Section:GDN 1N PaGe:45 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 20:00 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
45Left-arm spin
Jack Leach might have played at
Lord’s anyway, given Moeen Ali’s
loss of confi dence, but a stat doing
the rounds during the fi rst Test
at Edgbaston certainly helped
his cause. Steve Smith has a Test
average of 35 against orthodox left-
arm spin; against any other type of
bowling he averages 70. The stat
needs to be qualifi ed – he struggled
against the great Sri Lankan Rangana
Herath on some viciously turning
pitches – but equally it cannot
be ignored. And the disparity is
becoming more pronounced: CricViz
stats show that, since May 2016,
Smith averages 22 against left-arm
spin and 96 against the rest.
Disrupt his rhythm
Smith is such an eccentric, fastidious
batsman that many have advocated
trying to rip him out of his bubble.
There have been many suggestions
RacingMadhmoon ‘in
great shape’ for
Champion trial
reappearance
Tony PaleyThe theory that Madhmoon – run-
ner-up at Epsom – may eventually
prove the best horse who ran in the
Derby, will get another examination in
the Group One Irish Champion Stakes
at Leopardstown next month.
Meanwhile the colt – who travelled
so strongly for such a long way in the
colts’ Classic before fi nishing fourth
in a farcical Irish Derby in which the
subsequent winner Sovereign was
given an easy lead – lines up at next
month’s venue tonight and the trainer
Kevin Prendergast reports his charge
to be cherry-ripe as his top-class colt
warms up for an autumn campaign.
“He couldn’t be better, he’s in
great shape,” said the Irish handler of
Madhmoon, who drops back to a mile
for the fi rst time since he was fourth
to Magna Grecia in the 2,000 Guineas
at Newmarket in May.
“It’s a start for him. He’s in the
Champion Stakes – he has to have a run
somewhere and this is a good place to
run him. He’s been there three times.
He’s won there twice and been second
the other time. He likes the track and
conditions suit him, so he should be
there or thereabouts.”
It will be a serious blow if Madhmoon
cannot take care of his Group Three
race rivals this evening on his way to
the Irish Champion where he is set to
meet the classy fi lly Magical, who was
yesterday confi rmed on course by the
trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Magical has chased home Enable
three times and having failed by
three-parts of a length in a pulsating
Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs
last November, was again the same
margin behind John Gosden’s mare
in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.
The Galileo fi lly went over a mile
on O’Brien’s famous “Ascot gallop” at
his Ballydoyle yard yesterday , moving
past lead horse Barbados, himself(^) second in the Queen’s Vase at Royal
Ascot, in the closing stages. O’Brien
said: “We gave Magical a break, but
she is now ready to start back. The
plan is for her to either go to the Irish
Champion with or without a run.”
Salisbury 1.50 Elegant Erin 2.20 Aluqair
2.50 Raincall 3.20 N Over J 3.50 King Ottokar
(nb) 4.20 Bakht A Rawan 4.55 Litigious
5.30 Land Of Oz
Beverley 2.00 Say It Simple 2.30 Lord Of The
Alps 3.00 Siyahamba 3.30 Arnold 4.00 Platform
Nineteen 4.30 Alfa Dawn 5.05 Luna Magic
5.40 Straight Ash
Lingfield 2.10 Red Bravo 2.40 Tell Me All
3.10 Fashion Free 3.40 Ambling 4.10 Mon Frere
4.40 Miss Icon 5.10 Sea Shack
Yarmouth 4.45 Simba Samba (nap)
5.20 Al Suhail 5.55 Homesick Boy 6.25 Alhaazm
6.55 Break Of Day 7.30 Little Miss Kodi
8.00 Cent Flying
Chepstow 5.00 Perfect Grace 5.35 Rosie Royale
6.10 Love Destiny 6.40 Twilighting 7.10 Pass
The Gin 7.45 Atalanta’s Boy 8.15 Spot Lite
Tony Paley’s tips
ECB to review
policy for
transgender
cricketers
Sean Ingle
The England and Wales Cricket Board
is reviewing its transgender policy
before its £20m semi-professional
women’s competition starts next year.
Under ECB rules the eligibility of
players in women’s domestic cricket
is determined by a player’s own self-
identifi ed gender, with no medical
requirement for those who have tran-
sitioned from male to female to lower
their testosterone levels.
Claire Connor, the mana ging direc-
tor of women’s cricket, hinted that the
policy could be tweaked at the elite
level so that any trans wom an playing
in the ECB’s new eight-team competi-
tion would have to bring her testoster-
one down in line with International
Olympic Committee guidelines.
“The ECB’s currently isn’t a medi-
cally driven policy. It’s a more socially
inclusive policy and we will be review-
ing that over the coming months,”
said Connor, who hinted one option
could be to mirror Cricket Australia’s
transgender policy which has diff erent
rules for elite and grassroots players.
Under that policy Australian crick-
et’s governing body allows male-
to-female players to compete in the
female-elite cate gory as long as their
testosterone levels have been below 10
nanomoles a litre for at least a year – in
line with the IOC guidelines – while
permitting cricketers at the commu-
nity level to self-identify their gender.
“We are reviewing our policy ,” said
Connor. “Cricket Australia released its
last week and it is pretty much in line
with the International Cricket Coun-
cil’s policy, which is a medically driven
policy. Cricket Australia has a specifi c
policy for elite cricketers and a diff er-
ent policy for community cricketers. ”
The ECB later said it reviewed all
its policies on an annual basis. “Our
position on transgender participation
will be reviewed as part of our ongo-
ing commitment to regularly review
all governance policies,” a spokesper-
son added. “In our current policy, the
eligibility of players is based on one’s
own self-identifi ed gender, with no
medical requirement. We are unlikely
to make any unilateral changes to this
stance. We are proud that this model
promotes an inclusive environment
for all participants in domestic and
recreational cricket.”
Connor also confi rmed that meet-
ings are being held this week to work
out the fi nal details of the elite wom-
en’s competitions.
Mission possible
Is this how
you get Steve
Smith out?
Rob Smyth
▲ Claire Connor says the ECB may
consider a medically driven policy
TV Sky Sports Cricket
Radio BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
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Today: looking drier
▲ A spectator takes shelter beneath
an umbrella on a sogg y day at Lord’s
▲ Australia’s captain, Tim Paine,
look s on from the balcony
▼ Jofra Archer receives his
Test cap from his white-ball
teammate Chris Jordan
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES
love to challenge Smith on the green,
green grass of home.
Patience
On Sky Sports yesterday morning
Shane Warne suggested a two-part
plan for Smith. The fi rst was to have
a tight leg-side fi eld to keep him on
strike, with a few early rib-ticklers to
stop him moving across his stumps.
Then, once Smith is anchored to
middle and leg, bowl a series of
fullish deliveries in the corridor
of uncertainty – which for Smith
is slightly wider than with other
batsman. In Tests in England, Smith
averages 28.2 against deliveries on
a fi fth/sixth-stump line. Anywhere
else and he averages over 60.
Jofra Archer
There is more expectation on
Jofra Archer than any England
Test debutant since Graeme
Hick in 1991 and he will surely be
straight into the attack when Smith
comes to the crease. We should
n ot expect miracles, especially
as Smith averages 92 against
deliveries over 87mph (140kph).
But Archer has a unique style – he
gets very close to the stumps, has
a wicked bouncer that comes from
nowhere and the discipline to plug
away outside off stump if England
go for the Warne plan. Whoever
comes out on top, his battle with
Smith should be unmissable for the
Lord’s crowd.
about how to do this, including
bowling the ball earlier than
expected, putting a man in his
eyeline just off the cut strip or
picking a fi ght with him. The most
popular idea is to use more slower
balls, particularly early in his
innings, in an attempt to disrupt his
rhythm.
Movement away from the bat
Smith was the top-scorer on either
side in the last Ashes series to be
played in England – yet he made four
consecutive single-fi gure scores
at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. It
is no coincidence that those were
the pitches that off ered the most
seam movement. Smith is most
susceptible to the ball moving
away from the bat, especially early
in his innings, and he was caught
in the cordon in all four of these
innings. England’s seamers would
Steve Smith may prove
vulnerable to Jack Leach
or Jofra Archer
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