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Pakistan’s decision to start three one-day internationals against Australia at 6pm has not appeased the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA)

Brydon Coverdale06-Jul-2012Pakistan’s decision to start three one-day internationals against Australia at 6pm has not appeased the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), which had been concerned about the extreme day-time heat in the UAE in August-September. The late starts, confirmed by the PCB on Thursday, mean the one-day games in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi will not finish until 1.45am local time, which the ACA chief executive Paul Marsh said created a whole new set of safety issues.Marsh said the ACA was now seeking feedback from Australia’s one-day players about whether they were comfortable with the arrangements. The organisation is also assessing whether it will be safe to go ahead with the series, which has provided a scheduling headache for the PCB due to the lack of suitable venues to host a series of three ODIs and three Twenty20s at that time of year.Despite being granted permission by the ICC to change the series to six Twenty20s, which would allow the matches to be played in relatively cooler evening conditions, Pakistan decided to push ahead with the 50-over portion of the tour, in part to satisfy a broadcast deal. Marsh said he had spoken to Cricket Australia about the ACA’s concerns, which now included the playing hours as well as the heat.”We’ve spoken about it several times and they are certainly aware of our views on this issue,” Marsh told ESPNcricinfo. “We’re concerned about the heat and we’re not comfortable with the playing hours. There are issues there with the players playing sport at that time of night. How aware are players going to be?”Are there any safety issues of playing sport at that time of the night? If you’re standing there facing someone bowling at 150kph, are you going to be more tired at that time of day than you [otherwise] would be? Can they adjust their sleep patterns to play at that time of day? There are all of those things we have to look at. This tour has been put on for commercial reasons, not necessarily cricket reasons, and that’s why there’s ongoing frustration from our perspective.”We can’t stop Cricket Australia scheduling games at this time of the day. We have an MoU [memorandum of understanding] in place that has parameters around scheduling, but that is pretty much to do with number of games in total, breaks between games and those types of things. This type of issue we haven’t encountered before.”International cricket has never been held in the UAE in June, July, August or September, the hottest months in the country, and the ACA’s original concerns surrounded the possibility of the players being asked to play in 40-plus heat during the day. Marsh said that while the heat remained an issue even with the late start times, the tour would go ahead unless serious safety issues arose.”I’m not particularly comfortable with it,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s much we can do. From a heat perspective, Cricket Australia has a duty to provide safe working conditions for its players, whether that relates to security or heat or dangerous pitches or any other issues. We’re going through a process of trying to assess whether it’s safe.”In saying that, our players and cricketers around the world play in hot conditions. It’s a summer game and there are plenty of times when players play in extreme heat. I don’t want this to sound like we’re trying to get this tour stopped, because we’re not. But it’s our job to assess the conditions professionally and do our due diligence and then report back to the playing group.”A Cricket Australia spokesman said that while the series had been scheduled at unusual times, it was important to support Pakistan to ensure the series went ahead. Cricket Australia also had concerns about playing one-day internationals during the extreme heat of the UAE day-time.”We’re very conscious of the fact Pakistan have had a lot of challenges organising this series,” the CA spokesman said. “At various times they thought they had arrangements elsewhere. They wanted to play in Sri Lanka and that fell over. There was talk about Malaysia and that fell over. We sympathise and support what they want to do.”We do support not playing in the heat of the day in the UAE at this time of year. The heat gets up into the 40s during the day and they’ve scheduled the games at a time of day when the temperatures are what we’re used to and are reasonable. It is a one-off and unusual situation. It’s an unusual time of day and an unusual circumstance but we sympathise with Pakistan and we’re keen to do what we can to support them.”The one-day internationals, to be held from August 28 to September 3, will finish at 2.45am Pakistan time. The T20s, which are scheduled for September 5-10 in Abu Dhabi, will begin at 8pm local time, which is 9pm in Pakistan.

Andrew Strauss will play for Somerset against the Indians next month in preparation for England’s Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2011Andrew Strauss will play for Somerset against the Indian tourists next month in preparation for England’s Test series after the ECB came to an agreement to ensure the captain has adequate opportunity to find form.With Strauss not part of England’s one-day plans any more he will return to county duty with Middlesex. However, they have just one Championship match, against Gloucestershire at Uxbridge, in the next three weeks and Strauss will play that along with one CB40 match. It was felt that only playing Middlesex’s fixtures would have left him short of time in the middle before a four-Test series.Strauss has been short of form during the Sri Lanka series with 26 runs in four innings and fell three times to Chanaka Welegedara, the left-arm seamer, to begin debates about a potential weakness, especially as India will have Zaheer Khan in their attack. He stressed the added value of time in the middle over simple net practice in his search for form.”Any time I get the opportunity to play against the touring side prior to the series starting I take because it gives me an opportunity to see their bowlers and more than anything it’s about getting some cricket,” said Strauss. “I’ll be doing a lot of work in the nets over the next few weeks but you can’t replicate what happens in a match in the nets. This gives me another opportunity to hopefully have another innings before the npower Test series starts.””We were very sensitive to Somerset’s feelings on this and if at any stage we felt they weren’t comfortable with the idea then it would have been a non-starter,” he added. “But they were very keen and we’re very grateful for them to give me the opportunity to play some cricket before the first npowerTest match and hopefully I can spend a bit of time with their young cricketers at the same time.”Andy Flower, the England team director, was delighted with the arrangement with Somerset. “It’s a good indication of how the counties can work together,” he told . “We knew it was a challenge about how much cricket he will get before the Test series. We were looking for opportunities for him to play. We approached Somerset and they’ve been wholly positive.””We are very grateful to Somerset’s Director of Cricket Brian Rose and Middlesex’s Managing Director of Cricket, Angus Fraser, for their co-operation in this matter and believe it will provide Andrew with valuable preparation in the longer form of the game ahead of the forthcoming npower Test series against India,” added ECB Managing Director Hugh Morris.The match against the Indians, which is their only warm-up game before the first Test at Lord’s, takes place from July 15-17 at Taunton and could mean a reuniting of Strauss with his former England opening partner Marcus Trescothick.

The fairytale of Zimbabwe’s run to the final is etched in every scorecard of this tri-series. They have not just been winning but have looked like a team that knows how to win

The Preview by Sriram Veera08-Jun-2010

Match Facts

June 9, 2010
Start time 0900 (0700 GMT)Will we see more of these happy celebrations from Zimbabwe in the final?•AFP

The Big Picture

The fairytale of Zimbabwe’s run to the final is etched in every scorecard of this tri-series. They have not just been winning but have looked like a team that knows how to win. They have rarely chased targets with such serenity ever before. Where did the nerves vanish? Where did the infamous middle-order collapses disappear? Where did that tendency to choke at the sight of victory go? Zimbabwe have had only one bad day so far and their confidence has visibly increased with each win. Their celebrations – the Bebeto-style cradle-the-child, Hamilton Masakadza’s ‘just married’ under-shirt flash, and the choreographed dance between Ray Price and Chris Mpofu – indicate a happy team basking and growing in success. They are a game away from their first triumph in a multi-nation tournament involving Test-playing nations. The stakes are that big for Zimbabwe and their fans on Wednesday. Schoolboys have flooded the stands and they have inspired grown-ups to dance as well, giving the atmosphere a carnival feel.While it’s tempting to side with the underdogs, it will be foolish to overlook Sri Lanka, the strongest team in the tri-series. Nuwan Kulasekara, a vastly under-rated new-ball bowler, will return for the final after missing the dead rubber against Zimbabwe, which Sri Lanka lost. So will Ajantha Mendis, who, despite his recent decline, sparkled in the second game against India, conceding only six runs in two overs during the batting Powerplay. Mendis has a terrific record against Zimbabwe, with 20 wickets from seven games. Tillakaratne Dilshan hinted that Angelo Mathews might also return for the final. Sri Lanka are going to be difficult to beat twice in a row.The final will also help determine whether this is a ‘win toss, bowl first, and win the game’ tournament. The inconsequential game between these two teams nearly disproved that theory. After getting sent in, Dilshan started with such impunity that Sri Lanka were on course for 300 at one stage but were thwarted by Zimbabwe’s spinners. Elton Chigumbura had used seamers for 13 of the first 15 overs but he won’t be repeating that tactic in the final. Expect the nagging Price and the deceptive Prosper Utseya to be unleashed on the Sri Lankans with the new ball, while Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb await their turn. An absorbing contest awaits us.

Form guide (most recent first)

Zimbabwe: WWLWL
Sri Lanka: LWWLW

Watch out for…

Opener Brendan Taylor has been consistent this series but it’s Hamilton Masakadza who provides Zimbabwe the X-factor at the top. A lot depends on him if Zimbabwe are to get an aggressive start. Masakadza is unafraid to go over the top and has the skill to accompany that attitude.Don’t look beyond Sri Lanka’s best new-ball operator Nuwan Kulasekara. He has a wonderful wrist position at release and he can either cut the ball in or get it to go through straight without discernible difference in his action. Time and again batsmen have fallen to his two-card trick. Kulasekara, however, is not such a force with the old ball and he could bowl a large quota of his overs up front.

Team news

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Jeevan Mendis, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Angelo Mathews/Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Thissara Perera, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Dilhara Fernando/Thilan Thushara, 11 Ajantha Mendis.Zimbabwe (possible) 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Brendan Taylor (wk) 3 Chamu Chibhabha/Andy Blignaut, 4 Charles Coventry, 5 Tatenda Taibu, 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Greg Lamb, 8 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Prosper Utseya, 11 Ray Price.

Stats and trivia

• Kulasekara has 88 wickets at an average of 27.93 in his career but his 10 against Zimbabwe cost only 16.20 apiece.
• Zimbabwe have won 99 ODIs so far. Will they win their 100th game tomorrow?
• Dilshan has only three fifties from 16 games against Zimbabwe and his highest is 78.
  

  Quotes

  “I try to tell myself to stay relaxed as much as possible; you have a job to do and go out there and do it. They [Sri Lanka] have rested some players in this game and so definitely the contest will be stiffer in the final.”
  “The seamers have struggled with the new ball but the spinners have bowled really well all through this season. If I lose the toss in the final, I won’t be too concerned; it’s just the matter of doing well on field.”

Speaking ahead of the Duleep Trophy opener, he also said that he hasn’t “reached his expectations” as a Test player yet

Himanshu Agrawal04-Sep-2024Shubman Gill has said working on his “defensive game” helped him turn his Test fortunes around against England earlier this year.Before heading into the home series against England, Gill’s average in Tests was 30.59. But batting at No. 3 across the five games, he hit 452 runs in nine innings, at an average of 56.50. That included two centuries and half-centuries each, as he overturned a run of low scores in the format. Returning to first-class cricket for the first time since then, Gill will be leading India A at the Duleep Trophy opener on Thursday.”I worked on my defence a little bit more, especially against the spinners,” Gill said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where his side will face India B in the Duleep Trophy. “Playing on turning tracks, if you are not able to have that confidence in your defence [then it disturbs your game]. If you’re playing on a turning track, you should be able to defend a lot more. [It is] then you play scoring shots.Related

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“And with more T20 [cricket], and playing on, I wouldn’t say flat tracks, but [on] batting-friendly tracks – [and] more in the white-ball [games] – I feel it takes away a little bit of your defensive game over a period of time. So that was my focus in the England series.”After scoring 104 in the second innings of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, he revealed he had asked the team management to push him down to No. 3 instead of playing as an opener, a position where he had batted 29 times.Despite the returns against England, Gill acknowledged that he is not quite there yet as a Test player, and that he intended to make up for it. India play ten Tests over the next four months, starting with two against Bangladesh from September 19.”Yes, definitely, I haven’t reached my expectations yet,” he said. “But we have ten Test matches ahead of us back-to-back. So hopefully after these ten Test matches, I will be able to meet my expectations.”

Gill: As captain, ‘you should understand your players a lot more’

Gill said that he never felt any “extra pressure” being part of the India leadership group, as the added responsibility required him to know more about his team-mates.Over the last few months, Gill has had plenty of leadership opportunities. That run started when he captained Gujarat Titans in the IPL after Hardik Pandya went back to Mumbai Indians. Gill then led India in five T20Is against Zimbabwe, after Rohit Sharma had retired from the format and several other senior players were rested.India reversed a 0-1 scoreline to beat the hosts 4-1, after which Gill had said that captaincy “brings out the best in me”. He was even named vice-captain for the T20Is and ODIs against Sri Lanka that followed.”My role as a batsman doesn’t really change,” Gill said. “Even if I am the captain or the vice-captain, the aim is to get runs and make my team win, [and] contribute in any way possible.”If you are the captain or the vice-captain, then you should be able to understand your players a lot more rather than when you are just a player. Sometimes, it happens that you have played with a lot of [these] players since childhood. You have played a lot of age-group cricket [together]. So, obviously, you are already connected, and so it is more fun to play with them.”And if you are enjoying your role in the captaincy, it is very important to lead with performance. So if you are getting all these things, then you enjoy everything.”

England A did well to restrict the visitors to 285 before responding positively with the bat

AAP16-Jun-2023Beth Mooney cemented her spot as Australia’s opener for the women’s Ashes Test after scoring a dominant century against England A.Mooney scored 107 from 133 balls at Leicester on Thursday, as Australia were all out for 284 and had their English rivals 2-135 in reply at stumps on day one.With Meg Lanning out of the tour with illness and Rachael Haynes having retired since their last red-ball match, Australia gave their strongest indication yet of their line up for next week’s Test in Nottingham.Captain Alyssa Healy moved down the order to No. 5, after indicating last month she did not want to shoulder the load of wicketkeeping and opening.That prompted Phoebe Litchfield and Mooney to open, in an entirely new-look combination after Healy and Haynes opened in Australia’s last Test.Litchfield fell for 19, but still looks likely to earn a Test debut at the top of the order at Trent Bridge next week.Mooney, however, had no such trouble ahead of the one-off Test against England that kicks off the multi-format series. She was dominant square of the wicket and punished an England A attack that was sometimes too wayward.Mooney has opened previously in Test cricket, but has traditionally batted at No. 3 or in the middle order before Haynes’ retirement. Her score was the only Australian one above 40, as others fell to loose shots around her.”I seem to do that in warm-up games and not transfer that to the real thing,” Mooney said. “Hopefully next week I can. The first few days in England it’s nice to hit a few off the middle.”Kim Garth then pushed her case for a Test debut for Australia as she took 2 for 24 late in the day. Veteran seamer Megan Schutt was not used, with Australia likely to leave her out of the Test attack and play former Irish international Garth instead.”Kimmy G is a ripper, she has contributed hugely to this group off the field and it’s nice to see her getting some games on the field,” said Mooney. She presents a real threat to the England top order, so it’s nice to see her get a couple in this game.”

Ben Duckett falls five runs shy of second straight ton as Nottinghamshire’s lead looks fragile

ECB Reporters Network16-Apr-2022Glamorgan will enter the final day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Nottinghamshire feeling that they are in a strong position to complete their first victory in a red-ball match at Trent Bridge since 1998.Building on a lead of 77 on first innings, in which Timm van der Gugten’s 62 helped the last two wickets add 131 runs, they had Nottinghamshire 224 for for 8 at the close, the Netherlands international seam bowler having also starred with the ball by taking four wickets for 51.All four came after tea, starting with that of key man Ben Duckett, who fell five runs short of posting a second century in the match. No other Nottinghamshire batsman has made more than 30 and a lead of 147 looks a fragile one.Nottinghamshire, pre-season favourites to win promotion from Division Two, pulled off an improbable win over Sussex at Hove last week. Another would seem unlikely, although ninth-wicket pair Brett Hutton and Joey Evison – batting with a runner because of a sore toe – added 37 in the last 14 overs and a few more on the final morning could still set up an intriguing finish.Related

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Having let a good position slip on Friday, Nottinghamshire needed another seven overs on the third morning to take the last Glamorgan wicket, van der Gugten’s measured contribution with the bat ending when he miscued Liam Patterson-White’s left-arm spin and was caught at long-off.Michael Hogan, 19 not out, then demonstrated that his prowess with the ball does not wane even in his 41st year by removing both Nottinghamshire openers without scoring.He surprised Haseeb Hameed in his second over with a ball that climbed and looped to gully off the shoulder of the bat and, in his next over, banged another in short that Ben Slater went to pull but could only glove through to the wicketkeeper.Duckett and Joe Clarke were briefly on top as Nottinghamshire recovered from two down for one run to 45 for 2 at lunch. But Hogan and van der Gugten were able to dry up the runs immediately after lunch and Michael Neser returned to have Clarke caught behind, pushing at one that found a thin edge.Having survived a half-chance to midwicket on 32, Duckett went on the attack, going to his half-century with a lovely shot through the offside for four off Neser, following up with three legside boundaries against Andrew Salter’s off-spin.He lost another partner as skipper Steven Mullaney fell to a dab outside off stump that lacked conviction and turned into another catch for Chris Cooke.By tea, Duckett had moved into the 90s, but with Nottinghamshire still only 81 in front, Glamorgan knew that his early removal in the third session could be decisive.In the event, it came only four overs in, as the left-hander, with rare indecisiveness, pushed tentatively at a ball from van der Gugten only for it to leave him just enough to take the edge. David Lloyd took the catch at slip.Van der Gugten, finding some swing with the old ball, claimed his second wicket as Liam Patterson-White was adjudged leg before seeking to work one off his pads, a third as Sam Northeast dived full length to his left to snare Moores at second slip and a fourth as Northeast held one just over the ground to remove James Pattinson.But Hutton and Evison could yet turn the target into a tricky one, although there is a question mark over whether Evison will be able to bowl.

The legspinner took 2 for 8 in four overs as the Tuskers stumbled to 105 all out

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Dec-2020How the match played outThis was the least competitive match of the tournament so far. After the early overs, the Kandy Tuskers never seemed capable of producing a serious challenge to the Colombo Kings. The Kings chased down a target of 106 with 35 balls and seven wickets to spare.The Tuskers’ strongest period in the game was their batting Powerplay. Their top-scorers of the tournament – Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis – were out cheaply, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck 34 off 21 to help his side to a run rate of 9 by the end of the Powerplay. Then the middle order went to pieces. Brendan Taylor was trapped lbw by Angelo Mathews for 3 in the sixth over. Asela Gunaratne was also lbw, to Qais Ahmad, less than three overs after that. Only one boundary was struck between overs six and ten.The Tuskers, who don’t have the deepest batting order, kept losing wickets through the middle overs, and limped into over 17 at 94 for 6. The last four wickets went down in a heap. From the halfway point of the innings, only four fours were struck. Outside of Gurbaz’ innings, the Tuskers managed only eight fours in total.The chase was the cakewalk it was always going to be. Laurie Evans was out in the third over, and Daniel Bell-Drummond and Angelo Mathews didn’t last long either, but Dinesh Chandimal was playing a slow-burn innings, and was eventually joined by Ashan Priyanjan, with whom he struck up an unbroken 56-run partnership. Neither batsman scored at more than a run-a-ball. But then with such a small target to chase, why would they bother?Stars of the matchThe Kings attack is hitting form at the business end of the tournament. A day after he had been good against Jaffna Stallions, Dushmantha Chameera gave away just 17 runs from his four overs, and took the vital wicket of Kusal Perera.Andre Russell and Angelo Mathews were also good, but the best of Kings’ bowlers was Qais, whose four overs cost a stunning eight runs. He also took out Gunaratne and Dilruwan Perera to finish with two wickets.Where the teams standThe Kings become the third team to qualify for the semi-finals, after the Jaffna Stallions and Dambulla Viiking. The Tuskers are still in a scrap for that fourth semi-final position with the Galle Gladiators. The Tuskers have the advantage since they won their first match against the Gladiators, who are yet to get themselves their first win.A little over halfway through the league, though, there’s not a lot on the line in the remaining matches. The tournament organisers would have been much better off ditching the semi-finals format, and letting only the top three teams qualify for the knockouts. Teams ranked No. 2 and No. 3 could play an eliminator to play the side ranked No. 1 in the final. Maybe next year.

Batsman will return for final two South Group fixtures if Middlesex are in line for knock-outs qualification

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2019AB de Villiers has agreed an early return to action for Middlesex in this season’s Vitality Blast, after signing off from his initial stint with the club with another match-winning knock against Surrey at Lord’s on Thursday.De Villiers made 64 from 40 balls, adding 115 for the fourth wicket with Eoin Morgan in just 10.2 overs, to help overwhelm Surrey by 64 runs in front of a 27,773 sell-out crowd in the London derby.It was his third fifty in five games, following previous scores of 88 not out on his debut against Essex and 88 against Somerset at Richmond. His tally of 253 runs have been scored at an average of 84.33 – the highest of any batsman in the competition to date – and at a strike-rate of 191.66.De Villiers now takes a three-week mid-tournament break with Middlesex well-placed in the tournament standings. They are third in the table with five wins from seven games, and poised to go top if they can beat current leaders Sussex at Hove on Friday night.His initial agreement with the club had been to return for the knock-outs should Middlesex qualify – the quarter-finals will be staged between September 4 and 7 with Finals Day at Edgbaston on September 21.But, if the club are still in the frame for qualification at the end of August, de Villiers has now agreed to return in time for their final two South Group fixtures, against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on August 29 and Somerset at Taunton on August 30.Speaking after his Blast debut at Lord’s last month, de Villiers said: “I felt comfortable the minute I walked into the dressing room with the boys. They welcomed me with open arms, and that plays a big role in getting players from overseas feeling comfortable.”

The ICC is looking into a media report alleging that an individual involved in preparing pitches in Galle made surfaces according to instructions from bettors

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2018Sri Lanka Cricket will cooperate fully with the ICC in its investigations into allegations of pitch-fixing in two Test matches in the past, and potentially one later this year against England.The board’s response came after TV news channel claimed that a person involved in preparing the pitches in Galle for the Tests against India in 2017 and Australia in 2016 had tailored the surfaces according to instructions from a person involved in betting. The report also alleged that the Galle pitch for the Test against England later this year would also be made to order for betting.”Mr Ashley de Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket is in contact with the CEO of the International Cricket Council Mr. David Richardson and the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit on the matter,” SLC said. “Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to state that it has zero tolerance towards corruption and will take immediate action against any person involved in the alleged incident, if found guilty.”In the meantime, Sri Lanka Cricket is constantly engaged with the ICC and is following its guidelines on how to handle anti-corruption operations for the forthcoming tours in Sri Lanka.”The ICC confirmed it was investigating the report. “The ICC is aware of an investigation into corruption in cricket by a news organisation and as you would expect we will take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make very seriously,” Alex Marshall, ICC general manager Anti-Corruption Unit, said in a statement. “We have already launched an investigation working with anti-corruption colleagues from Member countries based on the limited information we have received. We have made repeated requests that all evidence and supporting materials relating to corruption in cricket is released immediately to enable us to undertake a full and comprehensive investigation.”According to another head curator in Sri Lanka, however, the individual mentioned in the Al Jazeera report is not a curator, but someone in charge of the temporary staff working at the Galle stadium and was not in charge of either of the two Test pitches specified in the report.The Al Jazeera report claimed that the individual – under instructions from the bettors – had made a batting-friendly surface for the India Test and a spin-friendly one for the Australia Test, but ESPNcricinfo can confirm the Sri Lanka team had in fact requested the actual curator for such surfaces. Additionally, Galle surfaces have often tended to be very spin-friendly, and are routinely result-oriented pitches, the last draw there having come in 2013.

A decision not to use DRS when Shaun Marsh was given lbw while padding up to Umesh Yadav contributed to Australia’s 75-run defeat in Bengaluru

Daniel Brettig07-Mar-2017A disastrous DRS misunderstanding between Australia’s captain Steven Smith and the No. 4 batsman Shaun Marsh helped set them on the path to defeat in Bengaluru, one that allowed India back into a bare-knuckle fight for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Twice Smith appeared to have established useful stands in pursuit of a target of 188 for victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series, first with David Warner and then with Marsh. Warner was lbw to R Ashwin while attempting to sweep, and on review was found to be have been struck in line with the stumps by the barest possible margin, therefore upholding the decision.That left Australia with a solitary review when Marsh shouldered arms to Umesh Yadav’s delivery from around the wicket and was hit on the pads in the vicinity of the off stump. After Nigel Llong raised his finger in response to the appeal, the two batsmen got together to chat about using DRS.”We weren’t entirely sure,” Smith said. “I sort of said “go” as in “go have a look at it” and he sort of turned around and started walking, so I should’ve probably put my hands up and done it.”HawkEye showed the ball wouldn’t hit the wicket and Smith admitted it had been an unfortunate way to lose a batsman who had been in good form. “Obviously we saw the replay and it was missing the stumps so it would’ve been a nice one to review,” he said. “It perhaps could have been important. Shaun was looking pretty good. It was a disappointing wicket at the time, but that’s the game of cricket, you have to move on and try and do what you can from there.”Marsh’s dismissal left Australia with only two specialist batsmen in Smith and Peter Handscomb. After they were separated by the captain’s subsequent lbw, the end came quickly, exposing the limitations of Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade and the tail on a fiendishly difficult pitch and handing the match to India by a more comfortable margin than what seemed likely for most of a very memorable Test.”On a day four wicket that’s pretty challenging, you need a few things to go your way, you need a bit of luck and today wasn’t our day,” Smith said. “We competed very hard, this morning we bowled well and got the breakthroughs we needed to and got ourselves batting, but 188 was always going to be a difficult task. We probably just needed one or two batsmen to stand up a little bit more and try to get us close to that score.”In assessing where the visitors lost the thread of a contest they had begun in fine style on day one after losing the toss, Smith pointed to shortcomings in their bowling in the second innings. Rather than being patient – a quality they showed in spades throughout the first day in Bengaluru and throughout the first Test in Pune – Smith conceded his men had rushed a bit. By the time they regained the right tempo, India’s lead was past 150.”I think when we came out and bowled we were probably rushing a little bit, almost expecting things to happen instead of getting to the basics and executing our skills,” Smith said. “We were a little bit off with our lines and lengths, gave them a few too many freebies in the first innings as well.”On this wicket, it was about maintaining your line and length and letting the wicket do the work. There was a lot of natural variation in this game and at times we got a bit too wide or a bit too full and we weren’t able to continually hit those areas we were able to hit and that relieved the pressure [off India] a little bit.”What we did this morning was what we needed to do yesterday, and if we did that, things could certainly be different. But credit to the way the guys came out and did it today, 188 was always going to be a difficult task. Ashwin went to work on a wicket that was certainly suiting him and their quicks bowled in some very challenging areas.”Australia must now overcome the mental hurdle of losing a match they had made much of the running in. “It’s disappointing but I’m still proud of the way the boys competed,” Smith said. “When we came over here we were written off and expected to lose 4-0 but the boys have competed incredibly hard over the last two Test matches, so if we can continue to do that then hopefully we can get some more results go our way.”