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They will tour Pakistan over the Christmas and New Year season, as well as during the IPL next year

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2022After not touring Pakistan for 19 years, New Zealand are all set to visit the country twice in the space of five months to play two Tests, eight ODIs and five T20Is. It means New Zealand will not play home fixtures over the Christmas and New Year’s season this year, and will have to deal with a clash with the IPL during the second leg of the Pakistan tour in April and May next year.The two Tests are part of the ICC World Test Championship and will be played in Karachi (December 27-31) and Multan (January 4-8). The teams will return to Karachi to play three ODIs that are part of the ICC Super League on January 11, 13 and 15.New Zealand then go back to Pakistan in April and May to play five more ODIs, which are not part of the Super League, and five T20Is. The first four T20Is will be played in Karachi on April 13, 15, 16 and 19, before the teams travel to Lahore for the fifth T20I and the first two ODIs on April 23, 26 and 28. The last three ODIs of the series are in Rawalpindi on May 1, 4 and 7.New Zealand’s first visit is a part of the Future Tours Programme, while the second was agreed to make up for the matches lost when they called off their limited-overs tour of Pakistan minutes before the start of the first ODI in September 2021, citing security concerns.”New Zealand is one of the high-performing sides and the more we will play against the top teams in our backyard, the better we will get as a unit, which is crucial to our objective of featuring inside the top three across all formats,” Zakir Khan, PCB director – international cricket, said in a statement. “The New Zealand matches will also provide opportunities to our youngsters to continue to watch and follow their favourite players in action, something they have missed when we were forced to play our international cricket offshore.New Zealand last toured Pakistan in November 2003, and their return follows the tours of Australia and England to the country this year after a gap of 24 and 17 years respectively.”I know our players can’t wait to arrive and savour the experience of playing in Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi – places that carry a great cricketing heritage,” NZC CEO David White said. “The recent tours from Australia and England have left us in no doubt regarding the quality of the Pakistan side across all formats, and the extent of the challenge that awaits us.”

England captain did not bowl a ball in victory over Ireland and was in clear discomfort after taking a catch

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2023Ben Stokes insists that England fans have “nothing to worry about” as he continues to manage a chronic left knee issue ahead of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston on June 16.Stokes became the first man in Test history to captain a side to victory without batting, bowling or keeping wicket in England’s 10-wicket victory over Ireland at Lord’s, and was in clear discomfort on the third afternoon in the field.He appeared to jar his left knee – which he has had to manage carefully for several years – when taking a catch at short fine leg to dismiss Curtis Campher, and was restricted in his movement in the field for the rest of Ireland’s second innings.Related

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“I actually didn’t pick it [the ball] up, and I actually landed quite awkwardly on it [my knee],” Stokes said at the post-match presentation, when asked about the catch. “My weight went on the inside of my knee, like I hyper-extended.”Stokes insisted on the eve of the Test that he was fit to bowl against Ireland, though he added that there should not be “doom and gloom” if he did not. He briefly bowled in the warm-ups on the third morning with bowling coach David Saker watching on, and said he was “really happy” with how it felt.”I bowled this morning – the first time I’d bowled since being back from India, so it would have been about four weeks actually,” he said. “I got through that and was really happy with where I was. So no, nothing [for England fans] to worry about.”He later suggested that his grimaces after completing the catch owed mainly to his age. “I was really happy with how I bowled [before play],” Stokes said. “I bowled for about 20 minutes and I got through that really well. Obviously I have got time to build up before I push back into flat out, but I just landed quite awkwardly when I took that catch.”I didn’t quite see it so had to adjust myself and landed on my left leg and it twisted in a really strange way. It was fine, I just don’t know what really happened. It was one of those things – but I am 32 tomorrow so that probably explains it.”Asked if he would consider leaving himself out of the starting XI at any stage of the Ashes – a policy that Eoin Morgan occasionally took during his tenure as white-ball captain, though never at a major tournament – Stokes’ response was blunt: “No, of course not. That’s not even something we’ve even spoken about because I’m fully prepared to be bowling at Edgbaston.”Speaking to the BBC’s , Stokes added that he was “taking the positives” and that he “wouldn’t have bowled in this match… unless everyone else went down”.Stokes was given plenty to think about in the field•Getty Images

England named an unchanged 16-man squad for the first two Ashes Tests on Saturday afternoon, which will report to Birmingham on June 12 before training on June 13, three days before the start of the Edgbaston Test.In the meantime, Stokes is among a number of players due to travel to Scotland to play golf next weekend, while Australia are playing India in the World Test Championship final at The Oval.”The new way is you get as ready as you possibly can and whatever you do, you just get yourself in the right frame of mind for the games you’ve got coming up,” Stokes said. “This was obviously a great opportunity for us to get back together as a group and we’ll be doing that again before the Ashes.”We’ll get together and spend some quality time together as a group and have some fun together before the big Ashes series starts. We’re really looking forward to it.”

The allrounder said that she wanted to reduce her workload but wasn’t ready to hand over the ODI job yet

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2024Sophie Devine will step down as New Zealand’s T20I captain at the end of the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE but will remain in charge of the ODI side.Devine, who has led New Zealand in 56 T20Is, will continue to play the format but felt it was the right time to reduce some of her workload and help nurture the next generation of leaders. The next Women’s ODI World Cup will take place next year in India.Related

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“I’m very proud to have had the privilege to captain the White Ferns in both formats,” Devine said. “With captaincy comes an additional workload that, while I’ve enjoyed taking on, can also be challenging at times.”Stepping away from the T20 captaincy will take a bit off my plate so I can focus more of my energy on my playing role and nurturing the future leaders.””I’m not ready to give up ODI captaincy just yet,” she added. “But I won’t be around forever, so I think stepping away from captaining one format at a time gives the next leaders time to find their feet.”Ben Swayer, the head coach, said: “Soph is the epitome of a fearless leader and we’re really grateful for the leadership she brings to this group on and off the field.”She’s one of the most experienced White Ferns ever and her leadership and knowledge of the game has been so valuable as we have introduced several young players into the team over the past two years.”I know the decision wasn’t easy for Soph, but I fully support it and know that she’s still going to be a prominent leader in the group.”Devine is currently recovering from a foot injury ahead of New Zealand’s three-match T20I series in Australia next month which will provide preparation for the World Cup. New Zealand will name their squad on September 10.A decision on who replaces Devine as T20I captain has yet to be made with New Zealand’s next series in the format after the World Cup not until they face Sri Lanka in March.

Australia’s captain will be further assessed ahead of the remaining T20Is and the Test

Andrew McGlashan20-Jan-2025Australia captain Alyssa Healy is a significant doubt for the remainder of the Ashes series after she was ruled out of the first T20I with a “stress response” in her foot on the same side as the injury she sustained at last year’s T20 World CupIt meant that Australia were led by Tahlia McGrath in what became a convincing victory to retain the Ashes at the SCG while the top-order vacancy was filled by debutant Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney will keep wicket.”As you can imagine, she’s pretty flat,” Mooney said. “She doesn’t want to miss any games for Australia and unfortunately for her, she’s missed a few in the last few months. We’ll put our arm around her, wait and see what the [medical] staff say and what the prognosis is.”But, certainly, she’s a key member of our playing group both on and off the field and we know what impact she can have to the outcome of the results on field. So, we’ll be keeping a close eye on making sure she’s okay mentally, but also doing all the right things with [the sports science sports medicine staff] well.Australia also had to contend with allrounder Ashleigh Gardner being ruled out with a calf injury. She will be assessed again ahead of the second T20I in Canberra.Related

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The injury to Healy meant that Australia pushed back announcing their squad for the day-night Test at the MCG which had been due to be named during the T20I on Monday.”Alyssa has got a stress response in her foot,” head of high performance Shawn Flegler told Fox Cricket. “We’re going to try and get a little bit more information before we make a call on her. It’s a big call for Alyssa. Test captain as well. So we’ll wait and see on what we come up with over the next 24-48 hours.””We’ve got a selector meeting tomorrow morning. We’ll see what plays out. We’re not going to rush into it. There’s still a week or so before the Test matchAfter returning from the plantar fascia injury sustained at the World Cup, Healy had her WBBL cut short by a knee problem which also meant she played as a batter only in the ODIs against New Zealand in December having missed the earlier home series against India.She returned to keeping duties for the three ODIs against England with the matches taking place in six days. The schedule is also tight for the T20I series with games in Canberra on January 23 then Adelaide on January 25.Even if Healy is able to play a part in either of those, there will be major questions over whether she can sustain the workload of a Test match, especially as a wicketkeeper.Depending on the prognosis for Healy, her participation in the WPL and the T20I tour of New Zealand in late March could also be in doubt.

Despite Cox’s unbeaten 61, Invincibles can’t recover from losing three wickets in first 35 balls

ECB Reporters Network17-Aug-2022Trent Rockets bounced back from Monday’s defeat at Birmingham Phoenix to make it four Hundred wins from five with a 25-run victory over the Oval Invincibles after Alex Hales had set the night up with some characteristic pyrotechnics in front of his home crowd.Hales’s stunning 59 off 29 balls packed four sixes and six fours and a strike rate of 203.44 to give Rockets the platform to post a challenging 181 for 4, backed up by leading run scorer Dawid Malan’s 38 off 29 and consolidated by skipper Lewis Gregory combining with Colin Munro to add 41 off the last 19 balls.Despite Jordan Cox countering with an unbeaten 61 off 33, Invincibles couldn’t recover from losing their first three wickets for 32 in 35 balls with South African left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi finding a notable degree of turn in taking 2 for 21.Tabraiz Shamsi celebrates the wicket of Jason Roy•ECB/Getty Images

After Rockets were put in, Malan had the six counter ticking from ball four but spent the next 40 largely admiring his teammate as Hales delivered an extraordinary display of his clean hitting skills.Hales, who survived an lbw review first ball, took a particular liking to Sam Curran, plundering three of his four maximums off the left-hander, whom he hammered for 20 runs in one set of five. He had gone past 10,000 career short-format runs in the previous set and looked unstoppable. His fourth six – off Sydney Thunder teammate Mohammad Hasnain – sailed over the roof of the Fox Road stand and into the Nottingham night as his fifty came up off just 22 balls.But after he’d gone for 59, picking out the fielder on the midwicket boundary as Hasnain took his revenge, Rockets lost some momentum and it needed Gregory and Munro’s enterprise at the death to set the Invincibles a testing chase.In between, Malan’s 29-ball 38 had ended when Jason Roy grabbed a very low catch in the covers that needed an umpire review to confirm, Tom Kohler-Cadmore miscued to point and Daniel Sams flicked one straight to deep square leg.The test facing the visitors soon became bigger still. Will Jacks was fresh from his brilliant unbeaten 108 not out last time out but Sam Cook had his number on this occasion, denied his wicket on an lbw review in his first set and watching him survive a top-edged pull before bowling him with a perfect yorker.Roy at least avoided another duck but on 20 from 17 ran into a ripper from Shamsi that knocked back his leg stump. Shamsi had Billings leg before with one that fizzed through three balls later.Curran built himself a start but perished for 27, getting away with a steepler that Tom Moores inexplicably spilled only for the wicketkeeper to redeem himself next ball with a stumping that won instant forgiveness from bowler Samit Patel.It wasn’t the best of nights in the field for the Rockets, with Cox shelled at short third on 32 and Sunil Narine on 16 by the ‘keeper – a difficult one this time – in the same Luke Wood over, but with 66 needed from 20 balls despite Narine launching a free hit over the rope at wide long on, the winning line looked too far away for the Invincibles, despite Cox hitting three sixes.

Gavaskar also wants board to take a re-look at the domestic schedule, and players to “never forget” importance of domestic cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2024Sunil Gavaskar has urged the BCCI to implement the Test cricket incentive scheme in the Ranji Trophy as well, saying it would encourage domestic players and look after the feeder system.Earlier this month, the BCCI announced that those who play 75% of India’s Tests in a season will earn INR 45 lakh per Test, and those who play 50 to 75% of Tests will earn INR 30 lakh. This is in addition to the match fee of INR 15 lakh.”That is a wonderful thing by the BCCI to reward those who would be playing [Test cricket],” Gavaskar said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Friday. “But I would also request the BCCI to ensure that the feeder to the Test team, which is the Ranji Trophy, is also looked after.”Related

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• BCCI warns players: Don't prioritise IPL over domestic cricket

Currently, a player earns around INR 2 lakh per match in the Ranji Trophy. If he plays every match in the season and his team makes it to the final, he ends up with ten games. The match fee for the Vijay Hazare Trophy is INR 50,000, and for the Syed Mushtaq Ali INR 17,500.”[If your team doesn’t qualify for the knockouts], your whole year’s earnings are around 20 lakh, which is like the base price in the IPL,” a domestic player told ESPNcricinfo. “If there are proper contracts, then players will feel more motivated to play red-ball cricket.”Gavaskar said: “If the Ranji Trophy fee can be doubled or tripled, certainly there will be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, [and a] lot less pullouts. They will all be wanting to play with the slab system – [if] every ten first-class matches you get that much more – so I would request the BCCI to look at that aspect as well.”Gavaskar also asked for a re-look at the short gap between Ranji matches, and suggested that the Ranji Trophy should be played from October to mid-December, and the domestic season should end with the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy so that it ties in smoothly with the IPL.Currently, the Ranji Trophy is the last tournament in the domestic calendar. The 2023-24 season ended with the Ranji Trophy on March 15, with the IPL starting from March 22.”That way, everybody will be available to play [the Ranji Trophy], except for the ones featuring for India,” Gavaskar said. “There will be no real excuse to pull out. With the one-dayers beginning from January, people who are in the IPL can have enough practice from them.”Gavaskar also supported the BCCI’s directive to players to prioritise domestic cricket.”It is something that should be looked up [to] by every cricketer – domestic cricket is actually how they have come up,” he said. “If they had not started at the domestic level, be it the domestic T20, the domestic one-day tournament or the Ranji Trophy, they wouldn’t be where they are.”Very few cricketers have actually come up from not having played domestic cricket. They always have played some domestic cricket – it could be junior cricket or Under-19 cricket or something like that. That is something the players should never forget.”

The former Pakistan captain met PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf over his role as a director in a company that also has a prominent player agent as director

Danyal Rasool30-Oct-2023Inzamam-ul-Haq has resigned as Pakistan chief selector with immediate effect after meeting PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf in Lahore today after uncomfortable questions around a potential conflict of interest were raised.Reports in the Pakistan media emerged that Inzamam is one of four active directors in a UK-based company called Yazoo International Ltd. Another director at the company is Talha Rehmani, managing director of Saya Corporation, an agency that represents many of the Pakistan cricket team’s most prominent players, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan. According to gov.uk, a UK government public sector information website, Rizwan is also a director at Yazoo alongside Inzamam. The company secretary is Intisar-ul-Haq, Inzamam’s brother.All three directors and the company secretary were appointed on 7 December 2020, and when Inzamam was announced as Pakistan chief selector earlier this year, his involvement – or that of his brother’s, Rizwan’s or Rehmani’s – with Yazoo was not made public. This has raised uncomfortable questions about whether it was fit and proper for the cricket team’s national selector to have a direct stake in a company that had Pakistan cricket’s most prominent player agent as a director. Rizwan’s name as another director throws up further questions still, with a chief selector sharing a stake in a company both with a player subject to his selection decisions, and an agent who represents that player.”I am stepping down from the post to offer the PCB the opportunity to conduct a transparent inquiry about the conflict of interest allegations raised in the media,” Inzamam said after tendering his resignation, but said he would take the job back if he was cleared in the probe into the conflict of interest charges.”f the committee finds me not guilty, I will resume my role as the chief selector,” he said.PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf told a local journalist that the PCB would “look into” these allegations. Inzamam was summoned to the PCB headquarters earlier today, and ESPNcricinfo understands he had an hour-long meeting with Ashraf. A source at the PCB says the chairman did not ask or pressure Inzamam to resign, but did inform him of the board’s intention to form a fact-finding committee to determine if any wrongdoing had taken place. Inzamam then tendered his resignation.Soon after, the PCB announced it had set up a five-member fact-finding committee “to investigate allegations in respect of conflict of interest reported in the media pertaining to the team selection process” and that findings would be submitted “in an expeditious manner”.The wording of the PCB statement suggests it could be taking the matter more seriously than such conflicts have historically been treated. While there is no evidence to suggest wrongdoing by Inzamam or any other party, media reports had merely speculated on whether it was appropriate for Inzamam to be chief selector and director at Yazoo concurrently. The PCB appears to have directly linked the conflict of interest to the team selection process, a more significant charge than mere injudiciousness.All this comes amidst a backdrop of deepening chaos at the PCB both on and off-field. The PCB management committee, which Ashraf heads, sees its tenure officially end next week, but there are no signs yet on whether elections for the PCB chairman will be held, or if Ashraf will be a contender for the role. On the field, Pakistan have lost four games in a row at the World Cup for the first time ever, and are on the brink of a first-round exit.

Sunrisers had 300 within their sights at the start but even 266 proved to be too big for Capitals

Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Apr-20241:56

What has given the Sunrisers batters so much freedom?

It would have been the highest total in the history of the IPL if it had happened last season, but on Saturday night in Delhi, 266 for 7 almost felt anticlimactic. That’s how far Sunrisers Hyderabad have moved the window of batting possibilities this season. It was the fourth-highest total in IPL history, but it was only the third-highest total achieved by Sunrisers in IPL 2024.At one point it had felt like they could have finished with so much more, with 300 looking like a frighteningly realistic prospect. Sunrisers had gone where no team in any competition had ever gone before in a T20 powerplay, with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma raising a hair-raising six-over score of 125 for no loss. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, fortified by the relaxation of field restrictions, brought Sunrisers’ innings back to the earthly realm thereafter, but that awe-inspiring beginning would remain the defining passage of the match.Related

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Delhi Capitals began their reply by racing to the joint second-highest powerplay score of IPL 2024, but it was 88 for 2. Jake Fraser-McGurk bettered Head’s 16-ball effort by one ball to bring up the season’s quickest half-century, but his dismissal in the seventh over effectively ended the contest. Capitals had suggested they might run Sunrisers close when they began their chase, but they slumped badly through its back half, against some excellent defensive bowling led by T Natarajan. In the end they were bowled out for a symbolic 199, with Rishabh Pant struggling for fluency before he was last man out for 44 off 35 balls.

A powerplay from another planet

The first over of the match went for 19, and ended up being the lowest-scoring over of Sunrisers’ powerplay.Head was batting on 84 off 26 balls at the six-over mark, and his opening partner was scoring significantly quicker than him: Abhishek was batting on 40 off 10 at that point.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The hitting was a relentless blur, and no line, length or style of bowling seemed to have any power to stop it. So true was the pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which was hosting its first game of the season, and so single-minded the two openers in their desire to hit every possible ball to the boundary. Of the 36 balls bowled in the powerplay – Capitals could have given themselves an ironic pat on the back for bowling no wides or no-balls in that time – 13 went for four and 11 for six.

Kuldeep, Axar intervene

Abhishek hit the first non-powerplay ball of the match for six too, stepping out to Kuldeep and going through his shot despite not reaching the pitch of the ball. This had happened in the fifth over too, off the same bowler, and it seemed to reiterate to Capitals’ bowlers that they were on a hiding to nothing.But sometimes a wicket can come out of nowhere, especially if the batters are going after everything, and this is what happened off the next ball, as a diving Axar intercepted an uppish drive at cover.Aiden Markram came in at No. 3 ahead of Heinrich Klaasen – who is more noted as a spin-hitter – and fell in the same over, slapping a not particularly good ball from Kuldeep – shortish and wide – straight to cover. But sometimes, even an ordinary ball from a wristspinner can behave oddly, sticking in the pitch slightly longer, or bouncing a little more than expected.Kuldeep’s value came to the fore again in his next over – after Klaasen hit him for a pair of sixes – when Head failed to get hold of a ball that wasn’t quite short enough to pull. He had put that length away easily in the powerplay, but there was a man back at long-on now and he was out for 89 off 32.Klaasen is a master at pulling not-quite-pullable lengths against the spinners, but on the day he was done in by an Axar skidder that beat his inside edge to bowl him. Sunrisers were a surreal 154 for 4 in 9.1 overs.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz apply the finish

Given how many runs they already had on the board, and given the time that remained in their innings, Sunrisers’ fifth-wicket pair could afford to bat in a relatively conservative way and make sure that Abdul Samad, a specialist death-overs hitter, wouldn’t be called upon too early. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed did this, putting on 67 off 47 balls.1:48

Moody: No risks in Sunrisers’ game

Shahbaz broke free at the finish, hitting Khaleel Ahmed for two sixes in the 19th over and taking two fours and a six off Mukesh Kumar in the 20th to finish unbeaten on 59 off 29 balls. It was the Bengal allrounder’s first fifty in the IPL.

A chase of two halves starring Fraser-McGurk and Pant

Prithvi Shaw hit Washington Sundar for 4, 4, 4, 4 off the first four balls of the chase in a battle of Impact Players. Then Washington had his revenge, looping up a delivery with plenty of overspin – the kind of ball that’s rarely seen in T20 cricket, but one delivered now with the hope of stemming the run-flow giving way to the desperation of somehow prising out a wicket – and getting him to miscue a lofted hit.That first over set the tone for Capitals’ powerplay. They also lost David Warner early, but they kept going hard, because they had to, and because Fraser-McGurk knows no other way. His smooth, unfettered golfer’s swing was in perfect rhythm on the day, and Washington – handed the unforgiving task of bowling two powerplay overs – was at the receiving end of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 6 in the third over. Abishek Porel then carved Pat Cummins through and over the off side with abandon in a 20-run fifth over, and Capitals were somehow keeping themselves in the game.Fraser-McGurk finally mis-hit one in the seventh over, off Mayank Markande, but despite that wicket Capitals’ win probability kept rising, with Porel crunching three fours and a six in the next over off Shahbaz. At that point, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster gave them a 21.23% chance of victory, astonishing given the target they were chasing.But that was more or less that, as their run-scoring ground to a halt after Markande – who had a similar effect to Kuldeep, conceding runs but inducing just enough false shots with his wristspin – had Porel stumped in the ninth over.Thanks in part to skillful bowling from Natarajan, Cummins and Reddy – they varied their pace nicely while bowling into the pitch, and used the wide line outside off stump effectively to Pant in particular – and in part to the struggle for fluency that Tristan Stubbs and Pant endured on the day, Capitals went nowhere. From the start of the ninth over to the end of their innings, they scored just 68 runs in 67 balls. The match was long over as a contest when Natarajan took out three wickets in the 19th over to finish with figures of 4 for 19.

Results clear to see after Bairstow encouraged to channel white-ball mojo

Matt Roller27-Jun-2022Ben Stokes said “wow” was the only word to describe Jonny Bairstow’s recent form after his unbeaten 71 off 44 balls took England to a whitewash-clinching seven-wicket victory against New Zealand on the final day in Leeds.Bairstow is the world’s leading scorer in Test cricket this year with 774 runs – including four hundreds – at an average of 64.50 in 2022, and scored 394 runs off 328 balls this month, including 77 and 95-ball centuries at Trent Bridge and Headingley respectively. His strike rate against New Zealand (120.12) was the second-highest in Test history by a batter scoring more than 300 runs in a series.Related

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Stokes said that his plan with Bairstow had been to make him feel “comfortable” with his role in the side as an attacking middle-order batter at No. 5. “Just take him to the role in the white-ball team: he’s very clear, very specific, he knows exactly what he’s doing every time he steps out there to play,” Stokes said.”And I feel what we’ve managed to do – not just with Jonny – is just instill [the idea that] ‘this is what we want this team to be about’. Not specifically individuals, but what it’s done is allow people to feel comfortable in the role that they are in at the moment.”I’d never heard a bloke get 130 off 90 balls [136 off 92] the week before and then ask his head coach, ‘how shall I go out and play?’ Baz [Brendon McCullum] then said, ‘go and get your Sudoku book and come and sit next to me and shut up’, basically. Whatever you did last week worked, go and do it again.”With Jonny, he knows what he’s in the team to do now and he knows how he wants to play and that’s something that he’s managed to do with the white-ball group. He’s literally playing like he’s got the colours on. He’s just ‘wow’. That’s how I can explain the way he’s playing at the moment. It’s just phenomenal.”Stokes added that Bairstow’s first-innings hundred was “even better” than his innings in the run chase at Trent Bridge, after England had slipped to 21 for 4 and then 55 for 6. “To back up that amazing knock at Trent Bridge with the performance in both innings this week was something very special,” he said.”The Trent Bridge innings was obviously amazing to watch. But personally, I think the hundred in the first innings was even better than last week. The circumstances he found himself in at 55 for 6 and being out there and still managing to score a hundred at over a run a ball is something very, very special and should never be overlooked.”The most pleasing thing for me about this week was the situation we found ourselves in and how we continued to play. To end up with a lead after being 55 for 6 and now, to end up winning the game, is something very special. I know that the confidence that it’s going to give the group: it’s going to give us a hell of a lot of confidence going forward, especially when we find ourselves in tricky situations as well.”Meanwhile, McCullum said he will continue to encourage Zak Crawley to “chase great moments” despite a lean series against New Zealand which saw him make 87 runs in six innings and culminated in a frenetic, shot-a-ball 25 in the run chase at Headingley. Crawley’s career average dipped to 26.68 as a result but he has been retained in the 15-man squad to play India at Edgbaston on Friday and looks set to win his 25th Test cap.”[I’ll] talk to him the same way as if he’s come off three hundreds,” McCullum told Sky Sports. “To me, he’s a rare talent and I don’t think there’s too many people in world cricket that can play like he does. When I first came in and saw him play in the nets, and watched some of his old innings and some of the footage to get an understanding of him as a player, it pretty quickly stood out that he’s got something that other players don’t have.”So my message was, ‘there’s 10,000 players out there that can play the other way [but] there’s only a handful that can play how you do, so just be the best version of yourself.’ And I’ll keep trying to encourage him to do that.”And the other thing is just to chase great moments. He’s never going to be a consistent type of cricketer; it’s just that he’s that dynamic that he’s not going to be consistent but when he has his day, he’s going to win matches and we’ve just got to make sure that he’s courageous enough to keep stepping up, even if things don’t haven’t necessarily gone that well. I’ve got confidence in him for sure.”