Zimbabwe could not come back after losing five wickets in the first seven overs in Harare

Mohammad Isam31-Jul-2022Mosaddek Hossain’s stunning opening spell set up Bangladesh’s series-levelling win against Zimbabwe in Harare. The part-time offspinner completed his maiden five-wicket haul in just the seventh over of the innings, and became only the fourth Bangladesh bowler to take a five-for in T20Is, after Elias Sunny, Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al HasanWith Zimbabwe in tatters, Sikandar Raza scored a fighting half-century – his second of the series – but a total of 135 proved inadequate. Opener Litton Das spearheaded Bangladesh’s chase with a half-century and the target was achieved with seven wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare.Five wickets in seven overs
Opening the bowling for the first time in T20Is, Mosaddek struck with the first ball of the match – Regis Chakabva edging the wide, innocuous delivery to the wicket-keeper. Wessly Madhevere, who had struck a fifty in the first T20I, slammed one straight to cover-point where Mahedi Hasan took an easy catch off the last ball of the over.In his second over, Mosaddek had captain Craig Ervine caught at slip while attempting a reverse sweep, reducing Zimbabwe to 6 for 3. Sean Williams was next to go, chipping one back at Mosaddek in the fifth over, with the bowler having to jump to complete the return catch.Mosaddek completed his five-for when Milton Shumba dragged one towards deep midwicket, only to see Hasan Mahmud run hard and complete a diving catch. Mosaddek became the first Bangladesh bowler to take the first five wickets to fall in an innings, and 31 was the lowest score for which Zimbabwe had lost their first five wickets in a T20I.Sikandar Raza struck 62 off 53 balls and added 80 for the sixth wicket with Ryan Burl•AFP/Getty Images

Raza leads the recovery
Raza and Ryan Burl stopped the slide with an 80-run stand for the sixth wicket. Raza scored his second half-century of the series, hitting fours through cover and deep third, and also sixes over the leg-side boundary. He struck 62 off 53 balls before falling to Mustafizur in the 19th over.Burl had fallen in the 18th, when Hasan Mahmud bowled him for 32. Towards the end of the innings, Luke Jongwe struck a late six, as Zimbabwe tried to capitalise on the recovery that Raza had led.Litton starts quickly
Litton got Bangladesh’s chase off to a quick start when he struck Tanaka Chivanga for two sixes and a four in the third over. But he lost his opening partner Munim Shahriar cheaply for the second game in a row when Richard Ngarava bowled him through the gate.Litton added 41 for the second wicket with Anamul Haque but got out shortly after reaching his half-century – his 56 off 33 balls included six fours and two sixes. Anamul struck two fours in his 16, but once again got out soon after getting set.The final act
Afif Hossain was unbeaten on 30 off 28 balls and Najmul Hossain Shanto made 19 off 21 balls to take Bangladesh to the target. Their unbroken 55-run stand for the fourth wicket ensured there were no more hiccups for Bangladesh, who had lost their previous two wickets in the space of four balls.The seven-wicket victory brought Bangladesh level at 1-1 in the series, with the decider on Tuesday in Harare.

“Everything that we’re doing in the T20 space ties back into the World Cup,” says Finch

Alex Malcolm19-Sep-2022With Mitchell Marsh absent with an injury, Steven Smith will bat at No. 3 against India. His role in Australia’s first-choice XI in the lead-up to the men’s T20 World Cup, however, will remain fluid.Australia are missing three of their first-choice players in the top six for the three-match series against India starting in Mohali on Tuesday, with Marsh, David Warner and Marcus Stoinis all back at home. Mitchell Starc is also resting because of a niggle. It means Australia will structure their side differently out of necessity, with just nine matches to go before starting their title defence at home against New Zealand.Related

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Smith has batted at No. 3 in T20Is only once in the last 12 matches he has played across a two-year period. That was also out of necessity, against England in the 2021 T20 World Cup, when Marsh was left out for structural balance as Australia chose a fifth specialist bowler.Since then, Smith has batted no higher than No. 4 regardless of Marsh’s availability or not, with his long-time role as a floating “Mr Fix it”, who would enter early at the loss of wickets in the powerplay, abandoned for a more permanent place in the middle order.But his lack of strike power in the middle order has created questions around his place in Australia’s first-choice XI for the World Cup, particularly after Tim David was added to the squad. In his last 12 games, Smith has only batted eight times, with a strike rate of 107.20, down from his already middling career T20 strike rate of 125.27.Aaron Finch confirmed on Monday that Smith would likely bat at No. 3 in the series against India, and he reiterated Australia’s faith in Smith’s capabilities as a versatile cog in the line-up.”Most likely he’ll bat at three in this series with Mitch Marsh being out,” Finch said. “We know the quality that Steve’s got. He’s one of the best players that has ever played the game over all formats of the game. So we know the skill that he’s got and the game sense and the tactical nous that he’s got.”So we’re really confident that regardless of what role he has to play within the structure of the squad, that he can do that very, very well.”Finch confirmed that Australia would experiment with the structure of their side and their personnel in various positions, with an eye on both the upcoming World Cup in Australia as well as the different conditions that will be presented in the three matches in India.”Every decision that we make, I think, has one eye towards the World Cup and seeing the wicket yesterday [in Mohali], it looked like there was quite a bit of grass on it,” Finch said. “And we know in Mohali, the ball can swing around and it can carry through quite a bit, so I think we will be mindful of not being too narrow-minded in terms of our focus.”What we’ve tried to do over the last sort of six-eight-ten months is make sure that everything that we’re doing in the T20 space ties back into the World Cup and, for us, it’s about making sure that once we get there that we’ve had plenty of different combinations of teams that we can play. Because the last thing you want to do is have an injury derail your whole campaign because you’re pigeon-holed into playing one style of cricket or one structure of team. So there’ll be a little bit of mixing and matching, but still with that one eye towards the World Cup, to make sure that we’re still as rounded as we can be as a squad.”The loss of two allrounders in Marsh and Stoinis, and a left-arm quick in Starc, will force Australia to structure the bowling differently, which in turn has a direct influence on the top seven they can select.Cameron Green could make his T20I return against India•Getty Images

David looks set to make his Australia debut in the middle order as a direct replacement for Stoinis, after having played 14 T20Is for Singapore. But he only bowls very part-time offspin. Cameron Green, who is not in Australia’s World Cup squad but is on this tour of India, is another who could play if Australia want a pace-bowling allrounder. Green made his T20I debut for Australia on the tour of Pakistan earlier this year, but has only played 14 professional T20s in his career.However, Finch felt Green was capable of being a three-format player after his recent performances in the ODI series’ against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in Australia.”I think his ability to bat at five, six, seven in the one-day team has been really impressive,” Finch said. “The fact that such a young guy was able to guide us home in a really tricky run chase, in a great partnership with Alex Carey in the recent series against New Zealand, shows that he’s got all the tricks and the game sense for such a young guy to be super successful in all three formats for Australia.”He’s just such a great kid, someone who continues to impress with everything that he does.”

Zimbabwe coach confirms Sean Williams will return for second ODI, but Blessing Muzarabani remains unlikely to feature in the series

Andrew McGlashan30-Aug-2022Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton is seeing encouraging signs that his players are learning how not to “freeze” against the strongest opposition, and hopes that the batters can put together a complete performance during the remainder of the ODI series against Australia.Having been put into bat, the top order – led by a career-best 72 from Wessly Madhevere after the openers had negotiated the first ten overs – built a solid if an unspectacular platform during the opening game on Sunday, as Zimbabwe reached 185 for 4 in the 43rd over before losing their last six wickets for 15.However, Houghton was buoyed by the performance after their recent displays at home had relied on runs from the middle and lower order, led by the prolific Sikandar Raza.Related

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“I’ve been quoted about fearless cricket,” Houghton said, Yes, we want to play fearless cricket; we want to see guys expressing themselves. I’ve seen these guys play franchise cricket, and I’ve seen what they can do; and [then] see them play international cricket, especially against these strong sides, and freeze a little bit. Somehow, I’m trying to take away that freezing.”For me, to see our two youngsters go out there against [Mitchell] Starc and [Josh] Hazlewood and get us 40 off the first ten without losing a wicket – that was a big plus for us. Now you can sit down in a team meeting and say, ‘Yes, it was a little different and a little scary going out first against these guys but look what you achieved. What can you do the next game and the game after?’.”It’s building blocks all the time. Tours like this don’t happen very often for us, so when you get the opportunity it’s a real learning for us.”Houghton was open in admitting that the skill gap between Zimbabwe and teams such as India and Australia is “huge”, but is focusing on ensuring the team move back up the rankings and compete with sides around them.He hoped that some of what the players learn in Townsville can be put to use in the T20 World Cup next month when they will return to Australia for the Group B qualifiers in Hobart with the aim of reaching the main draw.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia and England – there’s no hiding from that,” Dave Houghton•AFP/Getty Images

In the more immediate term, Houghton wanted to see an improvement in the team’s fielding for the second ODI on Wednesday, recalling previous landmark victories and how it is an area Zimbabwe can compete in regardless of batting and bowling skill.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia, [and] England – there’s no hiding from that,” he said. “Your batters are better than us, they’re more experienced, your bowlers are taller and faster than us. What we can do is field competitively, which I wasn’t happy about the other day; [I] thought we were lethargic and looked very jetlagged.”For us to compete with these sides and try to get a win against them – which we’ve done over the years with our giant-killing sides – every part of your game has to be right on song from the beginning. If we put a score on the board, [and] then bowl and field incredibly well, we can put enough pressure on sides [so] that if they aren’t quite on their game we can beat them.”Houghton suggested the batters may take a different approach to trying to finish the innings, having had trouble combatting the short deliveries in the first match, where Cameron Green bagged a maiden five-wicket haul.”What we talked about at the end of the game is how we get that last bit of our innings organised a bit better,” he said. “They were all trying to take it on but weren’t quite good enough at it, so is there another way? Can we ramp it a bit? Maybe, if we don’t hook, can we back away and cut?”These are all things for them to solve themselves, but we need to play the backend better which, for us, [is] a new situation. The games we won against Bangladesh – and when we did compete well with India – we got all the runs at the middle and back, and nothing at the front. So hopefully we’ll put both ends together at one stage on this tour.”Houghton confirmed that experienced allrounder Sean Williams would return after an elbow injury ruled him out of the opening match, and would likely replace a fast bowler. However, Blessing Muzarabani is unlikely to feature on this tour as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury with the focus on getting him ready for the T20 World Cup.

They will earn INR 15 lakh per Test, six lakh for each ODI and three lakh for a T20I

Shashank Kishore27-Oct-2022India’s centrally-contracted women cricketers are set to earn the same match fees as their male counterparts for appearances in international matches, according to BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in accordance with the board’s new pay equity policy.Under this policy, the women – like the men – will earn INR 15 lakh for a Test, 6 lakh for an ODI and 3 lakh for a T20I. These amounts are significantly higher than the flat INR 1 lakh that India women players currently earn for an ODI or T20I appearance, and 2.5 lakh for a Test match.While describing the move as “the first step towards tackling discrimination”, Shah thanked the BCCI’s Apex Council for its support in implementing the move, which he said was a “commitment to our women cricketers.”As things stand, there are no changes to the BCCI’s annual retainers for women players. Currently, those in the highest retainer bracket take home INR 50 lakh, while Grade B and Grade C are valued at INR 30 lakh and INR 10 lakh respectively. In comparison, the male cricketers are divided into four categories with Grade A+ players taking home INR 7 crore, and those in Grades A, B and C collecting INR 5 crore, 3 crore and 1 crore respectively. ESPNcricinfo understands the BCCI has been engaging with the country’s top women cricketers to work out changes to the annual retainers. Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain, is believed to have attended a meeting held at the board’s Mumbai headquarters.Contracts and match fees aside, the inaugural women’s IPL, which the BCCI formally announced at the Annual General Meeting earlier this month, is also understood to have been on the agenda with the board putting together a process for TV rights and franchise ownership. There are also discussions ongoing over whether the league will follow a draft process or an auction for the players.India women have had significant success in recent months. They followed their silver-medal finish at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in August with a record 3-0 ODI series sweep of England in England in September. Earlier this month, India beat Sri Lanka to clinch a record seventh Asia Cup crown in Bangladesh. They are set to host Australia next for five T20Is in November and December.

Captain keen to make up for lost time as tour to West Indies looms in December

Valkerie Baynes16-Nov-2022England Women are set to be bolstered by the return of Heather Knight for next month’s tour of West Indies, after England’s captain declared herself fit again following hip surgery.Knight was sidelined for a large chunk of the home summer after injuring her hip during the first of three T20Is against South Africa in July. She missed the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – where England finished a disappointing fourth – after a flare-up ruined her bid to play some part in the event and left her on crutches in constant pain.It was at that time she decided to have an operation to repair torn tissue and damaged cartilage, and remove a piece of bone in her right hip joint which meant she missed India’s subsequent visit to England, the Hundred and the current WBBL. But Knight has come through a tough rehabilitation process to be ready to fly to the Caribbean for three ODIs, starting on December 4, followed by five T20Is.”It feels like it’s been a long old rehab but I’ve just come good the last couple of weeks and am getting back to pretty much full training now,” Knight told ESPNcricinfo. “Fielding has probably been the one thing that’s been a little bit niggly and a little bit of pain, but I’ve had a really good couple of days so I’m fit to go to the West Indies, which is great.”It’s just the last couple of weeks, certain positions that the hip didn’t really like, but the last few days it’s been good as gold so I’m ready to get back and play.”Related

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Not only was the operation a success, Knight explained that it had slightly changed the shape of her hip joint to give her more freedom of movement.”It’s actually a much healthier, better hip joint than it was,” she said. “It hadn’t been an issue that was on the radar, but I played in one of those T20s against South Africa and it flared up really badly and I knew it was something new that was not good.”As the Commonwealths got closer I had a bit of a flare-up. Basically that got worse and worse and I was in pretty much constant pain which obviously wasn’t very pleasant and was quite wearing. I was still hopeful that I was going to play because these things can clear up pretty quickly but, as I got worse and worse and ended up on crutches, I pretty much knew that Commonwealths were a no-go.”Knight is thrilled that she can return to action against West Indies, with the ODIs forming part of the ICC Women’s Championship, in which England are yet to get off the mark following their 3-0 defeat by India in September. The five T20Is to follow will play a key part in England’s preparation for the T20 World Cup in South Africa in February.Despite being “gutted” at spending so much time out of the game, Knight made good on her aim to make the most of it, enjoying seeing family and loved ones, travelling and moving house.”Sometimes when you’re a cricketer you forget the other side of your life and here you are, outside of cricket,” she said. “It was slightly strange watching but I just tried to make the most of it and knuckle down with the rehab and work on a few other things that could hopefully prolong my career a little bit more. “It’s certainly been a tough grind, particularly the last month trying to get back into it and all the rehab you have to do. I don’t think you realise until you’ve gone through a serious injury the sort of hard work you have to do on a day-to-day basis to try and get back.”I’m really grateful for the support I’ve had from the medical team. They’ve been outstanding and got me in a position that, obviously, I had to work very hard to get to, but a position where I could get back playing for England. I feel like I’ve lost a bit of time and I’m ready to get out there and get back playing cricket.”For Knight, the hardest part was not being able to contribute for her team, particularly at a home Commonwealth Games.”I felt like I could have played a really big role and helped us be successful,” she said. “It’s always tough missing out but those were the unfortunate cards that I was dealt.”During Knight’s absence, England gave opportunities to a clutch of emerging players, including teenagers Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp, who thrived alongside fellow youngsters Issy Wong and Lauren Bell, debutantes earlier in the summer.The youth policy is the legacy of Lisa Keightley, England Women’s head coach who left the post at the end of her tenure in September with the naming of her successor imminent. It also has Knight facing the prospect of returning to a side containing a number of players that she has yet to captain.Nat Sciver skippered England through the Commonwealth Games before spending time out of cricket herself for mental-health reasons. Amy Jones led the side through the three ODIs and a 2-1 T20I series victory against India, a role Jones freely admitted took her out of her comfort zone.Sciver is back training with England and “going good”, according to Knight, who acknowledged that Sciver stepping back from the game had been a courageous move, even though players are increasingly doing so to look after their mental wellbeing.”It’s a really good decision and brave decision by her,” Knight said. “I still think it’s a tough decision but people like Nat taking time out and being very open with reasons, it’s only a good thing.”It’s also a bit of an eye-opener to try and not let it get to that stage for a lot of players and making sure that we’re doing everything we can and managing ourselves better to try and not get to that stage. We have a lot of support medically to try and do that as well, but certainly it’s a topic that people are more comfortable talking about, in my experience, and being a bit more willing to be vulnerable when things are tough and you need to take that time.”As franchise cricket increases and the amount of international cricket that we have increases, as players we have to find a way to find little pockets to get fresh and I think we’re all learning that. I think the place Nat got to, where she felt she had to take a break, it’s trying to learn and find ways to manage players and support them as best I can as captain, but also decisions above me in terms of workload management and trying to get players that are at their best for England at the right time.”As draining as a failed Commonwealth Games campaign clearly was on many players who had hoped – and expected – to be among the medals, Knight is backing her side to enter the T20 World Cup without any scars.”The Commonwealths certainly were a disappointment but you’ve got to remember you lost a T20 semi-final by four runs, one that could have easily gone our way, and then you’re in a gold-medal match,” Knight said. “There’s a lot of things we could have done better, but it’s also remembering the good things we’ve done and it’s not the end of the world. We’ve had a lot of success in T20s.”We lost to India by four runs and T20 can sometimes swing like that. But I think we’ll take a lot of learnings from it, particularly the young girls playing in their first global competition. That experience will be great for them, they know what it’s about, they know the different pressures of tournament cricket and how it can affect you and how you can deal with that and hopefully take it forward into the World Cup.”The girls winning that T20 series against India was brilliant, with the side we had. I think we had an average age of maybe 23 or 24, so a really good achievement to beat India 2-1 in that series after the Commonwealths.”

PSL 2023 will be played between February 9 and March 19

Umar Farooq14-Dec-2022Babar Azam will replace Wahab Riaz as Peshawar Zalmi’s captain for the upcoming season of the Pakistan Super League. After trading in Babar from Karachi Kings in exchange for Shoaib Malik and Haider Ali, the franchise continues a transformation that started in 2021 in the hope to form a new core.No team in the league’s history has had as loyal a core as Zalmi’s since its inception in 2016. Daren Sammy, Hasan Ali, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz had worn no other colours until Hasan decided to leave last year. There have been some hiccups though, like the misunderstanding with Akmal and the mid-season benching of their captain Sammy to appoint him as the coach.Related

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Zalmi won the title in 2017 and have had a consistent run since, making the finals in 2018, 2019, and 2021 and the eliminator in 2020 and 2022. Wahab has been a stalwart for the team. He is the league’s leading wicket-taker and was retained by the franchise. But at 37 years old, his impact on the field isn’t what it used to be. Earlier this year, he was demoted from the platinum to diamond category of PSL players. Akmal, 40, has been released.Zalmi are in the market for 11 players in the PSL draft on December 15 in Karachi. They have already brought in hard-hitting batter Mohammad Haris along with Babar, and retained Sherfane Rutherford, Aamir Jamal (Brand Ambassador), Salman Irshad and Tom-Kohler Cadmore.For Babar, the PSL journey started with Islamabad United in the inaugural edition in 2016 but he was ignored after two games. Since the following year, he represented Karachi Kings and bossed the charts with an average 43.60 and a strike rate of 121.97 on his way to become the tournament’s highest scorer, racking up 2413 runs in 68 matches. However, his relationship with the franchise started to sour and the team slumped to the bottom under his captaincy, losing nine out of ten games. Kings will be led by Imad Wasim now.PSL 2023 will be played between February 9 and March 19. Four venues – Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Multan – will host the matches, going up from two – Lahore and Karachi – in the previous two seasons, due to Covid-19.

Pakistan opener scored 102 before Ireland were bundled out for 95 in their 166-run chase

S Sudarshanan15-Feb-2023Bespectacled players have taken quite the centre stage in the last few months. After memorable Test debuts in the men’s arena for Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed and Australia’s Todd Murphy, Pakistan’s Muneeba Ali made a splash at the Women’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town.Muneeba became the first woman to score a T20I hundred for Pakistan and only the sixth to score one in a T20 World Cup as Pakistan crushed Ireland in their Group 2 clash. She added 101 for the third wicket with allrounder Nida Dar as Pakistan posted 165 for 5, their highest at the T20 World Cup. That proved 70 too many for Ireland, who were stymied by spin to be bowled out for 95.

Fluent Muneeba puts on a show

Muneeba was hailed as a prodigy ever since her T20I bow in 2016 but for a long time she only showed glimpses of her talent. Ireland, and many of those who watched her on Wednesday, saw the best of the Pakistan opener as she pummelled the bowlers around. Her intent – be it in finding boundaries or even in running between the wickets – was there for everyone to see.Muneeba got off the blocks quickly, hitting a four in each of the first five overs. Pakistan had raced to 41 for none at that point with the southpaw on 30 off 19. A brilliant direct hit from Ireland wicketkeeper Mary Waldron saw Javeria Khan run out in the last over of the powerplay. Soon Bismah Maroof was ruled out caught tamely at mid-on, even though replays were not fully conclusive that the ball had carried.Those dismissals had scant effect on Muneeba, who took particular liking to Leah Paul’s left-arm spin. In all, she scored 23 off the 15 balls she faced from Paul, using her feet to make room and go over the off side when four fielders were stationed deep on the on side. She brought up her fifty off 40 balls and took a further 26 balls only to bring up triple figures. She fell in the last ball of the penultimate over but not before making 102 off 68 balls.

Dar makes her presence felt

For a change, Dar had a different role to play with the bat. Often walking out as Pakistan’s rescuer, she found herself in the middle in the eighth over when Pakistan were 55 for 2. But an on-song Muneeba made her task easy and, for a change, she could take a back seat.Muneeba Ali and Nida Dar added 101 for the third wicket•ICC/Getty Images

Dar got off the mark with a sweep through backward square leg and hit one more through cow corner off her 12th ball. But largely, she rotated the strike, ran well between the wicket and fed the strike back to Muneeba. In the interim she danced down the track to legspinner Cara Murray to hit a six over wide long-on. In her 28-ball 33, she struck just the three boundaries but helped add Pakistan’s first hundred-run partnership in a T20 World Cup and only the fourth overall.

Ireland stifled with turn

Ireland’s hopes of an unlikely chase hinged on at least two of the top three. Gaby Lewis struck left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal for a crisp drive over mid-off but was undone by Dar’s smarts with the ball. After firing four deliveries through, Dar slowed one and dragged her length slightly back, and Lewis reached out for the drive and inside-edged it to the wicketkeeper.Orla Prendergast then struck some crisp boundaries, including one off Fatima Sana where she danced down the track to smoke it over wide long-on for a six. She scored 31 off just 21 balls hitting four fours and a six but became the first of left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu’s four wickets.Sandhu then ran through the middle order, staving off and dismissing Eimear Richardson who had raced to 28 off 17, to finish with her career-best 4 for 18. In all, Pakistan’s spinners claimed nine of the ten wickets to open their tournament account in style.

Australia crumbled to their second-lowest total against India in 32.3 overs on the third day

Sidharth Monga11-Feb-2023India completed the demolition job of Australia inside three days by bowling them out for 91 in 32.3 overs in the second innings. It was their second-lowest score against India.R Ashwin, outbowled by Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings and outbatted by both Axar Patel and Jadeja, led the Australian collapse in the second innings with 5 for 37, his 31st five-wicket haul. Fifteen of the 20 wickets that India took were lbw or bowled, which sums up their expertise at attacking the stumps without getting picked off for runs.It was all the more torturous for Australia because India’s last three wickets lasted the whole first session on a pitch that was turning more and quicker than day two. Australia started the day 144 behind, needing the last three wickets for nothing to give them any hope of staying alive in the Test. They got Jadeja early, but Axar added 52 and 20 with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj to take India’s lead to 223.Axar summed up the challenge for Australia. Coming in at No. 9, he batted much like a proper batter and handled the quick turn on the pitch with little fuss. There was a time when he might even have entertained thoughts of a maiden Test hundred. However, trying to farm the strike with Siraj and looking for a big hit towards the end of an over, Axar lost his off stump on 84. Between them, India’s three spinners aggregated exactly 177, Australia’s first-innings score.Debutant Todd Murphy continued to impress as he ended up with figures of 7 for 124, his first five-for in first-class cricket, his longest shift in first-class cricket. That Murphy looked right at home was the last positive for Australia.New ball, turning pitch, second innings, two left-hand openers, more left-hand batters in the middle order. Even ChatGPT would have thrown the new ball to Ashwin. It took just five balls for the slide to begin. Usman Khawaja thought he had a nice little half-volley to drive at, but it dipped ever so slightly. That was enough for the ball to turn, take the edge and go to slip.Todd Murphy picked 7 for 124 on debut•Getty Images

In the ninth over, it became spin at both ends. Marnus Labuschagne tried to counter by staying deep in the crease and making him bowl full. He earned two drives with it, but on pitches with low bounce this strategy is wrought with risk. Soon one turned away, just enough to be pitching leg and hitting off for the plumbest of lbws.Ashwin sped the slide after that. David Warner, who had been dropped at slip earlier and had done well to not follow the turning balls with his hands, finally fell lbw to one that didn’t turn. To be fair to Warner, this was not the parallel-seam delivery from Ashwin, which usually has high probability of going straight on, but it pitched, disturbed the surface a touch and went on to miss his inside edge and have Warner lbw.Much like Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw was caught back to a fullish ball, beaten by the turn away, and was caught plumb in front. Another classic offbreak from round the wicket turned past the inside edge to have Peter Handscomb lbw too.Much like the first innings, Alex Carey came out sweeping and reverse-sweeping. He nailed two, got one single, and then Ashwin slowed it down, didn’t turn it, and Carey became Ashwin’s fifth wicket and his 100th lbw victim in Tests.Steven Smith looked a level above the other batters as he handled spin. Wickets kept falling around him, but he displayed a sense of calm. At 88 for 9, though, Jadeja went through him for the second time in the Test. This was really unplayable. It was full, on off, and Smith defended the off-stump line. Quite a similar delivery that turned less than expected in the first innings and bowled him. This one, though, actually went further in and bowled hi. Except that it turned out to be a no-ball.Shami, though, ended up with the lbw of Scott Boland with the ball reversing past his inside edge. Smith remained unbeaten on 25.

An exemplary fielding performance and a perfectly executed 19th over help Australia eke out a narrow win

Valkerie Baynes24-Feb-20232:45

Baynes: Australia’s death bowling the difference

India needed 18 runs off nine balls when Ellyse Perry sprinted to her right from deep-backward square leg, threw herself into the air and flicked the ball back before tumbling over the boundary rope to save two runs. That moment epitomised what makes Australia tick. Every piece of effort is given at 100% and forms part of the whole juggernaut, which even when pushed by India in the T20 World Cup semi-final prevails by five runs.At the time, left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen – who hadn’t played since their opening match as Australia opted for legspinner Alana King for the next three games – was in the middle of executing the perfect 19th over, conceding just four runs when India needed 20 from 12 balls, and pegging Sneh Rana’s leg stump back with the last ball.With India left to get 16 off the last over, the eventual Player of the Match Ashleigh Gardner gave away only ten and claimed her second wicket as Perry again held her nerve and settled under a skier, by Radha Yadav, at long-on to allow Australia to snatch a berth in their seventh successive T20 World Cup final.Related

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After the win, Gardner said the victory ranked “pretty high” on Australia’s unmatched list of triumphs.”I think at the ten-over mark in India’s batting innings, everyone had probably written us off, but I think that just shows our character within our side and that’s why the best teams win in those types of positions,” she said.”What we speak about is when our backs are up against the wall, we always try and find a way, and today we probably had no right to win at one point there. They were cruising and then we found a way to get some wickets and ultimately came out on top.”It was similar to last year’s Commonwealth Games gold-medal match, which Australia had won by nine runs. That, combined with Thursday’s performance at Newlands, suggests the gap might be closing somewhat compared to the 85-run thumping they had dished out to India in the final of the T20 World Cup back in 2020.India, on the other hand, squandered their chances with crucial drops of Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning, Australia’s two biggest run-scorers on this occasion, as well as leaking runs through numerous misfields and overthrows.”We showed our class today in the field and we always speak about as a group being the best fielding team in the world, and I think today really showed that,” Gardner said. “Ellyse Perry was elite on the boundary. Whether it’s dropped catches, [or] missed opportunities in the field, those ultimately add up to quite a lot of runs and I think we took those moments when we really needed to.Player-of-the-Match Gardner contributed 31 off 18 balls with the bat and followed that with two wickets•ICC/Getty Images

“I certainly think Pez is probably the blueprint for our side going forward – certainly on the boundary. At the end of the day, that could have been the difference between us and them.”Gardner, who had also contributed an excellent 31 off 18 balls with the bat, revealed it was no accident that Australia are so strong in the field.”We have KPIs and there are markers that show us whether we’re positive or negative in the field,” she said. “So there’s a pretty clear indication of how we’ve fielded. We just know how to push each other. In our training sessions, there are always really high-pressure situations, and as athletes, we all push each other – whether it’s on the field or off the field, whether it’s in the gym, running.”That’s something we really pride ourselves on is being fit, being strong, and ultimately that’s one of the things that has an impact in the field.”India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who overcame illness to put her side in a winning position before being run out when her bat got stuck in the pitch, acknowledged that the difference in fielding was the key.”The Australian side, they always field very well; and from our side, we made some mistakes,” Harmanpreet said. “But again, we have to just learn [from] whatever mistakes we have made. But obviously, the Australian side is better than us. They always field well, and today also, after I got out, their body language completely changed. The way they stopped two-three boundaries, that also made a huge difference.”Jemimah Rodrigues, India’s second-highest run-scorer on the day, agreed: “When you lose, you always find a lot of reasons. You can blame anything… but yeah, that is one aspect. As an Indian team, we know that we need to improve our fielding and our running between wickets. Today the running between was really good but I think there’s so much to learn from.”Gardner, Jonassen and Mooney all said that competing under pressure in franchise tournaments such as their own WBBL and England’s much-newer Hundred had contributed to Australia’s strength, which is encouraging for India ahead of their inaugural WPL season, which starts next month.”It probably comes back to the exposure of those sorts of situations,” Jonassen said. “Having such a quality domestic set-up, having the WBBL, having some of the best international players coming over every year – that plays a significant part. Then we’re almost primed for those same situations on the international stage.”We’ve had a few young players making debuts in different formats this season as well that have come from those competitions, and we’re always looking to try and improve, and try and push each other to that next level and try and get the most out of each and every person because ultimately we know if we can gain an extra one or two percent individually, then the team’s collectively going to be better off.”And such is Australia’s depth that Jonassen jokingly revealed her disbelief when head coach Shelley Nitschke told her after training on match eve that she was back in the side.”I had to get her to repeat it because I had walked about ten laps after training yesterday, sort of getting my head around how I would mentally deal with if I missed out again,” Jonassen said. “I’ve got my partner and my mum who have flown over, so I was pretty disappointed up until today that I wasn’t able to play a game in front of them. Hopefully one more and it’s another successful one.”One more will mean a contest for the trophy against either hosts South Africa or England. Besides India at this World Cup, only England have looked capable of threatening Australia. Whoever it is will need to do more than just threaten, as India found out.

The country was set to miss out on IPL screening for the first time in the tournament’s history before the agreement happened

Firdose Moonda30-Mar-2023Africa’s biggest sports broadcaster, SuperSport, has cut a last-minute deal to screen the entire IPL, less than three hours before the tournament begins. The agreement comes after South Africans were told they would not be able to watch the competition for the first time since its inaugural season in 2008 because SuperSport had lost the rights.*SuperSport has broadcast all 15 editions of the IPL prior to this year in full but lost the Sub-Saharan African rights to Viacom18 in June.Viacom18 also won the rights to Australia, New Zealand and England. It does not have a presence in any of the countries but viewers in Australia, New Zealand and England can watch the IPL via broadcasters who have subsequently made deals with Viacom18. SuperSport, on the other hand, has not.Related

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“SuperSport previously held broadcast rights to the Indian Premier League,” a SuperSport spokesperson had told ESPNcricinfo Thursday. “Commercial discussions with the rights holder for the next cycle of rights have unfortunately been unsuccessful and SuperSport will therefore not broadcast the IPL as of this year’s edition.”There are 15 South Africans at this year’s IPL and at least one in nine of the ten franchises (Kolkata Knight Riders are the exception), including some of South Africa’s biggest names. Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Duan Jansen, Donovan Ferreira, Dewald Brevis, Sisanda Magala, and Dwaine Pretorius are spread across the IPL teams with former South African and now Namibian allrounder David Wiese set to play for Knight Riders. There are also several South African coaches at the IPL, including former men’s national team coach Mark Boucher, who will be in his debut season at Mumbai Indians.Cricket South Africa was understood to be disappointed for the country’s fans, especially after the momentum gained this season through the SA20 (where all six teams are owned by IPL owners) but has no involvement with rights deals.SuperSport is the biggest sports broadcaster on the African continent and broadcasts a host of major competitions including all South African tours home and abroad, the home series of England, Australia, New Zealand, India, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as several franchise leagues. It most recently broadcast the Women’s Premier League in full.GMT 1145, March 31, 2023 The story was updated after the agreement happened.