A recap of the major talking points from the latest round of Shield matches

Andrew McGlashan03-Nov-2020Burns in the spotlightThere has been no shortage of in-form batsmen during the first three rounds of the Shield – 19 centuries have been scored – so when someone has struggled a little it stands out. Five of Australia’s incumbent top seven are in action (David Warner and Steven Smith the two at the IPL) and all have made telling contributions except for Joe Burns. His three innings have brought 7, 29 and 0. The middle of those scores is probably the most frustrating as he had got himself settled before top-edging an indecisive pull. His second-innings duck, edging the superb Trent Copeland, came at around the same time that Will Pucovski and Marcus Harris were breaking records, while Sam Whiteman has also piled on the runs. Burns’ returns last summer against Pakistan and New Zealand were solid rather than spectacular – two half-centuries in eight innings – although a substantial score in the final round of matches would probably see him retain his place. But the competition has suddenly become fierce.Swepson’s hub gainsFew players have gained as much from the tournament being forced into the single-city hub in Adelaide than legspinner Mitchell Swepson. The conditions have meant he has had a central role for Queensland and he has delivered with 15 wickets in two matches. He played a match-winning role in the opening game against Tasmania and came within a whisker of doing it again in the compelling match against New South Wales where he collected a career-best 10 for 171. Among that haul was the ripping legbreak from around the wicket to bowl Sean Abbott and another fizzing delivery to beat Daniel Hughes in the second innings. Australia will have to include a second spinner in their enlarged Test squad; it would probably have been Swepson in any case, but the last few weeks should have ended any debate.It did not take long for Cameron Green to make a mark with the ball•Getty ImagesGreen shootsIt was only 12 overs, but they were another significant step in what is starting to feel like an inevitable Test debut for Cameron Green this season after his call-up to the limited-overs squad. Given his run-scoring it may not even matter how much he can bowl, but his return to action was a reminder of the enticing package he will be providing injuries can be kept at bay. He bowled three four-over spells in the match against Tasmania, removing Jordan Silk twice, and was getting the ball to carry through at good pace. His second-innings spell with the new ball was especially lively as he found the outside and inside edge of Charlie Wakim’s bat in an over that somehow cost him 14 runs.Contrasting returns for Shield veteransShaun Marsh appears to be playing as well as ever. If it hadn’t been for the search for quick runs to bring a declaration against Tasmania he could have had twin hundreds in the match and three in five innings this season. At 37 his Test career is surely behind him, although in this of all years it’s probably wise to expect the unexpected. His first-innings 115 in the latest round, with Western Australia in trouble against a ball moving around, was a display of the highest quality. Across town, things did not go as well for another stalwart of Shield cricket: Callum Ferguson bagged a pair against Victoria, edging a wild drive against Will Sutherland in the first innings and nicking the new ball from Scott Boland in the second.ESPNcricinfo LtdSouth Australia keep their HeadIt was a sobering time for the Redbacks as Pucovski and Harris piled up the all-time Sheffield Shield partnership record of 486. On the second evening, when the score stood at 0 for 418, coach Jason Gillespie did not try to sugarcoat things and when they were 2 for 10 early in the second innings, facing a deficit of 354, defeat looked certain. However, in Travis Head they have an exceptional leader and batsman – for the second game running he led from the front to show that survival was possible with 151 off 296 balls. Still, he needed help and in 19-year-old Liam Scott he found it as the young allrounder added his name to the ‘ones to watch’ list as he took South Australia to the brink of the draw. The Redbacks have batted 288 overs across two second innings in their last two matches – to compete they must score first-innings runs, but they are a side that won’t give in.

A two-match series in Pallekele will present two uncertain teams a stiff examination of their Test-match mettle

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam19-Apr-2021

Sri Lanka

Spin bowling
To win in Sri Lanka, spinners generally need to take a lot of wickets. One of Sri Lanka’s problems has been that since the retirement of Rangana Herath, their spin attack has fallen away somewhat. Where their spinners collectively averaged 27.80 at home in Herath’s last three years, they average 32.62 since his exit.In this series, they will be without Lasith Embuldeniya, their most promising slow-bowling prospect, after he picked up a serious soft-tissue injury in the Caribbean. They are also without Dilruwan Perera, whose effectiveness had dipped substantially (he averages 32.17 at home since Herath’s retirement in November 2018). They’ll likely rely on wristspin via Wanindu Hasaranga or Lakshan Sandakan (or both), with Dhananjaya de Silva’s offspin in support. But neither Hasaranga nor Sandakan have seemed up to leading a Test attack so far, partly because their control has been inconsistent between spells.Although this series is being played in Pallekele where seamers may play more of a role than they do in Galle, Sri Lanka will likely need big wickets from the spinners too.Batting collapses
Although since December Sri Lanka’s batting has been sporadically impressive, such as in the first innings at Centurion or the second innings at North Sound, these successes have been interspersed with dramatic, harrowing collapses. In their last 12 Test innings, Sri Lanka have failed to make 200 on five occasions. Two of the worst nosedives came in their last series at home, against England, against modest bowling, when they were out for 135 and 126 – innings in which they surrendered the series. If they go into self-destruct mode again, they could cede another match.Fitness
Coach Mickey Arthur has been adamant that players raise their standards, and have ruled certain players out of contention purely on fitness grounds. And still, Sri Lanka’s long history with muscle and soft-tissue injuries continues to plague them. In addition to being without Embuldeniya in this series, they are also missing seamer Kasun Rajitha, while rookie batter Pathum Nissanka has been struggling with a niggle as well (but is expected to be fit for the series). There are many theories on why injuries seem to plague Sri Lanka more than most other teams. Some find fault with the conditioning, others point to a lack of recent cricket, or to developmental issues going back to the players’ formative years. Whatever the case, rare is the series from which Sri Lanka emerge with all their key players intact.Can Mehidy Hasan Miraz step up with the bat and perform the allrounder’s role in Shakib Al Hasan’s absence?•AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh

Overseas troubles
Bangladesh’s Test record is such that it is considered inevitable they will not threaten on foreign soil. They have won only one away Test in the last five years, and since that one win, which came in Sri Lanka in 2017, they have lost each of their nine Tests on the road, all by heavy margins.A big part of their problem is the inability to take 20 wickets abroad – a feat they have only managed five times in their history. Their spinners have been effective on favourable pitches at home, but these have left the fast bowlers with little to do. This lack of bowling at home translates into a lack of rhythm and effectiveness abroad. It has been eight years since a Bangladesh fast bowler won them an overseas Test.The Shakib-sized hole
What would make it more difficult for Bangladesh in Sri Lanka this time is Shakib Al Hasan’s absence. His stature as a Test allrounder makes him particularly difficult to replace. Mehidy Hasan Miraz performed admirably against West Indies recently but he has a lot to do to earn the allrounder’s tag. This time the selectors have picked the 34-year old Shuvagata Hom as a batting allrounder when five years ago, during his last Test appearance, he was counted as a bowling allrounder. This is the sort of confusion that can arise when Shakib isn’t around; no Shakib is always an advantage to the opposition.Catching
Bangladesh’s catching was one of the most worrying aspects of their disastrous New Zealand tour last month. They dropped ten catches in the ODIs and T20Is, which cost them results and momentum, and netted a bit of embarrassment as well. When the team returned from the tour, newcomer Nasum Ahmedoffered an explanation for the dropped catches that was the stuff of internet memes: “Their sky is very clear and their weather is nothing like ours.”The real story, however, was different. The 2-0 home defeat to West Indies in February shook the team, leading to a team-wide lack of confidence. As is often the case in cricket, this lack of confidence made for a poor fielding side.

The young India batter is confident she’s ready for a busy year of international and franchise cricket

Annesha Ghosh31-May-20215:22

‘Looking back, there was a lot of struggle, but I’m happy with where I am today’

Shafali Verma laughs shyly when asked if selfie-hunters come calling when she’s at home in Rohtak, Haryana. “Sometimes,” she says, her nod indicating a young athlete’s growing ease with new-found fame.In the 21 months since her international debut, Verma, 17, has hit more sixes in T20Is than any other female cricketer, helped take India to their maiden T20 World Cup final, and twice topped the women’s T20I batting rankings.Her distinctive power game has helped fetch her deals in the Hundred in the UK, and the WBBL in Australia. She has also been called up to India’s one-day and Test sides for the upcoming tour of England.”My target has been to take lessons from every series and keep improving as a cricketer,” Verma, currently the No. 1-ranked T20I batter, says. “After the T20 World Cup I worked on my skills, fitness, and choosing the right deliveries to play. I felt I did better there in the South Africa series. I could sense some improvement in my fielding as I had focused on working out and strengthening my body during last year’s lockdown.”Verma’s scores of 23, 47, and 60 in the T20Is were one of the few highlights of India’s series against South Africa in March, their first since the T20 World Cup a year ago. They lost the T20Is 2-1 and the ODIs 4-1.”After the T20 World Cup I worked on my skills, fitness, and choosing the right deliveries to play. I felt I did better there in the South Africa series”•Mike Owen/Getty ImagesVerma looked far more at ease against the bouncer in those games than she had previously. She says it was down to the work she put in. “If you try to get better at something and get complacent after trying just once, it never works out. I chalked out a plan and played 150 balls [bouncers] at a time, then rested for a bit and faced more bouncers. I focused on practising the same thing over and over again.”Verma had an opportunity to crank her game up a gear when the Haryana men’s team set up camp ahead of their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign earlier this year.”I feel that I benefited a great deal from that Ranji camp,” she says of the preparatory period ahead of the South Africa series. “My back-foot game was a bit weak earlier, but facing the Ranji bowlers, who would come in at around 140kph, has helped better my technique and confidence on that front.”I interacted with Harshal [Patel], who recently played in the IPL, Mohit [Sharma] , Rahul Tewatia, and picked their brains about dealing with the bouncer. They shared their inputs with me and so did their coach. He gave me his feedback on my batting. I’m very grateful to everyone at the Haryana Cricket Association for the opportunity.”To get around pandemic-related difficulties like lack of access to facilities, Verma’s long-time coach, Ashwini Kumar, a former Haryana first-class player, set up nets and a bowling machine in his backyard for additional batting sessions to supplement her training at Rohtak’s Shri Ram Narain Cricket Club.In the national set-up, too, Verma says, there has been no want of encouragement since she earned her maiden call-up in September 2019.From left: Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav and Verma at the BCCI Awards in January 2020. Verma was named the best woman cricketer (junior domestic) of 2018-19 and won the best international debut award•Vipin Pawar/BCCI”All of my team-mates, coaches and support staff encourage me to bat in my natural style,” she says. “Whenever I don’t play a shot well, Smriti [Mandhana, her opening partner] points out the mistake and suggests how I could have approached the ball better, say, by timing it better or something else. She gives me sound feedback. We discuss a lot about what we think of each other’s batting.” The two put on a 96-run stand inside nine overs in India’s only win in the T20I series against South Africa.The series against South Africa was also head coach WV Raman’s last assignment with India. He has been replaced by Ramesh Powar, who has returned to take charge of the side after being let go from the job in 2018.The T20 World Cup in Australia last year was Verma’s first major tournament and the teenager was the object of a lot of media interest and buzz. If she didn’t blink in the spotlight, it was partly due to Raman and the management, who made sure she didn’t look much beyond the task at hand.”I worked with him [Raman] for two years,” Verma says. “He would back me to the hilt to bat the way I bat. ‘Ball game ,’ [Focus on the ball, focus on your own game] he would say. He motivated me since my debut. Whether or not I did something correctly or did it well, he would encourage me. I will miss him and I want to thank him. It was great playing under him.”The England tour, Verma’s first trip to that country, will kick off a busy season overseas for India, and she has been preparing to embrace the new experiences and challenges that will come along.Verma was among India’s top run scorers in the 2020 T20 World Cup and hit 15 sixes in five innings in the tournament•Paul Kane/Getty Images”I want to remain fit. That’s my primary goal, because if I’m fit, I can carve out a long career for myself. And to simulate skiddy conditions [overseas], I have been training with wet synthetic balls, to allow them to skid more.”I watched the IPL as well. One gets to learn a lot observing and watching the IPL players, their shot selection, especially.”Verma is excited at the prospect of playing a Test. The last time India played one, at Mysore in 2014, she was ten years old. She hasn’t ever had a taste of multi-day cricket at any level, and though she likes watching Steven Smith in Tests, most of her idols in the sport, she says, smiling, are from the shortest format.Already one of the most compelling T20 batters around, Verma will have a shot at learning from some of the best in the business when she teams up with multiple World Cup winner Alyssa Healy at the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL this year soon after India’s bilateral series against Australia.”Healy is a good batter,” Verma says. “I watched her bat in the [T20] World Cup. “If I get to open with her or bat with her in any other position, I would like to pick her brains, speak to her about what it’s like playing at this level and learn from her experience.”A promotion in the central-contracts tiers has also boosted her salary by an additional 20 lakh [US$27,500 approx] this year. The raise is welcome. She grew up in a family with a modest income; her father, Sanjeev, runs a small jewellery shop.”I sense that everyone who has been part of my journey is happy to see that I have found an aim in life. When I look back, I think of my younger self cycling 15km to school and then cycling back [home] and then to my cricket academy…. [Growing up], I would try motivating myself by reminding myself that if I work hard, my name might come up for selection.”There has been some struggle in my journey, but [I’m happy to see how things are going]. As Papa says, if I stay diligent, keep learning and work on my mistakes, I can do better and support the Indian team in every way I can.”

The franchise system is out, and a lot of other things are in

Firdose Moonda23-Sep-2021It took a legal challenge, a consultation process headed by former ICC CEO David Richardson and 75 job losses, but finally it’s here: South Africa’s new domestic system. Gone are the complications of franchises and back is the simplicity of a provincial structure, with some additions.Not only are each of South Africa’s nine provinces represented in the new system, but some of them have multiple teams. Gauteng has three: the Johannesburg-based Lions, Northerns in Centurion and Easterns in Benoni. The Western Cape has Cape Town’s Western Province, the Rocks in Boland and South-Western Districts in Oudtshoorn, while Eastern Province has teams in Gqeberha and East London, and Kwa-Zulu Natal has a coastal and inland team. Each of the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, North-West and Mpumalanga also have their own teams, ensuring that cricket crosses the length and breadth of the country to broaden the talent pool available to the national selectors.Related

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All 15 sides, along with the South African under-19 team, will be in action in the first competition of the season, a T20 tournament, that kicks off on Friday. It’s a fitting start because September 24 is a public holiday; the day on which South Africans celebrate their diverse heritages. The only drawbacks are that none of the members of the T20 World Cup squad will be involved as they go into a camp to prepare for the tournament, and then to quarantine in the UAE. While this competition competes with the IPL for eyeballs, it still signals the start of summer in the southern hemisphere. To mark the occasion, we take a look at five major talking points ahead of the South African domestic season.Map of South Africa’s new domestic teams•ESPNcricinfo LtdSame, same but different South African domestic cricket has, for the last 16 summers, been fairly confusing for outsiders to understand, because of the franchise system. The six teams were amalgamations of provincial teams, some of whom would never have imagined joining together to form one unit, but did anyway. An example is Northerns, who play in Centurion – as the name would suggest, to the north of Johannesburg – who partnered with Easterns, who play in Benoni, to the east of the city, to become the Titans. Inevitably, most of the Titans activity took place at SuperSport Park while Willowmoore Park was the forgotten cousin. All of that has been restructured away, even though some of the provincial unions will keep their franchises names, so each province plays independently.Northerns, the bigger of the teams that became the Titans, keeps the Titans name and Easterns will be known as Easterns. The Lions’ name has been retained by Gauteng, the Dolphins by Kwa-Zulu Natal, the Warriors by Eastern Province and Knights by Free State. The Cobras name has been dropped entirely and Western Province will be known as such. The Titans, Lions, Dolphins, Warriors, Knights and Western Province are joined by the Rocks (based in Paarl) and the North-West Dragons (based in Potchefstroom) in Division 1. Border, Easterns, Northern Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and South-Western Districts make up Division 2.What hasn’t changed is that there is still a hierarchy in the domestic system but it is no longer based on professional franchises and semi-professional provinces as was the case before. Now, it’s simply Division 1 and Division 2 but actually, that’s all just semantics. Teams in Division 1 have the budget to contract more players (16) than teams in Division 2 (11), have the nationally contracted players on their books and, when first-class and one-day matches are televised, it will likely be Division 1 on the silver screen. But, these divisions are not set in stone and a promotion-relegation system will be in place from the 2023/24 season, though it is yet to be decided if one or two teams will be moved between divisions. Both divisions play in the season-opening T20 competition.Getty ImagesBig movers While many players have stayed with the provincial unions attached to their former franchises, there have been some notable moves – most obviously in the formation of the two new top-tier teams, Boland and North-West. Boland have acquired the services of international batters, Janneman and Pieter Malan from the Cobras (now Western Province) while North-West have signed Dwaine Pretorius, who played at the Lions, and Senuran Muthusamy, the third-leading wicket-taker in last season’s four-day competition from the title-holders, Dolphins. Thando Ntini has moved from the Titans to the Dolphins, having started his career in Cape Town, Beuran Hendricks has gone from the Lions to Western Province, and Dane Paterson will play for Eastern Province after spending the bulk of his career in Cape Town before a stint as an overseas player for Nottinghamshire.Returning KolpaksKyle Abbott will be eligible for South Africa selection again•Cricket South AfricaThe South African domestic set-up also welcomes back several players who ended their international careers to take up Kolpak deals. Boland are the biggest beneficiaries and have secured the services of batter Stiaan van Zyl and fast bowlers Hardus Viljoen and Kyle Abbott. North-West have also laid claim to a share of the returnees and signed Heino Kuhn. Duanne Olivier will play for the Lions, Simon Harmer for Titans, and allrounder Wayne Parnell returns to Western Province, where he will captain the team in the T20 tournament. The Kolpak system no longer exists, which also makes these players eligible for South Africa again.Involvement of former internationals in coaching structuresThough South African cricket has suffered a brain drain with the loss of Cobras coach Ashwell Prince to Bangladesh as a batting consultant, and Vernon Philander, who was due to play for Western Province, to Pakistan as a bowling coach, there are still former players in the system. For instance, Imraan Khan, who played one Test for South Africa in 2009 and was a stalwart of the domestic set-up, won the first-class tournament with the Dolphins last year and remains their head coach. Robin Peterson head Eastern Province, Allan Donald is in charge at Free State, and Paul Adams has landed a role as head coach of Border, after last coaching at the Cobras in 2016.There’s also a big-name among the support staff. JP Duminy, who retired from international cricket after the 2019 World Cup, is the batting consultant for the Lions and has been seconded to the South African team for the T20 World Cup.Other former players, albeit not internationals, who are involved are Adrian Birrell, former Ireland coach and South African assistant coach, who will be in charge of Boland, former Lions player Richard das Neves, who will coach Easterns and will join Namibia for the T20 Word Cup, and Dumi Makalima, former Border and Gauteng player who will take charge at Limpopo.Commentary in isiXhosa The high-profile names don’t stop on the field. Three former international bowlers will be behind the microphone for dedicated isiXhosa commentary. Makhaya Ntini, Monde Zondeki, and Mfuneko Ngam make up a five-person team which also includes seasoned broadcasters Mluleki Ntsabo and Sixolele Sotyelelwa. Though this is not the first time commentary will be offered in isiXhosa, it appears to be the start of a more regular offering in a language outside of English or Afrikaans and will hopefully be the trend throughout the summer.

Afghanistan star is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker at the Hundred

Matt Roller16-Aug-2021Rashid Khan comes on to bowl in the 275th game of his six-year T20 career, playing for his 13th different team under his 23rd different captain at his 64th different ground. Most of the Hundred’s star overseas names pulled out long before the start of this season but Trent Rockets made Khan their No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft and he is not the sort to let people down.Khan runs in with Manchester Originals flying at 70 for 1 off 40 balls in a must-win game for Rockets, with Phil Salt, his Sussex and Adelaide Strikers team-mate and one of his best friends in cricket, in his sights. Khan’s first ball is a low full toss towards leg stump, and Salt gets down to sweep, top-edging a catch straight to Samit Patel at short fine leg.Related

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There is no exuberant celebration. Instead, Khan smiles wryly, winking at Lewis Gregory and then bumping fists. Two balls later, Colin Ackermann attempts a sweep and is struck on the shoulder by a wicked googly, which gets him lbw. Khan roars out an appeal, then high-fives Tom Moores with his tongue sticking out to the side. The usual grin is missing.Khan takes a superb running catch in the next set of five, then yorks Carlos Brathwaite with a quicker one to take his third wicket in his first six balls. Originals have lost five wickets for four runs, and Khan is involved in all of them. His trademark aeroplane celebration comes out before he is mobbed by his team-mates. He has turned the game on its head in the space of ten minutes.The wickets were Khan’s 381st, 382nd and 383rd in his T20 career, nudging him back into fifth in the all-time list, and the sacrifices he has made to become the world’s best spinner in the format are immense. He told the before this tournament that he has spent 25 days at home in the last five years, and he has lost both of his parents in the last three. “I don’t get enough time to be with the family but at the same time it is the start of my career so I have to struggle,” he said.His performances over the last three weeks – which have put him joint-top of the Hundred’s wicket-taking charts – have come within a wider context. He has posted on social media several times about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, usually with a simple message: “Don’t leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans and destroying Afghanistan.”On Sunday, his tweet after the Taliban seized Kabul by force, leading the president and thousands of foreign nationals to flee, was particularly straightforward: “Peace,” followed by three praying emojis and three Afghan flags. Last month, he addressed the situation by saying: “As a player it makes you super sad. It hurts a lot, but at the same time we are just trying our best to do something special in the field to make [people at home] happy.”Patel, his team-mate, acknowledged that Khan had been “subdued” in comparison to his usual exuberant self. “He wasn’t as upbeat as normal, and that’s understandable,” he said. “It’s so fresh and we had the game to concentrate on, which was a good distraction for him. He tried to put in a match-winning performance and that comes from his inner self.

“For Rashid to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under.. it’s probably one of the most heartwarming stories of the Hundred”Kevin Pietersen

“He’s 100% committed in any game that he plays. I’ve been lucky enough to play franchise cricket with him and I know that you cannot fault Rashid Khan – he’s an absolute gem to have in any team, in all aspects. The way he plays his cricket is full on and that’s a credit to Rash. He’s a world-class performer.””There’s a lot of things that are happening at home,” Kevin Pietersen said on Sky Sports during the innings break. “We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and he’s worried: he can’t get his family out of Afghanistan and there’s a lot of things happening for him.”For him to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under… for him to be able to forget that stuff and navigate his story and continue the momentum that he has – I think that’s probably one of the most heart-warming stories of this Hundred so far.”Khan is ubiquitous in T20 cricket worldwide: you can flick on any game from any league worldwide and there is every chance that he will be playing, celebrating, or slicing helicopter shots for six over point. Nobody has played as many games as him in the format since his debut in 2015 and nobody has taken as many wickets.The result is that we take this phenomenon for granted. Khan is a 22-year-old Afghan, bowling quick legspin and hitting sixes everywhere from Adelaide to Abu Dhabi and from Trent Bridge to Trinidad. He has been a trailblazer for cricketers from his nation to the extent that every team in the world wants him to play for them.His life and his career have unfolded with the constant backdrop of bloodshed and pain at home, at a time when most people have associated the word ‘Afghanistan’ with a war rather than a country. It is a credit to Khan that even with the backdrop of political turmoil and internal conflict, many now associate it with him, too.

After losing all their previous nine Tests in New Zealand, the visitors have changed the narrative with solid, fighting cricket in the first Test

Mohammad Isam03-Jan-2022Bangladesh carried all their doubts, poor form and an overall bad vibe from the disappointing home series against Pakistan last month to New Zealand. The prospects were bleak. But three days of solid, battling cricket in the first Test has changed the visitors’ outlook.They hold a 73-run lead against the Test world champions after the third day, and if Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Najmul Hossain Shanto frustrated New Zealand on the second day, it was the turn of the more experienced Mominul Haque and Litton Das to do it on the third. The two put on 158 for the fifth wicket, and Yasir Ali and Mehidy Hasan Miraz didn’t allow a lower-order collapse after Litton’s dismissal. Before them, while he scored only 12, Mushfiqur Rahim batted close to an hour, facing 85 balls.Related

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“It was a fantastic partnership between Mominul and Litton,” team director Khaled Mahmud said after the third day’s play. “They batted very well against a New Zealand attack that always comes at you with discipline. Mominul played an excellent innings. He spent a lot of time in the middle, he left a lot of balls, like Joy had done earlier. Mominul is a more experienced Test cricketer than Litton but both batted superbly. By Allah’s grace, we are now in a position to dominate the match.”I think New Zealand bowled superbly with the second new ball, but we stuck to our plan. They weren’t giving us many freebies. They were bowling such tight lines that, at the start of the day, Joy and Mominul couldn’t even get singles. But we spent time at the crease, rather than thinking about runs. Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Mominul, both experienced players, did a great job in that situation. The execution was perfect.”Mominul and Litton got together with Bangladesh 203 for 4, in a strong position but just a bad hour away from undoing the good work. Mominul scored 88 in over four hours, facing 370 balls, while Litton’s 86 came in just under three hours, off 247 balls.

“I particularly remember telling them that we lost nine Tests in New Zealand. In 2017, we lost despite declaring on 595 in Wellington. I told them that we can’t keep losing here. One group has to stand out, so why not this group?”Khaled Mahmud, former Bangladesh captain and current team director

“We were definitely under pressure with a young team, lacking maturity in these conditions,” Mahmud said. “But hats off to the boys today. They batted really well. Litton is always good to watch. He was brilliant today; [he] always seems to have time while batting. He negotiated the fast bowlers so comfortably. He didn’t look under pressure. We know what he went through in the T20 World Cup, but we knew of his capability.”Shanto played an exciting, dominating innings. Young Joy, playing only his second Test, took his time in the middle. Mominul, too, batted for time, which was important for us in this Test match. They have ensured a 73-run lead, but there’s a lot of cricket left in this game.”Joy, who was dismissed for 78, said that he was reminded by all three of his batting partners that time spent at the crease would bring him runs.”I planned to play as many balls as possible. I didn’t want to focus on runs. I knew that I could score runs when I am set at the crease,” he said. “I had a good partnership with Shadman [Islam] and then another good partnership followed with Shanto . He also told me to be in control when I tried to become too aggressive. Mominul told me that playing a lot of dot balls was not a problem.”Khaled Mahmud: “We want to do well – even if we can’t win, we definitely want to draw this Test”•AFP/Getty ImagesMahmud is known in Bangladesh cricket circles as a good motivator. That side to him had to come to the fore on this tour, considering Bangladesh’s poor record in New Zealand.”I usually speak to everyone individually. I particularly remember telling them that we lost nine Tests in New Zealand,” he said. “In 2017, we lost despite declaring on 595 in Wellington. I told them that we can’t keep losing here. One group has to stand out, so why not this group? Why can’t we play better cricket?”Results will come later, but we can play with courage. These are tough conditions for every visiting side, but I felt that we could do well here. I tried to pass this on to this young team. Definitely, there was fear within us. We have five batters – Shadman, Joy, Shanto, Yasir and Litton – who are not very experienced in Tests. They all possess the ability to play well, but working in specific areas really paid dividends for us.”Mahmud said Bangladesh were looking forward to a positive result in the next two days, particularly if they bat deep and take a 150-plus lead on the fourth morning.”They [the players] have worked hard, did everything to get to this stage,” he said. “I still think it is too early to say anything in this game. We have two more days left. We want to do well – even if we can’t win, we definitely want to draw this Test.”

Long been compared to Graeme Smith, the captain stands tall to inspire South Africa with a gutsy performance

Firdose Moonda07-Jan-20222:31

Cullinan: ‘This is welcome news for everyone who follows South Africa’

Dean Elgar was down. He had been hit on the shoulder and the ribs, but it was the blow from Jasprit Bumrah that ricocheted off his body to hit the grille of his helmet, that grounded him.He needed on-field treatment but pretended not to. And when he was done, he got hit again. “I think they should stop hitting me because I don’t seem to get out,” Elgar said. “I draw on that pain. Some call it stupid, some call it brave. If I am willing to put my body on the line, so should everyone else.”Related

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Was that a veiled dig at Kagiso Rabada? We’ll never know. What we do know is that Elgar approached him before the match about his conduct both on and off the field and demanded that he stepped up. “Playing for your country, you are expected to do that, irrespective of how you are feeling. It’s just another article – I am kind of over those articles.”Sorry, Dean. This another article about how you thrive on toughness. It’s another few dozen paragraphs about the way you hacked the ball like you gut a fish, the ones you wore and the bloody-mindedness you showed. But it’s also more than that.Undoubtedly, this is South Africa’s best moment of the last three years. They have had Test series victories over an under-strength Sri Lanka and in the West Indies, but not even their four T20 World Cup wins in five matches will equal the sense of occasion that this victory in the New Year’s Test brought. It came against the run of play after a trying Boxing Day week.Dean Elgar punches the air after hitting the winning four•AFP via Getty ImagesSouth Africa entered this Test on the back of an undercooked effort with the ball at SuperSport Park and a batting line-up that could best be described as promising but fragile. Their biggest name, Quinton de Kock, who was due to miss the rest of the series on paternity leave, retired from the longest format altogether. And India brought the strongest seam attack in their history to the venue where they have never lost a Test in this country, the Wanderers. What could possibly go right from there?Ask Elgar. “I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of winning a game of cricket,” he said. But there is a way.It starts with the basics. South Africa’s bowlers were much more focused on the opening day. They had two opportunities, at 101 for 2 and at 162 for 4, to press home the advantage but the set batters gave their wickets away. The bowlers bailed them out again, restricting India to a tough, but chase-able total. And even though South Africa had never reached a target of 220 at this ground, and India had one of the most challenging attacks they had faced in recent times, with more than two days to play and a massive point to prove, for Elgar, it was game on. The situation was tailor-made for his stick-it-to-them style of play.This is going to sound familiar, isn’t it? Because he is a left-hander with a leg-side heavy scoring preference, he is rough as rhino skin and now also captain of the Test team, Elgar has long been compared to Graeme Smith and dubbed a mini-Biff. That’s true in more ways than just size.

I draw on that pain. Some call it stupid, some call it brave. If I am willing to put my body on the line, so should everyone else.Dean Elgar

Elgar has scored lots second-innings runs in winning chases, much like Smith used to do. Of Smith’s 27 hundreds, four came in successful circumstances. Those were memorable occasions, in Wellington, Birmingham, Perth and Cape Town, and each time, Smith had a wing-man. It was Mark Boucher against New Zealand, Gary Kirsten in England, AB de Villiers with a blistering century against Australia and Hashim Amla at Newlands. Smith averaged 87.76 in successful fourth-innings chases. Elgar averages 78.75 in the same circumstances, with three fifties, including Thursday’s 96*.So, Elgar is not quite half as tall or half as broad as Smith, he has not won half as many matches, and he doesn’t have half of the team (if we’re honest, he doesn’t have any of the team) Smith had. But his performance was doubly impressive.On resuming on 46 after a lengthy rain delay, which wiped out more than two sessions, Elgar reached his half-century off the eighth ball he faced. R Ashwin bowled it full, and he creamed it through mid-on. It was the best-timed shot of his knock up to that point and then he had to settle in again. He was beaten by Mohammed Shami, squared up by Shardul Thakur, sent one flying over the slips for four (deliberately, of course), and then, with the target approaching 50, showed some real skills. His drive down the ground past Shami and his steer to third man are the shots Elgar should frame. So too, the pull and the upper cut off Mohammed Siraj. And at the end, the flick off the pads that brought the win.Dean Elgar may sometimes be down. But in this match, he was never out.

Covid-19 has affected the build-up, but coach Naveed Nawaz feels the players have responded well to the challenges

Mohammad Isam15-Jan-2022It was a homecoming worthy of national heroes. Thousands lined the 15-kilometre stretch from the Dhaka airport to the Shere Bangla National Stadium as the bus with the Under-19 World Cup winners passed. There was then a rousing reception at the ground, in front of a few thousands more. The players cut a cake, they collected their rewards. “The memories are unbelievable,” Naveed Nawaz, the coach of the team then and now, says.This was still a month off from the first reported case of Covid-19 in Bangladesh. There was no restrictions. It was, after all, Bangladesh’s first World Cup win, at any level. They beat Under-19 giants India in the final, and everyone who watched them loved the way the boys held their composure in tense moments.Related

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Two years on, as Bangladesh attempt to defend the title in the West Indies, Nawaz remembers the tears of joy most of all.”When we won the final, we understood that it was a big achievement for Bangladesh,” Nawaz tells ESPNcricinfo from St Kitts, where the team is based this time. “We were all happy and celebrating [in South Africa]. But it didn’t really hit us until the day we arrived in Dhaka.”When we saw the crowd celebrating on the streets, and then in the Mirpur stadium, we were actually in tears. All of us were crying. We didn’t realise the enormity of it until then, the impact that we had on the whole country.”The celebrations have, in a way, continued.Just over a year later – Covid-19 stopped cricket, and much else, for some time – after three international series for Bangladesh following the World Cup triumph, Shoriful Islam, the left-arm quick from the triumphant squad, made his T20I debut against New Zealand in March 2021. He would go on to play in the two other formats within the next two months.Shamim Hossain made an impressive T20I debut in New Zealand as well, before his fortunes took a nosedive, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy got his break more recently. Playing only his second Test, Mahmudul, as well as Shoriful, played a stellar role in Bangladesh’s unexpected Test win in Mount Maunganui earlier this month.Mahmudul Hasan Joy played a big part in Bangladesh’s recent Test win in New Zealand•Getty Images”It’s incredible, Joy, Patu (Shamim) and Shoriful going into the national team, and coping with the demands at the highest level,” Nawaz says. “It shows their improvement, from the Under-19 programme to doing well in the senior circuit.”I think I was the happiest person on the planet to see these Shoriful and Joy performing in New Zealand. They are both very close to me. How Joy tackled their highly skilled bowling attack, in their backyard, tells you a big story about him. We have discovered a star for Bangladesh, who can occupy the opening or No. 3 position for a very long time if guided properly.”Shoriful’s attitude and aggression on the field is an unbelievable change. When you look at him bowling, it seems like he has been playing international cricket for five-six years.”

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The 2022 team hasn’t been able to prepare as well as the 2020 team had because of the Covid situation. Multiple cases affected the training schedules and camps, and travel restrictions meant they couldn’t replicate the build-up of the previous group. While Bangladesh played 30 youth one-dayers, and won 18, in the lead-up to the 2020 World Cup, they managed to play only 12 such games this time, winning just three.”Preparation-wise, we are far behind this time. Most of our [preparatory] camps were affected, so our preparation hasn’t been ideal,” Nawaz says. “We managed to get in a couple of series. Since there was no time, the main target was to get the players match-ready.”We had to make sure we had the right players to form a strong team. We did our best within the time frame that we had. I think we got the best out of everything possible. In the West Indies, we will rely mainly on our strong bowling attack.”Shamim Hossain made a bright start to his T20I career before hitting a bit of a low•AFP/Getty ImagesAfter reaching the Caribbean, Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 155 runs [DLS method] in a warm-up game. From their “strong” bowling pack, left-arm spinner Naimur Rohman (3-18), offspinner Ariful Islam (2-6) and right-arm medium-pacer Abdullah Al Mamun (2-15) stood out in that win.

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It was a bit iffy prior to the team coming together as it has.Following a 5-0 drubbing from the hands of Sri Lanka Under-19 in October last year, the BCB brought in 2020 team stalwarts Rakibul Hasan, a left-arm spinner and useful batter, and quick bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib, appointing the former as captain.”Rakibul and Sakib give us a bit of strength in our bowling department,” Nawaz says. “It is good to have them back. They have been working with me for the last couple of years. They also played a couple of series with the high-performance squad, so they are more experienced and ready.”Rakibul is very much a hands-on captain. He has built a very good rapport in a short time. He shares a lot of experience and knowledge with others. He is very much a dedicated team person. He puts the country before himself. It is a good example. He is very respected within the team.”Since Rakibul and Sakib joined the team, they won a triangular one-day series against two India Under-19 sides in Kolkata, and then made the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners India in the eight-team Under-19 Asia Cup in the UAE.Rakibul Hasan, a part of the 2020 team, has been brought in to lead the 2022 side•Getty Images

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Bangladesh have had a decent development programme in place for a while now, but the 2020 World Cup win gave it the fillip it needed.Nawaz was part of the leadership group led by Khaled Mahmud, chairman of the BCB’s game development committee, with AEM Kawser, the game development manager, and selector Hasibul Hossain Shanto in the mix. “The trophy inspired the younger generation in Bangladesh,” Nawaz says. “They have the belief that they can beat any team in the world. This is the difference winning a World Cup makes to a country. The whole culture and system will change.”Nawaz is himself a product of Sri Lanka’s famed school-cricket system, although he only played a single Test and three ODIs at the senior level for Sri Lanka. When he joined the Under-19 team as coach in 2018, there were murmurs in local cricket circles that Nawaz didn’t have the right credentials. But he has the results to show.”I wanted to create a method based on which the players can succeed,” Nawaz says. “I was successful in doing that in the first two years because of the unbelievable talent in Bangladesh. But talent alone is not enough. They had to play the mental game right. It was also important to create the right methods for batting, bowling and fielding. I am trying to do the same with the second group. They have responded quite well, though we see some inconsistency in their performances.”My idea was to show people that if you can instil discipline and good work ethic, if you get them to believe in the concept of a team, complement and help each other, and work really hard as a team, you can achieve anything.”It worked once. Repeating the feat will, perhaps, be an even bigger achievement than the one two years ago.

Why did England pick a man they have usually handled so delicately to bowl at a spinners graveyard?

Jarrod Kimber10-Dec-2021″Don’t fall asleep because you might not wake up.” That’s what Jack Leach was saying to himself in 2019. That was when he had sepsis in New Zealand. Leach also has Crohn’s disease.England have done everything they can to keep him fit and healthy. Giving him the very best treatment to ensure he can be ready when they need him.When selected he’s been an almost single-use entity on the field. Since that New Zealand tour, they’ve used him when and where he’s suited. Leach averages 31.12 in Tests because England have waited for pitches that turn, or batters he has good match-ups against.Related

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And then they turned up at the Gabba, a place where overseas spinners don’t work, where there is little spin, a team of left-handers, and they chose him over Stuart Broad’s 524 wickets.There Leach got a different kind of treatment from the Australians, 1 for 102 from 13 overs.

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England analyst Nathan Leamon once said that we obsess too much over the selections of the ninth, tenth and eleventh best players in a team in cricket.And he’s right. So much of the cricket media and public’s obsession is over the players who make the smallest impact. Part of that is quite simply because during a Test, a poor selection becomes a story for days, as we try to work out what would have happened with the road not travelled.That happened here with the non-selection of Broad. England got into trouble in this Test because they were dismissed for 147. Broad has a Test century to his name, but it’s doubtful he would have changed that score much.He might have helped with the ball, with Chris Woakes starting poorly. Having Broad out there would have been a simple way to regain control. And as Brisbane’s biggest newspaper will grudgingly admit, he’s bowled well there over the years for 12 wickets at 24.5; even if half of those wickets were from one innings.But what about the man they chose instead, Leach. For a team with so much off-field support, he would seem to be one of the most baffling choices to make for a touring side in Australia for quite some time.

“The Gabba has a weird kink – it actually gets tougher to take spin wickets the longer the match goes. Wickets fail at 51.1 in the first innings, but in the second that is 57.3”

Leach is a spinner who needs a lot of assistance off the surface. That’s common, but he goes from everyday friendly finger spinner to Thanos on a ragging wicket. The best way to tell this is that Leach averages 21.49 at Taunton. In the rest of the UK it’s 32.68. This is also backed up by his average of 27.32 in Asia. And in five Tests at home, he averages 20 overs a match. That’s incredibly low for a frontline spinner.So what kind of help does the Gabba give spin bowlers in the last five years? Seam is averaging around 27 compared to spin’s 53. Lyon is averaging 45.50 here in that time. In the last 41 years, the Gabba has one five-wicket haul to a tourist, John Emburey’s 5-80. Only Daniel Vettori has more than seven wickets in total there. This is the opposite of what Leach needs.The Gabba has a weird kink too. It actually gets tougher to take spin wickets the longer the match goes. Wickets fail at 51.1 in the first innings, but in the second that is 57.3. As most tweakers prefer the second innings, this isn’t ideal. But it’s terrible for someone like Leach, who massively depends on the surface falling apart. In the first match innings he averages 48.82; in the second that drops to 20.95.Then there are the Australian batters, of which four of the top seven, and six of the eleven are left-handed. Leach – like most left-arm orthodox bowlers – is terrible against southpaws. Against right-handers, he averages 24.7, and against lefties that’s 61.5. The problem for Leach is that Smith and Labuschagne average over 40 against left-arm orthodox in the last five years (for Smith, that’s a weakness of sorts). Really only Pat Cummins – who is a poor player of spin generally – is weak against it. That’s not a lot of potential victims for Leach.Not that it matters that much, but Broad has averaged 25.2 against left-handers in the last five years. As you may have heard, he’s been pretty good to David Warner as well.Australia were always going to target Leach, because Ben Stokes was under a fitness cloud, and this was a weaker bowling attack without James Anderson and Jofra Archer. Leach doesn’t have a lot of weapons when someone attacks him on a flat pitch. If it’s a left-hander, without footmarks, he’s naked.Only 25 overseas spinners have more than 20 wickets in Australia. Five of those have played a Test this millennium. Only Geoff Miller of the England spinners has an average under 30 with more than 20 wickets. Panesar doesn’t even qualify (13 wickets at 48.92). Swann has 22 at over 50.Leach has enjoyed success in spinning conditions•BCCIThe problem for most spinners is that generally side spin is more important around the world. In Australia, side spin is helpful, but overspin needs to be with it. The bounce. Most spinners could work this out, but they’d have to bowl in Australia over a couple of series to perfect it. They often get smashed in their first one and are shelved afterwards.Your best chance of taking wickets in Australia is if you are tall, or can master overspin. Weirdly England have a tweaker like this in their group, Dom Bess. He actually profiles like an Australian offspinner, for all his problems with landing the ball where he wants it. And he would have been handy against a team of left-handers. Bess is in Brisbane at the moment; he just took 4-80 against Australia A.

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Australia attacked Leach almost twice as much as any other frontline bowler.Leach has bowled 95.5% of his career pro deliveries with the red ball. He has 17 List A games and two T20s for 36 combined wickets. He has no white-ball experience. England have protected him from these kinds of situations, and now here he is, in an Ashes Test, being destroyed.Warner hit him for two big sixes. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne basically scored at two runs a ball against him. His wicket came from some good bounce but mostly because Labuschagne was showing him the same amount of respect he would a fourth-change club bowler.Fans and the media suggested Leach bowled too flat, tossed up, aggressive, and straight. The truth is, he bowled too much.Moeen Ali probably should have been England’s spinner here if he was still playing. Bess would have been a decent back-up with so many left-handers on display.England’s treatment of Leach’s health has been admirable. They used to select him when everything was in his favour which helped him. If there was any problem with this, it was that they never let him develop other skills by using him only when it suited. Or let him play that much at all. In 2020 he didn’t get a Test. This year he didn’t play during the home summer. Hard to go from targeting a team of right-handers on ragging Indian wickets to a team of lefties on a spinner’s graveyard with no Tests in between.England are known to be meticulous with their planning for major series and tournaments. And then they turned up at the Gabba with a bowler absolutely not suited to the job in so many obvious ways.On the third day, England gave him the ball when they had run out of options. Of course, that is part of why he was in the team in the first place.Australia went after Jack Leach, but England’s treatment was worse.

They also have an immensely strong bowling attack, but they might be lacking in local batting talent

Himanshu Agrawal23-Mar-2022Where they finished in 2021Runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. When the IPL was postponed midway through the season last year, Kolkata Knight Riders were placed seventh after just two wins from seven matches, but by the time the league stage ended in the UAE, they were second on the points table.Potential first XI1 Venkatesh Iyer, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Sheldon Jackson/B Indrajith (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Shivam Mavi, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun ChakravarthyRelated

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Player AvailabilityAlex Hales pulling out of the IPL citing bubble fatigue opened a door for Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch. However, with Australia’s white-ball series against Pakistan to conclude on April 5, Finch will not be available for the first handful of games. Pat Cummins, meanwhile, is understood to fly back to Australia after the Pakistan Test series to attend Shane Warne’s memorial on March 30. He will join the side after serving the mandatory three-day quarantine and should be available for their fourth match, on April 6.*Like his other New Zealand team-mates, pace bowler Tim Southee will be available for the tournament despite his country playing Netherlands in a white-ball series at home. However, with New Zealand set to tour England for three Tests in early June, Southee may have to miss the playoffs and the final should Knight Riders make it that far.Kolkata Knight Riders squad for IPL 2022•ESPNcricinfo LtdBattingKnight Riders have two in-form batters to bank on: Venkatesh Iyer, who played a big hand in their turnaround last season, and Shreyas Iyer, who enters this IPL with a bagful of recent runs.Venkatesh cracked 370 runs in the UAE last time, and followed it up with 155 at a strike rate of 140 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Although he has played as a finisher for India since, Knight Riders will likely prefer him at the top of the order, taking advantage of powerplay restrictions.Shreyas has been riding a tremendous wave: after establishing himself in India’s limited-overs sides, he was picked by Knight Riders for INR 12.25 crore (USD 1.6 million approx), making him the highest-paid pure batter to come out of the auction. Then the franchise named him captain, which seemed to agree with him quite well given he reeled off three successive unbeaten half-centuries against Sri Lanka in a Player-of-the-Series performance.Shreyas has batted No. 3 in 41 of his 87 innings in IPL, but he can be used at No. 4 too if, in addition to Venkatesh, Knight Riders include both Ajinkya Rahane and Finch.Rahane is at his best when the ball comes onto the bat. That means he needs to bat in the top three. But even then, he strikes at only 120.13. Knight Riders are going to have to make do with that because they don’t really have a lot of established local batting talent. There’s Anukul Roy, who could be utilised along with Andre Russell, as finisher, and B Indrajith, who for all his skill in the longer formats last played a T20 in 2019.Sunil Narine is the jewel in a strong Knight Riders bowling attack•BCCIBowlingWhat Knight Riders lack with the bat, they make up with the ball. With three mystery spinners in Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Ramesh Kumar, and the pace of Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Cummins and Southee, they have a veritable bowling armoury to call upon. Add to that the all-round options provided by Russell and Mohammad Nabi, plus the useful medium pace of Venkatesh, and they become the envy of the whole tournament.Narine and Chakravarthy’s economy rates of 5.91 and 6.34 respectively in the powerplay, plus their ability to turn the ball both ways, make them a captain’s dream.However, Ramesh is the only left-arm option they have in their entire roster. Nicknamed “left-handed Narine”, the 23-year old is more of a wristspinner and although he has raw talent he still hasn’t played any cricket at a competitive level.Young players to watch out forA product of the tennis-ball circuit, Ramesh could turn out to be one of the finds of the season. Despite a late initiation to playing with an actual cricket ball, he became an integral part of the Moga district team and one of the best young bowlers in Punjab.Among the batters, the 23-year old Roy oozes promise. He has batted at Nos. 6 and 7 for all but two of his 24 T20 innings thus far, and strikes at 141 overall. A useful understudy, just in case Russell breaks down again. Plus, being a left-hander, he can also help his side mix things up in the batting order.Roy enters the IPL on the back a 59 and 153 against Nagaland in the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final, and although they came in a format altogether different and against an attack lacking bite, Knight Riders will hope he can carry that confidence into the IPL.Coaching staffBrendon McCullum (head coach), Abhishek Nayar (assistant coach), B Arun (bowling coach), Omkar Salvi (assistant bowling coach) and James Foster (fielding coach)Poll question