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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.

In the 1000th IPL game, Mumbai Indians become the first team in the tournament history to chase down a 200-plus total at the Wankhede

Alagappan Muthu30-Apr-2023An IPL game to commemorate the past produced a glimpse of the future instead as Yashasvi Jaiswal hit the most amazing hundred for Rajasthan Royals against his hometown franchise Mumbai Indians. And for 35.4 overs it looked like he would end up on the winning side.But a quirk of T20 cricket is that it can often be decided by the guy who doesn’t spend a lot of time in the middle. Tim David faced only 14 balls but that was still enough to change the course of history. A 200-plus total was chased down for the first time in the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium, and the Australian was at the centre of it all, muscling three back-to-back sixes off three back-to-back full tosses from Jason Holder in the final over.You gotta give it to the IPL. It knows how to throw a 1000th birthday party.

Jaisw-all the way

Over 999 matches, this tournament has become part of daily life in India. The main man from its 1000th might well assume similar status as his career blossoms. Twenty-one-year-old Jaiswal defied a slow pitch to amass 124 off 62 balls with 16 fours and eight sixes. Royals’ next best contribution was 18 off 19.His century became the top score by an uncapped Indian batter in the IPL and the one with the second-highest percentage (90.32) of runs in boundaries in all men’s T20. It was incredible and here’s a list of reasons why.Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed 124 off 62 balls•BCCI

The range and quality of his shots. He launched a Jofra Archer short ball clean out of the Wankhede. He reverse-swept Piyush Chawla for a six over point. He scooped Riley Meredith over fine leg. He got to his fifty with a cover drive. And his hundred with a pull shot in front of square all along the ground.Then there was the fact that all of them were cleanly hit on a surface that messed everyone else up. Rohit Sharma, perhaps the poster boy for timing in Indian cricket, was so badly deceived by a knuckle ball that 90% of his body was nowhere near the line of it. This pitch – and Sandeep Sharma – essentially duped him into ushering one onto his stumps.And finally, most of Jaiswal’s carnage happened at a time his team was in danger of losing the advantage. Royals were 72 for 0 in their first seven overs. Then they lost 3 for 31 in four overs. It was becoming painfully clear that the set batter had to both last the entire innings and also take care of the acceleration. That’s a lot of responsibility. Especially given he was facing a once-in-a-generation bowler in Archer.But Jaiswal barely batted an eyelid. He scored 72 of the 109 runs Royals scored in the last nine overs. That’s a two-thirds split.

SKY high

R Ashwin came into this game having bowled 192 balls in this IPL. And he had only given away seven sixes. Suryakumar Yadav launched him for one the moment he walked out to bat. That’s how good he is. He finds a way to render really good bowlers into really average ones.Suryakumar Yadav started aggressively•BCCI

But as awesome as his shots sometimes are – in one over he scooped Jason Holder over the keeper for six and next ball, an attempted yorker from around the wicket, he whipped it straight-bat through midwicket – the thing that is really striking about Suryakumar is how much belief he has and how he is never shaken.Not so long ago, he bagged three first-ball ducks on the trot, and yet he keeps playing the way he has always played. Epic high-risk cricket. And he had Wankhede believing. He had a crowd that roared for Sachin, that roared for Rohit, that roared for Bumrah, that roared for Malinga, roaring for him.And suddenly Royals were worried.

A turning point

Sandeep was ignored by all ten teams at the auction. Royals only got him in when one of their first-choice quicks, Prasidh Krishna, was ruled out with injury.In his second match of the season, he became that rare bowler who can tell his grandkids that he bested MS Dhoni in the final over of a chase. In his seventh match, he took an absolute screamer to dismiss Suryakumar on 55 off 29.Sandeep Sharma was mobbed after a stunning catch to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav•BCCI

Sandeep had to run back 19 metres from short fine leg. All the while looking up over his left shoulder. Even then, the ball seemed to be beating him. He had to dive, propel himself off the ground, and reach out with both hands. It was fingertip stuff. Mumbai needed 61 off 26.

David finishes it off

It was the 18th over. He was just 11 off 6. The asking rate was up in the nosebleeds, at 16.6. And yet David batted as if he was the one on top; like the scoreboard was telling a lie.He hit Boult for a four to close out the 18th over. He welcomed Sandeep in the 19th with a six. Panic-stricken, the bowler conceded a wide and then missed his wide yorker, only by mere inches, but it was still enough for one of the most powerful players in the world to get under the ball and find the boundary.The equation was now down to 17 off the last over and it was to be bowled by someone who is just not suited to the task. Holder is a new-ball weapon. He doesn’t have a good enough yorker to do the job at the death. And to make matters worse, the dew had come in, making it hard to properly grip the ball.Everything was set up for the grandstand finish and David provided it. A man who makes his name by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat went 6, 6, 6 prompting 27,000 people to go into delirium.

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

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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.”

Spinner stakes her claim with Player-of-the-Match performance

Valkerie Baynes23-Sep-2020Sarah Glenn took a big step in her mission to prove herself as an all-round prospect for England with a match-winning performance on the international stage.Glenn claimed the important wickets of Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor as part of England’s three-pronged spin attack, who shared six of West Indies’ eight wickets to fall between them as the hosts romped to another comfortable victory in their T20I series in Derby on Wednesday night.But it was Derby native Glenn’s knock of 26 from 19 balls as England’s top-scorer that, in this instance, set her apart from fellow spinners Mady Villiers and Sophie Ecclestone as Player of the Match.Not only did she help salvage what proved to be a decent total for England, but Glenn did exactly what coach Lisa Keightley had asked of the side she took over in January when identifying areas to improve after the World Cup – score runs in the lower order. And, after England failed to do so in the opening match of the series – losing five wickets and adding just 31 runs in the last five overs – the task took on more urgency, with captain Heather Knight reiterating the objective before the second game.”It really means a lot because I really, really don’t want to try and be seen as just a bowler or batter, I want to be seen as a genuine allrounder,” Glenn said after the match. “I’ve been working hard on my batting over the last few years to be genuine allrounder.”ALSO READ: Glenn shines with bat and ball as England take 2-0 leadHaving turned 21 just last month and playing her 12th T20I, Glenn had only batted once before at this level, scoring 7 in Monday’s series opener, which England also won by 47 runs.And, after gaining a confidence boost with her bowling at the T20 World Cup earlier this year – where she claimed six wickets in four matches, including 3 for 15 against Pakistan – Glenn said the pandemic-enforced break between that tournament and this series had helped her return to action refreshed with bat and ball in mind.”I came back with a fresh mindset to just try and be really positive and I want to keep playing my attacking way, whatever the situation is,” Glenn said. “It felt really special to do it [make runs] with an England shirt on. I’ve been wanting to work my way up the order as well so it’s felt quite a special moment to get some runs today.”Glenn shared a 46-run partnership off 30 balls with veteran Katherine Brunt for the seventh wicket after England had stumbled to 96 for 6 in their second of five matches against West Indies. With Dottin and Taylor at the crease in West Indies’ reply, the tourists looked capable of overhauling the target of 152 but, when Glenn trapped Dottin lbw for 38 and had Taylor brilliantly stumped by Amy Jones for 28, they fell away.”It can be hard to bowl at these batters and you can end up going for a few runs in trying to figure out a way,” Glenn said. “I’ve just got to keep being brave and trust in my game for it to pay off.”Villiers was economical in claiming 2 for 10 from three overs, including another excellent stumping by Jones to remove Lee-Ann Kirby, while Ecclestone – the No.1 bowler on the ICC T20 rankings – snared late wickets that ensured only Dottin and Taylor reached double figures for West Indies.

Where Jason Holder’s team are counting on its aggression, Australia are hoping to induce errors by creating pressure with their bowling and fielding

The Preview by Daniel Brettig05-Jun-20192:29

Hodge: Australia attack’s versatility might get them over the line

Big Picture

A lot about the meeting between Australia and West Indies at Trent Bridge will be determined by a single question: which West Indies side will turn up?If it is the one that razed Pakistan in their tournament opener, also at Trent Bridge, or the one that clouted New Zealand into submission in the warm-up match, then Australia may well be in for a very difficult time of it, having stuttered their way through an opening victory over Afghanistan in Bristol. However, Aaron Finch’s men have already beaten West Indies once on this tour, and comfortably at that, in their own warm-up match on a postage stamp of a ground in Hampshire. And prior to that, the Caribbean side were near enough bullied into losing a triangular series final to an increasingly confident and capable Bangladesh at picturesque Malahide in Ireland.Australia’s coach Justin Langer certainly gave some indication as to the capriciousness of West Indies cricket – in contrast to the awe-inspiring consistency – allied to flair, that he saw as a child in Perth when watching the teams of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards. “One thing we know about West Indies, particularly with Andre Russell and Chris Gayle, it’s going to be exciting cricket,” Langer said. “When I was growing up it was calypso cricket and I think we’re seeing plenty of signs of calypso cricket, the way they’re running in, bowling fast, they’re not necessarily going to be bowling the same spot every ball like Curtly Ambrose, but it’s going to be exciting to watch and they all try to hit sixes most balls. Darren Bravo’s a little more orthodox but [it’s] always exciting playing West Indies. When I was growing up, they were my heroes and they’re not my heroes today because I hope we beat them on Thursday.”While Jason Holder’s team have sought to be aggressive in everything they do, Langer and Finch have resolved to play a tighter game. They will be hoping to use the pressure of their bowling and fielding, in addition to the resourcefulness of a batting line-up being kept as deep as possible by the preference of Nathan Coulter-Nile over others, to corner West Indies into errors. Chief among their methods will be liberal use of the short ball, something the Caribbean side also used to good effect against Pakistan. The likelihood of a dry surface at Trent Bridge, as seen in the game between England and Pakistan, will also encourage balls banged in with a cross-seam for another reason – extracting old-ball movement.IDI via Getty Images

Form guide (last five completed matches)

Australia WWWWW
West Indies WLLWL

In the spotlight

It’s a little over six years since Mitchell Starc laid waste to West Indies on a memorable afternoon at the WACA Ground, finding extremes of swing and pace that remain in the mind’s eye of all who witnessed it. He produced a similarly destructive afternoon in 2015 at Eden Park, taking Australia within a wicket of a World Cup pool-game victory their batting scarcely deserved. This time around, he comes to Trent Bridge having looked to be revving into strong form against Afghanistan. While short balls will be a focus of the Australian attack, Starc’s most dangerous deliveries are undoubtedly full, fast and swinging down the line of the stumps. Mixed-up footwork created by liberal use of the short ball can often allow for the full ball to be even more dangerous, as Gayle, Bravo and Holder will remember from that day in Perth.If it was his batting that turned so many heads in the IPL, Andre Russell proved against Pakistan he is also more than capable of being a match-winner with the ball. Against Australia, Russell has provided plenty of evidence of his skills in the BBL, but he last played them in ODIs in 2013, meaning that first-hand experience among his opponents will be relatively slight. In the warm-up game in Hampshire, Russell faced only four deliveries, bowled by Adam Zampa, and delivered three overs for 17. If West Indies are to win, they will need much more out of Russell, and both sides know it.

Team news

Australia have flagged an unchanged line-up, resisting the possibility of recalling Nathan Lyon as a second spinner in place of Nathan Coulter-Nile.Australia (probable) 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam ZampaKemar Roach is waiting in the wings should West Indies want to alter the balance of their pace-bowling attack after its undemanding outing against Pakistan. Gayle and Russell were both at training on the eve of the game. “Chris was at practice for the last couple days, so Chris for me is all well and ready to go. Andre will be obviously assessed today, and we’re very, very hopeful that he’ll be fit tomorrow.” Holder said, adding that the team will go by what the two men have to say about their fitness.West Indies (possible): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas

Pitch and conditions

Trent Bridge, known for high-scoring, did not disappoint in Pakistan’s unexpected victory over England. It will be the 481 pitch, by the way, but the pitch and square can be expected to be dry, with the hunt for reverse swing – by legal means, of course – likely to be some sort of a factor.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Strategy punts

• Spin bowling was a strong suit for Australia in their warm-up against West Indies, as Zampa, Glenn Maxwell and Steven Smith bowled a combined 14 overs for returns of 3 for 67. The ground dimensions that day were small, but there has been no inclination from Langer at least to add to the repertoire by calling in Lyon. “That is because of their left-handers. That said we probably won’t bowl two spinners here against West Indies. There’s always thoughts about Nathan Lyon, every game there’s thoughts about playing Nathan Lyon, but Adam Zampa’s doing a really good job for us. There is thinking about him because of their left-handers but Adam Zampa has a very good wrong’un, good top spinner, Glenn Maxwell’s bowling well, so hopefully we’ll get some balance there. Some of the other grounds we might look to play two spinners or the match-ups for the offspinner will be more appropriate but probably not here.” Either way, Holder’s men will need to find a way to deal more effectively with Zampa and Maxwell in particular, mixing strike-rotation with judicious attack.
• West Indies have made a clear decision to give the new ball to bowlers who will gain swing and seam, reserving the “bang it in” merchants until after some of the Kookaburra’s shine has worn off. They will be the latest group of pacemen to try to exploit Finch’s well-documented flaw when facing deliveries moving back into him from outside the off stump, as classically illustrated by Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Pradeep during a warm-up game that otherwise went swimmingly for the Australians at Southampton. Finch, having made an aggressive 66 against Afghanistan, appears to have found the freedom to launch in the fashion of his best days, while his partner Warner tries to find his best as an international opener after a year’s suspension. The combination of an open, aggressive Finch and probing new ball work from the West Indies has great risk/reward potential for both sides.

Stats and Trivia

• Australia have won only three of eight ODI appearances at Trent Bridge, and their most recent match here was a 242-run hiding by England last year. By contrast, West Indies have only lost once in eight games at the venue, and that was as far back as 1984.
• Of all Australia and West Indies bowlers to have competed against one another, only Len Pascoe’s 21 wickets at 13.52 from eight matches have come at a cheaper rate than Mitchell Starc’s 16 at 13.87 in six.

Quotes

“We expect some fireworks from the West Indies. There’s going to be times where the boys are going to have to take a deep breath and keep smiling and bowling their best ball. But that comes with experience and that’s what great teams and great players do.”

“You’ve got two short balls per over; you might as well use them”

Roshen Silva produces the standout performance with 231 not out, but there were several other notable knocks as both matches tapered into draws

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2018The first round of Sri Lanka’s Super Four Provincial Tournament – the first of its kind since 2013 – produced two draws, with Roshen Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Mahela Udawatte and Sachithra Senanayake making hundreds in batting-friendly conditions.Among the major criticisms of Sri Lanka’s club-based first-class tournaments is that bowlers are not often made to toil long in the field, so dusty are the pitches. That has not been the case here. Only Lahiru Gamage – a right-arm seam bowler – claimed a five-wicket haul, from no fewer than 26 overs. Where in club cricket, spinners are so dominant that seam bowlers often become completely superfluous, this round of the Super Fours saw quicks reap healthy dividends for their toil, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara also claiming six wickets apiece for the Kandy team. That the Dukes cricket ball is in use in this tournament – a ploy that is intended to prepare the Sri Lanka Test players for their forthcoming tour of the West Indies – perhaps aided the quicks as well.But it was Roshen Silva who produced the standout performance, hitting 231 not out off 392 deliveries for the Galle team, against Colombo, at Sooriyawewa. The innings had been something of a rescue. Galle had found themselves 22 for 4 on the first morning, before Silva’s 202-run stand with Dasun Shanaka, who made 95 off 157 deliveries, carried the side towards respectability.A further 97-run stand with Chaturanga de Silva wrested the advantage from Colombo, and then Silva struck up a series of useful partnerships with the tail to propel Galle to a formidable 476 all out. The opposition attack featured offspinner Dilruwan Perera, and quicks Vishwa Fernando and Dushmantha Chameera. Chameera only bowled 11 overs, however, before back stiffness forced him out of the match. He was taken for precautionary CT scans.In response, Lahiru Thirimanne’s 125 was the centrepiece of Colombo’s 333, with Dhananjaya de Silva also hitting 66 off 59 balls from the No. 3 position – his new Test-match batting spot. When Galle batted again, the pitch had become no more treacherous, Lahiru Milantha and Sadeera Samarawickrama hitting 74 and 77 respectively, as the game wound to a draw.In the Kandy v Dambulla match, played at Katunayake, incumbent Test keeper Niroshan Dickwella produced an aggressive 112 after Priyanjan had made the game’s biggest score, hitting 156 off 239 balls. Mahela Udawatte also had an excellent game, his first-innings 97 and second-innings 103 not out vital to Kandy securing a draw, after Dambulla had made 480 in the first innings. Sachithra Senanayake was modest with the ball, but produced a 105 and a 60 with the bat. The quicks from both sides – Gamage, Kumara and Rajitha – substantially outperformed the spinners in this match.

A round up of the Central Zone matches from the Inter State T20 Tournament held on February 3, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2017A miserly spell of 3 for 6 in four overs from legspinner Shubham Agarwal helped Chhattisgarh eke out a six-run victory over Railways in Jaipur. Chhattisgarh have now won two matches out of four and sit in third place in the Central Zone group table. Railways were 93 for 3 in the 14th over after being set 127 to win, but could manage only 27 for 5 from the last 6.1 overs after Shubham removed set batsman Hemant Singh (24 off 31).Part-time offspinners Ashutosh Singh, who removed Mahesh Rawat for 27 off 21, and Sahil Gupta, who dismissed Karn Sharma, also played their parts. The duo conceded only three runs and took a wicket each from their respective solitary overs. Earlier, Shubham had top-scored for Chhattisgarh, scoring 36 off 32 balls after Amandeep Khare (31 off 19) – the only other batsman to go past 30 in the match – had been dismissed in the sixth over. Medium-pacer Amit Mishra took 3 for 16 as Railways restricted their opponents to 126.File photo – Piyush Chawla took 3 for 37 but couldn’t rescue his team with the bat as they folded for 135 in their chase•BCCI

Chandrakant Sakure picked up the wickets of Piyush Chawla (24 off 18) and Praveen Kumar (20 off 14) on debut as Madhya Pradesh defended 161 against Uttar Pradesh to remain unbeaten after three matches in the Inter-State T20 tournament. UP, who were bowled out for 58 against Railways on Thursday, slumped to 60 for 6 in 11.1 overs. Chawla and Kumar added 44 off 30 deliveries to keep UP alive before Sakure’s strike off successive deliveries proved to be decisive.Eklavya Dwivedi (33) was the only other batsman to come up with a contribution of note. Earlier in the game, MP overcame a batting wobble of their own to post 161 for 9.They were 69 for 4 when Naman Ojha was dismissed for 37. Sohraab Dhaliwal struck four fours and four sixes in his 25-ball 51 to give the innings momentum. Ankit Rajpoot was the pick of UP’s bowlers, with figures of 4 for 29. The loss was UP’s third in four matches.

South Africa came back from India with the T20 and ODI trophies in their luggage but their nine-year unbeaten run on the road in Test series was broken

Firdose Moonda11-Dec-2015If, when Russell Domingo started coaching, he had been told he would inherit a Test team at the top of the rankings and limited-overs sides that had suffered because of it, he would have taken it. When such riches rain on you, you do not consider the subsequent drain even if you know that in any functioning sporting system, there has to be one.Player pools change every few years so no matter whether you jump in at the shallow or the deep end, you are joining a cycle. From the shallow side, things will improve as the younger swimmers are schooled, a community is formed and they find their preferred stoke. From the deep end, the seas get rough, not everybody slips into the same stream and the waters begin to empty.What has made Domingo’s tenure so topsy-turvy is that these two processes have happened at the same time. “When I took over, there was a little bit of instability in the T20 and ODI teams and the Test side was very stable. Now, roles have reversed,” he said during his assessment of South Africa’s tour of India on their return home.South Africa came back with a perfect illustration of that. They T20 and ODI trophies were part of their luggage, which will boost their confidence ahead of next year’s World T20, but their nine-year unbeaten run on the road in Test series was broken. The gains of the former may not outweigh the disappointment of the latter, which is why so much focus has fallen on the longer format.”There is a lot of work to do with the Test side,” Domingo admitted. “Let’s not be naive about that. There are a lot of spots that people have questions about.”Some of those questions were answered a day later, when the selectors named their 13 to face England in the first two Tests. They stuck with opener Stiaan van Zyl despite the difficulties he faced in India, but deposed gloveman Dane Vilas. Their reasoning was that van Zyl needs to be tested in home conditions, having only opened in the subcontinent – he was promoted to the job in July for the Bangladesh series – but Vilas, who has also only played on the subcontinent, was superfluous to requirements that actually called for an extra batsman.That Vilas and his nearest rival Quinton de Kock are also batsmen was not part of the thinking because Temba Bavuma, the middle-order man who impressed when thrust into a role at the top, is more of a batsman and batsmen are in the spotlight. Domingo wants them to know their sails have not been ripped off, they have merely been blown a little off course.”As far as I’m concerned, India was a very tough tour for any batter to go on. We’ve got quality in our batting line-up that wasn’t able to showcase their skills under those conditions against those bowlers but that doesn’t make them bad players,” he said. “Those conditions were really extreme as it shows with the stats of the Indian batters as well.”India struggled only a little less than South Africa until Ajinkya Rahane’s twin tons in the Delhi Test. But the reality remains that no South African scored a hundred and only AB de Villiers managed to pass 50. Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis stonewalled impressively later in the series but balls faced and time batted do not count as much as runs. Bavuma showed some promise, Dean Elgar was caught and released a few times but eventually caught and the rest all took the bait the India spinners put out.In general, South Africa approached spin like a fish out of water but Domingo does not think they could have prepared any differently. Their batting consultant Mike Hussey was with them for a week before the first Test but could not stay. There is no word on if he will back before the England series. “We would have loved to have him longer but he had some other commitments so he wasn’t able to stay through the series but he did add a lot of value prior to the series,” Domingo said.Even when he had left, the team used any extra time as productively as they could. “We kept complimenting the players about the extra work they were putting in and the meticulous way they were trying to work on how to play against the Indian spinners,” Domingo said.Their floundering took place in the mind where the constant threat posed by both pitch and opposition players took its toll. “We were always under pressure and that can wear you down, whether it’s physically or mentally,” Domingo said. “I’m sure players’ confidence would have been knocked because we pride ourselves on being good players of spin but the fight that was shown on the last day [in Delhi], shows there’s still some fight left there. It shows that they can do it and these next 10 days will be important to make sure they freshen up and get themselves in the right frame of mind of England.”The quick turnaround has been cited by Domingo and captain Amla as the best way to recover. “We’ve got the ideal break,” Amla said. “Everybody will take a couple of days to rest up and get back into the nets and face the new ball on wickets with a bit of nip.”Home conditions are going to cast a different net over batsmen who will have to prepare for the ball flying past their noses instead of reaching down to smell it but Amla is not worried about how his team will tackle that. “I don’t think it’s a huge adjustment because these are the conditions we are accustomed to,” he said. So, in their own waters, Domingo and Amla are hopeful South Africa’s Test team will become big fish again.

Andrew Gale’s last hundred was scored against Durham in June 2011, when the Olympics were in the distance and Syria was still governable. Yorkshire expects more from its captains. On Scarborough’s wide acres, he finally delivered.

Paul Edwards at North Marine Road07-Jun-2013
ScorecardIt was a very important innings for Andrew Gale•Getty Images

Andrew Gale’s last hundred was scored against Durham in June 2011, when the Olympics were in the distance and Syria was still governable. Yorkshire expects more from its captains. On Scarborough’s wide acres, he finally delivered.Since that last hundred, Gale has played 33 innings and made only five fifties. In 2012 he scored 487 first-class runs. “If Root and Bairstow were available….” the cricket talk has begun in the Leeds pubs. “If he wasn’t captain…” The implication has rarely been left hanging in the air.So when Gale got inside the line of a delivery from Samit Patel, Nottinghamshire’s England allrounder, and hoisted it high over the wide long on boundary to reach his hundred, he was entitled to punch the air wildly and kiss the White Rose badge on his helmet.Physical clichés are forgivable when a cricketer has proved that his powers of resistance are still intact. Every player knows that there will come a time when the fires will burn low and never be rekindled.By close of play, the mixture of delight and relief had become untrammelled joy as Gale reached a career-best 159 not out and had been joined in his contentment by Gary Ballance, whose unbeaten 103 was his second century of the season.Only one wicket had fallen in the day and all thoughts of Yorkshire having to follow-on had long been forgotten. The game is surely as dead as the BetaMax cassette.Gale had, of course, been beaten by some of the 282 deliveries he faced in the day, but none of those reverses had amounted to the complete defeat which leads to the lonely trudge back to the pavilion which had so often characterised his last two years in Championship cricket.His century was all the more laudable given the context in which it was scored. Yorkshire’s skipper began the day with no runs at all to his name and his side on 29-3, still 265 short of the follow-on.He put on 94 in 29 overs with Phil Jaques before the Australian was caught at short leg by James Taylor off Patel for 51; Yorkshire’s No3 was attempting a hit to leg but the ball made contact with only bat edge and pad.

Andrew Gale

“I felt scratchy at the start of the season and I’ve been working hard at a few technical things in the nets. I was disappointed not to get to three figures against Somerset last week. That hurt me a lot.
“I know the press have been saying that I hadn’t scored a century for two years so I wanted to make sure that if I got to 60-70 today that I’d not only get over the line but go on to make a big one.
“Scarborough’s a good ground for me, I’ve always scored runs here. It’s quite fast and bouncy, I score a lot of runs square of the wicket and it suits my style of play.
“I’m a bit more upright in my stance. At the start of the season I was falling over a little bit at the crease and it felt like if the ball nipped back that I would get out lbw so I’ve worked at getting a little bit more upright and balanced.”

That dismissal took place five overs before lunch and it was the last of the day. The remaining two sessions were taken up with Gale and Ballance adding an unbroken 237 for the fifth wicket. In doing so they established a raft of records to delight the statisticians, although the anoraks had not donned their uniforms this very warm Friday.The partnership was a new fifth-wicket record for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire beating the 152 put on by John Hampshire and Neil Hartley at Trent Bridge in 1981. It is also the highest fifth-wicket stand by Yorkshire batsmen at Scarborough and the highest fifth-wicket partnership in county cricket on the ground.Of the twoWhite Rose centurions, Ballance is in better form and probably looked the more fluent. The majority of his shots were played with the assurance of a man near the top of his game. His cutting of Paul Franks, his clipping of Luke Fletcher to midwicket and his footwork against most bowlers made it fairly clear why the England selectors have been looking closely at him.Gale’s eventual confidence was harder won and, perhaps for that very reason, it was more pleasurable to watch. But by the end of the day both batsmen were playing with complete freedom. The follow-on had been saved, the second new ball had been seen off and Nottinghamshire’s attack, so threaterning just 24 hours earlier, had been made to look anodyne, the former Yorkshireman, Ajmal Shahzad, among them.Shahzad was deliberately cut high over the slips by Ballance, who later reverse swept Patel for two fours. Gale came down the wicket and punched the ball to the square leg boundary. The 200 stand was brought up with four byes off Shahzad which ballooned high over Chris Read’s head; the Notts wicketkeeper/captain sat on the grass and looked back resentfully at umpire Nigel Cowley. The contrast with his counterpart’s emotions could barely have been more marked.The last hour of this day’s play must have been a delight for Gale. At last he was master of his demesne again. Three of the Cleckheaton batsman’s 13 hundreds have been scored at Scarborough and none of his innings anywhere can have been much more important to his career.Cricket must suddenly seem an easy game on such evenings and even the knowledge that the game was surely heading for stalemate late tomorrow afternoon could not mar his joy.

The PCB has taken charge of the Quaid-e-Azam stadium in Mirpur in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and has identified it as a potential venue for international cricket

Umar Farooq03-May-2012The PCB has taken charge of the Quaid-e-Azam stadium in Mirpur and has identified it as a potential venue for international cricket. Mirpur is the largest town in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), a self-governing state under Pakistani control to the north-east of Punjab, and is known as ‘Little Britain’ because of the large immigrant population in England from this area.The region’s cricket coordinator Fazal-ur-Rehman told ESPNcricinfo that the AJK sports development authority had handed over the stadium’s rights to the PCB on Monday. “The stadium has all the basic requirements for cricket but the PCB was keen to develop it and raise it to international standards,” Rehman said. “This part of the region is fine from the security point of view.”Pakistan currently has 25 first-class venues and four major Test venues. The Mirpur stadium has a capacity of 16,000 and has hosted eight first-class matches from 2005 to 2009; it has also hosted several Under-19 international matches against Australia in 2007.”It is a potential venue with a good law and order situation,” Intikhab Alam, the PCB’s director of international cricket, said. “We have scrutinised various venues around the country and this venue has all the features to be an internationally recognised stadium. There are things that obviously have to be improved and the PCB will ensure all the required facilities for international fixtures. The city has quality logistic facilities, including hotels.”