Duo share unbroken sixth-wicket stand worth 91 after wobbly start for tourists on day two

Matt Roller17-Jun-2023Usman Khawaja walked up the dressing-room stairs unbeaten for the second straight evening at Edgbaston, 122 runs better off than he had been the night before. England hoped four overs would be enough to dislodge Khawaja on Friday, declaring in time for a crack at him with the new ball; 24 hours later, he had proved himself immovable.Khawaja was the nearly man of Australian cricket for much of his career, playing 93 times for his country before his 34th birthday without ever feeling like a permanent fixture in the side. His technique and temperament were called into question, and after three years out of international cricket, it seemed he had served his time.But in the Birmingham sunshine, Khawaja cut Ben Stokes for four and raced down the pitch to celebrate his seventh Test hundred since his recall 18 months ago. Since the start of 2023, he has scored hundreds in Australia, India and now, for the first time in his career, England.On a slow, dry pitch, Khawaja and Australia scored at a different tempo to the one England had set on the first day. They scored at barely two-thirds of the rate of England’s first innings, yet with Khawaja’s innings – littered with crisp pulls and handsome drives – ensured that they trailed by only 82 at stumps.It took Australia 24 balls to add to their overnight 14 for 0, absorbing more maidens in the first three overs of the day than England had done in their entire first innings. Khawaja pulled and flicked Stuart Broad and James Anderson for boundaries – he pulled and flicked his way through the day – but it was Broad who brought the morning to life.The first ball of his sixth over was a wide inswinger dangled outside off stump, but David Warner took the bait. He threw his hands at the ball, then his head back: his back leg collapsed as he shaped to thump Broad through the covers, and a thick inside edge deflected the ball into the top of his leg stump.It was the 15th time that Broad had dismissed Warner, but he celebrated as though it was the first, racing away towards the Hollies Stand with his fists clenched so hard that the veins in his neck throbbed. As Marnus Labuschagne asked a policeman to move from his perch next to the sightscreen, Broad sensed something was brewing.Raising his hand and whirling his finger, he geed up the crowd at the top of his mark. Coming from wide on the crease, he angled an outswinger into him, and Labuschagne could not resist driving away from his body. Jonny Bairstow tumbled low to his right, taking the catch one-handed, and Australia were 29 for 2.The hat-trick ball flew harmlessly past Steven Smith’s thigh pad as he shouldered arms with a flourish, and Smith dug in resolutely against whatever Ben Stokes threw at him – including an over of gentle medium pace from Harry Brook inside the first hour. And so, Stokes took matters into his own hands, bringing himself on for only his second over in a match since mid-February, and his first since early April.His first delivery was a front-foot no-ball, perhaps striving to prove his fitness despite a chronic knee issue, but the last ball of his second over skidded into Smith’s pad. Marais Erasmus eventually gave Smith out after Stokes pleaded for the decision, and the DRS could not save him: ball-tracking predicted the ball would have hit the top of the stumps.Travis Head joined Khawaja and counter-punched either side of lunch in characteristic manner. He survived a short-ball barrage after the interval and both left-handers took on Moeen Ali, who bowled as well as could be hoped for a man who came out of Test retirement last week. Moeen started to leak runs, but Stokes stubbornly refused to take him off, or to push the field back.Khawaja took 106 balls to reach his half-century, while Head got there in 60, cutting an out-of-sorts Ollie Robinson away behind square. He didn’t score another run, skipping down the pitch and miscuing Moeen to short midwicket; Moeen pointed to Stokes at mid-off as he turned away in celebration.Moeen should have had two wickets in three balls, beating Cameron Green as he charged out of his crease. Instead, an unsighted Bairstow missed the stumping chance and Green added 72 with Khawaja for the fifth wicket in a stand that spanned the tea interval.The best ball of the day accounted for Green on 38, as Moeen flighted an offbreak wide outside off. It drifted away a touch, then spun back sharply from a good length to beat Green – lunging forwards as though stepping on an insect – on the inside edge and peg back his leg stump.Yet England failed to take another wicket, Khawaja and Alex Carey adding an unbroken 91 for the sixth wicket. Carey had a life on 26, prodding forwards to Joe Root only for Bairstow to put the chance down, an edge past Root at slip off Moeen brought him to 50. Khawaja, too, enjoyed a reprieve. Broad took the second new ball and found some nip off the seam to knock off stump back.But the third umpire noticed that Broad had overstepped, and he survived until the close once again. The crowd had started to filter out by the time he walked off with a beaming smile, at the end of a day that will be remembered as Usman Khawaja’s.

Leicestershire’s bright start undermined by dramatic afternoon collapse

Paul Edwards19-Jul-2023One can understand bowlers flinching a little at the prospect of playing cricket in a town where pies are not so much a speciality as an obsession. Oakham is only ten miles away from Melton Mowbray, after all, and spectators at this game who were tempted by the aroma from Piglets’ Pantry would have found steak and ale, chicken gammon and leek, and chicken balti, all stuffed under a thick crust that mocked thoughts of healthy eating. As things turned out, however, it was the bowlers who gorged themselves, almost all of them feeding greedily on a pitch that rewarded the ancient disciplines.It was a day on which even top-order, top-dollar cricketers could return to the pavilion after being dismissed and think themselves poorly used. They had played blameless forward defensive strokes to deliveries that required such careful treatment only to find the ball spitting away and taking the edge or jagging back and plucking out a stump. Seen in that context, Worcestershire’s opening stand of 48 between Jake Libby and Gareth Roderick and their last-wicket partnership of 33 between Adam Finch and Dillon Pennington were major contributions. Between those alliances Azhar Ali’s 34 was the innings of the day and his side’s total of 178 was somewhere near par. When Leicestershire batted, they could make little of Finch, Pennington and Matthew Waite and were eight down for 88 at the close. Unless we have rain, it seems clear there will be no cricket here on Saturday.And days such as this seem to concentrate spectators’ attention. Aware that every run matters greatly, they devote themselves to the particular intensity of a brief match, especially so, perhaps, when it takes place in a part of the kingdom that few people seem to know well and on a day when the world’s gaze is elsewhere. For Oakham is deep England; rich, dark-earthed farming country in Rutland, a county that many people outside its borders would struggle to locate. The locals sink their pints of Everards in The Wheatsheaf and the All Saints’ campanologists rang on throughout Tuesday evening, quite oblivious to the fact of their drowning out Stephen Hough’s performance at the Proms.Even the names of the ends at the Doncaster Close ground seem to have been forgotten since 1935 when the cracks of Kent were the first to visit this ground and were beaten by ten wickets. “Sports Hall” and “Nursery” insist some modernists but given a rich choice, we settled for “Allotment” and “All Saints” because they reminded us of timeless nourishment of one sort or another. Drought-stressed leaves fell from trees, which was ironic given the rain that Oakham’s head groundsman, Richard Dexter, has had to cope with when preparing the pitch for this match.The first hour’s play was all watchfulness. The Leicestershire bowlers stuck to their lines, and Worcestershire’s openers responded with little more than occasional pushes into gaps. Then Tom Scriven came on from the Allotment End and sprayed his first delivery down the leg side. Four wides. Then there was a delivery miles outside off before Scriven’s sixth ball surprised Libby with its accuracy and tempted him to nibble a catch to Peter Handscomb behind the stumps. It is so often the way. As though obeying some secret lore, a spinner bowled the over before lunch but Callum Parkinson made no breakthrough and Worcestershire came in prosperously placed with 74 for 1 on the board.Ah, but grievous penury lay in wait for them. Wiaan Mulder’s second ball after the resumption swung away from Roderick who snicked it to Handscomb. Mulder’s next delivery compelled a defensive shot from Jack Haynes, who also edged to the keeper. In the following over a straight one from Wright had Adam Hose leg before for 5 and the visitors had lost three wickets for five runs in ten balls.Respectability, threadbare as it was, was achieved through the efforts of Azhar, who continued to play the ball as little as possible and late when he did so. While three batsmen, Brett D’Oliveira, Waite and Joe Leach, all fell to slip catches by Ackermann, Azhar accumulated runs as if doing so in a gradual fashion pleased him somehow. He had made 34 in 153 minutes before his first misjudgement, a grope at a ball from Matt Salisbury, was his last. Mulder dived to his right from first slip to take the catch.Other games were taking place and some notice was taken of them. News came through that Stuart Broad had dismissed Usman Khawaja at Old Trafford and folk recalled that Broad had taken his first Championship wicket at Oakham, his old school, in 2005, dismissing Somerset’s Mike Burns in the first innings of the game and then repeating the trick in the second dig. No doubt the boyish joy was as great in Manchester as it was on this field some 18 summers and a thousand years ago.There was plenty of delight in the evening session here but it brought little comfort to the locals. A blameless Rishi Patel nicked Pennington to Roderick in the fourth over of the innings but half of the eight home batters to be dismissed were bowled, either by balls that straightened or by ones that jagged back. Mulder looked relatively comfortable in making 21 before becoming Leach’s only victim and he can look back on his day with some pride. And if Leicestershire supporters need a little encouragement to take into tomorrow, it was provided by Rehan Ahmed, who ended the day unbeaten on 25 off 39 balls and batted as if he wondered what the fuss was about.

Hasty World Cup prep begins as England embark on first white-ball campaign since March

Alan Gardner29-Aug-2023

Big picture: Back to the 20-over format

Roll up, roll up! We’ve had rollercoaster men’s and women’s Ashes, the Hundred has enjoyed its month in the spotlight… but there’s still room in the sardine can for a bilateral white-ball series or three! Astute followers of the game will be aware that New Zealand arrived in the country a few days ago, but the rest of you are forgiven if you missed it between 100-ball shenanigans and World Cup squad headlines.The tour begins with four – yes, four – T20Is, starting at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday, before four – yes, four – ODIs that will set England on the runway towards their 50-over World Cup defence. As such, the T20Is provide more of an opportunity to test the hosts’ depth, ahead of another global event in the US and Caribbean next year – although plans to blood a trio of young pace bowlers have already taken a turn after injuries ruled out John Turner and Josh Tongue.Gus Atkinson, one of the breakout stars of the season and a man capable of bowling 95mph/152kph, should, however, win an England debut over the next few days. Atkinson helped Oval Invincibles to the Hundred title at the weekend, having caught Jos Buttler’s eye during a head-to-head contest earlier in the campaign, and the Surrey man has shot up the pecking order to the extent that he is also in the provisional World Cup squad – despite having only played two List A games in his career.There should also be chances for the likes of Rehan Ahmed, Luke Wood and Will Jacks, while Jonny Bairstow is set to play his first T20I in over a year, having missed England’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. Bairstow may be the immediate beneficiary of Alex Hales’ recent retirement, having only opened sporadically over the course of his international T20 career.Gus Atkinson is expected to make his England debut against New Zealand•Getty Images

Such is the sense of dislocation around the schedule, England haven’t actually played a limited-overs international since mid-March, when their world champion status was knocked by a 3-0 T20I defeat in Bangladesh. But Buttler, coming in off the back of a tournament-leading run haul in the Hundred, and Matthew Mott now have an intensive programme with which to fine-tune preparations for the subcontinent.As it happens, the tournament opener on October 5 will pit England against, yes, New Zealand, in a rematch of the 2019 final (with Player of the Match at Lord’s, Ben Stokes, back out of retirement, although he won’t be involved in the T20Is). Tim Southee, New Zealand’s T20I captain, acknowledged that all roads currently lead to Ahmedabad, and there is plenty for the tourists to get straightened out over while in England.They arrived on the back of a 2-1 win in the UAE with an experimental side – but saw a remarkable record of 39 games without defeat against non-Test nations ended in the second match of the series. The squad to face England will be significantly stronger, however, with several already in rhythm after plying their trade in the Hundred.For New Zealand’s World Cup hopes, the most-important element of this tour might be how Kane Williamson goes in his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury. Williamson is not expected to be involved against England, while Trent Boult will only play the ODIs as he returns to the fold after opting out of a central contract last year – but after several months in which the global T20 franchise circuit has dominated conversations, a different narrative is starting to build.Kyle Jamieson made his comeback to international cricket in the UAE last week•Emirates Cricket Board

Form guide

England LLLWW
New Zealand WLWWW

In the spotlight: Harry Brook and Kyle Jamieson

Jos Buttler last week described Harry Brook as unfortunate to miss out on selection for the World Cup, sentiments which he repeated before the game at Chester-le-Street. Brook is a T20 World Cup winner who averages 62.15 with a strike rate of 91.76 in Tests – and therefore perfectly suited to the 50-over game – but Stokes’ return has nixed his hopes of being in India (at least for now). Having responded to his omission by scoring the fastest century in the short history of the Hundred, off 41 balls, he will doubtless be keen to nudge the selectors again.Kyle Jamieson suffered a back injury on New Zealand’s tour of England in 2022 that subsequently ruled him out of action for much of the next 14 months. His phenomenal start to life as a Test cricketer led to a US$2.5m IPL deal in 2021, although life has not always run smoothly as he attempted to juggle his workload across formats. Jamieson has only featured eight ODIs and 11 T20Is for New Zealand but played his first cricket since February in the UAE and could yet be a key weapon at the 50-over World Cup, with his imposing height and ability as a lower-order hitter.

Team news: England test bench, NZ welcome big guns

England’s intention for this series had been to blood their next tier of white-ball quicks, ahead of next year’s defence of their T20 World Cup title, but two of those uncapped prospects, John Turner and Josh Tongue, have already been withdrawn through injury, with Brydon Carse and the old-stager Chris Jordan slotting in in their stead. The third of that trio of new boys, Atkinson, is sure to play at some stage as England seek to fast-track his international experience ahead of his prospective World Cup call-up, although having featured in Oval Invincibles’ victory in the men’s Hundred final on Sunday night, his involvement may yet be deferred. On the batting side, Brook is the squad’s cause celebre, although Ben Duckett and Jacks have plenty of incentive to impress as well, with Buttler having admitted last week that nothing is yet set in stone for the World Cup.England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Chris Jordan/Brydon Carse, 10 Luke Wood, 11 Gus AtkinsonMatthew Mott and Jos Buttler were reunited after a long break in the white-ball schedule•Getty Images

New Zealand’s squad is assembling Avengers-style from myriad corners of the cricketing universe. A scratch squad contested a brace of warm-up games against Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, but now a host of Hundred combatants are returning to the fray – among them Southee, Daryl Mitchell and Adam Milne, who provided three touches of Kiwi class in an otherwise dead-rubber clash between Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit last week. In a rather more high-profile outing, Devon Conway and Finn Allen formed a potent alliance for Southern Brave in Saturday’s Eliminator at The Oval, and will slot back in at the top of the NZ order, after Tim Seifert and Chad Bowes stood in against UAE. Jamieson made his comeback in that series after a long-standing back injury, and will continue his progress over the coming games. Jimmy Neesham, a hero of the Hundred final for Oval Invincibles, is heading home for the birth of his child.New Zealand: 1 Devon Conway (wk), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Mark Chapman/Tim Seifert, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Rachin Ravindra/Cole McConchie, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee (capt), 10 Lockie Ferguson/Adam Milne, 11 Ish Sodhi

Pitch and conditions

Chester-le-Street last hosted a T20 international in 2017, and is not known as a batter-friendly venue – in this year’s Vitality Blast, it was the third-lowest scoring of the major grounds, with runs coming at 8.27 an over. There is a chance of some rain to freshen conditions further on Wednesday, although the forecast for the evening is clear.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won eight and lost 14 of their previous 22 completed T20Is against England, including a tie in Auckland in November 2019 that Chris Jordan duly sealed in the Super Over, to claim a 3-2 series win in the two teams’ most recent bilateral outing.
• Since then, England and New Zealand have played twice more, at consecutive T20 World Cups. At the former event in 2021, Daryl Mitchell propelled his side to the final where they fell short against Australia; then, 12 months later, England exacted revenge in the group stage, en route to their victory in the final.
• New Zealand’s four-match series is set to match their previous tally of T20I fixtures against England in England. They’ve won one and lost two of their previous three completed matches in 2008, 2013 and 2015, with a two-ball wash-out at The Oval in 2013 completing the set.

Quotes

“I don’t think he has a point to prove. We all know what a fantastic player he is. He’s unfortunate to miss out on selection at this stage. We’ve said it for a long time in English white-ball cricket we’ve got a lot of depth and talent, and young players coming through pushing [for selection] has been a hallmark of the team. It’s natural that good players miss out.”
“Any cricket now in the lead-up to the World Cup is good cricket. For the guys that go on to that tournament, you’re playing against quality white-ball opposition. I know it’s a different format but I think any cricket leading into the World Cup is good cricket.”

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.”

England piled up 364 before Topley ripped through Bangladesh’s top order to set up a comfortable win

Alan Gardner10-Oct-2023
Defending champions England produced an emphatic response to defeat in their opening World Cup match, crushing Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala to get their tournament up and running. A total of 364 for 9 was underpinned by Dawid Malan’s maiden World Cup hundred – and fourth this calendar year – before the returning Reece Topley ripped through the top order as Bangladesh faltered in the foothills of what would have been a record chase.Asked to make the running at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, backdropped by the Himalayas, England showed an appetite for the climb. Malan and Jonny Bairstow set off at a steady canter in recording their first century stand as openers, before the former was joined by Joe Root in a clockwork-smooth partnership of 151 in 19.3 overs to give England a formidable platform going into the latter stages – at which point they stumbled against Bangladesh’s death-bowling smarts, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan claiming regular wickets.Related

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But despite an England slide of 7 for 68 from the final 10.3 overs, Bangladesh were still left with an asking rate of more than seven an over – and a target well in excess of their highest total batting second in ODIs. The challenge swiftly became steeper still, as Topley struck with his fourth, fifth and 16th balls, leaving Bangladesh tottering on 26 for 3, a scoreline that soon became 49 for 4 as Chris Woakes recovered from an expensive start.Although Litton Das, who began the chase by striking Woakes for three consecutive fours, and Mushfiqur Rahim produced half-centuries, their partnership of 72 at close to a run a ball only succeeded in adding some respectability to the scorecard. Woakes ended Litton’s hopes of a hundred when his offcutter grazed the outside edge through to Buttler, and when Mushfiqur steered a Topley bouncer to deep third, the Bangladesh innings had become a quest to limit the damage on net run rate.

Bangladesh get over-rate fine

Bangladesh have been fined 5% of their match fee for being one over behind the required over rate against England, after taking into account time allowances. As per the regulations, teams are fined 5% for every over they are found to be short. Shakib Al Hasan accepted the sanction, levied by match referee Javagal Srinath, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
Bangladesh also bowled with only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle to finish England’s innings, in keeping with the new regulations on in-game penalties.

The margin of victory was a comfort to England, whose standing and confidence had taken a dent following their thumping in Ahmedabad. Again they were inserted after losing the toss, but this time the top order more than produced the goods – if not with the overt aggression Jos Buttler had spoken of after defeat to New Zealand, then via a cold-blooded certainty in their methods.No one in the current XI does cold-blooded certainty better than Malan, whose imperious form has seen him go from spare part to first pick in a matter of months. His fourth ball, from Mustafizur Rahman, was stroked through extra cover for four and he proceeded to unload his full repertoire of pulls, flicks and slog-sweeps during the course of his 107-ball stay, which was a masterclass in acceleration.Bangladesh thought he should have been given out caught behind in single-figures, only for DRS to confirm Ahsan Raza’s on-field call after a Mustafizur bouncer flicked his shoulder on the way through. That was as close as Bangladesh came to taking a wicket in the opening powerplay, as Malan responded by driving for four and then swinging his first six over deep backward square; two overs later, Mustafizur was pulled into the crowd at deep midwicket and flipped down the ground in another crisp one-two as England’s tempo began to increase, leaving them well placed on 61 for 0 after ten.Reece Topley was too hot to handle for the Bangladesh top-order batters•Getty Images

As Malan moved to a 39-ball fifty, with 40 of his runs coming in boundaries, Bairstow was able to play a little more circumspectly. Nevertheless, he marked his 100th ODI appearance with a first half-century in the format since July 2022, before having his leg stump shivered by Shakib Al Hasan to give Bangladesh a much-needed breakthrough.There was no respite, however, with Shakib the only bowler to exert any control. Root was quickly into his groove, ending a five-over spell without a boundary by ramping Mustafizur for six over fine leg and then reverse-paddling Shakib for four. At the other end, Malan continued to bear down on three figures – for the sixth time in 23 ODI appearances – bringing up the landmark with a push into the covers off Shakib. In doing so, he became the oldest Englishman to score a World Cup hundred.In the next over, Malan crashed Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a sequence of 4, 6, 6, 4, before Root notched his second consecutive fifty of the tournament, from 44 balls, as England looked to turn the screw. Root surpassed Graham Gooch as his country’s leading run-scorer in World Cups, before another pull, off Taskin Ahmed, brought Malan his fifth six. But thoughts he might eclipse another England record – Andrew Strauss’ innings of 158 at Bengaluru – were ended when Mahedi was rewarded for tossing the ball up.With England cruising through the middle powerplay, scoring at 7.9 runs per over, it seemed as if they were on course to post the second 400-plus score of the tournament – and Malan’s dismissal only brought Buttler to the crease, in the mood for carnage. The captain never found his timing during a frenetic 20 off 10, however, and his dismissal to Shoriful, dragging a wide knuckleball on to his stumps, in the 40th over set the stage for a belated Bangladesh fightback with the ball.Shoriful’s variations did for Root – caught behind heaving at another knuckleball – and Liam Livingstone, who lost his off stump to a cutter. Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid all fell to Mahedi as an otherwise dominant innings ended with a bout of ungainly thrashing.Bangladesh had chalked up a win chasing against Afghanistan in their first game on this ground, but this was a completely different beast. Topley, making his World Cup debut after replacing Moeen Ali in the XI, shredded their chances by having Tanzid Hasan edge to second slip and Najmul Hossain Shanto taken at backward point from consecutive balls, before producing a peach of a delivery to skelp Shakib’s off bail and effectively end the game as a contest. Bangladesh eventually battled through to the 49th over, as England’s bowlers got a thorough workout – such was their level of comfort, there was barely any need to worry about the state of the outfield as the World Cup-holders avoided being tripped up again.

Rohit Sharma’s 87 was pivotal to India scoring 229 on a tricky surface, a total they defended with aplomb

Valkerie Baynes29-Oct-20231:46

Pujara pleased to see Rohit bring out the sweep

Mohammed Shami ripped the heart out of England as India defended a modest total in Lucknow to maintain their unbeaten World Cup run and condemn their opponents’ campaign even further.Shami claimed 2 for 4 from three overs inside the first powerplay in a breathtaking spell and Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 17 from five as England lurched to 40 for 4 after 10 overs chasing 230 for just their second win of the tournament. Shami claimed two more and Bumrah one to ensure that wasn’t to be as none of England’s batters passed Liam Livingstone’s 27 and India romped to a 100-run victory with 15.1 overs to spare.Related

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• World Cup Live Report – England vs India

David Willey’s fierce, wide-eyed celebration upon removing Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck hinted at the menace England were expected to bring but have sorely missed in this tournament. It was matched by Dawid Malan’s steely gaze which followed the ball over deep midwicket as he clubbed Mohammed Siraj for six to get off the mark after Willey, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid had helped restrict India to 229 for 8, Rohit Sharma’s 87 in tricky batting conditions leading the way for the hosts.But then Bumrah beat Malan’s outside edge with one that shaped away and, two balls later, got his man via an attempted cut which Malan chopped straight onto his stumps. Bumrah made it two wickets in two balls when he had Joe Root tripping over himself and rapped on the front pad as England stumbled to 30 for 2 after five overs and the batting woes which had plagued them looked set to continue.Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami combined to take 7 for 54•Associated Press

Bumrah amd Shami were outstanding through the later half of the first powerplay, the former’s maiden in the seventh over followed immediately by a wicket maiden for Shami, who squared up Ben Stokes with two excellent balls that beat unconvincing attempts to defend and then lured the batter to attack a fuller ball that splattered the stumps.Jonny Bairstow survived on 13 when Kohli failed to pull down a difficult chance at slip but Shami resumed where he’d left off in his previous over with a second wicket in as many deliveries as Bairstow dragged one on that nipped in from the perfect length just outside off stump.England needed something big from Jos Buttler, their besieged captain, who had managed just 95 runs from the first five games, including a highest score of 43 in the opening match against New Zealand. But Kuldeep Yadav ensured Buttler’s lean run continued with a gem of a delivery that turned ferociously from outside off and crashed into the top of middle and off to send him on his way for just 10 and leave England reeling at 52 for 5.Shami returned for a second spell in the 24th over and struck first ball to remove Moeen Ali, inviting the drive and finding an edge which sailed through to KL Rahul behind the stumps. Shami’s dismissal of Adil Rashid, bowled through the gate, left India with just one wicket to get and Bumrah obliged with a superb yorker that struck the base of Mark Wood’s middle stump.After winning the toss and asking India to bat on a two-paced pitch, England started well, restricting their opponents to 35 for 2 in the opening powerplay.Willey began with a maiden in the first over of the match but then his second went for 18, including two sixes by Rohit over midwicket and down the ground to put England’s bowlers under pressure early. However, Woakes – back after being dropped for England’s defeat to South Africa in the previous game and with only two wickets from his side’s sole win of the campaign against Bangladesh heading into this match – got one to nip back, beat Shubman Gill’s drive, and clatter into middle and off stumps. That brought Kohli to the crease but his mistimed drive at Willey was comfortably taken by Stokes at mid-off to leave India shellshocked at 27 for 2 in the seventh over.Jos Buttler was done in by Kuldeep Yadav’s sharp spin•Associated Press

Woakes, bowling his sixth over on the trot, struck again when he had Shreyas Iyer simply taken by Wood at mid-on to make it 40 for 3 and England thought it was 51 for 4 before Rohit managed to overturn his lbw dismissal at the hands of Wood, when ball tracking suggested it was missing leg stump, and his subsequent four through deep backward point was met by a thunderous roar from the home crowd.Rohit brought up his fifty, smearing Wood just wide of mid-on and running two, then lifted the next ball effortlessly beyond deep backward square leg for six before dancing down the pitch to Moeen Ali and lofting him over mid-off for four in what shaped up as a crucial innings for India.But then Willey returned to the attack and immediately broke a 91-run stand for the fourth wicket when Rahul advanced and sent the ball to Bairstow at mid-on. Rohit became over-excited, picking Rashid’s googly and holing out to deep midwicket where Liam Livingstone ran in from the boundary’s edge to take a strong sliding catch, jamming his knee hard into the turf and leaving a massive divot.England conceded their first extras in the 40th over when Suryakumar Yadav shaped to reverse-sweep Moeen, but the ball evaded the bat as well as Buttler and dribbled away for four byes. Ravindra Jadeja was quick to review his lbw dismissal to Rashid in the next over, but the decision was upheld on umpire’s call when ball-tracking showed the ball clipping the top of leg stump and England could claim the upper hand in the contest.From there Surayakumar took it upon himself to keep India’s innings afloat. He moved to 48 and took his team past the 200-mark with a sublime flick for six over fine leg off Wood. No sooner had Bumrah driven Wood through the on side for four and he was put down by Moeen at long-off but then Surayakumar picked out Woakes at deep point to give Willey his third wicket and fall one run shy of his half-century.Only Bumrah – run out for 16 on the last ball of the innings – joined Rohit, Surayakumar and Rahul in double figures as India ended up shy of the total they would have wanted, even with their foes so out of touch. But thanks to his work with Shami through England’s innings, it proved to be plenty.

Former South Africa captain hopes to finish his Test career in Cape Town, his “favourite stadium in the world”

Firdose Moonda22-Dec-2023Dean Elgar, South Africa’s former Test captain and stalwart opening batter, will play his last international series against India this summer. Elgar, 36, announced his decision to retire from international cricket after the New Year’s match, which is scheduled to start on January 3 in Cape Town.If in the playing XI for both Tests against India, Elgar will finish on 86 Tests in a career that has spanned 12 years. “Playing the game of cricket has always been a dream of mine but having the opportunity to represent your country is the ultimate! Having had the privilege to do it for 12 years internationally is simply beyond my wildest dreams,” he said in a statement. “It has been an incredible journey that I have been fortunate enough to have.”The Cape Town Test will be my last. My favourite stadium in the world. A place I scored my first Test run against New Zealand and hopefully my last too.”With 5146 runs, Elgar is South Africa’s eighth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket – only eight have gone past 5000 runs – and 352 runs behind Mark Boucher, who is seventh on the list.ESPNcricinfo understands that Elgar was informed that he was not part of red-ball coach Shukri Conrad’s long-term plans. He has been linked with Essex as an overseas player for the 2024 season.Elgar’s decision means he will be unavailable for South Africa’s two-Test series in New Zealand, where they will be forced to send a makeshift side because several frontline players will be involved in the SA20 league. Elgar does not have an SA20 deal and would have been the most experienced player in the squad, and potentially even asked to captain in Temba Bavuma’s absence. Instead, Titans’ batter Neil Brand is expected to lead South Africa and partner Tony de Zorzi at the top of the order. Brand and de Zorzi opened the batting together for South Africa A against West Indies A in a recent three-match series.Asked ten days ago whether Elgar was considering ending his international career, CSA director of cricket Enoch Nkwe told ESPNcricinfo that “nothing has come to my table”, but would be meeting with players and their agents “over the next couple of weeks”. Nkwe has held several discussions in the interim and paid tribute to Elgar’s contributions over the years.”Dean Elgar represents a rare brand of cricketer in an age where everything is about innovation and power-hitting. He is a real old-school cricketer that can dig in, absorb and fight. I have no doubt the game will dearly miss him,” Nkwe said. “He has always given everything for his country and never showed any fear, no matter the opposition. He was always there to take on the challenge, leading as captain when the country needed him most.”Dean Elgar led South Africa in 17 Tests, winning nine of them•AFP/Getty Images

Elgar made his debut in Perth on South Africa’s tour of Australia in 2012, when they were ranked No. 1 in the world, and became the 38th player to record a pair on debut – a list that stands at 45 now – but scored a century in his third match and went on to record 13 hundreds, against all Test opposition other than Pakistan and Zimbabwe. His favourite opponents were Sri Lanka, against whom he scored a match-winning hundred in Galle in 2014, followed by two more centuries in 2017 and 2021.Elgar stood in as captain for Faf du Plessis, who was on paternity leave, for the first Test of South Africa’s 2017 tour of England and again for two Tests against Pakistan in 2019, and was named permanent captain of the Test side in mid-2021. He led South Africa to series wins in the West Indies and against India at home, and drew a series against New Zealand in early 2022, which saw them top the World Test Championship (WTC) table at the time. But away losses to England and Australia in 2022-23 meant South Africa missed out on the WTC final earlier this year. Elgar was replaced as captain when there was a reshuffle of the coaching staff in February but continued to play under Bavuma.It is understood that Elgar was unhappy with the decision to be stood down but accepted a new central contract at the end of March. With South Africa only due to play two Test series in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle, Elgar felt his Test career would be limited by the schedule and sources have confirmed he wanted to finish on a high at home.