James Vince is confident the Australian critics will recognize him after the first day of the Ashes.
England came into the series with an unsettled batting order apart from veteran opener Alastair Cook and skipper Joe Root.
Former Australia Test batsman and now commentator Matthew Hayden created a stir when he said he did not know anything about most of them.
Photo: AP
Vince yesterday defied Australia’s much-vaunted pace attack for most of the opening day of the series, scoring 83 — almost double his previous high score in Test cricket — before he was dismissed in a play-of-the-day-style run out by Nathan Lyon.
Still, the match was evenly poised with England reaching 196-4 at stumps.
“If he didn’t know who we were at the start of the day, then probably does now,” Vince said in response to Hayden’s observations. “I think reading comments like that almost gives you an extra incentive to go out there and try and make a statement. There’s a bit of chat around and I’ve had stuff since I’ve got called up after my last effort at Test cricket — it gives you a bit more inspiration and bit more fight to go out there and prove people wrong.”
Photo: AP
The 26-year-old right-hander conceded he was a little surprised to get a recall for the Ashes tour after scoring at an average of 19.27 in his 11 Test innings last year — all in England.
He was dropped after scoring 1 and 0 in a Test against Pakistan in August last year.
Vince was well established, having survived just one chance on 68 when wicketkeeper Tim Paine put him down off Lyon’s bowling, when he took off for a poorly judged single.
Lyon ran from cover, fielded a half-volley and threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Vince well short of his ground.
“In hindsight, I wouldn’t have taken the run, but it was a good pick up and throw to be fair,” Vince said. “[Lyon] bowled pretty well and deserved something from the day.”
A century might have eluded him, but Vince was not disappointed with his performance on a day when he went to the wicket in the third over at the fall of former skipper Cook’s wicket.
He shared a 125-run stand with Mark Stoneman (53) and batted for four hours on a soft wicket in front of more than 35,000 spectators at the Gabba, where England have not won a Test since 1986.
“It’s disappointing, obviously, no matter what score a batter gets he wants to score more,” he said. “It would have been nice to have been there at the end of the day, but stuff like that happens in cricket. I’m sure lying in bed I’ll have a few thoughts about [missing out on a century], but at the same time at the start of the day if you offered me scoring 80-odd I probably would have taken it. So I’ll look at the positives.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS