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Her captaincy appointment had been expected and was ratified on Friday, with Tahlia McGrath named vice-captain

Andrew McGlashan08-Dec-2023Alyssa Healy wants to create a “new legacy” for Australia’s all-conquering women’s cricket team after officially replacing Meg Lanning as captain across all three formats.Wicketkeeper-batter Healy filled in for Lanning as captain for extended spells over the past two years, including this year’s Ashes. Now the 33-year-old, who had always been expected to earn the elevation, will step into the role full-time after Lanning’s shock international retirement last month.Allrounder Tahlia McGrath, who recently led Adelaide Strikers to back-to-back WBBL titles, has been named vice-captain.Healy, a matchwinner across her 255-game career, will lead Australia’s attempts to keep international cricket’s chasing pack at bay which will include defending the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh next September.”For me to be able to present to the powers that be about who I am and what I can bring as a leader and what I can hopefully help this side do in the next couple of big years with a couple of World Cups on the horizon was a really great experience for me,” Healy said. “And [it] probably just ratified things in my own head about, ‘Yep, this is exactly what I want to do’. And I want to help create a new legacy for this Australian team.”The legacy that Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes had for a really long period of time and the success they had was outstanding, and I was a part of that, which is really cool. But it feels like we’re a little bit new. We’re a new side, we’ve got talent coming through. We’ve got older players coming in and out and it was sort of an opportunity to reset and refresh.”Healy’s reign will begin in earnest later this month after she declared herself a near-certain starter for the Test against India at the famous Wankhede Stadium on December 21. She missed the entire WBBL after badly hurting her finger while trying to break up a fight between her two dogs but has returned to training.Seeing the opportunity that lay ahead for her when Lanning retired helped clarify Healy’s career-goals, in terms of both building more success for this team and ensuring a successful future.”I’ve always been a little bit wishy-washy, and you guys in the media can probably attest to that,” she said. “I always play games about how long I’m going to play for, but in my own mind it sort of gave me an opportunity [to say] that, ‘Yep, this is what I want to achieve and this is where I’d like to take the group for a certain amount of time’. And I think we can achieve great things in that time, but more so set it up for the next 10 years to be really successful.”Alyssa Healy can now start to rubberstamp her imprint on the team•Getty Images

Healy admitted the last 12 months had brought a degree of uncertainty with her filling in on a temporary basis for Lanning. Australia’s white-ball form has slipped this year with ODI and T20I series defeats against England while they also gave up a T20I to West Indies when Hayley Matthews played a spectacular innings at North Sydney Oval.”I think both Tahlia and I have probably felt like we’ve been warming the seat and I think that’s probably been really tricky for [coach] Shelley Nitschke as well who’s new into the role,” Healy said. “We were all just a little bit unsure about what was going happen and obviously we wanted Meg to come back and we wanted her to lead the side.”But it was filling in while we could and also probably living series to series which we identified that’s not probably doing us any favours. We actually need to look long term and work towards World Cups and work towards big series and tournaments.”She added that Lanning’s ability to carry the team “on her shoulders” is something she would aspire to do even if it meant slightly adjusting her mindset as a player.”That probably hasn’t always been the way that I’ve played my cricket and it’s probably not been the way that I’ve led either,” she said. “But if I can find some sort of middle ground in that regard and go, ‘You know what, it’s my time to go out there and win the game or play the innings or take the catch that wins it’, then I’m going to do that as a leader and hopefully show the others that we can do it.”The decision to appoint Healy and McGrath was ratified at a Cricket Australia board meeting on Friday.”Alyssa is an outstanding player and leader who has earned enormous respect both on and off the field,” CA general manager of high-performance and national teams Ben Oliver said.”Alyssa brings a wealth of experience to the role, and we have great confidence in her ability to successfully lead the Australian women’s team in tandem with Tahlia as vice-captain.”We are extremely fortunate to have a talented and experienced group of players who will provide great support to Alyssa and Tahlia as the team evolves and seeks to build on its outstanding performances.”McGrath, who looms as the heir apparent, relished the opportunity to support Healy.”Alyssa and I have played together for a long time, we know our respective leadership styles well and I look forward to helping her lead our group as we embark on a busy but exciting international schedule,” she said.

Having been promoted to No.4, Shadab stepped up with the bat to dominate NZ’s attack

Danyal Rasool08-Oct-2022
On a day where everything clicked into place for Pakistan, they swept aside New Zealand to cruise to a six-wicket win. A day after Bangladesh had been given short shrift, another near-flawless bowling performance against a rusty, stilted New Zealand batting-line-up saw the hosts restricted to 147 with Haris Rauf yet again the star. In response, Babar Azam steered Pakistan’s chase with an effortless, unbeaten 53-ball 79. Quickfire cameos from Shdab Khan and Haider Ali helped Pakistan seal the win with 10 balls to spare.New Zealand struggled to get going early on, with Devon Conway and Kane Williamson struggling for fluency during their 61-run partnership off 52 balls. The pacers cramped New Zealand for room during the fielding restrictions, while Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz kept things tight during the middle. A one-over blip, during which Mark Chapman hammered Nawaz for 22, threatened to see New Zealand claw back some ground they had lost, only for the visitors to hit back and ensure there would be no further shift in momentum. The last three overs saw 17 runs scored with five wickets lost, by which stage New Zealand were hobbling.Mohammad Rizwan couldn’t find the fluency that has been characteristic of his game for the past two years and was trapped in front by Tim Southee, before Blair Tickner sent Shan Masood back for a duck. Shadab was the wrecking ball through the middle order, complementing his captain especially well in a fluent, destructive partnership that also yielded 61 – though they took just 42 balls to get there. By then the required rate was effectively around a run-a-ball, where it stayed for the next few overs. Haider Ali and Babar smashed Tickner for 21 in the 18th over, and sealed a second successive win.Shadab’s promotion
The clamour to have Shadab bat higher up the order has occupied much social-media real estate in Pakistan, and its immediate vindication upon its deployment could potentially have ramifications for Pakistan through the next five weeks. It is in the top four that Shadab has boasted the highest average and strike rate for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League, and Pakistan’s tendency to slow down in the post-powerplay overs had led to baying calls to promote Shadab reaching a crescendo.On Saturday, Shadab showed why. Everything seemed to fall into place after Rizwan and Masood both fell towards the end of the powerplay. It prompted the allrounder’s first-ever promotion to No.4 with Pakistan, and in the absence of the high pace of Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne, it was a very fruitful match-up. Tickner was slashed through point first ball he faced, before Ish Sodhi’s first ball was hammered over cow corner and out of the stadium.In just six balls Sodhi bowled to Shadab, Shadab would plunder 19. In all, Shadab scored 34 off 22 balls to easy any pressure in a fairly small chase, allowing his team-mates to cruise along at a much more sedate pace. The option he gives Pakistan would appear to add another dimension to their batting, though how frequently they deem fit to ustilise it is very much an open question.Haris Rauf dented New Zealand at the death•Getty Images

Williamson and Conway struggle

Conway is New Zealand’s highest-ranked batter, and Williamson perhaps the most reliable, but in their first home game of the season, both looked off-colour. Williamson acknowledged his side’s performance had been “scrappy”, and the 61-run second-wicket stand between the two exemplified that. Pakistan in top form with the ball aren’t an ideal opponent for your first home game of the season, and perhaps that showed.Conway was able to find the odd four or six, but the dot balls interspersed between those boundaries only continued to add the pressure. It was perhaps telling that only after they fell did New Zealand enjoy their best passage of play with the bat, thanks to Chapman who briefly raised hopes of New Zealand posting a total in excess of 160.It contrasted heavily with the Babar-Shadab stand, which also saw 61 runs scored. But the ten fewer balls it took made all the difference – that was exactly the number of deliveries Pakistan had to spare when the target was chased down.An all-round bowling performance
Really, though, this game was about Pakistan with the ball. The old adage around bowlers winning tournaments bodes particularly well for Pakistan in this tri-series as two superb bowling performances see them sitting pretty at the top of the table. Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Wasim each kept the hosts on a leash during the powerplay, and backed up by the spinners later on, there wasn’t a weak link to go after.Aside from that 22-run over, not once did New Zealand score 12 runs or more in any over, making it difficult to catch up to what the par score might have been. Rauf, Dahani, Wasim and Shadab’s 15 combined overs went for just 91, while even the one over Iftikhar bowled cost Pakistan only five. There was simply no place to hide.

‘I’m very confident we’ll get him back, and get him back as we’ve seen Jofra in the past,’ Giles says

Andrew Miller27-May-2021Ashley Giles, the ECB’s director of men’s cricket, says that England are prepared to play the long game when it comes to Jofra Archer’s fitness, after the bowler himself indicated in a newspaper column that he is prepared to write off the home summer in a bid to recover fully from his recent elbow operation.Writing in the Daily Mail on Thursday, Archer warned that if he didn’t get his rehabilitation right, he wouldn’t be able to play “any cricket … period”, after opting for surgery on his right elbow in the wake of his aborted return to action for Sussex in the County Championship earlier this month.And having stated that his personal goals were England’s twin peaks of the T20 World Cup, in October and November, closely followed by the Ashes in Australia in December and January, Archer warned that he would be “quite prepared” to miss the five-Test series against India, beginning at Trent Bridge on August 4, if it meant he would be better placed to prolong his career across all three formats.Asked if England were already planning for a summer without Archer in their ranks, Giles – speaking at the launch of IG as the new official partner of England Cricket – admitted that they would have to be “conservative” as he works his way back towards full fitness. However, he believed it was too soon to dismiss the prospect of him playing any part in the series.Ashley Giles, England men’s director of cricket, at Edgbaston•IG

“Not yet,” Giles said. “I’ve talked a lot about our objectives in the T20 World Cup and the Ashes and we need to make sure he is best prepared for that. If it went swimmingly, we may see him earlier but we’re not going to put any deadlines on it.””I’m very confident we’ll get him back, and get him back as we’ve seen Jofra in the past,” Giles added. “The surgery went well and if he recovers in the right amount of time, he’ll be relieved, almost, that the shackles are off and he can come back and do what he loves doing.”Aside from confirming that Archer had undergone a procedure and that he would be assessed in four weeks’ time, the ECB has released limited details about the exact nature of Archer’s elbow problem. Giles, however, was confident that the operation had gone “very well”, but reiterated that he was not qualified to comment on the medical aspects of his treatment.”All of these injuries carry a certain amount of risk, that’s why we look at all the conservative options first before you head into surgery,” Giles said. “But I’m very confident with the medical team we have and the surgery he’s had, which has gone very well, that Jof will be back and firing.”Any of us who’ve had surgeries of those sorts in the past, they definitely make you edgy and nervous. But we’re definitely confident he’ll be back and ready to go at some point later in the year.Related

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“Every player is different. I think the thing that has been holding Jofra back is that he’s had two different injuries in that elbow and it stops him doing what he does incredibly well – which is bowl quick. That must be frustrating for him. But the most important thing is that we look after and care for his injury and him. So his well-being is very important.”Asked if the ECB would support the notion of Archer returning to his home island of Barbados during his rehabilitation process, Giles said that the board could be open to such a proposal if it fitted with the timeframes for his recovery.”The world is ever-changing and that’s something we have to consider,” he said. “If there was an opportunity to go back at some point [to Barbados], perhaps we should support it. But the most important thing for him and us is to make sure he has the right care and rehabilitation on that elbow.”IG are an Official Partner of England Cricket. For more information, visit IG.com/uk/england

West Indies’ coach is pleased with the fast bowler’s consistency during the ODI series against Ireland

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2020West Indies won the first two matches of their ODI series against Ireland in contrasting fashion, cruising to victory with 100 balls to spare in the first game, and sneaking home in a last-gasp, last-wicket, penultimate-ball finish in the second. Across those two wildly different performances, one thing remained a constant, literally: in both games, Alzarri Joseph finished with figures of 4 for 32.Joseph’s emergence as a middle-overs enforcer has been a pleasing development for West Indies in recent months. Since his return from a shoulder dislocation suffered during last year’s IPL, Joseph has taken the new ball only once in eight ODIs, with West Indies instead using his pace and height to unsettle teams and take wickets in the 11th-to-40th-over period.In those eight ODIs, Joseph has taken 14 wickets at an average of 25.21, an improvement from his average of 34.08 across his first 16 games. His economy rate, too, has dropped from 6.48 before his injury to 5.34 since his comeback.Ten of Joseph’s 14 wickets since his return have come in the middle overs, at an average of 25.50, and he’s maintained an economy rate of 4.81 in this phase of the innings.West Indies coach Phil Simmons is pleased with how Joseph has been going about his game.”Not just on the pitch, but the way he prepares and the way he talks about cricket and about bowling,” Simmons told CWI. “He seems to be maturing very quickly and it showed in the two games, in the way he bowled.”He picked out Joseph’s consistency as the most pleasing aspect of his bowling against Ireland. “I think he’s hit the areas he’s wanted to hit more often than the other bowlers in the team, and he’s come out with success.”Simmons was less impressed with West Indies’ top-order displays against Ireland. They lost five wickets while chasing 181 in the first ODI, and slipped to 148 for 7 in the second before the lower order came to their rescue in a chase of 238. Simmons felt the batsmen needed to go back to how they were approaching innings during the recent tour of India.”The batsmen need to go back to what we were doing in India and how we were putting scores together,” he said. “We were putting proper partnerships up at the top and creating a platform for the big hitters down at the bottom, and we need to make sure we do that in this coming game.”Simmons was, however, delighted with the lower order’s efforts in the second ODI, where Khary Pierre, Joseph and Sheldon Cottrell batted around Hayden Walsh, who made an unbeaten 46, to haul West Indies home.”I think it’s good to see them taking their time and batting and not coming in and looking to win the game with sixes, and they thought about how to get that 80 runs from the lower order,” Simmons said. “It was great for me to sit and watch and take heart in the fact that they understand what they need to do for this team too. It was great to see.”West Indies play their final ODI against Ireland on Sunday night in Grenada. They have retained the same squad of 14 that played the first two ODIs in Barbados.West Indies squad for third ODI: Kieron Pollard (capt), Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh

The wicketkeeper, though, said that West Indies could have put up a better show in India if the seniors were available

Sreshth Shah in Chennai10-Nov-20181:39

Absence of seniors hurting West Indies – Ramdin

As a senior West Indian cricketer himself, Denesh Ramdin believes the absence of the other seniors – like Chris Gayle and Andre Russell – and regular opener Evin Lewis has contributed immensely to the mismatch between India and West Indies in the T20I series so far. The hosts have already wrapped up the three-match series, having taken a 2-0 lead in Lucknow.But Ramdin, speaking in Chennai on the eve of the final T20I, remained resolute in the belief that players cannot be forced to play for country over franchise, especially since the reasoning behind these players’ choices is to earn more money. Nevertheless, Ramdin felt that with the availability of the seniors, West Indies would have put up a much better show in India.”It’s all about putting food on your table,” Ramdin said. “The players are good enough to be taken by a team in another part of the world, then I can’t stop a player who’s out there to improve.”But yes, it’s difficult to build a team given the current scenario when you look at our World T20 players. They’re in demand all over the world, so yes, we’re suffering in that aspect. Our senior players did not turn up for the tour, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re 2-0 down in this series.”West Indies returned to India for the first time since their 2016 World T20 triumph, remembered for Carlos Brathwaite’s magnificent six-hitting off Ben Stokes to plunder 19 off the final over. With the first T20I having taken place at Eden Gardens last week – the very venue where they lifted the World T20 trophy in 2016 – Ramdin had expected his side to do better. But that didn’t happen and, following two heavy ODI defeats in the previous week, India’s bowling attack was too strong, according to Ramdin.”We’re disappointed. We’re the T20 champs, and we played our first game at Eden Gardens, where we were expecting to do well,” Ramdin said. “But we didn’t adapt as well as we should. We didn’t string any partnerships either. T20 banks on momentum and partnerships, and we couldn’t do that. A lot of T20 cricket is about momentum and we haven’t been able to build on it.”Summing up West Indies’ tour of India thus far, Ramdin said that Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wristspin – which has fetched him 24 wickets across formats – was the major difference between the two sides.”I think Kuldeep Yadav played a major part in the Test, ODIs and T20s,” Ramdin said. “Guys haven’t been able to pick him, and basically he was the trick in the middle overs and unfortunately we couldn’t push on.”With the imminent exit of current coach Stuart Law – who moves to Hampshire after West Indies’ tour of Bangladesh – there’s a thought that whatever West Indies have gained under Law could be dissolved once a new coach comes in. With the World Cup scheduled to begin in May next year, West Indies might not have much time to acclimatise with the new coach’s plans. But Ramdin felt that irrespective of the coach, it’s the basics that West Indies need to focus on.”We’re professional players, so we need to understand our game and then buy into the new coach’s plans,” Ramdin said. “Fifty-over cricket is simple in the sense that you need to get starts, build partnerships, score centuries, take wickets upfront and then in the middle overs.”That’s where India have blown us away – by taking wickets in the middle. Hopefully, in six months’ time when the World Cup is around the corner, we can deliver something special with the senior guys coming in.”Not everything has gone downhill, though, for West Indies on this tour. Bright spots include the success of youngsters like Shimron Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas and Kharry Pierre. Some of them have been products of the Caribbean Premier League, and Ramdin believed that, just like the IPL in India, West Indies cricket would only get stronger with robust competition in the CPL.”I’d like to use the Indian Premier League as an example,” he said. “Indian cricket is so strong in all formats because of the IPL, since young players come through the system.”So in five years, hopefully our cricket can take off to that next level, because we have some exciting T20 and 50-over cricketers. They’ve played just one CPL tournament, and have already been picked up by Bangladesh [Premier League], UAE T10 and so on. The future looks positive.”

Uxbridge is struggling to cope with the rain and that has meant desperate measures for champions Middlesex as they aim to protect their Division One status

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Uxbridge13-Sep-2017It is an image more suited to club cricket: players, coaches and higher-ups helping to shift the covers, working together to remove surface water built up on the tarpaulin, doing what they can to preserve the prospects of play in a must-win fixture. The setting, Uxbridge Cricket Club fit. Only the individuals involved – a number of Middlesex players mucking in with their managing director of cricket Angus Fraser – gave you a sense that this was not your usual scene. But here were the County Championship’s defending champions getting their hands dirty in a bid to save their Division One status.Outground cricket has long been different things to different people. Right now, it is proving a nuisance to Middlesex. They started the round just 13 points ahead of second-from-bottom Somerset, off the back of a ridiculous two-point deduction because of a poor over-rate that, had a crossbow bolt not brought play at the Oval to a premature close on the the final day, would have been fixed. Even Hampshire, in third but only 26 points ahead of Somerset, are not quite out of the woods.Only 31.1 overs of play were possible before the third and most damaging shower of the day ensure the outfield would take well beyond the scheduled finish time to dry effectively. By then, Hampshire had reduced Middlesex to 76 for 3, after a steady opening stand from Nick Compton and Sam Robson.The frustrations of both dressing rooms were evident. Before the game was called off, players from both sides made their way to the middle to inspect the ends of the square. That they were muddy was evident to all.”It’s very disappointing,” said Middlesex captain James Franklin, tracksuit caked in mud from an hour’s graft. “The ground is very wet as it stands, even before today. It was only a 10 or 15-minute shower and play was done for the rest of the day. It’s pretty frustrating for all concerned. I know everyone is trying their best.” Of that there can be no dispute.The groundsmen were on site as early as 4.30am, working to remove whatever remaining water there was on the outfield. Middlesex ensured they had more covers by raiding their two other outgrounds – Radlett (where their 2nd XI are playing Essex) and Merchant Taylors.While Merchant Taylors would have been the preferred venue, the start of the school year ruled that out as an option. As for Radlett, investment in the square a few years ago was supposed to prepare the ground for first-class cricket, but the club still have reservations over the pitch. As for Lord’s, the third Test was scheduled to finish on Monday, the day before this match began.While Uxbridge have done their best, their facilities are not equipped to produce and protect a surface and ground fit for Championship cricket after the deluge in north-west London over the last week. At a first-class venue, with better drainage, a greater number of groundstaff and state of the art covers, we would have already seen the best part of six sessions.”I don’t know of too many other counties that play outground cricket in September,” said Franklin. “Most of it is played in June and July. We’ve just copped it with the weather and we’ve been unfortunate in those first two days. We’ll just hope we get some good, dry conditions overnight and hopefully we can still get two full days of cricket.”There were notable moments before play began this morning. Middlesex handed Max Holden his debut cap. He impressed on loan at Northamptonshire earlier this season with two centuries in 16 innings that produced 629 runs – the county tried to retain him for the rest of the summer – he was presented his cap at the start of the day and ended it with a single to his name.With a number of England Test players returning for duty at other counties, Toby-Roland Jones was not available for this round, nursing a sore side which he picked up at Lord’s in the third Test against West Indies. It is a precautionary move for England and Middlesex to ensure he is fit for the final two matches of the season.James Vince, set to skipper this match with George Bailey away on World XI duty, pulled up with a hamstring injury in the warm-up and thus handed over captaincy duties to Jimmy Adams. Vince’s replacement in the XI, the brilliantly named 18-year-old Felix Organ, was drafted in for his first class debut. Due to the lateness of Vince’s injury, Organ had to be pulled out of a Hampshire 2nd XI match, meaning he was travelling to the match as his side took the field having opted to bowl first.Adams’ biggest call came early when he pulled Fidel Edwards from the Gatting Way End after a three-over spell that saw the Bajan lose his line, frustrated by an unresponsive pitch. It was also the end most affected by the rain and, as a result, was is a little bit of a slip-and-slide.So Adams shifted Edwards to the Pavilion End, replacing him with bustling seamer Ian Holland at the top. The result was Nick Compton bowled comprehensively by Edwards, followed by Stevie Esknazi nicking off to an excellent catch from wicketkeeper Tom Alsop, diving to his right to take a sharp low catch. In between, Holland drew Sam Robson’s edge which required a smart grab from Adams at second slip.By 4pm, with the ground empty, Fraser was still out on the square, pushing a pitchfork into the ground to remove the surface water. As bitterly frustrating as the circumstances are, you cannot fault the will of the hosts.

James Anderson has emerged as an injury doubt for the first Investec Test against Pakistan next month

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jun-2016James Anderson has emerged as an injury doubt for the first Investec Test against Pakistan next month due to a stress fracture in his right shoulder blade.The ECB confirmed he will miss Lancashire’s County Championship matches against Middlesex and Nottinghamshire and that his availability will be confirmed nearer the opening Test at Lord’s on July 14.Anderson picked up the injury during the third Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month although it is understood not to be as serious as other types of stress fractures.”Due to the nature of the injury, Jimmy’s availability for the Pakistan Test series, commencing on July 14, will be determined following ongoing management and review by both the ECB and Lancashire’s medical teams,” an ECB statement said.Anderson, England’s leading Test wicket-taker, claimed 21 wickets at 10.80 in the three Tests against Sri Lanka, and despite the strength of England’s pace-bowling stocks, it would be a significant blow to lose him. In 10 Tests against Pakistan, Anderson has taken 45 wickets at 17.06 – his lowest average against any team.Anderson has had a slightly chequered injury record over the last year. He missed the final two Tests of last year’s Ashes series with a side strain and then the first Test against South Africa, in Durban, due to a calf injury.Should Anderson be forced to miss the opening Test against Pakistan, he could be replaced by Ben Stokes, who made his return for Durham in a T20 on Friday night, following knee surgery. However, Stokes is not yet ready to return to bowling duties, and England will be reluctant to rush back such a precious asset.Jake Ball, the uncapped Nottinghamshire seamer, was part of England’s squad throughout the series against Sri Lanka and would be another likely candidate to step in.

Mustafizur Rahman was the hero in Mirpur again, (off)cutting through India with a six-wicket haul to add to his five-for on debut, and launching Bangladesh to their first bilateral series win against India

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu21-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:17

Chopra: Nature of defeats will worry India

Mustafizur Rahman was the hero in Mirpur again, (off)cutting through India’s batting with a six-wicket haul to add to his five-for on ODI debut, and launching Bangladesh to their first ever bilateral series win against India. Mustafizur’s 6 for 43, the second best figures by a Bangladesh bowler in ODIs, skittled India for 200, before Shakib Al Hasan steered the chase with a busy fifty, his second on the trot.With this six-wicket win, Bangladesh also cemented their place in the 2017 Champions Trophy. An overjoyed Mashrafe Mortaza, who has been a part of each of Bangladesh’s five victories against India, toasted his team’s “big achievement”.

Why Bangladesh’s target was 200

When the rains came, India were already eight wickets down after 43.5 overs. Because the game was revised to 47 overs per side, India lost out on some batting opportunity, but that loss was minimal as they were already eight down at the time of the interruption. According to the DLS calculations, the batting resources denied to Bangladesh at the start of their innings, compared to what they would have had in a full 50-over innings, was marginally more than the resources India lost out on.
Had India been only five wickets down instead of eight at the time of the interruption, Bangladesh’s target would have been 214 even if India had eventually been dismissed for 200. That is because, according to DLS calculations, the potential to score runs in three overs would have been higher with five wickets in hand, than with two in hand.

Mustafizur struck with the second ball of the game, having Rohit Sharma drive away from the body to point for a duck, before coming back to dismiss Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Axar Patel in a decisive batting Powerplay that yielded three wickets for 17 runs. When Mustafizur got R Ashwin, he became only the second bowler after Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori to claim five-fors in his first two ODIs.Mustafizur clapped till his hands hurt and he was mobbed by his team-mates. Mirpur raised itself to a big roar, lapping up its new hero. He would return after the rain break, which caused the target to be revised to 200 in 47 overs, to immediately bowl Ravindra Jadeja via a deflection off the pads.Bangladesh had a brisk start to their chase, slicing 71 runs off the target in 15 overs. Tamim Iqbal lobbed Dhawal Kulkarni to slip for 13 off 21 balls, Soumya Sarkar was pinged on the badge of the helmet, and there were edges aplenty, but all of it was brushed aside.Though Soumya was not in fluid touch, with drags and heaves counterbalancing the orthodox drives from the previous game, he added 52 with Litton Das. The spinners briefly helped India claw their way back, Sarkar and Litton falling within four overs of each other. Ashwin, aided by close catchers, preyed on Bangladesh with sharp turn and extra bounce. Dhoni tried to manufacture a game with his spin quartet but Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim, who was spilled by Raina on 9, assumed charge and added 54 in 9.5 overs.By the time Mushfiqur was run out for 31, the asking rate was under three, and eventually Shakib ‘s calculated 51 off 62 balls put the seal on the landmark win with 54 balls to spare.However, it was Nasir Hossain who had set the stage for Bangladesh earlier. After trapping Virat Kohli lbw in his second over with a skiddy ball to end a 74-run partnership, he beat a well-set Shikhar Dhawan in the 21st over. Nasir went on to complete his quota for only the second time in ODIs, conceding 33 on both occasions.Kohli’s 27-ball stay was an indifferent one. He missed out on a couple of half-volleys and even absentmindedly offered a back-foot defence to a free hit.Upon Kohli’s dismissal, Dhoni hiked himself up to No.4 for the first time since July 2012. He began positively, unleashing a jabbing punch off the sixth ball he faced and sent it blazing through the off-side ring. He followed it with a similar shot for a similar result off his tenth ball. Dhoni and Dhawan then traded caps for helmets and kept the scorecard ticking, taking India to 100 by the 19th over.Despite the early loss of Rohit, Dhawan was fluent from the outset, lashing four fours on the off side, including successive drives off Mashrafe in the tenth over. He brought up his fifty off 54 balls but perished soon after when he charged down the track to Nasir and edged to Litton, who had taken over the gloves from Mushfiqur for this match. Litton had managed to redeem himself after dropping Dhoni on 20 three balls earlier.Ambati Rayudu, who replaced Ajinkya Rahane, did not last long and departed for a duck in the 22nd over. Taskin Ahmed and Mashrafe took a cue from Mustafizur and suffocated India further by pulling some pace off the ball.The visitors needed some breathing space, which was provided by Dhoni and Raina through a steady 53-run stand, only the second partnership of note. However, tight bowling, backed up by predatory fielding meant that no boundaries were scored for a period of 46 balls between the 27th and 35th overs.The pressure finally told with Mustafizur accounting for Raina off the third ball of the batting Powerplay with an offcutter. By the time Dhoni failed to pick another offcutter and chipped to Sarkar at short cover, India had slumped to 174 for 6. Axar was out off the next ball, bagging his third duck in his last four innings and the third duck of the innings. Ashwin averted the hat-trick but was out nicking behind for four in Mustafizur’s penultimate over.Rain soon arrived at the score of 196 for 8 to hand India a reprieve lasting a little under two hours, but the damage had already been done by Mustafizur.

Darren Sammy has said his team’s failure to build on a 132-run fourth-wicket stand between Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo with another substantial partnership was what cost West Indies the fifth game

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur09-Dec-2012Darren Sammy has said his team’s failure to build on a 132-run fourth-wicket stand between Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo with another substantial partnership was what cost West Indies the fifth game and the ODI series. Bangladesh succeeded where West Indies failed, Sammy said, and that was the difference between the teams.”We had a good partnership but we crumbled again,” Sammy said. “We didn’t capitalise on the Bravo-Pollard partnership. We then got early wickets but the difference in the game was the Mominul [Haque]-Nasir [Hossain] partnership. It came after the captain [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Mahmudullah had a big partnership.”We also didn’t take our catches today. I dropped a crucial catch before that partnership developed. I’m a guy who believes everything happens for a reason, and I think they deserved to win the series.”West Indies made a poor start and played out 34 dot balls from the fourth to the ninth over, during which time they were reduced to 17 for 3. The counterattacking innings from Pollard, who hit eight sixes in his 74-ball 85, and the sizeable fourth-wicket partnership with Bravo set it up for a late surge, with the likes of Sammy and Andre Russell still to bat. But West Indies didn’t manage that and had to settle for a mediocre total.Bangladesh’s partnerships came after they also lost three early wickets, all to Kemar Roach. They first recovered through a 91-run stand between Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur and then another 53-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Nasir and Mominul. The 28-run stand between Nasir and Sohag Gazi for the seventh wicket was also crucial, as it took Bangladesh close to their target of 218 runs.”We haven’t played our best cricket in this series but we still were in with a chance to win the series. I would never blame anyone. We have to pull together as a team. It is not every day that the same people will perform,” Sammy said. “We got it from Kemar [Roach], who took five wickets, and [Kieron] Pollard and [Darren] Bravo with the bat today. We need more performances from everyone in the team.Sammy hoped to end the year on a positive note. “This has been a good year for us. We won four Tests in a row and the T20 World Cup. We would have loved to win this series but we didn’t.When we look back at this year, I wouldn’t say it is a step backward. We played as well as we could. Monday would be our last international this year and we will look to finish on a high.”

Abhishek Nayar has played one of the best innings of his first-class career but Karnataka have the chance of an outright victory

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai19-Nov-2011
Scorecard
Abhishek Nayar has the chance to score a second double-century in as many games•Fotocorp

Regardless of the outcome of this match, Abhishek Nayar has played one of the best innings of his first-class career. It was an innings that was played in isolation, a completely contrasting knock to those of the rest of his team-mates, who erred in their shot-selections on a pitch which demanded one thing: patience. Nayar showed that in abundance for the second match in a row at the same venue and now has an opportunity to complete a second-consecutive double-hundred tomorrow.He could not reach the milestone on the third day because of dehydration and cramps, the same reasons that forced him to return to the dressing-room against Rajasthan last week. On that occasion he managed to return, score 245 and secure the three first-innings lead points for Mumbai. The chances of an encore tomorrow remain slim. Karnataka are tougher opponents, their bowlers are more disciplined and most importantly Mumbai have only two wickets remaining and need a further 132 runs to avoid the follow-on. The three points for a first-innings lead are all but gone for Mumbai, who finished the day 354 for 8 in response to Karnataka’s 635, and they will have to battle to avoid an outright loss.It could have been a different story for the hosts if the rest of their batsmen had not made mistakes. Ajinkya Rahane lunged forward to a delivery from R Vinay Kumar, which had pitched inches shorts of a good length on off stump. Rahane could easily have left it alone or played off the back foot. Instead he stretched forward into an ungainly position, trying to play too far away from his body. The resultant thick outside edge travelled straight to KB Pawan at short gully. Rahane, who is part of the India squad for the third Test against West Indies starting next week, had added just one run to his overnight score of 23.Vinay nearly trapped Rohit Sharma lbw with the incutter, which had accounted for Mumbai’s captain Wasim Jaffer the previous evening. Vinay has developed a delivery with the new ball that lands on the outside of the seam and nips in to the right-hander. The ball hit Rohit’s back pad slightly high and the appeal was turned down. Rohit continued having problems reading Vinay’s lengths and clever variations.He was lucky when Vinay, in his next over, failed to pouch an easy return catch. Though Rohit started to get into the groove with some nicely-timed drives, there remained a certain desperation about his batting. In the final over before lunch, Abhimanyu Mithun smartly delivered a short-pitched delivery well outside off. Rohit went for an unnecessary pull and played on to be dismissed for 64.Only yesterday, speaking to the media after his call-up to the Test squad, Rohit had said that the biggest thing he had learned from speaking to the likes of Duncan Fletcher, the India coach, was the importance of temperament. Yet for the second time in two weeks Rohit has played an irresponsible shot and failed to go on to play a really big innings.Suryakumar Yadav has turned heads with his belligerent half-centuries in the previous two matches of the season. But Karnataka set him up nicely, packing the off-side field and putting in two short covers. Yadav, playing just his fourth first-class match, worked hard to remain calm yet was visibly tempted to play his shots. He was unable to resist a full delivery from Stuart Binny and played a half-hearted off drive only to spoon an easy catch to the cover fielder. It was the first of Binny’s three wickets in the day.After those mistakes, the only reason Mumbai were afloat was Nayar, who Milind Rege, the Mumbai chief selector, calls the “most improved player in domestic cricket.” Nayar would happily accept such a distinction. And why shouldn’t he.The Rajasthan match was the first time he had batted at No. 3. He may have had concerns about batting higher than his usual middle-order position as the prospect of facing the new ball is not always pleasant. In any case he had no choice. The Mumbai selectors had decided Nayar was the perfect choice for the crucial one-down position.According to Rege, a No. 3 batsman needs to be a complete stroke-maker. He needs to have the temperament, the character and the shots. If you looked at Nayar’s wagon-wheels (strangely hidden from public view due to the BCCI’s rules) you’d see that he played his shots all around the wicket. Cuts, drives, flicks, pulls, sweeps, steers, glances, reverse-sweeps, paddle-sweeps – Nayar can play the whole gamut of strokes. And importantly he has developed the ability to refrain from playing those strokes if they are not needed.Today, he left several deliveries alone; the 145 dot balls in his 216-ball stay so far indicates he is ready to bide his time at the crease. Unlike Rohit, he rotated the strike frequently, taking 43 singles. Against Rajasthan, Nayar had not been afraid to play his strokes. Today he was more circumspect yet played fluently. He gave Karnataka just two chances. Both came before he had reached his fifty. First Robin Uthappa dropped him at short exta-cover off Mithun and then the bowler himself failed to intercept a straight drive that flew just over his head.Otherwise Nayar remained stoic. All his shots came along the ground. He never played any cross-batted strokes. Like the Karnataka pair of Manish Pandey and Amit Verma on the first two days, Nayar knew that to succeed on such a slow and harmless pitch you had to wait for the ball. He brought up his half-century by sweeping KP Appanna, the left-arm spinner, who continued to bowl on Nayar’s pads. He took advantage of the poor line and moved quickly towards his century.Nayar moved from 88 to 96 with consecutive boundaries off Vinay. Both strokes were fluent cover drives, played on the up with the full face of the bat. In the past, Nayar has struggled to play that shot convincingly but today he proved he could do anything. A fierce cut got him past another century. His grit was admirable and he battled through recurring wrist pain in his left hand before dehydration forced him to retire.