All posts by n8rngtd.top

Captain thanks team for following his lead, calls on media to recognise entertainment focus

Andrew Miller12-Sep-2022Ben Stokes said that he felt “blessed” to be able to call upon the enduring class and experience of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, while thanking his entire team for their collective buy-in to his new proactive approach to Test cricket – one that has culminated in a remarkable run of six Test wins out of seven this summer, including Monday’s nine-wicket victory against South Africa at the Kia Oval.Stokes himself was named as Player of the Series against South Africa, after a haul of 149 runs at 37.25, including a match-defining hundred at Old Trafford, and ten wickets at 15.70, more often than not key breakthroughs such as the two in three balls either side of tea on the second full day of the Oval Test that ended South Africa’s hopes of a defendable total.More than anything, the award was a testament to the manner in which Stokes has led from the front since taking over from Joe Root at the start of the season, at which stage England had won just one of their previous 17 Tests in the space of 18 months. However, speaking to Sky Sports’ Mark Butcher during the post-match presentations, Stokes made it clear that the manner in which his team had followed his example was the defining aspect of their summer-long success.”It’s been a great series for us as a team,” Stokes said. “We’ve had no real individual standout performances, but different people throughout the whole series have put their hand up in crucial periods for us and, in a team sport, that’s what you want. You want to be able to turn to different people at different times and hope that they can break the game open for you with the ball and bat, and that’s definitely what we’ve managed to do this whole series.”Ollie Robinson – whom Stokes promoted to a new-ball role for his return to the side at Old Trafford – was named as the Player of the Match at The Oval following his five-wicket haul on the opening morning. But Stokes reserved his most fulsome praise for the old guard of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who picked up 27 and 29 wickets respectively across the summer to reaffirm their pre-eminence, following the controversial decision to omit both men from the preceding tour of the Caribbean.”They are just phenomenal,” Stokes said. “To have two of the great seam bowlers of world cricket in your team … I feel very blessed to be in the dressing room with them. We’re very lucky as a nation to have two sporting greats still going out and doing what they’re doing. I mean, I’ve been called old at 31, I’m not quite sure what you can call Jimmy at the moment being 40, but they just keep turning up day in and day out.Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad and James Anderson – pictured during the first-day wash-out – ensured three days was ample for victory•PA Images via Getty Images

“They leave everything out there,” he added. “They are just phenomenal. They’re a huge credit to themselves. They’re a huge credit to this game. And I’m sure a lot of young cricketers around the world who want to be fast bowlers will look up to them.”Stokes’ management of his bowlers has been a defining aspect of the summer’s success – not simply with his willingness to back them up at all times with packed slip cordons and innovating attacking field placings, but his determination to save their strengths for the critical passages of play, particularly the new ball. To that end, his own bowling role has been about producing impact moments, often when the ball has been at its oldest, but he insisted that the balance he had hit upon was the right one.”When you’ve got the bowlers like Jimmy, Broady and Robbo, with the skill they possess, it’s trying to manage them at the start of an innings when the ball’s doing the most,” he said. “You don’t want to [take] too much out of them at the start, so we try to have a short spell from one of the opening bowlers, and then bring them back again with one of the opening bowlers bowling a longer spell.”Then it’s about bringing myself into the game at an appropriate time really, when the big lads have had a few good spells. It’s about understanding when I need to get the most overs out of the three big lads, and they’ve managed to do that in the whole series. They’ve been absolutely phenomenal.”If there has been a criticism of England’s ultra-aggressive approach, then it has arguably centred around Stokes’ own batting, with Butcher questioning whether he was “selling himself short” with his desire to dominate from the outset – a policy that backfired in his only innings at The Oval – rather than batting with the sort of patience that set up his Old Trafford hundred.Stokes, however, was unrepentant about his desire to take the attack to the opposition bowlers, adding that the team success was of far greater consequence than his own numbers.”It’s fine, you can keep criticising me if we’re going to win six out of seven games,” he said. “For me, it’s about the clarity of messaging. Me and Brendon [McCullum] are the guys who were sending this message to this group of players, and I said to the lads in the dressing-room the other day that the person who’s delivering the message can only do so much.”I thank all my team, my backroom staff, coaches, that they’ve really bought into this,” Stokes added. “There’s a reason why we’ve been able to perform with confidence with each other. And that’s something that’s very rare.”Stokes’ own bowling has been limited to key passages of play•AFP/Getty Images

Stokes said he was particularly grateful to his friend and predecessor, Root, in that regard – one of the key influences with the bat, as shown by his three centuries in four Tests against New Zealand and India, but also as a senior man in the dressing-room who bought into the new approach with visible enthusiasm – even saying after the victory over India at Edgbaston that he had channelled his inner “rock-star”.”Joe’s got to take a lot of credit as well. After captaining the side for six years in a way that he did, to then buy into something completely different to how Joe wanted to operate in the team,” Stokes said.”When I’m not England captain, someone else is going to come in and they’re going to want to operate in a different way. But everyone’s really bought into it. And honestly I’ve just been very thankful and grateful that I’ve had a group of lads who have who have bought into that and really understood the bigger picture of what me and Baz are trying to achieve.”This game was shortened, and our main goal was to make sure that it ended in a result,” Stokes said of the three-day window for the Oval Test, following a first-day washout and the subsequent day of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.Related

• Joe Root channels inner 'rockstar' as England learn to enjoy Test cricket once again

• England frustrated but phlegmatic as bad light defers their moment of victory

• England's young punks riff off classic set from old rockers Anderson and Broad

• Broad proud to have been part of a 'celebration of Queen's life' as 17 wickets fall at The Oval

• Ollie Robinson reinforces faith with career-best five-for

“We felt we owed it to ourselves, we owed it to the nation who have shown the support throughout this whole summer towards us, and we will always continue to play in a way that we feel is going to entertain people. And always try and look at the positive side of cricket.”Speaking later in the post-match press conference, Stokes went further about the need for collective buy-in, arguing that the media also had a duty to convey the team’s new message, and temper the criticism when the approach goes wrong – such as it did in the first Test at Lord’s – for the sake of encouraging the next generation to see the exciting, entertaining merits of Test cricket.”I feel there’s also an added responsibility on the people who comment on the way we play as well,” he said, “because we’re in the day and age now where social media is so accessible to people that, if we’re playing in a certain way and we’re saying this is what we want to do and we believe in it, to be criticised for that, what type of message is that sending to the next generation of people?”We have a responsibility to go out there and perform in the way that we want to perform, and I feel that people who write about the game or talk about the way in which we play, they should understand as well that they’ve got a huge influence on the next generation of cricketers.”Because people do listen to what they say about the game, which sometimes contradicts what we’ve got to say, and at the end of the day, the important thing is what is said, and what is spoken about in the dressing-room. Sometimes you feel what we’ve done can get overlooked, because it gets criticised every now and again when things don’t go well, but when it does go well it’s great.”

Batter focussed on here-and-now as big guns wait in wings after World Cup debacle

Cameron Ponsonby30-Nov-2023After the disasterclass of the ODI World Cup, the time has come for England to pull their pants down, turn them inside out and put them back on again. It’s white-ball reset time.The curiosity of the latest rebuild, however, is that the messaging that it’s a rebuild at all appears to be coming from the outside more than the inside. Yes, there are a fresh set of players out in the Caribbean, but the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid are nonetheless sat at home resting and recovering, ready (retirement announcements pending) to reclaim their place in the team.”There hasn’t been that message,” Ben Duckett said after England’s first training session in Antigua, in reply to whether the message to the group was that this is the new era, with the shirts they’re playing in being theirs to keep.”I need to go and prove that I’m good enough to be on this team and so do the other guys, so I don’t think it’s the case at all, this team could change next series.”Rather than being a new team at the beginning of their own journey, à la the original 2015 White-Ball Reset™, the England team that will step out for the first of three ODIs against West Indies on Sunday, do so in a Hunger Games-type scenario. Battling it out for the odd spot in the XI at the expense of their mates to their left and right. England’s next strongest ODI team may well look suspiciously like the one that came before it.Take the expected top three of this tour: consisting of Phil Salt, Will Jacks and Zak Crawley. England fans can expect that both Bairstow and Root will return to the ODI set-up in due course, meaning in reality the trio are battling it out for the opening spot that has been vacated by the dropping of Dawid Malan.Similarly, you can bracket Duckett and Ollie Pope together as the two players lined up to replace Ben Stokes, assuming that Stokes does indeed reduce his overall workload and steps back from ODIs in the wake of this week’s knee surgery. Duckett batted for hours across England’s first training session of the tour, whilst Pope had a net that appeared pain-free as he returned from the shoulder injury he sustained during the Ashes. However, a cause for slight concern was that, during fielding practice, Pope exclusively threw underarm as he continued to nurse his shoulder back to full fitness. England confirmed that Pope is fit to play if selected, but his shoulder is still clearly not at 100%.”I’m genuinely just thinking about the next three weeks,” Duckett, who scored his maiden ODI century against Ireland in September, said at the prospect of this being a career-defining series for a number of players. “I know how difficult it is to stay in a team when there’s this many players and I think the biggest thing I’ve learned over the last 12 to 15 months is not thinking too far ahead.Related

• 'The system failed again' – Dwayne Bravo on brother Darren's exclusion from WI ODI squad

• Darren Bravo steps away from cricket 'just for a bit' after ODI squad exclusion

• Switch Hit: Dreaming of a white-ball Christmas

• Shane Dowrich announces international retirement

“I just think it’s a massive opportunity to show what we can do. I’ve been around and not around the white-ball group for the past however many years and it’s been impossible to break into, so for me personally I’m just buzzing to get a go and be out here.”At a time when traditional logic dictates that the three formats are getting further and further apart, for England the opposite seems to be true. The new generation of white-ball players, deemed to be the ones to take this team forward, include the current Test opening pair in Duckett and Crawley, the Test vice-captain in Pope and generational talent-elect Harry Brook. Even with the ball, Gus Atkinson, who received a two-year contract from the ECB, is surely pencilled into England’s plans for the India Test series and similarly so too is the tall left-arm spinner Tom Hartley. The fresh faces on show here are largely either those currently in the Test side or those with multi-format aspirations.Duckett himself was in effect on standby for Stokes across the World Cup, in case the Test captain’s knee completely gave way: “I wasn’t even thinking about it [to be honest]. There was no way Stokesy was missing out. He would have hobbled through it and still scored runs.”A cynic could argue that, for the likes of Duckett, missing the World Cup was a blessing in disguise. A chance to emerge from the ashes (not those ones) unscathed, ready to take the team forward.”I don’t think there is ever a good time to miss a World Cup. It could be the only opportunity I have. So certainly not in that way. Those same group of players could go out there and win that World Cup at a different time. It was tough to watch at times and I’m watching mates go out there and struggle. It was really difficult.”[But] for me personally I have had six weeks to kind of take a breather – it has been a big 12 months for me – and it might actually be quite refreshing. I feel raring to go now.”

Rahane misses ton but Mumbai dominate, while Tamil Nadu could get lucky

Shashank Kishore31-Jan-2025Kohli’s short stay
It lasted all of 15 deliveries in which he made six. Virat Kohli was beaten twice outside off, once to a full delivery that left him late and then a length ball that he jabbed and missed.He brought out a delightful straight drive in the next over, but was out off the very next delivery when Himanshu Sangwan, a Railways ticket collector at New Delhi Railway Station during the off-season, sent his off stump cartwheeling. Soon, Sangwan became a reel sensation for a superb nip-backer that sneaked through Kohli’s big gap between bat and pad.A strong crowd of around 15,000 who made a beeline for the exit, missed a quality knock from Ayush Badoni. The captain’s 77-ball 99 helped Delhi open up a 93-run lead against Railways, with three first-innings wickets remaining.Pujara 99, Saurashtra on course
The stars have aligned perfectly for Saurashtra. They needed two outright with bonus points, both games were at home in Rajkot on turners; they beat Delhi last week inside three days with Ravindra Jadeja taking 12 wickets.Related

• The King Kohli show comes to Delhi

• Ranji blog – J&K through to knockouts, Vidarbha bag another win

• Rahane, Pujara near tons; Tamil Nadu's season on the line

This week, they didn’t need Ravindra’s bowling because the other Jadeja (Dharmendrasinh), was among the wickets (four of them) as Assam were made to follow-on. That Saurashtra were in a position to enforce the follow-on was because of a solid batting performance in the first innings.Their 474 was set up by Cheteshwar Pujara, who was out for 99 early on day two having added four to his overnight score. Assam’s only source of resistance was Riyan Parag, who top-scored with 51 on his return to top-flight cricket from a shoulder injury.Kuldeep made to toil
Returning to competitive cricket after three months following a surgery for sports hernia, Kuldeep Yadav sent down 31 overs to pick up three wickets, but Uttar Pradesh were sent on a leather hunt. Double tons from Harsh Gawli and Shubham Sharma helped Madhya Pradesh post an imposting 670 for 7 declared. From a qualification standpoint, this game doesn’t hold much significance since with both teams are out of the knockouts race.Rahane 96 in mammoth Mumbai total
Ajinkya Rahane’s quest to convert his maiden first-class fifty this Ranji season into a century met disappointment as he was out for 96 against Meghalaya, but Mumbai opened up a 585-run lead.Meghalaya were 27 for 2 at stumps, giving Mumbai a sight of seven full points that will take them to 29 points and help them seal a quarter-final berth. Coming into the final round, they needed a favour from Jammu & Kashmir, and they’ve helped them along the way by pocketing not just a first-innings lead against Baroda but also opening up the possibility of an outright win.Jalaj continues to shine
Earlier this season, Jalaj Saxena – the Kerala allrounder – completed the double of 6000 first-class runs and 400 wickets. In the final round of matches, he picked up a five-for in each innings, both on Friday, as Kerala trounced Bihar by an innings to secure a quarter-final berth.Jalaj took his wickets tally in the tournament to 421, the seventh-best. This was the 10th time he picked up 10 wickets or more in a first-class game. Bihar lasted a combined 64.2 overs across both innings in which they made make 64 and 118 in response to Kerala’s 351 fuelled by Salman Nizar’s 150.TN stutter but knockouts chances burn bright
They need 97 and have only five wickets in hand against Jharkhand, but a scenario has emerged wherein Tamil Nadu can qualify for the knockouts despite a defeat. That’s because Chandigarh – who won three successive games outright in the first half – have now conceded the first-innings lead to Chhattisgarh in a game they needed to win with a bonus point. Tamil Nadu’s hopes of pulling off the chase are pinned on Vijay Shankar, who is unbeaten on 33.

Coach Russell Domingo says the team is targeting a place in the semi-finals in India next year

Mohammad Isam30-Nov-2022Bangladesh’s qualification for the 2023 ODI World Cup has caught Tamim Iqbal by surprise ahead of the three-match home series against India that begins on Sunday. Bangladesh were one of seven teams to secure direct qualification for the World Cup after the second ODI between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan ended in a no-result in Pallekele.”I was taken by surprise when I saw that we had completed qualification,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo. “I thought we would need to win one out of the last six games, but because of the other teams’ results, it came early. It gives a bit of breather, but it is not the ultimate goal. We have to finish in the top four if possible.”Bangladesh have won five of their last six ODI series under Tamim’s leadership, with the highlight being their maiden series victory in South Africa in March this year. Tamim’s win percentage of 59.25 is currently the best for a Bangladesh captain in ODIs”I think the way we qualified is a great achievement,” Tamim said. ” I felt that when this qualification thing came up, we took it up very seriously. We knew we had some away series too. We didn’t want to wait till the very end to qualify. Going into the 2023 World Cup, we definitely want to do really well. If we qualify as one of the top three or four teams, it makes sense talking about wanting to play in the semi-finals or finals. If you go in as say the No. 4 team, it means you have done well over 20-23 games. For a team like us, it would give us some confidence.”Related

• Bangladesh in 2022: big milestones, but miles to go in all formats

• Star-studded India must be cautious against Bangladesh in their favourite format

• Bangladesh reaping rewards of Taskin and Litton's changed mindsets in ODIs

• Sriram to coach Bangladesh T20I side; Domingo happy with 'nice focus' on Tests and ODIs

• Bangladesh's fast bowlers: from invisibles to match-winners

Tamim’s partnership with coach Russell Domingo is a significant factor in Bangladesh’s recent success. Domingo had been under pressure after Bangladesh’s twin series defeats in Zimbabwe, following which the BCB brought in S Sriram as a technical consultant – effectively the head coach – for the Asia Cup (in the T20 format) and the T20 World Cup.Tamim, who had retired from T20I cricket earlier this year, has reunited with Domingo and the rest of the squad for key ODI and Test series in the coming months. Despite “some rocky times” earlier, Domingo said he and Tamim were on the same page now.”We have a good understanding,” Domingo said. “We have had some rocky times. Our relationship is good at the moment. We understand each other’s roles. We understand what we want from our team. The next couple of months are important for the 50-over side. We really want to qualify for the semi-finals [of the World Cup]. We have a team capable of doing that.”That’s the sort of language that we are speaking in the last year and a half. We are not just going there to compete, we want to try to win the competition. In those conditions with our players, I think we have a chance. We need to share this belief because belief in Bangladesh cricket is not where it needs to be. There’s going to be some speed bumps, we will lose games, but the end goal is to get to the World Cup semi-final.”Domingo returned to Bangladesh earlier this month after being on a break during the T20 World Cup. He put Bangladesh’s ODI success down to their understanding of roles.”We started well by winning against West Indies and Sri Lanka at home last year,” he said. “We lost in New Zealand but we got close in one game, which gave us confidence. It is a format that the guys are good at playing. They have won big series before, so they are confident in this particular format.”Russell Domingo: “There’s going to be some speed bumps, we will lose games, but the end goal is to get to the World Cup semi-final.”•Gareth Copley-ICC/Getty Images

Bangladesh then beat South Africa 2-1 in an away series, which Domingo considers as one of his best achievements as a coach.”If we had lost in South Africa, we would have been in a different situation today with only six games in hand,” Domingo said. “We would have had to win three or four games against England at home and Ireland, who are a serious team in their home conditions. South Africa was a big challenge at that time. We had never won a game in South Africa in our history. We never even competed there, so the way everyone contributed, especially the bowlers, was a great series win.”Bangladesh also beat West Indies 3-0 and lost 2-1 to Zimbabwe shortly afterwards, but both those series were not part of the ODI Super League. They then turned their focus to T20s ahead of the World Cup in Australia and Tamim is mindful of the lack of ODI game time in the lead-up to the series against India.”The only worrying part is that we haven’t played ODI cricket in the last three-four months,” Tamim said. “We have played a lot of T20s due to the World Cup. These two are very different formats. To get into the ODI mindset is very important. You have to be mentally ready to play against a top side like India.”Domingo isn’t as concerned about the transition from T20Is to ODIs largely because the core of the batting group – Tamim, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – wasn’t part of the T20 World Cup.”We know who our best 17-18 players are in this format,” Domingo said. “It is time to get it down to 15 for the World Cup. Everyone understands their role. But there’s one or two positions that you are looking for, so this series is good to fill in those spots.Tamim also warned Bangladesh against complacency and said their ultimate goal was to make the knockouts of the ODI World Cup next year.”Teams that have won trophies know exactly what needs to be done on a bigger stage,” Tamim said. “But teams like us who haven’t a trophy, we are confused sometimes how to go about it. We will be playing some really good teams like India and England before the World Cup, which will give us an opportunity to see where we are at.”We can’t relax just because we have qualified. That’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to do well in the World Cup, and for that we have to do well in these series. If we are not doing well, we can find out where we have to improve.”