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Hampshire Hawks won the battle of the two in-form sides in women’s county cricket this summer as three wickets for impressive spinner Bex Tyson set up a commanding Vitality Blast win over Lancashire Thunder at Emirates Old Trafford.Left-armer Tyson returned an excellent season’s best three for 27 from four overs as Thunder scrambled to 122 for eight, including 37 not out off 20 balls for Ailsa Lister. The Hawks then sealed their second successive win at the start of the Blast, this one by eight wickets with one over remaining, as opener Ella McCaughan top-scored with eight fours in an unbeaten career best 68 off 57 balls.Hampshire currently lead the Metro Bank One-Day Cup standings from second-placed Lancashire, both sides having won six from eight in that competition. Thunder also won the Vitality County T20 Cup late last month. Thunder have now won one, lost two in the Blast.McCaughan scored a century in a 50-over win against Lancashire at Southport in April.As one left-arm spinner in Tyson impressed, Lancashire were missing England’s Sophie Ecclestone because of a quad injury.Having been inserted, Thunder were suffocated by some tight Hampshire bowling and excellent fielding, with five of eight wickets falling to spin.They reached only 20 for one after the six-over powerplay.Departing Australian overseas batter Katie Mack – she will be replaced by compatriot leg-spinning all-rounder Alana King from this weekend – was bowled for a five-ball duck as she tried to ramp the seam of Freya Davies.Seren Smale attempted to break free with a couple of boundaries, including one reverse swept off Tyson. But, later in the over, she played on for 20 trying to repeat the dose – 36 for two in the ninth.Opener Tilly Kesteven was run out for 28 and captain Ellie Threlkeld chipped the off-spin of her opposite number Georgia Adams to cover as the hosts stuttered to the 15-over mark at 77 for four.Off-spin struck again as Australian Charli Knott had Fi Morris, for 20, caught at short third attempting a reverse hoick, and Lancashire were in danger of not even reaching 100.They did that, but their total was always unlikely to trouble a Hampshire side who totalled 215 for three in their competition opener against Essex on Friday.Tyson had Tara Norris caught at long-on and bowled Darcey Carter in the 18th over – 99 for seven – before Lister hoisted a couple of late sixes over midwicket. Grace Johnson was then the second home player run out.Maia Bouchier set the tone for a routine chase by clipping the first ball behind square for four, though McCaughan was quickly into her stride as she twice drove the left-arm seam of Norris through the covers in the third over.Grace Potts had Bouchier caught off a top-edge for 12, leaving Hampshire 30 for one in the fourth over. But it already felt like a consolatory strike.Hampshire reached the 10-over mark at 69 for one, with McCaughan on 42.Knott holed out for 21 to Carter’s off-spin shortly before McCaughan, who also hit 68 against Essex last week, reached 50 again. This came off 40 balls.

Taijul Islam sparked Zimbabwe’s batting collapse on the first day of the second Test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, in Chattogram. He took the 16th five-wicket haul of his career, finishing the day with 5 for 60. The visitors were steadily batting at 200 for 4 at one stage, before Taijul got into the act with three quick wickets and a run-out. Zimbabwe eventually finished day one on 227 for 9, a far cry from how positively they had started their innings.Sean Williams top-scored with 67, while Nick Welch got 54, before cramps on his hands forced him off the field shortly after tea. Welch was Taijul’s fifth wicket. Meanwhile, Nayeem Hasan picked up two wickets, and debutant Tanzim Hasan took one.Zimbabwe began brightly, with Brian Bennett striking five boundaries in the first ten overs. He was lucky with the first one, but it was followed by a scrumptious straight drive, and his trademark cover drive. But once again, Bennett got caught behind trying to drive on the up to give Tanzim his first Test wicket.Bangladesh could have had their second in a short span, but Shadman Islam dropped a sitter to give Welch a life in the 14th over. At that time, Welch was on 1. Shortly afterwards, Ben Curran and Welch went on a six-hitting spree. Curran slammed Mehidy Hasan Miraz over midwicket before Welch stunned Tanzim with a pull that produced a sweet sound off the bat. Welch followed it up with a slog-swept six against Mehidy in the following over.Taijul removed Curran shortly afterwards, getting him to inside edge the ball on to his leg stump for 21 off 50 balls. But Zimbabwe consolidated by not losing a single wicket in the second session. Welch, who had struck a few boundaries in the morning, was more circumspect in the afternoon, adding just 22 runs in 77 balls after lunch. Williams, though, dominated their third-wicket partnership, hitting six fours during this time at the crease.Nick Welch and Sean Williams put together a solid partnership for the third wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Williams struck the ball sweetly through the covers for two boundaries, apart from two more through point, and on the leg side each. His only six came against Mehidy, as he skipped down the wicket to deposit him over long-on.Williams and Welch got into a mix-up once in the 33rd over, but Bangladesh messed up the chance with poor communication among themselves. First, the point fielder threw at the wrong end. Wicketkeeper Jaker Ali, to whom the throw went, in turn threw poorly towards the non-striker’s end while Williams struggled to get back. Zimbabwe’s only worry towards the end of the second session was Williams and Welch both suffering cramps. Williams needed attention on his calf and hamstring, while Welch’s hands were cramping up.Welch, however, didn’t last long after tea, when he walked off with cramps after just playing one ball. Nayeem then got into the act, removing the Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine for 5. Williams was next to go, Tanzim taking the catch brilliantly at backward square leg. He struck a six and seven fours in his patient 67 off 166 balls.Bangladesh conceded just 18 runs in the first 16 overs of the final session, before Wessly Madhevere struck a couple of boundaries against Nayeem. Taijul, however, removed Madhevere with a beautiful delivery that spun slightly away, and dismissed him for 15.Taijul continued Zimbabwe’s collapse with the wickets of Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava in the first over with the second new ball. Tafadzwa Tsiga was run-out after falling way short of the crease at the non-striker’s end, before Welch returned to the crease to continue his innings. It didn’t last long, though, as Taijul bowled him to complete his five-for.

Maia Bouchier put her Women’s Ashes woes behind her to strike an attractive 61 to set Hampshire on their way to their first Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition victory.England batter Bouchier only averaged 6.00 in the series defeat to Australia but was fluent in partnership with Ella McCaughan – who impressed with 64 as Hampshire reached 259 for 8.Surrey faltered to 23 for 3 in reply, and although Alice Capsey made 57 and Alice Monaghan a brisk 40, Surrey begun their campaign with back-to-back defeats after falling 50 runs short. Lauren Bell claimed 2 for 43, but it was spinner Linsey Smith who strangled and then disarmed the batters with a sensational 3 for 28.Both teams came into the match on the back of thrilling opening-round matches, with Hampshire dramatically securing a tie against Warwickshire and Surrey falling to a last-ball loss to Somerset.Hampshire – who had chosen to bat first – built off the momentum of their Edgbaston heist with a full-blooded powerplay, Bouchier and McCaughan striking a breezy 57 runs in the first 10 overs.The visitors’ attack had been reduced in the third over when Phoebe Franklin was forced off the field after bowling 10 legal deliveries, one of which was beautifully swung over the ropes by Bouchier.Bouchier had a spring in her step and a renewed punchiness to her batting. Her fifty came in 57 balls, with her milestone brought up with a confident skip and flowing drive through the covers. But she only scored 11 more runs before the 116-run partnership for the first wicket was ended by a sharp Alice Davidson-Richards bumper that was caught behind.McCaughan has been a one to watch on the south coast for some time, having scored six fifties during the Southern Vipers era without truly finding consistency. Her 64 showed off her ability to mix being a top-order anchor while regularly finding the boundary. But she failed to kick on as she yorked herself and was stumped, as spin dominated after the halfway point.Dani Gregory’s introduction added control and brought pressure on the batters, while Capsey bowled Charli Knott an over after she’d dismissed McCaughan. Capsey ended with 2 for 22.Gregory was rewarded for her miserliness by pinning Georgia Adams leg before as Hampshire’s early dreams of 300 dissipated. Kalea Moore picked up two wickets, with Monaghan and a run out preventing Hampshire from totting up a huge total.Rhianna Southby and Abi Norgrove reached the 20s, while Nancy Harman plundered some quick-fire runs, but 259 proved a strong second-half performance from Surrey’s bowlers.Hampshire’s fast bowlers Bell and Freya Davies put the Surrey star-studded top-order in trouble before Smith came on to stifle things. Bell had Bryony Smith splicing to mid-on before bowling Sophia Dunkley with a stunning delivery that kissed the top of off. Davies had Danni Wyatt-Hodge caught at mid-off in a wicket maiden as Surrey languished.Smith began with 13 dot balls before Davidson-Richards powered her for six, only for the left-armer to skid the ball into her pads to dismiss her three balls later.Capsey showed restraint through the collapse and slowly rebuilt with Paige Scholfield but their 35 runs stand was broken when Scholfield ran herself out.Monaghan entered to supercharge the match. The allrounder smashed 40 off 42 balls, including two sixes, while Capsey continued to occupy the crease.Smith’s return saw Monaghan and Kira Chathli caught and bowled and while Capsey’s half-century arrived in 81 balls but she swiped at Davies and was caught at mid-on. Bex Tyson had Franklin lbw before Gregory was run out at the non-striker’s end after Tyson dropped a catch onto the stumps to end the match.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) must “accept reality” and focus on getting the most out of their current squad rather than make drastic changes just four games into IPL 2025, in the opinion of former CSK batter Ambati Rayudu.CSK are currently ninth on the points table with only one win in four games. On Tuesday, they will aim to end a run of three losses when they take on Punjab Kings in Mullanpur.”They’re trying to compare this CSK team to erstwhile CSK teams, which have been really good and won tournaments,” Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut. “When you see it like-for-like, players in the past compared to now, I’d say they’re not the same. It’s very difficult to replace a certain player with a certain player. They have to accept reality and get the best out of what they have. That’s where I feel they seem confused and can’t get their combinations right.Related

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• Stats – CSK go six years without chasing a 180-plus target

“Players [like Deepak Hooda or Rahul Tripathi who have been dropped three games in] they thought would deliver in certain numbers, certain positions, they haven’t been able to do that. It’s quite an uphill task for them going [deep] into the season. I feel they will come back strong once they get their combination and personnel right.”Rayudu, a three-time IPL champion with CSK, said that conditions and pitches should be the least of CSK’s worries. They lost two out of their three home games, both heavy defeats to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC). Coach Stephen Fleming has pointed to the lack of home advantage at Chepauk for a few years now.”The pitch they’re playing on is tailor made for Chennai. It’s just that they’ve not been able to execute well, and batters have come up short,” Rayudu said. “I feel they can drop one of their two really good weapons. Noor Ahmad or [Matheesha] Pathirana – should sit out to boost their batting. It’s a luxury they may not afford at this point, but one of them has to sacrifice for [Jamie] Overton.”Sanjay Bangar, the former India batting coach, said CSK’s struggles at the top of the order were having a ripple effect on the rest of the batting line-up, including key players like Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni in the lower-middle order. So far, CSK have been the slowest-scoring team in IPL 2025.Ruturaj Gaikwad has had to come in at No. 3 in the second over in three out of four games. Opener Tripathi was dropped after three matches, while Hooda was axed after two. In total, CSK have used 17 players, including all seven of their overseas options – a stark departure from their usual strategy of maintaining continuity.”The top order not getting runs is one of the issues,” Bangar said. “Shivam Dube not being the Dube of the last couple of seasons is an issue. MS-Jadeja at the stage they are, more so MS, I’m not expecting him to come up and do a bulk of the scoring in the last six-seven overs.”Bangar said there was little more that could be done in terms of tweaking their combination. “It seems right, what they’ve now arrived at after the first three experimental games. In the fourth game, I felt their combination was just about right. It’s a matter of the batting coming together and giving them runs at the top to get the confidence back.”1:49

Rayudu: CSK’s best shot is for Gaikwad to open

In the lower order, Dhoni has struggled to hit sixes like he did last season. When asked about Jadeja’s form and whether he had passed his prime as a batter, Rayudu felt he still had plenty to offer.”I won’t say that,” Rayudu said. “He’s someone who is really fit, actually has come into his own in the last five-six years. He’s been a brilliant batsman, which we’ve not seen in his early years, [we’ve seen him] play some match-winning knocks chasing, specially playing in those 16-20 overs period. That’s the period ideally for Jadeja and Dhoni if they bat, they’ll be much more effective than coming in overs 10-14, it’s not their strength.”Rayudu also defended CSK’s methods when asked if they had not done enough to nurture young talent over the years.”Generally, we’ve seen over the years teams that have come up with lot of youngsters and have gone nowhere,” he said. “MI brought in, bred youngsters, but one at a time not four-five at a time. Fans are emotional, they want results immediately. You’ve got to believe in process when things are not going well. This has worked for many years; they’ve done well. Have a little bit of patience, trust the management. A little bit of freedom and things will turn around.”

Nathan McSweeney would grab the opportunity to play county cricket if a chance arose as he pushes to try and win back a spot in Australia’s side with one of the opening slots still to be locked in for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.McSweeney, 25, began the summer debuting as Australia’s Test opener at the the start of the Border-Gavaskar series but was dropped after three Tests for Sam Konstas having run aground against Jasprit Bumrah, scoring just 72 runs in six innings.He was taken on the tour of Sri Lanka but ran the drinks as the spare batter ahead of Konstas who was also left out and sent home to play in the Sheffield Shield with Travis Head moving up to open and Josh Inglis sliding into the middle-order.Related

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• O'Neill, Boland share nine as McSweeney shines in Junction arm wrestle

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Head will move back to No. 5 for the WTC final leaving a vacancy at the top of the order but Cameron Green’s impending return as batter means Australia’s selectors have a challenge in finding room for him while also finding an opener to partner Usman Khawaja.McSweeney made a gritty 60 off 199 balls for South Australia against a Victoria attack featuring Scott Boland, who took four wickets on a green pitch at the Junction Oval on Friday. Speaking at the end of play, McSweeney was asked whether he felt like the opening spot in the WTC final was a way back into the Test team.”I don’t know,” he said. “All I can do is make runs and get back to being a consistent run-scorer which is what got me the opportunity in the first place. So wherever my spot is, if the opportunity comes I’m happy to bat wherever. And I think my game is suited to that. All I can focus on now is trying to punch out some runs. Hopefully that means South Australia in a Shield final,”He will get a second innings in this game before South Australia host Queensland in the final round of the season. That game and a possible final will be his only playing opportunities before the WTC final unless an opportunity in England presented itself.Nathan McSweeney was dropped after three Tests against India•Getty Images

“I’d love to get over and play some county cricket but at this stage I’m just staying in Adelaide,” McSweeney said. “I haven’t looked too much past the next couple of weeks for us. It’s massive for South Australia. So hopefully we can nail the end of this game and the next couple of weeks leading into hopefully a Shield final. But post that I’d love to head overseas and keep working on my game.”McSweeney’s 60 was a welcome return to some run-scoring form. It was just his third first-class innings since being dropped from the Test side in mid-December having scored 20 and 7 in South Australia’s last game against Tasmania. But he had also registered scores of 28, 8 and 7 in South Australia’s final three 50-over games in the Dean Jones Trophy, which they won in emphatic style thanks in part to his role with the ball in the final.”It was nice to spend some time middle,” McSweeney said. “It’s been a little bit of a stop start season for me, I guess, and I haven’t played heaps of cricket. Not the score I would have liked. But it’s nice to spend some time out there and face plenty of balls and hopefully I can get make use of that in the second innings and really come out and hopefully score a bit more freely.”The selectors were pleased with what he showed technically and temperamentally in his first three Test matches but there were concerns over his scoring limitations, which ultimately was the reason why they opted to omit him. His innings at the Junction Oval perfectly incapsulated both the positives and the negatives of his game.He showed outstanding defensive skill and decision-making to withstand Test-quality spells from Boland but struggled to rotate the strike, particularly in the evening session on day one when he was 9 off 52 balls and the morning session on day two. He got busier and more proactive as the innings wore on before nicking a good delivery from Victoria seamer Fergus O’Neill who also probed with unerring accuracy all innings to claim five wickets.McSweeney’s brief taste of Test cricket has shown him that he needs to keep trusting the foundations of his game but add some different scoring options.”A little bit of both,” McSweeney said. “I think I know a method that works in Shield cricket for me, but you’re also trying to keep learning, keep getting better. And from my experiences in Test cricket, there’s definitely some learnings to try and add and scenarios where I can tinker with my game to hopefully be better for it.”I think it’s also important to know what worked for me leading into that and what makes me a good player. So it’s been an enjoyable last couple of months, a challenging one, no doubt, but I definitely like to think I’m better for it.”McSweeney confirmed that in-form wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey would return to South Australia’s line-up for the Shield final if they get there but confirmed that Head would be unavailable due to IPL duties.

Sam Konstas showned his character with a classy response to being dropped for the first Test against Sri Lanka, said Australia selector on duty Tony Dodemaide.Dodemaide stopped short of guaranteeing Konstas would reclaim his opening spot for the home Ashes next summer but insisted the star teenager remained part of succession plans for an ageing Australian squad.Australia cited Travis Head’s form as an opener on the last subcontinent tour in 2023 for the “difficult” decision to oust Konstas from the top of the order in Galle.Related

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Konstas turned heads with his aggressive approach in his first two Tests to help seal a rare series victory over India, but has not toured the subcontinent before.The 19-year-old was seen congratulating Josh Inglis’ family as the previously uncapped West Australian took his spot in the XI for the first of two Tests in Galle.After being told he would be dropped, Konstas offered to arrive at the ground early for day one on Wednesday to help with preparations.”There’s a lot to like and be impressed about Sam,” Dodemaide said. “One of the things is his ability to take things in his stride. It’s remarkable really, whether it’s playing in front of 90,000 and Jasprit Bumrah at the MCG or getting told that you’re left out of the Test.  He was like, ‘Oh yeah mate, no stress. I get it’.”Konstas memorably slapped the world’s best paceman Bumrah around the ground in Melbourne as he scored a half-century in his first Test dig on Boxing Day. He then partnered with Usman Khawaja to ignite the series-winning run chase at the SCG.But Dodemaide would not guarantee Konstas would be able to reprise his heroics during the next home series, with two Sri Lanka Tests, the World Test Championship final and a West Indies tour to play out before then.”We won’t pre-empt what’s happening there,” Dodemaide said. “But clearly he’s done a lot right hasn’t he?”We’re looking for those successor players to come in, there will be some turnover naturally in the next couple of years or so and he’s very much staked a claim.”Selectors will also not rule out Konstas returning to the XI in the second and final Sri Lanka Test, pending the result in the first.”He’s a hugely talented player, hasn’t played a lot in this part of the world but he’ll learn quickly obviously,” Dodemaide said.”The opportunity to have him here, not to say that Test two is out of the question obviously depending on what happens here, but the opportunity to give Nathan McSweeney, Cooper Connolly and even now Ollie Peake [on the tour as a development player] is an investment in the future.”The call to drop Konstas sparked criticism from Australia’s most prolific Test runscorer Ricky Ponting, who had previously called for him to retain his spot.”There is a real missed opportunity for the Australians here to get to learn a bit more about Sam Konstas,” the former Test captain said on Channel Seven.”If he is the player we all think he is, I would have loved to have seen him work out a way to play spin in tough conditions in Sri Lanka over the next couple of weeks.”Dodemaide said Australia needed to prioritise a first series win in Sri Lanka since 2011 even if the side had already qualified for the WTC final.”A lot of the narrative has been around this tour doesn’t matter. It really does, it’s Test cricket. That’s our priority,” he said.

Sri Lanka have named a largely unchanged 16-man T20I squad to travel to New Zealand later this month. Only Dunith Wellalage misses out from the squad that faced the same opposition at home last month. The team is expected to leave for New Zealand on December 20.While no reason has been cited for Wellalage’s omission, it is likely that his spin-bowling attributes would have been less useful in New Zealand’s more seam-friendly conditions. Wellalage is currently taking part in the Lanka T10 tournament for Jaffna Titans.Apart from Wellalage, Sri Lanka’s team – led by Charith Asalanka – has a familiar feel. Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Perera, Kamindu Mendis and Asalanka comprise the primary batting options, while Chamindu Wickramasinghe is in line to play a more prominent role than on recent tours as the sole seam-bowling allrounder.

NZ vs SL, T20I series

Dec 28 – 1st T20I in Mount Maunganui
Dec 30 – 2nd T20I in Mount Maunganui
Jan 2 – 3rd T20I in Nelson

Notably, Bhanuka Rajapaksa retained his position in the squad despite middling performances in the recent Abu Dhabi T10, as well in Sri Lanka’s last series against New Zealand. While another curious retention is Dinesh Chandimal, who, despite being named in recent squads, last played a T20I in February 2022.Wickramasinghe will supplement a varied seam attack consisting of Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando and Binura Fernando. Spinners Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Jeffrey Vandersay round out the squad.The first two T20Is will take place in Mount Maunganui on December 28 and 30, before the action moves to Nelson for the final match on January 2.

Sri Lanka squad for T20I series in New Zealand

Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando, Binura Fernando

Madeline Penna starred with the bat before Tahlia McGrath finished the job with the ball as Adelaide Strikers posted a 38-run win over Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL on Saturday.Bottom-placed Strikers made 140 for 7 in the game at Adelaide Oval thanks largely to Penna’s 60 off 40 balls. In reply, Hurricanes were bowled out for 102 in 15.2 overs, with Elyse Villani (44 off 39) the top-scorer in an otherwise horror batting display. Strikers captain McGrath (4 for 13) starred with the ball, while Megan Schutt (2 for 14) and Anesu Mushangwe (2 for 18) were also crucial.Hurricanes opener Lizelle Lee entered the match on the back of scores of 150 not out and 103. But she was out caught behind for just eight in the second over when she attempted to belt Orla Prendergast down the ground.They were, however, on track for victory at 63 for 1 in the ninth over, but a collapse of nine wickets for 39 runs spelt the end for them. The result left third-placed Hurricanes nursing a 4-4 record with just two games remaining before the finals.Strikers (2-6) are still last, but the defending champions were happy after finally snapping their five-match losing run.”It’s been a long time coming, and it’s so good we can get a win,” Penna told . “To get it at home in front of our fans is so nice. We have really loyal fans here. Sometimes when you’re losing, you don’t have those people who back you. But we know our fans here at Adelaide back us in whether we’re winning or losing. It’s really good we could get a win for them.”McGrath was also thrilled with the win. “It’s been a really tough season,” she said. “We haven’t quite been up to our standard, and cricket is a brutal game when you’re not at your standards.”We’re still trying to get something out of this season. It is really tough at times, but it’s easy to smile when you have games like that.”Strikers were in all sorts of trouble at 45 for 4 after eight overs when Penna strolled to the crease. Things were still precariously placed at 109 for 6 in the 16th over when Penna was dropped on 44. She received another life – on the same score – and made the most of it by guiding Strikers to the full 20 overs.Penna’s innings, which featured six fours and two sixes, only came to an end when she was run out on the final ball.

Marcus Harris believes he’s ready to go if the selectors call on him to open the batting in the first Test against India in Perth, and feels he’s well-equipped to handle it after performing well under pressure for Australia A.Harris, 32, produced a gritty 74 on another difficult day of batting at the MCG against India A, when the next highest Australia A score was 35 from No. 10 Corey Rocchiccioli, as the other Test contenders failed to impress in the final game before the Test squad is announced.Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey was at the MCG with the Australia A team but is yet to confirm to Harris or anyone else who will get the nod for Australia’s Test squad.However, it appears more than likely that both Harris and Nathan McSweeney will be named in an expanded squad that may feature 13 players including a spare batter and a spare bowler.Harris was asked after play on day two whether he felt he had done enough to earn a call-up and he was typically pragmatic about it. “I don’t know, it’s a good question,” he said. “I think, externally obviously this game was getting built up a lot, which is fair enough. I feel like I’ve been batting well, but so have lots of other people.”So if I get called upon I feel like I’m ready to go, and if I don’t, then so be it. I feel pretty well-equipped. I think maybe if I was in this position 12 months ago, I probably wouldn’t have been able to perform the way I have at the start of this season. My results last year probably said that. So I’ve been proud of that.”Harris is the only player in the Australia A squad to have opened the batting in both matches against India A. He opened alongside Sam Konstas in the first game in Mackay for scores of 17 and 36 before opening alongside McSweeney in the second. Harris said the selectors hadn’t said a lot to him in the lead-up to either game.Related

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“They just said that I’ll open in the first game and we’re not really sure what’s going to happen with the second game,” Harris said. “So I don’t know if that was the plan.”Harris said the second game had provided a few more clues on the selectors’ thoughts but he was not reading too much into it given his previous experiences with Australia A and Prime Minister’s XI selection.”It was probably pretty obvious what was happening,” Harris said. “You’d have to ask them, to be honest. You never know. Like last year, for example, we had the bat-off in Canberra, and they picked Renners [Matt Renshaw] who was batting at three. So, yeah, I don’t know.”Harris said he learnt a lot from last summer’s experience where he entered the home season appearing to be in a race to replace David Warner. That has been evidenced by his performances, having posted scores of 143 and 52 in the first Sheffield Shield game of the summer as well as 63 in a One-Day Cup game and 74 against India A. He also believes the media and public scrutiny has not felt any more intense.”No, honestly, it hasn’t,” Harris said. “I think this time I’ve probably embraced it a little bit more than what I have before. I think in the past I’ve probably tried to really try to avoid it. That probably builds it up a little bit more, whereas this time, I’ve probably just taken it as it’s come at me and accepted it for what it is. I think I might have said maybe a couple weeks ago at the Junction Oval, I could probably write all the articles that are going to be written in the next couple of weeks. So none of the stuff that comes out is surprising, which, I think, anytime you go through things more often, you get more used to it, more equipped to deal with it. I’m probably just more experienced at it.”Marcus Harris scored a century in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania last month•Getty Images

Harris has certainly matured with his game. In times past, he might have tried to blast his way to a score on a surface as treacherous as the one that has been presented at the MCG. But he struck just one boundary on the second day. What has been noticeable this season has been his improved ability to rotate the strike and score with control, picking off a lot more singles and twos than he might have done in the past. He credited his Victoria coach Chris Rogers, former Australia Test opener, with imprinting a simple message on him at the start of the season.”If the wicket’s doing a little bit, [he said] you don’t always have to look to hit it for four, look to hit it for two. And it was just something simple that sort of resonated with me a little bit,” Harris said. “I think a lot of the times when you do well on wickets like that, you actually spend a lot of time down the other end.”Harris did note he needed some luck, having played and missed a lot and edged one short of the wicketkeeper on the opening night. He also had a huge slice of luck when he was given not out on 48 – he tried to turn offspinner Tanush Kotian to the leg side and the ball deflected to slip. India A were convinced it came off the edge but the umpire thought it was pad.”I hit my pad on the way through,” Harris said. “Hence why I stood my ground. Then the umpire gave it not out, so I was like, I don’t know. But then we watched the replay and I think the boys said they watched it 20 times and you couldn’t really tell. So the god’s honest truth was I wasn’t sure. But if they reviewed it and said you’d hit it and got caught, I would have [thought] fair enough.”It just went my way.”

The PCB’s much-trailed ‘connection camp’ ended on Monday with what officials said was a roadmap to bring the game out of the doldrums it finds itself in at the moment.Officials and the team management, including both head coaches Jason Gillespie and Gary Kirsten, described a day of open and robust conversations, including about the lack of unity within the national side, with the two national captains, Shan Masood and Babar Azam, and a group of other players.The camp was organised as Pakistan stutter through one of the bleakest periods in their history, with administrative tumult begetting a succession of disastrous on-field results. Over the last year, Pakistan have lost to Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup, to USA at the T20 World Cup and most recently 2-0 to Bangladesh in a home Test series.Related

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Speculation has been rife throughout of growing differences in the dressing room, building from last year but propelled this year by the appointment and swift removal of Shaheen Shah Afridi as Pakistan’s T20I captain, and the return of Babar Azam as the T20I captain. Kirsten, the white-ball coach, is said to have been surprised by the degree of it when he first took up the job.Salman Naseer, the PCB’s chief operating officer, acknowledged that a lack of unity had been part of the discussions, not just within the team but between the board and players.”The session was about this, that we openly and candidly accept and identify [issues] and ask for a commitment from each other, demand it, on how we can improve our performances and how we work together as a team,” Naseer said at a press conference in Lahore after the camp ended. “Our unanimous view was that we need to resolve this going forward and need to identify how we do it.”Naseer did not go into the details of the discussions, saying that providing a “safe space” was essential in allowing people to open up. But tension between players and the board has also been building, especially after a number of top stars were denied NOCs to participate in leagues over the summer. Afridi, Babar, Mohammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah were all prevented from playing in leagues before the start of Pakistan’s home season, with workload management the primary reason cited by the board.”Where the talk is of unity, it wasn’t only about the team,” Naseer acknowledged. “It was between the team and management and how we can work together to do things more successfully. These were definitely part of the discussions. We talked about planning, we talked about workload management.”Everyone is feeling that the performances of players, and management, can be better. The idea was to sit together, identify issues and what can be better. What our vision is and how do we get there?”The camp is not believed to have brought up the more immediate questions facing the Pakistan side, in the immediate aftermath of the loss to Bangladesh and with England’s imminent arrival for a three-Test series in October. But Kirsten, who has been in Pakistan for the last 12 days watching the Champions Cup, struck a note of optimism in praising the depth of talent in Pakistan – in contrast to the chairman Mohsin Naqvi’s recent observations on the same.”I’ve been here the last 12 days or so watching the Champions Cup and have been really encouraged at the depth of quality of players in this tournament,” Kirsten said. “It’s been fantastic to see. I’ve really enjoyed the tournament. The quality of the competition has been high. Been great to see a lot of young players showcasing what they are capable of.”The discussions will continue, according to Gillespie. “Because we’re new to the job, our job is to listen and learn and look to implement ways where we can be more effective as players, as a team, and as coaches. What was really clear today was the pride the Pakistan players have in playing for Pakistan and how they want to inspire the country. That was really exciting to hear. The players care and are desperate to do well. We’re on this journey together and we’ll do everything we can to help.”