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Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope lived up to West Indies’ promise to fight back after their humiliation at Edgbaston

Alan Gardner at Headingley26-Aug-2017Leeds is only 65 miles from Scarborough – aka “Scarbados” – so it was perhaps appropriate that a sun-kissed Headingley was the scene for a pair of Bajans to revive West Indies’ hopes on this tour. Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope put on 246, West Indies’ second-highest partnership on the ground, to underpin a day of unexpected domination in their attempts to fight back into the series after being thrashed at Edgbaston.Hope’s unbeaten innings of 147 was his maiden Test century, coming two years after his debut against the same opposition in Bridgetown. Brathwaite, meanwhile, made his second hundred against England – the first was a valiant attempt to stave off defeat in Grenada during the 2015 series – and provided the bedrock for the tourists to go past England’s 258 during the evening session; not since Old Trafford 2004 had West Indies secured a first-innings lead in England.”The key word for us was ‘fight’,” Hope said on Sky TV. “We are not coming here to let people run over us.”Brathwaite, the team’s vice-captain, echoed that sentiment. “It was very important for us,” he said. “We know what we can do. We decided we would show fight, work hard and believe in ourselves and that’s what we did. Looking in the mirror after [Edgbaston], we knew we could do better, as a team we said we won’t give up and we’ll come out and work twice as hard.”While Hope and Brathwaite both hunkered down and made the most of their luck during a tricky morning session, neither got stuck. Brathwaite went to both fifty and a hundred with sixes down the ground, while the pull that took Hope to 99 had more than a touch of Gordon Greenidge’s flamboyance to it, one knee proudly pointing upwards. The next delivery was tucked for the single that took him to three figures, a moment he greeted with a full-throated roar of celebration.”Relief. It was good to get the monkey off my back,” Hope said. “I felt the pressure. As a professional you want to perform to your best. I wasn’t thinking about the 100 as much as I would expect [in the 90s]. I just tried to bat as long as possible and stick it out.”Having won his first cap as a 21-year-old, Hope’s introduction to Test cricket was a difficult one. It was not until his 17th innings that he finally passed fifty – although that helped West Indies to a series-levelling victory against Pakistan in Bridgetown earlier this year – but Brathwaite predicted that a player he has grown up alongside would now go on to establish himself.”I think Shai’s a top-quality player and I know he will do extremely well in international cricket,” Brathwaite said. “He already has a lot of one-day runs. This is the start of a lot of big things for him.”We played from Under-13 right up, so I’ve played a lot of cricket with him – we play first-class cricket together as well. I know him well and I’m very happy for him.”Although England fought back to remove Brathwaite, for 134, and Roston Chase with the second new ball, Hope remained at the crease until the close, in the company of the dangerous Jermaine Blackwood. From a perilous position of 35 for 3, and with last week’s twin capitulations with the bat still fresh in the memory, it was a quite remarkable performance. After West Indies’ impressive display with the ball on the first day, Kemar Roach had said he was expecting “big things” from the batsmen. Brathwaite and Hope ensured they did not disappoint.Brathwaite was involved in four reviews in all – twice overturning decisions given against him, twice surviving England’s attempts to winkle him out via DRS. The majority of his scoring inside the first hour was done behind the wicket, as several edges went to ground, but England were forced to reassess their tactics as the early cloud cover moved through and Headingley’s Janus face decided to smile on the batsmen once more.”I know my strengths and weaknesses,” Brathwaite said of his watchful approach. “I know it won’t be easy but once I’m out there, it’s good for my team. I try my best to be out there as long as possible and make sure I put away all the bad balls and it worked quite well for me.”Of West Indies’ turnaround in form from the previous Test, he added: “We stuck to our plans, as a bowling unit we were a lot more disciplined and, as batters, we just had to believe in what we’re working towards. We work hard in the nets and we believed we could do it. It’s not impossible and we showed our fight.” England will certainly know they are in a fight now.

Mark Davis has spoken about Sussex’s frustration in having to wait for Mustafizur Rahman, one of the club’s overseas signings, to arrive

Mohammad Isam20-Jun-2016Mark Davis has spoken about Sussex’s frustration in having to wait for Mustafizur Rahman, one of the club’s overseas signings, to arrive. Mustafizur has been working to regain fitness after the IPL and his stint in England remains uncertain.Davis, Sussex’s head coach, said the club was struggling to find another replacement for Mustafizur, after South Africa allrounder David Wiese departed for the CPL. Wiese was initially signed as cover for two games at the start of June but ended up making four NatWest T20 Blast appearances. Ahead of their game against Gloucestershire on Sunday, Sussex will also be without Chris Jordan who is away on England duty.”We have a couple of people but it is very late in the day so it is very hard to get replacements,” Davis told the Brighton-based . “The top players in the world have been signed, or are playing CPL, or their countries aren’t allowing them to play. That’s the frustration because we have chosen Mustafizur as probably the No. 1 bowler in the world in that format.”On June 9, the Bangladesh physio Bayjidul Islam had said that Mustafizur would take at least two weeks to be ready but last week, trainer Mario Villavarayan said he would require another month to recover from his injuries.Sussex had earlier said they would be happy to wait for Mustafizur, at least until June 10, but that time has now passed. Davis said he had only been able to get advice from Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha but he was confident that Mustafizur would show up for his side.”I spoke to the Bangladesh head coach and he said he would be assessed after two weeks, which is now,” Davis said. “It hasn’t been easy to nail Bangladesh down. Their coach has been the one I have got most direction from. But we are also dealing with physios and trainers who are putting things on the internet. I am sure we will get it nailed down.”

Yorkshire bowled superbly, with control and discipline, as the Division One leaders, Middlesex, were restricted to only one batting point

Jon Culley at Headingley07-Jun-2015
ScorecardJack Brooks finished with 5 for 44 to help cover for the continued absence of Ryan Sidebottom•Getty Images

This was more like it from Yorkshire, who had looked out of sorts as they escaped with a draw in Somerset a couple of weeks ago. They bowled superbly, with control and discipline, as the Division One leaders, Middlesex, were restricted to only one batting point after James Franklin, on winning the toss, had been content to invite Yorkshire to field.Jack Brooks, wicketless in Taunton, advertised the restorative benefits of a 10-day break by taking 5 for 44. Brooks is in his third season at Headingley after his move from Northamptonshire but he still celebrates every wicket as if it is his first, wheeling away to his left, fists pumping, crossing at least half a dozen neighbouring strips before coming to a halt.He came up with some terrific deliveries, dismissing Joe Burns, the Australian opener, with the ninth ball of his opening five-over new ball spell at the Football Stand End before returning for the final half hour of the morning at the Kirkstall Lane End, removing Sam Robson with his fifth ball, one that nipped back and beat the erstwhile England opener’s defence to clip the top of middle and off stumps.Robson was probably a key wicket, given that he was striking the ball nicely and taking his scoring chances well, better certainly than the more cautious Nick Compton, and had he survived until lunch the day might have unfolded differently. As it was, the fillip of his dismissal put a spring in Yorkshire’s step as they emerged for the afternoon session, by the end of which Middlesex were all out for 212.Yet as Middlesex reduced Yorkshire to 52 for 4 in reply, before Jonny Bairstow and Jack Leaning laid the foundations of a recovery, the value of Compton’s three-and-a-half hour 70 was emphasised. The 31-year-old, batting at No. 3, relishes the responsibility of holding his team together in difficult situations and this was a pitch on which there was always likely to be incident.During the morning session, with Brooks at the top of his game and Steve Patterson bowling his consistently testing line from the other end, Compton went 40 minutes without scoring a run, with 25 dot balls between his seventh and eighth scoring shots. “It doesn’t bother me at all to do that,” he said. “As long as I’m still in, I’ve got a chance. You want to be scoring but I’m happy to be patient. If you go searching for it on a wicket like that you’re going to give yourself a bit of trouble.”Where he feels less patient is in relation to his England career, which was so abruptly nipped in the bud on the eve of the last Ashes series and which has yet to resume. “Patience is one of my qualities as a batsman but as a person it is not my greatest asset,” he said.”I’m desperate to get back in the England side again and I feel I have the ability and the credentials to be a thorn in the side of the Australians in this Ashes if I was picked. But I have had to reset my goals a bit, concentrate on contributing for Middlesex and whatever will be, will be.”Yorkshire had to change their plans at the last minute when Ryan Sidebottom, who was to have made his comeback here after suffering a calf injury in the opening fixture, pulled up in the warm-ups, feeling all was not well. It meant Will Rhodes kept his place. Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance came back from Test duty, neatly filling the places vacated by Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett’s secondment to the England one-day squad.Yorkshire’s spin gamble paid off. It had been supposed that James Middlebrook, who took nine wickets in the match when he stood in for Rashid earlier in the season, would take that duty again but Yorkshire chanced that Glenn Maxwell, an allrounder but primarily a batsman, could fill in and how well they were rewarded.Introduced at 108 for 4 after 45 overs, Maxwell’s off-breaks claimed two key wickets in the space of three deliveries when Franklin inside-edged to short leg and John Simpson was trapped leg before, his ball keeping a touch low, at which point the Middlesex innings was collapsing at 119 for 6. Ollie Rayner went after him, hitting five of his next eight deliveries to the fence and surviving a dropped catch at short leg, but Maxwell came back with a ball that somehow squeezed through between his legs and bowled him.Compton ultimately fell to Brooks. Required to be bolder as wickets fell around him he gave Brooks his fourth wicket when he drove at one that found the edge and was taken at third slip by Leaning at the second attempt. Patterson, reliably consistent as ever, picked up his second wicket before James Harris, whose last-wicket show of defiance with Tim Murtagh at least meant Middlesex’s effort was not pointless, hooked to long leg to give Brooks his second five-wicket haul of the season.Murtagh was back in the Middlesex side for Steven Finn, called up by England, and took two wickets as Yorkshire’s day ended with something of a backs-to the-wall effort needed. Ballance, who needs some county runs more than most, struggled again, dismissed by Murtagh for 1 and Lees’ run of low scores continued when he edged the same bowler to second slip.Lyth looked in better shape, but the ball after he had hit one delicious drive past mid-off for four he followed a ball from Toby Roland-Jones that left him late and was caught, also at second slip. Andrew Gale’s dismissal left Yorkshire in difficulties and much will depend on Bairstow and Leaning staying out of trouble in the first hour on the second day.

Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard has expressed his disappointment at the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 team not passing on information about Pat Cummins’ condition before he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2012Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard has expressed his disappointment at the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 team not passing on information about Pat Cummins’ condition before he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture.Cummins is missing a second consecutive home summer due to injury, having developed soreness across the Champions League in South Africa that was revealed to be a stress fracture on his return home to Australia. Having already lost the allrounder Shane Watson to a pre-planned decision to bring him home to prepare for the home Tests, the Sixers did not initially inform Howard of Cummins’ discomfort.Howard, who remained in touch with the Sixers general manager Stuart Clark during the tournament, said he would be meeting with the Sixers at the next available opportunity.”We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t have the information as quickly as we should’ve,” Howard told ESPNcricinfo. “But for the opportunity to sit down with Sixers management on that, there’s a fair few other things going on. We know Pat’s out, and we have to deal with that, that’s life and you keep moving on. But we were disappointed with how that transpired.”Brett Lee meanwhile has volunteered to help Cummins rework his action after he was ruled out for the season with a stress fracture of the back. Cummins, 19, missed most of last summer with a foot injury and suffered a side strain during this year’s tour of England, and his latest injury is not the first back problem he has encountered during his short career.After scans revealed the extent of his injury, Cummins wondered whether he had fallen into bad habits with his action while playing so much short-form cricket, instead of bowling in the same manner he would when trying to swing a red ball. Lee had a number of injury troubles early in his career and he said he would be happy to pass on some advice to Cummins regarding the best way to bowl at express pace without damaging the back.”I’m not saying in any way, shape or form that Pat needs to change his action,” Lee told the . “But there are some things I reckon I could help him with [such as how] to clean his action up to make it a little bit easier on his back.”The one thing you don’t want as a fast bowler is hyper-extension and counter-rotation [like] he has [and] as I did when I was at the same age … I had that same set-up where there was a lot of twisting and turning in my action, which is where you get your pace from, but it does come at a cost.”Lee shrugged off injuries throughout his career to finish with 310 Test wickets and 380 one-day international victims, but unlike Cummins he did not make his Test debut until he was 23. Cummins was 18 when he wore the baggy green for the first – and so far, only – time against South Africa at the Wanderers last November, where he was Man of the Match for his seven wickets in Australia’s win.Cummins was especially impressive in the way he worked over the veteran Jacques Kallis, who struggled with a few short deliveries before edging to slip. The back injury means Australian fans will be denied the chance to see Cummins take on Kallis and the rest of the South Africans again this summer, and Lee said it was disappointing given what Cummins could have achieved on the Australian pitches.”This is a real blow. He’s a great fellow and I just want to see him out on the field and playing,” Lee said. “I’m shattered for Pat because someone like him bowling 155kph to 160kph at the Gabba would be exciting to see. It would be great to see him match what the South Africans have. It’s disappointing and frustrating to think we haven’t got that now, though it’s not the poor bugger’s fault. I’m 100% confident he’ll be back, but I would’ve loved to have seen him bowl to Jacques Kallis who, in my opinion, is the world’s best cricketer.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the one-off Twenty20 international between Bangladesh and West Indies in Mirpur

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo10-Oct-2011

Match Facts

Bangladesh v West Indies, October 11, Mirpur
Start time 1700 (1100GMT)Marlon Samuels smashed a century in the warm-up Twenty20•Associated Press

Big Picture

It’s been a tough year for Bangladesh. After convincing home one-day series wins against New Zealand and Zimbabwe last year, which helped them go above West Indies in the ICC one-day international rankings, many expected 2011 to be the year Bangladesh would permanently shed the “minnow” tag. Instead, they failed to make it past the group stages of the World Cup, were thrashed at home by Australia and then lost both the one-off Test and ODI series in Zimbabwe. Their captain and vice-captain were sacked after that tour and it is under Mushfiqur Rahim that they attempt a climb back up the rankings.In coming up against West Indies, they revisit the moment when it all started going wrong – when they were bowled out for 58 by the same opponents in a crunch World Cup game in Mirpur, a performance that caused their angry fans to aim stones at the team bus, only to hit the visitors’ bus instead.Bangladesh’s strength at home is based on the effectiveness of their spinners on slow, turning tracks. West Indies, though, might not find the conditions as alien as sides like New Zealand and Zimbabwe. The pitches in the Caribbean of late have often resembled subcontinent ones, and four of West Indies’ batsmen will come to Bangladesh straight from having played for Trinidad & Tobago in the Champions League Twenty20 in India.West Indies do not have Sunil Narine or Samuel Badree, who were so successful for T&T in Indian conditions, in their squad, but the presence of Devendra Bishoo and Andre Russell, who bowls a good slower ball, means they have an attack that can adapt to the conditions. They established their status as favourites by winning both their practice matches against a strong BCB XI outfit, one through a strong bowling performance and the other through a century from Marlon Samuels.For Bangladesh, a Twenty20 international is the last way they would want to start a comeback. They have only played 16 in their history and their last T20 win came way back in 2007. For West Indies, Twenty20 represents everything that is right and wrong with their cricket. A shock win in England, and T&T’s eye-catching performance in the CLT20 suggest this might actually be the format in which West Indies see most success in the near future.

Spotlight

Mushfiqur Rahim is stepping into the shoes of a man who led from the front. Mushfiqur is as not as outstanding an individual performer as Shakib. He is safe behind the stumps and handy with the bat, but has not won Bangladesh as many games as Shakib has – he has just one hundred in limited-overs internationals. Having been handed the captaincy he will want to contribute more than just cameos down the order and may promote himself.Marlon Samuels’ comeback to international cricket has not really taken off. But in the warm-up Twenty20, he blazed his way to 102 off 56 balls. In the absence of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo, Samuels is the most experienced player in the West Indies limited-overs squad. This series is an opportunity for him to show he still has the capability to become the world-class batsman he was expected to be when he first arrived on the international scene, way back in 2000.

Team news

Bangladesh have picked the uncapped Elias Sunny in their squad and may want to give him a chance before the one-day series starts. That may mean resting one of Mahmudullah or Nasir Hossain. Alok Kapali and Mohammad Ashraful are the experienced hands in the squad but there may only be place for one in the batting line-up.Bangldesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal 2 Imrul Kayes 3 Naeem Islam 4 Shakib Al Hasan 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk) 6 Alok Kapali 7 Mahmudullah 8 Abdur Razzak 9 Shafiul Islam 10 Elias Sunny/ Nazmul Hossain 11 Rubel HossainWith several senior players returning, the West Indies side will have a completely different look to the one that upset England at The Oval. They used just one specialist spinner in their XIs for both the practice matches but considering the conditions may play both Devendra Bishoo and Anthony Martin, meaning Kemar Roach could be left out. Kieron Pollard is not eligible to play in T20Is since he did not play the Caribbean T20, so Danza Hyatt will probably occupy a slot in the middle order.West Indies (probable): 1 Adrian Barath 2 Lendl Simmons 3 Darren Bravo 4 Marlon Samuels 5 Danza Hyatt 6 Denesh Ramdin (wk) 7 Andre Russell 8 Darren Sammy (capt) 9 Ravi Rampaul 10 Devendra Bishoo 11 Anthony Martin/ Kemar Roach

Pitch and conditions

Scores at the Shere Bangla Stadium have seen some strange fluctuations this year. This is the same ground where Bangladesh were bowled out for 58 against West Indies and 78 against South Africa during the World Cup. But there have also been scores of 370, by India in the World Cup opener, and 361, by Australia. The low scores were more due to poor batting, though, so the pitch can be expected to provide plenty of runs if the batsmen do not make careless errors.

Stats & Trivia

• This will be the first Twenty20 international to be played in Bangladesh since 2006. It is the first T20I at the Shere Bangla Stadium
• Though they have won a Test and one-day series in the West Indies, Bangladesh have never won an international match against West Indies at home

Quotes

“I believe we can win the series. West Indies are a good outfit. We have to play well to beat them.”
“Their attack is full of spinners and we have a good mix of pace and spin. It will be the spin of Bangladesh versus the pace of West Indies.”

A round-up of the seventh day of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2010

North Zone

Delhi made it two in two, beating Jammu and Kashmir by 19 runs at the Model Sports Complex. Opener Chetan Sharma top scored with 47, an innings laced with five fours and a six, and was supported by Rajat Bhatia in a 56-run stand for the third wicket. However, the J&K bowlers, led by medium-pacer Raman Dutta (3-28) and captain Abid Nabi (2-21), struck back to keep Delhi down to a chaseable 142. J&K appeared to begin in encouraging fashion, with the openers adding 25, but things soon began to worsen. Medium-pacer Kapil Yadav made inroads to reduce J&K to 35 for 5 at one stage and had it not been for Javed Ahmed’s 47, his team would have struggled to get past three-figures. They had to eventually settle for 123 for 9, with Yadav taking 4-15 in only his second Twenty20 game.Hemang Badani’s 42 off 30 deliveries took Haryana to a six-wicket victory against Services in Delhi•Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Punjab held their nerve to prevail over Himachal Pradesh in a thrilling finish at the Model Sports Complex in Delhi. Set a target of 129, they were bolstered by a strong opening stand of 41. However, Punjab experienced a scare when Karan Goel and Ravi Inder Singh fell in a space of three deliveries with the score on 77. When Rahul Sharma fell, the fourth wicket with 95 on the board, 34 were needed off four overs. It was Mandeep Singh who stepped up and guided his team to a nerve-wracking win, scoring a boundary off the final delivery of the game off which a single was needed. He remained unbeaten on 33 and was supported by Bipul Sharma, who made a run-a-ball 8. Earlier, VA Indulkar had provided some impetus to the Himachal innings with 41 but it proved inadequate.A half-century by Dhruv Singh who received support in a 68-run stand from Hemang Badani helped Haryana to a six-wicket win over Services at the Model Sports Complex in Delhi. In their chase of 133, Haryana were struggling at 32 for 3 but Badani, whose aggressive approach took the pressure off Dhruv, put his team back on track. He struck four fours and a six in his 42 while Dhruv held firm at the other end and eventually saw Haryana through. A three-wicket haul from left-arm seamer Sanjay Budhwar had restricted Services, though captain Yashpal Singh had set up a competitive score with 54.

Central Zone

Dishant Yagnik’s half-century and some disciplined bowling took Rajasthan to a 16-run win against Uttar Pradesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Yagnik hammered six fours and two sixes in his 54 off 40 deliveries after his opening partner Aakash Chopra was run out for 22. However, Sudeep Tyagi and Ali Murtuza struck to reduce Rajasthan to 100 for 5 from 97 for 1. Vineet Saxena slammed an unbeaten 39 off 27 to help his team to a competitive 155 for 7. Medium-pacer Afroz Khan then picked up 3 for 28 as none of the Uttar Pradesh batsmen could score quickly enough to pose a threat to Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh finished on 139 for 6, Ravikant Shukla top scored with 35 off 32.Railways scraped to a one-wicket win off the last ball against Vidarbha at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Chasing Vidarbha’s 155, Railways were given a rollicking start by PM Madkaikar, who hammered 27 off 14 deliveries as his side raced to 51 without loss in the fifth over. However, Vidarbha led by offspinner Akshay Wakhare hit back to leave Railways tottering at 89 for 6. Karan Sharma slammed 30 off 15 to bring his side back on track, and captain Murali Kartik held his nerve as Railways scampered home. Himanshu Joshi’s 64 off 43 had earlier set up Vidarbha, but his dismissal off JP Yadav in the 19th over meant they managed only 13 off the last 10 deliveries, which made all the difference in the end. Yadav finished with 3 for 21.

East Zone

Orissa‘s bowlers led by offspinner Rakesh Mohanty defended a modest target of 130 at the Sunshine Ground in Cuttack, dismissing Assam for 107. Mohanty took 3 for 18 after medium-pacer Santosh Jena had struck twice in three balls to reduce Assam to 10 for 2. Gokul Sharma resisted with an unbeaten 31 off 20 deliveries, but ran out of partners as wickets fell regularly. Mohanty and Niranjan Behera had earlier helped Orissa to 129 for 7, after offspinner Gokul and fast bowler Dhiraj Goswami had taken two wickets apiece to reduce them to 69 for 6 in 12 overs.Legspinner Subal Chowdhury’s 3 for 19 set up a comfortable six-wicket victory for Tripura against Jharkhand at the Ravenshaw College Ground in Cuttack. Jharkhand were dismissed for a paltry 96, which Tripura chased down with 13 deliveries to spare. Put into bat, Jharkhand had begun well, reaching 40 without loss in the seventh over. However, Rameez Nemat’s run-out triggered a collapse, and Chowdhury snapped up three wickets to leave Jharkhand struggling at 48 for 5. Keshav Kumar and Shahbaz Nadeem took the score to 81, but Jharkhand again lost wickets in a heap to be dismissed for 96. Tripura’s batsmen knocked off the runs without much fuss.

West Zone

Abhishek Nayar’s half-century led Mumbai to a five-wicket victory against Gujarat at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Opening the innings, Nayar smashed four sixes and as many fours in his 57 off 43 deliveries, as Mumbai reached the target of 146 with an over to spare. Mumbai were in some trouble at one stage as they slid to 115 for 5, but Siddharth Chitnis came in at No. 7 and hammered three sixes in his unbeaten 27 off 11 to settle the matter in Mumbai’s favour. Niraj Patel’s unbeaten 41 had earlier helped Gujarat to post 145 for 5. Several Gujarat batsmen got starts but fell without making substantial contributions.Samad Fallah inspired Maharashtra to a 14-run win over Saurashtra in a low-scoring encounter at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara.Saurashtra, led by Jaidev Unadkat, skittled the defending champions for 81, but left-arm medium pacer Fallah struck early and often to reduce Saurashtra to 3 for 14 in the fifth over, taking the prize wicket of India Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, trapped leg before for one, in the process.Pratik Mehta led Saurashtra’s fightback, making 28 from 32, the highest score of the match, but it was not enough as he got no support from anyone else; only two other Saurashtra batsman got into double figures, while there were six scores of 2 or less. Fallah finished with sparkling figures of 3 for 7 from his four overs, and was ably backed up by the other Maharastra bowlers, all whom took at least one wicket.

Kevin Pietersen has said his forced break from international cricket due to an Achilles injury had refreshed him at a time when he was beginning to fall “out of love with the game”

Cricinfo staff30-Oct-2009Kevin Pietersen, the England batsman, has said that his forced break from international cricket due to an Achilles injury had refreshed him at a time when he was beginning to fall “out of love with the game”.”The big thing is the mental rest,” Pietersen told the . “This year has been one of the toughest of my career, with the captaincy debacle in January plus the injury. My Achilles won’t hamper me any more and I definitely feel fresh mentally. I’ll be starting off really enjoying myself — and this year I haven’t particularly enjoyed playing cricket because I was in pain and because of what happened in January. It’s been a tough thing for me.””I believe everything happens for a reason and these three months have happened to refresh me and knowing that I was sort of falling out of love with the game, it was a symbol or a sign for me to refresh and recharge my batteries.”Pietersen last played for England in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s after which he had surgery on his Achilles. He then missed the following seven-ODI series against Australia, the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa and the inaugural Champions League Twenty20, where he would have played for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.England’s next assignment is a tour of South Africa, which begins in the first week of November. Pietersen is expected to travel to South Africa on November 9 or 10 and, if fit, his comeback match could be the warm-up fixture against South Africa A in Potchefstroom on November 17.”I can’t wait,” he said. “I haven’t been at my best since India last year. Preparation is what I bank on and preparation has definitely been hampered because of external thoughts. These last three months have cleared my brain and my thoughts.”

UP Warriorz couldn’t capitalise on the blazing start from Grace Harris and couldn’t defend their below-par total

Srinidhi Ramanujam26-Feb-2025Nat Sciver-Brunt put on an exceptional all-round show to propel Mumbai Indians to the top of the table with an eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz in Bengaluru. She took three wickets and followed it up with an impressive unbeaten 75 off 44 balls to chase down the target of 143 with 18 balls remaining.Warriorz initially rode on Grace Harris’ quickfire 45 and Vrinda Dinesh’s solid 33 but lost eight wickets for 54 runs to eventually end with a below-par total.Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews stitched together a solid 133-run stand for the second wicket and made the chase look easy. Though Matthews struggled her way to a 50-ball 59 after getting a life early on, Sciver-Brunt’s boundary-laden knock made sure MI raced to their third win in four games. Warriorz are fourth on the points table now with two wins after five games.With 254 runs from four matches, Sciver-Brunt is now the leading run-scorer of this WPL, overtaking Ellyse Perry’s 235.

Another Sciver-Brunt show

Sciver-Brunt came in early when MI were 6 for 1 in the fourth over, with Matthews struggling to get her timing and rhythm right. Chinelle Henry was swinging the ball both ways, making it difficult to score off her. But Sciver-Brunt took only five balls to change things around.She welcomed Saima Thakor with a hat-trick of fours in the sixth over – hitting to long-on, deep square-leg and deep cover – staying deep in the crease, and putting her bottom hand to good use and effortlessly manoeuvring the ball to both sides of the pitch.When there was width on offer, she cut fiercely, and when the length was short, she pulled behind and in front of square and toyed with the Warriorz bowlers. She brought up her fifty off 29 balls with nine fours, bringing the equation down to 54 off 47 balls. This included a hat-trick of fours off Henry as well, in the 11th over.From there, it was a cakewalk for MI as Matthews also found her range and started hitting boundaries. Overall, Sciver-Brunt struck 13 fours in her 44-ball stay.Grace Harris gave UP Warriorz a blazing start•BCCI

Harris moves up, Vrinda moves down

After four matches, Warriorz took a cue from the WBBL and the Hundred and promoted Harris to open for the first time in WPL after her struggles in the middle order. The move felt just right as she looked in her element from the start.With Kiran Navgire falling in the first over, it was up to Harris and Vrinda to steady the innings on a pitch that was holding up a bit, and the two shared 79 runs off 52 balls to give Warriorz solidity.Harris began with a scoop against Sciver-Brunt and punished Shabnim Ismail for three fours on the bounce in the second over. She kept attacking and smashed 6, 4, 4, 6 off Matthews in the fourth. She swept and pulled towards square leg, muscled the ball to long-on, and rolled her wrists to bisect the gap between mid-on and midwicket.On the other hand, Vrinda – who had scored only 40 in the previous four matches – looked in much better touch and played second fiddle to Harris well. She played a lofted cover drive elegantly to start the third over and followed it with a hook in the same over. Unlike Harris, Vrinda found boundaries on the off side with classy cover drives in her 30-ball 33.The first two partnerships gave Warriorz 81, the most for them in this WPL so far.

Middle overs remain a problem for Warriorz

It was something the Warriorz captain Deepti Sharma had admitted recently, that they needed to do better in the middle overs. But they couldn’t, squandering a strong start by losing wickets in clumps, again, to lose the plot. From 81 for 1, they collapsed to 123 for 7, losing five of those wickets in the middle overs for 30 runs.It began when Amelia Kerr removed Harris in the tenth over after the batter was dropped on 44 by Ismail off Jintimani Kalita. Offspinner Sanskriti Gupta then bowled a momentum-changing 11th over when she dismissed both Vrinda and Tahlia McGrath in the space of four balls. Warriorz slowed down and did not quite recover after that.Overall, they have lost the most wickets (24) in the middle overs (7 to 16) in this WPL so far and have been the slowest (6.72) in that phase too.

He says England can now look to launch another white-ball revolution like after their disappointing 2015 World Cup

Matt Roller05-Nov-2023After England’s team of thirty-somethings were finally eliminated from the World Cup, the oldest man in their squad recognised the finality of this defeat to Australia, their fifth in a row and their sixth in seven games. “Everything good comes to an end,” Moeen Ali said. “Maybe the writing was on the wall, and we just didn’t see it as players.”This dismal title defence will prompt an inevitable overhaul in England’s ODI set-up. The side that lost by 33 runs in Ahmedabad on Saturday contained eight members of their victorious 2019 squad; the exceptions were 36-year-old Dawid Malan, the retiring David Willey and Liam Livingstone, who is averaging 10 in the World Cup.Unlike eight years ago, when England’s group-stage exit at the 2015 World Cup led to a complete revamp of their limited-overs set-up, there is plenty of talent waiting for an opportunity. The issue is that 11 of the 15 players at this tournament are a month into two or three-year contracts, so a complete refresh may not be straightforward.Related

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For once, England’s schedule may work in their favour. They always planned to take a second-string ODI squad for their three-match series against West Indies next month, and then their focus turns to the T20 World Cup next June. They have a nine-month break between ODIs before hosting Australia in late September 2024.But the pressing issues are whether they will give Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott the opportunity to defend the T20 title they won as captain and coach in Australia last year – and if so, how they will freshen up their squad to avoid a repeat of the debacle that has played out in slow motion over the last month in India.Ben Stokes will have knee surgery when he returns home and did not commit to making himself available for the T20 World Cup when asked on Friday. Jonny Bairstow has been short of runs across white-ball cricket over the last three months, while Malan’s T20 numbers have dipped.Moeen, who is on a one-year central contract, plans to speak to England’s coach and captain at the end of this World Cup to discuss his future. He is their vice-captain in white-ball cricket but has only played in four matches at this World Cup, has gone wicketless across 24.2 overs and, even after his fluent 42 against Australia, has only made 83 runs.”I’m obviously going to speak to Jos and Motty and see what they want from me, whether they want me around or whatever,” Moeen said. “I don’t know. If they say, ‘look we’re going to go with younger players and start again’ then I’m more than happy. I get it, I understand… everything good comes to an end at some point.”Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, will return to India this week and join the squad in Kolkata ahead of their final group fixture against Pakistan on Saturday. He will have to make some difficult decisions over players’ futures – and Moeen admitted that, in Key’s position, he would rip things up and start again.Moeen said that he expects the core of the T20 side to remain the same ahead of next year’s World Cup, but said of the ODI set-up: “If I was in charge, I’d play the younger guys. I’d just start again and I’m sure they’re going to do that. It’s common sense, more than anything. You want that fearless approach again, and it’s a great time to start again.”Maybe the writing was on the wall and we just didn’t see it as players because we thought we’d be performing well. But I just think everything good comes to an end at some point. It’s very exciting, because going forward we’ve got some really good players we know will come back into the squad with that fearless [style]. That start we had in 2015 could start again.”Moeen delivered another blunt assessment of England’s performance, saying that they have “been rubbish throughout: batting, bowling and fielding”. But they face two more significant games against Netherlands and Pakistan, needing at least one win and quite possibly two in order to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.”We’ve got to turn up properly as players,” Moeen said. “They are two massive games coming up. I know how important the Champions Trophy is in terms of experience at a world event because then for the World Cup, you get that experience – especially with, potentially, younger players coming in. It’s very important we make sure we qualify.”

Taniya Bhatia, who hasn’t played a T20I since the World Cup final in March 2020, is back in the squad

S Sudarshanan11-Jul-2022Offspinning allrounder Sneh Rana has made a comeback to the national side, finding a place in India’s 15-member squad for the Commonwealth Games starting July 29 in Birmingham. Rana, who returned to the side in 2021 after a five-year gap, had been rested for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka that concluded last week.In another surprise move, the selectors included Taniya Bhatia as one of the two wicketkeepers alongside Yastika Bhatia, with Richa Ghosh left out of the main squad and named as one of the three standby players. Taniya’s last T20I appearance was the World Cup final against Australia in Melbourne in March 2020.Poonam Yadav, who didn’t get a game during the Sri Lanka tour, and Simran Dil Bahadur were the other two players in the standby list.Harleen Deol, who was included only for the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka tour, has also found a place in the squad.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Ahead of the tour to Sri Lanka, head coach Ramesh Powar had said that Rana had been rested with a view to managing her workload. “Sneh has been rested for this series and she is in the NCA working on her fitness,” he said. “Moving forward, the FTP that we have, there are about 20-25 T20 games and we want our players fresh for all the series. We want to manage the workload of the bowling unit as well as the batting unit. We are trying to balance it out. As of now, she is being rested and is working on her fitness.”Yastika’s elevation as the primary wicketkeeper, meanwhile, has been a recent development, with India having earlier preferred Ghosh’s skills with the big gloves in addition to her hitting down the order. Ghosh was India’s preferred keeper during the ODI World Cup this year, having been one of the stand-out players in the ODI series against New Zealand that preceded the tournament, scoring 146 runs at a strike-rate of 114.06 and an average of 48.66. But she managed only 81 runs in seven innings at the World Cup, getting into double figures only twice.Ghosh’s poor form continued through the Women’s T20 Challenge, and then into the tour of Sri Lanka, where Yastika took over keeping duties after the first T20I.Taniya has not played a competitive game since the Women’s T20 Challenge, but played a vital knock during that tournament, scoring 36 off 33 balls and putting on 82 with Harmanpreet Kaur to rescue Supernovas from 18 for 3 against Velocity. Taniya’s international record with the bat is modest, however, with her 22 T20I innings so far bringing her an average of 9.22 and a strike rate of 94.31.Jemimah Rodrigues, who made a successful return to the side in Sri Lanka after missing out on selection for the Women’s World Cup earlier this year, kept her place in the Commonwealth Games squad. She scored 72 runs in the three-match T20I series, including a player-of-the-match performance in the first match, where her unbeaten 36 bailed India out of trouble. S Meghana, who batted at No. 3 in each of those matches, also made the squad, though it is as yet unclear if she has been included as a back-up opener or as a No. 3.Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar will form the seam attack, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma are the main spin options, with support from Deol’s legspin and Rana’s offspin.This year’s Commonwealth Games will include women’s cricket for the first time, with the eight-team tournament to be played under the T20I format. India are grouped alongside Australia, Pakistan and Barbados in Group A. India begin their campaign with the tournament-opener against Australia on July 29, before taking on Pakistan on July 31.All matches will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham.Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (ice-capt), Shafali Verma, S. Meghana, Taniya Sapna Bhatia (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh RanaStandby: Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav, Simran Dil Bahadur