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.

Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund conceded that the side’s first-innings collapse and then letting Mumbai build from 180 for 4 were key factors in their Ranji Trophy semi-final loss

Arun Venugopal05-Jan-2017Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund attributed his team’s six-wicket defeat to Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final to the batting collapse in the first innings that saw them slump from 178 for 2 to 305 all out. It was a total that was deemed insufficient after Tamil Nadu won the toss on a good batting track and they were always going to play catchup after Mumbai secured a 101-run lead in response.”We should have scored 40-50 runs more,” Abhinav said after the match. “Someone should have had the maturity to take the innings through after DK’s [Dinesh Karthik’s] dismissal in the first innings. Maybe, if we had scored 350-360, they would have been under a lot of pressure, considering that they lost most of their top-order early. They were 180 for 4 and we let them build on. I thought that’s where we lost the game as their lower order showed more maturity than
 ours did.”Abhinav was comfortable with the declaration late on Wednesday to set Mumbai a target of 251, and said it was done with the intention of having a crack at the openers in the evening. He conceded, however, he didn’t foresee the 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw taking the game away from Tamil Nadu. “He played quite fearless cricket. It was a brilliant innings,” he said. “He played some rash shots too, but got away with. But he lived by his sword and credit to him.”At the end of the fourth day, B Indrajith had predicted that the spinners would come into play on a final-day pitch that had a few cracks and rough patches. Abhinav felt the pitch didn’t deteriorate as much as they expected.”It was not a minefield and was still a good batting pitch,” he said. “I thought hardly any balls [kept low] yesterday. Today there were about 10 or 12 balls that I counted, but none of them hit the stumps. We had to take a chance and give them a score that was iffy. We didn’t have a choice as they had a 100-run lead. If we had taken two or three wickets they would have been under pressure.”Abhinav also defended the decision to delay the introduction of Vijay Shankar and left-arm seamer T Natarajan in Mumbai’s chase. Shankar wasn’t introduced until the 18th over, while Natarajan was handed the ball for the last over before lunch. “They [Aswin Crist and K Vignesh] have been my 
two best bowlers this season. I wanted to back them,” he said. “Aswin Crist might look like he is not going to pick up wickets but suddenly he comes and picks up two for you.”That’s how he has been throughout the season. If you had seen Karnataka match, the first spell he bowled was like s**t. He came back the second spell and took six wickets. I trust him for that. I wanted to give one burst in the morning and see how it goes.”Apart from the three fast bowlers, who have contributed 96 wickets, Abhinav saw positives in how batsmen like Kaushik Gandhi and Indrajith have stepped up. “I don’t set numerical targets for myself or the team. I don’t know whether we overachieved or underachieved,” he said. “But all I can say is we found replacements for R Prasanna and L Balaji, and hopefully we will find one for M Vijay.”We have been having trouble with the opening slot. Hopefully, Ganga Sridhar Raju can do the job. Overall, it’s been a satisfying season with Kaushik Gandhi and Indrajith taking the mantle. We had six [four] batsmen scoring 600 runs and two bowlers taking 30-plus wickets. So I can keep naming the pluses. But we have to go further into the tournament. That’s why I am disappointed today. I genuinely thought this was the team who could do it.”He said there were a number of things his team could learn from Mumbai, not least the ability to collectively apply pressure on the opposition. “It’s really important to learn the small things. Like when a partnership is going, the entire team slows things down, the entire team looks to change the ball, or tries to do something different,” he said.”When a bowler is bowling well, they slow things down as a batting unit; they call for gloves before the end of the session. These are the things you only learn through experience, you can’t teach anyone these things. Some of these things come naturally to them [Mumbai], credit to them for it, but hopefully some of these [Tamil Nadu] boys have watched it and learnt from it.”These are the things I appreciate, but at the same time these are the things that can be learnt pretty easily. Hopefully, we will take back these sort of things as learnings and come back as a stronger unit next year.”

Russell Domingo will have to reapply for his position of South Africa coach if he wants to continue after the England tour in May-August 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2017Russell Domingo will have to reapply for his position of South Africa coach if he wants to continue after the England tour in May-August 2017. Cricket South Africa (CSA) have confirmed they will begin a recruitment process to appoint a head coach after the England tour and through to the 2019 World Cup.”The Board of Directors also resolved to commence the recruitment process for the appointment of the Proteas Head Coach to take charge after the tour to the UK until after the 2019 edition of the ICC World Cup,” CSA said at the end of a release about a review into domestic cricket.Domingo, who took over in May 2013, has twice had his contract extended. It was originally set to run until the 2015 World Cup, before CSA took a unanimous decision to extend it till April 2016. Then, last October, it was decided to extend it till the end of the England tour.Until then, Domingo’s position had seemed less than secure, after a string of below-par performances including the loss of two major Test series in 2015-16 – in India and against England at home – an early exit from the 2016 World T20, and a bottom-place finish in an ODI triangular series in the West Indies. A four-person independent panel assigned to review South Africa’s performances over that period was expected to put Domingo’s position under scrutiny, but the cancellation of the review process gave him some breathing room.Since then, South Africa have bounced back, winning Test series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at home either side of beating Australia 5-0 in a home ODI series and 2-1 in an away Test series.In a press conference at the end of the Sri Lanka Tests, Domingo had outlined his vision of how he would like South Africa to play under him, but refused to look too far beyond his current contract.”I could go tomorrow,” he had said. “Nothing is certain. I by no means look too far ahead in my coaching career. I take it one series at a time. You never know what’s around the corner in coaching. I’ve always felt that the support that I’ve got from the players is the most important thing. If you’ve still got the support of the players, that’s all that matters. I’ve always felt I had that. It’s out of my control, what happens happens.”

Imran Haider, the legspinner, took four wickets in his second ODI to help United Arab Emirates record a six-wicket win over Hong Kong in their tri-series fixture in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2017
Scorecard
Shaiman Anwar steered UAE home with his seventh ODI half-century•Peter Della Penna

Imran Haider, the legspinner, took four wickets in his second ODI to help United Arab Emirates record a six-wicket win over Hong Kong in their tri-series fixture in Dubai on Thursday. UAE got to their target of 175 in 38.1 overs to finish the series on top of the points table.Hong Kong were put in to bat and lost wickets in clumps, tottering at one stage at 85 for 5. Nizakat Khan, the No. 4 batsman, held the lower order together in making a 111-ball 93 including seven fours and three sixes. Nizakat’s 67-run stand for the eighth wicket with Ehsan Nawaz, who made 11, was the highest of the innings which folded in the penultimate over.Haider removed Babar Hayat, the Hong Kong captain, and Shahid Wasif for ducks. At one stage, he had three wickets in as many overs; he eventually finished with 4 for 25 off his 10 overs to take his wickets tally to seven in two matches.UAE started solidly courtesy a 76-run opening stand between Rohan Mustafa and Mohammed Qasim, before losing three quick wickets – two of which were picked up by Ehsan Khan, the offspinner. Shaiman Anwar then took charge to make a half-century to take UAE to within 27 runs of victory before giving Ehsan his third wicket. Muhammad Usman (20 not out) and Mohammad Naveed (9 not out) then saw the chase through.

The Mumbai batsman has been asked to appear before the MCA’s managing committee on Tuesday and has also been asked to give a written explanation for his actions

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2017Suryakumar Yadav has been asked by the Mumbai Cricket Association to show cause for retweeting a post on Twitter that questioned his omission from the team for the Inter-state T20 tournament. The Mumbai batsman has also been asked to appear before the MCA’s managing committee on Tuesday. As a result, Suryakumar’s selection in the Mumbai squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy inter-state one-day tournament has been withheld pending the committee’s decision”Players are not allowed to comment on selection on social media,” MCA joint-secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar told ESPNcricinfo. “We have a managing committee meeting tomorrow where we will discuss what to do. We have called him [to appear before the committee] and have also sought a written explanation. Yesterday, I told him to give the written explanation within 24 hours so he can do that today. The committee will review his written explanation and then we will think what is to be done.”Khanvilkar pointed out that Suryakumar, 26, was let off with a verbal warning last year when he had tweeted expressing his displeasure at opener Jay Bista being dropped for Mumbai’s semi-final game against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy. “There are only 14 players we have picked [so far],” Khanvilkar said. “Cricket-wise, there is no problem. He is a good player. Just because of the disciplinary issue, we have withheld his selection, so whatever decision is taken in the managing committee, accordingly we will choose the 15.”Suryakumar has been involved in a few controversies over the last few years. He quit as Mumbai captain midway through an underwhelming 2014-15 season. He was also at that point reprimanded by MCA officials after some players complained against him for using abusive language on the field and in the dressing room.

AB de Villiers, who missed the IPL 2017 season opener with a back injury, is a doubtful starter for Royal Challengers’ second match as well

Deivarayan Muthu in Bengaluru06-Apr-2017AB de Villiers, who missed the IPL 2017 season opener with a back injury, is a doubtful starter for Royal Challengers Bangalore’s second match against Delhi Daredevils in Bengaluru on Saturday as well. De Villiers said the franchise will take a call on his fitness after a training session on Thursday. He also confirmed that he will not keep wicket this season.De Villiers was initially set to captain RCB while full-time captain Virat Kohli recovers from a shoulder injury, but then he had to pull out of the final of the Momentum Cup, South Africa’s premier domestic one-day tournament, last Friday.”Even though I’m very very keen to get on the field, I’ll make sure that I’m 100% fit,” de Villiers said on Thursday. “Because, if you go on the park and you’re 90%, you might be out for longer anyway. It doesn’t make sense. I am going to test it [the back] out this afternoon. We’ve got a nets session. I’ll hit a couple of balls, see what it feels like, and then we’ll make a call.”RCB are also missing their regular wicketkeeper KL Rahul due to injury. Maharashtra’s part-time wicketkeeper Kedhar Jadhav – he has kept in 24 matches out of 263 across formats – took the gloves against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but did not look comfortable against either spin or pace. Before the tournament, RCB coach Daniel Vettori had said they might consider de Villiers for the role, but the batsman has said no.”I will definitely not consider wicketkeeping,” de Villiers said. “I’ll miss the next five years if I start keeping again. My back won’t allow that. My back is sore because of all those years of keeping.”Given the number of first-choice players RCB were missing through injury, de Villiers said the team was always going to find the opening game tough. They ended up losing the match by 35 runs, their worst loss in terms of runs since April 2013.”Last night’s game was always going to be difficult,” de Villiers said. “It is the first game of the season. The [Royal Challengers] team that played the final last year and the team that played last night, I think there were about five or six changes. So, it was always going to be difficult to hit the ground running without Virat [Kohli], myself, and KL Rahul, all leaders in their own right. But I have never doubted the skill and the talent of the team. I have no doubt in my mind that we will come back strong from this.”Kohli, like Rahul, was missing due to injuries picked up in the preceding Test series against Australia. De Villiers said he had initially doubted Kohli’s leadership skills, given his public displays of emotion, but was happy with what he saw during India’s extended home Test season.”I think it has been an amazing journey to watch him grow as a leader. I think, at the start, when the people mentioned to me he has leadership qualities and might become a captain one day, I doubted it. I thought he was emotional with his reactions. [Now] I think he has found a way to deal with it. He has showed he has skills with his captaincy and he has taken all the doubters and showed them he can conquer anything.”He did not have the best of series with bat in hand in the last series [against Australia] but what stood out for me was his leadership. He led from the front and that showed. I think that’s the greatest test for a captain – when you don’t do well personally and how you come through as a captain. He came through with flying colours.”

Mustafizur Rahman sliced through Ireland’s middle order to pick up four wickets and set up Bangladesh’s eight-wicket win

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMustafizur Rahman sliced through Ireland’s middle order•AFP

Mustafizur Rahman’s spell accounted for the cream of Ireland’s batting and helped Bangladesh cruise to their first win in the tri-nation series.Ireland, sent in to bat, were bowled out for 181 in 46.3 overs with Mustafizur taking 4 for 23 off nine overs. Soumya Sarkar then struck his second successive half-century as Bangladesh cruised to victory by eight wickets in the 28th over.Ireland’s inability to convert starts – three batsmen made 25 or more but no one got to 50 – resulted in them losing wickets in clumps. They lost Paul Stirling in the first over, but recovered briefly: they were 60 for 2 in 14 overs when Andy Balbirne played all around a Shakib Al Hasan delivery and was lbw. In a nine-over spell courtesy spin, Ireland managed just 31.The only resistance came when Ed Joyce, who top scored with 46, and Niall O’Brien put together 55 for the fourth wicket. Mustafizur returned to dismiss O’Brien to expose the lower-middle order with 22.3 overs still to play.George Dockrell’s 50-ball 25 lifted Ireland to 181 before Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain, brought the innings to a close. Mashrafe and Sunzamul Islam, the debutant left-arm spinner, finished with two wickets apiece.Bangladesh’s openers – Tamim Iqbal and Sarkar – started steadily, before they went into overdrive in the ninth over when Sarkar blasted Barry McCarthy for two fours and a six. Tamim, generally the aggressor, built gradually to make 47 before the O’Brien brothers combined to break a 95-run stand. Tamim, looking to run the ball down, could only get a faint nick through to the wicketkeeper.Sabbir Rahman found his groove quickly, making an enterprising 35 that included three fours and a six, before falling with Bangladesh 10 short of victory. Sarkar was unbeaten on 87 at the finish.

A flare-up in the dressing room immediately after the Champions Trophy final may have been the final act of Anil Kumble’s tumultuous final weeks as India coach

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jun-20171:06

How the Kohli-Kumble saga played out

A flare-up in the dressing room immediately after the Champions Trophy final may have been the last act of Anil Kumble’s tumultuous final weeks as India coach. According to insiders, Kumble, who stepped down as coach on Tuesday, gave a “dressing-down” to one of his players at The Oval on Sunday, moments after Pakistan had completed a 180-run win to seal the title.Debriefings are part of the coach’s job and it was natural for Kumble to have been disappointed after the crushing defeat. But a BCCI official said his timing was not right.”After the final he gave a big dressing-down to the player,” the official said. “There is a time for everything. Team has just lost. They are down. You come and [give the dressing down].”Kumble was unavailable to comment on developments since Tuesday.The morning after the final, when Kumble met the BCCI top brass, he was told of the reservations the players, including captain Virat Kohli, had with regards to his approach. In his parting note, which he released on Twitter on Tuesday, Kumble said it was the first time he had been told of these differences. Yet, others in the know insist that the relationship between Kohli and Kumble had become dysfunctional over the last few months.On Tuesday, when the India squad left for the Caribbean to play a limited-overs series against West Indies, Kumble stayed back in London to participate in the ICC’s chief executives committee meeting, where he sat as chairman of the cricket committee. Although Kumble’s year-long contract ended with the Champions Trophy, the BCCI had given him an extension until the end of the West Indies series.”Kumble had accepted to travel to the West Indies, but that was subject to resolving the differences,” the BCCI official said. The BCCI had even booked a room in his name in the team hotel in Trinidad, where India start the five-match ODI series on June 23. Kumble was meant to land on Thursday.Kumble had been recommended by the BCCI’s three-man cricket advisory panel comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Despite not having any formal coaching experience, the CAC felt Kumble had the right credentials for the job, and offered it to him ahead of candidates such as Ravi Shastri, who had been the India team director for two years.Before the Champions Trophy, the BCCI decided to invite fresh applications instead of extending Kumble’s contract. The job was advertised the day India landed in England (May 25) to start their Champions Trophy campaign. Asked if he agreed with the BCCI’s decision, Kohli simply said the BCCI was following its usual processes. Later on, during the tournament, he denied any rift within the team, saying there were “no issues whatsoever”. BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary, meanwhile, said the friction between coach and players was solely in the “realms of imagination” of the media.According to one of its officials, the BCCI had booked a room in the team hotel for Anil Kumble in Trinidad, where India start their five-match ODI series against West Indies•Getty Images

Only six applicants put forward their resume, one of them being Kumble himself. The CAC informed the BCCI that Kumble remained the frontrunner as his track record as coach had no blemish. The CAC was then asked to patch up the differences between Kumble and Kohli. Although the CAC met Kohli, it did not meet with Kumble.In his meeting with the BCCI on Tuesday, Kumble said that since the CAC did not want to meet him he could not have been doing anything wrong. “Anil just did not budge,” the BCCI official said. “He said the CAC met Virat and did not meet me [Kumble], so I am the guy who is right.”Kumble has never been shy of expressing his opinion, but the official said the last word in the dressing room has always belonged to the captain. Kumble, according to the official, was trying to “overstep” and that caused problems. “In the cricket construct it is the captain who takes the credit and the flak. Everybody else plays the supporting role. But Kumble wanted due credit.”It is understood “multiple meetings” took place during the Champions Trophy to attempt to repair the relationship, but Kohli’s opinion had not changed when he met the BCCI separately on Monday. “There is no cricketing difference between the two. It has been a personality clash.”Kumble and Kohli not wanting to reach out to each other to mend their differences may have widened the chasm between the pair over the past few months, culminating in the former opting to leave the job. The board official felt Kumble, being the senior, could have tried a little harder to reach out to Kohli. The official said being a prominent personality himself and having been in cricket for a long time, Kumble could have drawn on that experience to “handle personalities” in the dressing room.In his statement, Kumble said he had made clear the distinction between the roles of coach and captain. “I was informed for the first time yesterday by the BCCI that the captain had reservations with my ‘style’ and about my continuing as the head coach,” he said. “I was surprised since I had always respected the role boundaries between captain and coach.”

Meg Lanning has achieved plenty in her career so far but over the next couple of months, captaining Australia to a Women’s World Cup title is foremost on her list of goals

ESPNcricinfo staff29-May-2017Meg Lanning has achieved plenty in her career so far but over the next couple of months, captaining Australia to a Women’s World Cup title is foremost on her list of goals. Australia have a remarkable record at the Women’s World Cup, having won six of the 10 tournaments (England have won three and New Zealand one), but this is Lanning’s first World Cup as skipper.Jodie Fields led Australia to triumph in the 2013 final against West Indies, and Lanning is one of seven players from this year’s World Cup squad who was also part of the previous winning squad. The Australians are this week training on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in preparation for heading to England for the tournament, and Lanning’s players will this week spend some time with Australia’s previous World Cup winners.”It’s a great chance to learn from those players who have been there and done it before, and probably under some difficult circumstances at times,” Lanning said. “It definitely wasn’t anywhere near professional when we were winning those World Cups a while ago. We’re very excited as a group to be able to meet the players who have been successful in the past, because World Cups are very special and different to what we’re used to.”Our team has been very successful over a long period of time. We’re looking forward to forging our own way as a team, and trying to deliver as best we can. We know it’s going to be really tough. We know it’s going to be a very open tournament. But we’re all excited about the opportunity and looking forward to making the most of the last couple of weeks in Australia and then getting over to England and preparing as well as we can.”Australia’s squad this year features several players new to international cricket, including Ashleigh Gardner and Amanda-Jade Wellington, both of whom have made their debuts over the past few months. Teenage fast bowler Belinda Vakarewa is in line for her international debut at the World Cup, and Lanning said she was an exciting talent.”She’s coming out of her shell a little bit,” Lanning said. “She was pretty quiet early on, but she mainly let her actions do the talking in the first [practice] game. She was really enthusiastic, she really impressed us with her attitude towards the team. She’s come in really nicely and she’s improving all the time. She’s still very young, but we’re really excited about what she can bring to the team through this World Cup and into the future as well.”I think that’s really exciting for the group, to be able to bring in some younger players who bring different skill sets and really add to the group. That’s the really good thing about our side, is we’ve been able to evolve over the last couple of years and we feel like we’ve got a lot of bases covered in terms of different skill sets.”

Dinesh Chandimal has been named Sri Lanka’s new Test captain, after Angelo Mathews stepped down from the role in all formats on Tuesday

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Jul-2017Dinesh Chandimal has been named Sri Lanka’s new Test captain, after Angelo Mathews stepped down from the role in all formats on Tuesday. Upul Tharanga will take over in ODIs and T20s.Chandimal had served as Mathews’ deputy and led the T20 team in the past, while Tharanga led the ODI team when Mathews had been injured.Speaking at the press conference to announce the new captains, Mathews, who quit following the 3-2 ODI defeat at home to Zimbabwe, said: “Yes, there have been significant poor performances, and I’m humble enough to accept it. In the past also there were instances where I wanted to step down but I didn’t want to let the team down at that time, mainly because there were no replacements. The team’s interests supercede my personal interests.”There were two things working in my mind. The first is whether this was the right time considering the team. My honest opinion is that there are candidates who can take over the reins. I’m pretty sure that they will be more successful and better captains than me. I also wanted to give my successor enough time until the World Cup, to build up a team. Those were the main reasons for me to step down.”Mathews said that although he was disappointed with Sri Lanka’s results in 2017, he resigns having given his best to the job.”I have at all times played in the exclusive interest of Sri Lankan cricket, and have not at any time compromised my national duties for any personal gain,” he said, reading a portion of his letter of resignation to the board. “I have at all times given utmost priority to making myself available over any franchise commitment, and have at times pre-terminated franchise commitments in order to fulfill national obligations. Subject to me being selected for national duty, I would ensure my fullest commitment to the national cricket team. Moreover, I would at all times support and guide our profusely talented young team, as well as my successor, in every way.”Chandimal was always a top contender to take over from Mathews, particularly because he had been groomed as a leader in the past. Though Chandimal’s patchy form in ODIs led to his exclusion from the recent squad to play Zimbabwe, he has matured as a Test batsman – most recently making a difficult ton against Bangladesh at the P Sara Oval. He averages 41.17 since the start of 2015, and has scored 2540 runs at an average of 42.33 all told. Chandimal had also been a successful captain at school level, leading Ananda College to record number of outright victories in his senior year.”I want to take this team and Sri Lanka forward, so I will put my heart and soul into the job,” Chandimal said after the announcement. “I’m very thankful to the job that Angie [Mathews] has done for us. Captaincy is not an easy job and he was an excellent leader for us over four-and-a-half years. He’s also a terrific batsman and a match-winner for us, and I have huge hopes that he will continue to be one in the coming years as well.”Tharanga’s rise to the limited-overs captaincy has been sharper. He had been dropped from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs sides as recently as the first half of 2016, but has since led the team in 14 ODIs, as acting captain in Mathews’ absence. He has been in excellent form in recent months, however, averaging 49 in ODIs since November. He has been moved around the batting order during that time, sometimes opening the batting, and batting in the middle order at others. Sri Lanka have won four and lost eight of the ODIs Tharanga has captained – six of those losses coming against South Africa.Tharanga also thanked Mathews for his leadership, and the selectors for giving him the opportunity to lead. He acknowledged that Sri Lanka’s recent performances had been modest.”I don’t want to say that as a team we’ve done poorly in the recent past, but we have had some ups and downs,” Tharanga said. “Some matches we do well, and others we don’t. In future we have to be more consistent. We all want to take Sri Lanka forward.”