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South Africa have little time to recoup after their series against Sri Lanka and their travel across several time zones to get to New Zealand, before they take the field there

Firdose Moonda11-Feb-2017While Australia are still navigating their way through a calendar that sees them start a Test in India the day after a T20 at home, South Africa have scheduling challenges of their own. They will play a warm-up match in New Zealand less than 48 hours after their final ODI against Sri Lanka at Centurion and a T20 within a week of their series win. The difference between them and Australia is that South Africa are taking the same group that was on duty at home across 11 time zones to New Zealand.”It’s not ideal. Usually we have a seven to ten day period to acclimatise,” Mohammad Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager, who is also a medical doctor, said. “We will have some tricks up our sleeve to help players deal with the jet lag.”But that was as much as Moosajee would give away about how he is planning to help the players adjust. Not even the men themselves seem to know what’s in store. “We will sleep a lot on the plane I guess,” Faf du Plessis joked. “I’m not too sure but we have an amazing team doctor, so I’m sure he has got a plan.”South Africa will play a T20 and five ODIs in New Zealand, with only one change to the squad that beat Sri Lanka 5-0, and that change is only for two matches. Cobras’ quick Dane Paterson has been included as cover for Dwaine Pretorius, who will remain at home to welcome his first child, before flying over.The T20 series, in which du Plessis will captain, will not have as much emphasis placed on it as the ODIs, which form an important part of preparations for the Champions Trophy. South Africa want to be tested, not least because Sri Lanka did not present an adequate enough challenge but they also want to banish some bad memories. The last time South Africa were in New Zealand was at the 2015 World Cup and their semi-final defeat against the hosts still stings.”We have got a bit of unfinished business there form the 2015 World Cup,” AB de Villiers, ODI captain said.While a bilateral series in no way compares to a major tournament, South Africa will use the matches as a barometer to justify their newly gained No. 1 ranking. They took the spot from Australia, who have just been beaten by New Zealand, who sit third. “Being the No. 1 team in the world, people expect you to play a certain level of cricket all the time. With what we’ve got going at the moment, I think we will thrive under that kind of pressure,” de Villiers said. “We’re very positive, we have a great culture and we go there with a lot of confidence and belief in our ability.”The same can be said of the Test outfit, who will play three matches after the limited-overs fest, by which time South Africa will definitely have adjusted to the time difference – any additions to the squad would have enough time too. South Africa will fly over a fresh attack for the three Tests but they need to hope they are all fit. Vernon Philander is nursing a slight ankle impingement and Morne Morkel, who has been out of action since the CPL in mid-2016 with a back concern, will play in domestic one-day matches to determine his availability. Duanne Olivier, who has taken over 50 wickets in this season’s first-class competition, also has a good chance of playing but du Plessis hinted they may also hang on to a few players from the one-day outfit.”The only gap available in our Test team is the third seamer. Morne is coming back. I faced him the other day in the nets and he is bowling beautifully but we’ve also got guys like Chris Morris and Wayne Parnell, who have been bowling well.”Both Morris and Parnell are part of the limited-overs’ squad that depart South Africa on Saturday. On Monday, they will be in action again. No rest.

Mohammad Shahzad displayed trademark brute force and timing to make a record-breaking ton and lead Afghanistan to an 81-run win against Zimbabwe in the second T20I in Sharjah

The Report by Nikhil Kalro10-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Shahzad’s 118 was the highest individual T20I score from an Associate nation and fourth overall•Chris Whiteoak

Mohammad Shahzad displayed trademark brute force and timing to make a record-breaking ton and lead Afghanistan to an 81-run win against Zimbabwe in the second T20I in Sharjah. Shahzad clobbered a 67-ball 118, the highest individual score from an Associate nation in T20Is and fourth overall. By the time he was done, Zimbabwe had conceded 215 and were deflated.That the next highest contribution after Shahzad’s blitzkrieg was Mohammad Nabi’s brisk 22, was symbolic of the ascendancy he had over Zimbabwe’s helpless bowling attack. He got stuck into the medium-pacers as well as the spinners after a slow start, peppering the midwicket region with pulls and slog-sweeps. Within 14 overs, he reached his century and had batted Zimbabwe out of the series.The Afghanistan innings had begun in amateurish fashion – a lot of shots but few runs. Both Shahzad and Usman Ghani looked to hit the cover off the ball, and thereby lost their shape and failed to find any timing. The first five overs produced 30.Spin was introduced after the Powerplay and Shahzad used his technique with success – dancing down the pitch, going deep in the crease or down on one knee after a premeditated shuffle. Afghanistan had 59, and Shahzad 50. He connected with most of his sweeps and swipes, using his muscle to clear the boundary with ease.Zimbabwe’s bowlers repeatedly landed deliveries in Shahzad’s hitting arc. Under duress, yorkers were attempted but were dispatched after ending up as low full-tosses. Legspinner Graeme Cremer went around the wicket to try and take the ball away from the right-hander. Shahzad shuffled across, bent down on one knee and slog-swept him to the midwicket boundary. When he got to his hundred, his joy was evident in his celebration as he removed his helmet and did the .When Zimbabwe’s bowlers created a rare opportunity, their fielders let them down. At least three chances were spilled, including two off Shahzad – a hard running catch at long-on was parried to the boundary, and wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami, failed to get much glove on a skier. Shahzad was given another reprieve in the 16th over, on 101. Nabi had called him for a quick single but Shahzad failed to make his ground at the striker’s end when the bails were whipped off. The third umpire, however, was not called upon.Shahzad had laid the platform for the other batsmen to launch from the get-go. Despite struggling for timing, all the batsmen barring Ghani had strike-rates over 130 and at least one boundary.Zimbabwe, who had never won a T20I series comprising more than one game, were never in the chase. Save Hamilton Masakadza, the rest of the top six contributed a total of five runs, as they slumped to 34 for 5 in the sixth over. Mutumbami and Sikandar Raza were comfortably stumped off deliveries that slid in with the arm and sneaked past the inside edge. Malcolm Waller misjudged a skidder and captain Elton Chigumbura was run out after looking for a run during an lbw appeal. The chase was done.Masakadza and Peter Moor displayed a range of strokes and found a boundary almost every over, but the required run rate had touched 20. Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s best batsman on the tour, looked comfortable for the duration of his stay. He lofted a Dawlat Zadran delivery with such splendid timing that it cleared the midwicket boundary and took him past Chigumbura as the Zimbabwe batsman with the most T20I sixes.Masakadza struck his eighth fifty but it barely had any impact on the game. By the time he was bowled for 63, an innings that featured two fours and five sixes, Zimbabwe required 102 from 26 balls. The lower order could not achieve much, and slogged catches to fielders. Zimbabwe’s misery ended when a casual Tendai Chisoro was run out after failing to ground his bat.

James Fuller became only the fourth Gloucestershire player to take a hat-trick at Cheltenham as Worcestershire were bowled out for 182 on the opening day.

17-Jul-2013
ScorecardJames Fuller, seen here for Otago, became the fourth Gloucestershire man to take a hat-trick at Cheltenham•Getty Images

James Fuller became only the fourth Gloucestershire player to take a hat-trick at Cheltenham as Worcestershire were bowled out for 182 on the opening day.Having won the toss, the visitors crashed to 22 for 6, Fuller removing Matthew Pardoe with the final ball of the eighth over and then striking with the first and second deliveries of the 10th, sending back Moeen Ali and Alexei Kervezee.Joe Leach came to Worcestershire’s rescue with a career-best 82 not out, sharing a seventh-wicket stand of 120 with Gareth Andrew, who made 54. Fuller finished with 5 for 43 from 19 overs.By the close, the home side had made a confident start to their reply and were 83 without loss, Chris Dent unbeaten on 56 and Michael Klinger 27 not out.The first Gloucestershire player to take a hat-trick at the College Ground, where the club have been playing fixtures since 1872, was Charles Townsend back in 1893. The feat was repeated by Mike Procter in 1979 and James Franklin in 2009. Fuller joined the group after having Pardoe and Kervezee caught behind, with the wicket of Moeen, who played on trying to withdraw the bat, sandwiched in between.In the over that divided Fuller’s three wickets, Will Gidman had Daryl Mitchell taken by wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick and from 18 without loss Worcestershire nosedived to 18 for 4. Worse was to follow in Craig Miles’ first over as he had both Thilan Sameraweera and Ben Cox caught at second slip by Dent off successive balls.It was left to Andrew and Leach to steady a sinking ship with determination and application, but both needed lives early on.They took the total to 63 for 6 at lunch. In the afternoon session Andrew was first to his half-century off 91 balls, with 10 fours. Leach soon followed, his fifty occupying 109 deliveries and also featuring 10 boundaries.For a while Gloucestershire bowled without much luck. Then skipper Klinger pulled off a stunning catch above his head at short cover off Benny Howell to dismiss Andrew. Shaaiq Choudhry soon followed, caught behind to give Fuller his fourth wicket, and at tea Worcestershire were 154 for 8.The final session saw Graeme Cessford dismissed for a duck on his Championship debut by Tom Smith before Fuller wrapped up the innings, having Alan Richardson caught in the slips.The pitch has seamed around early in the day and the ball also swung, but conditions looked very different when the hosts replied. Klinger and Dent, who reached fifty off 50 balls, with nine fours and a six, produced positive shots from the outset and looked in little trouble.

Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, has said that there are no points of conflict between the national selection committee and coach Dav Whatmore

Umar Farooq28-Apr-2012Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, has said that there are no points of conflict between the national selection committee and coach Dav Whatmore. Qasim was referring to media speculation about a possible disagreement prompted by Whatmore working with discarded Test players at the National Cricket Academy earlier this week. He said that communication between the selectors and the coach is important, though, and will help both parties avoid a clash in strategy.Pakistan’s cricketers have not had any assignments since March’s successful Asia Cup campaign, and will next be in action again only a month from now in Sri Lanka. Whatmore, who had taken over coaching the team only before the Asia Cup, has used the break to collect data on players around the country. He had worked with players like Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal at the NCA, prompting talk of potential comebacks.The selectors, meanwhile, have named 12 fast bowlers to be supervised by Whatmore at the NCA. The list includes promising youngsters, as well as players like Mohammad Sami and Iftikhar Anjum who have been out of the national set-up for a couple of years.”I am in contact with Whatmore on a constant basis and I don’t think we are facing any points of conflict at the moment,” Qasim said. “He [Whatmore] is new in Pakistan and wants to understand the system and wants to see what [players] we have. There is no harm in this, [in fact] we are helping him in this regard by giving him players [the 12 fast bowlers] to assess. This is the part of his strategy.””I know players who are out of contention are there, practising with him. There is no harm in this, but we should ensure no communication gap crops us, sparking a clash with our [the selection committee’s] strategy.”Pakistan have been in fine from over the past 18 months, losing only the ODI series to England in the UAE during this period. It was important to keep moving ahead, Qasim said. “Our vision is quite clear, we have to look forward.”But our doors aren’t shut on players who are on the fringes. There is always a criterion for every player [to make their way back into the team]. If they have fallen out of contention but are the part of coach’s strategy, then we will definitely will consider them with an open mind. We cannot decide that XYZ player is finished and won’t return.”

West Indies will be better prepared to combat India’s spin threat in the upcoming ODI and Test series, coach Ottis Gibson has said

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2011West Indies will be better prepared to combat India’s spin threat in the upcoming ODI and Test series, coach Ottis Gibson has said. The West Indies batsmen proved vulnerable against spin during the drawn Test series against Pakistan, losing 32 of their 40 wickets in the two games to slow bowlers. They face a spin-heavy Indian one-day squad, which includes offspinners Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin, legspinner Amit Mishra, and part-timers Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma.”It is not a lot of time but we have got a lot of players that have played spin and made runs against spin before,” Gibson told the. “People just have to be clear what their game plan is against spin and back themselves and their ability.”The key to overcoming the spin threat, said Gibson, was to rotate the strike, something West Indies had struggled to do during the Tests against Pakistan. “Sometimes, we look very tentative and we sort of lock ourselves in a hole and then our only response is to try to hit ourselves out of the hole. We have got to find the balance between attack and defence,” he said.”They are setting us up, working us out and getting us out quite easy so we need to be able to rotate the strike against the spinners a lot more and make sure that the bowlers aren’t bowling too many balls in succession to us.”The batsmen tackled spin quite comfortably in the nets, Gibson added. “We practice very well in the nets and guys chip down the wicket to the spinners in the nets, hit the ball over the top and hit the ball through the covers with ease,” he was quoted as saying by . “But once the game starts, it seems always to be something that has held us back, certainly for the last couple of series that I have been involved in.”The Indian tour of West Indies begins with a Twenty20 international on June 4 in Trinidad. The teams then play five ODIs and three Tests.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has called for consistency in team selection to bring stability to the side and allow the players to develop

Cricinfo staff11-Jun-2010Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has called for consistency in team selection to bring stability to the side and allow the players to develop. He drew comparisons with Zimbabwe, who have stuck with the same group of players over the last few years and recently notched up wins over India and Sri Lanka in the ODI tri-series at home.”We have been a young side for the last ten years,” Shakib told reporters in Dhaka following his team’s return from the tour of England. “The players have not been given a chance to settle down. You should take a look at Zimbabwe, how they are getting results having persisted with one set of players for the past 4-5 years.”Bangladesh were beaten 2-0 in the Test series against England, with the low point being the batting debacle in Manchester where they were bowled out in a single session to lose the second Test by an innings. While acknowledging the team’s fragility in batting, Shakib referred to problems with the bowling as well.”Everyone knows that we did well in the first Test but not the second game,” he said. “Not just avoid the follow-on, we were in a position to score big in the first innings but we failed. The bowling wasn’t too good in the series either,” he said.The team’s lone success in the series was Tamim Iqbal, who scored two stunning centuries. He, too, was critical of the rest of the team’s performance. “From my point of view it was a good series. Two centuries and a half-century in English conditions is not a simple task but as far as the team is concerned, it wasn’t such a good series.”It is quite sad that the middle and lower order didn’t perform and this became our problem (in England), making our performance in the two Tests inconsistent.”As for his animated celebrations after scoring a century at Lord’s, Tamim confirmed he was signalling Pete, the dressing-room attendant, to put his name up on the honour’s board. “Ever since bhaiya (Nafees Iqbal) told me that there is an honour’s board in Lord’s where the centurion’s name is etched forever, I wanted to score there.”

Kent lifted by aggressive, unbeaten 80 from opener but still trail by 172 runs

ECB Reporters Network23-Aug-2024Worcestershire club captain Brett D’Oliveira made a triumphant return after injury as his side strengthened their grip on the Vitality County Championship Division One bottom two encounter with Kent at Visit Worcestershire New Road.D’Oliveira struck 97 off 90 balls and his positive approach enabled Worcestershire to seize the momentum and establish a first innings advantage of 276.It was his first knock since missing the entire Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign to have extensive rehab on a shoulder problem which has troubled him for the past 12 months.Tawanda Muyeye struck an aggressive unbeaten 80 from 84 balls in reply for Kent to leave them 172 in arrears with eight wickets in hand heading into the third day.D’Oliveira came in at 201 for 4 and batted with great freedom on a pitch offering assistance to the seamers. He received excellent support in two partnerships both worth 85 runs in 16 overs, initially from Adam Hose and then Ethan Brookes who also played fluently in scoring his maiden half-century for Worcestershire.A career best 43 from No.10 Adam Finch then shepherded Worcestershire to batting points.Rob Jones had batted with great application during the early part of the day to help lay the foundations for D’Oliveira. The Kent attack was generally below par in the helpful conditions, offering up too many ‘four’ balls, but there was satisfaction for debutant Akeem Jordan.Jordan, who until recently was playing for West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham and District Premier League, finished with 5 for 97 from 26.1 overs.Worcestershire resumed on 137 for 2 and Jordan struck an early blow for the visitors when Gareth Roderick (63) nicked a delivery which moved away and was caught behind.Jones looked in good touch and cut George Garrett for four and then turned Jordan off his legs for another boundary. A square drive to the ropes by Hose at Grant Stewart’s expense eased Worcestershire into a first-innings lead.Jones looked set to complete his second Championship fifty of a challenging season but on 49 he fell to a superb catch by Jack Leaning. He pushed hard at a delivery from Joey Evison and edged to Leaning who held onto the chance at second slip at full stretch away to his right.D’Oliveira immediately looked to seize the initiative with a succession of boundaries.He batted in attacking manner not seen on either side previously during the game and dominated the partnership with Hose. D’Oliveira raced to a 46-ball half-century with seven fours.Hose, himself returning after playing for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, provided the perfect foil until he tried to pull Jordan and top edged a catch to fine leg.Brookes helped D’Oliveira sustain the momentum in completing his fifty off 59 deliveries.D’Oliveira looked set for his century but on 97 he attempted to cut spinner Matt Parkinson and only picked out backward point. His 90-ball knock contained 15 fours after another partnership of 85 in 16 overs.Brookes also fell to Parkinson although he was unfortunate as he attempted a sweep and the ball bounced up onto his elbow and then rolled onto the stumps.Tom Taylor struck a quickfire 20 before he and Joe Leach went lbw to Jordan and Ogborne respectively. But Adam Finch ensured a fourth batting point for Worcestershire when he cut Parkinson to the boundary in the 107th over.The pace bowler lofted Jordan for a maximum over deep midwicket before he was bowled attempting another big hit.Taylor almost broke through in his first over of Kent’s second innings. Muyeye, on nought, edged just short of third slip and was then dropped at gulley off the next delivery from Taylor.But the Worcestershire allrounder was responsible for the first Worcestershire success with the run out of Ben Compton. He pushed Joe Leach gently towards mid-off but Taylor pounced to run out Compton at the non-striker’s end well short of his ground.Muyeye decided attack was the best policy and his half-century contained one six and eight fours. But captain Daniel Bell-Drummond, who scored just five in a partnership of 62 with Muyeye, was bowled after offering no shot to Finch.Jack Leaning then had a let off on 15 when he survived a sharp caught and bowled chance against Brookes.

James Anderson included in 15-man group, but Jofra Archer ruled out for summer

ESPNcricinfo staff16-May-2023Jonny Bairstow has been recalled as England’s Test wicketkeeper at the expense of Ben Foakes for next month’s one-off Test against Ireland. James Anderson is also included in the 15-man squad, despite suffering a minor groin strain while playing for Lancashire last week.Jofra Archer, who recently returned from the IPL to assess discomfort in his elbow, was not considered after the recurrence of a stress fracture that has ruled him out for the summer.Bairstow last played international cricket in September, before suffering a fractured leg in a freak accident while playing golf. He missed all of England’s winter programme and only recently returned to action in the County Championship for Yorkshire but now looks set to take the gloves during the Ashes, which begins on June 16.Rob Key, England managing director of men’s cricket, said leaving out Foakes was “a seriously tough decision”, after the Surrey keeper had established himself as first-choice under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, during the team’s run of 10 wins in 12 Tests. Bairstow last kept in a Test in 2021, standing in for Jos Buttler, and has not been the regular gloveman since the end of the 2019 Ashes.”We are looking forward to the summer ahead and getting into the swing of things, starting with a good Test against Ireland,” Key said. “It was a seriously tough decision to leave Ben Foakes out of the squad. He has been excellent for England in the last year, but Jonny Bairstow is one of the best players in the world whose performances last summer epitomised what we are about.””I would like to wish the players every success, especially those returning after some time away.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The rest of the squad was largely as expected, with Anderson named among six fast-bowling options alongside the spinner, Jack Leach. Chris Woakes, whose last Test came on the tour to the West Indies in 2022, returns, as does Mark Wood after he was rested for the New Zealand series earlier this year.Matt Potts is also in contention for a spot alongside the frontline pair of Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson if Anderson is not fit.Among those Test players involved at the IPL, Ben Stokes, England’s captain, had previously indicated he would return in time to face Ireland – he is expected back next week after the conclusion of the group stage – while Joe Root, whose Rajasthan Royals team could still reach the knockouts, and Harry Brook, recently dropped by Sunrisers Hyderabad, are both set to play at Lord’s.Zak Crawley’s place at opener remains secure, after he began the summer with 350 runs in nine innings for Kent, while Essex’s Dan Lawrence continues as the spare batter in the group.England men’s Test Squad: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma among Indians who move up in women’s rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2022New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr rode on her impressive performances in the recently concluded ODI series against India, climbing five places up to No. 17 among batters, while also rising four spots to sit at the same position among bowlers. The 21-year-old also broke into the top five in the allrounders’ charts, where she is now placed at No. 4 after gaining two places.Kerr finished the five-match series with 353 runs – the highest among both sides – at an average of 117.66, including three half-centuries and a hundred. That apart, she took seven wickets, particularly dominating with an all-round show in the fourth ODI in Queenstown, where she first cracked an unbeaten 68 from 33 balls before grabbing 3 for 30 with the ball. All three of Kerr’s wickets in the match had come in the 18th over of India’s chase.

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She followed it up with 66 in the fifth ODI, although in a losing cause – New Zealand’s only defeat in the series.India’s Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma were among the others who made notable gains. While Harmanpreet got back in form with 63 in the final match and thus climbed up a place to be ranked No. 20 among batters, Deepti’s ten wickets – the most by a bowler in the series – helped her up one place to No. 12 among bowlers.All three rankings continue to be led by the Australian trio of Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen and Ellyse Perry, who sit atop among batters, bowlers and allrounders, respectively.

Royal Challengers Bangalore kept their opponent down to 84 for 8 and cruised the chase

Alagappan Muthu21-Oct-20201:21

What can this kind of a loss do to Kolkata Knight Riders?

A devastating spell of new-ball bowling from Mohammed Siraj (4-2-3-8) left Kolkata Knight Riders so far down on the mat it was all they could do to last the 20 overs.They did so playing out four maidens – an IPL record – two of them to Siraj alone – another IPL record. They suffered 72 dots in a 120-ball innings – only three shy of another IPL record and put up only 84 on the board – the lowest IPL total for a team batting first and not losing all their wickets.Royal Challengers Bangalore had little trouble with the chase, completing it with eight wickets and 39 balls to spare and moving to second place on the table.Super SirajAll they needed was a hint. Royal Challengers have been very good with the way they’ve handled their bowlers this season. And in this game as well, as soon as they saw there was some swing on offer, they immediately went to Siraj with the new ball. Even though he was the new man in the XI.Siraj is a natural inswinger. But it was moving the ball the other way that brought him most of his success. He snagged the outside edge of Rahul Tripathi in the second over. One ball later, he burst through Nitish Rana’s defences. That over ended up as a double-wicket maiden.He also had Tom Banton caught behind before he gave up a single run off his bowling as the Royal Challengers earned the upper hand from start to finish.Recovering from a powerplay score of 17 for 4 was never going to be easy and though Eoin Morgan tried, the opposition just had too many resources to mount a counter attack. Yuzvendra Chahal, for so long the only consistent wicket-taking threat for the Royal Challengers, might even have felt weird playing back up as he picked up 2 for 15 and limited Knight Riders to 84 for 8.The easiest chase in the IPL?Well not for Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal. They fell for 16 and 25 but with such a tiny target before them, Royal Challengers could always regroup. They did the sensible thing with the batting too and gave one of their less experienced players time in the middle – Gurkeerat Singh making 21 as they sealed victory.