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With about 24 hours left for squad to be finalised, ESPNcricinfo has listed the key names the WCI selection panel will deliberate on.

Nagraj Gollapudi22-Apr-2019With just a day to go before the Tuesday deadline set by the ICC, West Indies remain the only team yet to announce their squad for the upcoming World Cup.ESPNcricinfo understand Cricket West Indies (CWI) will submit the 15-man squad to the ICC on Tuesday, but will announce the squad only on Wednesday afternoon in Barbados (1.30 pm local time).The squad will be picked by the freshly appointed interim selection panel chaired by Robert Haynes, along with Jimmy Adams (director of cricket) and West Indies’ newly appointed coach Floyd Reifer.Although Jason Holder will continue to be the captain and Chris Gayle will almost certainly play his fifth World Cup, questions remain over the participation of the country’s other superstars, who have been successful in the last five years in domestic T20 leagues around the world.Will Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, and even Dwayne Bravo, who opted to retire from international cricket last year, find a spot? Will Marlon Samuels, who has recovered from his knee injury, get the opportunity to play his fourth World Cup?The hope comes from a new administration taking charge at CWI. Ricky Skerritt, the newly elected president of CWI, who was also once the manager of the West Indies team at the turn of the millennium, had said that the selectors will be looking at all available options.The key questions for the selectors concern the two allrounders that would feature in addition to Holder. Will it be Russell and Carols Brathwaite? Who will be Gayle’s opening partner, Evin Lewis or John Campbell? Who among Devendra Bishoo, Ashley Nurse and Fabian Allen will be part of the spinners’ group? Who among Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell and Shannon Gabriel will accompany Kemar Roach in the fast bowling group? Will Nicholas Pooran make it as the back-up wicketkeeper?With about 24 hours left for squad to be finalised, ESPNcricinfo has listed the key names Haynes’ selection panel will deliberate on.

A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2023Joe Clarke hit three sixes in a 41-ball 72 and Colin Munro 28 off 17 as a blistering start by the Outlaws proved to be enough to set up a 22-run North Group victory over Leicestershire Foxes in the Vitality Blast.The Outlaws were 78 for 1 after eight overs having opted to bat first, and though the Foxes came back strongly with the ball to restrict the visitors to 165 for 8, their efforts with the bat proved woefully inadequate.Nick Welsh (32 from 30) and Peter Handscomb (28 from 30) put on 63 for the first wicket but despite Wiaan Mulder striking 38 from 26 balls late in the innings, the Foxes fell 23 runs short of their target, Steven Mullaney taking 3 for 18 from his four overs, leg spinner Calvin Harrison 2 for 14 and Shaheen Shah Afridi 2 for 28.Pace-bowling all-rounder Tom Scriven took a career-best 4 for 21 for the Foxes in only his fifth Blast appearance, backed up by 3 for 22 from canny left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson, while Mike Finan equalled the county record for the format with four outfield catches.Yet they ended on the losing side again as their side suffered their ninth defeat from 11 matches to remain rooted to the bottom of the group.A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place, although they suffered a double blow on the night with overseas star Munro unable to field after suffering what looked like a hamstring injury while batting, and veteran all-rounder Samit Patel leaving the field with an apparent ankle injury after the fourth ball of his third over.The Outlaws were 60 for 1 after an eventful powerplay which saw Parkinson dismiss Alex Hales for the fourth time in five seasons but then drop one of two catching chances the Foxes failed to hold.Munro was put down at short fine leg on five off left-armer Finan before Parkinson spilled an easier one at short third man as Clarke, on 26, went for the ramp against Matt Salisbury, Munro finishing the over with four and six. The Foxes were generally sloppy in the field in the powerplay.Munro needed lengthy treatment in the seventh over, was able to continue as Colin Ackermann’s first over went for 15 but fell in the ninth as he mistimed a lofted drive against Rehan Ahmed to be caught at long on, two tidy overs from the leg-spinner checking the Outlaws’ progress a little as they reached the halfway point at 91 for 2.Clarke stepped on the accelerator, adding sixes off Finan and Scriven to an earlier maximum off Ackermann as the next 22 balls saw the Foxes leak 41 runs but the shape of the Outlaws innings then changed dramatically with the loss of three wickets in seven balls.Scriven, hammered down the ground for six by Clarke the previous delivery, took revenge when the Outlaws’ leading run-scorer miscued high in the air to backward point, before Parkinson struck twice in five balls, having Matt Montomery caught at long off before trapping Tom Moores leg before on the back foot.Notts had slipped from 133 for 2 to 136 for 5, a triple blow that cost them all their momentum with only 29 added in the final five overs as Scriven rounded off a fine performance with three wickets and just eight runs conceded in his two death overs.Samit Patel holed out to long off and Finan became the third Foxes player – along with Arron Lilley and Wiaan Mulder – to take four outfield catches in a single Blast innings by safely pouching Shaheen Afridi and then Mullaney in the deep on the leg side.Foxes openers Welch and Handscomb were not able to match the Outlaws’ explosive start but did not lose a wicket in posting 42 runs from the powerplay, although the Australian would have been run out on seven had a Hales’ throw hit.Yet they struggled to find any acceleration and were already lagging behind the required rate at 74 for 1 after 10, having by then lost Handscomb, stumped going down the pitch to Mullaney, as Moores made amends for missing him off Samit Patel the over before.Rishi Patel announced himself with a pulled six off Calvin Harrison but perished in the next over, well caught on the extra cover boundary as a reverse-sweep went wrong and Mullaney claimed a second wicket.Next over, Welch holed out to Hales at deep midwicket before Ackermann departed in the most bizarre fashion, handing Mullaney a caught-and-bowled chance which he dropped but claimed at a juggling second attempt as the ball bounced back to him off the chest of Mulder, who was standing a yard from him at the non-striker’s end.By now, the run-rate was beginning to look beyond the Foxes, who lost Ahmed caught behind as Harrison completed the stricken Samit Patel’s unfinished over before Scriven found Hales on the long-on boundary, with 70 needed from 27 balls.Mulder launched back-to-back sixes off Jake Ball but they were no more than a consolation with 29 needed off a final over in which Shaheen bowled him and Finan in the space of four balls.

UAE were bowled out for 110 in the first match of their maiden ODI tour of a Full Member nation

The Report by Peter Della Penna10-Apr-2019Zimbabwe drew first blood in UAE’s historic maiden ODI tour of a Full Member nation, notching a seven-wicket win over the visitors at Harare Sports Club after sending them in and wiping them out for 110.UAE were struggling from the start, ending the Powerplay at 19 for 3 as Kyle Jarvis and eventual Man of the Match Tendai Chatara struck a series of early blows. The biggest was Jarvis claiming Ashfaq Ahmed for just 2 to start the third over after the opening batsman entered the day on the back of an unbeaten 131 in UAE’s win over a Zimbabwe Chairman’s XI to start the tour.Chatara and Donald Tiripano each claimed two wickets as UAE slipped to 42 for 6 by the end of the 23rd over. Mohammad Boota top-scored with 36 at No. 7, helping his side past 100 by the time he was dismissed. Boota teamed up with Imran Haider for a 29-run seventh-wicket stand, the largest of the day for UAE, before Chatara returned in a late spell to have Haider caught behind for his third wicket.Zimbabwe suffered a brief setback early in the chase when Solomon Mire fell leg before to Qadeer Ahmed for 11. But Regis Chakabva and Craig Ervine produced an 80-run partnership for the second wicket before Chakabva fell to Haider with victory in sight.Ervine entered the match in sizzling form, having scored four half-centuries in his last five innings during Zimbabwe’s domestic T20 competition while his last three List A innings for Tuskers in the Zimbabwe Pro50 Championship totaled 310 runs while being dismissed just once. The 33-year-old racked up a 40-ball half-century before he was dismissed by Rohan Mustafa with Zimbabwe one shot away from victory.Timycen Maruma and Sean Williams knocked off the remaining four runs for the win, which came with 26.5 overs to spare.The two sides square off again in the second ODI of the four-match series on Friday.

A squad that contains nine players who have played fewer than 20 ODI matches is on the path to find consistency before the World Cup

Varun Shetty in Guwahati20-Oct-20181:31

Chance for new faces to show what they have got – Holder

It’s time for another West Indies series, and that means, once again, it’s time for Jason Holder and the team’s leadership to try and achieve results in the face of forced changes. While opener Evin Lewis’ withdrawal from the limited-overs leg of the India tour for personal reasons isn’t in the same vein as some of the more controversial pulling outs West Indies have seen in recent years, it is a massive setback for a squad that contains nine players who have played fewer than 20 ODIs.

Nobody’s given us a chance. That’s incentive for us – Law

Although the West Indies squad is inexperienced, the head coach Stuart Law insisted that they had more than enough talent to surprise their doubters.
“[This series] is all about opportunity. These kids have been identified throughout T20 tournaments and domestic cricket back home,” he said. “So they’re really green. But sometimes the greener you are, the less fear you have. You don’t know the unknown. I notice in the press that everyone’s given us absolutely no chance to win a game. That’s incentive for us. It’s great for us to also have no expectations from the media and the public. We’re supposed to get our backsides handed to us but it’s great motivation for us to show that we’re not just here to make up the numbers.”

“It’s hard to lose a player who has been around and has some success in the particular format we’re playing in. No doubt, it’s tough,” Holder said. “You obviously set your plans and you formulate your plans around the composition you would have selected. [To have someone pull out at] such a late time is tough.”I’ve got to only cope with what I can, I’ve got to control what I can. I’ve been given a task to marshal the troops that we have here. Know that I’ll be going out on the field trying to give my best with the side. For me, it’s just leading from the front and leading by example with my own personal performances. We’ve set up roles for everyone, so everyone can carry out their roles and make the team’s success a lot easier.”Holder has been on a steep rise over the last 18 months or so, particularly in Tests, where along with a vast improvement in his all-round skills, he has led West Indies to six wins alongside coach Stuart Law. He has emerged with a reputation of being an up-and-coming young leader of a young team, but that is far from the case behind the scenes.”Funnily enough, I’m staring down the barrel of my 27th birthday next month,” Holder said. “I’ve been around for a little, but I’m relatively still young as well. I’m playing the father figure role, trying to mentor and nourish the young talent we have. It’s enjoyable for me. I like things like this. I love challenges. The talent we have in the Caribbean is something that really excites me.””You see young people like Fabian Allen who has come into this team or [Obed] McCoy… he’s done really well for us in domestic cricket, so we’ve got good talent here. This is the future for West Indies cricket. Obviously for anyone coming into international cricket, there’s a bit of nerves and pressure trying to solidify yourself into the side. Hopefully, those guys can put that aside and channel the nervous energy in the right direction.”That direction is next year’s World Cup, for which West Indies qualified with some difficulty earlier this year. And there are spots to be filled. Before pulling out of the tour, Lewis rejected a contract with Cricket West Indies; Chris Gayle, who was part of the team that played in the qualifiers, has been told that he won’t have an automatic place in the World Cup squad, and Andre Russell has been battling his own hamstrings, which are currently incapable of getting him through 50-overs cricket. With that reality, West Indies and their plethora of youngsters have 13 ODI matches between now and the World Cup to emerge as a settled team. And there are specific challenges they are looking to overcome.”Consistency is one of the main things we need to look at,” Holder said. “Particularly in our batting. We haven’t really been able to get consistent scores in excess of 300. A lot of times you’ve got to be able to set your benchmark around 300 or 320. That’s one area that our batters really need to look at. We’ve spoken about it in our dressing room and we need be to hitting that mark more often than not and be consistently doing it.”It’s a big test to play against India in India. This gives us a really good gauge to see where we’re at. This team is fairly competent in terms of one-day cricket. We had a really good time in the World Cup qualifiers, which was a challenge you know, playing in Zimbabwe – turning tracks playing against opponents you know very little about. That was a challenge in itself and we had a Test series against Bangladesh, one we felt we should have done a lot better in but we weren’t able to clinch it with confidence. So, all to play for here. Again, it’s another opportunity for players. No doubt it’ll be very competitive in terms of selection.”

South Africa are now at No. 8 on the Super League table, while Ireland will have to go through the qualifying tournament to try and qualify for the World Cup

Firdose Moonda09-May-2023South Africa are “obviously chuffed” to have qualified directly for the men’s ODI World Cup, to be played in India later this year, after spending the bulk of the World Cup Super League outside of the top eight. And they have the weather in Chelmsford to thank for it.With the no-result in the first of three ODIs between Ireland and Bangladesh on Tuesday, even if Ireland go on to claim the series, they cannot surpass South Africa in eighth place on the Super League points table. Ireland are guaranteed a ninth-place finish, though, and will compete in the ten-team qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, which runs from June 18 to July 9, and also includes former world champions West Indies and Sri Lanka.”We’re obviously chuffed to qualify directly because it makes life a lot simpler not having to go through the qualifying tournament,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, told ESPNcricinfo. “But there would have been an upside to competing in the qualifier given the very quiet winter we have.”The men’s team last played ODI cricket against Netherlands on April 2 and have no matches scheduled until August 30, which amounts to almost five months of inaction after a redemptive summer, which ended with good results over England, West Indies and Netherlands, after chastening visits to Australia for the T20 World Cup and a Test series.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

South Africa returned empty-handed from both, but neither format mattered as much as ODIs. They started the year in 11th place on the Super League standings – well outside the automatic qualification zone – after series losses to Pakistan (2021 – home), Sri Lanka (2021 – away) and Bangladesh (2022 – home) and forfeiting a series in Australia (scheduled for January 2023) to allow their top cricketers to be available for the inaugural SA20 league.South Africa gave themselves the best chance of progressing to the World Cup with series wins over England and Netherlands, which lifted them into No. 8, but the final outcome was not in their hands, as they waited for the Ireland vs Bangladesh matches to take place.

Planning for World Cup already on, Rob Walter confirms

Walter confirmed that Cricket South Africa had put in place “two plans based on either eventuality” to execute: one if a trip to Zimbabwe was necessary, and another if South Africa held on to eighth place. The first of those would have necessitated Walter’s return from his home in New Zealand earlier than planned and seen a return to action for top players shortly after the end of the IPL on May 28. Now, they will only be called on later in the winter. The second plan has already begun, with a camp at the high-performance centre in Pretoria from Tuesday.Related

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“What we have now is the chance to spend some quality time outside of competition getting ourselves ready for a marquee event,” Walter said. “We have a number of camps planned throughout the winter in the lead up to the Australia series which obviously forms our final preparation for the World Cup. There is also the ‘A’ side tour to Sri Lanka, so we have tried to ensure significant skill development opportunities and time in the middle from a competitive point of view.”South Africa A, captained by Tony de Zorzi and with eight Test caps, will play three one-day matches and two four-day games against Sri Lanka A next month. The white-ball fixtures were pencilled in on Sri Lanka’s request, to ready themselves for the qualifying tournament in June. Gerald Coetzee and Tristan Stubbs, who earned ODI caps this year, are both in the touring party, and could put themselves into consideration for the World Cup squad.The bulk of players who will be involved in the ODI plans are involved at the IPL. Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Heinrich Klaasen, Wayne Parnell and Sisanda Magala have all played, while Lungi Ngidi is also at the tournament, though he has not got a game. South Africa also have players at the Hundred and CPL over the winter and CSA will monitor their performances throughout this time.”All players have an individual analysis highlighting strengths and specific areas of focus in the period,” Walter said. “This is all planned alongside our players’ involvement in the different leagues that continue on through the winter.”

India captain backs Ashwin’s suggestion to reduce the impact of dew on day-night ODIs

Deivarayan Muthu17-Jan-20230:46

‘I like the idea’ – Rohit on early starts in ODIs in India

Rohit Sharma is in favour of early starts at the ODI World Cup in India to reduce the impact of the dew factor and promote more even contests.Day-night ODIs in India start at 1.30pm and finish around 9pm, which is prime time on television, leading to greater viewership numbers for the BCCI and the broadcasters. Rohit, however, said that this gave the chasing team a significant advantage if there’s dew, because they get to bowl in dry conditions in the afternoon and bat when the dew gets the ball wet in the evening, making it easier to score.”I mean, it [having an early start] is a good idea because it’s a World Cup, right?,” Rohit said on the eve of the ODI series opener against New Zealand in Hyderabad. “You don’t want to compromise too much on the toss factor and you want to take that [advantage] completely away. I like that idea of an early start, but I don’t know if it’s possible.Related

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“The broadcasters will decide what time the game should start [laughs]. But ideally you don’t want that sort of advantage in the game. You want to see good cricket being played without one side having the advantage of batting under lights with the dew. But those are the things that are not in your control. But I like the idea of an early start.”During the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati, India were wary of the dew factor and showed greater intent while batting first to rack up a potentially dew-proof total of 373.After that game, India offspinner R Ashwin had suggested an earlier start time, arguing that a 11.30am start to World Cup matches wouldn’t necessarily hurt viewership figures because of what’s at stake.

LIVE in the UK and USA

You can watch the first ODI between India and New Zealand LIVE on ESPN Player in the UK and on ESPN+ in the USA.

“The quality difference between the teams isn’t coming through,” Ashwin said. “Dew is narrowing that gap if you happen to lose the toss. My suggestion – or rather my opinion – for the World Cup is to look at what venues we are playing in, and at what times. Why shouldn’t we start matches at 11.30am during the World Cup? Won’t all cricket fans prioritise the World Cup and watch matches at 11.30?”The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad is known to favour teams that chase because of both dew and a fast outfield. There wasn’t much dew on Tuesday evening, though, as India’s players went through their drills on the main ground and had a net session at an adjacent facility around 6pm. Still, the dew remained a talking point, even among the visitors with New Zealand captain Tom Latham saying that it was a problem not just in India but all over the world.”I haven’t given a huge amount of thought to the change of match timings, but I think you see around the world at night time in different conditions where the ball does dew up or the ground does dew up,” Latham said. “And sometimes it can get hard to hold onto the ball and it does get a little bit slippery, but that’s something we’re presented with in international cricket where you’ve got to be able to be flexible to bowl with the wet ball or field in those conditions. You got to ride with whatever conditions you’re faced with and that’s adapting to the conditions as best as possible.”

Netravalkar made his captaincy debut in USA’s last match against Belize and has been assigned the role until the tour of Oman for the Division Three Championship in November

Peter Della Penna03-Oct-2018Ibrahim Khaleel, who captained USA to victory over Canada in the 2017 Auty Cup to end a 26-year drought and more recently led USA to the tournament title at the ICC World T20 Subregional Americas Qualifier in North Carolina last week, has been dropped from USA’s 16-man squad for the Cricket West Indies Super50.Former India Under-19 medium pacer Saurabh Netravalkar, who made his captaincy debut in USA’s final match in North Carolina against Belize as a stand-in for the rested Khaleel, has been chosen to take over full-time for the Super50 and USA’s tour to Oman for WCL Division Three in November.

USA squad

Saurabh Netravalkar (capt), Alex Amsterdam, Usman Ashraf, Elmore Hutchinson, Nosthush Kenjige, Jannisar Khan, Jaskaran Malhotra, Monank Patel, Timil Patel, Kyle Phillip, Srini Salver, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Sunny Sohal, Steven Taylor, David Wakefield

Khaleel, who turns 36 next week, is one of a handful of USA players who had T20 franchise contracts in the Caribbean Premier League this summer as well as in the Global T20 Canada, but has paid the price for scoring five runs in two innings in North Carolina. He was USA’s third highest scorer with 142 runs on tour and a best of 61 in the CWI Super50 played in February in Barbados, USA’s most recent 50-over tour.But Khaleel’s overall 50-over batting record for USA was modest, with 392 runs in 21 matches at an average of 19.60. He was arguably USA’s best pure gloveman of the past decade, though it wasn’t enough of a benefit in the eyes of USA’s selection panel to justify maintaining his spot. His departure means Jaskaran Malhotra will take over the gloves in the immediate future for USA. Malhotra was USA’s leading scorer this past January at the Super50 with 277 runs. He was named Best Batsman at the Subregional Americas Qualifier after scoring his maiden century for USA against Belize and kept wicket in the match that Netravalkar filled in for Khaleel as captain.”There were some incredibly tough decisions to be made following the tournament in Raleigh, of which the decision regarding Ibrahim was one of them,” said USA selection chairman Ricardo Powell in a press release. “On behalf of the selection committee, I would like to express a sincere and heartful [sic] thanks to Ibrahim for his leadership over the past thirteen months.”Netravalkar, 26, did not have a sharp tournament in North Carolina either, with just two wickets in six matches at an average of 45.50 against weak competition. However, he was USA’s joint-leading wicket taker in February at the last Super50 with 13 wickets in eight games on his USA tournament debut and has been given the captaincy nod ahead of others in a side where few other senior players have managed to make convincing cases for holding down a long-term spot in the team.Fast bowler Ali Khan is the only other player from the T20 squad picked for North Carolina who will be absent from the Super50 tour of Barbados after Khan was drafted by Kabul in the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League which starts this weekend in the UAE. However, Khan is expected to be a member of USA’s WCL Division Three squad in Oman beginning on November 9 where USA will also face Denmark, Kenya, Singapore and Uganda needing a top-two finish to gain promotion to WCL Division Two.Steven Taylor drives over cover for a boundary to move past 1,000 career one-day runs for USA•Peter Della Penna

On the flip side, Steven Taylor became available for USA’s squad after he was not included in Jamaica’s playing group for the Super50. Taylor played for Jamaica in February’s Super50 and has had a contract with the Jamaica Scorpions franchise since 2017 but has seen limited playing time in both the four-day and 50-over teams. He was recently named Player of the Tournament after helping USA to the Subregional Americas T20 title in North Carolina, including an unbeaten 96 off 54 balls in a two-wicket win over Canada on September 25 in which he clubbed 22 off the final over.The three players added to USA’s squad for the Super50 to push their case for inclusion in USA’s final 14 that will go to Oman are batsman Alex Amsterdam and medium pacers Jessy Singh and Kyle Phillip. Amsterdam, 27, last played for USA at the previous Division Three tournament in Uganda in May 2017, making 102 runs in four innings with a best of 41.Singh, 25, also has not played since Division Three in Uganda after requiring reconstructive knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus and torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee suffered in the leadup to that tour. Singh played through the injury, taking the clinching wicket against Uganda that saved USA from relegation, before a post-tournament MRI scan revealed the extent of the damage.Phillip, 21, has only recently qualified on residency to play for USA after moving to Florida from Trinidad & Tobago. The towering quick, Phillip stands roughly 6’6″, poses a threat with his sharp height and bounce at 135 kph and was the only other USA player besides Khaleel and Khan to be drafted in this past summer’s Global T20 Canada. He was team-mates with Khan at Winnipeg Hawks and played four matches but is still a very raw prospect and struggles with his accuracy at times.USA’s squad departs Wednesday for Barbados where they will play eight matches in a double round-robin group that includes Barbados, Jamaica, Leeward Islands and Combined Campuses & Colleges. USA’s first match is against CCC on Saturday October 6.

From dropped catches to blinders, from 2 for 2 to completing a record chase; Pakistan were at their most mercurial, but they had a match-winner with an appetite for the big occasion

Liam Brickhill08-Jul-2018″Muscled” is a term that might be applied quite liberally to Australia’s approach to T20 batting. They huff and puff and heave and swing at the ball as if they mean to rip the leather clean off it. Slightly built and a shade under six feet tall, Fakhar Zaman doesn’t have the hardware to follow the same method. Pakistan’s free-wheeling opener’s game instead marries hand and eye and has made him the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket this year, with 516 runs in 13 innings capped by a career-best 91 when it really mattered against Australia in the tri-series final.”I think nowadays he’s in the best form of his life,” reckoned Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed. “The way he’s batted throughout the series has been good for us and good for his career. If he keeps playing like this, he’s only going up and up.”It’s not just how Fakhar’s been scoring his runs, but also when. His century in the Champions Trophy final last year is an obvious case in point for big match temperament, and his innings in the tri-series final will only enhance that reputation.”Yes, he’s definitely [a big-match player],” said Sarfraz. “He performs in big games, consistently. Like the Champions Trophy, in the final, he got that hundred. In New Zealand, he scored a fifty and then a 40-odd (in successive T20Is, to help Pakistan come from 1-0 down to win the three-match series). He’s a big-game player and he’s getting better day by day.”His innings against Australia was all the more remarkable considering the early strife Pakistan were in. Flummoxed by Glenn Maxwell in the first over, they were 2 for 2 needing almost 10 an over pretty much as soon as their innings began. That’s a position most other teams would be unable to rise from, but an hour later Pakistan’s fans at the ground (and a few hundred turned up to support them) were singing “” and “” as their team improbably, inexplicably romped home. Pakistan can drop Aaron Finch first ball, concede 10 an over for the first 10 overs and then surge back into the game with eight wickets in the next 10. They can be 2 for 2, and then complete a record run chase with five balls to spare. It’s become an obvious cliche, but Pakistan remain an absorbingly mercurial team.”We know they’re an emotional team, and they’re a highly skilled team,” Australia captain Finch said. “When they’re on, they’re incredibly good. We let them back into the game with bat and ball today. We had a chance to get up around that 200 mark and almost put the game to bed after that start with the ball. To chase 10 or 11 an over for 18 or 19 overs is incredibly hard. So if we’d had a few more runs, if we’d squeezed a little more with the ball early on and made them take risks. They didn’t have to take too many risks to get boundaries early on.”Fakhar’s batting wasn’t entirely risk free, but his aggressive strokes came in a calculated manner. In that regard, he’s not entirely dissimilar to his current batting coach Grant Flower, who came close to mastering the delicate risk/reward balance with his own batting, particularly towards the end of his career. Flower and Fakhar have certainly spent enough time together in the nets. Flower has been Pakistan’s batting coach for four years now, which is enough time for the famously committed former Zimbabwe batsman to have sent down tens of thousands of throwdowns.”He works really hard with the boys,” Sarfraz said of Flower. “He’s worked very hard for the last four years. He’s always in the nets.” Whatever he’s doing, it’s working for Fakhar, who has also looked to learn from the old heads around him in the playing XI.”In the start in T20 cricket I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Fakhar had said after Pakistan’s previous match. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Fakhar has certainly made an impression on the Australians. Finch called him “a thorn in our side” earlier this week, today adding: “We’ve all seen the form that Fakhar has been in. We saw with Shoaib Malik there, towards the end, if you have a batter who’s in, they can control the game, they control the strike.”Capped by Fakhar’s career-best 91 and Malik’s masterclass, Pakistan had veered between ordinary to extraordinary all morning. Shadab Khan dropped a sitter at point and then pulled off a one-handed blinder at mid-off. Hasan Ali’s massive, ballooning no-ball didn’t even bounce before it landed in Sarfraz’ gloves, leaving Pakistan’s captain – finally – lost for words. Two balls later, Hasan shattered Ashton Agar’s stumps, brilliance and farce bookending the over.Whether it’s letting the opposition sprint to 95 for 0, or slipping to 2 for 2 at the start of a record chase, Pakistan are the sort of team who get themselves into these situations. But they’re also the sort of team that can get themselves out of them. “You can’t take anything for granted against the number one team in the world,” said Finch. “Or any international team.” But especially if that team is Pakistan.

“You feel proud when you realise that you have achieved something that not many are able to,” Nadeem says after reaching the landmark of 500 first-class wickets

Syed Hussain17-Jan-2023Shahbaz Nadeem recently became the latest entrant in the club of bowlers with 500 first-class wickets. He got there in the previous round of Ranji Trophy matches, at the end of which, he also had 381 wickets in the tournament, putting him in 12th place for most successful bowlers in the Ranji Trophy. For a boy from Muzaffarpur, around 80 kilometres from Patna, reaching the milestone is a “feeling of satisfaction” and also one of having “achieved something that not many are able to”.”It’s a really nice feeling when, after playing for so many years [he made his first-class debut in December 2004], you reach a place like this, you achieve something big,” Nadeem told ESPNcricinfo. “As a cricketer, it’s a feeling of satisfaction, you feel happy. Whether you play for your country or for your state [in India’s domestic circuit], you feel proud when you realise that you have achieved something that not many are able to.”Nadeem has played all his domestic cricket for Jharkhand, a total of 129 first-class matches (before the start of the latest round in the Ranji Trophy, on January 17) and 127 List A matches, plus 144 T20s, which includes 72 appearances in the IPL, where he has been with Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants.Related

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Along the way, after knocking on the doors of the national team loudly and persistently for many years, he got to play two Tests: at his home venue of Ranchi, against South Africa, in October 2019, and in Chennai, against England, in February 2021. He has eight wickets from those two games.Nadeem’s career took off in right earnest after his father, a policeman, was transferred to Muzaffarpur from Dhanbad. In the 2004-05 season, he was picked to play for Jharkhand against Kerala in Jamshedpur (in Jharkhand, a state carved out of the larger state of Bihar in 2000). It was an unremarkable debut, as he picked up just two wickets in a drawn encounter, but he stuck it out, and has today made his name among India’s domestic giants.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

And now, after getting to 500, 600 doesn’t seem too far away. Nor does the magical number of 637, the Ranji Trophy wicket-taking record that’s in the name of Rajinder Goel, a left-arm spinner like Nadeem, who played 157 first-class matches between 1958-59 and 1984-85.”When I am playing, I don’t have specific targets, but yes, if you keep playing and keep performing well, you do achieve some goals, and if I can get to 653 wickets, it will be great,” Nadeem said. “But it’s not like that is my aim. I just want to keep performing well and making my team win.”

Shahbaz Nadeem waits for ‘another opportunity’ in Test cricket

At 33, after more than a decade-and-a-half of professional cricket, there might not be many opportunities for Nadeem to add to those two Test appearances, but he hasn’t stopped dreaming altogether.”The only thing I can do is keep picking up wickets, as many as possible, and I am doing that,” Nadeem, who has 30 wickets including three five-fors from five matches in this season’s Ranji Trophy so far, said. “I was third in the wicket-takers’ list last season [with 25 wickets from five matches], and I have been picking up wickets this season too.”I feel that if, season after season, I am among the top wicket-takers, , I can get another opportunity to play Test cricket.”Before that, though, there is a Ranji Trophy campaign to worry about, and for Jharkhand, placed third in Elite Group C behind Karnataka and Kerala at the moment, the remaining games are massive. As they are for Nadeem, who might tick off a few more milestones before he feels he has had enough.

India A fired a warning to England Lions and West Indies A ahead of the forthcoming tri-Series with an emphatic victory over an ECB XI

ECB Reporters Network17-Jun-20182:25

‘Important to play close to the body in England’ – Shaw

ScorecardIndia A fired a warning to England Lions and West Indies A ahead of the forthcoming tri-Series with an emphatic victory over an ECB XI in the first game of their tour at Headingley.India A, coached by Rahul Dravid, had been due to play Yorkshire, but the ECB put together alternative opposition from county cricket because of Yorkshire’s progress in the Royal London One-Day Cup.India A fielded a team including three players with senior international experience and plenty of others who have made an impact in the IPL, and they quickly adapted to English conditions to post a total of 328 for 8 – then dismissed the ECB XI for 203.Prithvi Shaw, who captained India to victory in the ICC Under-19s World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year, set the tone with a sparkling innings of 70 from 61 balls including seven fours and three sixes.Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, the tour captain who has made 12 white-ball international appearances, added half centuries at quicker than a run a ball, although the ECB XI did slow the run rate for periods with the Gloucestershire allrounder Ryan Higgins the pick of the attack, earning 4 for 50 from his 10 overs.Higgins had Shaw caught behind edging a drive to Alex Davies, the Lancashire wicketkeeper who was captaining the Board XI, and later in the same over bowled Hanuma Vihari off an inside edge.Sussex allrounder Delray Rawlins picked up the wicket of Vijay Shankar, chipping to mid-on where Surrey’s Will Jacks took the second of his three catches, having already snapped up Mayank Agarwal at backward point off Tom Barber.Rawlins then took two catches in consecutive balls to give Higgins his third and fourth wickets, following a simple take at long-off to dismiss Kishan with an acrobatic effort at mid-off to send back Iyer.Ollie Robinson and Jamie Overton each picked up a wicket in the closing overs, although the Mumbai Indians all-rounder Krunal Pandya kept up the attack with 34 from 28 balls including two sixes.The Indians were equally impressive with the ball, with their seamers especially relishing the gloomy conditions as the Headingley floodlights were switched on.Deepak Chahar had Davies flicking to mid-wicket, and a promising innings from the Gloucestershire opener George Hankins ended on 27 when he pulled Khaleel Ahmed to mid-on.Jacks hit two sixes before falling lbw to Axar Patel, a left-arm spinner who has played 38 ODIs for India, and the Derbyshire left-hander Ben Slater played some of the day’s best shots in making 37 from 38 balls before he edged Shankar behind.That turned out to be the second top score of the innings, behind Slater’s county team-mate Matt Critchley, who was ninth out for 40.Rawlins swept two boundaries off Patel but was bowled going for a third, Harry Finch was bowled by a beauty from Prasidh Krishna, and Higgins was run out after a mix-up with Critchley.Chahar, a 25-year-old seamer who was an IPL regular for Chennai Super Kings, polished off the last two wickets to end with 3 for 48.