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Zaheer Khan’s captaincy and the performances of young guns like Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant leave Delhi Daredevils in a good place as they take on Rising Pune Supergiants

The Preview by Sirish Raghavan04-May-20164:59

Zaheer leading Delhi from the front

Match facts

Thursday, May 5, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

After losing their opening match in horrendous fashion, Delhi Daredevils have turned their season around. They have put in six impressive performances, winning five of them and losing one by a run. They have been led admirably by captain Zaheer Khan, whose creative field settings, mentorship and positivity have yielded rich dividends. That is to say nothing of his own bowling, which has been mostly spot on. As young batsmen like Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant find form, the team increasingly looks to have most bases covered.The opposite is the case for Rising Pune Supergiants, who will make the trip to Feroz Shah Kotla for Thursday’s encounter. Supergiants’ campaign got off to a bright start, with a win over Mumbai Indians, but has rapidly gone off the rails and is now something of a shambles.The bowling has been a weak link, with the pacers leaking runs and the lead spinner, R Ashwin, struggling to make an impact. The batting looked strong, but with the injuries to three of their five leading run-scorers – Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis and Steven Smith – they have a massive hole to fill in that department as well. Having lost six of their eight matches so far, Supergiants are on the verge of entering do-or-die territory.Meanwhile, it is worth keeping one eye on the battle of the captains. Zaheer had served as the leader of the pace attack for India under MS Dhoni. Now, for the first time, he has the chance to pit his captaincy wiles against his former captain. An innovative bowling leader – experienced, yet new to the job – will lock horns with a veteran who has led many a title-winning team.

Form guide

Delhi Daredevils WWLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Rising Pune Supergiants LLWLL

In the spotlight

It is difficult to look past Zaheer Khan at the moment. He has combined figures of 4 for 48 in 7.3 overs in the last two matches, with his guile and penetration supplementing his returns. His captaincy seems to have rubbed off on his team. One feels that as long as Zaheer can continue to fire as bowler and as captain, Daredevils can continue to be greater than the sum of their parts.In a team bereft of fast bowling options, Thisara Perera will have an increasingly important role to play. He has bowled well in patches, including towards the end, and his 13-ball 34 against Royal Challengers Bangalore displayed his usefulness with the bat. Supergiants need him to combine these facets consistently and become the go-to bowling allrounder they desperately yearn for.

Team news

After an impressive all-round bowling performance that set up a clinical eight-wicket win, Daredevils have little reason to change their XI.Delhi Daredevils (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rishabh Pant, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Sam Billings, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Mohammad Shami, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Shahbaz NadeemUsman Khawaja and George Bailey have joined the Supergiants set-up and are available for selection. Given Smith’s injury and Peter Handscomb’s unconvincing innings against Mumbai Indians, they might both slot into the playing XI.Rising Pune Supergiants (probable): 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Saurabh Tiwary, 4 George Bailey, 5 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Scott Boland, 9 R Ashwin, 10 M Ashwin, 11 Ashok Dinda

Pitch and conditions

The Feroz Shah Kotla tends to favour spinners and slow bowlers. Interestingly, the last three matches played at this venue have been won by the team batting first, bucking the overall trend of this IPL. Two of them, though, were afternoon matches. The evening match saw Gujarat Lions prevail over Daredevils by one run. Temperatures on Thursday are forecast to hit the late 30s. There is a possibility of scattered showers in the afternoon, but that shouldn’t affect the match.

Stats and trivia

• Daredevils’ opening stands amounted to 58 runs in their first 6 matches. In the last match, openers Quinton de Kock and Pant added 115
• Supergiants’ economy rate of 8.14 is second best among all teams; their run rate of 8.38 is fourth

The Rajasthan Royals, on their CLT20 debut, will play all their league matches in Jaipur and their captain Rahul Dravid, in his last appearance on a cricket field, will hope for a good sign-off after their troubled IPL 2013 season

Devashish Fuloria19-Sep-2013Overview
Rajasthan Royals have been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the last few months but the Champions League offers them a chance to bring the spotlight back to their cricket. The corruption scandal that came to the fore towards the end of this year’s IPL took much of the gloss away from what had been an excellent season for the Rahul Dravid-led side. Royals were one of two teams this year to remain unbeaten at home and despite lacking in star value when compared to other IPL teams, players like Brad Hodge, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Ajinkya Rahane and the captain himself made their performances count.Royals have always been a personality driven team. From the days of Shane Warne to the current arrangement under a vocal version of Dravid, the team’s captain has remained the most visible part of it on the field. And understandably so – the biggest domestic player in the team Rahane is an introvert, so someone has to compensate to keep the young team buoyant.It will be the last time Dravid will be seen on the cricket field and after the sadness that came with the realisation he was sailing a ship with numerous holes, he would be looking forward to a good sign-off. Despite the heavy losses the team has incurred in terms of personnel, it still remains an efficient battery, with a cannon the size of Shane Watson. What’s more, they are playing all their league matches at their fortress.Key players
This IPL season, Shane Watson was intimidating with the bat, top-scoring for the team with 543 runs at a strike rate of 142.89, the highlight not being his century, but his 34-ball assault on Chennai Super Kings’ bowlers in seaming conditions. He also picked up 13 wickets, bowling for the first time after a gap of a few months. In the absence of Siddharth Trivedi he would assume a bigger role in the team’s bowling plans. Batting-wise, he is always a threat at this level, and his recent century against England will be a major boost to the team.Then there is Brad Hodge, the second-highest run-scorer in T20 cricket behind Chris Gayle, who brings that 196-match experience to lend stability to the batting line-up in the lower half. Add Rahane, the silent accumulator at the top, to the list and the batting has a sense of depth to it. The bowling will be led by Faulkner, who was second in the list of leading wicket-takers in IPL 6.Surprise package
Ashok Menaria featured in only one game in the IPL earlier this year, but he has struck rich form ahead of the tournament. Playing against New Zealand A, he picked up 10 wickets in three matches with his left-arm spin and scored a match-winning half-century as well. Along with Stuart Binny, he could form the backbone of the middle order.Weakness

In the IPL this year, Royals enjoyed the extra pace and bounce afforded by the Jaipur pitch and they will get the same home advantage in the Champions League. However, the teams they are going to play against include Perth Scorchers, Otago Volts and Lions, who would also prefer those conditions. In such a scenario, the absence of a quality spinner could hurt Royals. Pravin Tambe is the lone specialist spinner, but at 42 and with no first-class experience, his inclusion would always be a gamble.

MS Dhoni asked New Zealand to bat as the expected rains stayed away in Chennai for the second Twenty20 international after the first one was washed out in Visakhapatnam

The Report by Abhishek Purohit11-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Franklin held his nerves in the last over to ensure a New Zealand win•Associated Press

A solitary Twenty20 it was, but it featured multiple narratives, an emotional return for Yuvraj Singh and his fans, an anti-climax for India and an incredible comeback from New Zealand. After Brendon McCullum had punched a furious 91, Virat Kohli counter-punched with a majestic 70, leaving India with 49 to get off 42 deliveries with seven wickets remaining.That is when the Chennai pitch started to behave more like a typical Chennai pitch; the ball had come on nicely till then. MS Dhoni and Yuvraj struggled to get the ball off the square, James Franklin and Jacob Oram took all pace off the ball to make it harder, and the asking-rate surged suddenly. Dhoni, having promoted himself ahead of Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma, ended unbeaten on a perplexing 22 off 23 deliveries, failing to find any timing on his swipes and slogs and reduced to nudging singles on the leg side.With 20 needed off the last eight deliveries, Yuvraj managed to heave Oram over deep midwicket for six. With 12 needed off the last five, Dhoni managed to pull Franklin to deep square leg for four. With six needed off three, Yuvraj heaved and was bowled for 34 off 26.There was still time for one final narrative. Enter Rohit, under pressure for his lack of form, with six still needed. He tried gamely, swinging both the remaining deliveries for a couple of runs each, but India had to pay for tapering off after Kohli’s dismissal in the 14th over.

Smart stats

• New Zealand’s win is the seventh by a margin of one run in Twenty20 internationals. New Zealand had beaten Pakistan in Barbados in 2010 by the same margin.

• New Zealand have won the most Twenty20 matches against India (4). They are also the only top team never to lose a single match against India.

• Brendon McCullum’s 91 is the second-highest score in an Twenty20 international against India. The previous record for a New Zealand batsman (69) was also held by McCullum. McCullum has three fifties in four innings against India.

• McCullum, who is the highest run-getter in Twenty20 matches, also holds the record for the most fifty-plus scores (10).

• India’s score of 166 is their third-highest in a losing cause (in chases). The highest is 186 against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2009.

• The number of wickets lost by India (4) is the fewest in an unsuccessful chase (minimum 15 overs in the innings).

• MS Dhoni has three20-plus innings at a strike rate less than 100. Two of those are against New Zealand. On each of these occasions, India have gone on to lose the game.

India’s defeat was the last thing on the Chennai crowd’s mind when Kohli, opening in place of the injured Virender Sehwag, was raining boundaries on New Zealand during his 15th fifty-plus international score this year. Wide deliveries were swatted away with disdain, length deliveries were willed into gaps with confident pushes, spinners were lofted inside-out over extra cover, fast bowlers were charged at and hammered down the ground.Kohli’s assault and his 60-run second-wicket stand with Suresh Raina allowed Yuvraj to ease into his comeback knock. The crowd erupted when Yuvraj thick-edged Adam Milne past slip for his first boundary and swung Daniel Vettori over deep midwicket for his first six. In between, he was let-off when McCullum and Kyle Mills collided trying to take a top-edged pull off Milne.It was Franklin who began the turnaround when he had Kohli lofting his second delivery to wide long-off. New Zealand also had McCullum to thank, for lifting them from 2 for 2 with a calculated 91 that highlighted his importance to his side, especially in Twenty20s. McCullum had support from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, but he was almost single-handedly responsible for New Zealand reaching a competitive score with a knock that began watchfully, and then exploded into a frenzy of powerful hits over extra cover, down the ground and over midwicket.McCullum often begins a Test innings with a charge down the track and it was probably the two early wickets that made him play with some caution initially. Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill came out swinging but were bowled by incoming deliveries from Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.McCullum broke free in the fifth over, flicking and cutting Zaheer for boundaries. L Balaji, making his T20I debut and playing his first game for India since February 2009, was inside-edged past short fine leg and sliced over point for boundaries in the next over.Williamson, a calm man under pressure usually, ensured he gave the strike to McCullum, who was now in control enough to ward off his usual self-destructing tendencies.Sweeps, reverse-sweeps and scoops were kept away. The one time he tried a reverse-sweep, on 38, he got away with a close lbw shout against R Ashwin, with the umpire ruling there was an inside edge when replays indicated there wasn’t any. McCullum’s one good innings during the Test series against India was ended when the umpire did not spot an inside edge. It was his turn to benefit today.McCullum went after Ashwin, lofting him over extra cover for boundaries and down the ground for sixes. Ashwin, the lone spinner playing ahead of the recalled Harbhajan Singh, went for 34 in three overs.McCullum was only nine short of what would have been his second T20I hundred when he was eventually bowled after missing a sweep off a slow cutter from Irfan in the 17th over. Taylor and Oram were around to take New Zealand to a respectable score.India rode on Kohli’s brilliance in the chase, bottled up for a while after he fell, and when they tried to catch up, it was too late.

India’s dismal performance in England has seen them lose the No. 1 ranking in Tests, and several former captains and players concur that it could be a while before they regain the position

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2011India’s dismal performance in England has seen them lose the No. 1 ranking in Tests, and several former captains and players concur that it could be a while before they regain the position. A lack of preparation has been pointed out as one of the chief reasons for India’s three consecutive losses, and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain, does not think the Indian board will learn their lesson and plan more meticulously for future series”I don’t want to sound like a pessimist but I fear the players are going to say it’s only a bad dream, just forget it and get on,” he told . “The BCCI is not going to show a great deal of vision. Cricket will continue the way it is but I sincerely hope that some sense does come in.”Sourav Ganguly, who led India to a 1-1 draw in England in 2002, said the performances were worrying and may not just constitute a one-off bad tour. “You can lose Test matches but losing three in a row and not scoring any big total, it is something to be worried about,” Ganguly said. “Is it a one-off affair or the beginning of the demise of the side? We have to see.”What is particularly worrying for India is that their batting has failed despite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who have 37,769 Test runs between them. Anil Kumble said things would only get harder for India once those three retired, and the challenge now was just to stay near the top rather than reclaim the No. 1 ranking. “You need to spot four-five players and invest in them, to ensure that they carry the responsibility of Indian cricket in future in place of the veterans,” Kumble said. “We have Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir”They have to be given a long rope. You may not see India come back at the top in quick time. But we have to ensure that with these youngsters, we remained in the top three and climb to top spot after a few years.”Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar said that apart from the fact that India had very little time to prepare for the series, complacency had also played a role in their defeat.”I knew that it will be a tough series for India considering the fact that they were up against a formidable team that’s on song and consistent in their performance in recent times,” Vengsarkar said.”Besides, they have a better attack and as a team they had enough time to prepare themselves for the series. India on the other hand had come back from the gruelling series in West Indies, had a very little time to prepare and adapt to English conditions.”I guess, the Indians had become a bit complacent after their good run in the last few seasons,” he said.Kumble’s sentiments on the need to blood youngsters were echoed by Arun Lal, the former India batsman, who also said the magnitude of the loss in England may serve as a much-needed wake-up call for India and ensure they are better prepared for future tours.”You cannot go on with 35 or 38-year-olds till eternity. There might be slowing down of the reflexes, weakening of eyesight etc. So we need to infuse new talent,” Lal said. “We have to ensure that we have enough preparation before such tough series. The series loss and World No. 1 Test ranking slipping away is in a way good. We need an awakening.”

Glamorgan opener Mark Cosgrove hit a magnificent 142 before Sussex’s bowlers fought back in the final session on the second day of the battle between the front-runners in Division Two of the County Championship

28-Aug-2010
Scorecard
Glamorgan opener Mark Cosgrove hit a magnificent 142 before Sussex’s bowlers fought back in the final session on the second day of the battle between the front-runners in Division Two of the County Championship. Glamorgan declared on 300 for 9 at Hove after losing their last six wickets for 61 as both teams gained three bonus points. Sussex closed on 30 without loss from five overs.Australian Cosgrove was at the crease for 10 minutes short of four hours, facing 177 balls and scored 100 of his runs from 25 well-struck boundaries. He dominated the Glamorgan innings but honours ended just about even with a draw still the favourite outcome after the first-day washout.There was a further hour’s delay this morning to enable part of the outfield to dry out and when Sussex won the toss they unsurprisingly asked Glamorgan to bat on a pitch which initially offered movement to the seamers. Both teams opted to leave out a spinner – Ollie Rayner and Robert Croft the unlucky pair – but it was Monty Panesar who broke the opening partnership when he had Gareth Rees caught from a reverse-sweep shortly before lunch.Cosgrove and Will Bragg, playing in his only second Championship of the season, then settled into a productive partnership with Cosgrove playing a series of punishing drives through the offside. The burly left-hander passed 50 for the eighth time this season with eight fours as the second wicket pair shared a century stand in 24 overs. They added 120 before Bragg, who had earlier been bowled by a no-ball from Luke Wright, was leg before to the same bowler for 44.Cosgrove, when he scored 97, passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season and when he chopped Panesar to the third man boundary reached his fifth century of the campaign. He also scored 102 runs in the afternoon session though Sussex gained their first bowling point in the final over before tea when Ben Wright was bowled by Yasir Arafat for 16.Sussex then captured two wickets immediately after the interval with Tom Maynard well taken at second slip off Corey Collymore before Arafat ended Cosgrove’s brilliant innings by yorking the opener. A collapse set in as the Sussex seamers bowled with renewed control. The recalled James Anyon took three wickets and Collymore two as the West Indian became the first Sussex bowler to take 50 wickets in the season.It was left to David Harrison with four boundaries to guide Glamorgan to their third batting point before acting captain Mark Wallace declared, although James Harris and Huw Waters were unable to claim a breakthrough before the close.

Australia sweat over captain Healy’s fitness ahead of the knockouts

Sruthi Ravindranath16-Oct-20242:46

Aus vs SA match-ups: Can Schutt trip up Brits?

Australia vs South Africa

Dubai, 6pm local timeAustralia squad: Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Heather Graham, Tayla Vlaeminck (ruled out)South Africa squad: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Sune Luus, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Seshnie Naidu, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe TryonTournament form guide: Australia are unbeaten in this T20 World Cup, winning all four of their games so far. In their last group match, they beat India in a high-octane clash by nine runs. South Africa have a 3-1 record having lost their second match of the tournament to England.News brief: Australia were without captain Alyssa Healy for their match against India. She arrived at the game in Sharjah on crutches having sustained a foot injury while batting on 37 against Pakistan on Friday. Tahlia McGrath led the side in her absence, with Ellyse Perry deputising and Beth Mooney keeping wicket.”As it stands, it’s the same thing for Midgie [Healy],” Perry said on the eve of the semi-final. “The medical staff and the team are going to give her every opportunity and possibility of playing tomorrow night but I don’t think anything’s changed in that respect. We’ll just have to see in the next 24 hours.”Alyssa Healy watched Australia’s win against India from the sidelines•ICC/Getty Images

Fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck, who hurt her shoulder on her T20 World Cup return against Pakistan, was ruled out of the tournament with Heather Graham named her replacement. Grace Harris and Darcie Brown came into the playing XI as replacements for the India game.South Africa do not have injury concerns and are unlikely to make changes to their winning combination. Their record against Australia is not great, having won just one out of the 10 T20Is they’ve played each other. Their first-ever win came in Canberra in January this year in a bilateral series. South Africa have not won a single World Cup game against Australia in either format. Thursday will be a rematch of the 2023 T20 World Cup final, in which South Africa suffered a heartbreaking loss in front of their home crowd in Cape Town.South Africa have played three matches in Dubai this tournament while Australia have played just one match – against Pakistan – at the venue. The average first-innings score is 126, with India posting the highest total of 172 against Sri Lanka last Wednesday.Player to watch: Experienced pacer Megan Schutt’s miserly spells have been crucial to all four of Australia’s wins. She started the tournament with 3 for 12 against Sri Lanka on a spin-friendly track, finished with stunning figures of 3 for 3 against New Zealand and followed it up with 1 for 7 in her three overs against Pakistan in Dubai. Against India, she gave away 24 runs in her first three overs but returned to turn the game on its head in the 17th over by conceding just one run, leaving India with 40 to get off 18 balls.Tazmin Brits’ solid starts have been among the biggest positives for South Africa. After a 57 not out to start the competition, she crossed the 40-run mark in each of her last two matches. Against Bangladesh, on a slow track, she played a patient innings of 42 off 41 balls to help South Africa to a comfortable win. She also played an important hand in South Africa’s first and only T20I win against Australia earlier this year, scoring a fiery 41 off 28 with eight fours in a chase of 143.

With one win sufficient to retain Ashes, imposing record since 2017 augurs well for holders

Andrew Miller11-Jul-2023Tahlia McGrath says that a return to Australia’s favoured 50-over format will help their players rediscover their “fearless” mindset, as they seek to close out the Women’s Ashes after a rare setback in the T20I leg.After victory in the one-off Test at Trent Bridge, followed by a tight four-wicket win in the first T20I at Edgbaston, Australia had taken an imposing 6-0 lead in the multi-format points system, and needed just one more win from the remaining five matches to retain the Ashes for the fifth consecutive series.And while still they remain one win away from their goal, the pressure has since been ramped up by England’s stirring fightback in the back half of the T20I series. Consecutive victories, by three runs and five wickets in a pair of tense finishes at The Oval and Lord’s, condemned Australia to their first bilateral series loss since the corresponding leg of the 2017-18 Ashes.But, with the scoreline now a more competitive 6-4 in Australia’s favour, McGrath says the players’ eyes have not deviated from the prize, and they will not be satisfied with a mere retention of the Ashes.”I don’t think that’s enough,” McGrath said in Bristol, on the eve of the first ODI. “We want to win every game of cricket. Yes, first and foremost, we want to retain the Ashes, but we want to win these three games coming up. Winning 8-8 doesn’t sound as good as winning them outright.”To that end, the holders can point to one of the most imposing records ever compiled by an international sports team. In 45 ODIs since their semi-final defeat at the 2017 World Cup, Australia’s women have won a remarkable 43 times, including their last 15 in a row – a span that encompasses their unbeaten run to the 2022 World Cup title in New Zealand.Since securing beating England in the final of that tournament, at Auckland in April 2022, Australia have only played three more ODIs – each of them an emphatic win over an outclassed Pakistan in January. However, McGrath is confident that the more drawn-out nature of the 50-over format will give the matchwinners in their line-up all the more time to produce their very best.”It’s where we’ve been so successful in the past,” McGrath said. “You’ve just got so much more time. You can build your innings a bit more, and we’ve had players cash in and score those big hundreds with players supporting them.”From a bowling point of view, you can build a bit more pressure, work batters out a bit more … we’ve just been consistent in that format. And we play that team-first [brand of] cricket, so players coming in know exactly what they need to do for the team, and then play their role to the best of their ability.Tahlia McGrath celebrates with Ellyse Perry during the T20Is•Getty Images

“The 50-over format is one we’ve been really consistent and really good at, so from there it’s about fine-tuning and playing a little bit more fearlessly.In the last five years, India are the only team to have toppled Australia in the ODI format, and that result – a gripping two-wicket win in a dead-rubber third match in September 2021 – arguably helped to sharpen Australia’s focus going into the World Cup the following spring.England, by contrast, last beat Australia across 50 overs in the 2017-18 Ashes, but despite eight subsequent defeats – up to and including the last World Cup final – McGrath said her side would never under-estimate the threat that Heather Knight’s team would pose, especially after their T20I showing.”Every time we play against England, it’s really good cricket, really hard-fought,” McGrath said. “We get pushed every time we play against England, and they were better than us in the last two games, and we’ve got to acknowledge that and fix some areas of our game.”No game against England is ever easy. It feels as if, every time we play each other, it comes down to the last over. All four games in this series have all been close, or had some key moments to determine the game, so we’re excited for some more good cricket.”That rare sensation of defeat, however, has obliged Australia to embrace their vulnerability on this tour, with McGrath admitting to some honest chats in the dressing-room in the aftermath of the T20I losses.Related

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“People put their hand up when they’re not playing at their best,” she said. “We help each other problem-solve, because everything’s team-first. We put egos aside and we try to help each other improve, and that’s been a strength of this side for so long.”Win, lose or draw, we are always looking to get better. So, yeah, it’s not ideal to lose but there’s always some positives to take out of it, and we’ve had some really good chats as a group.”Individually, we’ve discussed our batting, bowling and fielding plans, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to playing some fearless cricket,” she added. “If there’s something you’re thinking about, or a plan you want to put in place, you’ve just got to be confident and go ahead and do it.”The truth is we weren’t at our best [in the T20Is] and we have to find a way to fix that. Even if we’d have won some of those games, it’s still about having those chats because we want to be the best team in the world in every format. We want to keep evolving.”It’s not nice that we’re losing, but it felt as though there were some moments where we perhaps might have got into our shells a little bit. We’ve just highlighted that maybe we’ve been off the mark there a little bit, so we’re pretty keen to be on the front foot.”An added factor in England’s revival has arguably been their vociferous support for this series, with an average of 20,000 fans attending the three T20Is, and further full houses anticipated for the ODIs in Bristol, Southampton and Taunton. But, with the growth of the women’s game a huge subplot in this series, McGrath has been delighted with the turnout, even if the cheers haven’t always accompanied her own performances.”The crowds have been a real highlight,” McGrath said. “We’ve really embraced it. We’ve loved playing in front of packed houses. We’re hopeful that they continue, because we’ve heard there’s really good ticket sales coming up.”It’s awesome to see the support they get, it’s awesome to hear how loud it gets. And I think it’s pretty cool with the [Barmy Army] trumpet going in the background. We all enjoy playing cricket when you get to play in some really nice iconic stadiums with a packed house.”They let me have it when I dropped a catch,” she added, referring to a bad miss off Sophia Dunkley in the second match at The Oval. “But that’s part of it.”We’re just focused on ourselves. We’re pretty comfortable with what we do and how we go about our cricket. There’s a lot of external things that goes on with the Ashes, a lot of chat, a lot in the media, but first and foremost, we’re just focusing on ourselves. Sticking with our batting and bowling plans, and then going out there and playing some really good cricket.”

Sanju Samson scored a half-century for Royals, but struggled to cut loose on a slow Wankhede pitch

Deivarayan Muthu02-May-20221:09

Vettori: KKR superb with their bowling plans for Buttler

Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh offset an early wobble and ensured Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 153 to snap their five-match losing streak, on a slow, grippy Wankhede Stadium track. After Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna had made early inroads for Rajasthan Royals, Rana and Rinku dismantled R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively to bring the target within Knight Riders’ reach.Rana cracked Ashwin for 23 off 14 balls on Monday, taking his overall head-to-head to 99 off 52 balls without being dismissed by the spinner in the IPL. He first forged a 60-run third-wicket partnership with Shreyas Iyer (34) and then a livelier 66-run stand with Rinku to usher Knight Riders home.Sanju Samson’s wretched luck with the toss continued – he has won only one out of ten tosses this IPL – but despite that Royals made a decent fist of their defence by dragging it deep. However, with 31 needed off 18 balls, Rinku whacked back-to-back fours off Chahal to effectively kill off the game. It was Rana who ultimately finished it with five balls to spare, with an uppercut six off Kuldeep Sen.Sanju Samson began brightly but slowed down considerably after the 30-ball mark•BCCI

Royals’ go-slow
Umesh Yadav got the new ball to swing both ways to threaten both edges of Jos Buttler in his first over. Ankul Roy, who was picked in place of the out-of-form Venkatesh Iyer, kept Buttler – and Devdutt Padikkal – quiet with his stump-to-stump darts. Umesh struck in his second over when he had Padikkal spooning a return catch for 2.After watching Royals gulp down 18 dots in the first four overs, Samson got a move on in the fifth over, hitting Umesh for back-to-back fours. Buttler uncharacteristically dawdled to 22 off 24 balls before Shivam Mavi combined with Tim Southee to dismiss him. Southee had bowled one in his slot – or perhaps just short of it – and Buttler shovelled it away in the air with his powerful bottom wrist. For a moment, the ball seemed to sail away for six, but Mavi intervened by leaping athletically to his right at long-on to pluck the ball out of thin air. At that stage, Royals were 55 for 2 in the ninth over.Samson, Hetmyer give Royals a leg-up
Samson was more fluent, often jumping outside leg to manufacture swinging room and scoring opportunities. He progressed to 40 off 30 balls, but managed only 14 off his last 19 balls. The pick of his eight boundaries was a regal cut off Mavi, but the seamer bounced back to remove Samson for the fifth time in seven IPL innings. During the toss, Shreyas explained that Mavi had slotted back in place of Harshit Rana because of his favourable match-ups against the Royals batters. Mavi did his job, returning 1 for 33 in his four overs.Riyan Parg only flickered briefly (19 off 12 balls), but Shimron Hetmyer fired in the slog overs, as he has often done in the recent past, clattering an unbeaten 27 off 13 balls. He was particularly brutal on Southee, taking him for 17 off just five balls.Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh added an unbroken 66 for the fourth wicket•BCCI

KKR’s go-slow
Samson’s early impetus and Hetmyer’s late blows gave Royals’ attack something to work with. Trent Boult swung the new ball and bothered both Aaron Finch and B Indrajith – Knight Riders’ fifth different opening combination this IPL. It was Sen who made the first incision when he rushed Finch and had him chopping on for 4 off 7 balls.Indrajith showed a glimpse of his improved white-ball potential when he ramped Prasidh over short fine leg for four. Prasidh, however, banged in a head-high bouncer next ball to have Indrajith top-edging a hook to fine leg, who had been pushed back onto the boundary after that four. Knight Riders stuttered to 32 for 2 in the powerplay.The Rana-Rinku show
Ashwin was introduced into the attack in the next over, and Shreyas carved his first ball away between backward point and short third man. Rana then laid into him in his third over, picking him off for 4,6,4 with a variety of sweeps, including the reverse-hit.Boult had Shreyas caught by Samson down the leg side for 34 off 32 balls, but Rana and Rinku completed the job for Knight Riders without much fuss. With Rana vulnerable to rapid pace and bounce, Rinku took on both Prasidh and Sen before lining up Chahal too. Often confined to being KKR’s regular substitute fielder in the IPL, Rinku showed off his batting chops by contributing 42 off just 23 balls to an unbroken 66-run stand with Rana.

The Strikers move to third place, while the opponents slip into strife

Alex Malcolm11-Jan-2021Adelaide Strikers sent Rashid Khan off in style with a hard-fought five-wicket win over Melbourne Stars to vault up to third on the BBL table and leave the Stars in strife.Wes Agar starred with 2 for 19, including a maiden, while Khan took 2 for 29, including the prize scalp of Glenn Maxwell, to restrict the Stars to just 7 for 149 after they won the toss. Marcus Stoinis played a lone hand at the top smashing 47 but he failed to kick on while Nic Maddinson made an excellent 48 not out to rescue the Stars after they had slumped to 5 for 92.The Strikers stumbled in the chase losing Phil Salt and Alex Carey in a failed attempt to claim the Bash Boost point. Adam Zampa’s sublime spell of 2 for 20 put the Strikers in a hole but Jono Wells and Ryan Gibson dug them out. Wells took his time before hammering Haris Rauf to finish with 36 from 27 while Gibson guided the side home with 22 not out from 13 balls. Fittingly, Khan was out there for the winning runs in his 50th game for the Strikers, and last for the season as he heads off to international duty.Wes Agar bowled an excellent spell•Getty Images

Stoinis needs some spiceAndre Fletcher was a late addition to the Stars squad for the BBL as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow. It was hoped he would provide a nice foil for Stoinis at the top of the order but his struggles have really hurt the Stars and again he failed to fire. He faced a maiden in the first over and although he struck two sixes in the third he faced nine dots in 12 balls before holing out to mid-on. The ball did nip and swing early and the Stars were wary of losing wickets. Nick Larkin faced another maiden in the powerplay from Agar while Stoinis was 8 off 11 at one stage.Stoinis made up for it with some sublime hitting but it was nullified by Khan’s double-strike. He bamboozled Larkin with a stunning googly, before Maxwell fell for his second consecutive golden duck slicing a full wide wrong ‘un to backward point. Stoinis clubbed the hat-trick ball through midwicket for four with contempt. He was fortunate to survive a dropped catch in the deep, but Agar got him four balls later with some extra bounce catching a leading edge. Hilton Cartwright also failed to leave the Stars 5 for 92 with just 36 balls left in the innings.Awesome AgarThe Stars left the Power Surge until the 17th over and Agar continued his outstanding form, delivering six straight yorkers to concede just four runs and two leg byes. Dan Worrall then backed it up taking two wickets to leave the Stars in a huge hole. But Maddinson kept his head to give the Stars a score to defend. He used the pace of Worrall to flick him over fine leg and uppercut over third man in between the two Power Surge wickets. He then smashed Agar over deep midwicket in the 19th over, but Agar still finished with the phenomenal figures of 2 for 19 from four overs. Maddinson finished the innings with back-to-back sixes off Worrall to reach 48 not out from 34 balls and lift the Stars to a competitive total.Bash Boost blunderThe Strikers needed just 68 for the Bash Boost point and had it under control through eight overs. Salt lost his opening partner early but struck four boundaries to reach 31 from 21 balls and leave the Strikers needing just 10 from two overs with Salt and Carey at the crease. But they made a mess of the short-term goal and did significant long-term damage to their chase.Maxwell backed himself and Zampa with 9th and 10th overs and came up trumps. Salt skied Maxwell to long-off with the first ball of the over, with Maxwell’s angle from around the wicket causing the miscue. Then Carey and Wells scored just seven singles from the next 10 deliveries to put the Bash Boost point in jeopardy before Carey committed the ultimate sin. Needing three for the point, he tried to loft a reverse sweep off Zampa and was caught at short third man with Maddinson moving well to take an excellent catch. It left the Strikers without the point and needing 85 to win from 60 balls as their captain trudged off.Gibson goes to the WellsWells remained composed despite Jake Weatherald also falling to the reverse sweep to Zampa. The legspinner delivered an outstanding Power Surge over as a part of a brilliant spell. Wells found an ally in Gibson and the pair of calm heads prevailed. They failed to take a boundary off Zampa’s last over but didn’t panic despite needing 30 off 18 balls.Wells waited for the pace of Rauf and used it to perfection. He carved him through point, clipped him through midwicket, and lofted him over the midwicket rope to reduce the equation to 16 off 14. Wells did hole out trying to go again over point but the damage was done. Gibson picked up the slack, slicing Rauf to third man to take 18 from the over and leave just 12 required from 12 balls.They only needed six. Gibson again found the rope off Liam Hatcher at midwicket. He had some fortune last ball when the substitute Tom O’Connell dropped him running back with the flight for the winning runs.

Australia’s T20 captain and coach have begun planning for the home T20 World Cup in October next year with the Ashes series still ongoing

Alex Malcolm13-Sep-20192:39

Chat around 2020 T20 World Cup squad on with management – Finch

In the midst of a gruelling Ashes series and the wake of a World Cup semi-final exit, Australia have already begun preliminary planning for next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.Aaron Finch, Australia’s T20 and ODI captain who is back in Australia preparing for the start of Victoria’s domestic season, revealed he has had recent discussions with coach Justin Langer and the team hierarchy, about which group of players will likely be needed in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup next October.Australia have never won the men’s T20 World Cup, or even hosted it. They finished runners-up to England in 2010. They are scheduled to played six T20 internationals at home in October and November against Sri Lanka and Pakistan followed by three more on a tour of South Africa in February and three in New Zealand in late March.There will be no domestic T20 between now and the matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan although a number of players not involved in the Ashes have been playing in the T20 Blast in England, and Australia’s revamped 50-over domestic competition starts on September 21. Finch said that the team hierarchy, now coordinated under Australia’s new general manager of national teams Ben Oliver, has a rough idea of which players will be set for the T20 World Cup, based on informal chats he’s had with the selectors recently. But form in the Marsh One-Day Cup, he added, could play a part.”[I’ve had] some pretty brief chats over the last couple of weeks, pretty much just trying to nut out a squad that we think can take us through to the World T20 in October and November,” Finch said.”Whether there are 24 or 25 players that we think can play a role in different scenarios, it’s just about making sure that we’re on the same page in our thinking in terms of selection and stuff like that. Of course, there’s always curve balls, guys who turn up and play well and start the season will really push.”There’s a lot of T20s coming up over the next 8-10 months, so the fact that guys have got more, and I suppose, longer exposure to limited-overs cricket, whether it be one-day or T20 I think it’s a really good thing. No doubt there’ll some guys who jump out of box and really put their hand up for those sides.”ESPNcricinfo understands some players have already been told they are in calculations for the T20 internationals in October and the T20 World Cup next year.Australia began long-term plans for the 2020 T20 World Cup in early 2017 when Ricky Ponting took over as assistant coach to Darren Lehmann in a bid to build towards the tournament. Ponting helped the squad, captained by David Warner, to a T20 tri-series win over New Zealand and England in March 2018, just prior to the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.Aaron Finch, Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting chat at training•Getty Images

Ponting then stepped back from the T20 role in the wake of the scandal citing that new coach Langer should take charge of the team in all three formats for continuity, as Australia tried to rebuild its culture within the men’s team. Ponting returned to the coaching group for the 2019 World Cup.Finch took over as captain and had a tough initiation losing four straight series before leading the side to a share of the series against India at home and an impressive 2-0 success in India in January. Intriguingly though, that side did not feature Australia’s vice-captain Alex Carey, who subsequently had an outstanding 50-over World Cup, as Peter Handscomb kept wicket and Glenn Maxwell starred with the bat.The revamped domestic 50-over competition is another key plank of Australia’s planning. The tournament is no longer played in a single month-long block on suburban club grounds in September-October prior to the Sheffield Shield season starting. It will now run deep into November with some games played in between Shield fixtures.”I think it is a really good thing,” Finch said. “In the past having it as a full block, for a lot of players, with there not being any one-day cricket from the end of the one-day comp through to mid-January, it can be tough to really select guys and guys to put their name forward who did have a good one-day comp because it’s so far apart. So this year I think the balance is as good as it’s been for a long time now.Cricket Australia also made a concerted effort to schedule domestic 50-over games back on international venues to give players more exposure to those venues. Finch said this was crucial to prepare players for international cricket.”I think it’s huge,” he said. “To turn up for Australia and having guys not having played a game at international venues it’s surprising at times but it’s also part of the scheduling. So I think that is a great addition, that there will be more one-day games.”Guys will have more access to playing one-day cricket on the main venues, which at the end of the day when you’re pushing for selection for Australia and you finally get the call up to come to a ground where you’ve played before and you feel comfortable is really important. There’s a lot of nerves that go around when you’re lining up for Australia for the first time so as comfortable as you can make it around the environment is really important.”