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USA were the sixth team to qualify after the washout against Ireland in Florida

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2024Six out of 20 teams have progressed so far to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup 2024, with India (A1), Australia (B2), and Afghanistan (C1) in Group 1, and USA (A2), West Indies (C2) and South Africa (D1) in Group 2. The teams are assigned A1, B1 and so on not on the basis of where they finished in their group but according to pre-tournament designations.After USA confirmed their Super Eight berth from Group A following the washout of their game against Ireland, England and Bangladesh are the frontrunners to take the two remaining spots, B1 and D2 respectively, though there are other teams still in the running. The first round ends on June 17, and the Super Eight stage begins on June 19.The first match of the Super Eight round will be between South Africa and the USA, in Antigua. West Indies take on the second team that qualifies from Group B in St Lucia on the evening of June 19, before India and Afghanistan begin their Super Eight fixtures against each other on June 20 in Barbados.Australia take on the second team to qualify from Group D in Antigua on the evening of June 20, while South Africa will play the second Group B qualifier on June 21 in St Lucia.The full Super Eight fixtures can be accessed here.There are no points or net run-rate advantage carried forward from the first round into the Super Eight stage, where all teams will start on a level footing. The top two teams from each Super Eight group will qualify for the semi-finals.The first semi-final is in Trinidad on June 26, and the second semi-final is in Guyana on June 27. If India make it to the semi-finals, they will play in Guyana. The final of the T20 World Cup is scheduled for June 29, in Barbados.

Rohit Sharma will lead a team that has named six specialist batters

Shashank Kishore25-Apr-20237:12

Muzumdar on Rahane’s selection: ‘They have gone with experience’

Ajinkya Rahane will have a second shot at WTC glory after being named in India’s 15-member squad for the final against Australia from June 7-11 at The Oval. Rahane is one of six specialist batters in the squad and comes in to replace the injured Shreyas Iyer, who recently underwent back surgery.Rahane’s inclusion means there is no place for Suryakumar Yadav, who was one of the reserve batters during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home against Australia this February-March. Suryakumar featured in just one Test of that series – Nagpur – and made 20 in India’s innings victory.Rahane’s inclusion comes at a time when his IPL stocks have hit an all-time high. Playing for Chennai Super Kings, his powerplay batting and six-hitting have earned him many plaudits. In his most recent outing on Sunday night, he made a 29-ball 71 in a Player-of-the-match winning effort against Kolkata Knight Riders.Related

• Hazlewood included in Australia's WTC final squad amid fitness race

• Why Australia could have the advantage in the World Test Championship final

• Shastri backs Rahane's inclusion in WTC final squad: 'In a one-off, you need your most experienced players'

• How Ajinkya Rahane became sixy

• India's rope-a-hope with Pujara and Rahane is wearing thin

Last month, Rahane, who led India to a famous Test series win in Australia in 2020-21 was omitted from BCCI’s central contracts for the current season, a demotion from the Grade B he’d been given prior to that. He last featured in a Test in January 2022, in South Africa.Rahane’s inclusion means his county championship debut with Leicestershire is likely to be pushed back after initially committing to play eight red-ball games and the entire 50-overs competition.Rahane was a constant feature for Mumbai during the 2022-23 domestic season in which he led them to the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s title. During the Ranji Trophy, he had insisted that he wasn’t giving up hopes of an India comeback and ended the season with 634 runs in 11 innings, with two hundreds and an average of 57.63.”I don’t want to prove anything to anyone,” Rahane had said, when asked where he thought his career was at. “I think my competition is with myself. If I stick to that, things will fall into place. I don’t want to run after anything… just want to back my game.”The only other surprise was the absence of a second frontline wicketkeeper after KS Bharat. It’s likely KL Rahul will take up that role if required. Rahul had earlier lost his Test spot during the Australia Tests to Shubman Gill.Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t considered as he’s recovering from back injury, with the team management keen to amp up his workload and have him fully fit in time for the 50-over World Cup this October-November.Jaydev Unadkat, who made a Test comeback after nearly 11 years in Bangladesh last December, keeps his spot alongside Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. Shardul Thakur, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are the allrounders.India squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat

While Wood has already submitted his paperwork for the auction, Root is clear he would do so only if it doesn’t detract from his Test commitments

Matt Roller14-Jan-2022Joe Root and Mark Wood are among the England players who are weighing their potential involvement in the 2022 IPL, with players required to submit their paperwork for next month’s auction by the end of the week.Root, England’s Test captain, has never been picked up by an IPL franchise and has not entered the auction since going unsold in 2018. The ECB is yet to confirm the centrally contracted players’ availability for the 2022 edition, but with England’s first Test against New Zealand starting on June 2, Root would likely be required to leave the IPL before the knockout stages if picked up.Related

• Tom Harrison: Ashes defeat a 'brilliant opportunity' for England to 'reset' importance of red-ball cricket

• 'It's certainly on the table' – Starc contemplates return to the IPL

• IPL auction to be held on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru

Wood has played in the IPL before, appearing for Chennai Super Kings in 2018, but withdrew from last year’s auction at the 11th hour in order to spend time with his young family.Both players said this week that they were interested in the prospect of playing in the IPL – Wood has already submitted his paperwork for the auction – but that they would only do so if taking part does not detract from their Test commitments.”I have not made a decision on the IPL just yet,” Root said on Wednesday. “It is something I will have to keep wrestling with. Time is ticking but I have a lot to weigh up. The thing I will weigh up is: will it have a negative impact on me playing Test cricket for this team? If I don’t think it will, then I will put myself in that position to play and put myself in the auction.”But I will never compromise or do anything that will detract from playing Test cricket for England. It is so important to make sure that is the priority for me and other players as well.”There is no guarantee that Root would get a deal if he put his name forward. He has not played a T20I since May 2019 and his England commitments in Test and ODI cricket have limited his availability for domestic T20 cricket: he made only six appearances in the T20 Blast between 2013 and 2019, and had a quiet short-form season in 2021, making 97 runs across six games for Yorkshire and Trent Rockets.Wood is more likely to pick up a contract. Overseas fast bowlers have been valuable assets for IPL franchises in recent years, and he attracted interest from Mumbai Indians before the postponed 2020 season as a potential replacement for Lasith Malinga.Wood has entered the auction at the highest base price, INR 2 crore (US$ 269,550 approx.) but said that the chance to improve as a T20 bowler ahead of another World Cup in Australia next year was more important than any prospective financial rewards.”There’s a World Cup at the end of the year I have my eyes on,” Wood, who turned 32 on Tuesday, said. “It hurt a lot this winter when we got knocked out in the [T20 World Cup] semi-final [by New Zealand] and it feels as a one-day group that it’s time to push hard to leave a legacy behind.Moeen Ali gives Jos Buttler are the two England cricketers to have been retained by their IPL teams•AFP

“At the minute, I’ll be in it,” Wood told reporters in Hobart on Thursday. “But it’s important to have that time at home and reflect. It’s just whether the time away from home, the bubbles… I’ve done Australia without my son (around), which has been quite hard, especially around Christmas, so I’ll have to see how the family situation is.”If I look ahead to the World Cup and I can learn something in the IPL, if I can put myself in pressure situations and try and get better for the end of the year, that’ll be good. We’ve a really good one-day team and this could be our time to really win things. That’s a burning desire.”From a financial side of things, it’s great to go in, but actually the reason is cricketing, because of what’s to come with England. I just felt the reason I’d have gone last year was purely financial; this year, it would be about trying to improve and put myself in those pressure situations for later.”We’ve seen the benefits to other fast bowlers. I was watching [Anrich] Nortje do well there. When we played the T20 competition [World Cup], he looked really good because he’s had that experience. If I can move my game forward that would be brilliant.”Moeen Ali (Super Kings) and Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) were the two England players retained by their franchises for the 2022 season, with many of their other leading limited-overs players set to enter the mega auction in Bengaluru next month.

Another dismal batting display from team that has forgotten how to win

Paul Edwards at Trent Bridge11-Aug-2020
The haze at Trent Bridge this morning reminded one or two spectators of Amritsar in the era when MCC played North Zone on tours that were adventures rich and strange. This match also possessed its mysteries, of course, and it was really not until early afternoon that one could discern its clear course. Then Yorkshire’s bowlers seemed to take wickets in almost every over they delivered and a final day we thought might be a tense affair became anything but.Needing 188 to record their first four-day victory since June 2018, Nottinghamshire got barely halfway to their target. A week after Derbyshire had chased down 365 on this ground, Steven Mullaney’s side collapsed to 97 all out, losing their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 13.1 overs. When it isn’t Fynn Hudson-Prentice, it’s Jordan Thompson. When it isn’t Michael Cohen, it’s Jack Shutt. When it isn’t someone, it’s someone else.Much might be made of the fact that the fourth innings of this match was played on an eighth-day pitch, Nottinghamshire having opted to use the strip on which they had lost to Derbyshire. But that argument really does not account for the home side’s collapse. Far more persuasive explanations are the excellence of Yorkshire’s bowling – all five members of the attack took wickets – and the mental fragility of batsmen, some of whom may not be able to recall the last time they played in a side that successfully overhauled a total in a first-class match.The achievement of Yorkshire’s bowlers was particularly commendable given that both Ben Coad and Matthew Fisher were unable to play in this game because of injury. Neither will appear in Saturday’s match against Derbyshire, who lead Yorkshire by four points at the top of the North Group. In their absence Duanne Olivier took three wickets and led the attack with aggression and accuracy while Thompson completed a very fine all-round game by returning figures of 3 for 6.And the heart was gladdened by the success of Shutt, who expunged any memory of his spell on Sunday by having Peter Trego leg before wicket with his fourth ball and completing the win when Samit Patel obligingly chipped him to Dawid Malan at midwicket. They were Shutt’s maiden first-class wickets and there seems no doubt he will recall this match fondly, both for his successes and for his response to adversity.Such, of course, was Nottinghamshire’s broad intention at the start of play and the morning began particularly well for the home side, who took the last three Yorkshire wickets for the addition of only 19 runs. Carter bagged a couple, both courtesy of catches at slip by Mullaney, but the Notts skipper may have been more pleased that his side needed fewer than 200 to win. Another 40 or so runs, so we thought, would have made the target trickier and seized something of a psychological advantage. Not too many folk suspected that the task was already tricky enough for batsmen who seem riddled with self-doubt.Yet even as it was, the odds were six to five and pick ’em at lunch when Nottinghamshire were 46 for 3, the third batsman dismissed being Ben Duckett, who fended Olivier into the gully, where Malan took a good diving catch. That dismissal was important because it tilted the match a shade Yorkshire’s way and because Duckett had been batting busily and well, taking only 22 balls over his 19 runs. The wickets of the openers were also significant, though. Chris Nash was leg before to Olivier for 11, albeit the batsman had a good case the ball was missing leg, and Haseeb Hameed fell to Dominic Leech for the second time in the match when an attempted leg glance only tickled the ball to Jonny Bairstow.Fifteen minutes after lunch Joe Clarke played too early at Olivier and gave the bowler a low return catch. That left the home side on 61 for four and Nottinghamshire’s plight was then epitomised by the downfall of their warriors. Almost immediately Mullaney fenced limply at a ball from Steven Patterson and Tom Moores lost his middle and leg stumps when trying to drive a delivery from Thompson that snaked back in to him. That was Thompson’s third ball of the innings and similarly swift triumphs awaited Shutt, who ended the innings with 2 for 14 from 3.2 overs.After the match Patterson talked warmly about the achievements of cricketers like Thompson, Shutt and Leech, who have only a handful of first-class matches between them. The skipper rightly stressed the importance of trusting the players one selects rather than leaving them to watch their colleagues play cricket. A different task of leadership awaits Mullaney and Peter Moores after their side’s two defeats in the Bob Willis Trophy. But there is little time available for wound-licking. Lancashire visit Trent Bridge on Saturday.

South Australia were consigned to the bottom of the table little more than an hour into the third day at the Gabba

Daniel Brettig13-Mar-2019Queensland wrapped up a tense, low-scoring victory over South Australia to consign the Redbacks to the bottom of the Sheffield Shield table little more than an hour into the third day at the Gabba after 37 wickets fell over the first two days.Resuming at 7 for 94 in pursuit of 175, the visitors had placed much of their hope in Jake Lehmann, unbeaten overnight on 41. But in the third over of the morning, he was deemed lbw to Michael Neser, in the same over as he had been dropped in the slips by Marnus Labuschagne.The Bulls celebrated this wicket with relish, but still had to sweat through another 13.1 overs as SA’s last two wickets scrapped another 36 runs. The critical breakthrough was made by the spin bowler Mitchell Swepson, not previously used in the match, who coaxed Joe Mennie to slap a catch to cover. Luke Robins fell to Cameron Gannon shortly after to leave the Bulls victorious.

Ashton Turner broke Sydney Sixers’ spirit with five sixes in his 27-ball 52 as Perth Scorchers cruised to a six-wicket win

The Report by Alex Malcolm23-Dec-2017
Getty Images

There is a reason the Perth Scorchers have won three BBL titles, out of six.Even without Australia’s previous T20I new-ball pairing in Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff, the Scorchers still fronted up at the SCG with an attack featuring five international players and blew away the Sydney Sixers’ top order, including a hat-trick from Andrew Tye, to set up a comfortable six-wicket win.The chase wobbled early without the experienced Michael Klinger. But the composure of Ashton Turner and Adam Voges turned potential disaster into a doddle with an unbeaten 70-run stand from just 38 balls to see the Scorchers home with 11 balls to spare.Sixers slump earlyFor as well as the Scorchers bowled, some of the Sixers batsmen contributed to their own demise after having been sent in to bat on a good surface.Daniel Hughes wiped across a straight half volley and lost his off stump. Jason Roy looked in sublime touch until he bunted a slower ball that he hit straight to midwicket. Both batsmen fell to Jhye Richardson.Henriques was unfortunate to glove one down the leg side off David Willey. Billings made a strange decision to walk down the wicket off the first ball he faced from Tye only to meekly pop a leading edge to square leg.Willey bowled Botha with a slower ball that gripped past his outside edge and clipped the top of off leaving the Sixers in trouble.Tye’s hat-trick of hat-tricksNic Maddinson and Peter Nevill were forced to consolidate to avert further disaster. Their 37-run stand never really exploded. Voges brought back Mitchell Johnson to bowl his fourth over in the 14th over. He removed both set batsmen in three balls.Sean Abbott and Steve O’Keefe threatened to push the total towards 150. But Tye dashed those hopes with his third T20 hat-trick this calendar year, ending the innings at 132 with eight balls remaining.Top-order wobble for inexperienced ScorchersThe Scorchers chase took a while to get going. Debutants Will Bosisto and Josh Philippe put together a 31-run partnership at just above a run-a-ball. The run-rate dropped well below six when both were dismissed to Abbott in the fifth over. Willey and Hilton Cartwright also struggled to score freely. In total, the Scorchers’ top four faced 29 dot balls from the first 71 deliveries. When Cartwright fell to Doug Bollinger, the Scorchers still need 67 from 49 balls.Cool and calm in the endTurner and Voges never panicked. They calculated that boundaries were difficult to find early so they elected to place balls into gaps and run twos to get the run-rate moving. They pinched three twos in an over from O’Keefe with just nudges to the 30-yard circle at a vacant midwicket to take nine from his fourth over after he had conceded just 14 from his first three.Turner then used his long reach to target Daniel Sams and Abbott. He struck five sixes to break the back of the chase. His boundary to win the game also took him to 52 not out from just 27 balls.

Keaton Jennings celebrated his call-up to England’s Test squad by scoring an unbeaten hundred to lead the Lions to victory in their first match against UAE

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2016
Scorecard
Keaton Jennings scored an unbeaten hundred in Dubai (file photo)•Getty Images

Keaton Jennings celebrated his call-up to England’s Test squad by scoring an unbeaten hundred to lead the Lions to victory in their first match against UAE. Jennings, captaining the side in his first appearance for England Lions, scored 101 off 103 balls to seal an eight-wicket win.He was involved in a century stand with fellow opener Daniel Bell-Drummond, who made 40, and added another 59 with Tom Alsop, who was also making his debut.The Lions had been set 175 to win after dismissing UAE in 45.3 overs, with the Surrey trio of Stuart Meaker, Tom and Sam Curran leading the way with the ball. Meaker claimed 4 for 38, with three victims caught behind the stumps by Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, while the Currans picked up two wickets apiece.”That couldn’t have gone much better,” said Jennings, who is set to leave for India next week and join up with England ahead of another potential debut in the fourth Test. “It was our first game together in the field after six or seven weeks, and a really enjoyable experience for me captaining the team.”It was a decent wicket, so to keep them down to 170-odd was a really good effort. And then to spend some time in the middle for me was great, even if they were one-day runs – which is obviously different to how things will be in India.”Having won the toss and decided to bowl, Toby Roland-Jones made the breakthrough for the Lions. Rohan Mustafa and Ghulam Shabeer added a 54-run second-wicket stand but Meaker separated them as wickets began to fall regularly. Ollie Rayner removed Shabeer and although Mohammad Shahzad top-scored with 38, he became Meaker’s third scalp.England play UAE in two more 50-over matches before a four-day first-class fixture against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi starting on Wednesday.

Off the field and on it, the lines between Delhi and Haryana can be blurry but the line between Virender Sehwag and Delhi is a distinct one this season

Sidharth Monga in Delhi14-Oct-2015At around 11am Virender Sehwag’s white Audi entered Feroz Shah Kotla. His team had earlier come on the bus, but Sehwag drove his own car in about half an hour later. The security didn’t stop him. You can tell when people are in unfamiliar places. This car wasn’t. Without hesitation, the bespectacled Sehwag drove the car to the players’ enclosure entry, opened the boot, got off, pulled out his kit, left it near the entry, closed the boot, went back into the driver’s seat and parked the car in a corner by the Delhi nets.Anil Jain, joint secretary (sports) of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), rushed from inside the nets and towards Sehwag’s car. Jain was looking after the ground on the morning. He cleared who could go in, he had people greeting him when he went into the Delhi nets. Now he theatrically made a move towards Sehwag’s car. He wanted to be the first person to welcome Sehwag, but another DDCA official had already reached the car and hugged Sehwag.Sehwag looked a little bemused at all the attention, but this was par for the course. The kit bag that Sehwag had earlier offloaded was Haryana Cricket Association’s. He has played against Delhi Daredevils in the IPL before, but this was the first time he was coming to Kotla to prepare for a first-class match against the home side.

Sehwag’s numbers in the opposition

• v Delhi Daredevils: 4 matches, 80 runs, no fifty

• As an opposition batsman at Feroz Shah Kotla: 2 matches, 24 runs

• v Gambhir and Dahiya: 11 matches, 255 runs, one fifty
  

In the Delhi nets, Gautam Gambhir, long-time opening partner and friend, and Vijay Dahiya, who along with Sehwag had scored a fifty against Australia in Bangalore in 2001*, had been preparing Delhi for this big match. Before Sehwag came, some of the Delhi players had hopped on to the other side to catch up with the Haryana players. Most of the players from Haryana have learnt their cricket playing in the leagues in Delhi. Haryana’s home venue, Lahli, is only a two hours’ drive away. The line between Delhi and Haryana is blurred, what with a few Haryana cities now only an extension of Delhi, but the line between Sehwag and Delhi is not so unclear now.Dahiya didn’t help himself from having a quick sledge. Asked about the game against “Viru”, Dahiya began with a straight bat, but the wicketkeeper in him soon took over. “It’s Haryana,” Dahiya said. “That’s what the game is all about. It’s the second game for them, third for us. We know they are a very consistent side. In this league, every side is a fantastic side.”Asked again about facing up to Sehwag, Dahiya said: “It’s a match between two teams, and that’s how you plan it. If somebody plays as an individual that is a different thing. We are playing as a team.” And then he smiled a cheeky smile.Dahiya can afford to smile with a ten-wicket win last week against Vidarbha after he took over as coach of the team in a shambolic state. Delhi’s administration remains in a similar state, with Mohammad Azharuddin invited to a Ranji match and allegedly allowed inside the players and match officials area (PMOA) for a chat with some of the participating players. Dahiya says the players are far away from the mess. They have been talked to a lot, they have been made to feel comfortable enough to trust each other, to be able to say anything they want in the dressing room.Despite all the controversies, the way Dahiya announced three changes to the XI a day before the match could point to a team better than what it looks from the outside. Sumit Narwal is injured. Sarang Rawat is rested, but Dahiya says they are going to ask DDCA to play him in Under-23 games so he stays in touch with “days” [multi-day] cricket. Parvinder Awana comes back after he was considered short of overs in the first match and after bowling a lot over the last week. On the surface at least, the clarity is at odds with the way the team was selected or the way the selectors and the coach were selected.Delhi’s and captain Gambhir’s relationship with Sehwag remains a matter of speculation. It is said in Delhi circles that Sehwag made the move because he and Gambhir had fallen out. Opening partners, friends, India comeback aspirants, opposing Ranji captains. At their home ground. Gambhir will have Ishant Sharma too, who will, in consultation with the physio, decide if he plays any more games after this.On Thursday, too, Sehwag will drive into his home ground with the same authority and calm. Some DDCA members might show up to greet him again. There will be warm-ups. Then the toss. If Gambhir wins it, early on a Thursday morning, in all likelihood Ishant will be charging in at Sehwag. Dahiya might not want to admit it, but a lot of it will be about individuals.*October 15, 0832 GMT. The article had erroneously stated a 100-run partnership between Vijay Dahiya and Virender Sehwag. This has been corrected

Abdur Razzak, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, thought he would miss the chance to complete 200 ODI wickets in the three-match series against Sri Lanka

Mohammad Isam29-Mar-2013Abdur Razzak, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, thought he would miss the chance to complete 200 ODI wickets in the three-match series against Sri Lanka. After going wicketless in the first game and the second one being abandoned, he ended up getting all five wickets required to reach the landmark in the final game in Pallekele, a testament to his persistence over difficult periods in his career.”After the first two matches, I thought I would have to wait a long time for another opportunity,” Razzak said. “It came in the third game and I was extremely happy. The moment when I took the fifth wicket was unforgettable. Before the series I had it in mind to reach the 200-wicket mark.”Razzak’s numbers, and stature as the most experienced bowler in the line-up have made him a valuable member of the ODI side. All but one of his four-wicket hauls came in defeats while all four of his five-fors have been in wins.Yet, it is his experience with the darker side of international cricket that has taught him the lesson of not taking even an ordinary spell of bowling for granted. Razzak was twice pulled up for chinks in his bowling action, the second occasion costing him almost a year’s international cricket. He was first reported in 2004 and four years later told to correct his action.”I am one of those few players from Bangladesh who has seen some really critical periods in their career. When the bowling action was questioned, everyone spoke to me as if my career was over. I was strong on the inside. I didn’t think my career was over.”I think that has given me a lot of strength as a person. I love taking up challenges, I can’t hide away from bowling in certain periods because it doesn’t make me comfortable. I like to go through these difficult experiences during matches or otherwise, so that I know what to do the next time it happens,” he said.Razzak has experienced memorable moments too. After taking three wickets on debut against minnows Hong Kong, he was impressive against Pakistan in his next game. Problems with his bowling action kept him out till 2006 when he became a regular for another three years. During this time he was instrumental in Bangladesh’s progression to the 2007 World Cup’s Super Eights.Razzak was the Man of the Match against West Indies in his comeback game in 2009 after correcting his action. It was followed by a hat-trick against Zimbabwe in 2010, and through ups and downs, he has remained the backbone of a side short on experience.”It is hard to make a distinction on which has been my best moment. There have been so many good moments. But I think I have enjoyed the fact that the 200 wickets have not taken too long. I have done it in 141 innings which gives me a lot of pride.”

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.”