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Another piece in the jigsaw that makes up the England team fell into place with the return to form of Ian Bell

George Dobell at Edgbaston03-May-2012
ScorecardIan Bell was the only batsman to master the conditions at Edgbaston•Getty Images

Another piece in the jigsaw that makes up the England team fell into place with the return to form of Ian Bell. Bell overcame challenging conditions and a demanding pace attack to register his first first-class century since his double hundred against India at The Oval last August; 20 innings ago. On a pitch where no other batsman has managed to move beyond the 30s, that represents a fine effort.While Bell was never in serious danger of losing his England place ahead of the series against West Indies, he needed this innings. After a chastening tour of the UAE, where he averaged just 8.50 in the Test series, he had managed just 34 runs in his first three Championship innings of the season. In 16 of his last 20 first-class innings, he has failed to reach 20 and this may well prove his final first-class knock ahead of the first Test at Lord’s. His confidence, understandably, had diminished.He was not, perhaps, at his most fluent for the first half of this innings. He was dropped twice – on 51 and 59 – and survived a very confident leg-before appeal from Mitchell Claydon when he had 61. As the ball softened and his confidence grew, however, he began to settle and produced some high-quality strokes. One hook off Graham Onions bore the hallmark of class, as did a perfect cover drive off the same bowler. And, while there may be some doubt about his ability to deal with top-class spin after his travails against Saeed Ajmal, his treatment of Ian Blackwell, a perfectly respectable left-arm spinner who was once deemed good enough for Test cricket, bordered on the dismissive. Bell brought up his century – the 39th of his first-class career – by cutting a Blackwell delivery to the boundary, having earlier skipped down the wicket and driven the same bowler for six over long-off.”That was a bit of a relief,” Bell said afterwards. “That kind of innings will certainly help me. It counts for nothing going into the Test series, but it will give me some comfort to have spent some time at the crease. I haven’t had enough of it over the winter. I’d be out within the first few minutes.”It was a tough winter. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, but every run I got seemed to be hard work. In the summer before when everything was going nicely runs seemed to be easy to come across and those balls that I was nicking were going into gaps. Hopefully I’ve turned a corner now.”That’s what we can expect against the West Indies. It doesn’t look as if the weather will improve, so we’ll be facing a good seam attack on green pitches. Durham have one of the better seam attacks, so it’s nice to do well against them in these conditions. It gives you a lot of confidence.”Technique isn’t something I have to worry about too much. I wouldn’t say I’ve lost confidence – the last three years, going back to Cape Town, has given me lots of good stuff to draw upon – but I want to get better at playing in the subcontinent and I know there are areas – such as playing against spin – where I want to get better. I feel I’m a good player of spin in England and most places, but batting at five in the subcontinent is hard work. I’ve learned some tough lessons.”I just haven’t have enough time at the crease. I’m netted out, to be honest. I’ve had enough time in the net. It’s scoring runs that helps your confidence and your form. I feel I’ve just been scratching around. It started in the UAE, but even here, in the last two games, I just didn’t feel the rhythm was there. Even the 50 I made in Sri Lanka, on a really good batting wicket, felt like hard work.”In the last six months I haven’t been finding the gaps or timing the ball nicely. I did that today as the ball got a little softer and a little wetter. I was going forward and back nicely, too, whereas in the winter I was getting stuck in the crease a bit.”Bell’s work ethic cannot be faulted. Whereas Mark Ramprakash has complained that the early season conditions have made batting “a lottery”, Bell asked the England management to allow him to play an extra Championship game – he was originally scheduled to play just two – and feels that time spent batting in such conditions will serve him well. He will also forgo his time off next week to come and face his team-mate Chris Woakes, who is just about fit to resume bowling, in the middle at Edgbaston.”Batting is going to be hard, but you can’t sit here and complain about it,” he said. “There’s no point moaning. You can get a lot out of batting in these conditions. You’re not always going to play on flat wickets, so it’s good to play on challenging surfaces where things are in the bowlers’ favour. You can’t always live in the comfort zone.”Bell’s century helped Warwickshire build a dominant position in this game. Only 22 overs were possible on another rain-reduced day but Tim Ambrose, cutting as enthusiastically as ever, helped Bell extend their overnight partnership to 87 before Blackwell, carrying a shoulder injury that may well require surgery, struck twice in two balls. Ambrose, at least, could count himself unfortunate: his cut shot thumped into the thigh of Ben Stokes at silly-point and deflected to slip, before Rikki Clarke, back instead of forward, simply missed one. To have earned a first innings lead having been, at one stage, for 14 for 4 underlined once again the depth of Warwickshire’s batting. It is, however, the depth of the puddles at Edgbaston that may thwart them.

01-May-2011
Scorecard
Former England Under-19 captain Alex Wakely posted easily his best one-day
league score of 78 not out as Northamptonshire secured a five-wicket Clydesdale
Bank 40 win over Durham at Chester-le-Street.Although he has made a Twenty20 half-century, the elegant 22-year-old
right-hander had a previous best List A score of 35.
He headed to the middle with his side on 14 for 2 in reply to 172, but with
no need to hurry he relied on good placement and lively running in a stand of 94
in 18 overs with opener Stephen Peters.When Dale Benkenstein brought himself on as Durham’s eighth bowler, he had
Peters caught behind for 55. But only six runs were needed by the time David
Sales was yorked by Mitch Claydon in the 37th over.Sunderland seamer Chris Rushworth, making his first appearance of the season
for Durham, then bowled another tight over to follow his opening spell of
4-1-4-2.With two wanted off two overs, Andrew Hall had a big swing at Claydon and was
bowled, but Northamptonshire still eased home with nine balls to spare.Only four Durham batsmen reached double figures and of those Ben Stokes took 40
balls to score 15, while last man Rushworth made 12 not out.
Chaminda Vaas removed both openers, Phil Mustard and Kyle Coetzer, in the first
over and conceded only six runs in five overs.Following his unbeaten 95 in last week’s win against Scotland, Gordon Muchall
easily top scored again with 70, made off 92 balls with six fours.
It was only during his third-wicket stand of 97 in 17 overs with Benkenstein
that Durham were in the game.The captain’s run-a-ball 44, which included the only six of the innings, ended
when he was brilliantly caught at long-on by Wakely, who clung on after knocking
the ball up one-handed just inside the rope off the bowling of James
Middlebrook.Benkenstein’s exit triggered the fall of four wickets for 14 runs, with
Middlebrook picking up three.There were also two in one over for 21-year-old left-arm seamer David Willey,
who forced Gareth Breese to play on and had Scott Borthwick caught behind.Rushworth bowled impressively at the start of Northamptonshire’s reply, beating
Mal Loye’s forward push to hit the off stump. Then Niall O’Brien swept to deep
backward square, where Coetzer held a well-judged catch.But by bringing on Stokes and Ashington seamer Mark Wood, making his
competitive debut, Durham relaxed the pressure and allowed Wakely to build his
match-winning innings.

A low-scoring encounter see-sawed for close to 95 overs but it was Baluchistan Bears who prevailed by four runs against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Panthers at the National Stadium

Cricinfo staff27-Apr-2010
ScorecardA low-scoring encounter see-sawed for close to 95 overs but it was Baluchistan Bears who prevailed by four runs against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Panthers at the National Stadium. Rameez Alam played a captain’s knock of 86 to take Bears to 187 before a five-wicket burst by Rizwan Haider left the Panthers reeling. An eighth-wicket stand of 52 took Panthers close to the target but they eventually fell short by a narrow margin.Imran Khan made early inroads for Panthers, reducing Bears to 67 for 5. Rameez and Rizwan joined hands for a stand of 57 for the seventh wicket before Yasir Shah struck. Khalid Usman, the left-arm spinner, bowled an economical spell and took 3 for 38 off his ten overs. Rameez was the only player to get on top of the bowlers and he was the last man out in the 48th over, dismissed for 86 by Imran, who finished with 3 for 25.Yasir Hameed gave the Panthers a rousing start with an attacking 31. At 56 for 2, Panthers had the edge but all that changed when Rizwan nipped out four wickets in quick succession to leave Panthers struggling at 86 for 7. It came down to a fighting half-century stand for the eighth wicket between Zohaib Khan and Usman. When Usman fell in the 45th over, Panthers still needed 25. Abdur Rauf, the wicket-taker, then trapped Zohaib lbw and the last-wicket pair fought for close to two overs but Zulfiqar Babar had the final say, getting Imran caught. With three losses in as many games, Panthers are the only team yet to open their account.

Opening pair combine for club-record 259-run partnership to set up huge win

ECB Reporters Network24-Jul-2024Centurions Ed Pollock and Gareth Roderick rewrote the record books in spectacular style for Worcestershire during their 183-run Metro Bank One Day Cup triumph over Middlesex at New Road.The opening pair smashed 259 off just 35.2 overs, Worcestershire’s highest first wicket List A partnership, in a total of 371 for 3 from 48 overs. Their stand surpassed by the 243 made by Brett D’Oliveira and Jack Haynes against Essex at Chelmsford three years ago.Pollock went onto amass 180 from 138 balls with five sixes and 21 fours, his second century in four days after his 120 not out against Wales in a warm-up match. It was the joint second-highest individual score for Worcestershire in List A cricket alongside Tom Moody with only Callum Ferguson (192) ahead of Pollock.Roderick was the perfect foil to Pollock during the initial phase of his innings but then accelerated to such an extent that he scored his 115 off only 104 balls and also with five sixes in addition to 10 other boundaries.A three wicket burst with the new ball by Harry Darley, one of six Worcestershire One-Day Cup debutants, pressed home his side’s advantage. Another in Jack Home then chipped in with three wickets and, Middlesex who lost half of their side for 118 despite Mark Stoneman’s powerful 75 off 37 balls, were bowled out in just 25.4 overs.Worcestershire fielded arguably the most inexperienced attack in their history after being decimated by injury and illness. Their absentees were Joe Leach, Adam Finch, Nathan Smith, Ben Gibbon, Matthew Waite, Yadvinder Singh, Josh Cobb, Kashif Ali and D’Oliveira.Six players made their One-Day Cup debuts in Home and Darley, Rehaan Edavalath and three new short-term signings from National Counties cricket in Tom Hinley (Oxfordshire), Hishaam Khan (Staffordshire) and Tommy Sturgess (Berkshire). Middlesex had five players absent due to the Hundred in Stephen Eskinazi, Max Holden, Leus du Plooy, Ryan Higgins and Tom Helm, and handed first One Day Cup starts to Nathan Fernandes and Noah Cornwell.Worcestershire were put into bat and Pollock and Roderick gave them a flying start with a century stand in 16.3 overs. Pollock was the dominant partner initially and raced to his half century off 45 balls. But Roderick gradually stepped on the accelerator in supporting the left-hander as boundaries flowed constantly and he completed a 62-ball fifty.Pollock moved into the 90s with a six backward of square off Blake Cullen and then a steer to third man off the same bowler enabled him to complete a superb hundred. Roderick swept Fernandes for another maximum – his fourth – in completing a 92-ball hundred which also contained nine fours.The stand was worth 259 in 35.2 overs when Roderick attempted a similar shot against Fernandes and was bowled. But then Rob Jones provided staunch support in adding 93 in just 10.2 overs with Pollock.. His memorable effort finally ended when he went for another big hit against Fernandes and was caught at long-on.Darley, who made his senior debut with four appearances in the Vitality Blast, struck a trio of early blows with the new ball when Middlesex launched their reply. His second legitimate delivery nipped back and bowled Sam Robson and then a similar ball hit the top of Joe Cracknell’s off stump.There was more joy for Darley when Fernandes aimed a leg-side blow and popped up a catch to captain Jake Libby at cover. Home came into the attack and struck when Jack Davies top edged a skier to fellow keeper Roderick. He then had Stoneman caught behind when driving and Martin Andersson holed out to third man and the innings quickly subsided.

But, on a lighter note, “just don’t turn up – it’s too hard,” she says when asked how Australia can be beaten

Valkerie Baynes27-Feb-20235:18

“The gap between Australia and everyone else just keeps on growing”

“As many as there is out there,” Beth Mooney said when asked how many more titles Australia had left in them. And that is the key to this side’s remarkable success.After claiming their third straight T20 World Cup title with a 19-run victory over hosts South Africa on Sunday, their sixth in the format overall and 13th when you include the ODI event, this team never tires of winning and always strives to be better.”We don’t get tired of it,” Mooney, Player of the Match for her unbeaten 74 from 53 balls on a tricky batting surface at Newlands, said. “Something we speak about as a group is making sure we’re always evolving along the way. We’ve seen in this tournament there are teams around the world getting better and better as the years go on and we know that we’re being hunted. People are looking at us for what we do and how we go about it, so certainly it won’t last forever, but we’ll enjoy it for as long as we can and hopefully we can keep piling up those trophies.”Related

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• Stats – Australia's hat-trick and Mooney's love for finals

• Sune Luus calls for CSA to invest in women's cricket

Yes, Australia did snuff out the host nation’s dream of winning the title after becoming the first senior South African cricket team to reach a World Cup final, but that’s what they were here for.All tournament, there was an unsurprising admiration for Meg Lanning’s side, which went through undefeated, mixed with unmistakeable undertones of ‘oh no, not them again’ and ‘wouldn’t it be nice if someone else won for a change?’Sune Luus, the South Africa captain who told Australia during the on-field presentations that they were “really annoying”, even rolled her eyes when asked in her post-match press conference about the fact that it was them on the podium yet again. But she acknowledged that the Australians had long been setting the benchmark in terms of professionalism, pathways structures.So while it can feel like the rest of the world wants Australia to apologise for being so good (we know they never, ever will) and thinks having a different winner would be good for the game, Australia’s unmatched success is equally good for the game in that it shows the way. Their domestic structure and long-established WBBL have been emulated elsewhere – notably in England and India, which holds its first WPL immediately after this tournament, as well as in the West Indies with the Women’s CPL.Mooney on Lanning: “She’ll go down as one of the greatest ever for our team and we’re very lucky to have her”•ICC via Getty

Beth Mooney: Every team is evolving at a rapid pace

There are indications that the gap is closing, too. Australia were pushed by India in their semi-final, winning by just five runs, while South Africa upset England to reach the title decider.And then Australia do something like Mooney’s dive at long-on to save two runs from Nadine de Klerk with South Africa still 23 behind with only three balls left in the match, and it’s easy to see how they stay ahead.”The game’s never over till it’s over so I think that’s what keeps bringing us back,” Mooney said. “We fought really hard against India. It was an exciting contest but we know if we’re half a per cent off here and there in T20 World Cups, you can lose the game – so for us it’s never boring. I think we’re always in the contest and always in the fight.”Asked how she would coach a side against Australia, Mooney joked “just don’t turn up – it’s too hard, don’t bother going” to plenty of laughter. Then she added: “I’ve played in a lot of teams – it probably starts within yourself more than anything, rather than worrying about what other people do. If I give too much away we might start getting beaten. But the good part about the game at the moment is every team is evolving at a rapid pace and the game’s evolving at a rapid pace too, so I’m really excited for what’s to come and the challenges that are ahead of us.Alyssa Healy raised eyebrows in the lead-up to the final when she told ABC Sport in Australia that she had run Harmanpreet Kaur out in the semi-final not because Harmanpreet had been unlucky enough to get her bat stuck in the pitch short of her crease, as the India captain had contended, but because she hadn’t run fast enough or stretched far enough. It laid bare the contrast between a player capitalising on a small opportunity and one who, in Healy’s opinion, hadn’t.

Meg Lanning tops Ricky Ponting

Meanwhile, Lanning overtook Ricky Ponting as the captain with the most ICC titles, adding her fifth to the 2014, 2018 and 2020 T20 World Cup and 2022 ODI World Cup crowns. That followed her return from a five-month break from the sport.No one was happier about Lanning’s comeback at the start of this year than Mooney, who was thrilled to have her coffee and “game-day breakfast buddy back”.”When Meg retires – hopefully not for a few more years, hope you’re listening Meg – she’ll go down as one of the greatest leaders, not just in cricket but in sport and just generally as well,” Mooney said. “She’s got an immense cricket brain. She’s cool, calm and collected under pressure and she’s got empathy as well, she understands how people feel in certain situations because she’s been there before and she’s experienced a lot as a person and as a leader and as a cricketer. Absolutely she’ll go down as one of the greatest ever for our team and we’re very lucky to have her.”This Australian team has made a seamless transition under new head coach Shelley Nitschke, who took over from Matthew Mott when he became England men’s white-ball coach last year.Nitschke, who won her first World Cup as a player in South Africa at the 2005 ODI tournament, has come full circle with this latest victory in Cape Town, but she’s nowhere near done and neither are her players.”The fact is that we are getting pushed and that is pushing us,” Nitschke said. “We were playing South Africa here in their first T20 World Cup final so the game just continues to grow, our challenge is to evolve with it.”It’s about continually looking at trends in the game, looking at where we can be better and just challenging our players to continually improve. We’re lucky, we’ve got a really good pool of talent in Australia, so it’s just about making sure that we’re always looking to evolve and stay ahead of the curve, which is becoming increasingly difficult as the game continues to grow. And we saw how South Africa played today so it’s a challenge but it’s one that we’re definitely up for.”Rest of the world, take note.

Cricket Victoria general manager of performance Shaun Graf says long-term view needs to be taken with Pucovksi’s health

Alex Malcolm14-Feb-2022There are serious concerns over Will Pucovski’s long-term health following his latest concussion, with Cricket Victoria bracing for a hard discussion with the one-Test batter later this week.Their general manager of performance Shaun Graf told SEN on Monday that Pucovski’s latest concussion was “fairly innocuous” after a volleyball “scraped his face”, but it caused the onset of traditional concussion symptoms including a headache and nausea when he took the field on the fourth morning of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield match against South Australia.”Prior to this, he had discussions with the medical staff and they were starting to get worried, obviously with so many concussions even though they are minor now,” Graf said. “We’re talking with his management. He’s got to talk to his manager, his dad, and work out where he wants to be and then have a chat with us but from a sports point of view, obviously, we’re really worried.”It’s not just in the short-term but the long-term, so they’re all the questions we need to look at. We can’t go ahead and keep on playing, and having to always have someone on standby more or less as a concussion substitute. It does throw the team out as well. So we’ve got to think about how it affects the total structure of our team.”These are all the hard questions that Will has got to discuss with his dad, his own medical staff and then align that into Cricket Australia’s and Cricket Victoria’s medical staff.”Pucovski, 24, suffered his 11th career concussion during a pre-warm-up soccer/volleyball game on Saturday, and was subbed out and flown home to Melbourne. He had made a half-century in the first innings on day two. It was his first first-class match since his Test debut in January 2020.Graf revealed that medical staff were already concerned about Pucovski prior to this incident after he missed three months of cricket late last year following a concussion he suffered while facing throwdowns in the nets in October.Will Pucovski made a half-century on his comeback•Getty Images

Graf said Cricket Victoria was still keen to give Pucovski every chance to have a long career, and would be as patient as necessary with him but conceded that he may need to take a step back and take a long-term strategy to his recovery.”I’m certainly in the camp, I want to give the lad every chance to play; he is such a talent,” Graf said. “But there does come a point in time where you’ve got to realise that maybe this is not the go and you’ve got to have a rest, and really reassess yourself and work out whether or not having some sort of long rest would enable him to get back to full health and then hopefully come back into the game that way.”Whether that is the decision I’m not certain. Those are the sort of the questions that are being asked now, and it’s something that we’ve got to discuss with Will later on this week.”Previously when he’s had a concussion it’s been a month or two months or three months in some cases. With this, it’s not a major concussion but I think the overall picture has got to be looked at, and whether or not [he has to be] a long time out of the game where he actually gets away from the game and comes back without this constant pressure of always having concussion hanging over his head, maybe a way of hopefully ridding this situation and getting him back to the game.”Because he certainly is one of the most talented batters I’ve seen in my time, and it’s so sad to see this happening.”Graf also conceded that retirement is not out of the question given the seriousness of his recurring concussions, although Pucovski remains keen to find a way to continue to play.”He’s realistic, he understands that this is bad and if it keeps going it can’t be good for his health long-term,” Graf said. “He does understand that. But being a young lad he still wants to play. It is so frustrating for him because of that fact that he knows where he could be if he was fit and able to get through multiple games.”He’s still very much in the corner that he wants to keep playing, and we’ll support that. However, if the medical advice is contrary to that, we need to have a very hard discussion.”

Series unlikely to start until mid-October as SLC seeks further clarity from government

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Sep-2020Sri Lanka Cricket has proposed a split, two-country quarantine for the Bangladesh team in the board’s latest attempt to convince Sri Lanka’s health ministry to allow Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka next month to go ahead.Sri Lanka’s health authorities have so far insisted on a strict 14-day quarantine for all arrivals, which the Bangladesh Cricket Board has refused to agree to. Now, SLC have floated the idea of Bangladesh’s players doing seven days of quarantine in Bangladesh before flying to Sri Lanka and doing seven further days of quarantine in the island.Neither Sri Lanka’s health authorities nor the BCB has agreed to such a plan, however. Ostensibly, maintaining a biosecure bubble while flying internationally also seems a complex and difficult proposition. But SLC is being forced to come up with creative solutions, as its health ministry has so far refused to budge on the 14-day quarantine.”We had a positive meeting with the Covid-19 Task Force yesterday, and everyone was in agreement that we should make this tour happen,” SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo. “But we have to take what the doctors are saying into account also.”Acting on the health ministry and epidemiologists’ recommendations, Sri Lanka has so far fared better during the pandemic than many other nations. The Covid-19 death toll is at 13 and life has largely returned to normal in the island, save for the closed borders.Bangladesh’s refusal to undergo a 14-day quarantine – in which players would not be allowed to do so much as leave their hotel room – is because the BCB believes it is unfair to ask players to spend so long out of action – and in isolation – ahead of a major Test series. Earlier, SLC had asked the health ministry if the Bangladesh players could train in the second half of the 14-day period with a bubble in place but this was refused.Sri Lanka also does not have major stadiums adjacent to hotels, as England do in Southampton and Manchester. SLC expects to have more clarity from the health ministry in the next few days. In any case, this series is now unlikely to start until at least mid-October.

The CSK captain has hit 554 runs in 227 balls in the 20th over of an IPL match. That’s 13% of all the runs he’s made in this tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-20192:55

MS Dhoni’s top 5 last-over heists

MS Dhoni has hit 554 runs in 227 balls in the 20th over of an IPL match. That’s 13% of all the runs he’s ever made in this tournament. How does he do it?”Watch the ball, hit the ball,” the CSK captain told after putting in a sensational performance to beat Delhi Capitals in their last home game of the 2019 season. “Also by that time, you’ve spent enough time to know what are the variations that are really working on that wicket, how is it coming onto the batsmen, whether you can play a few shots that are maybe not your stronger points. I think by 20th over you’re almost ready and you swing at everything.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Dhoni’s been especially aggressive this season, hitting 70 runs off 21 final-over deliveries. That translates to a strike-rate of 333. So it was fairly straightforward that he would call Ambati Rayudu through for a sneaky single after the new batsman was beaten outside the off stump by Trent Boult.Once he was back on strike, Dhoni sent the last two balls of innings for sixes and finished with 44 off 22. At the start of the 19th over, he was 13 off 12″It’s easier for somebody to play 10-15 deliveries than somebody who has just come in to bat. It was just holding on a bit. It was not a wicket where it was coming on nicely and I felt it was slightly difficult for Rayudu to come and hit and [wicketkeeper] Rishabh [Pant] helped, he didn’t take the gloves off [Dhoni does that a lot to prevent giving away such runs when he’s behind the wicket] and that gave me an extra few seconds to finish my run.”In addition to his usual big-hitting exploits, Dhoni showcased immense skill in the field, stumping Chris Morris and Shreyas Iyer even though their back feet had barely risen from the ground.MS magic – Dhoni pulled off two outstanding stumpings within three balls, both off Ravindra Jadeja•BCCI

He managed to catch them out largely thanks to his unique technique of waiting for the ball with his hands right on top of the stumps. Other wicketkeepers have a little give – cushioning the ball by swinging the hands back before thrusting them forward to clip the bails – but Dhoni doesn’t. He collects the ball and clips the bails. No back swing.”It’s something that has come from tennis-ball cricket which I’ve played a lot,” Dhoni said. “But you need to do the basics right first and then graduate to the next level. I feel if you want to keep like that, then this is what you practice. You may commit a lot of errors so what’s important is you stick to the basics and then get to the advanced course. If you can reduce the time where you can clip the bails off, it always helps.”After the game, Dhoni went around the ground, hitting tennis balls into the crowd and thanking them for their support. But just before that, he was asked whether he liked being called .”I’ve always said it’s very special to get that kind of a nickname. It’s a big nickname that has been given to me. It feels truly special. I never realised it was part of the first song that was made on CSK, that was part of it. And after hearing it, I realised [how important it is]. And the way I got accepted, the whole of Tamil Nadu, down south, it’s always that they yell [not my name] and the moment I hear it, I know he’s a fan of CSK and that he definitely comes from down south and he’s slightly different. It feels special. At the same time, they’ve been very nice not only to me but to the whole team. So a big thanks to them.”

Mithali Raj has identified spin bowling and lower-order batting as key areas of improvement as India build towards the Women’s World T20 to take place in West Indies in November

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-20186:22

We’ve developed a few match-winners – Raj

Mithali Raj has identified spin bowling and lower-order batting as key areas of improvement as India build towards the Women’s World T20 in November. India go into the tournament seeking a change of fortunes, having suffered first-round exits in each of the last three editions, although they did make the semi-finals in 2009 and 2010.Currently, though, they are in the middle of a highly successful tour of South Africa. Having beaten the hosts 2-1 in the ODI series, under Raj’s captaincy, they hold an unassailable 2-1 lead in the T20Is as well. Their top-order batsmen have been in sensational form, running down targets of 165 and 143 with ease in the first two games. But that in turn has left the lower order untested, and South Africa exploited this weakness especially well in the third T20I, knocking over the last five wickets for nine runs.”I definitely want the team to do well in this format, because we’ve not really done very well in T20s, be it World Cups or bilateral series,” Raj told . “So that’s something I’m looking forward to this year.”Obviously, T20 World Cup is a different format from the one-day format, and the team definitely has lot to work on in T20s. We’ve been doing well in the last two games against South Africa. There’s still work to do in preparation of the World Cup, but the team looks good, with the kind of top-order batting we have.”West Indies, where the World T20 will take place, features a lot of slow and low pitches and as such spinners could play a very important role in the tournament. Among India’s frontline options, Poonam Yadav has had the best time in South Africa. The 26-year old legspinner was the leading wicket-taker in the ODIs and her 4 for 24 in the second game helped seal a 178-run victory. In the two T20Is, she has taken 2 for 18 and 1 for 19.Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad was also impressive in the ODIs, with an economy rate of 2.42. Others such as Radha Yadav and Ekta Bisht have only played parts of the tour.”A lot of work is needed in terms of our spin,” Raj said. “The wickets are batter-friendly and more conducive for high scoring [in South Africa], so the spinners have a lot more to work on. And the lower order needs to contribute with the bat, because not in every game the batters will score runs. Yes, we definitely want the batters to score the bulk of the runs, but sometimes, [there will be] some games where the tail needs to contribute more.”Raj has long been one of India’s most reliable batsmen, but she has only shown patches of form on this tour. She began the tour with 69 runs in three ODIs, recovered with back-to-back fifties in the first two T20I, but fell for a duck in the third as India slumped from 93 for 2 to 133 all out.”I’m not really satisfied, as such, but I could have done well in the one-dayers, and I’m looking to continue to be more consistent in the T20 format,” Raj said. “We have Australia and England coming up after the South Africa series, so that’s going to be a very important series because they are quality oppositions with far more quality players. We’re playing them at home. We just won the one-day series, we’ve done well in the T20s – though we’re yet to seal the series. Playing Australia and England at home is going to be challenging because they are very good sides and a lot of experience comes with them, and it’s important that I continue to score runs for the team.”

Batsman Chris Lynn has been ruled out of the remainder of Australia’s ODI series against Pakistan and the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee Series in New Zealand due to a neck injury

Brydon Coverdale18-Jan-2017Batsman Chris Lynn has been ruled out of the remainder of Australia’s ODI series against Pakistan and the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee Series in New Zealand due to a neck injury. However, the Australians are hopeful that Lynn will recover in time to be part of the Twenty20 side to take on Sri Lanka in mid-February, when the Test players will already be in India.Lynn made his ODI debut on his home ground at the Gabba in the first game against Pakistan last Friday, but was ruled out of the second match in Melbourne due to an aggravation of his existing injury. The sidelining of Lynn comes at an unfortunate time for the batsman, who had lit up the Big Bash League with the Brisbane Heat and had a chance to make a one-day spot his own.”He’s obviously been playing in a lot of pain, even through the BBL,” Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann said ahead of the second ODI against Pakistan in Perth. “It’s just got to the stage where he can’t function anymore.”He’s got a couple of weeks with really no cricket, light duties … a little bit of physical stuff but nothing weight-bearing. He’s got to calm down the neck – it’s quite aggravated. He’ll start his rehab as of now, but he won’t be doing too much strenuous stuff before hopefully getting back for the Sri Lankan series.”As a result of Lynn’s absence, Peter Handscomb will make his ODI debut at the WACA on Thursday, having been added to the squad. Although Handscomb has averaged just 23.83 in the past two years in List A cricket, his outstanding form when stepping into the Test line-up this summer – he is yet to be dismissed for less than 50 in a Test innings – encouraged the selectors to look to him again.”He’s done really well, he’s been outstanding,” Lehmann said of Handscomb. “A good reward for a good summer. We want four quality batters going at the top, so he’ll get his chance there … That number four spot is there and Peter has done a really good job for us in the Test matches, so he gets another crack at it.”He played a very good one-day sort of innings for us in the Sydney Test match, where we scored quite quickly. He’s got all the shots and he’s quite innovative. But if we lose early wickets he can consolidate from there.”Handscomb’s inclusion for Mitchell Marsh, who hurt his shoulder during Australia’s loss at the MCG, is one of two changes to the XI. Mitchell Starc has been rested for the third match, with fast bowler Billy Stanlake set to return to the side after making his debut in the first game at the Gabba.”He’s tall and he’s got some bounce, so we think he’ll be quite effective here,” Lehmann said of Stanlake. The teams head into the Perth ODI level at 1-1 in the five-game series, after Pakistan’s win in Melbourne ended a stretch of 16 consecutive losses to Australia in Australia across all formats.Australia XI for Perth ODI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Billy Stanlake.