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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.Even if the results don’t matter “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.”

The PCB has given no-objection certificates (NOCs) to 43 of its players, to be listed in the BBL’s overseas draft, just a few weeks after rejecting an initial list of players.When the first list of 98 overseas players, who had nominated themselves for the BBL draft, came out last month, no Pakistani players were in it. In the new batch of nominations, Trent Boult, Shadab Khan, Andre Russell and Jason Roy were among the big names confirmed as platinum players. Shadab, in fact, headed a sizeable contingent of Pakistan names, including the likes of Mohammad Amir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz.Related

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None of the multi-format stalwarts – such as Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi – are in; they will be a central part of Pakistan’s home season with Tests against England and white-ball series against New Zealand and West Indies, all between December and February, before the PSL starts in mid-February.Most of the players who have nominated for the draft are unlikely to be involved in Pakistan’s international commitments, or even in domestic first-class tournaments – the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy clashes with the start of the BBL.Asif Ali, a certain pick in Pakistan’s T20I squad, was part of the earlier list, which was denied NOCs, but is in this batch. Asif, Shadab and Shahnawaz Dahani are most likely to be available – if picked at all – only partially in the BBL because of their involvement in Pakistan’s short-format sides. Azam Khan is also in the nominated list, having signed on as the first Pakistani player in the UAE-based ILT20 recently. He is, however, awaiting an NOC to play in that league.The process of issuing NOCs for participation in overseas T20 leagues was one of the issues raised by a group of players before signing their central contracts with the PCB recently; in particular, the timeframe between a request and a response from the board.NOC-related issues led to a near-strike in November 2019, which eventually helped put in place a policy [available on the board website] that the PCB formalised in issuing NOCs: that allows players to seek NOCs for three overseas leagues excluding the PSL.There has been some frustration among players who feel they will miss out on the big-money leagues in the UAE, and CSA’s upcoming league, to add to their absence from the IPL.There was a suggestion at one stage that the PCB might compensate players for not playing in other leagues, but the contract offered made no mention of it. Players eventually signed the contract on the basis that discussions, including around NOCs, will resume after the Asia Cup.

The BCB will not pull Shakib Al Hasan from his CPL contract, as he was omitted from Bangladesh’s 17-man squad for the upcoming two-match T20I series against UAE in Dubai.Nurul Hasan, who is returning to the squad after a finger surgery having missed a chunk of the Zimbabwe tour and the Asia Cup, will lead in Shakib’s place.Shakib is playing for the Amazon Warriors as a replacement for Tabraiz Shamsi though he hasn’t made an appearance this season.The Bangladesh squad is mostly made up of the T20 World Cup-bound players. However, to make up for Shakib’s absence, the selectors have included three of the four standby players, such as legspinner Rishad Hossain, who gets a maiden senior call-up. He has taken six wickets in 14 T20s, but is often used only as a net bowler at home. He recently performed this duty during the Asia Cup in UAE.There’s also a return for Soumya Sarkar, who played the last of his 66 T20Is against Australia at home last year. Left-arm quick Shoriful Islam was also included in the squad.Bangladesh depart for Dubai on Thursday, to play the two T20Is as well as take part in some training sessions. The tour was hastily organised last week when they failed to hold practice sessions in Dhaka due to heavy rain. Bangladesh are set to return on September 28, and then leave for New Zealand, to play the T20I tri-series next month, a few days later.Bangladesh squad: Nurul Hasan (capt), Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Litton Das, Yasir Ali, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Nasum Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Rishad Hossain

A buoyant Steven Smith has proudly announced his superb one-day innings against England was the best he has felt batting in six years.The bold claim from one of the country’s greatest batters will strike fear into West Indies and South Africa ahead of the Australian Test summer.Smith belted an unbeaten 80 from 78 balls at Adelaide Oval on Thursday to help Australia secure a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against world champions England.”[It] was probably the best I’ve felt in about six years,” Smith told reporters. “I was just in really nice positions and I felt really good, I honestly haven’t felt that way in six years or so. It’s been nice to score some runs in that time and we’re always looking for perfection, and for me yesterday was as close to perfection as I will get.”Smith credits a year-long process to help rediscover his best stance and technique which now sees him not taking the pronounced jump across the crease and staying more side-on to the ball.He scored a century in his previous ODI innings, against New Zealand in September, but said that his latest effort felt a world away.”[It was] much better yesterday,” he said. “In Cairns on a slow wicket I still felt a little bit rushed and wasn’t quite happy with the positions I was getting in whereas yesterday I just felt, a couple of the cover drives I hit, I know I’m batting really well when I’ve got my weight going through the ball.”Smith was left out of all but one game during the recent T20 World Cup campaign but in ODI cricket has been able to retain a remarkable record. Since returning from his ban at the 2019 ODI World Cup, he has averaged 54.84 in ODIs, which goes up to an even more impressive 66.13 since the start of 2020.The six-year timeframe mentioned by Smith since he last felt so good at the crease includes his remarkable 2019 Ashes in England where he averaged 110.57. And over the last six years, since 2016, he has averaged 61.77. However, for his lofty standards, Smith has experienced a lean period in the Test arena with just two centuries since the 2019 Ashes.”I’ve been working on a few things, it’s almost been a six-month or 12-month process,” Smith said. “The start of last summer, I tried to get my hands back to where they were in 2015.”I feel like I’m staying a bit more side-on now and I’ve got my feet and hands in sync together. [Thursday] was probably the first time I’ve actually had extended time in the middle with that change.”It’s hard to base something on one innings but it felt as though things clicked for me like they did at the WACA in 2013. Hopefully it’s the start of a big summer.”Smith is averaging 60.00 from 87 Tests with 28 centuries ahead of a jam-packed 12 months for Australian cricket.After two Tests against West Indies and a three-match series with South Africa, Australia will head to India in February to battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. If they gain enough points in those series there will be a World Test Championship final in early June before the Ashes series in England.

Jos Buttler, England’s limited-overs captain, admitted he was “not fussed at all” about losing 3-0 to Australia in an ODI series he described as a good example of bilateral international cricket losing its relevance.The series, which was not part of the ODI Super League, was originally due to help England’s preparations for their defence of the 50-over World Cup in India, following on from three T20Is which would serve as the curtain-raiser to the Australian summer.But after the T20 World Cup in Australia was postponed from 2020 to 2022 due to Covid, the tour was split in two, and the T20I series was a warm-up for that tournament. With the 2023 ODI World Cup in India postponed from February-March to October-November, the ODI series became an afterthought and was effectively fulfilled due to contractual obligations with broadcasters.Related

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The series started only four days after England lifted the T20 World Cup and with their Test squad in Abu Dhabi preparing for a three-match series against Pakistan, England fielded a team that was barely half-strength. They lost all three ODIs and were thrashed by a record margin, 221 runs, in Tuesday’s dead-rubber at the MCG.”It was always going to be a tough series for us, coming off the back of the World Cup,” Buttler said, speaking to the BBC. “It’s just been a few games too far and fair play to Australia, they have outplayed us. It’s not part of the ranking system [Super League] so there’s not as much on the games as there would be.”Any time England play Australia you want to put up good performances, but it’s just been hard. I’m not fussed at all about the results, to be honest. We’ve got exactly what we wanted from [the tour to] Australia.”Steve Harmison, the former England fast bowler, described the series as “meaningless cricket, played in a meaningless way” while working as a pundit for BT Sport, and Buttler implored administrators to “take care” of the global game.”Just to take care of it, find a way to keep it all relevant,” Buttler said when asked for his message to cricket boards. “Maybe the ICC tournaments should be a little bit more spread out: it gives you a little bit more time to prepare and it makes them probably a bit more special when they do come around as well.”The landscape of cricket has changed dramatically over the last few years, and we’re in a different time. Lots of people are talking about how you keep bilateral cricket relevant and I think this series is a good example of how probably not to do it.”I think one of the biggest things is having overlapping series. We’ve got a group of players preparing for a Test series that shortly starts in Pakistan and we’ve got a team playing here at the same time. In the new year, a Test match [in New Zealand] finishes one day, and an ODI series starts the very next day in Bangladesh.”I feel a bit for the players, to be honest – the ones who are young and coming into the game at the moment. You want to play all formats and I don’t think the schedule really gives you that chance at the minute.”

With South Africa still figuring out their best XI for the Test tour of Australia, former captain Graeme Smith believes they should stick to an “aggressive mindset” and play six batters and five bowlers.”I’d like to see South Africa back their six batters,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “I think there’s always that fear because the batting has been weak. They’ve always looked to play the extra batter. Maybe that can be a defensive mindset and not an aggressive mindset. I’d like to see them take an aggressive mindset.Related

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“You’ve got Lungi Ngidi, you’ve got Marco Jansen. You’ve got [Kagiso] Rabada and Anrich Nortje, and you’ve got Keshav Maharaj, who are all outstanding Test bowlers and can really win you games single-handedly. Work on the batters, get the six batters to bat in partnerships and get totals. If you get the totals you want, bowlers can win you games. And South Africa should pick the bowlers who can win you games.”South Africa’s Test captain Dean Elgar had suggested they were still “in a bit of debate” about playing an extra batter to lengthen their line-up. South Africa are presently second in the World Test Championship table, but their batters haven’t been racking up big numbers in the last few years. Since the start of 2020, they have had just six centuries in 19 games, the fewest among the teams part of the WTC. In their previous Test series, which they lost to hosts England 2-1 in August-September, they had just one batter among the top five run-getters. They also got bowled out under 200 four times in that series.Smith also said South Africa needed to focus on building partnerships. They have had just nine century stands in the last two years, which is again the fewest among the nine teams that are part of the World Test Championships.”If you can get those partnerships together over 100-150, you start to make an impact on the team’s innings. I think when you’re under pressure, you tend to focus on yourself and the pressure just grows, how you can work together as a batting unit to post totals there in Australia is going to be key. You obviously need some of your big players to perform well and take the pressure off the youngsters.”South Africa’s bowling continues to remain their biggest strength. Their bowling average of 24.94 is the second lowest while their strike-rate of 46.7 is the best among the Test-playing teams in the last two years.Among the standouts in this department has been Rabada, who’s been their kingpin across formats. Among the bowlers to take 50-plus wickets since 2020, only his team-mate Nortje has had a better bowling strike rate than him. Rabada is the only fast bowler who was part of South Africa’s successful Test tour of Australia in 2016, when he took 15 wickets in six innings.”The thing about KG is that he’s the center piece for South African cricket at the moment so whenever he doesn’t play it’s noticeable,” Smith said•Getty Images

Ahead of this tour, however, Rabada admitted that the amount of cricket being played was a concern and that it needs to be “managed”.”The thing about KG is that he’s the centre piece for South African cricket at the moment so whenever he doesn’t play it’s noticeable,” Smith said. “But it’s about producing enough talent that you can afford to rest a player here and there. At the moment you know in a World Cup, and a big tour to Australia, he has to play his roles there. And also as he gets more experience, he will learn to manage himself and stay focused on what’s important.”With Elgar saying his side was prepared for a “feisty” series against the current No. 1 Test team, Smith, who has been part of three bilateral tours to Australia, said South Africa should solely focus on competing on the field.”I think whenever you tour Australia you got to be prepared for being in someone else’s country for a period of time. Crowds.. and the players playing the game hard so definitely you’ve got to be mentally prepared. I think the key is always playing good cricket. It’s the only way that I’ve found over the years, having lost really badly once and won twice, if you can play really good cricket and you turn everything around and the home team gets under pressure. So I hope that South Africa focus on their performances, in particular their batsmen. There is some talent in the bowling ranks, [but] if the batters can get some runs in Australia it gives you a chance to beat them.”The first of three Tests between Australia and South Africa starts on December 17 at the Gabba in Brisbane,

Sandeep Lamichhane has been left out of Nepal’s squad for the upcoming Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series in Dubai, also featuring United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Lamichhane is currently out on bail, facing charges of sexual coercion of another person, and bail conditions prevent him from travelling abroad.While the legspinner was not in the provisional 15-member squad, efforts were being made to secure court permission for him to travel. But his name didn’t feature in the final squad announced by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Saturday.Nepal’s participation in the tri-series begins on Monday when they take on PNG in Dubai. Last week, in another Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series, also featuring Scotland and Namibia in Nepal, Lamichhane took 13 wickets in four matches. That performance helped Nepal win all four games in close finishes. He returned three wickets in each of the first three games before picking up four in the final game against Scotland.Related

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His involvement in that series was met with protest by fans as well as opponents. The Scotland players refused to shake hands with Lamichhane post-game, while Namibia decided to bump fists rather than shake hands after one of their games. The boards of both teams also issued statements ahead of the series, condemning gender-based violence.Lamichhane was suspended by CAN last year after an arrest warrant was issued following the allegations against him. He was taken into police custody and later granted bail, which was followed by his suspension being lifted by CAN earlier this month and his inclusion in the squad for the tri-series against Namibia and Scotland.Nepal are placed sixth in the seven-team Cricket World Cup League 2 league table. Lamichhane has picked up 55 wickets in the competition – the most for Nepal – and is third in the overall list of wicket-takers.Nepal squad for UAE-PNG tri-series: Rohit Paudel (capt), Dipendra Singh Airee, Gyanendra Malla, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Kushal Bhurtel, Lalit Rajbanshi, Bhim Sharki, Sundeep Jora, Kushal Malla, Shyam Dhakal, Gulshan Jha, Aarif Sheikh, Pratis GC

Two spinners and three fast bowlers? Or one spinner and four fast men including Shardul Thakur as bowling allrounder? Who should be wicketkeeper – the specialist KS Bharat or the X-factor player Ishan Kishan?These are among the key questions that have confronted India since they announced their squad for the WTC final. If you were at The Oval on Sunday, two days before the Test billed as the Ultimate Test, you would have struggled to come away with any hints as to what combination India are leaning towards.Two young men, good friends, both in their 20s, were in focus during India’s first training session in London after almost a week in Arundel where the squad assembled in batches, with players joining at different times while the IPL concluded.Related

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Shubman Gill and Kishan share a close bond off the field, and are not shy to rib each other with friendly banter. Gill needled Kishan as soon as he noticed the left-hander attempting to sweep a few times, albeit not convincingly. Kishan acknowledged that it was “not my shot.”Kishan, who is yet to make his Test debut, had two long batting sessions lasting close to three-quarters of an hour overall, but didn’t practise his keeping. He also had a potential scare late in his second stint, taking a hit to his left forearm while trying to push at a delivery from left-arm quick Aniket Choudhary, one of India’s back-up bowlers. Kishan instantly dropped his bat and walked out to get his forearm iced and wrapped.It didn’t appear to be a serious injury, as Kishan carried two bats comfortably in the hand of his injured arm post-training. A couple of hours later he and Gill walked onto what could potentially be the match pitch for a quick inspection.Though he did not keep wickets, the ample batting time he got is an indicator that India are seriously considering Kishan. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said Kishan would feature in his India XI because the left-hander is an “X-factor player that you need when you might be pushing for a win in a Test match.” Ponting felt that job had previously been done by Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash last December.Bharat, Kishan’s direct competitor, started the training session with a spell of wicketkeeping drills on one of the practice strips on the main square and then returned to bat. Bharat replaced Pant for the four-Test home series against Australia in February-March and showed signs of being a talent who remains a work-in-progress both behind and in front of the stumps.A major challenge for wicketkeepers in England is that the ball tends to wobble and dip after passing the stumps, so technique and positioning are key attributes while standing back to fast bowlers. Neither Bharat or Kishan have any international experience of keeping in England, though Bharat has kept wickets for India A in one match, against West Indies A in Beckenham in 2018.Mohammed Siraj is expected to start at The Oval, but Umesh Yadav could also feature if India play four quicks•ICC via Getty Images

Overall, the Indians turned up at full strength on a sunny Sunday. While they had their sweatshirt hoodies on in the morning, they discarded them when noon approached and The Oval shone under a clear blue sky.Barring Ajinkya Rahane and the fast-bowling trio of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav, the rest of the Indian squad got through batting sessions.Gill enjoyed his time in the sun. He has experience of long-format cricket in English conditions, having played two Tests there in 2021, including the previous WTC final in Southampton, as well as three County Championship games for Glamorgan in 2022, scoring 244 runs at an average of 61.00, his four innings including a 92 against Worcestershire and a century against Sussex. Incidentally, Gill batted at No. 3 in all four innings.With KL Rahul injured, Gill is set to open in the WTC final alongside Rohit Sharma. Gill arrives in England on the back of stellar form across all international formats in 2023 and in the IPL. Gill, though, will be mindful both of Australia’s bowling attack and the seamer-friendly conditions where the Dukes ball can surprise the best of batters. On Sunday, Gill spent considerable one-one-one time with batting coach Vikram Rathour.A good opening partnership was a catalyst in India playing the dominant hand in the first four Tests of the 2021-22 Test series in England, with both Rohit and Rahul scoring big runs. Both scored match-winning hundreds, Rahul in the second Test at Lord’s and Rohit in the fourth Test at The Oval.Any apprehension India may have felt about playing in June (The Oval has hosted Test matches since 1880 but never one in June) would have been eased by the forecast for the coming week, promising sunny weather with temperatures ranging from the late teens to the early 20s Celsius. While there was no confirmation about which strip will be used for the match, it will be a fresh pitch with the surface likely to be dry,All three Indian spinners bowled and batted on Sunday, suggesting both R Ashwin and Axar Patel were in contention for the second spinner’s slot if India pick two slow bowlers. But if they field four seamers, India ensured Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh were ready alongside the lead new-ball pair of Shami and Siraj.Both Thakur and Unadkat bowled long spells and then had decent batting stints. Unadkat also received advice from head coach Rahul Dravid on his bat swing.Having watched more than three hours of the training the impression you would walk way with was: India are keeping all their options open, but ready.

England have made three changes for Thursday’s third Ashes Test at Headingley, with Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, and Moeen Ali returning to the starting XI in place of James Anderson, Josh Tongue and the injured Ollie Pope.The XI was confirmed shortly before England’s captain Ben Stokes addressed the media at Headingley, where his team must win to begin to claw back their 2-0 deficit after defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s.Of the three changes, Anderson’s was the most anticipated. He has so far claimed three wickets at 75.33 in an off-colour start to his tenth Ashes campaign, and after declaring the Edgbaston pitch to be “kryptonite”, England’s short-ball approach at Lord’s also went away from his preferred swing-bowling methods.He makes way for Woakes, who has not played a home Test since September 2021, but whose record of 94 wickets at 22.63 in England makes him the obvious like-for-like replacement. In the absence of Pope – whose dislocated right shoulder has ruled him out of the summer – Woakes’ prowess with the bat (he averages 35.25 at home, with one hundred and five fifties) is a bonus after England fielded an unusually lengthy tail at Lord’s.Related

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“We’re obviously devastated for Popey,” Stokes said. “He’s been a huge part of what we’ve managed to achieve over the last 18 months and obviously, being vice captain, it’s a real shame not only for us, but also for him in such a big series.”Moeen’s return provides more ballast in the lower-middle order, and is further reason why England have opted not to replace Pope with an additional batter, with Essex’s Dan Lawrence the one spare option in their squad. Harry Brook has been handed Pope’s role at No.3, in a show of faith in spite of his quiet series to date, but Stokes admitted that his own workload as an allrounder – after a gruelling 12-over spell in the second innings at Lord’s – had been a key reason for packing the side with extra bowling options.”Obviously Dan was in the squad as the next batter in, but there were a few more things to consider,” Stokes said. “I’m not gonna lie, last week took it out of me a little bit, so a big part of it was what would be the best team if I wasn’t to bowl a ball in this game, in the worst case scenario? That doesn’t mean I’m not going to bowl, but that was a huge part of the thinking about the team that we picked.”Brook has so far made 132 runs at 33 in four innings of the series, but attracted criticism for a soft dismissal at Lord’s after reaching his half-century. Stokes, however, said that his promotion to 3 – and Bairstow’s to No.5, the position he filled in his remarkable run of form in 2022 – had been “pretty simple” decisions.”Last summer, Brookie was in the squad and was the next player in, and when you’ve got a player like Brookie, from one to six, he would have come in in any position,” Stokes said. “We feel that Brookie is a type of player who will just take the responsibility and just crack on with it.”We obviously want to keep Joe [Root] at four because he’s a remarkable player, and Jonny moving up to five was just to get him into the game earlier. The things he did last summer from the No.5 position are quite hard to look past.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Moeen missed the Lord’s Test after sustaining a cut to the knuckle of his spinning finger, but he has been deemed fit to resume his comeback to the format. His appearance in the first Test at Edgbaston was his first since retiring at the end of the India series in 2021, and he resumes needing two more wickets to reach 200 in Tests.Wood’s extra pace offers England a genuine point of difference after being noticeably out-matched on the speed gun in the first two Tests. After missing the Lord’s Test to ensure his readiness for action, he returns for his first Test since the tour of Pakistan in December, and his first competitive outing in all cricket since his fiery displays for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL in April.He steps in for Josh Tongue, who produced a spirited display in his first taste of Ashes cricket at Lord’s, where he finished with five wickets in the match, including Steve Smith and David Warner in both innings.Stokes, however, was adamant that Wood’s inclusion ahead of Anderson did not spell the end of the road for England’s greatest fast bowler, a point that he had made to the whole bowling group before the start of the series.”We were very open and honest, and clear with each other before the series started, that it’s going to be very tough ask to ask all the bowlers to play every game this summer,” Stokes said. “It’s a good chance for Jimmy to have a rest up and then get ready to charge in from the Jimmy Anderson End at Old Trafford next week. But it’s great to have Woody fit. He’s firing and really ready to go this week, and we’re looking forward to seeing him get going.”England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Harry Brook, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Mark Wood

Stuart Broad believes England ended the second day in a “really positive” position on an Edgbaston pitch that he described as one of the slowest he has encountered in his 94 Test matches on home soil and a “nightmare” for a fast bowler.Ben Stokes, England’s captain, publicly requested “fast, flat wickets” for this summer’s Ashes series but the Edgbaston pitch has been on the slow side across the first two days. “Hopefully it’s not a trend for the whole series,” Broad said at stumps, speaking to broadcasters.”How can I be polite? It’s a very slow, low surface that saps the energy out of the ball, would be the nice way to put it,” Broad added. “It’s been pretty characterless so far – a bit soulless. But ultimately you can only judge it towards the end of a Test match and see how it develops.”It’s certainly one of the slowest pitches I can remember bowling on in England. I think there was a stat that, for the Aussies in the first 10 overs, it moved the least-ever recorded. It has certainly been hard work for the seamers.”Ultimately, we’re looking to entertain and have fun and get the crowd jumping, and it’s quite a difficult pitch to get plays-and-misses on and nicks to slip and stuff… these sorts of pitches are your worst nightmare when Steve Smith walks to the crease, to be honest.”Australia reached stumps trailing by 82 runs with five first-innings wickets remaining after Usman Khawaja batted through the day for an unbeaten hundred. But with Pat Cummins – who has averaged 11.71 in his last 40 innings – due in at No. 8, Broad believes England’s toil resulted in “a really good day”.”The game is nicely poised: we’re one or two wickets away from the tail,” Broad told the BBC’s . “It’s been a hard, gruelling day on a pitch that’s offered very little so far, but for us, being 90-odd ahead with five wickets to get, and trying to get in a position where we’re not batting last on that pitch is a really positive place to be.”He added to Sky Sports: “To still be 82 runs ahead of Australia with Pat Cummins and the tail next, we’re pretty happy. Things could happen pretty quickly for us in the first hour tomorrow… to pick up their key batters relatively cheaply, we’re pretty happy.”Australia have scored at 3.30 runs an over in their first innings compared to England’s scoring rate of 5.03, and Broad believes that the “clash in styles” will make for an intriguing series.”I think that’s the nature of the pitch slightly, to be honest,” he said. “It certainly doesn’t feel like the sort of pitch you’d have eight slips and gully, and the sort of pitch that you can play really extravagantly on.”I think the great thing about this series is both teams have got quite a clear style of play and both teams will stay true to how they’re going to play that. So I think they [the teams] probably clash in styles, but that will make for exciting cricket.”