All posts by n8rngtd.top

Andrew Gale mustered his best sore of a difficult season but it did not ease his troubles entirely as Lancashire continued to dominate the Roses match

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford15-Aug-2016
ScorecardAndrew Gale buckled down for his highest score of the season•Getty Images

At 9.45 on the third morning of this match the Yorkshire cricketer, Andrew Gale, strolled back to the away dressing room from the Old Trafford nets. His body cast a clear, sharp shadow as he walked across the outfield. With his batting gloves and helmet wedged neatly under his arm and the bat held rather like a lance in hand, Gale cut a faintly chivalric figure as he glanced across to the square where he has played on many occasions. Yorkshire’s skipper is an old warrior, though, and these lists hold many memories for him, not all of them congenial. “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms…?” Rather a lot, since you ask.This has been not only a tough season for Gale but also a slightly strange one for his county. And even though he made 83, his highest score of the season, and Yorkshire avoided the follow-on, neither of those trends were lobbed out of kilter on a Monday when the cricket was watched by a good-sized crowd including – ECB panjandrums, please note – a large number of schoolchildren.Gale wanted a hundred but fell 17 short and County Championships are not won by sides battling to concede deficits of less than 150. By the close, Tom Smith and Haseeb Hameed had extended Lancashire’s 134-run first-innings lead to 204, Hameed stroking quite lovely boundaries to the cover and midwicket boundaries. While Middlesex were thrashing Durham on Monday evening, Yorkshire will almost certainly be batting two sessions or so to save the Roses match on Tuesday. Beating Nottinghamshire at Scarborough next week is looking a necessity.Moreover, while Yorkshire are the only team with a chance of winning all three trophies, their club captain, who has played only four-day games, has struggled in his quest for big runs. Gale has netted for numberless hours and declared himself in decent nick. He has played second-team cricket on slow pitches like that at Derbyshire’s Belper Meadows in an effort to get the scores that would justify his view. Yet he began this 269th Roses match with 327 Championship runs in the bank at an average of 19.23.For much of the first session, it seemed as though Gale was going to find his grail in a place as strange as Trafford. Resuming on 136 for 2, he and Alex Lees were already well set on a wicket containing few obvious ogres and they had added another 47 runs in 75 minutes before Lees was leg before to Kyle Jarvis for a hard-worked 85 when playing across a ball that held its line.Gale was batting well. His style is unlikely to inspire sonnets but he has made over eight thousand runs, so who gives a damn? There had been a cheery clump to the boundary off Jarvis long-hop and a fine drive over mid-on off Simon Kerrigan. In the first hour of the morning he added 20 runs to his overnight 36 and he had faced a Lancashire attack emboldened by their first-innings total of 594. So emboldened, indeed that one or two home players had made observations to Gale which required the brief intercession of the umpires, Paul Baldwin and David Millns. After his infamous contretemps with Ashwell Prince, Yorkshire’s captain has almost certainly had enough of conversations with Lancashire players on the Old Trafford outfield.For most of the second hour of Monday’s play, Gale was partnered by 24-year-old Melburnian Jake Lehmann, who was playing his first innings for the county. Rather than resembling his father, Darren, in any particular way, Lehmann sports a rather natty moustache vaguely reminiscent of Edwardian England. So perhaps it was not only the youngster’s fine straight boundaries off Jarvis which encouraged the watching Gale. If you are engaged in a battle for Yorkshire’s pride, it probably doesn’t harm if you’re batting with a bloke who looks like FS Jackson.Notwithstanding such reminders of yet another golden age for White Rose cricket, Gale was out five minutes before lunch when he cut Tom Smith to gully where Simon Kerrigan delightedly took his first catch in that position for Lancashire. There was an annoyed wave of the bat from Gale and a resigned departure. He needs a century, the batsman’s litmus test of achievement. It’s one more than 99 but it’s the one run that everyone notices.Throughout the morning session Lancashire had been bowling well. Steven Croft’s attack was no doubt encouraged by their side’s dominance in a fixture they have not won since 2011 and they deserved their successes. In the afternoon more were to follow as Lehmann played on to the excellent Kyle Jarvis after making a quietly impressive 46 off 53 balls. Three balls earlier Rashid had been brilliantly caught by Hameed at short leg off Kerrigan, the ball being clipped crisply at head height where the 19-year-old clutched it in two hands before scampering back to the justifiably astonished bowler.Lehmann’s dismissal left Yorkshire on 272 for 6, 73 short of the follow-on. It is doubtful, of course, whether Croft would have invited Gale to have another bat but it would have been an affront to White Rose honour had he even had the opportunity. The indignity was avoided thanks to a typically determined effort from Andy Hodd who made 43 and had taken his side to within four runs of their first objective when he was brilliantly caught by a diving Liam Livingstone, who sprinted 15 yards from slip before hurling himself forward to take the skied snare off KerriganEleven overs later Yorkshire were all out for 360 but the innings ended in perhaps unprecedented fashion when Ryan Sidebottom “walked” for a catch at the wicket off Kerrigan. For a few Yorkshire supporters, Lancastrians too, perhaps, it was as though Yorkshire’s last man had taken a page from a Shakespeare First Folio and made a paper aeroplane out of it. Most people, of course, call it honesty and it would be interesting to see what cricket might be like if the game’s often admirable ethics incorporated such behaviour.

Pooran launches ten sixes as Amazon Warriors cruise home in 151 chase

The Report by Matt Roller30-Aug-2020Nicholas Pooran hit his maiden T20 hundred from just 45 balls to lead Guyana Amazon Warriors from 25 for 3 to a seven-wicket win with 21 balls to spare in a chase of 151 against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, taking his side into play-off contention after a wretched start to the tournament.Pooran dominated an unbroken 128-run stand for the fourth wicket with Ross Taylor, who was happy to play second fiddle with 25 not out off 27 balls. Pooran hit 10 towering sixes on a tricky Queen’s Park Oval pitch on which St Lucia Zouks had defended 92 earlier in the day, and his hitting was breathtakingly clean as he targeted the Patriots spinners, effortlessly lofting them over wide long-off and heaving through midwicket.After Joshua Da Silva’s 59 had dragged the Patriots up to 150 for 5 and Jon-Russ Jaggesar took two wickets in the final over of the Powerplay, the Amazon Warriors looked in all sorts of trouble, not least with their batting line-up misfiring throughout the season. But Pooran made any suggestions of their demise look startlingly premature.Selection surprisesEvin Lewis looked in all sorts of pain batting at No. 7 after a groin injury on Saturday night, but was named in the Patriots side at the toss, while Sheldon Cottrell missed out due to a niggle. But it was a real shock to see Chris Lynn left out, even after 73 runs in six innings, and fellow overseas player Nick Kelly was also left to carry the drinks.Guyana sprung a surprise too, leaving out Lynn’s future Mumbai Indians team-mate Sherfane Rutherford and dropping Chandrapaul Hemraj after a poor run this season. Their batting line-up looked particular short with Kevin Sinclair – a lower-middle order option for WI Emerging Players in the Regional Super50 last season – as a makeshift opener and Keemo Paul carded at No. 6.Sinclair starsSinclair, the 20-year-old Guyanese allrounder, was handed the new ball as Chris Green opted to bowl six overs of offspin in the Powerplay, and he upstaged his captain with a fine spell. He struck in his second over, as Lewis chopped an offbreak onto his own stumps, and celebrated in style that would make a professional gymnast proud. He continued to keep the Patriots quiet with a combination of arm balls and regulation offbreaks, varying his lines and pace, and conceded only nine runs from his allocation of four overs.Nicholas Pooran frees his arms•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Da Silva acceleratesDa Silva was a team-mate of Sinclair’s in WI Emerging Players’ improbable run to the Super50 title last year, and despite him impressed with runs in the warm-up games on West Indies’ tour of England, the general consensus was that he was not suited to T20 cricket.He had done little to dispel that idea in the first 12 overs of the innings today, nudging his way to 16 off 26 balls having been dropped earlier in the tournament amid concerns about his strike rate. But after swatting Ashmead Nedd through mid-off, he turned on the style once Guyana threw the ball to a seamer, Keemo Paul, for the first time in the 14th over.Despite struggling in the heat, Da Silva heaved Paul’s slower balls for six, before hitting Imran Tahir for four and then bringing up his maiden T20 fifty, upper-cutting a Naveen-ul-Haq slower ball for three before smacking him for two boundaries to finish the 17th over. He had laid the foundation for late acceleration, with Denesh Ramdin – whom he had dislodged from the Trinidad and Tobago side in first-class cricket last season – whacking two sixes at the death to take the Patriots to 150.King loses his crownBrandon King was the leading run-scorer in the CPL last season but has had a miserable time of it this year. After hitting Alzarri Joseph for two early boundaries – as the Patriots opened the bowling with the only two bowlers to take an IPL six-for – King swatted awkwardly at a short ball, giving Ramdin an easy catch behind the stumps.That left his returns for the tournament at 60 runs at 8.57 from seven innings, and when Jaggesar took two wickets in the final over of the Powerplay, Guyana were in disarray at 25 for 3. But that brought Pooran and Taylor together, who quickly turned the game on its head.Pooran wins it As the required run rate soared to 9.5 runs per over, Pooran decided to take the attack to the Patriots, slapping Jaggesar for two sixes over long-off as Taylor short-arm jabbed Emrit over midwicket. Pooran then attacked Imran Khan, hitting him for two sixes and a four in the 11th over, before adding another towering blow off Jaggesar.Joseph’s return did little to stem the flow, as the partnership ticked up towards the first century stand of the tournament with two boundaries off him and a towering six over midwicket off Ish Sodhi, eventually reaching it with an enormous lofted drive through mid-off from Sohail Tanvir.A maiden ton looked out of reach with Pooran on 82 at the start of the 17th over with only 16 runs required, but he hit each of Sodhi’s three balls over the ropes, roaring in celebration as he sealed the win and made the first hundred of the CPL season in the process.On this form, there is little stopping Pooran, who was brutal down the ground and in front of square on the leg side and calmly ticked over with well-placed singles when his calculations suggested that a boundary wasn’t possible. Tonight will be a huge positive for West Indies, with evidence that he can fire even on difficult, turning wickets ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup in India.

A round-up of The Ford Trophy games played on December 30, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2015Corey Anderson celebrated his return to the national side with an 87-ball 88, but his effort was not enough to help Northern Districts chase down 279 against Auckland in Hamilton.ND began shakily in the chase, losing Dean Brownlie for a five-ball duck. Daniel Flynn and Daryl Mitchell then laid a strong base, adding 76, before Anderson took over. He struck six fours and two sixes, and was aided by contributions from BJ Watling and Tim Seifert. However, fast bowler Lachie Ferguson dismissed Anderson in the 46th over to tilt the contest in Auckland’s favour. ND ran out of fuel, losing their last four wickets for 21 runs.The match was set up for Auckland, thanks to fifties from Brad Cachopa and Robert O’ Donnell, after they were reduced to 109 for 4 in 20.2 overs. The pair repaired the early damage and then lifted the innings with a 130-run partnership off 142 balls. The stand ended when Scott Kuggeleijn got rid of Cachopa for 93, but O’Donnell ensured that his side passed 250 and eventually finished with 278, which proved 11 more for ND.Peter Fulton’s half-century, followed by a collective bowling effort, led Canterbury to their second successive win in the competition, after beating Otago by 65 runs in Alexandra.Having been inserted, Canterbury lost their openers cheaply before Fulton revived the innings with his 36th List A fifty, which contained 10 fours and one six. Each of the middle-order batsmen had starts but failed to build on it, with allrounder Sam Wells claiming three wickets. However, it was enough to haul Canterbury to 228.Otago’s chase had begun on a poor note with both the openers falling for ducks. It was a sign of things to come with Otago sliding to 163 all out within 40 overs. Hamish Rutherford and James Neesham mounted some resistance with a 45-run fourth-wicket partnership, before No.9 Neil Wagner swung his way to an unbeaten 37. Todd Astle, one of the three bowlers to pick up two wickets, put the seal on Canterbury’s win when he bowled Warren Barnes for a duck.George Worker’s century trumped Luke Woodcock’s, helping defending champions Central Districts to a 32-run win against Wellington at the Basin Reserve.After Ben Smith was dismissed by Dane Hutchinson for 4, Worker and Jesse Ryder added 126 together at a rapid pace only for the middle order to fumble. From 139 for 1, Central Districts slumped to 199 for 6 and Worker soon followed for 114 off 120 balls. Marty Kain’s (22) cameo lower down the order meant that Central Districts were pushed to 241.Woodcock followed three wickets with a counterattacking century, his first in List A cricket, and helped Wellington close to the target from a shambolic 35 for 5. The collapse seeped into the lower order as well as the hosts were skittled for 209. Woodcock hit two fours and six sixes before he was the last man dismissed. Central Districts’ new-ball bowlers – Seth Rance and Bevan Small – claimed combined figures of 17-3-65-7 to trip up the chase.

Tayla Vlaeminck is back from injury and the uncapped Darcie Brown is generating plenty of excitement

Andrew McGlashan12-Mar-2021Rachael Haynes believes Australia’s deepening stock of fast bowlers will provide a “point of difference” for the side as they build towards a 2021-22 schedule that has plenty of big prizes up for grabs.Tayla Vlaeminck is back in the squad for the tour of New Zealand for the first time since being ruled out of the T20 World Cup more than a year ago and is joined by the uncapped Darcie Brown, whose potential is creating much excitement in the game after a season where she has impressed in the WBBL and the WNCL.Belinda Vakarewa, who has one ODI cap from the 2017 World Cup, is also part of the squad and the injured Annabel Sutherland is tipped to push the speed gun further. Hannah Darlington, the other new name on the New Zealand tour, has been selected on the back of her death-bowling skillset in T20 cricket, while Taneale Peschel and Stella Campbell are among others whose progress will be watched closely.Related

• Australia want to keep evolving to avoid being 'caught out'

• Darlington: 'Every day I'm pinching myself that this is happening'

• 20 women cricketers for the 2020s

• Can Issy Wong hit 80 clicks?

“It’s really exciting, particularly for Australian cricket, that there’s this depth of fast bowlers,” Haynes, Australia’s vice-captain, told ESPNcricinfo ahead of flying out on Saturday. “Even as little as four years ago our attack was built around off-pace and a lot of spin. And now we are talking about having five or six different types of fast bowlers all of who are capable of bowling around that 120kph mark, and because they are young they are going to get quicker. It will be a point of difference for our side and will be really competitive for positions.”In her brief international appearances before injury, Vlaeminck hurried batters – especially in the tri-series which preceded the T20 World Cup – just days before a stress fracture in her foot was diagnosed and kept her out of action until the ongoing WNCL.And during the WNCL, there was an over from Brown that further highlighted her potential after a promising WBBL campaign for the Adelaide Strikers. Facing Queensland, she bounced out Georgia Voll then twice beat Beth Mooney with late inswingers that thundered into the pads, the second time trapping her lbw.Tayla Vlaeminck will be hoping her injury problems are behind her•Getty Images

“It’s not often you see a player burst onto the scene and bowl fast outswingers, hurry up some of the best players in the world,” Australia coach Matthew Mott said. “You can see that she rushes people, good players. Particularly in New Zealand conditions with the ball swinging I can’t wait to see her over there.”It will be an incredible learning opportunity for her regardless of whether she gets a start but she’s certainly in the mix. She has a lot of attributes we’ve been searching for.”South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail leads the line for fast bowlers at the moment – she was regularly clocking above 120kph in the WBBL – and Australia could face Lea Tahuhu if she is fit for the matches later this month. In England, 18-year-old Izzy Wong is tipped for a big future.Former Australia quick Cathryn Fitzpatrick is considered the greatest of all time but the new generation, at least those countries with well-funded female pathways, have the advantage of access to high performance set-ups from a young age.”Bringing through players like that requires a big investment in your pathway and talent ID,” Haynes said. “It really is a reflection on what WBBL has done in attracting different types of athletes to the sport.”Fast bowling is an area Mott has focused a lot of time on while working in the women’s game and can now see the results coming through.”I made it really clear from the moment I was in the game that it was the area that we had the most potential to develop,” he said. “The states deserve a lot of credit and the National Performance Squad with Tay [Vlaeminck] and Annabel where they learnt how to train properly. Those things have really helped develop some good quicks or are physically capable of doing it and think that’s exciting for the world game.”The state coaches and national coaches have all had their eye on the prize. If you can encourage these bowlers – because sometimes pace off the ball in women’s cricket is very effective – and wear a short-term lack of results with the bigger prize in mind that really starts to bear fruit.”There will also be interest in how Ellyse Perry goes with the ball in New Zealand after a season where she has struggled after her return from the serious hamstring injury which ended her T20 World Cup. In the WBBL she took eight wickets at 34.37 and an economy rate of 8.25, and in the WNCL has managed just two wickets in six matches while being Victoria’s most expensive bowler.”She had some issues with run-up at one stage but she looks as though she’s ironed that our herself and that’s exciting,” Mott said. “She’s one of the greats of all time and the longer she’s on the park the better she will be.”

NZ’s new pace star on the people who helped him shift to bowling, and what he learnt in Wellington

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2020New Zealand’s fledgling pace star Kyle Jamieson was “quite relaxed” leading up to his Test debut, and following his success in that game, he confident there’s “still a lot more to come” from him.Speaking the day after New Zealand thumped India in Wellington, Jamieson spoke of his transition from batsman to bowler, the people who helped him make the switch, and what he learnt from bowling alongside Trent Boult and Tim Southee.He also hinted at what an ideal future might hold – upping his pace, among other things. “Yeah, for sure [looking to get quicker than an average of 130kph],” he said. “I’m still a long way off where I want to be as a bowler and as a cricketer. The stuff that I started to work on with Auckland, with Heinrich [Malan, his coach at Auckland and New Zealand A], I think in the next year or so I’m going to make massive strides.”To begin, Jamieson was a batsman. But then, when he made the step up to Under-19 cricket, Dayle Hadlee – the former New Zealand pacer, brother of Richard Hadlee, and ex-New Zealand U-19 coach – spotted something in him that pushed him to take up bowling.ALSO READ: The lowdown on Kyle Jamieson“I was pretty much a batter all through high school and then made the New Zealand U-19s and Dayle Hadlee got a hold of me and told me to run in, which kind of shifted me towards becoming more of a bowler,” Jamieson said. “I always liked batting, it was probably what I grew up admiring the most – whilst I did bowl, I did not think of that as my career option growing up.”Now I’m a bowler who can bat, trying to get to the allrounder stage, that’s where I ideally want to be.”Jamieson, born in Auckland, had moved to Canterbury in his late teens to develop his cricket. When he eventually made the Canterbury side, he worked with current New Zealand coach Gary Stead, who, back then, was overseeing that team. Soon after, his transition from batsman to bowler under Hadlee began.Now Malan, who has worked with Jamieson at the New Zealand A level over the past few months, and whom the bowler followed from Canterbury back to Auckland in 2019-20, has taken over as his primary bowling guide.”I worked with Steady for a couple of years and just tried to learn that craft of bowling which I didn’t have growing up, so I’m still pretty young I guess on that journey,” Jamieson said. “For the most part, Dayle [was a big influence in making me a bowler], for my four, five, six years in Canterbury, I’m still in contact with him as well… Heinrich the last six-eight months, he’s been massive. His knowledge around bowling has certainly opened my eyes. I think those two from a bowling point of view have been massive.”Stead remembers Jamieson from his pre-bowling days, and is amazed at the changes he has made. “I think it’s an amazing story, really. Kyle [who is now 25] was a 17-18-year-old when he came down to Lincoln University, and he actually was a batsman, didn’t really bowl at all,” Stead recalled after the Wellington Test. “So for me to see that development in six or seven years is a pretty amazing story in itself.”I remember watching him, first time I ever saw Kyle bowl was in Burnside Park in an U-19 tournament, and I looked at Dayle Hadlee and I told him, ‘this boy’s got a little bit about him’, and it was pretty exciting to watch. [It is] a testament to the work Kyle’s put in, the way he’s developed. But also I think the coaches around him and the systems we’ve had in New Zealand cricket, which have helped him get to this point, is really pleasing.”Now Jamieson has another outstanding source for ideas and inspiration: his New Zealand team-mates, Boult and Southee. He learnt a lot watching them at Basin Reserve, Jamieson said. “The way Trent bowled when he came down-breeze, chopping and changing the angles, real intensity… the role that Tim played in using the crease and just the accuracy – I guess it’s quite relentless in a way how they go at guys. I just observed all that.”There remains doubt over whether Jamieson will play in Christchurch, given Neil Wagner is set to return to the set-up after paternity leave, but if he does get to play, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Jamieson. And he’s excited by the prospect: “I spent five or six years down there, pretty familiar with the ground [Hagley Oval]. It’s always going to be special, it played such a big part in the start of my journey, it will be nice to be back in that changeroom.”

Coach Sabhi Azhar blames ‘self-absorbed’ captain Sana Mir and ‘cold’ team manager Ayesha Ashar for Pakistan’s winless World Cup campaign

Umar Farooq01-Aug-2017A “nexus” of Sana Mir, the Pakistan captain, the team manager and a couple of senior players has been singled out to lay the blame for Pakistan’s winless Women’s World Cup campaign. In a damning report by the coach of the side, Sabih Azhar, Mir bears the brunt of his criticism, as Azhar accuses her of adopting a “negative approach” and of being completely self-obsessed. He also complains that Ayesha Ashar, the long-time team manager, paid most of her attention to senior players Mir, Javeria Khan and Nain Abidi, and was “cold” towards the younger players.A 14-page report, a copy of which is obtained by ESPNcricinfo, acts also as an overview of Azhar’s 10-week term as coach and reveals the “inner dimensions of the negatives and positives of the team”. The report makes a number of recommendations, key among them that ageing players should be moved on and a new manager brought in.

Recommendations of the report

• It is strongly proposed that once a Head coach is appointed, he should be given the choice, to recommends his own team of, competent and trustworthy coaching and support staff.

• Since we don’t have a competitive domestic cricketing structure, it would be highly beneficial to the Pakistan women team if we could send our players abroad and play in their domestic cricket.

• By organizing frequent tours of A teams abroad, it will help in the all-round grooming of youngsters.

• Organizing a Women’s Super League will increases the competitiveness and quality of the Women Cricket in Pakistan.

“My humble view is if the set of these four – three players and manager – continue with the national team, there’s absolutely no chance of players’ growth in the team,” Azhar wrote. “Juniors need confidence of the seniors, but if they are always criticised and face negative remarks, it would shake their confidence very badly and we should forget growth of women’s cricket in Pakistan.”Much of the focus, however, fell on the leadership of Mir, who Azhar accused of being “self-centred, egotistical and being wrapped up in oneself”. That assessment will come as a shock to many, in whose eyes Mir is among the most significant and successful figures in women’s cricket in Pakistan. She made her ODI debut in 2005 and is the most experienced player in the squad, and has also led Pakistan in 72 of her 102 ODIs. In the 2017 World Cup, she scored 153 runs at an average of 30.60, and picked up six wickets.”It became clear that the captain Sana Mir is self-centred or self-absorbed; typically she is the last to know it,” the report read. “Her denial to accept self-centredness overshadows her good qualities of confidence and esteem.”Too many of our so-called role models, don’t give a hoot about anything except themselves. To them, the ‘team’ is nowhere near as important as the ‘me’. ‘What’s in it for me? I want more playing time. I should be starting instead of them! My average, My stats, My salary, etc.’ Similarly, Sana Mir’s ‘me-whining’ affected the mindset of aspiring young players to understand how important teamwork really is to success and any team game is not about ‘me’, it’s about ‘we’!”The captain was so much negative in her approach that she inculcated fear among other team members during team meetings on number of occasions. She used to praise opponent players a lot instead of backing her own players to do well. Eventually, the captain’s negative approach did damage the confidence of our batters and bowlers and they couldn’t play their natural game during matches.”Similarly, the captain selfishly used to bowl herself at such a time during the match when she knew that the batters won’t go after the bowling and her bowling figures won’t be destroyed. She had a jealousy factor in her mind that what will happen if the other bowler takes a wicket or two and gets an extended spell of bowling.”Ashar, who has been the manager of the women’s team for nine years, was criticised for her behaviour with the junior players in the squad.”The manager was inclined towards three players and sometimes her behaviour with junior players was very cold,” Azhar said in the report. “No doubt, maintaining discipline is something which is the foremost job of the manager, but I felt most of the junior players were uncomfortable with the attitude of the manager, who is with the national team for the last nine years.”Azhar wrote that Pakistan’s pre-tournament preparation – a 30-day training camp in Abbottabad and a 15-day training camp in Leicester – left him feeling confident.”We could have won our opening league match against South Africa before losing narrowly because the girls couldn’t handle the pressure at crucial moments. In the second match against England, our bowlers gave too many runs – 377 – and the match was over before our batters went in.”Against Sri Lanka and the West Indies, our team once again couldn’t give the finishing touches and lost both games. Overall, I believe we could have won at least three league matches – against South Africa, India and Sri Lanka – but the team lacked finishing approach at crucial junctures which cost us the games.”

Chris Rogers and Brad Hodge took control on the second day by racing Victoria to 3 for 452 against South Australia

Cricinfo staff31-Oct-2009Victoria 3 for 452 (Hodge 169*, Rogers 149) lead South Australia 292 by 160 runs

Scorecard
Loud message: Chris Rogers started the season in strong form with a century in Adelaide•Fred Kelly

The opener Chris Rogers followed his verbal reminder to the selectors with an on-field one as Victoria took control on the second day by racing to 3 for 452 against South Australia. Rogers deflated the home bowlers in posting 149 while Brad Hodge stepped in with an unbeaten 169 as the Bushrangers collected a strong lead of 160.During the week Rogers said he was disappointed that he wasn’t considered for the Ashes Tests and it is unlikely this innings will change the selectors’ minds, but it kept the pressure on the preferred New South Wales trio of Simon Katich, Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes. Rogers, who grabbed 22 fours as well as a flicked six off Peter George, added a run after tea before driving at a wider ball from Dan Christian and being caught by Aaron O’Brien in the gully.It was Rogers’ first chance, with the dismissal ending his stay after 187 deliveries and stopping the dominant partnership with Hodge of 181, which was achieved at a run-rate of 4.8 an over. Hodge continued to torment the Redbacks despite losing David Hussey, who hit Cullen Bailey to short cover on 46.Hodge had started nervously, surviving a first-ball lbw appeal, and was dropped on 54 by the stand-in captain Daniel Harris, but he showed few concerns once he got going. He lifted three sixes – one brought up his 150 – and found 24 fours during his 221-ball occupation that helped push the Bushrangers to 450 runs in a day.Christian (2 for 101) collected the first breakthrough when Nick Jewell was lbw shortly before lunch following an opening stand of 102. The Bushrangers have had no trouble adapting to the Sheffield Shield format following their Champions League Twenty20 experience and will look to add to their first-innings points over the next two days.

India’s captain has praised the Australia allrounder for his willingness to open up about his mental-health issues and take time away from the game

Varun Shetty in Indore13-Nov-20191:50

Decisions to take a break from the game should be respected – Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has come out in support of Glenn Maxwell following the allrounder’s withdrawal from Australia’s recent series against Sri Lanka for mental-health reasons. Kohli called Maxwell’s openness about his issues “remarkable”, and said he was “absolutely for” players asking for time away from the game in such situations.Maxwell’s withdrawal was met with public backing from Australia coach Justin Langer, captain Aaron Finch, and many other voices that revealed a healthy culture around mental health as an issue. Shortly after Maxwell, the 27-year-old batsman Nic Maddinson also withdrew from the Australia A team, the second such instance in Maddinson’s professional career.Kohli’s words on the issue are among the few originating from the subcontinent, where discussions on mental health are rare, both within and outside cricket circles. Kohli said he experienced this when he was struggling for runs during India’s tour of England in 2014, and didn’t have anyone to confide in.”I’m absolutely for it,” Kohli said on the eve of the first India-Bangladesh Test. “To be very honest, you guys have a job to do, we have a job to do, and everyone is focused on what they need to do. So it’s very difficult for anyone to figure out what’s going on in another person’s mind.”I’ve gone through a phase in my career where I felt like it was the end of the world. In England 2014, I didn’t know what to do, what to say to anyone, and how to speak and how to communicate. And to be honest, I couldn’t have said I’m not feeling great mentally and I need to get away from the game. Because you never know how that’s taken.Getty Images

“So I think these things should be of great importance. Because if you think that a player is important enough, for the team or for Indian cricket to go forward, I think they should be looked after. When you get to the international stage, every player needs that communication, that ability to just speak out.”And I think what Glenn has done is remarkable. And [he has] set the right example for cricketers around the world that if you’re not in the best frame of mind – you try, and try and try, but as human beings you reach a tipping point at some stage or the other. And you need time away from the game. Not to say you give up, but just to gain more clarity.”Numerous Australian cricketers have spoken publicly about mental-health-related issues recently, which follows the noteworthy precedent set around mental health in cricket in England. Moises Henriques, Nicole Bolton and Will Pucovski have all taken time out from the game over the last two years, and England’s Sarah Taylor, one of the biggest stars in modern cricket, retired aged 30 earlier this year after struggles with a long-term anxiety issue.Apart from Kohli’s thoughts on the issue, mental health has not been a widely discussed topic in Indian cricket. The associated taboos and insecurity act as major deterrents against players either coming out or asking for breaks. Kohli said players should be encouraged to be open and seek help when needed.”[…] In my opinion, [a break] is quite acceptable.” he said. “And quite nice to do when you’re not able to carry on any more. So I think these things should be respected and not taken in a negative way at all because this is happening at a human level, it’s got nothing to do with what you do on the field. It’s just not having the capacity any more to deal with things, which I think can happen to any person in any walk of life. I think it should be taken in a very positive way.”

Bowlers, led by Lockie Ferguson, set up the eight-wicket win by shooting Bangladesh out for 226

The Report by Mohammad Isam15-Feb-2019Martin Guptill’s second consecutive century led New Zealand to a series-clinching eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second ODI at Hagley Park on Saturday. The 227-run chase, set up by their bowlers again, was reduced to a stroll when Guptill and captain Kane Williamson added 143 runs for the second wicket.Guptill, who made 118 off just 88 balls, continued in Christchurch from where he had stopped in Napier. Two fours in the second over and two sixes in the sixth over of the chase signalled his intentions, and he reached his half-century – off just 33 balls – in the 11th over, soon after Henry Nicholls was caught at the deep square-leg boundary.

Back-to-back centuries for Guptill

Guptill on his century in Napier v century in Christchurch: “I was able to get off to a quicker start here than I was at Napier. It was a nice wicket to bat on, so I was able to get a few away over the top early, and carried on from there. The Napier wicket was a bit slower and holding, but today only the odd ball was holding and you could hit through the line and have the confidence of being able to do that.”
On his form: “Getting there. Today felt a bit more like me a couple of years ago, which is pleasing. Hopefully I’m able to keep pushing on from here.”
On the Bangladesh bowling: “I think they’ve got some really good bowlers. (Mashrafe) Mortaza is obviously a very experienced bowler and he can be quite difficult to get away. But I think if you put them under pressure, they just don’t have the experience here to be able to holding in there for long periods of time.”

He played all around the ground – slashes through the off-side field, pulls and straight drives, and then a tuck off the hips got him to his century in the 25th over. Guptill, who struck three of his four sixes back past the bowler, eventually fell in the 29th over with New Zealand needing just 39 to win.The remaining runs were duly knocked off by Williamson, who finished unbeaten on 65, and Ross Taylor in 36.1 overs, pointing to the gulf between the two teams in these conditions. Williamson’s was a steady hand compared to Guptill’s marauding effort, as he struck just three fours in his 86-ball knock.Earlier, New Zealand’s bowlers were clinical in shooting out Bangladesh for 226 despite seeing their fielders drop four catches. Lockie Ferguson took three wickets including that of Mushfiqur Rahim, while Matt Henry employed his variations to good effect in ten tight overs. Todd Astle and Jimmy Neesham picked up two wickets each, while Trent Boult, Henry and Colin de Grandhomme got one apiece.For the second game in a row, Bangladesh lost half their batsmen before reaching three figures, as Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das fell early, Soumya Sarkar threw away a good start (again), Mushfiqur chopped one on to his stumps, and Mahmudullah poked at an away-going delivery.It was only a 75-run sixth-wicket stand between Mohammad Mithun and Sabbir Rahman that gave the Bangladesh total some respectability. They played some sparkling shots and Mithun, who was the second batsman to get a reprieve from Ross Taylor in the slips, got stuck into Astle by hitting him through the off-side field, and even hitting a four past short third man with a reverse-paddle. His best shot, though, was a push through the covers for four off the pacy Ferguson.

Watch New Zealand v Bangladesh LIVE on ESPN+

Readers from the US can watch the 3rd ODI LIVE here, on ESPN+

But soon after he had hit that boundary, Mithun pulled a hamstring while taking a single. The discomfort affected his batting as he began relying on boundaries, and although he struck Astle for a slog-swept six and an inside-out four in the 33rd over, he didn’t last much longer. Astle castled him in the next over for 57 – back-to-back half-centuries – ensuring Bangladesh’s lower order had to get involved for the last 14 overs.Sabbir’s was a fortuitous stay, with the bails refusing to fall when his inside-edge off Astle brushed the leg stump. Later, he did call for an excellent review, when Henry struck his pads in line but replays showed the ball going over the stumps. He timed the ball well, but Mehidy Hasan’s dismissal at the start of the 41st over slowed him down and eventually the Bangladesh innings.

Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal has also been brought into the squad

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Dec-2018India opener Prithvi Shaw will miss remainder of the Test series against Australia after failing to recover completely from the ankle injury he picked during the one-off warm-up match. Shaw twisted his left ankle in the field while attempting a catch in the deep in the tour match against New South Wales second XI in Sydney. Although the team management expected him to be fit in time for the Boxing Day Test, the BCCI has confirmed that Shaw will return home and be replaced byMayank Agarwal.Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya who proved his fitness in a first-class game against Mumbai this week, will be travelling to Australia to link up with the Indian team. His state captain at Baroda, Kedar Devdhar, confirmed as much at the post-match press conference, and the same was confirmed by the BCCI which said Pandya was joining the squad as an additional member for the final two Tests of the series.Hardik, who has been out of action with a back injury sustained during the Asia Cup in September, appeared in no particular discomfort as he got through a workload of 28 overs in the Ranji Trophy match at the Wankhede Stadium. He picked up a five-for in the first innings and added a couple more wickets in the second innings. Also on show was his batting ability as he struck 73 off 137 balls even as he kept losing partners at the other end.The Indian team management is bound to treat Pandya’s inclusion as a positive development, but simultaneously it would treat Shaw’s exit as a setback. After a sparkling start to his Test career, where he finished as the Man of the Series against West Indies at home recently, Shaw started his Australian tour with a confident 50 against CA XI. Despite the freak injury India coach Ravi Shastri predicted a a “speedy recovery for Shaw. Shaw was then spotted doing light jogs during the ongoing second Test in Perth, briefly suggesting he was likely to be in contention for the third Test, starting December 26 in Melbourne.For Agarwal, a prolific scorer in domestic cricket over the past few seasons for his state Karnataka, this is the second time he is part of the Indian Test squad after being part of the 15 in the home series against West Indies. Agarwal will be a strong contender for one of the opening slots because of the poor form of M Vijay and KL Rahul.