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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

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.

Alana King takes four wickets as struggling Essex slump to another defeat

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay30-Jul-2025A brilliant century from Lancashire and England’s Emma Lamb helped her side ease to their latest Metro Bank One Day Cup victory by 138 runs over struggling Essex at the beautiful surroundings of Sedbergh.Lamb hit a career best 142 and shared a mammoth opening partnership of 162 with Eve Jones (71) as the Red Rose racked up a total of 306 for 4 off their 50 overs after being put into bat by Essex skipper Grace Scrivens.As for Essex there were few highlights with only Jodi Grewcock’s half-century to take back with them on the long journey home from the South Lakelands.Lamb and Jones have proved a hugely effective opening pair this season with three century partnerships before this game and their fourth never really looked in doubt from the moment they began to stroke Essex’s Kate Coppack and Eve Gray around Sedburgh’s lush outfield.44 runs came off the first powerplay but it was after the introduction of Esmae McGregor and Abtaha Maqsood that the openers really got going with the former going for 25 off her four overs.The century partnership was reached in the 20th over with Jones bringing up he half-century soon after with the landmarks coming regularly thereafter with the opening pair reaching 150 in the 30th over.The long-awaited breakthrough for Essex eventually came when Jones mistimed a drive to Coppack off Sophie Smale but the disruption did little to put off Lamb who brought up her century with a huge six off a waist high full toss from the expensive Maqsood.By the time Lamb was out in the 42nd over most of the damage had been done with her superb knock ending off 109 balls with 15 fours and two sixes.Fi Morris quickly followed for five to a caught and bowled from Scrivens but Lancashire powered on through to the end of their innings with some energetic running from Seren Smale and skipper Ellie Threlkeld putting on 38 for the fourth wicket in just under six overs with Smale’s run out in the penultimate over scant consolation for a tired looking Essex.The early departure of opener Scrivens, who edged Mahika Gaur behind for two in the third over, ensured Essex were on the back foot from the off and in truth Lancashire never allowed their innings to gain any momentum.Cordelia Griffith edged Gace Potts’ first delivery to keeper Threlkeld for 13 and Smale, who had battled well for 38, holed out to mid off and a grateful Potts to give Alana King her first wicket.When King bowled Australian Maddie Penna for 15 it looked like the game was up with the visitors 100-4 and over 200 runs still required with the task getting even tricker when Jo Gardner was brilliantly caught by Kate Cross at mid off for eight off left arm spinner Sophie Morris.Meanwhile the stubborn Grewcock was providing the only solace for Essex as she reached her half-century from 54 balls but that would prove as good as it got as she departed hooking a Gaur slower ball straight to Morris for 52.Gaur suddenly found herself on a hat-trick when Amara Carr hit her first ball straight up in the air to Alisa Lister to leave Essex 142-7 and all hope all but gone.Coppack was run out for two and although Gray hit a flurry of fours that was pretty much it with King picking up a third wicket when MacGregor was stumped for one and then repeating the trick the very next ball when Maqsood departed the same way to leave Lancashire challenging at the top of the table going into the break for The Hundred.

O’Rourke took four wickets, while Santner and Bracewell got two each, just days before teams meet in Champions Trophy opener

Deivarayan Muthu14-Feb-2025Despite injuries to Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand clinched the tri-series title in Karachi and sounded out a warning to the hosts, five days before they meet again in the Champions Trophy opener at the same venue. In the absence of the senior quicks, Will O’Rourke stepped up admirably with a four-wicket haul, while the spinners, led by Mitchell Santner, straightjacketed Pakistan in the middle overs, limiting them to 242.The batters then completed the demolition job on a two-paced surface, chasing the target with 28 balls and five wickets to spare. After Devon Conway and Kane Williamson set the platform with a 71-run partnership for the second wicket, Daryl Mitchell launched from there in the middle overs, befuddling Pakistan’s spinners with his variety of sweeps, including the reverse. He struck up an 87-run stand with Tom Latham, which highlighted New Zealand’s dominance in the middle overs, before Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips sealed the deal.It was Phillips who had kicked off the tri-series with an unbeaten 106 off 74 balls, his maiden ODI century, against Pakistan, before Williamson reminded the world of his genius with an unbeaten century of his own in New Zealand’s second game of the tri-series against South Africa. Having bagged ducks in those two games – and also against Sri Lanka in Auckland last month – Latham made a timely return to form, and re-established himself as New Zealand’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter with his 56 off 64 balls.Related

• Sears out of Champions Trophy with hamstring tear; Duffy brought in

• Stats – Babar joins Amla as fastest to 6000 ODI runs

Latham had benefitted from multiple reprieves – he was dropped by Shaheen Shah Afridi off his own bowling on 15, and then by Saud Shakeel at square leg on 29. Earlier, when he was on 13, legspinner Abrar Ahmed pinged him on his pad and wasn’t given out lbw. Pakistan missed a trick by not going for a review, with ball-tracking indicating that it had pitched in line and would have crashed into the stumps.Abrar, Pakistan’s specialist spinner, lacked penetration, and was taken for 67 in his ten overs. In stark contrast, New Zealand’s premier spinner Santner was unhittable, coming away with his most economical ten-over spell in ODI cricket. Forty of his 60 balls were dots as Santner varied his pace from the mid-70s kph range to mid-90s kph with remarkable control. Bracewell also kept things tight, finishing with 2 for 38 in his ten overs.The first powerplay was a portent for Pakistan’s go-slow. The hosts played out 48 dots in the powerplay, in which they managed 48 for 2, and failed to hit a high tempo through the innings. After taking a sequence of short balls away from Fakhar Zaman with his sharp angle from over the wicket, including two off-side wides, O’Rourke brought a fuller one back into the opener and had him chipping a catch to square leg for 10 off 15 balls.Babar Azam then brought the Karachi crowd alive when he laced Jacob Duffy through the covers for four, and became the joint fastest to 6000 ODI runs in his 123rd innings, alongside Hashim Amla. Nathan Smith, the seam-bowling allrounder, though spoiled the party when he had Babar spooning a return catch for 29 off 34 balls in his first over.Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan needed 13 balls to get off the mark, and then four more balls to find the boundary. Salman Agha was more fluent at the other end, wedging the ball into the gaps as the pair forged an 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket.Will O’Rourke claimed career-best ODI figures of 4 for 43•Getty Images

The stand, however, ended when O’Rourke returned to the attack and had Rizwan chopping on with a cross-seamer, which stopped on him, for 46 off 76 balls. After hitting hard lengths and the splice of batters with high pace and bounce in the early exchanges, O’Rourke proved that he could be just as effective with the older ball. Almost five overs later, Bracewell had Agha miscuing a reverse sweep to short third to leave Pakistan at 161 for 5 in the 37th over.Tayyab Tahir then gave the innings a leg-up with his 38 off 33 balls, but his innings was cut short by Duffy in the 42nd over. Tahir was the only batter in Pakistan’s top seven to strike at over 100. In the last eight overs, New Zealand conceded just four boundaries, keeping Pakistan to 242.The new ball did a lot more under lights, with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi using the swing and seam movement on offer to apply pressure on Conway and Williamson. In the first powerplay during the chase, the broadcaster put up a graphic showing the average swing achieved during the two innings. New Zealand’s seamers had generated 1.5 degrees of swing, and Pakistan’s 2.4 degrees.The experienced pair of Conway and Williamson absorbed all of that pressure, and once the ball became older and softer, they picked away Pakistan’s spinners. Williamson carted Agha’s offspin over mid-off while Conway flayed Abrar and Khushdil Shah through the covers. When Williamson tried to pop Agha over the infield once again, he caused the ball to dip and turn to castle him for 34 off 49 balls. Conway then departed two short of his half-century, but the depth in skill in New Zealand’s middle order was too much to overcome for Pakistan.New Zealand will be strengthened further by the potential return of Ravindra and Ferguson for the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday.

England spinner chooses to head north for new competition instead of stick with home county

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2024Durham have strengthened their women’s squad ahead of next year’s launch of the new county competition, by signing the England offspinning allrounder, Mady Villiers, on a three-year deal.Villiers has represented England on 20 occasions, most recently on their tour of Ireland where her death-over bowling all but snatched two victories from the jaws of defeat.In all, she has taken 221 white-ball wickets in her professional career, having already surpassed 2000 career runs with eight half-centuries, and she’s been an ever-present for Oval Invincibles in the Women’s Hundred, helping the side to claim consecutive titles in 2021 and 2022.Her move to Durham is a coup for the club, which is due to take over from the Headingley-based Northern Diamonds to become the North-East regional representatives in women’s domestic cricket, ahead of Yorkshire’s accession to Tier 1 in 2026.A product of the Essex pathway, Villiers has, however, opted against staying with her home county, who will also have Tier 1 status from 2025 as they take over from Sunrisers, who last week claimed victory in the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. She will now be playing under the captaincy of her England team-mate, Hollie Armitage.”I’m really excited to be joining Durham ahead of the 2025 season,” Villiers said. “I was so impressed with the vision that the club and coaching staff have, and I knew it was definitely something that I wanted to be a part of.”It’s an incredibly talented group of players and I have always loved playing with Hollie as captain, so I’m confident making the move up north is the right one for me.”Having played in Essex for my whole career it was going to take a lot for me to leave, and I think that speaks volumes on how I feel about Durham and the potential we have as a collective. I can’t wait to get going and see where this team can go over the next few years.”Director of Cricket, Marcus North said: “We are thrilled to announce Mady has agreed to join Durham on a three-year deal. Our squad is coming together nicely and to be able to recruit an England international in Mady is huge for us and the region.”Mady has shown what a top performer she has been domesticity for several years for Sunrisers and the Oval Invincibles and we are now excited for her journey to continue with us in the North East.”Hopefully her move to Durham will see her thrive in the county as she looks to add more England caps to her name and further excel with bat and ball.”

Psychologist to travel with team to Sri Lanka as part of focus on players’ mental wellbeing

Alan Gardner01-Jan-2021England will have to “manage” the threat of Covid-19 as well as devote extra attention to physical and mental wellbeing on their three-month tour of the subcontinent, according to Test captain Joe Root – and that includes being ready for the possibility of players testing positive.England’s last two trips overseas have been aborted, in differing circumstances, due to issues related to the coronavirus. They will take a charter flight to Sri Lanka on Saturday after the touring party all returned negative Covid-19 tests. It marks the resumption of a tour that was postponed in March, when England returned home early as the pandemic escalated worldwide, ready to fulfil a two-Test commitment that will be followed by four more Tests in India, as well as ODI and T20I series.The resumption of life in biosecure environments comes a matter of weeks after the abandonment of England’s ODI series in South Africa. In Cape Town, what Root described as a “domino effect” of positive cases among the South Africa squad, staff at the team hotel, and then England’s party – albeit they were later determined to be false positives – led to the tour being called off on player welfare grounds.Related

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• Kallis named as England batting consultant for SL Test tour

• SL worried about new Covid-19 strain, but tour not in doubt

• England players exempt from quarantine in spite of SA Covid mutation

However, with Covid-19 becoming a fact of life – and amid concerns over more transmissible strains of the virus emerging in both the UK and South Africa – Root said the players would continue to be flexible and adaptable while putting their trust in England’s medical staff.”It’s a really dangerous virus and wherever we will be, we will be in contact with it in some shape or form,” he said. “The reality is, look around the rest of the world, Pakistan in New Zealand, teams have had to deal with cases on tour. That might be the case for us, if so we have to manage it as best as possible.”South Africa was a very unique situation, a different set of circumstances. It will be different again [in Sri Lanka and India], we’re as best prepared as we can for it and we’re fully aware of what we’re getting ourselves into. Fingers crossed everything goes well, we look after each other, adhere to the rules, stay as safe as possible and play some really good hard Test cricket.”I don’t think it [a positive test result] will end in an automatic end of the tour. They are decisions that have to be made by the medical staff and the people entrusted in making those decisions. I don’t think it’s a player decision even though guys have the opportunity to opt out if they don’t feel safe. All we’ve got to do is make sure we follow the guidelines as best as possible, if we do that we’ll give ourselves the best chance of that not being a situation. Albeit we know the protocols if something was to happen.”As part of the ECB’s increased commitment to looking after player wellbeing, which includes plans to appoint a dedicated staff member focused on mental health, the England squad will be accompanied by a psychologist in Sri Lanka. Dr James Bickley has been brought in from Changing Minds, an organisation that aims to “enhance wellbeing and sustain high performance”. His role is distinct from that of the team’s regular sports psychologist, David Young, who is unavailable for the tour.”There’s going to be a little bit of extra support for the players in terms of a psychologist in the ground at all times, making sure there’s someone to speak to,” Root said. “Everyone is very aware that if at any stage it becomes too much they are entitled to get out and that’s an important thing to remember. As players, as well, you have a responsibility to speak up, not just use the staff but the other guys around you as well. As captain that’s a big part of my role, to make sure people are comfortable in the environment, in a position to be at the top of their game and play Test cricket to the best of their ability.”It’s important they can say if they don’t feel they’re in the right space physically or mentally to go out and represent their country. Everyone is very aware of that.”England’s selectors have already signalled that they will look to manage the workload of their multi-format players over the coming months, with Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer rested for Sri Lanka, Rory Burns on paternity leave and Jos Buttler likely to miss a portion of the India tour. With six Tests scheduled in seven-and-a-half weeks, Root said he expected rotation to be a significant factor.”You look at the amount of cricket on this coming tour and it’s unrealistic for everyone to get through the whole thing. Rotation and rest is going to be an integral part of managing this next phase of games. Not only is the mental welfare of the players really important but physically being able to get through, with so many back-to-back games in those conditions, is going to be a big ask. We are going to have to be quite flexible and adaptable in terms of selection – which is going to create opportunities for people to stand up and stake a claim at certain times through this winter. It’s very exciting and another way we can develop as a squad, in terms of strength in depth.”Despite an acknowledgement of the bigger picture, Root added that England have not yet given up on forcing their way into contention for the World Test Championship final. They are currently in fourth, trailing Australia, India and New Zealand.”We know we are not totally best placed at the moment but we have a good opportunity to win games now. All we can do is look after those performances. We almost have to play out of our skin to get into that final but if that is the case then it means we are playing extremely well. Everyone wants to be part of a massive game at Lords against one of the other best teams in the world.”

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.

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group C matches on December 4, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Rahul Shukla took his third five-for in first-class cricket•PTI

Jharkhand wrapped up a 10-wicket win against Hyderabad to secure their place in the knockouts. Resuming on 169 for 6, Hyderabad managed 267 on the back of B Anirudh’s unbeaten 78. Jharkhand then chased down 27 in 3.4 overs with 10 wickets to spare to take a bonus-point win as they became the second team from Group C, after Saurashtra, to qualify for the quarter-finals. Anirudh hit 10 fours and a six during his 78 off 135 balls but did not get enough support from the lower order. Rahul Shukla was the pick of the bowlers for Jharkhand, claiming his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
ScorecardServices cruised to an innings and 62-run win in Agartala, consigning Tripura to their fifth defeat of the season and leaving them rooted at the bottom of the table. Tripura, who began at 9 for 0 following on, needed to score at least 282 to make Services bat again. Parvinder Singh and Rajesh Banik stroked half-centuries to keep the team afloat, but meaningful contributions from the other players were few and far between, as Services struck at regular intervals to bowl the hosts out for 220. Raushan Raj ended with figures of 3 for 37, while Diwesh Pathania and Muzzaffaruddin Khalid snared two scalps apiece.