All posts by csb10.top

Somerset Second Eleven enjoyed the best of the second day of their rain interrupted championship match against Glamorgan today at the County Ground in Taunton.After winning the toss Glamorgan asked their hosts to bat first, a decision that they may well have regretted as the day wore on and the wicket became easier paced.Scott Cunningham, a triallist from Yorkshire, was the star turn for Somerset. Coming in at number five the right handed batsman shared in two century partnerships, putting on 115 for the 6th wicket with James Hudson (74) and then adding 102 with Martin Dobson (48) for the seventh.Cunningham eventually moved to his own century and remained unbeaten on 125 when Somerset declared on 351 for 9. In all the young man from Yorkshire faced 217 balls and hit 17×4’s.For Glamorgan former Millfield School pupil Dean Cosker took 4 for 44.Glamorgan faced a testing twenty overs before the close of play and lost their first wicket with the score on 12 when Pete Trego claimed one of the openers LBW in the fourth over.The match continues tomorrow

Old Georgians shrugged off Mutare Sports Club’s dominance of club cricket this season to win the Castle Lager National First League knockout final by 12 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method at HarareSports Club on Sunday 17 March.The victory was, in a way, a consolation for OGs after they had narrowly missed out on the National First League title. They finished equal on points with champions Mutare but lost out by virtue of an inferior net run rate.The environment at the international venue made a mockery of the final. There was a small crowd of not more than 100, with the majority housed in the new VIP stand while a few were having drinks at the Keg. A `Jumping Castle’ mounted for the kids was largely deserted for the better part of the day and there was no need to operate the big scoreboards at the ground which were last used during the one-day series against England in October last year.In the field all-rounders Gus Mackay and Craig Evans set up the Old Georgians victory with an outstanding display with both the bat and the ball. Evans, batting at number four, hit a six and six fours in making his 53. He had looked comfortable until the first ball of the 36th over when he was brilliantly caught by a diving Taylor at long on while attempting a six.Mackay provided entertainment for the small crowd with an aggressive batting display that saw him score 87 off just 59 balls, smashing six sixes and three fours. Off the first ball of the 45th over, bowled by Guy Whittall, Mackay smashed a big six that landed on the roof of the VIP lounge, and it took almost five minutes for a groundsman to locate the ball. The umpires were already making arrangements for a new ball.When play resumed Mackay smashed another huge six, which disappeared behind the VIP lounge but this time it was located quickly. When he tried another big shot off the third ball he only managed to reach IanCoulson at deep fine leg to leave the score on 237 for eight. OGs were eventually bowled out for 248 after 48.4 overs.Richard Sims claimed three wickets for 32 off 10 overs while Whittall finished with expensive figures of 10-2-62-2.Mutare’s innings was then interrupted by a heavy downpour, which pounded the capital in the afternoon, resulting in 13 overs being lost. Their target was then revised to 213 off 37 overs.The visitors lost wickets regularly with all-rounder Richard Sims being the only defiant batsman. Batting at number three, he scored 84 runs off 85 balls while the second-best contribution came from opener Neil Ferreira, who scored 31.With Evans taking four wickets for 43 off eight overs, Mutare Sports Club could only reach 201 for eight off their allotted 37 overs to concede the match by 12 runs. The result meant that they could not emulate former champions Old Hararians’ feat of claiming both the league championship and the knockout title.While the game marked the end of Mutare’s domestic club season, OGs still have a chance of grabbing another title when they take part in the Mashonaland Knockout Shield which starts on 20 April. OGs will take on Takashinga in the first round while Universals meet Harare Sports Club.Old Hararians will meet the winner of the Universals/HSC match while Alex will play the winner of OGs/Takashinga in the semi-finals on 27 April. The final will be held on 4 May. The first round and the semi-final will be played over 35 overs while the final will be played over 40 overs.NATIONAL FIRST LEAGUE KNOCK-OUT FINALMUTARE SPORTS CLUB v OLD GEORGIANS SPORTS CLUB
Played at Harare Sports Club on 17 March 2002Old Georgians won by 12 runsOld Georgians
248 all out in 48.4 overs
Lance Malloch-Brown 29, Barney Rogers 30, Craig Evans 53, Angus Mackay 87, Glen Barrett 20
Leon Soma 1 – 17, Jonathon Brent 2 – 42, Justin Lewis 1 – 59, Guy Whittall 2 – 62, Richard Sims 3 – 32Mutare
201 for 8 wickets in 37 overs
Neil Ferreira 31, Richard Sims 84, Andre Soma 25, Jonathon Brent 17
Angus Mackay 1 – 31, Wadington Mwayenga 2 – 27, Craig Evans 4 – 43, Barney Rogers 1 – 26
Rain interrupted play when Mutare had score 99 for 4 wickets off 21.4 overs. 13 overs were lost due to the interruption and Mutare were given a revised target of 214 runs.

India’s first Test assignment of 2022 will be held in Cape Town against South Africa, after CSA confirmed that the upcoming New Year’s Test between the two teams will be moved away from Johannesburg.The Wanderers was initially set to host two of the three Tests between South Africa and India, but ESPNcricinfo understands that strict biobubble rules in Johannesburg meant the second Test, scheduled between January 3 and 7, will now take place at Newlands in Cape Town.Related

• South Africa to host Netherlands, India and Bangladesh during home summer

“CSA is excited to welcome India back to South Africa, which also significantly marks the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s first tour to India after re-entry into International Cricket in 1991,” Graeme Smith, CSA’s director of cricket, said. “This tour affirms our unique relationship with the BCCI.”India’s scheduled tour of South Africa between December 2021 and January 2022 had been confirmed as the marquee international series in South Africa’s home calendar. India are due to play three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is between December 17 and January 26, with Netherlands and Bangladesh also due to visit South Africa later. All the Test matches are part of the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle.South Africa and India last met in a bilateral series in March 2020 in India, for three ODIs, but after the first fixture was washed out, the series had to be called off altogether because of the Covid-19 outbreak. India then confirmed a three-match T20I series with South Africa – initially scheduled for August last year and then in September-October this year. But it hasn’t taken place yet, initially because South Africa was experiencing its first wave of the pandemic and then because of the rescheduled IPL.

India captain Virat Kohli has hit back against the abuse that fast bowler Mohammed Shami faced on social media following India’s 10-wicket defeat to Pakistan in their T20 World Cup opener last Sunday. Shami was India’s most expensive bowler on the night, with figures of 3.5-0-43-0, and his social-media accounts – particularly on Instagram – were subjected to widespread abuse, much of it tinged with Islamophobia.”There’s a good reason why we are playing on the field and not some bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person,” Kohli said in Dubai, a day before India’s next fixture, against New Zealand. “They hide behind their identities and go after people through social media, making fun of people and that has become a source of entertainment in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and sad to see because this is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at, and that’s how I look at these people.Related

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• As it happened – India vs Pakistan, Men's T20 World Cup, Super 12s

• Babar, Rizwan break Pakistan's World Cup jinx against India

• 'At the India-Pakistan clash, the behind-closed-doors start of the 2021 season felt miles away'

“To me attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do. Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about certain situations, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating [against] anyone over their religion. That is a very sacred and personal thing to every human being and that should be left there.”Kohli stressed that the entire team has rallied behind Shami, and that the team culture was so strong, these sort of attacks had no chance of having an impact.”People take out their frustrations because they have no understanding of what we do as individuals – they have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field,” Kohli said. “They have no understanding of the fact that someone like Mohammed Shami has won India ‘n’ number of matches in the last few years and he’s been our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah when it comes to making an impact in games in Test cricket. I mean, if people can overlook that and his passion for the country, I honestly don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people. Neither does Shami and neither does anyone else in the team. We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200%, and all those who have attacked him can come with more force if they want to: our brotherhood, our friendship within the team, nothing can be shaken. I can guarantee you that as the captain of the team, that we have built a culture where these things will not even infiltrate into this environment 0.0001%. That is an absolute guarantee from my side.”Kohli said that those who indulged in such attacks lacked courage, and these barbs were coming out from a place of frustration and lack of compassion.Virat Kohli: “We play sport and we understand exactly how sport goes. How people think on the outside has no value whatsoever within our group”•ICC via Getty

“We, as individuals, understand what we want to do on the field and the strength of character and mental toughness that we have and precisely doing what we are doing on the field,” he said. “None of these people are even in the vicinity to even imagine doing something like that. They don’t have the courage or spine to do that. So that is how I see things and this drama created on the outside is purely based on people’s frustrations, their lack of self confidence, their lack of compassion, hence they find it so amusing to go after people.”So, we, as a group, understand how we need to stick together, how we need to back individuals, how we need to focus on our strengths. And whether people on the outside portray it: being that India can’t afford to lose a game… That’s none of our business. We play sport and we understand exactly how sport goes. How people think on the outside has no value whatsoever within our group. We’ve never focussed on it, we will never focus on it going forward either because as I said last time as well, people don’t understand what it takes to do the job on the field at the international level. We’re not going to go around and just announcing to everyone what we do and how we do it. We just carry on doing the business we’re supposed to do, and if the game goes off, you take the learnings from it and move forward.”

End-overs acceleration: Australia, India improve
Midway into their successful chase in the second ODI, Australia captain Meg Lanning told the host broadcaster that her batters were aiming for nine runs per over at the death (overs 40.1 to 50). By Australia’s own standards, not least with four wickets down, Lanning’s assertion sounded ambitious, for they have scored at 7.24 in the last 10 overs since the end of the 2017 World Cup.But on the evidence of Australia’s acceleration in that chase of 275, Lanning’s faith in her team’s batting mojo proved well-reasoned. Building on Tahlia McGrath’s brisk 74, the hosts, steered by Beth Mooney and Nicola Carey, piled up 87 in the last 10 in that game, and 79 in the third match, bettering their overall death-overs scoring rate of 7.30 this year, across six ODIs.By contrast, the other 2017 World Cup semi-finalists have been slower in the end overs this year. Defending ODI champions England have struck at 6.17, India 5.55, and South Africa 5.45. In the ongoing series, India tallied 63, 61, and 53 at the death, their best haul also coinciding with their only win in three matches. Though theirs remains inferior to the top-two ranked teams’ this year, India’s rate in the last two ODIs surpassed the team’s goal of six runs per over in the final ten, and was key to them reaching the 250-run mark twice in as many games, including during their record chase of 265 in the third ODI on Sunday.Yastika provides answers, but poses questions
Playing only her third innings for India, left-hander Yastika Bhatia had brought up her maiden international fifty only two balls prior when she shuffled outside the off stump, lined herself up for the widish back-of-length Annabel Sutherland delivery and whip-pulled it for a cracking four to deep square. That one shot alone crystallised the confidence, composure, and technical aptitude the 20-year old has showcased on the Australia tour so far, making 64, 3, and 34 in the ODIs and a 42-ball 41 in the one-off practice game.For a batting line-up bereft of consistency and middle-order solidity through the best part of this year, Bhatia could be a long-sought, long-term fix. But for an XI that has, aside from their offspin-bowling allrounders Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, fielded three quicks and at least one frontline spinner so far this series and mostly two quicks and three recognised spinners in England and the home series against South Africa, Bhatia’s impressive debut poses a conundrum.She appears to have positioned herself as an automatic pick for India’s next ODI assignment – the tour of New Zealand in 2022 shortly before the World Cup – and perhaps also for the pink-ball Test against Australia starting Thursday. Where does, then, Harmanpreet Kaur, who sat out all three ODIs with injury, slot in (when fit)? And if match-winning contributions of Rana, the “find of the England series,” and Sharma on the ongoing tour are anything to go by, dropping either robs the lower-middle order of security and alters the attack’s balance.Ellyse Perry struggled for control with the ball•Getty Images

Perry struggles; young Australia quicks impress
In the absence of Megan Schutt and Tayla Vlaeminck, Ellyse Perry took the new ball for Australia. The ODIs were Perry’s first new-ball stint since she limped out of the 2020 T20 World Cup with a hamstring injury. But the control and efficacy that’s underpinned her bowling through the best part of her career, were far from view as she finished wicketless.Of the 87 runs Australia conceded in extras across the three matches, 67 came in wides, 26 of which were Perry’s doing. Though she clocked 120kph several times, and made good use of the bouncer – even hitting the India captain Mithali Raj’s helmet in the first ODI with one – her unease with finding the right lines was especially pronounced against the left-right opening combination of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. Her wayward bowling often let them off her hook in the powerplay when the other quicks created pressure from the other end.The ODIs, however, showed just how well-stacked Australia’s feeder line is, thanks to the WBBL and WNCL-groomed Darcie Brown, Stella Campbell, Hannah Darlington, and Test-capped McGrath. Brown, the leading wicket-taker in the ODIs with five wickets in two games, troubled the opposition with potent short balls, high pace, and tight lines, while McGrath took four wickets in three games to add to her momentum-shifting 74 and 47 with the bat in the second and third ODIs.The 19-year-old Campbell, who debuted in the third ODI, impressed with consistent pace north of 118kph and the use of her tall frame, and Darlington, too, offered decent support. The return of Sutherland, who picked 3 for 30 in the third ODI, was a reminder of the penetration she adds to the attack when not grounded by injury.India’s fielding woes; Australia not flawless
It’s hard to predict which Indian fielding unit might show up on a given day. A feature of their 11 matches across three ODI series this year, their volatility has ranged from Harleen Deol’s boundary-riding-gravity-defying peak to sitters shelled by the rookies and experienced players alike in a collective act of infectious frenzy.Shafali, when not substituted out by Jemimah Rodrigues after completing her batting duties, has left little for conjecture why she’s needed hiding in the Australia ODIs when fielding in the circle or beyond. Richa Ghosh, who replaced the designated longer-formats wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia, added a vital quick-scoring element to India’s lower-middle order and showed flashes of brilliance with the gloves, too. But she made glaring errors in the last two ODIs, most notably with a single-conceding overthrow at the start of the final over of Australia’s successful chase on Friday and by dropping a sitter in the next game. Overall India dropped at least seven chances across the last two matches.Though far more alert, athletic, and well-oiled as a fielding group, Australia, for their part, made costly errors, too, a sticking point most tellingly in their record-snapping defeat in the third ODI. Carey, Sutherland, Molineux found themselves among those to err under pressure, and two games earlier, Lanning, too, had shelled a straightforward catch, at slip.For an ODI side that rode a world-record unbeaten streak spanning nearly four years, some room for improvement did emerge after all.

Match facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils
Bengaluru, April 8, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
3:11

Agarkar: A big test for Zaheer Khan

Head to head

Overall: Royal Challengers Bangalore lead Delhi Daredevils 10-6. Since 2011, Royal Challengers have only lost once to Daredevils in ten games.

In the news

Neither side will be able to field their first XI. Daredevils, slightly bowling-heavy and led by Zaheer Khan, are without JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock for the season. Angelo Mathews, who has been sidelined since January with a hamstring injury, remains uncertain after he missed the limited-overs matches against Bangladesh. Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile, will miss the first match and is in doubt for the second after a bout of chickenpox. He will join the team in three-four daysRishabh Pant’s availability for the first game is also in doubt following the demise of his father, although Pant returned to Bengaluru and trained with the team. In the instance that Pant does not play, Aditya Tare could take over wicket-keeping duties. Kagiso Rabada looks set to make his IPL debut while the allrounder’s spot could see a toss-up between Carlos Brathwaite and Corey Anderson. On Friday, Daredevils announced Australian fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus as a replacement for JP Duminy.AB de Villiers is doubtful for Royal Challengers’ first home game of the season but a call on his selection will be taken by the franchise after their training session on Saturday, leaving Shane Watson to lead the side again. De Villiers has confirmed that he will not keep wicket in the IPL, which means Kedar Jadhav could retain the gloves. Royal Challengers will have another wicket-keeping option in Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Vishnu Vinod, who will replace the injured KL Rahul. Virat Kohli, who has said he will play only if he feels “120%”, will miss the match, too.

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Mandeep Singh, 3 Travis Head, 4 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 5 Shane Watson (capt), 6 Sachin Baby, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 S Aravind, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal , 11 Aniket ChoudharyDelhi Daredevils: 1 Sam Billings, 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Corey Anderson/Carlos Brathwaite, 5 Rishabh Pant/Aditya Tare (wk), 6 Chris Morris, 7 Shahbaz Nadeem, 8 Mohammed Shami, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Kagiso Rabada

Stats that matter

• The team batting second has won 31 off 58 matches in Bengaluru. Daredevils prefer to chase: 38 of their 56 wins in the IPL have come batting second.
• Chris Gayle has scored 327 runs off 209 balls against Daredevils. He has never been dismissed by a Daredevils spinner, and has struck 15 boundaries – including nine sixes – off the 56 balls faced against them.
• Zaheer Khan has taken 26 wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. His economy of 6.67 in the Powerplay last year was the fourth-best in IPL 2016.
• Royal Challengers have an economy rate of 7.35 runs per over in the Powerplay overall in the IPL. In matches against Daredevils in Bengaluru, Royal Challengers have conceded at a rate of 8.92 runs per over in the Powerplay.
• A top-heavy Daredevils team scores at 8.88 runs per over in the last five overs. Against Royal Challengers in Bengaluru, the rate jumps to 9.71 and Daredevils have lost only four wickets in seven matches during that period.
• Amit Mishra has been wicketless in his last four IPL games against Royal Challengers at an economy of 9.69. He has not taken a wicket for Daredevils in his previous three matches. Overall, in the IPL, he has dismissed Royal Challengers opener Mandeep Singh and Watson twice.
• Ankit Bawne, who may find a spot in the XI, scored 239 runs at an average of 79.66, including three fifties, in the domestic T20 tournament this season. Aditya Tare, too, had scores 79 and 71* in the tournament.
• Shane Watson has averaged less than 20 with the bat in IPL 2016 and Big Bash League 2016-17. In the recent Pakistan Super League, Watson averaged 21.37 in nine innings. In his last 30 games in the IPL, BBL and PSL, Watson has scored only one fifty. In his last two IPL matches with the ball, Watson has returned figures of 0 for 102 in seven overs.

ScorecardFile photo – Luke Feldman picked up three of Tasmania’s first six wickets•Getty Images

Queensland’s strong seam attack bowled out Tasmania for 150 before the Bulls pushed to within 19 of the Tigers’ total on day one of the Sheffield Shield match at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.Peter George, Luke Feldman, Cameron Gannon and Jack Wildermuth shared the wickets between them after the acting captain Joe Burns won the toss and sent the last-placed Tigers in to bat. The Bulls need to win this match to keep pace with the Bushrangers and the Redbacks at the top of the Shield table.Tasmania slipped as low as 6 for 61 as the new Dukes ball darted about a well-grassed surface, before Tim Paine and the former Bulls allrounder Simon Milenko mounted a minor rearguard action, adding 68 for the seventh wicket. Even so, the visitors were delighted to roll the hosts for 150 and be batting well before the tea break.Peter Forrest was out for a duck at the start of Queensland’s reply, but Burns was able to lead his side into more comfortable territory. Marnus Labuschagne offered useful support, and he will resume in the company of Sam Heazlett on the second morning.

Men’s cricket could return to the Commonwealth Games in 2026 if Birmingham wins the bid to be the host city.While women’s cricket will feature in the 2022 Games in Durban, men’s cricket has appeared only once. On that occasion, in Malaysia in 1998, the format was 50 overs per side (South Africa defeated Australia in the final). This time it would be played in the T20 format.Cricket is not currently one of the mandatory events incorporated into the Commonwealth Games but is on the list of optional sports that host cities have the power to add to their staging of the event as they see fit and with the support of the relevant sport’s governing body.While that cannot be guaranteed at this stage, the ICC agreed to the inclusion of women’s cricket in 2022 and is already working with the Commonwealth Games Federation on the successful staging of the event. The ICC is understood to be open to dialogue over the 2026 Games.Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire chief executive, is part of Birmingham’s bid team and has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that cricket would be of interest if they are successful. Snowball was previously head of sports operations at the 2012 Olympics and chief operating officer of Rugby 2015, the organising committee behind the 2015 World Cup.The plan would be to stage the biggest games at Warwickshire’s home ground of Edgbaston, which is only a mile or so from the centre of Birmingham. Other games could be played at Warwickshire’s Portland Road ground (three miles from Edgbaston) and, perhaps, in neighbouring counties; Worcestershire’s picturesque New Road ground is only 33 miles away.Birmingham would also require ECB approval. But Andrew Strauss, the director of the England team, suggested the idea had his backing, though he did offer a note of caution. “Yes, I would be very supportive of that,” he said. “But it would not just be the ECB involved in such a decision.”That signals a change of heart from the ECB. The Commonwealth Games Federation invited the ICC to participate in the 2018 Games (to be staged in Gold Coast, Australia), but were rebuffed largely on the basis of the reluctance of individual boards – not least the ECB – to compromise their own lucrative schedules.Sixteen teams entered the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but England did not send a team as the competition clashed with the end of the domestic season. Seven of the then nine Test teams did, however, with Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand among them. Scotland, Northern Ireland, Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Jamaica, Canada, Malaysia, Kenya and Zimbabwe were the other participants.The current ECB management are more aware of the need to reengage the sport with a broader audience, however, and keen to spread the appeal of cricket both locally and globally.The example of Rugby Sevens is intriguing. After featuring in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the sport eventually progressed until it debuted in the 2016 Olympics. While many obstacles remain before cricket could be realistically considered for the Olympics, the ECB’s change of heart would appear to have removed a substantial one and nudged the sport a little further in that direction. Rome had signalled a desire to host cricket at the 2024 Olympics, but has withdrawn from the bidding process.What stance India will take on the issue remains unclear. Anurag Thakur, the recently jettisoned president of the BCCI, had been seen as an impediment to cricket’s reintroduction into the Olympics (it was played in the 1900 Paris Olympics; Great Britain beat France in the only match) but is also a vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association and was recently elected as the Himachal Olympic Association president.Other cities expected to bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games include Liverpool, Edmonton in Canada and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. A decision on whether Liverpool or Birmingham will be put forward as England’s candidate will be made later this year. A final decision on the host venue is unlikely to be made before November 2019.

Reeza Hendricks did the job with bat and ball for Lions, in their opening Momentum Cup game against Warriors, setting up a 44-run win at the Wanderers.Hendricks first scored 101 off 104 in a 178-run opening stand with Stephan Cook to lay the platform for Lions’ 329-run total, before striking twice in an over with his part-time medium pace to rock the chase.Lions were put in to bat and Hendricks and Cook’s partnership ticked over at more than a run a ball before JJ Smuts – the most effective and economical of the Warriors bowlers with 2 for 51 – broke through. A cluster of rapid cameos followed from the middle order to carry Lions well past the 300-run mark.After losing Smuts early, Warriors seemed to have got back on track through a 122-run second-wicket stand between Gihahn Cloete and Colin Ingram. Then Hendricks took the pair out in the space of five balls, and Warriors’ challenge was quickly flagging. No one else could get to fifty for Warriors, though several in the middle order got starts, and eventually they fell well short, bowled out in exactly 50 overs for 285. Lions’ other Hendricks, new-ball bowler Beuran, also did his bit effectively, claiming 3 for 55 in his ten.

Once the undisputed leaders of the Associate world, Ireland arrive in the UAE for the Desert T20 challenge playing more like paupers than princes over the last two years in Twenty20 cricket. Entering the tournament as the lowest-seeded side in part due to their winless performance at the 2016 World T20, Ireland are hoping that a return to the site of some of their most memorable Associate triumphs will spark a return to form.”The UAE has always been a nice place for us,” Ireland left-arm spinner George Dockrell told ESPNcricinfo at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on the eve of their first match against Afghanistan. “We’ve won a lot of competitions out here and we’ve played so much cricket, which always helps that we do know the grounds, and we know the conditions and the cricket that’s played here.”Ireland lost their first match of the 2012 World T20 Qualifier to Namibia in Dubai before going on to win ten straight games – including four playoff matches in three days – on their way to the tournament title and a spot at the World T20 in Sri Lanka. They came back to the UAE the following year and went undefeated, beating Afghanistan in the final for the second time, to clinch another place at the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh.Those twin titles were part of a streak of 21 straight wins at the World T20 Qualifier that was finally undone by Papua New Guinea in Belfast in 2015. Since then Ireland have struggled in the format, with that loss to PNG beginning a run of eight losses in their last 11 T20Is.”As a team, we know that our performances haven’t been where they should be in the past,” Dockrell said. “That’s not something that’s going over our heads. We know that we’ve been underperforming in the past and it’s something that we’re trying to address and it’s not through a lack of effort from the guys.”In the search for answers, the squad has gone through a shake-up, one which Dockrell is acutely aware of. Despite being one of Ireland’s most experienced players, the 24-year-old was dropped ahead of their shock loss to Oman at the World T20 in India. In the eight home ODIs that Ireland had this summer against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he made the starting XI just once – offspinner Andy McBrine became coach John Bracewell’s preferred slow-bowling specialist – and was also left out for the home T20I series against Hong Kong.George Dockrell’s recent form has taken a dip, much like Ireland’s results, and he hopes to improve both•Getty Images/Sportsfile

Dockrell was picked for the ODI tour to South Africa in September, but went wicketless in the defeats to Australia and South Africa. He is back in the T20 squad for this tour, but faces competition from fellow spinners McBrine and Jacob Mulder, who made his debut in that Hong Kong match at Bready. Once an automatic selection, Dockrell has been working hard on his game to regain his status as Ireland’s first-choice spinner and says the competition within the squad is something that will hopefully bring out the best in everyone’s game.”It’s always good to have competition in the squad and in the team,” Dockrell said. “It’s good that we now have the option in the squad of having a left-arm spinner, a right-armer in Andy and Jacob as well, a legspinner. We didn’t have that depth a number of years ago. We have guys who are home, the likes of Peter Chase and Tim Murtagh, who aren’t playing but would be able to step in and do a great role if they were required.”You have to look at ways that maybe you’re deficient, or ways that you can get better to keep fighting for that spot in the team, so I think it’s definitely a good thing for Irish cricket that we’re developing that depth in the bowlers and in the batters too, so that we don’t just have a squad of 12 or 13 to pick from, that you know there’s seven other guys to pick from, whether there’s an injury or drop in form. It just pushes you on to keep improving.”After the conclusion of the ODI tour to South Africa in September, Dockrell travelled to Brisbane, where he has been playing club cricket in the local grade competition to keep himself sharp during the Irish winter. He also got the chance to train with Queensland’s first-class side and Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League.”It’s been fantastic, having the opportunity to go over to Brisbane to play some club cricket and train with Queensland and Brisbane Heat,” Dockrell said. “Obviously Dan Vettori is the coach there as well so he’s a great guy to draw a bit of knowledge from and talk to about a few things. Even just being in that environment and bowling to the likes of Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum, it’s something that’s always going to make you better.”For now, though, Dockrell’s focus is on trying to help Ireland get back on the right track, beginning with Group A’s primetime showdown against Afghanistan on day one of the tournament in Abu Dhabi.”We’ll be playing Afghanistan in a couple of months, but other than that there won’t be a huge amount of T20 cricket until maybe the T20 Qualifiers, which have yet to be announced so for us it’s a great competition, a great chance to put things right where we’ve been deficient in the last couple years.””We played Afghanistan during the summer and it was four really contested games. It’ll be great cricket from both teams, so I suppose for this competition it’ll be great to start with a win and that’s what we’ll be thinking before we go into that game.”