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Karachi Kings captain also stressed his players had great respect for Lahore Qalandars

Umar Farooq16-Nov-2020Karachi Kings captain Imad Wasim said Lahore Qalandars are “a tough team to beat but not impossible”. Both teams are playing their maiden PSL final, with the Wasim wary of an opposition brimming with confidence after winning two eliminators.Karachi made their way into the final after they managed to turn what should have been a straightforward chase against Multan Sultans into a nail-biter that required a Super Over to resolve. Lahore, on the other hand, stormed into the final with two powerful displays, comfortably beating Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans. The finalists split the group stage games, and though Karachi do historically have a superior record over their fierce rivals, Wasim brushed that aside as a point that may make a difference.”You cannot predict the future but the way they [Qalandars] rose to the challenge in the last two games, the confidence and morale is definitely is up,” Wasim said. “Obviously, every player they have is in form, but in the final, everything changes and it’s a stage where it’s all about holding your nerve. Yes, we weren’t able to express ourselves properly against Multan Sultans, but for the final, everyone will be up to the mark. On the day, one team has to lose, but you just have to make sure you perform to your fullest.”In our team, we have several players who, if they stay for a while at the crease, can change the face of the game. Lahore has played very good cricket lately and are hard to beat, but not impossible to beat. Nobody is unbeatable, anyone can beat anyone on a given day. We made it into the final winning games and we worked hard for them. So has Lahore – the way they are clicking – so I think we are both deserving finalists.”Sohail Akhtar goes on the attack•AFP via Getty Images

Lahore and Karachi coming up against each other generates huge interest – and passions. It has, on occasion, spilled over into acrimony, with Wasim Akram once embroiled in a heated argument with someone on Lahore’s ownership team after a loss in Dubai in 2019. Imad Wasim, the captain, and fast bowler Mohammad Amir were also part of the argument, which allegedly included inappropriate gestures. The PCB later had to chip in to arbitrate after Lahore formally lodged an official complaint against the trio. The issue was later resolved amicably behind closed doors, and Wasim insisted passions would remain under control.”We all are friends and play side by side in international teams,” Wasim said. “We want to fight like a team but it doesn’t mean we sledge each other on the field. It’s game of cricket and I have a clear message to every one of my players: to play with the spirit of the game. It’s a game, and we are fighting with our opponents. Our motive is to play to our best while maintaining the values of sportsmanship.”Lahore captain Sohail Akhtar, a first-timer this season and the only one to lead a PSL side without international experience, said “It’s a big achievement to reach the final. The belief that was there for five years has paid off. Our fans have stood by us for five years and now is the time to give them the best possible gift by winning the trophy.”We will try to build on the momentum we have had and the key for success in the final will be to stick to the basics in both batting and bowling departments. Playing the final against Karachi in their own backyard is a massive occasion and I am sure it will have a huge following on TV and social media. We are really excited and looking forward to the game.”

Holder has been in biosecure bubbles since June and his next destinations are Australia and Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2020Jason Holder was at home in Barbados last in June this year. Since then, despite the pandemic, he has travelled with the West Indies side to England and New Zealand, and in between, played in the Caribbean Premier League and the Indian Premier League with a vacation thrown in between the two biosecure bubbles. He doesn’t know when he is likely to be home next with another T20 stint and a West Indies tour coming up.”It has been tough”, he admitted after West Indies lost the two-Test series in New Zealand 2-0, both by innings margins, but stressed that he has been “enjoying moving around”.”Man, it’s tough. It was a tough year. Credit to every individual who would have sacrificed their health, and the risk of travelling around the world in this pandemic,” Holder said at a press interaction after West Indies lost the second Test in Wellington by an innings and 12 runs. West Indies had lost the three-match T20I series 2-0, with the third game spoilt by the weather.Related

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Holder explained that with Cricket West Indies announcing pay cuts in May in the wake of what it called the “debilitating” financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the players had to do what they had to in order to make a living.”It has been a tough year. Not just for the team but I know for me personally it has been tough. I haven’t seen home in six months now. I have been going non-stop. We have had pay cuts. It is a situation where you are still looking to make a living, still looking to make use of every opportunity you get,” he said. “But, having said that, going from bubble to bubble and being isolated into a room – sometimes, as I have said before, the room just gets smaller and smaller by the second.”I know a few of the guys have got tired minds. We’ve been on the road for a little while. It would be good for the guys to get home for Christmas, spend some time with their families; hopefully some of them get there in time for Christmas, because I think you’ve got to do a quarantine, some players have to do a quarantine going back home.”It will be a much-needed rest for some players to just refresh and come back.”Holder isn’t going back home to recharge his batteries yet. From New Zealand, it’s over to Australia to link up with the Sydney Sixers for a three-game stint in the ongoing BBL – no quarantine needed, because of the travel bubble between the two countries – and then on to Bangladesh with West Indies in January.”We have got a short turnaround. I head over to the Big Bash after this and then we’ve got a tour of Bangladesh in early January. Not much time in between, but we will see how it goes,” Holder said. “I don’t know [when I will be home next]. At this point, I really don’t know. But I am still enjoying it. Still enjoying moving around.”I am trying to make use of every opportunity I get and hope it works out for me.”Much like the English earlier in the year, the New Zealanders were quick to express their gratitude to the West Indians for making the trip at all in these unprecedented times.”We are certainly thankful to West Indies for coming here,” Tom Latham, who led New Zealand in Kane Williamson’s absence in the second Test, said. “We understand how hard it has been. What we are faced with at the moment with the world situation, for them to come out and spend time in quarantine, I know it’s hard. They are away from their homes, their families, and we certainly appreciate the effort they have put in throughout the T20s and the Tests.”Next year, there’s a possibility that we may have to do that and that may become the norm for a while. So we will have to wait and see what that presents for us.”

Bangladesh captain rues absence of Shakib, concedes spinners could have bowled better lengths

Mohammad Isam07-Feb-2021Ramifications, analysis and criticism will be the predictable aftermath of Bangladesh’s three-wicket loss against West Indies in the Chattogram Test. But at the forefront of Bangladesh failing to defend a target of 395 in the fourth innings was the lengths bowled by their spinners on the fifth day.Nayeem Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam bowled a total of 120 short of length deliveries that fetched West Indies 119 runs, including 16 fours and a six. On a day that began with survival being most crucial for the batting team – the odd ball was keeping low or bouncing sharply from a length – the loose deliveries released pressure.Bangladesh spinners short bowling to Mayers and Bonner•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque said that he hadn’t expected such a result, and while he didn’t blame anyone in particular, he admitted that the bowlers could have bowled better lengths.”It is an unbelievable result,” Mominul said. “But that’s how the ball rolls sometimes. This wasn’t an expected result. Our bowlers didn’t bowl in the right areas, and their batting pair (Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner) did really well. We dominated them for four days but lost at the last hurdle. At no point did I think that we’d lose this game.”You can’t really blame anyone in particular after a loss. A team losing means everyone has lost, and vice versa when we win. Those who bowled today are capable match-winners, but if they had bowled better lengths (we could have seen something different). Maybe we are coming back to Tests after a long time, or we lacked belief.”It was starkly evident that Bangladesh missed Shakib Al Hasan’s bowling, the premier allrounder not able to bowl having sustained a left thigh strain on the second day. But Shakib looked quite active on the fifth afternoon, even giving the team a pep talk before they headed out for the third session, and at times spoke to Miraz and Mominul near the boundary. Mominul said that Shakib’s presence could have meant a whole different story for his team.”We would have bowled tighter if Shakib was in the field. He is a senior bowler, who would have helped the other bowlers. We did miss his bowling but we also had Taijul, Nayeem and Miraz.”Taijul is an experienced bowler who bowled well in this game. Miraz took eight wickets in the match and batted well too,” he said.Bangladesh also missed four chances in total, including Mayers dropped on 49 at slip and Bonner reprieved on a stumping chance on 79. Two reviews for lbw that could have helped Bangladesh were also not taken, when Mayers was on 47 and Bonner on 25. On both occasions, replays showed the ball was hitting the stumps.”There were enough opportunities on this pitch. We should have grabbed the chances when the bowlers were doing well. Both batsmen had lives, so if we got them out, the momentum would have certainly changed,” Mominul said.He also praised Mayers for his outstanding innings, with the batsman unbeaten on 210 on debut. “It is the sort of pitch where it is hard to get a batsman out when he is set. He batted outstandingly. It wasn’t easy to chase almost 400 runs. He made a double-hundred in that situation.”

The allrounder is expected to need six weeks of rest before he can run again

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2021Colin de Grandhomme is in a race to be fit for New Zealand’s tour of England in June, which includes two Tests against the hosts as well as the World Test Championship final against India, after deciding to undergo surgery on his right ankle on Thursday.NZC’s medical manager Dayle Shackel has confirmed that the allrounder will need six weeks of rest post-surgery to resume running, and another two weeks before he can bowl again.The ankle injury troubled de Grandhomme throughout the 2020-21 season, keeping him out of international action for the entirety of a home summer that included visits by West Indies, Pakistan and Australia. He played domestic cricket for Northern Districts, but only as a specialist batsman.With de Grandhomme absent, Daryl Mitchell has occupied the seam-bowling allrounder’s spot in New Zealand’s Test team, playing three of their four Tests over the summer and scoring a maiden hundred against Pakistan in Christchurch.New Zealand coach Gary Stead, however, has said de Grandhomme remains a key part of the team’s plans.”We’ve all been gutted for Colin having to miss this international summer through injury,” he said. “His contributions to the BLACKCAPS in the past few years have been outstanding across all three formats and he’s been a huge part of our team.”His skills with the ball, power with the bat and catching in the field make him one of the premier all-rounders in the world and so we’re naturally eager to see him get the injury right and become available for us again.”It’s too early to say what this might mean for our Test tour to England in late May and June, but we’re hopeful following surgery and rehabilitation he will be a chance to make the squad.”

Virat Kohli says India managing allrounder’s workload with six Tests to come in England

Sidharth Monga26-Mar-20212:36

Bell on Stokes-Bairstow stand: ‘Some of the best power-hitting you’ll see’

India might be looking at a Test return for Hardik Pandya during the six Test matches in England later this year. As India were comprehensively beaten even after putting 336 on the board, Pandya’s absence from the bowling crease remained a hot topic especially as he had been utilised during the T20I series. With Pandya not bowling in either of the ODIs, India were reduced to a five-bowler side with none of them getting any respite from England’s all-out attack.At the post-match presentation, Kohli was asked why Pandya was not bowled now that he had come back from his shoulder injury well enough to have resumed bowling. “We need to manage his body,” Kohli told host broadcaster Star Sports. “Need to understand where we need this skill set. We did utilise him in the T20Is but in the ODIs, it’s about managing his workload. We have Test cricket in England coming up too. So it’s important for us to have him fit.”Related

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The last time Pandya played Tests was in England in 2018. Back then, the move was questioned by experts – Michael Holding in particular – for hedging because Pandya is not a proper Test allrounder. However, in recent times, India have benefited from having depth in their batting line-up, especially in Australia where they played the unheralded Washington Sundar ahead of Kuldeep Yadav just for his batting bonus.Even before Sundar played that crucial role with the bat, India’s fortunes turned with the return of Ravindra Jadeja as the allrounder in the second Test. In the home Tests, Axar Patel played that kind of role, combining with Rishabh Pant and R Ashwin in the lower-middle order. It is possible India are looking at Pandya to play the role Jadeja did in Australia: provide heft to the lower-middle order and also bowl some overs to keep the four specialist bowlers fresh. The conditions in England are not likely to be conducive to play both R Ashwin and Jadeja.Pandya was part of the squad for the home Tests, although he didn’t make it to the XI. It will be interesting to see how Mumbai Indians use Pandya during the IPL. In the last edition, he played purely as a batsman, but his side won’t mind the cover Pandya’s bowing provides to a bowling attack struggling on a particular night.

The home side have not won a one-day series against Australia since 1999

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Apr-2021Amy Satterthwaite, New Zealand’s stand-in captain, hopes they are able to “unleash” fast bowler Lea Tahuhu on Australia in the Rose Bowl one-day series.Tahuhu, who remains one of the quickest bowlers in the game, has been out of action since injuring her hamstring in the first ODI against England in February and was not included for the T20Is against Australia in the hope that she would be ready for the 50-over matches which begin on Sunday.It continued a run of injury problems for her after she picked up a side strain during the one-day series in Brisbane last October which meant she missed a chunk of the WBBL with Melbourne Renegades.Related

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“She’s really excited,” Satterthwaite said. “Her management have been working really closely over the last week or so on her progress and I’m sure they’ll look in the next couple of days to see where she is at and hopefully she can be unleashed in this series.”Everyone will look forward to having her back, we know what energy she brings not only with the ball but just in the group she can really lift us another level. We are excited that if we can get her back on the park what she can do for our side.”Satterthwaite acknowledged that Tahuhu’s pace alone won’t give Australia sleepless nights but believes New Zealand could have a lot bases covered in their attack if she returned.Lea Tahuhu has had an injury-hit season•Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

“Australia are fortunate enough to have a couple of quicks in their side so I’m sure they get a lot of practice at facing them in the nets so it’s not like something they haven’t seen,” she said. “But think she just brings a little bit of fire about her and it’s nice to have that balance of pace, swing and spin in our side.”It will be known over the next day or so whether Satterthwaite will continue as captain after Sophie Devine missed the last two T20Is due to fatigue but the interim leader was delighted with the way the team had responded to level the series in Napier.”Regardless of who it is we are always getting around each other and providing a lot of support,” she said. “Probably more than anything it’s going out on the park and being able to play the way we have to show the work we’ve been doing as a group and where she’s been taking us as a leader, that’s the biggest thing.”New Zealand have not won the Rose Bowl since 1999 with Australia having taken 17 of the last 18 series. Victory for Australia in the first match of this meeting would give them a world record 22 ODI wins in a row, surpassing the mark they currently share with Ricky Ponting’s 2003 team.”We saw in the last T20 that any time you beat Australia it’s a really big moment for us at the moment,” Satterthwaite said. “If we were able to trip them up it would be a big moment for us regardless of the record. The Rose Bowl has always been a series we really get up for and it’s one we’d love to get our hands on.”New Zealand will be without allrounder Frankie Mackay who was ruled out the remainder of the tour with a calf injury sustained during her innings in Napier.

After a placid draw, the pitch could aid spinners more than it did in the first Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Apr-2021

Big picture

After 28 consecutive result Tests in Sri Lanka – a glorious run stretching back to 2014 and a world record (by a distance) for any Test-hosting country – the first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was essentially trash from start to finish. The surface was slow from the outset, there was little movement to be had off the pitch or in the air, and as the deck had live grass on it, it didn’t break apart for the spinners either.We can only really hope that the surface for the second Test will be different. The strip that had been marked out for the second Test still had a lot of grass on it when the first Test concluded, and was still being watered. Perhaps they will shave it down and dry it out before Thursday morning, which should, in theory, make it better for the spin bowlers. If the first Test taught us anything, it is that even in Pallekele – the coolest of Sri Lanka’s Test venues – it is difficult to prepare a seam-friendly pitch during these scorching months of the year.

Pallekele Test pitch gets ‘below average’ rating

Match referee Ranjan Madugalle has rated the pitch used for the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh “below average”, and handed the venue one demerit point under the ICC’s Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process. A venue that accumulates five demerit points will be suspended from hosting internationals for 12 months. Demerit points stay on a venue’s record for a five-year period from the date of sanctioning.
“The character of the pitch hardly changed over the course of five days. There was no shift in balance between bat and ball as the game progressed,” Madugalle said, explaining his decision. “The pitch remained batting friendly throughout, resulting in a total of 1289 runs scored in the match for the loss of 17 wickets at an average of 75.82 runs per wicket, which is very high.”

Although bowlers will differ, neither team will be especially upset at how the first Test went. Tamim Iqbal looked outstanding in both innings, while Mominul Haque made his first century on foreign soil, and Najmul Hossain Shanto scored his first ever hundred. With two others also making half-centuries, they will feel like the batting order is in form.Sri Lanka also have a top order that seems, for now, to be functioning, but will worry about taking 20 wickets. They have never hosted Bangladesh for a Test series and failed to win at least one Test. What if the pitch is too similar to the one rolled out for the first Test? They have lost Lahiru Kumara, who perhaps seemed the most likely among the bowlers to bring a dead pitch to life. It is likely they will have to rely on wristspinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Lakshan Sandakan. The issue is, neither have ever really won a Test for Sri Lanka, off their own bowling.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka DDDLLBangladesh DLLWL

In the spotlight

Dhananjaya de Silva promised plenty in his debut series, against Australia in 2016. He has been through some leaner years since then, when he was up-and-down the order, as well as in-and-out of the XI. Over the past couple of years, though, his batting appears to have become more consistent, and he has made a lower-middle order spot his own. Now, though, he is expected not just to produce the kinds of runs he did in the first match (he hit 166) but also contribute with his offspin. If he can get that batting average above 40, and begin to be a little more threatening with the ball, he may become a truly invaluable player – his fielding standards having been consistently high.Dhananjaya de Silva scored 166 in the first Test•AFP/Getty Images

Although he didn’t hit a hundred Tamim Iqbal was perhaps Bangladesh’s most impressive batter in Pallekele. His first-innings 90 off 101 taking the wind out of the Sri Lanka bowlers’ sails before his 74 not out off 98 in the second dig crushed any mild hope the hosts might have had of forcing a victory. Through the course of both innings, Tamim was fearless, and had the look of a batter who could be poised to play a series- defining innings.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch, with any luck, will give the spin bowlers a little more assistance than the surface for the first Test did. If there’s cloud cover, there can sometimes be movement in the air for seamers at this venue as well.

Team news

Sri Lanka are likely to replace the injured Kumara with a spinner. Question is, do they go for left-arm wristspinner Sandakan or offspin-bowling allrounder Ramesh Mendis? They may think about bringing Asitha Fernando into the XI for his skiddy seam on what may be a pitch without a lot of bounce, but will likely stick to Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando: the former for his experience, the latter because he was the most impressive of the seamers in the first Test.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karaunaratne (c), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Oshada Fernando, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Pathum Nissanka, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Ramesh Mendis/Lakshan Sandakan, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Vishwa Fernando.Bangladesh are unlikely to rock the boat, and their coach Russell Domingo has said Saif Hassan will keep his place at the top of the order despite his low scores in the first Test. Depending on how they see the pitch, they will also have to take a call on their bowling attack though both their best spinners played in the last game.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mominul Haque (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Liton Das (wk), 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Abu Jayed, 11 Ebadot Hossain.

Stats and trivia

• Dimuth Karunaratne needs eight runs to complete 5000 Test runs. He would be the tenth Sri Lanka batter to the milestone. Among active Sri Lanka players, only Angelo Mathews has more runs, with 6219 runs.
• Mominul Haque has 3198 Test runs, but only 886 of those have come away from home. Of his 11 hundreds, four have come against Sri Lanka however – the most against any country.
• Tamim now averages 62.5 in Sri Lanka, with a strike rate of 62.14. His numbers are better only in England, where he has played just two Tests.
• These teams have played each other in 21 Tests altogether. Sri Lanka had won the first 12, but of the most-recent nine, four have been draws and one has been a Bangladesh win.

Quotes

“I don’t think there will be a lot on this pitch for the fast bowlers. It gets slower and slower. It started keeping low in the first Test as well. We’re hoping to play three spinners and two fast bowlers.”
“We want to try to win the series. It will be a great achievement for Bangladesh to win a series in Sri Lanka. Winning a Test series abroad is a goal that we have set ourselves. We have to play well over the five days. Sri Lanka are a tough side to beat especially at home. Our focus is on starting the Test well, and one session at a time.”

Head coach wants “one or two big away wins” to bolster his side’s confidence

Mohammad Isam30-May-2021Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo believes that the next step for his team should be to find success overseas. He wants them to adjust their strategies, particularly their scoring pattern, to foreign conditions and start by winning “one or two big games”.”The big challenge for this ODI team is to try to win away from home under different conditions,” Domingo told ESPNcricinfo. “They are a very good team in Bangladesh. I think if we can get that confidence going away from home, it will be a big thing. I think playing away from home, we need to win one or two big games. Once you get the confidence and belief that you can do it, that will put the team in a much better place mentally.”Bangladesh’s recent 2-1 win over Sri Lanka was their tenth ODI series win at home out of the last 11 such engagements going back to 2015. However, the picture is very different when playing ODIs – perhaps their favourite format – away from home. They have the best win-loss ratio at home since April 2015 (minimum 20 ODIs played), but among the worst away win-loss ratios in the same period. This, a result of Bangladesh having lost five out of seven away ODI series in this period, their only win coming against West Indies in 2018 after tying the series against Sri Lanka the previous year.Domingo wants all-round improvement in skills to win outside of Bangladesh more consistently. “There’s a certain bit of up-skilling that needs to take place with bat and ball,” he said. “People need to improve in various departments to make sure they can win some games away from home. This team has won away from home in other conditions but to challenge them to win in those conditions is something that the team needs to embrace and take it forward.”Top among Domingo’s priorities would be improving his side’s scoring rate. Bangladesh have an average of 238 runs in the 38 ODIs at home since April 2015, which goes up to 248 at a run rate of 5.68 in their 29 wins. There is a marginal difference in their average scoring away from home, with the figure going up to 241, but when they win abroad, that shoots up to 269 runs at a run rate of 6.13. Thus, Domingo says, Bangladesh must look to score 300-plus regularly to be at par with the teams ranked above them in ODIs.”I am not at all concerned by the number of runs we are scoring in Dhaka,” he says. “You can only score as much as the wickets allow you sometimes. Not many times teams get 300 in Dhaka. Definitely when you are playing away from home, 230s or 240s are not going to win you many games. We have to be able to challenge ourselves, play expansively to get up to 300 and 350. It is of paramount importance in the modern game.”To get to those scores, Bangladesh would need to change their approach. Their over-reliance on the four senior batters – Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah – remains unsustainable in any conditions; particularly when playing abroad, 300-plus can’t be managed by relying on just this quartet every game.Russell Domingo has called for patience with young players like Afif Hossain•Getty Images

Liton Das was recently dropped for the third ODI against Sri Lanka after averaging 12.62 in his last eight innings, while both Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun haven’t been consistent in the last three years either. Also during the ODIs against Sri Lanka, Mosaddek Hossain and Afif Hossain couldn’t capitalise on opportunities. However, Domingo isn’t giving up on any of them and has instead appealed for patience.”The younger players have shown some glimpses and positive signs, but it would be good to see them perform a bit more consistently,” he said. “A guy like Afif has only played three [four] ODIs, so it is very hard to judge. You have to be patient with them, and they can learn a lot from the older players. I hate to put them under severe scrutiny and pressure. They are trying to find their feet at this level.”Domingo said while the current group of senior batters in the side are, as a bunch, at par with some of the best batting groups in the world, even those four accomplished batters took a bit of time to get accustomed to international cricket.”Obviously, it would be great if they started producing runs in every single game,” he added. “All teams rely heavily on their senior players to perform. India has Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. England has [Joe] Root, [Jos] Buttler and [Ben] Stokes who are big players. The responsibility comes with the older players.”If you go through examples, you think so many of our big-game players like Tamim, Mushfiq [Rahim] and Shakib, they also took a bit of time initially to find their feet in international cricket. Some of the wickets in Dhaka are not easy for batting. It has taken Mushfiq and Shakib a little bit of time to figure out what’s the best way to play in these conditions.”Related

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On the upside, Bangladesh’s bowling has improved, with three other bowlers – Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed – now giving Shakib the support he needs. Mehidy, among the younger and the lesser-experienced lot, just climbed to No. 2 in the ICC ODI bowling rankings.”I am really pleased for Mehidy. He is getting recognised for his consistent performances,” Domingo said. “He is a wonderful team guy. He always has a smile on his face. He is willing to do whatever it takes to put the team in a better position.”Bangladesh’s next ODI assignment will be against Zimbabwe, where they will be playing three ODIs in July. The Harare Sports Club, the venue of those matches, has an average score of 201 batting first, thus requiring a different type of adjustment for the side. After Zimbabwe, they also face England, Afghanistan, South Africa and Ireland in their remaining ICC ODI Super League matches, sides that would again test them differently.Hoping to consistently successfully defend around 240 against teams such as these, or being given targets of around 250, seems increasingly outdated thinking. They have done really well to become a huge threat at home but, to be counted among the global game’s top sides, Bangladesh must look to bolder strategies on foreign shores.

Sri Lanka’s head coach said he wants the batters to be more proactive against a world-class England attack

Matt Roller25-Jun-2021Mickey Arthur has urged his Sri Lanka side to stay patient after they slipped to a second defeat in as many nights in Cardiff, leaving them on a run of 11 defeats in their last 12 completed T20Is dating back to October 2019.Opting to bat first in both games after winning the toss, Sri Lanka posted scores of 129 and 111, and while they came much closer to defending their total on Thursday night than in Wednesday’s eight-wicket pasting, they always looked a long way short of a par score, failing to hit a boundary in the powerplay for the first time in their T20I history. Arthur, Sri Lanka’s head coach, stressed at the start of the tour that he wanted to add a level of consistency to selection following a turbulent period of chopping and changing, and that it would be important to “nail down the guys’ roles” in this series.Dasun Shanaka, with scores of 50 and 8 from No. 7, is their leading run-scorer in the series, with Danushka Gunathilaka and Avishka Fernando – backed as opening options for the long term – both struggling to make an impact at the top of the order. Their lack of attacking intent with the bat came under scrutiny on Thursday, but while Arthur suggested that they could be “more proactive” in future, he said that there had been limited opportunities to score against a “world-class” England side on a slow, two-paced pitch being used for the second night in a row.Related

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“Just not enough runs again,” Arthur told the BBC, when asked for his take on his side’s defeat. “We’re coming up against a really good bowling attack. They’re ranked No. 1 in the world, we’re ranked No. 9 [actually No. 8] and you can see the difference. We’ve started a journey with a young team and for us it’s about getting better, competing, learning from every game and every experience and getting better and better as we go along.”It’s tough. We’re consistently talking about freedom, about taking the handbrake off as a batting unit. But you can only bat as well as you’re allowed to and I thought England were world-class with the lengths they hit. They put us under a lot of pressure with the bat.”We can be more proactive and we’ve got to go back and work on that. We can walk around the crease a little bit more and try to do different things but our batters are learning all the time, particularly in these conditions. We’ve got a really exciting batting unit in our conditions but it’s about transferring those skills to conditions outside our own environment.”There have been more positives with the ball, with Dushmantha Chameera finding steepling bounce with the new ball in both games, Wanindu Hasaranga conceding only four runs per over across the series, and Binura Fernando striking with the new ball when handed an opportunity on Thursday night. Arthur also highlighted the improvements that have been made in Sri Lanka’s fielding after he had placed an emphasis on fitness, and noted the absence of the injured Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha.”I thought we bowled really well,” he said. “Our fielding has gone up to another level. Fielding is all about attitude, it’s measurable, and I think the guys are getting better and better with that. We’re really excited with our bowling unit and we’ve got a couple of guys that are injured as well, so when we get them back we’ll be good.”

With domestic events postponed, Barbados get the nod as they are the defending T20 Blaze champions

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2021Barbados will participate in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games as the “representative team from the West Indies”, the update coming after Cricket West Indies postponed the 2021 T20 Blaze and Women’s Super50 Cup until next year. That meant Barbados, as the defending T20 Blaze champions, having won it in 2020, made the cut. It’s the first time women’s cricket will be played at the Games.The decision to postpone the regional women’s tournaments was taken after ODI and T20I dates for the West Indies vs South Africa series – August 31 to September 19 – were finalised, as well as taking into account “the ongoing logistical challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic [with regards to] multiple teams to be hosted in one country”, as CWI said in a statement.Related

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The 2021 T20 Blaze was meant to be the qualifying tournament for next year’s Commonwealth Games, to identify the one national team that would represent the Caribbean region, after West Indies were confirmed as one of seven teams to qualify directly based on the ICC rankings on April 1, 2021. England, the hosts, along with Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa are the other teams to have made the cut based on the rankings, with an eighth team coming through via a qualifying event, to be held by January 31 next year.”This is an historic occasion as for the first time Women’s Twenty20 cricket will feature at this prestigious global sporting event, which is a great fillip for our sport and great exposure and opportunity for the players,” Johnny Grave, the CWI chief executive, said. “We wish them all the very best as they compete for the gold medal, and we know they will continue to do West Indies proud.”It has been a challenging period with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic at our doorstep, and we have been forced to take the decision to postpone the Women’s T20 Blaze and Women’s CG Insurance Super50 Cup for this year. We have however been able to invest in several High Performance Camps and international fixtures to the Women’s squad, conducted by Courtney Walsh and his coaching staff. These have been hugely beneficial to date and we have identified a core group of players who are the best available in the region for the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers who will benefit from the additional resources that CWI is committing to preparing the West Indies Women’s squad.”