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Glamorgan’s batsmen had no answer to Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan and Ollie Robinson as they were dismissed for 85 and 88

ECB Reporters Network23-Jul-2018
ScorecardSussex stepped up their promotion campaign with a comprehensive defeat of Glamorgan by an innings and 154 runs inside two days at Hove, to move up to second in the Specsavers County Championship second division table.It was their third straight win and they achieved it by taking 20 Glamorgan wickets in two sessions, the two innings neatly divided by the first 40-minute interval. It was a day-night game but the floodlights were not required as the match was wrapped up by seven o’clock.It was a disappointing performance by bottom-of-the-table Glamorgan, with only one win this season. But they ran into a Sussex side with too much firepower in their attack, with Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson and Chris Jordan all outstanding. It was appropriate that the match was completed by its outstanding player, Archer, who uprooted Lukas Carey’s middle-stump to give him eight wickets in the match, four in each innings.”I can’t remember a performance like that. It was pretty special,” Sussex coach Jason Gillespie said. “The boys should be really proud of themselves. I’ve been around county cricket quite a while and that bowling performance was brilliant, as good as I’ve ever seen.”We were ruthless on that off stump. And when you stick to your disciplines you get rewarded. We keep challenging ourselves to get better.”Jofra is bowling very well. He’s had a winter of playing basically short-form cricket, and it’s taken him a while to get back in the swing, but today he showed what a quality performer he is.”Archer said: “I’ve been away for a while so it’s good to be back in and help the team to win. Everyone is buzzing. We didn’t expect to do it in two sessions today but it will give the bowlers a rest.”It had been Archer who had propelled Sussex towards their sensational day with a devastating burst that brought him four wickets for four runs in just 11 deliveries, as Glamorgan were bowled out for 85 before lunch in response to the Sussex innings of 327.When Glamorgan followed on after the interval, 242 runs behind, the pattern didn’t change. They continued to lose wickets steadily against a Sussex bowling attack that gave them little respite, bowling straight and making them play.Openers Nick Selman and Jack Murphy fell in successive overs, the first bowled by Robinson for 2 and the second caught behind for a duck as he played hesitantly forward to Archer.Connor Brown was third out at 15, lbw to Archer as he attempted to work a straight delivery to leg. And Usman Khawaja failed again, this time mistiming his pull shot to give Phil Salt a good running catch. Cooke edged Jordan for Salt to take another good catch, this time tumbling to his left at third slip, and Jeremy Lawlor was beaten and bowled as he played forward to Jordan.When Robinson replaced Jordan at the Cromwell Road end he immediately bowled Carlson through the gate and the tail followed quickly.”They bowled very, very well,” Glamorgan vice-captain Chris Cooke said. “All four seamers were on top of their game and made it very difficult for us. It will be nice to have a break of format and play some T20 cricket.”

The pace bowler picked up a back injury at the beginning of August and will now begin a rehab programme

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2018Jake Ball, the Nottinghamshire and England pace bowler, has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a back problem.Ball picked up the problem in the T20 Blast against Derbyshire at the beginning of August and has not been able to play since.Nottinghamshire face Somerset in the final T20 Blast quarter-final on Sunday and are currently third in Division One of the County Championship. Ball had taken 28 Championship wickets at 22.25 in six matches, but had only managed three wickets in six T20 matches at an economy of 9.26.”I’m extremely disappointed to get the news, I’d hoped to be back for the final parts of the season but unfortunately that isn’t possible,” Ball said.”I’ll be following and supporting the boys and hopefully we can get through to Finals Day and have a go at defending our title.”For me I’ll be working hard on my rehab so that I can have a full winter programme and be raring to go for next season.”Ball featured occasionally for England during the 2018 season, playing the final ODI against Australia at Old Trafford – where he held his nerve with the bat to allow Jos Buttler to secure a one-wicket win – and was also part of two of the T20Is against India.He might have been in the frame for a spot on the one-day tour of Sri Lanka in October if there had been any injuries to the first-choice pace attack.

The Africa batsman has made himself unavailable for selection in first-class cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Sep-2018Batsman David Miller has made himself unavailable to play first-class cricket in South Africa, a decision that means he has effectively given up on representing the country in Test cricket.The 29-year-old Miller, who remains available for all forms of limited-overs cricket for South Africa and the Dolphins, said that giving up red-ball cricket was “a tough decision”, but he wanted to concentrate on maximising his chances of international cricket with the white ball, especially with the 2019 World Cup a few months away.”It was a tough decision to make,” Miller said. “I have always loved playing red-ball cricket but I have decided that I would, in future, like to concentrate on white-ball cricket to make sure that I am in a position to give myself the best opportunity to play for the Proteas in the format that I love. This is an important decision for me, especially with the World Cup looming next year. I will also be available to play for the Dolphins in all limited-overs competitions and will give it my all to help them win trophies this season.”Miller has played 109 ODIs and 61 T20Is for South Africa, but hasn’t played any Test cricket. In 63 first-class matches, he has scored 3342 runs at an average of 36.32, with six centuries.A year ago, Miller had made a clear statement of his ambition to play Test cricket when he opted out of the 2017 CPL to play for South Africa A against India A in August 2017. He made scores of 78, 27, 13 and 18 but he was not considered for the Test squad to play against Bangladesh.Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe said it was disappointing to lose Miller as a potential Test cricketer, but hoped he would reconsider his decision in the future.”At the age of 29, he still has many years of good cricket left in him in all formats but at the same time, we have to understand that he wants to throw his full weight into helping the Proteas to win the ICC World Cup,” Moroe said. “He has time on his hands to resume his first-class career in due course and I sincerely hope that we have not seen the last of him in red-ball cricket where he has shown his undeniable talents in the past.”Miller has struggled for form in ODIs this year, with only one half-century in nine matches in 2018, and a total of 192 runs at just 21.33. His strike-rate of 89.71 is also much lower than his career figure of 101.21. Overall, Miller has scored 2588 runs in ODIs at an average of 36.97.

Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram have also been included in a squad that has been shorn of experience by injuries to Hashim Amla and JP Duminy

Liam Brickhill17-Oct-2018Chris Morris is one of three returnees in South Africa’s squad for their limited-overs tour of Australia. Morris, who missed South Africa’s engagements with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe after being sidelined by injury he picked up during the IPL this year, was recalled alongside Farhaan Behardien and Dwaine Pretorius. Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram have also been included in a 15-man squad that has been shorn of experience by injuries to Hashim Amla and JP Duminy.Morris played four games for Delhi Daredevils before injuring his back in April, and his return to international cricket has not been rushed. He missed South Africa’s last two series that kicked off the home season and the team management sought confirmation of his return to full fitness in domestic cricket. Morris’ response has been emphatic: in two four-day games, Morris bowled 56 overs and took 12 wickets at 16.33, and was also part of the Titans team that reached the final of the Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy.”Chris confirmed his fitness with his excellent form for the Multiply Titans in the first two rounds of the 4-Day Domestic Series,” CSA national selection panel convener Linda Zondi said. “He is the leading wicket-taker in this competition to date and also adds value as a batting option in the lower-order.”A couple of injuries meant a bit of a reshuffle elsewhere in South Africa’s touring party. Amla is yet to fully recover from the finger tendon injury he picked up in the field at the Caribbean Premier League, while Duminy is set to have surgery on his right shoulder after a pre-existing injury flared up during the white-ball games against Zimbabwe. With allrounder Wiaan Mulder also ruled out by an achilles injury after being assessed by an ankle and foot specialist in Johannesburg, South Africa had some gaps to fill.”With Wiaan Mulder ruled out at the moment through injury we need to look at our resources as far as batting all-rounder options are concerned and Dwaine, in particular, fits into this category,” Zondi explained . “We have also lost a lot of experience in our specialist batting order through the injuries to Hashim Amla and JP Duminy, and Farhaan gives us another experienced option in the top order.”There was no space for Dean Elgar, while Khaya Zondo – who took part in the ODIs against Zimbabwe – also missed out. Neither fully grasped the chances offered to them in that series, but Klaasen and Hendricks’ performances meant they made the cut. The presence of Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn adds experience and wicket-taking ability to a bowling attack already bristling with talent.”We feel that we got quite a lot out of the Zimbabwe series, notably the form of Imran Tahir and the return of Dale Steyn to his very best,” Zondi said. “Heinrich Klaasen took his chances well both with bat and behind the stumps and the same applies to a lesser extent to Reeza Hendricks in a series in which batting was not easy.”South Africa have 13 ODIs scheduled between now and next year’s World Cup, and their tour of Australia begins with a game against a Prime Minister’s XI on October 31 before ODIs in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart. South Africa then return home for their series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the new year, by which time coach Ottis Gibson expects to have settled on the squad they will be taking to the World Cup.Squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungisani Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn.

Smith has been classified as a Platinum Player – the highest-paid category – alongside the retired South Africa batsman AB de Villiers

Umar Farooq04-Oct-2018Banned Australia captain Steven Smith is among the 500 players to be named in the draft for the fourth edition of Pakistan Super League. Smith has been classified as a Platinum Player – the highest-paid category – alongside the retired South Africa batsman AB de Villiers. ESPNcricinfo understands that David Warner had turned down PSL management’s request to participate in the league.Smith and Warner, who had been banned from playing international and domestic cricket for 12 months by Cricket Australia for their roles in the Newlands ball-tampering incident, have been playing T20 leagues across the globe. The duo featured in the Global T20 in Canada and the Caribbean Premier League before they turned out in grade cricket in Sydney.De Villiers, who retired from all international cricket in May, had confirmed his participation with a tweet in September.Australia’s limited-overs specialist Chris Lynn, who had missed the previous season after dislocating his shoulder, has been retained in Lahore Qalandars’ roster, while Islamabad United have held on to JP Duminy and Andre Russell – although it is unlikely they will be a part of the tournament due to their domestic and national commitments.No official decision has been made yet on Brendon McCullum, a platinum-category player and Lahore Qalandars’ captain for the past two years. ESPNcricinfo understands he could be released from the roster, with the Qalandars’ sights set on Smith or de Villiers. Qalandars have finished bottom of the league in each of the previous three PSL seasons.Afghanistan’s ace spinner Rashid Khan, who is also in the platinum category on Quetta Gladiators’ roster, had missed the last season for the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe. His availability this year depends on Afghanistan Cricket Board’s nod.The retention and trade window in PSL is expected to close in the second week of October, after which all the released players go into the draft. Each squad will need to have at least 16 players apart from four places which are reserved for young and emerging talent.The fourth edition of PSL set to begin on February 14 in Dubai. The last eight games will be held in Pakistan with Karachi set to host the final for the second consecutive year.

Bangladesh aren’t quite getting favourable conditions in Dhaka, even though it is the venue where they play and train the most

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur10-Nov-2018Less than a month after Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza’s called the Mirpur pitch “unpredictable”, their Test captain Mahmudullah has done the same, ahead of their second match against Zimbabwe starting Sunday. While Mashrafe had then said the team was used to the unexpected behaviour of the pitch, Mahmudullah has asked his batsmen to be more sensible in the upcoming Test, especially given their recent poor run with the bat.Bangladesh aren’t quite getting favourable conditions in Dhaka, even though it is the venue where they play and train the most. Since the 2016 Test against England, the Shere Bangla National Stadium was given a “spinners only” tag under the Chandika Hathurusingha doctrine. Even when Bangladesh beat England and Australia, the nature of the pitch did not get a lot of support from the team management and the players because of how the track was prepared against pace bowlers and batsmen.That feeling has remained, particularly at a time when the home batsmen have had a long struggle for runs in Tests. Out of the four Tests in which they have failed to cross 169 runs in a single innings, Dhaka contributed the first two of those eight batting debacles in February, against Sri Lanka. The pitch was ultimately docked one demerit point by the ICC.”The Mirpur wicket is mostly unpredictable,” Mahmudullah said. “You have to adapt if it is not up to your expectation. We will go into this game empty-headed. We have decided not to do certain things. We can do well if we can bat sensibly and stick to our strength as batsmen.”Spinners will get a lot of help in the fourth innings on a slow pitch, so winning the toss is very important. It is a tough wicket, a bit slow. It makes run-making slightly harder. The ball doesn’t quite come to the bat. You have to bat sensibly. You have to stick to your strength and adjust according to the type of bowlers. We have to apply yourselves.”Mahmudullah said that their batting has lacked discipline during this period even though they have done well in other formats. He admitted that his own form, 58 runs in the last eight innings with three ducks, was an area of concern.”I think we are not disciplined enough” he said. “We need heightened focus and concentration in Test cricket. Particularly in slow and spinning wickets where the ball doesn’t come on to your bat, you have to be patient.”I believe in leading from the front. I have to think as a batsman first. I haven’t been scoring in the last three or four Tests so I will try to give my best.”He further said that Mushfiqur Rahim was likely to continue batting at No. 6, mainly because he will keep wickets in this game. “I think ideally he should bat at No. 5 or 6 since he is keeping wickets. Batting can be hard after keeping wickets for 80-90 overs. Maybe the team management is thinking along the same lines, to give him time to be refreshed. His batting is important for us.”There remains a lot of talk around the Mirpur pitch, particularly within the team management. Coach Steve Rhodes and chief selector Minhajul Abedin have held several meetings with BCB high-ups discussing the pitch. Trailing the Test series 1-0, Bangladesh now need to win the second match to avoid a series defeat but here, winning mostly comes at the cost of batsmen’s confidence.

After the offspinner made inroads into Australia’s line-up, the batsman marked his first Test at home with an unbeaten 61 to narrow the deficit to 59

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu06-Dec-2018
R Ashwin’s skill and Travis Head’s patience headlined another day of old-school Test cricket that left the Adelaide Test fascinatingly poised. After Ashwin’s delightful cocktail of drift, dip, and turn undid Australia’s line-up, Head, playing his first Test in the country, rallied with an unbeaten 61 on his home ground to narrow the deficit to 59 at stumps on day two.On their previous tour to Australia in December 2014, India had dropped Ashwin from the first Test, at this venue, and gambled on a more attacking option: a wristspinner in rookie Karn Sharma, who would wind up conceding 238 at a run rate of 4.85 across both innings. Four years later, in the first Test of the series, Ashwin showed his worth in an uninterrupted 22-over spell, where he plucked out three left-handed batsmen and conceded only 38 runs.Runs came in a trickle for Australia – their run rate of 2.17 was their second lowest in the first innings of a home Test since 1990 – but Head was simply immovable. He showed excellent judgment outside off, but latched on to anything that was loose. Case in point: when Ashwin dropped an offbreak short and wide outside off, Head ventured deep in the crease and crunched it to the point boundary. Later, when Ishant Sharma overpitched one outside off, Head bent his back knee and drove it through extra-cover. He reached his fifty off 103 balls in the 73rd over, when he punched a rank half-tracker from part-time offspinner M Vijay to deep cover.3:29

Unbelievable spell from Ashwin to support quicks – Agarkar

However, such looseners were few and far between. After Josh Hazlewood needed just one ball on day two to snaffle Mohammed Shami down the leg side and wrap up India for 250, Ishant struck with his third ball: a full inswinger that felled the off and middle stumps, and Finch for 0. While Ishant found sharp movement in the air, Finch aimed a booming drive and chopped on. Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb were just as culpable of playing loose shots, but there was no denying that the pressure from India was relentless.After the debutant opener Marcus Harris dashed down the track and drove Ashwin down the ground and through the covers for fours, the offspinner scrambled Harris’ judgment of line with late drift. After looping a very full ball outside off, he got it to swerve in and draw an inside edge, which ricocheted off the pad to Vijay at silly mid-off. At the other end, though, the seamers erred in their lengths by bowling short in the lead-up to lunch.Marsh then threw his wicket away in the first over after the break, when he went after a wide offbreak from Ashwin and chopped on for 2. Marsh’s Test scores since his 156 in the Ashes in January read: 40, 24, 26, 16, 7, 3, 2.1:42

All eyes on Head, Bumrah and Rahul for third day – Hodge

Ashwin then found just enough turn and bounce from around the wicket to have Usman Khawaja gloving behind for 28 off 125 balls and left the hosts at 4 for 87. Handscomb, in his first Test in Australia since he was dropped at the end of last year’s Adelaide Test against England, was more secure against Ashwin, often taking trips down the pitch or going right back to negotiate the short balls.His vigil, though, ended when Jasprit Bumrah pushed him back with a brace of short balls and then sucker-punched him with a full ball. And when Tim Paine was dismissed by Ishant for 5, Australia careened to 6 for 127. From an identical score, Cheteshwar Pujara had fashioned a great escape for India on day one. Head, too, threatens something similar, along with the tail, as the battle for the lead heats up.

Former coach warns that West Indies are fully capable of springing another surprise against England in their forthcoming series

Andrew Miller16-Jan-2019Stuart Law, West Indies’ former head coach, believes that England will be “red-hot favourites” going into next week’s first Test in Barbados, but warns that his old side are fully capable of springing another surprise, just as they produced at Headingley two years ago in one of the most sensational run-chases of all time.Law, who oversaw a steady improvement in West Indies’ Test fortunes during his two-year spell in the Caribbean, stepped down from his role in September to take up the vacancy as Middlesex’s head coach.And, while being realistic about West Indies’ hopes of resisting an England team that secured an impressive 3-0 win in Sri Lanka before Christmas, Law was adamant that the players he’s left behind have sufficient skill, experience and determination to rise to their latest challenge.”Don’t underestimate the home team,” Law said. “There’s a core group of senior players who’ve been there for a while and proved that they can do it. If England aren’t on their game, West Indies have the team to make an upset.”England are going in as red-hot favourites but as the underdogs, West Indies have nothing to lose. They aren’t supposed to win, and the Caribbean crowd will tell them they are not supposed to win, and they like proving people wrong as well.”Despite being the stronger team on paper for the best part of two decades, England’s recent record against West Indies leaves plenty to be desired, not least in the Caribbean, where they have not won a series since 2004 and where they lost their most recent Test – coincidentally in Barbados – back in 2015.However, for sheer chutzpah, few results in recent times compare with West Indies’ incredible Headingley upset on the 2017 tour, when Shai Hope – with two hundreds in the match – and Kraigg Brathwaite – with 134 and 95 – helped square the series with one to play after a daunting run-chase of 322.”I think the euphoria of that first Test win in England in 17 years was something that is still being celebrated in the Caribbean,” Law said. “They don’t need much to have a party out there.Miguel Cummins and West Indies coach Stuart Law look on after having a chat in between overs•Getty Images

“Some of the kids who stuck their hand up in that match are still involved now… Hope, Brathwaite, Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel, those guys played their hearts out. Gabriel bowled fast every time he bowled the ball, and the two batters had a dream Test match.”They can do it, that’s the thing. It comes down to self-belief. If they’ve got self-belief they can achieve anything.”Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of that Headingley win was its context. It came only days after England had crushed the same set of players by an innings and 209 runs in a bitterly one-sided first Test.”To come back after Edgbaston in that way, I’d have to say it was the best Test performance I’ve been involved with,” Law said. “The enormity after what happened … you’re like a proud dad, watching the kids have a red-hot dip and all of a sudden they start to play cricket you can only dream of playing.”Not that Law would claim much of the credit for the turnaround, however.”I didn’t have to say much,” he said. “We sat down in the dressing room on [what should have been] day five, and the players just had a meeting. We were there as coaches to facilitate and prompt here and there, but they did all the talking.”They didn’t like it. They got abuse from back home – you should have read some of the social media abuse, and that was coming from their home crowd. It was tough for them, but I didn’t have to say too much. It was about pointing them in the right direction and saying you can go one of two ways. You can fall away and lose the series 3-0, or you can stand up and fight. What do you want to do?”They came up with what they wanted to do, and gave a very honest account of where they were at during that Test match. And once you’ve had that conversation, you are accountable for what you do going forward. They were all accountable at Headingley, and they stuck their hands up.”Stuart Law speaks at his Middlesex unveiling•Getty Images

West Indies’ hopes in the coming series have been boosted by the recall of Darren Bravo, a proven Test-match batsman who played a crucial hand in that Barbados win in 2015. He had been unavailable for most of Law’s spell in the Caribbean after becoming embroiled in the stand-off with CWI over player availability for T20 leagues. However, his return to the fray, says Law, is a sign of progress.”I think there’s been massive improvements,” he said. “Johnny Grave, the CEO, and Jimmy Adams, the director of cricket, have made massive strides to raise the professionalism.”But you can’t rush these disputes. I didn’t really understand the depths, but at times you have to side with the players. I had brief conversations with Darren and he made some very good points.”He’s a high-class player, West Indies could do with his experience, and you’d like to see commitment from other players as well. But the T20 riches are big, and the West Iindies boys are high in demand, so you can’t blame them, even if playing for West Indies is a shop window for these tournaments.”I didn’t blame one player once for choosing T20 cricket over Test cricket. Sure, I was disappointed, as I’d have loved to have them playing for West Indies, but they had other issues to keep to, and supporting their families was one of them.”In fact, supporting his own family was Law’s primary reason for calling an early end to his time with West Indies, and instead seeking out the security that comes with a four-year deal at Middlesex.”I’ve been asked to improve Middlesex’s white-ball cricket which has not been as competitive as it should be for a while so that will be a big focus,” he said. “But not at the expense of the Championship.”We’ve essentially still got the core of a group of players who won the County Championship a couple of years ago so we know they are capable of winning games and getting us back into the first division.”

Former Arsenal and England captain working with PCA to deliver player welfare programme

Andrew Miller12-Mar-2019Almost 30 years have elapsed since Tony Adams, the former England and Arsenal captain, was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment in Chelmsford Prison, after crashing his car into a wall while driving at four times the legal limit.And last week, Adams was back in the city once again, albeit half a mile down the road at Essex’s County Ground, passing on the harsh lessons he learnt in 12 years as an alcoholic, as part of a county-wide education initiative in conjunction with the Professional Cricketers’ Association.”For 12 years I was drinking, and for 11 and a half I didn’t want to stop,” Adams told ESPNcricinfo. “The denial was really strong, and the consequences too, but even a spell in Chelmsford prison down the road didn’t stop me drinking. I came out of prison and drunk and drove again. The denial was still in me and I wasn’t ready.”It is now coming up for 23 years since Adams last touched alcohol, his “drug of choice” for the majority of a storied career which featured more than 500 appearances for Arsenal, as well as 66 England caps, including 15 as captain.And it is now 20 years since he set up his charity, the Sporting Chance Clinic, to provide treatment, counselling and support for sportsmen and women suffering from similar addictions – be it drink, drugs or gambling – as well as anxiety and depression.Endorsed initially by Sir Alex Ferguson – who invited Adams to address his Manchester United squad before the programme was rolled out to all Premier League clubs – Sporting Chance has been working with the Rugby Football League since 2011, and from this season onwards, all 18 county cricket clubs.”Since 2011, we’ve helped about 400 players with our network of counsellors, a treatment centre in Hampshire, a 24-hour helpline and seminars,” said Adams. “They say that 10 percent of the population, or one player at every club, is going to slip on the addiction front and they know where to come.”Adams was addressing the Essex squad on the eve of their pre-season tour of the UAE – the sort of trip that has for years been a byword among sporting teams for excessive behaviour.And while insisting that the differences between football and cricket are as marked as the similarities, Adams recognised that the nature of cricket tours – with their long weeks away from home and lots of down time between engagements – could lend itself to the sort of slippery slope that undermined his own career.”Injuries and holidays were definitely the opportunity for this addict to get absolutely smashed, and the situation around tours and camps, when there’s lots of down time, they are similar,” said Adams. “You don’t have to go to the bottom, there was a spell in my career when football was enough for me, but then it creeps round and you use, and there’s consequences, and you use again, and there are more consequences.”English cricket has recently drawn a line under a difficult 12 months, centred around the Ben Stokes incident in Bristol, but also encompassing a number of drink-related controversies on the 2017-18 Ashes tour.And while Adams wouldn’t be drawn on the lessons that Stokes might have learnt from his brush with career oblivion last year, when he was found not guilty of affray after appearing at Bristol Crown Court, he cited his own career as proof of how easy it can be to ignore the warning signs of self-destructive behaviour.”For the last six to eight months of my drinking career, I didn’t actually want a drink but I was still getting drunk,” he said. “It crossed the line and once it crosses the line there’s no getting back.”And in my day, there was no help. No-one was coming to my football club or cricket club, it just wasn’t done. You shoved it in a box and buried it, or they’d drag you down the pub, and I didn’t need much dragging.”I was unhappy with how I felt,” he added. “I had low self-esteem and self-worth, but a huge ego because, as footballers, you’d be getting massaged as a great player. But off the pitch I felt worthless, a scared little boy.”On three occasions in his career, Adams even took the field drunk – once, against Sheffield United, emerging with the Man-of-the-Match award.”I mistimed the drinking,” he said. “I remember looking out of the window thinking ‘how did that happen?’ I was so confused. There was no point sobering up because I’d have had a complete headache, so I had a couple in the morning.””I said to George [Graham, Arsenal’s manager], ‘I’m not feeling very well’, and he said, ‘thanks for trying’. We’re very good at concealing it and masking the pain and trouble we’re in, and when I got a pat on the back, it was like ‘oh, I got away with that one’.”Adams’ destructive tendencies had a knock-on effect on those around him – and he believes that had he not finally been ready to sober up in time for the arrival of Arsene Wenger in 1996, the new Arsenal coach would have struggled to make his mark on the club.”I was six weeks clean and sober, and when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears,” said Adams. “And if Wenger had come into the club two months before that, I don’t think he would have lasted. I got the last manager sacked, because when the captain’s spending more time in the pub than on the training pitch, I think the coach is let down. I definitely let down Bruce Rioch and I’ve apologised for that.”In the course of an hour-long seminar, delivered by Adams and Ian Thomas, the PCA’s director of development and welfare, the Essex squad were given guidance in how to spot the warning signs, both personally and among team-mates, and how to go about seeking the sort of help that Adams himself recognised he so desperately needed.”We talk about the gift of desperation,” he said, “when the pain gets too much. I didn’t know how to kill myself, but I didn’t want to live. I was confused and bewildered, and in terror, and I never want to go back there.”Self-knowledge didn’t get me sober. It got me to my bottom and as soon as you hit the bottom and surrender, then therapy gets you well and gets you stronger.”It’s about giving someone their life back.”

New Zealand have a temporary coach and uncertain form coming into the three-match series against a powerful home side

Andrew McGlashan21-Feb-2019After a season that has seen them lift the T20 World Cup, Australia are targeting end-of-season success against New Zealand in the three-match one-day series which begins in Perth on Friday.Given the dominance of T20 this season, these are the first ODIs Australia have played since last October when they beat Pakistan 3-0 in Malaysia. They face a New Zealand side that has been left without their coach, Haidee Tiffen, after she stepped down from the tour following a “confronting” review in the wake of the team’s disappointing T20 World Cup campaign.The Rose Bowl, the trophy the two teams play for in ODI series, has been in Australia’s hands for 20 years – New Zealand’s last victory coming on home soil in 1999. They lost the recent series against India 2-1, being bowled out for under 200 in the two defeats, and Australia will be strong favourites to continue their hold on the contest.”We know we probably haven’t produced some of our best results over the last 12-18 months against top-quality sides and it’s something that keeps motivating us to continue to get better,” captain Amy Satterthwaite said. “We go in as underdogs but we excited to be competing against a quality side. We know we’ll have to play as a real unit to get some wins. You look at this side and you look at the players they are leaving out, it just shows the amount of depth Australia has.”Australia will need to make a change at the top of the order with regular opener Nicole Bolton currently taking a break from the game, but there is no shortage of options. Elyse Villani has recovered from the hamstring injury which kept her out of the latter part of the BBL, while Rachael Haynes and Beth Mooney are also vying for the spot alongside Alyssa Healy who recently swept the board at the Australian Cricket Awards.A lot of attention will be on Ellyse Perry following her record-breaking form in the WBBL. In T20 she slipped down the order during the T20 World Cup, but there is no doubt about her role in the ODI format where she averages 49.63 – the third highest for a player with over 2000 runs behind Australia captain Meg Lanning and India’s Mithali Raj.”She’s a lock in at No.4 for us and has been in one-day cricket for a long time,” coach Matthew Mott said. “She really revels in this format and I think she’s evolved her T20 game as well. The Big Bash was exciting to watch, just her taking her game to another level. And she’s been a real leader amongst our group in T20 and you’ll see her at her best here.”They need to decide on the balance of their attack with a recall for left-armer Lauren Cheatle a strong chance in the more pace-friendly conditions of the WACA but it will also be worth keeping an eye on legspinner Georgia Wareham if her opportunities arise. Wareham was named Young Cricket of the Year at the ACA’s having impressed in the Caribbean.”The WACA is renowned for its pace and bounce, that does bring an extra pace bowler into the equation,” Lanning said. “[Cheatle] could play a really big role, she’s been bowling well in nets and coming off good WNCL form as well.”The wicket looks really green out there so that could suit the pace bowling. She’s in a really good spot, she’s bowling as quick as I’ve seen her. I faced her in the nets yesterday and she was swinging it and bowling with good pace which is always really exciting.”New Zealand still rely heavily on the trio of Satterthwaite, Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine to lead their batting. They hope a trump card will be the pace of Lea Tahuhu while Rosemary Mair, who made her international debut in the T20 series against India with promising returns, is in line for her first ODI appearance.Australia squad Meg Lanning (capt), Rachael Haynes, Nicola Carey, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Georgia WarehamNew Zealand squad Amy Satterthwaite (capt), Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu