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The allrounder chipped in handily with the bat, but it was his ten overs that most aided Aaron Finch against Sri Lanka to leave Australia sitting at the top of the table

Andrew McGlashan16-Jun-2019Australia are finding a way. As the group stage of the World Cup nears its halfway mark the defending champions are at the top of the table. They face Bangladesh next and if they win it will take them to 10 points, which could already be enough for a semi-final spot before the tougher challenges of New Zealand and England.The match against Sri Lanka, won by 87 runs after they quelled an early onslaught by the openers, ended a run of four matches in ten intense days for Australia as they dodged the rain which dogged the last week of the tournament. None of the wins have been perfect, even the ultimately comfortable margin of the latest success coming with further questions about the middle order. Still, they are digging deep into their resources having been forced to rejig the side in the absence of Marcus Stoinis.The century for Aaron Finch and four-wicket haul for Mitchell Starc took the headlines on Saturday, but the all-round performance of Glenn Maxwell was a crucial part of ensuring the holes that remain in the Australia side did not prove pivotal. His 46 off 25 balls meant that while the final total was probably 20 runs light of where it could have been, momentum was not totally lost at the death.WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – Maxwell’s rapid 46Then, perhaps more importantly given the questions of balance, he was able to bowl his ten overs for 46 runs despite Sri Lanka having a terrific platform to build on. That might say more about the issues in Sri Lanka’s batting, but the use of Maxwell’s bowling – which he had the opportunity to use extensively during his time with Lancashire earlier in the season – has been one of the significant developments in Australia’s one-day side over the last few months.Until March he had not bowled his full 10 overs in an ODI since 2015 – the year he was played as Australia’s lone spinner for the majority of their successful World Cup campaign – with Steven Smith preferring Travis Head’s offspin in the last couple of years of his captaincy. Now he has sent down his quota four times in his last 14 matches, three times going for less than fifty. In this match, he bowled 15 dot balls to Dimuth Karunaratne who could only strike at 71 against him and of the batsmen to face more than one delivery from him, only Kusal Mendis could take him for a run-a-ball. There was no need for Finch or Smith to take their net bowling into the middle.Wicketless, but Glenn Maxwell sent down ten important overs•Getty Images

“I think Smithy obviously rated Heady’s bowling a little bit more, and that’s fine. That happens. That’s an on-the-day decision. I think [Maxwell] has done really well when he’s had the opportunity,” Finch said. “He was a big part of us reining it in today. Two lefties, he had a nice breeze to bowl with, to across, which allowed him to drift the ball quite a bit which made it – made it, he could shut down one side of the ground a bit easier.”With a decision being made on Stoinis before the next match – and Mitchell Marsh waiting in the wings – Australia’s XI for the Bangladesh game will be interesting given they will have a seam-bowling allrounder to again pick from if needed. The last two matches have seen them go with four quicks, leaving Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon on the sidelines.The attack continues to lean very heavily on Starc and Pat Cummins – currently the top two wicket-takers in the tournament – and the next few days is a chance for them to catch their breath with Australia’s final four group matches spread over the last two weeks of qualifying. There may even be the chance for some rotation if things continue to go to plan ahead of the semi-finals, but Starc does not want to be part of that.”We spoke about that before this fixture and wanted to give as much as we could to get the result then have a little bit more relaxed back end to the tournament where we can perhaps have a few more training days or if we need some days we can factor that in as well,” he said. “Ultimately is not up to me but it’s a World Cup and you have to pick your best XI depending on the conditions and opposition but I definitely won’t be putting up my hand up to rest.”Having been Player of the Tournament in 2015, Starc is again proving a World Cup trump card with a five-wicket and four-wicket haul already under his belt. “For me I just try to keep my white-ball game very simple,” he said. “I don’t have all these variations. I’m pretty clear on what I want to do whether it’s new ball, old ball or through the middle.”What I’ve added is able to play different roles against different teams or in different conditions. I might go for more runs but I’m there to make a breakthrough in short, sharp spells. That’s something that has stayed consistent in my one-day cricket. Whether my game suits that, I don’t know. Test cricket is still the pinnacle but the fact I’ve kept my game plan pretty simple in white-ball cricket has kept me in good stead through World Cups and when times haven’t gone so well.”Top of the table with the leading wicket-taker and leading run-scorer is a handy position to be in. Have Australia convinced they can be champions again? Perhaps not, but while they keep winning that doesn’t really matter.

After setting her sights on opening the batting for her country, Beaumont hasn’t looked back

Valkerie Baynes29-Jun-2019It’s August 2013 and England have just lost an ODI to Ashes rivals Australia at Lord’s. Tammy Beaumont is emotional. She thinks it’s her fault. She made nine runs. She questions whether she’s good enough to play international cricket.”Yes you are,” three words from then-assistant coach Carl Crowe set in motion a plan to find out what makes her tick, what’s going to make her a better player.Having made scores of 13 and 1 in the preceding Test match, Beaumont played no further part in that Ashes series – won by England who prevailed in the remaining two ODIs and two of the three T20s. Beaumont toured the West Indies later that year and was part of the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, where England finished runners-up to Australia but where Beaumont failed to reach double figures in four innings.It’s 2016 and England have hastily arranged an extra warm-up game before starting their World T20 campaign in India. Beaumont – who had so far been batting in the middle order, just as she had on that fateful day at Lord’s – opens alongside then-captain Charlotte Edwards. Beaumont scores 50. She knows she can open the batting at international level.”That was a bit of a turning point for me,” Beaumont said. “Opening, I’ve always felt most natural there. For a long time at the beginning of my career I was not opening the batting and almost having to fit into positions that didn’t suit me, didn’t make me feel quite at home and there was a little period where I kept getting picked for England and completely underperforming to what I wanted to do and what the coach at the time wanted me to do, so I’d end up on the outside of the team again.”It took me having that setback and realising I really wanted to open the batting for England and I could really set my stall out and be motivated to really work hard towards that. That was before I even got the chance to open, then when I did get that chance I made sure that I took it.”Tammy Beaumont of England is seeking some big scores in the Ashes•Getty Images

Playing as an opener, Beaumont made steady progress through that tournament, but in her first T20 afterwards, some three months later against Pakistan in Bristol, she hit 82 off 53 balls.Two years later she smashed 116 off 52 in a T20 against South Africa – reaching her century from 47 balls in an England women’s record – amid a hugely successful summer which also included back-to-back centuries in the accompanying ODI series against South Africa and ultimately led to her being named alongside the likes of Jos Buttler and Virat Kohli as one of ‘s Five Cricketers of the Year for 2019.Beaumont’s progress has not been without the odd hiccup. She scored just 54 runs in five innings at the World T20 at the end of 2018 but found form again during England’s tours of India and Sri Lanka in March.ALSO READ: Six players to watch in the Women’s Ashes“I had a really good summer last year in England against South Africa and New Zealand and then had a bit of a blip in the World Cup in my own form, which I found really disappointing, but I came back in January and worked incredibly hard to try and move my game on again and that’s how I feel at the moment,” Beaumont said.”It wasn’t like I needed to develop a whole new shot, there wasn’t a glaringly obvious weakness to my game. It was just a case of say, I’d hit a shot seven out of ten times, trying to take that to nine out of ten so overall I’d get a little bit better in each way and hopefully become a bit more of an all-round player.”In the recent rain-affected series in which England dominated West Indies, Beaumont was clearly seeing the ball beautifully but was unable to convert good starts to big scores, something she is determined to turn around come Tuesday’s first Ashes ODI against Australia in Leicester.”Personally I think I would have liked to score a few more runs in a way,” she said. “As a batter I think you never get bored of scoring runs but I’m pleased about how I’m playing. I just want to see a few more runs on the board next week.”It’s the biggest rivalry in women’s cricket. It’s the battle of the heavyweights, for want of a better term. They’re really well supported and have been very successful in the past but we’re playing really good cricket at the moment and got a really good feeling about this group so hopefully it’s going to be a really good series.”England’s 3-0 sweep of the ODIs against West Indies and victory in the only one of three T20Is not washed out took their winning streak to 14 matches across all formats. They freely speak about keeping that record intact.”We really talk about it a lot,” Beaumont said. “Particularly at the back end of that India-Sri Lanka trip, it was something we were really kind of desperate to hold on to and going into this West Indies series it was really driving us forward in that.”But once the Ashes start it’s all about that particular game that we’re playing and just trying to get points on the board to try and win the Ashes back, which is kind of the main focus and has been for most of the summer really.”

The T20I captain said that for a team to succeed, the players needed to spend a lot more time together in the lead-up to every series

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2019There is no set of players that dominate the world of franchise T20 cricket like the West Indians. Every league in the world, from the IPL to the more recently sprouted Euro T20 slam, wants a piece of those larger than life superstars. But when they come together as a West Indies team, they haven’t always had a lot of success. Sure they are the reigning T20 World Champions, but since that heady night in Kolkata three and a half years ago, they’ve played 33 games in the shortest format and lost 20 of them.Carlos Brathwaite had an explanation for this odd turn of events. Addressing the press ahead of a three-match series against India that begins on Saturday, he said that for a team to succeed, the players needed to spend a lot more time together in the lead-up to every series.”I guess in the first part of my tenure [as T20 captain], we had a few one-off games, and those don’t really help the standings much,” he said. “And then when we had series with three games, it was always difficult to get the players together. We didn’t get the right frame of time to properly prepare. Obviously, preparing for a World Cup, you have adequate preparation. Looking back to the last [T20] World Cup, we had a two week camp in Dubai. So we had the team together for a period of time. We had spent time together on and off the field, on and off the training pitch, spent more time together as a team, as a family and then when we headed at the World Cup we had warm-up games as well and then the tournament. So right there and then, we probably had two and a half weeks more together than we have normally.”This lack of team bonding time may have impacted West Indies at the 50-over World Cup as well.”We didn’t think we were doing all the things necessary on and off the field as a team to be successful consistently,” Brathwaite said. “And as a result, as we saw in the World Cup, we had good performances, like in the game against Pakistan, but as a team we did not get it together and we lost some vital moments in key games.”But now, West Indies, who are ranked No. 9 in T20Is by the ICC, are looking to make some corrections. “I guess starting from this series and moving forward,” Brathwaite said. “Looking forward to the World T20s in 2020 and 2021 and the World Cup in 2023, I think we have to put certain protocols and certain standards in place off the field that once we are disciplined enough and follow it off the field, it should translate itself on the field and give us the best chance to win those one percenters and those key moments.”We’re welcoming back Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard into the fold who have a wealth of T20 experience as well. So in our conversations so far, it’s been about us having more informal chats as a team, spending more time together speaking about cricket and for the younger guys to learn off the older guys and as a result the older guys to learn off the yonger guys as well. Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can’t teach an older guy.”So that’s one of the main things we’re looking forward to developing and implementing leading into the next three World Cups, the two T20 and the 50-over World Cup, and just spending more time together and having more informal chats and actually learning off each other. I think once we get those things right on the field, when we get on the field, it’ll be easier for us to band together and have more consistent performances.”

Willey has been ruled out of the tournament due to the need to manage his workload

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2019Sri Lanka allrounder Isuru Udana has replaced David Willey as Paarl Rocks’ international marquee player for the second edition of the Mzansi Super League. Willey has been ruled out due to the need to manage his workload, according to a statement from Cricket South Africa.Udana will be familiar to a South African audience, as he was part of the Sri Lankan squad that toured the country at the beginning of the year, and was one of the few players to make a real impact during the limited-overs leg of the trip. He averaged 55 with the bat in the five-match ODI series and a whopping 132 across the three T20Is, being dismissed only once. Udana collected career-best scores in both formats against South Africa, while also chipping in with three wickets.”We are very excited to get a player of Isuru’s calibre who was Sri Lanka’s star player during their T20 Series against the Proteas earlier this year,” said CSA Acting Director of Cricket Corrie van Zyl. “He made more than twice the number of runs as any of his colleagues and had a strike rate of more than 170. This is right up with the very best standards by any comparison. He has a career strike rate of 153 in the T20 International format and one of 96 in ODI’s.”He was a regular choice for Sri Lanka throughout the recent ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup which included his playing a crucial role in his country’s upset 20-run win over the eventual champions, England. One of his two wickets was that of England captain Eoin Morgan.”He is currently in action for Sri Lanka in their T20 Series against New Zealand and I am sure the Paarl Rocks players, management and fans will be keeping a close eye on his performances,” added Van Zyl.The MSL squads will be finalised at the Player Draft on Tuesday next week.South African Marquee Players:
Cape Town Blitz: Quinton de Kock; Durban Heat: Andile Phehlukwayo; Jozi Stars: Kagiso Rabada; Nelson Mandela Bay Giants: Imran Tahir; Paarl Rocks: Faf du Plessis; Tshwane Spartans: AB de VilliersInternational Marquee Players:

Cape Town Blitz: Wahab Riaz (Pakistan); Durban Heat: Alex Hales (England); Jozi Stars: Chris Gayle (West Indies); Nelson Mandela Bay Giants: Jason Roy (England); Paarl Rocks: Isuru Udana (Sri Lanka); Tshwane Spartans: Tom Curran (England)

Solutions to gap between domestic and international cricket won’t come need collective effort, says West Indies captain

Aishwarya Kumar in Kingston03-Sep-20191:39

‘Not really spoilt for choice in terms of batsmen in the Caribbean’ – Holder

Kemar Roach’s almost hat-trick. Jason Holder’s five-for. Roston Chase’s four wickets in 38 overs. A flicker of momentum, a glimmer of excellence here and there. That’s all West Indies had to show over the last month, in the all-format series against India, as they suffered 3-0 and 2-0 defeats in the T20Is and ODIs, and their first Test series loss at home in two years – 2-0.It’s easy to lose hope in the face of results like these, but captain Jason Holder seemed generally positive after the Jamaica Test, focusing on the brighter moments – particularly from the bowlers – in the series. He spoke, for instance, on how he drew motivation from Roach.”I just said to him in the dressing room that he is one of my motivating factors,” he said. “To see the effort he comes and gives, it really pushes me. I know Shannon [Gabriel] went off in this game and we had Miguel Cummins go off in the last game. It wasn’t the ideal situation for us fast bowlers. We have been on the field every single day except this day in this series.”It’s been a situation where there’s a heavy weight on the fast bowlers, but every single time we call on Kemar, every single time we call on Shannon, they have never said no. For me, that’s motivation enough. I really probably wouldn’t have liked to bowl so many overs, you know, but that’s just how the game has gone and somebody has to bowl the overs, a situation where we had to put our heads together as a bowling unit and get the job done.”While the bowling unit has succeeded with moderate consistency, Holder felt that structural changes were required to fix the massive gap between the levels of West Indies’ domestic cricket and international cricket, particularly in the batting department.”I don’t think it’s a quick fix, you know,” he said. “I think it’s a situation in the Caribbean, we are not really spoilt for choice in terms of batsmen coming through the region. We have got to put things in place to make sure we keep developing players, make sure players are doing the right thing to be successful at this level.”There is still a lot more emphasis to be put on franchise level and first-class cricket, and that’s where we are going to build players, you know. They’ve got experience and scenario-based experience, and when they come on to [play] Test cricket, it becomes a little bit easier.”Holder lauded debutant offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall’s consistency, and his ability to bowl and wear opponents down in long spells.”Rahkeem did a fairly reasonable job for us, held things together nicely on one end. It allowed our seamers to express themselves at the other end. And our seamers have done the bulk of damage for us in the last three years,” Holder said. “Rahkeem came and did a nice job. He didn’t get the wickets he was looking for, but I think his job was well done. Even with the batting, he showed some promise.”Holder was also impressed with the way Jermaine Blackwood adapted to being called up as a concussion substitute on the fourth day in Jamaica. Blackwood, who was not part of the Test squad but is from Jamaica, was drafted into the XI after Darren Bravo was ruled out due to a concussion on the fourth morning. Blackwood scored 38 and was part of the only fifty stand in West Indies’ second innings, adding 61 with Shamarh Brooks.”I was very, very happy that Jermaine could come and do the part. It was very sudden with Darren going down with a concussion,” Holder said. “We decided to replace him and Jermaine was around. He’s been in the squad before and to see him get an opportunity, he showed a lot of character and guts as well. To be sprung on such a short notice, I think he responded well.”West Indies will spend the next few months trying to fix the batting issues through discussions, camps and practice sessions, but Holder believed the team was headed in the right direction. He called for patience and the need for collective solutions.”We have just got to stay patient. I think this Test team has shown, in the last two-three years, that we are definitely headed in the right direction. We definitely just need to be a lot more consistent in Test cricket, and, in fact all three formats of world cricket. Again, it’s one thing for us to keep saying it. We’ve just got to be doing things to make sure consistency can breed within the West Indies set-up and I just think enough talking has been done. We need to find solutions. It’s not one or two individuals that need to find solution, it’s the collective Cricket West Indies that needs to find solutions.”

WPCA argues that CSA has “no right or entitlement to exercise step-in rights over a self-standing voluntary association”

Firdose Moonda12-Oct-2019The Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) has launched an urgent application against Cricket South Africa (CSA) which seeks to overturn CSA’s decision of taking the body under administration. Last month, CSA used its “step-in” rights as the governing body of cricket in South Africa to suspend the WPCA board, citing administrative and financial concerns which even led to doubts over whether the New Year’s Test could take place at Newlands next year, but the WPCA is challenging this decision.The WPCA is arguing that CSA has “no right or entitlement to exercise step-in rights over a self-standing voluntary association.” They also claim CSA did not give the WPCA a hearing before making their decision to suspend the board, that the decision was based on incorrect information and that CSA has not complied with its own memorandum of incorporation. In other words, WPCA is seeking to have its board reinstated and for CSA’s administrator – former WPCA CEO Andre Odendaal – to be stood down.WPCA’s action comes little more than a week after it was established that they will retain hosting rights for the New Year’s Test and the ongoing construction project at the ground, for which CSA provided a R81 million (US$5.3 million) loan, would not get in the way of the fixture. While CSA was understood to be concerned with how that money has been managed, WPCA insist that they have complied with all requirements and are fighting for their independence.A source close to WPCA told ESPNcricinfo that they do not believe the court action will have any impact on the New Year’s Test. Further, despite taking CSA to court, WPCA “remains committed to pursuing a mediation process,” should one become available. The application is expected to be heard in the Johannesburg High Court in the next few days.This is not the only legal action CSA is facing at the moment. They have also been taken to court by the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) over the decision to restructure the domestic system. The matter is ongoing.

Some of India’s Test regulars trained with the SG pink balls at NCA in preparation for the Kolkata Test

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-20194:02

Rahane on first tryst with pink ball and sessions under Dravid

Playing late, and close to the body, is the key to counter the pink ball – that’s the early learning India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is taking back with him after training against the pink ball for the first time over the past few days.Rahane was part of a small bunch of players from the Indian Test squad, who practised with the pink ball at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in the lead up to the Bangladesh Test series, which includes a day-night Test, the first for either team, in Kolkata from November 22.Not many top-drawer Indian players have actually played competitive cricket with the pink ball, which Rahane said was a “different ball game” from the red ball. “We had two good practice sessions, actually three or four but two in pink ball, one during the day and one under lights,” Rahane said at a press conference in the lead up to the first Test in Indore. “It was actually exciting. It was the first time I played with pink ball, and definitely it’s a different ball game as compared to red ball.”ALSO READ: SG pink ball to be used for maiden day-night Test in IndiaAlong with Rahane, the others who were present at NCA were Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara among the batsmen, and Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja. The training sessions took place under the stewardship of NCA director of cricket, Rahul Dravid.”Our focus during the practice session was to look into the swing and seam, and also play close to our body,” Rahane said. “What we found out after the practice session that the pink ball does a lot (more) than the red ball. We have to play slightly late and close to your body. We had word with Rahul also as he was there. We had a very good practice session. Right now the focus is on the first Test match, the red SG ball.”The Kolkata Test will also be the first time SG pink balls will be used at the highest level, making it a trial for the balls as well. Incidentally, the BCCI had preferred the Kookaburra in the Duleep Trophy, which has been played under lights in the last three seasons. Irrespective of the make, it will take some adjusting for the players to do, but Rahane was confident it wouldn’t be a problem.”The lateral movement is big, actually a lot than the red ball,” he said. “Adjustment-wise, I’m sure everyone will adjust very quickly. We are used to playing different formats – after T20s we play Tests. It’s just the mindset, technical skills will play a role. Mentally if you can adjust to the pink ball, then it’ll be good.”Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in September, more than one prominent Indian domestic player had given the thumbs-down to the pink ball, with Faiz Fazal saying, “There was nothing for bowlers (with the pink ball).”Suresh Raina tosses the pink ball to Ashok Dinda during the 2016-17 Duleep Trophy•AFP

With barely any experience of playing with the pink ball, Rahane did not want to get drawn into comparing the SG and the Kookaburra. But he said the SG pink helped the spinners get more revolutions on the ball. “We played against spinners in Bangalore, and they were getting good revs on the ball. Yes, the shine is completely different to the red ball, but it’s very hard to compare with SG ball and the Kookaburra ball.”I’ve never played with the pink ball. And what I’ve heard from other people is that the Kookaburra ball is actually really easy for the batsmen. But what we saw in Bangalore and played in Bangalore is that the SG ball was doing a bit for the fast bowlers. For spinners, it is difficult but it is very hard for me to say right now about Kookaburra and SG ball.”Unlike Rahane, Pujara has encountered the pink ball in the past, at the 2016 Duleep Trophy, when he topped the scorers’ chart with 453 runs from three innings, hitting two centuries including an unbeaten 256 not out.”I have played with the pink ball, in the Duleep Trophy, and the experience was a good one. The day-night Test will be a five-day game, those were four-day games, this will be a Test-match scenario, so it will be exciting,” he told bcci.tv.He did, however, concede that some of the other batsmen did have problems picking the ball, especially in the latter stages of the days and when facing wristspinners.”During the day, there will be no visibility issues with the pink ball. In my experience, the twilight period and the period under lights are more difficult. Those sessions will be crucial,” he said. “My experience as a batsman was a good one. Even as a team we did well. But some of the other players I had spoken to said that especially when facing a wristspinner, their wrong’uns were difficult to pick. When Kuldeep (Yadav) was bowling, it was difficult to pick his wrong’un.”India and Bangladesh, as well as Afghanistan and Ireland, are the only teams to not have played a pink-ball Test yet, and their maiden foray in the new direction came about when Sourav Ganguly, soon after taking charge as the BCCI president, proposed the plan calling it a “huge step forward”, and the BCB, after discussing the matter with the players, gave it the go-ahead.

India amassed 387 thanks to their openers and audacious hitting from Iyer and Pant, and Shami and Kuldeep did the rest

Sidharth Monga18-Dec-2019For the second time in a must-win game during West Indies’ tour of India, the home batsmen stood up to post a well-above-par total. Often, during the last four-five years, the batsmen could have been accused of conservative batting, leaving the bowlers seemingly impressive but ultimately subpar totals to defend. Not in Mumbai in the T20I decider, not in Visakhapatnam when asked to bat to keep the ODI series alive.What they got was a glimpse of what their outrageously talented batting unit can achieve when they go all out to give their under-pressure bowling a total to defend in the dew. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul scored hundreds in a 37-over partnership, and Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer followed up by unleashing mayhem in the last 10 overs.In the end, India had a total of 387 at a ground where West Indies tied a chase of 321 last year. The way Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope went after the middle overs, India would have been thankful for those extra 60 runs.Rohit fell for 159 in the 44th over, his eighth score of 150 or more, which was an improvement on the record he already holds, but the headline at that moment was that he had fallen short of a fourth double, which would have been an improvement on another record he already holds. By the end of it, West Indies would have hoped Rohit had got his double because his replacement Pant took the carnage to another level. Pant’s 19-ball 36 forced West Indies to go for the offspin of Roston Chase; a reputed power hitter against spin, Iyer cashed in with a 31-run over to finish on 53 off 32. The two added 73 in four overs.A chart-topper from the Rohit Sharma pull playlist•BCCI

A pleasing sign for the team management will be that it wasn’t just the youngsters batting to their murderous potential. Rahul and Rohit began the attempts to increase the scoring rate from the 21st over onwards. The start had been good in flat conditions with Rahul not letting India feel the pinch of a slightly but typically slow Rohit start. India were 98 in 20 overs, an old recipe for a seemingly effortless score of 320-330 for India. Soon they showed they were not going to be happy with that.In the next five overs, India took 47 runs, with Rohit helping himself to five fours and Rahul to four. West Indies were desperate for a quiet spell of play for which they needed a wicket in order to tie the new man in. That opportunity came when Rohit threw his bat at Chase in the 28th over, but Shimron Hetmyer dropped the catch running in from long-off. Soon Rohit hit another gear while Rahul could cruise towards his hundred at a run a ball.There was all kinds of incredible hitting happening now: straight hits, hits over cover, using the pace to dunk balls over short fine leg. It was in the 37th over that Alzarri Joseph managed to get rid of Rahul. Kieron Pollard managed to follow it up with a golden duck for Virat Kohli. And yet it failed to produce that slow spell.Rohit went on hitting at will while Iyer scored at a run a ball. The first signs of fatigue showed in the 43rd over. Rohit had scored 55 off 29 after reaching his hundred. Against the left-arm spin of Khary Pierre, though, he swung and missed a bit, and that brought about his dismissal in the next over.West Indies were hoping for a slowdown to carry some momentum into the chase, but they also had two of India’s strongest power hitters to contend with. Pant played havoc with West Indies’ bowler of the tour, Sheldon Cottrell. His two sixes over the off side – his less-favoured flank – off Joseph made Cottrell go straight but with similar results. A 24-run over from Cottrell brought Chase on, whom Iyer hit for four sixes and a four. At 217, this was the third-highest toll India had taken of the last 20 overs in an ODI innings.Kuldeep Yadav completes his action•BCCI

West Indies would have hoped to enter those last 20 overs with the game still alive. India would have known they couldn’t afford to sit back and just defend especially because the pitch quickens under lights, and the dew makes the outfield quicker. The move to bring in Shardul Thakur, a specialist bowler, for the allrounder Shivam Dube paid dividends when he got Evin lewis with a bouncer in the 11th over. Soon, Iyer’s sensational fielding, and the rare turning delivery from Ravindra Jadeja made it 86 for 3 after 16 overs.West Indies’ response was to counterattack. Pooran and Hope went after most of the bowling. Catches began to go down. Quick hits began to slip out of hands. Jadeja was hit out. Deepak Chahar didn’t have much impact. Somehow, they managed to get the better of Kuldeep Yadav too. Mohammed Shami’s first ball back was flicked disdainfully for a six. In 29 overs, West Indies had 192 for 3. They still had a long way to go, but it appeared they wouldn’t be out of it going into the last 20 overs.That’s when Shami happened. In his second over back, he bowled the perfect bouncer to Pooran, wide enough for him to have to drag his pull. That the top edge still nearly carried for a six showed the importance of the line. Kuldeep didn’t drop it this time. A full ball first ball made Pollard the second captain to register a golden duck on the day.West Indies now began to swing their bats, and Kuldeep was clever enough to register his second ODI hat-trick to kill the game off.

World Cup winner is white-ball captain-in-waiting, but the pressures of multi-format are showing

George Dobell at the Wanderers25-Jan-2020Like the Betamax recorder you bought when it came out, those Marconi shares you thought would provide for your old age, and that Sinclair C5 that seemed the perfect low-cost run-around, sometimes you have to accept that investments don’t work out.Might we be in this territory now with Jos Buttler? He is 29 now, after all, and playing his 41st Test. You might expect him to be somewhere near his best. Instead his performances are tailing away. Since the start of the Ashes – that’s 10 Tests ago – he is averaging 22.05. He has made one half-century in 18 innings and has not reached 30 in seven innings.All players go through tough runs, of course. The art of selection is to keep the faith with them until they come out the other side. There have certainly been moments in Buttler’s career – not least on debut in Southampton, or in Kandy at the end of 2018 – when he looked a very promising player.But promises need to be kept and investments need to make a return. And the Buttler who was selected to be positive and carefree and aggressive is starting to look ever more careworn, uncertain and weary. He looks, like Moeen Ali before he took a break after the first Test in the Ashes, as if he’s struggling to remember what he used to enjoy about the game. He looks, admittedly from something of a distance, as if he’s fallen out of love with it a bit.Whatever happens in his Test future, Buttler is a special player for England. He has scored five of the quickest 11 ODI centuries ever made for them – including the fastest two – as well as their second-fastest T20I half-century. He has already played a huge role in winning the 2019 World Cup and, if England are to challenge in the T20 World Cup later this year, he will surely have to contribute again.But you wonder if the struggle is starting to wear him down. The disappointment, the tension, the travel – he has a young family now – can all rob the game of the freshness and wonder it once had. You wonder if the attempt to turn Buttler into a Test cricketer – the sprinter trying to run marathons – might have robbed him of just a little of his lustre.Part of the problem with Buttler is that he doesn’t have much of a track-record of scoring runs in first-class cricket. He averages just 32.35 in a first-class career that stretches back to 2009 and, in 106 first-class games, has scored a modest six first-class centuries. Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid, by comparison, have scored 10. They both average more, too. Jonny Bairstow (43.51 at first-class level) averages over 10 more. In many ways, expecting Buttler to move up a level and suddenly discover a way to score runs was naive and unreasonable.Increasingly the white-ball and red-ball games are different animals. In England, at least, the white-ball games are played on pitches so flat that batsmen have little concern for the seaming or swinging ball, while the red-ball game demands a strong defence and a tight technique.Jos Buttler trudges off after his dismissal•CHRISTIAAN KOTZE/AFP via Getty Images

Buttler has never really developed those skills. Instead, there was talk of relaxing and trusting his undoubted natural talent. There was the memorable slogan written on top of his bat handle and an acceptance that he should come in at No. 7 – which is unusual for a specialist batsman – with a view to punishing tired bowlers and an older ball. Time that might have been spent learning to play the moving ball was spent – quite understandably – learning to master the T20 game in the IPL and elsewhere. England prioritisation of white-ball cricket meant sacrifices had to be made.And it’s competence that breeds confidence. For if you don’t have a decent technique and gameplan in first-class cricket, you will eventually be found out. Batting at No. 7 is fine, but attacks take second new balls and bowlers, at this level, often have remarkable fitness levels. Put simply: it just hasn’t worked out.Some will argue that Buttler has been asked to fulfil roles that don’t suit him at Test level. And it is true that, in the early stages of his recall in 2018, it looked as if he had cracked it. He averaged 52.5 in the first nine innings – seven of them as a specialist No. 7 – before he was promoted up the order a little to accommodate the inclusion of Ben Foakes – Jonny Bairstow was injured – and then Bairstow. He averages just 26.82 at No. 5, compared to 39.69 at No. 6 and 31.77 at No. 7. He was also asked to take back the gloves.You could equally argue that he has had every advantage extended to him. When Ollie Pope, for example, came into the team, he was obliged to bat at No. 4 – a position he had never previously occupied – to accommodate Buttler, who was a specialist batsman batting, at times anyway, below the keeper, Jonny Bairstow and the main all-rounder, Ben Stokes.Bairstow was moved to accommodate him, too. Ahead of Buttler’s return, in May 2018, Bairstow had scored two centuries in his previous five Tests – one at No. 6 and one at No. 7 – before the return of Buttler destabilised him. He has been asked to bat at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 since and averaged just 23.66.ALSO READ: Stokes fined, handed demerit point for spectator altercationIn truth, all players have to be a little bit flexible for the good of the team. So while there is no doubting Buttler’s willingness to attempt whatever has been required of him, there have to be doubts about his ability to perform enough roles to make him anything more than a luxury player at Test level. And while he was recalled as a counterattacking No. 7, in this game he has scored slower than any of his team-mates who have faced more than 10 balls. His struggles to bat with the tail were shown-up by Ollie Pope, who did so masterfully in Cape Town, and his dismissal here – charging down the pitch and slogging in the air – was unworthy of one of England’s finest natural ball strikers. And if the aggressive strokes are gone and the defence isn’t there, well, what’s left?There are other options. With a tour of Sri Lanka looming, thoughts will surely turn back to Foakes. He was player of the series the last time England toured there and is probably the best keeper available. That will be an important factor with spin expected to play a major part.It is true that Foakes endured a relatively modest County Championship season with the bat (he averaged 26.14) for Surrey. And it is true that, by doing so, he failed to make the most eloquent case for a recall. But might disappointment have been a factor? He started the summer by winning the player-of-the-match award on his ODI debut – in Dublin – only to be dropped before he had the chance to play another game. He has also never played another full series after that Sri Lanka tour. In 36 fewer Tests than Buttler, he has the same number of Test centuries and a batting average of 41.50. He could be forgiven if he felt somewhat hard done by.Bairstow will be considered, too. But many of the arguments levelled against Buttler could be levelled against him too, and it is not as if he has scored a mountain of runs since he was dropped. He is looking better in training, however, and England may point to the example of Dom Bess for the improvement a player can make without actually appearing in a game. It may also be relevant that Bairstow made a century from No. 3 in the Colombo Test little more than a year ago. With Joe Denly failing to secure the role, it is that position that Bairstow must be eying.This is not the end of the road for Buttler as an international cricketer. Far from it. Freed from the demands of the longest format, he could concentrate on his limited-overs career. He is already one of the best – if not the best – white-ball cricketers England has ever had. With more chance to remain fresh, there is no reason he cannot sustain such form for several more years.We are in another World Cup cycle now, too. If Eoin Morgan decides he is unlikely to last another four years – and he is 33 now, so it could be a stretch – it may make sense to appoint Buttler as ODI captain in the near future. That way, he would have time to grow into the role and a new England team would have time to evolve around him.Jos Buttler can still be a great England cricketer. Just not a great England Test cricketer. That’s not so bad, is it?

Players and team management can assess situation in Pakistan during the T20I series, Nizamuddin Chowdhury says

Mohammad Isam24-Dec-2019Despite the tough stance adopted by the PCB on Bangladesh’s unwillingness to play Test cricket in Pakistan, the BCB has reiterated that as things stood, it could only give the go-ahead to a T20I series in the country. In what could be seen as a slight softening of its position on the Tests, though, chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that Bangladesh would decide on the longer series after the T20I tour.Speaking to a few reporters in Dhaka on Tuesday, Chowdhury said that while the BCB understood the sentiments of the PCB, it needed to take into account the views of the Bangladeshi players and the team management.ALSO READ: ‘Great injustice’ – Misbah-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali unhappy with Bangladesh decision“Pakistan will definitely try for the full return of international cricket to their country. We have to take into account the views of our players and members of our team management, who are foreigners,” Chowdhury said. “The match environment is also important to us. Relevant stakeholders’ view is also important, regarding a longer tour to Pakistan.”Our primary proposal is to play three T20Is in a shorter period so that players and team management can do a proper assessment of the situation there.”Recently, Sri Lanka became the first team to play Test cricket in Pakistan since 2009. That tour was always going to be in two parts, with the Tests first and then the white-ball matches. But the PCB swapped the formats around, with many major Sri Lanka players expressing their apprehension about touring, and the limited-overs matches were played first, in October. Once that tour was conducted without incident, Sri Lanka agreed to tour in December for a two-Test series with their first-choice players.As such, since the T20Is are scheduled for January 23, 25 and 27, the PCB has a very small window to host the Bangladesh Tests, with the PSL scheduled to begin in the third week of February.On Monday, at the end of Pakistan’s Test series against Sri Lanka, Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, had adopted a particularly defiant tone, saying there was “absolutely no doubt” Pakistan would play all home series within the country going forward.”No one should be under any misapprehension as to where Pakistan’s home Tests will take place,” Mani said at a press interaction. “All of Pakistan’s matches, against Bangladesh or anyone else, will take place in Pakistan. I still hope the BCB will reflect on the matter and accept there is no reason for them not to visit Pakistan.”If Sri Lanka can come – and bringing them was very high-risk – then it is safe. If anything even minor had happened, people would have said it isn’t safe to come. But they trusted the people here and came and they [the ones that opted out] said they wished they had come for the limited-overs series as well, because what they’ve been told and the ground realities are very different.”