It’s your medal skipper
Steve Smith’s imperious Ashes series and his Indian heroics should make the Australian Test captain a certainty for the Allan Border Medal. But the vagaries of the voting system, plus Nathan Lyon’s breakout season, might at least mean the count tonight is more than just a procession for Smith who amassed 1305 runs at a stunning average of 81.56 in 11 Tests during the voting period. Ellyse Perry is favoured to take out her second Belinda Clark Award.
ENGLAND are sweating on the fitness of skipper Eoin Morgan for the remainder of the Twenty20 tri-series after losing to Australia by seven wickets in Melbourne.
Morgan was a late omission for Saturday night’s match at the MCG after straining his right groin at training on Friday.
His side struggled in his absence, setting Australia a tar- get of 138, which they achieved with 27 balls to spare.
The injury could prove to be a major blow for England with stand-in skipper Jos Buttler admitting he was unsure whether Morgan would be available for the New Zealand leg of the series.
“He got a little niggle yesterday in training,” Buttler said. “I don’t think we quite know the extent of it yet so we’ll wait and find out.”
Buttler topscored for England with 46 but was unable to break the shackles of a disciplined Australian attack.
England’s risky batting approach was again exposed with aggressive openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales both falling cheaply.
England will face New Zealand in Wellington tomorrow and again in Hamilton the following Sunday, and requires victory in at least one of those games to ensure they make the final.