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Captain toasts success, but calls for an improved performance from his team

Mohammad Isam23-May-2021″Winning is happiness.”Tamim Iqbal’s croaky voice couldn’t hide the fact that he has just led Bangladesh to break a ten-match winless streak. Just how important it was for the team that beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs, was writ large on the captain’s face. But ending a losing streak doesn’t mean everything has changed for his team. Iqbal knows all too well that when he talks about happiness, he has to punctuate the sentence with the exasperation of the difficult streak, and caution for what was needed to be achieved.”We know that the job is not done. There’s two more games to go [in the series]. We hope to put on a better show,” he said.
There were still question marks over Bangladesh’s performance, which the BCB president Nazmul Hassan was very quick to point it out. He held a press conference in the middle of the match to voice his disgust at some of their dismissals.These words may not have reached the team at the time, but they are well aware of the environment they operate in. Hassan’s words often stem from his expectations around the Bangladesh team which had steadily progressed from 2015 to 2019, before hitting a downward spiral in the last two years.Related

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The resilience they showed in the first ODI against Sri Lanka could, however, turn the tide. It was by no means a pretty little win. Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah had to rescue Bangladesh twice. After Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s four wickets almost derailed Sri Lanka’s chase, the home side ran into Wanindu Hasaranga, but they found a way to stave off his late charge.Miraz, who was adjudged Player-of-the-Match for his four-wicket haul, said that the match was a great example of how often a win can be achieved when several players make contributions.”Every contribution was important,” he said. “Tamim gave us a good start but when we lost two quick wickets, Mushfiq and Riyad put together an important partnership. Afif and Saif batted well towards the end.”I tied up one end at the start and although we gave away some runs from the other end, I feel the wickets in the middle overs was crucial. Myself, Mustafiz and Saifuddin bowled well in that period. It all contributed to our win. It wouldn’t have been possible if just one or two of us did well.”Miraz said that having a full-strength team – alluding to the return of Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman – made a big difference. “We weren’t able to win for a long time,” he said. “We won the ODI series against West Indies but we couldn’t convert good performance in the Test series against them. This was an important match, but we have always played well in ODIs. Having everyone around also played a major role in the win.”Miraz said that he stuck to his usual plan of drying up the runs, which often leads to the batters charging at him. “My initial plan, as I have always done in the past, is to contain the runs,” he said. “I try to bowl on good line and length, and contain the runs.”I believe that if I do that, I have a greater chance when the batsman makes a mistake. I just tried to bowl more dot balls.”He also paid tribute to Sohel Islam, the BCB coach under whom he has worked since his Under-14 days, and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the veteran coach who oversaw his growth in his early years, for helping him out.”I speak regularly to Sohel sir, my local coach,” Miraz said. “We have been working together for a long time. I recently got a call from Fahim sir. Actually, we have been in touch since we were in Sri Lanka.”We spoke about bowling, but he was mostly boosting me to do better. I tried to follow the guideline from both coaches. They really helped me.”

Second straight loss for defending champions CSK as Super Giants steal it at the close

Hemant Brar31-Mar-20221:57

Jaffer: Super Giants can’t drop Lewis for Stoinis now

KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock set the platform with a 99-run opening stand, Evin Lewis smashed an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls and Ayush Badoni played a cameo towards the end as Lucknow Super Kings chased down 211 with six wickets and three balls to spare. It was the sixth instance in seven games this IPL that the chasing side won the match.Earlier, Super Kings never took their foot off the pedal after being put in. Robin Uthappa struck a 27-ball 50, which included eight fours and a six, and Shivam Dube smashed 49 off 30 to help the side to a formidable 210 for 7.Super Kings, though, were aware it wasn’t necessarily a winning total. The conditions were dewy – the umpires changed the ball in both innings – and Super Kings were without Adam Milne, who missed out because of a side strain.It came down to Super Giants needing 34 from the last two overs. Ravindra Jadeja then handed the ball to Dube, who hadn’t bowled until then. And it showed. Badoni started the over by moving across and sweeping him over square leg for six. The next two deliveries were wides, and the last three were right in the slot for Lewis, who smashed them for 4, 4, 6.With nine needed from the final over, Mukesh Choudhary also bowled two wides before Badoni pulled him over backward square leg to level the scores. Two balls later, he hit the winning run to give Super Giants their first win.Uthappa, Moeen give Super Kings blazing start
Rahul had a big smile on his face after winning the toss but it didn’t last long as Uthappa hit Avesh Khan for two fours on the first two balls of the innings. That set the tone of the innings.Two balls later, Avesh pinged Uthappa on the helmet but when he tried another bouncer, to end the over with, it sailed over for four byes. In the second over, Uthappa flicked Dushmantha Chameera, first for a six and then for a four, and by the end of two overs, Super Kings had 26 on the board.Ravi Bishnoi’s brilliance in the field – a direct hit from backward point to run out Ruturaj Gaikwad – did give Super Giants the breakthrough but not the respite. Uthappa continued in the same vein, striking four fours in Andrew Tye’s one over, and Moeen Ali, who had opened his account with a hooked six off Avesh, smashed 4, 6, 4 off Krunal Pandya’s successive balls. At the end of the powerplay, Super Kings were 73 for 1.Dube keeps the fireworks going
Bishnoi once again provided the breakthrough, this time by trapping Uthappa lbw with the one that skidded off the surface and beat the batter with the pace. But Dube, promoted to No. 4, kept the scoreboard racing. He hit Chameera for three fours in four balls, and Super Kings crossed 100 in just 9.1 overs.Moeen fell to Avesh for 35 but with the dew set in by now, it didn’t get any easier for Super Giants. Dube’s hitting, coupled with some sloppy fielding, meant runs kept flowing.Rahul introduced Deepak Hooda into the attack but Dube didn’t hold back even against the offspinner, hitting him for a four and a six. His innings came to an end when he holed out to long-on off Avesh while attempting another big hit.Dhoni applies the finishing touch
MS Dhoni came to the crease with Super Kings 189 for 4 in 18.2 overs and straightway forehanded Avesh over extra cover for a six. It was the first time in the IPL that he hit a six off the first ball he faced. The next ball he carved over backward point for one-bounce four. Tye dismissed Jadeja and Dwaine Pretorius off successive balls in the final over but Dhoni wrapped up the innings with yet another four, which also brought him 7000 runs in T20 cricket.MS Dhoni scored a six-ball 16•BCCI

Rahul, de Kock start in style
Super Giants needed a quick start, and Rahul and de Kock gave them exactly that. Against the inexperienced new-ball pair of Choudhary and Tushar Deshpande, they hit eight fours and two sixes in the first five overs.Jadeja turned to Bravo for the sixth over and he almost removed de Kock but Moeen dropped a straightforward catch at mid-off. The next three overs featured two sixes, three fours, and Deshpande shelling a tough chance off Moeen to reprieve Rahul. At the halfway stage, de Kock was on 51 off 35 balls, Rahul on 40 off 35 and Super Giants on 98.Lewis steers Super Giants home
Pretorius ended the opening stand by dismissing Rahul, with Ambati Rayudu running sideway from backward square leg and taking the catch over his shoulder. Manish Pandey fell soon after, which left Super Giants needing 97 from the last eight overs.Lewis hit Deshpande for a four and six to keep the asking rate under control, but Pretorius struck again – de Kock top-edged a pull and Dhoni settled under the swirler.Lewis and Hooda kept the chase alive, both muscled a boundary each off Dwayne Bravo in the 16th over. Pretorius gave away only nine in the 17th and Bravo, after getting hit for a six, sent back Hooda in the 18th. Super Kings might have fancied their chances at that stage but a 25-run penultimate over by Dube dashed their hopes.

England’s World Cup XI relives the drama of the Super Over victory over New Zealand

Wisden Almanack08-Apr-2020In an extract from the 2020 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, England’s World Cup XI look back on the thrilling denouement to last summer’s unforgettable final at Lord’s

Joe Root

There wasn’t the normal Lord’s hum, but pockets of pin-drop silence, like a game of snooker. Jofra was unlucky when the first ball was called wide, and he got quite animated. To keep his composure after that was a credit to him. When Neesham hit that six, I thought back to Eden Gardens in 2016 – this surely can’t happen again. Watching the ball sail into the stands was a sinking feeling.But Jof has such strong self-belief. From the penultimate delivery, he fielded off his own bowling, and I screamed: “Hold it!” If he had hit the stumps with a shy, Neesham would have been run out – but if he had missed, it would have handed New Zealand an extra run.When Jos took the bails off next ball, I had a great view from midwicket. Straight behind him, on the balcony, all the support staff and coaches were bouncing around, and to the left were the families. Jofra ran off and did a Klinsmann dive, but everyone hurried after Jos, wheeling away into the bottom corner of the ground.Seeing my parents up above us, with my grandfather, little boy, wife and friends, was really special. Jonny Bairstow picked me up. I punched him in the chest, and screamed in his face: “World Cup! World Cup!” The other squad members were soon on the field too. I have never seen Moeen Ali run so fast. It was pure elation.

When Woody got run out off the last ball of our 50 overs, everyone was so confused about what came next. But the waiting period got us all fired up, especially me. At one point, I didn’t think we were even going to tie the game, so to be given another life meant everyone had that little bit more fight.I wanted to bowl the super over, but didn’t get confirmation until about two minutes before we warmed up. I usually bowl at the death of a 50-over innings, so I thought it was likely to be me, but I wouldn’t have been too upset if it hadn’t: at least I wouldn’t have been responsible if we’d lost.When the umpire signalled a wide on the tramline first ball, I asked Morgs to review it. He said, “You can’t with a wide, Jof, I’m sorry,” and we laughed. Even when I was hit for six, I was not worried. You have to accept you are probably going to go for a boundary. We had the misfield, but kept our heads, and limited them to ones and twos.When Jos completed the run-out, I set off in the opposite direction to the others, and did a chest slide. Then we all joined up, and people started jumping on me. It was the sweetest moment I’ve had on a cricket field. I’ll be honest: it almost brought a tear to my eye. As someone who has always loved the game, it still feels surreal to be a World Cup winner. I can only imagine how special it feels for the others, because they were on that journey for four years. They went through what happened in 2015. In fact, I feel happier for them than I do for myself.What just happened: we’re unlikely to ever see a cricket match as dramatic as the 2019 World Cup final•Getty Images

Like all the others, I enjoyed a minute of utter madness, picking up Mark Wood and tossing him in the air. Then I saw Martin Guptill still lying on the ground. I’ve always felt that the only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner. I’m sure people could understand why we were all running around like headless chickens, but going over to commiserate seemed the right thing to do. It probably helped that we’ve always got on well with the New Zealanders.Jimmy Neesham was there too, and I said: “Hard luck, lads, great game.” I half-tried to pick Guptill off the turf, but he wasn’t budging. Neesham just said: “Nah, we’re all good, mate. Congratulations.” It wasn’t until I saw the photo later of me and Guptill that I thought back to 2005 and the image of Andrew Flintoff with Brett Lee at Edgbaston. I was there that day on the groundstaff. Now, here I was as a player, in a moment I’ll never forget.

Umpire Aleem Dar came into the dressing-room, and Eoin Morgan told him: “Woody’s torn his side.” Even throwing a ball was going to hurt, so Aleem said a substitute fielder was fine. I watched from the bench with the physio and the doctor.Ben was so intense: he had that eye-of-the-tiger look. He headed out the back to gather himself. Jos Buttler is someone who’s normally really calm, yet he was quite animated. At one point, he was on his haunches, hitting the physio bed with his fists, shouting expletives. That’s definitely not like him. But when he and Stokesy went back out, they were both in the zone.I felt sick the whole time but, when Jos hit that last ball for four, it settled me down. I thought 15 was a great score. During their over, I was biting my nails, unable to stand still. Moeen Ali and I were guessing every ball what Jofra was going to do; I’m not sure we got any right.

I was excited to have another chance to affect things. I had got out at a crucial time, and it was tough watching, but suddenly I was back in the game. I started to pad up, because I assumed it would be me – and wanted it to be me. I’d been involved in a few super overs, so I knew what to expect.Trent Boult bowled a good over, and it did feel like we had to scramble hard. Stokesy skewed one over third man, then I hit one to deep cover that the fielder didn’t pick up, so we managed two. After I hit the last ball for four, Stokesy gave me a massive fist-bump: we got 15, which felt like a decent effort, plus we had Jofra to bowl, and no one had got him away in the regular innings.As we walked back out, Rash said we had Allah with us, and Morgs spoke about the luck of the Irish. We had definitely enjoyed some good fortune – when the ball deflected off Stokesy’s bat to the boundary, that must be how it feels to win the lottery.I’ve watched the super over back on TV and, when Neesham hits the six, you think the game is over. But on the field it never felt lost. We knew how good Jofra was. I just thought: do your job, don’t get ahead of yourself. That was the same right down to the run-out.People have often asked whether I thought I might be about to drop the World Cup, but it never entered my mind: there was no time. It was a simple bit of fielding. The ball goes straight to Jason, and when he throws it in, you know the bounce at Lord’s will be true: just catch it, and break the stumps. I knew as soon as Guptill had hit it that I was going to have time, and he was a long way short.Then I remember the biggest and best feeling of pure emotion for 30 seconds or a minute, with everyone running around, and me throwing my gloves in the air. I don’t remember anyone saying anything, just running and hugging…Joe Root takes off on a celebratory run•Getty Images

The only moment I felt rushed all day was when we batted in the super over. The plan before the game, in the unlikely event of one happening, had been to send out Jason with Jos, but because Ben had played so well – and almost everyone else so terribly – we thought he had to go out again. I asked him if that was all right, and he said he’d be fine, even though he could barely breathe.When Boult started bowling yorkers from the Nursery End, I thought that, if a wicket fell, it would be tough for a right-hander to hit him up the hill. So I hurried to get my pads on. It was the biggest panic of the day.After the 2016 World T20 final, you never think you have enough runs, but Jofra is the best, and we felt we could defend 15. Marais Erasmus called us over as we were walking out to field, to tell us about boundary countback: 15’s a win, he said, 16 a defeat. But when Neesham hit that six, New Zealand needed seven off four. It was theirs to lose.I was talking to Jofra every ball. What matters as a captain is that you receive a response which makes sense. If the bowler’s talking gibberish, or his eyes are glazed over, you need to take more time, and ask him what he’s doing. The only time he wasn’t thinking clearly was when he wanted DRS for the first-ball wide! But his presence of mind was extraordinary. From the fifth ball, which was supposed to be a bouncer, he decided not to try to run Neesham out: if he’d missed, it would have been game over.The last delivery to Guptill was superb. We only had three fielders on the off side: short third man, point and cover. So Jofra had to follow him if he tried to create room. I was at the bowler’s end as Jason gathered the ball at deep midwicket, and Guptill was just turning for the second: he had no chance. It was a good throw, not a great one, and Jos did unbelievable work at the stumps.We were all running around, trying to grab each other as fast as we could. It was brilliant. That feeling didn’t stop. Even now, I still think about it.

I remember listening to Petr Cech, the former Chelsea goalkeeper, talking about the penalty shootout in the 2012 Champions League final, and how each one felt as if it was happening in slow motion. That’s how it was for me, like I was in a film. Adil Rashid and I covered the areas behind the wicket – I was at short third man – and we chatted about what we were doing. We just wanted to protect our areas.Even though Jofra got hit for six, I always felt we were going to win. For some reason, I was never worried. I knew how skilful he was: he’d missed one ball, but didn’t usually miss many. When I saw J-Roy get to the last ball quickly, all I could think was: “Get it in Jos’s hands.” The feeling when the bails came off was insane. I met Morgs on my celebratory run, and he jumped on me. It was perfect, after the way we had come through the campaign, that we were all out there on the field together.Tom Curran and Jason Roy celebrate England’s win•Getty Images

Morgs told me and Jos to get our pads on, but then there was a discussion. More thought went into the fact that the shorter boundary from the Nursery End was downhill for a left-hander. Ben had been in a long time, and had the pace of the wicket. He was exhausted, but we were saying to him: “Come on, mate, get a Red Bull down you, and get back out there.”Because I had been a member of the team that lost the World Twenty20 final when Carlos Brathwaite had his day out, at no stage did I think we had won. I knew Jof was going to try to hit the hole, and the ball was likely to come my way at cow corner. The third did, but it took a slight bobble, and I stood up too quickly as I went to collect it. I thought: “How the hell have I done that?” Maybe I was over-keen to laser it in. They pinched two.I thought I had got to the next ball quick enough to throw it to the bowler’s end. They were my nearest stumps, but not the ones I should have been aiming for: that’s what pressure does. My thinking was not as clear as it should have been. Two more.Thankfully, I found a happy medium for the final ball. I visualised it coming to me, and didn’t have the level of anxiety you might expect. I was more on edge watching it back – which I didn’t do until Christmas. For months, I had been saying to myself: “Imagine if I’d fumbled!” It would have been catastrophic – and tough to come back from.At the time, though, I knew I had to do what I had trained for. You can always overthink things: “If I don’t get this ball in, we lose.” I actually took longer to gather it than I had the previous ones – I knew that if Guptill was at that far end as I was picking it up, there was no way he was getting back.Luckily it was somewhere near Jos. I can’t remember the next few seconds very well. I set off running, then stopped, fell to my knees, and thought “Holy shhh…”.

About five minutes before our bowling over started, there were a lot of balls being thrown into mitts, and we were buzzing. Morgs asked: “What have you got for me, Rash? What do you reckon?” I told him: “Don’t worry. Allah’s with us.” “Yes, he is,” he said. Later, Morgs told me he must have been with us, because we’d had the rub of the green – although I wasn’t expecting our conversation to be revealed in the press conference, or to go viral.As we warmed up, I couldn’t stop thinking what our celebrations would be like. There was a lot of talk among the lads. Were we going to hug each other? Which direction were we going to run? Me and Mo said that, if we won, we would run to each other.I was at short fine leg, talking to Puds [Liam Plunkett] and Jos. I sensed excitement, not nerves. We knew we couldn’t let four years of hard work go to waste. At the end, it was an emotional time. Part of that, I’m sure, was because the win had not come easy. We will all cherish it for the rest of our lives.Lethal weapon: Archer bowled much of the World Cup in pain, but finished as England’s leading wicket-taker•Getty Images

Woody turned like the QE2 as he went for what would have been the winning run, and we were all wondering why he was wearing chest and thigh pads, plus an arm-guard; even he chuckled about it afterwards. There was disbelief when the scores were tied. Nobody really knew the rules. When it became clear we were having a super over, the questions started. Which end? New ball or old? Who’s bowling for them, who’s batting for us? All the batters wanted a go, but there was no disappointment: we had to remain calm.When Neesham hit that one, the crowd behind me were shouting that the ball was coming my way. They were not wrong: I watched the six fly straight over my head. The atmosphere was electric. No one could remember Lord’s that loud, ever.For the last ball, I was on the fence at deep square but, by the time Jos had taken off the bails, I had sprinted past the umpire. As soon as Jason’s pick-up was clean, I knew the throw would be fine. Suddenly we were all at the bottom of the hill going crazy. Rooty jumped on me, and started whacking me, and shouting. Joe and I have been through plenty since we first met on the Yorkshire Academy aged 12. It was amazing.

“Whatever happens will not define you as a cricketer.” I thought it was important for Jofra to hear those words from me as we walked out again. If there was anyone who understood the pressure of defending a score in a global final, it was me. After being on the receiving end of Carlos Brathwaite, I knew how things could go wrong.I was angry it had come to this, that I had not been able to finish the job in regulation time. As Mark Wood and I left the field, I kicked my bat in frustration. I told Eoin Morgan I thought Jason Roy and Jos Buttler should bat in the super over, because of the way they had played throughout the tournament. But he said he wanted a left-hand/right-hand combination. “Sweet,” I said, accepting it was a good point.It meant I had to get my game head on again. I went out the back into the toilets to separate myself from all that had gone on, and enter a different place mentally. I wanted to get rid of the feelings that had built up over a crazy couple of hours. I wanted a little bit of me time.When Jos hit the last delivery of our over through midwicket for four, I thought we’d won the World Cup there and then. I jumped in the air, arms aloft. I was going nuts, because I couldn’t see New Zealand getting 16 off Jofra.In normal circumstances, I would have been fielding at deep midwicket. But I was sore and tired, so I asked J-Roy to switch with me. The decisive moment in New Zealand’s over was not the six struck by Neesham, but a stroke of luck from the penultimate ball. Jofra bowled a bumper, and an under-edge crashed into Neesham’s boot. Instead of the ball leaking behind square leg for two, it dribbled for a single.A few seconds later, as Jofra entered his delivery stride for a perfectly executed yorker, I was 15 yards off the boundary, walking in to put pressure on the batsmen. Realising that J-Roy’s throw had beaten Martin Guptill’s dive, I pushed off on a run to join my team-mates, lost my footing and ended up on my backside. Then something weird happened: I started crying. The more I tried to stop the flow, the more the tears leaked. I never thought I would cry on a cricket field. But, on a day like that, I couldn’t have cared less.Interviews by Richard Gibson, Will Macpherson and Lawrence Booth.

Australia great passes away in Thailand following a suspected heart attack

Andrew Miller04-Mar-2022Shane Warne, one of cricket’s all-time greats, has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 in Koh Samui, Thailand, while on holiday.Warne, who was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Century, claimed 708 Test wickets in a 15-year career for Australia between 1992 and 2007, and was also an ODI World Cup winner in 1999.According to his manager Michael Cohen, he died of a suspected heart attack.”Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” Cohen’s statement read. “The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”Related

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According to Reuters, Thai Police said Warne and three other friends were staying in a private villa and one of them went to inquire about him after the former cricketer did not turn up for dinner.”The friend did CPR on him and called an ambulance,” Chatchawin Nakmusik, an officer with the Bo Phut police in Koh Samui, told Reuters by phone.”An emergency response unit then arrived and did another CPR for 10-20 minutes. Then an ambulance from the Thai International Hospital arrived and took him there. They did CPR for five minutes, and then he died.”The police did not know the cause of death but were not treating it as suspicious, Chatchawin said.The shocking news comes hours after the death of another icon of Australian cricket, former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who also suffered a heart attack earlier this week at the age of 74.”Warnie”, as he was known throughout the cricketing world, was without question one of the true icons of world cricket, a man who almost singlehandedly revived the art of legspin in the early 1990s.Although luminaries such as Pakistan’s Abdul Qadir had kept the art alive, Warne brought a new glamour and attacking intent to legspin, with his bottle-blond hair allied to a keen tactical brain that he used to outfox a host of unwitting opponents in his pomp.After an underwhelming debut against India in January 1992, where his solitary wicket came at a cost of 150 runs, Warne hinted at his full potential in bowling Australia to an unlikely victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo, before – in his fifth appearance – he ripped out seven match-winning second-innings wickets against West Indies at his home ground of Melbourne in the 1992-93 Boxing Day Test.4:17

Shane Warne’s ball of the century

However, it was the 1993 Ashes tour that truly cemented Warne’s legend. In the opening match of the series at Old Trafford, and having been shielded from England’s batters during the preceding one-day series, Warne’s first delivery left the sport dumbfounded as he served up the so-called “ball of the century” to Mike Gatting – a drifting, dipping, spitting legbreak, that turned a full two feet from outside leg to hit the top of off.Gatting was so confused, he did not initially realise he had been bowled – and in that moment, Warne exerted a hold over England’s batters that was so absolute, they would not come close to reclaiming the Ashes for another 12 years. And even when they did, in the seismic summer of 2005, Warne’s fingers were the last to be prised from the urn, as he carried Australia’s attack with a career-best haul of 40 wickets.Away from the cricket field, Warne could not help but court controversy. He was rarely far from the front pages of the tabloids amid a string of revelations about his personal life. In 1995, both he and his then team-mate Mark Waugh were fined for giving information to an Indian bookmaker during the previous year’s tour of Sri Lanka.In 2003, on the eve of that year’s 50-over World Cup, Warne was suspended from international cricket for a year after a banned diuretic was found during a routine drugs test – he claimed it had been given to him by his mother to help him lose weight.However, though that setback might have ended lesser careers, the year away from the game arguably gave Warne an extra lease of life going into his mid-30s. He returned to action with four five-wicket hauls in a row to lead Australia to a memorable 3-0 series win in Sri Lanka in March 2004, and then played a quietly crucial role in their subsequent “final frontier” victory in India.He retired from international cricket with typical showmanship in the 2006-07 Ashes, leaving the field arm-in-arm with his long-term bowling ally Glenn McGrath – a fellow great in one of the all-time great Test teams – after reclaiming the Ashes with a 5-0 whitewash (the first that Australia had inflicted on England since 1920-21).Even at the age of 37, the Warne legend was not done. In 2008, he was recruited by Rajasthan Royals to captain their franchise in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and duly delivered the title with 19 wickets at 21.26 in the course of the campaign. Though he went wicketless in the final against Chennai Super Kings, he couldn’t be kept out of the action, as he and Sohail Tanvir sealed the victory with the bat in a thrilling final-over finish.Prior to his IPL involvement, Warne had spent eight seasons (2000-2007) in county cricket with Hampshire, after being recruited by his friend and England rival, Robin Smith. He claimed 276 first-class wickets at 25.59 in his time at the club, and later had a stand at the Ageas Bowl named after him.In retirement, Warne became a trenchant commentator, primarily for Fox Sports in Australia – ever insightful on tactical matters, if at times a touch bombastic. He also dabbled in professional poker, a card game that he said replicated the sort of mind-games that he had revelled in during his playing days. He became a fixture at the Aussie Millions in Melbourne and at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, where in 2009, his deep run into the tournament meant that he arrived late for his commentary duties at that summer’s Ashes.Tributes to Warne have poured in from the cricket world, from team-mates and rivals alike. Brian Lara, arguably the greatest batter to have faced Warne in his pomp, tweeted an image of a broken heart, adding: “Speechless at the moment. I literally don’t know how to sum up this situation. My friend is gone!! We have lost one of the Greatest Sportsmen of all time!! My condolences goes out to his family. RIP Warnie!! You will be missed.”Adam Gilchrist, Warne’s team-mate in one of the greatest Test teams of all time, added: “Numb. The highlight of my cricketing career was to keep wicket to Warnie. Best seat in the house to watch the maestro at work. Have often felt a tad selfish, that Heals [Ian Healy] and I pretty much exclusively are the only ones who had that thrill and pleasure at Test level. Rip Warnie.”

After being bowled out for 219, Tasmania opted not to enforce the follow-on

Andrew McGlashan05-Apr-2021So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Western Australia needed to chase 480 to earn a place in the Sheffield Shield after another day where Tasmania dominated at the WACA.It will require the most perfect of batting performances but, other than for professional pride, there is little point playing for a draw. Over in Wollongong, New South Wales and Queensland won’t be worrying themselves.The almost-impossible became even tougher still when Cameron Bancroft was bowled off the last ball of the day aiming a drive at left-armer Sam Rainbird.Once Tasmania put up such a huge first-innings total it become a mammoth task for Western Australia to get the win they needed to jump into the top two. During the third day there were a couple of scenarios that could have played out. Once all the bonus points had been gathered in the NSW-Queensland match one of them was to score 434 in the first 100 overs of their first innings which would have given them enough points to edge ahead of NSW if that match ended in a draw. They got nowhere near.An opening stand of 85 between Bancroft and Sam Whiteman laid a promising foundation but when Beau Webster followed up his hundred with two breakthroughs, finding the edge of Whiteman and Shaun Marsh, the innings never regained a foothold as all ten wickets fell for 134 – the first four being catches to Tim Paine.Lawrence Neil-Smith, playing his first game of the season, claimed the big wicket of Cameron Green who, with likely one innings left, sat 11 runs behind Travis Head at the top of the run-scoring charts with 882.Offspinner Jarrod Freeman went on to collect the best Shield figures by a Tasmania spinner since Xavier Doherty took 5 for 96 against South Australia in November 2013 while Jackson Bird produced an excellent delivery to remove Josh Inglis.The follow-on was not enforced and instead Tasmania went out and batted positively for 34 overs led by captain Matthew Wade’s 42 off 32 balls

Solo Nqweni receives anonymous donation to help fund £80,000 flight from UK by air ambulance

Firdose Moonda09-Jan-2020Solo Nqweni is going home. Nqweni, an allrounder from the Eastern Cape, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome while playing club cricket for Aberdeenshire last July, spent four weeks in an induced coma and has been receiving treatment in a Scottish hospital for the past five months. He has now recovered enough to travel back to South Africa to continue his rehabilitation.However, it costs more than £80,000 (US$104,000) for an air ambulance. His agent launched a fundraiser four days ago, which had collected £3125 (US$4077), and then on Thursday, an anonymous donor offered to foot the rest of the bill. Nqweni will be in Johannesburg by the weekend.Rob Humphries, Nqweni’s agent, had been working alongside the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA), and its player services manager, JP van Wyk, to try and secure his return home. They were floored by the generosity of an unknown individual who has made a massive difference to Nqweni’s quality of life.Nqweni played for South Africa Under-19s in 2012 and has been contracted to Eastern Province and the Warriors franchise since. He was on his first cricketing assignment abroad. “I had been pestering him for the last 4-5 years to come to the UK and he finally decided 2019 was the year – then this happened,” Humphries told ESPNcricinfo.After two months in the UK, Nqweni picked up what he thought was the flu. “He had a sore throat and just feeling unwell but was reluctant to go to the doctor,” Humphries said.It was only when the symptoms did not subside that someone at the Aberdeenshire club insisted Nqweni seek medical attention. The National Health Service (NHS) diagnosed him with Guillain-Barré “pretty quickly”, and he was admitted to hospital on July 14 when matters took a turn for the worse. “The thing about Guillain-Barré is that you lose control over your muscles and so, can’t control your ability to breathe,” Humphries said.Nqweni had to put into a coma so a machine could do the work of his lungs. “There were about three to four weeks where it was touch and go,” Humphries said. “And the other thing is that it doesn’t affect the mind, so you are completely aware of what is happening. It’s being trapped in your own body.”During this time, members of the Nqweni family travelled to Aberdeen in relays, ensuring that there was always someone at his side. SACA contributed to their accommodation expenses as well as ensured his franchise contract would stay in place for the ongoing 2019-20 season, even though he is unable to play.Once he had made some progress, Nqweni was brought out of the coma and slowly began to regain some of his muscular functions. In September, he was still being fed out of a tube but was regaining some of his vocal capacity. “It was like if someone loses their voice and you can only just hear them,” Humphries said.By October, Nqweni was able to talk loudly enough to record a video wishing the South African national rugby team, the Springboks, well for the World Cup. In December, he was visited by Ben Stokes and his wife Clare, who were in Aberdeen for the Sports Personality of the Year awards and now, in January, “he has enough mobility to use some of his messenger services,” according to Humphries, who receives messages from Nqweni on Instagram.Given the progress he has made, doctors have given Nqweni the all-clear to travel home but he requires a specialist air ambulance transfer with round-the-clock medical support and a seat for a member of his family to make the journey with him. The exorbitant cost was not covered by the NHS and was too much for the Nqweni family to bear on their own, so Humphries took to social media to try and raise funds. His GoFundMe campaign received some support in its first few days before an unexpectedly large single donation covered the bulk of the cost.Nqweni will still need significant recovery time and money. His family have identified a facility in Johannesburg for the former, while SACA has promised to assist Nqweni in accessing their past player fund, once his contract ends this season, and disability fund, should he require it. It is not known whether Nqweni will be able to return to professional sport, but if he doesn’t he has other options. Before his illness, Nqweni was working part-time for the bank Investec, and studying towards a Bachelor of Commerce degree.”He is a smart kid and can do anything he wants,” Humphries said. “But I think right now, there is no other consideration for him apart from returning to play cricket. He is so strong. I promised him that for the first ball he bowls, I will fly down from England to see it.”

The opening T20I went down to the final where a dropped catch proved costly for West Indies

Andrew McGlashan05-Oct-2022Matthew Wade continued his golden run as Australia’s finisher and Aaron Finch, batting at No. 4 for the first time in his international career, scored a welcome half-century to nurse Australia to an untidy three-wicket win with a ball to spare on the Gold Coast.In a rather chaotic finish, it came down to Australia needing 11 off the final over from Sheldon Cottrell. Wade swung the first ball for four but West Indies had a chance when he was dropped in the deep by Raymon Reifer next delivery. Mitchell Starc, too, was missed two balls later before scampering back for the winning runs off the penultimate delivery and almost having a nasty collision with wicketkeeper Johnson Charles.Quite how much there is to read into Finch’s positional switch which enabled Cameron Green, who isn’t part of the World Cup squad to stay as opener, remains to be seen, but his performance followed the encouraging signs from the India tour. Even amid the horror run that ended his ODI career, Finch’s T20 form had not taken the same hit but having a captain in the runs would remove one issue heading into the World Cup.Given that seven of West Indies’ squad had been in Australia barely 24 hours, some rustiness could be forgiven. There were times when they were on top and to take it to the final over, and be in a position to snatch the game, can give them heart. Some of the six-hitting was breathtaking, Yannic Cariah had a very encouraging debut with 1 for 15 from four overs and Alzarri Joseph was a handful with his slippery pace.Mayers’ wow moment
It’s early in the Australian season, but you’ll do well to see a better shot than the one Kyle Mayers produced in the fourth over against Green. Against a short delivery, he drove it magnificently off the back foot, more than 100 metres into the stand over deep point. It was an astonishing show of power and timing. It quickly went viral. He had shown intent from the start of the innings with early boundaries off Starc and Josh Hazlewood but, as was the case with West Indies’ whole batting display, the momentum was lost after the powerplay.Kyle Mayers played a great shot over the off side•Getty Images

The non-review and the review
Brandon King was the leading run-scorer in the CPL and played one lovely stroke, lofting Adam Zampa over long-off, but was left ruing not taking a review when he was given lbw against Hazlewood. The appeal looked good live, but replays showed the bounce in the pitch had it going over the stumps. When the DRS called for the 11th over, it had what appeared a curious moment when the ball tracking showed that a very full delivery from Starc which speared into Nicholas Pooran’s pad and looked to be sliding down was, in fact, taking out leg stump.Boundaries dry up
Alongside Mayers’ memorable effort, there was no shortage of well-struck sixes from West Indies, not least Odean Smith’s monster effort the 19th over. However, in what is not a new talking point about their batting, the skill of working the ball around in the middle of the innings was lacking. They made 53 in the powerplay and 50 in the last five, which meant just 42 runs came in the other nine overs. The six overs between Zampa and Glenn Maxwell cost just 29 and included one boundary, which was the powerplay six by King off Zampa. There was a 54-ball period after the fielding restrictions without a boundary before Jason Holder cleared the ropes. On the larger grounds in Australia it feels like an area that will have to improve, regardless of how long they hit the ball.Do we need to talk about Maxwell?

Australia were intent on going hard from the start of the chase. Cottrell found the edges of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh in the second over but they were cantering along at 10s. Either side of the powerplay the wheels nearly came off. Green gave himself room once too often, Maxwell swiped high into the off side and Tim David picked out deep square leg. Maxwell’s dismissal continued a lean patch: since the start of the Zimbabwe ODI series, albeit a different format, he has a top score of 32 in nine innings. In T20Is his last six innings read: 19, 16, 1, 0, 6, 0. His value as a bowler in the set-up is as high as ever, and he’s the type of player who can flick the switch at any moment, but it is something to keep an eye on.Wade there again
When Wade came in Australia were wobbling at 58 for 5 and he joined Finch as the last pair of frontline batters. Since taking on the middle-order role for the last World Cup he has enjoyed phenomenal success: in 12 innings he has made 310 runs, being dismissed just three times, with a strike-rate of 160.10. This time, back-to-back boundaries off Cottrell in the 12th over, which cost 18 runs, brought the requirement close to a run-a-ball. After Finch fell he struggled to get the strike – facing just six of the last 17 balls – but it didn’t cost Australia.

Reaction after Sourav Ganguly says Indian T20 event would take place on the sidelines of the IPL

Annesha Ghosh02-Aug-2020Healy, Player of the Final as Australia won the T20 World Cup earlier this year, kicked things off, saying that hosting the T20 Challenge while the WBBL would be on may not be a good idea after all. Haynes, the vice-captain of the Australia side, said that the women’s game needed its best talents on the field, and not competing in different parts of the world. The T20 Challenge would not have clashed with the WBBL if it had taken place when it was scheduled to, on the sidelines of the IPL in April-May. Now, with the IPL moving to September-November, things have changed.From the point of view of the premier Indian women cricketers, there was also the opportunity to get some match time if the white-ball tour of England hadn’t been cancelled. That was due in July-August, but after it was postponed, the ECB had suggested playing a tri-series also involving South Africa in September. The BCCI, however, opted out.India ODI captain, Raj, meanwhile welcomed the news as a start to preparations for the ODI World Cup, the planning for which, the ICC has said, continues even as further assessments are made by NZC. Goswami, who, like Raj, represents India only in ODIs, expressed her eagerness to get back to playing, as did Poonam Yadav. Aside from the T20 Challenge, BCCI’s cricket operations team is working out a schedule where India Women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand next year, according to PTI.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo last week, at least three top-drawer India players were WBBL-bound, pending no-objection certificates from the BCCI. Healy wondered about overseas players’ participation in both tournaments now that there’s a clear clash in the scheduling. New Zealand veteran Suzie Bates also joined in the debate. Bates, along with her compatriots Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu, have been a part of both editions of the T20 Challenge so far. Devine and Bates were also part of runners-up Adelaide Strikers at the WBBL last season, and the former is set to sign up with the Perth Scorchers this year. And then there’s a third domestic tournament: the Hundred. Although Covid-19 has pushed back the inaugural edition of the English 100-ball competition – both men’s and women’s – to 2021, Charlotte Edwards stressed that the health of the women’s game depended on all three domestic tournaments co-existing. Jess Jonassen, the Australia allrounder who was recently named two-time defending champions Brisbane Heat’s captain, also weighed in. A last-minute stalemate between the BCCI and Cricket Australia in the lead-up to the T20 Challenge last year had led to the Australians missing out on the Indian tournament. The Indian players, meanwhile, could not participate in the WBBL last season as they focussed on preparing for the T20 World Cup instead, with assignments against South Africa and West Indies. The last thing players from both countries would want is another standoff between the two boards.

Cricket South Africa also announces a six-team professional domestic system for women

Firdose Moonda22-Aug-2023CSA has announced equal international-match fees for their men and women’s players, joining New Zealand and India in establishing parity across genders. The landmark announcement comes on the same day that CSA unveiled a six-team professional domestic system for women cricketers, as part of the legacy projects following the successful hosting of the Women’s T20 World Cup in February. The new match fees will be in place from next month, when South Africa’s women’s team tours Pakistan.The new domestic structure takes its framework from the existing 16-team, two-tier set-up, which is divided into a top six and a bottom ten, with the latter being split into two groups of five each with a promotion-relegation system in place. The same set-up will continue, but the top-six teams will now have the resources to contract 11 players – up from six in previous years – at pay rates that are on par with the highest-paid male cricketers in Division 2, and will be able to employ a full-time coaching staff. CSA will subsidise four backroom-staff positions for each of the six sides, and require two of them to be female.The top six teams will compete in a 50-over and a 20-over competition, with the shortest-format matches likely to be played on the same days as the men’s competition to increase visibility. Cricket becomes the first team sport in South Africa to professionalise the women’s game at domestic level, thus earning the praise of the country’s sports minister Zizi Kodwa.Related

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“What we are celebrating today is not about monetary value but about leadership and political will,” Kodwa said at the unveiling of the six teams in Pretoria. “In the first week of our appointment, we met with the top five [sports] federations in the country, and we stressed this point. You seem to be the only federation who understood what we said. How I wish others are listening as we speak now.”For the 2023-24 season, the top six teams will be Titans, Lions, Dolphins, Western Province, Free State and Garden Route Badgers. Four of the six – Titans, Lions, Dolphins and Western Province – also have men’s teams in South Africa’s domestic first division, while both Free State and Garden Route Badgers are top tier women’s teams only.For Free State, who are based in Bloemfontein, this is particularly significant. They occupy an important geographic area in the country’s central region, and have faded into the cricketing periphery in recent years with no team in the men’s top division and no SA20 franchise in their area. Garden Route Badgers are located in Oudtshoorn, an inland town in the Western Cape known for ostrich farming, and are exploring the possibility of moving to a stadium in the coastal town of George.While the top six teams will receive most of the benefits of the new initiative, teams in the bottom ten will also see changes – most notably the increase in fixtures. In previous seasons, those teams competed only against the four other teams in their group; but from this season, they will also play cross-pool matches. CSA is still finalising the logistics of this but it is likely to take a tournament-style approach, with teams based at one venue for a few weeks.Players from both divisions will also be exposed to elite-level international coaching and talent. This season, CSA is planning camps for women’s teams with SA20 sides; next season, the board hopes to have women’s exhibition matches in the SA20, and the season after that, it is aiming for a women’s T20 franchise league.This expansion in the women’s game is estimated to cost CSA R40 million (approx. US$2.1 million) over three years, but it has received some support from the government to cover the costs. The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has pledged R15 million (US$800,000) to CSA for the same period.

At 43, Stevens is the second-oldest player to score 200 and take five wickets in an innings in a first-class match after W.G. Grace

ECB Reporters Network19-Sep-2019Kent 482 for 8 dec (Stevens 237, Billings 138, Olivier 5-108) and 337 for 7 dec (Billings 122*, Robinson 97) beat Yorkshire 269 (Fisher 47*, Milnes 5-87) and 117 (Stevens 5-20) by 433 runsDarren Stevens claimed a five-wicket haul as Kent put the finishing touches on a record-breaking 433-run victory over Yorkshire at Headingley and kept alive their hopes of finishing third on the County Championship Division One table.Yorkshire, chasing a target of 551 – a world record had they achieved it – started day four in tatters at 44 for 6, and they were bowled out for 117 shortly before lunch.It was Kent’s biggest victory in terms of runs in their first-class history and Yorkshire’s heaviest runs defeat. It was also the fourth-heaviest in the history of the County Championship.Kent claimed a maximum 24 points from their fifth win of the season and moved up to fourth on the table, two points behind third-placd Hampshire. The two sides meet for a final-round clash at Canterbury next week.Yorkshire’s fourth defeat of the campaign yielded five points and saw them slip from third at the start of the week to fifth. They are 10 points behind Hampshire, having suffered their second successive defeat, and end the season against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. All final-round fixtures start on Monday.Stevens, with four wickets overnight, claimed his fifth in the second over of the morning when he had Tim Bresnan caught behind. In claiming his 50th Championship wicket of the season. Felllow Kent seamers Matt Milnes and Harry Podmore also reached the 50-wicket mark for the season in Yorkshire’s first innings.Top-scorer Jonny Tattersall and Matthew Fisher held Kent up by sharing 35 inside 17 overs before Podmore had the latter brilliantly caught behind one-handed diving to his right by Ollie Robinson as Yorkshire fell to 81 for 8. Another spell of defiance came as Tattersall and Duanne Olivier united to put on 35 runs before Daniel Bell-Drummond bowled the latter.That wicket came as lunch was extended in an attempt to finish the game, and it was when Bell-Drummond had Tattersall caught at second slip for 41 in the next over.A number of notable records were posted in this match.Stevens’ 237 on the first day helped him become only the fifth player in history to score a double hundred and take 10 wickets in first-class cricket beyond the age of 43 after Stevens took 10 wickets in last week’s win at Nottinghamshire. W.G. Grace is on that list, as is former Kent allrounder Frank Woolley, who achieved the feat in the 1930s.Stevens, aged 43 years and 142 days, is the second-oldest player to score 200 and take five wickets in an innings in a first-class match. Grace is the oldest having done it for Gloucestershire in 1895 aged 46 years and 303 days. Here, Stevens finished with 5 for 20 from 18 overs in the second innings and claimed match figures of 7 for 70 from 38.”I’ve just seen that (stat on W.G. Grace), only because Mitch (Claydon) was taking the mickey saying we look pretty similar,” Stevens said. “I was very tired this morning, and I was praying for that early wicket. Luckily it came. To be fair, I was pretty done in after that spell last night, 13 overs. But the early wicket got me going.”I can’t really put it into words. If you’d have asked me at the start of the season, I would have said that I’ll have a decent year, but not like this.”It was a bit frustrating early season with a few catches going down, and it didn’t really happen with the bat. Then, the last part of the summer has been pretty special. A lot of hard work’s gone in, and it’s starting to pay off now.”Stevens shared 346 with captain Sam Billings in the first innings to help Kent recover from 39 for 5 to 482 for 8 declared, their partnership being the highest for the sixth wicket at Headingley.Billings hit 138 and 122 not out, becoming the first man to score two hundreds in a Championship game at Headingley and the first Kent player to post two hundreds in the same fixture since Martin van Jaarsveld did it in 2008.