ODI World Cup.

[K]

West Indies squad: Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas.

[K]

"A shoulder injury to Dale Steyn has thrown South Africa's World Cup preparations off track, with the 35-year-old fast bowler cutting his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL short after only two games.

Steyn will return to South Africa after his right shoulder - which had previously been seriously injured - flared up. He will be assessed by a shoulder specialist, with Cricket South Africa putting measures in place in an attempt to get him ready for the World Cup next month." (cricinfo)

[K]

A. Miller (cricinfo) on the Hales suspension (details in Ben Stokes thread):

"And so it begins, that quadrennial sense of self-immolation that tends to consume each and every England World Cup campaign - those with the best-laid plans, and those with no plan whatsoever.

Alex Hales' latest fall from grace, while making for dramatic and untimely headlines, does not have to unhinge everything that has been so good about England's one-day cricket since the 2015 World Cup. But it does, at a stroke, puncture that sense of collective drive and responsibility that the squad has been so keen to foster in the course of the past few months.
...

But to date, he has played in precisely two World Cup matches - the seismic defeat to Bangladesh at Adelaide that led to England being dumped out of the tournament at the group stages, and an irrelevant postscript against Afghanistan at a soggy Sydney four days later. He timed his run too late on that occasion too, untrusted by the management on account of an indefinable fecklessness, and he's in severe danger of doing exactly the same now."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26616477/alex-hales-faces-another-fomo-moment-world-cup-hopes-balance

[Pies4shaw]

Last night, Warner became the first player to reach 600 runs in this season's IPL, with his 37 from 32. He has 611. The next best is 445. Steve Smith had the temerity to catch Warner, thereby ensuring a Rajasthan victory (in their usual way, Hyderabad collapsed from 1/103 after 12 overs to 8/160 once Warner was out from the first ball of the 13th over). Smith himself made 22 from 16.

[Pies4shaw]

The IPL "overseas player" runs tally has Warner, (611) Bristow (445) and Gayle (444) in the top 3 spots (as you'd expect, since they are the top 3 run-scorers in the IPL so far this season), then ABD (414) and Russell (406). De Kock (393) and Smith (319) occupy the next two "overseas" spots. Of the local players, only Rahul (4th overall on 441), Dhawan (7th, 401), Kohli (8th, 400) and Rahane (10th, 391) are in the top 10. Although ABD is presently 5th overall, he has played in one less match than Rahul. Rahane's team has played one more game than all the other players mentioned here.

[Pies4shaw]

In his last hand before leaving the tournament to prepare for the World Cup, Warner made 81 from 56 overnight, as Hyderabad made 212 and crushed Punjab by 45 runs. After every team has played 12 matches, Warner sits atop the runs table with 692 at an average of 69.2, with 1 100 and 8 50s. Rahul is in second place, 172 runs behind Warner.

[K]

Wow. England dumped Hales. (See above & the Stokes thread for background.)

His management said this: "We are hugely disappointed at the treatment of our client, Alex Hales, by the ECB following his ejection from England's preliminary World Cup squad.

"Nobody is seeking to excuse Alex's behaviour in this instance. He absolutely acknowledges and recognises he made a huge mistake. But as part of the ongoing process, both he and his representatives have been involved in many conversations with senior members of the ECB over the past few weeks where Alex has apologised profusely for his actions.

"The ECB insisted on Alex taking certain rehabilitation measures following his suspension. In line with both the ECB and PCA guidelines, those measures must remain confidential. However, at every stage, Alex fulfilled his obligations and both he and his representatives were given assurances that any suspension - again under the ECB's guidelines - could not affect his selection for the World Cup."

[K]

A. Miller (cricinfo) comments:

"England were damned if they did and damned if they didn't - stick with Hales and risk contagion, with the summer's agenda hijacked by off-field issues, or take the hard line, and plough themselves once again into selection chaos on the eve of their biggest forthcoming campaign.

This , after all, is how England World Cup campaigns are meant to pan out - amid rising panic and a fusillade of knee-jerks, whether that be (and this is but a limited sample) the ditching of Nick Knight for Nasser Hussain on the eve of the 1999 tournament, the carpeting of Andrew Flintoff post-pedalo in 2007, or the ditching of Alastair Cook just weeks before the ill-fated 2015 event.
...

That, incidentally, is not a call for the ECB to sanction idiocy, or illegality for that matter. But given that there appear to be protocols in place to tackle the sort of societal issues to which Hales has succumbed, it seems a big call to reach for a punishment beyond the 21-day ban that he is already serving - or indeed to ignore the other measure at their disposal, the four-match suspended ban that still hangs over Hales from the CDC hearing."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26631746/questions-timing-ecb-alex-hales-axing-opens-world-cup-worms

[Pies4shaw]

Smith's last game for Rajasthan before he escapes to the World Cup was a nearly-washed-out no result. He made 0 not out and ended the tournament with 319 runs at 39.87. That leaves him 7th on the runs table for all overseas players at this stage of the tournament.

Warner's towering efforts see him over 200 runs ahead of all other overseas players after his 12 games.

[K]

Shaun Marsh to edge Khawaja for final batting spot: Taylor

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/shaun-marsh-to-edge-khawaja-for-final-batting-spot-taylor-20190502-p51jb2.html

"Marsh is seen as a better starter against spin, with Khawaja's best form in the format coming against the new ball. Khawaja averages more than 50 as an opener but a modest 24 at No.3. He is the world's leading ODI run-scorer this year. However, his struggles against spin have been well documented, and spin will be an important weapon for several nations in England, particularly if it's a dry start to the northern summer."

[K]

' "But with this Alex has clearly demonstrated a lack of respect for these values, and there has been a complete breakdown of trust between the team and Alex. Out of that meeting, everybody agreed that the best decision was for Alex to be de-selected."

Morgan added that the decision had been reached in consultation with "the six most experienced guys in the team, [including] myself", namely Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes.

"We've been around a very long time," he said. "We've been through thick and thin. And, as a group, culture is extremely important to us. And that resounding theme came out of that meeting, and we felt that, moving forward, it would actually have quite a significant contribution, particularly going into the World Cup and Ashes year." '

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26654256/alex-hales-lack-respect-england-team-mates-meant-had-go-eoin-morgan

Stokes being consulted on a teammate's conduct? Is this some sort of satire?

[K]

'Ashley Giles has accepted that Alex Hales would still be in England's World Cup squad if news of his drugs test failures had not been revealed by the media.

But Giles, the England men's team director, has also insisted that Hales has not been "deselected" as a direct result of that indiscretion. Instead, according to Giles, Hales was axed from England's World Cup plans because of "a string of poor behaviour over time" and "the effect the [latest] news had on the players, the management and the captain".'

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26655897/drugs-test-exposure-sealed-alex-hales-fate-ashley-giles

[Pies4shaw]

Overnight, Campbell (179 from 137, in his fifth OPI) and Hope (170) put on 365 in their opening stand for the WIndies against Ireland. The WIndies won by 196 runs. Russell will join the team, shortly.

[K]

And Campbell is not even in the Windies' prelim. squad. (Squads can still all be changed, of course.)

[K]

How are Australia's quicks shaping up for the World Cup?

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26689423/how-australia-quicks-shaping-world-cup

"Mitchell Starc

... Bowled with good pace in the nets in Brisbane but was always unlikely that he would feature in three matches in quick succession. It could be, if the management are feeling cautious, that he only plays once before getting on the plane to England. Has only played three ODIs in the last 15 months due to a mixture of injury and rotation...

Nathan Coulter-Nile

... took 10 wickets in five matches against India and Pakistan after being overlooked for the home series against India, which is when he made a few comments about lack of communication. He showed his all-round value in the opening match against the New Zealand XI with three wickets and a useful 34, although admittedly he was not at his best with the ball early on. ...

Jason Behrendorff

... Likely to be an understudy for Starc at the World Cup, but when on song he is an extremely threatening left-arm quick. Bowled nicely on Monday to collect 3 for 34. ...

Jhye Richardson

... has yet to resume bowling with the squad just four days from flying out. Justin Langer hoped for some clarity on his situation this week. ..."