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“On a wicket like this, we shouldn’t lose four wickets in the first ten overs”

Mohammad Isam07-Sep-20231:51

Jaffer: Bangladesh need to re-assess their shot selection

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan lamented his side’s poor powerplay with the bat as they suffered a seven-wicket loss against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super Four opener. After winning the toss and batting first, Bangladesh slipped to 47 for 4 in the tenth over, allowing the home side to dictate terms from an early stage.Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who made his second ODI century against Afghanistan in the previous game, fell for a first-ball duck in the second over, before Shaheen Shah Afridi got one to rear at the returning Litton Das in the fifth to have him caught behind. Mohammad Naim skied a pull off Haris Rauf, who took the return catch before bursting one through Towhid Hridoy in the tenth over.Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim put together a 100-run fifth-wicket stand that helped them recover somewhat, but that work was undone as they lost their last four wickets in nine balls, starting with the fall of Mushfiqur in the 38th over.Related

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• 'Hot-and-cold' Bangladesh seek consistency as Sri Lanka chase milestone win

• Unassuming Rauf re-emerges from shadows of Afridi and Naseem

• Haris four-for, Imam 78 make short work of Bangladesh

Shakib said that the fifth-wicket stand should have lasted a bit longer but kept an eye on the broader picture as he reflected on their “hot-and-cold” batting unit.”We lost early wickets in the start, and we played some ordinary shots,” Shakib said after the match. “On a wicket like this, we shouldn’t lose four wickets in the first ten overs but it happens. Our partnership [for the fifth wicket] was good, [I] thought we needed to bat seven or eight more overs. Very poor batting display on a surface like this, but we have to move on to the next one.”They are the No. 1 team and these are the reasons. They have three world-class bowlers who are making things easier for them. We have been doing well in the bowling department, but batting is a bit hot and cold. We need to be more consistent.”Bangladesh’s assistant coach Nic Pothas later said that the batters had to make better decisions in their shot selection. “As a batting unit, we didn’t make the right decisions at the right time in these conditions,” Pothas said. “It was always going to be a challenge for a team in transition. You want to try to put a score on the board when you win the toss and bat first. You are also talking about an elite bowling attack. I think the options we took made life easy for that seam attack.”Ideally, we would have liked to bat a lot deeper than that and get a score on the board. But that’s the nature of playing against top-seam attacks. We need to improve but if it was that easy, everybody would be doing it.”Pothas said it was good that Bangladesh’s batters faced Pakistan’s bowlers at least once before the World Cup. The two teams have hardly played any ODI cricket against each other in recent years. Their last bilateral ODI series was in 2015, when Bangladesh won 3-0 at home.”We haven’t played a lot against Pakistan,” Pothas said. “They are high on confidence at the moment. They are No. 1 in the world. They played like the best team in the world. But they played in their home conditions. They know how to play at this ground better than anybody. But this added experience makes our batters better.”Shakib, meanwhile, praised the Bangladesh fast bowlers for their continued good showing at the highest level. Since the 2019 ODI World Cup, Bangladesh’s fast bowlers were second only to Pakistan’s in terms of average and strike rate among the Full Member nations.”I thought our three seamers bowled brilliantly,” Shakib said. “Like Pakistan, our seamers have been bowling very well in the last couple of years. But, unfortunately, on a pitch like this, you can’t get wickets unless batters make mistakes.”

The former Australia opener also feels Warner should be locked in to open at the World Cup

Sruthi Ravindranath21-Aug-20231:43

Khawaja ‘proud’ of Ashes achievement despite missing out on series win

A bowling captain who plays all three formats, and leads in two of them. Pat Cummins has a lot on his plate, especially with an ODI World Cup in India coming up, but Matthew Hayden feels that with Steven Smith always “flapping around” on the field, “it’s a solution that Australia’s got covered” at the moment. However, Hayden feels Cummins is a very different sort of ODI World Cup captain for Australia from the ones of the past.”We’ve always had a very settled Australian captain with vast experience when you think back to the World Cups – Allan Border’s World Cup-winning effort here in India [in 1987], [had] lots of experience,” Hayden said at an event in Mumbai. “It was a legacy captaincy, and you could go right down through the ages: Ricky Ponting, [and] Michael Clarke – all World Cup winners, and all [with] vast experience.”It’s got to help, there’s no doubt about it. But between the other characters like Steve Smith – you’ve seen how visible he is when Pat’s got the ball in his hand, he’s flapping around as he busily does anyway. But he has got a good wingman in Steve Smith as well, again with lots of experience. So, I’m not saying it’s a team captaincy, but I think it’s a solution that Australia’s got covered.”Related

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• Cummins targets comeback in India ODIs ahead of World Cup

One of the topics of discussion in Australia – not just leading into the World Cup, but also otherwise – has been the future of David Warner in the national team. In fact, not just Warner, but other senior players too, with chances that Australia could well be heading towards one of those periods of transition all teams go through. As far as Hayden is concerned, though, Warner is a lock at the top of the batting order at the World Cup.”[Travis] Head and Warner, I think, are your key openers,” Hayden said. “[Mitchell] Marsh can do a job. But in all conditions, when you look at the role that Marsh is going to play as an allrounder, I think a specialist opening a World Cup is important.”But if you’re an Australian coach, you’d have no question going, ‘We want Marsh to come up and open’. And his role can float in and around the order on any given day if they need to have quick runs inside the powerplay, for example, rather than, well, you talk about Travis; he’s still got a strike rate of 96. So it’s still an enormous strike rate. But Marsh can be someone that can have an impact at the top if on any given day they need to have a bigger powerplay than any other given opportunity.”Matthew Hayden has David Warner as his key opener for the World Cup•Getty Images

Warner has already said that he is hoping to sign off from Test cricket in Sydney in the new year when Pakistan visit, and finish up with international cricket altogether at the 2024 T20 World Cup. It might not be in his hands, though.”Knowing Australian selectors and the Australian sporting culture, the selectors wouldn’t sit around the table and say, ‘oh, what does David Warner want in terms of his own playing career?’ They would look at it in terms of is he performing and what is our plan as a nation around how it is we project this series, into the next series,” Hayden said.”Because in 2024, India come [to Australia] for the first five Test-match series. So they’ll be looking at all those factors, and they’ll also be concerned about why it is that they haven’t got options aplenty when it comes to replacing David Warner.”I think back to my time as well, and at that time, there was myself, Greg Blewett, Matthew Elliott… there were four or five really great options with strong first-class performances over a long period of time. So we’re always having to look at our first-class set-up, and the names that have been always coming around have been [Marcus] Harris, [Matt] Renshaw – these names which are more than capable of producing good Test-match cricket.”But are they as good as Davey Warner? And the answer is, in their [selectors’] eyes, no. But sooner rather than later, their answer is going to have to be, ‘what is our next step?’ Now David’s saying that’s on his terms in Sydney, but I don’t think that’s necessarily what the Australian selectors will be thinking.”Aaron Finch has retired, and while Cummins might have a few years in him, Nathan Lyon at 35, might not. Usman Khawaja is 36 and Smith and Glenn Maxwell are 34. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are 33 and 32, respectively. Thus, the Australian selectors will have a lot to think about soon.”Experience matters,” Hayden said. “I think Maxwell was reported saying that the scars of his past were something that he felt he could use to his advantage. And I don’t disagree with that. I guess when we look at age groups of players now, we tend to think about my generation or the generation before. The modern player has had so much attention and detail to his fitness, and I just think that age group – maybe it was 35 during our professional playing years – it’s maybe into that sort of higher end of the 30s, even 37, 38.The inevitable transition coming up: Nathan Lyon is 35, Steven Smith is 34 and Usman Khawaja is 36•Getty Images

“Australia has always been ruthless, though, around turning over players. In my time, Mark Waugh – who could have played another 50-60 games – gave way to a young Hayden. [That] gave me an opportunity to play 50-odd games ahead of a World Cup, and it paid dividends because I still, a bit like Maxwell was saying, believe that experience does matter in a World Cup.”When you’re under pressure, you’ve been away from home a long time, you’re in the cauldron of Kolkata or over in Chennai where we play India in the first game on the 8th [of October], if you’ve been there, and done it before, and a lot of these players have played extensive seasons of IPL cricket, [and] have had three or four, five, six, even seven tours of this country. And they’ve broken the back of India as well in India.”The last series, I think back in March, was 2-1 [in Australia’s favour]. So lots to prove, but also I suppose on the other side of it, youthful talent and also unseen talent can also blast away, and just no one’s really seen them, and they take on the world and perform on that stage.”

The impact of the left-hander’s absence has been clear amid Australia’s poor start to the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2023Travis Head has returned to the nets for the first time since he suffered a fractured hand in South Africa and is hopeful of being able to fly out to join the World Cup squad in India on Thursday.Head had the cast removed late last week and is now facing throwdowns. Scans have shown the fracture, inflicted by fast bowler Gerald Coetzee at Centurion, is healing well although he still needs a final sign-off before joining the Australia team.The earliest possible return for Head would appear to be the Netherlands match on October 25 although that may still be cutting things fine.Related

• Warner unhappy with ball-tracking tech, explains outburst following lbw against Sri Lanka

• Tired and tested: Australia's challenges at this World Cup

• Finch: Australia's body language 'quite flat' at the moment

• Australia feel what it's like to be on the other end of the World Cup juju

• Almost a must win: World Cup hopes already on the line for Australia and Sri Lanka

“It’s coming along well, and probably better than we hoped,” Head told cricket.com.au. “When we decided not to go with surgery, which would have meant a ten-week recovery, we were told it would be minimum six weeks with the splint before we could look at playing again.”Going by that plan, the Netherlands game will be just under six weeks from impact which is a pretty aggressive date so everything would have to go perfectly from here to make that deadline.”But we’ll just see how it progresses over the next few days and I’m excited by the prospect of joining the boys over there later in the week.”Head’s importance to Australia’s plans was emphasised when the selectors opted to only have 14 available players for the first part of the tournament and effectively saw them replace Ashton Agar with a specialist batter in Marnus Labuschagne to help cover for Head’s absence.He had been having a magnificent run the ODI side, averaging 60.84 with a strike rate of 119.84 since his return in 2022. Former Australia captain Aaron Finch said the impact of his absence had been clear during the team’s early struggles.”Sometimes it’s not the amount of runs he gets but the pressure he puts on the opposition because they know he’s going to come hard, they can panic and get a bit defensive in their mindset and then [David] Warner gets away, and if [Mitchell] Marsh comes in, he gets away as well,” Finch told ESPNcricinfo.Australia are yet to score a half-century in the tournament and have been bowled out for 199 and 177 in their two games. But it will be asking a lot of Head to come in and perform straightaway.While the selectors have put huge stock in what Head is capable of, there remains a possibility they still opt to replace him and the chance of that could increase if Australia are unable to win against Sri Lanka on Monday, which would leave them a mountain to climb to reach the semi-finals.”There’s still a few hurdles we need to clear, and everything needs to fall into place from my end and from the team’s point of view over there before the final decision is made,” Head said.

Leading spinner named for T20Is and one-off Test match as coach Lewis monitors workloads

Andrew Miller10-Nov-20231:23

Jon Lewis optimistic about Sophie Ecclestone injury comeback

Sophie Ecclestone has been named in England’s Test and T20I squads for the tour of India in December, as she continues her return to cricket after dislocating her right shoulder during last summer’s Women’s Hundred.Ecclestone, England’s No. 1-ranked white-ball spinner, sustained the injury while warming up for Manchester Originals’ home fixture against Southern Brave at Old Trafford in August, and underwent surgery in September.She has since returned to bowling, and will step up her workloads during a training camp in Oman next week, ahead of England’s three T20Is in Mumbai between December 6 and 10, and their one-off four-day Test in Navi Mumbai from December 14-17.Jon Lewis, England’s head coach, welcomed the prospect of Ecclestone’s comeback – particularly after a notable home series loss against Sri Lanka in September had exposed a lack of experience among the team’s younger players – but warned that he would not be expecting too much too soon, as she learns to trust her body again after the injury.Related

• English players could miss WBBL final for India trip

“She’s the No. 1 bowler in the world across both white-ball formats, she’s an obvious standout talent in women’s cricket,” Lewis said. “She’s a really good competitor, she loves winning. So she’s great to have around our side. For the girls to practice against a bowler like that, and for Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn to pick her brains, and Alice Capsey as well, will be invaluable.”She’s working her way back to fitness. We expect her to be fit to play. However, getting people back to fitness isn’t always a linear experience,” Lewis added. “So we’ll see how she progresses over the next three or four weeks. The medical people are telling me she will be [fit], but my experience tells me that’s not always straightforward. The thing that could be more tricky for her is hitting the ground when she fields.”Ecclestone’s fitness aside, the white-ball leg of England’s tour could be a key indicator of the team’s readiness for next winter’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, as well as an early taste of the conditions that could be prevalent at the next 50-over World Cup in India in 2025.”We haven’t toured India for a number of years,” Lewis said. “We have players who have experienced playing in the Women’s Premier League but many haven’t played international cricket there before. Playing in Indian conditions is great preparation for our next two World Cups in the subcontinent and will be an amazing learning opportunity for both the players and the staff. We respect the Indian team and are really looking forward to the challenge.”Bess Heath, Northern Superchargers’ powerful wicketkeeper-batter, has been named in both squads for the first time, having made a one-off maiden ODI appearance against Sri Lanka last summer, while Mahika Gaur, England’s 17-year-old left-arm seamer, has been picked for the T20Is only as she continues to settle into set-up having made her international bow for the UAE.”It’s an exciting squad,” Lewis said. “We’ve got three teenagers in there still. They’re getting slightly older, slightly more experienced, and there’s a lovely balance between youth and experience in the squad.”It’s a squad that reflects some players that came in against Sri Lanka and did nicely, but also the players that did really well to beat Australia 2-1 in the [white-ball] series in the summer as well.”England’s selectors have also named a 21-player A squad that will prepare in Oman from November 12-25, with a reduced 14-player squad to be named in due course to face India A in three T20Is.Notable inclusions in that set-up include Issy Wong, who endured a torrid home summer as she struggled with her run-up, and Tash Farrant, who is back in contention following surgery for a stress fracture of the lumbar spine in June. Gaur and Lauren Filer, who is in the Test squad following her impressive debut against Australia, have also been named in the training squad.T20I squad: Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Heather Knight (capt), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt.Test squad: Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Heather Knight (capt), Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle WyattEngland A squad for Oman training camp: Hollie Armitage, Hannah Baker, Alice Davidson-Richards, Georgia Davis, Charlie Dean, Tash Farrant, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Kirstie Gordon, Liberty Heap, Freya Kemp, Emma Lamb, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Kalea Moore, Sophie Munro, Grace Potts, Grace Scrivens, Seren Smale, Rhianna Southby, Mady Villiers, Issy Wong

Left-arm quick defends nine runs in final over; McDermott’s fifty in vain for Australia

Tristan Lavalette03-Dec-2023Spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel relished a turning surface in Bengaluru before left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh bowled a superb final over as India edged Australia to clinch a 4-1 victory in the T20I series.Australia’s chase of 161 was a see-saw on a surface at Chinnaswamy Stadium playing against type with rain a constant threat. The match was on a knife’s edge with Australia needing ten runs off the final over after a late surge from captain Matthew Wade.Arshdeep bowled a short delivery on the first ball that flew past Wade, who was livid that it was not called a wide. After another dot delivery, Wade fell on the third ball as Arshdeep iced the game with clutch bowling to seal India’s tense victory.After being sent in to bat, India recovered from 46 for 3 with Shreyas Iyer top-scoring with 53 from 37 balls.The fifth and final match was effectively a dead rubber but continued the T20 World Cup preparations for both teams. It also ended Australia’s tour of India highlighted by their triumph at the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Bishnoi and Axar again star

Australia started strongly in reply with opener Travis Head intent on finishing his unforgettable tour of India. He smashed three straight boundaries off Arshdeep to start the innings as Head powered Australia to 40 for 1 after four overs.It forced India captain Suryakumar Yadav to bring on Bishnoi in the fifth over and he responded by knocking over Head’s off bail. Axar, who was unstoppable in Raipur, came into the attack as the spin duo made it tough for Australia.Bishnoi picked up Aaron Hardie before Axar claimed his only wicket when he dismissed Tim David in the 14th over. The spinners were done, but quick Mukesh Kumar claimed Ben McDermott and Ben Dwarshuis with consecutive deliveries in a game-changing 17th over.Wade threatened to lift Australia to a consolation victory before Arshdeep proved his composure under pressure by landing a slew of yorkers in a brilliant final over.Ben McDermott scored his highest T20I score of 54•AFP/Getty Images

McDermott puts his hand up

Australia have made constant changes throughout this series to give exhausted players a break, but to also test out fringe players with an eye towards next year’s T20 World Cup.McDermott has been a beneficiary after flying to India in a late call-up for the final two games. He made just 19 in Raipur, but batted superbly in a tough situation to notch up his highest T20I score of 54 from 33 balls.He top-edged a towering six early in his innings before playing Bishnoi and Axar calmly in the middle overs. He could not guide Australia over the line, but it’s a tonic for him after enduring a tough BBL campaign last season.McDermott has had little success in T20Is but issued a reminder of his big-hitting abilities.

Iyer rescues stuttering India batting

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India another quick start, but once again failed to make it out of the powerplay. His dismissal on the last ball of the fourth over triggered a top-order collapse leaving Iyer to rebuild the innings.He was watchful given the situation, and scored only 12 off 15 balls before launching Dwarshuis for six over mid-off. Iyer found his rhythm and enjoyed support from Axar in a 46-run sixth-wicket partnership.Iyer smashed seamer Nathan Ellis for a six in the last over to complete a well-timed innings in a bounce back after making just eight runs in his series debut at Raipur.

Sangha finishes on a high

Legspinner Tanveer Sangha can feel justifiably weary having been part of Australia’s white-ball tour of South Africa starting in late August ahead of the World Cup.Sangha then spent the entire World Cup on the sidelines before finally getting his opportunity and playing every game in this T20I series. It was a baptism of fire on flat surfaces and against a rampaging India batting line-up intent on taking him down.Sangha entered the game with figures of 4 of 153 from 16 overs, but he bowled superbly during a three-over spell in the middle overs.He came into the attack at an opportune time after Suryakumar’s wicket and with India stuttering at 46 for 3. Sangha immediately produced drift and spin on a helpful surface to force Rinku Singh into mistiming to mid-on.Such was his wicket-taking threat that Sangha was armed with a slip fielder and he was unlucky not to add a second wicket when Jason Behrendorff dropped Jitesh Sharma at deep backward square.Sangha, who turned 22 earlier in the series, has a habit of bowling one or two bad deliveries an over, but he was mostly accurate to finish with an impressive 1 for 26 off four overs.

“Khawaja has been consistent last year and the year before. What I’m trying to do is to compare myself to him year by year”

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Feb-2024That Dimuth Karunaratne is a stats nerd, particularly about his career, has been known for some time. But now, 89 Tests in, the captaincy behind him (to his great relief), he has got some serious numbers in his sights. We’ll get to those soon, but for now, the man he is chasing is Usman Khawaja – another left-handed opener.Karunaratne had once spoken about how the player whose record he wanted to better was Dean Elgar, who at the time had a better average and run tally than him. Karunaratne has surpassed Elgar on both those fronts, and now wants to get past Khawaja’s annual run tallies.Since the start of 2022, Khawaja has scored 2476 runs, to Karunaratne’s 1254. But then Khawaja has played 50 Test innings, to Karunaratne’s 26. Khawaja’s average is better through that period – 56.27, while Karunaratne’s is 50.16.Related

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No other openers have been in their class in terms of average. They were the openers chosen for the ICC’s Test team of the year, though Sri Lanka played only six Tests in 2023.”Among openers, I think I’m in a pretty good place, compared to others internationally,” Karunaratne said after hitting 77 against Afghanistan. “But recently Usman Khawaja has been very good. He’s been consistent last year and the year before. What I’m trying to do is to compare myself to him year by year, and also to be in that World XI every year. When Khawaja plays, I follow that series – the Ashes, and even the recent West Indies series. I watch how he bats and what he does.”You need these things to force you forward. Otherwise, when you don’t have a target, you don’t have that kick to improve.”But 35 years old now, Karunaratne is also ticking off some major milestones that not many openers outside England and Australia (who tend to play the most Tests) get to. Numbers with zeros that follow them. The kinds of numbers you associate with the best.”My first goal is to get to 100 Tests,” Karunaratne said. “That’s a great achievement for any Test cricketer. If I get there, I want to see how close I am to 10,000 runs, and then I’d try to push for that. At the moment my fitness is good. I’m trying to leave a good legacy in this format. I’m close to 7000 runs, and maybe in the next two or three years, I can get to that 3000 more. Those are my two goals, so I have to maintain my fitness and consistency.”It’s a little more than 3000, because even after his 77 against Afghanistan, he’s still on 6708 career runs. Which sounds pretty middle-of-the-road until you clock that he is by far Sri Lanka’s highest run-scorer as an opener, having made 6615 when opening the innings, with Sanath Jayasuriya at second place with 5932.Overall, he is the fifth-highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka behind Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews and Jayasuriya (who batted lower down the order for a significant portion of his career).”Yes, I’m someone who is very aware of my stats and I compare that with others. There’s Sanath , and then there’s Angelo after that. I am trying to get to my targets and then be able to look back after I retire and take satisfaction in that.”It’s not enough to have played cricket and represented your national team. That’s why I love this format, because it gives me a lot of satisfaction. I want to try to pass all these legends one by one. I’ve been able to do that to some extent. I’m trying to do more.”