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The Pakistan coach doesn’t want the tournament to be shortened just so it can finish in June 2021

Danyal Rasool01-Apr-2020Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has called for a “fair and equal” resolution to the World Test Championship when cricket finally resumes even if it means extending the tournament, warning that a shortened competition would fail to give a “true picture” of the standings.With cricket, like nearly all major sports and activities, forced to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key questions is how to bring the inaugural World Test Championship, which is scheduled to run until June 2021, to an agreeable conclusion.Several series that are part of the Championship have been postponed over the past few weeks, with the scheduling and limited time-frame meaning it is virtually impossible to fulfil all the fixtures before the end date.”When we finally start moving back to normal life and cricket can resume, every side should get equal opportunities and the tournament shouldn’t be shortened,” Misbah said in a video press conference.”No matches should be struck off, even if that means prolonging the Championship. Every side should get the chance to play all the games they had scheduled in this cycle.Otherwise, you won’t get the true picture of what the rankings should have actually been and only some teams play all their games. That will disrupt the balance of the tournament. To me, it doesn’t matter if this goes beyond 2021 if that’s what it will take for everyone to get equal opportunities. That’s not a problem.”England’s three-match Test series in Sri Lanka and the second Test of Bangladesh’s series in Pakistan are among the most notable World Test Championship fixtures to be postponed, but it remains exceedingly likely most, if not all, cricket over the next few months won’t go ahead.That means England’s three-match Test series against West Indies and Pakistan are also in jeopardy, as is West Indies’ two-Test series against South Africa.The seasonal demands of Test cricket mean rescheduling these games before June 2021 is improbable, and if all games in the Championship are to be honoured, extending the tournament would appear to be the only solution. That would mean delaying the start of the second World Test Championship competition, due to start immediately after.Misbah also spoke about the challenges players faced trying to keep themselves fit while ensuring they stayed home, revealing the coaching staff were monitoring their progress through fitness watches.”All of our centrally contracted players and those in our wider pool are in complete contact with the coaching staff and the fitness trainer. We send them the training plans that we want them to follow and to keep ourselves in shape to the best of our abilities. We want to ensure when cricket resumes, the physical conditions of our players should be the same as it was before and meets the demands of international cricket.”We have groups online where we check in with players on how they think they’re doing. We share plans with them on the exercise regimen to follow even if they don’t have access to gym facilities.”Because we can’t practice on the ground, what we can do is make sure we do our homework properly. That goes both for me and the players. We look at the last couple of series we played there and how England played in the last season at home. We analyse what we can do better so as soon we get the opportunity, we hit the ground running.He did have a few choice words for Sharjeel Khan, acknowledging he had the ability to be an explosive asset in T20 cricket, but expressed disappointment with his fitness levels.”He has the strike rate you’ll need at the top of the order at the World T20, especially against pace bowling on Australian pitches. But I think Sharjeel needs to work harder. He’s emerged back onto the scene after such a long time, so the one thing he could have ensured was his fitness, the one thing he could control, was up to the mark.”If you’re serious about making a comeback, the you should have been in perfect physical shape. If he thinks he can come into the side without having made any changes, then selecting him would be an injustice to the other players. I wasn’t satisfied to see that at all. Now that there’s no cricket, he should be thinking day and night he needs to become super fit.”

BCCI president says the finance sub-committee will be asked to put together the details

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2019In a move that could signal a major shift in Indian cricket, newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has said that the board will bring in “a contract system” for first-class cricketers, and that the new finance sub-committee will be asked to put the process in place for it to happen.”We will bring in a contract system for first-class cricketers,” Ganguly told in an interview. “We (office-bearers) will ask the new finance committee to prepare a contract system.”It’s just been four-five days [since he took charge] and in between there was a Diwali break. It will take about two weeks to assess everything and move forward. There is a lot of work going on.”ALSO READ: Gollapudi – Meet Sourav Ganguly, cricket administratorEven before he had been formally appointed to the position, Ganguly had said that domestic cricket, and cricketers, would be a major area of focus for him in his stint at the BCCI, which will be for a ten-month period before he serves the mandatory three-year cooling-off period for completing six consecutive years at a state association and/or at the BCCI.”My biggest priority will be to look after first-class cricketers,” he had said, adding that he had asked the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to provide financial security for domestic cricketers when the panel was put in place by the Supreme Court to supervise the BCCI. “I have been requesting that to the CoA for three years. That’s the first thing I will do, look after the financial health of our first-class cricketers.”

A severely rain-affected game fizzled out to a draw with only one of the four possible innings coming to completion – and that too because New Zealand A had declared

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2018
A severely rain-affected game fizzled out to a draw in Hamilton with only one of the four possible innings coming to completion – and that too because New Zealand A had declared.After the second day was washed out and only 17 overs were possible on the third, the weather seemed a little more forthcoming as India A’s openers Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran put on 71 for the first wicket. And in quick time too. Only 18.4 overs had been bowled.New Zealand A’s bowlers received some respite as another spell of rain lashed the ground and play could only resume after lunch. Blair Tickner, the 25-year old seamer, broke the partnership soon after the break, which brought R Samarth to the crease and he became the game’s third man to score fifty-plus after Will Young’s 123 and Theo van Woerkom’s 54 at No. 8 for the hosts.In all, India A could bat for only 46 overs before the game came to its most likely conclusion. Both teams now head to Whangarei which will host the third unofficial Test on November 30.

He says the upcoming T20Is against South Africa will be a vital series for him and also talks about failing the yo-yo test which he cleared recently to make a comeback

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2018Suresh Raina, the middle-order batsman selected in India’s squad for the T20Is against South Africa, believes the upcoming matches will be a vital series for him as he makes an international comeback after over a year. For the long run, Raina also set his eyes on the 50-over World Cup next year, saying regular performances across the next few months could help him come back into India’s ODI team.In an interview with , Raina was asked if the T20s against South Africa would be a “do-or-die series” for him and he said: “Definitely. It feels like I’ve been selected to the Indian team for the first time. I have worked hard for the past two years, so when I saw my India jersey I felt a bit emotional that I got the jersey after quite a while. Like you said, the three games will be quite important. I have done well in whatever opportunities I have got [recently].”These T20 matches are important, then Bangladesh [T20 tri-series] and then IPL. Fifty-overs does need experience – it makes a lot of difference. Because this position is such, that you’ll come to bat when the team is in trouble.”Raina also specified that his preferred position in the team would be Nos. 4 or 5, slots which, Raina felt, will allow India’s left-hand right-hand combination to thrive.”If given a choice, I can do best at No. 4 or No. 5,” he stated. “There are five fielders inside these days, so a left-hand, right-hand combination is very useful these days. If I do well in these three games, then I’m certain I can make an ODI return too.”Raina, who made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2005 and 2006, was a consistent member of India’s limited-overs teams until he was dropped for the Australia tour in December 2015 following a string of low scores. He was kept out of India’s tour of the USA in 2016 – for matches against West Indies – before making a brief return next year. In January 2017, he scored 34, 7 and 63 in three home T20Is against England but then missed subsequent matches in the same format in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, and at home against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Raina said that his morale was “down” when he was dropped, but he picked himself up soon after in a bid to return to the international squad.”I was quite down because I wasn’t playing,” Raina said. “Plus, I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t playing. I had made a fifty [53] against South Africa, but after that nothing happened. I thought to myself, ‘I’m not giving up, [I] want to play for the country, and [I] want to play with all my heart.”Raina put down his failing of a yo-yo test – during New Zealand’s tour of India – to too much game time at that point.”See, in the middle I was playing a lot,” Raina explained on why he failed the test back then. “Virat [Kohli] had set some parameters, and when I did the yo-yo test at the NCA 10 days ago, my speed was among the top five or six. I’ve always been fit, and I am fit now, but sometimes one needs time to recover.”Over the past domestic season, Raina finished as the sixth-highest run-scorer at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – India’s domestic T20 tournament – with 314 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of 146, including knocks of 126*, 61 and 56 against Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Baroda.Raina was also keen to position himself as a player who could play multiple roles by bowling a few overs, something he did consistently in ODIs from 2011 to 2015. “I am also prepared to bowl three-four overs,” he said. “My shoulder is solid too. You see, you need to chip in, bowl well, field well, so that the captain feels ‘yeah, this fellow is a utility player at No. 4-5′”.Raina also suggested MS Dhoni should take the No. 4 slot to help the inexperienced middle order, a problem they have been struggling with in ODIs.”You see Dhoni batting below, he should come up and bat more so that he gets more time to settle,” Raina said. “Now that Yuvraj [Singh] and I aren’t there, he should come and play above, so that those playing below him will also get experienced. If MS is batting on top, then he’ll keep the run rate high. If Mahi bats at No. 4, then all those below him will gain priceless experience.”Earlier, Yuvraj would hit fours and sixes at No. 4, then I’d come at No. 5, and Mahi would finish at No. 6 – so our roles were settled thanks to [former coach] Gary Kirsten.”

Ajmal Shahzad continued the positive start to his Lancashire career with two key wickets against Middlesex

Myles Hodgson at Aigburth24-May-2012
ScorecardEarly wickets gave Lancashire the advantage after a strong first innings total•Getty Images

Yorkshire’s hierarchy have made their views on Ajmal Shahzad abundantly clear, but even the most suspicious of Lancastrians is beginning to be won around by his commitment to lift their fortunes following his controversial loan move across the Pennines.Criticised for his general attitude by Colin Graves, Yorkshire’s outspoken chief executive, following their decision to release the first British Asian player to represent the county, he has attempted to distance himself from those remarks by reminding the cricket community that he is equally able to grab the headlines for his performances on the field.Two wickets in his maiden over for Lancashire against Sussex, which included a wicket with his first delivery, have now been followed up an influential spell to enable the Champions – still looking for their first win of the season – to gain control in the Aigburth sunshine against a strong Middlesex line-up.”Ajmal has fitted in really well, he tries his heart out and is always willing to bowl,” said his new team-mate, Kyle Hogg. “He’s a great bowler and a more than useful batsman as well. Having him here is good competition and it lifts everyone else’s game because you know if you don’t perform to certain levels there are people waiting in the wings.”We have Sajid Mahmood and Oliver Newby not playing in this game – it’s how it should be, if you are not performing people should take your place, it brings the best out of players.”Shahzad’s fiery six-over burst after tea built on fine new ball spells from Glen Chapple, Lancashire’s captain, and Hogg that accounted for both openers. Shahzad opened his account by tempting Joe Denly into chasing a wide delivery, which flew to point, but then claimed the crucial wicket of Eoin Morgan, playing his first Championship innings since last July.His county cricket opportunities limited by England and IPL commitments, Morgan looked in good touch when he lofted Simon Kerrigan’s left-arm spin over midwicket for six to get off the mark.However, perhaps indicating a rustiness in his game having not played a first-class match since the final Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last February, Morgan failed to spot an inswinging delivery from Shahzad, bowling from the River End, in the next over and when he tried to drive, the ball crashed into his stumps off an inside edge. The Aigburth crowd, basking in the late afternoon sunshine, were almost as excited as Shahzad at the breakthrough.Kerrigan was able to dismiss Dawid Malan with a catch to bat-pad five overs later to leave Middlesex struggling on 95 for 5 and it took an unbroken 60-run stand between Neil Dexter and John Simpson to prevent them from collapsing in the final session.Middlesex’s fortunes were similar to Lancashire’s with the bat. They resumed with sights set on reaching 400 for only the second time this summer on 276 for 4, but lost six for 71 and were dismissed for 392.Ashwell Prince, Lancashire’s South African overseas batsman, began the collapse when he was superbly caught by Ollie Rayner at slip driving at Gareth Berg for 144 after resuming on 121. Confidence lifted by that reflex catch, Rayner went on to claim 3 for 88 with his offspin as Lancashire went in search of quick runs to advance the game.Facing a tricky 15 overs before tea, Middlesex suffered a bad start when Chris Rogers edged a lifting delivery from Hogg behind and Sam Robson fell lbw to a full length ball from Chapple that may have kept a little low. The afternoon sunshine, though, belonged to Shahzad.Advised by his management company to avoid media interviews while the controversy over his switch continues, it was left to Hogg to reflect on Shahzad’s impact since arriving at Old Trafford.””He got a few good luck messages on Twitter when he signed for us!”joked Hogg. “Him and Saj are pretty much identical in character and it is good to have them around, especially on days like today when it can be tough going. They keep everyone going.”

South Zone had the better of the first day of the Duleep Trophy final despite Paras Dogra’s aggressive century

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsParas Dogra (right) was the only North Zone batsman to go past 40•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Paras Dogra made a swashbuckling unbeaten hundred to resuscitate North Zone after a horrid start, but two late wickets ensured that South Zone held the upper hand on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. On a pitch with some moisture that helped the seamers, South Zone chose to introduce Pragyan Ohja as early as the ninth over, and the strategy paid off immediately with Nitin Saini edging a looping delivery to CM Gautam behind the stumps.Shikar Dhawan followed Saini one over later, slapping an Abhimanyu Mithun short ball that stopped on him straight to midwicket. Ojha limped off the field a little while later, having stopped a Mithun Manhas straight drive with his right ankle, but the seamers continued to make inroads. Manhas was bowled by one that nipped back from Vinay Kumar and when Mandeep Singh hit a fuller delivery down point’s throat, North Zone were deep in the mire at 42 for 4.Dogra had made a patient 8 from 29 balls at this stage, and set about repairing the innings in the company of Yashpal Singh. He was fairly circumspect to begin with, making sure to defend the good balls, but at the same time not missing out on the opportunities for boundaries when the bowlers erred in line or length. He began to open his shoulders with the introduction of S Badrinath, whom he dispatched for two sixes and two fours. The pair had added 99, taking the score to 141, when Yashpal fell to S Aravind for 32.The loss of his partner did nothing to slow Dogra down, however. Having taken 103 balls to reach his fifty, he only needed a further 40 balls to get to his hundred, which he did in style, smashing Ohja over cow corner for six. Such was his confidence at this stage that one ball later he skipped down the track and went inside out over extra-cover for another six. He found an able ally in Uday Kaul, and the pair added 89 runs for the sixth wicket, scoring at 4.13 runs an over and giving the innings a sheen of respectability.South Zone struck twice in the last 11 overs to wrest the initiative back. Kaul fell trying to hit Abhinav Mukund through the leg side, but only succeeded in getting a leading edge to cover. Then Vinay Kumar bowled Amit Mishra one ball after he was dropped at slip by Robin Uthappa to leave South Zone the happier side heading into the second day, despite the continued presence of Dogra.

West Indies A continued their successful run with a second successive win over Ireland at Stormont in Belfast.

Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West Indies A continued their successful run with a second successive win over Ireland at Stormont in Belfast as Devon Smith’s aggressive 114 secured an eight-wicket victory. The hosts struggled to reach 217 despite half centuries from Andrew Poynter and Andrew White, then Andre Fletcher hit 81 alongside Smith’s hundred as the visitors raced home.Smith launched West Indies’ chase in spectacular style, thrashing six fours in left-arm medium-pacer Phil Eaglestone’s first two overs – five of them through the off side. With two more boundaries coming off O’Brien soon after, West Indies had rushed to 48 in the first six overs, though fellow opener Kraigg Brathwaite had made only seven.Smith raced to a fluent half-century, and after Brathwaite chipped a simple return catch back to offspinner Albert van der Merwe, he continued the assault in partnership with Fletcher. Fletcher got going with several strong shots down the ground and never slowed down, going to his half-century from 49 balls with yet another hit down the ground.Smith brought up an 88-ball hundred with a push through the covers off George Dockrell in the 32nd over, but with just three runs required for victory, he top-edged a pull off Eaglestone to give Dockrell an easy catch at mid on. Fletcher sealed the win in Eaglestone’s next over with a glance to the fine leg boundary.Ireland captain O’Brien had had the better of the toss but his decision to bat first soon backfired. After Andre Russell trapped Gary Wilson lbw, Dave Bernard struck twice in quick succession to put Ireland under real pressure. O’Brien played a counter-attacking 37, smashing 15 in an over off Russell, and was timing the ball well before he clipped Kevin Stoute to Smith at midwicket.Poynter and White picked up where he left off, adding 88 for the fifth wicket before they were separated by Imran Khan, Poynter trying to launch the legspinner down the ground but finding Assad Fudadin at long-off to depart for 64.Ireland were 161 for 5 with his dismissal, and thereafter lost wickets at regular intervals, with Fudadin and Khan the main destroyers of the lower order before Bernard returned to bowl Eaglestone and keep Ireland to a mediocre total.

Cameron Steel, Tom Lawes both take three wickets to take control in Canterbury

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2024Dom Sibley hit an unbeaten 87 as Surrey dominated Kent on day two of their Vitality County Championship derby at Canterbury, reaching 185 for one at stumps in reply to Kent’s 244 all out.Cameron Steel and Tom Lawes both took three wickets apiece as Surrey limited Kent to 244 and although night-watcher George Garrett outshone his batting partners with a career-best 48, any hopes that might look competitive vanished as Sibley and Rory Burns put on 147 for the opening wicket.Garrett eventually got Burns for 69, but Sibley and Dan Lawrence batted through to stumps, at which point Surrey were just 59 behind.It was so cold at the Spitfire Ground that even the Nackington Road Grumblers abandoned their usual seats and took refuge in the more sheltered Cowdrey Stand. Garrett’s unexpected resistance aside, there was plenty for them to grumble about.Kent were 111 for three overnight and Kemar Roach had Jack Leaning plumb lbw to the third delivery of the morning, removing him for 30.Garrett pulled Lawes for successive fours as he overtook his previous highest first-class score of 24, but the remaining specialist batters all squandered promising starts.Joe Denly was bowled for 32 when he chased a wide one from Steel and played on and Harry Finch hit two impressive boundaries as he steered Kent to 192 for five at lunch but he was caught for nine in the slips by Sibley off Jordan Clark soon after the resumption.Garrett fell two short of his half-century when he edged Steel behind and Steel then had Matt Parkinson stumped by Ben Foakes for a duck. Kent’s last recognised batter went when Foakes then sprang to his right to catch Joey Evison off Lawes for 30.Jas Singh also made his highest first-class score, but when he was lbw to Lawes for 15 Kent were still six short of a batting point.Surrey’s response rapidly began to look ominous. Kent created few chances and when Sibley nicked Arafat Bhuiyan he was put down by Finch.Burns flicked Matt Parkinson for a single to reach 50 and compared to last season, when he took 578 minutes to make 140 at this venue, Sibley was batting like Virat Kohli, reaching his half-century from 86 balls with a single off Arafat.Burns fell to Garrett when Zak Crawley took a smart slip catch, but it was an isolated moment of hope for the home fans during a protracted evening session.

Prasidh Krishna, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh were also picked

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-20231:20

What could Samson’s selection for the T20Is in Ireland mean?

A fully-fit Jasprit Bumrah is finally back in the India squad – as captain as well – for the T20Is in Ireland in August. In another boost to India’s fast-bowling stocks, Prasidh Krishna was also picked in the squad for the three games in Dublin.Bumrah hasn’t played any cricket since the T20I series at home against Australia last September. He has been at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for the past two months where he has slowly increased his bowling workloads after undergoing surgery in New Zealand for a back injury. He had a few practice games and the NCA staff, led by VVS Laxman, is believed to be satisfied with Bumrah’s progress.ESPNcricinfo has learned there were deliberations over whether Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was named captain for the 2023 Asian Games, should lead in Ireland as well to reduce Bumrah’s workload, but it’s understood the fast bowler was keen to lead. Bumrah had previously captained India in the Birmingham Test against England last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Prasidh, meanwhile, is returning after extensive rehabilitation for a lumbar stress fracture that had kept him out of all cricket since the tour of Zimbabwe in August 2022. He didn’t undergo surgery initially and had been working towards a full recovery prior to the Ranji Trophy, but was advised surgery in December after another assessment.At the time of his injury, Prasidh was emerging as an effective bowler in the middle overs in ODIs with his height, pace and hard lengths. Last week, the BCCI had said that Bumrah and Prasidh were “bowling with full intensity in the nets.”Related

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Many of the players picked for the T20 cricket competition in the Asian Games were also selected to tour Ireland. The ODI regulars were rested to prepare for the Asia Cup starting on August 30 in Sri Lanka, just a week after the final Ireland T20I on August 23. The team management is considering a conditioning camp in Bengaluru prior to their departure to Sri Lanka.Apart from Gaikwad, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube were also picked on the back of impressive IPL seasons. Gaikwad was Chennai Super Kings’ second highest run-getter with 590 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 147.50 in a victorious season.In all, seven members of India’s Caribbean-bound T20I squad, including seamers Mukesh Kumar and Arshdeep Singh, feature in the side for the Ireland tour. Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar are among the spin-bowling options for India.

Lancashire seamer has never played a List A game for current club

Matt Roller15-Jun-2022Luke Wood is set to make his England ODI debut in the Netherlands but has not played a 50-over game for three years. As such, his call-up to Matthew Mott’s first white-ball squad for the three-match series which starts on Friday, squeezed in between the second and third New Zealand Tests, is a revealing moment.Wood, a strapping left-arm seamer, has been on England’s radar for some time – he is a former Under-19 international and was a reserve for January’s T20I series in Barbados – but his involvement highlights the extent to which 50-over cricket has slipped down the list of priorities in English cricket since the 2019 World Cup.”He has been consistent for Lancashire over the past 12 months and we have been monitoring his progression,” Mott said when the squad was announced, but a telling fact was conspicuous by its absence: Wood has never actually played a 50-over game for Lancashire.Since his List A debut in 2016, Wood has played only three more games of professional 50-over cricket, most recently for Nottinghamshire in May 2019. The depth of Notts’ bowling attack and resultant lack of first-team opportunities was a major factor in Wood’s decision to leave for Lancashire at the end of that season and his contract with Trent Rockets in the Hundred means he has only worn the Red Rose in first-class and T20 cricket.In the two full seasons since his move to Old Trafford, none of England’s best white-ball players have played a domestic 50-over game: the Royal London Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic and clashed with the Hundred in 2021. It will do so again this summer and while the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) are pushing for a change next year, it will prove hard to find room in a schedule that is already at breaking point.”I know that I haven’t played a 50-over game for three years,” Wood tells ESPNcricinfo. “With the Hundred and the 50-over comp going on at the same time, a lot of people in the frame won’t have played a lot of 50-over cricket recently unless it’s at international level. If you look at the schedule, it’s probably something you’ll see more and more of, unless something changes.”Related

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And yet Wood is not unduly concerned by inexperience as a 50-over bowler: “It’s very similar to T20 in a sense. Your skills are pretty much the same, it’s just a longer period of time. I was away this winter [at the Abu Dhabi T10 and the PSL] and if you take into account the Hundred and the Blast, I’ve probably played more white-ball cricket in the last 12 months than I ever have in the past.”I wouldn’t say it’s an issue. From an outsider’s point of view, you might look at me having played four games and it might seem a bit confusing. But I think you’ve got to take white-ball cricket as a whole now, not just 50-over cricket and T20 cricket.”England have been forced to pick players along those lines, highlighting particular roles in their side and working out who is best-placed to fill them based predominantly on T20 performances. Wood – along with Brydon Carse, who impressed in England’s ODI series against Pakistan last year – has been identified as a potential attacking threat in the middle overs in the Liam Plunkett role, despite the fact he largely bowls with the new ball for Lancashire in the Blast.While less than ideal, England have coped previously with a domestic schedule that does not mirror the international game: between 2010 and 2013, the counties played a 40-over List A tournament rather than a 50-over one, a decision which had long-term benefits for young batters like Jos Buttler and Jason Roy who were still making their way in the game.The shorter format forced that generation to play in a more attacking style, one which happened to mirror the one Eoin Morgan implemented after the 2015 World Cup. Nathan Leamon, England’s white-ball analyst, wrote in his book with Ben Jones that it was “a happy accident” which shaped the development of “the finest collection of white-ball batsmen that England has ever produced”.But the contrast is clearly starker now and while there are transferrable skills in many roles – openers, finishers and new-ball bowlers, for example – the ECB are keen to create opportunities for talented players to play 50-over games: the Lions play two one-day fixtures against South Africa next month and are due to tour this winter, while the return of an annual North vs South series will be discussed as part of Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review.Mo Bobat, England’s performance director, believes that Lions squads are the hardest to select of any and next month’s selection will see short-term needs balanced with longer-term ambitions: some of the country’s best young white-ball players such as Will Smeed and Tom Lammonby remain uncapped in List A cricket and will be considered for the South Africa fixtures.In the short term, the Netherlands tour is likely to see Dawid Malan given an opportunity to bat at No. 3 and pitch his case to be Root’s back-up in a full-strength squad, while Buttler looks set to move up the order – most likely to No. 4 – as England look to get the most out of the world’s in-form white-ball batter.There will also be opportunities for fringe seamers including Carse, Wood, Reece Topley and David Payne to impress the new hierarchy in the absence of several first-choice players due to injuries, with Mott highlighting death bowling as a “really key focus” for the series.For Wood, the goal this week is straightforward: “I just want to try and show everyone what I’m about,” he says. “Hopefully I can make my ODI debut and do well.” If he does, he may be the first England player in the modern era to feature in an ODI with no List A track record to speak of; it seems unlikely that he will be the last.