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The squad includes uncapped 19-year-old medium-pacer Shabika Gajnabi

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2019West Indies women have recalled offspinner Anisa Mohammed to the squad as they aim to bank on experience for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, which starts on September 5. Mohammed’s last appearance for West Indies came against Pakistan women in February, and, after three wickets across five international games on that tour, she was left out of the squad for the England and Ireland tour.

West Indies Women’s ODI squad

Stafanie Taylor (capt), Hayley Matthews (vice-capt), Reniece Boyce, Afy Fletcher, Chinelle Henry, Shamilia Connell, Stacy Ann King, Natasha McLean, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Anisa Mohammed, Karishma Ramharack, Shabika Gajnabi

Mohammed’s return is expected to bolster a side without medium-pacer Shakera Selman, wicketkeeper-batsman Chedean Nation and batsman Shemaine Campbelle, who have been ruled out due to injury. Deandra Dottin, one of the side’s batting mainstays, who missed the tour of England and Ireland due to a shoulder injury has not been included in the 13-member squad.The squad included uncapped Guyanese medium-pacer Shabika Gajnabi. The 19-year-old, a three-time captain of the Guyana U-19 team, was rewarded for her all-round performance in Cricket West Indies’ Women’s Championship earlier this year. Another youngster, Karishma Ramharack, who made her international debut on the tour of England and Ireland, was retained in the squad. The two are expected to provide West Indies with bowling options, said Robert Haynes, CWI’s Interim Chairman of Selectors.”The panel selected the best available players from the camp in Antigua over the last month, as a result of most of our senior players being unavailable due to injury. We have included Anisa Mohammed and Kyshona Knight who have a lot of experience between them, which is required when playing against Australia, the top-ranked women’s team.”The three-ODI series will be played in Antigua, with the first match being held at the Coolidge Cricket Ground and the remaining ODIs will be played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on September 8 and 11. The three T20Is will all be held in Barbados, between September 14 and September 18.

The ECB has moved quell mounting speculation around possible innovations for The Hundred by issuing a statement to say that “no final decisions have been made” about the new competition

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2018The ECB has moved to quell mounting speculation around possible innovations for The Hundred by issuing a statement to say that “no final decisions have been made” about the new competition planned for 2020.Following a string of reports last week suggesting that the idea for a ten-ball final over had been ditched, Tuesday saw two national newspapers carry stories about the number of players in a team: the proposed 12, while the suggested it could go up to 15. The concept was likened to that of the Super Sub used briefly in international cricket during the 2000s.With trial games for the 100-ball format scheduled for September, there has been increasing debate about the ECB’s plans – which could also encompass bringing 10-over cricket to the UK. In response, the ECB issued a statement to say discussions were ongoing.”No final decisions have been made on the playing conditions for the new competition, which will start in the summer of 2020. To develop the competition, there are a number of ongoing discussions, including within a high-performance group who are planning a series of pilot matches in September.

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“Conversations with players, host venues and stakeholders across the game are vital to the development and inevitably lead to speculation on a range of matters. Ultimately, it is the board of the ECB which makes the final decisions on the format and playing conditions for the new competition and that is expected later this year.”The high-performance group, chaired by former England women’s captain Clare Connor, is expected to put its recommendations to the board in November.Meanwhile, Mark Wood, the England fast bowler, added to the sense of uncertainty around the new competition when talking on BBC Radio 5 Live. Saying he had discussed it with Dwayne Bravo, West Indies’ much-travelled T20 veteran, Wood questioned whether international stars would be interested in playing an untested format.”I’m not sure these big players would be necessarily open to it straight away anyway,” Wood said. “I spoke to Bravo, who I played with at the IPL, and he wasn’t interested in the 100-ball at all.”So if the big players already in the IPL, they can see that game’s working – the 100-ball thing, they’re unsure, who’s to say they’re going to come straight away? They might be apprehensive and then we can’t attract the big players.”

He is not part of Australia’s squad for next month’s Champions Trophy, but Peter Handscomb could hardly be doing any more to ensure he is the first man called upon if Australia need a replacement player

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2017He is not part of Australia’s squad for next month’s Champions Trophy, but Peter Handscomb could hardly be doing any more to ensure he is the first man called upon if Australia need a replacement player. On Sunday at Headingley, Handscomb plundered 140 off 112 deliveries for Yorkshire, his maiden one-day century, and in doing so jumped to the top of the Royal London Cup run list.In five innings during the tournament, Handscomb has made 46, 86, 47*, 88 and 140, the kind of form that will appeal to Australia’s selectors should any of their batsman be ruled out of the Champions Trophy, to be held in England, due to injury. Handscomb played the first five ODIs of his career during the southern summer, but after 82 on debut did not reach double figures again.”Any time you get dropped from a team there’s going to be some disappointment, but I was able to see where the selectors were coming from,” Handscomb told radio network . “I only got my opportunity because Chris Lynn got injured during the summer and I was able to come in for him. He’s now fit and ready to go for Champions Trophy, so it makes sense to bring him back in and I completely understand that selection.”Just being in the country, I’m here and ready to go if anything does happen. But the Champions Trophy squad is unbelievably strong. Hopefully for the boys nothing does happen and they can have a great Champions Trophy.”Handscomb has enjoyed a remarkable start to his Test career: it took until his eighth innings before he was dismissed for less than 50, the longest such stretch from debut for any player in Test history. Although life became a little tougher on the tour of India, an unbeaten 72 in the second innings in Ranchi helped Australia grind out a draw and was described by captain Steven Smith as being “worth 150 in my eyes”.Next summer, he faces the challenge of helping Australia regain the Ashes in a home series against England, and he is confident that his winter placement with Yorkshire will help him when the Australian season comes around.”It’s very important. I’ve often found that when I have been able to play cricket matches over the Australian winter, I’ve been able to come back and hit the ground running during the Australian summer,” Handscomb said. “It’s good just to constantly play cricket and that time in the middle is so valuable and so much better than just hitting balls in the nets.”And although Handscomb’s form for the time being is outstanding, he is well aware that the relentless nature of the county season can mean that any dip in productivity can be difficult to remedy.”With the county season, it can be sort of one way or the other,” he said. “If you can get yourself onto a bit of a roll, because there is so much cricket, you can find yourself feeling really good out in the middle and hopefully converting that into runs. But on the flip side, you don’t get a lot of time to practice if you are out of form. If you’re having a tough time out in the middle, you don’t really get any time to work on it.”The job is to make runs every time you go out to bat. Once you start thinking that batting becomes easy, then that complacency sets in, and cricket’s a bit of a fickle game like that, it can really take you down if you do start getting a bit complacent.”

Peter Siddle has retained his Cricket Australia contract for 2016-17 despite the likelihood that he will be sidelined for a lengthy period of the year due to stress fractures in his back

Brydon Coverdale01-Apr-2016Peter Siddle has retained his Cricket Australia contract for 2016-17 despite the likelihood that he will be sidelined for a lengthy period of the year due to stress fractures in his back. The renewal of his contract is an encouraging sign for Siddle, whose international future appeared cloudy after the diagnosis in February following the Test tour of New Zealand.Stress fractures of the back are not uncommon among fast bowlers but are often suffered by younger men still making their way in the game. At 31, Siddle will need not only to recover well and return through the Sheffield Shield, but also fight off more youthful challengers if he is to add to his 61 Test caps.The 20-man contract list for 2016-17 was fairly predictable, with the only six players missing from the group announced last March being the team’s retirees: Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers. Coming in from outside last year’s initial group are Siddle, Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, Adam Voges, Peter Nevill, John Hastings, Nathan Coulter-Nile.However, all seven of those men played enough matches for Australia during the current 2015-16 period to have already been upgraded to Cricket Australia contracts. The only others who played enough to be upgraded during the 2015-16 year but missed out on 2016-17 deals were Matthew Wade and Scott Boland, who played exclusively in the shorter formats.Wade remains Australia’s preferred one-day international gloveman and has been named in the ODI squad for a tri-series in the West Indies in June, but Nevill was used in the World T20 in India. Others who missed out on contracts include Jackson Bird and Steve O’Keefe, both of whom played Test cricket during the past few months, as well as short-form players Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson.”The Australian team is set to embark on another busy year of international cricket and we believe the players chosen in this group are those that are right in contention to represent the country over the next 12 months,” national selector Rod Marsh said.”There is a lot of talent within this group and we have confidence that the players chosen can be successful in all three forms of the game, against a range of opposition, in a variety of conditions.”Following a number of high-profile retirements, we believe this group of players gives us a healthy blend of youth and experience to represent Australia at the highest level, allowing us the best chance of maintaining our number-one rankings in Test and ODI cricket, as well as improving our performances in the T20 format.”Australia’s next Test series is in Sri Lanka following the West Indies one-day tri-series, and then in the home summer they host South Africa and Pakistan for Test matches. A Test tour of India follows in the new year. Players from outside the contract list can be upgraded to CA deals if they earn 12 upgrade points throughout the year on a basis of five points per Test appearance, two per ODI and one per T20 international.Contract list George Bailey, Joe Burns, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Adam Voges, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

Money won’t come around for a while, but that should not stop Brendan Taylor and his men from putting up a fight. Especially in these dark times, that is the bare minimum the followers of Zimbabwe cricket deserve

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit26-Aug-2013

Match facts

Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Start time 0930 local (0730 GMT)Brendan Taylor has to rouse his side somehow•AFP

Big Picture

What must a young, upcoming cricketer in Zimbabwe feel right now? He would be told he has to follow in the footsteps of the Flowers and the Streaks. What he sees are the Ervines and the Ballances, who choose to play cricket in another country. He would be told he has to derive inspiration from the exploits of the Zimbabwe side of the 90s. What he sees is a national team struggling to come up with even a single performance that would inspire him. He wants to believe his life can be all about cricket, only cricket. All around him, there are signs that show such a belief is just not sustainable in practice, at least in Zimbabwe.He hears seniors talk about how difficult it is to provide for their families, he sees the national side threaten to stop playing till they are promised better wages. Two days after the board promises, he sees one of his heroes, fast bowler Kyle Jarvis, all of 24, quit international cricket so that he can play the game for counties and franchises and make some money while his body lasts. He spots a chilling sentence in Jarvis’ media statement that thoroughly shakes him up, beliefs and all. “I informed my team-mates yesterday that I would be leaving and they were supportive and fully understood why I was doing this.” Half-prepared to give up the game, he looks around for some hope, some sign that everything is not lost for Zimbabwe cricket, where those who choose to stay on support those who choose to leave.And then Brendan Taylor and his men go down without a fight to Pakistan in the format in which they were supposed to have the best chance of causing an upset. Zimbabwe lost both Twenty20 internationals by considerable margins, their batsmen falling to the Pakistan spinners, who took a combined 4 for 67 and 5 for 75 in the two matches. If they couldn’t compete with Pakistan for 40 overs, what chance do they stand over 100 overs?If they couldn’t stop Jarvis from leaving, what chance do they have of preventing others who give up on the country in the future? If this continues to happen, what chance more and more young, upcoming players won’t quit either Zimbabwe or cricket much earlier than Jarvis did?No money from the board, no fight from the players, no inspiration for the followers. Money won’t come around for a while, but that should not stop Taylor and his men from putting up a fight. Especially in these dark times, that is the bare minimum the followers of Zimbabwe cricket deserve. We can all do with some inspiration.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWTLW
Zimbabwe LLLLL

Players to watch

As if all the responsibility of being Zimbabwe’s leading batsman and captain wasn’t enough, Brendan Taylor also dearly needs to rouse his side at this juncture, with both words as a leader and deeds with the bat. That this hasn’t been a productive season for him won’t help, but form as a constraint fades before the enormity of the task in front of him.Nasir Jamshed was dropped from the Test side for this tour after just two games against a tough opponent like South Africa. He’s spoken about how disappointed he felt, and how he plans to make a come back with good limited-overs performances. He could not do much in the T20s, now comes the format in which he’s impressed the most.

Team news

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman and Asad Shafiq are the additions to the Pakistan squad for the ODIs in place of Sohail Tanvir, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohaib Maqsood, although there was a case for keeping the inexperienced batsman Maqsood around the team for the ODI leg.Pakistan (possible) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq/Umar Amin, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Saeed Ajmal, 9 Asad Ali/Abdur Rehman, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad IrfanIn another unfortunate reminder of how things are, Zimbabwe announced their 18-member ODI squad late on the eve of the first ODI, but it remains to be seen what XI features for the game.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Sikandar Raza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt & wk), 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sean Williams, 7 Timcyen Maruma, 8 Shingi Masakadza, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Brian Vitori, 11 Tinashe Panyangara

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have won 12 of the 15 ODIs they have played in Zimbabwe against the hosts. Zimbabwe were able to win one and tie another, but both those matches were back in 1995
• Shahid Afridi has played 354 ODIs for Pakistan, and needs three games to overtake Wasim Akram. Only Inzamam-ul-Haq is in front after that, with 375 matches for his country

The BCCI has terminated the troubled Deccan Chargers franchise after an emergency IPL governing council meeting in Chennai on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-2012

Other troubled franchises

• Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Terminated in September 2011 after it was unable to furnish a bank guarantee for 2011

• Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab: The BCCI had wanted to expel both franchises from the IPL in 2010, alleging violations of the contract agreement. The franchises denied any wrongdoing, and the matter is stuck in litigation

• Pune Warriors: Pulled out an hour before the 2012 auction. Their owners Sahara, who also sponsor the Indian team, cited problems with the sponsorship dating back to 2001, but the major disagreements were related to the IPL. The BCCI and Sahara patched up two weeks later.

The BCCI has terminated the troubled Deccan Chargers franchise, winners of IPL 2009, after an emergency league governing council meeting in Chennai on Friday. Senior BCCI officials told ESPNcricinfo that the tender for a new franchise would be issued on Saturday.A BCCI statement issued late on Friday night said the board’s action came after what it called a “sudden change of stance by the franchise” regarding its commitments and the board’s belief that any further extension of time to the franchise owners would “seriously prejudice the interests of the players.””This evening, the BCCI received a lawyers’ notice invoking arbitration from the franchise stating that it had not committed any breaches and even if such breaches were committed, the BCCI should not act to terminate the franchise till Yes Bank Ltd furnishes sufficient finance to cure the breaches,” the statement said. “By this, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd has clearly admitted its inability to cure its breaches within the time stipulated in the BCCI notice despite every bit of assistance from the BCCI. Since the month of May, BCCI has received repeated assurances that the overdue player fees would be paid; all of these promises have been unfulfilled.”Considering the stated position of the Deccan franchise to refuse to rectify the various defaults including payments to players, foreign Boards etc, as also the deleterious effect such conduct would have on the reputation of the IPL and the franchise itself, a decision was taken to forthwith terminate the Deccan Chargers franchise.”The BCCI marketing committee is scheduled to meet in Chennai on Saturday morning to discuss and finalise the tender to add a team to the IPL. A board official said there would be a shortlist of cities for the bidders to choose from, with the location of the new franchise to be decided by the highest bid for one of those cities.The fate of the players is not yet clear; they might be retained by the next buyer or be put up for auction for the other IPL teams. Chargers’ squad boasted some of the world’s top current players, including Dale Steyn, Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Ishant Sharma and JP Duminy. The coach is the Australian, Darren Lehmann.Deccan’s IPL history summed up the romance of cricket; bottom of the league in their first season, they came together in 2009 under Adam Gilchrist to win the tournament in South Africa. Their performance in subsequent seasons, however, has been below-par.Friday’s developments bring the curtains down on an issue that has dragged on for three-odd months after the team’s owners, Deccan Chronicles Holdings Limited (DCHL), ran into financial problems. Last month, the banks knocked on the BCCI’s doors to help them out, after which the board had set a deadline of September 15 for Chargers to clear all their dues including player payments and report with a clean slate. However, DCHL said they were unable to sort out the problems and formally placed the team up for sale on September 6.The owners and the BCCI set September 13 as the auction date but received only one bid, for Rs 900 crore ($164 million) from PVP Ventures, a Hyderabad-based urban infrastructure and film production company. DCHL rejected the bid as it considered the price and terms unsuitable but the BCCI may now offer PVP a second chance to buy the team.DCHL had till 5 pm on Saturday to come up with a solution but the termination one day ahead implies they had informed the BCCI about their inability to do so.

Alastair Cook, England’s ODI captain, has warned his team-mates that “no player is guaranteed a place in his side” as England prepare for the one-day series against India

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2011Alastair Cook, England’s ODI captain, has warned his team-mates that “no player is guaranteed a place in his side” as England prepare for the one-day series against India that starts on Saturday.Kevin Pietersen is being rested for this series and reports emerged on Friday that he will not play for England until January – which would rule him out of the tour to India in October. Pietersen made just two ODI half-centuries in the previous two years but the England management insisted he had been rested, and not dropped, from the current series.”Kevin’s omission is part of our policy of monitoring the workload of players.”‘ Cook told the Daily Mail. “He also has a wrist injury that has to be sorted out. It gives a fantastic opportunity for someone else at four, but Kevin is very much part of our one-day future.”Yet Cook told reporters, “There is no guarantee for anything, because we haven’t had that selection meeting for India,” and when asked if he would prefer someone like Pietersen in his side, Cook repeated “There’s no guarantee for anything.”Pietersen’s absence was an opportunity for Ben Stokes to come into the squad, though it is more likely that Ravi Bopara will feature down the order and Ian Bell be promoted. Unlike the Test arena, where Bell has made himself into one of the best in the world, he is yet to seal his spot in England’s one-day team.

Jacques Rudolph continued his phenomenal Clydesdale Bank 40 form as Yorkshire Carnegie extended their lead at the top of Group B with a five-run win over Middlesex Panthers at Scarborough

22-Aug-2010

ScorecardSouth African Jacques Rudolph continued his phenomenal Clydesdale Bank 40 form as Yorkshire Carnegie extended their lead at the top of Group B with a five-run win over Middlesex Panthers in front of a packed 6,500-strong crowd at Scarborough. The prolific left-handed opener went into the game as the competition’s leading scorer with 518 runs at an average of 85.50 and he completed his third century of the season with an unbeaten 124 off 108 balls.His highly-polished innings guided Yorkshire to 250 for 6 and put them on track for their ninth win in 10 games with just two group matches still to play, with Middlesex making a valiant attempt but finishing on 245 for 8.Yorkshire all-rounder Richard Pyrah was presented with his first-team cap by captain Andrew Gale shortly before the match began, but Ajmal Shahzad had to pull out because of a recurrence of the ankle injury which kept him out of the England squad. Tim Bresnan, who has been included in the England squad for the final Test against Pakistan, took his place in the side.Winning the toss, Yorkshire were given a good start by Gale, who made 36 out of 50 inside eight overs before Toby Roland-Jones claimed the first of his three wickets when the captain skied him to Tom Scollay on the square leg boundary. Adam Lyth did not last long on his home ground but Anthony McGrath then joined Rudolph – dropped by wicketkeeper John Simpson when on 10 – in a third-wicket partnership which contributed 138 in 23 overs.The stand was ended by Tim Murtagh, who also grabbed three wickets, McGrath falling to a catch on the rope by Dawid Malan after striking 68 off 75 balls with six fours. Middlesex checked the scoring for a while with three wickets going down in as many overs in the third powerplay but Rudolph glided to his century from 98 balls with nine boundaries and remained firmly in control until the overs expired.Opener Scott Newman kept Middlesex in the hunt with a powerful 77 from 70 balls with five fours and three sixes, and he and John Simpson had put on 47 for the first wicket in nine overs when Simpson fell lbw to Adil Rashid’s first ball. Newman and Owais Shah then added 54 together before McGrath too picked up a wicket with his first ball by knocking back Shah’s stumps and when Malan was bowled attempting to reverse sweep Rashid, Middlesex were 135 for 3.Two runs later, Bresnan yorked Newman and Middlesex stumbled until Neil Dexter was joined by Roland-Jones in a last-gasp ninth-wicket stand which added 51 from 37 balls, Dexter reaching his half-century from 39 deliveries with six boundaries. McGrath was recalled to bowl the last over with 13 required and Middlesex were unable to manage the boundaries they required to cross the line.

Balbirnie, however, has been named in the squad for the three-match ODI series which follows the T20Is

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2024Ireland have dropped Test captain Andy Balbirnie from their T20I squad to face South Africa in Abu Dhabi later this month, with the selectors looking to create “a new dynamic” at the top of the order.Balbirnie is Ireland’s second-highest T20I run-scorer but has struggled for form this year, averaging 24.83 in his 12 innings and scoring at a strike rate of only 113.74. He missed Leinster Lightning’s most recent T20 in the Inter-Pros, with Lorcan Tucker opening the batting in his absence, suggesting he could replace Balbirnie as Paul Stirling’s opening partner.”One area we will explore on this tour is the top order in our T20 squad,” Andrew White, Ireland’s national selector, said. “We’ll be looking at introducing a new dynamic, with Andrew Balbirnie sitting out the T20Is on this occasion. There are only two T20Is in the upcoming series, but they will offer important opportunities as we try to increase our levels of performance again.”Balbirnie has been named in the squad for the three-match ODI series which follows the T20Is and will continue alongside Stirling at the top of the order in that format. “Andrew remains very much central to our thoughts and will open the batting in the ODIs,” White said.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Josh Little is not included in either squad due to his involvement in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League, where he is playing for Trinbago Knight Riders. Little and Balbirnie are the two men to drop out from June’s T20 World Cup squad, with left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys added.Ireland were eliminated at the group stage of the T20 World Cup and were hugely underwhelming. They lost all three of their completed matches – against India, Canada and Pakistan – and had their fixture against co-hosts United States in Florida washed out.Meanwhile, uncapped legspinner Gavin Hoey is in contention for an ODI debut, with allrounder Gareth Delany only included in the T20I squad. Stephen Doheny and Andy McBrine will also arrive for the ODIs, with Ross Adair joining Delany in heading home after the T20Is.”2026 and 2027 are pivotal years for our white-ball squads – those years being the next T20 and 50-over World Cups respectively. Given their timeframes, it means we are looking at this upcoming series against South Africa as the start of a new cycle,” White said.”We need to deepen our pool of international cricketers and for the likes of Gavin Hoey, he will come into the international arena with greater confidence following his involvement in such fixtures and this is hugely important. The volume of international fixtures leading into 2027 is exciting and there will be opportunities for players to make their mark.”Ireland are staging South Africa’s tour in Abu Dhabi due to “infrastructure constraints” which they hope will be overcome with the development of a new national stadium. South Africa have already announced their squads for the series, with many of their first-choice players rested.Ireland T20I squad vs South Africa: Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Matthew Humphreys, Graham Hume, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.Ireland ODI squad vs South Africa: Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Gavin Hoey, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andy McBrine, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.Fixtures: September 27 and 29 – T20Is; October 2, 4 and 7 – ODIs (all Abu Dhabi)

The spinner triggered another West Indies collapse and finished with a match haul of 12 wickets

Hemant Brar14-Jul-2023R Ashwin finished with 12 wickets in the match as India beat West Indies by an innings and 141 runs in the first Test at Windsor Park. After debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 171 enabled India to declare with a lead of 271, Ashwin picked up 7 for 71 as West Indies folded for 130 on the third evening.With the pitch offering plenty of turn and bounce for spinners, Rohit Sharma had Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja operating in tandem after the fourth over of West Indies’ second innings. The duo didn’t take long to make an impact and, using around-the-wicket angle, they ran through West Indies’ top order. Ashwin dismissed right-handers Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood and Jadeja accounted for left-handers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Raymon Reifer. That reduced West Indies to 32 for 4 despite Ishan Kishan dropping Brathwaite on zero off Jadeja.Athanaze and Joshua Da Silva took the side past 50 but their stand was worth only 26 when Mohammed Siraj trapped Da Silva lbw. Athanaze, dropped on 1 by Jaiswal off Ashwin, was trying to stay positive. He had hit a couple of fours in Ashwin’s first spell but the offspinner returned to have him caught at short leg with Jaiswal making no mistake on this occasion.Related

• Sinclair replaces Reifer as West Indies beef up spin resources for Trinidad Test

• Two Ashwin wickets, and what they say about his craft

• Rohit on Jaiswal: 'At no stage did he go away from his plans'

• Rahkeem Cornwall's illness deals double-blow to West Indies' hopes

Alzarri Joseph walked in ahead of Rahkeem Cornwall for the second time in the Test, and tried to survive by way of attack. He hit Ashwin over long-off for a six but holed out to deep midwicket when he went for another slog.For his fifth wicket, Ashwin switched to over the wicket and had Cornwall caught at short leg with a big offbreak. Kemar Roach didn’t last long either, and while Jomel Warrican entertained for a brief period, it took Ashwin only a couple of overs after the scheduled hours to have him lbw. Jason Holder resisted for 50 balls but there was little help from the other end.In the morning, as Jaiswal and Virat Kohli resumed India’s innings from 312 for 2, West Indies started with a couple of handicaps. Joseph couldn’t open the bowling because he was off the field for 28 minutes before stumps last evening. Cornwall was also not allowed to bowl for two hours as he had gone off the field with a chest infection before lunch on day two.On a pitch that was slowing down with every passing over, Jaiswal had no trouble driving on the up against seamers. The opener picked up his first boundary of the day with an on-drive off Holder. Three balls later, he became the third Indian after Shikhar Dhawan (187) and Rohit (177) to score 150 or more on Test debut.Joseph replaced Holder as soon as he was eligible to bowl. By then Jaiswal was looking to score quickly. He uppercut Joseph over backward point for four to bring up the 100-run partnership with Kohli, before skipping down the ground to launch Warrican for a straight six.Joseph then pulled his length back, bowled five successive dot balls to Jaiswal, and had him caught behind with the sixth as the left-hander looked to punch off the back foot.Ajinkya Rahane failed to account for the slowness of the pitch and fell for 3, chipping Roach’s first ball of the morning to cover.West Indies had the opportunity to dismiss Kohli in the sixth over of the day, when Warrican got him to push uppishly towards extra cover but Brathwaite dropped the catch. Kohli was on 40 at the time and he had to work hard for his runs. It took him 147 balls to bring up his half-century, his third slowest in Test cricket.The run-scoring became slightly easier when, around 25 minutes before lunch, Brathwaite deployed Athanaze from one end and himself from the other. Kohli and Jadeja used that window to score a couple of boundaries each and take India to 400.Just after lunch, Kohli got another reprieve on 72. Driving away from the body, he edged Roach behind the stumps, and Da Silva, despite his one-handed diving effort, couldn’t hold on to the chance. Kohli’s innings eventually came to an end on 76 when he flicked Cornwall to leg slip.Like the fellow debutant Jaiswal, Kishan also took a long time to open his account. Jaiswal had got off the mark off the 16th ball; Kishan did so on the 20th. As soon as Kishan scored his first run, Rohit declared the innings.