ScorecardMatthew Parkinson kept England in touch with two late wickets•Getty Images

On a grim day for his senior countrymen, Jhye Richardson provided a glimpse of a more promising future for Australia as his five-wicket haul cemented control of the first Under-19 Test at Chester-le-Street.By the close, Australia had built on Richardson’s figures of 5 for 75 to reach 91 for 3 in their second innings, a lead of 145 with Caleb Jewell unbeaten on 38 at the close.Australia’s position would have been all the more dominant had it not been for a late intercession from Matthew Parkinson, the Lancashire legspinner, who grabbed two lbws in his final two overs of the day, Jordan Gauci for 14 and Will Pucovski for 3, suckered by a last-ball googly.Ben Green claimed England’s other wicket of the day, that of Jonte Pattison, who was caught by Dan Lawrence for 28 to end an opening stand of 56.Earlier, England’s lower order had added 150 runs to their overnight 242 for 5, with Ryan Davies converting his overnight 42 to top-score with 73. Though he was the first wicket of the day, England’s momentum was maintained by Parkinson, who presaged his late contribution with the ball to make a valuable 32 from 89 balls at No.10.

Alex Hales and Dan Christian helped Nottinghamshire kick off their Royal London Cup campaign in impressive style with a nine-wicket victory over Warwickshire

ECB/PA25-Jul-2015
ScorecardAlex Hales scored a blistering century as Nottinghamshire cruised to victory•Getty Images

Alex Hales and Dan Christian helped Nottinghamshire kick off their Royal London Cup campaign in impressive style with a nine-wicket victory over Warwickshire at Welbeck Cricket Club. Hales blasted his way to 103 and hit seven fours and nine sixes in his 61-ball stay as Notts chased down their victory target in only 28.1 overs.During the first part of the day, Christian took the bowling plaudits for the home side, taking 5 for 40, as Warwickshire were bowled out for 220 in only 49.1 overs after being invited to bat first. Ian Bell, given dispensation by the ECB to play in between Test matches, made 52 from 83 deliveries but there was little in the way of support for him, as last season’s runners-up made a stuttering start this time around.Defending a modest total, the visitors ran into Hales and the in-form Riki Wessels, who were both at their hard-hitting best. The openers put on 164 in just 20.1 overs before Recordo Gordon picked up the only wicket to fall, having Hales caught at the wicket by Tim Ambrose.Wessels reached his own 50 from 56 deliveries, with five fours and a maximum and he closed on 86 not out, with James Taylor making an unbeaten 24. Notts hadn’t used a home outground within Nottinghamshire since 1998, when they had last played at Worksop, and an enthusiastic crowd of around 2000 turned out to wish them well in their venture.Earlier, Warwickshire were put under pressure after a fortuitous incident broke their opening partnership. A drive by Bell was deflected by the bowler, Luke Fletcher, on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end and Jonathan Webb was adjudged to be short of his ground.Christian’s first over, when he entered the attack, didn’t give any indication of what was to come, with four ill-directed leg side wides contributing to the total. From then on, the 32-year took centre stage with his medium-fast swing bowling and he picked up wickets in each of his next three overs. Tim Ambrose was caught behind by Chris Read and then both Rikki Clarke and Laurie Evans were taken in identical fashion by Alex Hales at second slip.Ian Bell and Chris Woakes mounted a fightback, adding 63 for the fifth wicket before Christian returned to remove them both. Bell had reached his 50 from 82 balls, seven of which were hit to the boundary boards but he then perished tamely to his next delivery, after picking out James Taylor at point.Woakes, who had played one match in recent weeks for Nottinghamshire’s second string on his recuperation from a knee injury, made an impressive 36 before playing all around a full-pitched delivery.Keith Barker hit a lusty 27 and Ateeq Javid contributed 33 but the total always seemed well below par and Warwickshire even failed to bat out the final over, with Jake Ball dismissing Josh Poysden for his second wicket. Ball, a product of the Welbeck club, finished with figures of 2 for 47.Notts will stage the second part of their “Welbeck Weekender” on Sunday when they host Glamorgan at the same venue.

Hong Kong’s chief executive Tim Cutler was scrupulous in his thanks to Englandf for agreeing to a practice match but warned that cohesive plans must be put in place to fast-track emerging cricket nations

David Hopps09-Nov-2015Tim Cutler, the chief executive of Hong Kong Cricket, has entered the debate over their one-day practice match against England in Abu Dhabi, calling it “a historic event where the teams met for the first ever time in a fifty over match” and holding out hopes of a full ODI against England in the future.While expressing gratitude to England for the opportunity, he also reflected upon Hong Kong’s ODI status and warned: “We need to make sure there are cohesive plans around fast tracking the development of emerging cricket nations across the globe.”The match was played as a 13-a-side practice match with the opportunity to play a full ODI against Hong Kong, who won full ODI status last year, not taken.Cutler suggested that time was short after the Emirates Cricket Board offered the Hong Kong fixture to England – and a Nepal fixture to Pakistan – via the ICC Development Team in Dubai.”To provide the best possible practice situation for both teams, it was then agreed between the coaching staff of both teams that 13 players would be allowed to participate from each team, with only 11 allowed to bat and/or field at any one time.”We appreciate the opportunity for our players to benefit from the experience in playing against a full-strength England ODI squad in preparation for Hong Kong’s ICC Intercontinental Cup and ICC World Cricket League Championship matches.”Cutler was careful to show gratitude to ECB, and especially his fellow chief executive Tom Harrison, for their qualified support and also praised Harrison’s interest in cricket as an Olympic sport, indicating that – comparatively at least – there are some signs of a more expansionist attitude under Harrison’s stewardship.Hong Kong in talks for county pre-season tours

Hong Kong Cricket are hoping to continue their development by attracting first-class counties to the region in March.

Fresh from their first 50-over match against England, the HKCA now hopes that at least one county may be persuaded to prepare for the English domestic campaign by touring the territory for pre-season.

It is understood the club have been attracted by the possibility of their costs being subsidised by sponsorship arranged by the HKCA.

The HKCA, meanwhile, want to “present Hong Kong as a viable option for similar tours in the future,” in the words of their CEO, Tim Cutler and showcase their facilities at the Hong Kong Cricket Club and Kowloon Cricket Club. They hope such a tour might encourage more sponsorship for the sport from within the region.

They also aim to “build relationships and pathways” for their young players, in the hope that some could gain school or club places in England.

But he did not sidestep the very real issues facing Associate nations as they attempt to gain opportunities to grow the game, confirming that a reluctance from all parties to foot the bill for an ODI (thought to be less than $100,000) had played a part in the negotiations.”In response to various media reports and approaches; yes, the matter of the total cost for an ODI was mentioned during the (last minute) arrangements of the fixture, as would be expected,” he said.”Perhaps, if both parties had longer to prepare, a full ODI may have been feasible and hopefully this is something both parties can consider for the future. However the reality was that in the time available – less than a month – the proper arrangements that would normally be covered by a series MOU could not be completed in time.A memorandum of understanding describes a formal agreement between the parties indicating how a match should be staged and can vary in complexity depending on the requirements of those involved.”However frustrating it may seem (especially from an Associate ODI-status member perspective) the fixture would not have proceeded if not for the support of the ECB, especially its CEO, Tom Harrison. Tom has been one of the main drivers behind the scenes in the ECB’s change of stance to now support Cricket as an Olympic sport and the HKCA applauds his efforts in this respect.”I believe including cricket in the Olympics, alongside an expanded World Cup & World Twenty20 tournament structure are all critical to our sport’s growth. If we ever truly want to be the world’s favourite sport, we need to make sure there are cohesive pans around fast tracking the development of emerging cricket nations across the globe.”I think this particular instance highlights a need for an expanded fund / mechanism to support ODI / T20i matches between FMs and all High Performance Associate Members to underpin the bridging of the gaps between cricket emerging and the developed world. I look forward to discussing this more with the ICC Development Team as they continue to assist us in our future plans for Hong Kong’s cricketing success.”Hong Kong, ranked 16th in ODIs and 11th in T20Is, are holding preliminary discussions with at least two such nations.They also have a T20 fixture against Pakistan later in the month – although as yet this also has no T20 status – before official T20s against Afghanistan and Oman.March sees Hong Kong in a second, and successive, World Twenty20. Prior to the tournament, Hong Kong will host an inaugural home series against Scotland in January, and will take part in the Asia Cup qualifying tournament in Bangladesh in mid-February.

Stuart Broad warns England not to let their focus slip when they return to Test action against Pakistan in the UAE next month

Andrew Miller15-Sep-2015Stuart Broad has hailed this summer’s victory over Australia as “the most special Ashes win I’ve been involved with”, but says that England know from bitter previous experience not to let their focus slip when they return to Test action against Pakistan in the UAE next month.Broad, whose career-best haul of 8 for 15 on the first morning at Trent Bridge was the defining moment of the summer, is one of four survivors from the England team that travelled to the Emirates in January 2012 as the No.1-ranked Test team in the world, but finished up on the wrong end of a 3-0 whitewash.Despite competing with the ball on that trip, with Broad himself topping the averages with 13 wickets at 20.46, England struggled with the bat in each of the three Tests, being dismissed for fewer than 200 in four of their six innings. In the second Test in Abu Dhabi, they were set 145 for a series-levelling victory but were shot out for 72 by Pakistan’s spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman.”[It’s a] really tough [challenge],” Broad told ESPNcricinfo. “But we have got guys of experience who have toured there before. Myself, Jimmy [Anderson], Belly, Cooky, we know the challenges we’ll face there, we know we’ll have to spend long times in the field to create pressure to take wickets and bat a long time.”In addition to winning the Ashes, England have won plaudits this summer for the approach they have taken to their cricket, with a new positive attitude reaping dividends across all three formats.Nevertheless, England’s Test record remains erratic, with four defeats in their last nine outings against West Indies, New Zealand and Australia. In particular, the nature of their two crushing defeats in the Ashes – on the slower, less seam-friendly surfaces at Lord’s and The Oval – doesn’t bode well for the challenges to come.”The biggest skill as an international cricketer is adapting to conditions,” said Broad. “Not every wicket you can go out and play hugely positively on.”I’ve not played at Sharjah [the venue for the third Test], but the wickets in Dubai and [Abu Dhabi] offered a tiny bit of seam but very slowly so we just bowled really straight.”But as a batting unit I remember we just got bowled and lbw a huge amount, which is not what you’d expect from world-class players. So that’s something we’ll have to learn from as a batting unit, to make sure we are playing straight, and look to get big runs because that’s what will determine the UAE trip, big runs on the board.”Broad is mindful of England’s tendency in recent years of following notable series wins with disappointing follow-ups – a pattern that was set in motion with a 2-0 defeat against Pakistan in 2005 following the euphoria of that summer’s Ashes, and continued two winters ago with the 5-0 whitewash that followed straight on from England’s successful home campaign against Australia in 2013.However, he believes that the current England team is at a different stage of its development to previous outfits, and credits Andrew Strauss, the team director, with instilling a new ethic that will help them to retain their focus throughout a tough winter that also includes a Test series against South Africa in December and January.”I think when Straussy came into the job, he had a long-term vision,” said Broad. “Obviously we had a huge goal to win the Ashes this summer but it’s further than that. We want to be a team that the fans enjoy watching, our style of cricket has changed, we are playing a style that people will want to tune in and watch and come to the ground and see.”We want a style of play that will take us a long way with the fans but also get us to the top of the world, and I think we are developing that. Obviously our inconsistencies have been well documented – win, lose, win, lose – but that keeps you on your toes and makes you want to improve when you are training.””There’s a huge goal this winter,” he added. “I’ve not been involved in a Test series win against South Africa, and we got beaten heavily in the UAE last time. There are a lot of goals and a lot of motivation for a lot of success this winter, and when you have a young squad and guys who are desperate to succeed, you can take the team a long way.”Broad, who was not involved in the one-day series against Australia, has been enjoying a rare period of down-time since the Ashes, with a chance to reflect on a remarkable summer in which England’s success was closely linked to his personal achievement. His 21 wickets at 20.90 enabled him to become only the fifth England bowler to claim 300 in Tests.”It was extra special because we weren’t expected to win,” said Broad. “Australia came into the series with such form and dominated the World Cup. If you read all the newspapers and saw all the predictions before it started it was Australia, Australia, Australia.”It was a whole team effort, a group of guys who threw themselves in the series. That’s why it felt so special. We have an end goal to be the best in the world in Test match cricket. That might be a few years away but we know we have the talent in changing room to reach that.”

ScorecardClint McKay enjoyed a fine all-round match for Leicestershire•Getty Images

Heavy rain on the final day at Wantage Road ruined Leicestershire’s pursuit of back-to-back LV= County Championship victories for the first time since 2010.The visitors, having been set a victory target of 116 after bowling Northamptonshire out for 162, were left stranded on 30 for 1 as only 45 minutes of play was possible on the final day due to the weather.Leicestershire’s hopes were raised when play began on time and, needing one more wicket to end the Northamptonshire second innings with Steven Crook unable to bat, Clint McKay struck second ball to have Ben Sanderson lbw.It left Leicestershire within sight of victory and they got off to the perfect start in their run chase with a boundary first ball.They lost Angus Robson lbw to Rory Kleinveldt for 10 but Niall O’Brien was promoted to No. 3 and struck a glorious back foot drive for four.However, he had only made 5 and Lewis Hill 11 when the rain arrived after just 6.4 overs of the chase, and that proved to be the last action of the match as play was abandoned at 4pm.Leicestershire take 12 points from the game and remain bottom of Division Two, while Northamptonshire’s 11 points moves them up to fourth in the table.Northamptonshire now turn their attention to NatWest Blast T20 Finals Day on Saturday and have several injury concerns.Crook is top of that list and he went for a scan on Monday morning on his right ankle, with the club awaiting news of potential ligament or tendon damage. If the scan comes back clear, he may yet be able to line up against Warwickshire this coming weekend.There was a further worry on the fourth morning when Richard Levi left the field nursing the ring finger on his left hand having dropped a catch at second slip. He only appeared in a little discomfort but will go for a precautionary.

Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Perera has tested positive for a banned substance and has been recalled from the New Zealand tour, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a release on Monday

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Dec-2015Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera has tested positive for a banned substance and has been recalled from the New Zealand tour, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a release on Monday. Perera’s sample was provided for a random test by the ICC in the recent home series against Pakistan. Kaushal Silva will replace Perera in the squad for the New Zealand tour. The first Test starts on December 10.In its release, SLC said that it would take all steps required by the ICC to have a further sample tested and “make every endeavor” to enable Perera to resume playing cricket at the earliest opportunity in compliance with the ICC’s regulations. Perera had been picked in all three squads for the tour.An ICC spokesperson said Perera had been “provisionally suspended” pending the outcome of the disciplinary process to be followed under the ICC’s Anti-Doping Code.”The ICC can confirm that Mr Kusal Perera has been charged by the ICC with an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the ICC Anti-Doping Code after a sample he provided was found to contain a Prohibited Substance,” the spokesperson said, adding that the ICC will offer no further comment on the matter until the disciplinary process is resolved.Neither the ICC nor SLC have confirmed what the banned substance is.The ICC had served Perera with a Notice of Charge on Monday, and Perera now has 14 days in which to request a hearing before an independent three-person Anti-Doping Tribunal. According to the ICC’s Anti-Doping Code, a player who fails to file a written request for a hearing before that 14-day deadline “shall have been deemed to have admitted that he/she has committed the anti-doping ruleviolation(s) specified in the Notice of Charge” and to have accepted the consequences specified in that Notice of Charge.Perera also has the right to request that a laboratory analyse an unopened and untested B sample, in order to “confirm the [ICC’s findings] in respect of the A Sample”. Both samples are taken from the player at the same time.Perera had been Sri Lanka’s top scorer in the ODI leg of the Pakistan tour during which – according to SLC – the positive sample had been given. He hit a 17-ball fifty in the second ODI, and struck 116 from 109 balls in the fifth, to end the series with 230 runs at an average of 46. He had not been in the playing XI during the Test series, and was less effective in the two T20 matches.His suspension is the second major blow to Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand, after Dhammika Prasad was sent home due to injury over the weekend. Perera’s absence will weaken an already-inexperienced Sri Lanka batting order, and will force either Dinesh Chandimal or 20-year-old Kusal Mendis to take the gloves.Perera’s replacement, Silva, can also keep wickets, but has largely batted in the top order in the past, and is less likely to be designated wicketkeeper. At any rate, Silva only lands in New Zealand on Wednesday – on the eve of the first Test.

Jake Lehmann, the son of Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann, scored his maiden first-class century while Callum Ferguson made his 14th as South Australia dominated the first day against Tasmania in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2015
ScorecardCallum Ferguson was on 176 at the end of the day (file photo)•Getty ImagesJake Lehmann, the son of Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann, scored his maiden first-class century while Callum Ferguson made his 14th as South Australia dominated the first day against Tasmania in Hobart. On a high-scoring day the Redbacks went to stumps at 3 for 441, with Lehmann on 179 and Ferguson on 176, the team’s runs having flowed at 4.59 an over.Ferguson and Lehmann combined for a 342-run partnership that was still going at stumps; they had batted through the second and third sessions of the day. Ferguson will be aiming to have his name at the forefront of the national selectors’ minds if they need to consider another Test batsman through the summer, while for Lehmann this was a breakthrough innings in his third first-class game.It wasn’t the outcome George Bailey was hoping for after he won the toss and chose to field. Andrew Fekete got rid of both the South Australia openers, Tom Cooper for 21 and Mark Cosgrove for 52, and Jackson Bird got rid of the South Australia captain Travis Head for a duck, but they were the only triumphs of the day for the home team.

A match that held most people at the Harare Sports Club on edge came to an end as a result of bad light, and Zimbabwe beat Pakistan to level the series by a narrow margin of five runs.”The umpire couldn’t see the ball, so he was telling the Pakistan batsmen that ‘we’re going off’,” Elton Chigumbura said. Pakistan needed 21 off 12 at that point, but Zimbabwe were eventually ruled winners after Duckworth-Lewis calculations. “In the game of cricket, you can’t relax until the very last ball. But there were a few chances that we didn’t take when we were fielding, and that’s why they ended up getting so close.”They showed some good fight, and they didn’t give up even when they’d lost six wickets early, which is cricket, and which is what you want from your team: to not give up. After the good start we had with the ball, they were under pressure. We just had to maintain that.”Chigumbura took a wicket in his third over today to snap a 111-run stand between Shoaib Malik and Aamer Yamin that had threatened to take the game away from Zimbabwe. He hadn’t bowled a ball in an international match for almost seven months but may well have ended up bowling the final over had the match gone the distance.But Chigumbura probably wouldn’t have bowled at all had legspinner Graeme Cremer not injured his ankle earlier in the afternoon. Cremer had taken a wicket with his second ball, aided by a diving catch by John Nyumbu at slip, and had found both turn and bounce off the pitch.”Definitely, that pitch would have assisted Cremer big time,” Chigumbura said. “They had confidence that we were a bowler short, and [Sikandar] Raza couldn’t bowl as well because he’d been off the field for an hour or more. So we just had to make use of the guys who were available to bowl. That’s why it was almost like a blessing in disguise that I ended up bowling as well and getting that wicket. We went back on top again after that.”Chigumbura had Yamin caught behind for 62 and then ran Wahab Riaz out to rally his side. “Obviously I should be bowling more,” he said. “It gives me confidence, what I was able to do today. I haven’t been bowling in matches for a long time, though I have been practicing my bowling and working on it. I guess today was just the right time to get the ball and have a bowl. Luckily enough, I managed to get a wicket. But we knew that we just had to take the chance that would be coming, because [Yamin] gave a couple of half chances.”Though it came in controversial circumstances, coach Dav Whatmore insisted Zimbabwe’s victory was a “fantastic effort”.”When it all clicks, it’s great,” Whatmore said. “Before the game started we had a lot negativity towards us, and in some ways it was justified, in other ways I’m not sure. But to turn it around in the way we did with the bat in that first half was just a fantastic effort given the situation that the boys were in at the start of the day. Losing the toss, being asked to bat, and to perform like that and get the score that we did was really heartening.”Raza and Elton capitalised on the hard work that was done at the top of the order. You can just see [Brian Chari’s] confidence slowly increasing. He’s going to be playing some good innings in the future if he continues to learn like he has done. And Tino [Mutombodzi’s] run out was fantastic, almost a game changer, the way he dived and stopped it to get [Mohammad] Hafeez. Pure skill. Elton had a decent one too. A lot of good things. It was unfortunate that the game finished in the way it did, but there were a lot of good things and positives today.”

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group A matches on October 2, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2015
Scorecard
Vidarbha’s Umesh Yadav hit 128 off 119 from No. 9•PTI

Delhi openers Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand, their captain and vice-captain respectively, struck fifties to salvage their position and take a lead of 74 runs with nine wickets in hand in Jaipur. Delhi’s fightback started when they did not allow the Rajasthan batsmen to convert their starts into big scores – five of them crossed 35 but only one made a fifty – and kept them to 240.Continuing from 74 for 3, Puneet Yadav (46) and Ashok Menaria (38) took Rajasthan towards 150 but Parvinder Awana dismissed both within three balls and Rajesh Bishnoi’s duck left them on 143 for 6, leading by five runs. Dishant Yagnik and Deepak Chahar stalled the fall of wickets with a stand of 87 runs before another mini-collapse ended Rajasthan’s innings. Yagnik struck a 56-ball 40 while No. 8 Chahar scored 50 off 48 with six fours and three sixes to put the pressure back on Delhi.Milind Kumar broke the stand and left-arm spinner Manan Sharma bowled the remaining three batsmen for only five runs to restrict Rajasthan’s lead to 102. Manan and Narwal finished with three wickets each.Chand and Gambhir’s opening stand of 166 made sure Delhi did not slump like their first innings. Both batsmen played patient innings in their alliance of three-and-a-half hours that was broken by 20-year-old debutant Nathu Singh, marked as a promising fast bowler. Once Chand was caught behind for 84, that included 13 fours, Delhi sent out Pradeep Sangwan as nightwatchman, and he stayed unbeaten with Gambhir on 77 with the score on 176 for 1.
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A collective effort from Karnataka’s bowlers brought about a collapse from Assam, as the hosts lost nine wickets for 103 runs in Guwahati and were limited to a first-innings lead of only seven runs. Assam had begun the day on 21 for 1 and progressed to 91 before they were jolted by losing their captain Gokul Sharma and PP Das in successive overs. Former Karnataka batsman Amit Verma held one end up with a half-century, but there was a steady stream of wickets at the other with the last six batsmen falling in single digits. Vinay Kumar, Shreyas Gopal and Karun Nair took two wickets each for Karnataka, and Assam were dismissed for 194.Karnataka’s openers Ravikumar Samarth and Mayank Agarwal wiped out the deficit and had added 77 by stumps on the second day, wresting back the advantage for the defending champions.
Scorecard
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav smashed 128 off 119 balls from No. 9, his maiden first-class hundred lifting Vidarbha to 467 on the second day in Nagpur. He began his onslaught after Vidarbha had lost two early wickets to slip to 293 for 8, adding 102 runs for the ninth wicket with Akshay Wakhare, who made 34. He then added another 72 runs with last man Ravikumar Thakur, whose contribution was 8. Yadav remained unbeaten, having hit seven sixes and seven fours in his innings.Vidarbha consolidated their advantage by striking in successive overs, dismissing both Odisha openers with the score on 45. Wakhare and Thakur were the successful bowlers, and with Odisha 388 runs behind, Vidarbha were well placed to push for a first-innings lead.
Scorecard
Only 19.1 overs of play were possible on the second day in Pune because of rain. Resuming on 303 for 6, Haryana were dismissed for 335, with Domnic Muthusami and Nikit Dhumal taking the wickets. Himanshu Rana, who celebrated his 17th birthday with a hundred on Thursday, achieved a career best 157 before he became the first wicket to fall on the second day – run out by Muthusami. Haryana then lost their last three wickets for four runs.Maharashtra batted only three overs and got to 7 for 0 before play had to be abandoned.

All signs point towards Australia calling upon twin spin in the third and final Test against West Indies at the SCG, a scenario the captain Steven Smith was more than open to as he assessed his side’s 177-run victory in Melbourne

Daniel Brettig29-Dec-2015A sore Peter Siddle, a tiring Josh Hazlewood, an emergent Mitchell Marsh, a dominant Nathan Lyon and a tour of Sri Lanka next year. All signs point towards Australia calling upon twin spin in the third and final Test against West Indies at the SCG, a scenario the captain Steven Smith was more than open to as he assessed his side’s 177-run victory in Melbourne.Siddle bowled only nine overs on the final day of the Boxing Day Test, his pace and penetration slackening as a result of a foot problem that compelled Smith to lean heavily upon the muscular fast medium of Marsh. Hazlewood, too, showed signs of flagging, and given Man-of-the-Match Lyon’s manifest success against the Caribbean batsmen, Australia’s selectors need only see a typical Sydney pitch to include Steve O’Keefe on his home ground.Depending on the fitness of Siddle and Hazlewood, the Victorian Scott Boland may be in line for a Test debut also, though for the time being it was the prospect of twin spin that enthused Smith, particularly when he looked ahead to the overseas assignments that beckon in Sri Lanka in 2016 and India the following year. He agreed that Marsh’s performance made him a viable option as a third seamer.”It’s possible,” Smith said. “We go to Sri Lanka later in the year, where there is a good chance we’ll see two spinners playing, or in the touring party. It’d be good to see a second spinner play and see what he has got to offer. We’ll wait and see what the pitch looks like and if the conditions are going to suit. If they do, there’s a pretty good chance we could see a second spinner playing.”I think when [Marsh] is in a good rhythm he’s as good as any of the bowlers around the country at the moment, and he hit that rhythm today. At the start of today his job was to bowl cross-seam and bash the wicket hard and try to get the ball scuffed up as much as possible to go reverse, and he did that job really well and got the rewards late in the day for the hard work he did early on.”Australia’s tired bowlers had themselves to blame for the match very nearly stretching into a fifth day, as the trio of wickets stolen away by no-balls left the coach Darren Lehmann making his unhappiness known to James Pattinson (twice on day three) and Hazlewood (once on day four) for their overstepping.”The bowlers don’t mean to overstep the mark,” Smith said. “It has been an issue for us this game because we had to take 23 wickets on a wicket that was quite hard to take wickets on. For us it was just about letting it go, continuing on and just having the energy that we had before that wicket, and I thought our energy, intent and all that in the field was probably as good as it has been this summer, and to be able to get that back was good.”We probably let ourselves down a little bit with the couple of no-balls taking the extra three wickets, probably takes a bit of time out of the game. I was glad the way we finished off though, taking that wicket just before the new ball was crucial for us, Lyono did what he has done for us all summer – he has got wickets at crucial times and he has bowled beautifully. Once we got the new ball, I was pretty confident we’d get the wickets.”A Jason Holder lbw referral to the DRS was unable to take its course when the ball-tracking technology was unavailable for the task, something that Smith said the team would discuss with the match referee, Chris Broad. However Smith noted he had actually been fortunate in that instance not to lose his review due to technical issues.”I think, looking at it, I was pretty lucky to get my review back to be honest,” Smith said. “It was probably sliding a fair way down leg, so it was a nice time to stop working if it’s going to stop working.”