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Rodrigues, Raj and Goswami dragged India past 200, before the bowlers stifled England; India placed second in the championship

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai22-Feb-2019Heather Knight, England’s captain, had talked up their squad depth ahead of the ODI series against India, but the side faltered in the first bout on the face of some superb bowling by India’s pacers and Ekta Bisht. The left-arm spinner picked up four wickets in the middle of a collapse – England lost seven wickets for 25 runs – as India took a 1-0 lead with an emphatic 66-run win while defending 202 at Wankhede Stadium.Put in to bat, India started slowly and set themselves up with a 69-run opening stand between Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, before they slid to 95 for 5. Mithali Raj, batting at No. 4, shored up the inexperienced middle order with a 74-ball 44. The final kick came courtesy Jhulan Goswami’s 37-ball 30 to give India’s bowlers something to defend.In reply, England couldn’t really get off the blocks and kept losing wickets. It started with Shikha Pandey trapping Amy Jones plumb with a nip-backer in her first over. Sarah Taylor, returning from an anxiety-related issue that forced her out of the World T20, scratched around to make a 31-ball 10 before falling to a superb inswinger from Pandey. With no DRS in place, England were a tad unlucky as replays indicated the swing may have taken it down leg.Deepti Sharma chipped in with Tammy Beaumont’s wicket before the repair work came about through a 73-run fourth-wicket stand between Knight and Natalie Sciver.The pair received a reprieve each along the way, denying Poonam Yadav a wicket in the first and the last ball of the 25th over. Knight, on 22, mistimed a pull off Poonam to midwicket, where Bisht stuck her left hand out but was unable to cling on. Sciver, meanwhile, flashed hard at a legbreak that flew past wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia.Sophie Ecclestone was the best of the England bowlers•Getty Images

Bisht, however, made up for the lapse with a superb effort off her own bowling in the 31st over. Knight’s leading edge went over to Bisht rather innocuously, but with Sciver having backed up too far down the pitch, Bisht had enough time to collect it and run the non-striker out with a back-hand flip. This proved to be a huge moment in the game. With England needing 90 off 18 overs with six wickets in hand, Bisht took centre stage by completing a triple-wicket over in the 41st to cap off a collapse.”The total was perfectly chaseable,” Knight said after the game. “We bowled well, but were unlucky not to take more wickets up front. But we were more than happy with 200 to chase. It was sticky, it turned, but once you got to play 15-20 balls it became easier to play shots. The first 10-15 balls were the key. I don’t think we played it particularly well today. The pitch started to turn and deteriorated too. There was inconsistent spin as well which makes it harder.”Earlier, India’s middle-order woes resurfaced, albeit not as telling in manner as in the T20Is in New Zealand. It’s perhaps with the knowledge that the middle order, especially with Harmanpreet Kaur missing, is a tad brittle that their openers started cautiously, with the first six overs producing just 11.Those weren’t without drama, though. There was some raucous lbw appeals from the experienced pace pair of Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole. Rodrigues cut loose in the eighth over, flicking Shrubsole for two wristy fours. She countered the early movement deftly, picking the gaps for quick singles and eight well-timed fours in total.Mandhana, however, didn’t look her fluent best, beaten at least thrice by Shrubsole, before chopping on while attempting to pull Georgia Elwiss in the 16th over. Coming in at No. 3, Deepti became the first of left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone’s two victims thanks to some top-notch glovework from Taylor.Ecclestone, the leading wicket-taker in the ODI series against India last year, denied Rodrigues a half-century as she popped up a return catch with a top edge. Harleen Deol, the batting allrounder who replaced the injured Harmanpreet, made an eight-ball two on her international debut.One ball later, Mona Meshram, who had sat out all six matches across formats during the tour of New Zealand, was adjudged lbw, although the inswinger appeared to have struck her slightly high on the knee-roll. Thanks to Sciver’s double-strike, India had lost half their side for 95 inside 22 overs. Meshram’s dismissal capped a 42-ball frame during which India lost five wickets for 26 runs.Raj, meanwhile, held up one end and forged a 54-run stand with Bhatia, whose 41-ball 25 helped India inch closer to 150. But after Raj fell in the 42nd over, it was largely down to handy knocks from Pandey and, especially, Goswami that India went past 200. Goswami followed a six and a four with a brace before holing out with two balls remaining. By then, she had done enough to give England a good run for their money.

India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said it was hard to look beyond Bumrah for the fifth fast bowler’s slot given his “phenomenal” form

Nagraj Gollapudi04-Dec-20174:54

Dasgupta: About time Bumrah got an opportunity

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has earned a maiden Test call-up, after being named in the 17-member squad for the three-Test series against South Africa, which starts from January 5 in Cape Town. Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel, Bumrah’s state mate and captain at Gujarat, has also been recalled, as back-up wicket-keeping option for Wriddhiman Saha.The pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya returned to the Test squad after voluntary breaks from the ongoing home Test series against Sri Lanka. The two men in the existing Test squad who missed out were left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and Tamil Nadu allrounder Vijay Shankar, who had replaced Bhuvneshwar in the squad for the Nagpur and Delhi Tests.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bumrah can be seen as radical choice mainly because he has not played first-class cricket in nearly a year. His last appearance in whites came when he turned up for Gujarat in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy semi-final against Jharkhand in January this year. However, the fast nature of pitches at the three Test venues in South Africa – Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg – meant that the selectors were keen to have a fifth specialist fast bowler despite Pandya’s presence as an allrounder.Bumrah’s ability to swing the ball into the right-handers, his searing pace and crushing, accurate yorkers and his bowling smarts pushed him quickly ahead in the selection queue. His recent form was also not lost on the selectors. In limited-overs cricket Bumrah has been stellar this year: with 35 wickets, he is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs in 2017.India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said it was hard to look beyond Bumrah for the fifth fast bowler’s slot given his “phenomenal” form.”If you see his performance in the last 18 months, he’s been phenomenal,” Prasad said after the selection meeting in Delhi. “He’s been sensational and has done outstandingly well in both one-day and T20. Considering the Ranji Trophy he played last year (where) he bowled brilliantly in the whole season, we have no doubts. It is a unanimous choice and there is no doubt in picking Bumrah because he definitely adds variety to our pace attack. And considering the nature of wickets there, it will definitely suit his bowling.”The rest of the squad, as Prasad pointed out, “picked itself”, with no surprises. The selectors might have been tempted to include Kuldeep, considering his unorthodox spin could have been an X-factor against the South Africa batsmen. However, in the end the selectors and captain Virat Kohli, who attended the meeting, opted to play it safe and bank on their two senior spinners, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.According to Prasad, Kuldeep remained in the mix of things, but it was impossible to think of playing him ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja, who are ranked No. 4 and 2 respectively in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers.”I really feel unfortunate for Kuldeep Yadav. Definitely he would have added (variety), but we are going to play only three Test matches. Considering to play Kuldeep ahead of No.1 and No.2 spinners in the world is a bit of a big ask.”Parthiv remains the best glovesman after Saha in the longer formats. Given his impressive form and ability to bat at any position, he was an automatic choice for the back-up wicket-keeper’s slot. Parthiv was part of the India squad for the home series against England last year where he played three Tests, in Mohali, Mumbai and Chennai. He scored 195 runs including two fifties at a healthy average of 65. In the ongoing domestic season, Parthiv has compiled 421 runs in 11 innings.Prasad brushed aside skepticism about picking Parthiv, who has not been part of the India squad since the England series”When we had given an opportunity against England he did beyond our expectations. We all know that Wriddhiman Saha is the side’s No.1 wicketkeeper, [but] we still need to have a back-up wicketkeeper. Right now he [Parthiv] is the next-best wicketkeeper that we have in India. His domestic performances are also equally good.”India will depart for South Africa on December 27 and start their tour with a two-day warm-up match in Paarl on December 30 and 31. Asked whether there was any plan to send the Test-only players ahead for acclimatization, Amitabh Choudhury, the BCCI secretary, said no such plan had been discussed with the team management.Regardless, Prasad exuded confidence saying India were well equipped to enter the tough contest against South Africa. “We are going there as the No.1 Test team. We are going with a very good confidence. Everybody is in very good form. Hence, on that basis, I am saying this is a good, balanced side.”

Mitchell Starc has admitted that he is probably a week-and-a-half behind where he would like to be in terms of fitness and preparations for the upcoming Perth Test against South Africa but is confident of performing any role needed by the team

Daniel Brettig31-Oct-20162:00

Wound on my knee is still a bit open – Starc

Mitchell Starc’s leg wound is still open. He will require a special knee pad to be able to dive in the field. And he is more than 10 days behind where he would prefer to be in preparation for the first Test of the summer, against South Africa in Perth – the match all Cricket Australia’s intricate preparatory plans are meant to be geared for.That’s the challenging scenario for the man who has swiftly become Australia’s most valuable cricketing asset. His pace and swing are capable of unpicking the lock to a South African batting line-up that toyed with Steven Smith’s team on the recent ODI tour in Starc’s absence.For that reason, there is no question of Starc missing out on a match that will set the tone for the home season, and a series against opponents who will test the resolve of the hosts to perform in familiar climes after humiliations in Sri Lanka and South Africa. The training-inflicted gash to the leg that Starc is still recovering from mirrors the sense that this is an Australian side yet to take complete form after 2015’s raft of retirements.”It’s still open, clean it every day, put a patch on it and away you go,” Starc said of his left leg. “It’s still a little bit opened, so it’s probably going to take a couple of weeks [to heal]. It’s not bleeding, it’s healing nicely. It’s all clean. I think when I started bowling and running again it just sort of stretched the skin a little bit. It’s not a bad thing, it needed to stretch anyway. But it probably just delayed the healing a little bit.”[Without the injury] I would have obviously played a couple of Matador games and played the full Shield game as well. So I’m probably – hard to say, probably a week or week-and-a-half behind where I would have liked to be. Being in a brace for four weeks – I couldn’t sweat on the wound, so I couldn’t run or do all of the gym sessions I wanted to do. So I was a fair bit behind at the start and tried to catch up at the end.”I’m still a little bit behind where I would have liked but it hasn’t cost me any cricket for Australia so I’m ready to go.”Echoing the views of the CA chief executive James Sutherland on the need to prioritise some series above others, Starc said he would be prepared to push through pain and even a re-opening of the wound in order to bowl the kinds of spells his captain requires. That being said, it is hard to imagine Starc being used as anything other than a high-speed battering ram in three to five-over spells after the fashion of Mitchell Johnson.”I’m happy to bowl long spells, it’s going to be up to Steve,” Starc said. “I’m prepared to play the Test match and perform any role I need to. Obviously that’s initially to bowl as fast as I can and try to attack the South Africans. It’s not going to be an issue for me to bowl longer spells, it’s just how Smithy sees my role on the day, and the conditions, the wicket and the other guys in the team.”I guess in the longer scheme of things it hasn’t been that long a break. Obviously coming off two months of cricket in Sri Lanka – it’s not like I’ve come off six months of nothing. It is a little bit behind, but I was a lot happier with how I finished the Shield game the other night after 19 overs. A couple more days of preparation this week and I’ll be ready to go full tilt.”While South Africa’s batting coach Neil McKenzie has had a bit to say about the visitors not fearing any members of the Australian line-up, Starc said he knew there would always be some trepidation among opponents about facing him. “Easy for him to say that, sitting behind the desk,” Starc quipped. “I’m happy for him to face me.”He’s entitled to his opinions. It’s a lot easier making comments like that when you don’t have to face anything. He just throws the whanger down at his batsmen and sits back and watches. Look, we’ll all be trying to crank it up. I’ll be trying to bowl as fast as I can and Josh can still hit over 140s, Joey [Mennie] bowls a heavier ball than you think and can hurry up a lot of batsmen. He probably bowls a lot quicker than people think.”Sidds is coming back into some pace as well. We’ve got plenty of firepower. Just because they’ve got Dale Steyn – I know he’s an outstanding bowler, he’s taken 400-plus Test wickets – [but] just because you’ve got him and [Kagiso] Rabada bowling fast it doesn’t mean we don’t have anyone to match that.”One of the ironies of Starc’s current physical impediment is that he may actually be in his best ever shape to play all six Tests, against South Africa and Pakistan, this summer. Until December last year, when he finally submitted to surgery on foot and ankle problems, Starc had suffered from ankle bone spurs. A full season is chief among his goals.”I’d love to play a whole summer for a change, whether it be through rotation or injury or bad form I haven’t managed to do that yet,” Starc said. “So I think I just put that on myself really, to be there for all six Tests and bowling well enough to be selected for all of those Test matches along with the one-day games this summer.”I think that’s part of it as well – being there for a little bit of time now with Josh. We probably take it on ourselves to – along with Pete coming back into the squad after his back – it’s probably important for the three of us especially to I guess lead the attack. I think we do that really well together.”There’s not really one leader, we just sort of run off the back of each other and have done for a while. We’d all love to play every Test match this summer, along with the Indian series. Without talking too much about it, we probably put that on ourselves.”Should Starc play six Tests, Australia will be hard to stop. This week may be the highest hurdle to that goal.

ESPNcricinfo previews the Haryana and Gujarat sides ahead of the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season

Karthik Krishnaswamy30-Sep-2015

Haryana

Haryana will hope their new captain will lift their spirits and results•Associated Press

Where they finished last season
Second from bottom in Group BBig picture
Last season, only two Haryana batsmen averaged 30 or over in the Ranji Trophy. But six of their bowlers sent down 50 overs or more and averaged under 25. Such numbers come with the territory – in this case their home ground, the Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli, which hosts the most seam-friendly pitches in India. The five matches Haryana played in Lahli last season produced three 200-plus totals in 17 innings.Results, as they tend to be on pitches of that nature, were a lottery, with Haryana winning two of their home games and losing one. There were two draws, but only because of poor weather that ruled out a fourth day against both Vidarbha and Delhi.Performances away from home, perhaps, were a better gauge of Haryana’s quality: they lost all three of their matches on the road, to Punjab, Gujarat, and bottom-placed Saurashtra.Given that Haryana begin their 2015-16 season with three away games, against three formidable opponents – Maharashtra (semi-finalists and finalists in the last two seasons), Delhi (who topped their group last season) and Karnataka (gunning for a hat-trick of titles) – they will have to find some way to compete in unfamiliar territory.Their task is made harder by the absence of Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma – both part of India’s limited-overs squads for their series against South Africa – and Joginder Sharma. This will leave a bulk of the bowling burden to be borne by Harshal Patel and the spinners Jayant Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.Batting is usually the bigger worry for Haryana, and the acquisition of Virender Sehwag – he will also captain them – will be accompanied by both excitement and anxiety. Over the last couple of years, there has been a perceptible dimming of his powers, but are they still at a level that can cause fear among domestic attacks? Almost 37, and with no realistic prospect of an international comeback, how much enthusiasm can he sustain over a domestic season with barely any breathing room?Surendra Bhave, their coach, isn’t too worried. “I don’t have to say what sort of impact [Sehwag] would have on any cricket team,” he says. “He has been wonderful so far. Every player he has spoken to personally. He’s a very good mentor also. He’s doing an excellent job. Coming from him, it makes a lot of difference, coming from a great achiever.”Players to watch
Yuzvendra Chahal recently earned a call-up to the India A T20 side against the South Africans thanks to his performances in the shortest format, particularly the IPL. But in a career that began in 2009, Chahal has only played 17 first-class matches (32 wickets at 40.06). If he gets an extended run in the Haryana side in the absence of Amit Mishra, can Chahal show that his legbreaks belong in the longest format as well?Himanshu Rana will only turn 17 on the day the Ranji season begins, but has already shown glimpses of what could be a special talent. His coach Surendra Bhave calls him a “cracking player”. On his debut last season, Rana made 80 against Delhi, and followed it up with a 149 that set up an innings win over Rajasthan. He topped Haryana’s batting averages last season, and his side will hope he can shore up their often brittle top order again.Preparation
Apart from a pre-season camp and practice matches in Lahli, Haryana also geared up for the season by playing the KSCA tournament (four-day matches) in Karnataka and the Buchi Babu tournament (two-day matches) in Chennai.Squad
Virender Sehwag (capt), Chaitanya Bishnoi, Sanjay Budhwar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Dagar, Rahul Dalal, Rahul Dewan, Ashish Hooda, Sanjay Pahal, Harshal Patel, Himanshu Rana, Sachin Rana, Nitin Saini (wk), Guntashveer Singh, Priyank Tehlan, Jayant Yadav.In their own words
“The data shows that teams which play well at home usually do very well in domestic cricket. But we would like to look at it in a thorough manner and start winning outside also, which is very crucial for us.”

Angelo Mathews will take over as Test and ODI captain from Mahela Jayawardene for the home Test series against Bangladesh. Dinesh Chandimal will be Mathews’ deputy but will lead the national side in the Twenty20 format

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2013Angelo Mathews will take over as Test and ODI captain from Mahela Jayawardene for the home Test series against Bangladesh. Dinesh Chandimal will be Mathews’ deputy but will lead the national side in the Twenty20 format. Lasith Malinga has been named Sri Lanka’s T20 vice-captain. The appointments are for a period of 11 months.Jayawardene was expected to step down from captaincy after the tour of Australia, and Mathews was tipped to take over. Chandimal assumes a senior role in the team, having played five Tests and 50 ODIs.The 20-man squad for the two-Test series starting on March 8 has several fresh faces and some notable absentees from the tour of Australia. Thilan Samaraweera has been dropped, together with opener Tharanga Paranavitana and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Ajantha Mendis returns to the Test squad, having last played a Test in May 2011 against England.Samaraweera has signed up with Worcestershire for the 2013 county season, but had an inconsistent 2012, a year in which he averaged 32.50. He had a poor tour of Australia, where he failed to score a half-century in six innings. Paranavitana was part of the squad on that tour but didn’t play a Test, with Dimuth Karunaratne being preferred over him. Prasanna Jayawardene’s Australian tour was cut short by a thumb injury, but he hasn’t been picked for the Tests against Bangladesh following his recovery. Chandimal will keep wicket.The squad features four uncapped players, and six in all who are yet to play a Test: Batsmen Ashen Silva and Kithuruwan Vithanage, seamer Dushmantha Chameera, and offspinner Tharindu Kaushal are those yet to play international cricket. Wicketkeeper-batsman Kushal Janith Perera and legspinning allrounder Jeevan Mendis have played ODI cricket for Sri Lanka but not a Test.Kumar Sangakkara’s participation in the Test series is subject to his recovery from a fractured hand, an injury he suffered on the tour of Australia. Bangladesh play one warm-up game, two Tests, three ODIs and one Twenty20 international on their almost month-long tour of Sri Lanka.Test squad: Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne, Ashen Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardene, Kushal Janith Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Herath, Tharindu Kaushal.

Kris Srikkanth, the chief India selector, has blamed the inability of the batsmen to make big scores for the team’s defeats in the first two Tests of the Australia tour

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2012Kris Srikkanth, India’s chief selector, has blamed the inability of the batsmen to make big scores for the team’s defeats in the first two Tests of the Australia tour.”Our batting didn’t click as a unit,” Srikkanth told . “It is a bit surprising as we were confident of a good show in Australia. But we must admit that Australia have played better cricket than us.”In South Africa, when we drew the Test series [in 2010-11], at least one of our batsmen went on to score a big hundred. Here our batsmen have got to half-centuries but didn’t get a big score. Test cricket provides you with few opportunities but one needs to grab them when they come your way.”The defeats in Australia mean India have lost six successive away Tests, starting with their 4-0 drubbing in England – an unexpected and swift fall from grace for a side that began the England tour six months ago as the No. 1 Test team. Unlike in England, where they suffered several injury setbacks, India have had the first-choice side at their disposal in Australia. Srikkanth, like the captain MS Dhoni, refused to offer excuses.”Look, when you lose you can cite any reason,” Srikkanth said. “There is no point trying to find excuses and we need to move on. But Dhoni has been honest enough in not giving any excuses. In fact he has rightly admitted that our batting has not clicked, it has clicked only in patches.”This is the best team we have at the moment. Also there are no injuries. I believe each and every member has accepted that Australia is playing better cricket.”India were completely outplayed in the second Test in Sydney, going down by an innings and 68 runs after winning the toss. But the previous match, in Melbourne, was much closer with India holding the upper hand before a middle- and lower-order collapse in the first innings gave Australia an opening. India eventually fell short by 122 runs while chasing 292 in the fourth innings. Srikkanth felt India should have won that match.”We were 211 for 2 [in the first innings] and we lost it from there,” Srikkanth said. “We had Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar playing well but then no one got a big score. When you lose the first Test, automatically, there is a lot of pressure on you. Now one should try and do well in the Perth Test. We have won in Perth last time and we should try and do well there.”

Ricky Ponting has said that Australia’s batsmen will have to step up their game if they are to win the World Cup after their dramatic collapse in the warm-up match against India in Bangalore

Sriram Veera14-Feb-2011Ricky Ponting has said that Australia’s batsmen will have to step up their game if they are to win the World Cup after their dramatic collapse in the warm-up match against India in Bangalore. Chasing 215 to win, Australia were 118 for 1 at one stage, but the middle order disintegrated in stunning fashion to be shot out for 176 on a turning track.Ponting blamed the “under-prepared” pitch for the batting debacle. “It was an unusual ODI wicket, I don’t remember the last one-day wicket I’ve played on that spun that much,” Ponting said after the 38-run loss. “You have to find a way sometimes to combat good spin bowling on tough conditions like that. Who knows as the tournament goes on, we could face conditions like that somewhere else, and I would like to think that we can play a lot better. Otherwise, we can’t win. Hopefully some of the younger guys in the middle order can learn a little bit about starting in tough conditions.”Australia lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs but Ponting said he wasn’t overly concerned as he felt the pitch made batting an arduous task. “Yes, we were disappointing and should have played better, but by the same token even the Indian batsmen would have found it difficult to bat in those conditions. I have played a lot of one-day cricket here in India and Sri Lanka, but I don’t think I have ever played in an ODI game with so much spin. We only arrived here two days back and will get more practice as things move on.”Though Australia’s batsmen wilted, their seamers, led by the impressive Brett Lee, turned in a good show to restrict India. They also conceded 25 wides but Ponting said that the bowlers know their job. “It’s unacceptable to bowl that many wides in one-dayers but the bowlers know that, we know that. Lee and Mitchell Johnson were terrific, John Hastings bowled very well and we still should have chased that many runs. We were 1 for 100 when Tim [Paine] and I were in …”Ponting also spoke about his spinners and how he plans to use them in the World Cup. They rested Steve Smith and played Jason Krejza yesterday, but Ponting assured that Smith will be one of the key players for Australia in the tournament. “Smith will definitely bowl a lot of overs in the tournament. Jason Krejza will learn from his outing today, [Michael] Clarke can bowl when needed but Smith will play a lot.” Cameron White, the other batsman who can bowl some spin, has already admitted he is no longer an allrounder and will play as a pure batsman. “Just lost a bit of confidence as a bowler to be honest,” White said. “I am just concentrating on my batting and enjoying that role.”Ponting’s batting was one of the major positives to emerge for Australia. He made 57 before becoming the seventh wicket to fall, stumped after missing a slog sweep against Harbhajan Singh. Ponting had suffered a finger injury during the Ashes and didn’t play in the seven-match ODI series against England. In the absence of Michael Hussey, there will be immense pressure on Ponting to deliver and he was happy that he could spend some time in the middle. “My fingers are ok. It was nice to spend 80-odd minutes in the middle. It was my first game in six weeks. I certainly wasn’t at my best but it was difficult out there and I should be better for the outing.”I have to be a consistent run-scorer. I certainly wasn’t that in the summer. It was nice to get some runs but it doesn’t count for much. The runs I score in the bigger games will be important. I am feeling good; I have worked as hard as I can since my finger surgery. I feel good with my body and felt good with my batting tonight. Hopefully I can get some more runs in the next warm-up game and carry that form through the tournament.”

It was a different country but the same result for Australia as they breezed to a six-wicket win over an out-classed New Zealand

Peter English26-Feb-2010Australia 119 for 4 (Hussey 46) beat New Zealand 118 (Franklin 43, Johnson 3-19) by 6 wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMitchell Johnson was a big problem for New Zealand with three early wickets•Getty Images

It was a different country but the same result for Australia as they breezed to a six-wicket win over an out-classed New Zealand in the first Twenty20 in Wellington. After an unbeaten home summer the visitors started their tour with another convincing display built on very fast bowling and powerful opening batting.New Zealand were knocked over for 118 by the speed of Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes and Mitchell Johnson and their chances of defending the small total were basically extinguished as soon as David Warner and Shane Watson blasted 28 from the first two overs. The openers were dismissed quickly and Johnson’s promotion to No. 4 failed, dropping the visitors to 39 for 3, but the small target allowed them to take their time and the win came with 24 balls to spare.David Hussey, who hit Nathan McCullum for three fours in a row, was the aggressor in the 67-run partnership with Michael Clarke, who accumulated calmly for 18 off 26. Hussey finished with 46 from 36 balls and left shortly before the end when he drove McCullum to cover. Cameron White ended the game with a four and a straight six off Martin Guptill in a strong sign-off.Warner didn’t have a chance to try batting right handed, but he made an impact with his usual stance by introducing himself to Shane Bond with a lofted straight four and a six to square leg in the first six balls. The situation was worse in the next over for Daryl Tuffey, who was taken for 18 by Watson’s four fours and a two.They both left with 19 – and strike-rates of more than 150 – after Warner was bowled trying to slog another six from Bond and Watson was lbw to Daniel Vettori, who brought himself on in the fourth over. Vettori is always a threat against Australia and they got a sign of what life will be like over the next month as he allowed 1 for 13 from four. Bond touched 150kph in his opening spell to join the pace party and finished with 2 for 32.Johnson’s three early wickets left New Zealand at an uncomfortable 54 for 4 and the intervention of James Franklin, who collected a composed 43 off 42, was required to get them past 100. Only two other batsmen, Guptill (30) and Gareth Hopkins (21), reached double figures as the hosts were over-run.Johnson, who finished with 3 for 19, joined in a frightening partnership with Tait and Nannes as the trio operated around 150kph. Tait and Nannes collected two wickets while Watson also chipped in with a couple of victims in a comprehensive performance from the attack.Brad Haddin began the day in spectacular style when he dived to his right for a one-handed catch to remove the dangerous Brendon McCullum from the fourth ball. Johnson, the first-change, bowled Peter Ingram with his opening delivery to have the hosts 13 for 2 in the fifth over and he was also involved when Ross Taylor (9) was unlucky to be given out lbw by Billy Bowden. Taylor, a player who is so important to his side, was hit on the foot well outside off stump and departed at 3 for 33.Finding the boundary was the hard thing for the home side and Australia’s tight bowling prevented a quick start and a competitive score. Guptill broke free a handful of times but was taken by Johnson after Watson ran back to claim a top edge at midwicket.A quick stand of 50 in 5.1 overs between Franklin and Hopkins was crucial in gaining some momentum for the hosts, but they quickly fell back and were dismissed on the final ball of the 20th over. They will need to improve dramatically for the second match in Christchurch on Sunday if they are going to end Australia’s winning streak.

Sri Lanka struggled to get breakthroughs with the ball and endured a collapse of 4 for 8 in their chase

Shashank Kishore16-Sep-20252:13

Maharoof: Sri Lanka played with a ‘fear of failure’ mentality

Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka were stretched into a decider by a spirited Zimbabwe side. On Monday, they nearly stumbled against Asia Cup’s lowest-ranked team, Hong Kong, but eventually pulled through, courtesy Pathum Nissanka’s 68 in their chase of 150.What ought to have been a cruise – Sri Lanka needed 32 off 30 with eight wickets in hand – turned into a mini-collapse. Nissanka was run-out at the start of the 16th over while chancing a second that didn’t seem on, and Kusal Perera fell off the very next delivery when he was lbw attempting a slog sweep.Six balls later, it was the captain’s turn to be dismissed as Charith Asalanka sliced a fullish delivery to short third. And when Kamindu Mendis slogged one straight to deep midwicket, attempting a release shot, Sri Lanka had lost 4 for 8, needing another 23 off 17 balls.Related

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“In that moment, I think our heart was in our mouths,” Asalanka said. “There are a few areas I am really disappointed about. First three overs when we were bowling and then the 16th over, we lost a couple of wickets and then lost my wicket.”In the shorter format, these things can happen but it cannot keep happening consistently. We have to analyse it and improve ourselves.”It wasn’t just the middle-order batting Asalanka was critical about. He wasn’t happy with the way they started with the new ball, with Hong Kong racing to 38 without loss in four overs, after Anshy Rath and Zeeshan Ali took on the new-ball bowlers.In the sixth over, Sri Lanka missed a DRS appeal for lbw with replays confirming all three reds, reprieving the experienced Babar Hayat. After his dismissal, Rath and Nizakat Khan put on 61 to shore up Hong Kong to 149 for 4.”We felt confident of chasing it because the pitch was looking good,” Asalanka said. “Credit goes to them (Hong Kong), they batted really well and we bowled badly in the first three overs.Wanindu Hasaranga’s nine-ball 20 not out saw Sri Lanka through•Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

“This is not the way we wanted to play. When we are playing these sides, there is always pressure. But we are professionals and as professionals, we have to do much better than this.”It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Sri Lanka. Nissanka rallied their chase with a patient innings, his second straight half-century. The ball wasn’t coming on, and Hong Kong’s seasoned spinners – Ehsan Khan and Yasim Murtaza – had Sri Lanka in a stranglehold.Yet, at no point did Nissanka look like a batter desperate for a release shot, fully knowing the target was always within touching distance. He brought up a half-century off 35 balls, and it wasn’t until the asking rate jumped past eight an over, with eight overs left that Nissanka decided to shift gears.And when he did so, it was exhilarating to see him beat two deep fielders on the leg side with precision with two pull shots off two different deliveries – first off a slower bouncer that needed him to hold his shape, and the next off a hard-length delivery dug into the pitch.”Over the last two years, I’ve worked on my strike rates,” Nissanka said at the post-match press conference. “I started off as a red-ball batter, but I’ve worked on becoming consistent across all formats. The coach [Sanath Jayasuriya] has always given me the confidence to play my game, that really is a boost.”After starting the tournament with two wins, Sri Lanka will automatically progress to the Super Fours if Afghanistan beat Bangladesh on Tuesday. A Bangladesh win will leave the two spots to be decided on Thursday, when Sri Lanka play Afghanistan. That said, it’s Bangladesh who have all the catching up to do on the net run rate front.

Playing a T20I after six months, she got Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux and Beth Mooney in Australia’s final over

Mohammad Isam02-Apr-2024Left-arm medium pacer Fariha Trisna’s hat-trick against Australia delighted the small crowd that turned up at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. However, it came in a losing cause as Australia crushed the home side by 58 runs in the second T20I to seal the three-match series 2-0.Trisna got her hat-trick off the last three balls of the innings. She first had Ellyse Perry caught at wide long-off, then dismissed Sophie Molineux at point and got Beth Mooney bowled down the leg side. This was Trisna’s second hat-trick in T20Is, having picked up the
first one on her debut against Malaysia in the 2022 Asia Cup in Sylhet.”It feels good to get my second hat-trick,” she said. “It is by Allah’s grace that I achieved this feat. When I had the chance to take a hat-trick after picking up two wickets, I just wanted to bowl at the stumps. I tried to bowl tight [today] since I was coming back to T20Is after a while. I got a chance to play a match, so my aim was to contribute something for the team.”Related

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Trisna finished with figures of 4 for 19 but was disappointed with Bangladesh losing by a big margin. In reply to Australia’s 161 for 8, the hosts mustered only 103 for 9. She conceded that her achievement would have felt much better had Bangladesh crossed the finish line.”It is disappointing that we lost the game. If the team had won, the personal achievement would have felt much better,” she said. “We would have celebrated then. The team comes first. We started well, so there was hope that we can finish properly too. But we tried hard till the end.”Trisna suffered a back injury last October, and was out of action for almost six months. She revealed that working with former Sri Lanka fast bowler Champaka Ramanayake helped her get back into rhythm.”My first plan was to recover from my injury. I wanted to follow the process, so there was never any doubt that I would not return to the Bangladesh team from injury,” she said. “After my rehab was completed, I was lucky to do the bowling camp under Ramanayake. It really helped me.”In her absence, the young Marufa Akter has been Bangladesh’s pace mainstay. Bangladesh have been primarily going with only a single pace bowler in the recent past, but had both Trisna and Akter in the side in the second T20I against Australia. But can they continue to field two pacers in the slow and low surfaces at home?”If we start doing well as a team, we can have two pacers in the line-up,” Trisna said. “I tried to bowl in the right areas. There’s no competition with Marufa, who is world-class bowler. She has everything.”

‘Trisna gets late shape back in’ – Harris

Grace Harris, who starred for Australia with 47 off a 33 balls after being promoted to open on Tuesday, also heaped praise on Trisna.”[It is] fantastic for her. I think she gets really good, late shape back into the right-hand batter,” Harris said. “I’m assuming she’s quite young, so she’s got a lot of room to improve or to develop her game.”But with the new ball, I actually found her a bit more challenging to face because she gets just quite late shape back in. And she’s quite accurate, and on a length. So, I’m pretty happy with how I played her. And good on her for getting a hat-trick and for bowling quite well today.”The 21-year-old Trisna is the third women’s bowler to take two T20I hat-tricks after Uganda’s Concy Aweko and Hong Kong’s Kary Chan.