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Almanack questions decision to ‘stake cricket’s wellbeing on a form of the game played nowhere else in the world’

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2019The editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack has launched a scathing attack on the ECB’s decision to introduce a new 100-ball tournament from 2020 onwards, describing the advent of The Hundred as an “almighty punt”.Writing in his traditional Notes By The Editor ahead of today’s publication of the 156th edition of Wisden, Lawrence Booth fears that the sport in England and Wales will come to rue the decision to “stake cricket’s wellbeing on a form of the game played nowhere else in the world.””The Hundred hung over the English game like the sword of Damocles, suspended only by the conviction of a suited few,” Booth wrote. “Some preferred a modern analogy: this was cricket’s Brexit, an unnecessary gamble that had overshadowed all else, gone over budget and would end in tears.”But the analogy was imperfect: where Brexit had plenty of advocates, it was difficult to find anyone beyond a small group within the ECB’s offices who believed that cricket – its fixture list already unfathomable – needed a fourth format.”Regardless of the success or otherwise of the new format, Booth is concerned about The Hundred’s impact on the other, more established formats of the game.”It is hard to be sanguine about stuffing another quart into the pint pot,” he adds. “Even if The Hundred succeeds – and the early signs were not good, with projected audiences of around 12,000 in stadiums capable of holding twice as many – then what of the other formats?”Twenty20 will take a hit, years after the world agreed it was the way ahead. The 50-over competition, its fixtures clashing with the new tournament, will smack of the Second XI, just when England have become good at one-day cricket. And the Championship will be shoved deeper into the cupboard under the stairs.”Then there’s the growing divide between the eight counties who will stage the competition and the ten who won’t. Worcestershire’s Daryl Mitchell, who doubles as chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, spoke for many: ‘If it doesn’t work, then we’re all in trouble.'”If only someone at the ECB had been on hand last year to explain why they thought it a good idea to stake cricket’s wellbeing on a form of the game played nowhere else in the world. It’s true that this approach worked in 2003, when Twenty20’s arrival met with scepticism. Yet these grand schemes come off once a generation. And the public have to be convinced over time, not drip-fed careless soundbites.”

Shai Hope and Jason Holder scored half-centuries, but there was little else of substance for West Indies either side of their 100-run partnership

The Report by Mohammad Isam13-May-2019Bangladesh ensured their place in the tri-series final after a resounding five-wicket win over West Indies in Malahide. After their bowlers fought hard to restrict them to 247 for 9, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim struck fluent half-centuries and dominated the chase as they sealed victory with 16 balls to spare.Mustafizur Rahman’s first four-wicket haul in eight months, as well as discipline from Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan, and Mashrafe Mortaza’s three wickets, took the momentum from West Indies twice, after they chose to bat first.Then it was Soumya’s turn in the spotlight, his 54 off 67 balls getting Bangladesh off the block quickly. After they had lost three quick wickets in the middle-overs to Ashley Nurse, Mushfiqur put together two partnerships, 83 runs for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Mithun, and 50 runs for fifth wicket stand with Mahmudullah, to boss the chase.Soumya Sarkar plays off the back foot•AFP

West Indies also contributed heavily to their own defeat, missing five chances during the Bangladesh innings. Kemar Roach dropped two catches while Fabian Allen and Shai Hope couldn’t reach the ball despite a dive. Nurse’s poor throw cost them Mithun’s wicket early during the defining fourth-wicket stand.After Tamim Iqbal struck the fourth ball of Bangladesh’s chase for a thumping four, Soumya piled the pressure on Sheldon Cottrell and Roach, hitting them for a six and four boundaries in the first five overs. Tamim then cover drove Cottrell, before getting two more fours off Nurse in the ninth over.But later in the same over, Nurse bowled Tamim with one that dipped on the left-hander, and struck his leg-stump.After their 54-run opening stand, Soumya added 52 runs for the second wicket with Shakib. During this partnership, Soumya survived two chances: at short cover when Allen couldn’t quite hold on to the chance diving forward, as well as Roach dropping a straightforward chance at short midwicket.Nurse who suffered the Roach drop, struck twice in his next over. He first had Shkaib caught at short cover, before Sunil Ambris caught Soumya at short midwicket.Things could have gone worse for Bangladesh had Nurse sent a better throw to wicketkeeper Hope when Mithun, batting on 7, slipped mid-pitch after being sent back by Mushfiqur in the 24th over. Mithun also survived Roach dropping him at deep square leg when he was 22, and eventually the Mushfiqur-Mithun pairing made West Indies pay heavily.There was to be one more fielding lapse: Mahmudullah, dropped by Hope off Holder when he was on 10, before the game was done.When they batted first, West Indies once again gave away a good start against Bangladesh during this tri-nation series. They were 89 for 2 in the 20th over when Mustafizur had Roston Chase caught at midwicket. Ambris and Hope had struck six fours in the first five overs before Ambris guided Mashrafe to Soumya at slip. Darren Bravo fell for yet another low score, when Mehidy Hasan had him lbw for six. Mehidy had dropped Bravo in the previous over.Chase and Hope had added 33 runs for the third wicket, before Chase and Jonathan Carter fell in the space of four overs. With the scoring rate falling drastically, Holder slammed two fours to break a 103-ball boundary drought.Holder and Hope added exactly 100 runs to revive the West Indies innings, but with both batsmen falling in the space of 12 balls, Bangladesh got back control. They conceded just two fours and a six in the last six overs, as West Indies reached the underwhelming score.

Five-wicket haul secures second win in a row but fast bowler thanks Coulter-Nile for saving the team with the bat

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2019Mitchell Starc said that he believed that the best of Australia’s World Cup cricket is still to come, after making it two wins out of two with a hard-fought 15-run win over West Indies at Trent Bridge.Starc himself delivered the coup de grace, claiming the first five-wicket haul of the tournament to derail West Indies’ pursuit of 289, but deflected the praise for the victory to his team-mate Nathan Coulter-Nile, whose remarkable career-best score of 92 from 60 balls helped rescue the side from 79 for 5.”It’s exciting that we haven’t probably played awesome cricket today,” said Starc. “We’ve probably played some really good cricket in patches, but there’s definitely things we can get a lot better at in all three facets, so that’s exciting for the group.ALSO READ: Mitchell Starc strips away the resistance as Australia revive their fear factor“Finding ways to win and being five for not many and seeing Coults strike them the way he did was fantastic for him and for the group, to get us to a competitive total that we felt pretty confident in defending. Yeah, plenty of positives to take from today.”In sealing the win, Starc became the fastest bowler in ODI history to reach 150 wickets, achieving the mark in his 77th game to surpass the previous record held by Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq. And in nailing his yorkers to unsettle West Indies’ batsmen, it was a timely reprisal of the Player-of-the-Tournament form he showed when Australia won the last World Cup on home soil in 2015.”I’ve been pretty clear and calm in my approach to cricket in the last few months, and hopefully that’s a sign today that even when it’s probably in the balance, I can stay calm,” he said.”Yeah, I guess having that experience of four years ago probably helps play a part, but we’ve got guys that can bowl throughout an innings and bowl at the death, plenty of options for Aaron [Finch] to go to when called upon. It was another positive today for us to be able to defend that total, but obviously we had to get there with Coults first, which was fantastic.””It’s something I enjoy doing, bowling at the death,” he added. “You’re not going to win them all, and there’s going to be times where you go the journey or where you don’t quite get your team over the line. But I think that’s what I enjoy about the challenge of that.Watch on Hotstar (India only) – Mitchell Starc’s five-wicket haul“I guess the yorker, for me, is one [delivery] I’ve probably gone to more often than not in the past. So whilst they’ll know it’s coming, as long as I keep executing it, hopefully it’s going to be better for me than them.”Australia’s next challenge will come at The Oval on Sunday, when they take on another of the tournament’s big guns, India, who are also unbeaten after seeing off South Africa in their opening fixture at Southampton on Wednesday.Starc missed the 3-2 series win in India in March, and claimed not to have watched it on telly while recovering from a pectoral muscle injury. But he said he was looking forward to the challenge of bowling to their aggressive batting line-up.”As a bowling group, for us to continue talking about what we do really well and what we can control. We know they’re a fantastic team. They’ve got depth in their batting, they’re strong throughout.”Virat [Kohli] is obviously one of their key batsmen. Rohit [Sharma] scored a hundred [against South Africa], so we’ll have a chat about them as a bowling group, but at the same time we’ve got to remember what we can control, and that’s our strengths and where we want to bowl to the conditions, as well.”Starc will enter that contest knowing that he has already got the better of one of the most powerful batting line-ups in the competition, even if in the case of Chris Gayle, the delivery with which he finally claimed his wicket ought to have been a free-hit after a previous no-ball went uncalled.”I didn’t until about five minutes ago when someone told me,” said Starc. “I’m normally pretty close [to the front line], and I’ve actually been a fair way back for the last few weeks. I got away with that one, fortunately.”I’ve had some good battles with Chris over the years, and he’s obviously a major weapon for them, and we just saw a little glimpse of it today, how strong he can be when he strikes that ball.”He’s so strong, and I guess he finds the gap hitting over the top, doesn’t he? We knew that going into this contest that they’re going to have a few really big strikers and lots of boundaries, which he’s one of, but we were very fortunate to get him early enough to put them on the back foot again with the new ball.”

Fast bowler claims 3 for 18 in evening session with visitors still needing 373 on final day

ECB Reporters Network08-Jul-2019Kyle Abbott produced a whirlwind evening spell with the new ball to put Hampshire on course to beat Warwickshire at the Ageas Bowl.Fast bowler Abbott snatched 3 for 18 in five overs to put his side in the box seat, after Hampshire had set the visitors 404 to win.The South African accounted for both openers, Dominic Sibley and Will Rhodes, along with nightwatchman Olly Stone in a breathless stint – which left Warwickshire on 31 for 3 at the close.Earlier, Sam Hain had celebrated his first Specsavers County Championship hundred for three years. Highly rated batsman Hain needed 196 balls to reach the milestone for the first time since July 2016, which also came against Hampshire, before he eventually ended unbeaten on 129.The previous evening, Gareth Berg had declared the morning session to be vital in Hampshire’s hopes of winning this game.They needed seven Warwickshire first-innings wickets quickly to move the match along and claimed all seven mid-way through the afternoon session, with five coming in a frantic morning session.Fidel Edwards struck in the 10th over of the day, the fourth with the fresh ball, when Adam Hose was lbw to an in-swinger, before Keith Barker had former teammate Tim Ambrose caught behind.Berg and Lewis McManus teamed up twice in an over as both Ben Mike and Henry Brookes edged behind. Edwards then unearthed Jeetan Patel’s off stump.The one constant was Hain, who had batted brilliantly with Rob Yates the previous day and continued that form with an intelligent knock.Stone added a classy 21 before he was run out by Ajinkya Rahane, while attempting a second run off a misfield, before Oliver Hannon-Dalby edged Felix Organ to first slip.That meant Warwickshire were bowled out for 307, some 232 runs adrift of Hampshire’s first-innings total of 539, but the hosts decided against enforcing the follow-on.Instead, they gave their pace attack a rest and set about adding runs quickly.It worked for 10 overs as openers Ian Holland and Organ ticked the score to 45 before they were both castled in consecutive balls, delivered by Hannon-Dalby and Jeetan Patel respectively.Rahane and Rilee Rossouw followed quickly after, both at the hands of Hannon-Dalby, to leave Hampshire on 52 for four, with the lead only up to 284.But Aneurin Donald replicated his eye-catching first-innings century with a 41-ball half century – which saw a maximum over deep midwicket – during a 71-run stand with Sam Northeast.Berg was stumped, Lewis McManus, after an entertaining 20, was caught and Barker edged behind before the declaration was made with Hampshire on 171 for 8.Warwickshire were given a target of 404 to win the match with a minimum of 107 overs left in the game, 11 of which were bowled on a beautifully hot summer’s evening.Abbott needed just 11 balls to find one to nip back into Sibley’s off stump. The former Test bowler then had Rhodes caught low at second slip by Rahane and nightwatchman Stone bowled next ball to reach 41 scalps for the season.

Spinner available for two Championship games as well as remainder of Vitality Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2019South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj will return for Yorkshire’s next two Championship matches, as well as a spell in the Vitality Blast, having enjoyed success during his initial three-match spell in July.Maharaj will be available to play against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough later this month, and for the trip to Taunton beginning on September 10. He is set to make his Blast debut in the Roses match at Old Trafford next Friday, and could feature in seven fixtures; Yorkshire have been without the services of an overseas player since Nicholas Pooran completed a three-game spell last week.The slow left-armer claimed 20 Championship wickets at 19.95 in his first stint with the club, as well as adding a couple of fifties with the bat. Confirmation of his return comes after Adil Rashid was ruled out for an unknown period by his ongoing shoulder problem.”When I first arrived, I felt very welcomed by all the club officials and my fellow team-mates,” Maharaj said. “I managed to settle in really well on the cricketing front and I’m just glad that the opportunity has been afforded to me to be able to come back for the two four-day games and maybe a few T20s as well.”I’ve always wanted to play T20 cricket around the world, as regularly as I can and as often as I can. It’s my first T20 gig outside of South Africa so I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully, I can have an impact and that the team can get through to finals day.”I would love to make this a regular feature with Yorkshire cricket. Being a pro cricketer, I’d love to ply my trade all over the world. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Yorkshire so it will be a pleasure to come back as much as possible.”I was really pleased to be able to contribute in two victories out of three; I would have loved to made it a third. Hopefully over the two remaining fixtures I can get another couple of victories and help put the team in a good position to win the Championship.”The spin-bowling department has been an issue for Yorkshire all season, with Somerset’s Dom Bess having been signed on loan spells for both Championship and T20 cricket. Bess, who has played four Blast games, is set to return to Somerset before the next round of the Championhip, while legspinner Josh Poysden was recently ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a fractured skull in training.Yorkshire’s first-team coach Andrew Gale said of Maharaj: “He made a great impact in the three weeks he was with us. He’s a classy spin bowler and he contributed greatly to our wins over Surrey and Somerset.”He fitted in well with the dressing room and also contributed well with the bat down the order. We look forward to having him back with us next week and we hope he can continue to perform well for us at North Marine Road and Taunton too.”

His two wickets in the 35th over took the fight out of the West Indies batting pack

Aishwarya Kumar in Port-of-Spain12-Aug-20191:24

Virat wanted to badly score a century – Bhuvneshwar

Five minutes was all it took for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to flip the game in India’s favour.Thirty-fifth over. Nicholas Pooran, the form batsman, made it look like West Indies had the game in their pocket. They needed 92 in 12 overs, perfectly doable.The ball was on the shorter side, probably a bit slower than Pooran expected, and it was pulled to leg, where Virat Kohli was positioned at deep midwicket. Gone. Two balls later came the catch of the match. Before fans or even the Indian players realised what had happened, Bhuvneshwar, in his follow through, had plucked the ball out of thin air after a Roston Chase leading edge, flying diagonally to his left and landing on his arms.The score: 179 for 6, after the over had started with 178 for 4.”My catch, I just took it!” he said with a laugh at the press conference. It was too fast for him to even process what was happening. He’d taken a similar catch in the second T20I in Lauderhill, but this one was different.”I wasn’t thinking much about the result. We knew if we could get one or two wickets then we would be back in the game. When I came to bowl, all I was thinking was I have to bowl economically and I feel that wickets are the by-product of bowling tight.”Bhuvneshwar’s four wickets might have helped India reach the finish line, but there were two other performances that stood out for the team: the innings from Kohli and Shreyas Iyer.Kohli’s century (120 in 125 balls) was his first in 11 innings. The knock also took him past Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 11,363 runs, making him the eighth highest run-getter in ODIs.”From Virat’s expression you could see that he badly wanted to score a 100, not because he was out of form, but because he was getting out in the 70s and 80s and he always looking to score big runs,” Bhuvneshwar said. “The wicket wasn’t easy and it wasn’t easy to score runs as the ball got older. We know how good he is a player.”Iyer’s performance was overshadowed by Kohli’s, but he was as impressive, with a sensible 71 from 68 balls. For Bhuvneshwar, “I think it was a crucial partnership with Virat. He was hitting singles and he was hitting boundaries as well. I think he played with maturity.”

Having restricted South Africa to a below-par 149, India romped home with an over to spare

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy18-Sep-2019After a washout in Dharamsala, India got their home season underway with a comfortable win in Mohali, against a new-look South Africa side that didn’t quite show the depth of resources to genuinely challenge them. Having restricted the visitors to a below-par 149, India romped home with an over to spare, courtesy breezy knocks from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.By the end, Kohli put on an exhibition of crisp timing for the crowd; he stepped out to drive Andile Phehlukwayo between extra-cover and a desperately diving long-off to bring up his fifty, whipped Kagiso Rabada off his legs for an effortless six, and then jumped out to the left-arm spin of Bjorn Fortuin to chip him over long-on and bring the equation down to four runs off eight balls. Shreyas Iyer sealed the deal two balls later, drilling Fortuin for a straight four to give India a seven-wicket win.

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India were never in any trouble with the required rate, with Rohit Sharma giving them early impetus with a brace of pulled sixes off Anrich Nortje in the second over of the chase. Dhawan was in excellent touch too, as he demonstrated with back-to-back boundaries off Kagiso Rabada in the next over, a drive through the covers followed by a late chop backward of point.Andile Phehlukwayo gave South Africa some respite by trapping Rohit lbw in the fourth over, but that respite was brief, as Kohli walked in and gave immediate notice of his timing, with two fours – a clip off his toes and an on-the-up cover drive – in his first six balls. At that point, India’s required rate was only a tick above seven an over, and Kohli and Dhawan could stay in touch with it by simply taking the ones and twos on offer and waiting for the bad ball.The pitch had been a little two-paced through the first innings, and India’s seamers had profited from bowling cutters and slower balls into the surface. Now, there didn’t seem to be as much grip, perhaps because of dew – Kohli had decided to bowl first for this very reason.Virat Kohli takes a spectacular diving catch•BCCI

India’s relentless march to their target only suffered two further blips; a brilliant, one-handed grab from David Miller, running to his right at long-on, sent Dhawan back for 40, and then Rishabh Pant – sent in at No. 4, above Iyer – fell early, failing to get the desired elevation while he looked to scoop Fortuin over short fine leg. It was another moment in the life of a young, gifted shotmaker who often gets dismissed in the grey zone between playing the game that makes him who he is and playing recklessly.Sent in to bat, South Africa never really gained the sort of momentum they needed to post a total in the region of 180. Quinton de Kock peppered the off-side boundary to begin, but during the time he scored 52 off 37 at his end, his two batting partners made 35 off 31 balls at the other end.Reeza Hendricks struggled against the swing of Deepak Chahar, and eventually fell to a miscued lofted shot off him. Temba Bavuma didn’t look in any trouble against anyone in particular, but he definitely looked like a T20I debutant with 36 Tests and two ODIs behind him.He took full toll when the bad ball came – as when Hardik Pandya sent down two successive short, wide slower ones – but he didn’t quite seem to have the muscle or inventive strokeplay to manufacture boundaries. And just when South Africa were looking to accelerate, Bavuma suffered a slowdown, with Navdeep Saini denying him the width he craved and conceding just two runs off the bat in five balls. At the start of the next over – the 18th – he went after a slower one from Chahar and holed out, for 49 off 43 balls.South Africa were 126 for 3 at that point. They only managed three runs off the rest of the 18th over, and only four off the 19th, bowled by Hardik Pandya, losing an out-of-sorts David Miller along the way. Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius swatted Saini for a six each in the final over to give South Africa a reasonable finish, but it couldn’t make up for all the ground they had already lost.

We bring you all the analysis, stats, news and reaction from the second round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class competition

Annesha Ghosh21-Sep-2019

He ended with 6 for 7 from 3.2 overs to bowl India to a series win

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2019When Deepak Chahar speared in a yorker to dismiss Aminul Islam, he, in one go, became the first Indian man to complete a T20I hat-trick, collected the best ever figures in a men’s T20I, and sealed a 30-run win against Bangladesh to close out the three-match series.Despite the presence of dew in Nagpur, which negated the effect of Chahar’s primary weapon – swing – he was still more than a handful for the Bangladesh batsmen with his incisive bowling, earning him 14 dots from his 20 deliveries.Here’s how ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentators recorded his wickets:2.4 Chahar to Liton Das, OUT, 2.5 Chahar to Soumya Sarkar, OUT, Chahar on a hat-trick12.6 Chahar to Mohammad Mithun, OUT, 17.6 Chahar to Shafiul Islam, OUT, 19.1 Chahar to Mustafizur Rahman, OUT, slapped straight to deep point and that’s a fifth for Chahar. He becomes the fourth Indian to pick up a five-for in T20Is. You’ll look at the replays and say some of those wickets came when batsmen were looking for big shots, but hey, a five-for is a five-for. India one strike away from a series win.19.2 Chahar to Aminul Islam, OUT, he’s got a hat-trick!! Deepak Chahar has the best figures ever in T20Is. 6 for 7. How incredible is that? You wanted a proper fast bowler’s wicket? There you go, he says. Spears in a yorker, and flattens the off-stump. Just for those in doubt, the hat-trick has been spread across two overs. What a win, India take the series 2-1.

Kumar Sangakkara labels Kane Williamson’s side ‘worthy winners’

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2019New Zealand have been awarded the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket award for their “sporting conduct” in the aftermath of the World Cup final at Lord’s.Kane Williamson’s side were beaten to the trophy after a tied super over in the final by virtue of having scored fewer boundaries, and were praised by the judging panel for their “sportsmanship, humility and selflessness in defeat” following Jos Buttler’s run-out of Martin Guptill.The award, created in 2013 by the MCC and the BBC in memory of the broadcasting great, is presented annually to the player or team that has “best epitomised the principles of playing hard but fair”.Kumar Sangakkara, the MCC president, said New Zealand were “worthy winners” of the award.”In the heat of battle they displayed a level of sportsmanship that was fitting for such a fantastic final, and indeed tournament.”It is a testament to their squad that even after a match that will live long in the memory for the cricket that was played, we are still talking about the Spirit of Cricket. Their actions deserve this recognition.”Williamson was presented with the award during the drawn Test in Hamilton this week.