Tag Futebol

West Indies captain Jason Holder has said he is a fan of the concept of day-night Test cricket, urging players to give the format a chance on the eve of his team’s maiden pink-ball Test

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2016West Indies captain Jason Holder has said he is a fan of the concept of day-night Test cricket, urging players to give the format a chance on the eve of his team’s maiden pink-ball Test against Pakistan in Dubai. Holder said he felt the day-night format would give Test cricket the push it needs to sustain itself in the modern cricket market.”I like the concept and I think it is one that should be there to stay,” he said. “We have to give a chance to something new. Obviously, teams might first take time to adjust to it. Test cricket needs that bit of impetus, needs a bit of a push, and I think, possibly, day and night cricket could be it.”The day-night concept has had its share of support from various corners, including Holder’s counterpart, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who recently stated that the “future belongs to night Tests.” Various concerns remain, nonetheless, on the durability and visibility of the ball. “It is a new thing with the pink ball, everybody is just trying to get accustomed to it,” Holder said. “I personally did not have big problems with the sighting.”Few of the players from the slip cordon said it was bit difficult to pick up, and also fielding square of the wicket, probably looking into the sun, it was difficult to sight. Having said that, it is what it is. Tomorrow starts the pink-ball Test, so we have got to adjust to it, we have got to just go there and just try to be as professional as we probably can.”Holder did have his doubts about the ball’s durability, though. “Personally, it does do a bit with the new ball. Five-six overs and after that it just stops a bit, and what I am basically concerned is just the condition of the ball, whether it will hold up,” he said. “Obviously, we had the experience of playing the warm-up game, and I reckon that around 30 to 40 overs, the ball starts to deteriorate and got really soft as well. It is interesting to see how it goes in this Test match, different conditions here in Dubai, and, hopefully, I just think the most important thing to do is keep it as simple as possible, just assess what the ball is doing, try your possible best and make it swing and move.”West Indies have struggled in the longer formats of late. Their previous Test assignment, against India at home, ended in a 2-0 defeat, with one match being affected by rain.”Obviously, it is a young team and we obviously went down in our last series. But it is a fresh series here and we had a pretty good lead-up to this Test series. We have been here quite a while, and most of the guys had a good camp in the Caribbean for the Test players alone, and they came here early and had a two-day game prior to the three-day game. I feel preparation, we have covered. It is just a matter of executing now. From the talks in the dressing room, everybody seems pretty confident, everybody is in good spirit, and so we can transfer on to the field of play.”West Indies did have some positives in that India series, however, most notably in the second Test where they salvaged what had seemed an improbable draw. Reduced to 48 for 4 and still trailing India by 256 runs in the second innings, Roston Chase led a stoic resistance as West Indies batted out 88.1 overs on the final day, scoring 340 runs while losing just two wickets.Holder said the talent was there in the team, it was just a matter of execution. “We have got some quality players. If you look down our line-up, Kraigg Brathwaite has been around for a little while and he has got a few centuries, Shane Dowrich came back into the squad in the last series and did well for himself. We have got the talent there, it is a matter of execution. We need to play some aggressive cricket.”

Shreyas Iyer’s maiden first-class double hundred and captain Aditya Tare’s unbeaten century helped Mumbai take a 341-run lead over Punjab

The Report by Amol Karhadkar in Mumbai09-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Shreyas Iyer cracked 200 off 176 deliveries•PTI

Mumbai’s school of batsmanship is renowned for piling on big scores. Shreyas Iyer, Aditya Tare and Suryakumar Yadav gave a glimpse of the current generation being as hungry as anyone to follow in the footsteps of the giants of yesteryears by piling on the misery on a hapless Punjab attack.Iyer and Yadav’s record partnership, followed by captain Tare’s hundred helped Mumbai tighten the noose around Punjab on the second day at Wankhede Stadium. On a day that saw Mumbai plundering 392 runs, the hosts ended 341 ahead of Punjab’s 154 in the first innings.If Punjab are to get out of the deep hole they have dug for themselves and return with at least a point, they will have to bat even better than Mumbai’s consistent effort. Otherwise, Mumbai are on track for earning an outright victory.Iyer’s onslaught on Thursday evening had not allowed the Punjab bowlers to settle into a rhythm. And the stylish batsman continued in the same vein on Friday morning. With drives and flicks flowing freely off his bat, the Punjab bowlers couldn’t find the desired line and length. Yadav played an uncharacteristically mature innings at the other end, playing in the V mostly.Iyer raced from 81 to 95, driving legspinner Sarabjit Ladda twice in an over and following it up with a straight six in his next. With Yadav also playing straight, Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh employed a straight long-on for Ladda and left-arm spinner Varun Khanna. The fielder was so fine he was almost standing behind the bowler’s arm. The ploy almost worked when Iyer, on 97, decided to go against the turn, but the ball landed in no-man’s land.Iyer treaded cautiously now, taking 14 balls for the next three singles that fetched him his third first-class hundred. Despite slowing down, Iyer had taken just 90 balls to raise three figures with a quick single after pushing Khanna to mid-on. The single also levelled the team totals.Once he had crossed the landmark, Iyer freed himself even more. Yadav, who was given a reprieve at deep extra cover off Khanna on 34, also started accelerating. However, after being hit on the back of the helmet by a Siddarth Kaul bouncer at the stroke of lunch, Yadav began to appear fidgety after the break.He started chasing wide deliveries and also attempted manufacturing shots in vain. Eventually, he stepped out to Ladda and missed for Gitansh Khera to complete an easy stumping. The 233-run partnership overhauled Mumbai’s previous best for the third wicket against Punjab – 221 by Sanjay Manjrekar and Sachin Tendulkar in the 1994-95 final.Iyer, however, continued playing his shots. Soon after Yadav’s dismissal, he took a toll on left-arm seamer Brainder Sran, hitting four successive boundaries on the off side followed by a huge six over his head. Once into the 190s, Iyer decided not to let the 90s syndrome hit him.On 195, he attempted a heave off Khanna but Sran at deep midwicket failed to hold on to a running catch. Iyer pushed the next ball to long-on for a single that fetched him his maiden double hundred in first-class cricket.The very next ball he faced, he failed to clear wide long-off against Yuvraj and Siddarth Kaul didn’t falter while accepting the chance running to his left. It was up to Tare to take over the mantle of scoring from there and the Mumbai captain played a chanceless knock to remain unbeaten after crossing his sixth first-class hundred with a steer to the third-man boundary off Mandeep Singh.

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford and new captain Angelo Mathews praised Chaminda Vaas’ work with the seam bowlers and hoped his long-term involvement would help build a formidable pace battery

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle07-Mar-2013Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford and new captain Angelo Mathews have praised Chaminda Vaas’ work with the seam bowlers in the lead-up to the series against Bangladesh, and hoped his long-term involvement would help build a formidable pace battery. Fast bowling has long been Sri Lanka’s worst suit in Tests, and they have struggled to find a spearhead since Vaas retired in 2009.Left-armer Chanaka Welegedara is the closest thing to an attacking lead bowler that Sri Lanka have but, at 31, he has been worryingly susceptible to injury over the past 18 months. In Welegedara’s absences, Nuwan Kulasekara, 30, has become part of Sri Lanka’s Test plans after spending some time out of the team, and Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep have emerged as younger contenders for regular places in the side.Vaas’ work with the visiting New Zealand side in November had been noted by Sri Lanka’s team management, after the New Zealand seamers outstripped the success of Sri Lanka’s pace bowlers in their own conditions. Vaas has been a part of the Sri Lanka set-up for three weeks but Ford believes his expertise is already bearing results.”He’s done some fantastically good work, with some of those who are in the squad and some of those who are on the fringes,” Ford said. “Sri Lanka Cricket have done a fantastic thing in appointing him. To have his expertise, along with Champaka Ramanayake, in the coaching unit that we have for fast bowling is fantastic.”Sri Lanka have produced several bowlers capable of touching speeds of 145 kph since Vaas, but their lack of control and inability to generate considerable movement has limited their success in Tests. Vaas rarely bowled faster than 130 kph, but was among the most consistent fast bowlers of his time. He developed methods to generate troubling movement even on unresponsive subcontinent surfaces during his career.”Chaminda’s such an experienced cricketer,” Ford said. “He’s got so much knowledge about fast bowling, swing bowling and seam bowling, and about the conditions – there’s just so much for him to pass on. It’s really up to the bowlers to absorb all that wonderful information that he has.”Mathews also stressed that Sri Lanka’s players had put the contracts dispute behind them and were solely focused on winning the Tests. The captain and 22 other players had been locked out by the board last weekend over a pay dispute, and their involvement in this series was in doubt.”The past week was not easy because there were some issues, but we have sorted them out. As a team, we are trying to concentrate on cricket now,” Mathews said. “We can’t be complacent against Bangladesh because they are a talented team and they have done well in the recent past. We’ve got to play some really good cricket.”Sri Lanka are also set to field an inexperienced team, with the selectors having approached the series as an opportunity to test young talent. Sri Lanka are likely to play four batsmen with less than ten matches’ experience in the top seven, including a debutant, while 19-year-old offspinner Tharindu Kaushal is also in the fray for a debut. Mahela Jayawardene misses his first Test in almost 11 years due to injury, while Thilan Samaraweera has retired after the selectors omitted him from the squad.”Mahela and Thilan are two of our most experienced players, so we will definitely miss them,” Mathews said. “Mahela has been an extremely important player for Sri Lanka over the years, but the youngsters we have in the team are also good, and I am confident we can be successful.”

A round-up of matches that took place on February 17 in the MiWAY T20 Challenge

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2012The match between Knights and Cape Cobras in Kimberley was tied after rain ended play with the scores level on the D/L method during the chase. Pursuing 182, Rilee Rossouw made an explosive start, scoring 29 at a strike-rate of 241 to lead Knights to 40 in 2.5 overs, when he was dismissed. Wickets began to fall before partnerships could be built after that, and though they maintained a run-rate of close to 10, Knights had slipped to 119 for 5 when rain ended play after the 13th over. As it turned out, they were on par with the D-L score. In their innings, the Cape Cobras top three produced quick and substantial contributions to lead their team to 181 for 4. Andrew Puttick made 51, Stiaan van Zyl 48 and Owais Shah 45.Half-centuries from Martin van Jaarsveld and Farhaan Berhadien helped set up Titans‘ 29-run victory against Warriors in East London. The pair lifted Titans from 45 for 3 in the sixth over, after they had decided to bat, with a 94-run partnership. van Jaarsveld made 77 off 46 balls and Behardien an unbeaten 54 off 37. Both batsmen hit three sixes, and Titans finished with 174 for 5 from 20 overs. Titans’ decision to open the defense with Roelof van der Merwe’s spin paid off as JJ Smuts was dismissed in the first over. van der Merwe went on to have figures of 2 for 21 in four overs. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris also had a good outing, taking 3 for 22, his wickets being those of the Warriors’ top-scorer Ashwell Price, for 49, and middle-order batsmen Justin Kreusch and Kelly Smuts. The Warriors lost wickets at regular intervals and were restricted to 145 for 7 in their 20 overs.Impi made their debut against Lions in Potchefstroom and it was not a happy one. They were restricted and dismissed for 92 in 19.5 overs in pursuit of 154. Only two Impi batsmen – Cobus Pienaar and Ryan Canning – made double-figure scores. Ethan O’Reilly had figures of 4-1-4-2 for Lions, and Aaron Phangsio and Dwaine Pretorius also took two wickets apiece. Lions did not perform impressively with the bat either, slumping from 89 for 2 to 108 for 7 in 16.3 overs, before Chris Morris blasted 31 off 13 balls to lead them to 153.

Andrew Fernando03-Feb-2011Waqar Younis hinted that Shahid Afridi would be named Pakistan’s captain for the World Cup following their 41 run victory over New Zealand at Seddon Park. Pakistan are the only team who have not named their captain for the tournament that starts in 17 days, and Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Test captain, were believed to be the frontrunners for the position.When asked whether he believed Afridi would retain the captaincy following a successful one day series in New Zealand, Waqar responded: “It’s a difficult question but I think so – let’s just put it that way.”Waqar had been issued a show cause notice by the PCB asking him to explain his remarks after he had claimed that it “would have been better” if the selectors had named a captain along with the final squad and that not doing so “would only lead to issues.”Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan also weighed in on the issue, backing Afridi as captain after he led the side to their first one-day series victory since 2008, claiming that Afridi “deserves to get the World Cup captaincy as a reward.” The victory in Hamilton saw Pakistan take a decisive 3-1 lead in the series with one match yet to played at Eden Park on Saturday.Both Afridi and Misbah have put in strong claims to the captaincy through a string of impressive performances in the series. Afridi has performed solidly with the ball, bowling tidy middle over spells and making crucial breakthroughs to keep New Zealand in check, while his swashbuckling 65 from 25 deliveries in Christchurch put the game out of reach of the opposition. Misbah meanwhile has notched up 203 runs in four innings at an average of 67.66 and has provided stability to the middle order. His perfectly paced 93 in Napier guided Pakistan to victory in a close run-chase and earned him the man-of-the-match award.Waqar praised his side for their allround performance in the victory in Hamilton as the batsmen put up a competitive total and the bowlers made regular breakthroughs to keep New Zealand under pressure during their chase. “It was a very professional approach by the Pakistanis in the entire game, not only just the batting and bowling. In the field we were pretty sharp, we held our catches, we broke the partnerships, so spot on in all departments.”The series against New Zealand is the eighth bi-lateral series and twelfth one-day trophy overall since their last series win and Waqar claimed it meant a lot to the team to finally get a win on the board. It was also Pakistan’s first one day series win in New Zealand since 1994. “It’s been a while. We’ve come very close to winning series and the Asia cup recently. We played good cricket but unfortunately we didn’t win anything and that’s why the boys were excited and they enjoyed it. We haven’t won anything for a long while in New Zealand in the one-dayers, so it’s definitely pleasing for everyone.”Nineteen year old opener Ahmed Shehzad played a scintillating innings at the top for the visitors, scoring 115 from 109 balls to set up the Pakistan innings, scoring his maiden one day hundred in the process. The innings was particularly impressive for its variety of strokeplay, as Shehzad unleashed a dazzling array of shots to entertain the Hamilton crowd. Twice Shehzad scooped James Franklin over the shoulder for four with fine leg in the circle and he also made room to crash a full Scott Styris delivery over the covers. His knock also included three majestic straight sixes off Hamish Bennett.”That’s where we’ve been struggling; our top order hasn’t been clicking,” Waqar said. “Ahmed Shehzad played an outstanding knock. He took his time and he made full use of a beautiful pitch to bat on. And then the middle order and late middle order chipped in and put up partnerships.”Waqar Younis claimed Pakistan would look to wrap up the series 4-1 on Saturday to further boost the side’s confidence ahead of the World Cup.”It’s important to keep the momentum and finish with a win so when it comes to the World Cup we are all nice and ready and pumped up.”

Another series, another opponent, same result. Two days after completing a tri-format clean-sweep against Pakistan, Australia continued their unbeaten summer with a 113-run victory over West Indies

The Bulletin by Brydon Coverdale at the MCG07-Feb-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDoug Bollinger’s two early strikes were key moments in Australia’s win•Getty Images

Another series, another opponent, same result. Two days after completing a tri-format clean-sweep against Pakistan, Australia continued their unbeaten summer with a 113-run victory over West Indies, set up by Shane Watson’s half-century and Doug Bollinger’s new-ball efforts. Chris Gayle’s prediction of a 4-1 West Indies win can still come true but they have only one day to regroup before Tuesday’s second match in Adelaide.The result was understandable given the number of stars missing from West Indies’ line-up through injury, but disappointing after Kieron Pollard’s career-best bowling performance helped peg Australia back following a strong start from Watson and Ricky Ponting. Keeping Australia to 8 for 256 after they were 1 for 135 having been sent in was a good effort and a brisk start from Gayle would have caused some flutters in the Australian camp.Sadly for the sake of a close contest, Gayle departed for 7 in the third over when his miscued pull off Bollinger was well caught by Mitchell Johnson, running back with the flight at mid-off. His opening partner Runako Morton looked awfully scratchy, having not played the warm-up game, and edged behind off Ryan Harris for 3.By the time the fifth over was finished, Travis Dowlin had edged Bollinger to second slip, the score was 3 for 12, and the result was all but decided. There was a token recovery. Lendl Simmons looked like threatening the 23-ball ODI duck once made by his uncle Phil but eventually got off the mark from his 13th delivery and put together a 64-run stand with Pollard.However, they departed within the space of an over, Pollard having skied Nathan Hauritz to long-on for 31 and Simmons well taken by Brad Haddin off Watson. The final four wickets fell for eight runs and Harris and Hauritz cleaned up the tail to finish with three wickets each as West Indies were dismissed for 143 in the 35th over.The day before the match, Gayle said the absence of senior players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo due to injury gave the younger men the perfect chance to shine. That will have to wait for another day. That West Indies suffered their biggest ODI loss in terms of runs since Australia thrashed them by 169 in Basseterre in 2008 was disappointing after their bowling effort.West Indies stopped Watson (59) and Ponting (49) from capitalising on their starts and it severely halted Australia’s momentum as none of the batsmen who followed found their touch. Ponting and Watson put on 85 for the second wicket and were comfortably finding runs with the field back when Watson misjudged an attempted swipe off Gayle.Watson had handled the fast men with ease and pulled a pair of well-timed boundaries but when he tried to hit across the line off the spinner, he skied a catch to long-on. It was Pollard who made use of that change in flow as his accurate line gave the batsmen little room to work in. An over after having Ponting dropped at cover by Gayle, Pollard had his man when he moved the ball back in to take Ponting’s off stump.After removing Australia’s captain he followed with the vice-captain Michael Clarke, who had laboured to 18 from 30 balls without a boundary when he was judged to have edged behind. Pollard’s third wicket came when Brad Haddin scooped a slower ball back towards the bowler, who stuck his right hand out and clasped the catch.Pollard is in the side primarily as a batsman and in 15 previous ODIs he had never taken more than two wickets in an innings. His 3 for 45 was important and he had good support from Kemar Roach, whose speed peaked at around 152kph. He didn’t have the benefit of the same pitch on which Shaun Tait hit 160kph on Friday – a different surface was used – but he will remain a handful throughout the series.Although Australia pushed on through Michael Hussey (28) and Mitchell Johnson, who made 21, they could have got closer to 300 had Ponting and Watson been allowed to continue. The innings had started slowly and the openers crawled to 0 for 14 from five overs before Shaun Marsh departed for 20.Ponting signalled his intentions early by driving Smith over long-off for six but it took 11 overs for Ponting to score another boundary. He wasn’t alone in his struggles. Cameron White, usually a clean hitter, struck just one four in his scratchy 35-ball 22 before he miscued a hook off Roach and toed a catch to Denesh Ramdin, who reacted smartly diving to his right.Nobody but Ponting and Watson passed 30. But perspective was gained when West Indies’ top scorer made 31. In the end, Australia did enough with both bat and ball. The victory took Australia’s winning streak against West Indies to nine one-dayers in a row, stretching back to the 2006 Champions Trophy. They have not lost any of their past ten ODIs against any opponents. They will need to lose their next four for Gayle’s prediction to come true.