All posts by h716a5.icu

Adil Rashid cherishes 100th T20I cap and emergence of "younger brother" Rehan Ahmed

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

First Englishman to 100 T20I wickets reflects on career, the new leggie on the block and “legend” Andrew Flintoff’s emotional presentation

Cameron Ponsonby13-Dec-2023It wasn’t the first time that Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed took to the field together, but it felt like the beginning.Five of England’s six wickets between them, including two in two balls for Rehan and a 100th T20I wicket for Rashid in his 100th appearance. It was a case that whilst the result didn’t go as England had planned, the start of their double wrist-spinner experiment went exactly as they’d hoped.”It was great to see them operate together,” captain Jos Buttler said after play. “That’s why we wanted to try it today, to see what it looked like and to have two X-factor bowlers like that, especially out here in conditions that might spin. I think Trinidad especially could be one of those places traditionally, so we need to find out if it’s an option here before we get to the World Cup.”Related

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Where Rehan showed his quality in parts, Rashid proved it in whole. Rehan’s opening over went for 19, including being struck for two sixes from Kyle Mayers. But it was no bother, as Rashid came on at the other end and dismissed Mayers first ball. This was not the day that the apprentice became the master, as much as the master reminded everyone why he held the title in the first place.”I definitely look at Rehan as a younger brother,” Rashid said. “He’s 19. He’s got his own journey…We’re always talking; just keep it simple, enjoy yourself and let nature take its course. The more he plays and the more experience he gets, things will get better for him.”It was a day of statistical symmetry for Rashid, who became the third man to play a century of T20Is for England and the first to take 100 wickets.Making his debut in 2009, it has been a career of pre- and post-Eoin Morgan for Rashid. His debut came in England’s infamous World Cup defeat to the Netherlands from which point Rashid would play nine further matches for England that year, before disappearing completely until Morgan’s appointment in 2015. From then, he has been ever-present, racking up more than 200 white-ball appearances and, at the time of writing, 299 wickets across ODIs and T20s.”He’s 19. He’s got his own journey…” Rashid on protégé Rehan Ahmed•Getty Images”It’s definitely changed from 2006 to 2009,” Rashid reflected on how English cricket’s viewpoint of the mysterious art of leg-spin has changed across his career. “It’s definitely got a lot better since Morgs took over in 2015. He changed English cricket with his mentality and how he went about myself and how he really put it in my head about how to bowl and the mindset we’re looking for. As time’s gone on, it’s definitely got a lot better in that sense and people understanding more about leg-spin which is a great thing.”The change of mindset is clear with an England team bending over backwards to fit two, let alone one, of the untrustworthy spin options in their team. Leggie’s are cricket’s 101, high-risk, high-reward selection. In years gone by, that risk was considered too high for the potential reward. Now that attitude has flipped.”It’s always nice to get a young leggie up and coming. We’re two completely different bowlers as well – he bowls it a bit quicker. I try and get a bit more flight, few more variations but it’s always nice to see that in tandem, two leggies bowling.”That Rashid and Rehan are so different is an added bonus for England, with Rehan’s preference for bowling to left-handers making him unusual for a leg-spinner. According to , across all formats of cricket, Rehan averages 17 against left-handers, compared to 24 against righties. Furthermore, his economy rate is the best part of a whole run cheaper against southpaws than right-handers.With every team desiring two spinners who turn the ball in opposite directions, in Rehan and Rashid England have two who both turn the ball in opposite directions.”He’s got the tricks,” Rashid said of Rehan. “He’s got the ability as well, he’s got the confidence so hopefully he can carry on developing and building his game.”In a game of generational six degrees of separation, the focus of Rashid’s post-match comments were split between two players who have played differing roles in his career. On the one hand, talk was almost exclusively about the teenage Rehan, with all of England unanimously appointing Rashid as “dad” in the hope one generational leg-spinner produces another. Whilst on the other, it was Andrew Flintoff.Flintoff has returned to the England backroom staff for a fourth stint after assisting in a mentorship capacity for the home series against Ireland and New Zealand and then in Abu Dhabi for the England Lions red-ball camp. But after arriving in the Caribbean a matter of days ago, one of his first tasks was to present Rashid with his 100th T20I cap.”It’s always nice to get a milestone like that for myself,” Rashid said, before adding the obligatory, “but it would have been better if I’d got the milestone and we’d won.”Me and Freddie go a very long way back and he talked a bit about the first time in 2009 when we first met and the journey from there to now. It was very well spoken, and coming from a legend like Freddie, I really do feel that as well.”

England's first outing is oh, so Stokes

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Shrug after being bowled by Jasprit Bumrah’s offcutter was of a man who felt he’d done everything right

Vithushan Ehantharajah25-Jan-2024As part of England’s preparations during their pre-tour training camp, ground staff at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed training complex were given creative instructions.The grass on the pitches was to be shaved as close as Ben Stokes’ fade, raked, then covered in sawdust. The aim was to recreate the most extreme surfaces they might encounter in India – then go even further.The results? Well, as intended. Batters were challenged to the nth degree, wearing deliveries on the shins or helmets. Personal wins were small, humiliation in abundance. Complaints, however, were zero.Related

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Therein lay the true aim of this exercise from a batting point of view. Shake off the errors, snap out of the pearl-clutching previous English sides have taken to India when surfaces turn square and embrace the doubt. And if you get a good one, move on. Ultimately – commit to the bit that has served this group so well.Naturally, it was Stokes, the captain, who encompassed this. His shrug after being bowled by a Jasprit Bumrah offcutter was of a man who felt he had done everything right. Which, in this instance, was to give himself room on the leg side, expose his stumps and shape to hammer through the off side.Stokes was the last wicket to fall, walking off having struck 70 off 88 in England’s total of 246 after calling correctly at the toss. This was the team’s highest score in seven innings away to India since their 578 in the first Test of the last tour in 2021. The run rate of 3.81 per over just a 1.01 dip from their usual Bazball rate, which can be put down to how much tougher it is to rotate the strike against a peerless spin trio.”I think we were over the par, to be honest,” said Ben Duckett, who struck a breezy 35 in an opening stand of 55 with Zak Crawley. “I think it was a tricky day-one pitch. Consistent spin from earlier. Stokesy’s knock there, to get us to where we were, was fantastic. Come day three, day four – that could be a match-winning knock if that pitch gets harder to bat on.”It certainly could be match-winning. By the end of day one of this first Test, it had decidedly face-saving qualities, too, given India are only 127 behind with nine first-innings wickets to spare.Ben Stokes scatters the field with a sweep•Getty ImagesStokes arrived at 121 for 4, as England were in the midst of a spin cycle threatening to shrink their ambitions. Once Rohit Sharma abandoned seam from the eighth over, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel combined to take six for 83 from the next 38 overs.Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root pushed back in a partnership of 61 before both fell either side of Stokes’s entrance. And while the dismissals within the top six at that point were far from reckless – Crawley not committing enough after coming down the track; Root top-edging to short fine leg playing the sweep shot that has served him very well; Ollie Pope simply out of touch – England were in trouble.It was the shirt-and-tie Stokes who arrived on the scene first – presentable for 17 off 52 deliveries before contorting his hands to reverse Jadeja through cover for his boundary. He repeated that shot twice more, without the grimaces that used to accompany it before his knee surgery in November.That third and final one came as the exclamation point in a 14-run over against Jadeja. The next time their paths crossed after tea, Stokes heaved back-to-back sixes down the ground to take 13, which led to Jadeja being taken out of the attack.If Stokes’ patience at the start was to cover for the mistakes of his teammates, the aggression was a reinforcement of the message to retain their aggression, even if it was a necessity given the dwindling partners to come. It probably went some way to humanising the likes of Jadeja, who subsequently returned an economy rate of more than four for the first time in a home innings. Even Mark Wood felt bold enough to cart Ashwin through the covers twice.Alas, England’s efforts were put into harsher context as Yashasvi Jaiswal’s blitz took India to 119 for 1. At one point, it looked like India’s next superstar might get the deficit down to double digits.Tom Hartley bore the brunt of that assault. A first day in Test cricket started well enough when he struck England’s first six, off Ashwin no less. It derailed quickly once his first delivery was sent into the stands at midwicket by Jaiswal.An English spinner being tasked with opening the bowling is hard enough, let alone one more au fait with the white ball playing in just his 21st first-class match. And there were times – three overs, 0 for 34; six overs, 0 for 51 – when you feared you were witnessing the end of a career before it had even begun.Yashasvi Jaiswal came out of the gates firing•Getty ImagesOn the field, however, there was an inordinate sense of calm. Beyond fielders fetching the odd long-hop or over-pitched delivery from the boundary, there was no sign of alarm from Stokes. Hartley had even got into a rhythm of handing his cap over to the umpire for the start of the next over when others might not have bothered to take it off, believing they would surely be dragged out of the attack.That rhythm eventually transferred to his bowling, sending it down a little slower, in turn finding some necessary dip. His two best deliveries – one spinning sharply past Rohit’s outside edge, the other pinning Shubman Gill on the front pad – were both rewarded with DRS reviews by his captain, and subsequently lost. The first was nowhere near but was pretty enough to watch again. The second, showing a projected path taking the ball over the stumps, was a cruel irony – the first time this high release point England banked on when picking him was clear for all to see.By the time his nine-over stint was done, all of Mark Wood, Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed had been cycled through at the Pavilion End. Even while “Simon Kerrigan” trended on Twitter – another Lancashire left-arm orthodox spinner, who endured a torrid debut against Australia in 2013 and never recovered – Stokes kept faith.”On another day, captains might take you off after two overs and then you’re hiding away for the rest of the game,” said Duckett on Hartley’s spell. “But that’s Stokesy. He keeps bowling him and he nearly gets Shubman out right at the end. I’m not sure how that’s going over the stumps but I thought he came back really well.”Stokes’ methodology with the bat, selection and persisting with Hartley, and his own efforts to fix the errors, necessary and pragmatic. Finding a way to post something worthwhile on a challenging first-day pitch, ensuring the rangy spinner you took a punt on gets through this living nightmare, and even those practice pitches in Abu Dhabi are all examples of the underlying point of the McCullum-Stokes era – making the most out of what you’ve got.And what England have at this juncture, with the surface likely to get even tougher to negotiate over days two and three, is one foot in an already compelling contest.

Nahid Rana: A new express finds his fame in Rawalpindi

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Bangladesh have never had someone like Nahid Rana before, and must do everything they can to make sure he stays the course

Mohammad Isam02-Sep-2024Nahid Rana runs in like the wind from the Pavilion End at the Rawalpindi Stadium. He releases the ball like a catapult, from high up – he is 6’2″ after all. The 140kph deliveries thud into Litton Das’ gloves behind the stumps.It’s still scorching hot in Rawalpindi. There are barely 100 people in the stands. Rana, like so many other fast bowlers from the subcontinent, is used to bowling in empty stadiums. Rawalpindi, home of perhaps the most famous “express” in cricket, is no different. On this dull Monday morning, it’s possibly worse.But as Rana bowls, a sense of expectation seems to spread through the Bangladesh fielders. They are enjoying this. Taskin Ahmed, standing at fine leg, sports a broad smile. The batters are being hurried ball after ball. By a Bangladeshi fast bowler. If one ball tests the outside edge, the next is at the throat. It is thrilling. It’s not like anyone who has ever bowled for Bangladesh. It’s like the end of a long wait. The stands should have had more people.

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Rana touches 150kph on a few occasions. He had crossed 150 on his Test debut against Sri Lanka. He is not entirely an unknown for Pakistan – they have seen him a fair bit in the last two weeks. But – you might have heard this before – “pace is pace, yaar”.Related

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He strikes with his third ball. Shan Masood’s enterprise outside the off stump from earlier in the morning costs him – Rana’s extra pace rushes him into the stroke.Babar Azam had faced Rana just before Masood’s dismissal, but first ball of his next over, Babar’s forward press takes the outside edge. It’s a poor choice of shot. The edge goes to Shadman Islam at first slip.The same fielder, though, drops Mohammad Rizwan next ball. It would have been a golden duck for the in-form batter, a regulation chance. Rana has his hands on his head. There’s more reward waiting for him, though. First in the form of Saud Shakeel, who is caught behind for two in Rana’s next over.Pakistan’s captain. Their most celebrated batter. A batter averaging 61.55 before this Test. Bangladesh had plans for all three, and they all centred on Rana rattling them with pace. On the day, Rana sent them all back in his first three overs.He doesn’t celebrate much after any of the wickets. He walks to the fielders with a smile on his face, a very retro feel. It also feels a bit out of place – this is Rawalpindi, of all places.Pakistan are languishing, and Raza continues to bowl fast and testing lines against Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha. He steams in at Rizwan, who pulls out at the last moment due to movement behind the sight screen. Rana rushes back with a bouncer next ball. It hits Rizwan on the side of the helmet. Taskin has a word or two from fine leg. Hasan Mahmud mimics Litton’s stance when he is keeping to Rana. The other slip fielders muffle a laughter. Litton throws a laugh at Mahmud. The Bangladeshis are loving it. At 86 for 6, lunch couldn’t have come quicker for the home side.

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Rana isn’t done yet. He returns for a short second spell after lunch, drawing Salman’s edge once. Najmul Hossain Shanto brings him back for a third spell as soon as Abrar Ahmed is on strike in the 42nd over. Rana removes the No. 10 quickly, but can’t get his fifth wicket. Mahmud, who has bowled superbly since the third evening, completes his five-for instead.Hasan has been Bangladesh’s best fast bowler across the two Tests. Shoriful Islam was disciplined in the first Test (before missing the second with an injury), and Taskin has been the leader of the attack in the second Test. But Rana is at the centre of the story. And not just for this performance. His pace has been significantly higher than anyone else’s.In general, the Bangladesh bowling attack has been better than Pakistan’s throughout the series. In this Test, Khurram Shahzad and Amir Hamza reduced Bangladesh to 26 for 6 in the first innings, but couldn’t complete the job. Like Mahmud and Rana did on the fourth day. They showed that they either have better skills or better execution. What Rana, playing just his third Test, did well was to marry his pace with great lines and lengths.Nahid Rana – head and shoulders above the rest•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd all of this from a fast bowler who first picked up the red ball just four years ago.Rana took up cricket seriously when his brother put him in a cricket academy in 2020, shortly after his college was done. He made his first-class debut in October 2021, following it up with a 32 wickets in the following season. Rana and Sumon Khan had both taken 30-plus wickets in the 2022-23 National Cricket League, a first for fast bowlers in the domestic first-class tournament in more than 11 years.

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Rana, 21, is a new phenomenon in Bangladesh cricket. An out-and-out fast bowler who can bowl fast consistently, for long periods. Rana’s BPL debut was erratic, but he showed off his pace in every appearance. Not since Taskin had a Bangladeshi fast bowler rocked up at the BPL with this type of pace.Pace bowling has never quite been Bangladesh’s . Going back in history, Daulat Uz Zaman represented East Pakistan in the Pakistan domestic first-class competitions in the 1960s and 1970s and was known to be fast. Jahangir Shah Badsha was a well-known pace bowler but by the time he made his ODI debut, he was in his mid-30s. Mashrafe Mortaza had good pace in the early part of his career but injuries took their toll. Shahadat Hossain took four of the first six five-wicket hauls in Tests for Bangladesh fast bowlers, but his career went off the rails soon. Rubel Hossain at times bowled quick, but he was better with the white ball. Rana, so far, has looked like the real deal.But there are reasons to be cautious too. Robiul Islam took 15 wickets in two Tests against Zimbabwe in 2013, but faded away quickly. Ebadot Hossain took a stunning six-wicket haul in that famous win in Mount Maunganui, and showed general improvement after that, but hasn’t played since December 2022 because of a long-term injury.Rana will have plenty of advice coming his way but he should know he is special. He is Bangladesh’s fastest bowler ever. Fitness and health are key. The most crucial thing for a Bangladeshi star-in-the-making is to stay in the straight and narrow. Rana can’t be spoilt. And for the new dispensation in charge at the BCB, it will be their responsibility to keep him fresh, and let him bowl fast.

Indore to Hobart: Kuhnemann's journey to revive his red-ball career

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The left-arm spinner took 5 for 16 against India last year but has had precious little first-class cricket since then

Alex Malcolm01-Oct-2024There was a moment eighteen months ago when the world appeared to be Matt Kuhnemann’s oyster.It was March 2023. The Queenslander had made his ODI and Test debuts within the span of eight months. His first Test wicket was Virat Kohli. He took 5 for 16 in his second Test match in Indore to help Australia to a rare victory on Indian soil.However, following the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, Kuhnemann’s third, his first-class career has completely stalled through no fault of his own. He has played just four first-class matches since that India tour. Three came for Durham at the start of the 2023 County Championship season, but after bowling 94 overs in the first two matches, while bagging 12 wickets, symptoms of a stress fracture appeared during the third and a confirming scan ended his campaign in April.Related

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He returned to play for Australia A against New Zealand A in a four-day game in Mackay in September of 2023 but he has not featured in a single first-class game since despite being fully fit and available.His home state of Queensland opted to play just one spinner in their Sheffield Shield XI last summer, which was understandable given the pitch conditions at all Shield venues. It meant legspinner Mitchell Swepson was preferred ahead of Kuhnemann despite Australia choosing the left-arm orthodox ahead of the legspinner in India.So when Tasmania reached out during the off-season about moving south to be the No. 1 spinner in a side that had just finished runner-up in the Shield, the 28-year-old Gold Coast native had no qualms about braving the cold.”The move was quite an easy decision.” Kuhnemann told ESPNcricinfo. “I love cricket, and I want to try and play as many games as I can and I want to win a Shield. That was probably the main factor. I’ve had some international experience, had a taste of it. I’d love to get back in that arena. But to be honest, probably winning a Shield would be a massive highlight for me. To be part of that, it would be a dream come true. The opportunity arose and I jumped at it straight away.”

If it’s early in the game, or if it’s in the back end, trying to try to win the game for the boys, and trying to bowl into some foot marks, I think there’s definitely some overs to be bowled by a spinner Bellerive.Matt Kuhnemann on his new home ground

Far from being bitter about his lack of red-ball opportunities over the last 12 months, Kuhnemann feels like he still got plenty out of last summer and does not feel underdone coming into what will be his first full season as the No. 1 spinner in a Shield side.”I love training, so I bowled a lot in the nets,” Kuhnemann said. “Last year, I found myself bowling a fair bit to Marnus [Labuschagne] in the nets. And I was just working on probably more how I bowl in the subcontinent or Australia. So sort of just learning the art of spin bowling a bit more in the nets, and experimenting with a few more things.”

He doesn’t want to look too far ahead. But Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka looms on the horizon. Despite his limited first-class cricket in recent times, he could be a key figure for Australia who are desperate for a left-arm orthodox spinner in those conditions. They did not pick a left-arm orthodox in the two Tests in Sri Lanka on their last tour in 2022, instead opting for the legspin of Swepson to partner Nathan Lyon, only for Sri Lanka’s left-arm orthodox spinner Prabath Jayasuriya to take 12 wickets on debut in the second Test to square the series.Kuhnemann played in the ODI portion of the tour ahead of the Tests and also played for Australia A against Sri Lanka A on the same trip, which proved a valuable experience for him.He’s got backers in his corner. He recently went on a trip to the MRF Academy in Chennai with a group of Australian domestic players and remains in touch Australia’s bowling coach, and former New Zealand left-arm orthodox, Daniel Vettori.”He’s only a short message away,” Kuhnemann said. “I sent him some videos, and he gives me his feedback. He’s a guru. He’s someone I lean on a fair bit now.”Another trusted advisor and supporter has been former Australia spinner Steve O’Keefe. Kuhnemann sought out O’Keefe for advice when playing against each other in the BBL, even taking the extraordinary step of asking to have a bowl with him before a game between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers.A season with Durham was cut short by injury in 2023•Getty ImagesThe pair have stayed in touch. Kuhnemann travelled to Sydney and had a bowl with him prior to the 2022 tour of Sri Lanka. O’Keefe is pleased Kuhnemann has made the move to Tasmania and thinks he can play a big part in Sri Lanka if selected.”I was watching him bowl, and I’m like, geez I wish I had half the talent that you’ve got, particularly at your age,” O’Keefe told ESPNcricinfo. “Because he’s obviously got the nice attributes, being a nice height, he gets good spin on the ball. He can change his pace really well. And then I think outside of all that, and having good control, he had the brains, which was what I was more interested in.”We just had a bowl and a yarn about different shapes and seam positions that we thought might work in different conditions.”Kuhnemann has made a change to the speed of his run-up. Seeing the success Western Australia’s Corey Rocchiccioli and Victoria’s Todd Murphy have had at Shield level – two other strong spin candidates to be on the Sri Lanka tour – has given him some ideas as to how to add to his potency in Australia.”[Trying to put a] bit more energy on the ball, sort of similar to how Todd and Corey run in a fair bit and get some nice energy the ball,” Kuhnemann said. “Also just keeping that nice shape. It’s important to have that nice overspin shape in Australia, but also at the same time being able to go with square [spin] and a bit faster if the game gets to day four, when the wickets start to spin. Also sort of working on that square stuff for subcontinent tours as well. I try and work on most aspects of spin bowling, because you never know when your next tour is going to be.”Therein lies the problem for Australia’s domestic spinners. Getting a game at home in the Shield has been hard enough for Kuhnemann, but getting enough bowling in helpful spinning conditions is a major issue in preparing for Test assignments overseas as the second option to Lyon.Domestic pitches in Australia in recent years have been especially unkind to spinners. Five-wicket hauls have been scarce and hardly any regulars average under 30. Kuhnemann, Lyon and Swepson are the only bowlers with 10-wicket match hauls in the last four seasons. There was a time where some teams were playing without a specialist spinner, so seam-friendly were some of the surfaces.Tasmania have committed to playing a specialist spinner, with Jarrod Freeman being a regular in their line-up in all conditions over the past couple of seasons. Coach Jeff Vaughan is delighted to have recruited Kuhnemann and hopes to use him as an attacking weapon, even on a seam-friendly day one pitch at Bellerive Oval.Matt Kuhnemann is set to be Tasmania’s No. 1 spinner this season•Getty Images”He’s quality young man,” Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo. “He’s come in and really invested in Tasmania and into our program. We’ve been very proactive in picking spin, and we’ll continue to do so. We think that Matt has a wonderful skill set and can be utilized, be it early on in the Shield game, or later on, offensively or defensively.”We’re just hoping to add to his career and help him become the best version of himself and an even bigger and stronger performer in both red and white-ball formats.”But it will be a tough assignment playing five games this season in Hobart to prepare for a tour of Sri Lanka. Shield spinners have averaged 43.72 at Bellerive in the last four seasons and struck at 82.6.O’Keefe hopes Australia’s selectors judge him fairly based on the conditions he bowls in when assessing him for Sri Lanka, and that Kuhnemann is lenient on himself with his own expectations.”It’s a tough assignment,” O’Keefe said. “I think you’ve got to be judging him a little bit differently. It’s an opportunity for him to get more overs under his belt. But if he doesn’t necessarily have a lot of success or take the five-fors and the big-wicket hauls that you might get bowling elsewhere, I don’t think we can judge him on that.”I think it’s the right move for him in regards to being able to play a lot more first-class cricket and be the frontline spinner, which comes with a lot of responsibility.”Kuhnemann is up for the challenge. He opened the bowling for Australia in his first Test match having been plying away in 2nd XI cricket for his state not long before that. He’s proven responsibility doesn’t faze him.”Jeff sees spin as an attacking option at Bellerive, which really excites me,” Kuhnemann said. “So if it’s early in the game, or if it’s in the back end, trying to try to win the game for the boys, and trying to bowl into some foot marks, I think there’s definitely some overs to be bowled by a spinner Bellerive.”I’m ready for any opportunity.”

Australia emerge from Test season with flying colours and new options

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The aging demographic of the pace attack will continue to raise questions, and Marnus Labuschagne’s form is a watching brief, but there has been an injection of new faces

Alex Malcolm10-Feb-20252:32

Smith: Everyone stood up at different times and did a terrific job

Following the crushing first Test loss to India in Perth in November, there was a moment when Australia’s Test team looked as though they may have reached a cliff much sooner than predicted.Ten weeks, five Test wins and two significant series victories later, that seismic defeat in Perth feels like nothing but a bump in the road, with the horizon looking even better than expected.Australia finish a seven-Test home and away summer with five wins, a loss and a draw. It is a worse record than the six wins from seven they produced in 2023-24, but the performances were far more impressive.Related

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How Australia played like the home side in Asia masterclass

Last summer they used just 12 players across seven Tests home and away, playing three of them without a single player under the age of 29, and produced less than convincing series wins over Pakistan and New Zealand whilst drawing with West Indies at home in between.This summer they played 18, with Cameron Green missing all seven through injury, Josh Hazlewood playing just two and Pat Cummins missing two, winning two series with two completely different XIs.Three players under 25 debuted, including two under 21. Two stars of the Sheffield Shield in Beau Webster and Josh Inglis came in and performed like the ready made players that they are. A new baggy green was handed out in four straight Tests, something that hadn’t happened for 27 years.It was a summer where Australia showed versatility and adaptability in both decision-making and execution across a vast spectrum of conditions and opponents.Beau Webster has shown his adaptability early in his Test career•Getty ImagesThe team and the selectors wore the criticism of running a closed shop after the defeat in Perth, instead opting to calmly stay the course and make just one injury-forced change in Adelaide. But they made bold calls when it was least expected. Having won in Adelaide and dominated four of five rainy days in Brisbane, they made the brave decision to pick the 19-year-old Sam Konstas in Melbourne.After winning in Melbourne, there was an expectation that nothing would change in Sydney. But their best player from the previous summer, and arguably the most popular player in the dressing room, Mitchell Marsh was dropped after scoring just 73 runs in seven innings and replaced by the Shield’s best allrounder in Webster.

In Sri Lanka, Australia’s long-standing tradition of valuing incumbency over innovation was thrown into the Indian Ocean and the result was a 2-0 sweep that left locals wondering which team was the home side.Across their last four Tests in Asia, including the last two Tests in India in 2023, they have found a blueprint for success under stand-in captain Steven Smith. With Travis Head opening, picking one fast bowler and playing three spinners, or a third spinning allrounder, Australia have won three Tests and drawn one, their best four-Test stretch of results on the subcontinent since 2004.Spin twins: Matt Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon shared 30 wickets in two Tests•Getty ImagesAustralia’s finger spin stocks have hardly ever been deeper, with Matthew Kuhnemann starring in Sri Lanka alongside Nathan Lyon while Todd Murphy continues to impress despite limited opportunities.Reports of Smith’s decline as a Test batter were greatly exaggerated, as were fears of Australia’s batting depth overall.Smith plundered four centuries in five Tests against peak Jasprit Bumrah in Brisbane and Melbourne, and against two of the most successful spinners to ever bowl in Galle, to zoom past 10000 Test runs and nudge his Test average back towards 57, while looking every inch the batting savant he was six years ago.Australia’s overall run production returned to healthy levels. Nine centuries were scored by five different players across the summer, after only two were scored last summer by players who are currently injured or retired.The performance of Inglis and Webster, although he didn’t make a century, and the looming return of Green means Australia is now flush with options ahead of the World Test Championship final which will create a selection squeeze.There will undoubtedly be pressure on Marnus Labuschagne after a summer where he averaged just 25.63 without a century. It is worth noting though that he and Head were the only Australia batters to pass 50 three times against Bumrah.Amid the optimism of a batting cupboard that is chockablock, it is also worth acknowledging that seven of Australia’s centuries were scored by the usual suspects in Smith, Head and Usman Khawaja, while the other two were made by the wicketkeeper Alex Carey and his understudy Inglis who was playing as a batter. Inglis is the only one of those five who is under the age of 31.Steve Smith was back to his prolific best with four centuries in his last five Tests•Getty ImagesThe treatment of the two youngsters in Konstas and Nathan McSweeney rankled many, with the latter felt to be set up for failure as an opener after earning his place through middle-order Shield form, while the former captured the nation’s hearts only to be cast aside based on the conditions in Sri Lanka.A quick glance, however, at the top 10 Australian Test run-scorers shows a litany of examples of players given a taste of Test cricket at a young age, losing their place and then returning to dominate at the highest level.Smith himself was dropped after making 77 in his second Test as a 21-year-old, recalled five Tests later, then dropped again for two full years before becoming Australia’s best since Bradman.The early gamble on Cooper Connolly, which was widely queried, may also bear fruit years down the line whilst costing nothing in the here and now.Australia will still experience some pain whenever Smith and Khawaja finish, but the future looks brighter than it did 10 weeks ago.One area that is of greater uncertainty is the fast-bowling depth. Once known as Australia’s endless natural resource, there are some concerns that have emerged from the summer. Hazlewood’s injuries are chief among them. Cummins’ ankle has still not recovered from five brutal Tests against India, while the iron-man Mitchell Starc has just turned 35. Scott Boland continued to prove how valuable a back-up he is and could well force his way into the WTC final even if the big three get through the IPL unscathed. But he too is 35 and has his workloads carefully managed while Michael Neser, 34, was unavailable all summer due to a hamstring injury.

The management of Jhye Richardson, 28, is proof of concerns around the quality of the next rung. Richardson was called into the Test squad for Melbourne after playing one first-class game in 12 months in which he dislocated his shoulder high-fiving a team-mate. He is now rehabbing from a third surgery on that shoulder in a bid to be fit for the Ashes.That next rung of Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett and Nathan McAndrew are all performing well at first-class level but all are over the age of 30. Replacing two ageing generational batters out of six in the short to medium term looks far easier than replacing three generational quicks out of three.For now, Australia march to a second consecutive WTC final with enough depth and confidence that any of whatever 15 they choose in their squad could play a role in the final. Thereafter they play three Tests in the West Indies, where the performance in Sri Lanka might have more bearing on how they set up than how they play at Lord’s, before a date with England for a home Ashes. Perth feels a long time ago.

Bangladesh, Netherlands look to iron out wrinkles in Sylhet

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From comebacks to spin questions, Litton Das and Scott Edwards eye answers before bigger competitions around the corner

Abhijato Sensarma29-Aug-2025Litmus test for skipper LittonWhile the T20 World Cup early next year remains a focus for Bangladesh, it is some way down the horizon. They will be looking at this series to tighten their own line-up for the more immediate T20 Asia Cup, set to begin on September 9 in the UAE.That tournament will be the first major assignment for captain Litton Das, in charge of the T20I side since earlier this year. He has already shepherded them to their maiden T20I series wins against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and will be expected to extend the winning streak before the Asia Cup.Nurul Hasan has been in the middle of a purple patch in T20s•GSL/Getty ImagesBangladesh’s comeback menThe series is also a storyof comebacks on both sides. Bangladesh have recalled wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan and top-order batter Saif Hassan, both of whom last played for Bangladesh over two years ago.Nurul has accumulated 514 runs in the 2024-25 season across T20 leagues, and also led Rangpur Riders to the inaugural Global Super League title in 2024. Saif, meanwhile, struck a couple of impressive half-centuries at the recent Top End T20s in Australia. They will be looking to push for spots in the first XI.Scott Edwards will be without two of his key allrounders from the Europe qualifiers•Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty ImagesUnfamiliar territory for NetherlandsThey won the Europe qualifier for the 2026 T20 World Cup earlier this year, but were set to play in subcontinental conditions only when they landed in India for the World Cup next year. Game time in the region has been rare for them. In Bangladesh, too, they have only ever played once before, way back in the 2014 T20 World Cup.The pitches in Bangladesh have made for lower-scoring encounters than the ones in India in the recent past. Nonetheless, this tour will allow Netherlands to start figuring out their best combination on surfaces quite different to the ones they played on to win the Europe qualifiers.Bas de Leede misses this tour but should be back for the World Cup•AFP/Getty ImagesNetherlands are without their starsA couple of spots in Netherlands’ eventual World Cup squad might be reserved for two of their top allrounders – Bas de Leede and Roelof van der Merwe – who could not make it to this tour because of their County commitments. Both played major roles in the Europe qualifiers. But left-hand opener Vikramjit Singh (dropped for the qualifiers), right-arm quick Sebastiaan Braat (last played in 2021), and allrounder Sikander Zulfiqar (in 2019) will be looking to back up their recent domestic numbers as they fill up the vacant spots.In unfamiliar conditions, a lot of the responsibility for leading the side might fall on the shoulders of their captain and middle-order lynchpin, Scott Edwards.Rishad Hossain’s form has dipped of late•AFP/Getty ImagesSpin headache for BangladeshBangladesh will be less than thrilled with their incumbents in the spin department. While their pacers have been impressive on their way to 51 wickets in T20Is in 2025 – 60.71% of all wickets they have taken this year – their spinners have had uneven returns.After a spell out of the XI, Mahedi Hasan made a comeback in the final T20I against Sri Lanka, and took 4 for 11 to bowl them to victory. His numbers were less remarkable in the series against Pakistan, where he took just three wickets at an average of 32.66 and an economy of 8.90.Rishad Hossain, the legspinner who is also a handy bat, has not been as potent either in 2025 with an average of 32.70 and an economy of 8.75.With the only other bowler who bowls spin in the side being Nasum Ahmed, who hasn’t played T20Is this year, Bangladesh will be hoping the spinners up their game if they are to mount a serious title challenge in the Asia Cup or next year’s T20 World Cup.

Cummins, Lyon likely for Adelaide, but what about Khawaja?

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Australia’s selectors could be working overtime with some big calls to come

Andrew McGlashan08-Dec-20251:02

Finch: Neser ‘nailed it’ but selection debate remains

Will Khawaja’s back allow him back?Australia’s two victories have come about in no small part because of a pair of positive opening stands between Jake Weatherald and Travis Head. It was an accidental pairing in Perth but they got a second chance in Brisbane when Usman Khawaja was ruled out with his back problems. Khawaja’s form was under scrutiny heading into this series and this enforced absence has come at a bad time.There is a huge decision ahead. George Bailey, the chair of selectors, said during the Brisbane Test that they hadn’t got to the stage of discussing Khawaja’s position because he was never passed fit. Head’s move to the top continues to divide opinion, largely because of the impact he has had at No. 5. He was scratchy early on the second day at the Gabba, getting a life on 3 when dropped by Jamie Smith, but was starting to open up when he got a leading edge to mid-on.Related

Hazlewood out of Ashes, Cummins confirmed for Adelaide

Josh Inglis was Khawaja’s replacement for the second Test. His 23 was a little skittish, with multiple edges through the cordon, before he was bowled by Ben Stokes, although he was batting during the tricky night session. He certainly added to Australia’s fielding. His run out of Stokes on the first day was a critical moment in the game.”I just can’t see how Australia would change that top order right now with Head and Weatherald,” Aaron Finch told ESPN. “They look like a good opening partnership together, that they’ve got the rapport which you need at the top of the order. Josh Inglis played well, he got a good ball in the first innings.”Marnus Labuschagne, who is batting at No. 3, has enjoyed following in the slipstream of the new opening pair. “Weathers has come in for the first time, and the way he’s gone about it has just set the tone at the top,” he said “I just feel like that momentum is sort of dripping through to the rest of the order. It’s been nice to come off the back of momentum and be able to put the bowlers under pressure from the start of my innings. So I’ve really enjoyed that. But once again, it’s each game on its own, trying to read the conditions and read what the team needs.”Nathan Lyon has been left out from two of Australia’s last three Tests•Getty ImagesBig game for LyonEarlier this season, Steve Waugh said that Bailey and his panel hadn’t been willing to make tough calls. They made one in Brisbane with Nathan Lyon’s omission. It was vindicated by Michael Neser’s superb performance, but Bailey has already confirmed Lyon will definitely play in Adelaide.Lyon has been left out from two of Australia’s last three Tests and though they were pink-ball games, this one at the Gabba in particular has shone a light on the changing role he has been able to play. Last season he bowled his fewest overs in a home season and the tempo of matches has meant the game has shifted away from the lengthy holding spells Lyon used to be so important for. However, a day game in Adelaide could change that.”It’s probably just highlighted with Gaz [Lyon], because there’s been years where he has had his ability to bowl long spells, go two an over, do all that sort of stuff and hold things down, and it just hasn’t quite panned out that way,” Bailey said. “But when it suits and the time’s right, that will still be the case, I imagine.”Finch said: “Nathan Lyon absolutely comes straight back in. That’s not even a question. I didn’t think it was a question that we even needed to ask in the lead up to this Test match and I was proven wrong there, but he comes back in and it’s probably Brendan Doggett that goes out.”There’s every indication that Pat Cummins will be ready for the third Test•Getty ImagesCome in, skipperPat Cummins was very close to playing at the Gabba, but the need to manage his overs was the deciding factor. However, every indication is that he will be ready for the third Test, which had always seemed the likely return point.”I should be right for Adelaide,” Cummins said on Kayo Sports. “I’ll have one more bowl [on Sunday] and then we’ll go to Adelaide and have another bowl there. Barring any hiccups, I’ll be good to go and the body feels great.”If Cummins does return as expected, the question will then be how many of the final three matches he is able to play. During the earlier stages of his rehab, he said back-to-back games could be a stretch and from Adelaide onwards, the series becomes much more condensed with just a four-day gap to Melbourne and another four to Sydney if those matches go the distance. Australia could well have wrapped up the Ashes before Christmas, but important World Test Championship points will still be at stake.Cummins will resume the captaincy, but Steven Smith has been tactically very impressive, especially in Adelaide, and will likely remain a key sounding board.Michael Neser picked up his maiden five-for at the Gabba•Getty ImagesOne and done for Neser?If Cummins and Lyon both return, it means two bowlers need to make way. Neser could not have done much more at the Gabba – and there’s long been a hashtag of #NeserMustPlay – but he could shape as the unlucky omission. However, there is potentially a scenario where the selectors rest Scott Boland, with an eye on having him refreshed for Boxing Day at the MCG, although 57 overs in two matches is not a huge workload and the first priority will likely be winning the Ashes at the earliest possible moment.Doggett, meanwhile, has taken seven wickets in his first two Tests and sent down some hardworking spells for short deliveries during the Brisbane Test.”When you look at the Australian side being 2-0 up and you say, is the next team going to be stronger? The answer is probably yes,” Finch said. “So there’s some really good selection headaches for Australia leading into the Adelaide Test.”

Lahore was all about Babar, but the applause went to those around him

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The crowd favourite hit a rut after a bright start as the promised turn arrived, but it was his team-mates who saved the day for Pakistan

Danyal Rasool12-Oct-2025There were plenty of loud cheers on day one of the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium. That is not much of a surprise; it was a good day for Pakistan, one which they may well look back on as the one that secured them a 1-0 lead in this series against South Africa midway into next week. But none of the cheers was quite as boisterous as the one that followed the dismissal of Pakistan captain Shan Masood. Except, perhaps, the one that confirmed his departure upon review. The raucousness of that excitement took even Simon Harmer, South Africa’s lead spinner, by surprise.”I had a good chuckle at that,” he would laugh later.Not because Masood’s continued presence was detrimental to his side’s chances: quite the contrary. The Pakistan captain had seen through a period of pressure early on after Abdullah Shafique’s first over dismissal. Alongside the more conservative Imam-ul-Haq, he had controlled the first session and a half to put on 161 for the second wicket, getting their runs in early before they congeal and calcify as scoring becomes ever more arduous on an already wearing pitch.Related

Imam, Masood, Rizwan and Agha hand Pak opening-day honours

But for this Lahore crowd, the partnership between Imam and Masood had delayed their gratification just a touch too long. It was now early afternoon, and the Gaddafi, which threw open its doors to the public free of charge, was busier than it would be all day. For just the second time in his career, Lahore’s golden boy stepped over freshly trimmed afternoon grass in white, steeling himself to face an international red ball on home ground. It was, as ever, all about Babar Azam.Lahore may not have wanted to see such an extended warm-up act before the main event, but the value it held for Pakistan was plain to see. For all the nits that can be picked with Pakistan’s approach to this format, Masood’s Test side is arguably the most honest thing going in Pakistan cricket. They want to take 20 Test wickets and prepare pitches that cannot give them away quick enough. But before anyone is really paying attention, they want to steal a few runs with batters who are finding ways to outmanoeuvre opposition by stealth, having failed to outbat them on more conventional surfaces.Masood set that tone with a pair of boundaries on either side of the wicket inside the first over. In this phase of a career that has seen more stages than there have been French Republics, Masood’s belligerent batting when conditions are easiest ensures time spent at the crease brings maximum possible value. By the tenth over, Pakistan had put on 51; in two games at the recently concluded T20 Asia Cup, they hadn’t managed to get that far by this stage.Imam’s everyman assiduousness, with all the tenacity of a chihuahua panting up a hill, was holding back South Africa’s coterie of spinners who had bought into spooky stories of wild turn perhaps a little too eagerly. He had got his bright start while the seamers still operated; 26 off 29 balls by his standards is a hurtle. Against the spinners, it was a test of patience, and that is one thing Imam has never lacked.Babar Azam came in to bat with limited situational pressure on him, but scored only 23•Getty Images”I got balls I could attack against the fast bowlers. When the spinners came on, I didn’t find as many deliveries to attack,” Imam said after the day’s play. “Shan found he could attack more of them, and was able to get more boundaries against them. They leaked runs in the first session, but you have to respect the bowlers. Things didn’t go their way then, but they came back strongly in the second session, dried out the runs, and got a couple of wickets at the end.”With every run the pair scored, and every South African spin over that went wicketless, there was a feeling of a game slipping by, even as early as day one of a Test. Of the four previous games for which Pakistan have prepared extreme spin tracks, the side batting first have won three, with day-one partnerships ultimately proving decisive.Against England in Multan last year, Kamran Ghulam and Saim Ayub put on 149 for the third wicket in the first innings, using it to secure a 75-run lead that translated into a comfortable victory. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel amassed 141 for the fifth wicket on a foggy first day against West Indies in Multan earlier this year, and never let go. To suggest Imam and Masood haven’t just done the same thing here in Lahore would be flying in the face of history.Post-match, Harmer wistfully noted that the game, in a sense, had moved to within the fringes of South Africa’s reach.”What you need to understand about the subcontinent is [that] the toss plays a big part,” he said. “The best batting conditions are in the first session. They got the luck of the draw with the toss, and they maxed them out. Full credit to them; I think they played extremely well.”Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha finished the day unbeaten on half-centuries•AFP/Getty ImagesBut the men South Africa – and seemingly so much of Lahore – wanted to see dismissed had ensured that the crowd favourite would come in to bat with limited situational pressure on him. It was around then, just before tea, that the promised turn had begun to arrive. Babar, whom supporters had thronged in to see, had found his innings hitting a rut after a bright start. When Harmer trapped him in front and got the lbw on review, Babar had scored just one run of his previous 26 balls after starting off with 21 in 22 deliveries. It was the first of three wickets to arrive without the scoring moving from 199 to 200, a shot across the bow from a surface already starting to awaken.Masood and Imam were among those to have fallen by now. The stealthy runs early on which they set the game up had been scored; Rizwan and Salman Agha, who finished the day unbeaten on half-centuries, had built upon that foundation to tilt the game further Pakistan’s way. Imam and Masood, meanwhile, had fallen just short of hundreds – not that the Gaddafi faithful seemed to mind too much. And for a side that is learning to eschew flashy individual milestones for gritty collective victories, it was perhaps strangely appropriate.

Suzie Bates: 'I feel like there's no milestones on my list anymore'

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The most-capped player in women’s cricket and former New Zealand captain wouldn’t mind adding an ODI World Cup to her trophy cabinet, though

Interview by Vishal Dikshit19-Sep-2025At age 38, former New Zealand captain Suzie Bates is closing in on 20 years of international cricket and her 14th World Cup across formats. She spoke to us about keeping herself fit physically and mentally, her love for the game from since when she was a teenager, the growth of the women’s game, why she gave up captaincy, her aspirations of making a Test debut, and more.You were playing for Durham recently, where you scored 163 against Somerset. You were their first overseas player. What kind of space and confidence levels are you in right now heading into the ODI World Cup?
Yeah, it couldn’t have gone better, leading into a 50-over World Cup campaign. We finished against Australia in March and had no international cricket scheduled in the calendar. I was interested in playing over in England. Then Durham came calling and I committed to a big chunk of their season. I knew there were eight one-dayers in the first month, which hit the body pretty hard, but to be able to play that volume of cricket and just to a really good standard. Most of the English players were playing those one-dayers to start with. [I] loved my time up there. It was just a really refreshing experience. When you play cricket for a long time, to go into a new environment like that and fully immerse yourself in the club and with the people – it couldn’t have gone better. I think I was there 15 weeks and played about 24 games of cricket, so great preparation leading into India.Related

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Suzie Bates not willing to give up on Test dream just yet

You’ve been to India several times. You’ve said in the past you love touring the country. Your international debut was against India. In the 2013 World Cup here, you were the Player of the Tournament. You’ve also scored two centuries in India. How are you feeling about the conditions and the format, and the fact that you’re visiting India again?
I just have such fond memories of touring India, and as a cricketer, going to India is almost like the pinnacle and the biggest test for a female player, with conditions being so foreign, the temperature, just different culture for a New Zealand player. It’s something I really look forward to.I actually started my career with a tour in Chennai back in, I think it was 2007, for a quad series and maybe back then we were allowed to get out a little bit more. There was a bit less security and [to be] able to just explore places that you’d never been to and the different food and all those types of things I loved as a 19-year-old. We went to Ahmedabad after the [2024 T20] World Cup but that was a very short, sharp trip and we were pretty exhausted after the World Cup campaign.2:53

“Cricket in India is the pinnacle”

So to go back for a World Cup, it honestly excites me more than anything I’ve done recently. In 2013, we had a great time, and I just love playing there – the way the fans are, the conditions, it just tests every part of you mentally, physically, and when you play well, you really feel like you’ve earned your runs. It’s just really satisfying as a player to succeed over there.You’re closing in on nearly 20 years of international cricket, with nine T20 World Cups and a fifth ODI World Cup coming up. Longevity in any sport doesn’t come easily. How have you had to take care of yourself physically? How have you had to keep up with the changing times and the evolution of the game in the last ten years or so?
The fact that it’s five 50-over World Cups – when I say that out loud, pretty unbelievable. After a disappointing World Cup in 2017 when I led the side in England and we didn’t make the top four, and I sort of stepped away from captaincy, I was thinking I was near the end at that time. ()But we had a home World Cup [coming up in 2022], and I thought: I do want to be a part of that. Then I got injured and Covid hit, but I thought that home World Cup was going to be my last push at a 50-over World Cup as well.For me, I think the key is just keeping myself physically fit. I think being injury-free since I did my shoulder [in 2020], being able to play cricket, not miss games, has kept me mentally fit as well.Bates (first from left) has played four ODI World Cups and every Women’s T20 World Cup, lifting the trophy in the last one in 2024•ICC/Getty ImagesIt’s not always been easy and there’s times you wonder if you’re done or not, and how much you have left in the tank. But whenever I’ve had those thoughts, I’ve had a bit of a break. I just have never wanted to not be part of this White Ferns team. I’ve just always had the motivation to want to get up each day and get better, whether that’s with my fitness or my batting in particular, and even working on my bowling has rejuvenated me a little bit.But I think what has probably kept me going is that the game has changed so much – you were in a phase of your career where one-day cricket was the pinnacle, and then 20-over cricket took over and power came into the game, the athleticism. I guess I found it a bit of a challenge to try and keep up with the game and develop in different areas. And that excites me, always trying to get better. So yeah, it’s been a journey and it’s unrecognisable now where the game’s at to where it was even in 2013 at that 50-over World Cup.I just feel really grateful that my body, my mind, my game has allowed me to keep playing at this level for that long. I’m pretty sure this one will be my last 50-over World Cup (). But as I said, I thought the last two might have been, so never say never! But you know, every four years the 50-over World Cup comes around, and that’s what excites me, as teams for four years [you] build up to this and then the best team wins and everyone plays everyone.You’re the leading run-scorer in T20Is, third on the list in ODIs, and you’re just two ODI centuries away from joining Meg Lanning at the top for most hundreds. How has being a prolific run-scorer changed for you over the years across formats and conditions to keep up with the evolution of the game?
I feel like I’ve sort of had different phases of my career. When I started I was so young and naïve, and I was given a role at the top of the order to just go out and play my natural game and that meant a little bit of inconsistency. Sometimes it came off, but then I got to a point that I didn’t want to be inconsistent anymore. I wanted to be a consistent run-scorer at the top of the order and it was through mainly 50-over cricket [that] we got our opportunity. So I really worked on my game and being able to bat for long periods of time and still score runs, but tactically just being a bit smarter.And then 20-over cricket came on board and I probably just went out there and swung the arms a little bit initially, and then, you know, the game changed and strike rates became really important. When I first started, you could get 50 off 50 and still put your team in a winning position, whereas I think now a 140-150 strike rate is the key to a top-order batter. That’s been a challenge, to bring that power game in and be willing to get out at times, and not fear getting out to take the game on.2:00

“Women, like men, can now make a career out of cricket”

So I’ve tried to go along with the game as it’s progressed and watched other players around me and how they’ve been successful and gone about it. I’ve had to change, I’ve had to dig deep and figure out what my 20-over game looks like and what my 50-over game looks like, and there’s been runs of form and runs of not scoring and starting to doubt what you’re doing and then being able to figure it out again.Yeah, it’s just the whole roller-coaster ride of cricket and trying to stay consistent with how you prepare and how you train – that’s all I’ve tried to do. And when you do that, the runs tend to come back eventually and then you make the most of them.There’s one shot I want to ask you about specifically: when you shuffle around the crease and play the ball behind square. Is that something you started trying out on your own in the nets or did a coach or team-mate suggest it? We hardly see anyone else play it.
In my head when I’m playing it, it’s just like a lap. () But when it comes out on the field, I don’t know what you’d call it – it’s like a jump right across, get front-on. That’s not how I think it is in my head! But I guess it came a bit like [how] Brendon McCullum played a scoop.Yeah, just accessing different areas of the ground, and I think everyone set straight fields for me, so initially [that helped to] play that shot. But I don’t practise it in the nets. It’s like if the field is set and I know there’s pace on the ball, it comes out and it’s almost not how I intend to play it, but that’s how my body gets in that position. I’m just thinking about hitting the ball there and that’s what comes out.You’re also not too far away from 200 ODIs. Is that on your list?
No, I feel like there’s no milestones on my list anymore. I hear other players talk about [it], but as you get older and you know you’re near the end, you honestly do go into every game wanting to contribute to a win, and it’s as simple as that. So if I’m scoring runs at a decent clip and that’s putting our team in a winning position, it doesn’t matter what I’ve done previously or what I’m going to do in the future. That’s all I tend to focus on and those things [milestones] sort of happen.But I know when I do finally hang the spikes up and put my bat away in the cupboard, which will be a sad day, I’ll look back and be really proud of my ability to keep going at this level. Winning the World Cup was the only thing I really cared about, and we managed to do that with the 20-over World Cup. But to get a 20-over World Cup and a 50-over World Cup before I retire would just be the absolute best. I’d sleep very peacefully after that.Bates captained New Zealand for from 2011 to 2018, then stepped away to focus on her game: “You get involved in the politics of the sport, which is not really your scope”•ESPNcricinfo LtdYou played basketball in the 2008 Olympics and now cricket is going to be part of the 2028 Olympics. Are you thinking of having another shot at an Olympic medal 20 years later?
When I heard cricket was going to the Olympics, it excited me, but more for the game and more for younger players in New Zealand. My experience as a 19-year-old athlete from Dunedin growing up wanting to play sport and watching the Olympics, to go to that [2008 Olympics], I remember how inspired I was by all the athletes around me. I just wanted to be an athlete. It didn’t matter what it was. I found that environment so special. We got a little bit of a taste of it as cricketers at the Commonwealth Games. So yeah, it’s a huge step for cricket if I get that opportunity because it’s one of the greatest events you can go to as an athlete. Maybe I’ll be there in a different capacity, but whatever happens, it would just be a great thing for the White Ferns and for cricket.A day before the T20 World Cup final last year you said how proud you were of breaking down barriers in the game by playing in the mid-30s as a female cricketer. There are quite a few in that age group for this ODI World Cup – Alyssa Healy, Chamari Athapaththu, Harmanpreet Kaur, all around 35-36, and Ellyse Perry is getting there as well. What do you think this means for the game, for young girls watching?
I guess it shows where the game is at professionally. I remember growing up in the White Ferns and watching players at 27-28 probably in their prime having to retire because they couldn’t financially justify carrying on with what was almost a hobby. And if you had a mortgage or a family or other things, it just wasn’t financially stable enough to carry on. It wasn’t necessarily by choice that they stopped playing. What makes me so happy and so proud is that players now – like the men – can make a career from it for as long as they want to. And if they are physically healthy, and mentally motivated to play, they can have a 20-year career, which wasn’t a possibility ten years ago.If players want to have families and come back and play, there’s all that support around that. There’s just different options for young females growing up. It was a bit of a battle for some of us, but the ones that are still playing are fortunate enough. Now it’s their job, so they can still do it.I reckon I was just on the edge of becoming professional when I was at an age where I might have had to step away, so just so grateful and lucky that I’ve been born in this generation. It is really cool to see someone like Ellyse Perry, Chamari Athapaththu… We’ve watched the game grow globally, we’ve played against each other, we’ve played on the same team at FairBreak [Invitational T20], at Sydney Sixers [in the WBBL]. Yeah, those players have been through that whole journey, and you’ve watched how their games evolved. And as much as they are competitors, you’re proud of how they’ve gone about their game as well because they’ve been inspirational in their countries and now young girls know that they can do it for as long as they like.Do you think the way you love the game has changed over all these years – like when you were as a teenager, then the captain, now a senior player having won the T20 World Cup?
Yeah, it’s like my game that’s gone through phases as well. I think when I was 18, making my debut in Lincoln against India, I just thought I was in the greatest team in the greatest place in the world, playing international cricket. I just went out there and thought: this is the greatest sport, like the greatest level of cricket that I can play, and I just absolutely loved it.1:10

“Not getting a WPL deal was one of the most disappointing things, personally”

And then you get expectations of yourself as you get older, of wanting to contribute more and be consistent, so you’re a bit harder on yourself. Then I became captain. You get involved in all the off-field [decisions] – you probably can take it a bit serious and everything seems so important.I think that, later on in my career, I wasn’t just thinking about my enjoyment of the game, it was: how can we get better every day and how can we do things differently? You get involved in the politics of the sport and what we need to do domestically, which is not really your scope. So the enjoyment probably suffered a little bit.Then I gave up the captaincy and we had Covid and cricket was taken away and you realise how much you missed it. I was also injured and was like, “Oh, I’ve missed cricket so much.” You kind of have a taste of what it’s like without it. Then you get older and you’re near the end and you just want to enjoy it as much as you can because you know you’re going to be a long time retired and you’re going to miss it. So I feel like that joy has always been there, but I’ve probably dug deep at times.But now it’s just all about the joy of playing, because you just get a perspective of life and you realise how lucky you are to be doing what you’re doing. If you’re not having fun, I think that’s when you know to walk away.Before the T20 World Cup began last year, New Zealand lost ten T20Is in a row, and suddenly you weren’t among the favourites. How was that experience – coming into a tournament with that kind of form and then going on to lift the trophy?
It almost freed us up a little bit, because I know as a senior player, and especially with someone like Sophie Devine, we’ve gone to those World Cups with really high expectations because the potential of our side – if we played our best – is high and then we’ve disappointed at those tournaments. So by almost playing so badly in the lead-up and not being able to get a win off England [on the tour there], it was like other people’s expectations were low and they almost freed us up to make some upsets.Bates featured in the 2018 Women’s T20 Challenge exhibition match, and the 2019 edition of that tournament, but is yet to be picked for the WPL•BCCIYou know New Zealanders love being the underdog, and we went into that tournament knowing we had to play India and Australia in our pool and probably had to beat one of them. So that first game [against India] was really important and we started well and the momentum kind of went with us from there. Then the belief grew – we were still underdogs and we kind of took that tag on.And once we started that tournament, I knew we could win it, because I felt like we’d made progress even though we were failing. We were playing the game plan, we stuck with the players that we had, we didn’t make changes, and the coaches were so sure of what they were telling us to do that we didn’t lose confidence. It was just almost like once we won that [India] game, the momentum just grew, the belief grew, little things went our way. It was just an unbelievable experience to go from being in England and sitting in the changing room wondering where the next win was coming [from] to lifting the World Cup and forgetting about that tour completely. Like, it doesn’t matter when you win a World Cup what happens before. So it was really special.You’ve been playing T20 leagues around the world now – the Big Bash and the Hundred, to name a couple. But you haven’t had a chance to play in the WPL yet.
That was probably one of the most disappointing things, personally, because I just feel like I’ve been part of so much of the women’s games, and I was involved in the exhibition games [Women’s T20 Challenge] and being part of the Big Bash for the first time, and the Hundred and all those competitions.I love being around the best players in the world and playing cricket in India and the WPL was just something that all the players were so excited about. So yeah, you were gutted to not be a part of that, and obviously the first three years players were retained. But it’s something I still would absolutely love to do before I retire.It is just so amazing to see the game grow in India and it’s a little bit daunting for the future for countries like New Zealand, when you see the number of players and the resources, and just playing in those atmospheres and under that amount of pressure that it’s gonna put them in good stead for the future. But yeah, I love watching and following it. India is a special place for a cricketer, so you always want to be a part of those big tournaments.Last year Bates surpassed Mithali Raj as the most-capped player in women’s cricket, and now has nearly 350 internationals under her belt•ICC/Getty ImagesI have to ask you about Test cricket as well because ten years ago in Bengaluru, you had said that you felt a bit cheated that you had not played a Test at that time. New Zealand have not played a Test match since 2004. How do you feel about that now?
I’m envious. I’ve said this in another interview that I watch the [Women’s] Ashes and even when I watch men’s Test cricket and they talk about it being the toughest game – [that] it tests your skills, it tests you mentally, it tests you physically. As an athlete and a sportsperson, I want to be tested. So when there are women’s Test matches on, you’re like, “Oh I wonder what I’d do in this situation or how I’d go about it.” And to not have that opportunity when others are playing it – you do want to experience it.I understand the decisions and the politics of it at times, but as a player I’d love to have a taste of how I would handle that mentally and physically. If it happens and I’m still playing, I will be over the moon. I do think for the future of the game – I think Virat Kohli’s talked about it – that is still where you learn the most about the game and where you are tested. If a young New Zealand player gets to play a four- or five-day Test match in India, in those conditions, with the ball turning, the amount of learning compared to a 20-over game… you just can’t compare. So I think there’s space for it, but those decisions aren’t up to me.You’ve spoken in the past about how you don’t give much verbal advice to youngsters. You prefer to let your game do the talking on the field. But as far as longevity and staying fit and being successful and achieving excellence is concerned, what kind of advice do you have for youngsters?
Yeah, I do find that difficult [to give advice to youngsters] because everyone’s on their own journey and everyone’s motivated differently, and I think I was inspired by watching people’s actions, not what they said.I guess if I wanted to give these young girls advice, it’d be like: work as hard as you can to make the most of this opportunity. They have the world at their feet in terms of [things] like financial support. We have three full-time coaches for the first time as the White Ferns. They have everything available to them if they wanted to get better.And it’s not saying “back in my day”, but you had to go looking for it [back then] and there were barriers and there wasn’t financial support. If you want to play for 20 years, there is every opportunity to do that and if you love the game and you want to see how much you can get out of yourself, then work hard every single day to get better when you’re at training. Yes, have breaks because that’s really important too, because now it’s a job, but don’t leave any stone unturned. I could say now if I stop tomorrow, I gave everything I had to my game. Yes, I made mistakes, and yes, I would maybe have done some things differently, but I gave what I had at that time to be as good as I could be and for as long as I could, so I don’t have any regrets.

Lesson from the Caribbean: Don't mess with timings

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The 4pm starts, designed to better suit a UK TV audience, were a disaster, for the team batting first and the locals who can’t watch the match

Cameron Ponsonby18-Nov-2024Well, here we go again. It’s time to learn.I hate learning. In the wider educational sense, I understand it has its benefits. The pen being mightier than the sword and all that. But in a cricket context, it is code for low-stakes cricket.This was true for the ODI series, where a sub-strength England took on a West Indies side who hadn’t qualified for the Champions Trophy and duly took their beating. But it shouldn’t have been the case for the T20 series, where the West Indies are a cohesive, exciting cricket team taking on an England side boosted by the return of a white-ball genius in Jos Buttler and sporting young talents like Jacob Bethell. This was set to be a lot of fun.But forget Phil Salt and Akeal Hosein for a second. Because the fundamental takeaway from this series is an administrative one. Don’t mess with timings. The 4pm starts, designed to better suit a UK TV audience, were a disaster, creating a double disadvantage for the team batting first, with the wickets being at their worst under the afternoon sun, before dew settles in the evening making the pitch good for batting and the ball slippery for bowling. No team won a match on this tour after losing the toss.Related

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After the deciding ODI, Liam Livingstone said he’d never played a match where conditions had altered so much from one innings to the next. “It’s no excuse,” he said to remain professional. “But even if we’d got 350 I don’t think it’d have been enough,” he added to say what he really meant.West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell was consistent on the issue throughout. After losing the first match of the series, he said, “the best case is for the games to start at 7pm. When we looked at the schedule and realised it would start at 4pm, we knew that would be a problem.”And then after the coin fell his way and his team won the fourth match: “It’s one of the first times I’ve seen in the Caribbean that once you win the toss, you win the game. It’s too skewed.”We all get it. Cricket bends to the will of the broadcaster. These are shows designed for those on the sofa at home, not for those in attendance at the ground – and that is true across sports and has been the case for a long time. The ultimate example of this is US car manufacturer Chevrolet’s sponsorship of Manchester United. From 2012 to 2019, they spent $559m for their logo to be on the front of United’s shirt. Chevrolet doesn’t sell cars in the UK.The argument goes that this is where the money comes from. Cricket needs cash and so it is better to have a few thousand fewer people in the ground with an inconvenient start time, but with more money gained as a result from the broadcast rights being of a greater value.

“The best case is for the games to start at 7pm. When we looked at the schedule and realised it would start at 4pm, we knew that would be a problem.”Rovman Powell, West Indies T20 captain

As a matter of opinion, that argument is short-sighted. Because the TV product you’re selling will lose value over time if every time people turn on the TV they see empty stands. Keep selling a crappy product and those TV rights will drop in value. And then eventually you’re left with no one watching in the crowd and no one watching at home either.But as a matter of fact, shifting times cannot impact the integrity of the result. That is ludicrous and devalues the sport.In every T20I match across the series, the stands started off empty and then gradually filled as the match ebbed into the times that they should have originally been starting. By the end of Saturday’s match at Kensington Oval, there was a superb atmosphere supporting what was a genuinely excellent sporting event and then even in the seemingly sparsely attended fourth T20I in St Lucia, when the West Indies chase got going later in the atmosphere was excellent.At risk of labouring the point. There is a genuine desire and enjoyment of cricket in the Caribbean. Put it at a time when locals can watch and stop playing Sweet Caroline. We’re not at Edgbaston. If then it fails. Fine. But give it a chance. Don’t, as happened here, put it at a time where the main event took place thirty minutes before a ball was bowled.For what it’s worth, we did have one match where the toss wasn’t set to be the be-all and end-all. Ahead of the fifth T20I, Sherfane Rutherford said he reckoned on this occasion, because of how good the pitch was after it had been baked by three days of sun, that the toss shouldn’t matter. And then it rained. Good stuff.The lopsided nature of the contest also framed how much the teams could really learn themselves. West Indies are searching for greater depth in bowling, but spent three matches having to defend inadequate totals because they’d lost the toss. That doesn’t help anyone. England, blessed with playing in favourable conditions, were excellent. You can’t blame a team for making the most of their opportunity. Saqib Mahmood, in particular, was superb, Bethell is worth the hype, Buttler is back with a smile on his face, Salt is superb against the West Indies and Jamie Overton could be anything. But in the one game England had to bowl second, West Indies were 136 for one in nine overs.At the end of it all, England posed with the T20 trophy in the pavilion at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground as the rain fell outside. Bethell is in the middle, holding the cup. And if you zoom in close enough, you can see it engraved with West Indies vs England T20 Series 2024: The Caveat Cup.

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