Eng vs Pak, T20Is - Jason Roy set to miss out for Pakistan T20I tour, T20 World Cup

Jason Roy is expected to be the high-profile omission from England's T20I squad for next month's tour of Pakistan, and thereafter the T20 World Cup in Australia in October, after failing to emerge from a season-long form slump.

Roy, 32, was an integral influence within the white-ball dressing-room under Eoin Morgan's leadership, and a mainstay of the side from the moment of his debut in the wake of the 2015 World Cup. His uncompromising aggression at the top of the order has yielded nearly 5,500 white-ball runs in 171 appearances, including 1,522 at 24.15 and a strike rate of 137.61 in T20Is, and has been crucial in dictating the team's proactive approach - one that ultimately delivered glory at the 2019 50-over World Cup.

However, Roy has struggled for form this summer, with just 78 runs at 12.66 in six T20Is, and at a subdued strike rate of 77.55. A century in the third ODI against Netherlands in Amstelveen in June boosted his ODI numbers, but he failed to reach fifty in five further appearances against India and South Africa.

England's T20I squads are due to be announced on Friday. Jos Buttler - Morgan's successor - is still recuperating from the calf injury he sustained during Manchester Originals' Hundred captain, and will only come into contention for the second half of the tour, with Moeen Ali likely to deputise at the start of the series. Roy, however, is understood to have informed his Oval Invincibles team-mates that he has missed out on selection.

Given the huge regard with which Roy is held in England's white-ball set-up, he could have rescued his place in the team with a strong showing for Invincibles in this year's Hundred. However, he began his campaign disastrously with three ducks in four innings, while his haul of 51 runs at 8.50 culminated in a tortuous 21 from 19 balls against Birmingham Phoenix.

He missed Invincibles' last two matches of the competition after suffering stiffness in his lower back, including Wednesday night's decisive loss to Originals at Old Trafford, and finds his place in the England squad for the Pakistan tour taken by his domestic opening partner, Will Jacks, whose impressive run of form included a century against Southern Brave. Another of Roy's Invincibles team-mates, Jordan Cox - a star of Kent's T20 Blast victory last summer - is also understood to be under consideration as a potential bolter for that trip.

Will Smeed, who scored the Hundred's first century - also against Brave - is another name in the frame but it is Phil Salt who seems most likely to get first crack at replacing him, initially in Pakistan and then in Australia.

Among the current incumbents, Dawid Malan's stellar returns at the top of the order for Trent Rockets - a tournament-high 358 runs at 59.66 and a strike-rate of 172.11 - are likely to earn him a promotion to open at some stage of the Pakistan tour after his prolonged run at No. 3 in England's T20I side.

Alex Hales, Malan's opening partner at Rockets, and a player who has been blackballed by England ever since he failed two recreational drugs tests on the eve of the 2019 World Cup, has also been mentioned for a recall. After several years of impressive displays on the global T20 circuit, Hales this summer became the first English player to pass 10,000 runs in the format.

However, even with Morgan - his most ardent critic - now retired, a rapprochement under the new regime of Buttler and Matthew Mott seems an outside bet. It is understood no discussions have taken place between Hales and the England set-up, and there is little appetite for Hales to be recalled among senior players in the group.

Another likely absentee from the Pakistan squad will be England's Test captain, Ben Stokes, who retired from ODI cricket this summer in a bid to focus on the other two international formats. His immediate priority, however, is the forthcoming Test series decider against South Africa at the Kia Oval next week, which concludes just days before the team is due to depart for their seven-match tour of Pakistan.

On the bowling front, the uncapped left-arm quick Luke Wood is likely to make his England debut in Pakistan, having been an unused squad member in the Netherlands earlier this year. He has bowled with pace and penetration throughout Rockets' run to the Hundred final, with nine wickets at 24.33, and is likely to be among an abundance of seam options in an enlarged, 19-man squad.

Mark Wood, who has missed the whole English summer through injury, is also in line for his comeback and will train with the Test squad at the Kia Oval this week as part of his preparation. A 19-man squad to tour Pakistan will be named on Friday morning, along with a 15-man squad (plus three reserves) for the T20 World Cup and the three Australia T20Is which precede it. Among those reserves will be Tymal Mills, who featured in the last T20 World Cup in the UAE but has been out of action since undergoing toe surgery earlier this month.

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Eng vs SA, Test series

No further details have been provided about their itinerary except that they will "stay together as a group" and engage in team activities including golf rather than have individual time away, as was initially discussed. Speaking after the second Test, Dean Elgar said they would use the time to reconnect, to "pull ourselves towards ourselves", and "don't forget why we are here".

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Eng vs SA, 2nd Test - New bowler, new ball

On Wednesday, on the eve of the second Test against South Africa, Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad were driving back to the team hotel after a round of golf at The Mere Golf Resort & Spa. It was here that Broad first heard he would not be taking the new ball at Emirates Old Trafford.

He wasn't told, expressly. Instead, his captain floated the idea to the 36-year-old, whose last appearance as the third seamer in a home first innings was 100 Tests ago, at Trent Bridge in the 2013 Ashes Test. Broad had a think and quickly agreed the logic was sound.

The response from Broad was to be expected for one who thrives on proving a point. His 3 for 37 in the first innings after being introduced first-change included Proteas skipper Dean Elgar. He ended up being the fifth option in the second innings, following an early foray for the spinners, but accounted for Aiden Markram, whom he'd earlier missed out on after overstepping.

He now has 559 Test dismissals, four short of his hero Glenn McGrath who sits fifth on the all-time list. It's not always the case that someone so decorated is so accommodating - indeed there have been times in the past when Broad might have contested the notion. But he took the demotion with grace, and Stokes lauded his senior man: "For Broady to understand the bigger picture about why I wanted that to be the option was an absolute credit to him."

What helped Broad see the bigger picture was that Stokes wanted to give the new ball to Ollie Robinson. Of all the quicks he has seen come through the changing-room door, Broad regards Robinson as one of the most skilful, which makes sense given that James Anderson was already inside when Broad himself walked in back in 2007. Despite Robinson being recalled for just his 10th Test, and his first since Hobart in January, Broad knew his team-mate was the better option.

The prospect of this switch emerged after the England Lions match against South Africa at Canterbury, where the feedback to the main group was of Robinson's joy against Sarel Erwee. After missing the series opener at Lord's, and getting match-ready in the shadow of England's innings defeat, the cord was pulled in Manchester to great effect.

Robinson was unlucky to just take just the one wicket for 48 on day one - "he was on the best none-for that I've ever seen," Stokes said at the post-match presentations - but bagged England's best figures of the match on day three, with 4 for 43 as South Africa folded for 179 to confirm defeat and make it 1-1 going into the final match at The Oval.

As it happens, despite the seed of an idea being planted at the start of August, and revealed to Broad on Wednesday, Robinson was only informed he was opening from the Brian Statham End after Elgar had won the toss on Thursday morning and opted to bat first.

"I got told 10 minutes before we were going out I was taking the new ball," Robinson said on Saturday night, "and then got the nod as we walked onto the field.

"I was buzzing because I feel that's my strength - making the batsman play as much as possible with the new ball. So it was a nice confidence booster from Stokesy and Baz as well."

Ollie Robinson says he has become a 'gym freak' in the months since his previous Test appearance in the Ashes•Getty Images

For the 28-year-old, who now boasts 44 dismissals at 20.93 at Test level, this felt like the turning of a page in a 14-month international career that has already been punctuated with controversy and misfortune. Of the 10 matches he has missed since making his debut at Lord's against New Zealand at the start of the 2021 home season, one was due to a suspension after the emergence of historic offensive tweets, three were because he was not fit enough to cope with the rigours of a Test winter, and the four at the start of this summer were due to a combination of Covid-19, back troubles and a dental issue.

"It's been a tough six months with injury and a few doubts about myself," Robinson said. "So it's really satisfying to get the win here and make a decent contribution at the end.

"I've tried to keep my head up, be quite positive and try to work as hard as I can to just get back into this environment. I was chuffed to be in this squad before we played the first Test, and to play this one I was over the moon. It's just great to be back and that winning feeling - you just can't beat it."

The overriding narrative around Robinson has been about fitness, something made public during the Ashes. Bowling coach Jon Lewis said Robinson needed to be fitter after struggling in the fifth Test of the 4-0 defeat, stating: "He's got to get used to understanding what it takes to be a full-time year-round international cricketer."

It was a statement that resonated beyond the dressing-room because of the implication that Robinson was not as professional as he should be. But there were also some who felt the public chastising was not the best approach. Robinson, however, accepts nothing said was incorrect, and that Lewis, who remains part of the backroom staff but will be moved back to the ECB pathways at the end of the summer, was not saying anything he hadn't told Robinson in private. Since working together at Sussex, the pair have a strong relationship.

"It's not easy but we're an honest group," Robinson said. "I took that on the chin and took it as a wake-up call as well. So I've used that to drive me forward in the last six months and, when times have got tough, I've just used that as a drive to try and keep positive.

"I've always had that positive mindset that I would get back," he added. "I think people don't realise that me and Jon go back quite a long way. He was my bowling coach at Sussex for three, four years. So we do have that honest relationship. It's just hasn't obviously come out in the press before, but we do have that honest relationship where we can say what we feel and how we felt and we just moved on after that. We spoke about it, moved on, and like I said it drove me for the last six months to get to this place today."

It is a place where, now, training no longer feels like a chore. "I've become a bit of a gym freak," he added with a smile, "which I never thought I'd say.

"I wake up in the morning and I'm like, I've really got to go to the gym. Yeah, so it's become a bit of a habit, whereas before it was a chore and I think that's really helped me as well. The running three times a week, the gymming three times a week, it's just ingrained in me now, which hopefully will help for years to come."

The real change has been one of mindset rather than diet and behaviour, something triggered by chats with Stokes during the period in which Robinson was sidelined. Much of that was of the standards expected, but there was empathy, too. Stokes used himself as an example of someone who did not fully appreciate the importance of fine-tuning your body until later in his career.

Stuart Broad took his demotion to first-change with grace and produced a vital first-innings spell•AFP/Getty Images

"When he first started international cricket he wasn't in the shape he is now, and I spoke to him about how he got there - mentally, physically, the lot. And he really helped me in that stage of building back to this point today. Along with the England medical team and everyone behind the scenes, they really helped me. I'm not there yet, I'm not the finished article at all, but we're well on the way of getting there hopefully."

Robinson regards the last six months as something of a blessing in disguise. An intense first half of his career has given way to a much quieter one in which he has been able to improve his numbers without a ball in his hand.

"We've got obviously the last Test and then we've probably got six, seven weeks again before Pakistan," he said. "So I have the opportunity again to go to the next level again. So that's what I'm thinking at the moment, just using that time as wisely as I can to improve myself as best I can."

This realisation, authentic if overdue and all the more welcome for it, comes at a crucial juncture for the life cycle of this England side. As much as there has been a reinvigoration of Anderson and Broad, quite how long both have left is a constant fear, even if the pair state they are as happy and as willing as ever.

Beyond their world-class ability is longevity, which has offered England an earthing, even in troubled times. And while they are still around, Robinson says he will absorb as much of their knowledge as possible while also working out how he might replicate their endurance, popularity and, ultimately, legacy.

"Watching them two is so inspirational for me." he said. "That's how I want to be: I want the crowd cheering my name and that's what I'm driving to do.

"I had a point today when I was fielding at mid-off and I thought 'I don't want to do this for 18 months. I want to do this for five, six years' and I feel more driven today than I did at the start of my career. I feel in such a good headspace now, after this week's game, I can drive on and push on a lot more."

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo

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Eng vs SA 2nd Test 2nd day

Ben Foakes admits fitting into this new England men's Test side can be a struggle but hopes Test century number two is a sign he is going about it the right way.

Foakes finished unbeaten on 113 on day two against South Africa at Old Trafford, as the hosts declared on 415 for 9 to establish a first-innings lead of 264. While it was by no means the kind of aggressive innings we have become used to under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the Surrey wicketkeeper reaching three figures from 206 deliveries, it was a vital contribution when England needed it most.

It was an especially helpful knock alongside Stokes, who scored 103, as the pair put on 173 for the sixth wicket. Having come in on 147 for 5, still trailing the Proteas by four, the absorption of pressure and the subsequent accumulation of runs, which sped up when Foakes was batting with the tail, was a nod to a lot of introspection and hard work paying dividends for the 29-year-old.

His first century came in his first innings in this format, back in November 2018 in Sri Lanka. Since then, he has established himself as a reliable No. 5 for Surrey: seven of his now 13 first-class hundreds have come for the county - he began his career at Essex, for whom he has three - at an average of 43. While he struggled at first to truly get to grips with batting lower for England, and adopting an altogether different mindset, this was a sizeable step in the right direction.

"It's a different role, at Surrey I just bat five and just play," Foakes said. "When you get on quite challenging wickets batting at seven, obviously there's a good chance you lose wickets quickly and you have to play a different way. I think for me it's learning how to do that as well as I can. Just because it's not my natural game. Finding a way to be able to, quite early on in my innings, put pressure back on the bowler rather than just batting.

"When I bat at five hundreds are definitely something I think about, but at seven I think more about just trying to contribute because obviously you're not going to get as many opportunities to get a hundred. If I can get 40 with the tail and dominate that partnership, that's my job. Getting a big partnership here and getting a century definitely gives me some confidence going forward."

There was palpable relief at getting another significant score on the board 14 Tests and four years later, not just with the celebration of fist pumps to himself before receiving a warm embrace from his partner at the time, Ollie Robinson, and the appreciation of a packed out Emirates Old Trafford.

Since his debut, Foakes was either thrust in and out on a whim or missed out through injury, as happened at the start of 2021 when he tore his hamstring. Then, during the Headingley Test against New Zealand earlier this summer, a bout of Covid-19 ruled him out of the second-half of the match and the next Test against India. Twin failures at Lord's (6 and 0) heaped more misery on him, but he has come out the other side in impressive fashion. An average of 26.91 coming into this match has already improved to 31.82 thanks to the red ink.

"I just felt awful in that game [Headingley]," he said. "Getting the opportunity of being number one and then pretty soon after getting something like that is very frustrating, I've had a bit of stuff going on since I first played but I'm used to little setbacks like that

"To be honest, in my first 10 games I was kind of looking and thinking 'jeez how hard is Test cricket'. The West Indies tour [in 2019], the wickets out there - and then I came in for those three in India [last year] and it was obviously crazy to bat on and I guess this is a different role as well.

"I think it's just that I've been a little bit out of touch," he said of his performance at Lord's last week. "I haven't been lining it up as well as I'd like in the last couple of Championship games and then in the first one at Lord's. So for me it was just working out how to do that better. That's what I worked on between these two games. And I felt like I did line it up better and play better.

"Because it's not my natural game, it's just trying to work out how to play best. And I think sometimes I haven't got the balance right because I'm not an explosive batter. If I'm trying to get the score up I can start pushing at the ball and things like that and playing at balls I shouldn't be. It's been really clear, obviously practising in a different way for that role, but also being really clear when I am just going to bat or when I have to push the button... how I'm going to do it. Don't just throw my bat outside off stump. I'm happy to get out if I'm doing this or this, but not just giving it away."

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo

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Eng vs SA, 2nd Test, Old Trafford - South Africa middle order 'under pressure' to score runs

South Africa's middle-order batters are "under pressure" to score runs at Old Trafford after none of them got an individual score over 25 at Lord's. While Test captain Dean Elgar supports backing the same batters who did duty in the first Test, he acknowledged that there needs to be more runs from them if South Africa are to play to their full potential.

"As long as we are still getting the results on our side, backing is extremely important for those guys. We have given them a decent run of late and I am sure they know they are under pressure to perform," Elgar said. "They are proper batters. They are here for a reason.

"If they are firing in the middle order and we conduct ourselves like we have been doing of late, our Test side can only grow. But they are here, they are being backed. I don't see a change. Consistency is key to success, and even consistency in selection. It's a tough series playing against England away from home. You need to back your horses that you've been backing for a while now."

South Africa have opted for Aiden Markram at No.4, Rassie van der Dussen at No.5 and Kyle Verreynne (who batted lower at Lord's after his grandfather took ill in the stands) at No.6. Between them, they scored 46 runs and, with Test vice-captain Temba Bavuma due to return from an elbow injury later in the year, could end up competing for two spots. The choice could become between Markram and van der Dussen, who have both had lean runs, and who selection convener Victor Mpitsang is particularly concerned about. Earlier in the week, Mptisang told South African media: "If they are putting up big numbers, and contributing it would help the conversation around them."

Markram has only recently moved into the No.4 role after effectively being dropped as an opener in New Zealand following a poor run. He had scored 140 runs at 15.56 in five Tests before that. But, Keegan Petersen contracted Covid-19 and missed the trip, which opened up a spot for Markram to bat at No.3. He scored 76 runs in four innings on that tour and 16 runs at No.4 at Lord's. Van der Dussen has done better, but only slightly. He has scored 233 runs in his last six Tests at 23.30 and has not scored a half-century since his unbeaten 75 in West Indies last year.

Verreynne is the player with a lot more slack. Not only is he the wicketkeeper and likely to be in that role for the long haul but he is one of only four South African batters to score a century in their last 11 Tests. His only serious competitor at the moment is Ryan Rickelton, though he is not thought to be South Africa's first-choice gloveman. While South Africa have won eight of those matches, they remain concerned with the line-up, especially in difficult conditions.

Though he has not said it outright, that was one of the reasons Elgar chose to bowl in cloudy, humid conditions at Lord's, even though he is usually a bat-first captain. England are expecting Old Trafford to present more challenges for batters with Ben Stokes explaining Ollie Robinson's selection as being due to extra pace and bounce in Manchester.

Elgar brushed that off as tactical talk, and, as he so often does, leaned on South Africa's stronger suit to counter that. "I love the mind games," he said. "If there is going to be extra pace and bounce, I am pretty sure our fast bowlers will extract it."

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Eng vs SA, 2nd Test

On Monday evening, members of the England men's Test squad taking part in the ongoing series with South Africa - and a handful of others - filed into the Ham Yard Hotel in central London for the premiere of Ben Stokes: Phoenix From The Ashes.

On the face of it, there's nothing particularly unusual there. The perks of being an English Test cricketer is being invited to these VIP events, and any distraction from the innings-and-12-run defeat to the Proteas in the opener at Lord's is more than welcome. And attendance to show support for a team-mate's endeavour, particularly one so raw and confronting about a world they know all too well, is a given for a group who have grown close after starting the season with four emphatic wins.

However, as England trained on Tuesday afternoon at Emirates Old Trafford, ahead of the second Test, which begins on Thursday, there was an unshakeable sense the players knew their talismanic captain a lot better. Maybe not with regards to persona or humour, or wonts and desires. But of why he is who he is, how he has come to be who he is. And, fundamentally, how the fact he is their leader and one of the best cricketers this county has produced is as much because of and despite circumstance.

Players left the theatre struck by being presented with the red-eyes and cold trauma of a man coach Brendon McCullum jokes is often regarded by those around him as "bionic". Some of those present who contributed to the film as a talking head knew the framing of the movie but were still affected by seeing a mate come forward about their anxieties on the big screen. Conversations in private brought into the brightest lights.

One of those was Joe Root, a close personal friend, who has had first-hand experience of much of what Stokes discusses. Root had not seen anything but the trailer until Monday night, and admitted to trepidation when he walked into the theatre because he feared he would have played the same old notes in his contribution: "Classic, 'I love batting; I love Ben again' from me."

Despite his humility, there is a lot more from the former captain than that. And of all the reviews published so far, perhaps the most important ahead of Friday's release comes from Root. He believes absolutely that the film will have enhanced Stokes' status amongst the group and thus inspire a dressing room to come good for him.

"I think it's very powerful what he's done, to be honest," Root said. "To share his journey and his story and everything that he's had to go through. Not just with us as team but the rest of the world. I think it's quite a powerful thing and, you know, I can't see how it won't better the environment that we're playing in. And it takes great courage and shows great leadership actually, that it's okay to not be okay sometimes, and to ask for help and go and do what he's done. So it can only be a good thing.

"When you see everything that he's dealt with and put it all together and think that's only in a four- or five-year period - wow. You can forget that. Everything that's engulfed that period of time and weighed upon him throughout that journey, and I think it's quite remarkable actually that he is where he is now having been through all that."

Root admitted there were topics even he wasn't aware of. Though he expected there would be some stuff Stokes kept to himself, even if the pair are thick as thieves. "You know Ben - he has not always found it easy to tell everyone where he's at, how he's feeling," Root said.

Joe Root made 8 and 6 in England's defeat at Lord's

It will be fascinating to see how Root is with Stokes going forward in a professional capacity. So far he has focused on scoring runs, with 583 at 83.28 and three centuries across five Tests this summer, though a blip of 8 and 6 at Lord's coincided with the first defeat under Stokes and new head coach Brendon McCullum. It was put to Root that over the last two years, if he does not make one fifty in the Test, England lose. Typically, he lays that on himself: "Well, it's your job, to score runs, as a batter. It's something you pride yourself on, you want to contribute to wins. That's part and parcel of it. The better you get the more expectation there is."

But after watching the documentary, he might wonder how captaincy may exacerbate some of the issues Stokes has raised. Because no one knows better than Root just how the role can grind you down. The troughs across his five years in charge were such that acknowledgement of his undoubted quality as one of the best batters - if not the best Test batter - this country has produced was dwarfed by criticism of his captaincy.

By the end, the barbs and pressure, particularly off the back of a second demoralising Ashes defeat and then a loss in the Caribbean, had started to rob him and loved ones of his true self. "I had loved leading my country," he said in his exit statement. "But recently it's hit home how much of a toll it has taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game."

No one will be more aware of those signs than Root. And it might be that while Stokes takes it upon himself to captain by sympathy to his players and encourage them to show their best selves while at times sacrificing himself, the former skipper must bring the empathy to ensure his friend has all the necessary support in one of the most challenging jobs.

"I think it's just a great example to everyone that regardless of what may be perceived on the outside everyone has those vulnerabilities and can get themselves into a very difficult place. To come from there you do need help and support from others. It's a great wake-up call. You've got to make sure the guys around you [are okay] and do what you can to reach out when the time's right or if you see something.

"I love batting and I love Ben. I've said it enough times! I want to try to help us win as many games as possible and score as many runs as I can. It's very easy for me. I don't play cricket to be the best captain or score the most runs, I play to win games and enjoy that with the lads I play with."

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo

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India in Eng 2022 - Jhulan Goswami returns for ODI series

Goswami, 39, had missed the tour of Sri Lanka in July amid speculation about her international future. Rodrigues, meanwhile, was ruled out of the Hundred on the same day that the squad was named because of a wrist injury she sustained during the Commonwealth Games.

Kiran Prabhu Navgire, the batter from Maharashtra who plays for Nagaland, received her maiden call-up to India's T20I squad for the series that starts on September 10. Navgire, 27, grabbed eyeballs with her unbeaten 162 against Arunachal Pradesh in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy earlier this year. Hailing from Maharashtra, she represented Nagaland as a guest player and scored a chart-topping 525 runs, with 54 fours and 35 sixes. She also hit the fastest fifty in the Women's T20 Challenge in May while playing for Velocity.

Allrounder Dayalan Hemalatha, who played an ODI last year for the first time since February 2019, also found a place in both white-ball squads. She scored 272 runs for Railways in the 2021-22 domestic T20 tournament - the most for her side - and showed her all-round skills in the Senior Women's One-Day Trophy - taking eight wickets and making 67 runs in three innings at a strike-rate of 117.54 while batting in the lower-middle order.

While batter Harleen Deol was picked only in the ODI squad, legspinner Poonam Yadav, who was among the standbys for the Commonwealth Games, was not selected in either squad.

Meanwhile, the musical chairs for India's wicketkeeper slot continues with Richa Ghosh replacing Yastika Bhatia in the T20I setup. Taniya Bhatia continues to keep her spot across both white-ball formats.

India play three T20Is in England on September 10, 13 and 15, followed by three ODIs - part of the ICC Women's Championship - on September 18, 21 and 24.

T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh, Meghna Singh, Radha Yadav, S Meghana, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Dayalan Hemalatha, Simran Dil Bahadur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kiran Prabhu Navgire

ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, S Meghana, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Dayalan Hemalatha, Simran Dil Bahadur, Jhulan Goswami, Jemimah Rodrigues

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Eng v SA, 1st Test

Dean Elgar praised his South Africa team for the "positivity" that they brought to their crushing innings victory over England in the first LV= Insurance Test, as they cemented their status at the top of the World Test Championship table in barely six sessions of high-octane cricket at Lord's.

After coming into the contest off the back of their own innings defeat against England A at Canterbury last week, Elgar's South Africa showed it had processed the lessons of that contest quickly. However, it was the two key absentees from that contest, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who combined to devastating effect as England were routed for 165 and 149 across just 82.4 overs all told.

Rabada was duly named Player of the Match for his seven wickets, including 5 for 52 in England's first innings, but Nortje was the game-breaker on day three, as he steamed in with speeds touching 95mph to rout England's middle order with three for none in ten balls in the mid-afternoon, including England's star batter of the summer, Jonny Bairstow, for the second time in the match.

"I definitely didn't think that waking up this morning," Elgar said during the post-match presentations, when asked if he had envisaged such a swift denouement, given his side had come into the day with an overnight lead of 124 and three first-innings wickets remaining. "I was thinking the guys have got to bat long and hard and try and extend that lead, and when it's our turn to come and bowl, we've got to put the ball in the right area thinking it might flatten out.

"But Nortje's spell was something that just broke the back," he added. "He ran in with a lot of intent and a lot of anger, and it was great to watch from where I was fielding, I'm sure it wasn't nice to face."

The build-up to the series had been dominated by Elgar's responses in the media to England's so-called "Bazball" style of play, and while he did not double down on his previous suggestion that their ultra-positive methods could leave them with "egg on their faces", he did quietly talk up South Africa's own emerging brand of cricket - one which has already secured them an impressive 2-1 home series win against India this year, as well as a come-from-behind 1-1 drawn series in New Zealand.

"My [captaincy] decisions come with a lot of positivity into the camp," he said. "We want the guys to go out and express themselves. Even though we play in a South African way, it's our way, it's a unique way, and slowly but surely we're building on that. For me, the toss is just a decision that one guy has to make and the rest have to follow, and the guys are doing a great job with that. I'm very grateful with the young squad that I have."

Elgar also joked that he had come into the game with pressure to perform from his coach, Mark Boucher, who won two of his three Tests at Lord's between 1998 and 2003. "The coach gave me a bit of a summons, he was like, 'I've got a very good record as a player here'," he said. "But this is a brilliant day for us.

"I've got a very good think-tank behind the scenes," he added. "We've got good coaches with a lot of advice, and I process the advice as well. Sometimes you just go with gut and a bit of luck. Things worked out today, with Kesh [Maharaj] obviously getting a few wickets and then bringing on Anrich who bowls with the speed of light when he gets it right. But I never settle for what I have, I'm always trying to get better with my job."

Ben Stokes grimaces after holing out to deep midwicket•ECB/Getty Images

For his opposite number, Ben Stokes, it was a chastening setback after the highs of England's early-season performances, in which they won four Tests in a row with a series of 240-plus run-chases. This time around, they were asked to bat first and floundered against both a high-octane bowling attack, and also the uncertainty of having to set the agenda rather than react to it.

"Obviously, we're disappointed to lose. It'd be silly for me to say anything different," Stokes said. "But if we dive into this too much, about one result in a three-match series, then we're not looking forward to what's coming ahead. Now we've got two more games to bounce back from this. And then hopefully, take the series 2-1."

The crushing manner of the defeat, Stokes added, would not deflect the team from continuing in their recent proactive manner.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I look at captains before me, captains after me. They're always going to get criticised at certain times about the way that they want to play. That's just part and parcel with life, I guess.

"We know that, when we perform to the capabilities that we're capable of, then we can go out and put some incredible performances like everybody's been able to see in the four games before this. This isn't a wake-up call or anything like that. It's just, unfortunately, we were unable to execute in the way that we wanted to play this week against South Africa."

Stokes did, however, hint that the ECB's white-ball focus had been a factor in his team losing some momentum from the highs they had achieved against New Zealand and India six weeks earlier. Unlike South Africa, England's players did not have the benefit of a red-ball warm-up match to reacquaint themselves with the longer game's rhythms, and he suggested that would be an issue worth considering for the future.

"I don't want to use that situation as an excuse whatsoever. Maybe there could be an opportunity to put a first-class game in there for the lads to go off and just get out there in the field, whether it be a bowler or a batter, but I think if I'm looking at that and using that as an excuse, it's not really what I want to be saying."

Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/eng-v-sa-1st-test/?feed_id=13198&_unique_id=630013e3ea434

Match Preview - England vs South Africa, South Africa in England 2022, 1st Test

Big Picture

Amidst the tumult, a return to more familiar rhythms - albeit with the expectation of a modernist twist here and there. For five days this week, it might even be possible to pretend it is Situation Normal in the febrile world of international cricket, where a packed house at Lord's will burble and murmur in that inimitably disinterested fashion as England and South Africa do battle once again in the grandest old format.

It is rare, but hardly unique, for the Lord's Test - the traditional centrepiece of the English summer - to begin this late in the season. Last year's India Test got underway on August 12, an early indicator of the sport's direction of travel given the onset of the maiden season of the Hundred, while in 2017, West Indies became the first visiting team to play a Test at the ground in September.

But with the provisional dates for next summer's Ashes suggesting no August Tests at all for the first time in 139 years - thereby clearing the players' decks for full participation in the ECB's new centrepiece event - the challenge to an inherently insecure format seems especially real this year. Just as the County Championship has been condemned in recent years to the margins of the summer, so it seems the parent format is to be shunted the same way. The forecast week of rain, amid the hottest, driest summer on record, feels like an apt comment on such prioritisation.

All of which seems deeply ironic given the narrative of the summer so far. England's world-beating white-ball team has failed to win a home series for the first time since 2013, and while the Hundred has had its moments (where there's a Will, there's a way, as Messrs Smeed and Jacks can attest) it would take a well-remunerated cheerleading commentator to pretend that the contests we've so far witnessed have been the apogee of sporting endeavour.

No, the most visceral thrills and spills of the English summer so far have been invested in the red-ball game - specifically, four humdinging Tests against New Zealand and India, each of them capped by an eye-popping run-chase from an England side that has shed the reticence that condemned it to one win in 17 Tests in the preceding 18 months, and under the thrilling new management of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, has resolved to play like "rockstars".

Captain and coach aside, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root have been the pivotal figures of the renaissance - the former by taking McCullum's "see ball, hit ball" mantra as a personal call to arms, to blaze four centuries and an unbeaten 71 in his last five innings; the latter by embodying the true ethos of "Bazball" (to revert to the phrase that dare not be uttered within earshot of any participant), and seeing the art of Test-match batting as one of possibility and positivity, rather than a game of safety-first reticence.

"The Yorkshireman inside me is still saying 'dig in, play straight and get behind it'," Root said after his matchwinning 142 not out against India. "Then there's the captain on the other shoulder saying 'be a rockstar'. So you're fighting between the two of them, sometimes."

Quite apart from the entertainment that England's new attitude has offered, the imperative for such fireworks is equally plain to see. It's not simply the Hundred that is putting the squeeze on Test cricket - the explosion of franchise tournaments is turning the screw like never before, with Cricket South Africa's IPL satellite event and the oil-rich pickings of the UAE-based International League chief among them, meaning that the five-day game needs to adapt to survive.

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum prepare for the first Test against South Africa•Getty Images

The format needs to be entertaining, both to encourage the best players to keep putting themselves forward to play it, but also to be recognisable to the coming generation that might not have the defensive techniques to dig out for a 180-over draw, but possess the range and power of strokes that might even make a 500-run chase seem attainable.

Such are the genre-busting issues that England's new approach has brought bubbling to the surface. Not that South Africa yet seems fully sold on such nonsense, of course. Dean Elgar, their hard-bitten captain whose nuggetty technique so resembles that of his forebear Graeme Smith, has spoken in withering terms about the "Bazball" phenomenon, and having played an integral part in two hugely impressive, albeit old-school, run-chases against India earlier in the year, he's well within his rights to point out that traditional Test values still have their place.

"I don't see that there's longevity in brave cricket," he told Wisden Cricket Monthly. "I see things evening out over time in Test cricket. Had New Zealand taken their opportunities, England would have come away with egg on their faces."

South Africa have every right to be ebullient. They are top of the World Test Championship table, and are full of confidence after a fine display in the preceding white-ball leg of the summer - not least from Rassie van der Dussen whose matchwinning 134 at Chester-le-Street epitomised the sort of measured aggression that this team are capable of bringing to all formats.

And yet, they come into this game off the back of a full-frontal Bazballing against England Lions at Canterbury - defeat by an innings after conceding 672 at close to a run a ball. As the Lions skipper Sam Billings put it afterwards: "You'd be pretty stupid to ignore that, if I'm honest. If that's not a wake-up call…. because we're not even the best XI."

Still, you'd back South Africa to take that indignity on the chin and process it - much as England themselves did in a similarly comprehensive A-team battering on their victorious 2004-05 tour, which the then-captain Michael Vaughan succinctly described as a "kick up the arse". That is what practice matches are for, after all. Dress rehearsals for the real thing. And, irrespective of the hype and drama flying around elsewhere in the world game, things don't get much more real than a Lord's Test at the height of the summer.

Dean Elgar trains with his South Africa team at Lord's•Getty Images

Form guide

England: WWWWL (last five completed matches; most recent first)
South Africa: WLWWL

In the spotlight

Forty and still fabulous, James Anderson will once again lead the line for England, as he takes the Test field for the 173rd time, including an incredible 27 matches at Lord's, which is more games on a single ground than many mighty players managed in their entire careers. Speaking on the eve of the match, Anderson struck a mildly lugubrious note as he reflected on the reality that he is the last of a breed - with the growth of T20 leagues, no-one else "will be stupid enough" to play until they are 40, he said (although he admitted his similarly one-formatted team-mate Stuart Broad would have a shot at it). But, having set up England's fourth victory of the summer with his 32nd Test five-for against India at Edgbaston last month, Anderson remains unchallenged as the kingpin of the attack, and moreover, he has bought into the new team ethos with unflinching enthusiasm. Incredibly, it is 20 seasons since his first Test encounter with South Africa.

Of all of the returnees to South Africa's Test fold post-Kolpak, none comes back with a reputation more enhanced than Simon Harmer's, at least in the eyes of his English opponents. Harmer's arrival at Essex in 2017 coincided with an exponential run of success for the then-newly promoted county - he has harvested a total of 354 wickets at 20.65 in the past six seasons, 28 five-fors, nine ten-wicket hauls, two County Championships titles and the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020. Oh, and he hit the winning runs in the T20 Blast final too. South Africa does not have a great reputation for spin bowling, but Harmer's attributes include height, aggression, a fierce ability to tweak the ball on any surface and a competitive edge that captains adore. His first-class record at Lord's, as it happens, is some way shy of his overall impact in England - just eight wickets at 40.12 in two visits. But he'll be itching to improve on that this week.

Team news

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Alex Lees, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt.), 7 Ben Foakes, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Matthew Potts, 11 James Anderson

England's solitary change from the Edgbaston Test is the return of Ben Foakes behind the stumps, in place of Sam Billings, the Lions captain, who had initially stepped into the wicketkeeper's role as a Covid substitute during the New Zealand series before keeping his place during Foakes' recuperation. "Everyone in the starting XI, the shirt is theirs at the moment," Stokes explained while announcing the team.

South Africa (probable): 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 Kyle Verreynne, 7 Keshav Maharaj, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Anrich Nortje

Kagiso Rabada underwent a fitness test on Tuesday and is due another check-up after straining the medial ligament on his right ankle. With Duanne Olivier already ruled out of the series with a torn hip flexor muscle, South Africa will be particularly keen for their attack leader to come through fit and firing, and signs were promising on match eve. Beyond that assessment, the main decision could come down to the selection of an extra batter if they choose to overlook the up-and-coming allrounder Marco Jansen. Ryan Rickelton has been in fine form in the Championship for Northamptonshire, although there's the outside chance that Khaya Zondo could be called up for his second cap, having not batted on debut against Bangladesh in April.

Pitch and conditions

Rain is in the offing after weeks of drought in London, with the contest set to traverse the downpours over the coming five days. That may, in turn, play a part in the conditions, with Lord's traditionally a venue where you look up, not down, at the toss. To date, the pitch looks fairly green, although a lot of that grass is likely to be removed before the first ball is bowled.

Stats and Trivia

Jonny Bairstow needs just six more runs to reach 1000 in Tests for the calendar year, having already scored six centuries in his haul of 994 at 76.46 in eight matches since the start of 2022.

Joe Root isn't far behind that tally himself. He has 927 at 61.80 in nine matches so far this year, including five centuries. With six Tests to come this year, against South Africa and Pakistan, he could yet surpass the six hundreds he made in 2021, although matching his England-record tally of 1708 could be a long-shot.

Dean Elgar needs 136 runs to become the eighth South African to reach 5000 in Tests.

Elgar is the only specialist batter in South Africa's ranks to have played a Test at Lord's, while Rabada and Keshav Maharaj are the only other survivors from their last appearance at the ground in 2017.

Tickets for the fifth day of the Test will be available for a donation of £5, via the Lord's website from 2pm on Wednesday. Proceeds will be split between two charities, the MCC Foundation and the Ruth Strauss Foundation.

The second day of the Test will once again be "Red for Ruth Day", when the ground will turn red in memory of Ruth Strauss, the wife of the former England captain, Andrew, who died of a rare form of lung cancer in 2018.

Quotes

"The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking about it. We don't really speak about it that much. They've got a style of play, we've got a style of play." Stokes on Elgar's criticism of the term "Bazball"

"With all due respect, I am really not going to entertain that anymore. We've chatted about it long and hard. I just want to crack on with the cricket. I think the game deserves that respect. Mudslinging is a thing of the past for me and we are not going to go back and forth on that." Elgar's last word on the B-word

Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/match-preview-england-vs-south-africa-south-africa-in-england-2022-1st-test/?feed_id=11917&_unique_id=62fc532f747f4

Eng vs SA 2022 Test series

Duanne Olivier has been ruled out of South Africa's three-Test series in England because of a Grade 2 tear in his right hip-flexor muscle. Olivier sustained the injury during the four-day tour match against England Lions, which the South Africans lost by an innings and 56 runs.

"Duanne presented with significant discomfort involving his right hip flexor muscle at the close of play on day three of the four-day tour match," team doctor Hashendra Ramjee said. "After clinical assessment, he was referred for an MRI scan which revealed a grade 2 tear involving the right pectineus muscle.

"Due to the extent of the injury, he has been ruled out of the three-match Test series against England and will return home where he will commence his rehabilitation with the Gauteng Central Lions medical team."

Olivier was the best of the South African quick bowlers in the tour game, sending down 13 overs for returns of 2 for 59, even as the Lions put up 672 in their only outing with the bat.

Olivier became the second South African seamer to suffer an injury on the tour. Kagiso Rabada was ruled out of the T20I series against Ireland with an ankle problem and is still working on his bowling load ahead of the first Test. It is not yet known if Rabada will be fit to play.

They are also without regular vice-captain Temba Bavuma, who did not make the tour after suffering an elbow injury on the tour of India earlier in the year.

The first Test will be played at Lord's from August 17, and will be followed by the second and third Tests, at Old Trafford (from August 25) and at The Oval (from September 8).

Squad: Dean Elgar (capt), Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Khaya Zondo, Glenton Stuurman.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/eng-vs-sa-2022-test-series/?feed_id=10867&_unique_id=62f93c121acf2

Eng tour of Pak 2022

England's first tour of Pakistan in 17 years will begin on September 20, as the men's team play seven T20Is in Karachi (the first four) and Lahore (the last three). The last game is on October 2 before England travel to Australia for the men's T20 World Cup. They are scheduled to return to Pakistan for a series of three Tests in December - their first Tests in Pakistan since the 2005-06 tour.

In what the PCB called Pakistan's "bumper international season", they will also host New Zealand in two spells, first for two Tests and three ODIs in December-January, and then for five ODIs and five T20Is in April next year. West Indies will also tour Pakistan for three T20Is in late January. In a statement, the PCB said that the itineraries for England's Test series as well as the matches against New Zealand and West Indies would be released "in due course".

The series will be the second of seven T20Is or more, with the encounters between the Malawi and Mozambique men's teams in 2019 the only previous instance of such a long bilateral series.

Next year, Pakistan are also scheduled to host the Asia Cup for the first time since 2008. Pakistan were originally due to host the T20 Asia Cup this year, but swapped with Sri Lanka - the 2022 Asia Cup starts at the end of August and has moved to the UAE. But the 50-over version is due to now take place in Pakistan next year - most likely in the run-up to the 50-over World Cup, which takes place in India in October-November. This year's Asia Cup moved to the UAE (though SLC remains the host), following concerns about the SLC's ability to host a multi-nation tournament of this stature in the midst of the country's economic and political crisis.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo in early July, Karachi's National Stadium will host T20Is against England on September 20, 22, 23 and 25, before the action shifts to Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium for the matches on September 28 and 30, and October 2. All the matches are floodlit affairs, starting at 7.30pm Pakistan time.

"We are absolutely delighted to confirm hosting England for seven T20Is in Karachi and Lahore as a curtain-raiser to a busy, entertaining and exciting season of home internationals," Zakir Khan, PCB director of international cricket, said in a statement. "England is one of the top-ranked T20I teams and them playing the shortest format in the lead up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Pakistan will not only help the team management to finalise their preparations, but will also set the tone for December's three-Test series."

A three-member ECB security-assessment team visited Pakistan to take stock of the arrangements in late July. The team went back satisfied enough to green-light England's first tour of Pakistan in 17 years.

"We demonstrated our event planning and operational skills in the highly-successful series against Australia in March-April and I am confident we will be able to replicate these when England visit us for the first time since 2005," Zakir said. "We have been able to confirm schedule of the T20Is following a successful tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board recce team, which was pleased and satisfied with all our arrangements."

"We have been liaising closely with the PCB over arrangements for this visit and the Tests later in the year, and will continue to work closely with the PCB, British High Commission and other relevant authorities as we continue to prepare for these tours"

Rob Key

England have not toured Pakistan since 2005, and two of home Pakistan's home series against them, in 2012 and 2016, were played in the UAE. England also chose to withdraw their men's and women's teams' tours to Pakistan last year citing "bubble fatigue" and increasing concerns about travelling to the region". This came soon after New Zealand had withdrawn their men's team, citing similar concerns.

"We are looking forward to returning to Pakistan and playing these seven T20Is as the team builds up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup," Rob Key, the ECB's managing director of men's cricket, said. "We have been liaising closely with the PCB over arrangements for this visit and the Tests later in the year, and will continue to work closely with the PCB, British High Commission and other relevant authorities as we continue to prepare for these tours.

"We would like to thank the PCB and the city authorities for all their ongoing assistance with planning for the tours, including hosting the recent pre-tour planning visit by ECB representatives and the PCA CEO."

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/eng-tour-of-pak-2022/?feed_id=5818&_unique_id=62e9c74aabb76

Eng vs SA 2022 - 3rd T20I

Matthew Mott, England's limited-overs coach, has challenged fringe batters to score "a mountain of runs" in the Hundred to push for T20 World Cup selection and insisted that "no one has a mortgage on a spot".

England will have picked a preliminary World Cup squad by the time they play their next men's T20I series, a seven-match marathon in Pakistan in late September, and after winning only two of their six fixtures against India and South Africa this summer, there are several positions up for grabs.

Last year, Tymal Mills used the Hundred as a springboard into the World Cup squad after impressing for champions Southern Brave, while Liam Livingstone secured his starting berth thanks to a stunning run of form for Birmingham Phoenix. The Hundred's second season starts on Wednesday, when Brave play Welsh Fire at the Ageas Bowl.

"Can players come in? Absolutely they can. If they're in form, coming off runs, and we go to Pakistan and they do well," Mott said. "[We need to] use that Hundred as a real springboard to get that confidence back across the entire group."

Jos Buttler has struggled for runs in T20Is since becoming captain - he has managed only 87 across six innings, albeit at a strike rate of 189.13 - and will attempt to return to form while leading Manchester Originals. "I'm really excited for it," he said.

"My message to everyone in our dressing room would be that I want you to be the guy who is the best player in your team and showcase your talent. Last year Liam Livingstone was the MVP [Most Valuable Player] and has ridden that wave ever since. The guys in our dressing room have the opportunity to go on that kind of journey.

"Every game is on TV, every game will have a big crowd and that should be exciting. If you can perform to a high-level in those situations, that replicates international cricket and replicates World Cups. It's probably the best thing for everyone in the group."

The top item on England's wish-list for the Hundred would be Jason Roy returning to form for Oval Invincibles after a lean run this summer which saw him eke out 76 runs off 98 balls across six T20I innings. Mott challenged Phil Salt - Buttler's Originals opening partner - and Harry Brook to mount strong cases for selection after running the drinks in the South Africa series, and admitted there could be "hard decisions" to make.

"That's the one that we, as a selection group, really need to thrash out," Mott said. "When you've been a great player and you've delivered great things on a big stage, I think you deserve a bit of loyalty. You get some currency from having delivered on the big stage.

"But at certain times, hard decisions need to be made, and young players come in and add energy. Those two players are on the sidelines and they're chomping at the bit for a game. I think that's really healthy. They've now got an opportunity to go back to the Hundred, get a mountain of runs, keep putting pressure on.

"No one in the team has mortgage on a spot. I think the nature of cricket suggests that at different times, players come in and out of form. There's a bit of science behind it, but there's also a bit of gut feeling. You try and breed confidence in a playing group: if you stick more than you flick, then you're a better chance of breeding that confidence."

Mott confirmed that it would be "a stretch" for Jofra Archer to return from injury in time for the World Cup and while Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are more likely to be available, neither is expected to play any part in the Hundred. England conceded 190 or more in five of their six T20Is this summer and there are spots available in their bowling attack.

As a result, they will be watching several bowlers closely, not least Luke Wood, David Payne, Mills (left out of the South Africa series due to a toe injury) and Tom Curran, who will make his return from injury at Oval Invincibles. They will also hope that a back-up spin option emerges after Matt Parkinson struggled against India, with Jake Lintott and Benny Howell - a self-described "fast-spinner" - among the candidates who could emerge from left field.

Will Jacks, James Vince and countless other batters could push for selection with a strong Hundred, but the one player guaranteed to return to the side if fit is Ben Stokes, who Mott suggested was an option to bat in the top four. Stokes has mainly been used as a finisher in T20Is by England but is increasingly seen as a top-order option, and his return could squeeze Roy out of the side.

"Obviously Stokesy comes back in to that team," Mott said. "When you add players like Stokes into any team, it makes selection a hell of a lot easier. You've basically got a free hit with the balance of your team - and that's clearly something that has probably been missed by a few people. Having a world-class bowler that bats in the top four is a huge asset to any team.

"There's the seven games [in Pakistan] and I'm sure we'll be changing our team around a little bit there, and then we'll get that chemistry right when we take on Australia and then play three T20s. They'll be the big games leading into that World Cup for us and we'll have a bit more of an idea of where we're at as a team at that stage.

"I think a lot of people reflect back on the past about how great a team this is. This is a very different unit at the moment. We need to acknowledge that and make sure we live in the present and work on what we can get better at. I think Jos is really honest about where we need to go."

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/eng-vs-sa-2022-3rd-t20i/?feed_id=5370&_unique_id=62e872c8e0afd

Match Preview - England vs South Africa, South Africa in England 2022, 1st T20I

Big picture

Right, we are on to the stuff that matters. After an ODI series that not even the weather wanted to be completed, we are entering the T20I season with all eyes on the World Cup. England have a whopping 13 fixtures before the tournament; South Africa have only eight matches, the bulk of which are in the next ten days, and without regular captain Temba Bavuma.

You may think that puts England in a more stable place to prepare from, but they are at the tail-end of 12 white-ball matches in 24 days and will have to be careful to avoid flagging at the end, especially as they have only just entered a new white-ball era. These T20Is are Matthew Mott and Jos Buttler's final opportunity to win a white-ball series at home after they lost both rubbers against India, and shared the spoils in the ODIs against South Africa.

South Africa were on a similar hot streak and had won three T20I series in succession before the World Cup in 2021, but have since been rocked by the unavailability of key personnel. Anrich Nortje spent six months recovering from a hip and back issue after that but has made a strong return, and now Bavuma is out until at least September with an elbow injury.

David Miller will lead in his absence after a stunning run at the IPL, where he won the trophy with Gujarat Titans. But with a glut of top-order batters, one can't help but feel there could be a bottleneck once Bavuma returns.

At the same time, South Africa have chosen not to continue with Keshav Maharaj in charge, though he has done the job even in T20Is when Bavuma was previously injured, which suggests they want to keep their options of playing only one specialist spinner in Tabraiz Shamsi open.

Meanwhile, Miller is their most experienced batter, as is his counterpart Buttler, as both will want to show their value by leading from the front.

Form guide

(Last five completed T20Is, most recent first)

England WLLLW
South Africa LLWWW

It is a much-anticipated return to South Africa colours for Rilee Rossouw•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Dawid Malan has had a slightly tougher time than usual in this format recently, and broke a year-long drought without a half-century in T20Is with 77 in the final T20I against India. He was the leading run-scorer when England toured South Africa late in 2020, and was England's best batter recently against India too.

Malan's first fifty in 11 innings since mid-2021 meant he had slipped from No.1 to No.4 on the T20I batting rankings, and will be keen to regain some ground as he faces South Africa, against whom he averages 59.

Whether he plays immediately or not, there will be plenty of interest in Rilee Rossouw, who makes his return to the South African squad after a Kolpak hiatus which he used to make his name in T20 leagues. Rossouw has enjoyed success at PSL and BPL, and finished as the second-highest run-scorer in this year's T20 Blast. And before his success there, he was back in South Africa, where he was the leading run-scorer in the provincial T20 cup.

But it remains to be seen whether all has been forgiven and forgotten after the way he left. Of all those who chose to cut their international careers short, Rossouw's was the most puzzling, not least because South Africa's selectors had stuck with him after he was dismissed for four ducks in his first six ODI innings and there was talk of him being promoted to the Test side.

Jonny Bairstow is expected to continue at No. 4, as he has been doing in this format over last 18 months•ECB/Getty Images

Team news

Jonny Bairstow had some ice on his knee for what seemed to be a swelling, although he played a full part in practice before the game. Fit to play which he should, he is expected to continue at No. 4, as he has been doing in this format over the last 18 months, albeit with mixed results. England are likely to stick with the extra batter as they did for the third T20I against India, and may rotate their seamers to minimise risk of injury.

England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Phil Salt/Harry Brook, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran/David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley

Rossouw could edge out Reeza Hendricks at the top of the order. Also, Aiden Markram's return after he missed the India series with Covid-19 may mean there is room only for either an allrounder or a second spinner.

South Africa will have to chose between Dwaine Pretorius, who also operates as a pinch hitter; Andile Phehlukwayo, who is coming back from a mild concussion and will be assessed ahead of the game; and Wayne Parnell in the allrounders' role. In the pace attack, Kagiso Rabada is back after being rested from the ODIs.

South Africa (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rilee Rossouw, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller (capt), 7 Dwaine Pretorius 8 Keshav Maharaj/Tabraiz Shamsi, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Pitch and conditions

In this year's T20 Blast, the average first innings score in Bristol was 171, while in Cardiff - the venue for the second T20I just a day after - it sits at 147. That could mean bowlers who have worked on their variations will have a big role to play in taking pace off the ball and getting movement off the seam.

Also, the good news is that the rain that affected the ODIs is not likely to interrupt the T20Is. Wednesday is due to be cloudy and cool, with temperatures of around 22 degrees.

Stats and trivia

England and South Africa are neck-and-neck in T20Is against each other. They have played 22, with England winning 11 and South Africa ten, with one no result. However, England have won the last three series between the two sides, including a 3-0 sweep in November 2020.

Quotes

"Why would we change it? We have been doing well with it over the past few years, so I think we will continue doing what we have been doing."
England will keep going in guns blazing, according to Adil Rashid, who does not see any need to alter their approach

"Things do get a little bit crazy and frantic out there, but it's just about having your clear plans and staying as calm as possible."
David Miller is preparing for his second stint as stand-in captain

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/match-preview-england-vs-south-africa-south-africa-in-england-2022-1st-t20i/?feed_id=2734&_unique_id=62e0eb0e46a1f