The Test starts on November 22 at Perth’s Optus Stadium while the IPL auction will take place in Jeddah over two days on November 24-25, which has caused some conflict for three IPL coaches – Vettori, Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer, who are in Perth to either coach or commentate.
Vettori is one of the rare coaches in world cricket that holds a permanent assistant role with an international team while also being the full-time head coach of an IPL franchise and the full-time head coach of a Hundred side in Birmingham Phoenix.
Vettori has been Australia’s bowling coach for all three formats since 2022 working under long-time friend Andrew McDonald. He is highly-valued by Cricket Australia to the point where they have allowed him to pursue franchise coaching roles around his commitments with the men’s team.
“We are very supportive of Dan’s role as Head Coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad,” an Australia team spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “Dan will complete final preparation for the first Test before attending the IPL auction. He will then be with team for the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.”
The prioritisation of the IPL auction over a Test match, as well as the scheduling of the auction in Saudi Arabia during an Australia-India Test, is a sign of the times. Ponting and Langer, who are employed as commentators with Australian broadcaster Channel Seven, are also set to miss part of the Test to attend the auction as head coaches of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants.
Vettori has missed certain series in recent years due to his franchise commitments with replacement coaches seconded to work with Australia. However, this will be the first time he will leave midway through a Test to attend the IPL auction, having been able to fulfil his duties with Australia this time last year against Pakistan before flying to India for the auction in between matches.
Vettori was on deck with Australia’s squad at their first day of training at the WACA ground on Monday, working closely with the bowling unit while also throwing left-arm orthodox deliveries to the batters in preparation for facing Ravindra Jadeja in the Perth Test.
Australia had two consultants working with their main coaching team on Monday in former Australia batter Michael Hussey and former Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Somerset allrounder Jim Allenby, who is permanently based in Perth. Both men worked with Australia’s team ahead of the first Test against Pakistan last summer and will be with the team all week in the lead in to the Test match.
Australia’s fielding coach Andre Borovec is currently in charge of the T20I side that is playing the three-match series against Pakistan which concludes in Hobart on Monday night. Both he and Josh Inglis, the stand-in T20 captain, will fly from Hobart to Perth tomorrow to join the Test squad.
CA’s national development coach Lachlan Stevens, who coached Australia A against India A and coaches Australia’s Under 19s, will fly into Perth to as additional support for the team when Vettori departs.
South Africa fast bowler Gerald Coetzee was docked 50% of his match fee and handed a demerit point after being found to have shown dissent in the fourth T20I against India in Johannesburg on Friday.
Coetzee was noted to have made an inappropriate comment to the umpire in the 15th over of India’s innings after one of his deliveries was deemed a wide. He admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction, which also included an official reprimand. India had won the series 3-1.
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards and Oman seamer Sufyan Mehmood also faced sanctions for breaching the ICC code of conduct during the third T20I between the two teams in Al Amerat on Saturday.
Edwards was found guilty of two breaches – Article 2.8 and 2.2, which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match”.
After being given out lbw, he showed his bat to the umpire. Then, while returning to the dugout, he threw his bat and gloves on the field, copping two demerit points in all. He was also fined 10% of his match fee.
Mehmood was also fined 10% of his match fee and given one demerit point for giving a send-off to Netherlands batter Teja Nidamanuru. Since both players admitted to their offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Neeyamur Rashid, there was no need for a formal hearing.
Doug Bracewell, the New Zealand seamer, has been suspended for one month by the country’s Sports Tribunal for “the presence and use” of cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine.
Bracewell “was provisionally suspended without opposition” on April 11 this year following an
“adverse analytical finding” from an in-competition test on January 13 at the Super Smash match between Wellington Firebirds and Central Stags in Wellington, the tribunal said in a statement.
The statement added that Bracewell had “admitted using cocaine but maintained that his use occurred out-of-competition, being prior to midnight on the day before the match, and that it was unrelated to sport performance”. The Sport Integrity Commission did not accept that and “contended that the use must have occurred in-competition”.
The tribunal imposed an “ineligibility period of one month”, which was backdated to commence on April 11, which was the date of the provisional suspension order
Following that, expert evidence on the matter was filed by both the Commission and Bracewell, and a hearing before the tribunal was scheduled for December 11 and 12. But last week, on November 11, “counsel filed a joint memorandum in which the Commission indicated that, having considered all the evidence filed in this proceeding, on balance, it accepted Mr Bracewell’s position”. As a result, it was “agreed that the appropriate sanction was a period of ineligibility of three months, which would be reduced to one month, as Mr Bracewell had satisfactorily completed a Substance of Abuse treatment programme approved by the Commission”.
The tribunal subsequently imposed an “ineligibility period of one month”, which was backdated to commence on April 11, which was the date of the provisional suspension order.
Bracewell, 34, has played 28 Tests (74 wickets), 21 ODIs (26 wickets) and 20 T20Is (20 wickets) after making his international debut in October 2011. He last played for New Zealand in a Test match against Sri Lanka in Wellington in March 2023.
A Central Districts player right through his domestic career, Bracewell recently opted out of a contract with the club to become a freelancer. He is next expected to be in action at the Abu Dhabi T10 league, where he is a part of New York Strikers, and then at the SA20 early next year as part of Joburg Super Kings.
The two teams had met in Spinaceto, in Rome, for a Europe Qualifier A match, with the tournament serving as a stepping stone towards eventual qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup. Austria’s Aqib Iqbal scored an unbeaten 35-ball 52 in that match to seal a seven-wicket win over Israel.
Left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya has been named in Sri Lanka’s squad for the two Tests in South Africa, more than two years after he last played a Test. Offspinner Nishan Peiris, who made his Test debut against New Zealand in September, has also been included.
Ramesh Mendis, the offspin-bowling allrounder, misses out on selection, though he claimed six wickets in his only Test appearance this year. Ramesh, additionally, can bat.
Though Prabath Jayasuriya leads the spin contingent, this amounts to something of a shake-up in the ranks with Sri Lanka playing in Durban and Gqeberha, where the tracks are expected to take more turn than most South African surfaces, particularly as matches wear on.
The squad is largely as expected in the batting and seam-bowling fronts, however. Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and allrounder Milan Rathnayake make up fast-bowling outfit. Top order batter Oshada Fernando makes it in into this squad, but Nishan Madushka – who has made a bright start in ODIs – does not.
Both Embuldeniya and Oshada have partly been picked on account of their good performances in South Africa in 2019, when Sri Lanka had also played in Durban and what was then Port Elizabeth. Embuldeniya had taken six wickets at 23.83 across three innings on that tour, while Oshada had hit a fourth-innings 75 not out alongside Kusal Mendis to see Sri Lanka home in what could have been a tough chase. Neither player, though, has been especially impressive in domestic cricket over the last season, though Embuldeniya did have a decent outing in the four-day National Super League.
Several Test specialists are already in Durban for a pre-series training camp, overseen partially by former South Africa batter Neil McKenzie, who serves as Sri Lanka’s consultant on this trip.
Kusal Mendis, Asitha, Kamindu Mendis and Pathum Nissanka have also been pulled out of the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand, after Sri Lanka sealed that series on Sunday. This is so those players can have a couple of extra days to recover and begin preparation for the Tests in South Africa.
The first Test is scheduled to start on November 27, in Kingsmead, Durban.
Both Sri Lanka and South Africa have a shot at finishing in the top two on the World Test Championship table.
The ball flew in the nets at Perth. There were four of them made available for training and even the one where R Ashwin was bowling his offspin gave a fair bit of kick. India’s XI for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which begins here on Friday, might be made up of those capable of providing pace and bounce with the ball and combating it with the bat. In such conditions, KL Rahul is set to return to the top of the order, Devdutt Padikkal is likely to be the No. 3, while Dhruv Jurel is a near certainty at No. 6.
Here’s how India’s XI is shaping up for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Filling the vacant opener’s position shouldn’t be too much of a problem. For one, India knew Rohit might not make it and in Rahul, they have someone who has done the job before. Rahul kept himself pretty busy in the nets on Tuesday, focusing on his defence and yelling out loud when what he was trying to do occasionally wouldn’t come off.
Gill’s injury, while fielding, was both unexpected and last minute. India had to adapt to it on the fly and they did so by asking Padikkal, who was in Australia with their A team, to stay behind. Padikkal batted with the first group on Tuesday morning. His height and his reach can present a problem to bowling attacks, with good length balls suddenly becoming drivable but that is in batting friendly conditions, which these are not.
Like most of India’s batters in the three-hour session on Tuesday, he was a bit up and down, ending his session with a rasping cut shot against the spinners, his back and across movement so quick and fluid, but against the quicks he was largely reserved and his edges took a fair bit of damage. Padikkal did well against Australia A in Mackay, facing 276 balls across two innings at No. 4 and scoring 124 runs. He was down at No. 5 in the next unofficial Test on a very spicy MCG pitch but that didn’t go quite so well.
India have another top order batter in their squad and he has scored loads of runs in domestic cricket but he has been unable to shake an initial expression of looking a little uncomfortable against the extra pace and bounce on offer on these pitches. Abhimanyu Easwaran only got his chance to bat in the nets alongside the bowlers. It is unlikely that he will be part of the Test match in two days time.
Jurel favourite for No. 6
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are locked at No. 4 and 5 which leaves one more spot up for grabs in the middle order.
The loudest sounds – laughter first and then some geeing up – of the day came when a slip catch coming fast and hard at Sarfaraz Khan went through his fingers. The second loudest was the sound of Jurel’s bat coming down to meet the ball. These are the two players contending for the No. 6 spot and their day couldn’t have been more different.
Sarfaraz was in the periphery. He actually only ended up at slip when Rahul left it to practice close catching to the spinner along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jurel’s day began here as well, at third slip. Then the team moved out of the main ground into the nets and that’s where Jurel really stood out. He rose up on tiptoe and kept rising balls down like a pro, soft hands, bat face pointed down, the ball dropping dead in front of him. He played a gorgeous flick shot to a quick ball at the other end of the length spectrum too. His decision making and the time he had to get right behind the ball in Perth along with his performance in Melbourne – twin fifties in seaming conditions – earlier this month could very well have launched him into the XI on Friday.
India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel spent most of his time looking after Nitish Kumar Reddy, whether it was standing where the umpire would be or walking back with Reddy to the top of his mark. He has the run up of an out and out fast bowler just not the pace. His work was geared towards making up for that as he tried to hold a line outside off stump and pin the batter to the crease.
India seem to be looking to Reddy to lengthen their batting to No. 8 and give them a bowling option suited to these conditions – the role Shardul Thakur used to play on recent overseas tours. If Reddy could get through 6-10 overs a day without leaking too many runs, the frontline quicks could be rotated more efficiently.
The spin bowling spot will probably go in Ashwin’s favour, given three of Australia’s key batters – Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey – are left-handers. Ravindra Jadeja didn’t bowl in the nets at Optus Stadium but he did get through a fairly long batting session.
Who will partner Jasprit Bumrah?
There is a bit of momentum gaining behind Harshit Rana after his work in match simulation settings at the WACA. He spent much of that bowling into the wicket and trying to catch his people on the hop. He is 22. He is strong. He doesn’t have a lot of first-class experience behind him. But he’s been impressing the right people and that can often be more important than simple stats. Rana didn’t bowl too much at the nets on Tuesday.
It is unclear who might make way for him because Mohammed Siraj was one of India’s best performers on their last tour of Australia and Akash Deep is yet to put in a performance that has fallen flat. He also had a long shift in the Perth nets going after India’s frontline batters. Same with Prasidh Krishna, and at least on one occasion he knew he had his man. “I heard a noise,” he said gleefully as he exchanged notes with his net bowling partners. In between running in and letting the ball fly, Prasidh had a quick one-on-one with Virat Kohli whose gestures indicated how difficult it might be for a batter to cope with back of a length balls – not outright short ones – when they happen to kick up off the pitch.
The Optus Stadium surface has the same clay as the WACA’s. It is going to offer pace and bounce though it would need to bake in the heat of the sun first and that was in short supply on Tuesday with rain forcing Australia’s practice session to be cancelled. India are trying to gear their XI to suit those conditions, and they have had to look past the inexperience of some of their players – Jurel, Reddy, Rana, Prasidh and Padikkal have played only seven Tests between them – and into their potential to make that happen.
Adelaide Strikers 169 for 6 (Wolvaardt, Mandhana 41, Mack 41, King 3-29) beat Perth Scorchers 139 (Halliday 47, Schutt 3-19) by 30 runs
Adelaide Strikers put a severe dent in the WBBL finals hopes of the Perth Scorchers with a 30-run victory as Megan Schutt put on a masterclass.
Strikers posted 169 for 6, with Laura Wolvaardt, Smriti Mandhana, and Katie Mack the chief contributors at Karen Rolton Oval. Scorchers slumped to 17 for 4 as Schutt ran through the top order, leaving their finals chances hanging precariously.
With two games left, Scorchers remain in fifth spot with eight points and they trail fourth-placed Hobart Hurricanes by a sizeable run rate difference.
Strikers, champions of the past two tournaments, climbed from bottom of the ladder to seventh – they have six points but just one match remaining.
Strikers were sent into bat openers Mandhana and Mack made an instant impact, taking 40 from the initial four overs. They reached 81 in the 10th over when Mandhana was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Sophie Devine, ending a knock featuring five fours and a six.
Just eight balls later, Mack advanced down the pitch but was beaten by a perfectly flighted delivery from legspinner Alana King and was stumped.
Wolvaardt soon took centre stage with her rapid-fire innings featuring three fours and three sixes – two from consecutive balls from Chloe Ainsworth.
The South African was caught on the cover boundary with three balls remaining and King finished with another stumping on the last ball, giving her figures of 3 for 29.
Scorchers’ run chase began terribly with Maddy Darke bowled by Schutt second ball. And in the third over, Schutt struck with consecutive deliveries, dismissing Dayalan Hemalatha and bowling Amy Edgar for a golden duck with a top-shelf inswinger, to boast figures of 3 for 6.
Schutt was denied a hat-trick by Scorchers stalwart Beth Mooney, who fell in the next over for 6 as the Scorchers crashed to 17 for 4 from 3.3 overs. Skipper Devine and new signing Brooke Halliday rallied but the task was beyond them.
Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s Test captain, has recovered from his elbow injury in time to be available for their two-Test series at home against Sri Lanka. Bavuma will lead a 14-man side which also features Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, both back the Test squad after 11 months.
“We’ve picked the strongest possible side to ensure we stay competitive and keep our hopes alive for a place in the World Test Championship final,” head coach Shukri Conrad said in a CSA statement. “It’s great to have Temba back leading the side after his recovery. His leadership and skill are invaluable to the team. I’d also like to thank Aiden for stepping up and captaining the side so successfully during the Bangladesh series.
“It’s also pleasing to welcome back Marco and Gerald to the Test side. Both have worked incredibly hard during their conditioning programmes, and it’s great to see them back in the fold, ready to contribute to the team.
“This time, we’ve named a squad of 14 instead of the usual 15 to allow players on the periphery of selection the opportunity to play first-class cricket for their respective provincial teams.”
There was no place for Dane Piedt from South Africa’s recent away tour of Bangladesh. Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthusamy are the two frontline spinners selected. The trio of Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson and Wiaan Mulder will complete the pace-bowling options alongside Jansen and Coetzee.
South Africa are chasing their maiden WTC final appearance and need to win all four Tests at home – two against Sri Lanka and two against Pakistan that follow – to be assured of a place in the title round. They could still make it, based on results elsewhere, with three wins out of four.
The two-Test series begins in Durban on November 27 before the teams move to Gqeberha for the second Test starting December 5.
South Africa squad for Test series against Sri Lanka
Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton and Kyle Verreynne
The presence of a white-hot Josh Inglis in Australia’s Test squad at any point last summer might have made incumbent wicketkeeper Alex Carey nervous.
But right now, Carey is arguably Australia’s most relaxed man. He enters the Test series against India as their most in-form player and looms as a potential match-winner with bat and gloves, even with Inglis in the squad for his batting.
Carey, 33, is entering his fourth home summer as a Test player and says he has never felt fresher. No player in the Australian team had a longer layoff without cricket over the winter.
Between his match-winning, and potentially career-saving 98 not out in Christchurch in Australia’s last Test in March, Carey went a full six months without playing a single game. He did go to Major League Cricket but did not play. That stint was part of a pre-season that international players rarely get these days.
The benefits are showing. He posted ODI scores of 74 and 77 not out first up in England on his return to the side in September. He has blasted 90, 111, and 123 not out in the first two Shield matches and 44 and 42 as captain in a low-scoring win in the third. He rounded off his preparation with 75 off 63 in his last One-Day Cup game for South Australia.
The time away gave him space to tinker with his batting. He credits his form, in part, to feeling fresh. But also to a small tweak in his set-up that he made without any input from anyone else.
“When you play and play and play, you don’t really get a chance to work on too many things,” Carey told reporters on Monday ahead of the first Test in Perth. “Not having games coming up for a while, I’ve just mucked around a little bit with my hands and found something that felt good and sort of ran with that.
“It’s only slight, but at the moment, it feels like I’m in a good position and reacting pretty well to the ball. But I think just a bit of time off and a bit of exploring gives you those opportunities.”
The slight change? Simply picking his bat up a little higher in his stance. Carey had noticed in his set-up that his hands and bat were a little low, with the toe of the blade below horizontal and pointing to gully upon the bowler’s release.
It was causing him to feel rushed at times on top of affecting his bat path, and his form had diminished over a period of 14 months between his only Test century in December 2022 and his 98 not out in Christchurch. During that period he averaged just 23.76 across 17 Tests, and lost his ODI place to Inglis after the first game of the 2023 World Cup.
He now has his hands higher, with the toe of the blade pointing over first slip’s head. The results have been phenomenal. He has looked one of the best players in Australian domestic cricket this summer, striking the ball with power and looking like he has so much time at the crease.
The technical tweak has helped his decision-making too. There were times in that 14-month lull when he was playing well but finding ways to get out through poor premeditated decision-making. He now feels less strongly about the need to premeditate.
“I’m just trying to keep a really level and consistent process batting,” Carey said. “I think, at times, potentially getting out in ways with premeditation, which can happen, and trying to do too many things at once. I’m just trying to stay quite clear now and react to the ball and back yourself to make the right decision.”
The addition of Inglis to the Test squad, coming off two Shield centuries himself and some superb white-ball form, is of no concern to Carey either. Inglis has been picked as the spare batter, as cover for the top six rather than Carey. The pair have played ODIs together and did so as recently as in September at Lord’s.
He acknowledged they could play in the same Test XI together at some stage which – as it did in the ODI team – could pave the way for Inglis to pinch his spot down the track. But Carey is pragmatic about the inferred pressure Inglis puts on his role as the No. 1 wicketkeeper.
“I understand it’s a unique position to be in,” Carey said. “There’s one wicketkeeper in a team, and there’s lots of quality around the country who are trying to get that spot and I was one of those players once. You focus on your game. You control what you can control.
“For me, it’s doing my job for this team, hopefully help us win games of cricket and play in this Test team as long as possible.”
His long-time teammate Travis Head believes he’s never seen Carey bat better.
“It’s the best form he’s been in,” Head said. “So for him, it’s trying not to overplay it and not worry about too much. I know he’s not. I think he’s in a great space. Has been for a while and now it’s starting to click for him. And once you sort of capture that form, you want to try to continue it on again. You’re never guaranteed that that happens, but I think he’s going to play a huge role in his position and in this team.”
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
