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The seventh-wicket pair put on 166, the third successive century partnership of the innings

Himanshu Agrawal13-Mar-2022Jharkhand posted a mammoth 769 – their highest score since they began playing first-class cricket from the 2004-05 season onward – on the back of wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra’s commanding knock of 266 and No. 8 Shahbaz Nadeem’s unbeaten 123, his highest score in first-class cricket. These followed Virat Singh’s innings of 107 from Saturday, as Nagaland stared at a mountain to climb after spending 177 overs on the field across two days.It was a day where multiple records tumbled: Jharkhand achieved their highest first-class score by far, eclipsing the 556 they had made against Hyderabad in 2015; Eden Gardens witnessed its second-highest first-class total; and Kushagra bagged the second-highest score by a Jharkhand batter in first-class cricket.Kushagra and Nadeem added 166 for the seventh wicket, capitalising on some ineffective bowling as well as poor fielding from Nagaland, who dropped Kushagra on 132 on the second morning after also giving him lives on 10 and 44 on the first day. Eventually, Kushagra took only 269 balls to hit 266, 160 of which came in boundaries.He reached his double century off 213 deliveries in the morning session, and displayed a range of strokes throughout the day: a drive to bisect cover and mid-off, a pull between fine leg and deep square leg, a punch off the back foot and a loft over the bowler’s head, among others.At the other end, Nadeem displayed the patience and application of a frontline batter, grinding his way to a second first-class century. He got to his fifty off 100 balls, and reached the three-figure landmark off 196 deliveries. He hit 14 fours, and one effortless six, a casual walk down the pitch to legspinner Khrievitso Kense followed by a gentle loft over long-on.Nagaland’s frustrations on the day were summed up when a straight drive from Nadeem off medium-pacer Raja Swarnkar in the 161st over hit the stumps at the bowler’s end and ricocheted to the rope for four.Earlier, overnight batter Anukul Roy had got to a half-century before falling for 59 to end a 128-run partnership with Kushagra. Jharkhand were 489 for 6 at that point; if Nagaland thought they would soon be done chasing leather, Kushagra and Nadeem rid them of that notion by putting on the third successive century stand of the innings.

The promoted Jonny Bairstow held together a poor England batting display on the opening day in Mohali as they reached 268 for 8

The Report by Andrew McGlashan26-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:41

Ganguly: Haven’t seen a surface as dry as this in Mohali

“There was a glint in his eye,” Alastair Cook said of Jonny Bairstow’s reaction to being moved up England’s order amid a batting reshuffle for the Mohali Test. After a year of rescuing the side from No. 7, this time he kept their head just above water from No. 5 after England had gift-wrapped the advantage for India despite having won the toss.England’s 268 for 8 was a huge missed opportunity especially as India dropped four catches. But without Bairstow’s 89 off 177 balls – ended when he was lbw the ball after being dropped by Parthiv Patel – this Test would have escaped them already. And they would only have had themselves to blame. Winning the toss needs luck, but when the important ones fall your way it is careless not to embrace the opportunity.Five of England’s eight wickets fell to shots that could be classed as careless at best, reckless at worst. Bairstow, who helped add consecutive stands of 57, 69 and 45, gave them a chance although the late loss of Chris Woakes dented the prospect of a lower-order boost. Compared to last year’s Test involving South Africa, the total is already handsome although local judgement is that this pitch is not at that level of mischief.

184 runs, 1 dismissal

• 184.00 Jonny Bairstow’s batting average in this series against spinners – the highest for any batsman from either side. India’s Cheteshwar Pujara averages the next-best among batsmen who have faced at least 50 balls from spinners.

• 10 Number of fifty-plus scores by Jonny Bairstow batting at No. 5 or lower this year. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in 2002, and Angelo Mathews, in 2014, are the only other batsmen to get as many fifty-plus scores from that low in the order in any calendar year.

• 72.73 Bairstow’s average batting in the first innings of Tests. Among batsmen to score at least 1000 runs, his average is the sixth-highest. Bairstow has made 1091 runs in the first innings of a match, including three hundreds and six fifties in 17 innings.

• 4 Number of catches dropped by India’s fielders on the first day. Alastair Cook was given two reprieves and Bairstow benefited from the other two drops.

• 60.75 Jos Buttler’s batting average in Tests against India – his best against any team. He has scores of 85, 70, 45 and 43 in his four innings against them. Buttler is playing his first Test and only his second first-class match in over a year.

India’s bowling was exacting throughout the day. Ravindra Jadeja performed an excellent holding role either side of tea and claimed two wickets, after the run rate had briefly got away from India in the afternoon session, the pacemen challenged with new ball and old and Jayant Yadav continued his impressive start to Test cricket with the scalps of Bairstow and Joe Root.There was turn from early, but nothing extravagant, and after the brutish delivery received by Haseeb Hameed, which reared off a length, the bounce largely behaved itself. Reverse swing, especially a spell before tea by Umesh Yadav, posed a significant challenge which was repelled by Bairstow and Jos Buttler, but in the final session it was the squeezing of the run rate – a boundary took Bairstow to 53 off 76 balls, then he needed 99 balls for his next 36 – more than devilish deliveries that made life hard work.Buttler, playing just his second first-class match since being dropped from the Test side last October, played the other significant innings of the day. Ended with a loose drive to cover, as India throttled the scoring after tea, it was not substantial enough to satisfy England’s needs but he played with confidence that belied his lack of recent cricket.During a frenetic morning, Alastair Cook and Root gifted their wickets to India, as did Moeen Ali to leave England 92 for 4 at lunch. In the afternoon, Ben Stokes joined the list of haphazard dismissals when he charged at and missed a straighter delivery from Jadeja. He had begun the rebuilding job alongside his regular partner-in-crime, Bairstow, as the pair added 57 for the fifth wicket, rather than their usual sixth, which took their tally together for the year to over 800 runs.Only Hameed could reflect that he did not have a hand in his dismissal in the first session. England were 32 for no loss in the tenth over when the first sign of the tricks that the surface could play brought Hameed’s wicket. A delivery from Umesh spat off a length and smashed into Hameed’s top glove, forcing him to drop the bat as the ball looped to gully. As with the grubber he received in the second innings of the previous Test, there was little Hameed could do except curse his bad luck.Cook’s was an incident-filled stay as he was twice offered lives. His first came in the third over of the day when he had 3 and was squared up by Mohammed Shami. The leading edge flew quickly towards third slip where Jadeja did not even get a hand on the chance. Then, when Cook had 23, R Ashwin spilled a simple chance at midwicket as Cook flicked at Shami’s first ball from round the wicket.It was shaping up as a morning to forget for Ashwin who also made a mess of trying to intercept a leg-slide flick from Root – with Virat Kohli’s expression growing more angered by the minute – but he quickly made amends when tossed the ball, striking first delivery as Cook thin-edged a cut off a wide delivery.Cook’s dismissal meant England had lost their two key batsmen in the space of seven deliveries after Root had absent-mindedly swiped across the line at Jayant having skipped his way to 15 at better than a run-a-ball. After his first-innings dismissal in Vizag, it was another poor moment that England could ill-afford from their best player.Moeen, one of the England batsmen most comfortable using his feet against the spin, attempted a counter-attack when he came down the pitch to Jayant, who had started with four consecutive maidens, sending back-to-back deliveries straight for four and six. But a return to pace ended his stay when Shami produced a well-directed bouncer towards Moeen’s shoulder that he could not control and a top edge picked out fine leg.It meant a familiar pairing had to come to the rescue. During Bairstow’s stellar year there has been much debate as to whether he is wasted down at No. 7, particularly given the struggles of others tried higher up by England. His footwork was confident whether playing forward or back, which enabled him to pick the lengths of the spinners instead of being caught betwixt and between.Stokes, too, had looked in good order – with a stinging straight drive off Shami being particularly eye-catching – before Jadeja earned reward for keeping him quiet. He had only been able to take Jadeja for three runs off 30 deliveries before using his feet and driving around a delivery that did not turn, giving Parthiv plenty of time to complete the stumping. Words were briefly exchange between Stokes and Kohli, two cricketers who don’t take a backward step, leading the umpires to intervene.Bairstow was reprieved on 54 when Parthiv, playing his first Test for eight years and now slated to open the batting after an injury to KL Rahul, could not hold a thin edge off Ashwin. Initially it appeared to be a missed stumping, as Bairstow dragged his back foot out of the crease, but subsequent replays confirmed the nick. Parthiv later spilled another as Bairstow edged Jayant but he only needed to stew for a matter of seconds before Jayant straightened one into Bairstow’s front pad.Woakes and Adil Rashid almost made it through to the close but Umesh capped India’s day by knocking back Woakes’ off stump after working over the outside edge. Both sides will know they made mistakes, but India will feel like they got away with theirs. For England it was a day of what could have been.

Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza to oversee process as ombudsman of Social Justice and Nation-Building committee

Firdose Moonda08-Apr-2021Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) committee will hold public hearings as the country seeks to address issues of racial discrimination in the game, with the discussion around the national team not taking a knee still ripe.The SJN, formed in response to a letter from more than 30 former players and current coaches of colour during last year’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) resurgence, had yet to begin its work until now. On Thursday, CSA unveiled advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza as the SJN ombudsman tasked with adjudicating the testimonies of various cricket stakeholders to understand the history of exclusion and make recommendations to CSA on mediation. The body has, so far, not committed to reparations as was the case last year under the old board.CSA is currently operating under a ministerially imposed interim board, which, through its member Andre Odendaal, confirmed that there has “never been a formal budget for such a [reparations] fund, neither have we created a budget for one.”Odendaal reiterated the interim board’s stance over the national team’s response to BLM, specifically to them not taking a knee. “We are little disappointed that our team did not take the knee, which we explained to them at the time,” Odendaal said. “We supported the taking of the knee as the interim board and the chairperson wrote to the team and to the director of cricket (Graeme Smith) and the answer was that while the team supported the stand against racism and it had been through a pre-season course of bonding and discussing these matters, they decided on a slightly different approach which the group as a whole had bought into.”While England, West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh have all taken a knee, Australia formed a barefoot circle to acknowledge the Aboriginal ownership of land and South Africa opted for a banner against both racism and gender-based violence when they played England in November. They subsequently raised their fists ahead of the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, but have yet to take a knee as a national team (all those involved in the experimental 3-Team Cricket [3TC] match last July took a knee), and this is something the board continues to be concerned about. “The board, while maintaining its own position, given the strength of the BLM and take-the-knee action throughout the world, we felt in a country with our history that would be most appropriate, [but] it was not something for us a board to decree should happen,” Odendaal said. “It brought across to us that CSA should have a broad policy that all components buy into and that we would continue to talk this through with the players and the team going forward.”With the interim board and the players on different sides about the ways in which South African cricket should show support for anti-racism, developing a centralised policy on anti-racism will be one of Ntsebeza’s tasks. He will only be able to do that once he has heard from those who have faced discrimination, those who have perpetrated it and even those who don’t understand why it is part of the cricket conversation. He indicated that the hearings would take place on a platform like Zoom to give members of the public access to testimony. So far, several former players of colour, including Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, and Thami Tsolekile, have told their stories on media platforms.”I want to meet with all cricket stakeholders – former players, current players, the player representative body, administrators, employees, educators, sponsors, the whole gamut. I also want to meet with government, the sports ministry, non-governmental organisations and business. All of these entities are critically important because at the root of it all, the aim which is intended, is to unite this nation behind this sporting code,” Ntsebeza said. “Once people are given an opportunity to say in their own words the things that hurt them, that process has the magic of restoring to them their dignity.”Ntsebeza has six months to conclude both the hearings and a report with recommendations, and he hopes by the middle of that period, in July, CSA will be ready to host a transformation conference, which will inform his recommendations. “We hope to have a whole range of cricket stakeholders together, who will seek to discuss the main issues that will have been raised in the hearings and what remedial action is required going forward.”

Dawson leaves after six years at Bristol during which club won Royal London Cup and Championship promotion

Matt Roller01-Mar-2021Ian Harvey will become Gloucestershire’s interim head coach at the end of the month, when Richard Dawson leaves the club following his appointment as the ECB’s elite performance pathway coach.Harvey, the former Australia allrounder, played 168 times for Gloucestershire across formats between 1999 and 2006, and has been the club’s assistant coach since Dawson’s appointment as head coach ahead of the 2015 season.Dawson has worked regularly with England squads over the past two years, leading the England Lions’ tour to Australia in early 2020 and working with England’s spinners on a camp in Mumbai in late 2019 and during the Test series against West Indies last summer.During his tenure at Gloucestershire, Dawson oversaw the club’s triumph in the 2015 Royal London Cup, when they beat Surrey at Lord’s, and their promotion to Division One of the County Championship in 2019. While they have never gone past the semi-final stage, they have also been among the most consistent counties in the T20 Blast: only Nottinghamshire have won more games than them over the last six seasons.”It has been a huge privilege to have been the head coach of Gloucestershire since 2015,” Dawson said. “There were highs and lows on the pitch but winning the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2015 and gaining promotion to Division One of the County Championship in 2019 were highlights on the pitch, as was seeing a Gloucestershire player [James Bracey] breaking into the England set-up last year.”As a playing and coaching unit, we have faced a lot of challenges off the field, and I’m proud of the togetherness of this squad, who have been incredibly supportive of one another through good and bad times. I’m confident the group is in a strong place with a healthy mix of experience and youth to compete in all formats of the game.”Will Brown, the club’s chief executive, said: “Richard has been a fantastic coach to work with from the outset engendering a belief and excitement that has filtered into all areas of the club. His dedication to building a positive and winning culture has been evident throughout his time in Bristol and the impact he made will be felt long after he is gone.”Richard has taken huge pride in his role as head coach, working tirelessly to get the best out of himself and the players. His likeable easy-going personality, coupled with his commitment to Gloucestershire, garnered respect from the playing squad and meant he had a great rapport with the wider club staff.”Dawson will continue to oversee pre-season preparations until the end of the month, when Harvey will take over with the support of the club’s existing coaching staff, as well as Matt Windows (chairman of cricket) and David Graveney (an executive board member).A Gloucestershire statement said: “The club will now begin a review of its cricketing requirements in order to continue and grow ahead of a formal recruitment process later in the year.”The raft of coaching appointments announced by the ECB on Monday also had ramifications further down the M5, with Marcus Trescothick’s association with Somerset coming to an end after nearly three decades.Trescothick, who made his Somerset debut in 1993, retired at the end of the 2019 season to become Somerset’s assistant coach, and has now been appointed as the ECB’s elite batting coach. In a Somerset press release, he set his sights on returning as head coach in the future.”Although I’m leaving, I’m still going to be around the place to come in and see some of the batters that Somerset have,” Trescothick said. “Not being around the ground as much as I normally am is certainly going to be a bit different.”I want to further my career so that I can eventually become a head coach at a domestic county with the hope of moving into international cricket somewhere down the line. To do that I need to branch out and look at different environments in order to get a better understanding of certain things, and this will certainly give me the opportunity to do that. Hopefully, this might be the stepping stone for me to one day come back and look after the team here.”

Joe Root’s fourth successive half-century in ODI cricket eased England to a deceptively comfortable four-wicket win over Pakistan at Lord’s

The Report by George Dobell27-Aug-2016England 255 for 6 (Root 89, Morgan 68) beat Pakistan 251 (Sarfraz 105, Imad 63, Woakes 3-42, Wood 3-46) by four wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJoe Root again marshalled an efficient England chase•Getty Images

Joe Root’s fourth successive half-century in ODI cricket eased England to a deceptively comfortable four-wicket win over Pakistan at Lord’s.While Root fell just before the victory line – and just before he could record equal Kevin Pietersen’s record of nine ODI centuries (only Marcus Trescothick, with 12, has more for England) – he had done enough to assure England of victory with 15 balls to spare. They take a 2-0 lead in the five-match Royal London series and a 12-8 lead in the Super Series.While this game was not a rout in the sense of Wellington 2015 (where New Zealand thrashed England by eight wickets with an eye-watering 226 balls remaining), or Edgbaston 2016 (when England defeated Sri Lanka by 10-wickets) it never really threatened to be the contest on a glorious summer’s day and full house crowd deserved.A Pakistan team branded “behind the times” by their coach, Mickey Arthur, the day before the game was reduced to 2 for 3 within the first 19 deliveries and, despite a tremendous century from Sarfraz Ahmed, never fully recovered. Their final total of 251 was well below par on a very good surface for batting.While England lost two early wickets – Jason Roy, who played on having driven without sufficient foot movement, and Alex Hales, who snatched at a sweep shot – Root and Eoin Morgan added 112 in 21.3 overs to break the back of the challenge. Root, without ever having to move into top gear, than marshalled the chase with impressive maturity.

Morgan wants fielding improvement

Eoin Morgan hailed a “clinical performance” from his England side as they stretched their winning run to five ODIs in succession.
He was especially full of praise for his opening bowlers, who reduced Pakistan to 2 for 3, and Joe Root, for his fourth successive ODI half-century, but he said England would have to improve in the field.
“They bowled jaffas,” Morgan told Sky Sports in reference to Chris Woakes and Mark Wood. “It was an awesome way to start. The bowlers put in a great effort. But our performance in the field has to be the priority. We’re a better fielding side than we’ve shown in the first two games.”
Meanwhile Root insisted he would be fine for Tuesday’s ODI in Nottingham after a nasty collision with Adil Rashid. The pair collided when attempting to catch a lofted stroke from Hasan Ali, with Root ultimately holding on to the chance despite Rashid sliding into his legs.
“I should be fine for the next game,” he said. “I could see him in the corner of my eye. I’m pretty sure I put my arms out and shouted to say it was my catch but he mustn’t have heard.
“He hit me pretty hard actually. It’s surprising such a little guy would make such a strong tackle but no dramas, nothing serious. We were lucky, really, He nearly head-butted my knee.”

So comfortable was England’s chase that, once Root had reached 14, he did not strike another boundary until he had made 75. There were, in all, 53 singles in his innings. While it was impressively controlled, you sensed spectators may have yearned for more drama.The tone for the day had been set in the early moments. After Pakistan were quickly made to regret their decision to bat first on a green surface – a decision that pleased Eoin Morgan, the England captain, who admitted he would have chosen to bowl first anyway – Sarfraz was obliged to adopt a measured approach to his rebuilding operation.Pakistan’s first three batsmen could only manage one run between them. If Sami Aslam could count himself slightly unfortunate to be given out caught behind down the leg side – the on-field umpire, Marais Erasmus, originally gave him not out, but the TV umpire, Simon Fry overruled on the basis of a spike in the snickometer even though there was no Hot Spot – the other two batsmen were the recipients of fine deliveries.Mark Wood produced a beauty, pitching on leg stump and swinging late, to take the off stump of Sharjeel Khan, before Chris Woakes bowled one that nipped away down the slope and bounced to take the edge of Azhar Ali’s bat.But Sarfraz, with his second ODI century, posted half-century partnerships for the fourth, fifth and sixth wickets. Having also made a half-century in the first ODI in Southampton, he recorded his highest ODI score here, overtaking his unbeaten 101 against Ireland at Adelaide during the 2015 World Cup, as well as recording the highest score made by a Pakistan wicketkeeper in an ODI in England. It was also the first century by a Pakistan batsman in an ODI at Lord’s. The previous highest was 88, made by Mohammad Yousuf against Australia in 2004. There were 61 singles in his innings.While Sarfraz took a couple of early boundaries off Wood – once driving an over-pitched ball and once pulling a short one – he was generally obliged to adopt a low-risk approach. Pakistan could not pick up a boundary for almost 11 overs once the field went back at the start of the second Powerplay, losing Babar Azam, bowled off the boot as he tried to squeeze a full ball through midwicket, in the process.While Shoaib Malik skipped down the pitch and drove Moeen Ali’s second delivery for six, the reintroduction of Wood brought the breakthrough. Gaining steep lift and movement from a back of a length delivery, Wood took the edge of Shoaib’s bat to leave Pakistan in trouble once more at 125 for 5 in the 27th over.But Imad Wasim gave Sarfraz steadfast support and, in making his highest ODI score to date, helped add 77 in 16.3 overs for the sixth wicket. While Imad started slowly – his first 17 deliveries brought only three runs – he accelerated nicely once he had settled and took 14 off three deliveries from Liam Plunkett – a slashed six over point followed by two driven fours – at one stage.Sarfraz was reprieved by the TV umpire on 102 after Marais Erasmus had adjudged him leg before to a Plunkett slower ball. But he was unable to take advantage and succumbed to a catch on the mid-wicket boundary as he attempted a slog-sweep in the following over.While Hasan Ali was caught in the deep -Root looked in some pain after colliding with Adil Rashid in taking the catch, but was able to continue after treatment on his shins – and Wahab Riaz was brilliantly caught by Plunkett, flinging himself to his left at cover, Imad helped Pakistan take their total above 250.Perhaps the most fluent batting of the day game from Morgan. With an array of sweeps, flicks, cuts and pulls, Morgan recorded his first half-century in 13 ODI innings and his highest since November. Though he perished attempting to make room for a cut, Ben Stokes missed a horrid smear, Jos Buttler was run out by a direct hit when called for an optimistic single and Root holed out to mid-off, the sense was that England were cruising long before they reached the finish line.For Pakistan, the prospect of automatic qualification for the next World Cup is receding by the match.

“We received advice on security and player welfare and took the decision [to pull out of touring Pakistan] we made”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2021Ian Watmore, the ECB chairman, has apologised to Pakistan cricket and admitted the relationship between the two boards needs to be rebuilt, in his first public comments after England withdrew from scheduled tours by their men and women to Pakistan just a few days after New Zealand had abruptly abandoned their tour of Pakistan citing a specific security threat.Related

• England to play seven T20Is in Pakistan as ECB reaffirm commitment to 2022 tour

• Ian Watmore stands down as ECB chairman with immediate effect

• ECB's hypocrisy could fast lose them friends

• England players' body did not play part in abandonment

• England's withdrawal is a slap to Pakistan's face

In an interview with the , Watmore said security was a factor but insisted that player welfare was a primary consideration. “I’m very sorry to anyone who feels hurt or let down by our decision, particularly in Pakistan,” Watmore said. “The decision the board made was an extremely difficult one.”I won’t go into details, but we received advice on security and player welfare and took the decision we made. We had to make it quickly because of the short term to the World Cup and the New Zealand exodus from Pakistan. They were all factors, but the primary consideration was the welfare of the players.”The tours, in October, would have been England’s first of any kind to Pakistan since 2005-06, and the first by the England women’s team. The men were scheduled to play two T20Is in the lead up to the T20 World Cup, both double-headers with the women, while the women were due to stay on for a three-match ODI series as well.Watmore also confirmed that the decision was not made by the players and said no wider consultations were held. “The board took the decision based on its own judgments and it didn’t go out to wider consultation. Had we decided to go forward with the tour, we’d have had to put the proposals to TEPP (the body that represents England players) and the PCA, but it didn’t reach that point.”The repercussions of that decision are still playing out for Pakistan. There is concern within the PCB that England’s withdrawal would lead to Australia also not touring, as they are due to, early next year. That would leave what was supposed to be one of Pakistan’s biggest home seasons in recent years in tatters.West Indies, who have toured Pakistan in recent years – in 2017 for a series of white-ball games – are due to tour as part of the season as well. But WIPA (the players’ body) said it has started gathering information for its members who may now have concerns.”What we have done so far is to reach out to our counterparts in New Zealand and in England — the New Zealand Cricket Association and the Professional Cricket Association in England — and I reached out as well to some of my colleagues that sit on the FICA Board with me,” Wavell Hinds, the head of WIPA, told Television Jamaica, adding that a security report from Pakistan will also be needed.The England withdrawal has led Ramiz Raja, the PCB chairman, to talk of putting in contingency plans for England’s full tour of Pakistan, in 2022, because he’s not convinced they wouldn’t pull out at the last minute then.”We will have longer to plan for 2022 and this trip was impacted by events very close to the time frame,” Watmore said. “I don’t know if you read President Biden’s mind but I didn’t know he was going to evacuate Afghanistan or that New Zealand would pull out whilst effectively warming up on the pitch. We have to think through those options next year and what we would do in those situations and have answers to them so we don’t get caught out.”We need to rebuild our relationship with Pakistan and will refocus on going there in 2022. This wasn’t the right time. Obviously we’re extremely grateful to Pakistan coming here last year and we will do everything we can to deliver the scheduled tour next year.”

Dominic Sibley starred with bat and ball as Surrey moved to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group by thrashing Hampshire by 80 runs at a packed Kia Oval

ECB Reporters Network09-Jun-2016
ScorecardDominic Sibley starred with bat and ball on his T20 debut•Getty Images

Dominic Sibley starred with bat and ball as Surrey moved to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group by thrashing Hampshire by 80 runs at a packed Kia Oval.Sibley, a 20-year-old making his T20 debut, took 2 for 33 after scoring a fine 67 in a second-wicket stand of 114 in 10 overs with Kumar Sangakkara, whose 72 off only 35 balls featured two sixes, nine fours and a balmy evening’s most memorable strokeplay.Surrey’s 188 for 5 proved too much for Hampshire, who were already struggling at 38 for 4 after the initial six-over powerplay and eventually subsided to 108 all out. Zafar Ansari hastened Hampshire’s demise by dismissing Will Smith and Darren Sammy in successive balls at the end of the ninth over.There was no Shahid Afridi for Hampshire, either, with the Pakistan T20 specialist pulling out of the game through illness. Surrey, though, hardly needed any contribution from their own second overseas player, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who was making his debut for the club and only delivered four balls right at the end of the game – one of them a no-ball bouncer.It was Surrey’s third win in four group games but, for Hampshire, it was a fourth defeat from five matches and quarter-final qualification already looks a difficult task for them as they bid for a record seventh successive appearance at Finals Day.Despite this match starting soon after the opening day’s play between England and Sri Lanka ended at Lord’s, six miles to the north across the Thames, a crowd of almost 17,000 turned up – with a few spectators no doubt managing to attend the two matches. Either way, the fact that around 45,000 people watched international and county cricket in London on the same day proves the continuing popularity of the game at both levels.Jimmy Adams uppercut the third ball of Hampshire’s reply for six over backward point but dragged Sam Curran’s next ball on to his stumps and Adam Wheater departed for 8 when he was bowled trying to make room to hit a leg break from Sibley square on the offside.Sibley had figures of 2-0-9-1 after bowling the second and fourth overs, and both the fifth and sixth overs brought further Hampshire wickets as Sean Ervine edged a drive behind off Ravi Rampaul and Liam Dawson was also out for 1, bowled as he heaved at Tom Curran.Ansari reduced Hampshire to 52 for 6 by having Smith held in the deep and Sammy caught by keeper Ben Foakes for a first ball duck, and when Sibley returned to the attack he had Lewis McManus caught at deep square leg for 41 one ball after being struck for six.After that, there were some defiant blows from Gareth Andrew in a 22-ball 31, ended by an athletic leaping boundary catch by Bravo, celebrated by an impromptu jig facing that section of the crowd, before Bravo followed that up by having Ryan Stevenson caught behind with his second ball and last man Tino Best held at mid off from his fourth ball.Jason Roy fell for 9 in the fourth over of the game, caught at mid-off from a leading edge as he aimed something violent at Sammy’s medium pace.Surrey’s innings was soon galloping along, however, as Sangakkara and Sibley matched each other stroke for stroke until the great Sri Lankan surged ahead to reach his half-century first from a mere 24 balls.Sibley soon followed his partner to the landmark, from 35 balls, and his fifty included sixes flicked over mid-wicket off an Andrew over costing 16 and lofted straight against Dawson’s left-arm spin.Sangakkara, who earlier clubbed Smith’s off-breaks for six, slog-swept Sammy for his second maximum before, later in the same 14th over, mis-hitting to long on.Bravo edged Stevenson to the keeper after making only 3, and Sibley’s fine innings ended in the 17th over when he was held on the ropes attempting to swing fast bowler Best beyond the mid-wicket boundary.Tom Curran fell cheaply to Stevenson, but the seamer – also making his T20 debut – conceded two legside sixes in the 20th over with Ansari clearing long on and Rory Burns producing a superb pick-up over mid-wicket as 16 runs came from the final six balls of the innings.Hampshire’s players wore black armbands in memory of Hamza Ali, who made a first-class appearance for the county earlier this season and who has tragically drowned at the age of 20.

Tight home-Test schedule of six games in eight weeks lies ahead, with questions over red-ball preparation to boot

Daniel Brettig19-May-2021Australia are set to play six matches in fewer than eight weeks next summer, after a gap of 312 days since their last assignment against India in January, meaning an idling Test team will have to re-learn the fundamentals of the longest form of the game in an almighty hurry.A one-off Test against Afghanistan at Bellerive Oval in November-December – Hobart’s first Test match since November 2016 – will be followed by an Ashes series that will take in matches at the Gabba, Adelaide Oval (day-night), the MCG, the SCG and concluding at Perth Stadium in mid-January. It’s the first time Sydney has not hosted the conclusion of an Ashes series since 1995, when the WACA Ground was the scene of the final match in early February.The women’s international calendar is also heavily stocked, with a series against India in September that ESPNcricinfo has reported will include a Test match, before the multi-format Ashes series against England that will take place after the conclusion of the WBBL. The men’s and women’s international fixtures have been devised with virtually no clashes between the two.Covid-19 risk management, combined with a concentration by Cricket Australia on the home fixtures that bring in the vast majority of the governing body’s revenue through broadcast-rights deals, has left the team led by Tim Paine and his deputy Pat Cummins to play just 10 Test matches over the course of more than two years, after going 345 days between Tests in 2020. None will take place away from home between September 2019 and (at least) February 2022 when a tour of Pakistan is very lightly etched into the calendar.Getty Images

The home series defeat to India last summer, in spite of a raft of injuries and withdrawals from the touring team, was put down partly to the difficulties of adapting from cricket’s short formats to its longest without much in the way of preparation in between. CA is looking at re-filling the position of batting coach that sat vacant last summer, in order to give the top six – which underperformed badly against India – greater one-on-one assistance this time around.Equally, the selection chairman Trevor Hohns has spoken firmly of the need to return to a system of squad rotation for the fast bowlers in particular, after the gains made in the 2019 Ashes were abandoned over the past two home summers, much to Australia’s cost against India.”Particularly now, when most Test matches are programmed pretty closely on the heels of each other. We can’t ask them to continually back up, day after day after day,” Hohns said when naming the central contracts list in April. “It’s only natural they are going to get tired. Sure, they might feel okay within themselves, but we’ve really got to monitor that a bit harder.”But the challenge will be all the greater with another year devoid of Test or first-class matches for many of the players, namely those who will also be involved in Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign in the second half of the year. Among established members of the Test team, only Paine, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and perhaps Marnus Labuschagne can expect to play much Sheffield Shield cricket prior to the Afghanistan Test, which will be left to serve as a sort of Ashes preparation game for the rest.Related

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“Certainly the home summer preparation and particularly the preparation for the home Ashes is front of mind for us so we’re working through our planning for that at a team level but also at an individual level, and exploring a number of different options for the winter,” the head of national teams Ben Oliver said this week. “Fortunately, a number of our players will have competitive cricket either internationally or domestically here and overseas.”So we feel across the players that are likely to feature in that, in the home Test series, that they’ll all be well prepared. Obviously we’ll have a significant amount of Sheffield Shield cricket to assist in that preparation for those that don’t have the opportunity to be part of a World Cup or other overseas competitions.”Paine said that the Hobart match would be critical to Australia’s chances of putting together a cohesive and settled unit for the Ashes matches that would follow so closely afterwards.”We haven’t got any red-ball cricket in the lead-up to the Ashes except that Test match,” Paine said in Hobart. “So from a preparation point of view it’s going to be a really important Test match to set us up for the Ashes and Afghanistan have got some highly talented spinners in particular, which will create a real challenge. Any Test match we play, we want a full-strength side, and it’s not always possible these days, but fingers crossed we can make it happen.”Last summer wasn’t our best in key moments, but I think over the last couple of years we’ve played some pretty consistent cricket. We’re now talking about going from being a good team to a great team, and that Afghanistan Test and the Ashes this year is a really important part of that.”Other men’s fixtures announced on Wednesday include three ODIs and a T20I against New Zealand in late January and early February, and five T20Is against Sri Lanka, who have stepped in for South Africa.

India opener Shikhar Dhawan has admitted to channelling the disappointment of being omitted from the playing XI for the recent T20I series against West Indies into improving his standards

Arun Venugopal14-Sep-20161:04

‘I look within for motivation’ – Dhawan

India opener Shikhar Dhawan has admitted to channelling the disappointment of being omitted from the playing XI for the recent T20I series against West Indies into improving his standards. Dhawan had a mediocre outing in the Test series in the West Indies, where he managed only 138 runs from four innings before being dropped for the final Test in Port of Spain.”I feel my motivation always increases even when things don’t go well for me,” Dhawan told reporters after the Duleep Trophy final between India Blue and India Red. “Sure, it does hurt me, but I channel the hurt to keep getting better; I don’t let it bog me down. That’s how I work.”Like, when I was left out for the T20s – of course I wanted to be in the playing XI. So, that required me to do better. So, I thought, ‘OK man, I have to raise my standards. As simple as that.’ I don’t look outside; I look inside and say, ‘I will have to do this, I will do it.'”Dhawan also said his motivation to do well increased with time, and that age didn’t have a bearing on it. “It depends on your desire [to do well], how much you love the game and what goals you have.”With the emergence of KL Rahul, India have had the luxury of opting for any two of three potential openers – Rahul, Dhawan and M Vijay – and the team used all possible pairings during the West Indies Tests. Dhawan’s middling returns have coincided with a breakout season for Rahul – he scored 236 runs, including a hundred, from three Test innings, before smashing an unbeaten 51-ball 110 in the first T20I in Florida.Dhawan agreed that the competition for the opening spots had intensified, and that it had kept every player on his toes in the lead-up to a long home season. “It is a good thing. [One needs to give it one’s all to keep one’s place in the side],” he said.”Rahul, anyway has done quite well in Test matches and T20s, so if you look at the bigger picture it’s very good for India that there are three or four openers pushing one another, as well as openers in the domestic circuit who are also pushing for places. Such competition ensures each individual keeps working hard.”With the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur set to begin in a little over a week, Dhawan said he was preparing well and getting physically and mentally stronger. Asked if there was any specific preparation involved, he replied with a laugh: “I am batting for 40 minutes [in the nets].”Dhawan was also appreciative of head coach Anil Kumble’s cricketing smarts, and said he was learning from him the importance of hard graft. “It’s been great having Anil around. Of course, he is a great legend,” he said. “He is so well educated and obviously has a sharp brain. He has great cricketing intelligence as well, so you obviously learn a lot for him – be it the dedication and hard grind he brought to his game, or the aggressive mindset with which he played.”Dhawan, who turned out for India Red who lost the Duleep Trophy final to India Blue, said the tournament provided useful game-time ahead of a busy season. “It’s quite useful because I believe practice in the form of matches is always good as it gives you a feel of the pressure,” he said. “Especially, after you field for two successive days, your body also loosens up and you get a good vibe. So, you take that confidence forward.”

The seam bowler is part of Australia’s T20I squad in New Zealand having fully recovered from a minor injury

Andrew McGlashan17-Feb-2021Kane Richardson believes the Power Surge fielding restrictions, which were introduced in the BBL this season, could have a place at the T20I level, but from a selfish point of view will be happy if that moment waits until he retires.The Surge regulations modified the traditional six-over powerplay into a two-over block that could be taken by the batting side any time from the 11th over onwards, leaving just four at the beginning of the innings. It was generally viewed as the most successful of the three innovations tried in the BBL and did bring a new dynamic with innings both losing and gaining momentum in the two overs.Richardson was the third-most expensive bowler in the Surge (bowlers who operated during it in at least five innings), going at 12.11 – 109 runs off 54 balls – and picked up just two wickets, and admitted he enjoyed it more as a spectator, but could see the value it brought to the game.Related

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“It’s a good discussion. I enjoyed watching it as a fan,” he said. “There was games I didn’t particularly enjoy bowling in it, but as a fan it made games interesting where you thought the game was decided, especially in the second innings then teams would catch up.”Think Trent [Woodhill] and the BBL did a really good job with that, whether or not it goes to international cricket I’m not sure. It probably has a place to be fair, I think it was successful this year and guys who found a niche in the team in the middle-order, who can play that role really well and vice-versa with the ball, were almost first picks.”It’s interesting, it’s tactical, it’s good to watch, so there’s nothing but positives for that. But as a bowler, if we could probably steer clear of it at international and IPL level until I’m maybe too old to be playing I’ll happily sit back in my old rocking chair and watch.”It has been a while between Australia outings for Kane Richardson•Getty Images

Richardson won’t have to concern himself with the Surge over the next few weeks in New Zealand where he will be one of the more experienced members of an Australia attack without some key names, who were due to be in South Africa for the now-postponed Test series.Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are certain starters in Australia’s first-choice T20I side with Josh Hazlewood also in the mix, while Sean Abbott would be another option and Richardson believes there are others outside of the two squads who would be worthy of selection.”You look at a pool of ten or so bowlers, it does seem like there is a big group of players who could play in that World Cup,” he said. “There’s guys back home who could easily have been picked in this team – Wes Agar had a great Big Bash, Nathan Ellis was impressive again – so there’s almost a group of 20 bowlers to pick from.”It’s great for Australian cricket because in T20 cricket if you have a good bowling attack you are a very good chance of winning. Even yesterday at training, bowling alongside some of these guys, we all do it a bit differently, there’s a separate indemnity to each person so it’s great to be around. If I was an Australian selector I’d be pretty excited about what lies ahead.”Richardson missed the tail-end of the BBL with the Melbourne Renegades because of a quad injury but is now fully recovered. He did not face India in the white-ball matches during the summer having opted to stay at home with his new-born son.