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M Vijay and Virat Kohli added 283 for the third wicket, utterly dispiriting Sri Lanka until Lakshan Sandakan gave them something to cheer with two quick wickets late in the day

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy02-Dec-20172:12

Chopra: Vijay showed he’s India’s No. 1 opener

In deference to the Indian team management’s wishes, there was grass on the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, but Virat Kohli, at the toss, wished there could have been more. It certainly wasn’t enough to turn New Delhi into Newlands, and India, instead of fighting for survival against snarling South African fast bowlers, settled into a typically subcontinental bat-first, bat-big pattern against a limited Sri Lanka attack, facing more spin (59 overs) than seam (31) on day one.For most of the day, Sri Lanka had nothing to cheer as M Vijay and Virat Kohli added 283 for the third wicket, their partnership an exhibition of relentless self-control and a hunger for runs that never tipped over into greed. India rattled along at more than four an over, and as the shadows lengthened, it seemed as if India would end the day only two down.But wristspin can do strange things, and Lakshan Sandakan, whose figures at that point read 20.5-0-109-0, sent down a deliciously-flighted wrong’un, slanting it across Vijay and asking him to reach out to drive. He didn’t pick the direction of turn, groped for the ball, and missed, dragging his back foot out of the crease in the process. Niroshan Dickwella, quick and nimble, did the rest.In his next over, Sandakan repeated the trick against Ajinkya Rahane. The line was a little wider this time, but again the ball landed on that perfect length, broke in the direction the batsman did not anticipate, and again Dickwella removed the bails with the batsman’s toe on the line. India had gone from 361 for 2 to 365 for 4. Sandakan, whose bowling until that point had made Sri Lanka yearn for the control of the absent Rangana Herath, was now doing what he had been picked to do.Still, this was India’s day. At stumps, Kohli was batting on 156, his third hundred in a row and the quickest – he only took 110 balls to reach three figures – of his 20 in Tests. In the process, he also became the fourth-quickest Indian batsman to 5000 Test runs, getting there in his 105th innings.Until the moment of Sandakan’s transformation, Vijay and Kohli had looked utterly secure. Aside from a couple of clearly not-out lbw shouts, their dominance had gone unchallenged, and, in an indictment of the two specialist spinners, the one bowler who had come remotely close to creating chances was the part-time offspinner Dhananjaya de Silva.On 122, Vijay drove early and sent the ball looping towards midwicket rather than the intended direction of cover; it fell just short of the diving Dinesh Chandimal. Then, on 154, he sent an uppish flick in the same direction. This time it eluded the fingertips of the debutant Roshen Silva. In between, de Silva also found Kohli’s leading edge, which fell between the bowler and mid-off.Bowling exclusively from around the wicket, de Silva ended the day with figures of 0 for 45 in 15 overs. Sandakan and Dilruwan Perera finished with a combined 3 for 207 from 44 overs.The foundation of Kohli’s innings was his supreme reading of the spinners’ length, and thereafter his footwork to pounce on marginal lapses. Before lunch, for instance, he took a massive stride out to a good-length ball from Lakshan Sandakan and bisected wide mid-on and deep midwicket with a whip of his wrists. On 68, he went the other way, deep into his crease, to shorten the length of an otherwise decent Dilruwan Perera delivery and bring his wrists into play once more to find the gap between short fine leg and deep square leg.For the quicker bowlers, a “good” length was a fairly small area on this pitch. When they strayed remotely off that area, Kohli and Vijay were quick to put the ball away. Vijay gave a good demonstration of this with a pair of boundaries in the 23rd over, off Lahiru Gamage: a cover drive, followed by a wristy on-drive, both off balls that were far from half-volleys. Kohli, meanwhile, raced from 43 to 55 courtesy three fours off one Gamage over, the pick of them an on-the-up drive through the covers.Vijay went to tea on 101, and resumed with a flurry of attractive boundaries – an inside-out cover drive off Dilruwan, a square-drive off Gamage, a reverse-paddle off Dilruwan. He would only hit one more four after that, though, as he took the singles on offer and made sure he would do everything in his power to keep his quest for that long-yearned-for maiden double-hundred alive. This time, it would really take a good ball to get him out.This hadn’t been true of Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara, who both got off to breezy starts before falling against the run of play.Once it became clear there was little help in this pitch for the quicks, Dhawan and Vijay were quickly on their way, driving freely on the up and hitting eight fours in the first ten overs. Sri Lanka brought on spin as early as the eighth over, and Dilruwan continued to worry his team with his inconsistent lengths, Dhawan picking up two fours behind point in his first two overs. But he grew a little greedy, and picked out deep square leg with a top-edged sweep on 23. Suranga Lakmal briefly lost the ball in the hazy atmosphere, and lost a shoe while hurriedly changing direction, but managed to hold on.It was Dilruwan’s 100th Test wicket. He might not be the most frugal of spinners, but he has the knack of taking wickets – his 100th had come up in his 25th Test, and no Sri Lankan had got there quicker. Muttiah Muralitharan had taken 27 Tests.In walked Pujara, whose last four partnerships with Vijay read 107, 178, 102 and 209. They seemed to be continuing from where they left off in Nagpur, while scoring twice as quickly, and Pujara in particular was putting the bowlers through the shredder, hitting four fours in the space of three overs, including two back-foot whips off marginally short balls from Dilruwan. But this time, the partnership would only get as far as 36.Lahiru Gamage broke it, Sri Lanka profiting from the same plan that had brought them Pujara’s wicket in the second innings in Galle in late July. Then, he had flicked a full ball from Lahiru Kumara to leg gully. Now, he tucked one off his legs in the same direction, just uppishly enough for Sadeera Samarawickrama to take a sharp catch falling to his left.

Following the Supreme Court’s latest order, the BCCI is likely to postpone the bidding process for the IPL television and digital rights

Nagraj Gollapudi22-Oct-2016The BCCI is likely to defer the bidding process for the IPL television and digital rights, which had been scheduled to open in Mumbai on October 25, in wake of the fresh order from the Supreme Court on Friday.The court order had directed the BCCI to route all tenders and contracts through the Lodha Committee. The committee has not yet decided when it will conduct its next meeting to decide its next step following the court order. It is understood that the BCCI has contacted the committee, which has not yet responded to the board; the BCCI needs to wait for its approval. If the BCCI decides to go ahead with the bidding process without the committee’s backing, it will be in danger of being in contempt of court.Within hours of the court pronouncing the order, BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke sent an email to the Lodha Committee seeking direction on whether the IPL bids could be held next Tuesday. It is understood that BCCI also sent the committee all necessary details, including the paperwork submitted by the 18 bidders that had bought the invitation to tender (ITT) document.”We have sought advice from the Lodha Committee,” a senior BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. The BCCI is already prepared for the bidding process to be postponed. The board official said that even if the committee were to give it the nod, the BCCI would be faced with “logistical” issues to conduct the bidding on Tuesday.According to the official, once the BCCI validated the 18 companies that had bought the ITT, it needed to send them an agreement. “First you issue the agreement. Then there are two rounds of clarifications. After the clarifications some points change and you revise the agreement. The revised agreement did not go out yesterday after the court judgement.”If they say go ahead, we will do that on October 25. But it would be a very big challenge for the board. So we will just change the date by one or two days.” The official said the board had not updated the 18 companies yet on the schedule, and would do so only after it heard from the Lodha Committee.In the order, the court had also asked the committee to appoint an independent auditor to oversee all existing and future finance-related issues, tenders and contracts of the board. The court also asked the committee to set a “threshold value” for contracts; whenever that limit was exceeded, the BCCI would need to seek approval from the Lodha panel before moving ahead in the particular matter.Shirke, in his email, had also asked the committee if the independent auditor would also be present for the bidding process. “We don’t know what the threshold value is. We don’t know who the auditor is. So we have submitted all the papers [relating to the tender] to them. And we await the directive from the committee now,” the official said.In September, the BCCI announced it would invite bidders to participate in an open-tender process to secure IPL rights for the next cycle starting 2018. With the IPL’s worth having soared astronomically over its nine seasons, and keeping in mind the changing trends in business dynamics, the BCCI had split the media rights into three categories: Indian subcontinent television rights, India subcontinent digital rights and Rest of the World media rights. Among those who bought the ITT were non-television players Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Reliance Jio.The case stems from the IPL 2013 fixing scandal. The court had initially appointed the Lodha Committee to determine appropriate punishments for those involved, and propose changes to the BCCI’s functioning to ensure best practices. In July the court accepted the majority of the committee’s recommendations, covering wide-ranging aspects of Indian cricket at the central and state level, making it binding on the BCCI to implement them. The BCCI has since questioned the benefits of some of these reforms – particularly the “one state, one vote” policy, the age cap on board officials, and the cap and cooling off periods on their terms in office – and missed some deadlines for their implementation, prompting the Lodha Committee and the Supreme Court to pursue the matter.

ESPNcricinfo previews the first T20I between Sri Lanka and West Inxies in Pallekele

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Nov-2015

Match facts

November 9, 2015
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)

Big Picture

“I think we’re now playing a format we enjoy, in a place we’ve played it the best.” Thus spake West Indies captain Darren Sammy, fielding his first question since arriving on the island, where in 2012, his team had won the world title. As the visitors tumbled from defeat to defeat in the Tests and ODIs, you couldn’t help but think that the T20 series is where they would really push Sri Lanka. Perhaps it is no surprise that the shortest ODI – the 26-overs-a-side affair in Colombo – was the closest they came to notching up a victory on tour.Bolstered now by the arrival of Sammy, and the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, West Indies are arguably even the stronger team on paper, while Sri Lanka continues to grapple with its exodus of experience. In the last series, against Pakistan, the hosts had trialled a few young players, and returned Chamara Kapugedara to the side after a long hiatus. Several of the young players have been selected again, which suggests the experimentation will continue, which in turn leaves Sri Lanka open to have their inexperience exposed, as it was against Pakistan.One major change from that Pakistan series is Lasith Malinga’s resurgence. He was rifling through his variations in the ODI series, often taking early wickets, and usually bowling tightly at the finish, all at a greater pace than he had bowled with earlier in the year. There are questions about his suitability to spearhead this team, but there can be no doubts that he is the most pivotal cricketer in the XI. West Indies do have players who have shut him down in the past, however.Sri Lanka remain the top-ranked T20 side in the world, but as Sammy has suggested, rankings mean much less in this format. The hosts need at least one victory to maintain their place, but West Indies will take the No. 1 ranking if they win 2-0.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)


Sri Lanka: LLWWW

West Indies: LWWWL

In the spotlight

Kusal Perera has been among Sri Lanka’s movers and shakers in a somewhat stagnant year, seasoning his brimming plateful of talent with good judgment and a little sense. He has begun regularly shaping ODI matches this year, but his T20 form has not yet caught fire in the same fashion – thanks in part to the infrequency with which T20 games are played. Having struck a 99 and a 50 in the ODIs, Kusal now has the opportunity to impose himself in the format for which his cricket seems created.While Malinga has warmed up in the blue corner, Marlon Samuels has been heating up in the red. His 110 not out in the third ODI was the best innings of the series, and just like in that 2012 World T20 final, he has started to play Malinga particularly well. The carve through point was his go-to stroke in the one-dayers, but those brutal straight hits have begun to pepper the sightscreen as well.

Team news

Sri Lanka may try 25-year-old legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay and 20-year-old seamer Binura Fernando again. They might also give tearaway Dushmantha Chameera a T20 debut, following his excellent turn in the third ODI.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Perera (wk), 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kithuruwan Vithanage, 4 Dinesh Chandimal , 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Chamara Kapugedara, 7 Milinda Siriwardana, 8 Jeffrey Vandersay, 9, Binura Fernando, 10 Lasith Malinga (capt.), 11 Dushmantha ChameeraAndre Russell is likely to be fit and available for selection. West Indies will miss the unwell Samuel Badree, but with his replacement Devendra Bishoo having had a decent CPL, they may feel confident enough to play him.West Indies (probable): 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Andre Fletcher (wk), 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Dwayne Bravo, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Darren Sammy (capt), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Devendra Bishoo, 11 Ravi Rampaul

Pitch and conditions

The Pallekele pitch used for Saturday’s ODI will be used again for this match. Sri Lanka had said the surface was slower than usual for the venue. Rain interruptions are likely.

Stats and trivia

• In addition to the 2012 World T20 final, Sri Lanka and West Indies have also met twice in the semi-final of World T20 tournaments. Sri Lanka won both those matches. The 2012 final is the only T20 match Sri Lanka have lost to West Indies.
• 26 is Kusal Perera’s highest score in his most recent eight T20 innings.
• Dwayne Bravo needs 74 runs to complete 1000 in T20 internationals.

Quotes

“The last international T20 we played was back in January, in South Africa. After that we’ve played a few tournaments. Some of our guys are playing all over the world. We’ve put in some practice yesterday and today. Hopefully the rest of the squad that has been here should be acclimatised to the conditions. We’re looking to bring our experience and play a format that we enjoy.”

It is probably only natural that a club based in the middle of one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe will reflect the community it serves. But, even by the standards of London, this Middlesex side is a cosmopolitan bunch.

George Dobell at Trent Bridge11-Apr-2013
ScorecardJohn Simpson benefited from some poor bowling to register his first Championship half-century since September 2011•Getty Images

It is probably only natural that a club based in the middle of one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe will reflect the community it serves. But, even by the standards of London, this Middlesex side is a cosmopolitan bunch.It contains two men born in Australia, three men born or brought up in South Africa, one born in German, another in Wales and one each from Lancashire and Kent. Even the two London-born players, Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones, have previously passed through the Surrey system. You could make a strong case to argue that not one of this team have developed through the Middlesex development programme.Middlesex, noting their reliance upon imports, have invested heavily in their facilities in recent times and it is hoped, in time, they will be more self reliant.But they were grateful for a couple of their imports on the second day of this game. First Sam Robson established a platform before John Simpson built on it to earn Middlesex a position from which they could earn a match-defining advantage on day three.Robson looks a fine player. There is more than a passing resemblance to Mike Atherton in his determination and the way he looks at the crease, with the fluency through wide mid on and the similarities of the cut stroke most uncanny.But quite who benefits from his development remains to be seen. Robson, who claims he is uncertain over his qualification status, was born in Australia, played for the U19 side and returned to participate in Grade cricket this winter. He has a British mother, however, and is ensuring he spends enough time in the UK to qualify for England at the start of the 2014 season. In this weather, that probably shows some level of commitment.Bearing in mind Australia’s current dearth of batting talent, however, he could well be one of three men in this match (Chris Rogers and Ed Cowan are the others) considered for national selection some time before then. His options remain open and Australia could do a great deal worse.Certainly he was reluctant to categorically confirm his commitment to England when asked about it at the close of play. “Everyone wants to play international cricket,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m loving playing in England and my home is in London. I’m not looking at anything more than that.”Whether that is a satisfactory situation in a county game that is duty bound to support the development of the England team is debatable. While it might be argued that players like Robson help raise the standard, it might equally be argued that they impede the progress of young men who would be less equivocal in their national commitments. Robson, understandably focused on making his way in the game, is hardly to blame for the unsatisfactory regulations.Robson, keeping with the theme of this match, battled hard only to then play a large part in his own downfall. Throwing his hands at a wide ball, he edged to the keeper in a spell of play that brought Nottinghamshire back into the game; a shot he later described as “criminal”. Middlesex, having posted 106 for the first wicket, then lost five wickets for 69 runs. Still trailing by 103 with their top-order gone, the match was in the balance.That Nottinghamshire side were unable to capitalise upon that position was largely their own fault. On a pitch offering variable bounce and in conditions offering just enough seam and swing, they delivered far too many release balls to build the requisite pressure. Middlesex accumulated 160 runs in boundaries and another 38 in extras – including 11 from wides and eight from no-balls – as Nottinghamshire’s bowlers squandered the conditions and sprayed the ball around.”We’re slightly disappointed,” Luke Fletcher, the pick of the bowlers, admitted afterwards. “We didn’t put the ball in the right areas enough. It is still moving around and swinging.”Gareth Berg – South African born, but an Italian international cricketer – and Simpson also deserve some credit. The pair added 116 for the sixth wicket with Simpson registering his first half-century in the Championship since September 2011. He drove and cut nicely, but could count himself fortunate that Nottinghamshire’s bowlers remained so inconsistent. He had earned his side a lead of 19 by the time bad light ended play 9.2 overs early. Possibly, had Ollie Rayner been dismissed, play could have continued: if is often said you can see clearly once Rayner has gone.Perhaps the cold contributed to Nottinghamshire’s problems. In conditions so cold that even Captain Oates would think twice before venturing out for a walk, the floodlights remained on for the entire day and fielding was an uncomfortable business.When Nottinghamshire did stick to a decent line and length, they won due reward. Chris Rogers, who may have nudged the Australian selectors once more by passing 19,000 first-class runs on his way to another half-century, perished when he left a straight one that swung back at him before Joe Denly, Dawid Malan and Neil Dexter were all forced onto the back foot by sustained and impressive spells of short bowling and then dismissed when they failed to get fully forward to fuller balls.While Fletcher may still more resemble the chef at Hooters he used to be than an elite athlete, he bowled with skill and discipline. Ajmal Shahzad, among some pretty horrid stuff, also bowled some excellent deliveries, but Andy Carter, feeding the cut shot, endured a disappointing day and Andre Adams, by his lofty standards, was surprisingly inconsistent.Middlesex’s hopes of pressing for victory could be harmed by an injury to James Harris, though. The club fear he has a hamstring strain, but hope he has been suffering from cramp after his exertions on the first day. It remains to be seen if he will bowl again in the game.

Australia Women’s complete domination of India Women continued with another one-sided victory in the fourth Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2012
Scorecard Australia Women’s complete domination of India Women continued with another one-sided victory in the fourth Twenty20. Medium-pacer Julie Hunter had India on the back foot in the very first over with two strikes, and the hosts were eventually bundled out for 85, a total that did not pose the slightest challenge to Australia.Hunter’s twin strikes were followed by a wicket in the next over, after which Harmanpreet Kaur and Anjum Chopra crawled to 47 for 3 in 10.5 overs. Once the pair were dismissed, the rest of the batsmen surrendered tamely, with Hunter picking up two more wickets and Ellyse Perry helping herself to two.Australia’s openers took care of the modest target, with Alyssa Healy playing the aggressor and hitting six fours and a six in her 54 off 44 balls, and Meg Lanning trotting to a run-a-ball 30.

Pakistan will consider using Umar Akmal as a wicketkeeper in their remaining group games in a bid to offset the disastrous glovework of his elder brother Kamran

Osman Samiuddin in Pallekele09-Mar-2011Pakistan will consider using Umar Akmal as a wicketkeeper in their remaining group games in the World Cup in a bid to offset the disastrous glovework of his elder brother Kamran. Akmal senior missed three chances in Tuesday’s big loss to New Zealand, including the centurion Ross Taylor twice in three balls when he was on 0 and 4.Those chances come on the back of two missed stumpings in the win against Sri Lanka and over four years of constant, error-strewn performances. “It [keeping with Umar] is very much an option and we might try it in the next game,” captain Shahid Afridi told .As a sign of Pakistan’s concern over Kamran’s form with gloves and bat – he has only three dismissals so far and averages less than 30 as a batsman – Afridi did not rule out the possibility not playing him as a specialist batsman and dropping Kamran altogether. “We have five days now before our next game, so whatever is better for the team we will try it,” he said.Kamran is the only specialist wicketkeeper in the squad but Umar kept for the side in one ODI against South Africa last November, after Zulqarnain Haider fled to London. He was also behind the wickets for three T20s in New Zealand soon after.”If you see him train, he puts in a lot of hard work. I don’t know why but luck has deserted him,” Afridi said. “He is also upset about his performance [against New Zealand] and he realizes it too.” Asked by the channel how “luck” seems to have deserted him so often in the last four years, Afridi smiled and said, “I can’t give an exact answer to that. My job is to back him, to support him and hopefully he will do his best.”If he is dropped, it will not be the first time in the last four years it has happened to Kamran. After a promising couple of years as the first-choice replacement for Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, Akmal’s performances began to dip on the 2006 trip to England, where he persisted behind the stumps despite a finger injury.But Pakistan stuck with him until June 2008, when Sarfraz Ahmed kept for the side in the Asia Cup. Kamran returned soon after, however, with no discernible improvement in performance. Only in January 2010 was he next axed and it took the monumental failure of the Sydney Test, where he missed five chances in all, for Sarfraz to be flown out for the final Test in Hobart.In Pakistan’s next Test against Australia at Lord’s last summer, Kamran was back again, however. After three more poor Tests, Zulqarnain Haider came in to replace him, but a contentious finger injury ruled him out after his debut. Yet again, Kamran returned to keep wickets in the last two Tests of the summer.He was subsequently caught up in the fall-out of the spot-fixing scandal and the PCB refused to clear his selection for the series against South Africa in the UAE and the third Akmal brother, Adnan, took his place in the two Tests. But the board’s integrity committee finally cleared him in December, allowing for his selection in the ODI series against New Zealand and the World Cup squad.His long-term future is again under question now. After the game, Waqar Younis, the coach, said “After the World Cup maybe we can think about it, but we are in the middle of the tournament and I don’t think we can make such a change right now.”Pakistan took a day off from training on Wednesday but the team management said it would sit down and go through the loss and plan for the next game, against Zimbabwe on March 14.

Brian Lara has welcomed the increasing international exposure that young cricketers in the West Indies are gaining by participating in the IPL, county cricket and in Australia

Cricinfo staff11-Mar-2010Brian Lara has welcomed the increasing international exposure that young cricketers in the West Indies are gaining by participating in the IPL and in Australia. However, he said that the trend was a reflection of a poor infrastructure in the Caribbean for grooming young talent to play at the highest level. Lara, while proposing the establishment of a centralised cricket academy, also called for a change in personnel among those running the game in the region to bring about a revival.”We’ve always had the talent in the Caribbean,” Lara told reporters in Mumbai. “The exposure internationally for them is going to be very good. That’s something we had in the seventies. A lot of our cricketers then, like Sir Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, they all went to England to play county cricket. So, obviously, the opportunity for our youngsters to play in the IPL, in Australia or England is very exciting and promising.”But it means we are very weak in how we handle our own talent in the Caribbean. We have not set up any proper academy to take care of them. And that is where we are falling down in our support for our teenagers. If the Indians or the English are making that opportunity available, I think it’s good.”While in London recently, Lara said the current set-up in the West Indies relied heavily on the natural ability of players, which was inadequate to compensate for the absence of a proper institutional structure. “I believe that our structure is not good,” Lara said. “We do not have the academies to support the youngsters and our team is still built on natural ability and in sport nowadays natural ability is a small part of it.”The amount of technology that is happening and how people are learning about the game much faster, I believe we need to head in that direction and there’s nowhere on the horizon that I’ve seen where we have taken that step.”A centralised academy for the various islands playing cricket in the Caribbean, Lara said, was the way to go forward. “I think the main thing is that we need to set up academies, and not necessarily every single island having one, but I think we should have a centralised academy where all the youngsters come together under good coaches.”Maybe past players, [it] does not matter who the coaches are as long as they are well qualified and get them working together. I believe if we do that then maybe five, 10 years down the line you can see some semblance of what we were doing in the past.”At present I think we are just doing what we did 20-25 years ago and hoping that the kids with the talent will come through and we will beat people around the world, and that’s not happening, as you see.”Lara said he was keen in getting involved in West Indies cricket, and added that the inclusion of “new heads” was necessary in sparking a turnaround in fortunes for the game in the region. “I think it’s important that at some point in time I do get involved with West Indies cricket,” Lara said. “I am willing and able, whenever it’s necessary. Obviously, the present administration doesn’t see it fit yet.”Even if it did, I’d love to see a change. We’ve got a lot of the older heads who’ve been there for quite a long time, and things have not been working properly. We need some new heads, and some astute thinkers coming out and trying to get our cricket back together.”Among the new talents from the region, Lara singled out Adrian Barath for praise. “I think he is a special talent,” he said. “To score a hundred on debut against Australia, the best team in the world, shows that he has something and hopefully he can carry and achieve bigger things in the future.”The World Twenty20 gets underway in the West Indies towards the end of April, but Lara believed, despite the home advantage, the hosts would struggle to go far on current form. “In reality, the way we’ve been playing … I mean we just lost a Twenty20 against Zimbabwe,” he said. “I don’t think that will take us far in a World Cup against strong nations. We’ve got to do a lot of homework and we’ve got to get our game in order.”Of course, we have the advantage of playing at home, knowing the conditions but a lot of players and countries have done so over the years. So I don’t think they’ll be intimidated by that fact. But I believe if we do play good cricket over that period of time, we are capable like any other country to win the World Cup and I’ll be praying and hoping that we could do it.”

His undefeated knock of 76 comes in resilient batting display by Northants

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay09-Sep-2025Saif Zaib shone again with an undefeated knock of 76 as Northamptonshire’s resilient batting display held up Glamorgan’s Rothesay County Championship promotion charge at Wantage Road.The left-hander, Division Two’s second highest run-scorer this season with five hundreds to his name, shared a fourth-wicket stand of 107 with James Sales to steer their side close to avoiding the follow-on despite four wickets for Glamorgan spinner Mason Crane.Half-centuries by opening pair Ricardo Vasconcelos and Luke Procter laid solid foundations for Northamptonshire’s reply after Glamorgan opener Asa Tribe’s impressive career-best 206 had enabled the visitors to post 467.Seventeen-year-old spinner Nirvan Ramesh picked up the last two Glamorgan wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 42 on his first-class debut.Resuming on 367 for 6, Glamorgan increased their total by exactly 100 during the morning, with Tribe flicking Justin Broad off his hips for four to complete his maiden double hundred from 293 balls.But the 21-year-old was undone in the next over by a ball from Procter (3 for 89) that kept low and careered into his off stump, breaking a seventh-wicket partnership of 83 with Timm van der Gugten.The latter was pinned leg before for 33 by Calvin Harrison two balls later, but Crane went on the offensive, steering both Procter and Liam Guthrie to the fence as he and James Harris added exactly 50.With Crane’s first half-century of the campaign on the horizon, he was left stranded on 41 as Ramesh mopped up the innings, trapping Harris lbw on the back foot before having last man Asitha Fernando caught off a top edge.That left Northamptonshire’s openers with a single over to negotiate prior to lunch and, having ticked off that immediate target, they set about making inroads on their side’s hefty deficit.Although Harris and Fernando beat the bat a couple of times, the opening pair looked largely secure and Vasconcelos lifted Van der Gugten over the short midwicket boundary for six.Outscoring his partner, Vasconcelos banged Fernando through the covers for four and then posted his half-century from 66 balls – only to surrender his wicket in the next over, clipping Zain ul Hassan straight to midwicket.Harrison, back at Wantage Road for his fifth short-term loan from Nottinghamshire this season, upped the tempo by dispatching Ul Hassan for two leg-side sixes and looked strong off the back foot, punching a series of cover boundaries in his brisk 30.Meanwhile Procter took on Crane, sweeping the legspinner for six and then – having survived an appeal for a leg-side catch – danced down the track for a straight-driven four that took him to 50.However, Crane removed both established batters in the run-up to tea, with Harrison well taken at slip off an outside edge before Procter followed in his next over for 67, prodding to short backward square.Timing and placing his shots beautifully, Zaib flayed three consecutive Crane deliveries to the rope and progressed to his fifth half-century of the campaign while Sales capitalised on a chance to slip that Ingram spilled.Returning for a third spell late in the day, Crane got his man when Sales fell for 35, pumping a full toss to cover and added a fourth wicket by having Broad caught behind from the final delivery of the session.

Finch says New Zealand could have used Wagner in Wellington where Australia pulled ahead thanks to a century 10th wicket partnership

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-20242:04

Taylor on Wagner: ‘I think it’s a forced retirement’

New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner announced his retirement after learning that he would not be part of the ongoing Test series against Australia and his former team-mate Ross Taylor feels the decision was “forced”.Responding to a question on ESPN’s Around The Wicket podcast about Wagner’s finger-on-the-mouth celebration after dismissing Zubayr Hamza in his final Test appearance, against South Africa in Hamilton, and a visual of him showing someone the middle finger as the team got in a huddle to celebrate another wicket, Taylor said, “I think it all makes sense a little bit now. There’s no sugarcoating it: I think it’s a forced retirement. If you listen to Wagner’s press conference, he was retiring, but it was after this last Test match [against Australia]. So he did make himself available.”Related

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Wagner was to be released from the squad after the first Test in Wellington. But an injury to William O’Rourke sparked talk of a potential recall for the second Test in Christchurch. New Zealand haven’t gone down that road though, picking the uncapped fast bowler Ben Sears instead.”And to see that he isn’t selected… I think you do need to plan for the future, but a one-off Test against Australia in a must-win situation, I wouldn’t be looking much further than Neil Wagner. And I’m sure the Australian batters are sleeping easy that he’s not in the side,” Taylor said.Aaron Finch, also on the podcast, said Wagner would have likely stopped Australia from posting as big a total as they did in their first innings at the Basin Reserve, which laid down the platform for their 172-run win.