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Winning is a habit, and Adelaide Strikers aren’t kicking it anytime soon. The reigning champions started their title defence in emphatic style with a five-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat, built on the back of another stunning spell from Rashid Khan and a dazzling knock from Alex Carey.The match was marred by some bizarre umpiring, with James Pattinson incorrectly given run out by the TV umpire before the Strikers withdrew the appeal, and Carey admitted he nicked a ball to the keeper after being given not out on 52.Rashid decimated the Heat’s batting line-up in conjunction with crafty spells from Peter Siddle and Ben Laughlin. At one stage, the hosts were 9 for 101 before Mujeeb Ur Rahman made 27 off 22 balls, a record for No. 11 in T20 cricket to push the total to 146.Strikers made a blistering start to the chase and though there were some wobbles Carey went deep enough before Jon Wells finished the job.When too many gimmicks might be too muchThe BBL is supposed to be one of the best T20 leagues in all of professional cricket. The opening night of the new season featured a toss of a bat instead of a coin. At one stage there were three players mic’d up on the field at once talking to two different television broadcasters and the whole ground descended in darkness during the innings break to allow for a fireworks display. So when the TV umpire incorrectly adjudicated a run out as ‘out’ that every person at the ground, at home, and around the world could see was clearly not out, you could be forgiven for wondering how serious this tournament is.Pattinson dived to beat a throw from Peter Siddle in the 13th over as the Heat were struggling at 6 for 92. Replays showed him clearly making his ground, but the signal coming down from umpire Greg Davidson was out. After much confusion, Strikers bowler Ben Laughlin inquired with his captain Colin Ingram as to whether they could withdraw the appeal. Ingram checked with on-field umpire Simon Fry and then recalled Pattinson. He only lasted seven balls for four runs before being stumped by Carey from the bowling of Matthew Short.Matthew Hayden does the first ever bat toss in the Big Bash League•Getty Images

Rashid’s worldThe Bash Brothers failed to fire after being sent in and the Heat combusted. Brendon McCullum hit the first ball for four and the second straight up the in the air to be caught by the wicketkeeper. Chris Lynn clubbed 33 from 20 balls including a six and a four off Rashid in the fifth over, but he was knocked over by Peter Siddle with four balls left in the Powerplay.The Heat slumped to 9 for 101 with 31 balls left. Rashid claimed 3 for 9 in three overs post the Powerplay. Equally startling was that he bowled 14 dot balls on a batsman’s paradise. He undid Ben Cutting with extra bounce as the batsman holed out sweeping. He completely bamboozled Mark Steketee and Mitch Swepson in his last over with trademark wrong ‘uns. He was unstoppable and as a result, so were the Strikers.Mujeeb makes historyMujeeb, on debut in the BBL, walked out at No.11 having never made more than 16 in any of his previous 28 innings in professional cricket. He wandered all around the crease and played all sorts of mad strokes including several attempted reverse hooks off the express pace of Billy Stanlake. But he mustered 27 off 22 balls, including three boundaries, the highest-ever score by a No.11 in T20 cricket. Mujeeb and Peirson put on 45 for the last wicket before Mujeeb fell with two balls left in the innings.Carey cool, calm and collectedThe Strikers batting relies heavily on their opening combination and Carey and Jake Weatherald picked up where they left off last season. They cracked 56 in 5.3 overs before Weatherald fell to reduce the required rate to a meagre 6.53.Carey was savage in the Powerplay. He took Steketee for 16 in three balls with simple clean striking and added another six off Joe Burns. Heat youngster Max Bryant dropped Weatherald in the second over which proved costly from a partnership perspective. Carey too was fortunate to survive a caught behind in the 11th over off the legspinner Swepson. He launched the next ball for six and added 18 more to his total before Swepson finally got his revenge. The Strikers still needed 39 from 36 balls but Wells made a very composed and unbeaten 24 to secure the victory with five balls to spare.

Victoria captain Peter Handscomb has all but confirmed that Aaron Finch will not open the batting in this week’s Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland at the Gabba, despite Finch looking set to open for Australia in the first Test against India.Handscomb, who himself has been named in Australia’s 14-man squad for Adelaide, said a final decision had not yet been made but following Victoria coach Andrew McDonald’s comments last week, suggesting Finch was better suited to the middle order, Handscomb reiterated that Victoria were unlikely to break up their opening combination of Marcus Harris and Travis Dean, despite the fact that Harris and Finch could well be the opening combination for Australia in the first Test in Adelaide.”Obviously Harry has got the call up [to the Australia squad] and Deany has been making runs for us for years, so it’s hard to knock those two out of the opening positions for us,” Handscomb said. “Finchy averages 50 batting at No.5 and 6 for us so it’s also hard to change that as well.”Finch’s average over the last two Sheffield Shield seasons at No.5 and 6 for Victoria is 46.41, from 13 innings only, and includes two centuries and three fifties. His career average for Victoria in those two spots is 32.89 from 29 innings.He has not opened for Victoria since 2013-14 where he averaged just 18.50 at the top of the order in eight innings Shield innings, that did include 97 against South Australia at the MCG.The situation involving Finch’s revolving position has not pleased Shane Warne who came out strongly on Twitter calling it a “disgrace” and that Victoria should be doing what is right for Australia.Finch’s overall first-class average at the top of the order is actually better than his career first-class record. He averages 46 from 24 innings, that includes games for Australia A, the Cricket Australia XI and Australia, with two centuries and six half-centuries.He made 122 in a match for Australia A against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2011, sharing in a 289-run opening stand with David Warner. He also scored 288 not out for the CA XI against New Zealand in a bizarre tour game at Blacktown in Sydney in 2015. He and former New South Wales batsman Ryan Carters put on 503 for the first wicket in 121 overs before the match was abandoned due to an unsatisfactory pitch.Finch made scores of 62, 49, 39 and 31 in the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE after being picked as a makeshift opener for the tour. He had batted no higher than No.4 in his previous 44 first-class innings over nearly three years prior to that tour.He has been opening in T20 and ODI cricket for Australia since the UAE tour but has been struggling for runs. Handscomb believes batting in the middle order in the Shield game would not affect Finch’s preparation for the Test match.”I wouldn’t be worried at all,” Handscomb said. “Finchy has been opening the batting in white-ball cricket. He’s been facing a new swinging ball. And batting No.5 and 6 you also get the opportunity to face the second new ball, hopefully, if we’ve done our job right. He’ll be fine. He’ll get what he needs. If he does open the batting for Australia he’s ready to go.”Handscomb said his own call up to the Australia Test squad had come as a surprise after his omission from the Test tour in the UAE.”It’s a weird one,” Handscomb said. “I was hoping that I was going to get the call but I wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen and what direction the selectors were going, but obviously I was very happy that they’ve gone with me.”He has not received any indication as to whether he will play in Adelaide but he has been in contact with Australia coach Justin Langer.”He just messaged once the side got announced and just said congratulations and good work on getting yourself back in,” Handscomb said. “But I’ve got another Shield game to go and he just said go out there and showcase what you’ve got.”

South African prosecutors are reportedly set to reopen the inquest into the death of Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain turned journalist who died in 2011. Roebuck fell to his death from a hotel room in Cape Town, with local police saying he had committed suicide.Roebuck’s family have previously expressed concern that they were not invited to be present at a closed hearing in 2013. Roebuck, who was in South Africa covering Australia’s Test tour, had been confronted by police while staying at the Southern Sun Hotel over allegations of sexual assault.South Africa’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Western Province, has been reviewing the case for a number of years. In 2016, the original inquest “docket” on the incident, which was believed to have been lost, was discovered and passed on to the DPP.Now, the has reported that the case will be re-examined “in the interests of justice”, although no date has been set for the inquest.David Hood, an English barrister representing the Roebuck family, said in a statement to the newspaper: “From the outset, the family and supporters of the late Peter Roebuck have put their faith in the legal system of South Africa. It is important to all internationally recognised systems of justice that justice is not only done, but is seen to be done.”That could never have been with the death of Peter Roebuck, unless and until the circumstances of his death were examined at a legally convened hearing held in public with witnesses called and questioned under oath.”The inquest is expected to examine a number of questions around Roebuck’s death, including the nature of the injuries he sustained after falling from the sixth floor and how he was able to jump through a window while a police office was supposedly present in the room.

He had gone 24 innings without a fifty, His four most recent innings featured three ducks and a score of 5. But it was the intensity that Kusal Mendis brought to his fielding that tipped the team management off that a good innings might be around the corner. That was the reason why they refused to drop him for the fifth ODI.This was what captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed following Sri Lanka’s 219-run DLS victory over England in Colombo. Sri Lanka could have brought the experienced Upul Tharanga back into the side, after Mendis had registered scores of 0 and 5 in his other two outings of the series – never looking like the kind of player the likes of Kumar Sangakkara had predicted would go on to score 10,000 runs in ODIs and Tests.But suddenly, in this match, a fire reignited in Mendis’ game. His 56 from 33 balls was not the most substantial knock in Sri Lanka’s innings, but it was the most eye-catching. He struck at a run-rate of 170 and hit six sweet sixes, the most attractive of them an imperious lofted off-drive off Tom Curan, in the 38th over.”We looked at Mendis’ fielding, and that was the No. 1 reason we trusted him,” Chandimal said of giving Mendis another opportunity despite the lean run of scores. “His attitude on the field was great. We know that when you have a player like that, he can get into form very quickly. We know how good a batsman he is. Kusal Mendis is our future. He took that responsibility on and played well for the team.”Fielding, in general, has been something Chandimal has emphasised since taking the captaincy from Angelo Mathews, and in this series, Sri Lanka have seemed to raise their game on that front. Where in previous months, including in September’s Asia Cup, Sri Lanka were perhaps the worst fielding side on show in any trophy they happened to be playing for, they arguably out-fielded England through the course of this series. At the very least, Sri Lanka were the more proficient side in Tuesday’s game.”The main thing for us is fielding,” Chandimal said. “If you can keep that energy and good attitude when you are fielding, other things fall into place. That’s what we did as a team.”Much as Sri Lanka would have loved Mendis to hit this kind of form earlier in the series, that he has done so with the Tests on the horizon will be an especial fillip to the hosts, who often look to him for top-order runs on turning tracks. Two other key Test batsmen were also among the runs in this game. Chandimal himself struck 80 off 73 balls – the first occasion since 2016 in which he scored more than fifty at better than a run-a-ball. Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, who opens the innings in ODIs, and bats in the lower middle order in Tests, made the highest score of the series, hitting 95 off 97 deliveries.”We had lost the series when we got here, but we were intent on regaining form ahead of the T20 and Tests,” Chandimal said. “I’m glad three of our Test batsmen made runs today. We’re hopeful we can take that confidence in to those next two series.”

Trent Rockets began their Hundred campaign in fine style, defeating Northern Superchargers by 20 runs at Headingley thanks to a superb performance from their spin arsenal.Chasing 124 on a dry surface, last year’s runners-up could only manage 103 all out in 97 balls, Australian legspinner Alana King starring with 2 for 17 including a beauty that Shane Warne would have been proud of to clean bowl Bess Heath.Lucy Higham top scored with 26 for the Superchargers, as King – in combination with fellow spinners Kirstie Gordon and Ash Gardner – turned the screw, Aussie seamer Heather Graham also impressing with 3 for 13.