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New Zealand have been handed a boost with Mitchell Santner being available after illness

Andrew McGlashan04-Mar-2021

Big Picture

After a poor performance then a better performance, Australia produced an almost-perfect performance to keep themselves alive in the T20I series. A well-constructed innings, lit up by the hitting of Glenn Maxwell, was followed by a strong bowling display led by an impressive debut for Riley Meredith and a record six-wicket haul from Ashton Agar.Barring the early loss of Matthew Wade, if Australia could plan a T20 batting innings what they put together in Wellington would be close to the ideal template: a run-rate touching nine-an-over at the midway point with Maxwell having enough time to assess conditions and then cut loose as he did with the 28-run over off Jimmy Neesham.For a little while it looked as though New Zealand could replicate it as they scored freely in the powerplay, but Meredith’s brace of wickets were key in keeping Australia ahead of the game. Having got set, Martin Guptill had to bat deep but when he fell to Adam Zampa the task quickly became too much – the contest sealed when Agar took three wickets in an over.New Zealand’s balance was off as they replaced the ill Mitchell Santner with batsman Mark Chapman, relying on just the five bowling options (although Chapman or Kane Williamson could have had a trundle) and the side felt out of kilter. The good news for the home side is that Santner is available for the fourth game having received a negative Covid-19 test and has started to feel better.Related

• Finch, Maxwell and Agar turn on the style to keep series alive

• 'Thought about that first ball a thousand times' – Meredith

Form guide

(last five completed matches)
New Zealand LWWLW
Australia WLLWLL

In the spotlight

Matthew Wade is a senior figure in this side as the vice-captain and first-choice wicketkeeper but he hasn’t quite got going yet. He impressed against India late last year but there will be a lot of options to choose from when it comes to nailing down the top three as the likes of David Warner and Steven Smith become available again. There are other keeping options in this squad, not least Josh Philippe at No. 3 in this XI, so while there’s unlikely to be a change it remains one of the positions up for grabs.Wade’s opposite number Tim Seifert has had a lean series to date with scores of 1, 3 and 4 although his success against Pakistan earlier in the season – where he made 57, 84 not out and 35 – means there is credit in the bank. Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips are other options in this side who could take the gloves but before the third match New Zealand coach Gary Stead said they are very keen to leave Phillips as an outfielder where he is among the best in the business.

Team news

Santner is back in the mix and barring any change to his condition would seem very likely to make a swift return to the XI at the expense of ChapmanNew Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tim Seifert, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Devon Conway, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Trent BoultHaving secured such a convincing win there may be a reluctance to change the side, although the selectors could decide to rotate a quick bowler.Australia (probable) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Josh Philippe, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Kane Richardson, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Riley Meredith

Pitch and conditions

There is some uncertainty over how the surface will play with the increasing amount of traffic on it. All the matches being played on the same pitch, which will host six games in total with the women’s series also taking place. Initially it looked tricky in the first game, but once batsmen got set scoring came freely. The forecast is for a cloudy but dry evening with a brisk Wellington wind around. “It feels as though everywhere you stand the wind is hitting you in the face, but the ball never gets to you at certain times,” Aaron Finch said.

Stats and trivia

• Maxwell has the highest strike-rate (158.79) of any batsman with at least a 1000 T20I runs
• This ground is one of Santner’s best in T20I: he has 10 wickets at 12.60 – his most for any venue – at an economy rate of just 6.00

Quotes

“The start of an innings you are always a little bit nervous, a little bit tentative and when it hit me on the pad it was just one of those things, was a 50-50 call. Once I got into my innings felt I was moving a lot better, my feet were moving, my intent was there and it was nice to get a few out of the middle.
“When you miss Mitchell Santner it shows what an impact he has for us and then also when their left-arm spinner takes six wickets and bowls well it shows what he brings to our team.”
Luke Ronchi

Australia have never cracked T20. They have a year to get it right before the World Cup

Daniel Brettig24-Oct-2019In a lot of ways, T20 appeared to be the best developed element of Justin Langer’s coaching repertoire when he replaced Darren Lehmann some 18 months ago.In Western Australia, he had played a large role in making the Perth Scorchers the most feared T20 team in the BBL, turning the WACA Ground “furnace” into a fortress, mastering all the defensive skills of the game, using game analytics effectively and also making shrewd use of the parallel Scorchers and Western Australia programs to keep his playing list strong.Yet for all the dramas surrounding Australia’s Test team in the wake of Newlands and then the ODI team’s underperformance since winning the 2015 World Cup, it is international T20 that has long looked to be a blindspot. They have never won the T20 World Cup, nor been much more than a middling team in the scattered bilateral series.So when Langer looks to the method for success in the format where Australia will next have an ICC global event, in October and November next year, he will be leaning heavily on his experiences with the Scorchers, allied to the trove of lessons he has taken on board at international level. To attempt to win a World Cup at home carries great expectations, but also more than a few in-built advantages for the hosts.”As we saw with the 50-over World Cup there’s obviously some home ground advantage because we’re used to the conditions, we’re used to the dimensions of the grounds, we’ll have a good mix of players who play Big Bash at all the different venues,” Langer told ESPNcricinfo. “But to win the World Cup it’s like winning an AFL Grand Final, everything’s got to go right at the time.”What we can look after at the moment is how we lead up to it, guys getting their job in the team. We’ve shown by selecting this team, very role specific, we want them in the short term, these six games coming up, but over the next year and couple of years to become the best in the world at what their role is, whether it’s bowling at the death or finishing in the middle of the innings. The non-negotiables are still our fielding, that’s got to be sharp.”But if our guys can get really great at their roles, my experience of Big Bash and T20 cricket, is if you’ve got specialists who do their roles really well, you’ll win more games than you lose.”Getting the best out of Steven SmithSteven Smith cracks one to the off side•BCCI

Anyone who watched the Ashes for more than an hour or two would have been left with the conclusion that the game has seldom seen a genius like Smith, but a few weeks later and his selection in the T20 squad ahead of the likes of Chris Lynn raised a few eyebrows. In truth, Smith has been a fair proxy for Australia’s fortunes in the format, occasionally dominating, but more often looking distracted between Test or ODI assignments.ALSO READ: Chris Lynn ‘crystal clear’ on his T20I position – Justin LangerIn seeking to get the best out of Smith, Langer believes that continuity in the format will allow him to focus his brilliant knack for problem solving with the bat, while at the same time becoming more of an area of personal hunger due to the trophy missing from Australia’s cabinet. Equally, Langer’s belief in a more unified white-ball squad between 50 and 20-over cricket – once again after the fashion of the Scorchers – will help Smith find the sense of normality that has always aided his batting.”The two ways I’ve described Steve Smith are his hunger for the game and that’s his batting in general and runs, but also his ability to solve problems,” Langer said. “T20 is no different, you’ve got to solve a lot of puzzles and he’s got this incredibly intuitive mind where he wants to solve the problem. I’m really confident he’ll be a great success there. The only thing we have to manage with him and Dave Warner and a couple of the quicks is the fact they are in all three forms of the game and that can be a challenge in itself.”My view is that in white-ball cricket, the closer we can get the two squads together the better, because you can use skills for both 50-over and T20 cricket if that makes sense. That’s more how I look at it than one-day cricket taking a backward step. We’ll probably use as many experiences in 50-over cricket to help us become better in T20 cricket and vice versa.”Moneyball methodsPerhaps the most significant contract signed before the start of the summer was not those for any of Langer’s assistant coaches or even a new selector to join him and Trevor Hohns on the national panel, but instead a new deal with the cricket data analytics company CricViz for their extensive suite of information on Australia and their opponents.CricViz is no stranger to Australian cricket, having worked closely with broadcasters and also teams such as the Melbourne Renegades (led by captain Aaron Finch and the coach Andrew McDonald), but the new partnership is a first for the national team. Over the years, CA has accessed intelligence from the likes of Cricket21 in addition to the work of the team analyst Dene Hills and his colleagues.Langer, who relied heavily on the insights of the Scorchers’ performance analyst Dean Plunkett, described CricViz and its work with Hills and company as “the Rolls Royce version” of what he had in Perth. “The data these days is incredible,” he said. “Some of the stuff they give to us is unbelievable. What the trick is though, is to siphon it down and get the little gold nuggets that you work out for selection and that you can sell to the players, which makes sense to them, ‘okay if you do this well, then you win a lot of games’.”Justin Langer in the Perth Scorchers dugout•Getty Images

Defensive skills of an attacking gameSomething that Australia pioneered in the 1980s was an identification of the fact that limited-overs cricket, while commercially devised to showcase more aggressive skills to a new audience, was actually best played through rigid adherence to many of the game’s less glamorous fundamentals. Tight fielding, alert running between the wickets and taking singles, and keeping wickets in hand were all hallmarks of the former coach Bob Simpson and the unfancied but ultimately victorious 1987 World Cup team.Similarly, Langer’s Scorchers were rigorous Roundheads as opposed to the Cavaliers back east, fighting out every game and often strangling the life out of opponents before they got room to free their arms and swing for the fences. For Langer the T20 game is a pressure contest every single ball, so anything that can enhance the sense of pressure or even claustrophobia on an opponent is, as he would put it, “like gold”.”That’s just a good blueprint for playing great T20 cricket,” he said. “I’ve said all along one of my important KPIs is how we throw, because it’s indicative of our attitude and our athleticism. Our fielding and the defensive game – back then we had a very good bowling attack. We had Alfonso Thomas, we had Yasir Arafat who could bowl at the death particularly, and I think that helped guys like AJ Tye and Nathan Coulter-Nile to learn. And we were really good up front as well at the WACA.”We had swing bowlers like Jason Behrendorff, we also recruited David Willey, we had Mitchell Johnson. So the blueprint’s there, the next plan is to execute it really well. The running between wickets back then was something we prided ourselves on, it also puts the opposition under huge pressure when you’re not only hitting boundaries but running hard between wickets.”We also know that the rotation of strike is an incredibly powerful statistic in T20 cricket, and in fielding you’re under the pump because you can’t afford to make mistakes.”Leadership and learningThe humble beginnings of the Australian team last year after the Newlands scandal meant that new ways of playing, winning and conducting business all got the chance to grow without too much pushback about “this being the way it’s always been done”, and the T20 team have a similar opportunity. Under Finch, who grew in global respect as leader of the World Cup team having already fashioned a strong reputation as a leader with the Renegades, the Australian team should not be overly beset by ego or an unwillingness to learn.At the same time, the fact that Australia were able to come through the trials of a long England tour that took in a World Cup and the Ashes, registering more than creditable results in each, has imbued Langer with quiet confidence that, given a year’s run at it, they can build a winning T20 combination first on home soil and then again in India at the next T20 World Cup in 2021.”There’s still growth for the group, and it’s the same with our captains, whether it’s Finchy or Tim Paine they’re doing a tremendous job for us and there’s still growth in both of them,” Langer said. “That’s exciting for us, it’s exciting for them, that’s what gets us out of bed every day, doesn’t it.”But one of the things I love about the role is you’ve got to keep learning and keep getting better. The last 18 months I’m learning so much and that’s what’s exciting. Despite it being tiring and despite it being different pressures, I’m learning so much from this gig and in terms of leadership I’m loving that part of it.”

The wicketkeeper-batsman made her maiden international fifty and followed it up with two vital catches and a stumping to deny Sri Lanka in a tight, low-scoring match

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2018Associated Press

The score of 219 has been a monkey on India’s back since their botched chase of 229 in the 2017 World Cup final. During the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, the monkey came bounding from Lord’s to Galle – this time, India were defending 219.At various points during the game, Sri Lanka looked like pulling off an impressive win and keeping the three-match series alive, but each time they ran into Taniya Bhatia. The wicketkeeper-batsman, playing only her second ODI, lifted India to a respectable total with a 66-ball 68, her maiden international half-century. She then took two vital catches and pulled off a stumping during the end overs of Sri Lanka’s chase to hand India a seven-run win.The first of those grabs came in the 42nd over. Poonam Yadav, the legspinner, had conceded only 25 off her 8 overs until then and had just broken a brisk 31-run sixth-wicket stand between Sripali Weerakkody (17 off 14) and Anushka Sanjeewani (17 off 20) with a wily run-out of the former, off her own bowling.Off the next ball, Sanjeewani unleashed an almighty sweep against a loopy legbreak, only for Bhatia to grab the faint edge that flew overhead to her left.That left Sri Lanka needing 55 from 51 balls, with three wickets in hand. Still, their lower order was far from daunted, as the No. 8 batsman Nilakshi de Silva, launched a counterattack that saw her hammer four boundaries, including two giant sixes off Yadav in the 44th over. She had trotted to 31 off only 18 balls and reduced the equation to 13 required off 18 balls with two wickets in hand.India’s discomfort was clear when captain Mithali Raj and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur had a long discussion with medium-pacer Mansi Joshi (2 for 49) before the 48th over, her ninth. Their unease, however, was alleviated once more by Bhatia. Off the first ball of Joshi’s over, de Silva miscued a slog and sent a top-edge flying towards the short fine leg region. Bhatia turned around and covered the distance just in time, snaffling the catch with a dive forward.In the next over, Bhatia brought an end to Sri Lanka’s late flourish, stumping Inoka Ranaweera off Deepti Sharma.Bhatia’s greater contribution to India’s triumph, however, came earlier in the day after Sri Lanka had reduced the visitors to 66 for 4 in 22.3 overs after they had opted to bat first. Smriti Mandhana holed out for a run-a-ball 14, while opener Punam Raut and No. 4 batsman Harmanpreet both fell to Weerakkody’s pace.India inched towards 150 as Bhatia added 76 with Raj in an uneasy exhibition of contrasting styles. Raj spent 121 balls in scoring a slow but vital 52 – her 51st ODI fifty – while Bhatia smacked nine fours en route to her 66-ball 68. In doing so, she became the first India women player since Veda Krishnamurthy – who scored 51 on debut in 2011 – to hit a fifty in her maiden ODI innings.Bhatia found an able ally in D Hemalatha, her fellow debutant from the series opener. Hemalata was involved in two 37-run stands, first with Bhatia and then with Shikha Pandey (15 off 14) en route to a 31-ball 35.Chamari Atapattu, the Sri Lanka captain, took three lower-order wickets, including that of No. 11 Yadav off the last ball of India’s innings, to go with her 57 at the top of the order. Atapattu’s performance, however, wasn’t quite enough to haul Sri Lanka over the line.

The BCCI has successfully narrowed down to three its list of Lodha Committee recommendations that it wants reviewed by the Supreme Court

Vishal Dikshit08-Jul-2017The BCCI has successfully narrowed down the list of Lodha Committee recommendations that it wants reviewed by the Supreme Court to three. The points that the special panel which discussed the recommendations in Mumbai on Saturday wants the court to reconsider are: the three-year cooling off period for office bearers and members of the apex council, the one-state one-vote policy, and the demarcation in roles of office bearers and professionals.The seven-member panel was appointed by the BCCI on June 27 with a view to identify the “few critical points” in the implementation of the Supreme Court order. India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley, also a former vice-president of the BCCI, had met the panel earlier this week and asked them to narrow down the points of difficulties from seven to three or four, before presenting them to the Supreme Court. As a result, the new list did not feature an objection to the age cap of 70 years for office bearers, and the number of selectors being brought down from five to three.Given the panel has decided not to challenge the age cap of 70, it might seem that veteran officials such as N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah – who himself, incidentally, was an “invitee” to the special panel – will be on their way out. However, the age-cap recommendation only extends to office bearers, and not nominees or invitees to any committee of the BCCI or state associations – like in the case of Shah in this panel – and that could be a loophole unless the Supreme Court specifically says otherwise.BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who convened the panel on Saturday, said these three points would now be sent to the board, which will hold a Special General Meeting (SGM) before the Supreme Court’s next hearing on July 14.The BCCI, according to Choudhary, wants the one-state one-vote policy to be reconsidered “with the view that the present members of the BCCI continue to remain members; at the same time, enroll new members, including those from the north-east, after following the due process”.For the cooling off period, Choudhary stated since a cap of nine years had been placed on the cumulative duration any office bearer held office for, the panel thought the cooling off period may be “put in abeyance”. He also said if the rule of cooling off period for office bearers could be done away with, it should apply to the membership of the apex council too. “All we are saying is, once you’ve placed a cap of nine years, this cooling off can be removed. And that should also apply to the apex council,” he said.The third point, which Choudhary did not elaborate on, deals with the demarcation of functions as set out between the elected office bearers, for example a secretary, and the professional appointees, like a board CEO. The Lodha Committee had suggested there be a segregation between the powers of the two, which the BCCI has objected to since its office bearers, such as the president and secretary, have wielded power historically and the appointment of a CEO is a more recent concept. When asked if the BCCI wanted this recommendation to be removed entirely, Choudhary only said, “it needs a review”.The panel to shortlist the recommendations for review comprised IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, vice-president TC Mathew, Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly, Naba Bhattacharjee of the Meghalaya Cricket Association and Jay Shah, the joint-secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association. The panel had been asked to submit a report with the list of difficulties by July 10. Ganguly and Mathews, though, did not attend the meeting on Saturday as they were traveling.

Kaushal Silva said a determined effort to put the pressure back on England’s bowlers was the key to Sri Lanka’s batting turnaround in the second Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-May-2016Leaving, defending and patience are generally held up as necessary virtues for openers in early-season England.  A little counter intuitively though, Kaushal Silva has said it was the adopting of a more assertive mindset that saw Sri Lanka make improvements to their batting in the second innings at Chester-le-Street.Silva hit 60 in a team total of 475, and though he stressed that leaving and defending remained important on seaming surfaces, he also endorsed a more positive attitude towards run-making.”If you attack any bowler, they will be put on the back foot by that,” he said.  “If you keep leaving the ball, these bowlers are so skilful that there is still a chance of getting out. Rotating the strike is crucial. When we score runs there is a little pressure on them as well.”Here, the difference is that the good ball is what you should expect – that is what is normal, because the skills of their bowlers are great. So to counter that, we have to try and bat positively. Even if the correct decision is to leave, you have to commit wholeheartedly to that.”The second innings at Chester-le-Street saw Sri Lanka batting past the 45th over for the first time in the series, as Silva, Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath hit half-centuries, while Dinesh Chandimal scored 126. They survived 128.2 overs in total, after Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne had put on their longest opening stand of the tour, seeing out 16.2 overs before the first wicket fell.”An opener’s role is especially important here, because our success has knock-on effects for the team,” Silva said. “If Dimuth and I bat a good number of overs, the ball gets old and the others find it easier. It’s England’s opening bowlers who are the real wicket-taking threats, and the pressure they apply is immense. In the last innings Dimuth and I batted 17 overs, and that made it much easier for the rest of the team.”The other thing is to get their quicks to bowl three or four spells. With any fast bowler, if you have them bowling 15-20 overs, anyone will tire and drop their performances a bit. Between the seven batsmen we have to be able to do that. Whoever is batting well that day should be able to bat through and ensure that happens.”Silva said the second innings had restored confidence to a top order that had been shaken by three collapses before that. With the Test at Lord’s more than a week away, Sri Lanka’s challenge will be to approach the third Test with the positivity they had ended the second with.”We all knew we had it in us to bat like that – it’s just that we weren’t able to in the first three innings. Now a few individuals have scored runs. They’ve got confidence. It’s only after you’ve done it a few times that it becomes easier for you. But we need to replicate that by training with that intensity, then taking it into the next match.Silva’s two previous half-centuries in England had come in the 2014 match at Lord’s. “Personally, I’m disappointed about the way I got out. But I’ve played four Tests in England now, scored three fifties but no hundred yet. I’m hoping to get set and go for the big one – to a hundred.”Sri Lanka had taken four excellent catches on the first day at Chester-le-Street, but marred that performance by dropping Moeen Ali twice on the second day as well as Chris Woakes. They had also reprieved Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow at Headingley. Moeen and Bairstow went on to make big hundreds, while Hales laid a solid foundation.”I don’t think we are a terrible fielding team,” Silva said. “Some days we field well and others we don’t. That happens with the batting as well. Consistency is what is missing. Maybe lack of anticipation is an issue. But we can’t have those excuses. If a bowler is doing well on a flat wicket and a catch gets dropped, that’s really tough on them. As a policy we don’t blame cricketers for dropping catches, because we all train hard. Anyone can miss a catch, but there is lots of room for improvement.”

A round-up of IPL related news on April 25, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2015Ben Hilfenhaus, the Australia fast bowler, and Colin Munro, the New Zealand batsman, have been signed up by Mumbai Indians as replacements for Aaron Finch and Josh Hazlewood.Finch had been ruled out after suffering a hamstring injury during Mumbai Indians’ match against Rajasthan Royals on April 14, while Hazlewood had opted out of the tournament keeping in mind Australia’s tight international schedule.While Munro is yet to play in the IPL, Hilfenhaus figured in 17 games for Chennai Super Kings, in 2012 and 2014, and took 22 wickets at an economy-rate of 7.72.Fleming wants improvement from Ashwin, Jadeja
Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings coach, wants his main spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to improve their performance so far this season.Super Kings have relied heavily on the duo over the years, but this time, they have managed four wickets between them in five matches. While Ashwin has conceded 8.16 runs an over, Jadeja’s economy-rate is as high as 10.15.”The spinning aspect of our game hasn’t been as effective as it has in the previous years so far and it is one area where in this game we would like to get a bit more penetration,” Fleming told the IPL website ahead of Super Kings’ home game against Kings XI Punjab.”But in saying that, we have won games despite our spinners not clicking. That is a good thing because in the past we have been called a team that relies too much on the spinners. If we can get the spin component going well at home, there will be an improvement.”In our home games Ashwin has been our lead bowler. It is not that he is in bad form. Jadeja is someone we would like more from and we are working hard at it.”Bailey impressed with Sandeep, Anureet
George Bailey, the Kings XI Punjab captain, is impressed with his domestic Indian new-ball pairing of Sandeep Sharma and Anureet Singh.Both seamers have taken eight wickets each so far from five games. While Anureet has also been used at the death and has gone for 8.75 runs an over, Sandeep has struck consistently at the start and conceded just 5.55.”Sandeep is showing great capacity of taking wickets upfront, which is very important,” Bailey said. “A lot of teams look for a bowler who can break up the top order.”Anureet has shown how versatile he is to be able to bowl at any stage of the game. He has taken well to the death-bowling role, which is a very difficult one. Our depth is pretty good. We have Shardul Thakur, who had an outstanding Ranji Trophy. But we haven’t been able to get him in yet.”

Raja Ali, a former Madhya Pradesh and Railways batsman, has died of cardiac arrest. He was 36

Amol Karhadkar22-Oct-2012Double Ranji Trophy champion Raja Ali, a former Madhya Pradesh and Railways batsman, has died of cardiac arrest in Bhopal. He was 36.Ali started his first-class career with Madhya Pradesh in 1996-97, before moving to Railways in 2000-01. He was the third-highest run-getter in the 2001-02 Ranji Trophy-winning Railways squad. He also scored an important half-century in the 2004-05 Ranji final, which Railways won. He played 87 first-class matches, scoring 4337 runs at an average of 38.38 with nine centuries, and 54 List A games for 1312 runs with one century.”He was one of our specialist middle-order batsmen,” Chandrakant Pandit, the former Test wicketkeeper who played for Madhya Pradesh, said. “A very stout and strong-minded player, he had the ability to hit the ball out of the ground at will. As a result, he was the go-to man for Madhya Pradesh when it came to one-dayers. Later on, he had to move to Railways but he remained a very useful cricketer all along. It’s very sad that he is no longer with us. May his soul rest in peace.”Sanjay Bangar, the Railways allrounder, remembered Ali as a person with a big heart who was a key member of the Railways squad. He said the news of Ali’s death has come as a big shock. “Even though he announced his retirement recently, we were constantly in touch over the phone,” Bangar said. “In fact, I had visited the coaching academy that he had started in Bhopal not very long ago. He was seriously trying to get into coaching and had done the NCA’s Level A course as well. It’s a big shock that he is not with us anymore.”Murali Kartik, Ali’s Railways team-mate, said that he had the amazing quality of fighting out a tough situation. “I remember when I joined Railways ahead of the Plate Group semifinal (in 2007-08), the kind of words he spoke to me egged me on,” Kartik said. “When I joined him in the middle, the chips were down and we had to come up with a partnership to be back in the Elite. And we did it in memorable fashion. But to see our partnership end in such a manner – I am 36 just like him – is a big shock for me.”During our decade-long association as team-mates, I hardly saw him wearing a sad look on his face. In fact, his sense of humour was amazing and he had a terrific sense of timing, both on and off the field. Sometimes people used to be scared of him since he had that streak, but everyone has it. As good a person he was, he was equally good a cricketer. For someone to average 40 in both forms of the game speaks for himself.”The Central Zone team wore black armbands to pay their respect to Ali during the ongoing Duleep Trophy final in Chennai.

A round-up from the first round of games in Zimbabwe’s Logan Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2011Matabeleland Tuskers laid down an early marker with a 106-run win over Mountaineers at Mutare Sports Club in their first Logan Cup match of the new season. On a pitch that became harder to bat on as the game wore on, Tuskers’ seamers – led by Man of the Match Chris Mpofu – ensured that the hard work of their batsmen in the first innings did not go to waste, bowling Mountaineers out for just 92 on the fourth day.Tuskers captain Gavin Ewing chose to bat on the first morning and after an early wobble against the new ball it was Ewing himself who helped shore up the innings, sharing partnerships of 133 and 60 for the third and fourth wickets with Craig Ervine (59) and Keith Dabengwa (67 not out). Ewing went on to reach a century – the first of the season – while Mountaineers legspinner Natsai Mushangwe picked up five wickets as Tuskers reached 306.Hamilton Masakadza’s 75 and contributions from former Zimbabwe Under-19 players Kevin Kasuza (46) and Benjamin Katsande (45) propped Mountaineers up but Chris Mpofu’s five-for ensured a 12-run lead for Tuskers. The visiting batsmen struggled the second time round and Tuskers were thankful for Keegan Meth’s unbeaten 41, which helped set a target of 199 for Mountaineers. Their chase never got close, however, Mpofu picking up a further four wickets and Meth finishing the remarkable figures of 3 for 19 in 14 overs as Mountaineers were bundled out for 92.At Masvingo, Forster Mutizwa’s unbeaten century carried Mashonaland Eagles to a remarkable three-wicket win over Southern Rocks. Mark Mbofana’s career-best 5 for 41 in Southern Rocks first innings appeared to have gone to waste when Eagles were bowled out for just 147, conceding a lead of 119.That was extended to 338 despite a robust second-innings effort from the Eagles attack, and when they were reduced to 3 for 2 by Tinashe Panyangara in their chase, all seemed lost. Mutizwa then sparked a remarkable turnaround, however, sharing in a partnership of 124 with Elton Chigumbura, who hit a patient 53. An 80-run stand for the fifth wicket with Trevor Garwe tilted the balance, before Nathan Waller’s swashbuckling 53 – from just 34 deliveries – helped seal the match.

The details may be uncertain, but Worcestershire will face a demanding run chase on the final day of the championship season if they are to achieve promotion

George Dobell at New Road15-Sep-2010
ScorecardThe details may be uncertain, but Worcestershire will face a demanding run chase on the final day of the championship season if they are to achieve promotion. A brave first innings declaration underlined Worcestershire’s desire to pursue any fourth-innings target but, after a day in which they dropped three chances and squandered a good platform with the bat, they may reflect that their best chance of success has already gone.Sussex already lead by 138. On a pitch of variable bounce, a target of anything over 250 could prove very challenging.Whatever happens, however, both these sides can look back with satisfaction on their campaigns. Sussex, who were presented with the Division Two trophy and a cheque for £135,000 at the end of play, have looked a class above all season, while Worcestershire have bounced back admirably from a terrible 2009.It’s worth dwelling on how last year ended for Worcestershire. They finished, remember, without a single first-class victory in the season for the first time since 1928 and were then hit by the loss of five senior players (Kabir Ali, Steve Davies, Stephen Moore, Gareth Batty and Simon Jones). Director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, was also obliged to cut his cricket budget by £300,000 as the club struggled to negotiate the recession. Some feared that the wooden spoon loomed this year.Instead, however, the nucleus of a decent team has emerged. In Moeen Ali and Alexei Kervezee, Worcestershire have two of the best young batsmen in the land, while seamer Richard Jones and keeper Ben Cox have shown glimpses of form to suggest they could prosper at this level. In Alan Richardson, Rhodes recruited a hardworking and skillful seamer, while the arrival of allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has significantly strengthened them.Most pleasingly, the second team also contains several players – mostly batsmen – who should go on to enjoy decent careers in the game. Whatever happens on the final day, they can look to the future with optimism.They’ve not made life easy for themselves on the last day, however. By squandering three chances in the field, two of them quite straightforward, they have already allowed Sussex to pull further ahead than might have been the case. An unbroken third-wicket stand of 73 between the impressive Ben Brown, who pulls unusually well, and the typically pugnacious Murray Goodwin may prove to be the killer blow.Crucially, Goodwin has been reprieved twice: first, on 12, when Solanki, at slip, missed one off the deserving Richardson and then again, on 21, when Shakib missed a simple chance, off Moeen, at midwicket. Daryl Mitchell also put down a sharp chance offered by Luke Wells, off Andrew, before Sussex had scored a run.Worcestershire also squandered an opportunity to bat themselves into an impregnable position earlier in the day. At 132 for 2, they retained hopes of gaining an imposing first innings lead. A second-wicket stand of 77 between James Cameron and the elegant Vikram Solanki had earned them a good platform, while Moeen Ali also settled in nicely in a stand of 51 with Solanki.Sadly, from a Worcestershire perspective, they were unable to capitalise. Cameron, in attempting the quick single that would have brought up his well-deserved fifty, was run-out by a direct hit by Wells, before Moeen – not for the first time – left a straight one that hit his off stump. Solanki was hit on the boot by a full toss in Will Beer’s first over.Legspinner Beer, in just his fourth first-class game, claimed career-best figures of 3 for 31. Though he found little turn, he demonstrated admirable control and Luke Wright also bowled pretty well. He exploited Kervezee’s habit of reaching half-forward by claiming an early leg-before verdict, while Andrew was lured into poking at one he could have left outside off stump.Earlier, it took Worcestershire just 14 balls to polish off Sussex’s first innings. Gareth Andrew, bowling with some pace, claimed three wickets in five deliveries to finish with his best haul of the season. Hodd’s innings was ended when he left a straight one, before Lewis Hatchett and Monty Panesar steered to point.Monty didn’t enjoy the best of days. Though he took one wicket, that of Matt Mason with an awful long-hop that the batsmen charitably steered to point, Monty’s bowling was generally negated with ease. Moeen pulled him for one dismissive six, while Cameron skipped down the pitch and thumped two fours and a towering straight six.The nadir came when Monty, fielding at fine leg, scooped the ball up but, instead of throwing it back to the keeper, somehow manged to drop it over the rope. He may have rediscovered something of his magic with the ball, but his fielding remains a work in progress.

Sylhet, meanwhile, successfully chased down 220 against Chattogram despite falling behind in the first innings

Mohammad Isam29-Oct-2024Dhaka Metropolis thumped Rajshahi Division by ten wickets to start the NCL with successive wins. Left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan took career-best figures of 8 for 56 in the second innings, and combined with young left-arm quick Maruf Mridha, who had bagged 6 for 22 in the first, to sink Rajshahi.Asked to bat first, Rajshahi were bowled out for 77, with No. 10 Mohor Sheikh top-scoring with 19, as Mridha, Abu Haider and Anisul Islam Emon shared the ten wickets.Dhaka Metropolis replied with 233, as Shamsur Rahman, playing his 150th first-class match, top-scored with 64. Rajshahi were then shot out for 166, as Rakibul ran through their line-up. Dhaka Metropolis then got the required 14 runs in 2.1 overs.Pinak Ghosh’s unbeaten 62 led Sylhet Division to a six-wicket win against Chattogram Division in a low-scoring game. The left-hander took only 81 balls to get his runs in the 220-run chase, guiding Sylhet to their first win this season. The hosts reached the target in 40.1 overs, with Tawfique Khan also hitting a fifty.Earlier, Sylhet had fallen behind by 46 runs after they were bowled out for 152 in reply to Chattogram’s 198 in the first innings. Yasir Ali contributed the most runs for Chattogram as he scored 73, and that was followed by Ifran Hossain’s five-wicket haul. which kept Sylhet under pressure. Chattogram, however, couldn’t build on the first-innings lead, as they were bowled out for 173 in their second dig. Nayeem Ahmed and Rejaur Rahman took three wickets each for Sylhet.File photo: Ashiqur Rahman got his maiden first-class century•ICC/Getty Images

Ashiqur Rahman’s maiden first-class century helped Dhaka Division play out a draw against Rangpur Division at the BKSP ground. After rain wiped out the first day’s play, Rangpur were bowled out for 253 in the first innings. Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam took four wickets for Dhaka Division.Ashiqur then struck ten fours and five sixes in his score of 129 off 186 balls. He added 204 for the second wicket with Joyraz Sheik, who made 87. Dhaka Division, however, slipped from 303 for 3 at one stage to be eventually bowled out for 327. Rangpur batted out the remaining 101 overs of the game, reaching 165 for 7 before it was called a draw. The veteran Naeem Islam stuck around for nearly five hours for his 75.Rain forced a draw between Khulna Division and Barishal Division in Khulna. Batting first, Khulna saw Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Amit Majumder and Mahedi Hasan score fifties, as they declared at 408 for 9. Soumya’s rough reaction after being run-out due to a mix-up with Anamul became a talking point during the game. He threw the bat as he shouted at Anamul for the calling.In reply, Abdul Mazid struck his 13th first-class century as Barishal finished on 287 for 3. Mazid struck 15 boundaries in his nearly six-hour stay at the wicket.