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Jack Leach has described his run-out of Kusal Mendis on the fourth afternoon in Colombo as “the best moment” of his career to date.Leach finished the series as England’s equal-leading wicket-taker – he and Moeen Ali both claimed 18 – but it was the moment of brilliance in the field that gave him most pleasure.That’s probably understandable, too. Leach is a sound fielder but his direct hit from deep backward square leg – every bit of 50 metres from the stumps at the non-striker’s end – was sensational.Leach initially seemed just a little slow to reach the ball played towards him by Roshen Silva. But, alert to the situation and heeding his team-mates’ calls to throw to the other end, Leach threw with admirable power and left Mendis well short with a direct hit.It was an inspired piece of fielding, for sure, and drew comparison with Ben Stokes’ run-out of Dimuth Karunaratne in Pallakele and the excellent work Keaton Jennings has been doing at short leg as key moments that have made the difference between the teams.It was an important moment, too. Mendis, who had made 86, appeared to be batting Sri Lanka back into contention in the third Test, adding 102 for the fifth-wicket with Roshen. England were starting to look just a little flat and just a little nervous.”I would love to say I’ve been working on those long-distance throws but I’d be lying,” Leach admitted. “I’ve never done anything like that and actually think it was the best moment of my career so far.”My towel at the back of my trousers wasn’t quite in properly so, just before the ball came to me, I quickly threw it to the boundary. And then suddenly it looked like they were going to run two and I thought ‘oh no! I’ve conceded two here and I shouldn’t have done that.'”So, I just launched it towards the stumps and thought ‘that’s going to hit’ and luckily it did. So I was a bit lucky, really. It was a big moment.”Leach admitted he was close to exhaustion by the end of the game. The burden of bowling more overs than any other England bowler in the series, in back-to-back Tests and brutally hot conditions, was starting to take its toll, so he confessed his primary emotion upon taking the final wicket was simply relief that he could return to the air-conditioned dressing room.”I’m absolutely knackered,” he said. “I thought it was hot during the first two Tests, but then I got to Colombo and was like ‘maybe it wasn’t that hot [before].’ Because it turns out Colombo is proper sweaty.”Sri Lanka pushed us all the way. After the tea break Joe Root threw me the ball and I had to get the body going again. So I was just happy to get that wicket and get off the pitch.”It has tested me physically, definitely. None of the guys are used to this so it is even more special that we could put in good performances to get the win.”At the moment I just don’t want to play cricket ever again, I’m so tired. But I’ll give it a couple of weeks and then I’ll be keen to get back in the gym and work on some things that I feel I can get better at and get myself ready for the Caribbean if I’m picked.”He needn’t worry about selection. His is certain to be in the tour party and has a decent chance of winning selection even if England play only two spinners in some games in the Caribbean. And, even though he stresses that “everyone contributed” to the team’s success, he does accept he has had “a great trip”.”It is a huge thrill to come out here and take wickets on spinning tracks,” he said. “There have been ups and downs, but to come out on top with a 3-0 result is amazing.”It has been a great trip for me. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot through winning games, which is how you want it. But I also think I need to keep getting better so this tour will really help me.”Everyone has contributed: Stokesy’s run-out in Kandy and his spell of bowling here; Keaton’s fielding at short leg. Little things have made a big difference. And the way the batters have played has been something special. Rooty asked us to be brave with the bat and we’ve done that. It’s special result. I’m just glad to have been able to play my part and be involved.”

Shimron Hetmeyer scored his third hundred in only his 13th ODI, a display of attractive strokeplay, but it only set up a festive bonanza for a sold-out Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The hapless West Indies bowlers found themselves caught in a hit-out between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who chased down 323 with ridiculous ease.Kohli scored his 36th ODI hundred – his 22nd in chases – and Rohit his 20th. They added 246 delightful runs, their 15th century partnership and fifth of 200 or more. This partnership’s aggregate is now only five behind Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan in this era of Indian ODI cricket. Dhawan’s early exit, to the impressively quick Oshane Thomas, was the last moment of joy for West Indies.What happened earlier would have seemed satisfying to captain Jason Holder, who had asked his team to score 300 regularly, but on a flat Indian track, against this top order, they were 40 too short. And for that they had their batsmen to blame: so many of them got starts – Kieran Powell even got to fifty – but only Hetmeyer reached three figures, and even he left the job unfinished. It was left to Kemar Roach and Devendra Bishoo to bat out the last six overs, which they did admirably, adding 44, but that was the time when a proper batsman should have been putting Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami, not India’s first-choice ODI quicks, under pressure and taking the team past 350.The drastic change in the conditions and the ball from Test cricket was evident in how Hetmeyer turned it all around. After averaging 12.5 in the Test series, he hit a 78-ball 106, attacking despite wickets falling at the other end. In isolation, Hetmeyer’s hitting was sensational. He hit six sixes and six fours, and did so when conventional thinking would have called for consolidation and rebuilding. When Hetmeyer started, Kieran Powell had just brought a tame end to his similarly sensational but half-as-long innings with a hit straight to long-on. When Marlon Samuels was out for a second-ball duck, West Indies were 86 for 3 in the 16th over.This is usually the time when India turn the screws, especially given their middle-overs wicket-taking form, the best since the Champions Trophy bar Afghanistan, who get to play lesser opposition. However, they were without the injured Kedar Jadhav and they had left out Kuldeep Yadav for this match. Kuldeep was also the man who had dismissed Hetmeyer in three of his four innings in the Test series.With nobody turning the ball away from him, Hetmeyer set himself up for big hits frequently. It was almost like taking a single was the last option in his mind. He was ferocious on the pull, and upset the spinners with his powerful sweeps. Seventy-five of his runs came through 34 scoring shots into the leg side. The wickets kept falling despite partnerships. Hetmeyer kept going, bringing up his hundred with a stylish off-driven six off Shami in the 38th over.At 246 for 5, West Indies would have hoped for another 100 at least in the remaining overs. And then Hetmeyer mistimed a sweep off Jadeja, and wickets began falling again. The fall of wickets continued at the start of the second innings with Thomas announcing himself with an early spell in which he hit the high 140s consistently.Thomas’ pace was his enemy in these conditions with little help from the conditions. West Indies knew they couldn’t afford to let Kohli get into his innings so they attacked him more. Two slips, bouncers, the works. This spell of play was electric, but it eventually left West Indies shocked. Every minute error in length or line was punished by Kohli. Before they realised what had hit them, Kohli had reached fifty in 35 balls. Rohit, 18 off 21, looked like Mother Teresa in comparison.Pretty soon it was clear West Indies had been below par with the bat. With the ball, they were dejected after that early Kohli onslaught. Kohli even played the cut regularly – or the back-foot drive that comes close to resembling it. It is not a shot he plays that often, but he knew he was going to be tested with the short stuff, and he wasn’t going to let bowlers dictate in these conditions.Once spin came on, it was cash-in time. Rohit played himself in, and once he began hitting out, the bowlers were like a little ball caught in a pinball machine with two extremely long flippers. If one didn’t get them, the other did. Shot for shot, the two matched each other. Kohli took the ground, Rohit the airspace. Kohli hit 21 fours to Rohit’s 15, Rohit eight sixes to Kohli’s two.Too stunned to react, the bowlers just kept turning up to claim their punishment. Never mind the two no-balls by legspinner Devendra Bishoo, there was one for West Indies having one fielder too few in the circle. Not that it mattered even when they could push that man out after the 40th over. Rohit hit Thomas for three successive fours before bringing up the win and also his sixth ODI 150 with a six over long-off.

Eleven years since he made his IPL debut with Delhi Daredevils, Shikhar Dhawan is set to play for his home team again in 2019. ESPNcricinfo understands that the batsman is likely to have been traded by Sunrisers Hyderabad in exchange for three players – Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem.Sunrisers had chosen not to retain Dhawan ahead of last year’s auction, where the franchise paid INR 5.2 crore (approx USD 820,000) to buy him back. Since then, there have been murmurs about him being unhappy about his price tag, which eventually led to Sunrisers releasing him through the trade. Since Daredevils had bought the trio of Shankar (INR 3.2 cr), Nadeem (INR 3.2 cr) and Abhishek (INR 55 lakhs) for a total of INR 6.95 crore, Sunrisers would need to pay the balance amount in cash.Dhawan last played for Daredevils in the first season of the IPL in 2008. Then he moved to Mumbai for a couple of years and finally arrived in Hyderabad, initially playing for Deccan Chargers for a year before joining Sunrisers in 2013.Dhawan has been the leading run-scorer for Sunrisers with a tally of 2768 from 91 innings at an average of 35.03 and strike-rate of 125.13. In the 2018 IPL, he made 497 runs at 35.50. His smart strike-rate was 142.82, better than his normal strike-rate of 136.91.Although regular captain David Warner was the force behind Sunrisers’ IPL win in 2016, Dhawan also played a key role at the top of the order. In fact, the Warner-Dhawan combine (2357) is the third-most prolific pairing behind Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli (2787) and AB de Villiers-Kohli (2525)In case the deal does go through – both franchises have been tight-lipped, making no public comment – it remains to be seen whether Daredevils have gained much from it, having released three allrounders, all Indians, two of whom (Shankar and Nadeem) are frequent first-choice picks in the XI.The Dhawan deal is the second big trade ahead of the next IPL auction, scheduled for December 16. Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier released South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock to Mumbai Indians in a money-only trade, which involves a franchise selling the player in exchange for money, as opposed to swapping him for another player.The other trade in the first trading window was RCB releasing Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab in exchange for Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis.

Pat Brown recorded his best one-day figures as Derbyshire thrashed Lancashire by nine wickets in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup match at Derby.Brown took 5 for 37 in six overs to bowl the visitors out for 99 in 20 overs while Zak Chappell and Harry Moore each claimed two wickets.The highest score for Lancashire was extras at 19 with only three players, one of them Andrew Flintoff’s 16-year-old son Rocky, making double figures.Derbyshire easily reached their target, ending on 100 for 1 in the 20th over with Luis Reece 52 not out to celebrate a third victory in Group A which boosts their chances of making the knock-out stages while Lancashire suffered a third defeat.Lancashire had no answer to Derbyshire’s pace attack and never recovered from losing three wickets in the first seven overs.Sam Conners trapped Harry Singh lbw before Chappell struck twice in his fourth over to leave the visitors on 27 for 3.Josh Bohannon was defeated by one that came back to clip the top of off stump and George Bell was lbw half forward to a full ball for 18.Flintoff played one dismissive pull to the ropes but was hit on the helmet trying to take on a short ball from Chappell in the ninth over.Although he was able to continue, he fell to another short delivery as Lancashire lost two wickets in Brown’s first over.Indian all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer marked his debut with two glorious drives for four off Moore but then pulled Brown into the hands of deep mid-wicket.Given Lancashire’s position, it was a poor decision by an international player and Flintoff fell into the same trap when he skied another Brown short ball to reduce his side to 55 for 5.The procession continued with Chris Green missing a big drive at Moore and Tom Aspinwall caught behind off Brown.who bowled Jack Blatherwick with a full ball in his next over.After Moore had George Balderson caught behind, Brown bowled Charlie Barnard to complete the rout.It was now a question of how quickly Derbyshire would wrap up victory and Reece pressed the accelerator with two sixes off Blatherwick in the fourth over.Reece and Harry Came shared a double century opening stand against Middlesex on Saturday but this time they were parted in the 8th over when Singh took a smart one-handed catch at second slip off Blatherwick to send back Came.But there was little else for Lancashire to enjoy on a chastening day as Reece and Brooke Guest with an unbeaten 37 added 65 to put the seal on an impressive Derbyshire display.

Trinidad’s temperamental weather claimed the bulk of the opening day between South Africa and West Indies where only 15 overs of play was possible. Play was called off five minutes into the scheduled tea time and will resume half an hour early on the second day after 75 overs were lost on the first.With an extra batter in their XI, South Africa opted to bat first after winning the toss and hoped to bed in on a surface their captain Temba Bavuma said he “did not see a blade of grass on”. A bare, lifeless surface demanded good discipline from West Indies and the experienced Kemar Roach did not disappoint. Given three slips and a gully, his first ball angled into Aiden Markram and beat him on the back foot, which was exactly where Roach wanted him. In Roach’s next over, Markram stayed back and tried to cover-punch but, with no bounce on offer, looked fortunate to get the ball over gully for South Africa’s first boundary. Roach continued to deliver a testing opening spell, after which he had figures of 5-3-6-0.At the other end, Tony de Zorzi looked more comfortable playing the ball off the front foot against Jayden Seales and timed well enough down the ground to get a three. Seales’ pace was in the mid-130kph range and he offered little threat in the first three overs, which saw Kraigg Braithwaite turn to Gudakesh Motie in the eighth over. And de Zorzi could not have asked for anything better. His eyes lit up when Motie flighted his fourth ball, and he went down on one knee to swipe it over midwicket. He repeated the shot two balls later and Motie was only kept on for another over, and de Zorzi hit him for four in that one, before Braithwaite went to Jason Holder.Now remember Markram had been camping back in the crease against Roach? That’s where he was for Holder’s first delivery, which seamed in through the bat-pad gap and took out off stump to dismiss him for 9. Markram’s last three first-innings scores in Test cricket have been in single figures, which could be something he will want to address as the season moves on.His dismissal brought South Africa’s new No. 3 Tristan Stubbs to the middle. He was off the mark when he tucked Holder to square leg and faced four more balls before the rain began, at 11.10am local time. An early lunch was taken 40 minutes later as showers came and went intermittently. Two hours later, images of covers decorated with puddles and ominously grey skies were beamed around the world but the clean-up began. A 2pm inspection could not take place as the rain returned just as the umpires were about to begin their rounds and 45 minutes later the day was deemed unsalvageable.The outcome will be particularly disappointing for South Africa, who have not played Test cricket with a first-choice side since January, and have a lean red-ball schedule. After this Test, they have only seven matches left in this World Test Championship cycle and all their series in the 2023-2025 period have been limited to two Tests.

Hilton Cartwright and Joel Paris powered Western Australia to a five-wicket win over NSW in the One-Day Cup final, securing a historic third straight title.The recent dominant force in domestic cricket, WA set up their latest limited-overs victory when they skittled the hosts for just 169 at Sydney’s Cricket Central on Sunday.Left-arm quick Paris led the rout in his first one-day appearance of the season, with Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye also claiming multiple wickets.However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing in the run chase as WA were given a huge scare, as they were reduced to 30 for 3 in the eighth over. NSW quicks Ben Dwarshuis, Jackson Bird and Jack Edwards all claimed early wickets before Cartwright joined opener Josh Philippe at the crease, and steadied the innings.Cartwright stepped up with his first half-century of the season – the eighth of his career – to lead all scorers and steer the visitors safely past the victory target with Nick Hobson. There were more than 16 overs to spare when Cartwright blasted the third six of his 80-ball innings.”NSW had the momentum when I walked out there to bat and at that time it was just about rotating the strike between me and Josh Philippe,” Cartwright told reporters post-match. “As soon as we grabbed that momentum we started running with it and got a small partnership.”We knew as soon as we got to 130 or 140 it would break the game open for us, so it was just about that initial break of momentum against their bowlers.”WA are only the second state to claim a hat-trick of one-day titles, and the first in more than two decades since NSW did it for the second time after their hat-trick in 2002-03. It was WA’s sixth one-day title in the last decade, and a record-extending 17th overall since the competition began in 1969.”A lot of us are getting towards the tail ends of our careers and you understand how much these moments actually mean,” Cartwright said. “I know it’s five of the last seven [titles] but in the moment it certainly doesn’t feel like that and you take them as good as gold.”NSW were sent in to bat and reached a healthy position when top-scorer Oliver Davies and Moises Henriques put on 74 for the fourth wicket. But captain Henriques fell when Agar claimed a sharp return catch off his own bowling, triggering a collapse. NSW lost their last seven wickets for just 34 runs and were bowled out in just 42 overs.Davies hit the only six of the innings when he hoisted Cooper Connolly over deep midwicket, and left a pair of WA fielders searching for the ball in thick scrub surrounding the venue.Henriques rued the missed opportunity to snare a title on home turf after a tough couple of years.”Given the state of NSW cricket over the last 18-24 months and everything that’s been written, a trophy in the cabinet would’ve been terrific,” he said. “A lot of the guys have maybe felt like they’ve been stepping on eggshells and it would’ve given a lot of the players, coaches and high performance staff a real kick in their step. Unfortunately we let them down today.”WA will go in search of more silverware when their Sheffield Shield campaign resumes in March, having won the four-day competition in each of the past two seasons.

IPL 2024 will allow bowlers to deliver two bouncers an over in a bid to facilitate a more even contest between bat and ball. This change in playing conditions was trialled during the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 tournament.Saurashtra veteran Jaydev Unadkat, who has played for various IPL sides and has listed his base price at INR 50 lakh (USD 60,000 approx.) for the IPL 2024 auction, has welcomed the change.”I do feel two bouncers an over is very much useful, and I feel it’s one of those things which gives the bowler an added advantage over batsmen,” Unadkat told ESPNcricinfo. “Because, for example, if I bowl a slower bouncer… the batsman in the previous case is sure that there’s no more bouncer coming. In this case, even if you bowl one slower bouncer in the first half of the over, you can still use one more [in the over]. Someone who is weak against bouncers will have to be better at it and then it will give the bowler one more weapon in their armoury. So, I feel it’s a very small change with a huge impact and as a bowler I feel it’s very important to have that rule.”Unadkat added that fast bowlers will now have more options to try and rein batters in at the death. “Also in the death overs, you have one more option,” he said. “So, it was becoming more of yorker-oriented [bowling] in death overs for fast bowlers. Not it can be yorker, slower ball and bouncers because of two bouncers an over. Even if you don’t bowl the second bouncer, the batsman still has that expectation that the bowler might bowl the second bouncer.”Related

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The Impact Player rule, which was brought in for the first time in IPL 2023, will remain in place. Under this rule, in addition to the playing XI, a team will have to list four substitutes at the toss. They can use any one of the four subs as their Impact Player.If a team names four overseas players in their starting XI, then they can only bring in an Indian as the Impact Player. This is to limit the number of overseas players per game to four per team – something the IPL has adhered to since its inception. However, if a team starts with three or fewer overseas players in their XI, then they can bring in an overseas player as the Impact Player. But the incoming overseas player should be among the four substitutes named at the toss.The Impact Player rule has somewhat diminished the value of allrounders, with the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube largely slotting in as batters for their sides last season.The trading window is closed for now but it will open again on December 20, a day after the mini-auction, and will remain open for up to a month before the 2024 season begins.IPL 2024 is likely to be played between March 22 and the end of May, with the final schedule to be announced once the polling dates for India’s general elections have been finalised by the Election Commission.

Jos Buttler has stated his desire to take England white-ball cricket back to its previous heights, saying that he feels personal responsibility for “shaping the next period” of the format’s evolution.Speaking after England trained for the second consecutive day at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Buttler reflected on what has been a difficult two months, before throwing forward and highlighting the talent and excitement at the start of a “new beginning”.”There’s some really exciting talent in this team,” Butter said. “Young guys eager to get their opportunities and perform. There’s some guys that have not been exposed to ODI cricket a lot, but have a lot of experience in Test cricket, so not necessarily new to the international game. It’s a nice blend.”One player who particularly impressed at training was fast bowler John Turner, who bowled a barrage of bouncers at both Buttler and Harry Brook in a gut-busting spell of high-quality fast bowling. Turner doesn’t currently appear in the running for a starting spot in the first ODI, but Buttler said he was more than happy to have faced half an hour of bouncers from England’s new quick on the block.”It was good. It’s what I want him to do,” Buttler said of the battle between the two. “There are some exciting seam bowlers, guys with good pace, some good athletes and it’s a nice time to look forward to, give guys an opportunity and see what they have got.”Another of those seamers is Reece Topley, who joined up with the group to continue his recovery from the broken finger he sustained in the World Cup and to prepare for the T20I series next week. There is no suggestion that Topley will be made available for the ODI series.Buttler also confirmed that Phil Salt and Will Jacks will open the batting on Sunday, but kept his cards close to his chest in regards to the balance of the bowling attack that will line up on what has appeared to be a wicket that could spin prodigiously. England coach and former Test offspinner Richard Dawson bowled throughout the session, at one stage getting the ball to rag back through Brook’s gate and clean-bowl the IPL millionaire.”We’re gaining a lot of information from the couple of training days here,” Buttler said, though he went no further as to whether England will opt to field both specialist spinners in Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley.In referring to this tour as “certainly a bit of a new beginning”, Buttler was more holistic about the context of the series than his teammate Ben Duckett had been when speaking a day earlier, with Duckett instead preferring to consider the series in little more than the here-and-now.Buttler’s macro-approach can be attributed to a player who has been there, seen it and done it. An international debut that came when David Cameron had only just ticked off a year in No.10 Downing Street, you can forgive Buttler for speaking in the knowing tones of someone who just knows more about this subject than you do.”We have had one bad tournament,” Buttler said on the position of English white-ball cricket, as well as what is left to motivate a man with over 300 international appearances and two World Cup titles to his name.Related

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“It’s been in a great place for a long time and you see the depth of talent of guys coming through and you want to help shape that period of white-ball cricket. That’s something I feel responsibility and motivation for….to get England white-ball cricket back to where it’s been for a long time.”In regards to his own learnings, Buttler emphasised the need to find balance in his own preparations that centre mainly around remembering to focus on himself as much as the team: “That’s a big learning for me, managing my own game is vital to the team and just finding different ways to do that to allow me to walk to the middle with a clear mind.”[And] realising that sort of tournament doesn’t define you. I’ve got to use it as motivation and hunger to push myself and the team forward and take the learnings from that. Use it as a positive experience to go into the rest of my career….I always think of Ben Stokes’ words to Jofra [Archer] about the [2019] Super Over. ‘Whatever happens here doesn’t define you,’ and I certainly feel like that World Cup isn’t the defining moment for me.”I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective. I get home and have got two children who don’t really care about the World Cup. It certainly gives you a nice focus as a dad and those things, but I’m a very proud guy as well and have disappointments. But you know, life moves on, the world moves on pretty fast. There’s always something to look forward to. It’s never as bad as you think it is and it’s never as good as you think it is.”

Steven Smith has landed.At another time, the arrival of an Australian of such stock – vice-captain, no less – ahead of an Ashes summer might have had more fanfare. Press greeting him off the plane, photographers snapping him as he pushes a trolley through immigration, bleary-eyed in national team garb.Instead, the 33-year-old arrived in the UK over the weekend with little fuss ahead of a three-game stint with Sussex. Australia are coming, but not just yet and certainly not all at the same time. Nevertheless, as Smith was officially unveiled in the Pavilion at Hove, decked in the club’s disarming baby blue-trimmed stash while the pigeons fed on the freshly laid seed on the outfield, the Ashes cogs finally began turning.This will be his first taste of the County Championship. A previous dalliance in the shires came in 2010 via a short stint for Worcestershire in the T20 Blast. As it happens, they will be his first opponents before taking on Leicestershire and then Glamorgan, his only match at “home”.Older and wiser, he is willing to make himself as useful as possible to a young squad slowly turning their fortunes around, with runs on the field and advice off it. Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace believes as much, going further to state the county and the domestic system as a whole will benefit from Smith’s time in the system. The latter carried particular emphasis.Related

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• Ollie Robinson keen to 'put right' Ashes record

Farbrace certainly does not subscribe to the view that giving a rival batter valuable preparation ahead of the Ashes is akin to professional treason. “I’ve got good friends who think that we’re helping Australia to win the Ashes,” he said with a smile “We’re not at all.”Nor does he resent some of the talk that he, chief executive Rob Andrew and Sussex are hurting English cricket. That there is talk at all is only a good thing.”Sport’s all about opinions,” said Farbrace. “That’s what we love about the game. I’ve got very strong views on Chelsea. The fact that people are talking about Championship cricket is only good for the game.”It was down to Smith to respectfully cut through the noise. “I’ve seen a lot of talk about getting used to conditions,” he said. “But you’ve got to remember I’ve played a lot of cricket in England before. So conditions aren’t really new to me, if that makes sense.” It certainly does: a record of 16 Tests, six centuries and an average of 59.55 over here suggests he is overly familiar with these conditions.Having chosen to skip the IPL by not entering the auction, Smith has spent the last few weeks resting in Australia. That downtime has meant plenty of time to keep across bold proclamations on the other side of the world.Following Cricket Australia’s reposting of Stuart Broad’s quotes that he’d enjoy seeing Smith attempt to mimic England’s attacking style of play and “sky one to mid off early doors”, the England quick took to the comments section to make a clarification. “To be fair I love it any time we get him out, in any variety, cause he averages 60,” wrote Broad. Smith, thumbs idle, saw an opportunity and replied: “hopefully 65 by the end of the summer”.”I had some friendly banter with Broady as you’ve probably all see the other day,” Smith said of the exchange. What, then, did he make of Broad’s assertion that the 2021-22 series, which England lost 4-0, was a “void series” because of the Covid restrictions in place?”I mean, it was a little odd,” said Smith. “We were all there and playing so it was a little bit odd, you know? He’s a nice guy and loves throwing out some good banter so it’s all part of it.”It certainly wasn’t ideal scenarios. But the whole world was going through it and we were in the middle of a pandemic, so we couldn’t really complain too much. We were actually out there being able to do what we love, so I don’t really have much more to add to it.”Steve Smith checks out his home away from home at Hove•Getty Images

No doubt there will be more talk to come. For now, Smith is gearing towards a return to competitive action, which began on Monday with a session with the 2nd XI before batting with the first team on Tuesday morning.He did so in a net alongside Cheteshwar Pujara, his captain for these three matches before becoming an opponent for the WTC Final in a month’s time at The Oval. With Pujara batting three, Smith will slot in at five. “I haven’t been that low for a while,” he said. “I’ve played a lot against Pujara, watched him churn out plenty of runs. So it’d be nice to spend some time in the middle with him and put a few good partnerships together.”Another intriguing team-mate dynamic to negotiate will be lining up alongside England seamer Ollie Robinson. Robinson has been bullish about the hosts’ giving Australia “a good hiding”. He also flipped the narrative that Smith at Sussex is to the detriment to the national side by suggesting it could be good to “get a better look at him in the nets”. Robinson even suggested he might choose not to bowl at Smith to keep his cards close to his chest. He ended up doing so on Monday, to good effect.”Ollie bowled to me yesterday actually,” revealed Smith. “I left one third ball and he knocked me over. So that wasn’t ideal.”But I was impressed with him actually when he was out in Australia. I thought he had some really good skills. He’s quite tall, he hit some good areas and looks like he’s got better since then. So I’m looking forward to playing with him this week.”Smith stated it also allows him to run the rule over Robinson, which touches on an aspect lost in framing all this. Despite all Smith has achieved so far, this summer is one of huge opportunityBecoming a World Test Champion carries a modern-day gravitas. The traditional pull of the Ashes is a little greater this time given it will be Smith’s fourth tour of England and he has yet to win one. Australia’s last victory on these shores came in 2001.They were close in 2019, losing the last Test at the Oval to draw two-all. Retaining the urn made not winning four years ago academic to a point, though Smith’s exploits in that series lifted him to legendary status.He struck 774 runs at an average of 110.57 from just four matches after missing the Headingley Test after he was felled by a Jofra Archer bouncer at Lord’s. As much as that series was cathartic for Smith after returning from a year-long ban for his part in 2018’s sandpaper controversy, the result is something he is keen to rectify. Ideally, while posting similar numbers.”It would be a huge one to tick off the bucket list, I suppose,” said Smith of the prospect of winning in England. “We haven’t been able to do it but we got close last time and were unable to get over the line. It’s certainly something that would be high up on my bucket list and everyone else in the team as well.””I’ve got a lot of fond memories from 2019 and the way I played and I’d love to replicate that and do something similar.”All being well, Smith’s 100th cap will come in the third Test at Headingley. Fitting given it was on his first trip to England in 2013 that he struck the first of 30 centuries, the start of that transformation from awkward leg-spinner to peerless modern batting great. Could this be his final tour?”This will be my fourth (Ashes) tour. Could this be my last? Potentially. I mean, I’m 34 in just under a month. I’m not sure I’ll be back. We’ll see.”

2.3Bumrah to McSweeney, OUT, Much tighter call. Bumrah’s questions to his fielders is (Was there a bat sound? (It’s hit pad first)” and he reviews. In comes Hawk-Eye, and it’s three reds! A nervy start for McSweeney ends quickly. The ball was on the fuller side of length, landed around a fifth-stump line and seamed in with the angle. McSweeney’s feet weren’t moving freely and was the case again this time, he waited and tried to defend with bat (facing cover) next to pad, but the ball snuck past. Hawk-Eye showed impact was in line with off and it’d hit top of middle. Pace off the hand – 138ksNA McSweeney lbw b Bumrah 10 (13b 2×4 0x6) SR: 76.926.4Bumrah to Khawaja, OUT, Taken this time by Kohli at slip, this was all set up from Bumrah. This may not have been as gorgeous as the first ball of the over, but more importantly, it finds the edge. Khawaja was square-on, feet jammed before they hopped, hands reached out in front of the body, the straight bat couldn’t cover the line. A thin edge went at an easy pace to Kohli’s breadbasket.UT Khawaja c Kohli b Bumrah 8 (19b 1×4 0x6) SR: 42.106.5Bumrah to Smith, OUT, Boom Boom, beauty! Decks it back a mile to trap Smith plumb lbw. Goldie for the No. 4, who might as well have opened. He got a similar ball from Kemar Roach last summer, that was initially given not out. But this looked a touch fuller, Smith went across – like he usually does – and tried to jam the bat down but had no time. The ball skidded through and thundered onto pad. 141ks, would’ve crashed into the stumps says Hawk-Eye. Good call not to reviewSPD Smith lbw b Bumrah 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.0024.2Bumrah to Cummins, OUT, edged, taken behind! No. 17 for the day. Wide on the crease, full, angled in at off stump, Cummins drives. Neat catch. Captain gets captainPJ Cummins c †Pant b Bumrah 3 (5b 0x4 0x6) SR: 60.0028.1Bumrah to Carey, OUT, edged, taken behind! What a start for Bumrah. Round the wicket, short of a length, Carey has a nibble at it and a regulation catch for Pant. Very nice delivery, but a half-hearted shot from CareyAT Carey c †Pant b Bumrah 21 (31b 3×4 0x6) SR: 67.74