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India A gained the upper hand in the second unofficial Test against West Indies A in St Vincent, after their bowlers restricted the hosts to 212 for 8 on the opening day

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2012
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Kraigg Brathwaite made a defiant, unbeaten 66•West Indies Cricket

India A gained the upper hand in the second unofficial Test against West Indies A in St Vincent, after their bowlers restricted the hosts to 212 for 8 on the opening day. India were in a good position to bowl West Indies out for under 200 but a lower-order resistance, and Kraigg Brathwaite, who batted out the day to finish on an unbeaten 66, ensured that didn’t happen.West Indies, who chose to bat, lost opener Justin Guillen early. Donovan Pagon followed soon, bowled by legspinner Rahul Sharma. But Brathwaite held firm and added 48 with Nkrumah Bonner for the third wicket. Unfortunately for West Indies, the middle-order batsmen, despite getting starts were unable to push on. Bonner fell for 25, Jonathan Carter was dismissed for 19 and Kyle Corbin departed for 13. When Devon Thomas was trapped in front by Rohit Sharma, West Indies were in trouble at 130 for 6.Brathwaite, however, was defiant and received good support from Jason Holder, who made 20 in a 34-run stand. Veerasammy Permaul did better, scoring a quick 36 before being cleaned up by Ashok Dinda. Permaul and Brathwaite took West Indies past 200, with the opener unbeaten at stumps, having faced 292 balls.For India, Shami Ahmed, Ashok Dinda and Rohit Sharma picked up two wickets each.

George Bailey, the Australia captain, has praised his bowlers for their work at the death in keeping West Indies to 150 in the first Twenty20 in St Lucia

Brydon Coverdale28-Mar-2012George Bailey, the Australia captain, has praised his bowlers for their work at the death in keeping West Indies to 150 in the first Twenty20 in St Lucia. Australia comfortably overhauled the target with eight wickets and nearly two overs to spare, and it was a fine performance considering Kieron Pollard scored a 20-ball half-century that was the fastest ever by a West Indian in a T20 international.West Indies scored only 16 runs from their last three overs as Shane Watson and Brett Lee found just the right length to keep Pollard and his colleagues quiet. That was a pleasant change for the Australians, who in the past few couple of months have often struggled to contain teams in the later stages of innings, especially in ODIs.”It was pretty polished,” Bailey said of the all-round effort. “[The bowling was pleasing] particularly given how we finished a couple of games in the one-dayers. For the guys to have responded to that, learnt what they have, come up with plans and then execute them, I think that’s really pleasing and we’ll take a lot of confidence out of that.”It was nothing too radical. We talked about a few different plans and a few different lines and a few different options. The only thing I really wanted to do today was to give myself options at the back end, in case they were going really, really hard. Then we weren’t locked in to bowling particular bowlers. Having so many bowlers in the team that was the beauty of the options I had.”Bailey said Australia’s all-round performance was close to their best of the tour so far, and it was the second win for Bailey from three matches since taking over as captain. The loss of David Warner in the first over of the innings created a few nerves in the Australian dressing room, but the way Watson and Michael Hussey batted, the target never looked big enough.”You’re never sure. The key is always going to be early partnerships for us and early wickets for them,” Bailey said. “Losing one in the first over always puts you on edge a little bit. But I think the class of Shane and Huss, they just suit each other perfectly. Watto clears the pickets and Huss just pierces the gaps so beautifully.”Watson was named Man of the Match for his 69 and 1 for 16 from four overs, and he made a clear difference to the balance of the side having missed Bailey’s first two games as captain through injury. Bailey said quality allrounders were a godsend for any T20 captain.”It’s gold to have any allrounder in your team and [especially] to have one of the quality of Watto, who can hold his own in the team as a batter or a bowler,” he said. “He’s so, so important to our team and it was nice for him to free himself today. His last two overs were particularly good at the death and then the clinical way he batted and the strength of clearing that fence.”

Jos Buttler struck a superb 109-ball century to rescue Somerset on the second day of their County Championship match against Sussex at Taunton

03-Aug-2011
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Jos Buttler struck a superb 109-ball century to rescue Somerset on the second day of their County Championship match against Sussex at Taunton. Buttler smashed four sixes and 11 fours to transform the match after title-chasing Somerset had slumped to 93 for 7 in reply to Sussex’s 245, Monty Panesar claiming five wickets in the morning session for the visitors.Buttler made exactly 100 and shared an eighth-wicket stand of 142 with Alfonso Thomas, who battled away for nearly three hours to make 42. Murali Kartik also added 34 at number 10 before Somerset were bowled out for 286 to earn a first innings advantage of 41.By the close Sussex had made 94 for 4 in their second innings to lead by just 53, losing the cream of their batting in Chris Nash, Luke Wells, Ed Joyce and Murray Goodwin. For them it was a day of missed opportunity.Somerset began it on 36 for 1 and progressed to 51 before night-watchman Steve Kirby was caught at second slip off a turning delivery from Panesar. Opener Arul Suppiah quickly followed, also caught in the slips off Wayne Parnell for 14, and Panesar sent back Chris Jones and James Hildreth for ducks as Somerset slid to 54 for 5.That brought Buttler to the crease. He and Nick Compton added 39 before Compton top-edged an attempted sweep off Panesar and fell for 16 to a simple catch by Goodwin at mid-wicket. Peter Trego went first ball to a bat and pad catch at short leg and Panesar had figures of 5 for 26 from 11 overs. Sussex appeared to be exerting a vice-like grip and even when Somerset got to lunch on 124 for 7 they were in deep trouble.Buttler had already deposited a delivery from Panesar into the River Tone and lifted him over mid-wicket for another maximum, and in the afternoon session he grew further in confidence.While Buttler attacked, Thomas dug in to give the youngster valuable support and they helped take the score up to 235 before Buttler played on to a ball from James Anyon, the centurion departing to a standing ovation and sporting pats on the back from several Sussex players.Thomas had faced 154 balls and struck six boundaries and a six when he was caught by Nash at short-leg off bat and pad to give Ollie Rayner his second wicket. By then Somerset had secured a second batting point, something which seemed inconceivable before lunch.The home side’s bowlers then maintained the momentum, Kartik striking twice and Kirby and Thomas once each as Sussex went from 69 for 1 to 87 for 4.

Simon Katich, the Australia opening batsman, has broken his silence over not receiving a central contract, telling the that he has not been treated fairly

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2011Simon Katich, the Australia opening batsman, has broken his silence over not receiving a central contract, telling the that he has not been treated fairly. Katich believes he was judged solely on his performances in his last four Tests, which he played despite being injured, and not on his overall form since returning to the side in 2008.Since his comeback, Katich has made 2928 runs at 50.48 and has been not only Australia’s most reliable batsman but among the most bankable in the world. In that time only Alastair Cook has scored more runs.”Do I think I have been treated fairly? Not at all, not at all,” Katich said. “From my point of view I have had to play through injuries in the last four Test matches, two with a broken thumb and two with a torn achilles. I didn’t want to play Test cricket like that although I know that is what they have judged me on.”In India they kept telling me it was a bruised thumb and I could hardly hold the bat but they kept telling me it was bruised so I thought ‘Well I can’t not play Test cricket if it’s a bruise’.”Katich revealed that his recovery program began the night after the Adelaide Ashes Test ended. A fellow player offered him a beer at the airport but Katich turned him down, saying, “No thanks mate. Recovery starts now.”He has been undergoing rehabilitation since then and it was at the SCG on Tuesday that he received the phone call from Andrew Hilditch about being left out of the list of contracted players.”I was in the middle of a fitness test, saw the phone ringing and saw who it was and thought ‘Damn, I better answer this’,” Katich said. “I knew full well what it was, I didn’t want him to have the luxury of leaving a message, so I grabbed it. It’s funny, I have been treated like this before by them. I have been down this path a number of times.”I spoke my mind, I certainly didn’t hold back. There was no shirking the issue, but there was nothing said that was personal, it was just about the decision. I vented my spleen about the decision and explained why. There was no name-calling or anything like that.”Katich believes he still has much more to give Australia and that if he didn’t, there was no way he would have undergone such a rigorous rehabilitation program.”Put it this way I don’t think I would have wasted our physio and our fitness trainers’ time over the past six months or my time doing this rehab every second day for the sake of it. That is not how I operate. It’s not just my time, it is the staff’s time as well and I am always respectful of that.”Up to Tuesday I had done three weeks’ training ahead of the rest of the squad starting and I did that because I wanted to be ready and firing in Sri Lanka.”Katich is scheduled to hold a press conference on June 10 to announce his future plans.

Batter hits the fastest T20I fifty by a Bangladeshi, while allrounder becomes the format’s highest wicket-taker

Mohammad Isam29-Mar-2023
17 overs a sideShakib Al Hasan had Litton Das for company as Bangladesh dominated Ireland by 77 runs to clinch the T20I series in Chattogram. They led the way in the hosts’ all-round show that provided them their second-biggest win in the format (by runs). Shakib made a quickfire 38 and then took a five-wicket haul while Litton’s 83 and three catches as wicketkeeper made equal impact. Shakib’s second T20I five-for also took him past Tim Southee to become the highest wicket-taker in the format.Openers Litton and Rony Talukdar added 124 runs in 9.2 overs of the rain-shortened match. Litton cracked 83 off 41 balls before Shakib’s show.Ireland looked incomplete in all three departments, hardly stringing together a few good overs. There was a dropped catch, a few crucial misfields and then the batting fell apart in the face of Shakib’s brilliance. Earlier, rain just at the stroke of the start of play had threatened to ruin chances of the game.The first drops of rain on Wednesday afternoon fell ten minutes after the toss. The downpour stopped after 40 minutes, when the umpires declared a 3:15pm start but minutes later, a drizzle began. The 17-overs a side match finally started at 3:40pm, a full 100 minutes after the scheduled start. But it hardly deterred or unnerved the Bangladesh openers who took off from where they left off in the first T20I.

Litton, Rony blast record-breaking start

The fastest team fifty. The fastest individual fifty. The fastest team hundred. The biggest opening stand for the team. Litton and Rony did it all, as they smacked Ireland around the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in a memorable opening stand.It was 9.2 overs of pure entertainment. The pair hit 13 fours and five sixes, breaking several team records, as the Ireland bowlers and fielders were ordinary. Bangladesh raced to 50 in 3.3 overs after Rony and Litton took big overs off Mark Adair and Graham Hume. It was the first time a Bangladesh opening pair had three successive fifty-plus stands.Litton was dropped in the fourth over on 16, with George Dockrell unable to hold on to his bullet of a pull shot. The same over went for 17 runs, before Fionn Hand went for 19 runs in the following over, his first one on tour. Next over, Litton reached his half-century, beating Mohammad Ashraful’s 20-ball fifty from 2007. Bangladesh raced to their 100 in 7.1 overs, only the second century opening stand for the team. When Ben White removed Rony in the tenth over, his 44 came off 23 balls with three fours and two sixes in the arc between long-on and midwicket.Litton struck his three sixes over point, long-off and square-leg. Seven of his ten fours came behind square on either side of the wicket, but the most significant number was the eight dot balls he played in his 41-ball stay. It is the lowest by a Bangladeshi batter in a 75-plus knock. Litton’s innings however ended tamely when he edged legspinner White in the twelfth over, following a mild lull in the run-rate.Litton Das reached his fifty in 18 balls•AFP/Getty Images

Shakib, Hridoy pound the Irish

But that lull didn’t last for too long. As soon as Shakib slammed Harry Tector for a four and a six in the 13th over, Bangladesh’s run-rate soared again. They also reached their fastest 150 team total in T20Is. Soon afterwards, Hridoy backhanded Hume for his first six over long-on. Shakib deposited Adair’s poor slower ball over square-leg.The pair struck a couple of more blows to take the total close to 200 before Hridoy got out. It was a quick 61-run third wicket stand, helping Bangladesh to consecutive 200-plus totals in the series.

Shakib five-for sinks Ireland

Bangladesh started the Ireland chase with a wicket first ball. Taskin Ahmed removed the dangerous Paul Stirling as Litton held a fine catch diving to his right. It is the second time Taskin took a wicket off the first ball of a T20I innings. From the second over onwards though, it was the Shakib show. With his first ball, Lorcan Tucker mildly swept him to Rony at square-leg, falling for six.In his second over, Shakib zoomed in his arm-ball into Adair’s pads, deflecting on to his leg-stump. Last ball of the over, Delany was caught behind for six. He took two more wickets in the sixth over after which Tector missed a swipe on 22 to become Shakib’s fifth scalp.He became the first cricketer to take a five-for and score 30-plus runs in a T20I twice in his career. Shakib’s five-for is also the fourth time a bowler took five wickets in the first six overs of a T20I innings, emulating Lasith Malinga, Fred Klaassen and Oshane Thomas.

Campher’s spark not enough

Ireland were sinking after Shakib had reduced them to 43 for 6. But there was some life left in Curtis Campher who did the rest of the scoring mostly on his own. He struck three sixes and as many fours in his 29-ball 50, before Taskin cleaned up his stumps in the 15th. Campher had just earlier reached his fifty with two sixes off Taskin with two ramps. Ireland needed a few more innings of that quality on the night, which they lacked, and went down by 77.

The tournament will take place against steeply rising Covid cases in New Zealand

AAP25-Feb-2022Meg Lanning has labelled the ICC’s emergency World Cup rules as “interesting” but stopped short of criticising the governing body as the tournament nears.Australia face England on February 5 to begin their quest to reclaim the 50-over ODI World Cup, lost to the English five years ago.As host nation New Zealand grapples with its worst Covid-19 outbreak of the pandemic, organisers have scrambled to put in place rules that will allow the tournament to continue should players get infections.The most eye-catching is a regulation that teams can take to the field with just nine players and utilise up to two staff in fielding roles to ensure matches get played.Related

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“I’ve asked our physio and media manager what their preferred fielding position was if they were to take the field,” Lanning said, only half-joking. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that for any team. It’s an interesting way to go about it.”If that did occur I think it’d be a pretty interesting situation. Hopefully for everyone in the tournament we don’t get to that point.”New Zealand reported 12,011 community Covid-19 cases on Friday, double the previous day’s count, ahead of an expected outbreak peak during the event. The government and ICC have issued strict biosecurity rules in an attempt to shield players from catching the virus.Asked whether the tournament should have been moved from New Zealand, Lanning said she “hadn’t thought about that at all”, offering her sympathy to the hosts. The ICC have also confirmed they will look to re-schedule fixtures in the event of Covid-19 outbreaks affecting squads.”It would be a nightmare trying to organise these tournaments,” she said. “We want to get cricket in. That’s the most important thing. Teams are going to have to be very flexible and understanding of things that are happening at really short notice.”Hopefully if this or that does happen, you can have a bit of a conversation around things and discuss what the options are and I’m sure that the the ICC will be making the best decision for the World Cup and making sure the games can continue on.”

He had played two first class matches for Maharashtra, and been the fitness trainer of senior and age-group teams

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2020Former Maharashtra Ranji player Shekhar Gawli has died after falling in a 250-feet-deep gorge in Maharashtra”s Nashik district, reported on Wednesday.Gawli, 45, played two first class matches for Maharashtra in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He had gone for trekking in the Western Ghat mountains of Igatpuri hill station in Nashik along with some of his friends on Tuesday evening.”His body was found at around 10am on Wednesday. The body will be handed over to the family members after post-mortem,” an official from the Igatpuri police station told PTI.Gawli was a right-hand batsman and a legspinner. He was currently the fitness trainer for the Maharashtra Under-23 team, and had been in the same role with the senior team the previous season. The Maharashtra Cricket Association secretary, Riyaz Bagwan, expressed his sadness at Gawli’s demise, particularly given that Gawli’s father had also died recently.”We at Maharashtra Cricket Association are saddened to hear the news about Shekhar,” Bagwan told . “His family was already going through a tough phase since Shekhar had lost his father just two weeks ago. He had brought in a lot of cricketing experience to our team with his efficient level of training and coaching.”

Fast bowler calls for final to be available “to as many people as possible” as interest grows ahead of knock-outs

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2019Liam Plunkett has taken to Twitter to clarify his comments about free-to-air access to the World Cup, after appearing to call for the final to be shown on terrestrial television if England make it through next week’s semi-final in Edgbaston.Plunkett’s recall for the past two matches against India and New Zealand helped England to overcome a wobble in the group stages, and seal their progression to the last four of the World Cup for the first time since 1992. They will face either India or Australia in the second semi-final on July 11, with the final at Lord’s following three days later on July 14.Speaking in the wake of England’s 119-run win over New Zealand at Chester-le-Street, Plunkett was asked by the BBC’s 5 Live Breakfast Show whether he would support calls for the final to be made available on free-to-air, given that the World Cup has been overshadowed in terms of viewing figures by the women’s football World Cup – England’s semi-final against the USA on Tuesday drew 11.7 million viewers, making it the BBC’s biggest television audience of the year. England’s World Cup cricket fixtures, by contrast, have drawn an average of 450,000.
“I’m not sure they’re going to do it, but it would great for everybody to be able to watch that,” Plunkett said. “Playing for England, you’re the pride of the country and you want people to be able to access that and watch that. I’m not sure it’s going to happen but for the guys, you want as many people to watch it as possible.”Although the ECB is understood to have held talks with Sky about the status of the World Cup final, it is now unlikely that the match will be made available beyond Sky’s own subscribers. There is a possibility that it will be shown on Sky One, which is estimated to reach half of the households in Britain, and one-off subscriptions may be also made available through Sky’s Now TV platform.”It’s always nice to be on a bigger platform,” Plunkett added. “Hopefully people tune in to watch that game. It would obviously be great to have as many people watching as possible, we feel like we’ve built something special here as a team. It would be nice to go all the way and to have big numbers watching that final if we get through and win, that would be huge.”A proportion of free-to-air cricket access is set to be reinstated from next year onwards, with the advent of the ECB’s new 100-ball competition, after Sky agreed to cede some of its exclusivity to the BBC as part of a new £1.1billion rights deal from 2020-2024.Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive who brokered the deal, recently described Sky as “cricket’s best friend” – the broadcaster has been involved in cricket since 1990 and has been the exclusive partner for home internationals since 2006 – and Plunkett later tweeted to clarify his remarks.”Sky Cricket are an incredible partner for the game and have been for the past 20+ years,” he wrote. “I was asked a question & I never said that it should be on FTA. My words have been twisted & the headline is misleading. The whole country is behind us. Keep believing.”

England’s former World Cup goalkeeper turned out for Shrewsbury in his first league cricket match since 2007

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2018Club cricket up and down the country took a back seat to World Cup football at the weekend, with England’s 3pm quarter-final against Sweden on Saturday causing postponements galore as captains struggled to rally their teams.One man who had more reason than most to take his eyes off the events in Russia, however, was England’s former World Cup goalkeeper Joe Hart, who chose instead to turn out for Shrewsbury in what would prove to be his first league match since 2007.Hart, 31, won the last of his 75 England caps against Brazil in November and had been his country’s first-choice keeper at both the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016.However, he was overlooked for the 23-man squad for the on-going World Cup, with Jordan Pickford, Gareth Southgate’s preferred pick, going on to make a string of world-class saves in a man-of-the-match-winning display in Samara.Hart’s contribution to his day of sport on Saturday was rather less telling. He came in to bat at No.9 for Shrewsbury, who started the day in third place in the Birmingham & District Premier League, and made 6 from 11 balls in a total of 250 for 8 from 55 overs.And despite a best haul of 5 for 13 in his previous appearances for the club, Hart was not called upon to bowl as Knowle & Dorridge made 203 for 9 in reply. Mike Barnard (6 for 48) and Henry Blofield (2 for 52) shared the bulk of the honours as Shrewsbury fell just short of forcing the win.”Joe was a credit to himself, his cricket club and his community yesterday,” tweeted Knowle bowler Chris Cheslin. “Great to see him back on the cricket field enjoying the game surrounded by his friends and family.”As a teenager, Hart had been in the same Worcestershire youth team as Steven Davies, the former England wicketkeeper, but put his cricket ambitions on hold as his football career developed.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed has said that only Bangladeshi role models in fast bowling will help inspire the next generation of quicks in the country

Mohammad Isam30-Jul-2016Former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed has said that only Bangladeshi role models in fast bowling will help inspire the next generation of quicks in the country.Aaqib, who is in Mirpur to conduct a specialised High Performance camp for fast bowlers, said that there had to be an Imran Khan-like knock-on effect in Bangladesh cricket to generate greater enthusiasm for the discipline.”I think it is a lack of role models,” Aaqib said. “For Bangladeshis, whatever picture or video you show them of a fast bowler, it won’t inspire the youngsters unless you show them a Bangladeshi bowling at 145kph. But it has started to happen recently. Three of your guys have been showing youngsters that they can bowl fast. That confidence is there. And this is the beginning.”[Back in Pakistan] we used to have only few fast bowlers but after Imran came up as a role model, we never looked back. After Rubel [Hossain], Taskin [Ahmed] and Mustafizur [Rahman], you will have many fast bowlers in the next few years. Your own role models.”Seventeen fast bowlers from the extended High Perfomance squad will participate in the first four days of the camp, while the next two days will be exclusively for the nine fast bowlers in the Bangladesh team.Aaqib said that he focused on the keys to bowling on the first day. He added that while the camp’s duration may not seem very long, he would track the progress of these bowlers in the coming months.”I always believe in process, which means you can make a difference. In a week, you can transfer some knowledge but you can’t actually move them into progression,” he said. “Sometimes it is difficult to accept something that is not suitable, but I can transfer knowledge, give them a plan and, after three months, I can come and see what levels they have reached.”Discussing with the local coaches also, my belief is that some key points should be told to the players while the details should remain with the coaches to discuss. I will try my best to transfer these to the boys. It would not make a difference if I am not around after 6-7 days, but they should know where they are headed.”Aaqib said that he wasn’t keen on changing a bowler’s action but was willing to add some value to it by introducing small changes like increasing momentum.”I don’t believe in changing bowlers’ actions but I believe in adding something that helps them to bowl fast. Today we focused on speed. You should utilise your capacity. We focused on 1-2 km/h with their running speed, which is momentum, and 1-2 km/h from their front-foot force absorption and balance. And the third point is both your bowling arm and your non-bowling arm [must follow the principles of] pull-and-push theory, which can increase your speed by a further 1-2 km/h. The target is a 5-6 km/h pace increase,” he said.Aaqib also highlighted the need for bowlers to make themselves into “products” so that they are sought after in the market.”Tomorrow [Monday] we will lead into mental skills and then end with tactics – when to attack, when to bowl variations and what are the variations, and what are the pillars that every bowler should have.”We had a very interesting discussion with them about making a trade of yourself. When you are challenging as an international star, you must have something in you to show people, become a product which people can buy.”Shoaib Akhtar had pace. Seam and accuracy like Glenn McGrath. And something like Mustafizur Rahman. Something unusual. You must create something that is sellable, which is your trade. I think six days is a long time to understand and make someone understand,” said Aaqib.