this was a return to the heart-stopping drama of small things. Just 47 runs were scored. Two wickets fell. Smith, scorer of three defining centuries across the series, faced 52 balls for just eight runs and not a single boundary. It was arguably the most notable and impressive spell he batted, absorbing a barrage of blows, fighting for survival, protecting his teammates behind him, leading by example.

India were simply electric. Ishant Sharma contorted his face in the shear effort of it all. Smith responded mockingly. Renshaw, a then 20-year-old with the fresh face of a child, laughed off an onslaught as savage as he has ever faced, perhaps will ever face. Renshaw ultimately stuck around for a 263 ball 60. Others chipped in. Shaun Marsh, who in the final reckoning did not entirely merit his inclusion in the side across the series, here suggested he might, 66 off almost as many deliveries as Renshaw. Matthew Wade was gritty. Peter Handscomb briefly, as was to be the recurring theme of his tour, fluid.

Australia ended the day with their noses fractionally in front. A not inconsiderable achievement when measured against India’s relentless fury and excellence. The drama did not let up across the next two days as momentum swung this way and that, wickets tumbling in clumps, four men taking six wicket hauls for the first time in a Test match as Josh Hazlewood, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja followed Lyon’s lead.

Being set 188 to win on a deteriorating wicket was always too big an ask for Australia and, as they would ultimately do in the series, they fell just short. The series was levelled.

But despite the disappointment, Smith, Renshaw and the rest had shown they were here to fight, could take the heavy blows without taking a backward step. The shambles of Hobart, Australia’s modern cricketing nadir less than five months prior, had led to introspection and a scorched earth reinvention of the team. In Ranchi a different type of defeat was suffered. One that spoke of resilience and hope for the future. The restoration still an unfinished project, but some foundations being laid on unforgiving Indian soil.

CHAPTER 2: THE C WORD

In the days that followed the second Test, few were talking about the nuances of defeat with honour, or of Test cricket reasserting its relevance in glorious fashion, of a series still in the balance. No, there was only one topic up for discussion.

In the midst of Australia’s unsuccessful second innings chase, with tensions flaring so much that the rival captains were at each other even during drinks breaks, Smith had what he would later call ‘a brain fade’. His opposite number, Virat Kohli had a different word for it, though he only insinuated it, allowing others to fill in the blank.

Caught lbw to an Umesh Yadav grubber, Smith looked up to the dressing room for clues as to the merits of using DRS. It was an ugly look. Against both the spirit and rules of the game. Kohli was incensed, as he had the right to be. Smith walked as the umpire moved to caution him.

The on field chatter had already reached a level flirting with the line, at times with a juvenile unpleasantness to it. But that was to be ramped up when Kohli walked in to the post-match press conference and, briefly sat atop the moral high ground, went about bulldozing the earth beneath him.

Teasing the word ‘cheat’ out of a journalist, he went on to claim it was not a one off. He had witnessed it twice more while batting. Such had been his failure with the willow to that point it stretched credulity there was even time for that to have been true. No evidence was offered or found on reviewing the footage. It was a bizarre and unsubstantiated claim. But in keeping with the raw animosity between the two teams throughout the series.

Having spoken of having friends in the Australian camp beforehand, he insisted those relationships now dead. Too much bad blood had been spilt.

Once the series was won, Kohli, injured and playing no part in the final contest, save cameos as the most famous drinks carrier of all time, donned his whites and hijacked the celebrations. Having spoken of having friends in the Australian camp beforehand, he insisted those relationships now dead. Too much bad blood had been spilt. The irony was his rabid, almost maniacal presence on the field had rendered more cuts than most. His final say on the matter the most classless and petty of all.

Neither side showered themselves in glory on that score. Some overstepping of the mark was to be expected, such was the intensity of the battle.

Yet the BBCI sharing the contents of verbal spats recorded on stump mics on their social media channels; Kohli refusing to follow the host broadcasters’ suit in apologising to Smith after he was wrongly accused of mocking Kohli’s shoulder injury, something Glenn Maxwell had, however, done; Smith caught calling Murali Vijay a ‘cheat’ when the Indian unintentionally claimed a grounded catch; the persistent and childish on-field verbals, all added up to unedifying viewing at times. But, in part, added to the theatre around the series.

Smith tried to heal still raw wounds at the conclusion, offering to join the Indians for a beer — an offer that was declined — and striking a conciliatory tone in his statesmanlike post-series interviews. It was not the only evidence of a man maturing before us in to one of the true greats of this, or any other era.

CHAPTER 3: CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

When Smith joined Kohli for the toss on the first morning of the first Test in Pune, he was facing a rival who had not tasted defeat at home since 2012. Australia was coming off the back of nine straight losses in Asia. Few gave the tourists any sort of chance of prospering in conditions they had habitually struggled with. However, India’s home advantage was to prove illusionary here. A pitch so doctored that Shane Warne had declared it looking ‘like a day eight wicket’, with delicious irony, actually served to level the playing field.

The match was played on a deck so treacherous that no one was able to master it. No one, that is, except Australia’s captain.

Smith won the toss. Australia batted first. And well, under the circumstances, Warner and Renshaw — despite having a case of Delhi belly that saw him leave the field for a spell — set a platform. Mitchell Starc swung the bat late in the day to turn a decent total in to an impressive one. Starc then struck a telling blow to remove Kohli for a duck as the hosts were undone by a minefield of their own design.

Aided by the accommodating pitch, Steve O’Keefe’s ability to turn some and keep others straight bamboozled India, his figures of 12-70 evenly spread across the two innings. For all the unexpected joy O’Keefe’s performance drew, however, the match was as much decided by Smith alone scoring more in his second innings than India had collectively in either of theirs.

He was given a handful of lives, but on a pitch so unreliable riding luck was always necessary. His 109 was his 18th Test century but undoubtedly the hardest fought, the most gutsy and, in terms of setting a tone for the series, possibly his most important.

From there he was to lead from the front, elevating himself towards the strata of Australian batsmen that sit just below Don Bradman, the undisputed greatest of them all. Twice more he would go to three figures, scoring 499 runs in total at a staggering average of 71.28. He even found time to shepherd Maxwell — drafted in for the injured and ineffective Mitchell Marsh when Marsh was injured in the second Test — to his own emotional debut ton, while simultaneously registering the highest individual total by an Australian captain in India, 178, in the drawn third test in Ranchi.

His 109 was his 18th Test century but undoubtedly the hardest fought, the most gutsy and, in terms of setting a tone for the series, possibly his most important.

In the first innings in Dharamsala, his first innings 111 briefly offered Australia a platform to claim a series win. It would be overstating things to suggest Australia is a one man team with the bat. Though in that final Test, Smith was left stranded, unbeaten as he ran out of partners in a spell when the match was lost. From 1-131 at lunch Australia were all out for 300 when par was 100-150 higher, the debutant Kuldeep Yadav providing one final twist with his Warne-inspired flippers and wrong-un. Had others managed to get closer to Smith’s consistent levels of excellence who knows what might have been possible?

Off the field too, he had a weight to bear that few can fully empathise with. Australia’s coach described Smith’s leadership on the tour as ‘Bradman-esque’. And few would dispute that. The central figure for media interrogations and lightening rod for Indian attacks, he admitted his emotions on one or two occasions overwhelmed him, but the mental resolve needed to captain this side in this series cannot be overstated. He earned a couple of passes.

In sharp contrast his opposite number ended the series diminished in many people’s eyes. A superstar batsman with one of the toughest gigs in the sport, his will to win and commitment to his side’s cause is unquestioned and rightly admired. Yet, when things did not go his way, clarity and dignity deserted him. The cheating accusations and his unwillingness to step back from them, his wild-eyed fury on the pitch and ‘unfriending’ of his opponents spoke of a sourness unbecoming of a leader. Perhaps his abject failure with the bat, which was as complete and emphatic as at any time in his career, played a part in that.

CHAPTER 4: WINNERS AND LOSERS

The mentally and physically demanding, attritional nature of any tour to India, ‘the final frontier’, will always produce casualties, and this series was no different. Young men showed maturity beyond their years and established performers further burnished their reputations. But others came to the end of the line, or wilted under the most crushing of pressures.

The inking of the name Marsh on an Australian team-sheet in recent years is the starting gun to argument and dissent. Neither Mitchell nor Shaun did enough here to change that.

Mitchell bowled just five overs over the two Tests he played before being sent home injured, a damning statistic when he was picked at no. 6 for his supposed superior bowling to other candidates. And 48 runs at 12 was underwhelming.

Shaun can lay claim to having performed a vital role in saving the third Test, when in tandem with Handscomb a stand of 124 from 62 overs saw Australia survive a perilous fifth day. Though the time taken out of the game prior by Smith and Renshaw was deserving of equal credit in that respect, too.

Shaun was selected in a horses for courses move ahead of Usman Khawaja due to his supposed mastery of Indian wickets. A decisive and bold decision, or cruel and heartless, depending on your viewpoint. He hinted at validating the big call in flashes, but not consistently and age and susceptibility to injury, as well as a home Ashes summer where Khawaja will undoubtedly be preferred, means his international career is now almost certainly over. His brother will remain in the mix but this tour did little to bolster his cause.

That show of concentration in Ranchi was Handscomb’s high water mark, too. He got starts on almost every visit to the crease but only then kicked on. His spectacular close fielding and callowness at this level means he nonetheless secured a pass mark and Smith spoke in glowing terms of his value to the team.

Warner looked a wicket waiting to happen every time he walked to the middle and for a player of such exquisite shot making his inability to deal with subcontinental spin is now a truth as evident as any in the sport.

Matthew Wade did little wrong behind the stumps — despite many observers fearing he would be a liability — and showed grit at times with the bat. Starc and Hazlewood were typically, routinely assured while O’Keefe’s impressive figures of 19 at 23.26 were heavily weighted to that stunning couple of days in Pune. Otherwise he was as tidy and reliable as was asked of him and it would be churlish to in any way to let his lack of penetration thereafter devalue the majesty of his most telling impact in securing a first Australian Test win in India since 2004.

He will resume the role of second spinner, however, due to Nathan Lyon’s latest critics defying tour that featured his own stand out innings on the first day of the second Test and the flourish of another five wicket haul in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Of perhaps greatest excitement for Australians was the sight of a fit again Cummins charging, his otherworldly pace and menace making a welcome return after being absent from this Australian side for half a decade since he made his thrilling debut in South Africa. Two Tests, four wickets in each and, more importantly, little sign of fatigue or breakdown despite a hefty back-to-back workload is cause for celebration back home, sheer terror for those watching on from London.

Australia’s openers enjoyed contrasting fortunes. Warner looked a wicket waiting to happen every time he walked to the middle and for a player of such exquisite shot making and regular match defining intent, his inability to deal with subcontinental spin is now a truth as evident as any in the sport. Such is his talent his is judged by higher standards than most and he fell short here.

For Renshaw, Dharmsala seemed a match too far, his more serious failure with the bat perhaps overshadowed by more glaring mistakes at slip, dropping Rahul and Saha at either end of the third day when Australia had no margin for such errors.

Yet across the series only three men faced more balls than the now 21-year-old. His level headedness on a first trip to India was a lesson in the opener’s craft. His relatively meagre looking figures of 232 at 29.00 don’t begin to tell the story of his contribution or rapid growth as a Test player.

An emotional ton for Maxwell validated his call up mid-series, the first no. 6 to go to three figures since one S. Smith did so three years ago. Smith, of course, now bats higher up the order. And on a higher plane than any of his peers, compatriots or otherwise.

CHAPTER 5: THE END OF THE AFFAIR

For every loser (and, for all the optimism generated around Smith’s side after a valiant effort, undone by two bad sessions in the final Test when victory was within grasp, that’s what they ultimately were) there is a winner.

It was supposed to have been much more straightforward for them, of course, but India eventually, deservedly prevailed, and in a series where Kohli failed abjectly and Ashwin, despite finishing second on the list of wicket takers, failed to dominate in a fashion he was perhaps expected.

That honour fell to Jadeja, the man of the series and a whirling dervish of energy and electricity throughout. Two five wicket hauls, his first in Bangalore to rip through Australia’s tail and restrict what could have been a defining first innings lead for Australia, that instead set up an India win; his second on a flat deck in Ranchi that again put the brakes on an Australian charge.

Twice we saw him twirl the blade of the bat like a samurai sword to celebrate going past 50, and in the series he reached 1,000 runs to go with more than 100 Test wickets. But more than the numbers was the drive he gave his side. Regardless of the conditions he was thrown in to battle early; on a variety of tracks he found turn that twisted Australian batsmen’s blood; and did it all with a smile. He is a man supremely confident of his own prodigious talent.

Jadeja, the man of the series and a whirling dervish of energy and electricity throughout.

If Jadeja was a firecracker in the field, there was room, too, for the slowest of slow burners to play a decisive hand. In Ranchi Cheteshwar Pujara erected a wall over three days that only fell when he took his own sledgehammer to it in search of quick runs. Immovable and unmoving, at times, his second Test double ton against Australia came at a glacial speed that sucked energy from the bowlers. Though there were few outward signs of it, the time he made them toil — O’Keefe joking he was just three overs shy of being given his own new ball when turning his arm over 77 times in an innings — may have helped in the final Test, too.

In all Pujara faced an incredible 1049 balls in the series, his other notable contribution a second innings 92 in Bangalore to help set up that victory.

Others played their part. India is not world no. 1 simply because they have a rock star captain and the best spinners of the time. KL Rahul opened the batting seven times and struck six 50s, a reliable presence getting India’s innings started whatever the match situation. The only mark against him being that he converted none of them.

And it wasn’t only the spinners who got on top of Australia when it mattered. Umesh Yadav had variety to go with his pace, viciously exploiting any weakness in opponents with fierce cutters and reverse swinging the new and old ball alike. Kuldeep Yadav was inspirationally brought in in place of Kohli for the final Test, leaving them a batter light (no difference to having Kohl in the team, the joke went, on current form) but springing a surprise that befuddled Australia in their disaster of a first innings collapse.

Wriddhiman Saha was near flawless behind the poles and a pest to remove down the order when batting, Ajinkya Rahane didn’t have his best series but showed fine leadership when stepping in for Kohi in Dharmsala. Karun Nair and Murali Vijay will have and have had better series. Kohli, as always, dominated headlines and press conferences with his constant sniping, but was ineffective in the three matches he played, with the bat at least, his aggression at times vital in lifting his side in the field.

Kohli, as always, dominated headlines and press conferences with his constant sniping, but was ineffective in the three matches he played, with the bat at least, his aggression at times vital in lifting his side in the field.

Yet the collective proved too much for Australia. At times they had India on the back foot, most notably in the opening Test when it appeared a brittleness, perhaps born of complacency, had been exposed in the batting line up.

It was their array of world class bowlers who led the charge back on that incredible morning on day two in Ranchi. Their batsmen followed their lead but Australia’s stubbornness and resolve did not allow them to run away with things until the middle session of their first innings in the deciding Test.

That a transitional Australia was able to take the contest that far made fools of many pundits and commentators. But when the dust has settled and the appraisals given time to be considered, the verdict will be that Australia did not lose the series themselves, they forced India to fight, and fight hard, to win it. And however small, there is an importance difference in that.

Perhaps that thought will even allow Smith a peace of mind he couldn’t find in that consultation with the Dalai Lama, and he can catch up on some well-earned sleep as a result.

VIRAT Kohli needs to take a break from cricket, Aussie Test great Brad Haddin says.

 The former Baggy Green keeper has previously praised the impact stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane had on the Indian team during Kohli’s absence from the fourth Test with a shoulder injury.

In a column for cricinfo.com, Haddin says Rahane’s cool-headed captaincy must make Kohli re-think his overtly aggressive style in the wake of India’s impressive 2-1 series win over Australia.

He has suggested Rahane’s sturdy presence, in such contrast to Kohli’s firey demeanour, will have given Indian cricket officials plenty to ponder.

With Kohli in doubt for the start of the 2017 IPL, beginning on Wednesday, April 5, Haddin has urged the Indian captain to take a break from the game to reflect on his own leadership style.

“By all accounts Virat Kohli is going to miss the early games of the IPL with his shoulder problem. Based on the sour note with which he ended a tremendous Test series victory for India over a fighting Australia, that may well be a good thing,” Haddin wrote.

“At the end of this long and successful home season, I get the distinct impression that Kohli needs some time to think about how he goes about things as a batsman and a captain.

“Time away from playing might help Kohli to reach a fairer viewpoint on what has transpired over the past six weeks: a terrific battle in which the Australians genuinely challenged India, and gave Kohli the toughest time of his international career to date.”

Haddin previously claimed Kohli’s presence around the team during the fourth Test, which was highlighted by the captain’s decision to run out drinks to his team when they were in the field, would have had a destabilising impact on Rahane’s captaincy.
He believes Kohli too easily allowed his personal battles to cross over into his leadership, dragging his team closer and closer to outright hostility against Australia.
Haddin believes when Kohli’s own form was blunted he compensated by becoming more aggressive in the field, bringing his teammates with him when Rahane’s captaincy in the fourth Test shows India executed their skills better under calmer direction.
He said India was able to turn many weaknesses under Kohli’s leadership into strengths under Rahane during the series decider in Dharamsala.
Haddin highlighted India’s ability to strike during the most critical moment in the series — when the Australian top order was wiped out during the second innings of the fourth Test, dismissed for just 137 runs, leaving India a run chase of just 106 to win.
“It was a passage that said a lot about Umesh as a fast bowler, but also about Rahane as a leader: he showed toughness of mind to recognise the key moment and seize it,” Haddin wrote.
“There is no question at all about Kohli remaining captain, but the contrast between his tough talk and the tough actions of Rahane and Umesh should at least give him cause for thinking about how he will lead India next time around.”
It came as Aussie Test legend Shane Warne also questioned Kohli’s leadership after the Indian team knocked back an opportunity to get together with the Australian team to share a drink after the fourth Test.

 Warne said he will be disappointed in Kohli if the Indian skipper doesn’t change his stance on his friendships with Australian players following India’s 2-1 series victory.

Kohli on Thursday clarified his declaration that he no longer considered some Australian players to be his friend after a spiteful and enthralling four-Test series on the sub-continent.

Kohli did confirm there are players in the Australian team he no longer considers friends, but said he remains mates with some of the Aussie players.

Warne said he would be disappointed if Kohli did not relax his position against Australian players.

The spin king said in his own experience it is part of cricket that heated rivals should come together in mutual respect at the end of a series.

The Indian team knocked back an olive branch from Steve Smith at the end of the fourth Test for the two teams to get together and share a drink.

“Virat is a very likeable guy and I love the fact he plays with so much passion,” Warne told Sportsmate.

“But I am sure he’s thinking now there are a few good Aussies out there that I’m friends with — and I’d be disappointed if that wasn’t the case.

“There have been moments in my career and I’ve probably pushed the boundary as well, but I think afterwards we more or less had a laugh about it.”

• England T20 specialist Tymal Mills hails his ‘life-changing’ deal

• Stokes lands £1.7m after being signed by Rising Pune Supergiants 

Ben Stokes described the moment he became the highest paid England cricketer of all time as “complete carnage”, having learned of his £1.7m deal to play for Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League during the early hours of yesterday morning via social media.

But even the all-rounder’s surprise could not match that of the Sussex left-arm fast bowler, Tymal Mills, who from a reserve price of £60,000 finished up with a £1.4m deal to play for Royal Challengers Bangalore, some two years after he nearly quit the game.

With Eoin Morgan, Chris Woakes, Jason Roy and Chris Jordan also picking up contracts, it felt like a watershed moment for English cricketers in the auction and reflected the growing acceptance of the world’s most lucrative Twenty20 league by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Stokes, 25, had gone into the auction widely tipped to be signed up and found himself the subject of a bidding war between five of the eight franchises. Pune, last year’s bottom-ranked side, secured his services for 14.5 crore rupees (£1.7m) ahead of Sunrisers Hyderabad for seven times his starting price.

The Durham all-rounder thus became the highest paid overseas player in the IPL and the second biggest IPL auction sale after the £1.9m deal for India’s Yuvraj Singh two years ago. Given the deal is roughly twice that of his combined international central contracts, Stokes will earn more than any England cricketer before him.

“It’s a life changing amount of money,” said Stokes, who waited 40 minutes to go under the auctioneer’s hammer after setting his alarm for 3.30am. “I was following on Twitter, I didn’t actually see the auction live. I kept on refreshing. I saw people were tweeting and then I realised that Pune had got me. I wasn’t sure how much a crore was. It was complete carnage.”

The seven-figure sum collected by Mills was arguably the more staggering, however, not least because he has won only four caps and came close to retiring in 2014 owing to the congenital back condition that has since forced him become a specialist Twenty20 player.

Speaking from the United Arab Emirates, where he is playing in the Pakistan Super League, the 24-year-old said: “I was the lowest of the base prices because I just wanted to get picked up by a team. When my name came up I was nervous, giddy and jumpy. The bidding was quite slow but once it hit 10 crore I knew it was big money – but it kept going.

“When it finished I did not know how much it was worth. When I worked it out I could not believe it, it did not seem real. It’s an amount of money that can change your life. It will for me.”

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who secured £1.2m IPL deals in 2009, are the only English cricketers to have previously drawn such eye-watering numbers.

The 2017 IPL's top-paid cricketers

But the deals did not stop at Stokes and Mills, with Woakes signing for Kolkata Knightriders for £500,000, the one-day captain Morgan joining Kings XI Punjab for £240,000, Roy going to Gujarat Lions for £120,000 and Chris Jordan earning £60,000 at defending champions Hyderabad. Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales, however, went unsold.

It means there will be eight England internationals in this year’s IPL – Jos Buttler and Sam Billings already have deals from last year at Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils respectively – although only Mills may be available to play for the entire tournament, which runs from 5 April through to the final in Hyderabad on 21 May.

With the Champions Trophy being held in England this summer, Morgan, as one-day captain, will likely be asked to return after four weeks in time for the one-day series with Ireland that starts on 5 May. The remaining six are expected to have until 14 May but will still miss the final week as they are expected to attend a training camp in Spain.

IPL salaries are listed for the full duration of the seven-week league and they will therefore receive a pro-rata amount based on the number of games they can play. There are obliged payments back to the English county system too and in the case of Stokes this will see him docked 0.5% of his central contract for every day he is away, or around £140,000 overall.

Away from the English recruitment, perhaps the biggest breakthrough came with deals for Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, who became the first from Afghanistan to sign for IPL teams. Both will play for Hyderabad, with Rashid, an 18-year-old leg-spinner, earning £480,000 and with Nabi, an off-spinning all-rounder, £36,000.

Other big overseas earners in the auction were the South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (£600,000, Delhi), the New Zealand left-armer Trent Boult (£600,000, Kolkata) and Australia’s right-arm quick Pat Cummins (£550,000, Delhi).

With 2017 the final IPL season before every player is put back into the auction next year, only 66 “lots” were sold this time. Karn Sharma, a leg-spinner, secured the highest price for an Indian cricketer with a £380,000 contract at Mumbai. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma, who featured in the 4-0 Test series victory over England in December, went unsold.

After Tymal Mills went for £1.4m in the latest Indian Premier League auction, what price would Ian Botham or Denis Compton in their pomp have reached?

Tymal Mills celebrates taking a wicket for Sussex in the 2016 Natwest T20 Blast. Mills, a T20 specialist, has been signed for £1.4m by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the IPL. Photograph: James Marsh//BPI/REX/Shutterstock

On Tuesday night every cricketer who has played for England has been invited to a dinner at Lord’s by the bountiful Andrew Strauss. It is an excellent idea, eagerly anticipated, and hopefully there will not be too many long speeches because when old cricketers get together there is much to discuss around the table. Firstly, of course, the past, or some legendary version of it, must be revisited and then the vagaries of the present have to be set to rights.

Usually at such gatherings this sort of observation abounds: “Well, I’m just glad that I played when I did. It was so much more fun then. Do you remember the curious incident of the …” and away they go down some winding, nostalgic cul de sac. But on Tuesday how many old cricketers will be expressing relief that they played when they did? Not this one. And as the magnitude of some of the Indian Premier League contracts announced on Monday are discussed – as they surely will be – I suspect there will be many others reaching the conclusion, without a smidgeon of envy, that there has never been a better time to be a professional cricketer.

Mind you, it is necessary to be a most exceptional cricketer to benefit from IPL largesse. Ben Stokes’ £1.7m contract with the Rising Pune Supergiants is beyond the reach of almost all of his contemporaries. Even more surprising is the £1.4m purchase of Tymal Mills by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. That is a contract that will cause a greater transformation than the one experienced by Stokes, who is already reasonably well paid by the standards of most team sportsmen beyond a football pitch.

In another era Sir Ian Botham, who has never been a wholehearted supporter of the IPL, would, no doubt, have been pursued furiously by the Indian franchises. And he would have signed for megabucks. So too would have Denis Compton and Harold Larwood – especially Larwood, since bowlers are becoming some of the most expensive players. There must be plenty of batsmen out there who can smite the ball over disappointingly short boundaries. The demand rockets at the IPL auction when the coaches are seeking men who can check the assaults.

Stokes has not always succeeded in this regard since his last major act on the World T20 stage was to yield four consecutive sixes to the West Indian, Carlos Brathwaite, 10 months ago in that final in Kolkata. How much would he have been worth without that blip? Stokes is obviously not reckoned to be too scarred by that experience.

He can bowl, he can bat, he can field; moreover he has a kind of magic, and that is no longer the parochial view. One of the fascinations of the auction is to gauge how those outside of the England bubble view their players. They are clearly excited by Stokes beyond Lord’s and Chester-le-Street, where they will seldom see him play again. For the Durham faithful membership of the Pune Supergiants seems the only way.

Stokes is fortunate to be playing at a time when the England hierarchy is quietly encouraging links with the IPL, which was far from the case when Strauss was captain. Kevin Pietersen was a major attraction for the IPL and understandably the feeling was mutual. But this became a terrible source of friction between the England and Wales Cricket Board and Pietersen, as well as within the England dressing room.

There was a hint of envy then but Stokes will not have to endure any of that from the current England team. His relationship with the players is on a different plane to Pietersen’s a few years ago. Moreover Stokes’ career path now provides the template for a future in which the best English white-ball cricketers are encouraged by their cricket director to broaden their experience by playing in the IPL whenever that is possible.

Stokes will surely retain his absolute commitment to playing for England, whatever the format. Nonetheless, since his attraction to IPL franchises was so widely forecast, it would be surprising if Strauss had not taken this into account when formulating his new leadership team for Test cricket. There was logic in having a wee bit of insurance by offering Stokes the vice-captaincy.

The oddity now is that Stokes is likely to have a higher profile in India than in England. No matter that the IPL is broadcast on a subscription channel out there, Stokes is going to be on every billboard as the competition’s highest-paid overseas cricketer. He will be instantly recognised from Mumbai to Kolkata. He had better get used to being mobbed.

Clearly the hiding of cricket on a subscription channel here does matter since part of the plan for the new T20 competition in England in 2020 is to ensure that a minimum of 10 games are available on terrestrial television. Even in the 21st century this still makes a difference. Recently it has meant that a remarkably large number of people can currently spot a Ross Moriarty or a Nathan Hughes at the back of the scrum. Cricket is having to back-pedal surreptitiously in this regard and one problem is that their sport is no longer so attractive to terrestrial channels. Stokes should be a household name not just in India, but in his own country.

However, as the English authorities desperately seek to find a way to mimic the success and the razzmatazz of the IPL and the Big Bash in Australia, including some terrestrial TV along the way, there will be no Stokes to lead the charge since the current plan will find him playing Test cricket when that English T20 extravaganza is launched in 2020.

A bowler who honed his craft with a tennis ball and has played only four T20 games for his state side offers the latest example of the IPL’s capacity for fairytales

BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri, right, and Royal Challengers Bangalore chairman Amrit Thomas at this week’s IPL auction. Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP

 ‘If not for cricket, I would have become a coolie’

The village of Chinnappampatti, 20 miles from Salem, 200 miles from Chennai, is so small that it does not even seem to show up on most maps. It has five bus stops, three temples, two schools and, as of this week, one hero. His name is Thangarasu Natarajan, though most who know him call him “Nattu”. He is 25, a left-arm fast bowler who has taken exactly four wickets in Twenty20 matches for his state side, Tamil Nadu. And on Monday morning he was bought for $445,000 by Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League player auction. Natarajan never even held a cricket ball until he was 20. When he was young his mother worked in a snack stall, and his father wherever there was work to be had: as a railway porter, or in one of the many textile factories around about. They had five children, and many more important things to spend their money on than Dukes and Readers.

Natarajan was supposed to follow his father, become what they call a “daily wage worker”, until a local cricketer spotted him playing in a village tournament, took him under his wing, and arranged for him to have a trial with a fourth division club side in Chennai. In the next five years Natarajan worked his way up through the leagues, from one club to another to another until he got into Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy team. He has had to rebuild his action too, after he was called for throwing on his first-class debut. It took him a year, but he did it, in the end, without compromising his one outstanding skill. Natarajan has a wicked yorker, a trick he learned, he’s said, because the only way to beat the bat in tennis ball cricket was to bowl fast through the air and full at the feet.

Last September Natarajan was playing for Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League against Albert TUTI Patriots. The match went to a super over. Abhinav Mukund was on strike. When Natarajan was playing in the Chennai leagues, Mukund was opening the batting for India during their 2011 Test tour of England. But Natarajan won their duel. He delivered five perfect yorkers, and one full toss, Mukund and his two team-mates managed to score five runs off them, for the loss of a single wicket and, ultimately the match. It was the kind of performance, excellence under intense pressure, that made the IPL scouts take notice. Five months later Natarajan has become one of the best-paid players in India, sold for 30 times his reserve price. “If not for cricket,” Natarajan told Cricbuzz on Monday, “I would have become a coolie.”

When the IPL held the first player auction in 2008, a lot of players felt pretty uneasy with it. Adam Gilchrist said it all made him feel a little like a prize cow at a cattle market. Of course the auction was Lalit Modi’s idea. “I believe in free markets deciding everything,” Modi said. “Let the people decide, in certain cases you might lose, in others you might win.” Never mind that this particular market had been designed and regulated by Modi, who set spending limits for each team, and, he later insisted, was even forced to fix it so that certain star players were bound to sign for particular teams. The auction was just another of Modi’s publicity wheezes, and it worked wonderfully well.

Each year, the IPL auction delivers a Cinderella story. This year, it’s not just Natarajan. There’s also Mohammed Siraj, a 22-year-old from Khaja Nagar in Hyderabad, the son of an autorickshaw driver, another self-taught fast bowler who learned to play in tennis ball cricket. He was bought for $375,000 by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Siraj spoke on Monday about his very first cricket match, a club game: “My maternal uncle was the captain of the team. I got nine wickets for 20-odd runs in that 25-over game. My uncle was so happy he gave me Rs500 as a prize. It was a great feeling. But today when the bid was raised to 2.6 crore, I just went numb.” He says he plans to buy his parents a new house, to say sorry for all the times they caught him skipping school so he could play.

Similar scenes were playing out across the world. In Dubai the 22-year-old batsman Chirag Suri, who has played three games for the United Arab Emirates, was watching the auction on TV with his parents. His father had raced back from work with his construction firm, and was home in time to see his son be bought by Gujarat Lions. Suri had caught the eye of the Gujarat coach Brad Hodge during a training session at the Masters Champions League last spring. And in Harare, where Afghanistan are playing a series against Zimbabwe, Mohammad Nabi was up performing his morning prayers, before he settled down to watch the auction on a live stream. Nabi became the first Afghan to be bought by an IPL side. He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad for $45,000. He said it was “the happiest day in my life”.

Nabi seemed to be even more pleased for his young team-mate, the 18 year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan. He was caught in a bidding war between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, so fetched the highest price of them all, just under $600,000. Back in Kabul, at the head office of the Afghan Cricket Board, around 150 people had gathered to watch the auction play out. The auction hasn’t just transformed the lives of the two men who were bought, but given a boost to the entire country as it pushes to become a full, Test-playing member of the ICC. “It’s been a dream come true”, said Rashid. This week, he, and everyone else involved in the IPL, aren’t in cricket but the fairytale business.

This is an extract taken from the Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe just visit this page and follow the instructions.

AUSTRALIA recovered from a shaky start to belt New Zealand by 40 runs in their opening T20 match at the MCG.

Alex Blackwell (left) and Elyse Villani bump gloves.

 A 110-run stand for the third wicket between captain Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani put the Southern Stars in charge at 4-151 from 20 overs.

The White Ferns were never in the hunt and could only manage 8-111 in their 20 overs.

When first-gamer Ashleigh Gardner was run out off the first ball she faced for a duck, the Southern Stars were in trouble at 2-20.

Lanning was dropped on 20 and 24 before making the most of her let offs. She made 60 from 52 balls, including eight boundaries, while Villani top scored with an unbeaten 73.

Villani only faced 47 balls, hitting five fours and a six.

Lanning had an eventful match, taking a fine catch to dismiss Rachel Priest and giving Molly Strano her first wicket on debut.

But Lanning also dropped two catches off the bowling of Jess Jonassen — a sitter from Priest and a well-hit drive from NZ skipper Suzie Bates.

Alex Blackwell is run out during the Women's T20 International v New Zealand.Source:AAP

Gardner is the first indigenous women’s cricketer to represent Australia since Faith Thomas played one Test in 1958.

The all-rounder was one of three Australian T20 debutantes on Friday, along with Strano and Amanda-Jade Wellington, who was the pick of the bowlers with 3-15 from four overs.

No.4 Amy Satterthwaite top scored for NZ with 40 from 38 balls, while Bates made 26.

The new-look Australian team is without star all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, while Kiwi Sophie Devine is missing because of a dislocated thumb.

Friday was the first of three T20s between the Stars and White Ferns, played as curtain raisers before the men’s Australia-Sri Lanka series.

The Australian women will also head to New Zealand in late February for three one dayers.

Originally published as Villani erupts as Southern Stars shine

A dreadful Black Caps performance with the bat has handed South Africa the simplest of 78-run victories in their one-off T20 international in Auckland.

Kane Williamson couldn’t lift his team to victory.

 Handed a target of 186 for victory, the Kiwis could barely muster 100 runs as they were bowled out for 107, with nine of 11 players scoring fewer than 20 runs.

Only Tom Bruce didn’t embarrass himself on a damp Eden Park wicket, scoring 33, while bowler Tim Southee blasted a quick-fire 20 before being last to fall.

The poor batting followed the side’s meek display with the ball, with the Proteas powered to 6-185 following a half-century to Hashim Amla (62 off 43).

After shipping 98 runs and picking up just one wicket by the halfway mark, the Kiwis relied on sterling Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme performances to stay in the hunt.

Boult notched an outstanding 2-8 off four overs, while the returning de Grandhomme snatched two wickets, including AB de Villiers for 26.

The 27-year-old Boult’s display was the third most-economical by a Kiwi in T20 history.

New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner drops a catch. Source:Getty Images

 It all counted for nothing as the Proteas cut through the Black Caps’ batsmen, who never looked likely to hit the required run rate of 9.25 an over.

“Frustrating from our perspective - we were really all over the shop,” Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson said.

Debutant Glenn Phillips showed his nerves from the first ball and eventually edged Chris Morris to the keeper for five, before Colin Munro went next ball.

On the ropes from the get-go, the unusually subdued Williamson fell for just 13 after hitting to deep extra cover and Corey Anderson went soon after.

Bruce’s departure at the hands of Imran Tahir, who notched 5-24 in a dominant display, then ended the match as a contest.

Luke Ronchi fell soon after, before the Kiwi tail-end was skittled.

They’ll look to bounce back in the first of five ODIs against the world No.1 Proteas on Sunday in Hamilton.

Originally published as Black Caps embarrassed in T20 loss

IT was all a little bit weird, but we knew that going in.

Pat Cummins is working his way back to top form after injury.

 After Australia piled on 168, Sri Lanka smashed 34 off Billy Stanlake’s opening two overs and looked headed for an easy victory.

But they got the staggers late and needed a single off the final ball, with fielders all around the bat, to reel in Australia’s score on a night when cricketing interests were cast across two continents.

As Twitter relayed word of captain Smith’s pre-Test ton in a warm-up game in India, in front of any locals who wandered by, 36-year-old Michael Klinger was facing his first-ever ball for Australia, in a Twenty20 at the MCG in front of 42,511 mainly Sri Lankan fans.

After 19 seasons of first class graft, Klinger would not be denied his moment in the twilight, slashing four fours in his well-organised 38 opening the batting.

Two runs for every year he waited for his turn.

It was an emotional debut for Michael Klinger. Source:Getty Images

 Aussie skipper Aaron Finch, who was T20 captain then wasn’t, but is again, and was out of the one-day team then in it, and captain, topscored for his team with 43 off 34 balls.

He became just the third Australian to score 1000 international T20 runs, joining David Warner (1686) and Shane Watson (1462).

Only Indian megastar Virat Kohli has a better average than Finch of the 35 players with more than 1000 T20 international runs.

And to think Finch wasn’t even in the T20 team when Australia last played, against Sri Lanka, in September last year. Only four of last night’s side were.

But the Victorian dynamo was back in national colours with a pulled-together team in a pulled-together game thrust on to the end of a chock-a-block summer which doesn’t want to end.

 The MCG is done though after last night, with home tenants Victoria sent on the road to see out the Sheffield Shield season.

The Bushrangers will host the Shield final in Alice Springs if it’s their right.

But back to the game, and when James Faulkner whacked a four off the last ball of the Aussie innings the Aussies were in the sheds with 168 on the board. Above par but gettable.

Sri Lanka had already played three T20 internationals this year, against South Africa in January, and were fresh off a one-day series there too. They were in the white-ball zone.

The Aussie outfit was first up in coloured clothing for a few weeks having played two rounds of Shield games since the Big Bash. They had every reason to be blinded by the light.

Stanlake seemed to be when he started with two wides, a dead-ball, and then six fours and a six from his next 11 deliveries.

It was the beginning of the end as Sri Lankan number three Dilshan Munaweera (44 off 29) took the game away from Australia with an attacking onslaught then Asela Gunaratne (52 off 37) piled on the pain to help give the visitors a 1-0 series lead.

Adam Zampa picked up two key wickets. Source:AAP

Yesterday was eleven years to the day since New Zealand players wore brown outfits, sported afros and handlebars moustaches and smiled and joked their way through the first ever T20 international against Australia in Auckland.

Since then we know the game has become less curiosity and more common place.

But the international version is yet to find a locked-in spot on the calendar and when games do come around, it’s hard to know what to make of them.

Last night two guys, Klinger and Ashton Turner got to play for Australia for the first time, and Turner got two wickets.

Justin Langer got to coach, and fellow Aussie greats Ricky Ponting and Jason Gillespie were in the national dugout too. Hopefully a pointer to future involvement.

But Australia isn’t scheduled to play another T20 international until February next year, a tri-series against the Kiwis and England.

Hope they don’t clash with anything.

Originally published as Australia-Sri Lanka produce final-ball thriller

STEVE Smith has given his players the freedom to sledge Virat Kohli, but having spent much of his career taking on the Indian superstar, Glenn Maxwell has other plans.

 

Australia are desperate to create doubt in Kohli’s masterful mind during the four-Test series that starts in India next Thursday, but wickets will be far more effective than words.

Smith’s side, who start a tour game in Mumbai on Friday before travelling to Pune for the first Test, have no shortage of plans to ponder as they seek to snap a nine-Test losing streak in Asia.

Coach Darren Lehmann recently admitted if they’re going to improve Australia’s terrible record in India, which stands at one Test series win in the past 47 years, then everything is going to have to go right.

Topping the list is curbing Kohli’s immense influence. It proved impossible during the most recent Test series between the two sides, when Kohli tallied a record-breaking 692 runs in Australia.

One school of thought is the fiery 28-year-old, who has a history of on-field spats with Australians, is prone to losing his cool.

STEVE WAUGH: ‘He’s the Donald Bradman of bowling’

TACTICS: Smith’s strong call on Kohli sledging

Smith suggested earlier this summer he’d be keen to make his counterpart “a little bit angry and ruffle his feathers”.

 

He was a touch more diplomatic in this week’s arrival press conference, noting if some teammates “want to get into a battle verbally, and that gets the best out of them then go for it”.

Maxwell, who boasts Kohli as one of his seven Test wickets, will be giving the superstar the silent treatment if called upon to play his first Test since 2014.

“I’m probably not going to say a thing to him,” Maxwell said in Mumbai. “He (Kohli) is up and down with sledging. I suppose if you strike a chord with him or something gets him agitated to play a big shot, blokes are more likely to go for it.

“But at the moment there’s not too much agitating him ... we’ve obviously been watching him play over the last few months and just admired the way he’s gone about it.”

 Kohli is undeniably in career-best form, having recently taken his game to another level.

The gifted right-hander peeled off a double-hundred in each of his past four Test series, notably averaging 109 in India’s recent 4-0 thumping of England. It has resulted in India regaining the No.1 Test ranking amid a 19-match undefeated streak.

So how do you stop someone regarded by many good judges as the best batsman in the world?

“It can only just take one bit of bad luck, or an unfortunate dismissal where he’s run out or something like that, that can sometimes trigger a little bit of indecision or doubt,” the off-spinning all-rounder said.

The series comes six months after Australia were humiliated 3-0 in Sri Lanka, but this month’s training camp in Dubai has helped instil confidence according to Maxwell.

“It was perfect preparation,” he said.

Originally published as Zip it! Maxwell’s plan for Virat Kohli

DESPITE half-centuries from Adam Voges and Sam Heazlett, the Prime Minister’s XI has lost against an impressive Sri Lankan outfit in Canberra.

 
Set 170 to win, the Sri Lankan openers came out all guns blazing and put 69 on the board in the first six overs in Wednesday night’s tour match at Manuka Oval.

Chief destroyer Niroshan Dickwella smashed eight fours and an audacious six scooped over third man on his way to 47 off 26 deliveries as he and stand-in skipper Upul Tharanga dominated the powerplay.

An attempted paddle sweep brought about Dickwella’s demise and he was caught behind off 18-year-old offspinner Arjun Nair.

That brought Dilshan Munaweera (32 off 19) to the crease as he linked up with Tharanga for a 53-run partnership.

With Sri Lanka looking destined for victory, part-time spinner D’Arcy Short (2-19 off three overs) picked up Milinda Siriwardana (25) and Chamara Kapugedera (0) in successive balls and nearly had a hat-trick with Seekkuge Prasanna beaten all ends up by a full delivery.

But it was too late for the home side, with the tourists cruising home to win by five wickets with 17 balls to spare.

Earlier, PM’s XI captain Voges finished with an unbeaten 54 from 31 balls, while Sam Heazlett whacked 58 off 37.

Voges signalled before the start of the game that it would be his last in international cricket.

“This will be it for me,” Voges said. “I’m certainly looking forward to getting out there and playing this game. I’ve had an amazing couple of years with Australia with the Test team and I’ve loved every minute of it.

“I see this as a last opportunity to play against an international team and I’m certainly looking forward to that.”

After almost a year out of cricket due to illness and injury, Lasith Malinga took four balls to find his range, knocking D’Arcy Short’s middle stump out of the ground.

The PM’s XI were in trouble at 3-26 but it could have been worse. Heazlett was dropped on 11 by Seekkuge Prasana who had a regulation chance at deep mid wicket and parried it over the rope for six.

The Queenslander went on to plunder seven boundaries including three sixes, combining with Voges for a 53-run stand.

After Alex Carey was run out for 21, Voges joined the fray.

The 37-year-old started with a brilliant square cut for four before offering Sri Lanka a golden opportunity on 14, picking out deep mid wicket only for the visitors to rue more poor fielding.

Voges, playing in the match marking the end of his international career, confidently pushed the ball around Manuka, hitting four fours and one six. Vikum Sanjaya was the pick of the bowlers with 3-26 off his four overs, while Malinga finished with 1-26 after making the ball swing early and finding the mark with his yorkers.

– With AAP

Originally published as Sri Lanka spoil Voges’ international farewell

THE immediate playing future of two young Victorians remains up the air as both Sam Harper and Will Pucovski continue to recover from on-field head knocks.

 

Harper remains in an Adelaide hospital after being struck by the bat of South Australia’s Jake Lehmann while keeping wicket in the Sheffield Shiled clash last Saturday.

Initial scans cleared the 20-year of any brain bleeding or facial fractures but four days after the incident, he’s still showing symptoms of his blow and requires ongoing treatment in hospital.

“Sam is still exhibiting symptoms and has not fully recovered from the injury,” a Cricket Victoria spokesperson said.

“As such, he will remain in hospital in Adelaide so he can continue treatment and to be reviewed by specialists.”

His availability for Victoria’s next Shield clash, against Western Australia next Saturday, remains unclear.

Pucovski, who broke the run-scoring record at the Australian Under 19 championships last November will not be playing, and for some time as Victorian officials take a cautious approach with the 19-year-old.

He was struck on the head while fielding in his Shield debut earlier this month.

The teenager, regarded as a batting prodigy, withdrew from Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s XI game in Canberra and given he has a history of concussions he may be sidelined for weeks.

“Will is still recovering from the knock he sustained during the Shield match at the MCG,” the spokesperson said.

“At this stage he’ll need to continue to rest over the next couple of weeks. When ready, we expect him to return via club cricket and pending his progress, could be considered for involvement in Futures League fixtures.”

Originally published as Harper, Pucovski still troubled by head knocks

NIC Maddinson came back to cricket at Drummoyne Oval but there’s still no timeline for his Sheffield Shield return.

 
The star batsman, who has taken an indefinite break from the game due to personal reasons, was set to train in the nets with the non-Shield playing members of the NSW squad, only for a downpour in Sydney to rain out the session.

There is no certainty Maddinson will play for the Blues again this Shield season, but the sight of him back in the fold – albeit watching the rain drops fall – was an encouraging one.

Maddinson voluntarily put his hand up two weeks ago and told Blues officials that he needed a break, after a roller coaster summer that had him called up as a surprise Test debutant before being dropped three matches later, mentally took its toll.

There is no plan in place at this stage for the 25-year-old to return to the field, but there’s every chance that if he does make a comeback this season, he may struggle to walk straight back into the Shield side and may have to look at avenues like grade or second XI cricket.

NSW have made totals of 523 and 6(dec)-603 in their past two matches, with replacement Nick Larkin making 86 against Queensland and Ed Cowan a double century against Victoria at No.3.

Teammates have rallied around Maddinson, with Cowan predicting the left-handed entertainer will one day fight his way back to the Test arena.

Maddinson was placed under the public microscope as the left-field debutant who failed to take his opportunity at a time of enormous transition for the Australian team, and he subsequently struggled to perform to his usual ability in the Big Bash.

Originally published as Test discard’s return to cricket delayed

NATHAN Lyon has been officially locked in as Australia’s first-choice spinner for the tour of India.

 
‘I JUST GAVE UP”: Watto reveals his leg before torment

TEST HOPE: Henriques sees T20 as stepping stone

Coach Darren Lehmann has declared at an arrival press conference in Mumbai that Lyon is the premier spinner in the Australian arsenal and he is being backed to produce a career-defining performance in sub-continental conditions where he has previously struggled.

The ringing endorsement marks a significant turnaround for the 29-year-old after he came within a whisker of being dropped from the Test side on multiple occasions during the home summer.

Lyon picked himself up off the canvas with some match-winning performances against Pakistan and his reward is a near guaranteed start as the No. 1 spinner in the first Test in Pune starting next week.

It appears increasingly certain that experienced duo Lyon and Steve O’Keefe will be backed as Australia’s spin twins in India, with Ashton Agar and Glenn Maxwell also in the frame as all-round options.

Australia’s hierarchy publicly aired their disappointment in Lyon’s performance in Sri Lanka last year, but although other positions in the XI remain up for grabs, his is already set in stone.

But with the power comes great responsibility and pressure will be on Lyon to deliver in the opening Tests.

“Nathan Lyon, he’s our premier spinner and we expect him to bowl really well for us,” said Lehmann.

“We have to work out our best attack to take 20 wickets and we’ll wait and see what wicket we get in Pune.

“It really gives us options. They’re all good kids and they’ll learn.”

Lehmann indicated that the XI selectors pick for Australia’s tour match in Mumbai starting on Friday will resemble the side they’ll take into the first Test — although it’s possible that fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood could be rested.

The Australian coach made it clear that the team’s focus is not on results but on getting themselves into the contest.

Captain Steve Smith says he has learned plenty from the disastrous whitewash loss in Sri Lanka last year and is adamant belief is growing in the Australian camp that they can achieve the impossible.

“For me it’s about understanding the different times of the game and there’s times of the game where you can attack a lot more and times when you have to defend a little bit and just let the game take its course,” Smith said.

“Keep things quite tight (sometimes) and when you get a sniff, really go for it.

“That’s an important aspect of captaincy here in India. Knowing the right periods and timing the periods when to take the foot off the pedal and when to really go hard as well.

“You learn more from losing games than winning. I think this team has come a long way, we’re learning a lot, willing to put in the hard work to get the best out of ourselves and the team is happy with where everything is at the moment.

“It’s obviously going to be a difficult tour, but we’re really excited about that challenge.

“We know if we can pull something off and win a series here it will be some of the best times of our lives.”

Originally published as Lyon assurance caps remarkable change of fortune