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Batting collapses aren’t new to Pakistan cricket, but after falling from 32 for 1 to 152 for 7 in 37 overs on the second day in Pallekele, even Azhar Ali, the team’s vice-captain, could not offer an explanation

Umar Farooq in Pallekele04-Jul-2015Ever since the Galle turnaround, Pakistan’s batting has combusted time and again. Batting collapses aren’t new to Pakistan cricket, but after falling from 32 for 1 to 152 for 7 in 37 overs on the second day in Pallekele, even Azhar Ali, the team’s vice-captain, could not offer an explanation.Azhar, like several of his team-mates, was guilty of throwing his wicket away despite being one of the few batsmen settled at the crease. Before that, on a pitch that was not unplayable by any means, Ahmed Shehzad was done by his own remiss, and Asad Shafiq played across the line to be trapped lbw.Was it fair to call Pakistan’s batting careless?”I don’t think careless is the right word, but you can say misjudgment,” Azhar said. “We all were out there with a positive frame of mind and were very much focused but it didn’t work out. You sometime hit a ball for a boundary and the same ball gets you out as well, which is part of the game. You can’t just say that we were careless.”They (Sri Lanka bowlers) bowled in the right areas this time, again otherwise the wicket is still very good for Test cricket as it has everything for everyone. The main point we lacked today was not building big partnerships otherwise it could have been different scenario. We anchored small partnerships but converting them into bigger partnerships was the only thing missed. Small partnership in intervals looked easy for us for a while, but then again, we lost few wickets in the wrong time and we never got time to get settled.”The collapse undid most of the good work done by the Pakistan bowlers, who bundled Sri Lanka out for 278, as the visitors still trailed by 69 runs with just one wicket in hand going into day three. Before the Test, Misbah-ul-Haq had suggested that his team had their best chance of beating a weakened Sri Lanka side at their home, but Pakistan’s performance on Saturday did little to justify that belief. Azhar, though, felt the game was still open.”We still have a chance to beat Sri Lanka by trying to exploit the absence of big names in their team. But at the same time, whoever they have are very good players representing their country. We are applying ourselves with full strength to beat them but we have to be on top of our game.”This Test is still open and the closer we get to their score, it will increase our chances to pull this in our way. The third innings is always important and if we managed to get them out early, we are capable of turning things around like we did in Galle as well. So there is plenty of time in the match and we are positive about everything. From tomorrow, it will be a new day and we look forward to it.”Pakistan may sound optimistic, but at the moment, only Yasir Shah is on top of his game. The game may not be lost, but the momentum most certainly has.”It’s Test cricket because it test you in different sessions, and if we managed to pull ourselves together in the coming days and play our best cricket, then we can win this game and we are positive about this,” Azhar said.”The only problem we have had so far is that we couldn’t convert the smaller partnerships into big ones. It’s not like the pitch wasn’t good, it is equally good for batsmen, but each one of us have to apply ourselves and have to work hard to get the best out of this.”

Azim Bassarath, the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Association, has asked the country’s government to help ensure that T&T players represent their country and not the IPL franchises in the 2013 Champions League T20

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2013Azim Bassarath, the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Association, has asked the country’s government to help ensure that T&T players represent their country and not the IPL franchises in the 2013 Champions League T20. T&T qualified for the CLT20 for the third time in a row – and fourth time overall out of five editions – after beating Guyana in the Caribbean T20 on Sunday.T&T made it to the inaugural CLT20, in 2009, and then the 2011 and 2012 editions. In the inaugural tournament, several of their players caught the eye with their performances, and they finished runners-up behind New South Wales. Those performances – and the ones that followed in later editions – got some of their players, including Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Kevon Cooper, IPL contracts. Thereafter, based on which IPL teams qualified for the CLT20, these players and Dwayne Bravo – who had an IPL contract from the outset – represented the franchises ahead of T&T in the tournament.”For the past two years that we went to the Champions League, T&T didn’t have their best players available. This year, I want to ask for the assistance of the government,” Bassarath was quoted as saying in the . “What I think we should do is that, as early as possible, put something in place where we can negotiate with the personnel of the Indian Premier League, asking and begging and requesting that we have available to us all our international stars.”Bassarath pointed out that this could possibly be the last time that T&T, the country, is represented at the CLT20; from next season, the Caribbean Premier League, a franchise-based tournament, will replace the region-based Caribbean T20 as the West Indies’ domestic T20 competition. He said: “We should leave no stone unturned to make sure that we have our best team available for the 2013 Champions League. If we [the officials] have to travel [to India] before the tournament, as I said before, we should travel and we will be begging the Government in that regard.”Last year too, there was uncertainty over who the players would represent after the T&T sports minister, Anil Roberts, said that Pollard, Bravo and Narine would play for the country in the CLT20 instead of their respective IPL teams. An ‘agreement’ had been reached with the three players to represent their national team, he said. However, the three still turned out for Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the tournament.

A round-up of the second round of matches in the Ford Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2011Jimmy Neesham’s all-round effort helped Otago pip Wellington by six runs at the Basin Reserve and pick up their second straight win in the Ford Trophy. Otago had lost their top six for just 97 by the 23rd over, and Wellington looked to have control of the game at that point. However, Neesham, batting at No.8, smashed his way to 55 from 51 balls, hitting seven fours and a six to lift his team to 219. He built a 60-run partnership with Derek de Boorder (31) for the seventh wicket and a 45-run partnership with Neil Wagner (21) for the eighth. Still, Otago were bowled out with 10.1 overs to spare – New Zealand seamer Andy McKay took 4 for 34 – and Wellington had a gettable target to chase.Neesham would not be denied though, despite Wellington appearing, once again, to be ahead at 157 for 5. Neesham took three of the last five wickets to fall – including that of New Zealand allrounder James Franklin, who top scored for Wellington with 58 – to earn his side the victory. Neesham ended up with figures of 5 for 44, as Wellington lost their last five wickets for 56 runs. Fittingly, it was Neesham who finished the game, dismissing Franklin and Scot Kuggeleijn off consecutive deliveries to wrap up the innings in 39.4 balls, one fewer than Otago faced.The game between Northern Districts and Canterbury at Blake Park in Mount Maungauni was called off because of rain after Canterbury had made 267 for 9. Former New Zealand batsman Peter Fulton top scored with 66.The Auckland v Central Districts game in Auckland was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Steven Finn marked his first Ashes Test by claiming a career-best 6 for 125, which – as a 21-year-old with just eight months of international experience to his name – is no mean feat whatsoever

Andrew Miller at the Gabba27-Nov-2010Regardless of the toil that preceded his rewards, Steven Finn marked his first Ashes Test by claiming a career-best 6 for 125, which – as a 21-year-old with just eight months of international experience to his name – is no mean feat whatsoever. In so doing he emulated Bill Voce and John Snow as the only other Englishmen to collect such a haul at the Gabba, but afterwards he remained reassuringly downbeat about his achievement.As a man who models himself on Glenn McGrath and who has, in Angus Fraser, the perfect role-model for parsimonious seam bowling, Finn was well aware that his economy rate of 3.71 was England’s most expensive of the day, and at times during the 307-run stand between Brad Haddin and Michael Hussey he was powerless to restrict the run-flow. Nevertheless, having finally persuaded Hussey to hook to square leg for 195, he ran through the tail with an effectiveness that augurs well for future challenges, as Australia lost their last five wickets for 31 runs.”I picked up the wickets but I was the least consistent bowler and I’m aware of that,” he said. “Jimmy and Broady and Swanny at times bowled fantastically well, and when we work together as a unit that’s when we get our wickets. These wickets are for the unit, but personally, there are still a lot of areas I need to improve on and I’m well aware of that. I want to go for less runs, take more wickets and I’ve got a lot of work to do.”England’s day could well have gone a whole lot better, however, had Anderson been rewarded for a fine new-ball spell, in which Hussey survived two lbw appeals on 82 and 85, the first of which was overturned by the Umpire Decision Review System, before the second was left hanging as a plain not-out, after England had unsuccessfully used up their own appeals on day two.Finn admitted that the situation had been frustrating, especially after believing they had made such a key breakthrough in the third over of the day. But, he added, they had refused to let it derail them, despite how it might have appeared as they ended up going wicketless throughout the first two sessions.”It was a frustration that wasn’t going to affect our performance,” he said. “We realised we didn’t have any reviews left and so there was nothing we could do about it. We had to keep putting the ball in the right areas. When you’re in the huddle there and you think you’ve got the wicket, you’re over the moon and then it gets taken away. But if it gets you emotional then it takes you away from what you want to do and how you want to play the game.”It’s easy to look at things in retrospect, but we have to push forward,” he added. “We can only play what’s put in front of us. If those decisions had gone our way we’d be in a different position but it’s something we can’t look at. Those two guys played really well, they didn’t give us a chance, they rode their luck and survived the tough times, and that’s what it takes to score hundreds like that in Test cricket. That’s all we can look at.”Another distraction for England in the past three days has been the health of their coach, Andy Flower, who spent the day in hospital recovering from an operation to remove a cancerous melanoma from under his right eye. Finn, however, insisted that for the squad it had been business as usual, with Richard Halsall, the fielding coach, taking temporary charge.”I wouldn’t say it’s an upset,” he said. “Obviously we’re concerned about Andy, but he’s fine, he’s pulling through, but it hasn’t drawn anything away from what we’ve been doing as a team. We’ve got highly capable back-room staff who are filling in, and we’ve gelled together as a unit, and that helps us through times like this.”Despite the team’s predicament, Finn was sure that the two sides were far more evenly matched than the state of the game would suggest. “I think Test cricket ebbs and flows,” he said. “That’s the nature of the game and to say there is a gulf in class is grossly wrong because I think we’ve played some good, hard cricket these past few days. Australia are on top at the moment but the nature of the way we’ve played our cricket over the past 18 months will stand us in good stead in that dogfight.”

Cricinfo previews the opening match of the tri-series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Mirpur

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran03-Jan-2010

Match facts

Shakib Al Hasan: “Good performances against India can help the players get noticed for the IPL”•Associated Press

January 4, 2010
Start time 14.30 local, (08.30 GMT)Three subcontinent teams usher in the new year with a tri-series at the Shere Bangla stadium in Mirpur. Lengthy rest periods are rare in the international calendar these days. Barely a week after leaving India’s shores – a tour that stretched them physically as well as mentally – Sri Lanka are back at the departure terminal. They’ve made sweeping changes to their team, leaving out Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan, in a bid to set their combination right and make amends for what happened in India.It’s clear they are a better team than what we saw in India. Their misfortune was that their bowlers couldn’t figure out a way to restrict the batsmen on run-heavy pitches. Their outing against Bangladesh tomorrow will not be as taxing, but it won’t be a walk in the park either. Their tour of the country last year will be remembered for the one-dayer they lost
to Shakib Al Hasan’s brilliance with the bat and the tri-series final
they nearly lost after being reduced to an embarrassing 5 for 6. The plan is simple, at least on paper – get a win in the bag against the weakest team in the competition, before facing upto the strongest.The one aspect that could go against Bangladesh in this series is their lack of match practice over the last two months. The locals will look forward to this series for one good reason, to see if their team can carry forward their form from 2009 (14 wins out of 19) against tougher opposition. Victories against Zimbabwe and a second-string West Indies team may have inflated those numbers a big way, but at least they were richer for the experience of winning.

Form guide (last 5 completed matches, most recent first)

Bangladesh WWWWL
Sri Lanka LLWLL

Watch out for

Upul Tharanga: With Jayasuriya dropped and questions over his future with the team and where he should ideally bat, Tharanga will utilise his absence to cement his place at the top. He may not be as flashy or instinctive at the crease like Jayasuriya or Tillakaratne Dilshan, but can be just as intimidating with his crisply timed strokes and ability to score briskly. He was the second highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in the India ODIs with 295 runs at 94.95 with a century and two fifties. This tour presents Tharanga the best opportunity he’s ever had.Thilan Thushara: Thushara was one of the bowlers Sri Lanka sorely missed in India. It put a lot of pressure on Nuwan Kulasekara and Dammika Prasad, who couldn’t maintain any consistency. In Thushara Sri Lanka now have a bowler who can hit the deck hard and rough up the batsmen with pace. With Chaminda Vaas and Muralitharan missing, Thushara brings with him the valuable component known as experience.Spin: Bangladesh make no secret of their strength – spin – and why not? With Mashrafe Mortaza out, and a blow-hot blow-cold Shahadat Hossain, they naturally wouldn’t want to throw in too many untested youngsters. Spin is the way forward and as their coach Jamie Siddons said, no other team has more spin-bowling allrounders like Bangladesh. Also watch out for faster over-rates, in that case.

Team news

No specific line-up announced. With a few senior players resting, Sri Lanka will experiment a bit with their line-up over the course of the tournament. One thing they can do is recall Chamara Silva to the middle order, which looks thin on experience. Silva is a good finisher, so a player like Thilina Kandamby can learn a thing or two about that art when batting with him.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (vice-capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Thilan Samaraweera, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Thissara Perera, 8 Muthumudalige Pushpakumara/Malinga Bandara, 9 Suraj Randiv, 10 Thilan Thushara, 11 Chanaka WelagederaBangladesh have announced that their rookie right-arm seamer, Shafiul Islam, will make his debut. He will partner Rubel Hossain, one of their finds last year. However, the ICL returnees, Aftab Ahmed and Shahriar Nafees, will not be playing. The same goes for Syed Rasel and Shahadat Hossain, who replaced Nazmul Hossain. Shafiul was one of the leading wicket-takers in the club scene last season.”We have tried all bowling combinations for seamers, so we are going with another one now,” said Siddons. “We have nothing to lose out in trying. He (Shafiul) has got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He does a few things with the ball so I’m really excited. Shafiul and Rubel could go for a few runs or they could do very well. This is an ideal opportunity for them and we have confidence in them.”Bangladesh 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Raqibul Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Shafiul Islam

Pitch and conditions

The dew will be a major factor after 8.30 PM, said coach Siddons. In fact, in the recent ODI series against Zimbabwe, all three day-nighters were won by the team batting second. Therefore, it should be a straightforward decision for the captain winning the toss.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka are the only major international team to have lost to Bangladesh twice, in Bangladesh. India and New Zealand have lost a game each.
• In seven day-night matches at the Shere Bangla Stadium, four have been won by the team batting first.

Quotes

“We would to love to play against big teams as we can show the world that Bangladesh has improved. But it’s important to play teams like Zimbabwe so that we can win and derive confidence. Good performances against India can help the players get noticed for the IPL.
“This series will help us know if we are getting better or not. We have no fears against Sri Lanka and we would like to make them regret that they have left some big names out of the side for this series.
“Even in India, Suraj Randiv was the best spinner. And [Malinga] Bandara has been around for years and he gets another opportunity here. Pushpukamara is a spin bowling allrounder. So we are not worried.”

Seamer Codi Yusuf will also be playing his first Test when South Africa face Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Saturday

Firdose Moonda27-Jun-2025At 22 years old, Dewald Brevis has already experienced the highs of being in the spotlight as a burgeoning superstar, the lows of being labelled not good enough, and the feeling that comes with a fresh start.Brevis was relatively fresh off the 2022 Under-19 World Cup, where he was the leading run-scorer and Shukri Conrad was the coach, when he was picked in South Africa’s T20I squad for a series against Australia in 2023. It was seen as the fast-tracking of a prodigious talent, who may even have parachuted into that year’s ODI World Cup squad. But Brevis was dismissed playing aggressive shots for scores of 5 and 0 in the first two matches against Australia and was dropped for the third game. That was the end of the experiment, and Brevis was not considered for the national side again, until now.”That moment being there, and then being left out for a few years, that was quite tough. But I was young as well,” Brevis said from Bulawayo, where he is set to make his Test debut against Zimbabwe on Saturday. “I’m grateful for how I handled that, and the people I had around me. It made me much more hungry for the game and to perform. I knew what I had to do and I put in the work and I kept believing.Related

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“To be able to return and it being in the Test side, that’s very special. For me, it’s the pinnacle format. You can play all the leagues, you can play T20 and 50-over cricket, but there’s something about Test cricket. That’s really the ultimate.”One of the ways Brevis dealt with things was by accepting that he would have to do the hard yards in the domestic system, away from the glare of expectation. Since 2023-24, in two seasons of the first-class competition, Brevis averaged over 44, quietly collected four hundreds, and proved himself patient enough to play the long game – literally and figuratively.At the same time, Brevis has also shown what he is capable of in the shorter formats – emphatically. He smashed 162 off 57 balls in a T20 against Knights in 2022. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the One-day Challenge in 2023-24, and the second-highest in 2024-25. He was the title-winning finisher at the SA20 earlier this year, scored two fifties in six innings at the IPL, and also got a deal with Hampshire for the T20 Blast.Now Brevis hopes to combine what he has learnt on the largely forgotten fields of the first-class game and the spotlight of T20 leagues to make good the potential he showed three years ago, also under Conrad.”I just want to be the same guy that plays all formats. I’m not really trying to make any big changes,” he said. “It’s all about watching the ball and just being true to myself. The key fact is we all know you have to bat longer. In order to bat longer, you have to take it ball by ball and not change the way you play a ball. So I’m not going to change anything.”Brevis will debut alongside Lhuan-dre Pretorius, another prodigy who was South Africa’s leading run-scorer at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup, and Codi Yusuf, who is at the other end of the spectrum. At 27, Yusuf could be considered a late bloomer who started as a batter and then started bowling spin, until a net session changed his mind.”In high school, one of the guys hit me out of the nets,” he said. “I went to fetch the ball, and I said, ‘Guys, I’m gonna run in and just bowl pace.’ I ran in, bowled pace and hit the guy. I was like, ‘I’m not going to bowl another ball of spin from this day onwards’, and that’s how it happened.”This county season, Codi Yusuf took 17 wickets at 20.94 in four matches for Durham•Getty Images

Yusuf’s career meandered through the semi-professional ranks at Mpumalanga before he moved to Lions. Over the last two seasons, he has been their leading seamer in the first-class competition. Yusuf finished ninth on the wicket-takers’ list in 2023-24 and joint-fifth last summer, along with Lutho Sipamla. The benefits of working with bowling coach Allan Donald were clear to see.”He doesn’t do a lot of technical stuff with me, but he definitely helps the way I think about the game and approach it,” Yusuf said. “This past season, I’ve taken on a little bit more of a leading role. I play with my heart, and try to work as hard as I can and be ready for the opportunity when it comes.”In the last few months, several opportunities have come for Yusuf. He enjoyed a stint in first-class cricket for Durham, for whom he took 17 wickets in four matches at 20.94. “Bowling with the Dukes ball in English conditions is quite different to bowling in South Africa,” he said. “I took a lot of learnings out of that.”He also met one of his heroes, Ben Stokes and, by coincidence, will wear the same number as him – 55 – on his national shirt. “I just gave a few numbers, and I’m quite happy it’s 55,” he said. “I look up to Ben Stokes, and I see he’s number 55 as well. So I’m happy about that.”

Chris Green gave the visitors a brief scare but in the end the margin was convincing

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2023Brisbane Heat continued their undefeated start to the BBL season with a comfortable 20-run win against Sydney Thunder in Canberra.A classy 46 from in-form opener Colin Munro and clinical bowling from their disciplined bowling attack saw Heat secure victory on Tuesday night on a tricky surface allied to a slow outfield.Only a late flurry from Thunder captain Chris Green restored respectability to the scoreboard, giving Heat just the smallest of scares having had their opposition buried at 80 for 6 in their pursuit of 152.Related

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They moved to 2-0 for the season having backed up their opening night win against Melbourne Stars, with their second clash against Adelaide Strikers washed out.Four different Heat bowlers picked up multiple wickets, led by Xavier Bartlett’s 3 for 35 and a brilliant 2 for 26 from legspinner Mitchell Swepson that included the prized scalps of Cameron Bancroft and Daniel Sams.Thunder had lost opener Alex Hales for a golden duck with just the third ball of the innings as Michael Neser found an edge to slip, and Matt Gilkes joined him in the fourth over by lifting Bartlett to short fine leg.New signing Cameron Bancroft looked to hit the ground running when he hit his first ball as a Thunder player to the boundary on his way to 25 off 19.But Swepson trapped him plumb lbw, deceived by a quicker ball, as he looked to take control leaving Thunder in a hole at 53 for 3.It got even worse courtesy of a stunning catch from Neser, who ran a long distance and put in a full-stretch dive at deep midwicket to get rid of Alex Ross and leave them 56 for 4. Swepson then defeated Sams with another skidding delivery the ball after being hit for sixOnly Ollie Davies, who earlier took a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Josh Brown, put up some fight for Thunder.Earlier, an impressive spell from Thunder spinner Tanveer Sangha helped his side restrict Heat.His tight lines cramped up the Heat batters with his 3 for 21 featuring the wickets of Nathan McSweeney, Matt Renshaw and Paul Walter.Heat opener Munro backed up his 99 not out from his first knock of the season against Stars with another 46.BBL debutant Zaman Khan got in on the act late, bowling Billings and Neser in the one over with an unorthodox slinging action that delighted fans in Canberra.

Lewis Goldsworthy’s maiden List A hundred brings light to dismal campaign

ECB Reporters Network23-Aug-2022Somerset 266 for 5 (Goldsworthy 111, Rew 96) beat Warwickshire 252 (Rhodes 92, Brookes 51) by 14 runsSomerset collected their first Royal London Cup win at the eighth and last attempt and dragged Warwickshire out of the competition in the process with a 14-run victory at Edgbaston.Lewis Goldsworthy’s maiden List A century (111, 116 balls) and Jack Brooks’ excellent bowling (four for 38) underpinned a win which brought some belated light to a leaden campaign.Somerset owed their total to a third-wicket stand of 198 in 35 overs between Goldsworthy and James Rew (96, 120). Olly Hannon-Dalby and Liam Norwell took two wickets apiece but George Garrett impressed most, conceding 37 from his ten overs.Warwickshire knew that reaching 267 would take them through to the knockout phase but their depleted batting order, without the injured Krunal Pandya and Michael Burgess, fell just short on 252 all out. Captain Will Rhodes (92, 103) and Ethan Brookes (51, 57) added 104 in 18 overs for the fifth wicket but there were no contributions of substance either side of their stand.After choosing to bat, Somerset soon lost former Warwickshire opener Andy Umeed, bowled by Norwell who also had Steven Davies superbly caught low at slip by Rob Yates. With three vital championship games to come in September, the Bears will be encouraged to see Norwell starting to regain full fitness and menace.Related

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Rew and Goldsworthy rebuilt, slowly at first, then more fluently, reaching their half-centuries from 77 and 71 balls respectively. The latter struck 12 fours in a polished innings before falling lbw to Yates.Eighteen-year-old Rew was a boundary short of his second List A ton when he sliced Hannon-Dalby to short third man. George Bartlett’s tidy unbeaten 29 (21 balls) lifted Somerset to a competitive score.Yates (four fours and a six in 25) gave Warwickshire’s reply a brisk start until he was brilliantly caught at extra cover by Bartlett off Kasey Aldridge.
A string of batters then also picked out fielders. Bartlett pounced again at extra when Dom Sibley (23, 36 balls) lifted a drive at Brooks and Goldsworthy added wickets to his earlier runs as Hamza Shaikh swept to deep mid-wicket and Matt Lamb cut to point.That was 95 for four but as Rhodes and Brookes’ enterprising batting righted the ship and got the crowd involved. Brookes twice located the Hollies Stand on his way to a 53-ball half-century before edging Brooks to wicketkeeper Davies.Brooks’ then pinned Kai Smith lbw with a yorker to send Warwickshire into the last five overs needing another 42. Denied the required boundaries by disciplined, full-length bowling, they entered the final over requiring 21. That was well beyond the tail and they accompany their opponents out of the tournament.

Should Kings persist with Pooran? Is there place for Billings in place of Smith for Capitals?

Saurabh Somani01-May-2021

Big Picture

In a bit of a rarity, scheduling wise, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings will complete both their head-to-head clashes inside the first month of IPL 2021. At the Wankhede Stadium a fortnight ago, the Capitals powered past the Kings in a high-scoring thriller, where dew and KL Rahul’s scoring rate both played as major parts in the outcome as Shikhar Dhawan’s classy 92 and Mayank Agarwal’s belligerent 69.Agarwal missed the Kings’ last match, a convincing 34-run win against the high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore, due to injury and it remains to be seen if he’ll have enough time to recover given only a two-day gap between games. Prabhsimran Singh played in Agarwal’s place, though whether he too gets another game could depend on the combination that the Kings opt to go with.In Chris Gayle, they have a readymade opener to partner Rahul anyway, while the bench has the likes of Mandeep Singh and Sarfaraz Khan who can slot into the middle order. One other question the Kings will have to wrestle with is whether Nicholas Pooran keeps his place in the XI. Pooran can be among the most destructive batters in T20s, but he’s had a particularly poor time of it in IPL 2021, with four ducks in six innings. Waiting in the wings is Dawid Malan, who can provide initial solidity with the potential to accelerate quickly later on. In other words, just the kind of batter the Kings might need in the upper middle order.For the Capitals, things are much rosier, particularly given the form of their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. They have both been devastatingly good so far, and both went after the Kings attack all guns blazing in their last match too. Perhaps the Capitals’ only point of worry is the form of Kagiso Rabada. Expected to spearhead the attack, he has taken only five wickets in six games while going at a fairly high economy rate of 8.72.They’re not likely to axe Rabada from the XI yet, even though the likes of Anrich Nortje and Chris Woakes are on the bench. The Capitals have weathered the loss of primary bowling options like Axar Patel (at the start), R Ashwin (off late) and Amit Mishra (shoulder niggle in the last match) wonderfully well. Lalit Yadav stepped in for Mishra and took 2 for 13 in three overs against Kolkata Knight Riders, while Patel returned from Covid and quarantine to bowl them to a Super Over win against Sunrisers Hyderabad.One gamble worth considering for the Capitals is bringing in someone like Sam Billings for Steven Smith. Given the form of their other top-order men, Smith’s more anchoring style suited to the top order might not be needed, while Billings’ ability to bat explosively lower down might be more valuable.

In the News

Riley Meredith had to go off the field in his final over when a Kyle Jamieson thump got him on his right knee, so his fitness for the game is uncertain. That could mean Jhye Richardson, the Kings’ other big-ticket pace signing, gets another chance in the XI.

Likely XIs

Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Sam Billings, 7 Lalit Yadav, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Ishant SharmaPunjab Kings: 1 Mayank Agarwal/Prabhsimran Singh, 2 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Dawid Malan, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Harpreet Brar, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jhye Richardson, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Mohammed Shami

Strategy Punt

Rahul’s strike rate remains a perennial point of debate whenever the Kings play, but this year, he may have hit on a more calibrated approach that both satisfies the need for him to bat through the innings, without getting bogged down. What Rahul has done is counter-intuitive, but if the Kings work their game-plan right, it could pay dividends. Rahul has begun very cautiously in the powerplays, which in IPL 2021 have been the overs where teams have typically found it easier to go hard. However, he has stepped it up considerably in the middle overs – the period where run-scoring has been more difficult. Given Rahul’s all-range shot-making ability, if that method allows him to eventually end up with a big scores at strike rates of 150 or over, it’s beneficial for the Kings. But for it to work, he needs to have his fellow top-order batters going hell for leather in the powerplay so that the Kings don’t lose out. Rahul’s strike rate in the powerplay this year is 96, as opposed to 125 in IPL 2020. However, his middle-overs strike rate this year is 158, as against 120 last year.The Capitals’ array of left-handers prompted the Kings to include Jalaj Saxena in their last game against them. Saxena showed good control, although the heavy dew and batters already in free-stroking mode meant loose balls could be taken advantage of. It might be worth a punt to bring Saxena back, but if the Kings don’t want to disturb a winning combination, they could rely on Ravi Bishnoi to do the job. Bishnoi mixes a generous amount of googlies and sliders alongwith his leggies, and notably, had success against Rishabh Pant by bowling a wide line outside off. However, that was in IPL 2020, and with the Capitals’ having had time to study Bishnoi further, it’ll be interesting to see how their left-handers – Dhawan, Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, and even Axar Patel lower down the order – adapt.

Stats that matter

• KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are the top two run-getters in IPL 2021 so far, with Rahul having 331 runs at 136.21, and Dhawan scoring 311 runs at 131.77. Rahul’s conventional stats are superior, but Dhawan has been his equal on ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. While Rahul has 326 Smart Runs, Dhawan is at 323, and Dhawan’s Smart Strike Rate of 136.74 is actually ahead of Rahul’s 134.07. That’s because while they’ve both had a few slower scoring innings, Rahul’s efforts have come in higher scoring games.
• Among players who have faced at least 100 balls in IPL 2021, Prithvi Shaw’s strike rate of 165.03 is the highest of the lot. The second and third on the list are AB de Villiers and Andre Russell.

Cummins and Pattinson struck early in New Zealand’s innings after Australia made 467

The Report by Andrew McGlashan27-Dec-2019The ball may be a different colour, and the playing hours back to normal, but the MCG Test was taking on alarmingly similar proportions to what happened in Perth for New Zealand as Australia exerted their control. First, it came through Travis Head, with his second Test hundred and a stand of 150 with captain Tim Paine, before the extra pace of the home attack removed two wickets before the close.In reply to 467 – and after more than five sessions in the field – it was the loss of Kane Williamson that will have hurt New Zealand the most. Having driven James Pattinson sweetly through the covers, he was lured into pulling a ball well wide of off stump which he skied behind square where Paine continued his fine day with a solid running catch. For Pattinson, it was his first Test wicket in Australia for nearly four years.James Pattinson struck the huge blow of removing Kane Williamson•Getty Images

Pat Cummins, whose seven-over spell included barely a ball off target, had already done for Tom Blundell, who was opening in Tests for the first time, when he edged a drive having shown some initial promise. Tom Latham, battling through 57 balls for his 9, and Ross Taylor – saved by the DRS when he was given lbw to Pattinson on 1 – hung on until stumps.In the lead-up to the Boxing Day Test, Head did not appear fully secure of his place with Australia contemplating five bowlers. Two days into the match and, even if a rejig to the side is discussed, Head’s name will not be up for debate. He resumed on 25, did not find the going easy throughout the day – occasionally becoming more expansive when offered width – and only really freed himself up after passing three figures after tea, but he did not give it away, and that was the standout.He had been kept in the 90s for 45 minutes before the break, including a maiden against Trent Boult which meant he sat on 98 at the interval, and in total needed 41 balls to navigate his way to three figures, which was brought up with his tenth boundary, driven behind point from his 222nd delivery. During the innings, he passed 1000 runs and, with potentially one knock left for 2019, went to 714 runs for the year – moving back above David Warner as Australia’s third-highest scorer – a period that brought him a maiden Test hundred against Sri Lanka in Canberra and then saw him left out of the final Ashes Test, partly for sake of team balance, which appeared could happen again this week.However, while Head’s century was hugely significant both from a personal and team perspective, arguably the most important innings of the day came from Paine, whose positive intent ensured Australia moved the game forward after taking four sessions to secure their superiority.Tim Paine and Travis Head enjoyed an excellent partnership•AFP

Once again, Neil Wagner had produced the most compelling moment of the morning session when he bounced out Smith for the third time in three innings. Smith, who drove the first ball of the day for three, could only manage eight off 50 balls having resumed on 77 following his battle with the short ball on the opening day. It was a brute of a delivery that removed him, rising towards his throat which was gloved to gully where Henry Nicholls held a superb fingertip catch above his head.For a brief period after removing Smith, New Zealand sensed a chance to get back into the match, but that quickly vanished as Paine played a superbly-judged proactive hand either side of lunch. The Australia captain pulled and drove with confidence, one of his best strokes – a pull that bisected deep square-leg and long leg off Tim Southee – taking him to his half-century off 72 balls. He went to tea on 77 with a chance to push for a maiden Test hundred, more than nine years after his debut, but was pinned lbw by the herculean Wagner after New Zealand successfully reviewed.Paine’s dismissal sparked a late collapse of 5 for 33 as Australia’s lower order threw the bat – including Mitchell Starc picking out mid-off when Head was sat on 99 – which handed Wagner and Southee late reward for the toil. Few would have begrudged Wagner a five-wicket haul, but instead he took the catch to end the innings when Nathan Lyon top-edged a hook.Wagner (38 overs) and Southee (33.1) followed their Perth workloads with more hard yards, while Trent Boult (31) and Colin de Grandhomme (30) were not far behind. In the end, Mitchell Santner bowled 20 overs, but only after Australia had passed 400 was he entrusted with more than a three-over spell and he struggled to exert control. The sight of Blundell, a wicketkeeper by trade, bowling three overs of offspin straight after lunch did not speak volumes for the spin-bowling resources. It is something New Zealand will need to assess for Sydney, where the pitch is expected to aid spin, although before then their aim is to try and ensure the series is at least alive.