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Tasmania coach Jeff Vaughan says former Test captain is going well both physically and emotionally, and is up for selection after training for the last six weeks

Alex Malcolm26-Sep-2022Former Australian captain Tim Paine was not named in Tasmania’s first Marsh Cup team of the new season but he remains up for selection for their Sheffield Shield opener after training with Tigers over the past six weeks.Paine has been training with the Tasmania squad since mid-August but he was not named in Tasmania’s 14-man Marsh Cup squad that was named on Monday, with Tigers opening their 50-over domestic campaign against South Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday before also facing Queensland in Brisbane on Friday. Paine also did not play in Tasmania’s second XI side that took on Queensland’s second XI in Brisbane last week, despite Tasmania fielding a near Shield-strength.He instead looks set to make his grade cricket return for University of Tasmania in the first round of Tasmania’s premier cricket competition this coming weekend with Tasmania to play their first Shield game against Queensland in Brisbane on October 6.Related

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New Tasmania coach Jeff Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo that Paine’s return to training had come as a surprise but he revealed he was in good shape both physically and mentally and was in the selection frame.”That one sort of popped up from nowhere to be honest. He came and spoke to the CEO and myself one day and said he’d like to come back and he’s certainly going to play cricket for University,” Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo. “So he’s been training with us most sessions the last five or six weeks. Physically [he’s] going well, emotionally going well. I’m sure everyone would agree that we trust his wicketkeeping skill set, his leadership skill set. So he’s up for selection.”Like any of our contracted players and like any of our players in Tasmanian premier cricket, he’s up for selection and one we will certainly speak about.”Paine has not played any cricket since he took a mental health break from cricket following his resignation as Test captain in November 2021.Paine played just one second XI game for Tasmania last year before his break from cricket. His last first-class game was in April of 2021 for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield.Jake Doran kept in the second XI match against Queensland last week having kept in seven of Tasmania’s eight Shield games last season.Tasmania’s Marsh Cup squad: Tom Andrews, Jackson Bird, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk (capt), Tim Ward, Beau Webster, Mac Wright

After an early prediction of higher chances of rain for India vs Pakistan, the forecast on Saturday evening came down to 70%

Sidharth Monga22-Oct-2022It would appear the fickle Melbourne weather doesn’t want to be seen as the spoilsport. The dismal weather outlook has improved a lot on the day before the big match between India and Pakistan on Sunday. On the eve of the match, Pakistan’s training was interrupted by early-morning rain, but India practised in dry conditions in the afternoon. Pakistan later did fielding practice under the lights at night.After an early prediction of 95% chance of rain and about 20mm precipitation on Sunday evening, the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded the forecast on Saturday evening to 70% chance of rain, and only two to five mm of it. The only concern, though, is that any rain on the day is expected in the evening, which is when the match is scheduled.Related

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“I’ve been hearing about Melbourne weather for a while now, and it keeps changing,” Rohit Sharma said in his pre-match press conference. “In the morning when I woke up, a lot of the buildings, when I opened my hotel curtains, were in clouds, and now we certainly see the sunshine.”You don’t really know what is going to happen tomorrow. The things that are in our control, we’ll try and control that, which is we’ll have a good training session today, go back, relax ourselves and get ready for tomorrow. As simple as that. We need to come here thinking that it’s a 40-over game. We will be ready for that.”If the situation demands that it’s a shorter game, we will be ready for that, as well. A lot of the guys have played such kinds of games before, and they know how to manage themselves in a situation like that where you are getting ready for a 40-over game, and then suddenly it’s a 20-over game, or five overs each.”Luckily, we played one game in India against Australia which was an eight-over game. I think in terms of where the guys stand, I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference, but we just certainly need to come here very well prepared and thinking that it’s going to be a 40-over game.”Pakistan captain Babar Azam also said they are hoping for a full game on Sunday. “Weather is not in our hands,” he said. “As players, we would love to play and play a full game. A lot of people are waiting for this match. We want it to be a 40-over match, but whatever happens we are prepared for it.”India’s training session was attended by hundreds of fans, with Indian and Pakistani supporters indulging in loud banter. It was just a precursor of what to expect on Sunday evening.

India’s captain says his bowlers struggled to protect the short square boundaries in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-20223:43

Moody’s advice to India – Set a brand of cricket, then pick players accordingly

India just didn’t turn up with the ball. This was Rohit Sharma’s immediate diagnosis after their ten-wicket defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Adelaide. Chasing 169, England romped home with 24 balls left to play, as Alex Hales and Jos Buttler dominated India’s bowlers from start to finish.”I thought we still batted pretty well at the back end to get to that score, but we weren’t good enough with the ball,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “It was definitely not a wicket where a team could come and chase down [that target] in 16-17 overs. But yeah, these things happen. Like I said, with the ball we just didn’t turn up today.”Buttler set the tone for England in the first three balls, threading Bhuvneshwar for a pair of fours past the diving point fielder. It was the start of a bowling effort where India struggled to prevent England from accessing the short square boundaries at Adelaide Oval.Related

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India scored only 100 runs in their first 15 overs, before Hardik Pandya’s late fireworks powered them to a competitive total. In those first 15 overs, India only scored 64 runs square of the wicket (backward point, covers, forward square leg and backward square leg as per ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball logs) from 46 balls. England, in their first 15 overs, smashed 98 off 54 balls square of the wicket.This could have meant either that India’s top-order batters failed to maximise the short square boundaries, or that India’s bowlers didn’t bowl the right lines and lengths, or both. Rohit suggested that the bowlers offered England too much width.”I thought when Bhuvi bowled his first over, it swung a little but not from the right areas,” Rohit said, when asked whether there was less swing than normal for Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep Singh with the new ball. “We wanted to keep it tight, not give room, we looked at Adelaide pretty well, we know where the runs are scored. Square of the wicket is what we were quite aware of, and that’s where all the runs went today. Keeping it tight is something we spoke of but from there if the batsman plays a good shot we’ll take it. But that is something that didn’t happen today and that is a little disappointing.”This defeat meant India had lost the World Cup semi-final each of the last four times they had reached that stage – the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups and the 2016 T20 World Cup before this one. Rohit said India’s players had the experience to handle the pressure of a knockout game, but were “a little nervy” nonetheless on this occasion.”When it comes to the knockout stages, it’s about handling that pressure,” he said. “It depends on individuals as well. You can’t really go and teach how to handle pressure. All these guys have played enough cricket to understand that. Yeah, I mean, look, lot of these guys when they come out and play in the playoffs in the IPL and all of that, it’s a high-pressure game, some of these guys are able to handle that. When it comes to the knockout stages, it’s all about handling that pressure. Holding yourself a little bit and keeping calm. I thought the way we started off with the ball was not ideal. That shows we were a little nervy to start off with the ball, but again we’ve got to give credit to those openers as well, they played really well.”

Pakistan captain refuses to blame injuries and pitches for side’s barren run

Danyal Rasool06-Jan-2023The thrill of securing a draw in the dark may provide its own endorphin rush, but Babar Azam was lucid enough to see the bigger picture. The Pakistan captain has acknowledged his side had not met expectations during the home Test season, which came to a close with a 0-0 draw in this second Test.”The Test season hasn’t gone according to expectations,” Babar said at the post-match press conference. “It’s not an excuse but some of our players were unfit which disturbed our combination. Of course there’s talk about the pitches, but conditions are different at every venue. We give our input on pitches, but you get the pitches you get, and after that you have to execute your plans. You can’t just complain about losing a match because of pitches. We prepared them according to our plans, but results didn’t go our way.”After a 3-0 defeat to England last month, Pakistan found themselves on the back foot for large parts of both Test matches against New Zealand. On the final day of each match, the home side was happier to shake on a draw. In the first Test, New Zealand needed 77 runs with nine wickets in hand when light intervened, whereas today, the visitors needed just one wicket when the umpires whipped off the bails. Extend it further back to the series against Australia, and Pakistan have now gone eight Test matches at home without victory in a run that extends back two years.Related

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It might easily have been three successive home series defeats when Sarfaraz Ahmed was squeezed down leg side in the 87th over. It brought out Pakistan’s No. 11 Abrar Ahmed to survive a nerve-shredding final 15 minutes alongside Naseem Shah, with the pair seeing out 21 balls before it became too dark.”It’s difficult to play the new ball when the fielders are up but Naseem and Abrar held their nerve at the death,” Babar said. “The way Saifi [Sarfaraz] came back and got us out of a hole was amazing, because his partnership with [Saud] Shakeel brought us back into the match. He’s come back after four years and had a dream comeback, after waiting all those years. It was his belief that kept him going.”At the start of that session, though, it was tantalisingly poised. Sarfaraz and Saud Shakeel had added 99 for the sixth-wicket stand. New Zealand’s fast bowlers appeared to have run out of ideas, but the scoring rate for the stand stood at just under 2.25, which meant Pakistan still required 140 runs in a final session where all four results seemed possible.Babar said Pakistan were eyeing up the win at that point. “We’d planned to go after it at tea, and you have to take risks for that. At the time, we needed 4.5 [an over], for which you need to take chances, which can lead to dismissals. If we’d got out, you’d be asking very different questions. When New Zealand saw we were going for it, they opened the field up. We still took chances but then it becomes a slightly different situation.Sarfaraz, who had crossed three figures by this point, was now accompanied by Agha Salman; his strike rate was higher than any other Pakistan batter at that point. He had struck four boundaries and New Zealand were beginning to look a touch ragged in the field, a couple of misfields and the odd set of byes whittling down the target even further. However, once Matt Henry got the old ball to swing back in and beat a wild swing from Salman, the outlook changed once more.”Agha got out and then the tail came in; after that we wanted to take the game deep,” Babar said. “Saifi was in there so he was better at assessing where the game could go. When a wicket falls, building a new partnership is difficult. After our set batters got out, we knew the tail was coming, and we’ve lost our last few wickets quickly in the past.”In the end, though, pragmatism won even though Pakistan were desperate not to end the home season winless. Babar admitted the way forward from here could take time, he pointed out this Test side was “very good” until very recently, when injuries derailed them at the start of this season.It prompted him to emphasise the value of fitness in an age of relentless cricket. “We’re trying to learn from our mistakes,” Babar said. “Everyone has their own opinions but we have to focus on our performance. Forming a team takes time. Our Test side was very good, but suddenly there were a few injuries, which disturbed our players and altered the form of our side. We’ve tried to do our best but it just hasn’t worked out. We’ll look at whether to have Test specialist players in future. There’s so much cricket if you want to play all three formats you’ll have to be ultra-fit.”

Legspinner Mitchell Swepson is returning to Australia for the birth of his first child

Alex Malcolm and Andrew McGlashan12-Feb-20232:53

Can Warner overcome the Ashwin challenge?

Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann has been called up to Australia’s squad in India and is a “live chance” make his Test debut in Delhi on Friday.Kuhnemann, 26, is flying in while Mitchell Swepson makes a pre-planned return home for the birth of his first child. Swepson is due to return ahead of the third Test, the venue for which remains uncertain with doubts over whether Dharamshala will be able to host the game.Related

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The chances of Kuhnemann coming straight into contention are reasonably high if Cameron Green becomes available, with Australia desperate to find an option to try and replicate the success Ravindra Jadeja enjoyed in the opening Test having not had the faith to select Ashton Agar in Nagpur.Kuhnemann is inexperienced at first-class level with 35 wickets at 34.80 in 13 matches, and often struggles to get a starting place for Queensland when Swepson is available. However, he showed promise when he made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka after being a late addition to that squad and was close to making this original tour party.Todd Murphy, who was preferred to Agar, had an outstanding debut with 7 for 124 in just his eighth first-class match as the one bright spot for Australia in their innings thrashing.Matthew Kuhnemann in his delivery stride•Getty Images

“Got a phone call yesterday morning when walking out for the warm-ups. Was pretty shocked,” Kuhnemann said after Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria. “I was just lucky enough that my passport was in my bag.”I watched every day [of the first Test] just being such a fan. These series are so good to watch. Todd Murphy was exceptional and sort of watched how Jadeja bowled. So just really excited to get over there.”I was fortunate enough to stay with the Test guys and bowl to them in the nets in Sri Lanka so that’s still pretty fresh in my memory. I learned heaps just being over there for a couple months. If I got the opportunity I’d like to think I’d be okay.”However, Kuhnemann’s selection would likely require Australia to go down the route of three specialist spinners and will depend on the nature of the surface in Delhi and the fitness of Green so that he could share the pace bowling with captain Pat Cummins.”He’s a live chance to play in the next Test match,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said on Sunday. “If we play three spinners then we clearly want back-up here and available in the squad if that’s the way we want to go.”Green is making promising progress in his recovery from the broken finger he suffered at the MCG against South Africa and has built up his workload over the last few days in Nagpur. He had two-hour batting sessions and is bowling close to full capacity. The main concern for the management has been building up Green’s bowling after the layoff.”We’re hopeful. It’s been six weeks now,” McDonald said. “I think he’s actually got his final X-ray or scan today. He does allow us different options to the way that we want to structure up.”Australia are hopeful Cameron Green will be available in Delhi•Getty Images

Mitchell Starc has arrived in Dehli having missed the start of the tour as he recovered from the finger injury he also sustained in Melbourne. Australia face some tricky decisions over how to balance their side if they want to include Starc. Scott Boland was unfortunate to finish wicketless in the first Test.”[Starc] will have a rest day today [in Delhi] and then he’ll train tomorrow on his own up there,” McDonald said. “A couple of the staff members will go up there. We’re hopeful that both of those are back on the selection table and that would change the balance of our side.”Josh Hazlewood won’t be available for the second Test having missed the first due to an Achilles issue that continues to nag him. He had a solid bowl on the eve of the Nagpur Test and then needed three days to recover before having another bowl on Saturday.”He’s close. So I think it’s just probably the load in that Achilles,” McDonald said. “We just don’t want to push it. He’s going to have three days off and then have a main bowl if he gets through that.”Meanwhile, Matt Renshaw’s knee will continue to be monitored after he spent considerable time off the field on the second day in Nagpur. He had retained his place in the middle order when Travis Head was left out but made just 0 and 2 at No. 5.McDonald defended the Head decision but noted in hindsight that Renshaw didn’t perform as expected.”We valued others’ skill sets in those extreme conditions,” McDonald said. “I think the discussion point that we went through in the process will be different to the hindsight. And the hindsight is that those people that you will compare the competition for place around didn’t perform the way that we’d probably expected.”[Head] had different thoughts on that and that’s fair enough. And he’s entitled to have different thoughts on that along with others. And we’re not saying any decision that we make is right or wrong.”The Todd Murphy one was heavily discussed as well. Could we play the ball spinning in, two of those types of bowlers against the Indian batting line-up, all those discussions that we had behind the scenes are pretty much what you discussed as well.”

Matt Henry will be back for the second Test against England, as hosts seek to level the series after defeat in Mount Maunganui

Deivarayan Muthu21-Feb-2023New Zealand allrounder Daryl Mitchell rues the “small moments” that slipped away from their grasp in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, but insists that there isn’t a gulf between his team and England.”If you looked into that third innings, I think we had them six down for 230-240 – I’m not sure of the exact numbers – but if we had taken a couple of quick wickets, the game could have been a lot different,” Mitchell said after arriving in Wellington for the second Test.”So, for us, it’s actually not too far away. It’s sticking true to who we are as Kiwis and Blackcaps, and what’s worked for us for a number of years now. Yeah, we are missing a couple of small moments now, which is disappointing, but we also know that’s the nature of Test cricket, and it’s not always going to go your way, and it can be a bloody hard game at times. But we also know we are not too far away.”Related

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One of those small moments was New Zealand allowing England get away to 374 in their second innings after they were 237 for 6. England’s innings had threatened to spiral out of control when Joe Root fell to the reverse sweep for the second time in the Test at the stroke of tea on day three. But a composed half-century from Ben Foakes, and swift cameos from captain Ben Stokes and No. 9 Ollie Robinson powered England that far.Stuart Broad then tore through New Zealand’s top order under the Mount Maunganui floodlights to put the fourth-innings chase of 394 well beyond the hosts’ reach.New Zealand coach Gary Stead lamented New Zealand’s inability to throw the sucker-punch during that passage of play, which changed the mood and tempo of the game.”I thought there were times through this Test we did that really, really well,” Stead said. “I think in that second innings when they were 230 [237] for 6, if we could’ve bowled them out in the next hour, then we bat [for] a good period of time in the daylight as well with the softer ball. They are the little variables that affected us in this Test match, but looking forward to the challenge that’s ahead because we know that’s a big challenge.”Matt Henry is in, and Jacob Duffy is out for the second Test at the Basin Reserve•Getty Images

New Zealand suffered a big blow ahead of the Wellington Test, with Kyle Jamieson ruled out for another three to four months with a suspected recurrence of a back injury. So far, they have also resisted the urge to recall Trent Boult, who has handed back his New Zealand central contract, with Stead backing the current group to bounce back against England.”They [England] are obviously playing very, very good cricket,” Stead said. “I think they’ve won 10-11 of their last 12 Tests, and they’re on a bit of a roll and playing with some real confidence. I don’t think it’s unfair to say we’re probably lacking a little bit of that confidence at the moment because you don’t get the results.”But I can assure you that the faith is still with the group of these guys. We believe that these are our best cricketers, and we’re going to put everything behind them to make sure we can go out there in Wellington and really some throw punches back at England as well.”New Zealand, however, will be boosted by the return of Matt Henry, who has linked up with the squad after his partner Holly gave birth to their daughter last week. Henry is set to directly slot into the XI at the Basin Reserve in place of either Scott Kuggeleijn or Blair Tickner.”He’s obviously a seasoned bowler in international cricket now,” Mitchell said of Henry. “It’s awesome that he has just had the birth of his little girl, and I know he’ll be excited to come and join this group and hopefully take some wickets, which will be awesome. And yeah, I’m sure he’ll be pretty proud to do that with his little girl watching on TV.”Matty is my domestic team-mate at Canterbury as well, so it’s always nice having him in this group. He’s a fierce competitor, he will keep running in for you, he’ll do the job. Look forward to having him back. I think we will all do our job and see what happens.”Reserve seamer Jacob Duffy and legspinner Ish Sodhi have been released from the Test squad for the four-day Plunket Shield competition that will resume this week.

Henry looking forward to ‘taking it’ to England in Wellington

Henry is the top wicket-taker in the Plunket Shield this season, with 23 strikes in three games at an average of 11.69. But injury sidelined him from the ODIs in Pakistan and India. Having been passed fit, Henry is now looking forward to returning to action in front of a sell-out crowd at the Basin Reserve.”Not ideal with the injury – torn knee and everything,” Henry said. “So, it has been a bit of a rehab for the last few weeks. But it has been good; kind of ones of those ones where you look forward to playing some cricket. No better place to do it than the Basin.”Always well-supported here in Wellington. The Basin always has a great crowd and to hear it sold out for the first three days is amazing, and playing against England… the style of cricket they’ve been playing is an exciting one to watch as well. It has been cool to watch them play in that first game, and I’m sure everyone has learnt a lot from that first game as well and look forward to taking it to them come Friday.”The weather could play spoilsport in Wellington, with showers and strong winds predicted on the first day.

Queensland are 431 runs behind with a day to play following Silk’s unbeaten 101, having also narrowly missed crucial bonus points in their first innings

AAP and ESPNCricinfo staff16-Mar-2023Queensland’s Sheffield Shield final hopes have all but been extinguished in their final-round match after Tasmania captain Jordan Silk posted an unbeaten century to put the game almost beyond reach.The Bulls ended the third day trailing by a near-insurmountable 431 runs as Tasmania eased their way to 5 for 252 against an injury-hit bowling attack at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval.Queensland surrendered a 179-run deficit on the first innings despite some impressive scoring from their tail-enders and some heroics from injured fast bowler Mark Steketee.The lower-order run-scoring became a game within a game with Queensland needing to reach 303 in their first innings to earn more bonus points than fellow Shield final aspirant Victoria. Bonus points would decide who faces Western Australia in the Shield final should Queensland and Victoria secure the same result in their respective matches.Despite resuming at a shaky 180 for 6, Queensland ultimately fell agonisingly short with No.11 Liam Guthrie adjudged lbw to end the innings on 300.The Bulls had looked to have no chance of reaching 303 when Max Bryant fell for an impressive 84, his highest first-class score, with Iain Carlisle picking up his maiden Shield scalp. But the tail rallied with Steketee, who has been ruled out of bowling since day one with a hip injury, scoring 43 not out and Jack Sinfield making 29. Guthrie also contributed 16 but was trapped lbw by Jackson Bird, who finished with 3 for 72.Tasmania stumbled out of the blocks in their second innings, slipping to 29 for 2 with Tim Ward and Jake Doran both falling cheaply.But Silk led the way with an unbeaten 101, sharing in a 111-run stand for the fifth wicket with first-innings centurion Beau Webster. There were also contributions from Caleb Jewell and Mac Wright against the weary Bulls attack.

Rashid’s former coach at Sunrisers says players like him are “always involved in the game at the hottest point”

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-20232:46

Moody: Players like Rashid are always involved in the hottest moments of the game

Want to get the best out of Rashid Khan, the batter? Don’t let him face more than 10 balls, says Tom Moody, who was with Rashid’s former team Sunrisers Hyderabad in different capacities from 2013 to 2022 (except 2020), including Rashid’s IPL debut in 2017.Moody’s observation came after Gujarat Titans’ last-over win against Chennai Super Kings in the opening IPL game, in which Titans needed 23 to win from the last 12 balls. Rashid turned that around by smashing a six followed by a four off Deepak Chahar to bring it down to eight needed from six, which Rahul Tewatia scored with more boundaries in the last over. Rashid’s impact? Ten off three with a strike rate of 333.33, after he had already claimed 2 for 26, including the big wickets of Mooen Ali and Ben Stokes.”The reality is that he is at his best when he is facing ten or less balls,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out show. “That’s when he is the greatest threat. But if he’s suddenly coming in the tenth over, it can be a totally different situation for him to unpack, so he’s really really dangerous from the seventeenth over onwards.”Related

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“Players like Rashid Khan are always involved in the game at the hottest point. The first moment he entered the game was in the powerplay when the game was running away from them. He bowled an over, he took a wicket.”So again, critical time, put in the hotspot, he does the job.””End of the game, into the hotspot with a different skillset with bat in hand, not ball in hand and does what Rashid’s doing more increasingly and that is finding a way to hit a six, hit a four and suddenly when it is getting a little bit tight and everyone’s tense on the bench, he’s quickly turned it on its head within two or three balls.”Rashid was Titan’s most economical bowler on the night and dismissed Stokes for the fourth time in T20s, in 25 balls while conceding just 21 runs. Moeen, on the other hand, was Rashid’s first powerplay wicket in the IPL since 2021. He had bowled six wicketless overs in the powerplay last season.”He [Rashid] is such a valuable player because he is a genuine matchwinner that does impact at critical times,” Moody said.

Marcus Harris resists with unbeaten century but visitors prove too strong on final day

ECB Reporters Network21-May-2023 Durham 445 (Clark 100, de Leede 65, Coughlin 59*, Borthwick 53) and 272 for 4 dec (Jones 121*) beat Gloucestershire 292 (Charlesworth 71, Harris 52, Patel 5-113, Potts 3-43) and 300 (Harris 122*, Patel 5-96) by 125 runsAjaz Patel finished with match figures of 10 for 209 as Durham cemented their position as Second Division leaders with a 125-run LV= Insurance County Championship win over Gloucestershire at Bristol.But the visitors were made to wait to complete a comprehensive victory by Marcus Harris, who recorded his 26th first-class century, and Josh Shaw, whose contribution of 44 to a stubborn eighth-wicket stand of 88 was a career-best first-class score.Harris carried his bat to finish unbeaten on 122, off 195 balls, with 15 fours. But it was never going to be enough as New Zealand Test left-arm spinner Patel followed up his five for 113 in the first innings with five for 96.Gloucestershire were bowled out for 300 before lunch on the final day and remain in search of a first win. They took four points from the match, while Durham’s 23 from a fourth victory in six games strengthened their lead at the top of the table.At 181 for six at the start of play, the hosts required an unlikely 245 to win. But Harris was unbeaten on 71 and his team could take some encouragement from clear blue skies and a placid batting surface.Matt Taylor helped Harris add 21 to the total, but with his score on 12, he missed a defensive prod and was pinned lbw by Patel, who bowled the first 11 overs of the day from the Pavilion End.Harris looked to survive a difficult chance off Patel on 90 when he edged a ball at ankle height just out of the reach of slip Matthew Potts.It was all the good fortune the left-handed opener needed to reach three figures off 163 balls, advancing down the pitch to hit Patel over mid-on for the 13th boundary.Shaw provided solid support and gradually grew in confidence, smacking Patel to the long-on boundary and then pulling Ben Raine for another four.A single to square-leg off Bas de Leede took Shaw past his previous best first class score of 42, but he had added only a single when snapped up by Potts at slip off a Patel delivery that turned from outside leg stump.Shaw had hit six fours and a pulled six off Scott Borthwick, but his departure signalled the end of any slim Gloucestershire hopes.Zaman Akhter lasted only four deliveries before being bowled by Potts, who finished with three for 43 from 19.2 overs.Ajeet Dale hit a couple of defiant boundaries before being last man out, caught at cover to give Patel his fifth wicket of the innings and tenth of the match.Harris walked off undefeated, but the Australian’s valiant efforts only served to highlight the batting frailties of team-mates in an injury-hit side.Durham could take plenty of positives from another impressive display, which will take them into the switch to T20 cricket in great heart.

KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, meanwhile, have all begun batting in the nets as they continue their rehabilitation from injury

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2023Jasprit Bumrah’s return to action could be imminent, with the fast bowler now “bowling with full intensity in the nets”, according to a BCCI medical update. Bumrah, whose last competitive cricket came in September 2022, has been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru since undergoing back surgery in New Zealand in March this year.According to the BCCI’s release, Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna – another fast bowler recuperating from a stress fracture – are both bowling at full intensity.”The duo will now play some practice games, which the NCA will organise. The BCCI Medical Team is pleased with their progress and will make a final decision after assessing them following the practice games.”Related

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• Rishabh Pant's recovery progressing faster than expected

ESPNcricinfo understands the NCA is mindful of Bumrah’s workload, and has organised practice games, so that he can play under a physio’s supervision, rather than asking him to play in the 50-overs inter-zonal Deodhar Trophy. If he pulls up well in the practice games, he could be in contention for the three-match T20I series in Ireland, which is scheduled to run from August 18 to 23.After the Ireland tour, India will next be in action at the Asia Cup, from August 30 to September 17. In late September, they will host Australia for three ODIs, just before the ODI World Cup gets underway on October 5.