Category Uncategorized

Stuart Heal, interim chief of New Zealand Cricket’s board of directors, said that the 2015 World Cup would be crucial to the New Zealand board and could help the organisation set cricket up across levels financially

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2013Stuart Heal, interim chief of New Zealand Cricket’s board of directors, said that the 2015 World Cup would be crucial to the New Zealand board and could help the organisation set cricket up across levels financially.”It is only 18 months or less away and it is critical from every which way you want to measure it,” Heal told the . “It is critical for us to reconnect with our fans. It is critical to increase our playing numbers and it is critical because it generates us cash. It is a very lumpy revenue line for New Zealand Cricket and if we can get it up to where the current forecasts are, it will set cricket up financially at all levels.”Heal took over as interim chief earlier this week. Former cricketers Richard Hadlee, Geoff Allott and Martin Snedden were elected as directors, along with administrators like Greg Barclay, Neil Craig, Liz Dawson and Don Mackinnon. The eight new directors were voted in by delegates representing all Major Associations and District Associations, a change that was a result of the revamped constitution adopted by the board in July this year. One of the major changes in the constitution adopted this year was the formation of the “appointments panel” to recommend candidates for the eight-member board of directors. The 28 members of the NZC would then vote to endorse – or reject – the candidates.According to Heal, the change has brought balance to the New Zealand board and has also helped bring in former players into administration.”The lobby group that criticised NZC said there were insufficient cricket heads around the table,” Heal said. “We now have Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott. I think that is a fantastic balance in the board and their concerns have been addressed. I think I’ve been appointed as the interim chair to keep some continuity.”On his own position as interim chairman, Heal said the board is likely to finalise the chairman in October and he would decide on putting his name forward next month.Heal also admitted that every decision taken by the board was not likely to be a popular one. “To people who say that New Zealand Cricket is not a business – I completely disagree. It is a $50 million business. About three-quarters of our revenue comes in US dollars,” Heal said. “It is a complex exporting business, to be blunt. If it makes money, then that money filters through to grass-roots cricket.”

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the SLPL final between Nagenahira Nagas and Uva Next

The Preview by Andrew Fernando30-Aug-2012

Match facts

August 31, R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)
Uva’s Jacob Oram has been the SLPL’s most miserly bowler with an economy rate of 3.94•Shaun Roy/SPORTZPICS/SLPL

Big Picture

Before the tournament, few would have imagined either Nagenahira Nagas or Uva Next would reach the final, let alone both at once. On paper, Ruhuna Royals boasted bigger overseas stars, Basnahira Cricket Dundee the better local talent, and Wayamba United the X-factor players. Yet, the finalists have each performed at crucial moments to earn their passage.Both sides have ridden their fortune too. Nagenahira were lucky that a washout in the semi-final against Kandurata Warriors granted them automatic qualification, but were luckier still that the resurgent Kandurata were unable to play Uva Next in their round robin match on Saturday, robbing Kandurata of the chance to leap above them on the points table and go through to the final instead. For Uva, Jacob Oram’s all-round brilliance happily coincided with an off-colour Wayamba show on Tuesday, in the heist of the tournament.Nagenahira will have the psychological advantage of having beaten Uva comfortably on Monday, and are slight favourites. They may lack for a few star names, but they have relied on a few key players to lift the side. Imran Nazir’s blazing starts and Angelo Mathews’ calculated finishes have provided formidable bookends to their innings, while the attack has taken its cues from Shaminda Eranga and Ajantha Mendis.Bowling, meanwhile has been Uva’s forte. Following his three-wicket haul in the semi-final, Oram is now not only the league’s most miserly bowler with an economy rate of 3.94, he is also only one scalp short of being among the tournament’s top wicket-takers. Umar Gul may not have been picked for Pakistan’s ODIs against Australia, but his yorkers remain fearsome at the death, while Sachithra Senanayake and Seekuge Prasanna provide both variety and penetration with spin. If the Uva attack can topple Nazir early and silence Mathews towards the end, they will be favourites to win the trophy after qualifying fourth for the semi-finals.

Path to final

Nagenahira Nagas – Four wins and two losses in the round robin, qualified for the semi-finals at second place. Through to final on points after Wednesday’s semi-final was abandoned due to rain.Uva Next – Three wins, two losses and one draw (match abandoned due to rain) in the round robin, qualified for the semi-finals in fourth place. Through to the final after defeating top-placed Wayamba by 20 runs.

Watch out for

Ajantha Mendis (Nagenahira) has reclaimed a spot in Sri Lanka’s World Twenty20 side through a strong SLPL performance and seems to have rediscovered the accuracy that saw him demolish international sides at the beginning of his career. He has added more flight to his deliveries as well, and his mystery remains largely intact in a domestic tournament that lacks the video analysis resources available at the top level.Dilhara Fernando (Uva) is tipped to return for the final, after missing all but three matches through injury, and will augment an already impressive seam battery. Fernando has the only five-wicket haul in the SLPL, and his split-finger slower ball still deceives batsmen who have played him for years. Overs from him at the beginning of the innings will allow the captain Thilina Kandamby to reserve more of Gul’s yorkers for later.

Team news

Nagenahira will be without Mushfiqur Rahim, who left the country on the eve of the final to join the Bangladesh tour to the West Indies, extending the trend of overseas players leaving for national duty just as the tournament reaches its climax. TM Sampath is likely to take over the gloves instead.Nagenahira Nagas (probable) : 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Udara Jayasundera, 3 Travis Birt, 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Angelo Perera, 7 TM Sampath (wk), 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Shaminda Eranga, 10 Ben Laughlin/ Kanishka Alvitigala, 11 Ajantha MendisGul and Fernando having recovered from their niggles, Uva have a fully fit squad to choose from. None of their major players have left the tournament either.Uva Next (probable): 1 Dilshan Munaweera, 2 Upul Tharanga (wk), 3 Thilina Kandamby (capt), 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Chinthaka Jayasinghe, 6 Andrew McDonald, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Sachithra Senanayake, 9 Seekkuge Prasanna, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Charith Jayampathi

Stats and trivia

• Shaminda Eranga and Ajantha Mendis have taken 11 and 10 wickets respectively. The remaining Nagenahira bowlers have 14 between them
• Jacob Oram’s most expensive figures, 1 for 22 from three overs, came against Nagenahira
• Dilshan Munaweera is the only batsman from either team among the tournament’s five top runscorers, with 168 runs and a strike-rate of 135.
  

  Pitch and conditions

  Three days of heavy rain in the lead-up does not bode well for the final, particularly as scattered thunderstorms are forecast for Friday evening. A shortened final may well be on the cards. The Premadasa pitch may also be more conducive to swing, having had precious little sunshine to dry it out over the past week.

  Quotes

  “I don’t think Jacob [Oram] gets the new ball much when he plays for New Zealand. We’ve given him the new ball here and he has become a totally different bowler.”
  “I always try to give myself a chance to bat till the end because I know I can catch up later on. I know how to approach the game from that position and go about finishing off an innings.”
  .

Durham snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in today’s Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street

14-Aug-2011
Durham snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in today’s Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street.After a week in which they lost to Hampshire in the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals and in the County Championship, Durham were bowled out for 192 by Leicestershire and then saw their opponents romp to 72 without loss in reply.But spinners Ian Blackwell and Gareth Breese then picked up six wickets between them as the visitors were dismissed for 155 to hand Durham a 37-run victory. Leicestershire batted a man short because Australian allrounder Andrew McDonald suffered a knee injury after bowling five overs for 18 runs.With James Taylor, like Durham pair Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick, on England Lions duty, Leicestershire were short of batting.Durham kept alive their hopes of a semi-final place despite a below-par batting performance. They were all out with 17 balls unused and were indebted to left-handed opener Mark Stoneman making 73 in his first one-day appearance of the season.On his comeback from injury, Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard took 2 for 26. He persuaded Paul Collingwood to sky a catch to mid-off after making seven, while Blackwell miscued to cover after hitting three sixes in making 43 off 40 balls. Going in at 66 for 4, Blackwell gave the innings impetus with two sixes over mid-wicket in an over from offspinner Jigar Naik.In reply, Leicestershire looked like coasting to victory until their opening stand of 72 ended in the 13th over when Josh Cobb sliced Callum Thorp to backward point to depart for 37. It was the first of four catches for Collingwood, who held the other three at slip off the spinners.Even at 117 for 2 the visitors were clear favourites, but two wickets fell on that total as Blackwell and Breese both bowled wicket maidens. It was left-armer Blackwell who ended Jacques du Toit’s innings of 56 off 65 balls to finish with 2 for 15 in his eight overs.Breese’s second wicket came when Wayne White, having hit 12 runs off the first five balls of an over, reverse swept the last one straight to backward point. Breese also took the last two wickets to finish with 4 for 21.

A combination of belligerent hitting by Virender Sehwag and potent seam bowling helped India storm to the final of the tri-series

The Bulletin by Kanishkaa Balachandran25-Aug-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt appeared as though Virender Sehwag was batting on a different pitch•AFP

A combination of belligerent hitting by Virender Sehwag and potent seam bowling helped India storm into the final of the tri-series against Sri Lanka with a comprehensive thrashing of New Zealand in the last league game. On a day when a majority of the specialist batsmen on both sides batted with two left feet in bowler-friendly conditions, Sehwag found a way to carve out an aggressive century, scoring more than what all 11 New Zealanders managed between them. The target of 224 was soon out of New Zealand’s reach after their top order crumbled against a four-pronged seam attack, a bowling combination you wouldn’t associate with Indian sides, especially in the subcontinent.By the end of the night, you could imagine batsmen queuing up outside Sehwag’s door for the inside story on how he managed to dominate everything thrown at him. It was as though he was batting on another surface. Sehwag was unfazed by the early movement and nip off the wicket, which made the seamers potent. He played in a style known only to him and, with the final in three days’ time, his innings today will undoubtedly be analysed in detail.MS Dhoni took the gamble of batting on a fresh pitch, despite India having collapsed for 103 after batting first in their previous match against Sri Lanka. New Zealand’s seamers nipped out four wickets by the end of the 13th over with a combination of swing, cut and bounce, which strikes took the sheen off an entertaining start from Sehwag.Not known for exaggerated foot movements, Sehwag used the crease to loft the seamers over the off side. He barely moved across the stumps but such was his confidence that he stretched to scoop and slash powerfully over backward point. He backed away and slapped the slower bowlers past the infield as well. A more conventional punch through cover brought up his 1000th ODI four, one that was part of a sequence of three consecutive fours off Tim Southee.India were lucky to have Dhoni at the other end, for he rotated the strike and built a solid partnership with Sehwag. Their stand produced 107, but India needed more from their last capable pair, having only Ravindra Jadeja, who is still trying to find his feet in ODIs, and a long tail to follow. Sehwag, however, didn’t alter his approach. He continued to charge the spinners, lifting Kane Williamson inside out over extra cover for boundaries, and also cleverly picked the gaps at fine leg off the seamers. He played an upper cut over the vacant slip cordon shortly after getting to his century, but the fun ended for India when Sehwag found deep midwicket when on 110. His dismissal was against the run of play.Dhoni, who had batted carefully, had to try to reclaim the advantage for India, but New Zealand took control. Having grafted to 38 off 75 balls, Dhoni edged a Nathan McCullum delivery while trying to drive. The dismissals of Sehwag and Dhoni in quick succession meant a premature end to the innings was inevitable. Soon after New Zealand picked up the final wicket, though, their control over the game came to a grinding halt.They had no-one with Sehwag’s calibre and temperament to take the initiative, irrespective of the damage being done at the other end. They were exposed against the moving ball and even seasoned performers struggled. Praveen Kumar started the slide in conditions tailored to his variety of bowling, trapping Martin Guptill leg before in first over.There was no respite from the other end as Ashish Nehra, with his extra pace when compared to Praveen, got the ball to nip in sharply to the right-handers, slicing them in half. A lot depended on the experienced Ross Taylor, but he was just as circumspect as the rest. He expected the ball to move in, but it went the other way and took a thick outside edge, giving Praveen his second wicket.New Zealand’s chase was irreparably damaged when their senior-most batsman, Scott Styris, chopped one on to his stumps without moving his feet. Grant Elliott knew that the best way to counter the swing was to cover the line and smother the movement. He regularly shuffled across the stumps, committing to the movement even before delivery, but his method didn’t yield runs as almost every defensive push found fielders. Williamson, who finally scored an international run in his third innings, was dismissed by an Ishant Sharma delivery which cut in and took the edge onto the stumps. Munaf, who was miserly to begin with, bagged two lbws with with his probing line.Kyle Mills’ blitz only succeeded in saving New Zealand the embarrassment of being bowled out for less than 100.

Greg Barclay hopes Jay Shah brings “India into the international fold even more” but without making cricket “under the yoke of India”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2024Greg Barclay, the outgoing chair of the ICC, has acknowledged the game he governed for four years is “a mess” and has warned of more challenging times ahead as he gives way to Jay Shah. In an interview with the , Barclay, who had two two-year terms at the helm from 2020, also cautioned Shah against taking the game “under the yoke of India”.Barclay stepped down on December 1, in the midst of an ongoing crisis over the Champions Trophy venues, and he admitted there was so much cricket being played that he had lost track of who was playing whom. In his tenure, three more major franchise-based T20 leagues cropped up, in the USA, the UAE and South Africa, further cramming an already packed calendar. He blamed the members’ self-interest for the situation.”I reckon, gee, I’m at the apex of the game and I can’t tell you who’s playing around the world. In fact, I didn’t realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen’s seven wickets this morning,” Barclay said. “So we’ve lost perspective. It’s not great for the game at all. It’s a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it’s almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one’s going to give up their content.”Related

• Two-tier model for Test cricket – ECB wary, CA 'open'

• Can cricket shrink to save itself?

• The resolution of the India-Pakistan Champions Trophy standoff was a win? Not by a long shot

• Cricket Australia chair defends Afghanistan stance despite 'hypocrisy' accusation

• CA: No cricket with Afghanistan till 'a level of progress'

Barclay said he hoped Shah would be able to leverage India’s stature take the game out of the mess it was in. “I think he’s got a great opportunity to use what he’s got in his background to help India take the game to another level, but without making it sort of under the yoke of India as well,” Barclay said. “We’re really lucky to have India, they’re a massive contributor to the game across all the measures, but one country having that amount of power and influence does distort a whole lot of other outcomes, which is not necessarily helpful in terms of that global growth.”Jay has the ability to bring India into the international fold even more. There are a number of things that India could do to help unite and grow the game, including commercially helping to pool off-shore rights, using their teams to give opportunity to smaller Full Members and emerging countries, using their clout to open new territories and markets, collaborating closely with the ICC to help benefit members, as examples.”Barclay also warned of an impending financial readjustment the game might be forced to make, in the shape of its next media and commercial rights deal. The current rights deal is the most lucrative the ICC has signed, worth over US$3 billion. The bulk of that value has come from the Indian market where Disney-Star* hold the rights to broadcast ICC events until 2027. That has resulted in revenue distributions to Full Members of a size they have never seen before, and it has become particularly important for members such as the PCB, NZC, CWI, SLC and CSA for whom annual ICC revenue makes up a significant chunk of their total earnings.Barclay said the deals were ultimately “way in excess” of the actual value and that there will be, in time, a correction.”At some point, it is going to correct,” he said. “It’s a market. Is it going to be a sharp, severe correction? Or is it going to be a long, slow one? Or maybe there’s going to be an alternative broadcaster that comes to the market? But people have been saying that for 10 years now. New Zealand cricket had a deal with Amazon, but it didn’t work, so I don’t think they’re going to be the white knight that everybody is anticipating. I just think what we’ve got in front of us is what we’ve got.”I know that when we did our current deal it was way in excess of what the valuations we got before we went to market. We got £2.4 billion just out of India. The next biggest one is UK Sky. They did an eight-year deal, which was £237 million, so that’s 10% of the India deal for double the length of time. So if we go back to what the original projection was of £800 million it more than halves ICC revenue. It could even be less than that. There’s no discernible replacement for that at the moment.”One of the prominent issues that marked Barclay’s time was the Afghanistan Cricket Board not being allowed by the country’s Taliban government to field a women’s team. Fielding a women’s team and programme is a central tenet of Full Membership and despite calls to suspend membership, Barclay said the ICC had been right in not sanctioning Afghanistan’s membership status.Greg Barclay cautioned Jay Shah against taking the game “under the yoke of India”•Associated Press

“It is not the Afghanistan board’s fault. They used to have women’s cricket. I think our approach has been right,” he said. “It would be easy to kick Afghanistan out, but their board haven’t done anything wrong. They’re just working under a decree and a series of laws that says this is what you have to do. I don’t think it would make a jot of difference to the ruling party there to kick them out.”Maybe I’m a little naïve, but I think cricket is such a force for good there, and it brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. It is better to leave it there and hope that it can foster a bit of a change.”Instead, Barclay did point to the double standards of boards – such as Cricket Australia – that have cancelled multiple bilateral series with the Afghanistan men’s team as a sanction, but has played them at ICC events. “If you really want to make a political statement, don’t play them in a World Cup. Sure, it might cost you a semi-final place, but principles are principles. It’s not about having half a principle.”*

Stand-in captain is “concerned” but says the team is “working on” converting starts into big hundreds

Mohammad Isam20-Oct-2023The last half an hour of the India-Bangladesh World Cup contest in Pune played out like the ending of a cricket-themed Bollywood movie. The protagonist reached his century and won the match right in the nick of time. Virat Kohli chased his 48th ODI century almost to perfection. He ran two runs within 20 yards of the bat. He slammed fours and sixes as the crowd cheered on. He farmed the strike with KL Rahul. Even the umpire missed a near-certain wide when things got tight.In all of this, the Bangladesh players stood around like they had absolutely no control over what was happening in the middle. It would have been made no difference to Kohli’s concentration but Bangladesh didn’t even try to slow down the game. Not even the odd by-play, like the bowler stopping in his stride. Perhaps even a cheeky wide when Kohli was getting close to his milestone would have shown that they were still capable of affecting this match instead of what actually happened, where it looked like they were just waiting for the ordeal to end.Having lost three games on the trot, Bangladesh’s campaign is in need of a lift and their acting captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is looking at his batters to provide it.”We were well prepared. Our top order did well but the two set batters [Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan] should have played long knocks. If one of them scored 120 or 130, it would have made life easier for the latter batters. I think we couldn’t bat well in the middle overs. One of our openers should have batted a bit longer. It would have been a different ball game.”We made our best start, adding 93 runs for the opening stand. But we couldn’t bat well in the middle overs. It is our responsibility to bat well. I bat at No. 3, which is an important position. We had couple of soft dismissals. It was a good wicket but the batters didn’t take responsibility. We have made big scores before too. If Litton and Tanzid batted for longer, it would have helped Mushy [Mushfiqur Rarhim] or [Mahmudullah] Riyad later in the innings.”Shanto has scored two of Bangladesh’s four ODI hundreds this year, and since he and Mehidy Hasan Miraz struck centuries against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, they have gone nine innings without a three-figure score.”Nobody is satisfied scoring 50, 70 or 100, not the players or the coaching staff, unless it helps the team,” Shanto said. “Every batter is talking about it. Tanzid and Litton aren’t satisfied with their knocks. Big players convert these starts into 100s or 150s. We are all concerned, and we are working on it.”Tanzid Hasan came good against India after a series of low scores•ICC via Getty Images

Bangladesh have put a lot of faith in Tanzid, backing him through a series of low scores since he made his debut last month. Shanto took pride in the way the team was able to bring the best out of one of their young players and hoped that he kicks on from here. “Tanzid played really well but we expect better knocks from him. I hope he improves on it in the next matches. Every player should be backed like [Tanzid] was. Not half-hearted, but 100%. Tanzid batted well, but we need more from him. If we support him, he can play more such knocks.”Given Bangladesh need big scores from their batters, it seems strange that they are not letting some of them occupy their preferred spots. Shanto has been shuttled down to No. 4 twice in this World Cup but he typically bats at No. 3. Towhid Hridoy has been pushed down to No. 7 though most of his success has come batting at No. 5. They had an opportunity against India to use Mushfiqur’s experience at No. 4, in the absence of Shakib, but chose not to.Shato defended the team’s tactics. “Everyone is well aware of their batting positions so they are quite comfortable with it. If they know the plan beforehand, then there’s no difference. Hridoy likes to bat at No. 5. Mushy is scoring runs at No. 6. Riyad is batting well at No. 7. Shakib would have batted at No. 4. I think it was the right batting order.”With five matches still in hand, Bangladesh remain in semi-final contention. They have also turned things around from tougher positions in the past but it was only after shedding a lot of baggage. In a World Cup campaign, every day adds to the overall pressure of doing well.Perhaps Shanto’s clear speaking and candid press conference at the end of the Pune defeat was a bright spot. To see him willing to accept responsibility was a breath of fresh air. “We will definitely want to win the next match, every match. We haven’t played at our best yet, especially in our batting. We must be more responsible. There’s a lot left to do in this tournament. It is important to play a good game. It can change our momentum. Nobody knows, we can win the next four or five matches.”

Pair put on opening stand of 153 in 66-run victory, despite teenager Groves’ half-century for Lightning

ECB Reporters Network16-Jul-2022Even with five of their squad on international duty, defending champions Southern Vipers were too strong for East Midlands side Lightning as they made it three Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy wins from three at the Incora County Ground, Derby.Maia Bouchier and Freya Kemp, named in the squad for the Commonwealth Games, joined Danni Wyatt, Lauren Bell and Charlie Dean on England duty but Vipers still posted 294 for 6 in their 50 overs before dismissing Lightning for 228 in 44 overs.Hitting 10 boundaries each, Vipers skipper Georgia Adams (82) and 19-year-old Ella McCaughan, whose 72 was a career-best in List A matches, shared a partnership of 153 for the first wicket before Emily Windsor swelled the Vipers’ total with an unbeaten 47.Josie Groves, Lightning’s 17-year-old leg spinner, showed she can also bat by hitting a maiden half-century to go with two wickets, but it was a performance in vain as her side finished 66 runs short, off-spinner Charlotte Taylor taking 3 for 31 as the stand-out bowler, Tara Norris picking up 3 for 35.Without Grace Ballinger, their hero with the ball in the win over Thunder last weekend, the Lightning attack were made to struggle when Vipers won the toss and chose to bat first in ideal conditions, their cause not helped by giving McCaughan a life on 43, when she was dropped at mid-on off spinner Lucy Higham.After treating the new ball with respect, posting 37 in the opening 10 powerplay overs, Adams and McCaughan hit the accelerator as McCaughan completed her half-century from 69 balls, having given just that one chance. Adams soon reached the milestone herself, from 57 deliveries.Three wickets in as many overs suggested a Lightning fightback as Vipers went from 153 without loss in the 28th to 155 for three. Groves turned one nicely to bowl McCaughan before a Kathryn Bryce inswinger bowled Georgia Elwiss for a second-ball duck. An lbw decision against Chloe Hill gave Groves a second scalp.Paige Scholfield hit 18 off 17 balls but was denied more when Groves safely pouched the ball at deep backward square before Adams saw the chance of a century slip away as Piepa Cleary caught a steepling top-edge to off her own bowling.But Lightning could not dislodge Windsor and Vipers’ last two wickets added 85, including 23 off 12 balls by Nancy Harman.In reply, Lightning were ahead in runs after their opening 10 overs but at 49 for two had lost Beth Harmer, leg before trying to pull Scholfield’s medium pace, and Kathryn Bryce, who offered Taylor a simple return catch, falling for just one after a match-winning century against Thunder.With Marie Kelly missing through injury, it placed an onus on Kathryn’s sister Sarah to carry the Lightning innings and though she and third-wicket partner Bethan Ellis were still together at 109 for two in the 25th over, they were a daunting 185 runs behind as the disciplined Vipers bowlers offered few easy opportunities.Both then departed in turn, Sarah Bryce falling one short of a half-century when she went after Harman but picked out the fielder at deep midwicket, before a thin edge off the excellent Taylor saw Ellis caught behind.Groves kept Lightning’s hopes alive with her uninhibited hitting, picking up six fours and smashing Schofield for six over long on, riding her luck on 39 when dropped off Elwiss, but after she sliced to backward point for 55 from 39 balls, with 96 off 13.3 overs required, Sophie Munro was bowled by Taylor, Norris dismissed Higham and Piepa Cleary in the same over and had Alicia Presland stumped in her next over to wrap up the win.

Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants

Bruce Taylor06-Feb-2021Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants. Newcomers must adjust not only to a country of vast contrasts and stunning diversity but also to pitches and match atmospheres unlike any other in the world. In the second of the My India Tour series, Bruce Taylor, the New Zealand allrounder, talks about his Test debut at Calcutta on the 1964-65 tour of India , when he hit a century and took a five-for – the only time this has been achieved by a debutant.I had no time to get nervous about my debut because I only came into the side when Barry Sinclair fell ill and was unable to play. The first thing I remember about the game is John Reid hitting four sixes before lunch – the ground was chocka [full] with 30,000 to 40,000 people. I was pretty nervous before going out to bat but as I went I out I remember Polly Umrigar, then the manager of Indian side, wishing me good luck.I was 10 or 12 overnight, then the next morning Sutty [Bert Sutcliffe] and
I played a few shots. After a while Sutty came down the wicket to me and
said: ‘Listen, son – you could score 100 here if you keep your head down.’Then I hit the next ball for six and Bert just shook his head. The bowling
wasn’t as strong as it is nowadays and there was not as much pressure on me
as you might expect now. I had a few swings and misses. But I became
conscious of how close I was to a century as we were in the last over before
lunch. I managed to score it before the break.We had a couple of hours bowling at them before stumps that day and I picked up a couple. We thought the wicket would take a bit of spin but we got most of our wickets through our medium pacers.I was particularly pleased with getting Bapu Nadkarni’s wicket. He scored 75
against us in the first Test and I came around the wicket to him and got him
first ball. The next morning I got the Indian captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.He had batted fairly well, with a fair bit of luck. He got to 153 but had
been dropped a few times. He got a big top edge to one of mine and I
remember going for the ball as it came down near the point area. I thought,
‘If no one else can catch them I might as well try.’I actually collided with our wicketkeeper John Ward who had run across to
take the catch. Fortunately, he held it.I don’t think what I did in that match sunk in until years later. It wasn’t
as if we could go out and celebrate with a few drinks being in India.Other
‘The dinner service was all gold’ – John Reid’s tour in 1955-56.
Much more than cricket – Glenn Turner’s tour in 1969-70.
‘It was like a sauna’ – Richard Hadlee’s tour in 1976-77.

Justin Langer concedes batsmen haven’t produced as tourists head for Derby with questions aplenty

Daniel Brettig in Leeds26-Aug-2019After the grief, comes the post-mortem. Australia’s contrivance to lose the Headingley Test and an Ashes-sealing series lead was the source of enormous pain for the tourists, not least the coach Justin Langer. He had watched, as impassively as he could, from the sidelines as months if not years of carefully laid plans were torn up by a combination of Ben Stokes and Australian folly.”We’re all feeling it. My gosh,” Langer said. “You have no idea how much that hurts, losing today. You have no idea. So we’re feeling it but leaders – whether you’re the captain, coach or senior player – you have to get up. You’ve got to – we’ll be disappointed for a day or night. We probably won’t talk much for a day or a night or so. Then when we get back into it tomorrow, we’ll review it like we do every game. We’ll review it together and make sure we get it better next time.”So in the minutes, hours and days to come before the fourth Test of the series at Old Trafford, Langer will look not only at the collective loss of composure that allowed Stokes to take control, but also the performances or lack thereof that allowed England to be chasing 359 in the first place. Chief among these is the fact that Australia’s batting returns in this series have not been those worthy of a team securing a 2-0 Ashes series lead.ALSO READ: Farrell: Do you remember how it started?Only Steven Smith and his substitute Marnus Labuschagne are scoring their runs at an average of better than 40. Only Travis Head, barely, has joined them in averaging better than 30. David Warner, Headingley first innings aside, has struggled mightily; Usman Khawaja has fared little better; Matthew Wade made near enough to all his runs in one dig, the second-innings century at Edgbaston; Tim Paine’s captaincy is facing pressure on the basis of his decision-making at the end of the Headingley Test, compounding questions already writ large across his batting.”There’s actually going to be some big questions,” Langer said. “One thing I do know is we’re not batting well enough at the moment. I said at the start of the series that the team that bats best will win the Ashes. We’re certainly not at our best with our batting at the moment. We’ve got some real questions to ask for the practice game then the fourth Test match.”I think there’s a number of guys who will be looking to play well. Not just Uzzy. Uzzy’s played a lot of cricket, he averages over 40 in Test Match cricket. He got a Test hundred seven innings ago I reckon. We know he’s a very good player and he, like the rest of them, will be working hard to be ready for the fourth Test.”We can’t fit them all in. That’s one issue we’ve got. We’ve also got to work out after a long summer, we’re going to have to rest some players. Just to give them a mental freshen-up more than anything. The other thing, we’ve got two back-to-back Test matches to win or lose the Ashes. And we’ve talked from day one that we’re going to have to give guys chance to freshen up – they’ve been here for Australia A or the World Cup. And sometimes the mental break is as important as anything.”The major permutation will be how to make room for Smith’s return from concussion while retaining Labuschagne. A possible solution will be to move Khawaja up to open with Warner, placing Labuschagne at No. 3 and Smith at No. 4 ahead of Head and Wade. But that would force the dropping of Marcus Harris after only one match, since he himself was recalled at the expense of Cameron Bancroft, who had demonstrated more than enough technical flaws for England to exploit in the first two Tests.At the same time, Langer and the rest of the support staff need to lend a supportive ear to players who will be having nightmares about Leeds for a long time to come. “It was an unbelievable game of cricket,” Langer said. “Everyone remembers the ’81 Botham game. I hate to say it, but for the game of cricket, that was an unbelievable game. Ben Stokes, that was extraordinary. We are obviously very, very disappointed up in the change rooms. But we have to shake ourselves up and get ready for the next one.”We had our chances, we had three or four. He played like a man with nothing to lose, and you’ll never see a better innings than that. At lunch we knew it was game on. I thought the first hour today was as good Test match bowling as you will ever see. Then when the new ball came, which probably surprised a few people, we maybe tried a little bit too hard, bowled a little bit too short. Then we pulled it back after lunch, and they had lost 5-30 at one point. But we just couldn’t finish it off, and we’ll have to get better at that.”There is, at least, some consolation in the fact that the bowling unit is functioning well, the Stokes episode apart. Josh Hazlewood might easily have taken the match award for an Australian victory, with nine wickets across a succession of high-quality spells. Pat Cummins’ fitness is holding up, so too James Pattinson’s, while Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc wait in the wings. For the marathon of a five-Test series, Australia should have the cattle to go the distance, provided they do not let their minds cloud over into negativity.”We’ve been on the right side of a lot of wins too. We haven’t been on the right side of winning overseas for a while now,” Langer said. “That’s why games like this are so important for us. What can we take from it – we fought so hard. We bowled them out for 67. It was brilliant. We bowled fantastically well yesterday – as good a Test match bowling as you’ll ever see. We’ll win a lot more games than we lose if we bat well – and with the bowling depth we got. Unfortunately it didn’t happen today.”We’ve got 10 days, we’ve got a game in Derbyshire to play, we have plenty to play for. It’s 1-1 in this series, we have been so close, I mean one more wicket and we are 2-0 up and feeling pretty good about ourselves. But that’s sport. We’ll pick ourselves up.”

Yuzvendra Chahal is also in contention, according to the India captain, after watching how England have struggled against the two wristpinners

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Jul-2018India’s wristspinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal could both find a place in the Test squad, according to Virat Kohli, following their success in the limited-overs games against England. India are set to pick their team for the five-Test series in England in the next few days.”There might be a few surprises in there,” Kohli told Sky Sports after India won the first ODI at Trent Bridge, when asked by Mike Atherton whether Kuldeep had done enough to play the Tests. “Anything is possible because we still have a few days to pick the Test side. Yeah, look, he is making a strong case for himself. So is Chahal. Both of them together are pretty lethal for us. Looking at the English batsmen struggling against them we might be tempted to do that.”Kuldeep’s case is particularly compelling, having taken a five-for in the T20I series and a six-for in the first ODI, on his maiden tour of England. He has played two Tests so far and taken nine wickets at an average of 20.77. Chahal has only featured in limited-overs cricket for India and has played 27 first-class matches for Haryana. He has 70 wickets at an average of 33.90 with two five-fors.The fingerspinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been India’s regular spinners in Test cricket in recent years, but they have lost their place in the limited-overs teams and now face a challenge from the two wristspinners. Although the BCCI has not revealed a date for the Test selection, it is understood the squad will be picked in the next few days. MSK Prasad, the chief selector, joined the Indian squad in Nottingham this week and it’s likely the Indian think-tank will consult the India A coach Rahul Dravid before the squad is announced. Dravid is currently with India A, who are playing West Indies A in the UK.India have so far lost just one match on this tour, which began with two T20Is in Ireland. Before leaving India, Kohli had said his wristspinners would be his primary weapon, especially in the middle overs of ODIs.”When given more overs and more time they become even more lethal when guys are not going hard against them for 4 overs,” Kohli had said. “When they have 10 overs and they have something to play with to come back into the game, they know they have the skill to make an impact.”Kohli summed up the victory in Nottingham as “clinical” and gave credit to Kuldeep, whose 6 for 25 were the best figures for a left-arm wristspinner in ODIs. “Tonight Kuldeep was outstanding. To give away 25 runs on that sort of a pitch and picking up 6 wickets in the first innings with two hard balls was an outstanding spell,” Kohli said. “I don’t think I have seen a better ODI spell for a while.”But why had Kuldeep been dropped for the Bristol T20I? Kohli said that was a “tactical” decision keeping in mind the breeze blowing towards the shorter boundary. “We want him confident because we know he can be a matchwinner. And T20 cricket is such a short game that anyone can make an impact and win you games, but when it comes to longer games we need players who can really make an impact, because in 50-overs cricket if you don’t get wickets in the middle overs it is going to be really difficult.”Kuldeep and Chahal had already proved their worth in South Africa, where India won the ODI series 5-1 – 28 of the 33 wickets they had taken there had come in the middle overs. So far in England, Kuldeep has 18 wickets from 24.3 overs at an economy rate of 4.89 and an average of 6.66. Chahal has got 8 wickets from 30 overs at an economy rate of 6.73 and an average of 25.25.There is also a stark difference in the impact Kuldeep has made in the middle overs against England, who have played Chahal more confidently. Kuldeep has given just 59 runs off 69 balls at an economy rate of 5.13, while Chahal has gone for 132 runs off 198 balls at an economy rate of 7.33.”These two remain a strength for us in the middle overs,” Kohli said. “We got to make sure we keep them strong, keep them confident and put in these kind of performances regularly. These two guys since they have come into the team they have been the difference for us. They remain a huge weapon for us.”