Category Uncategorized

Rohit was struck on the knee while attempting to play a pull shot and had to be attended by the physio

Alagappan Muthu22-Dec-20242:54

Pujara: With two Tests left, India the happier side

The Indian team management is not concerned about any injury worries to Rohit Sharma after the India captain was struck on the knee during practice at the MCG on Sunday and needed some attention from the physio. Fast bowler Akash Deep also took a blow while batting but later brushed any injury issues for both players aside.Rohit, who seems to be settling into his middle-order role – he let KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill face the new ball in the adjacent nets while he started batting against spin – attempted to play a pull shot but it didn’t come off and the ball cleared the top flap of the pad and hit him on the knee. He needed some treatment – elevating the leg and putting an ice pack on it – and seemed in good order by the time the session was winding up, walking around and having little chats with his team-mates and coaches.India’s trip to Melbourne has been eventful since their arrival earlier this week. There was a Virat Kohli event at the airport. A misunderstanding about Australian media filming his children on arrival. There was a Ravindra Jadeja event at the MCG. A misunderstanding about taking questions in English. And now a Rohit event at training.Related

• Should India opt for bowling depth over batting insurance at the MCG?

• Rohit on Brisbane effort: 'If your attitude is good, you can turn impossible into possible'

• Gill needs to show his substance outside Asia to prove his worth

• Bumrah at one end, Ilford Seconds at the other?

Akash Deep took a hit to the arm while batting and at the press conference on Sunday, he said neither blow was anything to worry about. “Such blows are common when you play cricket,” he said when asked about him and Rohit . “I think this (practice) wicket was for white ball which is why the ball kept low at times. But these blows are common in training. There are no major concerns because of that.”Rishabh Pant received plenty of attention during India’s first nets session on Saturday, spending nearly an hour talking with head coach Gautam Gambhir several yards away from all the action. Prasidh Krishna, who was initially with the India A team on tour in Australia and later brought into the senior squad ahead of the Perth Test, looked sharp. He had a good outing at the MCG in November, picking up 4 for 50 and 2 for 37 against Australia A.With the MCG nets offering public vantage points, there were several fans who came around to watch India train. A little girl who kept trying to catch their eye was unimpressed when she wasn’t able to. “If they can’t wave, they can at least smile,” she said.With the series at 1-1 and considering they haven’t gotten the better of Australian conditions in the first innings, India’s focus was understandably elsewhere. There was a fair bit of green grass on the pitch to be used for the Boxing Day Test, but with it being four days away, it is likely some of it will be shaved off. The MCG has had a drastic change in character since the last time India were here – from batting-friendly to bowling-friendly.Rohit Sharma has an ice pack on his knee after getting hit in the nets•Getty Images

In 2020, they bounced back from a difficult loss in Adelaide, where they were bowled out for 36, with an eight-wicket victory in Melbourne. The next Test match that the MCG hosted saw Scott Boland pick up 6 for 7 as England were knocked out for 68 in the second innings. There has only been one total of 250-plus in the two games held at the venue in this season’s Sheffield Shield.Akash Deep has had a couple of highs since making the XI in Brisbane. From No. 11, he helped India save the follow-on and belted Pat Cummins for a huge six over wide long-on. “At the time we come in to bat, scoring those 20-30 runs are very important. My mindset is to contribute in whatever way I can and that day my mindset, I didn’t think about saving the follow-on, I just didn’t want to get out. And when you do well from that situation it gives confidence and that’s the confidence that the team was able to see in me and I was really happy.”Akash Deep had a nice battle with Steven Smith as well, beating his bat on both edges, and receiving praise both on the field and later at his press conference. Despite bowling well, he only got one wicket in that first innings. “At the time, I felt like, the skill with which I bowled, a lot of the times he was getting beaten on the inside edge and the outside edge and I felt that sometimes ‘what is this luck that I have, I can’t get him out’. But then I realised that the wicket is not in our hands. What we have in our hands is just bowling well. Bowling in the right areas.”

“The way we’re playing at the moment, on our day we can we can still beat a good team,” van Beek says ahead of game against Australia

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Oct-20234:33

Van Beek: ‘We’re very much in the now and what happens in the future’

“It’s the hot question at the moment – how do we ride this momentum and actually put structures in place in the Netherlands so that this run that we’re having can be sustainable.”This is Netherlands allrounder Logan van Beek, wondering how cricket can become a serious sport in his country. Not merely one that has serious money attached to it, which would allow Netherlands players to train year-round, but gets taken seriously by the wider populace too, and not seen as a quaint oddity.”I watched a Dutch sports show this morning and they were talking about cricket and laughing about how it’s pretty similar to a nine-to-five job because of how long it takes, and they were making a few other jokes,” van Beek said ahead of Netherlands’ next World Cup game, against Australia. “I hope that after another couple of wins, they can almost stop joking about cricket in the Netherlands and they start talking seriously about how this is actually one of our best sports teams in the country.Related

• How van Beek's Plan B took him to the World Cup

• Netherlands add a bit of joy to pre-World Cup camp

• Meet Netherlands' ODI heroes against South Africa

“So that’s our aim: to inspire the next generation but also to change the narrative within Netherlands around [how] we’re actually one of the better Netherlands sporting outfits.”Netherlands have already scored an upset win over South Africa, and also tested Sri Lanka, who had had them 91 for 6 before van Beek was involved in a 130-run seventh-wicket stand with Sybrand Engelbrecht. The chase of 263 was far from straightforward for Sri Lanka, who lost five wickets and got home only in the penultimate over.Van Beek, who plays domestic cricket in New Zealand as well as in England, hoped that competing against these much-better-resourced teams would raise the profile of Dutch cricket and lead to greater professionalism.”So, there’s the attention we’re getting through our performances – through the style we’re playing. Hopefully, there’s more investment into the game from a local point of view, but also international sponsors want to get behind the Netherlands team,” he said. “And that’s all going to kind of have a flow-on effect and result in more contracts, better facilities, more resources, more coaching.”I look at how New Zealand were 20 years ago. Professional cricket actually started around 2000. And see where New Zealand are right now, and the way they play and the way they go about it. We’ve got in the Netherlands just as many players, and I can’t see why in the next five to ten years we can start being more consistent on the world stage.”4:13

Campbell: ‘Netherlands were sick of just competing, they are hungry to win’

Perhaps, van Beek said, the exposure Dutch players receive from competing in the World Cup will also make them more attractive to T20 franchises around the world.”This year, I played T20 at Worcester, and played the [World Cup] qualifiers and I also play in Wellington,” he said. “So, even at a smaller scale, I’ve played in four different leagues. Just that experience from all those different leagues – playing with different players and learning off them and then bringing it back to the Netherlands side only strengthens the team. So, I hope that there’s a number of players from this tournament that will be able to play three or four leagues a year.”Netherlands play Australia on Wednesday – their fifth match of the World Cup. They have only won one and lost three so far, but van Beek is adamant they can still make a charge for the knockouts.”We’ve come here to reach the semi-finals,” he said. “That’s our goal. It’s been pretty clear throughout the whole preparation phase. And the South African win just gave us that extra belief that the way we’re playing at the moment, on our day we can we can still beat a good team.”

Spinners share nine wickets between them to bowl Pakistan out for 261; Babar’s 81 not enough to eke out a draw

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Jul-2022
Pakistan went into the final day with nine wickets in hand, having batted outstandingly in the fourth innings at Galle last week, and probably needing to play out a little over two full sessions, with the light likely to deteriorate in the afternoon again.But outside a 79-run third-wicket stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, they could not resist Sri Lanka’s rampant spinners. Prabath Jayasuriya, perhaps the find of Sri Lanka’s home season, claimed his fourth Test five-for in six innings, taking 5 for 117. Ramesh Mendis, who himself had had a five-for in the first innings, claimed 4 for 101.Bowling together since before lunch, they took seven wickets between them for 85 runs. One batter – Fawad Alam – had been run out, though this had also been brought about partly by the pressure these two had created.Babar top-scored with 81off 146 balls, having earlier overturned an lbw against him on 34. It was his wicket, soon after lunch, that was the key moment – Jayasuriya getting him lbw with a straight delivery.It was in the last half-hour before the break, though, that Sri Lanka, and the pitch, suddenly came to life. Suddenly, chances were being created, balls were dropping just short of excited close-in fielders, and a heavy pressure had descended on Pakistan.Rizwan was the first to go, leaving a Jayasuriya delivery that was angled in from around the wicket. He did not quite believe that this straighter ball had clipped his off stump, and waited for confirmation from the third umpire, that he had, in fact, been bowled for 37 off 69.Fawad Alam was then run-out in a horrendous mix-up for which Babar was likely to be blamed. Having made just one off his first eight balls, Fawad was keen to get off strike against Mendis. He hit a ball straight of mid-on and took off, expecting Babar to come through. Babar initially took a couple of steps, but looking over his shoulder, decided to send Fawad back even though his partner was about three-quarters of the way to the danger end. Asitha Fernando’s throw found the keeper’s gloves, and Fawad was not even close to making it back.Agha Salman then played a pained six-ball innings in which it seemed every other ball might get him out. He was out off what turned out to be the last ball before lunch, as he played a paddle sweep against Jayasuriya, and ended up only hitting the ball to Kusal Mendis at short leg, who had anticipated the stroke and reacted well to pouch it, diving quickly to his right.The Sri Lanka players celebrate Imam-ul-Haq’s wicket•AFP/Getty Images

As long as Babar was around, though, Pakistan still had a chance of batting out a session and half, and securing a draw. Upon resumption, the bowlers were still dominant. He was dropped on 78 by Dhananjaya de Silva at slip, off the bowling of Jayasuriya. The ball had gone a distance to his left, and travelled quickly – de Silva getting both hands to it before grassing it. It didn’t hurt Sri Lanka much, though, in Jayasuriya’s next over, he slid one into Babar’s front pad, the batter playing for the ball that turns. This time, a review would not save Babar.Pakistan unravelled quickly after that. Mohammad Nawaz was caught at cover the following over, trying to smash Mendis against the turn. Yasir Shah bashed six boundaries and had moved to 27 off 24, before fending one to gully to give Jayasuriya his fifth wicket. Hasan Ali was bowled off a deflection trying to sweep Mendis, and Naseem Shah holed out to the same bowler, trying to clobber one over deep midwicket.Earlier, after Imam had edged Mendis behind on 49, Babar and Rizwan had prospered square of the wicket. Having overturned an lbw decision against him on 34, Babar got to his 23rd Test fifty off the 71st ball he faced. He defended resolutely but did not allow the bowlers to deliver long strings of dots to him.Rizwan scored almost exclusively through the leg side, meanwhile, hitting three of his six boundaries via his most productive stroke – the sweep. Only one of his 37 runs came on the offside. This was after Imam-ul-Haq had been dismissed in the third over of the day, caught behind when Mendis spun one more sharply than he anticipated.Sri Lanka’s victory means the series is levelled 1-1. While realistically, either of these teams would have had to win the series 2-0 to give themselves a chance of making the World Test Championship final, they are not out of the hunt either.

Uttar Pradesh go down by six wickets, with 51 balls left in the game, despite putting up 312

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2021Mumbai coasted to a fourth Vijay Hazare Trophy title, beating Uttar Pradesh in the final in Delhi on Sunday by six wickets, getting to their not-meagre target of 313 with 51 balls in hand thanks to a 39-ball 73 from Prithvi Shaw, Aditya Tare’s first List A century and partnerships of note right through their 41.3-over innings. UP’s batting innings, led by opener Madhav Kaushik’s 156-ball 158, would have given them hopes of a first title win, but Shaw hammered them out of the contest early in the chase, making it easy for the batsmen to follow to complete the job and give Mumbai their fourth Vijay Hazare Trophy win. As for Shaw, he ended the tournament with 827 runs, the most by an individual in one season of the competition.A short passage in the 28th over of the Mumbai chase summed things up from UP’s point of view. Shivam Mavi, bowling his sixth over, went around the wicket and sent it down the leg side to the left-handed Shams Mulani. Wide. And the wicketkeeper, Upendra Yadav, got behind the ball, but looked casual in getting his gloves behind the ball, and it went through his legs for four additional runs. The next ball was a wide too – by that stage, UP had lost the plot, and Mumbai were in total control. It didn’t change.Related

• From 'total chaos', Mumbai become Mumbai again

• Shaw hits 227*, becomes eighth Indian List A double-centurion

• Prithvi Shaw reveals he 'broke down' after being dropped in Australia

It’s difficult to blame the UP players, though. They had bowled most of their opponents out during the course of the tournament, but came up against a rampaging Shaw upfront after scoring a competitive 312 for 4 courtesy Kaushik’s century and half-centuries from Samarth Singh and Akshdeep Nath. But Shaw, who had missed a small chunk of the Mumbai bowling innings after copping a blow to the shin while fielding in the slips, kept up his blistering form at the top of the chase.It wasn’t one of the many daddy centuries he has hit in the tournament, but Shaw’s knock was exactly the sort of innings that makes big chases look easy and demoralises opponents to the point of them giving up well before the end. The little Mumbai opener sent the ball flying to all parts of the ground, and the UP players were reduced to jogging across, fetching the ball from beyond the rope 14 times – ten fours and four sixes – as their shoulders sagged, Delhi seemed hotter than it is, and helpless expressions gave the story away.While Shaw has had a stellar tournament, Yashasvi Jaiswal hasn’t, and the 30-ball 29 might have stood out more had it not come during Shaw’s fireworks. Shaw fell first, in the tenth over, and Jaiswal went in the 15th, to bring some smiles on the faces of the UP players, but if they had an opening there, they let go of the opportunity, not attacking the Tare-Mulani pair with their best bowlers at the start and letting them settle down. That third-wicket stand went up to 88 runs in just over 15 overs, took Mumbai to 215 in just over 30 overs, and finished the game off for all practical purposes. It wasn’t done, though, with the target still close to 100 runs away, and that’s where Tare assumed the role of the senior pro he is. Tare had scored 12 List A half-centuries prior to this game but had never got to three figures. Today was the day for that, and he did it in great style. There were only a couple of balls that didn’t quite hit the middle of his bat – be it spin or pace, whether playing pulls or drives or cuts or sweeps, or even the odd ramp, Tare seemed in complete control. The speed of Shaw’s runs made a big difference, yes, and Tare capitalised, getting to his first List A century and taking Mumbai to the target at a good clip, while also doing his own reputation no harm. Shivam Dube did his big-hitting reputation no harm either, taking medium pace on his way to a 28-ball 42.Earlier, Kaushik’s century and the late surge orchestrated by Nath, where UP scored 111 runs in the last ten overs, put them in a good position for a first outright title win – they were joint winners with Tamil Nadu after a tied final in the 2004-05 season. Kaushik batted through the UP innings after they opted to bat upon winning the toss, hitting 15 fours and four sixes in his innings. His first-wicket stand with Singh, who hit 55 in 73 balls with four fours and three sixes, was worth 122 runs and lay the platform for a big total.Singh, however, fell to Prashant Solanki in the 26th over, and captain Karan Sharma was dismissed for a duck by Tanush Kotian in the very next over, and Kotian’s offspin accounted for Priyam Garg not long after, leaving UP at 161 for 3 at the start of the 35th over. That’s where the momentum was lost for UP, and the massive late surge just about got them up to par, not enough with Shaw being in the kind of form he has been in, or with the way Tare lifted his game on the day.The win, fittingly, came from Tare’s bat, an over-pitched Yash Dayal delivery guided to the point boundary for four.

England reach the close on 55 for 3 and still a long way from making New Zealand bat again

The Report by Alan Gardner24-Nov-2019The inaugural Test at Mount Maunganui was always likely to likely to be a memorable occasion for New Zealand cricket, but BJ Watling and Mitchell Santner ensured it would be one with multiple entries in the history books after their monumental contributions sent records tumbling and left England facing an uphill task to save the game.Speaking of uphill, there had been some debate about the correct billing of the promontory that overlooks Bay Oval, an extinct volcano known locally as “The Mount”. But there was no disputing that New Zealand had amassed a mountain of runs, as Watling bent himself to the task of batting for almost 11 hours for a maiden double-hundred, while Santner converted to three figures for the first time in his Test career. The innings produced another new peak, with New Zealand’s 615 for 9 declared their highest total against England in 89 years of Test competition.With the deficit a daunting 262, and realistically needing to bat their way through the majority of four sessions in order to emerge with a draw, England lost both openers and their nightwatchman before the close. There was something appropriate about Santner and Watling combining for the initial breakthrough, and although England could cling to the hope that a slow surface might help pave their way to safety on the final day, increasing signs of up-and-down bounce will doubtless nag at the tourists overnight.

Watch cricket on ESPN+

New Zealand v England is available in the US on ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the T20I series.

There was no doubting about who were the stars of the show for New Zealand, even if it was a couple of the most unassuming players in a team that has built a reputation for low-key excellence. If there were bragging rights at stake, it would have been impossible to tell, despite Watling and Santner ticking their way through a slew of records.Both notched career-best scores, as the pair eclipsed the previous highest seventh-wicket stand for New Zealand – initially against England, and then overall. Watling surpassed his own record for the most balls faced by a New Zealand wicketkeeper; Santner set a new mark for balls faced by a New Zealand No. 8. For England, kept in the field for more than 200 overs, it was a relentless grind.Only the urgency of an impending declaration contributed to Watling finally being dislodged. By then, he had become the ninth wicketkeeper – and first for New Zealand – to score a double-hundred in Tests, the milestone reached a few minutes before tea with a nudged single off the bowling of Joe Root, England’s increasingly vexed captain.ALSO READ: The records Watling brokeHaving at least limited the scoring rate during the morning session, England were left chasing leather in the afternoon sunshine as Santner showed his claws. His half-century reached from 170 balls, he required only another 82 to convert to three figures for the first time in Tests, taking particular toll on his fellow left-arm spinner Jack Leach, who was three times deposited over the ropes. When Santner finally slogged Sam Curran to long-on for 126, it had been 73.2 overs since England had previously taken a wicket, with the first ball after tea on day three.As Santner buckled his swash, Watling continued to buckle down. He had already demonstrated his appetite for crease-occupation by batting throughout day three, and he slipped straight back into the groove. The nearest England came to ruffling him was when a Jofra Archer bouncer glanced the top of his helmet, as he went past his previous highest score – 142 against Sri Lanka in 2015 – and on to his longest Test innings, surpassing the epic rearguard against India at Wellington in 2014.The end came via a declaration shortly after tea, as Kane Williamson exacted maximum punishment on England. It also allowed for the crowd to salute Watling’s efforts one final time, as his 473-ball epic ended with an edge behind. Watling walked off to an ovation and New Zealand’s last two batsmen jogged the same way an over later.New Zealand resumed on day four in control but not in a hurry. Watling and Santner had adopted a circumspect approach during the morning session, when only 58 runs were scored from 30 overs, but the lack of impact on the wickets column was the chief concern for Root.England dutifully went through the motions with the ball, but there was an air of fatalism about their attempts to finish off the innings. Archer strung together five maidens in a row at the start of the day, but England’s attack rarely threatened a breakthrough as New Zealand set out their stall to try and bat only once in the game.The wisdom of that ploy was proven during the evening session, as Santner stepped into the spotlight with the ball. Dom Sibley and Rory Burns had compiled a watchful 48-run stand to ease English fears about the deterioration of the pitch – only for New Zealand’s spinner to produce a three-wicket burst before stumps. First Sibley, who had already survived one tough chance to Watling, succumbed to a thin outside edge, then Burns was lured into sweeping out of the rough and sent a tame top edge to square leg.In the final over of the day, Tom Latham’s brilliant catch at short leg removed the nightwatchman Leach, though replays suggested he had not actually got any bat on the ball. Leach walked off without using a review, however, to leave England facing an even steeper climb if they are to escape Bay of Plenty with the series still level.

Warwickshire fast bowler set for maiden tour, as Alex Hales and Ben Stokes are both picked ahead of December’s disciplinary hearing

Andrew Miller19-Sep-2018The Warwickshire fast bowler Olly Stone has been given his first opportunity to impress in England colours, after being named in a 16-man squad for the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka which gets underway in Dambulla on October 10.Stone, who turns 25 on the eve of the first match, is the only uncapped player in the tour party, and a strong candidate to feature in next week’s Test squad too, having made a strong impression in his maiden season at Edgbaston following his move from Northamptonshire at the end of 2017.Since recovering from a horrific knee injury in June 2016 – he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament while celebrating the wicket of Moeen Ali in a T20 Blast tie at Wantage Road – Stone has consistently been one of the fastest bowlers on the county circuit.He claimed career-best figures of 8 for 80 in his first home Championship appearance for Warwickshire in April, as well as a further 12 wickets at 28.61 in the Royal London Cup – and he could be given the chance to fill Liam Plunkett’s crucial role of mid-innings enforcer, with Plunkett set to miss the first three matches of the tour because of his forthcoming wedding.

England ODI squad v Sri Lanka

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Mark Wood, whose international summer was interrupted by a recurrence of his longstanding heel problem, is also back in contention, as is Chris Woakes, who missed the last two Tests against India following a quad strain.With David Willey missing the Sri Lanka trip due to a back injury, Sam Curran offers a like-for-like replacement as a left-arm swing bowler and hard-hitting allrounder, although he would doubtless have earned a call-up regardless, in the wake of his stellar display in the Test series against India.Sam’s brother Tom is also back to fitness and back in the squad after a side strain ruled him out of the one-day leg of England’s summer, which means that both Curran brothers could yet feature in the same England team for the first time in their brief careers.With a surfeit of allrounders to back up England’s established top-order, there is no place for Kent’s captain Sam Billings, who has been a regular member of England’s recent limited-overs squads but who failed to take his chances against Scotland and Australia earlier this summer.On the slow-bowling front, England’s selectors resisted the temptation to blood a young spinner alongside the established pairing of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson might have been a contender – and have instead opted for the allround prowess of Hampshire’s Liam Dawson, who last featured for England in the T20 triangular against Australia in New Zealand in February. His most recent ODI was against Pakistan at Cardiff in September 2016.As expected, both Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have been included in the squad in spite of their impending ECB disciplinary hearing. The pair will attend a private hearing in front of a three-man Cricket Discipline Commission panel on December 5 and 7, after being charged with bringing the game into disrepute following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub last September.A separate squad will be named for the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on October 27, which may offer the selectors a chance to assess the merits of a few more young contenders, not least Pat Brown, the 20-year-old star of Worcestershire’s T20 Blast triumph.

South Africa’s stand-in captain enjoyed success at Lord’s earlier this season for Somerset, but leading his country there will be a whole new challenge for him

Firdose Moonda at Lord's05-Jul-2017While we’ve been spending our time at ESPNcricinfo headquarters translating some of the most common Afrikaans cricket terms into English, it seems there may be a bigger task. Dean Elgar, South Africa’s stand-in captain, is looking for the meaning of another word; a word that he knows explains something about him which he can’t quite explain himself.”If you take me off the field, I am quite a reserved and quiet guy, and if I get to know the person, I can be a clown. But once I cross the line, you can see it in my batting, I’m a bit tougher and more nuggety, as everyone has been calling it. I still don’t know what that word means.”It means spending several seasons racking up runs on the domestic scene even when the national top-order was so clogged the chances of a promotion were slim. It means scoring over 1000 runs in a season, still being overlooked for higher honours and keeping going. It means brushing off a pair on Test debut and scoring a series-winning century on your first away tour in the absence of the senior core who cushioned your arrival. It means watching Alviro Petersen struggle and retire; Stiaan van Zyl struggle and get dropped; Stephen Cook struggle then spark and then struggle again to find himself sidelined and accepting the responsibility that comes with having to stabilise the side because of that.It means being Dean Elgar in the only way he knows how and at Lord’s over the next five days, it is how the whole South African team will be.Elgar’s XI will begin South Africa’s quest to continue a proud run on the road in the last 11 years, dented only by their defeat to India in 2015. Since then they have won in Australia and New Zealand but this will be the real test of whether they have retained their away-from-home advantage, because they are underdogs and Elgar likes it that way.”We tend to play better when we are up against it,” Elgar said. “Everyone gets along and tours well. When you are away from home, that’s the only family you have.”Dean Elgar will fulfill a family ambition at Lord’s•AFP

Not this time, though. In attendance at Lord’s will be the families of several of the South African players including Elgar’s. His father and his old school coach will be in attendance, after promising Elgar years ago that if he ever played a Test at Lord’s they would be there. “They saw something in me a little bit more than what I saw when I was nine years old. They said if it happens one day [play at Lord’s] then they were going to come and watch.”Getting to this venue has long been an Elgar-family aim and now that he is here, he admitted it has lived up to expectation. “Everything about Lord’s seems to want you to do better. You hear all the folklore when you’re growing up and you watch it on TV, and it always looks so nice. Once you reach the big arena all those memories come flooding back, and you have your first opportunity to play here and try do well here. It’s an enhanced feeling when you get here, an emotion to try and do well,” he saidElgar won’t just be trying to bat well, he will also want to captain well and for that to happen, he needs to ensure the sense of occasion does not overawe him. “As a captain you have to look at it as another game of cricket. You can’t let the occasion get the better of you. You’ve got to think about the team first and venue later,” he said. “You can sit on the balcony after the day’s play and admire what’s happened or play the play back in your head. But you can’t let the venue overwhelm you.”No-one can say what kind of captain Elgar will make because he has only done it seven times before at first-class level so Lord’s will be the template for his leadership style. Though Elgar will hand the armband back to du Plessis for the second Test if all goes according to plan, he still hopes to remain part of the brains trust as he evolves from purely a player to a figure in a position of some power.”I can contribute more within the team environment and will maybe be thinking a little bit less about myself and more about the team,” Elgar said. “That sometimes happens in international cricket — you do tend to just worry about your own game and not have to make the tough calls, which is sometimes a blessing or a curse. But leadership is about making those tough calls.”One of them may be on team selection as South Africa decide whether they will veer from the usual seven specialist batsmen and settle for six in order to play a second allrounder in Chris Morris. On a green-tinged pitch, Morris may get the nod and things could be tough for batsmen but Elgar has already defied that. He scored a century when Somerset played Middlesex earlier this season, a stint that formed the core of his preparation for this series.”I loved it. It was a very good three months for me at Somerset,” he said. “It was solely for me to come over was to give myself the opportunity do well in this Test series and gain experience in foreign conditions and try and play a lot of cricket as possible.”In that time, he has already raised his bat at Lord’s. If he does again will take him from nuggety to noteworthy in an instant.

Ashar Zaidi’s brutal hitting carried to give Essex their second NatWest T20 Blast win of the season and leapfrog Hampshire at the bottom of the southern division

ECB Reporters Network24-Jun-2016
ScorecardAshar Zaidi hit out in style [file picture]•Getty Images

Ashar Zaidi’s brutal hitting carried to give Essex their second NatWest T20 Blast win of the season and leapfrog Hampshire at the bottom of the southern division.The Pakistan-born all-rounder came in at No 5, higher up the order than he has this season, to post a 32-ball 52, his highest T20 score for Essex. The consistent Zaidi has now scored 157 T20 runs this season in five innings.He finally departed with six runs required when he was caught low down by Tino Best at mid-off after hitting four fours and two sixes.But Ryan ten Doeschate saw Essex across the line for their first win at Chelmsford this summer with seven balls to spare.Hampshire, who chose to bat, trundled along to what always looked a below-par 135 on a slow wicket, Graham Napier taking three for 31 and captain Ravi Bopara restricting the visitors to 15 runs off his three overs, for two wickets.Bopara was later involved in a clear show of dissent when he questioned umpire Neil Bainton’s decision to give him out lbw for nought. The incredulous Essex captain, already at the other end when the umpire’s finger went up, implied that he had got bat on ball.Essex’s response was not without concern and they struggled against the spin of Liam Dawson, who took three for 24 in four tidy overs. But Zaidi and Tom Westley took the game by the scuff of the neck, adding 59 for the fourth wicket in 6.2 overs, and laying the foundation for a successful run chase.Zaidi said of his promotion: “We decided that if the spinners were on, especially the leg spinner, it could be an option for me to go up the order a bit, particularly if it meant we could have a left and right combination. It worked well. It gives variety in T20 games and it can catch the opposition by surprise.”I’ve been scoring some runs in T20, it was just a case of trying to get to fifty-plus and see the game out, which I nearly did. I’m not a stat man to be fair, but I am very happy with my form at the moment.”There was massive pressure before the game because we haven’t won many games. We have to win every game now, there is no other option.”Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein said: “It is a very tough competition when you’re lost a bit of confidence. The good thing for me is that we have almost got the future of the club playing now. Guys are going to start getting experience in the next few games.”

Justin Langer has extended his coaching contract with Western Australia until the end of 2017-18, putting an end to speculation that linked him with the England and India coaching jobs

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2015Justin Langer has extended his coaching contract with Western Australia until the end of 2017-18, putting an end to speculation that linked him with the England and India coaching jobs.Langer said he was flattered to have been mentioned as a potential candidate for the international positions, but he believed his immediate future remained at home. Langer is considered the most likely man to eventually replace Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann, whenever Lehmann’s tenure should end.As coach of Western Australia since 2012-13, Langer has led the state to two Sheffield Shield finals and to the Matador Cup one-day title last summer, along with the past two BBL titles as coach of the Perth Scorchers. Prior to coaching Western Australia, Langer served as Australia’s batting coach from 2009 to 2012.”I am flattered to be associated with potential international coaching opportunities, but the timing isn’t right for my family and I still feel there is much work to be done here in Western Australian and Australian cricket,” Langer said on Tuesday.”Having spent nearly 20 years on the road with the Australian team as a player and then coach, I respect what an enormous commitment it is to be away from your family for almost 12 months of the year.”There is no doubt I have aspirations to coach internationally, but that will depend upon timing and opportunity in the future. I look forward to continuing my work at the WACA and I am excited by this challenge.”

Rain robbed New Zealand’s best chance of sneaking in a win in a one-sided series, after they restricted Sri Lanka to 123 for 8 in Hambantota

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran12-Nov-201228.3 overs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRain had the final say in the Sri Lanka-New Zealand ODI series•AFP

Rain robbed New Zealand’s best chance of sneaking in a win in a one-sided series, after they restricted Sri Lanka to 123 for 8 in Hambantota. The match began under sunny skies, but little over two hours after the start, rain forced the players off the field and they remained indoors till half past eight, when another downpour brought a soggy end to an ill-timed series. All six matches on tour were affected by rain, with Sri Lanka taking the one-dayers 3-0.While Sri Lanka were the superior side in the context of the series, New Zealand would have every reason to feel let down by the weather in this game. For a change they found a way to express themselves and it came via their seamers to put the hosts under early pressure. After opting to bowl first in conditions expected to suit the fast bowlers, Tim Southee, Adam Milne and Trent Boult utilised the swing to their advantage to nip out early wickets. Upul Tharanga played the lone hand as the rest failed to stick around to build partnerships.It all started with Southee’s peach which swung away late and hit the off stump before Dinesh Chandimal could get his bat down. That was enough to convince the bowlers that the fuller length was the order of the day. The wicketkeeper and the slips had to stay alert, as BJ Watling found out when he failed to hang on to a touch chance off Lahiru Thirimanne when he was on 6. Southee struck again when he removed Thirimanne by inducing an outside edge, giving Watling a chance to make amends.It was the short delivery that claimed Angelo Mathews, who miscued a pull off Boult to Southee at fine leg. Even the experienced Kumar Sangakkara found the going tough against the most inexperienced of the seam trio, Milne, and edged to the keeper. It was a dismissal that would have made the bowling coach Shane Bond proud. The ball landed on middle and nipped away, squaring up the left-hander. Milne posed questions to the other left-hand batsman Tharanga as well, and looked like he deserved more than one wicket as the halfway stage.Mahela Jayawardene and Tharanga showed some initiative in a stand of 47, stepping out to the spin of Nathan McCullum when the seamers were getting a breather. McCullum, though, had the last laugh when he took aim at the bowler’s end and knocked the stumps with Jayawardene short of his ground. A wild slash by Jeevan Mendis off Andrew Ellis saw him walk back for a fourth-ball duck, leaving Sri Lanka at 92 for 6 in the 24th over.Tharanga reached his fifty, and when he edged Southee to Watling on 60, the rain arrived. New Zealand didn’t have the pleasure of bowling Sri Lanka out but they went back with some positives, having run Sri Lanka close in at least two matches. With two Tests to play, at different venues, one would feel the teams haven’t seen the last of the rain, with the monsoon in full swing.