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Sri Lanka never really got to grips with the variation and control of the England attack

George Dobell23-Jun-2021England have taken a one-nil lead in the T20I series against Sri Lanka with a comfortable eight-wicket victory in Cardiff achieved with 17 deliveries to spare.A much-changed Sri Lanka side – there were six alterations from their previous T20I in March – never really got to grips with the variation and control of the England attack or a slightly sluggish surface that rendered strokeplay tricky. At one stage they went 10 overs (from 4.2 to 14.1) without hitting a four and there were just three sixes in their innings.Eoin Morgan, the England captain, appeared to have an almost endless array of options and variations on hand in the field. And with Adil Rashid producing the third most economical four-over spell of his T20I career (he conceded 17) and Chris Woakes (three overs for 14) and Liam Livingstone (two overs for nine) adding equally miserly support in conceding just one boundary between them, Sri Lanka never looked to be on course for a competitive total.While Dasun Shanaka, with his second T20I half-century, helped Sri Lanka plunder 25 off the final two overs of the innings to drag his side to something approaching respectability, only one of his colleagues, Kusal Perera, made 20 and Sri Lanka only took their run-rate above a run-a-ball in their penultimate over.That left England chasing a modest 130 for victory. And even without the injured Ben Stokes, that was unlikely to test the side ranked No. 1 in the world in this format.Related

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Jos Buttler and Jason Roy, took 61 from the powerplay to all but end the game as a contest. If Buttler, timing the ball beautifully both through and over the off side, was the more pleasing on the eye, Roy was no less effective as he thrashed through the leg side. It was some surprise when he was brilliantly caught attempting to flay one over mid-off.By then, though, the openers had added 80 from 55 balls. And while Dawid Malan (seven off 14) was unable to get into his stride, Buttler brought up a 38-ball half-century by taking 10 off two deliveries from Akila Dananjaya – a pulled six followed by a drive for four – and ensured England cruised over the victory line with quite a bit to spare.Perhaps the one-side nature of the contest was no big surprise: this was the No. 1 ranked T20 side playing at home against the No. 8 ranked side, after all. Spare a thought for Sri Lanka, though. In the age of Covid, we have become accustomed to teams performing without the warm-up matches and acclimatisation we once expected. Here, though, Sri Lanka were up against a side who are in the middle of their domestic T20 tournament – the Vitality Blast – and had only had a couple of inter-squad matches to prepare by comparison. It was hardly ideal and it may well have shown.Buttler’s opening statementButtler came into this game having spent the last couple of weeks batting in Lancashire’s middle-order in T20 cricket. And with the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes also vying for the opening position in this format, he may have felt he had something to prove. If so, he did a fine job of making his point with an innings that was both controlled and brutal. Early on, it was his shots through the off-side – a lofted drive and a back foot punch, in particular – that caught the eye, but as the ball softened and the sluggish pitch made such strokes less productive, he produced some powerful thumps through the leg side. He gave only one chance, from the final ball of the match, when an outside edge was dropped by Kusal Perera. It was Buttler’s second T20I half-century in succession and his third in four innings. For a man who scores at his rates, that is a remarkable level of consistency. He also scored a century in his final IPL innings.Shanaka’s fightShanaka recorded the second half-century of his T20I career to justify his recall to the Sri Lanka side. Shanaka hadn’t played an international match in this format since March 2020 but here, coming in with his side in some trouble (they were 52 for 4 in the ninth over), he provided the resistance. He looked hurried by Mark Wood initially – he was beaten by his first three deliveries and, after 16 balls, had scored just nine – but, as he settled, he unveiled some powerful strokes and accelerated nicely in hitting 23 from the eight deliveries before his dismissal from the final ball of the innings. Twice in succession, Wood was punished for some width by being cut to the boundary, while he also hit two-thirds of the sixes of the innings: a ferocious drive over long-on off Chris Jordan and a pull off Sam Curran. None of it was enough to take Sri Lanka to victory but he did, at least, give his bowlers something to defend.Like a LivingstoneSome were surprised by England’s decision to prefer Livingstone to Moeen Ali as their spin-bowling allrounder. But Livingstone’s ability to bowl both leg and offspin does give him an edge in being able to adapt to left or right-handed batters. He has been in decent form with the bat in domestic T20 cricket, too, scoring an unbeaten 94 a couple of weeks ago and 45 and 65 in his two most recent games. He didn’t have a chance to bat here but impressed with the ball in delivering two well-controlled overs containing both offbreaks and leggies and without conceding a boundary. It was a performance that provided his captain with a buffer should any of his frontline bowlers have an off day and must have done Livingstone’s T20 World Cup chances no harm at all.Hope in HasarangaSri Lanka’s bowlers weren’t given much of a chance by their batters. But at least Wanindu Hasaranga gave Sri Lanka supporters some cheer with a really well controlled spell of leg-spin that saw him concede just 12 runs and deliver 14 dot balls. With just a little luck he could have had a couple of wickets, too, as England’s batters struggled to predict which deliveries would turn and which would skid on. Malan missed one which slid past his outside edge and Bairstow came within an ace of playing on to another which hurried on to him. The impression was that, given a decent target to defend, he could have caused England quite a lot of trouble.The return of ChrisThe last time Chris Woakes played a T20I, Barack Obama was president of the USA and David Cameron was prime minister in the UK. So a lot has changed since November 2015. But with Jofra Archer missing and Woakes having enjoyed a decent IPL, England recalled him for his first international game since September; a remarkably long time for a player with a central contract who spent much of the winter in the squad’s bio-bubbles. While Woakes didn’t take a wicket, he more than justified his recall in conceding just one boundary in three frugal overs which contained 11 dot balls and cost only 14. With his control, his variations and his experience, he may well have put himself back in contention for a place in the T20 World Cup squad.

The fast bowler was among friends and family to speak at the service at Adelaide Oval

AAP17-Mar-2022Dennis Lillee has recalled the cautious beginnings of his famous partnership with Rod Marsh, admitting at the late wicketkeeper’s funeral service on Thursday he “still can’t believe his good mate isn’t around anymore”.Their combination ensured ‘c Marsh b Lillee’ featured 94 times in Test cricket scorebooks, the pair beginning and ending their careers at the same time and incredibly finishing with then world record 355 dismissals and wickets respectively.Fast bowler Lillee was among the friends and family to speak at the Adelaide Oval service that focused on his love for cricket, golf, travel, family, friends and red wine. But Lillee recalled his own reputation as a non-drinker meant things got off to a rocky start.”I still can’t believe that our mate and mate to many isn’t around anymore,” he said. “It’s taken me days to write my thoughts down on this amazing bloke. But I don’t want to talk about his cricketing ability…it’s the person Rod Marsh that I loved.Related

• Former Australia wicketkeeper Rod Marsh dies aged 74

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“I’ve got to say that it hasn’t always been that way; it was something that grew over time, even after our careers were finished. “[After a day’s play he said] ‘I’ve got to tell you, I don’t trust you…my old man Ken said never trust anyone that doesn’t drink’.”Lillee reflected on a 4WD trip in the bush outside of Perth, when a punctured tyre meant they stopped just after spotting an eight-metre long snake.”I said I’d watch out for the snake while Bacchus [Marsh] got under the car to lower the spare,” he said. “I pinched one of his ankles …. he hit his head on the under-carriage and then shot out from under the car and got back in.”I just couldn’t stop laughing, but it backfired as he refused to get out and I was left to change the tyre with one eye looking out for that bloody reptile.”Marsh, who died on March 3 aged 74, played in 96 Tests, was the first Australian gloveman to make a Test century and played in the first ODI – against England in Melbourne in 1971.He later headed the cricket academies of Australia and England, and was inaugural head of an ICC world coaching academy in Dubai. He also became Australian men’s chairman of selectors.Rod Marsh takes a brilliant catch to remove Tony Greig•PA Photos/Getty Images

There were fond mentions of the family’s annual Big Calf Cup, a golf tournament named in honour of Marsh’s trunk-like lower legs that took them as far as the 2012 Masters.The many Test cricketers in attendance formed a guard of honour following the service, while his golfing mates detailed the incredible skill, competitiveness and confidence still on show in their regular rounds that saw him lead such a full life.Older brother Graham, a retired golf professional boasting a PGA Tour win among 69 career titles, recalled the early days in Western Australia playing cricket with their father.”Rod couldn’t get enough, throwing himself at any ball that came near him, even one directed at me he’d grab right from under my nose,” he said. “I read a wonderful tribute to Rod penned by his great friend Ian Chappell, descriptively recounting he had the same problem at first slip, playing for Australia some 20 years later.”He also told how their mother’s hopes of Marsh, also a talented musician, becoming a concert pianist were dashed, while he also came in swinging when a bully threatened his big brother.”I always wanted to be on his team and he’d do anything to protect his family,” he said. “They say younger brothers often walk in the shadow of their older brothers but baby brother, it’s been an honour to walk in your shadow.”

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

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“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.”

The ICC is expected to make a decision this week on where the tournament is hosted

Andrew McGlashan19-Aug-20241:23

Healy: ‘I just want to create a really connected group’

Australia captain Alyssa Healy has said it feels like the “wrong thing” to host the upcoming T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as the country continues to deal with the consequences of the recent violence which led to hundreds of deaths and the ousting of the government.The ICC is expected to make a decision this week on where the tournament will be hosted with UAE considered the favourite after BCCI declined a request. Sri Lanka is another option while Zimbabwe has emerged as a potential late solution.The Australian government is among those including the UK and India to have issued warnings about traveling to Bangladesh.Related

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“I find it really hard to see a cricket event going on over there at the moment and taking resources away from a country that is really struggling,” Healy said. “They’re needing everyone they can possibly get in there helping people that are dying.””I’d find it hard to fathom playing there at the moment, as a human being, I feel like it might be the wrong thing to do. But I’ll leave it to the ICC to work out.”Speaking on Sunday, allrounder Sophie Molineux said players had been kept in the loop.”We’ve been [in] chats with Cricket Australia and they’re doing a lot of work with the ICC, and we’ve got full faith that they’ll come up with the right decision for everyone.”Australia will name their World Cup squad next Monday and Healy was confident they would be able to adapt to whichever country ended up hosting. They had seen their tour of Bangladesh earlier this year where they played three ODIs and three T20Is as a key fact-finding mission.”I feel like we’re so well balanced in the…players that we get to choose from, wherever the World Cup gets put, I think we’re going to have the right squad to take it on,” Healy said. “We’re obviously blessed we got to Bangladesh and got a taste of those conditions. But wherever we get put, we’ll be ready to adapt.”Meanwhile, England captain Heather Knight said that if the replacement venue was UAE then she does not expect vastly different conditions to those in Bangladesh.It is expected Australia will name a settled squad. Fast bowler Darcie Brown is set to be available after spending the winter recovering from a stress fracture of her foot which kept her out of the Bangladesh tour. Molineux (rib) and Grace Harris (calf strain) were also recently ruled out of the Hundred through injury, but neither are considered a major doubt for the World Cup.Jess Jonassen was the significant omission from the previous squad for Bangladesh and she is likely to find it hard to squeeze back in for the World Cup barring injuries with Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Alana King and Ashleigh Gardner the spin options. The World Cup squad will also play the three T20Is against New Zealand in September which act as preparation for the tournament.

Fast bowler gets stitches on his head for an external injury

Mohammad Isam18-Feb-2024Fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman has been taken to hospital in Chattogram after taking a blow to the head during a Comilla Victorians training session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.Mustafizur fell down immediately after being hit by a ball on the left side of his head. The incident took place on Sunday morning while Comilla were preparing for their next BPL game against Sylhet Strikers on Monday.Eyewitness reports said Mustafizur was near his bowling mark when he got hit by the ball. Team-mates and coaching staff rushed to his side and took him to the ambulance at the ground.”During practice a ball hit directly at the left parietal area (head) of Mustafizur Rrahman,” Zahidul Islam, the team physio, said. “There was an open wound at his parietal area and we have worked with compression bandage to stop bleeding and immediately had shifted him to Imperial hospital. After CT scan we are satisfied that he had only external injury. There is no intracranial bleeding. Now surgical team has given him stitches on the open wound.”Comilla’s media manager Sohanuzzaman Khan told ESPNcricinfo that Mustafizur was in good spirits. “When we were prepping him for the ride to the hospital, he seemed to be acting normally,” he said.Comilla are at No. 2 in the BPL points table with seven wins in nine games.

Rashid vs Conway could be a key contest, as it was when these two sides met last year in Abu Dhabi

Deivarayan Muthu25-Oct-20221:44

Boult – ‘Win against Australia one of my proudest moments’

Big picture

Finn Allen’s no-holds-barred assault, Devon Conway’s more measured 92 not out, James Neesham’s late blows, Mitchell Santner’s powerplay smarts, and timely strikes from the seamers formed the ingredients of a dominant opening victory for New Zealand on Saturday. It was so dominant that New Zealand’s net run-rate is +4.450, and the World Cup is already on the line for Australia.Before the tournament, not many gave New Zealand a chance to put it past Australia. Before Saturday, the last time New Zealand beat Australia in the country was in a Test match in 2011, when Trent Boult made his international debut in Hobart. And the last time New Zealand beat Australia at the SCG was when Brendon McCullum made his ODI debut at the venue in 2002.Related

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• Early-season conditions turn MCG into pace paradise

In his first World Cup game, Allen unleashed McCullum-esque down-the-track swings, proving the fire to Conway’s ice. #MCGsobig, but Allen’s T20 mantra is simple: watch the ball hard, hit the ball hard. So watch out, Afghanistan.Conway, who is arguably the best player of spin in the New Zealand line-up, will have a major role to play against Rashid Khan and co. again, having done so in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. New Zealand will be buoyed further by the potential return of allrounder Daryl Mitchell, who trained with the squad in the last couple of days as he works his way back from a finger fracture.Afghanistan have also made good progress in T20 cricket – they now have Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq to back up their spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi. All three spinners will dip into their Big Bash League (BBL) experiences, which captain Nabi alluded to during the pre-match press conference.Afghanistan’s batting and catching, however, doesn’t appear as healthy. Against England in Perth, they subsided to 112 all out from 82 for 3 and then dropped Alex Hales twice during their defence. They can’t afford such slip-ups against a razor-sharp New Zealand side as one more defeat could push them closer to elimination.

Form guide

Afghanistan LLLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WLWWWMujeeb Ur Rahman is four wickets away from 50 strikes in T20Is•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Hitting sixes at the MCG is bloody difficult unless you are Virat Kohli. Afghanistan’s six-or-nothing batting template, which is fairly comparable to West Indies’, may not quite suit the conditions in Australia. This is where Ibrahim Zadran comes in as a key player on the batting front. Zadran isn’t a big hitter like Rahmanullah Gurbaz or Hazratullah Zazai, but has both the technique and temperament to construct or reconstruct an innings. The 20-year-old’s recent form is also encouraging: he has thirty-plus scores in each of his last five T20I innings.Last weekend, Mark Wood exposed Afghanistan’s vulnerability against high pace and bounce. New Zealand will now unleash a fit-again Lockie Ferguson on them. There is also a case for them to pair up Ferguson with Adam Milne at the MCG. When Afghanistan faced New Zealand in the last World Cup, Ferguson, who was injured at the time, was only doing light training with Chris Donaldson. This is now his chance to stamp his authority on the T20 World Cup.

Team news

Afghanistan might consider replacing Fareed Ahmad with Naveen.Afghanistan (probable): 1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Usman Ghani, 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Nabi (capt), 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq/Fareed Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq FarooqiOn the eve of the game, Trent Boult said Mitchell had the “determination” and “hunger to want to be out there”. Mark Chapman will likely make way for Mitchell, while offspin-bowling allrounder Michael Bracewell might have to wait his turn a little longer.”Daryl has trained in the last two days and come through both fielding and batting really, really well,” head coach Gary Stead said on the eve of the match. “We will just wait and see how he scrubs up tomorrow morning just to make a final call but at this stage it’s looking like he will be available for selection. So, we will have a full squad of 15 players to select from.”New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 James Neesham, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Tim Southee/Adam Milne, 11 Lockie Ferguson

Pitch and conditions

Nabi, who has played for Melbourne Renegades in the BBL, said he has never seen an MCG pitch so green. “Yes, at that time in Big Bash, it was drier,” Nabi said on Tuesday. “The ball swings early on for one or two overs, but after that it will be a little bit slower, [some] help for spinners, and the ball won’t swing that much.”But here the pitch is new and also a little bit green. as well, and also the weather is cold.” If the India-Pakistan game was anything to go by, there could be some early swing, which would pique the interest of Farooqi and Boult. Both Afghanistan and New Zealand will have the benefit of watching what unfolds in the game prior to theirs, with Ireland facing England first up in the afternoon.There is an 80% chance of rain on Wednesday, according to the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology.

Stats and trivia

• Conway became the fastest New Zealander – and third-fastest batter overall – to 1000 T20I runs on Saturday, getting there in his 26th innings.
• Neesham has struck at 204.16 in T20Is this year at the death. Only Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka (210.61) has a better strike rate than Neesham among batters who have faced at least 90 balls at the death (overs 17-20). Hardik Pandya, Rovman Powell and Dinesh Karthik round out the top five in this list.
• Gurbaz has struggled against left-arm fingerspin in T20Is, managing just 77 runs off 91 balls at a strike rate of just under 85 while being dismissed five times. Expect New Zealand match Santner up with Gurbaz in the powerplay.
• Mujeeb is four wickets away from 50 strikes in T20Is. He will become the third Afghanistan bowler to the landmark after Rashid and Nabi.

Quotes

“Yeah, Southee and Boult, they are both good bowlers and also bowling-wise they use the conditions very well. They bowl swing and also they can bowl slow ones at the same time. Yeah, we all see the videos and everything, and also we discuss all these things.”
“I’ve only played a handful of games really at the ‘G, but yeah, an amazing stadium. Obviously to get out there and be on the World Cup stage is going to be pretty special as well.

“He’s someone I have a lot of time for – someone that I believe has a lot of talent,” Bravo says of Khan

Barny Read02-Feb-2021Ali Khan paid homage to long-term mentor Dwayne Bravo, who was equally chuffed with the USA seamer’s latest T10 League heroics that saw Khan take three wickets in just five balls. But Khan would be be denied the chance of a hat-trick, thanks to a deep finger cut on his bowling hand that put the leading wicket-taker in doubt for the remainder of the competition.Khan was unable to finish his over thanks to the cut that came from his diving catch that removed dangerman Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but had already done enough to claim Man-of-the-Match honours with his figures of 3 for 0 in 0.5 overs that restricted the Pune Devils to just 57 for 7 from their ten overs.Even with his fourth finger busted open, the 30-year-old removed Alex Davies with his first ball before bowling two dots that preceded the wickets of Nasir Hossain and Karan KC in immediate succession. After his 2 for 4 against the Gladiators the previous day, it secured a second Man-of-the-Match award in less than 24 hours for the Delhi Bulls quick. Khan said the support of Bravo has been a key factor in his excellent form with the ball.Related

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“It’s a really nice setup. DJ Bravo is a really good captain, a leader both on and off the field and gives you a lot of confidence,” Khan said. “Especially in T10, [because] you can go for a lot of runs. He’s always the kind of leader who comes back and backs you and keeps you confident and gets you ready for the next ball.”Bravo has played an important role in Khan’s ascent as a cricketer. It was the West Indies all-rounder who had plucked Khan from a US Open T20 tournament in 2017, and has since taken the pacer with him to the Global T20 in Canada as well as the Caribbean Premier League.That led to Khan being selected for the first time at the last edition of the Indian Premier League, and these milestones in Khan’s career – as well as performances such as those over the past two days – give Bravo an enormous sense of pride.”He’s someone I have a lot of time for – someone that I believe has a lot of talent and to see the way he bowled today with a lot of pace and aggression to pick up wickets, he’s very good for our team,” Bravo said.”He’s someone who’s special to me, because I saw him in the US playing and I invited him to play for my team in Trinidad and since then, he’s done very well. Every time he does good, I feel good.”Khan now has seven wickets from just less than eight overs in the Abu Dhabi T10, with strike rate of just 6.7 and would be a big miss for the Bulls should he not return for the remainder of the tournament. He was also denied a historic IPL debut with the Kolkata Knight Riders, as a side strain ultimately ended his time with the franchise and resulted in his release when the retention lists were drawn up last month.Khan will be hoping that his T10 exploits don’t end in the same disappointment, and fortunately for both the player and his Super League leading team, they are guaranteed a spot in Friday’s set of knockouts with a game to go. It means they may have just enough time to get Khan sewn up and back into their attack by the weekend.”We’re going to get stitches now, so let’s see how it feels by tomorrow,” Khan said. “If it needs to be rested because we’re in a good position, we have that luxury of having getting a rest. So we’ll see how it comes out in the next couple of days and if I can be ready for the playoffs.”

T20 talent developing longer-format skills as South Africa A score success in Sri Lanka

Firdose Moonda09-Jun-2023Learning to construct a 50-over innings was Tristan Stubbs’ chief takeaway from South Africa A’s series victory over Sri Lanka A, which was completed with a five-wicket win in Kandy. Stubbs was South Africa A’s highest run-scorer, and the only one to record two half-centuries, and hopes the experience will put him in good stead to add to his one ODI cap.”It’s closer to first-class cricket where you’ve got to bat time,” Stubbs told ESPNcricinfo shortly after scoring a match-winning 58 not out. “I haven’t played a lot of 50-over cricket but in this format, you absorb pressure and then apply pressure. T20 cricket you have to make a play almost every ball but in 50-over cricket and first-class cricket you can just bat time and that’s what I have really enjoyed doing.”Since starting his career three years ago, Stubbs has played 55 T20s, more than double his 21 List A matches, to go with 10 first-class games. His reputation as a big-hitter has seen him picked for the Manchester Originals in the Hundred, and Mumbai Indians at the IPL, although he has only played four matches, two in each of the last two seasons. He went straight from the IPL to Sri Lanka, keen to get game time after last turning out more than a month ago, on May 6.”It [the IPL] was an awesome tournament to be a part of, whether you are playing or not. And Mumbai made the semi-finals so I got to experience a semi-final with 100,000 people which was pretty cool,” he said. “But I hadn’t played in a couple of months
so getting some game time now is good. It’s been cool to spend some time in the middle and bat again.”Especially in unfamiliar conditions. This was Stubbs’ first visit to Sri Lanka and though he has been to India three times, he found that the surfaces were different and asked more questions of his game. “It doesn’t bounce as much [as home] and the ball turns a bit more but the conditions have changed between each game,” he said. “The pitch we played on today got more and more dry and it was turning a lot more. But in the second game the ball was seaming around a lot. It’s a nice challenge.”In both matches, Stubbs scored half-centuries, first taking South Africa A from 20 for 4 to 153 for 8, albeit in a losing cause, and then ensuring they recovered from 27 for 2 in the fifth over to successfully chase 173. In both cases, Stubbs saw an opportunity to work on pacing his innings and getting the balance between attack and defence right. “We were in trouble early on. In the second game, it tested my defence of seam and today it was spinning,” he said. “And you learn it’s all right to block a good ball in the longer game. It’s not ideal, but sometimes it’s required.”With his development of a more all-round game in subcontinental batting conditions, does Stubbs hope he is making a case for consideration for this year’s World Cup? “I am trying not to think about it,” he said. “I am just trying to take every game as it comes and just enjoy playing. Today, I could help the team get over the line. We have a pretty strong side so that always helps.”South Africa A will now play unofficial Tests under the tutelage of national Test coach Shukri Conrad to complete their winter program.

The deal is initially only for the ODI leg of Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2022Albie Morkel has joined the Bangladesh men’s national team as the power-hitting coach for the ODI leg of their tour of South Africa. On Tuesday, Morkel linked up with the Bangladesh touring party at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, where they are playing an intra-squad practice match.The BCB had expressed the desire to add a power-hitting coach to the support staff line-up soon after Bangladesh’s poor performance at the T20 World Cup last year.”He [Morkel] will be with the ODI team for a week or so. He will help the batters,” Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s cricket operations chairman, said. “We will see how it goes, and then decide what happens afterwards.”This is the second turn as a coach for 40-year-old Morkel, who played one Test, 58 ODIs and 50 T20Is for South Africa between 2004 and 2015, after playing the role of assistant coach for the Namibia men’s national team soon after retiring from the game in January 2019.BCB has been in the process of revamping the coaching staff of the senior men’s team. Currently, Khaled Mahmud is the team director while Russell Domingo is the head coach. Batting coach Jamie Siddons is working with the specialist Test batters in a separate camp in Cape Town, while Domingo and the rest – including Allan Donald, the new fast-bowling coach, and Morkel – are in Johannesburg with the ODI squad. Apart from them, spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath and fielding coach Shane McDermott are also with the squad.Bangladesh will play three ODIs against South Africa, as part of the ODI Super League, on March 18, 20 and 23. They will also play two World Test Championship matches from March 31.

Anderson coaching absence played down by management after hard graft at Multan

Matt Roller07-Oct-2024England’s final-session fightback on the first day of back-to-back Tests in Multan was “a hell of an effort” which owed to their “high-end toil”. That was according to Jeetan Patel, one of their assistant coaches, who said that England were “pretty happy” with their position as Pakistan reached 328 for 4 at the close of play.Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood added 253 for the second wicket after Saim Ayub’s cheap dismissal, and Pakistan had reached 261 for 1 early in the final session. But after the set batters – who both made hundreds – fell softly to Gus Atkinson and Jack Leach, Chris Woakes had Babar Azam lbw late in the day to give England a foothold on a flat surface.”I couldn’t commend them any more,” Patel said. “I think the toil they put in today was high-end: the way they tried different things to take wickets, the different fields they had, the way they fielded. To take those three wickets tonight was testament to the work they’d done in the first two sessions. We’re pretty happy with how it’s ended up, with them four down.”England were made to work for their wickets, including through a 253-run stand between Masood and Shafique•Getty Images

There was no shade from the sun at any stage in the day, and Patel praised England’s efforts in the field. “The guys were fizzing all day,” he said. “Back in the day, it would have got a lot of people down. But we talk about the positive moments … The guys went out in that third session knowing what they had to do, but also with enough energy to be able to effect it.”I’m just really proud of [them] going through that. It’s pretty hot out there. It was pretty docile at times. We probably expected [the ball] to do a little bit more this morning. It didn’t, but that’s okay. We’ll figure it out, find out if it does the same tomorrow or not. But it was a pretty strong day for the lads.”Patel suggested that a strong start to Tuesday’s play would leave England on top. “We always talk about putting two [wickets] on it: how does the game change?” he said. “Now you’ve got a nightwatchman in, so maybe we could put three on it… 350 for 7? We’ll just see what happens when we bat because we don’t really know.”Related

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With James Anderson missing the start of the tour to participate in a pro-am golf tournament in Scotland, Patel found himself working with England’s fast bowlers in training ahead of the first Test. Anderson is due to arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday, after Brendon McCullum played down the disruption of his absence on Sunday.”Two months ago, you guys were saying that he didn’t deserve to be a coach just yet,” McCullum told Sky Sports. “Now, it’s like, ‘We’re missing him’ – and I think that’s a great affirmation of how good an impact Jimmy Anderson has made in a short period of time. He’s got [WhatsApp] groups set up with the bowlers and is always feeding information through Jeetan Patel.”We live in a world where you can still communicate without being face-to-face… I don’t have any qualms whatsoever. I’m absolutely delighted for him that he gets the opportunity to do something he loves doing and when he gets here, he’ll be right in the thick of it as he has done as bowling coach since he came in.”