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Former quick thinks Woakes can replace Anderson as “figurehead” within 18 months

Matt Roller23-Jun-2020Darren Gough thinks England’s pace-bowling stocks are as strong as they have been since 2005, and has backed Chris Woakes to replace James Anderson as their “figurehead” in the next 18 months.England’s 30-man training group arrived at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday afternoon ahead of next month’s Test series against West Indies. There are 18 seamers within the group, including a handful of out-and-out quicks who can regularly hit speeds of 90mph in Jofra Archer, Jamie Overton, Olly Stone and Mark Wood.And Gough, who worked with the touring squad as a bowling consultant during last winter’s series in New Zealand, thinks that the current crop is as strong as England have had since the 2005 Ashes.”They’ve got top quality there from that bowling attack,” Gough told ESPNcricinfo, “whether it be from Anderson and [Stuart] Broad – who are getting on now, let’s be honest, but they’re still quality – [Ben] Stokes is working on his batting more now, but can still do a job.”You’ve got pace now too, where you can alternate Wood, Archer, Stone and [Saqib] Mahmood. You’ve got Woakes, who possibly in the next year-and-a-half will replace Anderson as the figurehead at the top. The bowling attack is tidy – tidy indeed. All the tools are there for this England team.”ALSO READ: Quiet achiever Woakes finds his feet overseasGough spent two weeks working with England’s Test squad ahead of their series in New Zealand last year, and was particularly impressed by Woakes’ attitude and desire to improve in overseas conditions.Woakes’ record away from home has come under scrutiny throughout his Test career – he averages 51.68 overseas compared to 23.45 in England – but Gough said he had seen signs of improvement that could help him become the leader of the attack over the next couple of years.”I think Woakes is a top-class performer,” he said. “I sat him down in New Zealand and I said to him: ‘Do you want to be known as a bowler that’s good in England? Or do you want to be in the team all year round? And how much do you want it?'”And he wants it, he really does. I was impressed. In New Zealand and in South Africa, he bowled quicker. He can afford to bowl at 90% in England on most pitches, because they’ll always do a bit and every bowler will be in the game.”But when they go abroad, they try and do the same thing and they wonder why they’re not in the game. For Woakes, he can bowl quickly. I’d like to think it’s clicked now with him. This summer, now he’s in England, he’ll be able to step off the pedal and rest the body.”Gough, a skilled exponent of reverse swing in his own playing days, said that he expects the ICC’s saliva ban will bring spinners into England’s Tests this summer, and force seamers to use other skills to what they are used to in home conditions.Jofra Archer has declared himself fully fit ahead of the West Indies series•Getty Images

“Teams will be more reluctant to go in with out-and-out pace attacks,” he said. “They’ll look to play a spinner, because good ones will play a part. [England] have got options in spin now too: they’ve got Moeen Ali – he’s not a world-class spinner, but he’s a performer and he bowls oppositions out. You’ve got Jack Leach as the left-arm option, you’ve got Dom Bess, the youngster.”It’s as good as they’ve had since 2005. It’s got everything. They’ve got a great chance of winning in Australia [in 2021-22], they really have.”England’s hopes for the series against West Indies were further boosted on Tuesday by Archer declaring himself fully fit following his elbow injury. Archer had scans on his right elbow last week which confirmed the injury was fully healed, and wrote in his column that he could play all three Tests in the series if required.”Bowling has been a gradual progression but despite the fact that I was resting my elbow injury when we went into lockdown in March, I have followed similar loads to the other England Test bowlers,” he wrote. “So far everything feels like clockwork. Crunch in, crunch out, my body feels fresh, and there are no issues with my right elbow whatsoever, touch wood.”Despite the fact that the three matches of this series are played in such a short space of time, I actually think I could play all three. But obviously everyone will be a bit cautious in terms of workload, thinking about the body and what lies ahead.”

In a summer where he’s had to battle injury and some very good bowling, the off-field issues really took a toll on Australia’s No. 3

Daniel Brettig in Canberra03-Feb-2019Having finally broken through for a century, Australia’s No. 3 batsman Usman Khawaja has revealed the extent of his mental anguish in a summer where his brother was twice arrested by New South Wales police on charges relating to allegations that he framed a co-worker in a fake terrorism plot.Back in October, Khawaja seemed set to be the fulcrum of Australia’s batting in the absence of the banned Steven Smith and David Warner, making a magnificent 141 to help Tim Paine’s team save the Dubai Test against Pakistan. However he suffered a knee injury in warm-ups during the Abu Dhabi Test and spent six weeks out of action, losing rhythm and momentum before the home series against India.In the days before the first Test in Adelaide, news broke of his brother Arsalan Khawaja’s arrest, and the story reared again when Arsalan was arrested a second time for breaching bail conditions in the middle of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in late December. Usman Khawaja’s struggle to make the most of a series of starts against India was compounded as low scores mounted, and reached a feverish pitch when he made a duck in the first innings of the Canberra Test.A century in the third innings with Australia already enjoying a huge lead was nothing like as impactful as the Dubai innings had been, but Khawaja’s celebration indicated the release of plenty of tension, something he spoke frankly about after the close of play. “Being around, getting lots of starts during the summer was tough, I’ve had a tough summer, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on off the field, which has made things a lot tougher,” Khawaja said.”It’s just been really nice to have my wife Rachel with me for the majority of the tours and she’s been awesome, just to have her around and to go and travel with me, she’s been my rock throughout the whole thing. It’s been tough, it’s something you don’t expect to happen. My family’s very close to me and I’m very close to my family, so at some level yeah I think it made it tougher to go out and concentrate and execute my skills and at the same time while I was playing cricket you sort of forget about everything because you’re only concentrating on cricket.”But it was very taxing, it has been very taxing mentally, and that’s why Rachel has been great, being around and trying to take my mind off things. Feeling a lot better now than I was probably a month or two ago, but its’ been a tough couple of months off the field.”Usman Khawaja looks on, with his other team-mates in the background, before the presentation ceremony•Getty Images

After working tremendously hard for the new coach Justin Langer to lose weight and be in the best fitness of his career, Khawaja faced significant issues both physical and mental, underlining his belief that there is no use thinking too far ahead in cricket or life. “It was [hard] I guess when I did come back. I still felt alright, [but] I felt like I lost a bit of momentum there, those six weeks I was out, it can happen,” he said of the knee injury.”Cricket’s one of those games where you can never look too far ahead and you can never get too far ahead of yourself because it bites you in the backside so quickly. You’ve got to keep your head down, worry about the next day. If you start looking too far ahead of yourself, it can really change quickly. As a team, I was really happy last game that we won. I didn’t contribute, I felt like I was batting really well and then chopped on and we won the game, it was awesome. We lost a couple of games against India, which always hurt. For me and the team moving forward, I was just really happy with the win. The way the guys set up the first innings was frustrating for me as an individual.”Then to see the other guys, KP [Kurtis Patterson] and [Travis] Heady get their first hundred, I know that feeling, it’s the best feeling ever. I was so happy for both of them, then to see Joey [Burns] back in the team, who I’m pretty good mates with, it made a pretty crappy day for me [scoring a duck in the first innings but] pretty good to see those guys set up that game. When they did that you know you’re in with a chance to win another Test match. There’s no feeling like winning a Test match. Getting a hundred then hopefully setting up a game we can hopefully win is the ultimate feeling for the team and yourself.”Khawaja’s struggles for big scores this summer have led to plenty of criticism, not least from the former captain Mark Taylor, who noted in the wake of his first-innings dismissal that “I’m not sure he’s taken himself to the next level of becoming a senior player”. The less febrile atmosphere of the third innings, even as Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella made repeated attempts to distract him, allowed Khawaja to start to rebuild confidence and form in a year when the World Cup and the Ashes both loom. An early skied hook shot that fell safely also provided some much needed good fortune.”I think so, you always need a bit of luck in this game,” Khawaja said. “I was just out there trying to score runs for the team. I wasn’t worried about myself even when Dickwella was getting into me, I couldn’t care less really, I was just trying to get us in a [good] position, we knew we had so many runs on the board courtesy of all the guys who batted in the first innings. It takes a bit of pressure off you in the second innings and we knew we were going to bowl at some stage tonight.”You definitely need luck in this game, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t, but you’ve still got to bowl well, bat well, field well. It’s a hundred for Australia so it meant a lot. It wasn’t fun getting a duck first innings and feeling like you let your team down a little bit at the start because we knew it was going to be hard and then it was really nice to see the other guys get runs but at the same time I knew I missed out on a few runs there too. So to get runs there and set this game up for the bowlers hopefully to finish up tomorrow, looking forward to it.”

Following victory in this year’s World Cup, the ECB has announced an expanded programme for 2018, which will also see an increase to the Kia Super League fixture list

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2017England women will take on South Africa and New Zealand in limited-overs series next summer. Following victory in this year’s World Cup, the ECB has announced an expanded programme for 2018, which will also see an increase to the Kia Super League fixture list.The two touring teams will take part in a T20 tri-series, although there is no room for England to host a Test, despite the success of the day-night Ashes game in Sydney earlier this month.Although the scene of England’s World Cup final triumph was a packed-out Lord’s, women’s games will continue to be hosted largely at the smaller county grounds. Worcester, Hove, Canterbury, Taunton, Bristol, Chelmsford, Derby and Leicester will all be venues, while Headingley will stage an England women’s game for the first time since the 2001 Ashes Test.

England women ODI fixtures

• June 9 v SA, 1st ODI, New Road

• June 12 v SA, 2nd ODI, Hove (D/N)

• June 15 v SA, 3rd ODI, Canterbury (D/N)

• July 7 v NZ, 1st ODI, Headingley

• July 10 v NZ, 2nd ODI, Derby (D/N)

• July 13 v NZ, 3rd ODI, Grace Road (D/N)

South Africa will arrive first, for three ODIs in June – with World Cup qualification points at stake – to be followed by the tri-series and then another three ODIs with New Zealand in July. The T20s will feature an innovation in that two fixtures will be played back-to-back at each ground.The third edition of the KSL will then follow in August, with Finals Day to be held at Hove once again. In 2018, the six teams will play each other twice in the group stage, rather than just once.”We are very excited to be staging two different series against high-class opposition next summer with an expanded fixture list reflecting increased spectator interest in watching the England Women’s team in action,” Clare Connor, ECB director of women’s cricket, said.”Last summer’s World Cup success must be the watershed moment for our game that everyone is saying it could be. We will measure that through on-pitch performances, ticket sales, numbers of viewers and listeners and our ability to attract new fans and participants.

T20 tri-series fixtures

• June 20 Taunton, SA v NZ, 1pm; Eng v SA, 5.40pm

• June 23 Taunton, Eng v SA, 1pm; Eng v NZ, 5.40pm

• June 28 Bristol, SA v NZ, 1pm; Eng v NZ, 5.40pm

• July 1 Final, Chelmsford

“The 2018 schedule is an exciting one across both white ball formats and will ensure that more people around the country have the chance to watch the team.”Both South Africa and New Zealand will be tough tests for England and we can expect a competitive and exciting summer of cricket ahead in both formats.”As well as being broadcast live on Sky Sports and BBC radio, England women will make their terrestrial TV bow, after Channel 5 bought the rights to show highlights from next summer. Tickets for the games will go on sale on December 12.

Afghanistan have picked three uncapped players – Ihsanullah, Karim Janat and Naveen-ul-Haq – in their 17-member squad for the ODI series against Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2016

Afghanistan squad

Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmat Shah, Mirwais Ashraf, Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Rashid Khan, Hashmatullah Shaidi, Fareed Ahmad, Amir Hamza, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Karim Janat, Shabir Noori, Ihsanullah

Afghanistan have picked three uncapped players – Ihsanullah, Karim Janat and Naveen-ul-Haq – in their 17-member squad for the ODI series against Bangladesh. Noor Ali Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran were among the exclusions from the ODI squad that toured Scotland and Ireland in July this year.Ihsanullah, the 18-year-old opening batsman, was picked in Afghanistan’s squad for their Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands earlier this year, amid Afghanistan’s continuing struggles to find a settled opening partner for Mohammad Shahzad. Ihsanullah scored 15 in Afghanistan’s innings win, his only first-class match.Ihsanullah has scored 294 runs in 12 youth ODIs – all in the Under-19 World Cup. He also captained Afghanistan in the 2016 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. Nawroz Mangal, Ihsanullah’s older brother, was recalled after being left out of the Scotland and Ireland ODIs.The squad comprises allrounders Janat and 16-year-old Naveen-ul-Haq, who were also part of the U-19 World Cup squad in Bangladesh. Janat finished as the side’s leading run-scorer, and seventh overall, with 273 runs in six matches at an average of 45.50. Batsman Shabir Noori, who last played for Afghanistan in 2012, was also recalled after consistent performances in the 2016 domestic season.Afghanistan and Bangladesh begin their three-match ODI series in Dhaka on September 25.

Australia’s Test players will be available for the Matador Cup one-day tournament and a red-ball camp will be held in mid-November to help preparations for the first Test of the home summer against New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2015Australia’s Test players will be available for the Matador Cup one-day tournament and a red-ball camp will be held in mid-November to help preparations for the first Test of the home summer against New Zealand. The changes come after the cancellation of Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh due to security concerns, which was confirmed on Thursday night.The Matador Cup begins on Monday next week and although all the squads had been named, there will now be changes due to the flow of Test players back into the state systems. There will also be an expected flow-on to the Cricket Australia XI squad, the seventh team introduced for this year’s Matador Cup made up of fringe players who did not make state squads.Importantly, the cancellation of the tour also means Australia’s Test players will have limited red-ball cricket before the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba on November 5. However, a two-day red-ball preparation camp has been scheduled for October 13-14 at Hurstvill Oval in Sydney, with centre-wicket practice and net sessions for Australia’s Test cricketers.As a result of the camp, the first round of Sheffield Shield cricket, scheduled to be a day-night round, has been pushed back a day. The Shield competition will now start around Australia on October 28 to give players involved in the Matador Cup final an additional day’s preparation ahead of their first Shield game.”The tour of Bangladesh was going to be an important series for our relatively new-look Test team heading into the Australian summer, so we’re disappointed it won’t go ahead,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager team performance, Pat Howard, said.”Given the circumstances, it’s important we give our Test players the best preparation leading into the summer so they will now be available to play in the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup throughout October to get valuable match experience in Australian conditions.”We want the best players playing in the Matador Cup so we will manage the movements of the Australian players and the flow-on impact this will have on the new CA XI team. We will also hold a red-ball camp in Sydney to provide extra preparation for Australian players. We have scheduled this camp to fall in the quietest two-day period of the Matador Cup to limit player movement during the tournament.”While we believe the red-ball camp will provide solid preparation for the Australian players, the first Sheffield Shield round will provide a long-form match opportunity for those players. We have therefore pushed back the first Shield round to start a day later on the 28 October to give the Matador Cup finalists an extra day to prepare for their first Shield match.”Australian players will be made available for the first Shield round dependent on injury and workloads ahead of the first Test against New Zealand.”

Preview of the third ODI between New Zealand and England at Eden Park

The Preview by Alan Gardner22-Feb-2013

Match facts

February 23, 2013
Start time 2pm (0100 GMT)

Big Picture

Whatever lessons the five limited-overs matches between New Zealand and England have taught us so far, the most glaring seems to concern that most nebulous of concepts, momentum. So far, whichever team the Big Mo has lined up behind, their almost instantaneous response has been to stumble to defeat. Four of the matches have resulted in hefty thrashings – though it seems fair to note that England have handed out three of them – and New Zealand will have to maintain the trend for bouncebackability if they are to avoid defeat in two formats in the run-up to what will likely be an exacting Test series.As with the T20s, the one-day series will go down to the final match. A rusty England lost control during the last ten overs of both innings in Hamilton but had hit their stride by the time the teams got to Napier. They still haven’t worked out how best to bowl to Brendon McCullum, though, and the return to form of Ross Taylor is important for New Zealand cricket as a whole. Their main problem in the ODIs has been taking wickets early in the innings: England’s Test-hardened top three blunting the effect of two white balls, and Tim Southee might have to be rushed back to new-ball duty a little quicker than anticipated in Auckland.If they do manage to ruffle England’s top three, it will only hasten Joe Root’s return to the middle – something Taylor has admitted wouldn’t be ideal either. Were Root the hero of a Jane Austen novel, right now he would be struggling to move for society belles petitioning for a turn on the dance floor. Root’s composed Test debut last year brought many admiring glances but his dashing one-day form has really set hearts aflutter. The one person left chewing his lip is Ashley Giles, who has seen his list of Champions Trophy selection issues grow by one; and not only has Root’s form raised the question of what happens when the rested Kevin Pietersen returns to the squad, it has had the knock-on effect of limiting time in the middle for Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes, the two players most in need of chances to impress. Although, if it means England securing a first ODI series win over New Zealand since 1994, Giles probably won’t complain.

Form guide

New Zealand LWLWW (Completed matches, most recent first)
England WLWLL

In the spotlight

BJ Watling was one of the few New Zealand batsmen to come out of the Test series in South Africa with any credit but he has since scored 86 runs in five ODI innings and is struggling for form after being promoted to opener in place of the discarded Rob Nicol. Facing a bowler as good as James Anderson (or Dale Steyn) is among the harder tasks for any opener but Watling is now also the senior man, after the injury to Martin Guptill. The stilted start he and Hamish Rutherford made in Napier undermined New Zealand’s chances, and cosying up to the eight-ball in the hope that McCullum will bail the side out is not a strategy for the long term.Of the England players that came into the ODI side after a decent layoff, only Graeme Swann has failed to slip back into a groove. The experience of bowling in a Test in India is someway removed from one-day cricket in New Zealand but, after James Tredwell’s recent stalwart displays as understudy, most would have expected Swann to return with his usual ebullience and restate his seniority. That has not quite happened and, although his displays have not been poor, he only has the wicket of the No. 8 Nathan McCullum to his name so far. One more will take him to 100 in ODIs and it is rare that Swann stays flat for long.

Team news

Hamish Rutherford will double his tally of ODI caps after Guptill was sent for surgery on a thumb problem and New Zealand could turn to Colin Munro to strengthen the batting further down the order. Trent Boult would be the most likely to make way, with Munro and Kane Williamson capable of filling in with the ball.New Zealand (probable) 1 BJ Watling, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 7 Colin Munro, 8 James Franklin, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Kyle MillsWith the series on the line, England are unlikely to make any unforced changes. The rise of Root has further limited Jonny Bairstow’s chances and while Giles might be tempted to have a look at James Harris, this is probably not the occasion to bring in a debutant.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

Pitch and conditions

Eden Park is notable for its short straight boundaries and England got their geometry right during the T20 there earlier in the month, hitting 15 sixes in a record total. The drop-in pitch and a warm, cloudless day could lead to another high-scoring game.

Stats and trivia

• Brendon McCullum has overtaken Martin Crowe and Craig McMillan during this series to sit fourth on New Zealand’s ODI run-scorers’ list with 4796. He needs 86 to go past Chris Cairns, but in 19 one-day innings at Eden Park, he averages 21.18 with one fifty.
• Six years ago in Auckland, New Zealand scored 340 to win batting second against Australia – at the time the second-highest chase in one-dayers. They knocked it down to third two days later in Hamilton.
• England have won four of their last five ODIs at the ground, stretching back to 1992.
• Joe Root has scored at least 30 in each of his first six ODI knocks – the first man ever to do so.

Quotes

“There’s a lot of emotions going through your mind and body. With what’s gone on it was nice to know I can still bat.”
“That’s the idea really. You rest, so that you’re fresh when you come back in and it’s important you perform when you do that.”

A round-up of the latest round of matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2012West ZoneMumbai‘s last two wickets managed to scramble 22 off 12 balls to set up a one-wicket win against Saurashtra with two balls remaining at the Wankhede Stadium. When Mumbai lost their top-scorer Shoaib Shaikh for 83, Saurashtra were in with a chance to bowl out the hosts, but No. 9 Iqbal Abdulla (29 off 31) and No. 10 Dhawal Kulkarni (15 off 7 with one four and one six) put on 21 runs to reverse the balance. Sandip Maniar (3 for 34) struck in the final over, which meant Mumbai had their last man Kshemal Waingankar facing with one run win. Waingankar held his nerve and took a single to give Mumbai their third win in as many games.It was heartbreak for Saurashtra who recovered from a middle-order implosion that had left them tottering at 116 for 6 in the 28th over. Waingankar was the wrecker-in-chief, with 3 for 21 in ten overs, laying to waste a rousing start set up by Sagar Jogiyani’s breezy 67 off 53 balls. Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor run of form continued as he perished for 5 off 25 balls. Thereafter, Chirag Jani (79* off 71) and Kamlesh Makvana (54* off 67) revived the innings with an unbroken 135-run stand that came at run-a-ball. Mumbai’s chase too went off the rails early, before Anup Revandkar and Shaikh helped them recover from 41 for 4 and later 114 for 5. The steady loss of wickets set up an exciting finish, and it was fitting that Waingankar scored the winning run after doing the damage with the ball.Gujarat managed to defend their score of 196 for 9 by two runs against Baroda in another nail-biting game, at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Though no one from either side managed to grab a clutch of wickets, the game was dominated by bowlers from the outset. Gujarat’s innings never took off, with Niraj Patel’s 56 off 77 balls offering the only semblance of stability as wickets fell around him. Things look dicey at 133 for 8 in the 36th over, but Mehul Patel (29) and Amit Singh (21) helped their side limp to within four runs of 200 with a 53-run stand. In reply, Baroda’s top four all got starts, but none of them managed to push on and make a big score. Baroda strolled to 108 for 2 before their chase went pear-shaped. Four wickets went down for 24 runs in the middle overs, before Rakesh Solanki’s 52 steadied the ship. Gagandeep Singh and Swapnil Singh took Baroda closer with a 20-run stand. Baroda were favourites with five to win off 17 balls and three wickets in hand, but a run out and two strikes by Akshar Patel gave Gujarat their first win.

ESPNcricinfo previews Ireland’s chances in the 2011 World Cup

Andrew Miller13-Feb-2011Everyone loves an underdog, especially one dressed in green. From Italia ’90 in football to West Indies 2007 in cricket, Ireland have long been the neutral’s favourite World Cup team, and four years on from their extraordinary Caribbean campaign, they are back in the mix and hungry to prove their credentials once again.Everyone loves an underdog – except, that is, the sport’s administrators. The magnificence of Ireland’s performance in Jamaica four years ago came at a price. By dumping Pakistan out of the competition with a gripping three-wicket victory in their group-stage encounter at Sabina Park, they eliminated one of the tournament’s major drawcards, just as Bangladesh were accounting for India over in Trinidad.The upshot of that remarkable day – St Patrick’s Day, no less – has been a rehashed competition, with more group stage games designed to safeguard against a repeat of Ireland’s heroics, a fact conceded by the tournament director, Prof Ratnakar Shetty. And if that seems harsh, then worse is to follow in 2015, when the format is set to eliminate all non-Test playing nations, even those like Ireland with some pedigree at this level.It means, therefore, that for Ireland, this time, it’s personal. They have six matches in Group B in which to make as big a splash as possible, and prove that the administrators have got their priorities badly wrong. The core of the contenders from 2007 are back for another go, and while the injured Eoin Morgan has long since thrown in his lot with England, their batting has been bolstered by the return of Ed Joyce.Ahead of the tournament four years ago, Ireland’s tally of official ODIs was a measly eight – seven of which had come against fellow minnows. Now they are relative veterans, with 58 official contests under their belts, and a wealth of reasons to give it their best shot. It is asking too much to expect a repeat of the Kingston miracle, but with six opportunities to make their presence known, they’ll be gunning for at least one sizeable scalp.World Cup pedigreeJust the one tournament, but what a tournament. Ireland showed their mettle with an agonisingly close-fought tie against Zimbabwe, then held their nerve in a fraught finale to eliminate Pakistan in that unforgettable three-wicket triumph. The Super Eights were a let-down on many fronts, as their lack of experience took its toll, but they at least managed to win their mini-World Cup, by downing Bangladesh in their penultimate appearance, at Bridgetown.Form guideA little patchy in recent months. A shared series in Canada was followed by a 2-1 defeat in Zimbabwe, and their warm-ups on the subcontinent haven’t gone entirely to plan either, with consecutive losses to Zimbabwe and Kenya in Dubai. They may be saving their best for when it matters, but they’ll need to raise their game soon.Where they’re likely to finishProgression to the quarter-finals would be a miracle given the format, but they’ve got a few teams in their group that they are sure to target – England, West Indies and Bangladesh, to name but three.WatchabilityMore doughty than flamboyant, Ireland at their best are a team with tenacity who refuse to accept when they are beaten. Their bowling attack relies on diligence above all else, with Trent Johnston setting the example and Boyd Rankin providing the height and a touch of class.Key playersGeorge Dockrell is just 18 years old, but already he’s a player with an immense future ahead of him. In the World Twenty20 back in May, he blended nous with audacity as his flighted twirlers saw off Netherlands in the qualifying tournament, before taking 3 for 16 against West Indies and choking England’s middle-order with four overs for 19 in the main event. His school exams ruled him out of an ODI against Australia, but a two-year deal with Somerset was ample consolation. Another mature performance, and it might even be England who come sniffing next …Ed Joyce has made more trips across the Irish Sea than your average RyanAir flight. Born in Dublin, he set about qualifying for England during his county stint with Middlesex, before eventually making his debut in June 2006 – against Ireland in Belfast, no less. Soon afterwards, he travelled to the 2007 World Cup on the back of an ODI century against Australia, but having been jettisoned by England in the wake of that disastrous tournament, he decided to requalify for his native land. At the age of 32, he is arguably in his prime, and his experience will be invaluable.

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said his team was completely outplayed by South Africa

Cricinfo staff09-Feb-2010MS Dhoni was candid in his post-mortem, after suffering his first Test defeat as India captain. It can be argued that India had started on the backfoot, losing Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma in the lead-up to the match, forcing them to field a sub-par eleven, but Dhoni was not looking for excuses.”You miss players because of injuries. This was the best available squad at that time. I won’t complain about that. We were outplayed in most of the departments, batting you can say, definitely bowling, and also the fielding. Because we were outplayed we are on the losing side. There are plenty of lessons to be learnt,” Dhoni said.India’s batsmen found it tough to handle Dale Steyn’s pace and movement and his ten-wicket haul played a crucial role in the result. Dhoni was full of praise for South Africa’s premier fast bowler.”The first few overs the way Steyn bowled, where we were three wickets down, most of them were brilliant deliveries. Luckily they got a ball that was really reverse-swinging [after tea on the third day]. That doesn’t stop me from giving credit to Steyn,” Dhoni said.”He bowled really well with that ball. He had already bowled 12-15 overs and after that coming back and bowling the way he did was amazing. But in the last 12 months, this was the best display of conventional swing bowling as far as I am concerned. We’ve seen good reverse-swing but you hardly get to see good conventional swing, especially in India, on tracks like these.”Dhoni went on to compare Steyn’s accuracy and ability to swing the ball both ways to Glenn McGrath. “When McGrath used to bowl around the off-stump it was always difficult to leave the ball, and that’s what is happening with Steyn. He was getting the ball to go away and from the same spot he was getting it to go in. You just get a fraction of a second to make up your mind and decide what you’re planning to do.”You may end up playing the ball and you may end up getting caught behind or in the slips, like what happened to Gautam Gambhir, first innings got caught behind, the second innings he got bowled.”Dhoni also had words of appreciation for Paul Harris who bottled up one end with his tight left-arm spin and picked up crucial wickets in the second innings. “He can really bind one end for them. He’s one bowler who can really bowl 30 overs out of the 90 in the day. You can’t look to play, just 30 overs you can block, at some point of time you have to look for runs. At the same time there’s not plenty of shots you can offer to that line of attack.”India’s woes were not restricted to the batting failures and, in fact, began with the ball. Harbhajan Singh had an ordinary tour of Bangladesh, and could not exert much control in Nagpur either, but Dhoni was confident that his number one spinner would bounce back.”He’s a great bowler and I’m not worried about that. That’s what stats suggest, he’s been doing really well, you’ve always seen him come back in big games, he’s a big-game player. He’s got the experience because of which he knows exactly what to do,” Dhoni said.Dhoni expressed disappointment that his fast-bowlers were unable to extract reverse swing. “If it’s a turning track you definitely see loads of spin for the spinners on the second day which means the wicket is dry, so more often than not you see the reverse swing going. The first innings there was a bit of turn, but we couldn’t get the reverse swing going.”When that happens with four bowlers and two fast bowlers they have something to play with. But it never happened for us, it became really tough for the fast bowlers to either contain them or get them out. Hopefully in Kolkata we’ll get the reverse swing going. Whatever legal ways are there we tried to get the reverse swing going but it didn’t happen for us.Dhoni was happy with the way the debutants stood up to the challenge. S Badrinath got his spot in the middle order due to Yuvraj Singh’s absence and Wriddhiman Saha was hastily drafted in after Rohit Sharma picked an injury, minutes before the start of the match.”I think they did quite well. Wriddhiman got a brilliant delivery in the first innings and Badrinath also looked quite calm and composed, his approach to Test cricket was good, and in a way it was good for them because they got an opportunity because most of the time, middle-order batsmen don’t get an opportunity to play in this Indian team. Of course we missed the experienced players, but it was good to see youngsters getting exposed to international cricket.Dhoni was banking on VVS Laxman making a comeback to the team for the second Test. “I’m hoping he gets fit. May be, the day after tomorrow, we’ll get to know what his scene is. But he’s been practising in the nets and we’re hoping he gets fit.”Dhoni has been a fan of the six batsmen, four bowlers combination since he took over the reins of the Indian team and stuck by his guns again. “You can always say if four bowlers can’t do the job no good reason your fifth can. Same way, you can say if six batsmen can’t do the job how can seven? You can pick the side you want to argue. But usually we play with a 2-2 combination and part-timers.”South Africa has Jacques Kallis who’s a specialist allrounder and they play with a 3-1 combination, so you can say they play with four bowlers and have a perfect all-rounder with them, which luxury we don’t have. We have to see what is the best combination,” Dhoni said.After Steyn’s initial strikes in the first innings, India seemed to be on the road to recovery through Sehwag and Badrinath. Shewag reached a hundred, but threw away his wicket soon after, attempting a big shot, which triggered a collapse. However, Dhoni was unwilling to blame Sehwag for the debacle.”You can say we lost the game but you can’t put the blame on him because that’s Sehwag-cricket for you and more often than not he’ll win more games then he’ll lose. There are other ten batsmen who can fit into the space. One and a half years back if he hadn’t played that innings against England in Chennai, we would not have been on the winning side. He has that liberty because he is a match-winner,” Dhoni said.”When he is playing aggressive cricket he puts pressure on the bowlers, they have to shift their lines which may not be their strength. It may look like a rash shot, but that’s the kind of cricket he plays, and we should leave it to him because he’s very successful in the cricket he plays. It’s very difficult to imitate that so I will not recommend that. Sehwag is one of a kind, he’s a great batsman and I just love the way he plays, and I hope he gets more and more runs.”The teams now have an extra day off following a four-day finish, before travelling to Kolkata for the final Test, which starts on February 14.

Batter’s maiden professional hundred caps England’s 415-run total, as he reaffirms his huge potential

Matt Roller07-Sep-2025Jacob Bethell declared himself ready to take a potential Ashes opportunity after experiencing the "addictive feeling” of scoring his first professional hundred in England’s record 342-run thrashing of South Africa.Bethell, who turns 22 next month, became England’s second-youngest centurion in men’s ODIs in Southampton on Sunday and has already played four Tests, scoring three half-centuries. Barring injury or a late change of heart, Bethell will head to Australia in November as England’s spare batter but hopes he can push his case for selection through his white-ball performances.His performances at No. 3 in his maiden Test series in New Zealand put serious pressure on Ollie Pope’s position ahead of the English summer, but he was unavailable to play Zimbabwe while at the IPL and Pope secured his spot with 171. However, Pope faded badly to finish with 304 runs at 34 against India, and could yet find his position under major pressure.”It’s obviously nearing,” Bethell said. “I’m hoping to be in the squad and if I’m in the squad, it’s only one thing that has to happen – in terms of an injury or something like that – and I’m in, and I’ve got to be ready to perform. I don’t know if these runs mean anything [towards selection] but I don’t think they can hurt. If the opportunity arises, I’ll hopefully be there to take it."Bethell was promoted from No. 6 to No. 4 at Lord’s on Thursday to take down South Africa’s spinners, scoring 58 off 40 balls, and was retained in the same role in Southampton. He made 110 off 82, dominating the scoring in a 182-run third-wicket partnership with Joe Root, and roared in celebration when reaching three figures with a cover drive off Nandre Burger.Bethell drives through the covers en route to his century•PA Photos/Getty Images

“It was pretty special,” Bethell said. “Just goosebumps, to be honest. As soon as I laced it in the gap – it couldn’t have hit more the middle of my bat – and it just raced to the boundary. I didn’t really know what I did. It was a bit of a blur to be honest, but it was a great feeling… It was unbelievable. It feels like an addictive feeling, so hopefully there’s a few more of them to come."He does not anticipate a permanent move to No. 4, the position normally filled by captain Harry Brook. “I like coming in and facing spin to start. I feel like if I can get going, especially with the one [extra] fielder up, there’s always a gap to hit… I don’t think Brooky will be stepping down from No. 4 anytime soon, so I’ll just be looking to do that whenever the opportunity arises.”Bethell’s father Graham used to play club cricket at Sheffield Collegiate with Root’s dad Matt, and the pair have twice celebrated hundreds with one another this summer. “I was batting with him when he got his hundred at The Oval in the Thorpey Test match, and it was pretty special to be batting with him again when I got my first one,” Bethell said.Root, who went onto score 100 himself in England’s total of 414 for 5, described Bethell as "wise beyond his years”. He said: “He’s very clear on how he wants to play his cricket… I’ve known him for a long time – since he was eight years old – so for him to play an innings like that and get us in that position at the halfway stage was fantastic.”Related

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Bethell admitted before the start of play on Sunday morning that he “probably should have played more" domestic cricket around England’s Test series against India, but said that he had rediscovered his rhythm when he felt something "click" during an innings for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred last month.”I didn’t feel like I was hitting the ball badly at all, just the performances didn’t show, which sometimes happens in white-ball cricket,” he explained. “It is pretty tough to be consistent and score fast at the same time. It is nice that I managed to put performances together – and also a match-winning performance in this situation.”It’s just rhythm, I guess. You can watch as much cricket as you want and do stuff like that, but it is different when you’re out in the middle and I think it just took me a couple of games to get that back… I felt something click and from that point, I felt like I’d been playing nicely, but hadn’t quite got the results. Today and the other day, it was definitely nice to be back in the runs.”Bethell will deputise for Brook during England’s T20I series in Ireland later this month, and said he feels ready to become their youngest-ever captain. “A lot of players in that team captain themselves, almost,” he said. “It’s just about a bit of man management and marshalling the troops for a couple of days up in Ireland, which should be great fun.”