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Cameron Green believes it would be a “stretch” for him to open the batting in Test cricket as the moment gets closer when Australia’s selectors will need to decide how to balance the playing XI for Old Trafford.Green missed the Headingley Test with a minor hamstring issue – which he said he would have been able to play through if needed – and Mitchell Marsh grabbed his opportunity with a scintillating hundred on the opening day to rescue Australia. Marsh also bowled tidily and the selectors now face a quandary over how – or if – to fit Green back into the team.The least disruptive route would be to take the rare option of not playing a frontline spinner, leaving out Todd Murphy, who was sparsely used in Leeds, and using Green as part of an all-pace attack supplemented by Travis Head, but coach Andrew McDonald has been firm on how he prefers a balanced bowling group.Related

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Therefore, the selection squeeze has turned the spotlight back on David Warner, who failed twice against Stuart Broad at Headingley. While McDonald stopped short of guaranteeing his spot, he did cite the value of the opening stands he added with Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston and Lord’s. Warner has been supported by Ricky Ponting in recent days to retain his spot and leaving him out would also require a reshuffle of the order.Marsh and Green have even been floated as potential options given they have done it in white-ball cricket – Marsh recently in ODIs and Green in T20s – although neither has regularly been higher than No. 4 in first-class cricket, and it remains a very unlikely solution.”I think it’s a bit of a stretch,” Green said of the possibility of him opening the batting in the fourth Test. “I think being an allrounder [makes it a stretch] – probably Shane Watson is the only one who comes to mind doing that – [and] I’m not too sure how much he bowled.”Watson was recalled to open the batting midway through the 2009 Ashes and it went on to be his most successful position in Test cricket, with an average of 41.79. On average, he bowled close to 15 overs in those matches and he claimed the third-most wickets (43) of a pace bowler to have opened the batting. Green currently averages a little over 13 overs per Test.”I think anyone would be happy to bat anywhere to play Test cricket,” Green added. “You always put your hand up for selection but have to wait and see what selectors think.”The other option the selectors will need to consider is whether to bring Green straight back in. His returns with bat and ball on tour, which includes the WTC final against India at the Oval, so far have been underwhelming, with respective averages of 19.16 and 45.60.Cameron Green hasn’t quite found his stride so far•Getty Images

“It’s been a tour so far with a lot of learning,” Green said. “Most of the time, I’ve got myself out rather than to do with the conditions. I think that’s to do with the wickets, it’s been quite flat. I am just trying to learn as much as I can and hopefully it holds me in good stead moving forward.”Unlike most of the squad who have taken a complete break in the gap before Old Trafford, Green has continued to train. He said his absence from the third Test was a very precautionary move and he could have pushed through. He picked up the hamstring niggle batting in the second innings at Lord’s and was able to bowl 13 overs afterwards which included the sustained short-ball approach.”[There were] no real issues at the time, it was more it’s just a long tour so I think everyone kind of wanted to get a break throughout one of the games, so that was my game,” he said. “The body is all good. Felt completely fine bowling. Think I just took off for a single and felt something very, very minor.”Green and Marsh are very close and while the latter’s superb return to Test cricket may mean Green now has to wait for his next outing, there was delight in his team-mate’s success.”We both have a great relationship,” he said. “We’re so happy for each other when one gets picked…I kind of look up to Mitch, so I’m so happy to see him play well. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to come back and play an incredible game, which he did.”

Sidra Ameen and Muneeba Ali have earned promotions in the PCB’s new central contracts with Ameen promoted from Category C to A. She is one of just three women in the highest category of the PCB’s central contracts, with Nida Dar and Bismah Maroof retaining their places in Category A. Muneeba, who scored Pakistan women’s only T20 hundred at the World Cup earlier this year, jumps up a category to B.Javeria Khan and Anam Amin are among the more notable names to miss out on a central contract, while Ayesha Naseem’s retirement sees her drop out, too. Aliya Riaz, who was one of the three players contracted in the highest tier, has been demoted to Category B, while Diana Baig, who spent much of the year out with injury, falls a tier to C. Four players – Anoosha Nasir, Eyman Fatima, Shawaal Zulfiqar and Umm-e-Hani – have earned central contracts for the first time – all of them placed in the emerging D category.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

As with the men’s central contracts, which continue to be afflicted with delays, significant pay rises are built into the women’s contracts. Monthly retainers have increased by a third, while match fees will double in the ODI format, and increase by 50% in T20Is. The contracts will be backdated to August 1, and will run till 30 June 2025, for 23 months rather than the usual year.”The extended contract duration reflects our anticipation of an action-packed international cricket calendar,” Tania Mallick head of women’s cricket at the PCB, said in an official statement. “We want our women cricketers to be fully prepared, physically and mentally, to face every challenge and celebrate every triumph that comes their way.”The substantial increment in the monetary aspect of our women’s central contracts reflects our commitment to providing an environment where players can focus solely on their game. This also acknowledges the rising standard and influence of women’s cricket globally.”Pakistan’s next series will be at home against South Africa, who play three ODIs and three T20Is in Karachi in September.

Ben Stokes has emerged as an injury doubt for the opening match of the World Cup between England and New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Stokes, the Player of the Match in the 2019 final between the same teams, came out of ODI retirement in August despite a long-standing knee injury and is not expected to bowl a ball at the World Cup, having made himself available only as a specialist batter.But he did not feature in England’s warm-up game against Bangladesh in Guwahati on Monday due to a left hip complaint. Ahead of their final training session before Thursday’s curtain-raiser against New Zealand, England’s captain Jos Buttler said that they would not “take big risks” with players’ fitness early in the tournament.”He’s got a slight niggle with his hip,” Buttler said when asked about Stokes’ non-involvement against Bangladesh. “But fingers crossed that it’ll be good news for us. We’ll see. He’s working hard with the physios, and we’ll know more when the guys arrive for training today.Related

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“We’ll make the right call. If he’s not fit to play, he’s not fit to play. If he is, we can make that decision. It’s not the time to take big risks on someone at the start of the tournament. Nearer the end, maybe you do take more of a risk with people’s injuries, but it’s going to be a long tournament.”Stokes scored 182 against New Zealand at The Oval in mid-September in just his third innings on his return to ODI cricket. He was rested for the final game of that series at Lord’s, and was not due to play in either of England’s warm-up games in Guwahati; the first, against India, was washed out after they had named a 13-man side at the toss.England were due to select their playing XI for the opening match after training at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday night. “We’ll see how the guys pull up here at training today – and post-training – and then we can make our decisions,” Buttler said.But Stokes was a peripheral figure, wandering around the outfield while his team-mates kicked a football around. He trained in the gym, but did not bat in the nets during England’s session under floodlights.If Stokes is not deemed fit enough to feature on Thursday, he is likely to be replaced at No. 4 by Harry Brook, who batted in that position in the warm-up against Bangladesh, and is the designated spare batter in England’s squad. Brook has only played six ODIs – and has scored just 123 runs – but England are confident he can convert his Test and T20 success into the 50-over format.”We all know what a fantastic player he is,” Buttler said of Brook. “He’s at the start of an international career that’s been outstanding in T20 cricket and the Test format. He’s not played loads of ODI cricket, but it’s a format that should suit him perfectly.”It’ll allow him to bat for a long time and make big runs, and that’s something he enjoys doing. He’s got all the shots, and we know from Test cricket that he can play big innings. It’s a format that should suit him really well.”

Test contender Marcus Harris is digging in during Victoria’s steady start to their reply of Tasmania’s imposing 452 in their Sheffield Shield match.Harris, who last played for Australia in January 2022, got to stumps on day two at the Junction Oval in Melbourne unbeaten on 59 with Victoria 142 for 1 after Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster was stranded on 97 not out as the visitors were bowled out prior to tea.The 31-year-old has endured a difficult start to the Shield season and is coming off scores of 0, 10, 0 and 11 in Victoria’s last two matches against Queensland and New South Wales after he missed the season-opener against Western Australia due to paternity leave.Harris is hoping to break back into Australia’s XI when David Warner bows out of Test cricket in January following the home series against Pakistan.The only wicket to have fallen in Victoria’s first innings was that of Will Pucovski, who was bowled by Mitchell Owen for 26. Pucovski was elevated to open the batting having been listed at No.3 after opener Travis Dean was subbed out of the match on day 2 with concussion after being struck on the helmet while fielding at short leg. The 31-year-old walked from the field without assistance but is being monitored by medical staff.Campbell Kellaway was subbed into the game in place and the Victoria young gun made the most of his unexpected opportunity batting at No.3 scoring 51 not out in an unbeaten 91-run stand with Harris.Tasmania took full advantage of a typically good batting pitch at Cricket Victoria headquarters, adding another 170 after starting day two at 282 for 4.Tigers No.3 Charlie Wakim didn’t add to his overnight score of 148 before falling to Victoria captain Will Sutherland who picked up 3 for 83.Webster was left stranded on 97 not out as tailender Sam Rainbird was run out for two, bringing an end to Tasmania’s innings.Webster and Owen powered the visitors to a position of dominance with a 118-run seventh-wicket stand as they seek to follow up their record-breaking run chase against Queensland. Owen made his maiden first-class half-century falling to Sutherland for 74 with 11 fours and a six.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, the Afghanistan captain, dedicated his side’s seven-wicket win over Netherlands to the thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who are facing the prospect of being deported back to Afghanistan.Shahidi was speaking after a comfortable win in Lucknow, Afghanistan’s third in a row and one which sees them move to eight points and closer to a semi-final spot, albeit with two games left to play against Australia and South Africa.”Right now, a lot of refugee peoples are in struggle so we are watching their videos and we are sad for that and we are with them in this tough time,” Shahidi said after the game. “I dedicate this win to those refugees that are in pain and also to all country peoples back home.”Nearly two million Afghan refugees that Pakistan says are in the country illegally had been told by the government to leave by November 1 or face either deportation or arrest. This week many thousands have rushed to the border between the two countries, trying to beat the deadline but worried about facing an uncertain future in Afghanistan, which has been governed since August 2021 by the Taliban.Related

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Pakistan has a long history of taking in Afghan refugees, dating back to 1979 when the former Soviet Union came into Afghanistan in a new front of the Cold War with the US. A lot of the players from Afghanistan’s earliest cricket sides had grown up and learnt the game in refugee camps in north-west Pakistan. There has been another sizeable influx of refugees into the country after the Taliban took control two years ago. But the order for the refugees to leave Pakistan comes amid tense political relations between the two countries.The issue has been close to the hearts of the cricket team. Following their eight-wicket triumph over Pakistan in Chennai last week, Ibrahim Zadran also dedicated the win to refugees being forced to leave.”I think the players are attuned with everything that’s going on back home, whether it’s an earthquake and other things,” Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan’s coach, said on Friday after the Netherlands win.”So they realise, and I think they’re enjoying the joy that they’re giving to the Afghan people and the smile that they currently have on their face in the changing room, but also the smiles that’s giving everybody else. That’s the great thing about sport and being able to touch people far further afield than just here in the stadium or in this country, but back home as well.”Afghanistan are now fifth on the points table, outside the top four on net run-rate but with the same points as New Zealand and Australia. They take on an in-form Australia in Mumbai first, on Tuesday, and then a rampaging South Africa in Ahmedabad, among their toughest tests.”I think you’ve got to definitely prepare and have a look at how the opposition are going to play, but the thing is with us, I certainly feel that if we worry, we just focus on how we play and what makes us the side that we are,” Trott said.”We’ve got to make sure that we don’t look at the opposition too much and forget about what we’ve got to do well. So that’ll be it and obviously we’ll prepare for Australia, a very good side along with South Africa but right now we’re focused on Australia and what we can do to beat them.”

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is taking a ‘wellbeing break’ after a heavy workload over the last year and will miss the first half of the Super Smash season for Wellington. A decision on her involvement for the remainder of the tournament will be taken later.”Our players’ mental and physical wellbeing is always our number one priority and it’s clear Sophie simply needs a break,” NZC head of women’s high performance Liz Green said. “2024 is shaping as another big year for the WHITE FERNS with England arriving later in the summer and the ICC T20 World Cup on the horizon.”Sophie’s understandably disappointed but we’re adamant she needs this break to re-charge her batteries and be well-prepared for the upcoming challenges.”Devine recently played the home ODIs and T20Is against Pakistan which started four days after she played her last game for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL. This year, Devine has played in 12 T20Is and nine ODIs, apart from featuring in last season’s Super Smash at the start of the year, the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) in March in India, the Hundred in August, the WCPL also in August, before heading to Australia for the WBBL. Her 49 T20s this year are the joint-most along with Hayley Matthews, and she lists just behind Matthews among the top T20 scorers in 2023 so far.The Women’s Super Smash kicked off on December 19 and Wellington’s first game will be on Thursday against Otago at home. All six teams will play 10 games each in the league stage before the eliminator on January 26 and final on January 28.New Zealand’s next assignment will be a home T20I series against England starting March 19, but Devine is also expected to fly to India for the second WPL season before that.

The Mumbai juggernaut rolls on

After two bonus-point wins over Bihar and Andhra, Mumbai beat Kerala by 232 runs in Thiruvananthapuram to catapult to the top of Group B standings. Set 327 for victory, Kerala folded for 94 in just 33 overs, with left-arm spinner Shams Mulani picking up 5 for 44 in the second innings. The result leaves Kerala languishing in the bottom half of the eight-team pool, having managed two draws and an outright defeat in three matches.Returning to lead Kerala a day after he turned up for India in a T20I against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, Sanju Samson returned scores of 38 and 15 not out. Shivam Dube, Samson’s India team-mate in Bengaluru, fared much better for Mumbai, hitting 51 in Mumbai’s first-innings 251. Mumbai fast bowler Mohit Avasthi picked up career-best figures of 7 for 57 in the first innings, while Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, had his first runs of the season (16 off 65) after two golden ducks previously.Saurashtra’s Chirag Jani poses with his Player-of-the-Match medal•PTI

The comeback stories

After failing to force an outright win after calling the shots against Jharkhand and being spun out by Haryana at home, defending champions Saurashtra notched up their first win of the season by beating Vidarbha. The 238-run margin of victory boosted their quotient, placing them fourth in Group A.Related

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Such a victory margin seemed a tough ask when Umesh Yadav picked up four wickets to skittle Saurashtra for 206 in the first innings. Vidarbha fared poorly, being bowled out for 78 to concede a massive first-innings advantage. Cheteshwar Pujara then buckled down to hit 66, one of three half-centurions in the innings. Along the way, he passed 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. A target of 373 proved too much for Vidarbha, who were bowled out for 134.Allrounder Chirag Jani ended the game with a match haul of 9 for 65, while Jitesh Sharma, fresh off national duty, made scores of 28 and 1 for Vidarbha. The loss notwithstanding, Vidarbha are still second in the pool following two big wins to open the season.After a frustrating start to the season, where their game against Rajasthan was heavily weather-affected, Vijay Hazare Trophy champions Haryana have now recorded two wins on the bounce. After seeing off Saurashtra last week, they eased past Manipur by an innings and 338 runs to top Group B. Himanshu Rana struck a career-best 250 not out to lead the way.Gaurav Yadav continued his excellent form in the tournament•Gaurav Yadav

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry roar

His career was at the crossroads, but N Jagadeesan took the third round by storm, hitting a career-best unbeaten 245 as Tamil Nadu beat Railways in Coimbatore by an innings and 129 runs to storm back into knockouts contention. This was their first win of the season following a massive season-opening loss to Gujarat and a frustrating weather-affected draw against Tripura. R Sai Kishore, the captain, also contributed significantly, hitting a half-century in Tamil Nadu’s 489 while also taking seven wickets in the match.Puducherry, TN’s southern neighbours, are also in knockouts contention after notching up their second outright win in three games. Their Madhya Pradesh recruit, fast bowler Gaurav Yadav, who took a ten-for in their win against Delhi went one better this time, returning a match haul of 13 for 93 as Uttarakhand were beaten by 55 runs in a tight game in Dehradun.Baroda currently top Group D with three wins in as many games, Puducherry are in second place, while MP beat Delhi for their first win of the season to be placed third.File photo: The weather disrupted plenty of matches in the third round as well•AFP/Getty Images

Delhi in relegation contention

DDCA continues to be in the headlines for administrative issues, and the team’s performances have mirrored the off-field drama. Delhi’s third-round loss to MP would sting a bit more, considering they pocketed a crucial 34-run first-innings lead, but their batting let them down a second time as they folded for 131 in pursuit of 218. Delhi, who’ve already seen senior players like Nitish Rana, Kulwant Khejroliya and Dhruv Shorey leave for other teams, sit at the bottom of Group D with a solitary point.

Weather continues to have a say

Several top players have voiced their concerns over the Ranji Trophy scheduling. Some have asked for a calendar rejig, while others want the northern sides to play down south first up to avoid chances of weather interruptions. But those debates are perhaps for later, at the captains and coaches conclave BCCI conducts at the end of every season.For now, UP vs Bihar, Punjab vs Tripura, Chandigarh vs Gujarat, and Bengal vs Chhattisgarh were all weather-affected with not even the first innings honours decided. For UP, this is their third-straight weather-hit game, while Chandigarh and Punjab have also copped it badly, with fog and bad light.

Josephine Nkomo arrived at the crease with Zimbabwe’s hopes in her hands.It was the 16th over of their 2023 T20 World Cup Qualifier semi-final against Ireland. Zimbabwe were chasing 138 and were 99 for 4. Needing 39 runs in 29 balls, the pressure was building.They lost two wickets in the next 14 balls and only scored nine runs. If they were going to get over the line, Nkomo would have to take them there.She took two runs off the next ball and hit the one after that for four which made the equation 24 from 12 balls. Tough but not impossible. Nkomo found another four off the last ball of the 19th over which meant they needed 15 runs off the final six balls and she was not on strike. Her partner, Precious Marange, scored seven off the first four balls before Nkomo watched a wide and snuck one, leaving Marange to hit six off the last ball to secure victory.It didn’t happen.Zimbabwe missed out on a first World Cup appearance by a margin of only four runs.”What I remember is terrible, absolute loss,” Nkomo told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast. “I really thought we could get over the line. It was heartbreaking. I remember watching from the other end and there was nothing that I could do at that time. I was heartbroken. I was just shattered. And I also thought for my team-mates after all the effort, getting so close and not getting over the line. I felt that maybe if you don’t even get to the semi-finals, the heartbreak is much better than when you’re so close but you don’t get over the line. So I wouldn’t want to experience that again.”