Mushfiqur Rahim's ton takes Abahani Limited to comfortable win

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Meanwhile Rupganj, who had seven Bangladesh international in their line-up, lost to Old DOHS in Savar

Mohammad Isam15-Mar-2020Mushfiqur Rahim gave defending champions Abahani Limited a perfect start in the Dhaka Premier League, after his century helped them to a comfortable 81-run win over Partex Sporting Club at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Batting first, Abahani had lost both openers Liton Das and Mohammad Naim for ducks. From there, they further slipped to 67 for 5 in the 22nd over, before Rahim helped rebuild the innings completely. He added 160 runs for the sixth wicket with Mosaddek Hossain, who made 61 off 74 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.Mushfiqur finished on 127 off 124 balls, hitting eleven fours and four sixes. Mohammad Saifuddin smashed five sixes in his unbeaten 15-ball 39 to take Abahani to a strong total.Partex were then bowled out for 208 in 48.4 overs with left-arm quick Mehedi Hasan Rana taking four wickets.Old DOHS Sports Club beat the big-moneyed Legends of Rupganj by 25 runs in BKSP.Rupganj, who had seven Bangladesh international in their line-up, were bowled out for 205 with three wickets each for Abdur Rashid and Avishek Das, who played in the Under-19 World Cup final. Das’ Under-19 teammate Rakibul Hasan also took two wickets.Earlier, Old DOHS reached 230 in 49 overs with Anisul Islam hitting 59 and Rakin Ahmed 48. Offspinner Sohag Gazi took three wickets.Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club edged out Brothers Union by eight runs in a close finish in Fatullah. Batting first, Doleshwar reached 238 for 7 in 50 overs, thanks to Taibur Rahman’s second List-A century.He made 110 off 94 balls, hitting five sixes and seven fours. In reply, Brothers were bowled out for 230 in 49.4 overs, with Junaid Siddique making a fighting 97 off 125 balls. Medium-pacer Rejaur Rahman finished with four wickets for Doleshwar.

Legends who left Test cricket together

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

A West Indian pair, an Australian trio, two Indian batting greats and other game-changing concurrent retirements

Bharath Seervi05-Apr-2020On this day in 1974, two legendary West Indies cricketers played their last day of Test cricket: Garry Sobers and Rohan Kanhai. Here is a look at some of the instances when two or more huge names from the same team played their last Test together.ESPNcricinfo LtdGarry Sobers and Rohan Kanhai – v England, Port of Spain, 1974Sobers and Kanhai held several records for West Indies when they played their last Test: they were the two most experienced players at the time, having played 93 and 79 matches, they were West Indies’ top two run-getters, with 8032 and 6227 runs – Sobers was the overall leader as well – and they were also the pair with the most century partnerships (six). Sobers was also their second-highest wicket-taker behind Lance Gibbs, and was easily the leading allrounder in the game.The last Test wasn’t a memorable one for them, though. Sobers scored 0 and 20, while Kanhai made 2 made 7. West Indies lost the match by 26 runs after Tony Greig’s 13-wicket haul, and the five-match series was drawn 1-1.The loss of these two was obviously huge for West Indies, but their next big names were just around the corner: in the very next series, against India, West Indies handed debuts to Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge, who went on to rank among their finest batsmen.Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh – v Pakistan, Sydney, 1984 The famous Australian trio of the 1970s and ’80s bid adieu to Test cricket after the final game of this five-match series against Pakistan. The retirement of the three left a huge hole in Australian cricket, given that they were the toppers in their respective areas: Chappell was Australia’s highest run-getter with 7110 runs in 87 Tests, while Lillee ended with 355 wickets and Marsh with 355 keeping dismissals, both overall record holders for most wickets and most keeping dismissals in Tests at the time. Chappell was also Australia’s most successful captain and second only to Clive Lloyd at the time.Unlike Sobers and Kanhai, the three Australians had a memorable final Test, achieving significant milestones in that game. Chappell went past Don Bradman’s tally of 6996 runs in his final Test innings of 182. Lillee became the first bowler to take 350 Test wickets with four wickets in each innings, and Rod Marsh played his 96th Test as wicketkeeper, going past Alan Knott’s record for most Tests by a keeper. Between them Lillee and Marsh accounted for 95 dismissals in Tests, which is still a record by a bowler-wicketkeeper combination. Australia won by 10 wickets and Chappell, who was Man of the Match, also achieved the rare distinction of scoring a century in his first and last Test.Their departure obviously hit Australia hard. After the trio’s exit, they lost four successive Test series and did not win any of their next eight series, which included two Ashes series. Before their exit, Australia had just regained the Ashes in the previous season, and had lost only two of their last 10 series.Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and Jeff Dujon – v England, The Oval, 1991 They were the three stalwarts of West Indies’ dominant side of the 1980s, and like the Australian trio, they were the team’s leading top run-getter, wicket-taker and wicketkeeper – Richards retired with 8540 runs, Marshall with 376 wickets and Dujon with 272 dismissals. Only Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border had more runs than Richards, only Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham had more wickets than Marshall and only Rod Marsh had more dismissals than Dujon at the time.Unlike the Australian trio, though, they couldn’t quite finish on a high, as England won that last Test of the series by five wickets to level the series 2-2. In the final Test, Richards scored 2 and 60, Dujon 0 and 5 and Marshall picked up only two wickets. For the first time in seven years, West Indies were asked to follow on by any team, while England enforced their first follow-on over West Indies in 22 years.West Indies, though, had enough depth at the time to continue their winning ways: they had not lost a series since 1978 and they kept that record going till 1995.Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer – v England, Sydney, 2007The most successful spinner and the most successful fast bowler, Warne and McGrath, both retired in the same Test along with one of Australia’s finest openers, Langer. It was the first instance of three players, each with more than 100 Tests, retiring in the same match. The occasion was even more special as Australia sealed a comprehensive 5-0 Ashes triumph, winning the fifth Test by 10 wickets. In their final Test, McGrath picked up three wickets in each innings, Warne picked up only two wickets but scored a crucial 71 in the first innings. Langer got 26 runs in the first innings, while in the second he remained not out as his partner hit the winning runs.With Warne, McGrath and Langer in the line-up, Australia had lost only one of their last 16 series – the 2005 Ashes. But after their exit, Australia lost three of their next eight series – one each to India, South Africa and The Ashes. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq – v West Indies, Roseau, 2017 Seldom have a country’s most successful batsman and most successful captain retired together, as Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq did for Pakistan in 2017.Younis ended his career with 10,099 runs after becoming the only Pakistan batsman to score over 10,000 runs, in his final series. Misbah’s 26 Test wins as a captain are nearly twice as many as any other Pakistan captain, and they lost just one series under Misbah in the UAE. Younis played in 53 of Misbah’s 56 Tests as captain and they were 39 years and 42 years of age respectively at their retirement. After their retirement, Pakistan have won only two of their seven Test series, and have won only four matches out of 16, losing 10. Pakistan still . Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman – v Australia, Adelaide, 2012Two of India’s three most experienced Test players and two of their top four run-scorers played their last Test in Adelaide in 2012.The high point for the two batsmen collectively was obviously their epic 376-run partnership in Kolkata Test, but they also remain the only Indian pair to put together two triple-century partnerships in Tests. At the time of their retirement, only two Indian pairs had more partnership runs than they did.This last series wasn’t memorable for either of them. Dravid scored only 194 runs and Laxman 155, in eight innings each, as India were drubbed 4-0.Other sets of players who played their last Test together after playing 75 or more matches:

  • Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, v Pakistan, Lord’s 1992
  • Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting, v Australia, Perth, 1995
  • Shaun Pollock and Herschelle Gibbs, v West Indies, Durban, 2008
  • AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel, v Australia, Johannesburg, 2018
  • Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn, v Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth, 2019

Talking points: What went wrong for the Chennai Super Kings spinners?

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

And what is it about Sharjah that teams need to be wary of as the tournament progresses?

Deivarayan Muthu22-Sep-20204:14

Gambhir: Dhoni batting at No. 7 makes no sense

What went wrong for Super Kings’ spinners?
In short, Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja simply kept tossing it up in the slot and couldn’t find any dip or bounce to beat Sanju Samson on length. Samson kept swinging through the line and went on a boundary-hitting spree. He took the spinners for 49 off a mere 18 balls.In contrast, Royals’ spinners Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal didn’t toss the ball up as much and instead pushed it through quicker, therefore not allowing Chennai Super Kings’ batsmen to target them easily. Tewatia unleashed a slider that rushed Shane Watson for pace and had him bowled for 33 off 21 balls. He then slowed down his pace and shifted his lines wider to have Sam Curran and Ruturaj Gaikwad stumped off consecutive deliveries. All of this despite the onset of dew. From thereon, the Super Kings couldn’t prick the ballooning asking rate, despite late blows from Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni.After the game Dhoni reckoned that the Royals’ spinners had learnt from the errors Chawla and Jadeja had made in the first innings. “There was a lot of dew [in the second innings] and we need to give credit to their bowlers also,” he said. “If you put runs on the board then you’ve seen the first innings what’s a good length to bowl on that wicket and they kept hitting the same area, especially their spinners.”Welcome to Sharjah
Unlike Abu Dhabi or Dubai, Sharjah has smaller boundaries and although there wasn’t much bounce in this pitch, the ball did come onto the bat better here. The square boundaries are only around 60 metres long, which is comparable to the dimensions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Thirty-three sixes were hit when Royal Challengers Bangalore faced Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy in 2018 – the most in an IPL match. As many sixes were hit in Sharjah, with Samson claiming nine of those. To put things in perspective the first three matches of IPL 2020 in Dubai and Abi Dhabi had produced a total of only 28 sixes.ESPNcricinfo LtdSuper Kings succeeded with only five genuine bowling options in Abu Dhabi, but perhaps it wasn’t wise to go into Sharjah with similarly limited options. After a fast start from Samson and his captain Steven Smith, Royals suffered a middle-order slide – they lost 6 for 47 – but then Jofra Archer cleared the boundary four times in the final over to propel his side to 216, which ultimately proved 16 too many for the Super Kings.What was Dhoni thinking coming so low?
Super Kings were chasing 217 on a Sharjah track that was more favourable to batting than the ones in Abu Dhabi and Dubai were. M Vijay and Shane Watson dawdled to 36 for 0 in five overs as the asking rate shot past 12. Vijay’s dozy run-a-ball 21, in particular, ramped up the pressure on the middle order. With legspinners Tewatia and Gopal bowling in tandem, there was good reason behind pushing the left-handed Sam Curran up to No. 4. He carted two sixes and a four before Tewatia had him stumped for 17 off six balls. However, still there was no sign of MS Dhoni. Gaikwad, the IPL debutant, was then out stumped for a duck next ball. Kedar Jadhav, who was sent in at No.6, struggled for timing as well and only after he was dismissed for 22 off 16 balls did Dhoni come in at No .7.The pitch did get slower, but it seemed like Dhoni was just sitting back and playing for the net run-rate, like he had done with Jadhav in a steep ODI chase against England in the World Cup last year.He left a loopy bouncer from Archer and simply tapped the ball along the ground without showing any attacking intent until the last over. He finally tonked Tom Curran for three successive sixes, but by then the game was up.ESPNcricinfo LtdShould he have displayed similar attacking intent when the game was alive? Maybe he should’ve in hindsight, but the pitch wasn’t as easy as Samson made it look during his 32-ball 74. Du Plessis tried to match Samson’s ball-striking during his 37-ball 72, but he, too, couldn’t get the big shots away early in the big chase; he was on 17 off 18 balls at one point before lining up Unadkat and Archer’s cutters.Going too hard at a smart Rajasthan Royals’ attack on this pitch would’ve left a Rayudu-less Super Kings in danger of being bowled out for a sub-150 score and hence falling way behind the net run-rate, which would’ve hurt them towards the end of the tournament.At the post-match presentation, Dhoni said that the Super Kings needed a strong start if they were to have a proper crack at the target. He also reasoned that he hasn’t had enough game-time to bat up the order.

'What a Test match to herald the return of cricket' – Kumar Sangakkara

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Reactions to West Indies’ thrilling final-day win over England in the first Test in Southampton

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2020

Jofra Archer, the master of the powerplay

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

He has some stunning numbers in that phase and is miles ahead of his peers

Gaurav Sundararaman05-Nov-2020The powerplay is understandably a key phase in a T20 game: a good start sets the batting team up for a huge total, while wickets give the early advantage for the bowling team. In IPL 2020, one bowler has stood out in this phase more than any other – Jofra Archer – for routinely swinging the moment in favour of his team, the Rajasthan Royals.While the economy rate for all bowlers in this phase has been 7.65, with a strike rate of 26 balls per wicket, Archer has achieved an astonishing economy rate of 4.34, and he has taken a wicket every 15.6 balls. Archer’s economy rate of 4.34 is the best across all IPL seasons for anyone who has bowled at least 15 overs. In 2019, too, he conceded just 4.75 runs per over. However, the difference this season has been that Archer also picked up ten wickets in the first six overs, compared to the three he bagged in 2019. Five of his wickets came in the first over and helped the Royals gain the early advantage, which they often didn’t build on.ESPNcricinfo LtdArcher’s powerplay economy rate is not only an IPL record, but is also the third-best across all major leagues in the world with the same 15-over cut-off. Only Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League and Ben Dwarshuis in the 2017-18 Big Bash League have better economy rates in a season.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn terms of overall wickets in the tournament this season, Archer is third, behind Kagiso Rabada (25) and Jasprit Bumrah (23), at the time of filing this. However, numbers don’t always paint the full picture. While Rabada owns the Purple Cap, he has just one wicket from 19 overs in the powerplay, compared to Archer’s ten. While Rabada rules the death overs, Archer get wickets across all phases.According to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, Archer’s 20 wickets are worth 25 Smart Wickets, while Rabada’s 25 wickets are worth only 22. One of the main reasons for this is that Archer has consistently dismissed some of the biggest names – David Warner, Quinton de Kock, Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan, for example – early. Wickets late in the innings are important, especially in close contests, but many death-over wickets are those of lower-order batsmen in one-sided games, which don’t convert into a significant value in terms of Smart Wickets. Archer’s ten powerplay wickets puts him only behind Trent Boult, who has taken 12 wickets.ESPNcricinfo LtdHowever, Archer got much less – almost zero – support from his Royals bowling colleagues this season. The others who bowled with Archer conceded 9.93 runs per over and took just six wickets. As a result, the Royals had the worst economy rate among all teams in the powerplay. Royals’ weak support cast meant captain Steven Smith could never use Archer for three overs in the first six.ESPNcricinfo LtdArcher’s powerplay record was built on bowling excellent lines and lengths, that mirrored typical Test-match bowling. Archer’s wickets majorly came from back-of-a-length and short deliveries, which made up 60% of the balls he bowled. He took four wickets at an economy of 4.69 bowling good-length deliveries and five wickets from back-of-a-length and short deliveries. Among all bowlers, Archer’s economy while bowling these deliveries was just 3.54 – by far the best. Only Mohammed Shami has bowled more balls in these lengths, but he has conceded 7.15 runs per over. Rabada, meanwhile, took no wickets bowling these lengths and went at 7.71 runs per over. Thirteen of Archer’s deliveries were bowled full and the batsmen took advantage of those, scoring 22 runs.The batsmen were in control only 65% of the time when they faced Archer in the powerplay and were defensive in their intent in 53 out of 156 deliveries.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf only Archer had more support from the rest of his bowling unit, the Royals would have probably been strong contenders for the playoffs.

Jonny Bairstow's middle-order success vindicates England's reshuffle

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Bairstow has 200 T20I runs at a strike rate of 149 since his move to No. 4

Matt Roller19-Mar-2021When England moved Jonny Bairstow down to No. 4 in their T20I series in South Africa towards the end of last year, many took it as yet more evidence of a fine player being messed about by the team’s management. With England brimming with options to bat at the top of the order, someone needed to shift down into the middle order, and after several years as the Test team’s fall guy, he appeared to have been treated similarly by the limited-overs set-up.In fact, the decision to move him into the middle order was a compliment, recognising that he is among England’s best batsmen against spin. The No. 4 role is brutal in T20s: you’re often facing the opposition’s best spinner when you come to the crease, and are either tasked with continuing a fast start by scoring at a high strike rate straightaway, or rebuilding after early wickets and setting the game up for the hitters down the order.For illustration of just how tough it is, look at Eoin Morgan. Morgan spent the best part of a decade batting at No. 4 for England in T20Is, but has moved down to No. 5 and even No. 6 in their three most recent series, recognising that he is a better at starting his innings against seamers than spinners and looking to take advantage of the death overs. It is a role that only the elite – think AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell – have mastered.1:43

Whatever you do, don’t bat at No. 4 in T20s

In that light, it is worth reflecting on Bairstow’s record at No. 4 since his shift down there: 200 runs in six innings, three dismissals, and a strike rate of 149.25. Bairstow has honed his craft against the turning white ball in two IPL seasons for Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he has scored at a strike rate of 145 against spin while averaging 32.25 runs per dismissal, and has been impressively dominant in England’s middle order.Bairstow was awarded with his 50th T20I cap on Thursday night by Paul Collingwood, England’s assistant coach, which served as a reminder of his experience in a middle-order role earlier in his career. Though it’s often forgotten that England did actually play white-ball cricket before their rebirth in 2015, Bairstow batted between No. 3 and No. 6 throughout the first half of his T20I career from 2011 onwards, and the resulting exposure to a variety of different situations has proved beneficialRelated

  • Dress rehearsal for T20 World Cup favourites as India, England look to clinch series

  • Morgan: Series decider is 'closest thing to a World Cup final'

  • Test of loyalty looms for England's World Cup contenders

  • ESPNcricinfo Awards 2020 T20I batting winner: Jonny B (very) good

  • Bairstow stars as England's middle-order matchwinner

“Jonny’s a very versatile player,” Collingwood said on Friday. “His ability to be able to be very powerful against spin is very useful in the middle overs. He obviously played one of the better innings in English T20 history in the South Africa series, the way that he got us over the line there, so there were a lot of positives from that.”You’ve got to understand that this is a very difficult and exceptionally talented line-up to get into. Jonny has been phenomenal in that position. He’s got a strike rate at No. 4 of 150. I think he’s enjoying it quite a lot.”The innings that Collingwood was referring to – 86 not out off 48 balls as England chased down 180 at Newlands – displayed Bairstow’s adaptability and his power. England were 27 for 2 in the fifth over when he came to the crease, and were soon 34 for 3 inside the powerplay, but he combined brilliantly with Ben Stokes to destroy South Africa’s spinners in the middle overs.Though Stokes and Bairstow’s 65-run stand in Thursday’s fourth T20I was not enough to see England home, it was reminiscent of their partnership at Newlands in their calculated aggression against the spinners in the middle overs.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn South Africa, the left-handed Stokes took down the slow left-armer George Linde, while the right-handed Bairstow hit with the spin to dominate the left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi. While the contrast in their respective approaches against Washington Sundar and Rahul Chahar was less marked against India – Stokes retained his attacking intent against Sundar – it still displayed a willingness to make the most of advantageous match-ups.As has been the case for several English batsman, Bairstow’s main weakness is against left-arm spinners. He has scored at a strike rate of 164.58 against legspin in all T20 cricket since the start of the 2019 IPL, but at a significantly more conservative 118.75 against slow left-armers. Bairstow is not a guaranteed starter for Sunrisers in the upcoming IPL season, but two months’ preparation in the nets working on that weakness should still be beneficial.The upshot is that Bairstow’s success in the middle order has vindicated their decision to move him, rather than Jos Buttler, down to No. 4. With Buttler now certain to front up as England’s opener alongside Jason Roy, the majority of their batting order for the T20 World Cup is locked in.Perhaps the only lingering doubt is around the place of Dawid Malan, who has struggled for fluency and timing against India’s spinners and their fast bowlers’ offcutters in his first series in Indian conditions. Malan was given a vote of confidence by Collingwood heading into Saturday’s decider, who stressed that his status as the ICC’s No. 1 T20I batsman is “no fluke”, but he will know that wherever he ranks, another failure will heighten the scrutiny on his spot. He only needs to look at the record of the man coming in behind him to realise the standards that are expected in those tricky middle overs.

The greatest IPL performances, No. 5: Shane Watson's 52 and 3 for 10 vs the Delhi Daredevils

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Watto announces himself as an MVP allrounder

Sruthi Ravindranath23-Apr-20214:41

Gautam Gambhir, Farveez Maharoof and Dinesh Karthik on Watson’s performance

We polled our staff for their picks of the top ten best batting, bowling and all-round performances in the IPL through its history. Here’s No. 5Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils, 2008″He lost a bit of the edge in the last few games but today he was absolutely fantastic and showed his class. He’s a fantastic all-round cricketer and good enough to be in the Australian team.” – Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals captainTwenty-six-year-old Shane Watson had endured a tough year. Though he was touted as one of the most promising allrounders in Australia, frequent injuries had left a perpetual question mark over his international future. Then came the 2008 IPL and in those 44 days Watson found his range. One performance showed he had it in him to become T20 allrounder.The Rajasthan Royals, seen as underdogs for their low-budget approach, had become the side to beat as the inaugural IPL season progressed. While lesser-known players put their hands up at crucial moments, most of the Royals’ campaign had been built around Watson. Coming into the semi-final, against the Delhi Daredevils, he was in tremendous form: 392 runs and 13 wickets in 13 games.In the semi-final, he cranked it up a notch. Such was Watson’s performance that the Wankhede crowd rose to its feet to chant his – yes, an Australian’s – name.Shane Watson all but finished the game in his first three overs with the ball•BCCIThe Royals were put in to bat and the openers took them to 65 in seven overs before Watson arrived at the crease with the intention to maintain momentum through the middle overs. He stuck to the brief for the first ten balls, hitting just one boundary. “It took me a few balls to understand the wicket and the bounce, but after that I got into the rhythm,” he said later.Watson then unveiled beast mode. In the 11th over, which brought 21 runs, he hit the inexperienced Yo Mahesh for a four and two humungous sixes on the leg side. With adept timing and footwork, he went after specific bowlers, swinging through square leg and midwicket. He took on legspinner Amit Mishra, who lured him with teasing flight, by getting under a delivery and dispatching it for six over midwicket.His 29-ball 52, combined with Yusuf Pathan’s final flourish, took the Royals to 192. By no means was this an easy target, though with Gautam Gambhir – the tournament’s second highest run scorer – and Virender Sehwag in the opposition, you couldn’t rule out an even contest.No, the chase was not on, considering the kind of day Watson was having.The numbers

67 Percentage (12 out of 18) of Watson’s deliveries that were on the shorter side, which shows he executed the bowling plans to perfection on the day

5 Number of Player-of-the-Match awards Watson got in the 2008 IPL season. He also finished as Player of the Tournament for his 472 runs and 17 wickets

138.64 Watson’s Total Impact – the sum of his batting and bowling impacts – in the match. Daredevils’ Farveez Maharoof, who picked up three wickets in the match, had the second highest of 78.24 points

His opening spell pretty much decided the game. Gauging the amount of bounce the surface offered, Watson kept his length short and beat the batters with pace. In his first two overs, he got Sehwag to top-edge a catch to deep square leg and beat Gambhir repeatedly before having him caught at cover. In Watson’s third over, Shikhar Dhawan pulled a back-of-a-length delivery straight to the fielder at square leg. With 3-0-10-3, the Daredevils’ chase was all but over and they were eventually skittled out for 87.Such was Watson’s impact in the match that his 52 runs were worth 64.03 Smart Runs, and his strike rate of 179 translated to a Smart Strike Rate of 220. His economy of 3.33 in the match was 2.6 in terms of Smart Economy.This performance helped Watson revive his international career, and right as T20 cricket took root, he established himself as a complete, two-in-one player in the format.The Greatest IPL performances 2008-2020

Do you get England's rest and rotation policy? I don't

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Yes, they need to have a large group of players to draw on, but why make as many changes as they currently are making?

Mark Nicholas28-May-2021In England it is raining, which is hardly news. “April is the cruellest month” but not this year, it isn’t. This year that title conclusively belongs to May. After winter’s long nights, the grey, the wet, the wind, the chill are all our enemies. Poor cricket, such a struggle to capture hearts and minds when football is everywhere and Harry Kane wants to leave Tottenham and Sergio Aguero is leaving Manchester City. Then a 50-year-old goes and wins golf’s PGA Championship, which really does amaze, especially when he hits the ball 366 yards down the fairway. Phil Mickelson longer and better than the lot of them. Wow! Age waits for some men.The County Championship has been streaming, and more recently shown on Sky TV too. The cricket has been pretty good, though the element of star quality is missing from the daily fare. One headline-maker has been 45-year-old Darren Stevens, who only the other day blasted 190 for Kent in the blink of an eye (including 15 sixes) and then knocked over Marnus Labuschagne with the new nut. The former England captain Chris Cowdrey texted with the suggestion that Stevens might be county cricket’s best ever allrounder. I offered Mike Procter as an alternative but he was talking Poms. He added that Stevens’ golf handicap is +2, so he’s a talented chap and younger than Phil by a distance. Perhaps he will play for England at 50.Chris Silverwood announced a 15-man party for the summer’s first Test, which begins on Wednesday at Lord’s. It is a race for summer to get there.Related

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  • Chris Silverwood happy that buck stops with him

  • Stuart Broad on Ed Smith

James Anderson, soon to be 39, is in it. Stuart Broad too, a slip of a lad approaching his 35th birthday. No doubt 40 is the new 30, and so on.The interest was as much in those not included as in those who will unpack in the home dressing room on bank holiday Monday. It is a team shorn of Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali, who are rested! To add injury to this insult, both Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, are missing – Archer worryingly so. His elbow problem pre-dates the coronavirus and seemingly will keep him out for a couple more months. Stokes bust a finger at the IPL and should be fixed up soon enough.Most of us on the outside don’t get the “rested” thing. Take Curran, just a boy really, eager to bat, bowl and change the world. He was sent home early from India by England, arrived back in Mumbai to play about half the IPL, and since its postponement hasn’t been seen again. How can he need a rest? And what of Woakes, the other allrounder who could/should have been parachuted into the Stokes slot? Not a game for England since last season and only three T20 matches in the IPL for last summer’s PCA Player of the Year. Of course, bubble life takes its toll but mentally, not physically. These guys would rather be playing cricket for county and country than putting their feet up. I don’t buy them being kept fresh for campaigns to come; it makes far too many assumptions. I get the need to have a large group of cricketers well versed in the demands and atmosphere of the international game. I don’t get more than a change or two at a time. Long-term thinking has become a bane. Winning now, especially after the year we have just had, is very important.Did Ashley Giles perhaps feel threatened by Ed Smith’s intellect and vision?•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesSilverwood has said that his elevation to lord and high master of all things England team will be put to the most extreme test throughout this next year and admitted that failure could lead to his removal. “If the team underperforms, it’s me for the high jump,” he said. Well, maybe, maybe not. What if Silverspoons, as the boys affectionately know him, is a damn good coach and a rubbish selector? Why get rid of the coach in him?It might be that New Zealand, or India, do some damage to England’s confidence long before the coin hangs in the air at the Gabba in December. Will that be the fault of Silverwood the selector or Silverspoons the coach? Or of the captain? Or of the players? Is that not a judgement best taken from a distance? And is Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket, who was behind the change, distant enough? Will he be prepared to kick “his” man in the guts if all goes belly up? From my distance, and given the opposition in waiting, the best side needs to be on the park most of the time and with a coach it trusts as one of their own.Which, sort of, brings us to Ed Smith. It was Smith who instigated the rest and rotation policy and Silverwood who has pursued it. The plan is a good one as long as it remains flexible, which, so far, it has not. Buttler, Bairstow and Ali each left India or Sri Lanka for home at different times, but annoyingly when in good form and with the capacity to influence the India series. These departures made it appear that the law was an ass. Did they cost Smith his job? No. Smith probably cost Smith his job. The senior guys didn’t take to either his stubborn independence or self-styling. He’s a super-smart man, too clever by half said some, rather unfairly. Mike Brearley is a smart man but his greater gift is the common touch. Perhaps Ed came over as aloof.If New Zealand, India or both end up putting a dent in England this summer, will it be the fault of Chris Silverwood the coach, Chris Silverwood the selector, or both?•Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesBoy, the axe fell quick. One minute the dressing room in Chennai, the next scanning situations vacant. He did a darn good job – the best of selectors for his imagination, eye for detail and faith in talent (almost always).My own view is that all teams need a barometer outside of their bubble (the old one not the new one, though it applies to both) which includes opinion, advice, and best of all, insight into the word on the street. The trouble with teams is the subjective nature of the decision-making. Businesses don’t have non-execs on their board for no reason.An independent selection panel – historically a group of five that included the captain but not the coach – used to choose the England team. The change in 2018 to a national selector with one off-sider and the coach – albeit in close communication with the captain – was right for a job that includes crucial decisions on central contracts; choosing England and England A teams in many formats; selecting tour parties; announcing squads and support staff for specialist training camps; and numerous other extraneous areas of input, all at an incredibly challenging time. This is not necessarily the job of one man, especially one who is already working 24/7 to get the best from the players currently in favour. Of course, there is now a raft of scouts to support Silverwood but the identification of talent needs at least an element of eyes-only from the supremo, otherwise the buck doesn’t actually stop with him at all. He needs to watch county cricket but there is very little time to do so.Certainly there was tension between Smith and Giles. Perhaps Giles felt threatened by Smith’s intellect and vision. Smith was the architect of data-driven selection and had the capacity to both relate it to talent and give convincing explanations of his conclusions to the outside world. Appointed by Andrew Strauss, Smith had licence to go forth and explore with a chain of command that was clearly understood by them both. Under Giles that chain of command began to break and the only way to fix it was to end it.It is too simplistic to say that cricket should follow the football and rugby template of selection. For one thing, the game takes an age to play, and therefore a long journey to watch a promising young cricketer may result in a waste of time should someone else make a big hundred or take all the wickets. Equally, identifying talent and temperament in three or four skill sets requires selectors with those skill sets themselves. In addition, it is well enough documented that insecure players are less likely to talk about their problems with a coach who has sole responsibility for choosing the team. Equally the coach may wrongly assume that a confrontational dressing-room personality betrays a lack of faith in the team’s tactics, methods, approach, etc.I doubt that many, if any, national selectors have endeared themselves to the players over the years. To some degree, that’s the point really: the hard decisions have been the responsibility of judges outside the dressing room. Broad is no fan of Smith but his disenchantment when left out, both in Barbados in 2019 and at the Ageas Bowl at the start of last summer, fired him to greater heights and has prolonged his career in an England shirt. Isn’t that the point too?Anyway, the deed is done. What shall we expect from this rearranged England team? The flair players are mainly absent and question marks continue to hover over the opening batters and spinners. Much will depend on Joe Root’s run tally, and Anderson and Broad will be handy, if not devastating, at home – no change there, then. Ben Foakes’ appallingly bad luck continues, and James Bracey, on debut, will keep wicket. (Why not Buttler or Bairstow?) Ollie Robinson is a nice, tidy bowler at fast-medium, Craig Overton has put on a yard, and Olly Stone can be decidedly slippery. England need one of these to kick on, ditto Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, who have it them to be the real deal.New Zealand will give them nothing and are one of the few sides to visit England who wallow in the conditions. Kane Williamson’s team has a good mix of young and old, proven and promising. The cricket they play seems to reflect the best of three exceptional modern-day New Zealand captains – Stephen Fleming (intelligence), Brendon McCullum (free spirit) and Williamson (calm efficiency). They are, we must acknowledge, the No. 1 and 2-ranked team in one-day and Test match cricket respectively – a remarkable achievement, given the small population and lack of financial muscle – and therefore begin, if not as favourites, certainly at even money. They first play two Tests against England and then go into battle against India in the final of the World Test Championship at the Ageas Bowl on June 18. Who is to say the pain they surely suffered when England pipped them at the post – “the barest of margins” – in the World Cup final at Lord’s on July 14, 2019, won’t be eased by the claiming of this newly invested title? Not me. No way.I have written the last paragraphs of this ramble a full day after those that precede them. It is raining again. Come on summer, buck up!

What's gone wrong for Quetta Gladiators in the last two seasons?

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The reasons include a one-dimensional pace attack, Sarfaraz Ahmed’s falling stock, and more

Danyal Rasool17-Jun-2021Quetta Gladiators was the model of a well-run franchise, perhaps not only in Pakistan, but T20 franchise cricket across the world. They were snapped up for the most competitive price of all six PSL franchises, but the relative modesty of the side’s value never dimmed its appetite for consistent success. For the first four seasons, the Gladiators were perhaps the most predictably successful side in the league, winning the title in 2019 and only once failing to reach the final.From those heady heights, Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side – and it has always been Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side – has suffered something of a drastic decline. The 2020 season was the first that ended in elimination at the group stage, with the Gladiators finishing fifth on net run rate. Their overall impeccable record might have suggested it was an aberration, but the trend was turbo-charged this year, with the Gladiators, rock bottom with seven losses in nine, becoming the first side to be dumped out of contention.The game that knocked them out was especially ignominious, with the Multan Sultans inflicting upon them the heaviest defeat in PSL history. The Gladiators were shot out for 73, the second-lowest score in the league. But the spectacular nature of their nadir shouldn’t detract from the fact that the Gladiators have been well short of the mark all season, both in the first leg in Karachi, and now that the tournament has moved to Abu Dhabi. Here’s a look at a few of the things that went wrong for a one-time PSL giant.Related

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Failure to replace elite batters
There are only so many stars a side can lose without the shine coming off them, and the Gladiators have lost star batters by the shedload over the past few seasons. One of the most reliable strategies for success in the PSL is also one of the more straightforward ones: select world-class overseas batters, stick them at the top of the order and watch the runs and boundaries tumble in. For the first three seasons, the Gladiators could boast perhaps the biggest star of all in Kevin Pietersen, joined a year later by PSL royalty Rilee Rossouw, before Shane Watson and Jason Roy linked up with them in 2018. Add to that roster Ahmed Shehzad, who, in the initial years of the PSL, still harboured hopes of joining the ranks of those three in T20 celebrity status, and had the numbers to back it up. Only Watson and Pietersen hit more sixes for the franchise, while no one betters Shehzad’s nine half-centuries.By 2020, though, the Gladiators had lost all of them. The decision to let Rossouw go in 2019, especially as he continues to thrive for the Sultans, has aged especially badly, and the inability to acquire batters of the calibre they possessed in those early years has begun to take its toll. This year, seven different men have opened the batting for them, and Jake Weatherald, Usman Khan and Saim Ayub – their most regular openers – don’t really come close to matching the explosiveness of the players they lost. The Gladiators have been allowed to decay, and now the rust is showing.The Gladiators are now without several T20 batting stars they once had, including Shane Watson•PCB/PSLOne-dimensional fast bowling attack
It never hurts to have an express pace bowler in a side, whatever the format, but could it hurt if you cram in as many as three on subcontinental pitches? The Gladiators had Dale Steyn, Mohammad Hasnain and Naseem Shah on their roster, but all have ended up proving either prohibitively expensive or ineffectual for the best part of the tournament. Steyn isn’t quite the phenomenon he has been for so long around the world, and when Wahab Riaz and Sherfane Rutherford smashed him for 21 in a tight penultimate over in a crucial early game, the writing seemed to be on the wall. It was a game that captured effectively the Gladiators’ inability to keep the runs down against their fast bowling, with Hasnain, Steyn and Shinwari conceding a combined 133 in 11.3 overs.Hasnain, the ace fast bowler, has an economy rate of 8.89 this season. Shah has gone wicketless in the three matches he played, last conceding 19 in an opening over that set the scene for a crushing Islamabad United win. The loss of Ben Cutting, a player who balanced that pace attack with more nuance, guile and experience, hasn’t helped either.Sarfaraz Ahmed’s long-standing captaincy
Ahmed’s influence over Pakistani cricket over the past decade or so is hard to overstate, and in a lot of ways he is Mr Quetta Gladiators, so long term is his service to that franchise. The Gladiators are the only team to retain their captain from the first season, and it was easy to see why when Ahmed led them from one successful campaign to another. His contributions with the bat over the years have anchored the Gladiators through several sticky spots, combining regularly with Rossouw over the years, especially in tight chases.But it’s also hard to miss that Ahmed’s stock has fallen over the past two years. His previous two campaigns with the side have come after he was sacked from the Pakistan captaincy and removed from the side altogether. In that same period, his performances with the Gladiators have remained steady, but with the league seeing high-scoring games with greater frequency since it moved to Pakistan, Ahmed’s anchoring role doesn’t quite hold the value it used to.In addition, several flustered exchanges with his own bowlers this season appear to have painted the picture of a captain not quite in harmony with the rest of the squad. A captain who demands the highest standards with the relentlessness that Ahmed does will invariably exact an emotional debt from his side. At some point, that debt has to be repaid, and the Gladiators’ days of reckoning appear to have come.The toss
It would be harsh to allocate any blame to Ahmed for not calling correctly, but the inflated importance of bowling first in Karachi meant losing all their tosses in the first leg didn’t help the Gladiators’ cause. They were forced to bat first in each of the five games they played there, losing their first four and finding themselves on the verge of elimination before the league was halted anyway. They were the only side to actually defend a total in Karachi this year, keeping the Sultans at bay in their fifth game. But as Wednesday’s game, where they won the toss and chased against the same opposition illustrates, the Gladiators’ problems run deeper than the landing of a coin.

End of an era as West Indies' greatest hits fall flat

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Awesome foursome of Gayle, Bravo, Russell and Pollard can’t prevent title defence from flopping

Deivarayan Muthu04-Nov-20216:49

Are West Indies playing an outdated brand of T20 cricket?

October 7, 2012. Marlon Samuels devours Lasith Malinga and Sri Lanka as West Indies win their first T20 World Cup title. Their coruscating T20I reign begins there and runs until…….November 4, 2021, when it comes to a grinding halt at the hands of Sri Lanka in the UAE.It was Chris Gayle who led West Indies’ rousing celebrations nearly a decade ago in Colombo, with press-ups and jigs as Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard all cheered him on. The quartet go on to become the face, heart, and soul of T20 cricket around the world.Once the West Indies board underwent a revamp, with Ricky Skerritt taking over from Dave Cameron, their grand plan was to get the old rock band back together in 2019. Pollard was appointed West Indies’ white-ball captain under a new administration, Bravo decided to come out of T20I retirement for his last dance. Gayle pushed himself on to another World Cup, becoming the oldest player at the tournament at 42. You can probably hear Russell’s knee rattle when he runs into bowl, but he, too, is in for another tilt at the world title.

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On Thursday, West Indies, the defending champions, are up against Sri Lanka, who had to play the qualifier to make the tournament proper. Former captain Daren Sammy keeps repeating on the TV commentary that West Indies’ legacy is on the line. After losing three tosses, Pollard finally wins one and opts to bowl first in Abu Dhabi. But his bowling attack never really turns up, as has been the case throughout the tournament.Related

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West Indies’ success in 2012 and 2016 was built around a versatile attack. Samuel Badree gave nothing away in the powerplay; he was superbly backed up by Sunil Narine (in 2012) and Suleiman Benn (2016) in the powerplay. In 2016, Bravo was at the peak of his T20 powers while Carlos Brathwaite and Sammy also pitched in with the ball.In this edition of the tournament, their bowling attack has been fragile although Jason Holder’s late inclusion in the main squad did make it look slightly better. Ravi Rampaul, who was part of West Indies’ title-winning team in 2012, is now 37-years-old. Sure, he bowled some tough overs for Trinbago Knight Riders on his return to the CPL, but it was a gamble to pick him as one of the frontline seamers after just one good season.ESPNcricinfo LtdFabian Allen was originally lined up to do the role that Benn did with the ball five years ago, but an injury sidelined him from the tournament. Akeal Hosein had one of the best economy rates in the most recent CPL, however, couldn’t find similar control in the UAE. Bravo was in hot form for Chennai Super Kings in their run to the IPL title, but cooled off so much that he conceded 42 runs in his four overs against Sri Lanka. It was his third-worst analysis in what could be his second-last T20I.

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All up, West Indies’ attack picked up only 14 wickets in four innings at an average of 37.71. Only India and Netherlands have taken fewer wickets in the tournament, having played one game fewer.Oshane Thomas, who bowled with renewed vigour for Barbados Tridents in the CPL, could have added some extra pace and fizz to the attack, but West Indies were rigid with their combination and didn’t use him at all.

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How about their batting? It was just as one-dimensional, with their high-risk six-or-nothing approach failing them in the UAE. West Indies’ dot-ball percentage of 45.70 was the third worst in the tournament, behind Namibia and Scotland. Lendl Simmons epitomised West Indies’ batting struggles when he dawdled to 16 off 35 balls in a match-losing innings against South Africa.The big four – Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Bravo – couldn’t get the big hits away either. Against Sri Lanka, Gayle chipped left-arm seamer Binura Fernando to mid-on. Russell was bounced out by Chamika Karunaratne while both Pollard and Bravo were done in by sharp wrong’uns from Wanindu Hasaranga.Success was limited for West Indies in the UAE•ICC via GettySri Lanka aced their match-ups and Pollard would later admit that West Indies lacked enough game-smarts.The old band is now breaking up and the search for a new one is already on. In a way, the fading seniors have already passed the baton to Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran, who hit 81 and 46 respectively even as West Indies crashed out. Pollard has tipped them to be the future batting leaders, but the prospects do look bleak on the bowling front. Who is the next big T20 spinner after Sunil Narine? Who is the next big T20 fast bowler from the Caribbean?Pollard, Gayle, Bravo and Russell transformed West Indies into the first great men’s T20I team and revolutionised the format, but winds of change are already beginning to blow through Caribbean cricket.

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