#damien-martyn

#damien-martyn

Bell insists that time batting against the red ball is still fundamental to the modern player. He emphasizes the value of scoring runs in first-class cricket and how it sets you up, learning how to bat, how to build hundreds, and how to stay out there for multiple sessions.

In the city where a few handfuls of rupees were melted down to make the original Calcutta Cup, it was Scotland who lost their shape when the heat started to rise and the pressure to build. England won by five wickets and though it was, in the end, emphatic it was not exactly a rediscovery of peak form, even if Tom Banton appeared to have located his with a 41-ball 63 that powered his team to victory.

McCullum is believed to have convinced the ECB he remains the right man for the job as a result of performances and attitude shown by the white-ball team in India. England won six of their eight World Cup games and five of six matches on the white-ball tour to Sri Lanka that preceded it, showing fighting spirit to come through tight contests against Pakistan and New Zealand.

I did not consider resigning but the possibility of getting sacked was definitely playing through my mind. I left that decision to the hierarchy and look, if they'd have sacked me from being captain, then I'd have been perfectly fine with it as long as I was still playing cricket for England, Brook said. Asked if he felt lucky to still be captain, Brook replied: Probably slightly, yeah.